Dria
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Everything posted by Dria
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Haha, I did! My index finger is basically 1 inch at the first knuckle which is pretty handy to know actually. Next time I have to measure a snail I'll be able to figure it out! So thank you for that. And now I know I have a blue ramshorn so if I want more of them I can get the same color. He's a pretty great little cleaner. I'm kind of bummed he hasn't decided to spawn for me. Maybe he's not all the way mature yet.
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Hehe! I was curious so I got out my cloth measuring tape and he is actually a very normal 3/4" and apparently I have no idea how big things are.
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It does seem to have lighter lines in a couple of spots. I thought it was just a growth problem? I had some hardness issues a few weeks ago and several of my snails had some trouble. I went to go look up the Marisa snail and I think I'm okay. I see the kind of lines you're talking about and it doesn't have those these are more like growth rings perpendicular to the swirl rather than laterally along with it. I think what you're seeing along the same axis of swirl is just shine off the shell. It is pretty large though, I would say more than 3/4 across but I'm bad at measuring by sight that way. ETA Mine looks a lot like these guys: https://goodlifeaquatics.com/products/blue-ramshorn-snails
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Oh I didn't realize they came this dark! I've only seen the pink/translucent ones. Nice. I was thinking about getting a few but I guess there's no need now!
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Anyone have thoughts on what this friendo might be? When it was very small I thought it was a ramshorn, but they don't come this dark do they? Came in on a plant and has grown to oh, I don't know about an inch and a half so far. Doesn't seem to be capable of reproducing on its own, at least I haven't seen any more. Doesn't seem to bother anything or anyone.
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Scuttlebutt on Reddit says the Petco 50% off sale starts on 3/3.
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When I had 8 CPDs they hid more than they came out. When I got 4 more all of a sudden they were out and about all over the place, so if you think your tank can handle it, it might be worth getting a few more to see if that helps. You could also try getting some small, less shy fish that don't need friends. Like a couple of Endler's or something. I also added a few of those to my setup and now the CPDs aren't just out more but they are also at the top of the tank way more often than they were before (which was basically never).
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Went to the ACO store yesterday to pick up one of their lace plants and saw some cute Endler's that I decided to come home with as well! So we're basically stocked at this point (assuming an influx of baby Endler's) until I get the 29 in a few months. I'm already making plans for that, but I'm super happy with where the tank is right now.
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Mine really love the Xtreme shrimp sticks and will even fight over them. I have a nano banquet block in there right now and while they ate some of it the first day in there, they haven't touched it that I've seen since. I might take it out of there tomorrow if I still don't see anyone on it. They really like to snack on the mix I have for the fish (a few different foods in a pepper grinder) when it gets caught on the floating plants sometimes.
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A really good question! I have seen one with two temp probes but I think that is more designed for redundancy than two tanks?
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Yeah, I know some people keep their house in the 70s just fine but my household isn't one. We sit around 67 generally and neither of us are comfortable much above 70. And while I think most of my tank inhabitants would be okay at 67, I doubt they would be particularly comfortable either.
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Inkbird is definitely one of my next purchases. Thank you for the tips!
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Oh yeah, I was planning on a glass top.
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So I was watching Cory's livestream from last weekend and he talked for a while (unsurprisingly) about heaters. I had been planning on getting the ACO 100W for my tank upgrade later this year to a 29gallon, but since that won't be possible anymore I was doing some looking around at the various options. I've enjoyed my 50W and had no problem with it at all. One of the things he mentioned was about keeping the heater as small as possible for the size of the tank because less wattage means a lower failure rate no matter whose heater you're using. So, with that in mind, how small do we think I can go on a 29G? Most of the tables I've looked at say 100W for that size, but I think I probably don't need that much. I'm keeping my temp only about 5 degrees above my room temp which is pretty close so could I even get away with 50W? 75? Any anyone have heaters they particularly like that they want to recommend? Glass is an absolute no, I've had really bad experiences with them.
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Is snipping leaves off new crypts is a myth?
Dria replied to SupersoNick95's topic in Plants, Algae, and Fertilizers
Can I ask an unrelated question? Have you found it difficult to keep that sandy area from getting mixed with gravel? It looks like it's behaving. Did you do anything special to keep it over there? I was toying with the idea of doing something like that so I could have a place for some cories to play but I wasn't sure how annoying it be to maintain? -
For sure the Stingray is not as adjustable as some of the fancier lights, but mostly from my reading/watching people just turn the fancy lights waaaaay down anyway? So I figured I'd try the more reasonably-priced-but-still-good option. Make sure you get the Stingray 2 and not the original one because it's considerably brighter than the first iteration. I have mine on a wireless outlet timer with a 7 hour photoperiod and have only had a few very limited outbreaks of hair algae that I treated with a few doses of liquid carbon. Now that the floating plants are growing well I haven't even seen that. I do dose with Easy Green twice a week, but that's it.
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I have shrimp too! They are just hard to see in the wide tank shots and they also like hanging in the back half of the tank because it's a little dimmer back there because of the floating plants. Some close ups:
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I've got a Finnex Stingray 2 (12 in) on mine and I'm pretty happy with it. I kind of wish I'd gotten the 16 in retrospect, but not enough to buy another one because I'm planning on upscaling my tank anyway. This is how the amount of light it provides looks. I think it's considered moderate light at this depth. Dwarf chains are doing amazing. So is the Pogostemon. The crypt in front is doing great too. I've struggled with some of the bigger leaf stem plants but all the smaller leaf ones seem okay (this might be a water problem rather than a light problem as I have very hard, slightly acidic water).
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Things are going well in the tank! I just got 4 more CPDs today to fill out my school of 15. I think they are even happier at that number than they were at 11. The new additions started schooling with the rest immediately. I also picked up a few more blue shrimp a few days ago and they have been much more out and about with the added numbers as well. I saw the fry a few more times since the last update, although I haven't seen them in a few days so I have no idea if they are still around. Everything has been very stable. I'm starting to contemplate what centerpiece fish I'm going to go with in here. I was considering Endler's but I'm a little worried about how fast they will multiply. There is still room in the stocking at this point, but a dozen babies will be a lot in this tank. Eventually I'm going to go up to a 29 which will be less of an issue, but that's probably a few months away yet. The other option is pair of honey gouramis. They won't multiply as fast even if they do breed, but they might get a little big at the top end. I'd likely get them moved out to the 29 before then. I'm really happy with the plant situation too. I now have a list of plants that do well in my water that I can use to scape the 29. It's so interesting how different plants adapt. Everything that used to work well in my soft city water has been struggling in this tank and things I never would have tried with that water are just thriving.
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After seeing the difference between a group of 8 and a group of 12 CPDs for myself I don't think I'd suggest them for 5. Chilis would probably be okay, they are so tiny, and the really teeny rasbora... neon blue? But yeah, I'd probably say 10g for a decent group of CPDs.
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I've got fry! While I was sitting staring at my tank today I spotted a tiny CPD fry! Then, I eventually saw two more and even a shrimp fry. Aside from being pretty heavily planted (as you can see from the picture) I haven't been doing anything to actively encourage survival. I had seen mating behavior from the CPDs several times, but I assumed they were eating all their eggs because they are voracious little hunters. I have been leaving most of the dying plant matter in the tank so I hope I have enough for the little guys to graze on. Not sure if they adults will hunt them or not? They certainly seem to go after floating things more than actively swimming things. The shrimplet might already be too big to fit in their mouths anyway (it was a struggle to find stuff they could actually eat). Not sure about the tiny tiny fish fry. I finally got a pepper grinder to make dust out of all the food and they seem to be eating better which might have increased the survival rate for the little ones too. Hopefully there are particles small enough for the little guys to eat too.
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I just finished a cycle with Fritzyme7 and it took 17 days from start to finish according to my spreadsheet. 9 days to get to 0 ammonia and then a further 8 days to get to 0 nitrite. I didn't use ammonia, I just fed the tank so it probably took a few days to build up to decent ammonia numbers. So yeah, it can take a minute. If you're patient though it's really worth it. Since I got to 0 0 I haven't had a blip of anything, even adding several fish at a time and accidentally overfeeding on one day.
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I think the magic number of CPDs is somewhere between 9 and 12. I stopped by the fish store today to grab 4 more since everything had settled in well. The second I added the new ones all of the behavior changed. The new additions didn't even go into hiding after I put them in. Everyone was out swimming around in little groups. An amazing difference. Even the smaller one that had been hanging out mostly alone due to some bullying from the others was all of a sudden hanging out in the group. It was nice to see. 🙂
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It's been an exciting couple of days! So, after some more consideration I ended up getting some blue shrimp. They are mostly still in hiding phase, but I got a picture of a few of them hanging out under some floating plants. I also got a few more mail order plants. I'm still trying to figure out which plants do best in my water, so I took the approach that Irene recommended in a video which was get one of a bunch of different things and just keep watching them for a while and pick the ones that thrive and get rid of the ones that don't. I couldn't figure out how to plant the Ludwigia Palustris so I just draped it around the manzanita branch for now. The fish really seem to like it there! I'm really happy with the way it's shaping up to look like an ecosystem. Current stock is 8 CPD, 6 Blue Dream shrimp, and a bunch of pond snails.
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Hooray! It was finally fish day. On the way to the fish store I decided that my water is a little too acidic for shrimpies right now. I'm hovering around 6.5 pretty steadily. It had gotten as high as 7.5 from the Eco-Complete, but it's been slowly lowering since I started the tank and my baseline is pretty acidic to begin with. I decided to order some crushed coral and will wait on shrimp until I can get the pH up over 7 at least. Instead, I got some fishies and some salvinia minima! 6 CPDs are in their new home this evening. They seem to be doing okay so far. Got a few pictures before the lights went out.
