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Fishdude

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Everything posted by Fishdude

  1. Fishdude
    Oh yeah, once a fish is dead it becomes protein for other fish even in the same species. It's one reason to avoid buying from tanks with dead fish because it indicates both that the tank isn't well cared for but also that any disease may be left to spread. Smaller fish have a tendency to disappear. In fact I've found just some fleshy husks of dead platys (and even one corydora) in my community tank if I overfeed and inadvertently kill a few. Fish will not miss a chance at a meal.
  2. Fishdude
    Do you notice anything off behaviorally about any of the cardinals before one goes missing? Like do you have any that look a little sickly or stay away from the school?
  3. Fishdude
    Without seeing it (and not having experience with cichlids)...could it be a swim bladder issue? I wonder if you watch videos of that behavior if you'd find the answer.
  4. Fishdude
    Oh man I've had this happen with a lot of fish, but especially tetras (neons to be exact). I had 18 about a year ago and I've got like 8 or 9 now. The population has stabilized after some bad luck, but anything from neon tetra disease to stress or some other random cause might be putting them out. And believe it or not the other tetras will devour dead brethren in a hurry (which is partly how the disease is spread and why it can happen so fast). Sorry to hear this, I hate it when fish start disappearing without a clear explanation 😢
  5. Fishdude
    This is lovely! Oh how I love to watch cherry shrimp, my kids think it's funny that I call them "buddies" and they do it too. I actually had some breeding activity happen - what's your water temp in that tank?
  6. Fishdude
    So here's a mid-room shot of the area that will hold my fishroom space. I made a video and it turns out it was too large to be embedded (I'm not a YouTube star!). So for now you can see my unintentional greenwater 40B that's sitting in the corner where I'll have water access once the contractor finishes a second part of the basement in May. All the plants off to the side are remnants of my dad's gardening hobby which he's let go a bit over the last year. The dressers and other junk will be stored in the area behind me and there will be a fridge/freezer as well to store frozen fish foods and feed the Diet Mt Dew habit which I just cannot kick. Interesting note about the sink is that in addition to tapping into the softened water I'll have a connection put in to get city water as well so that I can remineralize naturally. We have some HARD water so cutting with RO/DI seems like the best way to get the balance I want. The drop ceiling will likely come out so that I can mount lighting and run electrical and an air loop at some point. I'm waiting to buy the Medo air pump until after we get paid because I want my wife to continue speaking to me.
  7. Fishdude
    All good questions my friend. I'm in Pennsylvania and will be moving into a house with a partially-finished basement. The room in question has mostly concrete and brick so it gets to about 58-60 degrees in a cold spell, but it has a baseboard heater and is adjacent to finished and heated spaces. Definitely considering how much heat will be needed as it's a good-sized room (I'll try to get a video or pics of the space today). My dad ran some electrical down there for his plant lights but I may have an electrician friend come and route a dedicated circuit since the breaker box is one room away (and has plenty of extra slots). I'm taking suggestions for cheaper lighting because I will absolutely run out of money if I keep ordering Fluval lights from the Co-op!
  8. Fishdude
    Here's a few more of what are running all over my current house (and which will be redone when I finally get into the new space). 40B with peppered cories and some Buenos Aires tetras, along with an anubias a friend grew out over 10 years before giving it to me. 10g cherry shrimp paradise, recently trimmed so I could confirm there were shrimp left to see! And a 20L with 24k gold white clouds and the rest of my peppered cories, along with an overgrown moss tree.
  9. Fishdude
    Right? Like if I knew where to get them for a reasonable price I'd totally have more than one. This I got off Facebook marketplace from a guy for $50.
  10. Fishdude
    Update: I have ordered a 4-stage RO/DI system and I'll be moving some shelving around this weekend and deciding where to put things. I've decided against drilling tanks for now as I just don't feel confident that I understand or can set up a water change system that requires overflows (plus it's not that many tanks yet!) I also purchased an egg tumbler to use with my corydoras who have been active egg-layers lately. I'll be able to sell/exchange these at my LFS for some additional species to breed in the future. Here's a morning picture of my pride and joy planted 33L tank that will be in the fish room when I get settled!
  11. Fishdude
    What is the pH like in a tank without a water change for that long? Did you have a lot of buffer to begin with?
  12. Fishdude
    Welcome! What are you planning now that you're back into the hobby?
  13. Fishdude
    This is so cool, thanks for sharing!
  14. Fishdude
    I've found it takes awhile for Val to get established and really send out shoots and once it does it goes crazy. I agree just keep tinkering and maintaining the water, maybe change light intensity (although it doesn't sound bad now) and things should show signs of movement. Without CO2 it's a much slower process, obviously.
  15. Fishdude
    If you're not going to be home to feed and maintain your aquarium (or fish room), what do you consider to make sure things will be okay while you're gone? What equipment do you use that makes you feel confident that a week away will not result in a mess (or dead fish) when you get home?
  16. Fishdude
    I don't know what's best for breeding purposes but for just regular healthy fish it'll be just fine. I do think I've read that livebearers prefer harder water (not an expert opinion!). I think a bag of crushed coral is the way to go though to prevent a pH crash when you add fish to the mix. The pH will trend downwards and I know without the calcium bicarbonate to buffer you could get a much lower pH than you want in a hurry. Hope it works out!
  17. Fishdude
    Okay so RO water is clean but notoriously hard to keep "stable" for this very reason. I'm pretty sure the pH of RO water can and is often below 7 to start with. Have you considered using crushed coral to raise and stabilize the pH and mineral balance? Also I think your pH now may be fine for livebearers depending on what you want live-bearing in there.
  18. Fishdude
    Oh what a cool thing to do! Congrats to you all getting these cool packages. I'll have to check out some of your posts too!
  19. Fishdude
    Yes, we have (some) bananas. We have-a (some) bananas today.
  20. Fishdude
    Sad - raising a glass for shrimp bro this morning 😢
  21. Fishdude
    I suspect due to poor water quality and insufficient fertilization the plant I ordered lost all of its leaves over time. Now it looks like a series of "roots" but no leaves - is this plant dead or is there a way to revive it?
  22. Fishdude
    I missed the confessions thread - would people be mad if I brought this back (too bad, it's back anyway)? I've made a few confessions recently involving maintenance and my tendency not to cycle tanks before adding fish, and changing water sporadically when I feel like lugging 35 pounds of water around in a Lowe's bucket. I have a confession/oops moment that happened today in a tank that had only recently gotten some love and cleaning and whatnot. My 40 gallon office tank had deceased mystery snail shells and decayed plants and just all manner of muck and somehow I really didn't lose any fish other than one corydora (probably from not getting enough to eat). So I've done a couple changes in the last few days, removed a lot of plants, gravel vacuumed...I had put in some nice foam pads from the Co-op into a HOB filter and my sponge hadn't been cleaned in awhile so I figured one of these times...well today I noticed the top had popped up on my HOB which often means a clog of some kind pushed up the basket of media. I thought "Oh I should pull this out and see what's up." I was...wrong. 6 months of mulm and decay and muck POURED out of the bottom of that still-running filter into the recently cleaned tank. It looked like a snow globe of dead plant material. I screamed. My wife checked on me to see if I'd seen a spider because it was the same sound I make when I see a big spider that I wasn't expecting to see. Needless to say, I did a lot more cleaning...and vacuuming...I wholesale replaced the sponge filter with a new larger sponge filter from the Co-op (less likely to clog). And now things are running fine (I think). So I confess, this was not my finest moment and that tank had BETTER STAY CLEAN now.
  23. Fishdude
    Oh thank God it wasn't just me
  24. Fishdude
    Oh great another thing for me to read up on and spend money trying to recreate! 😁 My wife will be thrilled.
  25. Fishdude
    Oh nice! Yeah if you're familiar with the process then corydoras could be a good option (I intend to try pygmys later this year). I'll be interested to hear what you go with!
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