Fish Folk

Beautiful! Very artful compositions. You’re cruising ahead. Great fun! I’m somewhere around 3-4 years into the hobby. My son got me started, and it became my midlife crisis. Have you found a fish club to join? That really helped us out. We started with goldfish… Got to discus… And most recently, I’m obsessed with cool-water U.S. Natives…

I felt pretty good about this one today! Mostly, I’m pleased with this stat..,

@FishyNV Lovely tank! I really enjoy the balance there. I was just on another post, discussing tannins. Have you ever considered adding a bunch of tannins to see if that might calm them? Or help get her in "the mood?" Your tank now... Might turn into something like this (but much better-looking than my guess here)...

@Atitagain has been working hard recently with larger-sized blackwater tanks. I'm copying this photo of his from his post, but linking his thread here. @Streetwise is a master with many things, excelling at smaller aquariums, natural designs. His tannin-tanks are fabulous studies. I also snitched a photo from his journal, which you can follow here. Several years ago, Scott Fellman was the guest speaker at our Fish Club. His entire presentation was on tannins -- something he blogs about a fair bit! He was really inspiring. I cannot say that I've ever really taken the full plunge. But I do like to add a tint to my tanks. Here's an Apisto Breeding set up with a little tannin-tint. I use Rooibos tea bags floated for 24 hrs to add tint (though not really as much true "tannin" as botanicals add). Catalpa leaves and Alder Cones are also my go-to items. It's barely visible, but my Discus get a touch of tint every time I change water...

Sounds nice! I think @Atitagain has been working with groups of Pea Puffers in a small colony-like set up. Maybe he'll chime in and offer suggestions. One thing to be prepared for: they can be really picky eaters.

I think you'll need to try to reattach that photo. Can't see anything right now . . . so . . . not dangerous! 🤣

@FishyNV I'll speculate a bit here. But the best thing for us to be most helpful would be to see photos and videos of your tank, the Rams, what this looks like. Do not worry about getting discouraging feedback on this forum. We're here to literally CARE for one another. I have been keeping and breeding Rams for a few years, and made certain observations concerning them that in part concur with others and at other times diverge. It's good to hear a variety of opinions too so no one tries too hard to bend your ear in one direction or another. I agree with @Lowells Fish Lab that Rams do not (as sometimes described) exclusively pair off for life with one partner. Males are opportunistic, and will breed with any female once she's ready. Herein lies the issue: Is your female mature but not past her prime? Is she healthy? Is she nourished properly, eating a variety of quality foods? Is her environment and water condition conducive for spawning? Is she cleared of any infections or parasites? IF your female is otherwise in excellent condition, and if her aquarium is properly prepared for spawning, then she will develop roe, and will be ready to spawn -- sometimes as frequently as every 2 weeks, but at _least_ once every month. To achieve this, I try to do the following: (1) I keep an amply planted tank, and one where the nitrogen cycle is in excellent condition. (2) I also water-change once per week, 25-50% (3) I keep the temperature warm -- at least 80-degrees Fahrenheit, but preferably warmer -- up to 85-degrees F. (4) I feed a variety of quality foods. I prefer live foods (baby brine shrimp, black worms) and frozen foods (spirulina brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, daphnia, and limited amount of blood worms). Some dry foods I prefer include Xtreme, Bug Bites and Omega One brands. You want your female to be fortified with proper vitamins so that she will produce roe. Take care, however, not to pollute your tank by overfeeding. (5) I arrange my tank with structural divisions so that females can find some rest if an aggressive male is bothering her during a time when she is not ready to spawn. Remember that Rams (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi) are largely bottom-dwellers that like to pick at the substrate. It is good to arrange wood, plants, stones, etc. from the substrate up so that there are some distinctly separated off portions of the aquarium for isolation. While this isn't absolutely essential -- many breeders like just a bare tank with some terracotta pieces -- I have found that a "busy" lower 1/3 of your tank's hardscape and flora does help Rams out. (6) I have found that Rams will spawn just fine in tanks with other fish, and do not need to be in an isolated tank. Many breeders prefer a smaller tank for a single pair -- that can work out great. But my most consistent spawns come in tanks of 20 gal. long, 40 breeder, or 55 gal. where there are lots of other fish. I always pull my eggs. Rams are highly social, and have a heap of fun in a "Ram-Packed" tank. Here's some Ram videos just showing different set ups for Ram's my son and I have kept over the last several years... Breeding Pair in a 20 long... Colony set up in a 55 gal, Opal Rams spawning... Golden Ram pair in a 29 gal tank... Golden-Blue Opal Rams in crowded 55 gal community tank... Golden Ram Fry grow-out tank (20 gal tall) with solo Discus photo-bombing... Rams spawning in a crowded 55 gal recently...

Looks like maybe hole in head disease. My Acaras are susceptible to that, especially when under stress. Sorry to see / hear. Lovely Rams! Maybe a touch of bacterial infection on fin edges. I’d water change and separate at least.

I want to encourage your efforts! You'll learn that anabantids (Gouramis, Bettas, etc) tend to produce very tiny fry that easily become prey to any other fish. Your best option is to allow the Gourami to spawn and raise fry in their own protected space. One thing that I've tried in the past is using Matten-filter aquarium-designed foam dividers to make a long sized tank into multiple tanks. For example, here is a 33 gal long... And this is what this tank looks like divided into three parts... You could try this with your 20 gal long. Place Platys on one side, and Honey Gourami on the other. Water can flow through the matten foam, so it maintains temperature. Plus it builds up bio. I just did this yesterday on the same tank pictured above which is now an Emerald Killifish colony / breeding tank on the left and an annual Killifish (Nothobranchius guentheri) breeding tank on the right...

Agree ^^

A. MAZ. ING!!! I’ve never gotten as far. Bravo! Ever considered pulling the Parents / leaving the fry?

Scheeli are growing out in the little 2.5 gal. here. Maybe 6-10 of them… And a few survive in the Colony, though many do get picked off…

My friend is a manager, and gave me a few boxes of empty jugs 😂

Someone reminded me of this classic sequence, 1983 Monty Python, The Meaning of Life, fish tank scene...

Quote from the article... "The researchers wanted to make sure these animals weren't just getting trained to receive a yummy reward with certain images, but rather truly internalized how to add and subtract.” *Fish to Scientist, “Oh there are other rewards . . . you want to see how smart I can really be? How about the reward that starts with 'spa-' and ends with '-wning' ?"

In case you missed it in the video posted by @Widgets, this is me in the high flow tank…

Well - said! Admittedly, I’m not much practiced in thinking “outside the glass box,” but these videos are interesting!

My guess: Clown pleco. L103 max 4” All good!

Hey hey!! It’s a big moving day for these GBR fry. First the “dump”… Then the “chow”… Yay!!!!

I’m not sure exactly which journal to drop this MISC killifish update in. Guess it will do right here…

Hope you left this great review for the product on the website!

I prefer black. I tape on cheap Elmer’s Foam project board…

Agreed! @gardenman thanks so much for sharing those videos. That's waaaaay more impressive than anything I'd ever imagined. Plus, as G. Farmer says, "They're breeding in there" re: Gold Nugget Plecos. Wow! I got an interesting response online the I inquired why few of them are reported as breeding ex situ: "In nature, Baryancistrus graze on algae all day long. Getting that kind of throughput of food, while maintaining maximum oxygen saturation (they are rheophile), low nitrate/nitrite levels that they like generally can not be achieved with filtration. In a flow through system perhaps we would have better success rates. There is another factor, fish of high value have more people trying to breed them. Today we have lots of people breeding zebra plecos, suggesting that they are easier to breed than any other Hypancistrus species - but it is just a question of how many people are trying. In the case of Baryancistrus xanthellus there is likely less than a handful of aquarists with a group of adults."

Here we go! BOOM!!!!

Moved these BNP fry out into the 33 gal tank today. More Bristlenose than Killis in there now!