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Daniel

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Everything posted by Daniel

  1. Daniel
    Don't do too much. Just because the platys aren't doing well doesn't mean it will spread to the other fish. Usually it is the interventions that kill the fish and not the original problem. If your other fish look and act fine, nothing is likely to change with them.
  2. Daniel
    Tank # 1, gets water change 1 time a week 50%, temp 84 F. unknown number of platys guessing 45 - like hardish water mid 70's but can tolerate warm, native to Mexico and Central America 12 zebra danios - Asian tough as nails, really don't care what kind of water they are in, if you kill these, you are the problem 11 panda corys - South American, softer more acidic water preferred but flexible 4 angelfish - South American, softer more acidic water preferred but flexible 16 amano shrimp - I don't know much about Amano shrimp 12 harlequin raspboras - South Asian fish that inhabit blackwater habitats similar to your South American fish 2 GBR - South American, softer more acidic warmer water preferred found in backwaters and oxbows 1 albino LF BN - South American, softer more acidic water preferred but flexible 1 clown pleco - South American, softer more acidic water preferred but flexible 1 male betta - South Asian found in warm shallow low oxygen ditches and flooded areas 1 female betta - South Asian found in warm shallow low oxygen ditches If it were me, I would knock the temperature back to the 78 - 82 range, but the 84 degrees isn't killing any fish, it is just a touch on the warm side. All your fish are pretty tough and flexible and not too picky about water parameters, but notice that the platys just come from a different environment from all your other fish. Nothing about the parameters of your tank should be killing platys, I just wouldn't keep them in that tank. And while you've been posting, I have been typing this...it just wasn't a good batch of platys to begin with. It happens.
  3. Daniel
    Is everything else except for the platys doing reasonably well?
  4. Daniel
    I know how I got into the hobby. When I was 9 years old I read a book about a boy who kept guppies and the humorous plot centered on how fast the guppy population got out of control. So I gathered a dozen quart jars and saved my allowance and bought some female guppies. I could see the babies developing in the gravid females and when the first babies were born I was excited. But when it turned out some the babies from gray moms were golden, I was hooked. I think the why centers on glass boxes. Glass boxes allow us in the comfort of our own homes to see from only inches away the intimate details of complex biological systems with all the majesty and drama that life on our planet brings. I have an honey bee observation hive in my house also and it is a completely different more engaging experience than the other 120 colonies I keep outside. Our fish aren't in a barn or an out yard, they are in our living rooms, bedrooms and even bathrooms and aquariums contain entire worlds of wonder. And yet, I think this part is important too. Aquariums aren't completely dirt-easy. There is a learning curve and therefore a challenge. And just when you reach a new peak of competence there is yet another peak to climb, so it never get old. And the more you learn, the more fun and rewarding it is. It is a virtuous feed back loop.
  5. Daniel
    As far as I can tell the baby Cherry shrimp like to hang out and feed in the mulm. I think the danger in gravel vacuuming is pulling out baby shrimp and not even realizing it. But you could sort through the detritus in the gravel vac water and see if you find baby shrimp. I had no idea the baby shrimp were in there and wouldn't have known with out some thorough looking through in my post siphoning detritus.
  6. Daniel
    I noticed low light plants in my woods that turn red in low light mentioned that I mentioned in a post previously I now notice red or reddish brown on the underside of aquatic lilies also. Even duckweed seems to be red on the low light side. Plants are green because green light is not used in photosynthesis and therefore green gets reflected and make plants appear green to us. But when every photon counts....
  7. Daniel
    That tank is a real showcase. I think this is the aquarium we all aspire to on this forum.
  8. Daniel
    I love the proximity to your sleeping quarters! Bonus point for neatness.
  9. Daniel
    Here is the top of the 1930s Historically Accurate Planted Aquarium. I planted parrot feather yesterday, and today it has broken the surface.
  10. Daniel
    I had looked into this to use with the 1930s Historically Accurate Planted Aquarium as this was mentioned as a heater source. Good It works, it raises the temperature a few degrees You can tell when it is or isn't working Bad Hard to dial in the temperature you want Looks funny Ultimately for the 1930s aquarium I decided to bump the household temperature up a couple of degrees.
  11. Daniel
    Interesting, The answer seemed to be 'it depends'. And even more importantly the amount of calcium needs to be carefully balanced against the amount of phosphorus in the diet as calcium can inhibit the uptake of phosphorus (with negative consequences). 'Higher dietary Ca levels reduced weight gain and feed efficiency values in channel catfish (Gatlin & Phillips 1989), rainbow trout (Spinelli et al. 1983) and Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (Richardson et al. 1985). Nakamura (1982) and Porn-Ngam et al. (1993) have also reported inhibited P absorption with increasing dietary Ca levels in common carp and rainbow trout, respectively.'
  12. Daniel
    How much calcium does your tap water have? I know there are saltwater test kits for calcium, is there a freshwater water one? I checked my 'Breeding Corydoradine Catfishes' by Ian Fuller and he doesn't mention calcium or hardness specifically although it is implied in GH. Typically page on breeding
  13. Daniel
    I purchased mine on Aquabid. They were safe. Is there anything in particular you are concerned about?
  14. Daniel
    Hornwort
  15. Daniel
    It looks like seed shrimp which are about the same color, size and shape as ich. The seed shrimp look bigger in this photo than they really are. The big scuds on the squash are only a couple of millimeters long.
  16. Daniel
    Here is a better view of the roadside ditch with the Daphnia. Virginia must have a bazillion ditches of this sort. Plus that ditch was full of cool aquarium plants and aquarium fish like this tiny but adult blue spotted sunfish (who was hiding in the masses of hornwort in the ditch ).
  17. Daniel
    Ditches are where I look first. This is the ditch I got the starter Daphnia for the summer pond. It is in front of my house. When I was aquatic plant collecting the other day, this ditch along side a major highway underneath power lines not only yielded parrot feather, Ludwigia and Bladderwort, it also had Daphnia. What these ditches have in common is that the water is seasonal. After they dry up the Daphnia hibernate in the form of cysts, kind of like brine shrimp. When the water comes back the dormant Daphnia hatch and bloom. This ditch also had fish in it which usually makes the Daphnia scarce, but they where there nevertheless. So the first place I would look is a fish-less roadside ditch with standing water.
  18. Daniel
    I used to keep and breed hundreds of show bettas 20 years ago. I just kept the room they were in at the mid to upper 70s and they did just fine. Take @ange advice, heaters fail. When I lived in Florida in the early 80s, I would see bettas in the canals and that water wasn't 80 degrees. But a caveat to the above...if breeding is your goal, in my experience Betta breeding works best at about 80 degrees.
  19. Daniel
    Back in July I put half a dozen rice fish (and endlers and swordtails) into a summer pond that is about 5 feet deep. I also put a teaspoon of locally collected Daphnia. I have never otherwise fed the rice fish since then. Before long baby rice fish started appearing in large quantities as did Daphnia. My current estimate is that the rice fish population has grown to about 500 - 1000 fish. I think they eat some Daphnia and some algae. They don't look very fat, but they grow and breed like crazy. I collect Daphnia everyday so today I thought I would see what the fish looked like too. There were ricefish, endlers and swordtails that came in the Daphnia haul. A lot more guppies than I realized. There are not many places to hid in the pool but the babies seem to do fine anyway. There water is in the 70s.
  20. Daniel
    My wife and my children have both been in the aquarium doing maintenance. I’m not sure I have been forgiven yet for the time I had her change out the substrate.
  21. Daniel
    If you have to tear down a wall and use a forklift to bring the aquarium into your house, you might have big tank. 🙂
  22. Daniel
    It is all about the ions, that is a charged (or electrically non-neutral) atom. KH measures carbonate and bicarbonate (CO2-3and HCO-3) ions. GH measures calcium (Ca2+) and magnesium (Mg2+) ions. pH measures free hydrogen ions (H+). So we are measuring a carbon compound, minerals, and protons (or a little broken off piece of water). Most of this never matters too much. But because the carbonate ions and the protons are somewhat attracted to each other they tend to stabilize each other in a good way. Also, shrimp really need the carbonate ions to help build their exoskeletons. That leaves the calcium and magnesium. Calcium helps transmit messages in living things and is super helpful with enzymes, and enzymes make the world go around. Magnesium is important photosynthesis, DNA synthesis and of course enzymes again. Some fish like more calcium and magnesium, some like less. If you never measured any of this, chances are you would be just as well off, but we can so we do.
  23. Daniel
    @TheDukeAnumber1 is a true master of the meme!
  24. Daniel
    It is tempting to chase numbers, especially easy to measure numbers. But in the end those numbers you are manipulating are just a couple of data points of a very complex ecosystem. Resist the temptation to chase numbers. The best indicator, better than any test, liquid or strip is how are your fish and plants doing. It sounds like you have a happy tank. So it is very likely you have little to worry about. I usually look for a strategy that involves doing nothing. Yes I am extremely lazy, but there are other reasons too. Sometimes the less you do, the easier it is to maintain stability and stability is a worthy goal in its own right. But I also suspect your instincts are right in that the carbonate hardness (KH) is buffering the pH in your aquarium. It is possible that the less frequent water changes contribute to the lowering of your KH. If that is true, then there is a 'sink' in the aquarium that is consuming or utilizing the carbonate ions. All that being said, I am just about to contradict myself just a little because I love experiments. How do we learn otherwise? You seem like a measuring type person. I would love to know what happens were you to add either crushed coral or Wondershell. Wondershells and crushed coral are such mild interventions that I believe there is very little downside in using them. My hypothesis is that you pH would not go up, but your KH might increase a little. It sounds like you may already had read this, but others may benefit from this very helpful blog post from the Co-Op. The Fish Keeper’s Guide to pH, GH, and KH WWW.AQUARIUMCOOP.COM pH, GH, and KH are terms commonly used in water chemistry, but there is a lot of confusion surrounding them in the freshwater aquarium hobby. This practical guide for beginners explains what these parameters mean, when...
  25. Daniel
    We had a house fire in early 2013 so that kind of draws a line in the sand for how old any of my fish could be. The angelfish that I just sold recently would’ve been from late 2013, so that would be seven years old.
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