Daniel

Yes, originally I purchased a group of six juveniles. Eventually they formed three pairs, and all three pairs would spawn in the large community tank. There was a lot of predation on the baby angelfish but the 2% that made it to adults are the 40 fish I am selling today. The key to getting the angels to spawn was high quality food in generous amounts and clean water. Of course having a mature male and female goes without saying. When the babies were small they ate primarily baby brine shrimp. Interestingly, when they were first free swimming they would pick at the sides of their parents similar to what baby discus do. I probably wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself.

Today I am selling 40 Leopoldi Angels to a local fish store. I think what makes these attractive to the store is that all the fish are mature and they are of a desirable variety of angelfish. I sent a sample pair down to the store a few days ago so that the size and quality of the fish could be evaluated and these were sold almost immediately. The hardest part was getting them out of a deep tank that has lots of tangled wood in it. After draining about 400 gallons of water out there were many fewer hiding places for the fish. With the help of my wife we put ladders on either side of the tank, leaned in with nets in hand, and corralled the angelfish into an area where they could be safely retrieved. At this point they are packed in 5 gallon buckets and ready for transport to the store today. I have kept back 6 fish, because I am leaning toward putting a pair into the 1930s Historically Accurate Planted Aquarium. Something like this from August 1934 Better Homes and Gardens:

I am not rinser. Here is my thinking. When I siphon newly hatched baby brine shrimp off the bottom of a cone it is not a lot of water. I was curious just how much this was and it turns out is almost 1/4 teaspoon of baby brine shrimp, shrimp pee, poop, and ammonia flavor. My fry tanks are typically 10 gallons or approximately 37,000 1/4 teaspoons of water. Admittedly, it would take only a few minutes to rinse, but if adding 1/37000th part of water that is a few parts per million ammonia would change the ammonia concentration in the tank by 1 part in 37 billion (assuming the hornwort and other plants in the fry tank didn't absorb the ammonia) perhaps it is reasonable to ask what is gained for the time spent. I am not a master breeder with a long time proven track record of raising fry, so maybe I should begin to rethink my non-rinsing. And you definitely have raised a valid concern over how important details can be in success. But tomorrow when I harvest my baby brine, will I rinse? I would say the odds are little greater than 1 in 37 billion that I will 🙂

Here is the first module. The deep module. It is pretty much impossible to catch fish in the big tank when full. So this evening I will drain about 400 gallons out. This will allow me to catch all the angelfish tomorrow in a few inches of water (they have been sold). I just started this siphoning by attaching a hose already full of water and then opening the valve. No sucking on the fishwater hose to get the siphon started!

This is what I wanted. I wanted to be able to move the hook from one end of the hose to another without unscrewing anything. Now that this is modular, I will develop 3 or 4 different, siphoning modules depending on need. I can also add an additional length of python hose full of water without a drip now too as the orange part of the Gardena fitting has an auto-shutoff.

Vacation? 'Round the clock feeding for fry? What will you do with it?

*Irene, I don't buy the premise that a nice brilliant green field of algae such as yours is unattractive, but given that attractiveness is in the eye of the beholder, to each his own. As you note above, that algae makes for a better environment for your fish (presumably our goal). I suspect you might feel the same as you haven't cleaned it away yet. 🙂 @Bill Smith likes sci-fi dioramas and dramatic set pieces, @MickS77 goes for a blackwater biotope, @Streetwise has carefully landscaped small vignettes. Who knows, maybe algae-scaping is the next fashion? @Irene, show us the way!

I googled 'Diatom filter bags for the XL and the D-1' and got quite a few hits for filter bags. However I do not know anything about these vendors. It does seem like a product that is being discontinued. We used to use a Vortex back in the 1970s to 'polish' the water, but it doesn't seem to be a common thing to do anymore.

With the stand also? Very jealous!

The only probe I know for sure suffers from air bubbles is the conductivity probe. This probe even has a little round vent on the side to let air bubbles out. That being said the pH probe doesn't have.....Wait nevermind, just read your edit 🤪

My discus will eat Vibra Bites, not exactly a feeding frenzy. But the fact they eat it everyday it is a considerable victory. I also threw in some Grammarus (scuds → Amphipods) this morning into the Apisto tanks. Each scud was methodically hunted down and terminated with extreme prejudice. My angelfish will happily eat almost anything (they love TetraCichlid Cichlid Crisps), but the angelfish turned up their little pointed noses at hive beetle larva. Sometimes they love tadpoles, sometimes not. I think tadpoles must taste funny because the angelfish spit them out.

Welcome Xenopub, currently what are you thinking about?

Corys have poison glands and release protein toxins when stressed. This can cause self poisoning if it happens while in a bag during transport.

Top 5 food that eaten with extreme vigor in order of gusto: Mosquito larva - the feeding frenzy mosquito larva cause makes the stampedes, brawls, gunfights of a black Friday sale look tame by comparison Black worms - the breeders secret White worms - smaller than black worms, and they themselves have an even smaller version called grindal worms Daphnia - that jerky movement just triggers gastronomical desire in fishes

Just found this:

In ramshorns both snails are both sexes. It's complicated but both snails are competing to be the male as they tryst. It is cheap and easy to be the male with just as many offspring as being the female which requires producing the resources to make all those eggs. And, dare I say this, bigger is better.

Airstones. I love airstones. I think the main thing they do doesn't have much to do with oxygen (I may dig out my dissolved oxygen meter and measure this to be sure). I think the main thing they do is move water around as @RovingGinger says. I am about to have a tank without an airstone or a filter or any water movement when I get my 1930s tank going. So we will see just how important water movement is. I don't have filters in my Apisto tanks but I do have airstones in them because I have heaters there and I want the water to move over the heaters and around the tank. Last week I think I had the airstones unplugged for several days before I noticed the lack of bubbles. I also don't have a filter associated with the 500 gallon angelfish tank, but I do have a pump that makes the water go in a circle. The water movement makes the lights shimmer in an attractive fashion. I am not sure why people are big on the sifting (probably de-chuckification as @Brandy says), but when I have lifted entire shovel fulls of bog sod and added that to an aquarium, with the included sticks and rocks and worms, none of that has caused an issue other than green cloudy water and algae.

I always thought it was just dirty water for a little bit, but I really don't know. I will add this to the list of things to measure in the 'Honey, I Just Dirted My Tank' experiment.

@MickS77 that’s a great idea! I’m gonna try this today with ‘quick connects’ like I use in the garden.

@Streetwise Nice Video! How did you smooth out* the part where you walked?

So when to a get a bigger tank? These are the variables I use. N = number of fish T = number of tanks D = Cost of larger tank $ = Bank Balance Equation = 2 N x T*cos(D*$)². If this number is not zero, and if a 29 gallon aquarium looks about the same to your spouse as a 40 breeder (substitute appropriately depending on spouse). Then it is time to get a larger tank.

Okay, no filter. And I have plenty of organic compost already.

I am collecting what I will need for the 3 tanks. Pool Sand and crushed coral with root tabs for standard tank number 1 - ordered Eco-complete for standard tank number 2 - not ordered yet Walstad tank will not have John Innes No. 3 as this isn't available in the USA, so I will have to come up with something else Lighting will likely be Finnex Stingray LED lights Sponge filters maybe? I am leaning toward no filter.