Anthony

Update: So 24 hours from adding RO water I took ph readings. Definitely cut my ph down from 8+ to around 7. I then added 100 grams of crushed oyster shells with confidence 🙂 . 1 tbsp averaged out to 20 grams. so 5 tbsp worth. I used a digital scale. Approaching between 36 and 48 hours I took another ph reading, and sure enough the 100 grams seems to have bumped me up to 7,5! Went ahead and tested the Calcium CA2+ with API test kit, if I am reading the color right I am at about 220ppm. I can live with that even if its a little more than it should be. As it will slowly dissolve. I have another tank where I did the same but I must have gone heavier on the COshells. Same size tank, with about 12 Goodea Lyonsi, measuring 520 ppm CA2+. Should I leave it or dilute that? Thanks again Peeps.

Hobbit, Thank you for the advice and information. Good to know I am not the only fish/chicken dude out there! 🙂 I do have crushed eggshells from my chickens of course lol! Ground them up months ago with my coffee grinder, and stored it in an empty fish food container. Just totally forgot I had that as well. So thank you for contributing to my thread here and reminding me. Regarding the crushed O shells effectiveness due to the high ph, I decided to add O R h20 on a 75% water change last night to bring the ph down closer to neutral, thus raising the roof for ph to rise after adding the crushed oyster shells. So I am off this morning to begin the process of slowly acclimating in the crushed oyster shells w/ readings in between.. I will probably update here later on my findings for reference. Thanks again.

Thank you. Will do.

Colu, Thank you for that info. I have a scale and a media bag! Thinking of doing a water change tomorrow on them. Adding some RO h20 to lower the ph a little, this way when I add the crushed oyster shells I won't send the ph above 9. 🙂 Im thinking I have a plan now thanks to you.

Thanks for the time first off. I have a general question so holding off on pics etc.. Recently my beautiful black mollies stopped being active. When coming to greet me they sort of just waddled up to the glass surface.(nose up, tail down, and shimmying up instead of the normal swim behavior. I did dose the mollies 24 hours ago with Mardel Maracyn, and half a tble spoon of salt. They are showing signs of improvement and swimming better already! Did some research online. Ran into live bearer disease, and some causes. One which I think is the on going issue for my babies is the lack of calcium. I have a water softener installed on the house. So I know they are deficient. I know they like hard water and will do well in relatively high ph. My tap water is in the 8.2 to 8.4 spectrum, Id like to add crushed oyster shells to the tank to get in some calcium for them. I'm choosing this because I already have it for my chickens. 🙂 Also, because in my research it will just dissolve, letting me know when I need to insert more. My concern is the effect it will have on my ph. My mollies are fine where they are ph wise, but I have no idea how high or how fast the crushed oyster shells will send my ph, or the affect on my fish if the ph goes north of 8.4? I am looking for some advice on how best to proceed with adding some calcium via the crushed oyster shells.(unless there is an easier/safer method) Also, if I am on the right track here, how much would I put into a 20L with 8 black mollies? I have to find a way to get the calcium into my tanks with live bearers. Please help. Thanks again.

Frodo. Just seeing your post on the thread. Apologies for that. Some real life stuff happening regarding my dad's health. However I am happy to read about your gouramis! Your right it can be a lot especially at 3 weeks in. I am curious to know how your coming along and how many you have yielded now that some time has passed?. I am sure you have learned a few things in the last few weeks 🙂 Thats whats great about the hobby, your successes and failures feed the passion to learn more, improve, and do even better. Imagine your success rate when you calculate to breed, and set yourself up with all the preperation your experience has led you to? Much success !

Mridul, thank you for the words of encouragement, your time, and the advice on dosing. I was on the fence with that issue and good to hear the feedback. Last thing I want to do is to go out of my way to convince myself of doing something that may not be needed. 🙂 Putting them in that 55 might just happen sooner now rather than later lol! I will post a pic when I do it.

So I figured I would try and breed some of the fish I have, (noob here with beginner fish of course), and settled in on my gold gouramis.. I did my research in regards to their spawning needs, and it played out perfect in a 10g tank! The fry started free swimming on 09/07. I removed mom and dad back to their community tank. I had hundreds of fry! I couldn't believe I hit pay dirt this quickly. Surely beginners luck. After a day or two I became very concerned about a smell, like rotten eggs permeating from the fry tank. I began to trouble shoot this smell, and maybe it was some eggs gone bad, but I think it was more a substrate issue. Ultimately, I had to get them out of there, and into a safer environment. A clean cycled 10g tank was my answer. Lesson number one: Have an all the way through plan from pairing up two fish, all the way to what your going to do with hundreds of new fish! Migrating them all to a better world, I fumbled my way through an extracting process from the bad tank, and lost many of them due to not having a tried, and true transfer method. Had it not been for the putrid smell in the original tank, I may not have had to move them at all. Anyhow since then, I decided to upgrade them all into a 20L last week located on my covered patio. The water changes, and vacuuming are easier for me there. So in growing them out from a 10g to the 20g, I was able to count them all in the transfer. I yielded exactly 101 fry, lost one a few days ago via a 20% water change, just didn't see the little guy. 😞 The benefits of the upgrade are obvious both ways. For me it's more time between water changes and cleaning. The fry are loving the extra space, and my ability to maintain a constant temperature for them, or more importantly avoid a drastic temp. change on them, is much easier. Our late nights, and early mornings here in San Antonio, Texas were dipping into the low 60°s high 50°s a week and a half ago, my heater kept the 20L in the low 70°s still. What I've learned in the macro thus far is that it may be easy to breed some fish, it's work in ensuring the growth and development of fry. That being said, the work spawned from an inner passion yields an inner reward. In my case the reward is the feeding of that passion. I want to see these little guys grow, I want to transfer all of them again into a 55, and see them all color up before they are ready to go to their new homes. That part of the story is to be continued... I didn't have an all the way through plan. Many of you have may have been on this path a hundred times over, and reading about my first time happening now, I hope brings a smile into your day. Comments and advice most welcome. One question. Should I dose these fry at just over 4 weeks old with a preventative antibiotic? Thank you for taking the time to read and or respond. Where else could I share this adventure ? 🙂 Pics soon.

Thank you for the welcome Rikostan! My humble attempt at a fish room at the very least lol! It's a small 10x10 room. I am sure to share pics once i have it somewhat presentable 🙂 .

Good early morning from San Antonio, Texas, My name is Anthony. Started fish keeping back in 99 but I was hacking my through it as a 20 something year old just living for the weekends. My life blasted off in 2000 when I became a flight attendant for Continental Airlines (now United Airlines). Everything with life on the ground had to be left behind in a sense. Being new to the industry I had to sacrifice pet keeping. 20 years later this past April I found myself grounded and furloughed due to covid19. Currently in the process of redefining myself while I am on the ground these days more than ever. The silver lining is I rediscovered my passion for fish keeping while setting up a 2.5g for my son's new beta this past Christmas. I found Mr. Cory on YT in Jan. of this year, because I knew that 2.5g for Shiney Blue(my boy's name for his beta) wasn't going to last. In short, Shiney Blue is in a planted 20L with 7 black mollys and four golden algae eaters. That tank is in our front room which has become a basic fish room with 4 active tanks out of a total of 12. Wife thinks I have lost my mind lol! I have plenty of room to grow in the hobby with the empty tanks on standby, and I am in no hurry. They consist of two 40 breeders, a 55, three 20Ls, three 10g and the 40g container pond (activated) on the back patio. It's pretty much been Aquarium CO-op tv here. I've got the empty tanks in a holding pattern for now and focusing on enjoying the ones I have stocked. Been busy learning about all the fish I keep (mostly beginner fish), growing, and even trying my hand at breeding for fun. Much love for this place, and Cory for all that he has done for the hobby. I proudly ware two of the Co-op's T-shirts as I cycle through my jeans and t-shirt wardrobe, and proud to say that I support his business, all my sponges are Aquarium Co-op! Anthony Curiale