Fish Folk

My male got sick and passed. But I enjoyed the species enough to order a new pair. Now there’s a trio in here. Here’s “new boy”…

For what it’s worth, I like just breeding mine in a colony…

Nope. Male got sick and passed. Moved along rest of them. I’ve never successfully bred apistos.

In this situation, the best plan is to breed, put fry into a separate tank, grow out, separate desired fish to a new tank, spawn together or spawn back to parents. Then repeat. Eventually you’ll get some of what you’re looking for. Guppies can inbreed about 7x generations before major deformities corrupt the line. Ideally, you’d run about 6x 20-gal long tanks, each divided by a matten sponge, separate sponge filters running in each corner. This gives you 12x tanks to develop two lines. I doubt that a single Punnett Square will help very much because of the number of variables.

If I had two 125 gal aquariums, I’d ditch everything else I have, and build one cool water North American tank, and one warm water South American tank. Here is a dream stocking plan for each… Temperate 125 (N. American) Large School of Notropis chrosomus (Rainbow Shiners) from Alabama… Several Percina aurantiaca (Tangerine Darters) for benthic / bottom dwellers… For “centerpiece” fish… I’d probably go for activity level instead of size — several Cyprinella pyrrhomelas (Fieryblack Shiners)… Honorable mentions… maybe add a few Chrosomus erythrogaster (Southern Redbelly Dace)… I’d go for a heavy flow, but with hardy plants. Tropical 125 gal (S. American) I’d enjoy a variety of Hobby-bred Symphysodon (Discus). Maybe 10x. I’m an odd ball, but I prefer a mix of bright colors instead of wild-type… I’d definitely go for a couple Hypancistrus zebra (Zebra Plecos)… Without a doubt, I’d include several pairs of Mikrogeophagus ramirezi (German Blue Rams) because they are just the best… Then, for tetras, I’ve learned the hard way that Discus eat small species. So I’m inclined to go for Nematobrycon palmeri (Emperor Tetras)…

All of these approaches assume a dedicated hatching tray or container. 1. Air flow. Always keep an air-stone near for any of the following. 2. Catappa leaves. Lowers pH and breakdown supports micro life. Some anti fungal benefits. I do not use with #4, but occasionally with #3. 3. H2O2 — over-the-counter Hydrogen Peroxide 3% solution. Use 1-ml in hatching container every 12 hrs for 3x doses. I do not use with #4. 4. Methylene Blue - 1 ml for an initial dose. I tend to just dose _once_

I enjoy watching these various tanks each evening at feeding time. Here’s 6x tanks, 20-sec. shots for each…

It’s an interesting journey, getting deep into aquatics. The first leg of the journey is about establishing the overall domain. Whether it’s just a couple of aquariums or a whole house full, decisions focus on figuring that out. I think there eventually comes a time where you find a sweet spot… a balance. After that point, decisions all revolve around (1) improving (2) maintaining, and (3) streamlining that level. Beyond this… life happens. Big moves reset things. Focuses shift. Budgets vary. Eventually there comes an atrophy. Something has to cut back. I’d say: enjoy the journey wherever you’re at. Jim Cumming in 🇨🇦 🍁 has (last I heard) _thousands and thousands_ of gallons of large aquariums in his basement. He breeds huge Central American and South American species. But he tells of a time when his entire hobby had to be relegated to one closet in his house in which he bred Killifish in tiny aquariums. Your build looks great! (I am not jealous, having absolutely no desire for any new tanks, racks, space, etc). Enjoy your journey! Keep going …

It if grows for you, just slowly spread it around the aquarium substrate. It will end up looking like a spongy carpet of sorts. I find that whenever I try to propagate it, it hates me and fails. But if I forget about it for 6 months, it grows wonderfully. [ now... NERM alert 🤓 🌱... ] As a very minor grammar matter... the name of this plant is derived from German spelling: Süßwassertang however, the third letter there is the letter Eszett (ß) which is a lowercase for the sound which in English is "ss." So, the _correct_ English spelling for Lomariopsis lineata is: "Susswassertang."

They are maturing. Spawning age cichlids will invariably produce drama. The black & white striped ones are male Auratus. They will dominate and crush everyone else eventually. Cichlids will always have a “tank boss.” When that role is in contention, lip-locking battles will go on interminably. I think that there are some females holding already — not positive… but if they look like they’re holding a bunch of marbles in their mouth… they are! (except its eggs, not marbles) I’d be sure their diet is heavy in greens. If too many meaty foods are fed, they’ll break down with illness.

There may be some way to calculating "virgin" PAR before accounting for tank water, depth, etc. Use this chart provided by ACO for their light products: Generally speaking, I would trust an aquarium light designed to specs by the horticultural geniuses at ACO, and focus more on proper nutrients, photo period, planting, etc. Remember that planting heavily, limiting the photo period, and feeding Easy Green or similar helps get things balanced at the outset in a planted tank.

My initial guess is a dark strain Medaka fry (Japanese Rice Fish)…

Are you hoping to keep some fry?

Here’s a look at the first F1 fry to begin coloring up from above brooders. I did not spawn these, but acquired from a master NANF breeder…

Lost my male a few weeks ago 😒 Ordering a new pair this week 😊

While they are being bred a lot in FL, I'm not finding much technical taxonomic information on them. Here is a nice little overview. I would highly recommend feeding a diet that includes a lot of greens. Omega One mini sinking "Veggie" pellets are an excellent balance meal... I found that my Mbuna would actually enjoy eating duckweed from time to time. They were not as eager as goldfish, but the greens were excellent for their digestion. It appears like the younger the females are, the brighter yellow they'll appear. Once they mature, they will turn more of an orangish hue. If you've never bred mouth brooders before, you might enjoy looking up some simple methods for separating females out so that they will hold successfully, and "spit" their fry into a healthy, peaceful environment to thrive. I've set holding female Mbunas into structurally dense 10 gal aquariums before to hold. That's a nice size space for fry to begin life in. Once a breeding group gets going, some Mbuna fry will survive in an adult tank. If all you'd want is just an added new Cichlid now and then, you can let them go and just enjoy new little additions every once in a while. They'll likely savagely eat most of their fry. George Farmer has a some beautiful ideas for designing tanks with hardy plants that Rift Lake Cichlids will not utterly destroy. It's worth seeing his ideas!

They’re called “CryoPak Phase 22” because they hold temperatures to 22°-C (71.6°-F). I buy mine through my LFS. I think they can be bought online too. Here is technical info. The gel changes its consistency, and is designed to help keep insulated boxes at ca. 72°-F. With MRBDs, they can survive at temperatures in the 50°s, but this pak helps to moderate that drop. I add 72-hr heat-paks in cold winter, and Uline ice-paks in summer heat. The CryoPak Phase 22 is ideal for fall and spring shipping.

I gifted them all to a friend. They never spawned for me. That’s the quickest way out of my fishroom. He tells me they’re doing great!

Snapshots from the boxing up process… Catch large school with large net… Move to large specimen container, remove duckweed, cover, and examine… Prepare precise water volume for shipping and treat with Amquel… Count out precise numbers of fish, move to shipping bag, add O2… Close up box with Acclimation Guide and Shipping Notice, label filled out and covered with tape to protect from rain… Now to the P.O…

Here is what goes _in_ the box apart from fish… A. Acclimation instructions. This is crucial info. B. Shipping Notice / species care guide. C. CryoPak — maintains ca. 72°-F in box. D. Custom cut styro lining. E. Paper towel lining, and corner protection.

Yes! Because I’ve gone over details about what’s in each box elsewhere, I omitted that in this original post. Maybe I’ll take a few more photos and mention that here…

Alabama Rainbow Shiner F0 brooders looking 🔥 as temps drop in my basement…

I’m shipping out some juvenile F1 Mountain Redbelly Dace tomorrow. They don’t look like much yet — more like mini Siamese Algae Eaters at this stage — but they’re worth the wait… Setting everything out tonight, I thought I’d share a little enumerated checklist for how I ship day-of. This is not a full-scale review on exactly how I ship from top to bottom, but more of the practical process on go-day… 1. Large fine mesh net for catching the whole school in order to select the best for shipping. 2. Small fine mesh net for selecting the best fish to sell. 3. Paper towel for padding. I prefer this to newspaper. 4. Regulator for O2 tank. 5. Bernzomatic O2 tank I bought at Tractor Supply. 6. Small Lee’s specimen container. I use 1.5 of these for water volume in this particular shipment. 7. Plastic fish bags. I’m just using a double bag method with fish bags from my LFS. 8. Kordon AMQUEL. I add 3-6 drops per bag to counteract ammonia buildup in shipping. 9. Rubberbands for sealing up fish bags. 10. Skimmer net for removing duckweed before shipment. 11. Siphon hose with small pre-filter sponge fastened to the end for draining tank water into shipping bags. Avoids plants, etc. 12. Packaging tape. 13. Blank label (USPS Priority Mail) 14. USPS Priority Mail Medium sized shipping box, well insulated and taped up already. 15. Sharpie for labeling fish bags and completing shipping label. 16. Scissors 17. More packing tape. 18. ACO Specimen Container.

I miss my Betta imbellis…

Female Betta splendens will be ready to spawn on a regular cycle if they are well fed and cared for. If fed a rich varied diet of live foods, females can release HUNDREDS of eggs per spawn. I leave a light on for 48-72 hrs to let a pair spawn. Then the female comes out. Male guards until I can see free-swimming fry, then he comes out. I never keep them in a tank much deeper than 6-inches of water. Anabantid fry must develop their labyrinth organ to survive. You’ll have hundreds… then they’ll all mysteriously crash. Micro nematodes like Banana worms, Walter Worms, or Micro Worms are excellent early goods. Artemia nauplii (BBS) are staple too. If you can get them past 2-weeks, your chances are very good!