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Fish Folk

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Posts posted by Fish Folk

    Jewel Cichlid babies

    in Fish Breeding

    Posted

    On 12/8/2020 at 1:36 PM, Robin said:

    Hemichromis exsul

    You know, we've never seen these in stores before. [I think] we only get the Hemichromis guttatus (judging by photos on fishbone.se). Seems like the stores just ask for jewel cichlids, and take whatever farms provide. Your species is really bright red! Can you share some photos?

    Breeding Honey Gourami

    in Fish Breeding

    Posted · Edited by Fish Folk

    33 minutes ago, Irene said:

    here's what they looked like when they were close to hatching

    Irene, you make the best videos! I always learn so much. That chopstick trick is really awesome. If you’ve got an established, planted tank, with floating plants, maybe 1x partially decomposing catappa leaf, you can probably make it over the initial half-week or so. You can take sera micron, tap it over a cup filled with tank water, and then vigorously mix together. The resulting “green water” can be dripped into fry tank for early food. Vinegar eels will work eventually. Be sure to counteract the vinegar acidity with a pinch of baking soda. 

    • Like 1

    Easy Green + Valisneria Americana + Discus = ??

    in Plants, Algae, and Fertilizers

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Daniel said:

    The tank and house were built at the same time so one wall of the house was left open. All the plumbing for the aquarium was laid in place before the concrete slab for the ground floor was poured. When it was time the aquarium was brought in on a forklift and then set on the stand.

    🤭 🤩 Daniel is officially a man of aquarium legend! Check out his interview with Randy Reed over on the Aquarist Podcast, Ep. 93. 

    • Like 1
    • Haha 1

    Breeding Honey Gourami

    in Fish Breeding

    Posted

    Thanks for sharing! We're interested in breeding some dwarf gouramis in the new year. I assume you've got a confirmed pair in the tank? No really experienced feedback, but I'll enjoy following this thread. If they're like other anabantids, the eggs are collected by the male, and spat up into the bubble nest until fry hatch. I know with bettas, the eggs can be tricky to make out in among the bubbles. In a couple days, if there are fry, they'll be tiny little slivers along the water surface. Check around and see if other gourami breeders remove the parents to ensure fry survive. Good luck!! Honey gouramis are wonderful. We bought 2x of them the other week. Not sure if they are a pair or not. 

    • Thanks 1

    Discus in a Community Aquarium

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Boesmanis are awesome! No advice for you on that... but someday, you should definitely enjoy a tank full of discus. Daniel (elite poster here) shared a photo of a huge tank he had with discus. It’s over on the forum under plants...  title was something like (Valisneria + Discus + Easy Green = ??). Anyway, his photo will make you want to tear down your tank, and start all over 😂

    • Like 1

    German Blue Rams

    in Fish Breeding

    Posted

    Here’s what we do for easy DIY bbs hatchery:

    (1) buy 2x clear 1-liter polar springs water bottles. They have a narrow neck that works

    (2) after emptying the water... using a sharp utility knife, cut one of them straight around the outside about   1/3 of the way down (this will be the base / holding bottom)

    (3) after emptying the second one, cut off the bottom about 3/4 of the way down in the same way just by the ridge that bows the plastic back out. This will be the cap that is then fitted back over the top of that same cut unit — it will be squeezed o we exactly where you just cut it

    (4) leaving the cap on, take the 2nd bottle and invert it into the 1st section

    (5) take the bottom you cut off (which will be the “cap” and with a large enough drill bit (we just twist by hand) work 2x holes in — one for airline in, another to allow air pressure out

    Buy the aquarium co-op bbs eggs by the can. Store those in refrigerator until used. 
     

    We mix 3x tablespoons of aquarium salt in the inverted 1-liter container with room-temp water. Then add a rounded 1x tablespoon of artemia cysts. 
     

    insert an airline with fairly rapid bubbles into one of the holes, and fit the cap on. Set by a light for 36 hrs. 
     

    Then remove the airline, allow to settle for 2-5 mins, and draw out bbs from bottom with fishroom dedicated turkey baster. Brinecshrimp should be orangeish colored. Squirt this through a fine mesh brine shrimp net. Then dunk this into a separate small container of clean water to lower salinity you will be adding. 
     

    you should be able to see all the bbs swarming. If it’s just brown eggs, then something went wrong. 
     

    if you want to see more, move to the 6:35 min on this video:

     

    • Thanks 1

    Plastic Grid on Bottom?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    5 minutes ago, Brandy said:

    @Fish Folk That is a beautiful tank for a completely non-planted tank...I love the greenery at the top.

    Thanks! We just cut to size and fold large pieces of filter sponge in half around pothos roots, jam it into the open tops of two  aqueon 75 hob, and then . . . . fuggedaboudit . . . 😂

    Plastic Grid on Bottom?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    We've done this for a few tanks. As gardenman says, be sure to trim the light diffuser paneling a bit smaller than the exact footprint of the tank bottom so that it doesn't dig into the silicone. I will say though . . . if you're going to have African mbuna cichlids in there . . . they'll probably dig down and expose the light diffuser paneling. 

    If you look in the attached photo, zoom in under the large piece of Texas holey rock (ca. 80-100 lbs), you'll see that they've dug down to expose it.

     

    IMG_2332.jpg

    • Like 1

    Discus in a Community Aquarium

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    If you’re an aquarist with some decent experience, you should not be afraid of keeping discus. These are some of the most beautiful fish in the freshwater tropical hobby. We have slowly been adding young discus to our aquaria, learning how they like to be kept. In the final analysis, they really are not difficult. Hope this video encourages you to give them a try!

     

    • Like 2

    29 gallon questions

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Some BNPs will gnaw on Amazon Swords. Not sure about Banana plants. In general though, if there's an easier source of food for them, they'll go for that before hitting plants. Per your stocking question, you may find that those Kribensis will get extremely aggressive when they're ready to spawn. I doubt you'll have any guppy fry survive in the aquarium with Kribs around. They'll eat baby guppies. You'll also need to keep a watch on where the Kribs spawn. they like caves . . . but so do Bristlenose plecos. If there's a competition, someone might get injured. 

    German Blue Rams

    in Fish Breeding

    Posted

    Congratulations! We've raised up a few hundred rams . . . but never enjoyed the pleasure of seeing them successfully raise up a brood of their own. Best wishes. Looks like the fry have source context for lots of good infusoria in there. They can probably be fed live baby brine shrimp soon. That can help their development. We found that getting them on to bbs early rather than nursing them along on infusoria, vinegar eels, etc. really helped move them over the 2-week development hump. Take care not to over feed though. They may only be able to eat 2x bbs per day each. Little bit goes a long way! Also: don't be too discouraged if the parents decide to reconstitute protein and eat them all . . . that happens. If you have another aquarium set up, you could move the parents if they start to predate on the fry. Hopefully you'll have an amazing cloud of happy Rams though! Best wishes! So beautiful . . . 

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

    Hydrogen peroxide

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    We use H2O2 for two purposes: (1) Remove hardscape covered with BBA, and douse it _outside_ the tank with H2O2. When returned to the tank, after a couple of days, it turns rusty-colored and then dies. (2) Instead of using methylene blue to protect against fungus on eggs we pull, we use over-the-counter 3% H2O2. It is a very light amount . . . 1 ml. / 1 gallon . . . every 12 hrs, for 3x times (36 hrs). 

    Anyone Keeping / Breeding Xenotoca Doadrioi?

    in Fish Breeding

    Posted

    19 minutes ago, mountaintoppufferkeeper said:

    I believe the lower pressure helps with encouraging spawning when fish initially arrive since it really tends to kick off those first 7 days in quarantine.

    Makes sense. Storm fronts moving through lower BP, and triggers spawning. Just did a simple science experiment: (1) boil water in pan on stove (2) pour into large mason jar and cover with plastic wrap (3) just when bubbles stop rising, place a frozen cold pack on top outside surface of plastic wrap... the jar begins to boil again! Cold air drops pressure, and pressure from heated water responds. I think it’s the same thing on a micro-scale with fish. They are used to certain pressures at certain barometric levels in aquaria, but when low pressure on air surface draws out (on a micro level) their organs, they are triggered. So... one way to trigger some fish to spawn may be to lay cold packs across lexan / glass lids to simulate storm... just a random idea! 

    Rinsing Baby Brine Shrimp

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    We hatch a small amount of Artemia daily in 1x liter hatchery (we run two, and alternate days). We turn off the air, let the settle towards light or bottom, draw out with a turkey baster, then squirt through a brine shrimp net back into the hatchery. Then we dunk the netted bbs into a 1/2 gal. Lee’s large specimen container filled with tap water.  Then, set by a light, wait for the bbs to congregate by the light, and draw out with a 10-ml. syringe from WalMart with airline tubing on the end. As Daniel says, it may not matter. However, if you’re feeding certain fish / fry, the increase of conductivity via salinity can eventually pose some problems when fish (or fry) are kept in very tight quarters. 

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