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Biotope Biologist

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Everything posted by Biotope Biologist

  1. Biotope Biologist
    It’s definitely uncooked rice! One of Cory’s secret filtration techniques. It has the most surface area of any media by 20x! (Not scientifically backed)
  2. Biotope Biologist
    It may be other environmental factors leading to a lack of babies. For example I had a mass baby ramshorn die off recently due to planaria predation. The population is coming back though due to one large adult. It may take time. This large adult has been with me for over a year, so it likely has more reproductive success.
  3. Biotope Biologist
    It says that on their website, but I have a feeling it’s a liability thing. Glass is not very flexible and if the water were to exert enough pressure on that plane to get the glass to bow it would snap very quickly after that. A thin sheet of plastic would not hold it together or prevent those forces to begin with. I don’t know how they manufacture these tanks but I have a feeling the trim is used in the final silicone molding stages to make sure that the glass stays put while the silicone cures. A 75g has 2 long sheets of glass so a center brace in the trim prevents the middle of those sheets from walking out during that process. Rimless tanks do just fine without any bracing or trim. But they use higher quality glass and thicker sheets typically
  4. Biotope Biologist
    It’s fine the trim does nothing other than hide crudely cut glass so they don’t have to sand it or anything- it is not structural. Despite what many think
  5. Biotope Biologist
    Rosetail or feathertail. Although it was likely billed as a crown tail or half moon
  6. Biotope Biologist
    Yeah I would attempt a paludarium style fish tank with them. They feel more safe under cover and their hunting grounds are above the water line. clouded archerfish are true freshwater archerfish whereas their cousins are brackish. They have been known to chew on vegetation that makes it’s way into their tank so it may be best to grow pothos or other emergent plants that they can “trim” as the plant enters the water They also stay significantly smaller than their brackish counterparts I think maxing out at about 6-8”, although some wild specimens have attained a foot in length. They are a data deficient fish so little is known about their life history and rearing. And all are wild caught. We do know from other archerfish species that the babies learn how to shoot by watching others. cool fish! Hope you attempt them.
  7. Biotope Biologist
    I have done literally that with a 20H. Which is basically 2 10’s stuck on top of eachother. if you do math good then you can find what your max fill is in the tank below. I mark it with sharpie. This is in case the power goes out and the outflow siphons water into your sump. It won’t flood. As for automatic restart that is built into most pond pumps nowadays. As soon as they get enough juice they are back on and pushing water I can’t remember the ebay seller offhand whom I got my panels from. But they are great! @OnlyGenusCaps told me about them so hopefully he doesn’t mind the ping. feel free to ask me any questions, this is my preferred filter option. I call it the “poor mans refugium.” And yes I leave my ACO towel exactly like that so all my guests know who I represent 😋
  8. Biotope Biologist
    I can’t tell if it’s segmented or not from the photos… I am leaning towards nematode but not confident in that answer
  9. Biotope Biologist
    They can get to about 3mm although typically stay around 1-2mm
  10. Biotope Biologist
    That is a seed shrimp. They can have some pretty cool patterns. microscope shot credit: University of Florida
  11. Biotope Biologist
    I never see my springtails either unless I really really churn the soil. I’m in the process of relocating animals to the new terrarium. Also, yeah I’m drowning in powder oranges. I can’t keep up! Going to sell culture starts soon. I think the tank looks great and I’m sure the soil health is doing great! I have heard the blue and orange springtails are a bit more finicky about humidity but the white ones should be fine
  12. Biotope Biologist
    Yeah I was going to say attach a weight for now. Some woods have different absorbency rates. And this piece once it does absorb the water will be heavy! I have a small piece similar to this. It took 6 months to sink. And now it weighs like 20lbs. It’s about 8” tall. So it’s basically a watermelon at this point
  13. Biotope Biologist
    They may eat shrimplets if they can catch them, yes. Removal by hand is the only way. Anything that kills leeches kills shrimps and snails as well. They are mostly nocturnal so you may want to set a trap with some sort of sinking pellet and remove them that way? The leeches also make great fish food!
  14. Biotope Biologist
    Leeches have a suction cup foot and swim like an eel whereas most other aquatic worms swim like snakes. Don’t worry they are mostly harmless. They have a bad rep.
  15. Biotope Biologist
    Looks like a vial full of leeches
  16. Biotope Biologist
    If you don’t have barbed fittings you need to clamp the hose in some way shape or form. Check valves also but that’s already been covered The air pressure is enough to eventually push the tubing off. The only other thing that could have caused this is a bad seal on the canisters. But usually it’s pretty obvious when that happens
  17. Biotope Biologist
    It will likely slowly dissolve but why not give it a shot! I don’t see any harm in it. Might need to scrub it of algae to keep its luster but then again maybe not? I used to have volcanic glass in my tanks and it didn’t get algae on it as bad as regular glass. Perhaps the surface was too smooth even for algae to attach to anyway best of luck! And keep us posted
  18. Biotope Biologist
    Yeah bleach, no matter how dilute seems to kill all my attempts at moss starts. And tropical moss imported has gotten out of hand expensive, especially considering you still have to QT it. I would like to try liverworts next as I planted some toad lilies for my parents a few years back. And now the whole topsoil is coated in liverwort. This species does not seem to do well in QT.
  19. Biotope Biologist
    My attempts to RR some local terrestrial moss for use in my displays has worked and it’s been a week and the moss is still green. During the light phase tons of I assume CO2 bubbles were coming off the plant. I prepared the moss by rinsing it first with freshwater to get dirt and debris off. I do not have any microscope shots to see if it indeed worked in getting rid of pests but it at least worked in not completely frying the moss. And I will call that a success.
  20. Biotope Biologist
    In my experience, they prefer mature algae mats and will not generally eat the stuff growing on the side of the glass. They also eat a varied diet and need to be eating sinking pellets as well as algae wafers to supplement their diet In addition they are shy creatures and take some time to warm up to the tanks dynamic.
  21. Biotope Biologist
    Please post journals! Half the time I come to the forums to answer questions I go back and look at whoever has been posting their journals! We are a friendly lot! No need to defend your style of tank with “it’s my kids tank” or the like. The creativity that people express in this hobby is great and as a former petstore employee I love seeing what people can do with bright purple gravel and spongebob themed decor! Not everything needs to be an award winning aquascape! Thanks for the post @Guppysnail id say half my time now on this forum is lurking on peoples journals 👀
  22. Biotope Biologist
    I have found a topical ointment that is safe for all aquatic animals. It reduces redding and fin damage. My gobies are fairly aggressive diggers. And sometimes appear in the morning with torn fins or red heads. API fin and body care It was rather hard finding topical stuff that wouldn’t effect my shrimps or snails. Open sores can get infected especially from those fish who burrow or dig. So having this stuff on hand or something similar will help. I dose the main tank, doesn’t effect plants either. Also mulm is healthy. When it gets real bad I suck it into a watering pail to feed the garden.
  23. Biotope Biologist
    All I know is there is an X and something something money… If economy lessons weren’t so boring I might be able to retain some of it 😅
  24. Biotope Biologist
    Cory had them too when he started ACO. I used to get them often as well. I believe he stated the problem was two-fold. One the cultures would go bad fairly consistently. It was hard to source batches that wouldn’t foul the water something fierce. And 2 the culture never regenerated at a rate fast enough to replace the existing culture. Customer demand was high which drove prices down while making it impossible to sustain cultures which ultimately led to them discontinuing them. Also brine shrimp are just so easy to culture as well as other live food options.
  25. Biotope Biologist
    Yeah under the same name but it’s set to private. I have a bunch of rough edits I want to reshoot if I do take the plunge. There is also a lot of misinformation and marine biologists on social media that I don’t exactly approve of. And fighting my way through it seems a challenge. Even the myth that oarfish are incredibly rare creatures. These people have never been in the field. How would they know? Just about every deep sea sample I pulled I found some species of ribbonfish. The truly rare ones have never even been photographed and my dichotomous key is just a crude drawing. I digress. I have thick skin enough to survive detractors haha. Well anyway didn’t mean to tangent with self-promotion. I hope you find the above resources helpful! And if it hasn’t already been said welcome to the forums! It is one of the few genuinely safe spaces on the internet to express yourself.
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