Fish Folk

Correct! I believe you’ve properly sexed them. From our time with them… Males are more yellow / brown. Females have darker spots with higher contrast. Mark’s Aquatics has an excellent series on how to keep and breed them…

I suspect it is mostly brought on by stress. Do a regular schedule of water changes. Feed some quality foods. Should recover reasonably soon. If it looks like it’s getting worse and worse after a few weeks, you’ll need to consider medication. But my Acaras get pitting in the head and heal within a few days. Definitely stress related.

I _think_ he’s fine. The black is part of his “beard” — branchiostegal membrane, if I’ve got that correct. I don’t personally see any major cause for concern. Keep studying on Bettas and how best to care for them. Great basic intro here from the CoOp. Quick overview video here… World-class info here from Betta adjudication master, breeder, science teacher… https://www.ingloriousbettas.com

The head marks look like hole-in-head disease. With larger cichlid’s, this comes and goes pretty frequently, especially if they’re under stress. The body gash looks like an abrasion from Hardscape. It is very possible your Pleco is getting naughty. For short term, I’d buy some light diffuser pieces, and cut / zip tie them into a tank divider. I get them at Lowes. WalMart carries suction cup holders for using them as tank dividers if you want a very neat look. You may need to special order them online. This will at least provide you with time to think through what to really do. If your Oscar heals in a few weeks and doesn’t show signs of more stress / attacks, I think you’re going to have to consider a long term plan to separate them.

Beautiful flow in that tank with EBAs. I circled a female…

I’d probably try to just treat him right awhile, observe closely, and manage if it gets noticeably worse. He will need quality food to heal.

Back some 22 years ago, I rented an apartment in a small midwestern city downtown. From my porch, all day and night, I could hear screams of raptors. At some point it dawned on me that this was ridiculous. There wouldn’t be a bunch of hawks, falcons, eagles, etc. downtown, and they certainly wouldn’t be screaming all night. Out of sheer curiosity, I traced the sound to the parking lot of a high-end rare car dealer. They had speakers blaring raptor calls 24/7 to keep pigeons away so they wouldn’t poop on the expensive cars 🤣🤣🤣 🐦 🦅

It’s always a satisfying feeling to DIY solutions in this hobby. I hope this works for you! I use small “bacto-surge” sponge filters in clear gallon jugs cut to allow access on top.

Personal call here. I think either option would be fine. For me… I might ditch the rainbows and go for Denison barbs. But… I’m also not opposed to adding more fish… and I’m wondering how Odessa Barbs would fit in there? More reds to contrast with the greens…

Maybe a black worm?

If you have a mature pair, they’ll likely spawn. They are mouth brooders. Female will hold fertilized eggs in her mouth until they hatch (18-24 days). Then, unless she gets spooked and swallows them, she’ll spit them out. As Wikipedia accurately reads… My son bred Auratus. Here’s a video we made on that… He also made a demo video on “stripping” eggs from a female Rock Kribensis…

I really cannot be CERTAIN. I’d suggest the following as my best initial _guesses_ But you’ll know for sure once a female is holding. Have you bred Africans much?

You totally made me rabbit-hole on the zodiac just now… 😅 Before you mentioned them, I was already thinking Apistogrammas. Either “triple red” Cacatouides, or “orange flash.” I think you’d totally love a school of ca. 20x Glowlight Pygmy Barbs to go with them.

Agreed @Ken Burke those are fantastic angels. Hope you can convince them to multiply!

At first look, it appears to be a wild-type / form of normal Pterophylum scalare — sometimes called “wild type,” “striped angel,” or _unhelpfully_ “Peruvian Altum.” Altum is a distinctly different species. This video shares a lot of footage and distinguishes between them…

1-0 Barça This goal… sits down two defenders… Another view…

G O O O O A A A L L L ! ! ! Pedri! This kid is a locksmith!!!

I ripped out my chip! Now I’m a Culé through and through… And raising up the next gen right…

Big La Liga match today: Barça vs Sevilla, 3:00 pm ET at Camp Nou… Sevilla has a very challenging defense to break down. Visca el Barça!

Yeah… he’s got a bad infection. I’ve seen some fish recover. Many don’t. He needs clean water and some meds. Very sorry. I’ve got a discus who survived Popeye. She was nearly blind in one eye, but since has regained her sight.

Here’s an old thread on this subject from another forum, some 15 yrs ago. Keep water clean. Make sure you’re feeding variety. Maybe lightly gravel vac to ensure infection sources from substrate are nullified. Note that the “med trio” CoOp recommends can all be dosed together. Feed boiled zucchini slices, Vitamin-enhanced wafers, some mixed protein+veggie wafers, etc.

I have straightened out your photos… Your aquarium is beautiful! Those red root floaters are absolutely stunning. Here is an excellent article from TFH Magazine on dealing with hair algae. I’d read it over thoroughly. Basically: (1) Remove manually (2) Adjust Parameters (3) Add Select Algae Eating Species (4) Bunker-down for a Long Battle. I’ll note… if you try Florida Flagfish, be sure you buy _FEMALES_ rather than males. Males get really testy… (My sexing I.D. from another thread)

It won’t hurt as long as you carefully follow the instructions. Beware that the green stain will be epic. Change water as directed. If it says not to use certain conditioners with sulphur then use API water treatment. Prime and Fritz stink = sulphur. I can’t remember if that treatment mentioned that or not… maybe it was Ich-X… or something else.

So, is your 8.5 pH with or without the water softener? Are you using softened water in your aquarium?? How do you test your pH / KH / GH parameters? Strips? Titration drops? Digital? Ammonia does convert from Ammonia to Ammonium somewhere in the 6.4 pH range, if I recall. Maybe it’s more toxic at higher pH ranges. But if your tank is well cycled, this really need not be a problem. If I ran into a scenario where my water just didn’t work for my fish, I’d consider choosing other fish to keep before making my water obey my desired parameters. The only exception is breeding Discus.

I think they are available. See link here.