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Daniel

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Everything posted by Daniel

  1. Daniel
    Lovely aquarium and fun to watch!
  2. Daniel
    @Maggie Maybe today is 'Where do babies come from day?' Eggs Frisky teenagers When a Daddy fish really, really loves a mommy fish....
  3. Daniel
    There might be disease, but why did the fish get sick? It usually starts with stress from poor water conditions. Think about it this way, in a household of people who are overweight, on a poor diet, and do not exercise (which could be my house come to think of it), if several people were to develop diabetes and heart disease, they might benefit from medications. But what would really help everyone in the house would be a healthier environment.
  4. Daniel
    Yes they can change within a day and they definitely trend from day to day. If you follow the trends, sometimes you can head off a problem before it happens. Here is an aquarium of mine that is currently building a population of beneficial bacteria, or cycling as it is called. The bacteria population isn't large enough yet to handle the waste produced by the fish. How do I know this? My ammonia and nitrites are a little high as seen here: By knowing yourself what is happening you can decide when to do a water change, not just change according to a calendar. It is like putting gas in your car. You wouldn't put gas in you care only on Saturday. You would put gas in your car when the fuel ran low. The more you learn, the more you can be in control. If I depended on my local PetSmart (which has good knowledgeable people working there), I would only be reacting to problems after the problems occurred.
  5. Daniel
    @Aubrey I don't what has happened? Between, me, you and @Streetwise we have somehow turned this thread in to Egg Day! And the photograph of the egg is amazing with the vili coming off the surface of the egg. Just wow! And in the video watching the blood cells being pumped around. Just wow!
  6. Daniel
    If it were me, I would buy an API freshwater master test kit. This is the one I use. It about $30, so it is not cheap, but it us less expensive than buying new fish. Take readings daily and learn how your aquarium changes over time. I know it seems like they are dying of diseases, but diseases are just what happens after the fish is weaken by declining water conditions. Adding medications doesn't fix the underlying problem.
  7. Daniel
    Collected these from a roadside ditch in the city limits of Kinston, NC. There were thousands of them.
  8. Daniel
    Even baby fish love them. Although, I think his eyes are bigger than his stomach! 🙂
  9. Daniel
    @Streetwise Ha! I see your white cloud eggs and I raise you...ghost shrimp eggs!
  10. Daniel
    Just my personal opinion but it sounds like you have a very happy tank. Given how well everything is going I wouldn't add anything else. It reminds me of the law of diminishing returns. At first each new addition means a lot. But after a certain point, you could add a large number of new fish and it wouldn't make the aquarium significantly more enjoyable. Hey, I am with you on this. My typically mode is to dig in and go fast! But sitting here at a keyboard 2500 miles away giving advice to someone else, it is easy for me to say 'go slow'. I am not sure I would listen to me if the roles were reversed. But going slow it probably the right thing to do.
  11. Daniel
    @SilveRx Wow! That is a lot of babies from one drop!
  12. Daniel
    @Eden If your tank is cycled, I would feel comfortable adding 2 - 4 fish every few days so as to give the beneficial bacteria time to bring their population in line with each increased level of nitrogen the new fish will cause. If you tank is not cycled yet, then it is too soon to add any fish. You can tell if you tank is cycled by monitoring ammonia, nitrites, etc. with something like an API test kit. I too thought I wanted hatchet fish for the top because you got have something for the top, right? Well, in the end I didn't care for the hatchet fish. They just didn't have much personality. Eventually I put in Endler guppies and they were the perfect top fish for me. How long has your tank been set up? And be careful with adding the maximum number of fish that could possibly be squeezed into one aquarium. With fish, less is more. A few healthy fish bring far more enjoyment than a large number of sick fish. It would be more exciting for your 4th graders to learn about the wonders of aquatic biology than the sad reality of competition and death. My teacher's aquarium help set me on the path that has led to a lifetime of enjoying tropical fish. I cherish the memories of a nicely planted tank with frisky colorful guppies cavorting around and the pretty little school of neon tetras.
  13. Daniel
    Often when there is a general a die off of fish in an aquarium the one thing all fish have in common is the environment. Most of the symptoms you mentioned are not contagious from one fish to another so it might be productive to look at water quality. How is your water? What parameters are you measuring? Any trends in water chemistry or recent changes? When did you setup the aquarium? What caused you to begin treatment? What fish are in the aquarium? And this would really help a lot, a wide shot picture of the entire aquarium.
  14. Daniel
    I just discovered how cool sparkling gouramis are. Very inquisitive, lots of personality and quite undemanding.
  15. Daniel
    @Ken Dyer That is a great point. I have tank with 10 angelfish next to my computer where I am typing this. If I unplug the heater to do a water change and forget to plug it back in I will notice the angelfish have become incredibly sluggish. Hmm, I wonder. Then I remember the unplugged heaters and voila! The angelfish are back to being perky again.
  16. Daniel
    Cyclops are a much prized, first class fish food. I think almost every body of natural freshwater has cyclops in it, so even a drop of water introduced (when adding plants, shrimp, snails, etc.) to the aquarium could contain either adults or their eggs. Pruning away parts of the ecosystem of an aquarium leaving only the fish is probably counterproductive to the aquarium and the fish. Sure, I will remove dragonfly larva from my aquarium, but most of the other interesting biology that spontaneously shows up is likely beneficial or at worst neutral.
  17. Daniel
    I had a similar situation where I kept 6 angelfish in a large tank. Three pairs formed as did 3 territories. They fought like maniacs constantly as they tried to guard the borders of their territories. But in the long run, no real damage was done, just shredded fins. If it were me I would try and find a way to let the pair have their own space. It is surprising that angelfish will not eat. Usually they are bottomless pits when it comes to food. I would test the water parameters and think about what might have changed recently.
  18. Daniel
    @akconklin has had a similar adventure last week:
  19. Daniel
    Nothing wrong with EcoComplete. It is a inert volcanic substrate. I think the black color looks better to my eye than than light colored substrate. I didn't think I would like black better, but once I set tanks up side by side, sure enough, I like the black better.
  20. Daniel
    It looks like it is in the process of growing new leaf also. If it is sending another leaf up to the surface then I wouldn't be worried. Banana plants like having leaves at the the surface. So my guess is that the plant has decided to bail on what it considers dead weight and is investing in a younger more productive leaf instead. Kind of like firing the over paid old guy and bringing in a young go-getter at half the salary!
  21. Daniel
    A really nifty way to eliminate all traces of bleach is with dechlorinator.
  22. Daniel
    I purchased some nickel sized discus in July on Aquabid. They are 6 inches now.
  23. Daniel
    Copepods, probably cyclops.
  24. Daniel
    I don't know how well the shrimp are breeding, but guess is that they are. The reason I say that is I had cherry shrimp in with angelfish and the angelfish ate the cherry shrimp all the time, but there were enough places for the cherry shrimp to hide so that over time the cherry shrimp population increased quite a bit.
  25. Daniel
    @Rikostan I know of a few members from New Zealand. @camsaquariums, @Jeza43 and @DucksOnQuack for sure.
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