anewbie
-
Posts
2,681 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1 -
Feedback
0%
Content Type
Forums
Downloads
Store
Events
Blogs
Gallery
Profiles
Posts posted by anewbie
-
-
When I was younger and the internet didn't exist; we didn't do water changes for the year the tank was setup. It was a 20 long; we started the school year with 2 swordtails and finished the year with 30 or 40; all extremely healthy. The more swordtails that showed up the faster the anaters grew - it was a mass of plants after the year. So yea and aquarium can go 6 months. Back then we never 'tested' water so i have no clue what the parameters were but the fishes were extremely healthy and lively and had great colour that much i do remember. Sadly we go the whole lot to the lfs as we were leaving town.
-
1
-
-
On 12/29/2022 at 2:52 PM, jwcarlson said:
@anewbie where are Macmasteri on the spectrum of polygamous to pair forming?
I'm becoming pretty interested in trying to breed some and I like the way the Macmasteri look, but want to make sure I don't bite off more than I can chew from an aggression standpoint. I don't mind a challenge, though.They are pair bonding. One thing to be aware of is most domestic breeds are heavily inbred to get wonderful colours but have 'weak' genetics. Wild caught are more hearty but less colourful; though agaszii wild caught can be extremely colourful. So if you decide to buy Macs you might find a hobbyist who has taken the time to mix up genetics a bit to keep them hearty. The gold versions are quite nice looking. You can read more about them here:
http://www.dwarfcichlid.com/Apistogramma_macmasteri.php
and
here
https://www.apistogramma.com/forum/threads/apistogramma-macmasteri-harem-stocking.24263/
(on the 2nd link you want to read post #6)
-
1
-
-
If you just want the experience in a 10 then go with a. pucallpaensis; they are easy to care for; can fit in a 10 and are not too expensive. They are not as flashy as some species but they will work in a 10; also they do not require blackwater. The are quasi pair forming so m/f aggression is not as harsh as with some other species though sometimes the female gets a little confused and will snap at the male.
-
1
-
-
On 12/29/2022 at 4:17 AM, Scapexghost said:
Would a 10 work if i were to rehome the male after the fry hatch?
Difficult - consider some options; if you go with a polygamous species the male will be quite aggressive towards the female until she is ready to breed so you have to keep them sep until she is ready; then you can put the male in and when she has laid eggs and retire to her cave you can remove the male - she will stay in the cave until the eggs hatch (of course she might not use the cave you create but another recessed or easy to guard area; so consider that); if you fail to remove the male the tank will be quite small and there is a chance she will kill him.
-
If you go with a pair forming species - if you purchase a pair that has already formed then there won't be much aggression but most of these species are larger and the 10 is rather cramp for them; if you purchase them when young or prior to forming a pair then there will be a lot of aggression until a pair forms and you will need more than 1 female and possibly more than 1 male to get a pair as the female can be picky.
It is less common but even with polygamous species the male can be rejected by the female esp if she is large and he is on the smaller size. It is nearly always that the female will decide who is a suitable mate.
-
Individual fishes are unique and some are more aggressive than others so if you happen with more passive fishes then your chances will improve. Also some species are more aggressive than others so even with a 20 you want to research your chosen species or at least check with others who have kept them. There are people that use a 10 to breed apisto but it is a bit risky esp for a new breeder. Also consider where you will raise the fry - a 10 isn't going to provide a lot of room for 50 frys or even 25 frys.
-
1
-
1
-
-
On 12/27/2022 at 11:44 PM, Scapexghost said:
I want to try keeping apistos for the first time and naturally i want to breed them. It will be a 10 gallon blackwater tank with just the pair. So, for those who have bred apistos, what should i know? Which are the easiest to breed or which species do the best in hard water. I have seen the co op vid on setting up an apisto breeding tank, and i have some coconut shells.
The only species you can try to breed in a 10 gallon aquarium is a. pucallpaensis (these are a clear water species and do not require blackwater but can live in blackwater). There are a lot of very interesting species that you can breed in blackwater; a readily available species is a. baenschi; these are pair forming so there is not so much aggression between male/female as exist with polygamous species like cockatoo and agassizii (but female are very picky about mates so buying a pair that has already formed is easier); however you really need a 20 long for all these larger fishes; or as an absolute min a 20 high. I suppose you could try borelli in a 15; but like most polygamous species the female will be hyper aggressive to the male when she has fry (however the male is not overly aggressive to the female when she is not ready to breed like agassizii and cockatoo).
Anyway with blackwater condition there are a lot more interesting species than the commonly available agassizii, cockatoo and such.
However if you are serious about this project you will need a larger aquarium; and if you go with a polygamous species you will almost certainly end up with dead fishes in a 10.
-
1
-
-
Mine - which is around 5 years old - i never see eat no matter what i put in; but he is fat as fat can be so i'm sure he is eating a bit too much 😉
-
1
-
1
-
-
The thing i like best about Bacopa Caroliniana is when you trim it - it has a nice minty odor; quite pleasing compared to some plants...
-
1
-
-
Yea my pearl weed pearls i guess that is why it is a pearl weed instead of a green weed. Of course my sword plant sometimes pearl but it isn't called pearl sword so who knows how these things are named. I wish we could find actual pearls in pearl weed rather than have it pearling because that would help pay for my hobby.
-
2
-
-
On 12/27/2022 at 2:28 PM, jwcarlson said:
About two weeks, as I recall. But it's been a lot of years since I've had guppies! 😄
Guppies are the best ! I like the ones with red tails and green bodies and green tails and red bodies. The yellow ones are not quite as nice but very now and then i get a red one with a yellow streak that looks interesting. They are like a box of chocolate; put about 8 different color morph together wait a year and you never know what new look will spawn.
-
1
-
-
On 12/27/2022 at 12:44 PM, JoeQ said:
I belive that's a torn up stem of Anacharis
And we have a correct answer !!!! You get the gold star ! Also it prefers to float; i suppose you can plant it but it loves to float and it will take over the entire tank and strangle every other plant in the aquarium and then it will go after the fishes; and if you put your finger in and leave it there fore a week; it'll go after your finger.... It loves to grow and grab everything around. I put a tiny little itsy bit in my swordtail aquarium and by midterm the mom could no longer find her frys to chase after.... and we ended up with gobs and gobs of swordtails since this plant hid all the frys.
-
2
-
-
On 12/27/2022 at 7:16 AM, jwcarlson said:
It wasn't "today", but shortly before Christmas I took possession of new to me tanks of 125, 55, 40, and 29 gallons. And a 90 to-be-collected still. Not sure what I will be doing with them yet and considering resealing the 125, but also wondering if that's the right thing to do.
Sure is a lot of space for guppies.... but i'm sure if you give them enough time they will fill all of them up !
-
1
-
-
On 12/27/2022 at 9:08 AM, Streetwise said:
@anewbie, I was shopping on the big marine site and they had a single-junction at $33, a double-junction at $56, and a lab-grade double-junction probe at $90. Maybe the double-junction units are more waterproof, and lab-grade means better internal components. I just want it to have the longest lifespan.
I found a white paper on hanna website which includes a table of what substance should use what type; it is not clear to me that one type has better longevity over another type; rather they work better for different usage and have different level of accuracy. What this implies to me is that a $1400 probe might be more accurate when used with gases but it might not last longer than a $33 probe for an aquarium. I'm not claiming that is the case as the paper didn't go into that level of detail.
Further reading suggest a double junction probe will last longer than a single junction probe.
-
2
-
-
On 12/26/2022 at 6:13 PM, Streetwise said:
@modified lung, you reminded me to order new calibration fluid with a new pH probe. I plan to get the lab-grade double junction model.
I'm last here what is a 'double junction' ph probe ?
-
On 12/26/2022 at 10:32 AM, tolstoy21 said:
We were discussing the Milwaukee devices earlier. The probes can wear out. I am not sure what their longevity is. But the better units have replaceable probes. Also, you are meant to store the probes in their caps, filled with storage solution, or yes they do dry out and will prematurely fail and require replacement.
Yeah, I've seen that solution as well.
I think in the end it depends on if you want to monitor a system or just perform periodic tests.
Monitoring is nice since I believe you can have the CO2 solenoid flip on or off in response to the monitored Ph level, right?
I never seen the purpose of flipping co2 on/off based on level since it takes time to 'gas' up and down; however yea that is the big difference between milwaukee/hanna and apex/bluelab (with monitor adapter)/hydros/... is taking a snap shot or monitoring. In freshwater i really have no clue what you would actually control with these devices but i do prefer the monitoring aspect to watch temp/co2. I would like to monitor tds in my low ph tank and will try using a close loop pump with the hydros tds monitor when i have thing setup in the spring. In theory that should work. They do also have water detectors in many of these bundles (hydros comes with it but i'm not using it) to detect aquarium leaks. Anyway i've not used apex and it is horribly expensive for what it offers but have used hydros and will test ghl in the spring. Given teh price point i don't see the point of the milwaukee/bluelab/hanna unless they proved more accurate than the hydros. I'm not saying the hydros is great but at the price point it does what those units do and seem reasonably accurate and provide actual monitoring. If you want actual control of devices ghl solution is probably the most cost effective - much cheaper than apex at the low end... of course there larger units are quite expensive.
-
On 12/26/2022 at 12:50 PM, JoeQ said:
This is actually an extremely powerful light which I wasn't happy with on my 10g. And even on my 36g at 21" deep I'm only running it on 35 to 38 percent power. For smaller tanks I'd go with the aquasky. In the example above, if anewbie didn't have that wall of rotala, at 100% I think they would be having troubles.
As someone who has used more powerful lights we will simply have to agree to disagree. Also it isn't a wall of rotala... it is pearl weed....
-
On my 10 (pictured) I have the following setting:
100% white; 82 red/yellow/ 74 blue white 22 blue - this was just some default setting but it isn't a very powerful light:
-
1
-
-
On 12/25/2022 at 12:43 PM, Adam Swarbrick said:
Hi all,
Please could you let me know your thoughts on adding black Ruby barbs or Odessa barbs to the following community.
12 rummy nose
10 corydoras
1 long fin bristlenose
thanks in advance
Depends on tank size and temp which depends no which species of corydoras you have ... btw i tend to prefer cherry barbs (though they don't school); and kubotai rasbora (which school and swim constantly like rummies).
-
1
-
-
On 12/25/2022 at 8:29 PM, tolstoy21 said:
Another option with more reviews from Hanna Instruments.
https://www.hannainst.com/hi9813-6-portable-ph-ec-tds-temperature-meter-with-cal-check.html
Milwaukee has a similar device; but these are not monitors but testers if that matters. Also i worry about the ph probe on these as my understanding they will wear out on all devices and if they dry out they are more prone to not last as long.
-
1
-
-
pygmy hiding is not unusual; after three years and a forest as thick as a jungle my pygmy will sometime come out if i ask them very nicely and give them their favorite food but they prefer to be where they can't see me. That is the nature of pygmy. One solution i seen that people suggest is just don't give them a place to hide but i don't like that idea. As to deaths; i had a few 3 years ago when if first got hem but bulk of them were fine and are still fine today.
-
1
-
-
I recently did a bit of digging into these and this is what i found:
ghl: ph/temp $400 bundle includes controllable power strip; unlimited data retained (havent' used it)
hydros: ph/tmp/tds $350 bundle (tds is extra but around $50); only 1 week data retained; tds meter only useful with ro (you can't monitor the tank)
apex: ph/tmp (jr unit) around $400; need pm2 for more stuff (like tds) which makes it very expensive; not sure how general the tds unit is or if it is like hydros - the problem is that it can't be inserted into the tank but you could probably rig something with a small close circuit pump if you want to monitor tank water - it is really designed to monitor the ro unit.
I'm currently testing hydros - it is ok but i don't like the cloud data stuff since you can't get raw data - just the graphs and it only retains one week (they say this will eventually be improved but not yet) but it is cheaper than the alternative.
I'll probably test ghl in the spring - see if the rep can get me a bundle without the power strip since i don't need to control power with the unit - they have larger units but more expensive.
On 12/24/2022 at 1:42 PM, Streetwise said:@BettaFishCO, here is what I wrote:
You cannot calibrate ORP for freshwater unless you add the PM2 module.
https://shop.neptunesystems.com/products/salinity-module-pm2
Things may have changed, since it has been a couple of years.
You can control and monitor remotely via the cloud connection.
I was skimming through the thread, and a lot of the posts about competing products have dead links. It is hard to compete with an established system.
I really don’t do enough with mine, but if I ever get CO2, I will partly regulate it with pH.
Edit: my pH probe is complaining and probably needs replacement. I don’t think the pH is actually as low as those graphs report.
What is ORP ?
-
1
-
-
On 12/21/2022 at 7:27 AM, tolstoy21 said:
I have about 40+ male apistos of three different species in a 40G. Admittedly they have been in there longer than I'd like (I had massively male heavy spawns and it's hard to move males without accompanying females. I'm trying to raise them at lower temps now in an attempt to even out the ratios of future spawns).
They are going on 6 - 8 months of age right now, and they do squabble at times. But what I notice from them is more like posturing and displaying.
I have yet to lose a fish in this setup. All my fish are healthy and colored up well and show no stress. However, yeah they need new homes. I have a couple large ornaments for them to shelter in, but usually a handful of males will hang out together in the same cave, or skull or log (I think the key is to make sure the hides aren't small enough to be defended by a single individual). I also have large clumps of Java Fern, but this is more for them to feel comfortable from me or theoretical predators than it is to separate them from one another.
Now, I don't advocate keeping apistos long term in this kind of setup as 'pets', but it does work if you are breeding and need to hold a large spawn for a period of time longer than you might have anticipated.
Perhaps I might start offering some of these in the Sell/Trade section here for anyone interested, free of cost as long as shipping is covered by the recipient.
I would argue this is a slightly different situation for numerous reasons. Of course as the male and females mature the males might attempt to stake out a territory and if one is much stongerthan the others you might begin to have issues down the road; but with so many fishes in the 40; it is unlikely that one will actually be able to form a territory. I would argue the situation would be different if you had 4 males in the 40g and one or two had firmly established territories. Of course as a rule the females tend to be more deadly than the males.... I'm actually having a lot of 'fun' with my pucallpaensis as they are one of the more docile species but things are not exactly tranquil with them.
-
On 12/18/2022 at 10:31 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:
I did Kribensis in a 20 gallon high. The first spawn I let the parents be the awesome caretakers that they are and raise them up before I moved them. The second spawn I let them all stay in that 20 high until I sold them all off. Right before I sold them, the original pair spawned again and was protecting eggs from the entire previous generation. Was pretty wild to see.
I made the mistake of keeping the entirety of both spawns. The first spawn took forever to move which caused the second one to take even longer. Learned a valuable lesson when it comes to breeding and raising fish with those guys.
I would assume Apistos would be similar as they’re both dwarf cichlids, but I could also be totally wrong. Just trying to give my experience with dwarf cichlids in a 20 gallon.
You can't compare kribs to most species of apistogramma since the behavior between male/female is different. In fact this post is extremely inappropriate since attempts to breed most species of apistogramma in a 20 high will result in dead fish.
As to the op question; it depends on the species - cockatoo it would be ill advised; borelli or the closely related genus a. pucallpaensis easily. If you can get nijsseni to pair up prior to putting them in the 20 high - probably. Btw a 20 long is much more suitable for most species of apisto than a 20 high which has a lot of wasted space.
-
On 12/22/2022 at 4:59 PM, nabokovfan87 said:
Looks like that dreaded stuff I'm dealing with.
One tip I will recommend to help out is to try to cut it off of all of your equipment and then do a big clean. If you can, some SAEs in there would be really useful.
In terms of equipment, I had similar issues to what you're showing here. I used the type of sponge used for dishes, took the filter to the sink and went as hard as I could at it. (that way all the little tufts didn't float around the tank and spread further)
There's some on the sponge too, maybe the angels are eating it and it got sucked into the prefilter?I honestly wish i understood bba better; i had a nasty problem with the stuff; then one day it all ran away and i have no clue why. Now i just have to speculate how long till it comes back home.
-
I found whole foods 365 brand epsom salt has no additiive and is cheap; though that was several years ago so you should check if you go taht route.
-
1
-
Stocking ideas to go with pencilfish and hillstream loaches?
in General Discussion
Posted
Not what you asked but I wouldn't keep pencil fishes with hillstream loaches for a number of reasons. First pencil fishes generally like warm calm waters and hillstream loaches generally prefer cool fast flowing water. Can you find a happy medium; well you can find one that works but it would be non-optimal for both species... Other than that most species of pencil fishes are very passive; though coral red males will spare quite a bit.