Fish Folk

Betta babies update video … just a week shy of 1-month old…

I have never gotten HITH with my Discus. But fins snd body issues can build up as excess bacteria begins to attack. Their entire body has a unique slime coat (it’s what Discus fry eat off of as a first-food). In higher temperatures, bacteria has a way of multiplying fast and posing a risk. This is why many expert Discus keepers have a robust water-changing schedule.

I would not personally try this. I'll explain why, with some caveats. But I do not mean to be negative or discouraging. Hopefully as you read, you'll understand that I appreciate your enthusiasm for scientific experimentation... (1) H20 + H2 = "hydrogen water." It appears that this does not occur in nature very frequently. H2 is a stable gas that can be infused, to some degree, into H20. Here is a quick look at one simple analysis of its tendency in water. However, H2 is lighter than the normal composition of "air" (typically ca. 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen) resulting, I suspect, in a simple gas-off. When ingested into the human body through drinking fluids, however, H2 _may_ have some beneficial anti-oxidant effects. There is a lot of hype... studies are in the earliest stages... hard to say. But it appears that H2 is produced largely through industrial means rather than by nature. (2) While it is true that all innovations result from some sort of untried processes, it is more certain that proven techniques result in proven results more reliably. Right now, there is more than a century of research and innovation that has already gone into aquaculture. The motivations behind this research has been a passionate and frenzied fuel for study -- from financial success, to highly specialized breeding programs, to academic clout -- all of which is to say, honestly, there are very few genuinely new innovations to make versus old innovations to perfect, rediscover, adapt, etc. For example, I am interested in Aquaponics. I have just dipped my toe in (you can see a tiny journal here) but I have also uploaded a massive study done on aquaponics farming here. I could spend most of the rest of my life just scratching the surface of what has already been discovered by way of proven practice there. All of which is to say: no one who is without serious data is going to shout you down [please know -- that is _not_ what I am trying to do here], but at the same time it is wise to investigate things that have already been shown to be beneficial to aquatic life. In general terms, I recommend increasing the amount of dissolved oxygen (O2) in water via air-stones, sponge filters, spray-bars, or HOB filters breaking the water surface as a best practice for increasing fish health. (3) The pet-keeper / fish-breeder in me remains nervous about experimentation. I really don't like to risk animal life without a clear objective. But the wanna-be scientist in me says "GO FOR IT!" I am however reminded of the "Oxygen Destroyer" in the original Godzilla movie down in Dr. Serizawa's lab, where all of the fish in his tank were executed to prove the efficacy of what he'd been working on. It turned into an effective way to deal with the MUTO in the ocean, but it certainly was not conducive for propagating life in an aquarium...

Since Discus like hot water (ca. 82-87 F), not all plants survive well. My floating plants do not last. I use Hygrophila species instead.

Here is a nice write-up from ACO on feeding Neocaridina. They are omnivores. Honestly, if your tank is well-established with loads of algae, you really do not need to worry about feeding too much. They'll clean up some extra uneaten fish foods. As a rule of thumb, fish and shrimp do not make great tank mates. Tiny baby Neos are "fish food" for most substrate pickers. Now, WCMMs might be a fairly safe bet. Hard to say for sure.

Here is an answer I read about colors and albinism. It is more with reference to reptiles, but still bears reading. I suspect that there may be a connection with carotenoids in their diet and lighting. Again, this is not my own write up, but quite interesting… _______ ”There are two major factors that would determine what colour an animal that is missing the pigment “melanin” in its skin, integument and eyes would be (and “missing melanin” is what an albino mammal is). The first is “are there any other available pigments in the animal’s skin, integument and eyes?” Although mammals only tend to have the two forms of melanin in their paint palette (eumelanin, which is black/grey, and phaeomelanin, which is rust/brown/yellow), other animal groups - reptiles, birds and fish - have other pigments in their paintboxes. So an albino corn snake, who is missing melanin from his paint palette (also known as “amelanistic”), will have the red erythrin pigments and the yellow carotenoid pigments - resulting in a snake that is varying shades of red, orange, yellow and white. If you have an albino budgie, who is only missing the melanin from her paint palette, she will be yellow - she has carotenoids. These are typically called “lutino”. If you find a reptile or bird that is white with red or pink pupils, that usually means that it’s not just missing melanin - it’s also missing the other paints in the palette. And a “snow” corn snake is a good example of the second factor. The second factor is “Does the integument have any structures in it that change how light passes through them that would alter the colour?” Hair, feathers and scales are complicated in a lot of ways. One of those ways is the presence of things like iridophores and structural colouration. A “blue” budgie only has one pigment in his feathers - black/grey - but the shape of the internal structure of the feather barbs refracts light in such a way as to make it appear blue to us. A “snow” corn snake is missing not just the black/grey melanin from his paint box, but also the red/orange erythrins (the carotenoids are actually derived from their diet and accumulate over time). But you can usually still see what pattern the animal would have had if it’d had normal pigmentation - as a sort of more-translucent and almost greenish-looking white. That’s because of the scale structures - they’re different on the borders where the black would have been (and the belly checkers) than they are on the ground colour or the saddle patterns. I suspect that in the case of true albino zebra and other “marked” mammals, that’s what we’re seeing - structural differences in the hairs resulting in shadow patterning. In some cases, they may not actually be “amelanistic” - they might just be “hypomelanistic” - with a lot less black pigment on their palette (or it’s been diluted down a lot so it looks cream or grey instead of black!) If you’ve got a mammal with no hair that’s albino - like a dolphin - it’s likely to be pink all over, because it doesn’t have integument to look white. Oddly enough, for corn snakes at least, the skin beneath the scales is also pigmented - so a scaleless albino (“amelanistic”) corn snake will still have striking red/orange markings. And, of course, as … has already pointed out, many “albino” animals are actually “leucistic” animals - they have blue or grey eyes with black pupils, and the gene only changes the colour of their skin and integument, masking the normal colouration by covering it in white. These animals tend to be true, bright white where they have white areas (and you get “partial leucistics” that have areas of bright white colouring and areas of normal colouring, like “piebald” royal pythons.)”

I’m not sure exactly. I may have tested it at ca. 40 ppm when my Rams were breeding in there. The tank has been going for a few years now. I sold off a few Discus, and added several more.

Here is a very nice write up on them, with a few videos embedded. They look beautiful!

Unless the tank is already well set up, the shrimp will need forage to nibble on. Read up on caring for them. @Shadow has experience keeping shrimp, and may chime in here. In my view, a group of 10x could do. But they will need the right things to eat.

If you care for everything well, you could fit a group of 12-16 WCMMs. Shrimp may need a safe pile of rocks in the back corner to colonize.

I kept 7x in a 55 gal. for awhile. I think that a 75 gal. definitely would have been better. But it was lovely just the same… I water change only about 30% once a week. I just use two large sponge filters

^^you had me here^^ 😂 I bring tub fish indoors over the winter. If you can get another tub, have that indoors, and move your fish into a partially heated entryway, garage, or basement … that makes most sense to me.

@AllFishNoBrakes — that’s an absolutely perfect plan. Excellent rhythm.

You could glue a measured shim on. They come in packs with varying sizes at hardware stores. But honestly… I always lay out a fitted board for the tank to sit on. Not a cheap option, but I prefer it.

Fantastic!!! Wow. That’s a thing of great beauty.

Nice details! You might lose your mind with how much algae I have in some of my tanks. But as a fish breeder, I have other priorities. Sounds like you’re doing the right things. I have found success with several species of fish to control it - Siamese Algae Eaters (SAEs); _female_ Florida Flagfish (Jordanella floridae); and a Clown Pleco. All might prove disruptive to your community. You can trim affected leaves off… dose liquid carbon… but you might consider setting up a passive CO2 system. Get a ca. 50-ml. Turbidity column (not the whole kit… just a tube)… Turn it upside down in the water, allowing water to fill it. Place it along the back somewhere inconspicuous. Attach the foot somehow to the rim. Be creative. We used black Gorilla tape on a black rim. Get a low pressure soda stream CO2 canister, and regulator valve… Attach a long airline to it, and carefully fill the inverted 50 ml. Turbidity column once per day — only half if the tank does not absorb it all. Make sure you have some flow in the tank, but no air-stone _directly under the inverted column_. This is a “Passive CO2 system.” Beware that it can crash your pH if you over do it. Up the tap-water buffer a bit to counteract that. CO2 diffused this way is quite accessible to normal aquarium plants. Here is something like this being used in practice (begin at 8:00)…

All of my tanks are tilted ever so slightly. Super triggering! Eventually, I discovered that my entire basement floor is tilted! Once full, there’s going to be ca. 250 lbs of weight on that shelf from that tank alone. Spaces might disappear…

That's a great point! I've seen amazing Corydoras setups for those big, fat Green ones (formerly... Broochis splendens). I'm sure this tank is warm, but I love how big and hardy they get, and how well they do with the shoaling Geophagus...

Great! I posted a condensed video series on another thread here recently...

Yes. I just use 5-gal buckets from WalMart. With small species like Guppies or Bettas, I sometimes use a clean plastic popcorn bowl from the Kitchen to acclimate. My wife always loves that... 🤣

Point in fact: most aquarists will just tell you to “plop ‘n drop” new fish. This typically works fine. But sometimes die-off is correlated to sudden temperature shifts. My thoughts here are out of an over abundance of caution. Don’t think of this as a rule… unless you’re doing NANF, in which case it probably SHOULD BE a rule! If temperature differences between bag and tank are less than 5°-F, just float the bag for 20-30 mins before pouring bag over a net suspended in a pail, and adding fish. I prefer adding with tank lights off for comfort. If temperature differences between bag and aquarium exceed 5°-F, then add several gallons of fresh, clean tap water to a clean aquarium-use pail / bucket with some Prime (or preferred water conditioner). Try to get temperatures in the pail _very close_ to temps in the fish bag. I also add a lightly bubbling airstone. Provided temperature is close enough, move fish to this pail. Then, for 60-120 minutes, start adding tank water to the bucket slowly. Once temperature is very close, net them over. I mentioned NANF (North American Native Fish) above. They are my favorites. Nearly impossible to find at fish stores. Here’s a few species, most of which I keep. I get boxes of these fish with water temperatures at ca. 45°-F. Very cold!

They can adapt to a fairly wide range of water parameters. Unless your water is extreme, the only thing you need to be careful with is temperature acclimation. If they come from 62°-F, but your tank us 74°-F, there is a danger to all fish when shifting water parameters too fast. If you test the temperature of the bag they’re in and find it is 5° or more different from the tank you’re moving them into, consider possible impacts to their health when suddenly shifting temperatures. Shifting up degrees very suddenly is particularly dangerous.

So, the Pygmy Sunfish just hide when bigger, faster fish are around. You’d almost never see the Sunfish. They’d do a little better with a smaller species like the Bluefin Killifish… Rainbow Shiners could enjoy a tank with many species of Darters. There are so many beautiful Darter species. These aren’t in my tanks, but here’s a Stipled Darter in brilliant display… And here’s an electric green Missouri strain of the Banded Darter… Just unbelievably beautiful. There’s another species I’ve kept — Saffron Shiner — but never successfully got them to color up…

Nice! He’s the best guy. Most all of these came from him. We met up and caught Catawba Greenheads together last March before NANFA Con. He has forgotten more about native fish than I’ll ever begin learn.

Yeah, they’re really special. I raised these from summer tubbing. Here’s another shot of a male I just snapped…