Lennie

I can't agree with angels being chill. It is more like, if you are lucky, you can have an angel that is chill as an adult. But even then, it usually only gives an idea about past and now. Not future. With angels, things can change anytime. Keeping angels in a community tank feels like keeping a betta in a community tank for me. Depends a lot on the character. Except, bettas usually give an idea about their behavior very soon, meanwhile angels having no guarantee to not change even if they act peaceful at first. Personally I wouldn't keep any angels in a 29g except as a pair for breeding project, or as a grow out tank. And I wouldn't keep any angels without a backup plan myself. You may need to separate one or another anytime. I don't think angels are beginner friendly, I have one tank I want some fish type of fish.

More like he is jelly of the bubbles the filter has in comparison to his tiny nest 🤣

What’s that red area on her belly 🤔

Basically never to be fair. Unless you wanna fight an algae issue with a chemical. These are mainly algaecides. People use these to fight algae problems in the tank basically. They don't work as normal co2 injections that plants utilise. I've never used a liquid carbon in any of my planted tanks in my life. I don't like the idea of using it in my tanks basically for this reason: these products are glutaraldehyde and water. And these are the words of a biochemistry professor about it in another forum: "As far as I am concerned the use of glutaraldehyde in any aquarium is a complete disaster and is not only a hazard for the aquarium, but for the person that has the aquarium in which this chemical is used as well. I am actually surprised that this chemical has not been banned, but it has somehow slipped through the regulations but I am convinced that it will only be months, not even years, before this is banned completely. Glutaraldehyde chemically consists of 5 carbon atoms as a straight carbon chain with what we in biochemical terms call an aldehyde group on both ends. There is absolutely no difference between these two groups at each end of the molecule with the single aldehyde group in formalin or formaldehyde. We use formaldehyde as a severe preservative of animal tissues and it is highly toxic, just look at wikipedia on this topic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formaldehyde. Now someone had found that glutaraldehyde and specifically a type that has formed a ring structure and is polymerized, polycycloglutaracetyl, apparently can kill algae but benefit aquatic plant growth and this is now sold in Excel Flourish. In dilute solution in an aquarium polycycloglutaracetyl, will break down to glutaraldehyde in no time. So this stuff is the same as glutaraldehyde and is highly toxic and a health hazard. It is not surprising at all that Henk got hayfever from it because it is highly irritating to inhale this stuff as it is TOXIC, finished and klaar! You can read all sorts of iffy reports http://www.barrreport.com/showthread.php/8801-Glutaraldehyde-in-Excel about it, folks dance around the toxicity issue and say that the aldehyde group on formalin and on glutaraldehyde is different, but as a professor of biochemistry I can tell you categorically that this is total and utter nonsense. Aldehydes, be they part of formalin (formaldelyde) or glutaraldehyde are highly toxic and carcinogenic, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutaraldehyde So not only are you as a person exposed to this chemical if you breathe it in (I see many of you have done this, it is just as dangerous as breathing in formalin fumes) but your plants and your fishes are endangered by this. No where do I see any mention of the analysis of the liver or the kidneys of fishes in aquaria in which excel has been used, but these organs would have been pickled as far as I am concerned, totally destroyed. Although you will see that it kills algae (algicidal) as mentioned in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutaraldehyde , and they claim it is not toxic, I cannot see the justification for using this chemical in aquaria, and I will defend my opinion against anyone claiming the opposite including the producers of excel. This stuff is hazardous, to the user and the aquarium and should not be used in aquaria under any circumstances whatsoever. Kind regards, Dirk Bellstedt" Here is where it is taken from in case you wanna read more about it: https://tropicalaquarium.co.za/threads/so-who-uses-excel-gluteraldehyde.5411/page-3

Is she gasping for air, trying to breathe on the surface? If so, It is likely from ammonia or nitrite I think. Other options can be parasites, and lack of oxygen. Given you have ammonia and probably nitrites in the tank, that might be it. Ammonia poisioning signs are as follows: Increased mucous production Red or bleeding gills Body colour darkens Increased respiration rates and fish seem to “gasp” air at the surface of the water Secondary infections Death https://www.birdexoticsvet.com.au/fishamphibians/2020/6/9/treating-ammonia-toxicity-in-an-aquarium-or-fish-pond Nitrite poisoning signs are as follows ( which I tend to think this is the case): Their Gills May Turn Brown The Fish Appear Dark Or Pale Trouble Breathing Rubbing Against Objects https://www.bettacarefishguide.com/nitrite-poisoning-in-fish-how-to-reduce-nitrites/ Do you observe such symptoms irl? This is not a bloating issue but rather one of these above I believe. When Colu comes online, he may help further as he is more experienced with diseases and symptoms

You should upload your video to your youtube account, whether listed or unlisted, and share the link here. The link automatically appears as video here. your fish does not look that bloated to me. Have you been observing any sort of agression, or males bullying females too much? Females also usually carry eggs which makes their belly bigger and more round. Also when barbs change environment, they may go for establishing the pecking order so it may be a lil stressful I guess. Also that seems like a calm place in the tank. Barbs can handle the flow but it doesn't mean constantly being pushed around in the tank. Make sure that's not the case. Dropsy comes with pineconing look, fish extremely bloated, in my experience they were very inactive, gasping and hiding all the time. Dropsy can be bacterial but can also be caused by organ failure and stuff. They look like this Just in case, I'm tagging @Colu Also try to feed one time and quite low amount until your cycle is established. Twice a day for now is way too much considering your tank is not cycled. Just a very small pinch once a day should do okay. Even once every two days would be what I do. Healthy fish can go many days without any food given.

My endlers in my tub are pregnant for the 4th batch without any male 🤣

You will need consistency, likely you will only be able to move your decaying plants and fish poop once and then its over. You won't be able to add it every day for some time, and you can't target an exact ammonia amount this way. Same goes for squeezing filter. Also majority of the stuff you are planning to move likely already leeched the ammonia, so you won't see much numbers I feel like. If you have a cycled tank and not willing to spend on a bottled bacteria, add fish food and squeeze filter gunk to the new tank. however, you should make sure your tank has no disease whatsoever. Otherwise, basically you will transfer everything to a new tank too. And don't forget, one fish may not show symptom regarding to a disease but maybe it affects another.

Thank you very much. I also agree those type of pure breeding tanks look ugly, and I can't imagine fish being happy in such environment. Maybe I should buy one of those cones and give it a try on the planted tank, as my plants already handled discus temps in that tank before due to summer being quite hot here If it doesn't work, I can give it a try with an empty tank. Wish me luck 🙂

I usually cycle my sponges with around 1ppm ammonia. But until I read this 1ppm ammonia, there is usually always varying rates of ammonia everyday already due to fish food being quite inconsistent. I personally think 2ppm makes more sense if someone will be stocking heavily from start or so. I have no clue how this "2ppm" is decided on. Never searched for the reason behind it. But I personally have never issues cycling this way myself. If I gotta be honest, I can't remember how long it took with only fishfood and stability. As after setting the first tank, I've always used filter gunk while cycling sponges, or exchange a handful of biomedia from an established HOB to a new one. I don't use bottled bacteria when I cycle a new tank with established media transferred with a HOB. I add it to my tubs where I cycle sponges for the fish room. What I do is, I add filter gunk of established tanks in a big tub, this alone usually reads 0.5 ammonia after sitting for a short time. I directly add stability here on the day one as there is ammonia already, as it is mainly poop water or decaying stuff included. I have to mention this, I ALWAYS underdose stability, and I use it in a tub of 6 sponges at a time. I never double dose on day one, and I use only like half cap for a 70 liters tub with 6 sponges in. That is actually a waay underdose. I just see it as an assistance, as it directly introduces all types of bacteria I will need. Then I start adding a pinch of fish food or a fish wafer to the tub daily. Usually for a week. When it reaches around 1ppm ammonia, I stop using fish food. The thing is, as I use fish food, the amount of ammonia can take time to build up, is inconsistent until it reaches to my desired point and may keep leeching overtime. This can easily effect the cycling time that has nothing to do with stability. I can add fish food and see its ammonia 3 days later maybe for each pinch. But if I used Dr Tims ammonia, that would directly give me the desired ammonia on day 1 and shorten the cycling time very much I think. This way, it takes me around 2-2.5weeks to cycle 6 sponges. I have never had issues with this cycling method myself.

Both mysteries and bettas are so silly. I love them P.s: Please tell me you have a lid there. Bettas can be jumpy and mystery snail will very likely leave the tank and may die. Whether tomorrow, or months later. Given the chance of no lid tank, they usually will.

Diego it is

But this will drop kh down to change ph, no? So you will lose that ratio anyway, except for gh.

Hey Nick, welcome to the forum. It is super normal to get confused as a newbie. But I'm happy to see you have been doing your research. To simply put it, for the cycle, you will first need an ammonia source in the tank. Two types of bacterias, one turn ammonia to nitrite, other one turns nitrite to nitrate. basically when your fish poop, when there is a decaying food or plant matter, dead fish/inverts, etc., ammonia will come ot. So when you have an established beneficial bacteria colony, they will help you to convert these from toxic ammonia and nitrite to nitrate, which is much less toxic. So, the purpose of adding fish food here for cycling is letting it decay, and cause it to provide ammonia to the water column. So with the existence of ammonia, you can start working on your cycle. I usually go for very small pinch of daily fish food. I add bottled bacteria when I first see the ammonia. Well, after this, it is all about testing and monitoring your parameters. First try to see ammonia in the water column. then gradually it will become nitrite and ammonia will decrease. Then nitrite will start to converting nitrate. when all is cleared up and all you read is nitrate, you are usually good to go. However, please note that, you will still need to monitor your tank parameters closely, and try to stock your tank veeery slowly even after the cycle. As well as keeping the amount fed low to not create a high bioload from the beginning. More food, more poop, more ammonia. Let your filter to catch up with your stock even after all the cycling is done 👍🏼 I have to mention that I find fish food messy. The decaying food leeches other stuff to the water column as well and it starts molding/grows fungus. When I cycle with fish food, I personally cycle the filter in a separate tub, and then when the cycle is complete, I squeeze the sponge there make sure I won't carry any mess to the tank and clean it. And directly run that cycled filter in the tank with a low stock at start and gradually increase the stock over time. Prevents the mess to a good degree and always works for me. Oh and the amount of ammonia comes out of fish food will never be stable. Another option can be using an aquarium safe ammonia like Dr tims one and cycling with that. That way you can pour in the bottled bacteria on day 1. For fish food, I usually wait a few days to start dosing bottled bacteria because well, it takes time for it to release ammonia. I'm not going into the detail of having established filter on hand type of cycling as you mentioned you don't have access to any. I have only used Stability and it always worked for me, but if you can get your hands on fritz , stability or tetra safestart plus, usually all should do fine. I like the fact that they all introduce all type of bacteria you need directly. Expecting it to grow by itself takes much longer in my experience.

Swimming room of the fish is often forgotten or not paid attention to when it comes to stocking I feel like. I personally don't like crowding a certain column in the tank and try to go for fish that has different swimming level preferences. Probably? 🤣 I think food does not play a role really. It is instead the adult size of the fish, activity level, If the fish is social so whether it needs a school, and so on. The amount of food enters is more about filteration and water changes/maintenance I believe. But also how messy eater the fish is and how much the fish poops also matter. I am water changing and vacuuming my 1m:2f bristlenose tank once every two days. I can leave my female betta sorority community tank with 5 female bettas, red lizards whiptails, L199, pygmy cories, and sparkling gouramis untouched for a pretty long time as I already manually buffer my empty water myself. and they only have 15 liter difference in terms of water amount. And this tank gets way more food than bristlenose tank does. Not to mention it feels way more alive and full compared to the bristlenose tank

Copepods I feel like. Love the video names. "Swimming dot 1" "Swimming dot 2" 😄

Thanks dude So do you think my cube tank would still work for them without any other stocking? Or should I better get a fresh new tank with similar size? I think they will be sad if I keep them in a small barebottom tank :') But if they wont breed in my cube then that makes it pointless. My tds reads 24-25 from RO. 6 ph, 0gh,0kh. Nature is amazing. The fry free swim directly? If so, maybe adding a quiet bottom dweller as a cleanup crew might be a nice idea, until next spawn. Don't you think? Like pygmy cories, or snails? Gonna be checking them our asap!

that's interesting Ah, what I meant was, they are not covered with light backgrounds, sitting in an empty tank under light. You get me? These fish have never been into their nature anyway. But having decorations and potentially places to hide make fish feel safer and comfy I think In a barebottom tank, I can't be sure if fish breed as a response to stress. I personally don't think fish always breed because they are "happy" Yup he seems helpful and nice. I've talked other people who sell confirmed pairs too but they did not sound like they know what they are doing as much as this guy does.

Love this guy 🥰😍

I think yea, as this will be the way you will use the water in your tank. @nabokovfan87 right?

So I found a pair of discus I liked locally which have successfully raised many clutches before. I can also easily reach the parameters they keep their fish, which is great! I need some tips with breeding and help to some of my questions. First question: I don't understand why keeping the pair in an empty tank is the better idea. I currently have one 50x50x50cm cube (125 Liters) tank in my bedroom, which is currently a female betta sorority/ community tank. I have many tanks that I can move those fish to right now. Also red lizard whiptails, pygmy cories and sparkling gouramis will be a part of their own breeding project tank in the fish room. So majority of fish are leaving that tank already. As well as snails. So only 5 female bettas and one L199 are what I have there mainly, which I can easily move to another tank. - The guy who breeds them told me to keep them in a tank with 3 corners covered with white film. He said they have better results of fry attaching to parents that way. Why is an empty tank a better choice than a planted tank? I don't understand why such setups are preffered for breeding when we normally want quite big tanks for discus in general. He keeps and breeds them in this type of setups: So, What makes such setup better rather than more naturalistic tank of mine? Wouldn't my tank be more ideal if the pair is kept there all alone, with an addition of a clay tube for laying eggs just like above? Second Question: He said he keeps his fish directly in an RO water, with ph of 6-6.5. Temp of 27-28C. Isn't 27-28C a bit low for discus? Also normally I buff my RO with gh+ even for those that like soft water. He said he does not use anything. Isn't empty RO water with 0 gh bad for them? Third question: My fishroom racks allow shorter tanks for better maintenance due to height limit of racks as fishroom is in the basement. So I usually go with a height of 25cm. Would 100cmx40cmx 25cm high would be a decent grow out for future babies until a certain point? Fourth and last: He said the fish are around 2.5 years old. How profilic this age is for discus breeding? Would it be an okay investment considering their age for the future? Many thanks in advance. @Fish Folk @Torrey Tagging you guys maybe you may have an opinion and/or some tips to share. Please feel free to tag anyone that may help 🙂

No need. If you have an air tube, just put the air tube inside the container and keep it on ground (otherwise it directly comes to surface if left alone 😄 ) , so with bubbles,it creates surface agitation. Surface agitation what makes the gas exchange occur. You don't have to go buy anything for it. But keeping an airstone around can be a very low investment for the future, as it helps a lot when you use medication and stuff to increase oxygen content 👍🏼

Hey again, Are these results right out of tap? If so, could you please test the ph again after aerating your water? This would help us to understand actual ph better after the water is aerated. Put your water in a container and run an airstone for some time, and test it afterwards to see if you read any ph difference. Speaking of 8.4 ph, that is high for majority of fish. And plants. You gh and kh looks pretty good as it is to me for majority of fish. But with such high ph, you will potentially have harder time to grow plants and you will ideally not be able to home a lot of species. When you test after aerating the water, let's go over your stocking options and stuff again together.

Very sweet. Btw I used mont. clay on my crab tanks too and haven't seen any molting issues an they molt well. Same with dwarf crayfish. However crabs are fairly new so hard to comment on that one yet

If its a single betta, this works the best for me: I have two males that I keep in a community. One is the most peaceful boy ever. he lives with clown killis and endlers. Second male, lives with endlers and snail friends. For these tanks, I crush the pellets a lot so this way, endlers and clown kilis enjoy their food more spread all around the surface. Rather than adding 20pellets now there is small particlers around all the surface. This distracts endlers and clowns going for bettas pellets as they are amazed of having food everywhere. At the same time, I slowly target feed male bettas in a corner as they are puppies. I find this to work the best for me. Also bettas don’t seem to like going for small food particles much on the surface in my experience. So it creates a difference on both sides feeding. It is just crushing food every day can be a bit bothering for some people. I personally don’t mind it. I’m still working on the betta sorority feeding tho. The only thing ruins it is sparkling gouramis. Otherwise, all pygmy cories, red lizard whiptails, snails and L199 can easily be fed after lights are off.