[Future Co-Op Products]

19 minutes ago, ChefConfit said:

There's even a way to make your membership free by using Google opinion rewards(i just remembered that this was a thing and had to stop typing and set it up before I forget). It's an app where Google pays you to answer surveys. Android users get credited to their Google play account and ios users can get it deposited to PayPal. 

Oh I didn't realize you could subscribe (or whatever its called) with Play credit.  Nice.

[What are your favourite catfish]

Well.  I guess I better start construction on my 100,000 gallon aquarium.

Does ACO stock these catfish or do I have to order online?  Do they fit in a USPS large flatrate box?

 

2 hours ago, Taylor Blake said:

I have a soft spot for the big guys so I would have to say a wels or a Jau I also like the look and name of the goonch here are two photos that I pulled off the internet 

 

[Is This Still Correct?]

10 minutes ago, ND1990 said:

What is EDTA? 

 

I assume it's this EDTA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylenediaminetetraacetic_acid

which I also assume is there to help solubilize the iron.  Without it easy iron would probably be so weak you'd have to dose a ton. 

 

We use EDTA in the lab all the time as part of our buffers, but ours is a different application.

[Future Co-Op Products]

3 hours ago, Streetwise said:

My order is on the way. Did anyone else check out these new products?

I will just say that they are not anything that we thought of in this thread.

omg the fish secrets are killing me now.

[Baby shrimp instead of baby brine?]

11 minutes ago, CalmedByFish said:

The only cherries I've found online are pretty expensive - particularly shipping. I think what I was finding totaled near $60 to order 6 shrimp. Do you know a cheap way to get healthy ones? 

Any idea if the babies are small enough for an endler's mouth? Endlers are so little. 

If there's a local fish club or FB group you can ask for peoples "cull" shrimp (ie the ones that aren't good enough colored to keep in the breeding colony).  Around here they sell for 1-2$ ea.

I'm not sure if they're too big or not but baby shrimp are really small ~2mm long so thats about 4 BBS long and maybe 2BBS tall.  You will have to make sure there's not too many hiding places for baby shrimp though. 

[Whos ready for outdoor tubbing season?!?!?!?]

I got my barrel and decided to go without a liner.  I'm putting my extra water lettuce and some ammonia in there too help a cycle get going.  Once it warms up my rice fish are moving outside.

[Baby shrimp instead of baby brine?]

I think you'd need to keep a serious colony to do that.   A clutch of eggs carries 20-50 and takes a month to hatch.

 

If they're just treats or something then I'd just keep a dozen adults in there and let nature take it's course.

[How to reduce flow from a filter]

blocking some of the intake can add restriction and decrease flow.

[White Patches on Glass]

maybe a slime mold.  does that happen in fish tanks?

[Colorful beginner fish]

5 hours ago, Gideyon said:

Now it's a matter of developing an interest in plants it seems.  My thumb isn't green by any means. 

I think most of the beginner plants will just work without really doing anything different.  Anubias and javafern for sure don't need anything except a little light and fish poop and tap water (the extra easy green).

 

[when is the soonest I can add fish to uncycled aquarium]

I can't remember which video/stream it was but cory had a method i liked. 

1) move plants hardscape sponge filter whatever you can with bacteria on it

2) put fish in

3) don't feed for 2-3 days, then feed a little (maybe half? 1/3?), then fast a day, then a bit more etc until you're up to a full feeding schedule again.  That way you add food (nitrogen) in an increasing fashion allowing the bacteria to build back up at the same time.  I forget the actual feeding schedule he mentioned but it was something along those lines and probably isn't super critical as long as you start slow on feeding.

[Ostracized cardinal tetra]

 

10 minutes ago, Jungle Fan said:

Nothing to worry about @CT_unless you notice the loner not eating, losing weight, or displaying some other bizarre behavior. I've got a group of 35 cardinal tetras in my 75 gallon tank and one, or two always like to hang out by themselves, they're not sick, just like to do their own thing. I'd worry when someone walks up to the tank too fast and they wouldn't join the others for schooling behavior at that moment, but mine do and your "weirdo" probably will join the others in that moment too. Long as they're coming to get food, don't lose weight, and seem normal in all other aspects except their preference to hang out by themself I wouldn't worry.

yeah it'll school up if something really scary happens.  it's the last one to come for food but it will come and stays on the edge of the group.

 

I feel like he needs whatever the fish equivalent of a hug is.

[Ostracized cardinal tetra]

I've got 9 cardinals in a 15g tank.  When they tend to spend their time in the more open areas of the tank except for one who hides behind my rock and java-fern in the bottom corner most of the time.  Its color is fine and its not frantic acting so I assume its not stressed.  Any idea why one of them is a loaner.  I got them from ACO and I reading the shipment history, the group could be a mix of tank and wild.  Could the loaner be from a different group and not identify with the rest?  Is there another species of cardinal thats almost indistinguishable to people?  Is it just a weirdo fish? 

[Where to store brine shrimp eggs?]

I haven't tested this, but I've heard going straight from the freezer to hatching can slow down hatching so I aliquot a small amount into a little air tight jar and keep that in the fridge and the rest in the freezer.

 

I can't remember why I /need/ them faster though.

[Gravel vacuuming]

Cool experiment!  I suspect if you kept it going for long enough your nitrate would settle to where it was before.  After all at equilibrium nitrogen in = nitrogen out.  It may be even lower at the end because plants have more opportunity to get some of that nitrogen in the solid waste (I count this as part of nitrogen out, so more out in plants means less out in water means less in water. ). 

Again this is at steady state, IDK how long it takes to reach steady state.

[Question: HOB filter and feeding brine shrimp]

5 hours ago, Dirtydave said:

I agree except for the part about people generally feeding the bbs in 5 min.maybe on this forum but in your general Facebook group i think it's doubtful

I've just heard that as general advice.  sounds like pea puffers kinda have their own rules.  They do seem pretty different from your "average" fish.

I'm no feeding expert, what would you say the optimal amount is? 

[Question: HOB filter and feeding brine shrimp]

24 minutes ago, Dirtydave said:

I have pre-filter on all my hob filters so not a problem that way.Otherwise many could be sucked into your filter.Not good. Not much different than leaving a dead fish in your tank.You might be able to get away with it but a pre-filter is inexpensive fro Aquarium coop and is added biological filtration,in addition you will have to clean your hob that much less often.A win win for sure

I'd say its closer to, and exactly is, leaving uneaten food in the tank.  The difference between uneaten food and a dead fish as far as ammonia is concerned is mostly just the quantity. 

 

I think people also generally add only enough BBS for fish to eat in a couple min.  Are pea puffers different? slower?

[crushed flake food.]

Does anyone pre-crush their flake food? Is there a way to uniformly crush flakes so every things close to the same size?    None of my fish (the largest being a guppy) like the big flakes, the have to chew them and they often make it to the ground before getting chewed up enough to eat.  I also find it really hard to measure flake food.  A "pinch" can vary in my hands by probably 3x or more day to day. 

I recently switched to hikari micro pellets and they seem nearly perfect (some times a bit too big for my tetras) sized.  but I also have this giant can of flake food that I'd like to mix in to the rotation. 

[Finally seeing changes with my water after testing but now what?]

2 minutes ago, mgudyka said:

And the ammonia and nitrates should go down on their own as the bacteria does its thing?

Yep!

[Finally seeing changes with my water after testing but now what?]

5 minutes ago, mgudyka said:

So I should be more concerned about the nitrate in the water than the ammonia? I guess I will sit on it for a little longer. I have been testing every other day but maybe I will start daily

I meant that in the context of a fully cycled aquarium.  It's most important to have 0 ammonia 0 nitrates.  After that the only way to remove nitrate is by plants or water change

[Have BBS Hatched?]

I Love The wood and the halo of light :)

 

I just started hatching too and I had to turn the air off and wait for a few min.  After it was really obvious with the shells floating and the swimming brine.

[Finally seeing changes with my water after testing but now what?]

The "curves" over lap before you're cycled.  I'd say you're on your way to being cycled.  If there are no fish you could probably just let it sit.  You're probably also justified in doing a water change to keep nitrate lower for incoming fish.  Up to you.  I'd wait and then change water down to 20ppm nitrate before you add fish but that's just me being lazy.

[What is the brown stuff on my plant leaves?]

I'd assume its diatom algae.  Photos help though.

[Fish in cycling]

I'm a little curious how nitrate went from 5 to 20 on day 2.  and then 20 to 5 on the last day without a water change.  the 20->10 after only a 15% water change I can explain away by 20 and 10 being adjacent colors on the chart but 5->20->5 seems suspicious. 

[Suggestion Box]

19 hours ago, Cory said:

@ct_ what browser are you using? What version of the forum template are you using, dark mode? or using an addon on to do it? Lastly can you direct link here to one of the threads you're having problems with. I'll try and trouble shoot from there.

I'm on firefox 86.0 on my PC.  I'm using the CARE 1.1 theme

on my phone I'm also on android-firefox latest version.