Frost
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Posts posted by Frost
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26 minutes ago, DShelton said:
If I may ask, where did you acquire yours?
I ordered mine from Blackwater Aquatics from California, they have a lot of wild betta species. I've never used a transhipper before so ordering within the US was nice. The Channoides were the only thing I've ever ordered there but it was a good experience and I would order from them again. They also pop up on aquabid every once in a while although I haven't seen them the last few times I've checked.
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Looks like the main ingredient of grub pie is soldier fly larvae while community plus is krill. Sounds to me like a good comparison would be bug bites vs xtreme foods... I'd figure swordtails would go for either, maybe pick the one with the main ingredient you feed less of for variety?
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I haven't had any issues keeping amano shrimp at 82... but amanos aren't cherries. 80 I think is fine for bettas, I wouldn't worry too much keeping them anywhere between 75-82
I'd say leave things be for now, especially if the betta isn't eating the shrimp. I see such wide temp ranges recommended for neo shrimp that, having no experience with them of my own, I can't really recommend anything. If they aren't trying to escape the tank, and the betta isn't eating them, I think they should be ok.
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If you try it do so cautiously. I've never tried it but bettas and sparkling gouramis are similar enough in appearance that it would not surprise me if a betta immediately attacked them. I don't think I would try it in a tank that small with no plant cover.
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I have had 8 in a 55 gallon with about a dozen harlequin rasboras and a bunch of amano shrimp for almost two years now and I love them. They're touted as a very difficult fish to keep but that hasn't been my experience with them.
From what I researched before buying them the "tricks" to keeping them are heat (I keep them at 82F,) tannins (mopani wood and almond leaves,) and have a variety of food available in case they're picky. They're touted as being very picky about food, but when I bought mine they ate everything I gave them... until recently. They quit eating a couple things but I think it's a combination of not-fresh food and spoiling them a bit with bbs. They do have very small mouths so small food is a must.
55 minutes ago, James Black said:Very aggressive. He's going to be the boss of the tank
This isn't true, at least not for Sphaerichthys Osphromenoides, I don't know if another fish has the common name "chocolate gourami" but they're a very peaceful species, and many sources including Cory say as much.
Mine squabble with each other but never hurt each other. I don't know what my ratio of male to female is but they court and spar, and don't acknowledge anything else in the tank (however they will pick antennae off of snails, they can't resist them)
I don't recommend keeping a single specimen of this species either. They don't really school, but if they get stressed they will group together. They seem to be more comfortable with their own kind around and with dithers.
As for tanks size and quantities of fish? Personally I don't think I'd recommend a group smaller than six, and I don't think I would keep six in a tank smaller than a 29 gallon (except for breeding) A 29 gives six plenty of room to roam around and not feel cramped, and leaves you plenty of room for a dither of your choice. I wouldn't call this a rule though, these are just my suggestions and I'm sure they could be tweaked with success.
Don't be too afraid to try this fish, but do plenty of research before you try your hand at them. Have a variety of foods ready and you should be ok. Mine really like the bug bites flake right now, they like vibra bites (break up the really curly ones,) If they're picky about even high quality prepared foods they should take frozen blood worms, brine shrimp, cyclops. If for some reason they don't take that, break out the bbs and work on getting some variety in there.
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Have you looked into buying a new frame and replacing the old one? On small tanks it's usually just as expensive as buying a new tank but for a 220 it might be worth it
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It's a gamble, my 55 gallon has the bottom rim broken on one of its short sides, and it's been running for two years for me without issue, and I don't know how long the previous owner used it while the rim was broken.
If it went for a month with no leaks I think I'd set it up and watch the crack to make sure it doesn't get bigger, but be ready to take it down if it degrades any more. The break on my 55 is a lot worse than that crack, but it also is in the middle instead of on a corner, and I'm not sure how much of a difference that makes.
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Has anyone else made this out of 1" pipe instead of 3/4"? it's... really snug. Not sure if the handle could break but I'll try to remember to report if mine ever does, so far so good though
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Yeah, if you search "20 gallon Fluval Edge" these two pictures come up. I've never seen this tank in person. I don't think it was ever anything more than a prototype or a custom build, which is a shame because it pretty well mitigates all the problems the smaller versions had
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I did... broke it trying to cut the top off to make it a regular rimless tank. How annoying that top is to work with really ruins the enjoyment of the design.
The lights weren't fantastic either, especially the original one that used halogen bulbs. Eventually the whole unit died but I never tried the newer LED version. I don't think they're very high light.
The top cover had a metal screen that rusted out mine. I replaced that with a plastic one I had 3D printed, it was cool but ultimately not worth the $40ish to have that made.
The filter was actually one of the best things about the tank because it's an Aquaclear, not much to go wrong there and no gimmicks to speak of.
I came to the conclusion that the tank, as is out of the box, is best as a shrimp tank. The closed top is bad for bettas, they can learn to come to the middle for air, but then they have to deal with the filter outflow. Can't really do anything schooling properly in a tank that small. Maybe a few guppies? I really don't know... The tank is just such a bad overall design, complete form over function. the 12 gallon version isn't any better because it's just taller... which helps none of these problems at all. I've seen pictures of a 20 gallon long type of fluval edge that I guess never made it to production? That would have been interesting I think.
I'd just recommend not getting this tank. It's just not worth the hassle, is incredibly limited, and fluval's current production gimmick-kits are all better from what I can tell.
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22 hours ago, Irene said:
Did you ever figure out what was going on and did the fry end up making it?
Sadly I never dug up anything conclusive on this, I lost track of that fry and haven't seen the behavior again.
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I like painting the back black the best, but painting takes time and can be a pain so on smaller tanks I'll just tape black construction paper to the rim
I don't like the stick on vinyl backgrounds because I can never get the bubbles out of those things, but if you can then go for it
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I would generally advise against both mixing gouramis and keeping only two, I think Cory's advice of "get 1 or 3+" is honestly the best way to handle most gouramis. I don't have much experience with C. Lalia and I haven't kept T. Chuna but I think for a 20 high I'd recommend only 1 C. Lalia but maybe a trio of T. Chuna.
Alternately if you're more interested in the live-bearers on your list I'd recommend skipping the gouramis and sticking with some mix of those
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10 hours ago, Patrick M. Bodega Aquatics said:
If you do an overkill filter like a Fluval 207 - 307 you would be able to do the stocking you want.
I'd think a canister would be too strong for a betta... Maybe not if you put a spray bar along the entire back of the tank? Could do it with a honey/dwarf gourami, but if OP's heart is set on a betta this might not be the best idea
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A couple years ago I had a 20 long running as my only tank with a betta, a dozen-ish harlequin rasboras, and some amano shrimp. I really like 20 longs and think they're the perfect tank for the "betta community" setup
I'd recommend picking one of either the rummy's or the harlequins. A 20 long is a bit small to do two schooling species in my opinion, but if your heart is set on both I think about 7 of each could work.
Harlequin rasboras are one of my favorite schooling fish and for the several years I've been keeping them now I've known them to be completely peaceful, beautiful little fish and couldn't recommend them enough. When I kept them with a betta I didn't have any fin nipping. I have little experience with rummies and have never kept them with a betta so I can't speak to that.
As for shrimp if all you want is a cleanup crew amanos might be better than cherries, they get bigger and a betta might be less inclined to attack a larger, less colorful shrimp. Cherries could work just as well though depending on the betta, but I don't have experience with them either.
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I bought a short aquasky before the shorter planted 3.0 bar became available, and if I were to buy that size of light now I would probably buy a 3.0 or a stingray 1
I mention the stingray because if you turn off the green spectrum (leaving white, blue, and red on) you basically have a dimmable, programmable stingray with a lot of special effect gimmicks that aren't really worth the price tag imo. I'm curious how an aquasky and a stingray would compare with a par meter though.
It'll grow some plants, but if your goal is a high tech setup with difficult plants I don't think I'd double down on a second aquasky, two might be good for more moderate plants, and one should be enough for low lights like java fern, anubias, and crypts to thrive.
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From my experience hatching Bronze corys (aeneus) the fry looked a lot like your picture for the first couple weeks or so and then developed their final color once they reached a certain size
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Just fed my Channoides fry some micro worms when I noticed one of them kept doing barrel rolls... I've seen ricefish fry do some interesting acrobatics but something seems wrong here.
on API test strips I'm reading GH 120, KH 40, pH 6.5 to 7, and nitrate and nitrite both 0, temp is about 78, tank is a bare bottom 5 gallon with some floaters and other plants waiting for their final homes. I'm feeding once to twice a day, co-op fry food, bbs, micro worms, first bites, and micron (not so much those last two now, they're a few week old and can handle bigger food) I've been changing about 2 liters of water a week with RO water. The tank also has a couple sponge filters
Out of about 20 fry I've only seen one doing this, and this is the first time I've seen it
Hoping that even if nobody has experience with Channoides than maybe they've seen it in other kinds of bettas or other families of fish and can shed some light on this
Here's a brief video of the fry
Edit: Since posting I've lost track of the fry in question, so it either stopped doing it or moved to cover...
Not sure if it could be a swim bladder issue? Each roll started and ended with the betta oriented correctly, my experience with swim bladder issues has normally been more erratic than that
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6 hours ago, Fonske said:
I took some for you.
Wait, this is just suction cupped to the glass? Like with airline holders? Do they ever fall down?
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I'm using an old Marina C25 for mine that I had around. It doesn't fit well through the hole, I had to run the cord through the bottom of the lid and it just hangs by the cord, but I'm getting much better hatches with a heater right now so I'm using it
I suppose I could just suction cup it to the side, didn't really think to do that until now
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I have a 200 watt Jager diagonally in a tank, and it's been working fine for almost a year now, it's so tall I don't think it could even fit vertically
I've heard they're good heaters but I have to say they seem oversized compared to other brands
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I haven't kept any Hendra but they're on my bucket list. I've read that they can get really reclusive in large tanks, I don't know how true that is but any time I've kept a betta of any kind in anything bigger than a 20 long I always wished I'd done a 10 to 20 gallon instead.
I wouldn't do a 2.5... I think maybe a 10 for a pair and go from there. A 5 might be fine but I'd worry about an aggressive male, especially if they breed, and a 10 will be easier to keep stable than a 5 anyway. A 20 long I think would be great if your goal is a colony of them.
I think they're part of the Coccina complex, so if you're having a hard time finding info on Hendra then maybe information on Coccina might be helpful too.
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3 hours ago, MattyIce said:
If you are any good at cutting glass, and have the tools for sanding down the sharp edges, you could take it apart, and rebuild as a 29 gallon lowboy:
I never thought a 29 lowboy was something I wanted and now I'm just sad it's not a standard tank size
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If it was a 10 gallon I would say to treat it as a rimless and just put a foam pad under it, but I'm not sure if you can get away with that on a 29
I think I would just buy a new one, especially if the dollar per gallon sale is still going, and then use this one for storage, maybe for a quarantine tank, or maybe see if someone would want it for a reptile tank
Shark adv internal filter
in General Discussion
Posted
I really did not care for the one I bought. Mine needed to be cleaned out like once a week to keep it quiet or else it would just grind. My ramshorn snails also constantly got stuck crawling over the magnetic seams of the filter sections and died. I don't even think I would use this thing as a backup at this point, if I had a filter die in one of my tanks I would go and buy something else instead of digging the Shark adv out of the closet.