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Fish Folk

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Everything posted by Fish Folk

  1. 1. If you chop up frozen blood worms... and add frozen Daphnia... thaw in hot water... maybe they'll take to it. Honestly, they really do lean heavily on BBS, live black worms, scuds, and live Daphnia. Occasionally they'll destroy a small snail -- almost like a Pea Puffer. 2. jonahsaquarium.com -- I know it's a janky website, but just e-mail them. Best NANF people ever.
  2. Yes! I've kept Elassoma gilberti and Elassoma okefenokee. Here's my little guy talking about the Okefenokee Pygmy Sunfish... Here's a couple photos of one for my male Gulf Coast Pygmy Sunfish... What questions do you have?
  3. I’m not sure about the leaping, but morning spawning activity triggered by water changes, (possibly also photoperiod lengthening), and ample live foods should yield good results. If you really want to focus on breeding them, here is an idea: Cut light diffuser to fit within your aquarium footprint inside the tank… Zip tie plastic mesh used with needlework to one side facing up… You can select many colors of mesh. The idea is that when they spawn, eggs fall through the mesh and are not eaten by the tetras. After a few days spawning them, remove the adults and wait for it! This technique is similar to breeding Brilliant Rasboras. My son bred them for BAP awhile back. It was absolutely magical watching the tiny fry emerge. Here’s an older thread…
  4. You should hunt down Sicyopterus lagocephalus Red-tailed Goby from Pacific Islands… so interesting! You’ll want to up your flow. Check this out: To set this up, I suggest adding a spraybar. I have no idea where you’d find them, but it’s worth hunting down! _____ Now, on another vein, I keep some North American natives in _cold_ water that act similarly to Gobys, and can display lovely colors: These are Orange-throat Darters from Ohio, in a tank with Rainbow Shiners from Alabama. Unlike Gobys, they do not eat much algae. Darters require live foods and frozen bloodworms. But there are hundreds of species with a variety of colors. I can show you lots of photos… but I’ll hold off on crowding your thread.
  5. @OmniPrincess here are a sequence of photos and videos: I purchased two cheap PetSmart Betta splendens. My goal was to get a successful spawn... just for bragging rights! This is the Betta breeding shelf in my fishroom. I breed them in the locking Sterilite containers: Here's the male: Here's the female (note: she is long-finned, double / split-tail): Here's the pre-spawning setup: Here I caught them embracing during spawn. I leave the lights on during spawning and all the way for several days until fry are free-swimming. He definitely ripped her up a bit beforehand: Moved female out, and male stays vigilant guarding the eggs in the nest: Male moved out, and here's a look at first fry: Plan for building a "port" to maintain humidity, but allow for feeding: Feeding Vinegar Eels through port: Harvesting banana worms: 12/28/2023 - Fry Check: 01/06/2024 - Fry check: 01/20/2024 - Fry Development: Draining water from fry tub: Daphnia feeding for Betta fry:
  6. Give them 72 hrs. Do not turn lights off (keep them on dim). They need privacy, don’t bother them. Are there eggs in the nest yet? Sometimes the embrace is very quick / minimal.
  7. Did he build a bubblenest? I have been successful (finally) breeding Bettas, and am happy to share my setup if you’re interested.
  8. I think that once your autotrophic bacteria catches up, the heterotrophic (cloudy) bacteria will be gone.
  9. I keep Tropical Fish (warm water), and Temperate Fish (cool water). My favorite Tropical species is the German Blue Ram… My second favorite Tropical species is Discus… Among Temperate fish species, my favorite is the Rainbow Shiner… My second favorite is the Banded Darter… Clearly I have a thing for colorful fish…
  10. It is a bit hard to properly explain. Diatom algae is there because nutrients are available. If plants were there first, they might have absorbed nutrients before algae got ahold. Adding plants will help. I’m not sure which snails might cut through diatom algae. Be advised that snails can multiply out of hand.
  11. Several things to bear in mind… (1) Betta splendens are far too selectively bred for certain fin traits to be healthy over the long haul. Those long ornamental fins are easily subject to infections. (2) The sources of health problems with Betta splendens fall broadly under four headings: [a] congenital health ailments… inherited from unhealthy brooders… may manifest slowly over time [b] internal ailments… due to improper feeding, poor digestion, blockage, etc… or internal parasites [c] external infections… bacterial, fungal, ich, etc. [d] external injuries… from sharp hardscape, from fighting, or from excessive flaring. You cannot treat [a]. It sounds like you’re tuned into [b]. Some medications might help [c] but that can be both risky and pricey. You can be thoughtful enough to mitigate [d]. (3) Bear in mind that all of these factors add up over time. You may have no idea what your fish has come through to arrive in your tank. Unless you buy from a breeder, you may not know how old your fish is. Old fish (like old people) break down. You can exercise due diligence to keep your water parameters healthy. Adding a catappa leaf generally helps Betta splendens. A bit of flow from a filter keeps water from getting overly stagnant. Finding the right temperature can be more important than you realize. Too hot… and bacteria begins to multiply exponentially; too cold, and your fish begins to break down. Some potential ways to help… (1) Add some live plants. Add a catappa leaf floating. Ensure that your tank is fully covered to maintain humidity above the water in cold, dry season. Betta splendens intake surface air. It is best if that air is humid. (2) Engage in a few minutes of mirror-play each day. Get your boy flexing his colors. Just use a hand mirror so he sees his reflection and flares up a bit. Do not overdo this. At the same time, ensure your water is regularly changed. Fish live in their own toilet, so to speak. Clean water will promote health. (3) Add a very lightly bubbling Ziss air-stone, or if you don’t already have one, a small sponge filter. Keep the bubbles very low / very small. _______ I’m raising baby Betta splendens right now. It is a project! My oldest son set up a nice 5.5 gal for a female Betta a few years ago. The environment was perfect, but she came with some genetic issues, grew a tumor from under her left gill, and passed… My middle son kept a pretty Koi male, and adored him. But he also swung a baseball bat in his room and shattered the tank 😑
  12. Yeah… the safety data sheet fir Slime-Out just lists it’s active ingredients as “Proprietary.” This is fairly common for Fritz Aquatics treatments. If you keep hammering your tank with antibiotics, you’ll K.O. your beneficial bacteria colonies. Be sure you add FritzZzyme 7, or equivalent to rebuild your colonies.
  13. Ok. Here’s some thoughts: (1) Moving from one tank to another might have caused them to encounter something harmful. I cannot say exactly what… (2) If possible, get ahold of that local breeder. Find out all of the water parameters these fish came from. (3) Think through lighting. Is something too bright? Too close to a high traffic area in the home making them jump, hide, etc? (4) Do you have caves? Kribs do tend to stay in caves a fair bit. That may calm them.
  14. So did the fish even touch your LFS water? Or did you get a call / message indicating that they had arrived for you to pickup in the shipping bag? Do you know where they originated from? Any chance you maybe ran parameter on the bag of water he came in? We've bed Kribs before, and raised fry to full color. I'm keeping Nanochromis parilus pair right now... but the male has not yet proven to be a good mate.
  15. So sorry to hear! Let's walk through this methodically: When did you acquire the P. Idenau Krib? Have your fish died within days of being added to a new aquarium? IF you just recently receive these by a special mail-in order, did you test the actual temperature of the fish bag when you received it? Or did you just plop the bag in your tank water to acclimate and then drop them in within an hour? If so . . . my first guess is a temperature mis-acclimation. Fish are cold blooded, and when they get raised from ca. 60s to 80s suddenly, their organs just sort of "explode." IF you've had them awhile, how do their bellies look? Are they rounded and feeding right? What exactly have you been feeding them? Sunken bellies is a bad sign of internal parasites. Many wild=caught fish retain parasites. On the other hand, if you've been feeding large (or hard) pellets... or certain large-portions frozen foods... fish can die suddenly from blocked intestinal tracts. In Mbunas from Lake Malawi, that's sometimes referred to as "Malawi Bloat." Of course, your fish are River fish from west Africa (Idenau, Cameroon). There are a number of other possibilities that can suddenly take a fish down. But to help, please share some more detailed information!
  16. Female Rainbow Shiner (Notropis chrosomus) and male Orange Throat Darter (Etheostoma spectabile)…
  17. This looks like a very nice start! Best wishes. I recommend planting an absolute garden in there before adding fish.
  18. Found a dashing species of Darter while looking things up: Bluespar Darters (Etheostoma meadiea) The blue on the face is as close to the Federally Endangered Bluemask Darters as I’ve seen so far… They range between TN and VA. I’m told the coloration may be very limited to spawning seasons. TN game law is tricky. VA would be a safer bet for catching in the wild. There might be some in KY. iNat info is scarce.
  19. Nice! I’m not a Puffer keeper, but they’re really cool to see. Appears to be two different species. Took me a minute on the Keyhole Cichlid. That looks like an old, old male. Possibly it’s a donation from someone who couldn’t keep him anymore. Notice the eye appears to have a spot. Bottom photo… looks like an African Bushfish? Some kind of aggressive old world Anabantid… Is there a Military Base near you by chance? Looks like maybe there’s some local market for big, strong, predatory / aggressive-looking species…
  20. Ok. That’s proper. Do you know your KH?
  21. Are you testing your water right out of the tap? If so, fill a large Tupperware container with tap water, set it aside with an air stone running in it for 48 hrs, _then_ test that water. That is the best way to ensure you’re getting a fair reading. What are you using? Test strips? Titration drops? Digital?
  22. I prepare Zucchini like this…
  23. My M. ansorgii never jumped out, but my B. imbellis did…
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