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Biotope Biologist

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Everything posted by Biotope Biologist

  1. Biotope Biologist
    Blood worms yes. They grow through a few stages before they get to frozen food size.
  2. Biotope Biologist
    There are actually many LFS that do this. Some hire a professional aquascaper. And there is a premium. $100-500 over what it would cost to setup yourself depending on the age and “beauty” of the tank. My LFS near me sells already established tanks. They are all pico or nano tanks because otherwise it’d be unreasonable. They are quite beautiful and imo reasonably priced. Full setup with high end equipment and CO2 runs you about $500-750 for a 15 gallon tank. Everything is automatic including nutrient loading. If I were less patient it’d be an easy grab for me I do have the advantage of living in the greater Seattle area though, where money is abundant and this hobby is booming.
  3. Biotope Biologist
    Are you sure the water temperature is that low? Water and ambient air temperature are two completely different beasts. For reference the average water temperature here in the Puget Sound is 53 degrees F. And in the Summer surface temperature can reach 63 degrees. Youd be surprised how warm water is with no heater. My tank sits comfortably at 68-71 degrees even though ambient air is usually at 60-65. Also just for reference we had record heat here this May. 93 degrees outside. House was in the low 80’s ambient and the tank water was measuring at 75.
  4. Biotope Biologist
    If you ever want to revisit brackish it’s a small but budding hobby. Doesn’t have to be expensive unfortunately the support isn’t exactly there so it is a bit of trial and error and we are just now starting to see more brackish species in the hobby. No marine lighting no marine filtration needed, just marine salt and a bit of patience. Luckily macro algaes and some non aggressive smaller anenomes are making it into the hobby as well. Cheers! Hope whatever future tanks you plan are successful ones! I have been watching a breeding pair of sticklebacks in the park near my house and I just want a brackish tank all over again. Their behavior reminds me of Seahorses for some reason. credit: Dwight Kuhn Virgina Tech
  5. Biotope Biologist
    Not it’s whole life and again many gymnothorax species can tolerate freshwater. Some say indefinitely, but looking at their natural history they are most typically found from adolescent to adulthood in mangrove forests. The range of salinity here wildly fluctuates. Morays will not show signs of stress. If you would like you can incrementally increase the salt in the tank. 1.008 is very low end brackish. 1.015-1.024 is mid to low end marine. I would not go past 1.018 personally. This is not my tank do with it as you wish, but you will see better success in low end brackish with some salt. The beauty of brackish is that it’s not an exact science. It’s an inbetween. It’s very unpopular so there is not a ton of info or fish species in the trade for it.
  6. Biotope Biologist
    Nerites have not been successfully bred in captivity. We are still learning about their life history. I do hope you try brackish you could dabble in salt and add some rainbow fish species and bumblebee gobies or could go mid brackish and raise many ‘tidepool’ species. I would really like to set a brackish mangrove tank up as well but I am very quickly running out of real estate as my SO now really wants a nano SW tank. I’ve done a ton of research though if you have any specific questions I can answer them
  7. Biotope Biologist
    Carolina cultures have gotten a bit messy as of late. Lots of die off and mixed species cultures. I did get my population from them first and while the isopods didn’t survive I do still have a good healthy population. I have 4 White cloud fry now and I never feed them save a few daphnia every other week and when I check on them their bellies are always full. Hydra have never been an issue for me either. Right now their population is going through a dormancy period. Wherever there are things to eat hydra never seem far behind.
  8. Biotope Biologist
    There is no such a thing as a freshwater moray. There are freshwater eels but morays are not one of them. They can live long term in freshwater. Up to 5 years. But in the aquaria gymnothorax do best with at least some salt. A minimum I would say of 1.008. In the wild they travel to freshwater streams and river inlets to spawn. But evidence suggests that they only tolerate freshwater.
  9. Biotope Biologist
    Large fast moving brackish fish tend to do well as tankmates. Moray are nocturnal hunters but know what they can and cannot eat. Scat, Monos, Archer fish are its usual tank cohabitants. There are some stories of “freshwater damsel fish” doing well. Bit of a misnomer they are not freshwater but brackish water fish. But damsels can be kinda bullies sometimes even to fish much larger than them. You could also do a school of mollies knowing full well that they will get picked off, but they breed fast enough to maintain the population
  10. Biotope Biologist
    Worms will swim. So will leeches. Leeches swim like eels, worms swim like snakes is the best way I can describe it
  11. Biotope Biologist
    I can’t tell you how many times I have been zapped by a faulty heater. Its better to be safe than sorry! And it can be a number of things. Most common is that whatever grommet they use to seal the cord to the top of the heater fails and moisture gets in the housing. Water touching coil boils rapidly and steams out the top.
  12. Biotope Biologist
    Exciting stuff sounds like a blast! You’ll be great it is also nice to have another person there ☺️
  13. Biotope Biologist
    Sounds like you have detritus worms and rhabdocoela. They are a great part of your complete and balanced ecosystem!
  14. Biotope Biologist
    Id say rehome the danio get the guppies you like and enjoy your 10 gallon! 5 gallons are, contrary to popular belief hard to manage. As the volume of water is not large enough to keep parameters stable. I like them for pico setups but rarely keep anything bigger than a chili rasbora in them. And usually I keep them heavily planted to help stabilize water parameters by reducing waste.
  15. Biotope Biologist
    Algae doesn’t necessarily mean an imbalance. Use tweezers to grab out what you can but ultimately the plant is fine. It will be a nonstop battle until the plants are mature and start outcompeting for resources. Since this is not free floating algae chemicals or UV will do very little. You may have success with this method: https://forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/24465-reverse-respiration/#:~:text=Reverse Respiration is a new,accelerate growth and plant health.
  16. Biotope Biologist
    Woke up to Water Willow blooms Keep an eye out too. After a long search I found the terrarium that’ll be the forever home of the orange isopods. I am going to take my time with this one. Still on the fence about whether vampire crabs will be joining them. Might also try my hand at tropical mushrooms and try feather millipedes. We have a local mushroom culture specialist. Lots of ideas bouncing around my head. It’s a big project. Got to get this all water sealed and replace the hardware with antique gold.
  17. Biotope Biologist
    I was going to say there is an “as of yet unnamed” Psuedomugil sp ‘super red’ that according to genetic sequence is paskai hybridized with gertrudae Those look suspiciously like them.
  18. Biotope Biologist
    My LFS has the run of the mill ramshorns and I would say theirs are about the size of the 3rd image. 1” in diameter is still a chonker. They use them for new puffer food so sadly only can get ramshorns by accident when you buy plants or shrimp
  19. Biotope Biologist
    These fish are entirely different from their larger counterparts as far as temperament goes. Pygmy sunfish are very shy and would not like boisterous tankmates such as barbs. But barbs can live easily with loaches if that’s your preferred route. Especially since pygmy sunfish aren’t super common atm
  20. Biotope Biologist
    I love their derpy lil faces! Also congrats! You’re almost at page 100! Your centennial! Any plans for celebration?
  21. Biotope Biologist
    Gotta love the gravel sand we have on the PNW side! It looks spectacular under water too! The freshwater might not kill the things. But a little UV from our friendly sun does! the microorganisms probably:
  22. Biotope Biologist
    They can be kept long term. Kinda. Some zoos and aquariums have attempted it but their lifespan is greatly reduced and their cheeks stop glowing after a time. bioluminescence abounds however especially in a reef environment. We just have no idea what the bacteria needs to survive. We know how they do it. Just not why they do it.
  23. Biotope Biologist
    I don’t mess with dwarf cichlid ID’s just here to say they are beautiful! Love the wild-type coloration. When they get in the “new fish making mood” those cheeks are going to pop!
  24. Biotope Biologist
    Crayfish must be kept in species only tanks. Even then there will be community disputes as to whose cave belongs to who. They are rather sedentary creatures especially when kept alone, so 1 in a 20 long would make for a great pet! They are like all things quite food motivated. But yeah plants and animals alike will not survive their big meaty claws.
  25. Biotope Biologist
    @Rainbowfh leeches are ubiquitous in nature. Anywhere that is wet is likely to hold leeches. As such there is no such a thing as leech free or ‘pest’ free. This leech is likely belonging to the genus erpobdella which do indeed feed on small invertebrates. However. Leeches when they predate swallow whole as they have no jaw and a very primitive intestinal tract. There would be no evidence that they struck except for a smaller population of baby shrimp. The cory likely if attempted by the leech would have killed it. As their dorsal and pectoral fins are lined with spines. Shrimp can be rather sensitive to changing water parameters. Even a simple temperatures change or the stress of travel can kill them. I drip acclimated mine and still lost about 5 for unknown reasons. No bother because they’re food for my fish, but I digress. ACO is very committed to fish health and customer service. And I’m not just saying that because we use these forums.
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