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Brandy

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Everything posted by Brandy

  1. Brandy
    Lol, it is just a guess. Males often seem to have a more curved "roman nose" look in cichlids. It's subtle, and unreliable for me.
  2. Brandy
    HA! Due to the shape of the forehead I would have said the opposite! Have to wait and see I guess. I am in the same boat with some electric blue acaras, they are nearly ready to spawn and I wont know unless I catch them in the act I think!
  3. Brandy
    Pardon the messy sand the water lettuce is adapting to the new tank. I got some rocks and a big chunk of dritwood (any bets on when itt will sink?) placed in the 40 breeder, along with the "extra" guppies, and more plants scavenged from other tanks. The acaras have immediately chosen their favorite rock and were trying to attack my hand before I was done tucking in the anubias nana petite. There is a "couple" but I still am not sure who is the female and who is the male. The whole tank has been scavenged/repurposed/reused/home-grown, except for the tank itself (craigslist), and the acaras (LFS). Oops, and the lights (amazon).
  4. Brandy
    So, Prime is a chemical catalyst that converts ammonia to ammonium, which is not as toxic to fish, but still perfectly tasty to bacteria. This is an oxygen consuming reaction, so you can potentially cause a low oxygen environment if you stack several chemicals that use the same/similar mechanism (Excel comes to mind, but also occaisionally people will use several water conditoners because they don't realize most are doing the same thing...), or run a lot of CO2 for plants.
  5. Brandy
    Seachem Prime doesn't make ammonia unavialable to bacteria. If it kills tetra safe start, it likely does it in some other way. Possibly the same chemical mechanisim to bind ammonia does something to the bacteria directly, but it isn't "starving" them. I would just keep dosing with prime, not change water too often, the bacteria will arrive.
  6. Brandy
    You know, I don't think the cloudy eyes are related. He's a dragon scale betta. With age that coloration can cover their eyes. I think it can eventually blind them, but I don't think there is anything that you can do to stop it.
  7. Brandy
    Because that's how they are sold. 😁
  8. Brandy
    This is normal. They are freshly planted and converting to your tank parameters...known often as "crypt melt". They COULD melt back to the ground and come back strong a month later. I had one I planted, decided to move to a different tank, ripped out, and 3 months later I had healthy crypts at that location coming back from roots I left behind. The leaves don't mattter at all, the roots are getting established and then they will take off.
  9. Brandy
    I would remove the livestock and 90% of the water, but agreed, lubricating the vertical surface sounds...nearly impossible. Full with water or even half full, I think would be a disaster. I have watched a 20g high deflect nearly a full half inch with filling.
  10. Brandy
    I really really really wish I could drill my tanks...but they are set up. I don't know if I can make myself tear them down and start over. I wish there were a way to drill them with plants and substrate still in there. How likely is that to be a disaster? I assume 90% chance of horrible outcome. This is why I am considering diy overflows.
  11. Brandy
    Only floating plants which some how stick to everything (hoses, nets, arms) and end up everywhere in my house.
  12. Brandy
    Yes. They are young and freshly planted and converting to your tank parameters...known often as "crypt melt". They COULD melt back to the ground and come back strong a month later. I had one I planted, decided to move to a different tank, ripped out, and 3 months later I had healthy crypts at that location coming back from roots I left behind. The leaves don't mattter at all, the roots are getting established and then they will take off.
  13. Brandy
    I have had good luck with MANY plants and moneywort was not a win for me either. I tinkered with CO2 and Excel (different brand similar to Easy Carbon) and have decided at the end of the day the real win is to balance lights with fertilizers, because then things just become so much more effortless. Like @StephenP2003 I think CO2/Easy Carbon are mostly not so much required to have a beautiful tank as they are a substitute for patience most of the time. There are very few plants I wish I could grow that actually require CO2, and most of them have easier alternates--like skipping the dwarf baby tears in favor of monte carlo, which most people have trouble telling apart anyway.
  14. Brandy
    jeez. Canada. How about you find a vet willing to write a script without seeing the fish? most of our local types would, especially in rural areas. It does help to have a relationship with them in some way.
  15. Brandy
    Oooh, yeah, this is a tough one. Basically, anything toxic enough to kill termites will likely decimate fish. I would tape a large bag over the entire tank...but then I am at a loss for how to provide enough air to the fish to not suffocate them. I hope someone else has an idea--do you know how many hours the fumigation will last? I think moving the tanks to a neighbor might be the very safest. You wouldn't leave a cat in there, the fish are likely MORE sensitve.
  16. Brandy
    You canprobably just rub them between your fingers during a water change for most types of algae, too.
  17. Brandy
    They are OFTEN starving when you get them. They are generally wild caught. You need to find a fish store that knows this and puts them in a green, nasty looking, algae filled tank, or at least target feeds them straight spirulina or something. One of my LFS stores is unpopular for having ugly algae filled tanks. I do love their fat otocinclus though and mine have stayed fat and healthy thank goodness.
  18. Brandy
    tentacles!
  19. Brandy
    You usually want to start with the hardiest, least territorial species. In my list that would be the danio/guppy/endler group. Then bottom dwellers, finally the boss fish betta/gourami--which can be jerks and need to be introduced last.
  20. Brandy
    You can test your water now to know approximately where the pH and GH/KH sits. Smaller danios, male Endlers, male Guppies, ONE dwarf gourami or one Betta would all be easy beginner fish, and most will use the whole tank. You could choose from those and get a couple of khuli loaches or smaller corydoras for the bottom. Tetras like softer water, guppies like harder water but both can adapt. If you figure out where you are we can offer more specific suggestions.
  21. Brandy
    This... UNLESS you are planning to use very high end aqua soil....which in this case I would just avoid. Some of that stuff can add ammonia to the tank, I have heard. Particularly ADA. I have added small amounts to an established tank, but not done a full replacement.
  22. Brandy
    Ok. First. Tell us your tank size, and basic water parameters. Then tell us what your "steps" have been--in some amount of detail. I know several ways to use the med trio, and not all are appropriate to every situation. Next you should be able to post a pic by clicking "choose files" in this window where you are typing. If you are on a phone this might look different than my computer. Finally, if it is ich it will look mostly like your fish has salt or sand stuck to him. It is very uniform and looks hard and as though you could brush it off. If it is fungus or bacteria it will look like irregular possibly fuzzy patches which will be different sizes.
  23. Brandy
    My betta does not eat shrimp. He is too fat and slow, and he is a pellet addict. He will steal their food tho.
  24. Brandy
    Also, need to be careful--NitrItes are not the same as NitrAtes. Nitrites should be zero. Nitrates should be around 10.
  25. Brandy
    I have that tank. The light is not great at all. I replaced it with a cheap plant light which is dramatically brighter. The crypts may melt hard, and then come back fine, but the windelov java fern looks really rough. I suspect it needs both liquid fertilizer and a bit more light, but It is showing a damage pattern that looks more like the fronds might have dried out in shipping. Even if you break a leaf off fully it will generally float around the tank for months and stay green. I am voting the plant was damaged at some point before you got it. You can trim back the brown leaves there if you like. Also, the rhizome on both types of java fern should not get buried.
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