anewbie
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Posts posted by anewbie
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A few comments:
Don't try too hard to look into the cave to see the eggs/wrigglers; as you can scare the female into eating them. Hongsloi are excellent parents to leave the frys with the parents for 3 or 4 weeks. Plan on feeding some live food (I use bbs) around 2nd or 3rd day when you see the mother out with her fry. I use a piques (sp) to inject bbs. After twoish or three weeks they can start taking very small dry food but it doesn't hurt to keep feeding bbs. My annoyance with bbs is that it is only good for about 2 days unless you put it in the fridge to keep them from eating their egg sacks (the part that has most of the nutrition for the frys).
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On 2/5/2023 at 8:02 AM, PineSong said:
I did water changes and my liquid ferts, planted some tops that had been floating for a week, and relocated the dominant male swordtail from my 20g tall to the "time out" tank due to his constant harassment of the other males.
Hoping a week or so without him around will allow the other males to relax and maybe the two of them who aren't growing swords yet will start?
I am new to swordtails and unsure how bullying they are to each other when there are no females in the tank.
I could only keep 1 male in my 29.
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I wonder if the seal is broken and the electrnics are getting damp or condensation on them.
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On 2/4/2023 at 7:22 PM, TheMilkman said:
Yes they are both mature and i currently have them in a 55
It will probably take them a few weeks to decide if they are compatible. Mine took 3 weeks of fighting before they decided to pair up. I had them i a 40; but once they paired up they were rock solid and worked well together to raise their kids.
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On 2/3/2023 at 12:34 PM, TheMilkman said:
So i have a male and female kribensis moliwe in my tank and the male will not stop attacking the female. Every time he sees her he chases her away from his cave until she hides as well as not letting her eat. Is this normal krib behavior or no?
They will fight until they pair up (if they pair up). This seems normal. Are they both mature ? It is best to have them in a large aquarium until they pair; once they pair things will be much more mellow between them but as for other fishes in the aquarium - avoid anything that stays near the bottom for best luck 😉
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I had a lot of trouble growing h. pinnitifida in the aquarium; but emersed it grows great (well maybe a bit too great).
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On 2/3/2023 at 12:29 PM, tolstoy21 said:
I second this.
I have also noticed the following about apisto eating habits . . .
- I find they prefer sinking foods over flake as they tend to forage from the bottom rather than the water's surface (though they will eat flakes from the surface if they have to and the tank is shallow enough for the to see the floating items)
- They are easy to over feed, especially if they are in 'picky' mode
I feed all my apistos twice a day, but once a day works as well, as does skipping a meal or day here and there.
Hum. I always push my flakes into the water so they slowly sink - if i don't they get trapped in the plants; i agree they are picky eaters at times. Also with new foods it can take them a while to understand it is food.
On 2/3/2023 at 11:47 AM, Chase Turner said:Specifically Apistogramma macmasteri. Also looking for frequency of feeding.
I'd feed a couple of times a day if not adults - and just a pinch. If they become hungry they will become more aggressive at eating and then feed them a little more. It is better to feed them tiny bits more often than a lot once or twice. Unless they are wild caught they won't be that picky and pretty adaptable.
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On 2/3/2023 at 6:41 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:
Alright. I did it. I culled a shrimp. Here is the video I referenced. I kept seeing one shrimp which had hints of brown. Meaning if he’s on the sponge filter next to the mulm, the brown is the same color as the mulm. So I captured this shrimp and will place him in the 29. @nabokovfan87
The black shrimp is true midnight black, so he can stay with the blue dreams according to the video. Besides, he looks cool. Somebody name him? @TheSwissAquarist
The one who I keep referring to as the grayish shrimp, which I believe is the shrimplet: I shined a white led on him and he’s blue. Clearish blue, but blue. So he can stay.
No idea if you can see the brown, but this is the shrimp I culled. Do I need to 90-minute drip acclimate him like adopting new shrimp? Or is the time shortened when moving from one tank to another within the household? @Guppysnail@Minanora
Look at his legs. Can you see? They are like a chestnut color.
I never cull shrimps; the clear ones have just as much right as the brown ones, red ones and blue ones. I kind of dislike the clear/green ones but i let them be and cross my fingers the fish or something will eat them but it never seems to happen.
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Most species are fine in a 29; but some species require more critical scapeing than others. If not well scape with some species you might find the male killing the female or vice versus - domestic disputes can be brutal.
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For food and domestic bred fishes - flakes; fluval bug bites; pretty much anything is fine but live food is always preferred - brine shrimp, white worms, vinegar eel, ...
As for scaping and water condition et all - if you are researching stuff then you should be mentioning a specific species ...
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On 2/1/2023 at 5:41 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:
Special delivery! Woooo hooooo!!!! 😍😍😍
A few days ago I had to use a bucket because my pump died. HOW BARBARIC! 😱
I want to recommend the jebo pumps for future purchases since they are silent and inexpensive. However the smallest one is rated at 250 gph; but they can be adjusted (not sure how low it goes). I'm getting 16 of them for my project.
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On the expensive side i believe i liked eques best; followed by orange laser and green laser. On the cheaper side I like sterbai and on the super cheap side I love pygmys.
Having said this there are 100's of species of cory and there are some that are over $100 a fish that look kind of amusing and other weird cat fishes that look like cory but aren't cory.
Why do i like eques because they are friendly and 'out going'. Why do i like the laser cory because they are nice looking. Why do i like sterbai because they love warm waters (but are rather skittish like the aenus (orange/green laser and such). Why do i like pygmy because they ahve super duper interesting behavior.
Habs are small like pygmy but boring. If you want a small cory get the real thing for their behavior.
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On 1/30/2023 at 1:30 PM, jwcarlson said:
I'm entering a world in which I have never operated and that's tank water that doesn't have absolute gobs of KH.
How does mulm help stabilize a tank? I'm not really planning on cleaning out mulm unless it gets excessive, just wondering how that helps stabilize pH.
We're departing the original intent of the thread here, so I'll snip the rest of my reply. I need to start a journal and gather my thoughts on this whole apisto project. 😄
I believe that mulm help stabilize and lower ph if kh is near 0 by absorbing ions but it has less of an effect in this regards if kh is higher (2 or 3); it also can provide hiding places for fishes (if leaves) and depending on leaf type can have other benefits.
Hongsloi don't require super low values if tank raised - i'd shoot for a tds of around 80 and see if that works - if it doesn't then lower it a little. They will lay eggs but they won't fertilize if the water is too hard. I'd also try for a kh of around 3 which is fairly stable but should be more than adequate for tank raised Hongsloi - wild caught can be a bit more delicate and require softer water depending on catch location.
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On 1/29/2023 at 12:31 PM, Theplatymaster said:
happy to help, just a small warning they can be slightly harder to find, and can be like $15-$20each. But beyond that they are very fun fish. I forgot to add, very peaceful too, otherwise my description could match african cichlids.
aquahunaa has them cheap and shipping isn't too bad esp if they have other fishes you need. I picked up 6 from them for my 40 - they do now and then have epic fights but generally they stick together. The only big negative is that they are very aggressive eaters which can be a problem if you have more passive fishes.
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So i need to stress my plants to get them to bloom? Also (i know off topic so please pardon me) but how do you get mermaid weed to turn red - it grows really fast but isn't that red in my aquarium.
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On 1/29/2023 at 11:38 AM, FLFishChik said:
Tank maintenance and first purchase of frozen blood worm and frozen bbs. It’s going to take some technique as none of my Cardinal tetras seemed to know what to do with them, but the Betta were thrilled. Think I’ll save Blood worms for the Sunday “after water change” treat and the bbs for mid week treat. No one can accuse me of not giving my fish variety! I give 1) bug bites flake food, 2) bug bites pellets, 3) Repashy community plus, 4) Repashy Soilent Green, 5) Vibrabites, 6) Xtreme Nano Pellets. 7) Freeze dried Daphnia, 8.) Sera sinking wafers (Corys and Oto’s) and now Frozen Blood Worms and Frozen BBS!
While bbs is great in general blood worm is not that great for more species - too fatty and can carry disease.
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On 1/29/2023 at 9:11 AM, jwcarlson said:
Here's best looking male. One more similar, the other is starting to color up. Don't have pics of them but can try later. Next best in background of second pic. And the female in last obviously.
Nice pair - let me know how the ro water works out - also be sure to accliminate them to it.. and you need to either add a lot of mulim or some kh to make it stable.
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On 1/29/2023 at 9:02 AM, jwcarlson said:
None of the males or females have any access to anyone but their partner now. I have another 29 I could move one pair from the 55 and set up something a little more community like in the 55. We'll see what happens. I am enjoying watching them display, very entertaining.
Can you post pictures of your males 🙂
Good luck and start hatching that bbs - it usually takes about a day for the free swimming frys to eat their egg sacks but then they will be hungry. Females usually do an excellent job of moving them around the entire aquarium looking for food.
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On 1/29/2023 at 8:28 AM, jwcarlson said:
I bought three pairs, QT and wormed them in a 55 with good divisions lots of caves. No issue. Of course one pair spawned. Male was helping defend, but all aggression was very minor. He was still dancing for the other ladies. Even the female was very nice keeping everyone away. Honestly more aggressive towards us if we were standing there. They're in my liquid rock tap water so no shot of hatching. She spit them all out of the cave in a couple days.
Got last levamisole treatment in and moved spawning pair to their 29 and divided the 55. Which was the plan all along. When I split the 55 I got the wrong females with their males quite obviously. Figured that out in 24 hours and when I swapped them the females immediately started displaying for their males. It was pretty interesting, actually.
I have RO set up now and can start cutting it in. But want to see if the spawning was total luck or if they will at least spawn in my tap water.
In my 29 the smaller male was hounded - but the other 3 got alone fine. If you see one of the males being pushed to the top then you know the tank is too small for him (with the other males) and best to remove him. The 'hounding' won't directly kill the fish but it can lead to bloat and eventual death over long periods. They are also generally speaking a very hearty species. You should expect them to live 2 to 5 years depending on a number of factors.
Btw with most dwarf cichild including most species (there are few exceptions) apistogramma the female always picks the mate whether it be a harem breeder or pair forming. I forget the name of the species but in another forum when we were talking about more interesting species it was mentioned that a specific species the male did the picking (I can try to find it if you care but it was not one readily available).
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This is my 29 and i think this is what i like a 29 to be; though others might think it is a bit messy and too cluttered:
Population - two runt angels some cardinals - sterbai cory - L204 (you can see the L204 under the middle driftwood and to the right one of the sterbai) bunch of mystery snails and some smaller plecos that are getting larger over time - 1 or 2 L128 and 4 Wabenmuster. Too many mysterysnails.
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On 1/28/2023 at 7:14 PM, jwcarlson said:
What about hongsloi?
Regarding previous reply wondering where I'd seen conflicting information, forums, I guess. And I'm fully aware you've got to sort everything out and find good information. In a lot of cases it seems pretty evenly split. So at that point I just figure experiences might vary wildly depending on individual specimens, local water, tank setup, etc. And I'm totally OK with that.
My understanding is that they are a bit closer to pair forming - not really strong pair but the female won't attack the male when she has frys and he'll help out a bit and won't eat them. I had them for a bit - actually 4 in a 29 - they are largish fish and you really don't want much more than a pair in a tank that size (i had purchased them when they were 1/4 an inch and didn't know their sexes until they were larger). You might have success with 2 females but it is not guaranteed. 2 males was definitely problematic in a tank that size. They are not harem breeders in the sense of male/female aggression cycle.
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On 1/28/2023 at 11:45 PM, Nanci B said:
I don’t have that much mess of plants, but mine are overwhelming my 75 gallon, just floating in the water and growing massive roots. It would be nice to see more of the fish. 😁
I can usually find most of my fishes minus the orange laser cory as they each seem to have their place. Mr. Pleco is almost always in his cave and Mrs Pleco is scavenging food on the left with Mr. red lizard whiptail. Mrs Nijjensi is frequently under the nuri rosen leaf and Mr. Nannacara is often hiding just above Mr pleco cave waiting to say hello to baby pleco; though i haven't seen him the last couple of days so he might have a stomach ache.
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FYI: Mac are pair forming. Note that for most apistogramma the pairs can be for just a breeding cycle though sometime they will pair for life. Also usually the male are 'casual poly' that is they will happily breed with another female - but in the aquarium that can be a bit difficult as the female for some of these species can be quite aggressive towards another female.
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On 1/28/2023 at 6:07 AM, jwcarlson said:
Is there some sort of database that contains this information? I find wildly conflicting views when I go a-googling.
I do not know of a database - there are a few books but most of the better ones are in german and out of date in the sense that they were written 20 years ago and new species have been found. Which species do you find conflicting views? I.e, there really aren't multiple views just mis-information. A given species has a specific behavior and that is the behavior of the species regardless of what people say. One thing that i do find annoying is a lot of people will post xyz about (for example) apistogramma; but that is a genus not a species and individual species have wildly different behavior. It is like saying mammals are carnivore and then feeding antelopes meat...
Chick-in-of-TheSea journal
in Photos, Videos & Journals
Posted
My rams did that after a power outage; sat by the heater until the tank warmed up; unfortunately they both came down with bloat a few days later and died.... so you have to check the fishes for a couple of weeks before you know if you are out of the woods (a few years ago we had a 16 hour power outage after a tornado - tank went down to low 70's i think which was enough to kill the rams but not much else).