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MrGibson

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  1. What kind of snails and how many? A big group of ramshorns woils probably leave both behind in a matter of hours with something as small as a clown killi. As for why you’re losing them nothing immediately jumps out at me. How big is the tank and how long has it been running? How long have you had the killies and did they come from a south you trust? You mentioned a sponge filter, how big is the hole for the air line? I’ve not personally kept clown killies but I wouldn’t be terribly surprised to hear they can find their way through a 1/8” gap with some determination.
  2. What are your full parameters? Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate would be good, gh and kh too if you can test for that with what you have. Also how long ago did the pleco go missing and how long has this tank been running? Im far from an expert, but my initial thought on the algae issue is that algae eaters are a bandaid at this point and you likely have a nutrient issue or other imbalance that’s the root cause that really needs addressed. Could you share your light schedule and let us know if you’re dosing any fertilizers or anything? What’s your water change schedule and how much water are you changing?
  3. It’s fairly densely planted but it did have some meds in it recently that probably threw the microfauna off some. Based on a quick google search I’ve got about 3 days until they hatch so hopefully that’s enough time to get the culture started. If not I do have a container one with a green water problem and powdered fry food if all else fails. Hopefully between all that I’ll get them going
  4. I love me some corkscrew Val. I generally just love crypts. Big fan of Rotala Bangladesh and persicaria kawagoeanum. Hygroryza aristata is a very cool floating plant. It’s a true grass. One I’d love to grow but probably wont be able to since it’s illegal to sell in the us is the few cultivars of Hygrophila polysperma.
  5. Thanks! I’m excited about it. I do know the males will take care of them for a while but I guess what I’m really asking is if once they’re free swimming and the male calls it quits they’d be safe. My gut tells me no, but I’ve seen multiple people say they haven’t seen much different in survival rate with the parents or without. If the fry hatch out and I can get them to the point of free swimming I’ll definitely report back if anything is learned.
  6. Any updates on how this worked out?
  7. Hey all. I just got back home from dinner and sat and watched my new sparkling gouramis for a bit and almost immediately I saw an embrace and the mail caught the egg and ran off with it. I’m surprised to see it because a few were sick when I got them two weeks ago but meds must have taken care of it quick. Since they’re new and this is a surprise I’m not very knowledgeable about breeding them. I’ve seen mixed reports on whether the fry can be left with the adults or not. Any insight there? They’ll probably stay for now anyway because I’ve just yesterday’s started getting a fry system together but it’ll be another week or two before I have a place to put them. I’ve just started an infusoria culture that hopefully will be ready once they need to eat. We’ll see how it all goes
  8. I just recently got a co2 art regulator as my first. I’m liking it and my plants are growing stupid fast. I don’t think there’s really a bad option between the two. Whichever route you take I think a two stage regulator is the way to go. Make sure you have a way to check co2 concentration like a drop checker and take it super slow when dialing it in. I had a close call when I first installed it a few weeks back and ramped things up too fast. Luckily I was watching my tank and noticed what was going on pretty quick. I’d try to dial it in over a few days where you’re home if possible, and avoid making an adjustment and walking away.
  9. How many shrimp? I’ve seen it said that if you have good biofilm you don’t really need to feed until you’re up over 100 shrimp in a 10 ish gallon tank. If the shrimp are doing well overall I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Shadow pandas are super neat. Hoping to jump into the soft water caridina shrimp sometime soon and eventually work my way up to the really cool ones like that.
  10. You mentioned co2, do you have any way of measuring co2 concentration? Also by diy co2 are you talking about yeast and sugar or a pressurized citric acid and baking soda setup?
  11. I had it going in a walstad tank and it grew but pretty slowly. It definitely got outcompeted by other plants more suited to my tank at the time. I say give it a shot and see how it goes, and if it doesn’t work out maybe start looking into co2 if that’s a route you wanna go down. I just started co2 recently and I’m a fan.
  12. Update on this. Never actually got any diggers in this tank but I broke it down a few nights ago. Based on the way the plants were rooted in place and the fact that the soil stayed put even when I removed the sand cap, I'd say this works. As I'm typing this I'm realizing I was the digging fish all along
  13. Gardneri are dead easy. I had some in a heavily planted 10 gallon and more just kept showing up. If you’re going for numbers pulling a floating mop every 24-48 hours is how I’d do it. I recently traded mine in for credit because I couldn’t get them to STOP breeding. You can dry incubate the eggs in damp peat too. If you pick eggs from mops and place in peat you could potentially get hundreds of eggs all eyed up and hatch them all at once.
  14. I’ve found that Salvinia minima and azolla filliculoides grow fast and just absolutely rip nitrogenous waste out of the water. There’s always duckweed too but tread carefully there lol. Very easy to accidentally transfer between tanks. Ask me how I know. I’d also be mindful of how much open surface area you have. Too much surface are covered by floating plants can lead to low oxygen levels due to limited gas exchange.
  15. Plants help a lot. Specifically fine plants near the surface. Hornwort is a great option. Be VERY mindful of floating plants covering the surface. If the water gets hot, and the surface is overrun with floating plants you have very little gas exchange happening in water that already doesn’t way to hold oxygen. I learned this the hard way this summer with medaka (also my first time breeding outside) and I got up to around 250 fry. Then my dad had an emergency with his 600 gallon reef that required me to be away for 4 days in the height of Tennessee summer heat and all but one fairly mature fry died. I only lost one adult because medaka are so tough, but the fry aren’t so resilient. I think my biggest issues here were not staying on top of the the floaters, tub placement (got full sun in the middle of the day), and my tub being relatively small. I was working with a 27 gallon tub and that volume of water got hot quick. I found though I’d get a very distinct thermocline about 5-6 inches below the surface where the water was much much cooler and didn’t feel like bath water. The adults were fine down there but I don’t know if the same would work for fry. I’ve now got them back inside and finally just last week got fry again. Not many fry right now but I’ll get there. If you’re trying to colony spawn and have the babies with the parents heavily planted in the way, but if you want them to lay on mops I’d use riparian plants in pots like aquapros does on YouTube. I’ve found they very preferentially lay on plants over mops if they have the option. All in all I think you’ll probably have success. Medaka are easy to breed and the adults are the toughest fish I’ve ever worked with. I’d definitely start with the 16 fish as you’ll expand your population faster, but also have broader genetic diversity. Good luck!
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