Schwack
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Posts posted by Schwack
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I picked up a group of 3 pearl gourami (2f, 1m) for this purpose, and they were fantastic. They're large, beautiful, peaceful fish. However, after ~90 days their personality has completely changed. They hide all day, and flip out when they see people. Super odd behavior. They'd be my vote, even though my experience with them has been mixed!
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Big box store is ~5 minutes away. Nice for equipment and food, but I don't trust their livestock. They had a store wide ich outbreak a few months back, really put me off buying from them.
Closest lfs is about 20 minutes away, there's another 35 minutes in the opposite direction. If I'm feeling really ambitious, I'll drive the hour or so and go to "the big one" in Portland. They're definitely my preferred store, but Portland traffic is a real bummer these days.
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I'd say @Colu has it right, stop dosing ferts for a while. I'd be amazed if three guppies could push nitrates to 80ppm in a planted tank without outside supplementation.
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What is "high" in this case?
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If there's ammonia in the tank, things will start eventually. My first tank took 4 days to show nitrites. I wouldn't spend any money on bottled starters, but it's a personal call. If you're cycling from zero, patience is going to be a virtue. You could try and speed things up by introducing plants, with their rockwool, from cycled tanks. If you're planning on planting the tank that's probably the easiest way to move the cycle along.
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If you can get your hands on a small tupperware container and some backer rod, you can build a floating fry tray without too much fuss. Wrap the edges in the backer rod so the container floats and you're set! You can introduce fresh water with a pipette OR get fancy with it. Cut a few holes in the tub and then superglue fine mesh over them to allow constant water exchange.
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My measuring bucket from Lowes calls the 5 gallon mark the third rib from the top. It ends up being ~2" away from full. I'd wager it varies by manufacturer and purpose.
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On 6/15/2021 at 7:36 PM, Steve A said:
Thanks Dwayne, right now I have only 1 fish in it and no plants yet, I thought about pulling it down to about 15 gallons and remove the light, filters and heater. my biggest deal is lets say a ways north of 60 and really don't have many friends that can handle this sort of lifting.
I am in the Dallas/Ft Worth area of Texas. I was wondering if aquarium shops did this sort of thing or will they think I am off my rocker.Do you have any lfs that do aquarium maintenance? I wouldn't be surprised if you could get an aquarium maintenance crew to help lug it around the room a bit. I'd trust aquarium people over general movers, but you might be limited in terms of choice.
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I went ahead and built one for my 40 breeder, and don't think I'd do it again. Since I typically only get to work for an hour or two in the evenings, this thing took way too long AND I made some dopey mistakes I've still yet to fix (I brainfarted the width of the opening and had to trim my doors. Need to finish the cut edge and paint, but I'm lazy.) I'll almost certainly be buying my next stand, I can't imagine I saved any money over the cost of a pre-built unit. The cost for lumber is outrageous.
Mine is essentially the one I've seen called "The King of DIY's". Structurally, it's 2x4s, skinned with 1/4" MDF and topped with 3/4" plywood.
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Seems to be about a week of being wrigglers before they start free swimming. I've got another bunch going right now, 10 of which hatched out to wrigglers today. I think you've got it right, they don't need to eat at this stage, they're still feeding on the yolk sac which will sustain them until the sticky bit on their head is gone. In my experience, it's just a matter of getting the food directly in front of their face the first few times, especially with powder food. After that, they'll eat like little maniacs.
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I bought a large bag of plastic, 5mL tubes with screw on caps from Amazon. I can't imagine going back to the API glass tubes. Bonus, you can measure out 2.5mL and stretch your reagents! I think I paid ~$8 for 20.
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I'd be surprised if they had parasites, they went through paracleanse and levamisole during qt, but I'll keep an eye out. Plan is to move the remaining CPD this week. Another 30 dither fish is really the only thing I can think to try before I take em back the the lfs.
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Nope, they're behind a child locked door. No other pets in the house to bother them. They were fine one day, panicked the next. It's the strangest thing.
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Went ahead adding a dozen CPD to their tank to entice them to come out more, and things seem to have only gotten worse. The CPD are perfectly happy and behaving normally, but the gourami seem more shy than ever. I came into the room this morning, slowly and calmly as I have been for the last week or so. One of the females was out, I believe it was the most outgoing fish before all this. When she saw me, she completely flipped out. Swam straight away into the sponge filter, down into the substrate, up and off the lid and finally into the back corner.
I can't see any sense in keeping these guys if they're miserable all the time, but I just can't understand what changed. They were happy and generally outgoing for 2 months, to suddenly become so panicked of people, basically overnight, just makes no sense to me.
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2 minutes ago, CosmicAshhole said:
I knew there was a reason I didnt buy some before! I thought about exactly this! Thank you for the reminder I will absolutely make sure things are softened. I might even try other rocks because now I am paranoid.
Rather than changing the vision you have for the tank, just smooth the edges out. I usually use a piece of whatever rock I'm working with and file at the edges of the rocks I want to put in the tank. Dragon stone is easily dulled, it's a super soft rock. You can practically break the stuff with your bare hands. Give all the edges a once over and I'm sure your betta will be just fine with it.
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Disgusting? Yes. Free fish food? Also yes! I'm not sure this one weird trick to create free fish food is going to take the hobby by storm, unfortunately.
I'd be instantly concerned with a neighbor piling rotting garage above you, that's a human health hazard not to mention the other pests it attracts. I hope that isn't the case!
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Have you considered just waiting out the hydra? Without a steady food source they'll die back pretty quickly. I think my hydra infestation took ~3 weeks to fully resolve once I stopped needing to feed live bbs to my fry each day.
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I've yet to find them in an aquarium, but I've definitely spotted larvae in old, mostly stagnant ponds that used to be in my backyard. I'd grab em out with a net or tweezers and feed them to any fish that'll take em. I'd considered setting out some standing water to get mosquito larvae, but cabbage moths have been more convenient so far. I've been feeding my bettas cabbage worms and they go nuts for the live food. If it wriggles, they'll take a chomp out of it.
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Got an odd fish behavior question for some more experienced gourami keepers. On March 24th, I brought home 3 pearl gourami. Two girls and one boy. They're currently the only inhabitants in a heavily planted 40 breeder. They were shy for a week or so, but eventually came around and would hang by the surface waiting for food and eat brine shrimp straight out of a dropper. Everything seemed to be going well. They were healthy, eating and generally hanging out all over the tank.
Cut to 5 days ago, and they've suddenly become incredibly shy. Sometimes, if I come into the room too quickly, they'll spaz out swimming around the tank to hide. They spend all day at the very back of the tank underneath a large amazon sword or huddled in the back corner. Since they live in my office, I know they haven't had any traumatic experiences with people. Based on the glimpses I can get of them, they still look healthy. They're just always hiding. When I noticed the behavior, I checked the water and everything is normal, 0/0/5 nh3/no2/no3.
I don't have any experience keeping gourami other than these guys, so maybe I'm overreacting to a normal behavior change. I've adjusted the light to give them a larger, dimmer space without any impact. I've considered adding my large school of CPD to the tank to provide some dither fish, but since things are a bit wonky in there I'm hesitant to make changes.
Any thoughts or advice?
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One thing to keep in mind when it comes to the cost of a tank setup is the cost of the tank itself. My 5 pound tank ran ~$100 + $28 for canister exchanges every 9-12 months. I briefly looked into trying a CO2 generator, but consistency seemed a bit more difficult to dial in over a tank-based system.
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9 minutes ago, Mmiller2001 said:
My advice is don't get a cheap alternative, go ahead and spend the extra few dollars for a reliable setup.
CO2Art has a nice all in one kit. Or spend a few more dollars and get one from Green Leaf Aquariums.
Fzone sells a regulator that's very affordable, but I have no personal experience with it but many people give it high reviews.
My experience with CO2Art's post purchase support has been extremely poor. Considering the premium charged for their product, I would look elsewhere. I think Cory threw out a recommendation for generally any mid range ($50 iirc) two stage regulator during a live stream, wish I had followed that advice.
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6 hours ago, Taco Playz said:
Is it fully cycled or should I add some Bio-Boost or some Quick Start. Thanks
You won't know it's fully cycled until you measure water parameters, but based on everything you've added to the tank it's likely you've moved enough bacteria to consider the tank cycled. I wouldn't add anything other than a few fish. Stock it slowly and keep an eye on things as you add fish.
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I've had good luck running the plastic under hot water or hitting it with a hair dryer to loosen things up a bit. Typically, I'll start with one side and sort of wiggle it until it's at least partially on across the length of the lid. Once the edge is on I'm usually able to just slide it home. Just take it slow and steady.
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1. Is a bit of a loaded question. Lots of very successful aquarists keep tanks with low-to-no water changes. As you've seen, with enough plants and reasonable stock levels you'll almost never see appreciable levels of nitrates. All of my tanks are in this spot, but I still choose to water change every 2-3 weeks to freshen things up and introduce trace minerals into the tank from my tap water. Water change to add to the tank, rather than to remove something. Having hard water shouldn't have much of an impact here, my water maxes out every test everything chugs along happily.
2.Yep, it'll add nitrates to your tank, but if you're heavily planted they'll likely be gobbled up quickly. You could probably tinker with lighting intensity or duration if you're seeing what appear to be nutrient deficiencies, but without a picture I think folks will have a hard time giving much in-depth advice.
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Virtual tank to test plant setup?
in General Discussion
Posted · Edited by Schwack
It's not out yet, but this looks like it might be a fun time waster:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1339000/Aquarium_Designer/