AllFishNoBrakes

Nice! CPO’s are fun, but I find them to be like shrimp. I’ve bred some, but it’s all passive.

I’ve had Hydra 3 times, and they’re always in low to no flow tanks. 1. Shrimp tank. Killed it with flubendazole. 2. Single pair Kribensis tank. Killed it with flubendazole 3. I currently have it in my Walstad 6 gallon cube. Leaving it be, for now. Haven’t seen any adverse effects. Looking to source a pair of Sparkling Gourami’s to see if they’ll naturally eat it. Early on in my hobby I was scared of it and heard it would kill shrimp and fry. At this point I’m more curious as to what happens if I just leave it while I source a natural predator that will eat it

I’d be talking about Cardinal shrimp or Crystal shrimp; species that require certain parameters. For my shrimp tank, when I set it up, I kept it super simple and just let it grow a bunch of algae. Shrimp did fine for me and I’ve sold hundreds at this point. Now that the tank is a couple years old, has shrimp, snails, and CPO’s (dwarf crayfish) there’s basically 0 algae, but I just feed really well and still have no issues.

Have you tried shrimp without altering your water? Maybe I’m just crazy, but I’m big fan of not altering my water and chasing numbers that the internet says you HAVE to have. Maybe try a small batch of shrimp and see how it goes? If all goes well either add more, or have just a bit of patience and they’ll reproduce themselves! Obviously if you’re going after specialty shrimp this might be completely irrelevant, but if it’s just neo’s I’d try it as is

As in Amano shrimp? Don’t they require brackish water to hatch and raise? Would love to hear more about your experience with that!

Personally, I wouldn’t dose the whole tank with methylene blue. I’d just let the parents do their thing and see how it goes. That’s just me though!

Thanks everyone! @CJs Aquatics It’s just a tile from Home Depot or Lowe’s. The other side looks like granite and is completely smooth, but they always spawn on the side that would be glued to the wall. Not sure if they like the rougher side (maybe the eggs stick to a rougher surface better?) or if it’s because that side faces the side wall of the tank, creating a nice secluded area for them to spawn in

Likewise. I’m excited to see what others have to say!

For sure. It’s entirely possible that there’s something to it; I’ve just never personally seen it. I tend to take first-hand experience more seriously that something I read or see in a video. I also think that half the fun of this hobby is, “I wonder what would happen if…”, so I like to see for myself and compare that to things I’ve read or seen.

I’ve seen some videos of people claiming “my fish are spawning, so I’m removing water from the breeding tank cuz there’s hormones in the water, and I’m gonna add that to other tanks that I want to breed”. That being said, I’ve never personally seen it. I like to keep community tanks that have multiple opportunities to raise spawns from, and I’ve just never seen it happen. My Peacock Gudgeons spawning hasn’t fueled the Cory’s spawning and vice versa. Rams spawning hasn't triggered the Cory’s in that tank. Even my Angel tank that has multiple pairs; one pair spawning has never sparked a different pair to spawn. Now, that’s just all first-hand jargon, and not scientific-grade research. I’m not sure how you’d quantify “these fish spawned BECAUSE of hormones in the water that I transferred” vs “these fish would’ve spawned anyways without me putting hormone-fueled water into the tank”. Just my personal experience and 2 cents (if it’s even worth that much).

I know I’ve had my fair share of challenges and had to face some hard truths when it comes to breeding fish. I’m curious; what’s the hardest lesson you’ve learned when it comes to breeding fish? Mine would definitely be, to not overdo it! When it comes to the numbers of fish I breed, anyways. I learned this lesson early on with my Kribs. I kept the first whole spawn, and found it so fun and interesting that I kept the whole second spawn, and I’m still paying for it today. I have ~30 Kribs that I’m still trying to get rid of… This helped me make sure I produce/cull numbers to a point that is manageable and easy to get rid of. It’s much easier to tell my LFS “I have 20 Angels at X size, do you want them?” Vs me growing out a full spawn and hoping I can move a couple hundred. Case in point, I have a spawn of Angels I’m currently working on. The fry are eating bbs and going well, probably 2 weeks old at this point. Tonight I came home, and the Angels spawned again. I pulled the spawn and washed the eggs down the drain. As hard as it may be, I know I have 20 that are about to sell, a whole different spawn coming behind them, and I simply don’t have the room or the market for a second entire spawn. What’s the lesson that you had to learn the hard way? Chime in!

I have a group of 6 Angels, and the only way I know the sex is when they pair and spawn. Obviously, from that point on I know the sex of each individual fish, too. I know the sex of 4/6 of the Angels. The other 2 have never paired or bred with anything else. I think one might be a male (from fighting with another confirmed male, but that’s still a guess at this point). I’ll only know the sex of the 2 if they pair and spawn at some point. I’ve had pairs that are paired for a while, and then a new pair forms. For example, my all black female was paired with a marbled male, but now she’s paired with a Panda male. Scandalous, she is… BUT, it makes for interesting new variants and keeps breeding “the same fish” fresh and fun. Best of luck to them pairing up and raising some fry!

I took a chance with this one on Amazon and have no regrets. I agree that rinsing it first makes it drain better! Give it a quick rinse, set it in place, open the hatchery, harvest the brine, and then I give it a hot water rinse and air dry when done. I’ve had this one for probably a year and a half and it’s basically brand new still.

I think it’s a great sign that you have nitrates. Your ammonia has peaked and is almost worked through, and your nitrites are doing the same thing. Having nitrates shows that you have some nitrites being converted, so you’re definitely on the right track! Give it a little more time and all the patience will pay off! Once your tank is established and thriving and a good chunk of time has passed, you’ll forget about the cycling time and it will become a small dot on the timeline of your tank.

Would you enjoy that stocking and would it be something you want to look at and play with? If yes, do it up!!

I’m lucky in that my angels spawn on either Amazon Swords, or the tiles I have set up for them, so I just remove whatever they spawn on to hatch and raise. The tank becomes calm again once the eggs are removed

PSO! I have plenty of plants from the Co-Op, but PSO has by far outgrown everything else

@MattyM Nice! I was feeding frozen baby brine daily and it got out of control pretty quick. Has taken some time and several moves to rebalance everything again. You live and you learn!

@MattyM My Platy’s went crazy in my 29 and it was a struggle to move them all. Definitely learned my lesson there! Now I keep them with Angels or other fish that will help me control the populate naturally

@drewzero1 A duckweed comb sounds awesome! Even cooler that it’s 3d printed. Post some pics of your tools! Might inspire some others to make the same, or even upgrade it

I don’t think that would be overstocked, but remember it all comes down to how much you feed, how much/often you’re willing to change water, plants, etc. My suggestion would be to start where you want, test often, and then make informed decisions from there!

@mountaintoppufferkeeper I’m part of the CAS as well! That being said, I signed up in the height of the pandemic and have yet to make it out to an in-person event. Doesn’t help that I always work the weekends… Maybe I’ll catch you at a meeting/auction one of these days!

I guess I could show off this bad boy, too. This is how I filled water back into tanks before I had a Python. The pump would sit in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket, and has an adjuster for how fast the water runs through it. Water went in the pump, up the tubing, and then the pvc was built to hang over the rim of a tank. The caps on the end of the apparatus has a ton of small holes drilled in it, acting like a spray bar instead of just pushing water straight down or out the sides. Diffused the water to not disturb the substrate. Fill up the 5 gallon bucket with water and the pump, start filling a second bucket in the sink, turn on the pump, and then keep dumping water into the bucket with the pump until the tank is full. I actually just sold this apparatus to a co-worker who also got into fish keeping. Charged them a fraction of the overall price to make without labor, but felt cool passing on something that helped me early on to help out a friend.

@A3M0N I just suck on the end of the tubing. The tubing is like 7 feet long so I have plenty of time to start the siphon and just clip it to the bucket. I have a rolled up piece of sponge in the end of the pvc that’s in the tanks so I don’t suck up any fish or plants. @TeeJay I think the hatchery is worth it if you can afford it. I hatch 1 Tablespoon of eggs at a time, but the majority of that gets frozen and used throughout the following week. I have a silicone mold that I got off Amazon that makes tiny cubes, so I fill that up and then feed the rest when I harvest. -I used half inch pvc pipe, (8) 90° side outlet elbows, and (8) 90° normal elbows. I made the stand pretty tall, and then realized I could use the (8) 90° elbows to bow out the front sides of the frame to hold the sieve. As far as lengths of the square to hold the hatchery, I just measured the top ring of the hatchery and made em that big. The pvc connections have plenty of wiggle room as there’s like 1 inch or so between the outside edge of the elbow piece, and where it can go in all the way. (Hope that makes sense. If you’ve ever used pvc you know what I’m talking about). Allows you enough play to make it just right. Plus, the hatchery has the handle on the back, so you can use that to your advantage as well. -So ya, ~8’ of half inch pvc, (8) 90° side outlet elbows, (8) 90° elbows, a tape measure, a sharpie, and a pvc cutter and you’re good to go. I attached a couple close up detail pictures of the elbows and connections as well. Holler if you have any more questions! Happy to help

For sure. Mine is definitely a chip out of the glass. Not a crack. Haven’t had a single issue with mine though!