Lifeisgood

I would think that they could. Mine could for sure.

I might just be fooling myself but I feed my loaches just before all the lights go out hoping that the daytime fish go to sleep while the loaches get to eat in peace. Is there any truth to that? I can’t tell because the lights are out!😅

After keeping and raising Mystery Snails I have discovered that they need to be specifically fed. If you feed them blanched vegetables they will not eat live healthy plants. It is amazing how much they need to eat.

I love the otherworldly look of Hillstream loaches. What is he thinking about as he sits in his favorite hide?

Why is it that I hear that fancies are more delicate because their organs are compacted? I have read that their life expectancy isn’t as long and that sustained temps below 60 degrees can suppress their immune system more than their single tailed relatives? I am just trying to understand it all because my fancies seemed to struggle at 50 degrees with a few things this winter.

I have wondered about using calcium supplements designed for people to swallow to put in my tanks. Wouldn’t they have less additives than Tums and therefore be better to use? One type is basically taken from oyster shells isn’t it?

Every betta has its own way of doing things. Maybe your betta’s favorite hangout is not good for him? (I feel like I am talking about my teenage kids somehow?!🙃)

They get very big.

In my experience they work just fine together.🙂

I agree with what’s been said. If you haven’t gotten your tub or aquarium for your QT tank yet—see if you can get away with a 10 gallon size. It’s the best way to not burn through your meds as fast. The packets are for ten gallons so then you only need one for a whole dose. Also, I have thought it helpful to have them in a glass tank because then you can observe the fish easier.

You have probably seen people use that plastic craft mesh (for yarn projects) and how it works for so many things with aquariums. I think Dean and Cory made it into a cylinder breeding barrier to save fry. I see different breeders use it as grid that eggs fall through over containers or the bottom of tanks. It comes in black and clear and in different size mesh. I have used it for making snail traps; for attaching mosses to; I put it in my siphon tube to prevent snails from getting stuck in the hose while gravel vacuuming; for making a custom grill for an intake tube. I use fishing line to sew it into what shape I need or silicone it, or epoxy it, or wedge it, or attach it to Velcro as needed to cover gaps in aquarium tops as needed too.

Colu, see the above post. I didn’t realize how the quote function worked! 🥴

Thank you Colu. She is doing better now. Here is a picture of her eating spinach!😊 After she has some time to regain strength I am thinking of treating the tank for parasites. I keep thinking about the fantail that died with the thick clear mucus by her gills before the heater malfunction. It is possible that they have some level of gill flukes and that the cold temps compromised their resistance to them. I have not treated them for these yet. Thank you for your advice. It helped!

Ok! Then I will scratch that idea. 😅 There are mixed signals about what they need but now I know why more people don’t keep them—it’s because they don’t thrive in freshwater. Like the Bumblebee goby..so cute but used to always die. (I believe there are true freshwater Bumblebee gobies now but there weren’t until recently.). Poor things.🦀

I have a 55 planted tank with Denison Barbs, Rosy Barbs and Hillstream loaches and a few Amano shrimp that I hardly ever see. I realized that my driftwood has a branch that is just above the surface of the water but is still under my tank hood. The thought occurred to me that a Fiddler crab might work in the tank if the Rosy Barbs won’t pick on them. The barbs have not killed the shrimp but they are good at hiding. Anyone have experience with fiddler crabs and similar type fish?

Manny, I am glad you got your meds and the fish look amazing! I have been researching white discharge from Orandas’ wen and according to some goldfish sites they will have that as part of the growing process of their wen. Do you find that info too? Mine has had white stringy substance extruding from the wen. It is gone now. I am new to Orandas and am trying to learn what is true about this issue.

Thank you! Now I can see what I need to do to keep it growing right. It adds a nice texture to the foliage in the tank.

My LFS sent gave me this with my last purchase. But I don’t know what it is. So far it is still living and seems to be growing some.

I feed them twice a day and rotate frozen brine shrimp, Imagitarium Goldfish pellets, Extreme Krill flakes, Repashy Soilent Green and sometimes frozen spinach. They eat everything I put in there—so there are no leftovers.

Yup. I use Fritz water treatment.

Yes. I for got to mention that. Ammonia is 0.

I set up a 40 breeder without a heater for fancy goldfish. I put Seachem cichlid substrate in and some driftwood Anubias, crypts and moss balls and a large sponge filter from an established tank. I also put some of the mulmy water from the same sponge when I cleaned it in aquarium water. And some ramshorn snails. The tank was set up for a couple of weeks before I put the fish in. The fish had been in a ten gallon quarantine tank for those two weeks and saw no signs of disease or stress. Parameters in the big tank seemed to be stable. They seemed to be doing fine for about four weeks before I noticed that the black moor seemed to have a cloudy film developing fairly evenly over his body but he still eats and is acting fine. About the same time a calico fantail started acting lethargic and was not eating. I checked water parameters: and nitrates 20ppm nitrites at 1.0 chlorine 0 gh 150 kh 120 ph 7.2 But because of the cold snap the temperature in the aquarium has lingered at 50 degrees because there is a draft from a door next to the tank. (Apparently we need to put a better seal around the door.) Because the little fantail was not eating I put her in the quarantine tank that they had been in. And added salt. Seeing no outward symptoms I wondered if the cold temps made her susceptible to a parasite or something. She died the next day. She had a lot of clear mucous especially on one side around the gill area. It was kind of thick and covered the area of about a dime. She was about two inches long. I did a 20 percent water change on the big tank and set the heater on low to try to bump the temperature up to 70. I kept an eye on the temperature for most of the day but over the supper hours I had to do other things and then when I looked at the tank the lid was all steamed up and the thermometer read that it was above eighty (!!!) This happened about a week ago. I did a partial water change to bring the temps down a bit. The fish seemed OK. I threw the heater away and bought a better one. This one is keeping the temperature in the low to mid 70s. The black moor looks blacker now. But now my biggest and favorite Oranda is acting just like the fantail did. No visible symptoms. Sits on the bottom or floats on the top and doesn’t eat. What should I do for her? Oh and I also added an Aquaclear filter with sponge and Purigen.

How is your Oranda doing now?

Yes, there are different types of Val and some stay shorter. It took longer than I thought it would for mine to take off as well. I only have the Topfin light that came with my aquarium kit at purchase. But once that Val gets going—now I have to take the machete to it to keep it where I want it! I just harvested a five gallon bucket of plants out of my 55 with bushy root structure and five foot long leaves! 😁 I am trying to think of some kind of Val salad or sushi recipes to deal with the harvest. Any ideas?

As a newbie to live plants I made the mistake of buying Java fern in a plastic tube from a box store. All of those tall leaves got black spots and sprouted small leaves from the edges and then died back. I have some of the baby leaves that became new plants and the original rysome is SLOWLY growing new leaves. I think it was grown out of water and had to transition to underwater. But if I knew it would take this long I wouldn’t have bought them. I love my Anubias and crypts and have have had great luck growing Valisinsria and hornwort. And Hornwort floats nice. The Val gets nice and tall.