Fish Folk

I have been thinking about this now for more than a year. I am so glad to learn that other aquarists actually did it!

That's great you keep a tank in your classroom! My son and I helped out a 5th Grade class several years ago set up a 20 gal long tank, and then a 33 gal long. It was a lot of fun! We made some videos . . . I'll try to find examples . . . This one was the 20 long from 4x years ago... And here was the 33 gal long from 3 years ago... Depending on the filter you are using, you might find that the duckweed will not "stay put." You can buy an aqascaping net, and catch out most all of it if you want to. Otherwise, just wisk off a punch every few days to keep it from getting out of hand. I do recommend a larger tank. Smaller tanks are much more chemically unstable than larger volumes of water. I'd say that a 20 gal long is a perfect tank size.

Welcome to the CARE Forum! I like your tank. You'll get perspectives from all sorts of aquarists here. I'm more of a fish breeder than anything else, so my perspective is colored by that interest of mine. Those caves look inviting. You might consider some Apistogramma agassizii. Let's see if I can find a nice photo of a double-red / super-red male... Apistos love caves. That's what made it come to mind. Tetras are always fun. You might also like a lively school of Rummynose Tetras... There are a lot of cool Corydoras to choose from, so find one you rally like! I think that a few bottom-dwellers, a nice full school of shoaling / schooling fish in the mid water column, and 1-3 major centerpiece fish is a full, balanced tank if everyone gets along. There's an old rule of thumb: add 3x plants for every 1x fish. I'd love to see your entire tank loaded with plants, and then sprinkled with fun fish.

It seems doable. Here’s a short write up helpful for a first-time keeper. If I were setting this up from scratch, I would pour at least a 1/2 - 1 inch base layer of rinsed Oyster Shell beneath my substrate to enhance the water hardness and mineral content for the Crayfish exoskeleton. You could also use Crushed Coral. Then make a Garden of Eden for your little E-Blue. Loads and loads of plants, rock-work to explore, etc.

That looks like a male Warpaint Shiner there guarding the rock hollow.

Can you snap a few photos? or upload a YouTube video? I'm interested in seeing what the rock-work you've constructed looks like for them. Very excited for you!

Rainbow Shiners, Southern Redbelly Dace, and Mountain Redbelly Dace — grow out tank & floating / flow-through trays…

Little ones up close this evening…

I think the only reasons would be (1) for aquarist's ease of feeding, and (b) possible benefits from a vitamin-enhanced dry food diet to make up for any deficiencies.

This is the main stud… happy New Year!!!

I always look for the white egg spot directly beneath the ventral fins to identify a female. That area is hidden in your photos. I’d guess it’s a male. Nice Koi!

Little male tries dancing with the stars. Female takes off, and on the follow up, he meets a larger male…

Is this a tank you acquired? Or is this one you already have set up? What are your reasons for cleaning it, and / or disinfecting it? If this is a dry tank you recently acquired and if you are trying to clean surfaces, then cleaning vinegar will help to eliminate hard water marks, etc. It can be rinsed out with water then. Just take care not to harm the silicone seals. Now, if it is a tank badly troubled with disease, etc. then you may want to totally sanitize it. You can fill the bare tank with water, and then add several cups of Clorox Bleach and leave it up overnight. Then drain it completely, refill with water, and pour in an entire bottle of Prime (water treatment) and leave that up for 24 hours. Drain then, and dry out with paper towel and let stand empty for a few days to air-dry. Some folks skip the Prime step, and just allow any chlorox to evaporate out… I’m just paranoid. Anyway, when you start it back up, you are going to have to wait good and long before it’s properly cycled. You can perform a similar process with this driftwood. Fill a bathtub, put the wood in, weight it down completely under water if necessary, and add loads of chlorox bleach. Let it sit overnight. Drain the water, refill the tub, and dump in a bottle of Prime. Let that sit overnight. Drain, and let the wood air dry outside for a day or two. My son and I have done this with stones and sea shells. Never a problem if you are patient. No, if the stones are dry, the beneficial bacteria is no longer active. Same goes for the tank. If it is dry, the nitrifying bacteria is no longer alive. Only if still wet with tank water will there be anything that could possibly be maintained. But in that case, you do not want to “clean” or “sanitize” anything per say. Eco complete is a soil we have used a lot. It is specifically designed to facilitate plant root development. In general, unless you pour a sand cap layer across soil, added sand on any sort of coarser / larger grained substrate will eventually just fall beneath it. With substrate, larger stones / grains / particles rise up… smaller ones fall beneath over time. Sand is not ideal for plant roots, IMHO. A 40 gal is large enough to require an appropriate light to penetrate to the substrate to grow plants. Your description is a bit unclear… is there a built-in light in your “full hood” or are you setting LED lights up on the tank? This one is hard to answer without more details about your goals. If you have a glass top, I would personally recommend buying the $150 ACO Light designed for 36” tanks. It will be perfect. For a timer, just buy a cheap 24-hr timer to plug a light into. Set it up for a short 8-hr photo period first, once tons of plants are added. If ample plants will demand all of the available nutrients, algae growth will be minimized. Be sure to feed the plants with recommended dosage of liquid fertilizer. Some plants will appreciate root tabs. Generally speaking, before adding fish, you want to build a garden of eden first. Don’t water change until you have the tank densely planted for a few weeks, and are ready to add fish. Beneficial bacteria (e.g. FritzZyme 7) can be added when you set up your tank, then when you add plants, and when you add fish. Eco Complete will have some bacteria to kick start the tank. Add extra air-stones. The bacteria you are cultivating is aerobic bacteria. More air, the better as the colonies kick off.

Found the sane thing on a leaf of java fern last week. I am curious about it too!

That's wonderful! Congratulations. Brichadri are a species I've never worked with before, but one of my LFS gets them in regularly. They are an elegant fish. I have a rescue pair of Julidochromus marlieri that are _not_ spawning at all . . . I think they're a pair, due to size dimorphism. Perhaps they need tank mates to bring on spawning behavior.

In the past, I've had problems with Val. But of late, I seem to have figured it out. I have it growing in all sorts of tanks, though not as equally well. I think that @Shadow has some extra Val on hand. Do you know what species of Val you're getting? I have has success with Valisneria americana (Jungle Val). My tanks have various pH parameters, but my water is soft. I add root tabs to start, but over time, just rely on decomposition in the substrate to fertilize. I keep it hot (86-F) and cold (60-F). In general, it seems to like a cooler tank. Adding an air-stone or two seems to help a bit . . . but that may just be anecdotal. I'm not really sure that pH is a determinative factor, but maybe I'm wrong. Those Rummynose Tetras look amazing! Wow!! Very special fish. Beautiful scape too.

This Computer Playback is actually excellent. It (ust goes for about 4.5 minutes. I am not sure why it's doubled in time with 2nd half silent playback.

I'd love to see you cut footage with Astor Piazzolla's "Oblivion" sometime. It is very moody . . . I can no longer find my favorite string orchestra performance of it on YouTube. But there are many, many arrangements you can choose from. It would be nice if you stayed with the music, and only edited video to match the music without audio cuts.

Well done! I love art music. I thought there were some very effective cuts and transitions that aligned with the music well. The Russian Dance theme (ca. 6 mins) probably could have been cut to a more lively animated sequence than the coral. Keep going!

Fry would struggle to make it with predatory species in the community tank.

He may chase, but fry will not come from them. She may be fertilized by a prior Platy tank-mate (females can carry milt a long while) and could drop fry delayed by months. But, Poecilia and Xiphophorus do not cross. Bear in mind that Mollies are in the same family and _can_ cross with Guppies. “Muppies” or “Gollies” the sterile hybrids are sometimes called.

Ich. I recommend Ich-X as prescribed on the bottle. Beware blue will stain clothes.

Thanks to all for the ideas! If I went just a bit more high tech (e.g. Canister filter) these ideas all become possible. But then… in a perfect world, all NANF tanks would run on a dedicated chiller. Until I do a serious overhaul (or make bank on selling some fish), I probably will continue to tinker with the cheapo approach. I was able to see temperature dip to 58°-F. I made a video update…

Do not feel overly distraught. Guppies that are born into in your own home aquaria will always do better for you. I've lost some nice ones in the past when boxes arrive. Temperature acclimation can be key. If fish warm up too fast, their organs get damaged. Your instinct with adding salt is usually wise. Many livebearers are bred, raised, and kept in lightly brackish conditions. Since vastly differing KH / GH can affect them, sometimes tests are important to conduct.

Wonderful ideas! I have exciting homework. Someday I may. The bullet $$ is high for now.