Emika_B

I have 4 cats: Cheshire “Chess”, Jackie “JackJack”, Ava “Squeaks” and Aiden “Chunky Monkey Boy.” Aiden is the only one who ever seems even remotely interested in the fish. Chess likes fish food, though, so sometimes I’ll give him a tiny sprinkle on his food if he’s being picky. Over the years that I’ve had cats I’ve learned that they’re all insane in their own way. Aiden will normally have a ‘cat crazy’ (some call them zoomies) at about 8:30 PM. Jackie doesn’t like to be picked up but loves scritches. They all love the smell of bleach and will wait outside a closed door while I clean so they can go in and get high on the residual fumes. Catnip is a mixed bag, though Jackie is definitely a nip-head, or any mint really. I buy minty hand soap just for her to enjoy the scent when I pet her. We have 5 litter boxes (1/cat + 1 is the general rule) and they seem to have preferences on not only a specific box but also which box gets used for which bodily function. I always say that my dog is my perpetual toddler and the cats are perpetual teenagers. Chess is too cool for school, Jackie is the pretty girl, Ava and Aiden are the anti-social Pinky and The Brain-types (Ava’s The Brain).

Kraft Mac & Cheese (either original or fancy), using butter not margarine. Topped with hot dogs cooked up in the toaster oven so they’re well done (not quite burnt but definitely colored up). And if you have leftover Mac & cheese, may I recommend mixing it with Wendy’s chili? It’s oddly good.

@Beardedbillygoat1975 - I just broke off a portion of a regular sized wafer that I was putting in my main tank. If I remember the size of the mini, yeah, it might be a quarter of that. They’re still swarming it but I’ll probably take out whatever’s left before I go to bed. Now I have to watch out for the larva babies 🙂

I have berried shrimp! I thought I'd give the opae a treat and broke off a bit of algae wafer for them. Dropped it in and quite a few scurried over to investigate. To my surprise (and great joy) I saw two berried shrimp! And one other looks like it had eggs so I should see the little floaters if that was the case. Either way - yay! Enjoy a video of the little guys (and girls) munching.

Water tested the main tank (all good) and topped off about 2 gallons. Siphoned up debris in the breeder box. Gave the valisneria a trim and boy did it need it! Replanted a few stems of val that had popped up where I didn't want it. Did some filter maintenance. When all was said and done, gave everyone a treat with frozen baby brine. The baby fish are finally big enough to eat it and they seemed to enjoy it. Tested the water in the quarantine tank (I was attempting to breed rummy noses but they weren't interested). All's good so tomorrow I'll probably go looking for some live bearers. Edit to add: I found a single piece of duckweed (?) in the big tank. I'd had some sneak in on plants a while back for whatever reason they all died (the duckweed), stuck to the side of the tank and just dried out. I figured that was that. Well, one popped up today so I put it in the baby box. Maybe I'm crazy 🙂

I'd like to add my 2 cents on the aragonite issue. My tank is 40-ish gallons and primarily Fluval Stratum substrate. My GH is high but I thought I was having low KH issues (a whole different can of worms) so I added aragonite, 1 pound per gallon as suggested. My plants have had no issues with growing. In fact, the valisneria is threatening to take over. The crypts are doing very well as are the anubias. The micro chain sword (I think) isn't growing as well as I'd like but I doubt it's the aragonite. It's always been rather stunted. Anyway, I can't say if an entire tank substrated with aragonite would have plant problems but I do know that in my case, 4-ish pounds isn't a problem.

I use aquaPlanner. I use an iPad so I’m not sure if it’s in the Google Play store or not. It’s not a fancy app but it does the trick for me.

Fish Folk - thanks for the kind and helpful words! I’ll have to look into getting some marbles. I’m trying to grow infusoria but I’m not sure how productive it is. Honestly, if nothing comes of this I won’t be too bummed. I hadn’t planned on any successful wild breeding. Now, when I add platties and/or guppies, well that’s an entirely different story 🙂

I will add this for what it’s worth - your substrate may be messing with your KH reading. I use Fluval Stratum, a “buffering” substrate. My KH is low, 3 or 4 degrees if I’m lucky. And that’s with 4 lbs of aragonite added to a 40-ish gallon tank. I just have to trust that the substrate will keep things from going crazy with the pH. Fortunately, all of my other readings are good and my fish are happy and healthy. Good luck!

A few weeks ago I found mystery fry in my quarantine tank. They’re either rummy nose tetras or dwarf neon rainbows. Now the fry are in a breeder box in the main tank and seem to be doing well. You guessed it - now I want to see if I can encourage breeding. I placed 1 slim (male I’m pretty sure) and 3 large bellied (supposed to be an indicator of fertile female) rummies in the fishless quarantine tank. I’ll be feeding them protein rich foods such as frozen baby and regular brine shrimp, freeze dried tubifex worms and some all around nutrition with the Co-op’s fry food. There are quite a few stems of pogostemon octopus floating and a large ‘fluffy’ plastic plant, along with a couple of moss balls. I’m using a sponge filter for filtration and no heater - the water’s been 82 - 84 lately. I have several more rummies in my main tank and they chase each other around regularly. From what I’ve seen it’s more breeding-style than just simple schooling. However, it’s a community tank and my guys are all little piggies so I don’t hold out much hope for any ‘wild born’ fry. I’m hoping it’ll be successful in a more controlled environment. Suggestions are more than welcome. Wish me luck!

@Beardedbillygoat1975 - Your tank is coming along nicely! I’d read that spirulina (or however it’s spelled) works well for them. I may have to add that to my list of foods to keep on hand.

Thought I should put an update on this tank. I’m really enjoying watching the shrimp scuttle about, even upside down. The front of the tank developed some thick but fluffy algae but the shrimp didn’t seem to pay it any attention. It was getting to the point I couldn’t really see the shrimp, the fluffy algae and just plain old regular algae. So I got a small scrubber to clear it away. The little guys scurried around in a frenzy - they weren’t used to their water moving like that. But it all settled down after a few minutes. I haven’t seen any babies, not even any berries. Still, I’m not too disappointed. I might test adding a small crumble of algae wafer to see if that makes a difference. Or get some brackish-specific greenery. Eh, we’ll see. Enjoy!

Okay, let’s see if this works. Following should be a video of the tank’s current look and one of the babies in their apartment.

Right now my living room is 82.8 and the tank (40-ish gallons) is 78.3. Because I live in Hawaii, it’s often hot and humid so fans are a necessity. So far the tank’s not gone over 83 even though the room is about 86-88. I use an Inkbird controller to turn on the fans when the tank gets to 79. Both were found on Amazon.

They’re either dwarf neon rainbows or rummy nose tetras. Both schools were doing the new fish quarantine period and I didn’t see these little guys until maybe a week after I’d moved everyone out to the big tank. I thought they were bubbles! This pic was taken just after I’d scooped them out of the quarantine tank so I could put them in their Ziss breeder apartment in the main tank. Maybe two-ish weeks old?

Time for an update! The tank is doing well, very stable parameters. It’s been very warm lately, ambient in the mid to high 80s so the tank fan has been running nearly all day every day to keep the water below 80. I’ve gone to 82 a few times but the fans are working very well. Unfortunately, that also means a lot of evaporation, so I’m topping off a gallon or two every few days. Ah, the joys of the tropics! The crazy news is I have baby fish. Not sure if they’re dwarf neon rainbows or rummy nose tetras since both schools were in the quarantine tank at the same time. I wasn’t encouraging breeding but I suppose the heat triggered them - it regularly hit at least 84 for a stretch. Didn’t realize I had babies until I’d moved the fish from quarantine to the main tank. I was getting the quarantine tank ready for another round of fish when I saw what I thought were bubbles where there shouldn’t be bubbles. I watched and sure enough - baby fish! I freaked out because I’d already siphoned off a lot of gunk from the bottom of the tank before I saw them. Then I realized they were too tiny to eat anything I had on hand. So, a crash course in making infusoria (still not sure I got it right). So now the babies are in a Ziss breeder box in the main tank with a moss mat and a few floating stems of pogostemon octopus. I picked up a packet of Hikari First Bites while I wait for the infusoria to do its thing. Of course, now I want to try to actually breed the rummies. Might give it a shot. I’ll post picture soon.

I’m attempting to grow infusoria for my fry (either dwarf neon rainbow or rummy nose tetra, not sure). I watched Irene’s video and several others on YouTube. I’ve gone with filter squeezings, trimmings and water from the main tank and some anacharis that’s starting to fall apart. Oh, and an air line. In Irene’s video she had a light on the jar for warmth. Well, my ambient room temp is over 80 so I’m not worried about that. Is light needed for the infusoria to grow or will it be okay with limited light? I have the jar near the fish tank so it’ll get some light from that but nothing dedicated. Is over 80 degrees too hot?

@Daedalus - Any particular spot in the tank I should look? I have a rather dense canopy of valisneria and at the bottom some thick crypts and a few open spots that probably have plant litter built up. Or should I take some water from the filter? Oops, forgot to add that the quarantine tank they’re in has several stems of anacharis. Will the infusoria just show up in the debris? If so, I won’t siphon up the plant bits like I normally would.

Wow! Thanks all for your ideas. I have a few food items I can powderize and should provide a good variety for them. Wish I knew what they were but I guess I’ll know soon enough. I’ll keep you posted. Mahalo!

Do you all think Repashy powder would be good food for them? I’m not sure I can manage infusorium and I’ve never seen vinegar eels. Any other really tiny baby fish food I should think about?

I was siphoning up plant debris and snail poop from the unoccupied quarantine tank to get it ready for the next batch of fish. I got all the big stuff up and was starting on the second round of cleanup when I noticed something rather not debris-like at the top of the tank. It was baby fish! I counted about 6 but I have no idea how many I sucked up and tossed out in the grass with the first round of siphoning. 😞 The last fish in the quarantine were rummy nose tetras and dwarf neon rainbows. I really wasn’t expecting babies from either school since I wasn’t doing anything to encourage it. Now I wonder if there are babies in the main tank. I’ve never had baby fish other than guppies so I’m a bit out of my depth with these guys. I have frozen baby brine so I plopped a cube in for them. If I manage to keep them alive I do have the Co-op’s fry food but those granules are pretty big, more guppy fry size. These guys are tiny and nearly all eyes! Really hard to get photos of but here’s one of the little guys.

Have you asked him why he feels this way? You said the tank needs to be carried up stairs. Other than the physical aspect of lifting and maneuvering an awkward, heavy object could he be worried about structural issues? Are there restrictions in your lease and/or apartment building’s house rules? Might he be worried about the expense involved in a large tank - water, electricity, planning for water damage, etc? I know you said money’s not an issue but I’ve seen that as folks age, even if they know they have enough, they fear it won’t be due to some catastrophic circumstance. I’m not saying you’re wrong to be disappointed going from 190 to 20 gallons. That’s quite a change! I’m not saying he’s right to deny you something that obviously means so much to you. I’m saying step out of your shoes and put on his, just to see why he feels the way he does. Then ask him to do the same for you. Things like this lead to hurt feelings and resentment. Open, honest and respectful communication is the lifeblood of any relationship. Even about things considered a hobby. And ranting on a supportive forum like this is a good thing, too. Sometimes you just have to get it off your chest 🙂

Beautiful tank! I love all of the plants; the more the merrier I say. You have a very lucky puffer 🙂

I’ll be the odd man out and say don’t bother. Not only will you then have 3 empty tanks to deal with* but by the 29 gallon will only just have really stabilized before you have to tear it down and start all over again. To me, going through the set up, settle and season time twice would be way too much hassle. For me and the fish. *I know most here wouldn’t consider this to be a problem. However, multi tank syndrome is real and 3 empty tanks may be too much of a temptation and is that really a good idea in a rental?

This was one reason I got rummies and I did notice the red faded while they were in quarantine. Now that they’re in the main tank, they have nice red noses. That said, they’re just fun to watch dash from side to side. The smaller dwarf neon rainbows think they’re pretty cool, too, as they are almost always schooling with the rummies.