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Fish Folk

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Posts posted by Fish Folk

    Injury and Keeping up in the Fishroom

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Fish Folk

    On 4/9/2022 at 8:09 PM, eatyourpeas said:

    Looking forward to seeing the jug experiment take shape

    My son helped me set it ip tonight! His only comments were, “that was a long fifteen minutes…” and, “this is how the house burns down…”

    🙄

    (teenager)

    On 4/9/2022 at 9:16 PM, Odd Duck said:

    That injury had to really suck!  How soon can you get on one of those “peg leg” things where your knee and shin are resting in a cradle and you can get more mobile?  Do we need to arrange a rotating brigade of nearby Nerms to help with water changes?

    Awww!! That’s an awesome idea! Fortunately, I’m able to scoot down the stairs on my butt — like my 2-yr-old — and do some fish stuff. 

    • Like 1
    • Haha 3

    Injury and Keeping up in the Fishroom

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Fish Folk

    On 4/9/2022 at 4:48 PM, PineSong said:

    I’ll be looking forward to more on those jugs.

    I am really excited to see how this works out. I got the idea from Gianne (Inglorious Bettas). The heat tape + thermostat + power supply are not exactly cheap. But I think, for the way I breed fish, and the sorts of fish I've taken to keeping, it's a good possibility. I can add a bit of extra floating plants -- e.g. water lettuce, hornwort -- add a trio of E. Gilberti, and probably multiply them within weeks by just moving floating plants out to empty jugs. It's a trick I learned from Dr. Ted Coletti, outdoor pond-master.

    On 4/9/2022 at 4:50 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

    Well aren't you in a "pickle"🤣 Sorry I couldn't resist the Dad joke for you. You seem to have perservered thus far!

    There are just SO many good jokes . . . I know 😂

    I kind of wish people would send me jars of dill pickles . . . dill pickle potato chips . . . I'd love that!

    • Haha 3

    Injury and Keeping up in the Fishroom

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Well, I am not one to normally talk about personal health. But one week ago, playing pickle-ball, I totally ruptured my achilles tendon. Fortunately I've been able to get surgery this week, and am now on the slow path to recovery. But for 6 weeks I cannot bear any weight on my leg. Plus it's my driving foot . . . so there's that!

    282977968_ScreenShot2022-04-09at3_35_46PM.png.74cec3200bcfa11f48db7c7af4507a50.png

    Now, in all, I am in a very good place. Family is great. Work has been understanding. But we've had to cancel vacation, and things have come rather to a standstill.

    This brings me to my fishroom. Everything is down in the basement, a flight of 12x stairs. My boys have been sort of helpful feeding fish and whatnot. But I've been unable to stay away for long.

    Today, I was able to water change 4x tanks that needed it, feed the fish, video the German Blue Ram fry, and begin drying out killi egg media.

    Here's the Rams -- best batch I've gotten!

    Here's the Killi story

    (1) The Container with coconut fiber media

    2109250592_ScreenShot2022-04-09at3_44_56PM.png.d97a0a4130d2f6028c0bebfeb7f5e772.png

    (2) Emptied out after month or more in the tank (see broken tank story below for reason)

    269027058_ScreenShot2022-04-09at3_46_21PM.png.a6f0048eb78905713a09ac97bff39679.png

    Media with potential eggs drying out between layers of paper towel in fishroom tub

    1872155503_ScreenShot2022-04-09at3_46_59PM.png.b1d79bf76c89501026ab2afaf444ac1a.png

    In other news, I moved out the female Betta Imbellis from breeding tank. I think they've spawned -- it's hard to get low enough to see if there are eggs in under the catappa leaf.

    64D2235A-D998-41D6-A89C-7A52AD549BD2.jpeg.761d6beec52fba68b3a665ad34d7563e.jpeg

    The final piece of my heating-strip-tape arrived in the mail to go underneath my betta jug rack. I cannot wait to show that sometime later. Hopefully I'll get some Elassoma Gilberti as my first fish to enjoy the jugs!

    1860957040_ScreenShot2022-04-09at4_05_57PM.png.b9523f06122b236a6914ab471af9cb41.png

    1843180569_ScreenShot2022-04-09at4_01_36PM.png.39e30cf82c2e6e0e4751d16eb26f0f36.png

    0B1A2877-8912-4EBB-A99C-CA7F21D1E2C1.jpeg.128f5bff3637372923c1ce4bdb592f1e.jpeg

    Several days ago, however, I went downstairs to find a 10 gal tank had cracked and drained most of the water all over the floor. Boy was I thankful I'd just recently lifted the cords up off the ground!

    8A71DBA9-A75F-4C3F-A82F-4EE01A1071FC.jpeg.a6f5f06615bf26674a489175141c4dac.jpeg

    It was the Killi breeding tank...

    1565738697_ScreenShot2022-04-09at3_50_34PM.png.b1215ee528bbb9dfc850d8001fb148c2.png

    836438276_ScreenShot2022-04-09at3_50_57PM.png.e705437f51b770049d8e60d00c0c3384.png

    Don't feel too sorry for me with the cracked tank. I knew there was a tiny crack near the bottom for a year or more. I sort of "deserved" it!

    I was able to salvage all of the Killis. Right now, they're over in the 20 gal long tank I'd reserved for the GBR fry once they're moved out.

    0A00D4A4-F32A-4E08-BD43-41BB23DEAFB1.jpeg.39d0d5254b77fecea825e6a4a13ab649.jpeg

    Anyway . . . "That's the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."

     

    • Like 10
    • Love 1

    Skinny apistogramma female

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    What foods have you tried? My females enjoy frozen Hikari Spirulina Brine Shrimp and frozen Blood Worms. What I do is take cubes, drop them in a small container with hot tap water to thaw them, and then feed small portions through a syringe with airline added to the end. This allows me to carefully moderate the amounts of feed fed. The warmed up frozen foods seem much more appealing to them than other offerings. 

    Fish getting sick

    in Diseases

    Posted

    Sorry, mate. This is an unfortunately tough lesson in fish keeping. "Always underfeed before you overfeed." The swollen eye, swollen belly, etc all sound like the natural result of over feeding.

    Basically, infection builds up when the water isn't clean enough. Fin rot, pop-eye, bloat . . . all generally are results of imbalance with feeding.

    Once excess uneaten food begins to decay on a regular basis, the likelihood of infections -- whether fungal, bacterial, or other -- greatly increases.

    When you water change, try to do a 30% water change weekly. Gravel vac some to pick up surface detritus. Make sure you're using water treatment when you put water back in (unless you're on a well).

    Cut feedings back to 1x per day for a week. Improve the foods you're feeding. Try some higher quality frozen foods -- like spirulina brine shrimp. Both Omega one and Hikari brands are my favorites. I'd plop a frozen cube into a cup of hot water to let it unthaw. Then use a syringe with an airline attached to feed just a small portion. You won't feed the whole cube.

    Water is disappearing from tank at night

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 4/9/2022 at 9:39 AM, Help said:

    Last night I went to bed and my fish tank was normal. I had noticed nothing wrong with it, no leaks, no cracks, no nothing, it was perfectly fine. A little bit later that night, maybe 12 or 1 o clock, I heard a splashing constantly coming from the tank. I figured it was a little strange, but ignored it. This morning, at around 6, I woke up to super loud splashing coming from my tank. I jumped out of bed and turned on the light to see that my water level had mysteriously dropped halfway. The splashing was from the HOB filter dropping water from this new height. I frantically cut the power to the tank, and looked around for anywhere the water could have gone. I didn’t find a single drop ANYWHERE, it’s as if the water just turned into thin air. I’ve had this tank for maybe a month, and the room was the same temperature and conditions as all the previous nights. Any idea what happened to my tank water? Thankfully I hadn’t added fish yet. 

    Water will not evaporate that quickly. Do you have an airline attached? Sometimes that creates a suction, especially if you do not have a check valve attached. I lost almost an entire tank of water due to a barely visible crack the other day. See photos...

    37FB727A-39FD-4900-B4CD-043072CB99EE.jpeg.68d6c4559df635bf48f2bdaaf7fbab71.jpeg

    5C4F4DB9-4BA0-40D8-A5B5-C6A487E8BAE4.jpeg.3052e6469e11242de1254932fe5d3e15.jpeg

    Check the floor for dampness / wet. Water can run down a very narrow point and pool all over the floor.If you have carpet, it's worse because it gets everywhere there...

    • Like 1
    • Sad 1

    Anybody else have gold nugget plecos, L018?

    in Fish Breeding

    Posted

    here is an article with info:

     https://badmanstropicalfish.com/gold-nugget-pleco/#-_How_Can_You_Tell_If_a_Fish_Is_Male_or_Female

    From what I'm reading, it is nearly impossible to sex them until (1) they're fully mature (2) you have males and females to compare against

    The entire internet seems agreed they can't be bred at home . . . which makes me want to break the internet, and prove it wrong!

    As @Brandon p suggests, a top-down photo is very helpful. Can you get a wide pan, drain some tank water in, and temporarily move your pleco there to get a clear top-down photo?

    • Haha 1

    My two tanks

    in Photos, Videos & Journals

    Posted

    On 4/9/2022 at 10:27 AM, Apulo said:

    I have actually adjusted both lights to Bentley Pascoe's settings just recently and in the bigger tank I adjusted the co2, it wasn't quite enough.

    Bently is the man! It's difficult to find balance with new tanks.

    Apisto breeding question

    in Fish Breeding

    Posted

    Excellent feed back from @tolstoy21 -- Thanks!

    If you want a cheap DIY flow-through in tank contraption I've found very successful for fry, here's a thread on how to build one for yourself...

    Here's a look at my German Blue Ram fry, doing great in here...

    And Here's a look at my Rainbow Shiner fry in another one built the same way...

     

     

     

    My two tanks

    in Photos, Videos & Journals

    Posted

    I really like these! Nice work.

    Something you can think about . . . I see you've got a fair bit of algae building up. If you wanted to back that down, you can adjust your photo period (length of time lights are on) or you can mute your lighting.

    I'm a cheapskate. So what I do is use black cupboard liner over the top off the glass lids (I get it at Walmart).

    4212C36D-5C7C-493E-AE13-C1DBF5765ACD.jpeg.422e04fe3d68e1eb8040a07e1242a2e9.jpeg

    When I use it, I keep the same photo period, but just lay a cut-to-size piece on the top of tanks under lights as I like. Here are some examples of with / without. Not too drastic, but enough to regulate light some.

    The liner under my 55 gal LED light looks like this...

    556759923_ScreenShot2022-04-09at9_30_21AM.png.d7cd2461127f63ce949c58a22dd5b932.png

    When it is off / not used, the full light looks like this...

    251904208_ScreenShot2022-04-09at9_31_11AM.png.603d128ec6364d4930c3e5208dbe32aa.png

    When it is partially under the light, allowing full light on only part of the tank (the back) it looks like this...

    923241192_ScreenShot2022-04-09at9_30_55AM.png.dbe1661c78750afc56d0636f0a5ff4c4.png

    And then, when fully under, it looks like this...

    1768866269_ScreenShot2022-04-09at9_30_40AM.png.f752e78f8cbe5738e089736567c5a072.png

    And here' a look at a 33 gal long with cheap LED shop lights -- without / with light filter...

    96075122_ScreenShot2022-04-09at9_30_03AM.png.1114715584149a366f5f6febc6c63926.png

    1186903900_ScreenShot2022-04-09at9_29_48AM.png.69eac0a9ef289ca791689fa433e8f90d.png

    Basically, I put filters on when I feed in the evening, and take them off when feed in the morning. This allows a sort of "sunrise / sunset" effect for the fish so that when lights come on, the impact is less intense than without filters.

    Here is a view of the fishroom with filters on...

    1637281564_ScreenShot2022-04-09at9_29_12AM.png.5fc2c981e1e8e4aaa18d3e57858e3523.png

    On another line of thought, there's a guy over somewhere in Switzerland (?) YouTue channel freshwatertanks who does great work with those square tanks. I really enjoy watching his setups...

    And another tangent . . . If I had your tanks, I'd eventually want to try out some U.S. Native pygmy sunfish . . . Elassoma Gilberti...

     

     

     

    Banquet Blocks

    in Plants, Algae, and Fertilizers

    Posted

    On 4/9/2022 at 7:40 AM, JoeQ said:

    Thanks, but I don't use them to feed my tank while im away, I use them to supplement calcium for my snails. As for expiramenting, I use test strips which aren't accurate enough to messure tiny changes which Is what I would imagine a small Banquet Block would make.

    Gotcha! That was what i was missing. 

    Banquet Blocks

    in Plants, Algae, and Fertilizers

    Posted

    Hmm… well, to start, here’s what’s in it:

    28F3602A-7FC4-4D5D-A159-3FDA34467335.jpeg.dd533bcadae77164469f0e8751583cfc.jpeg

    Whether or not your fish actually eat it makes a difference. I cannot find any actual measurements anywhere online. Maybe you could run an experiment?

    I think the cautions in this article are actually understated. I have not used them for long vacations because they just tend go foul up the water - leading to fungus and algae blooms.

    I pay a friend to feed once per day while I am away. I make this easy by placing pre-measured amounts of food in weekly pill dispensers for each tank.

    If you have a lot of tanks this adds up, but using automatic food dispensers is great if you just have a few tanks.

    FYI — in a well-planted aquarium, adult fish can survive just fine for at least a week without any food.

    Another thing I’ve done is seed substrate with lots of live black worms. Fish can eat as they grow hungry over time.

     

    Apisto breeding question

    in Fish Breeding

    Posted

    I’d like to hear feedback from @tolstoy21 and other apisto breeders.

    Generally speaking, I think best scenario is keeping momma with fry, and leaving everything undisturbed.

    I tried removing newly hatched fry from mom recently with my Apistogramma Cacatouides… fry died. Maybe you could pull the cave / hut, but if you pull female with it, she may just gobble eggs up snd “reconstitute protein.” If you just pull the eggs, you might save some but the fry might struggle without parental care.

    • Thanks 1
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