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Kirsten

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Everything posted by Kirsten

  1. Kirsten
    Pea puffer tank got some new plants As did my 10g hydroponic experiment Why? Because I also set up my Creme de la Creme Beginner's Tank, getting ready for endlers, platys, and snails galore! Still cloudy from all those rocks, but clearing soon!
  2. Kirsten
    I was interested in trying an undergravel filter, but decided against it when I read it can lead to sludge build-up and dead zones. I definitely prefer a simple, easy-to-clean sponge filter or coarse sponge media in a HOB filter with lots of plant growth.
  3. Kirsten
    It's possible to sex them but the difference is very, very slight and hard to see:
  4. Kirsten
    Wow that's quite the drop, even for soft water! I regularly dose my 10g betta tank with 3 to 6 mini catappa leaves (about as much as one half or full-size leaf) once a week or two and usually only see 0.1-0.2 drop in pH. I suspect that oak leaf litter dumped a ton of tannins in there too on top of all of that. Goes to show that you should definitely make pH adjustments very incrementally.
  5. Kirsten
    I love my nerite snails so much that I'm thinking of setting up a brackish breeding tank for them. Their appetite for algae is unrivaled and I think they look incredible. If you're looking to get strangely attached to a snail, go for a nerite. That said, ramshorns are great if you have lots of small nooks and crannies and plant leaves and detritus to clean and want to sort of set them and forget them. Since they breed so easily, their population will grow or shrink based on how much food you have for them.
  6. Kirsten
    I'm planning on doing what Irene recommends and gathering supplies for a cheap 10g clear plastic tote for a quarantine tank. A couple old pieces of plastic decor, keep an extra sponge filter running in an established tank, maybe an extra heater too if it's winter When I think about buying new fish, I'll fill it up and put in the seeded sponge filter to get it cycled, then dose the fish with all the quarantine trio at once to help clear up any non-symptomatic infections.
  7. Kirsten
    Thanks for the tips on Aquabid and confirming I'm not crazy in seeing mostly male-only endlers for the really splashy varieties. I'm guessing it's also a matter of availability. A newer variety means you probably want to hold more fish back as breeding stock, especially females, or maybe you're still stabilizing the color pattern and have to do a lot of culling. Turn up the heat for more males to see how true they've bred, and voila. Not to mention breeders buying 2+ females for every male. But yeah I've really fallen down the rabbit hole and found pairs of super exotic endlers going for more than $100. There may be something of a tulip bulb thing going on with livebearers! Helped to recenter me and think realistically about my first livebearer tank. What I probably should do is see what my lfs carries so I have a better chance of selling the offspring back to them!
  8. Kirsten
    Hello friends! https://twitter.com/i/status/1333157452871819271
  9. Kirsten
    That's awesome and it looks great! Keep up whatever you're doing! Now I want some pennywort!
  10. Kirsten
    Call me crazy, but these are just the coolest endlers I've ever seen. They look like a combination of cobra or leopard endlers with some black bars or other larger color-smear varieties. They look like if Twisted Sister were a small livebearing fish and I am here for that: Problem is: they only seem to be available as males. Nary a lady endler to be had with this combination of spots and color. Are these some crazy hybrid that's non-reproducable? Should I buy random female endlers for these rock stars to hope this color combo is heritable?
  11. Kirsten
    10w or 25w heaters are pretty cheap and should be fine for a small tank. Otherwise, you can keep the room it's in heated comfortably (like a home office or kitchen, someplace you use a lot so you're not wasting heat), or you can even try shining an incandescent light on it when it's chilly. Just keep an eye on the temp to make sure you don't overheat it if you do.
  12. Kirsten
    I've sometimes broken a sinking wafer in half or even quarters to feed some of my little bottom feeders. Even then, they'll let it sit for a few hours to soften it up for them, then they might come sniffing around. If they don't, that'll just create more waste to help grow more algae! I say keep the lights on for a little longer or feed your fish and other critters a little heavier and you'll get more algae in no time!
  13. Kirsten
    Oh my god, folks, I'm changing my mind now for about the eighteenth time. I suspect this is the REAL reason why experienced fish keepers tell newbies to take their time setting up an aquarium. So many new aspects to learn. Now, since what I really love are endlers and nerites, and since they both love hard water, and since corys don't so much, and since I can easily fit a small school of pygmy corys in with my betta in my 10g where they can both enjoy my naturally pretty soft, neutral water together, NEW PLAN! My new goal is to make the prettiest darn beginner's tank you've ever seen with hard water lovers: endlers, some colorful platys, a bunch of richly patterned nerites, maybe a few mystery snails too. Hell, if it's gradual enough, I may even be able to salt the water up to slightly brackish and breed those nerites. Not sure if I still want a bamboo shrimp in that scenario, but with that many snails happening, I don't think we'll need the extra filtration. If I get bored or want to step it up, I might add some dwarf neon rainbows or go further into the brackish world with bumbleebee goby or fiddler crabs.
  14. Kirsten
    As good an excuse as any for some fauna to go with your flora!
  15. Kirsten
    I'm a freelance copyeditor by trade (and no I don't care about anyone's typos unless I'm paid to care). But I spent many years designing, writing, and editing knitting patterns, if you can believe it. Getting back into the industry soon, but will always keep reading people's stuff for money and inserting the odd comma. I also play cello and I'm practicing mezzo soprano opera roles, still knitting and designing quite a bit, gardening for 6 to 8 months out of the year, and I love long walks in the woods.
  16. Kirsten
    I'm not sure how well feathers would hold up in aquarium water with the onslaught of algae, bacteria and hungry fish and snails, but if they're clean and bleach-free, I think it's worth a try! My cat loves chasing peacock feathers, so I have a whole vase of them, and they've come in serious handy when I just want to shake some algae off a plant or nudge something without trying to stick my whole hand and arm into my not-very-accessible tank. When in doubt, live plants and natural hardwood (marketed for aquariums) and rocks are best, but keep an eye on a feather and your ammonia levels and see how it does!
  17. Kirsten
    Welcome to the hobby! You're already off to a great start by doing your research and feeling responsibility towards your new fish and plants. Your care and observation and desire to do what's best for them will take you a long way! That and the fact that you're here. Aquarium Co-op has the best equipment and information I've ever found. Keep up that caring spirit and you'll do just fine!
  18. Kirsten
    I was a bad first fish tank owner and believed the API bottle that said "allows for instant addition of fish!" Turns out...it was fine actually! I kept an eye on my levels, added new plants when the old ones got decimated by brown algae, and got on the weekly 25% changes until I felt things were leveling out. The only things that died were the ghost shrimp (no surprise there) and my first betta who succumbed to a very traumatic filter intake from this bonkers-strong water pump that came with my aquaponic kit. A square piece of sponge is now superglued to the intake and everyone's happy 🙂
  19. Kirsten
    Got my trumpet snail colony installed in my soon-to-be pea puffer tank! I stuck in a few algae-covered windelov ferns from my other tank to help establish it and for the snails to eat from. Waiting on a few more plants—probably more java ferns, but might see if a horntail tries to take over. And then it's off to find my little desk murder-princess. Beautiful gold anubias from Aquarium Co-op (one of the healthiest looking aquarium plants I've ever seen!), along with plant weights, sponge filter material, and easy green are really setting me up for success.
  20. Kirsten
    This is awesome! Thanks so much for the advice, everyone! When I go to pick up my pea puffer, I'll see what my LFS has in terms of koi angelfish or honey gourami, ooh or maybe a bolivian ram or two! I wouldn't mind them snackin on some guppy fry to keep the population in check, as long as they don't eat adults or get nipped themselves.
  21. Kirsten
    A close-up picture would tell for sure but very nocturnal + burrowing in substrate + came in on plants sounds like Malaysian Trumpet Snails to me. When they get larger, they'll have conical shells like ice cream cones.
  22. Kirsten
    Nice! Yeah I just got 4 new friends for my 3 pygmy corys and they're so much happier. So cool you have a (male?) betta in a community tank! Still not sure I'm sold on an angel yet. Maybe if I fall in love with one. Feel like I'd have more room to breathe with breeding guppies, snails, and maybe even corys with a couple gourami, but I'll keep an open mind.
  23. Kirsten
    I had betta as a young person and that was fun, have now grown into a crazy gardening person. Didn't think I'd become an aquarium person until a few months ago when I decided to take the plunge on a hydroponic fish tank setup because winter was coming and I was sick of having to buy fresh basil all winter long and I figured my cat would like to watch the fish. It turns out the cat doesn't think the fish are real (that's for the best!) but I can't stop watching my fish and snails and I love learning more about them. So I'm falling headlong into the hobby thanks to Cory and Irene and fora like this 🙂 Just like with gardening, there's all sorts of BS and overpriced garbage at big box stores, and even small local chains can only carry a smattering of the big names, with dedicated LFSs being pretty far away, so it's been hard to find reliable advice and supplies that fit my style: nature knows what it's doing, give it space and resources to nudge it in a direction you'd prefer. Aquarium Co-op has set me on the best path and made me excited to start more planted tanks! I love the combination of fish, water, and plants. It's a beautiful cycle and I'd love to get the balance so good that very little input is needed from me other than food, observation, and paying my electric bill. Don't know if that'll ever be possible, but maybe one day!
  24. Kirsten
    Nice! I like that. I only have a couple LFS within 100 miles of me, so here's hoping I can find one who can feed snails to a dwarf puffer!
  25. Kirsten
    What a beautiful tank! Welcome to the hobby!
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