anewbie
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Posts posted by anewbie
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On 11/26/2022 at 10:44 AM, sairving said:
I've also found that bulb plants do amazingly well in my water. One time, I made the mistake of buying a red tiger lotus without asking how large it would get. It had explosive growth, completely taking over my 5 gallon tank in a month. That was an adventure lol.
First one must have a lot of patience with plants as a lot will melt and then regrow. This is my 10 gallon aquarium which has plants in it for the past year and you can see they are growing ok but very slowly ('cept the pearl weed which keeps on giving);
The problem with bulb plants is nearly all of them (lilies and apongeton will get way too large for a 10). I have an a. cripus right front corner and it will eventually out grow the tank and i'll have to remove it.
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No right answer. This is my low tech tank with italia val; it is a 29. Naturally one could keep them trimmed and thinned if that is an issue. I'll let someone else address water sprite. Also a bit might depend on your water as water that is too hard or too soft is not as friendly to some plant (depending on plant species).
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I'm setting up a 450 and 550 in may; and i debated a long time about depth. My 120 is 24 inches deep and i cannot easily reach all portions of the floor of the tank which is important for plants (I have short arms). i know there are people with long arms that are less problematic. The new tanks will be 23 inches deep for that reason (but they are 4 feet wide); you didn't say how you were going to scape the new tank. If rock and drift wood it won't be so bad since you can use 'long tools' to move things close enough to the edge of the tank to remove and you don't have to muck with it as often. If plants i would test your arm length and leave enough room in the back to get behind the tank depending on how wide the tank will be. I would love to have made the new aquariums 30 or even 36 inches deep but my arms are just not long enough to deal with such depth.
As for water changes i have no issues with the 24 inch depth - the python can easily reach the back and get into the substrate (in the few spots with no plants). I don't think 30 inches would have been an issue....
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From the articles i read it sounds like if your Abacaxis are wild caught you will have to leave the ph low; but if they are > f0 then you can try raising the ph. I havent' read the Romer article but my concern is that when looking beyond the species he has studied they come from different region which naturally have different water and temp so there is likely some error with regards to exact values for other species. It would be interesting to see what you learn from experimentation for this specific species (well I am interested since my intention is to populate an aquarium with them in May). I will be using pure ro water as well as peat but it is too early to judge how low of a ph i will obtain as well as tds.
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Yes but it will take experimentation to find the exact range that works best for you with this species (I think); you might find something helpful but this is not the most common species. One problem is that in the wild with climate change there is some negative impact; but the fishes aren't total idiots and as i noted they can adjust their height a little when laying eggs - though a lot depends on the species and their exact habitat.
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On 11/24/2022 at 4:17 PM, tolstoy21 said:
@newbie You know, I'm not sure what the TDS was at this time, below. hundred. If I were to guess, probably in the 45 to 60 range. I need to get better to tacking that as a measure of water quality.
The water in the aquarium was 100% RO with oak leaf litter and Fluval peat pellets in a box filter, so the Ph stayed pretty consistently at 4.5.
I have been gradually acclimating the fry and parents to harder water and a higher Ph, so I can't get a good measure of it at this moment in time because it would not represent the breeding conditions.
I am ready to start round 2 with this pair and will get a measure of TDS if they spawn again.
My last few spawns of apisto species have been very male heavy -- Abacaxis, Baenschi, Agassizii. Trying now to determine what factor exactly is influencing that the most, as I hate to see a batch of 30+ males and only 2 or 3 females. Cacatuodies is the only species giving me more or less even sex ratios.
I guess I just need to take more and more notes and give this time, as collecting data over a number of successive generations doesn't happen overnight.
Temp is suppose to weigh heavily in determining sex; in fact in the wild the biggest females will lay eggs at a different level than the smaller females (because they claim those territories). I forget if you want cooler or warmer water for more females.
On 11/24/2022 at 5:58 PM, nabokovfan87 said:*runs to go turn down the heater on the cory tank*
Very good point. What kind of notes do you keep when you spawn something? I wonder if @mountaintoppufferkeeper has journals and stuff too.heat is not as much as an impact on cory; i believe this is more specific to genus apistogramma (though i would not be shocked if there are other fishes ....)
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What is your tds; that is definitely one fish i am getting when i setup my low ph tank in May (background i'm getting out of this condo and will then have full control over my water). Most apisto are pretty easy to breed IF the water condition is correct the exception are those that are semi-paring and the female can be very picky like the nijjensi group. The other big head-ache is when folks put them in tanks too small with inappropriate structure and doesn't understand the violence pattern between male/female in polygamous species.
There are only a few species that work well as a colony (if that is your objective); this species can be used to setup in a colony in a sufficiently large aquarium (I am setting up 48x48 aquarium)
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I hope everyone wins so no one doesn't win !
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Yea. I cut it periodically and it just keeps growing feet after feet until it is more than 8 feet long. I'd rip the stuff out but my fishes like it too much. There are days i wish cutting it would stunt the growth for a few years but it just keeps on giving.
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Have all those plants; one of my nurii did melt so don't be shocked if it does; none of the various spiralis have melted. At least in my tank the spiralis is fairly slow growing but the pink jacobi grows like a weed getting fairly large and sending out gobs of runners. It needs a lot of room around it to expand. The nurii is mix bag in terms of growth i have a fairly strong light and it mostly stays flat but the ones shaded do raise the leaves and in that form it is a larger plant; it took about 4 months for mine to start spreading but the one that melted took about 6 months to start regrowing and was very slow initially though more recently has picked up steam. My lemon blue-eye is unkind to the nurii but the leaves never seem to get damage.
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On 11/16/2022 at 8:24 AM, TOtrees said:
Thanks!!
I forgot to mention that I do feed a variety of veg also. French cut beans and zucchini for the most part, rarely spinach or broccoli. And also repashy bottom scratcher.
The difference between the 397‘s and my overstocked growout bristlenose tank in terms of how fast they go through zucchini is striking. My 4 397‘s will absolutely demolish a cube of lightly blanched zucchini overnight, whereas a few dozen 1” bns will barely eat half as much in the same time.
May I ask, what do you feed the 397s the most? Or is the list above in that order already?
Mine will only eat the skin off the zuc but they are pigs that is for sure. My L204 will demolish the meat of the zuc and if i put both of them together the l204 eat the meat while the L397 eat the skins 😉
On 11/16/2022 at 8:02 AM, tolstoy21 said:I feed Repashy Soilent Green (and Bottom Scratcher, but just occasionally), french cut green beans, zucchini, cucumber, sweet potato, and occasionally frozen brine shrimp.
I also sometimes sprinkle BacterAE in there to promote biofilm growth. Probably not necessary, but I have some on-hand for my shrimp tanks so I figured why not?
I didn't do any specific conditioning food-wise for this colony since I didn't think they were old enough to breed yet.
Good luck!
What i do is mix soilent green with igaloo something like 4 to 4.5 part soilent with the rest igloo explorer so the cubes have the two mixed together. I don't actually make two different cubes.
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In my experience most (many?) of the larger cichild have better or at least stronger personalities than the dwarf cichild. Of the dwarf cichild i have owned my nannacara amolae has displayed some truly unique and interesting behavior - much stronger and more interesting than gbr, borelli, cockatoo, hongsloi, Laetacara, ... however i have found my adult angels develop rather strong personalities - well the males - the females tend to be indifferent meanies.
My understanding from follow various threads the larger cichild (oscar, uaru, chocolate, ....) have much stronger personalities but my aquairums have always been too small for them - and when i do setup a 550 i will put in a gazzillion little fishes instead of one large fish 😉
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I had a war on duckweed; it lasted 3 months before i finally won. My friend had a war on duckweed; he put in a gold fish and they didn't last long but the gold fish got big and fat.
Ok the 2nd part is just a rumour but it did take me forever to get duckweed out of my 5 gallon aquarium. I won't even go into how long it took with the 29 and 40.
Btw you have a lot of platties. I once had a gf and i set up her aquarium in a dorm room. We only got 2 swordtails but by the end of the year her tank looked a lot like yours 'cept the substrate was different and the plants were different but there were a lot of fishes. She squealed a lot the first time the female had fry - well not so much her having frys but then she turned around and started trying to eat them.
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On 11/23/2022 at 9:23 AM, Biotope Biologist said:
Came here to say the same thing as @Fish Folk. I think the smallest geophagus species still gets to about 8.75” in length so you are better off with a different cichlid with similar characteristics…
if size is an issue.
There are several species that stay around 5 inches - not small. There are serveral dwarf cichild that are a bit closer to geo behavior - well closer than bolivian rams but their overall behavior isn't really the same.
I mentioned two species that trends close to 5 inches or smaller; one could argue that cockatoo are pretty close to geo - certainly the males have the large shovel like mouth for shifting sand but i wouldn't push the similarities any more than Bolivian rams (which i personally dislike). The problem with this discussion is we don't really know why the op mentioned geo to begin with - is it the overall behavior or the shape of the body. Nor does he mention the tank size or water parameters (hard/soft/...). I take it on face value he wants small geo; but most geo prefer a decent size shoal so the tank is going to have to be modestly large - absolute min. for a group of cupid (for example) would be 75 with a 125 being much better - or a custom aquarium that has the floor space of a 125 but shallower.
However op might have a 500 gallon aquarium for all we know - of course if his water is liquid rock he should be looking at something like Elliot's Cichlid which isn't a geo but certainly looks like one (also gets around 7.5 inches) 😉
Or the op might have no interesting in buying fishes at all he might just want to know the smallest species of geophagus....
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On 11/23/2022 at 9:32 AM, Colu said:
I would test your ammonia nitrite nitrate levels to see if anything off if there hanging near the surface it could be low levels of desolve oxygen or a reaction to the medication what medication did you use
I don't disagree but he already said his water parameters are 'fine' so it can't be anything wrong with the water.... even if that is likely the issue.
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You are pushing the limit but if you want to experiment with a fish borelli is probably your best bet; but i would not. There are some wonderful ca (central america) dwarf cichild that will do better though your water is still pretty hard even for them. An example of such a fish is rainbow cicihld (there are several others some a little smaller others a little bigger). If you want a rock type landscape there are several african species to consider.
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On 11/23/2022 at 4:47 AM, BlueLineAquaticsSC said:
Mikrogeophagus altispinosus, Bolivian Ram. I recommend them all the time since they are one of my favorite fish I’ve ever kept. They have also always been very hardy in my experience.
But they are not geophagus so off topic to this thread.
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As a general rule all geo prefer a soft sand like substrate (larger substrate can damage their gills as they shift through it looking for food); as SA fishes most prefer soft acidic water though I think there might be some central american species that do well in harder alkaline water. One of the smaller species is Geophagus parnaibae but these are not so common. A commonly available and not too large geo is Biotodoma cupido. Like many geo these have an extremely low tolerance for 'dirty' water and require very clean water with decent flow. They do best in soft acidic water (ph below 7; hardness around 3 gh or lower); they prefer to be kept in a group of 5 to 8. A 75 gallon aquarium should be fine but 125 is always nicer. The important thing is an aquarium with lots of floor space; height is not so important.
Like most cichild food should have a fair amount of plant matter as well as meat.
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Apisto is a genus; individual species have different level of flexibility. You should talk about a specific species when asking this question.
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On 11/21/2022 at 2:17 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:
Don’t have a ton to report other than I was at the OdySea Aquarium in Scottsdale this last weekend which was a lot of fun. Continuing Medical Education is or can be fun!
I came home to find no catastrophes other than plants that my MIL decided not to bring in from the porch “oh that’s why you wanted me to bring them in!” Yep that’s why! 🤬My Krobia group has been a bit spooked lately. For a good while I could see them begging at the glass but lately less so. Hoping more water changes and better food will turn the tide.
One of these days I’ll get some swords as dithers for them from @Patrick_G. I really need to get working on the air loop for the fishroom hoping this holiday weekend may be the time!
How many krobia do you still have? I wonder as they reach maturity if they are spooking themselves ?
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And this morning i took a picture of my little purple aflame. Hard to believe this plant is already THREE years old:
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On 11/20/2022 at 5:31 PM, Kevin F. said:
The fish loved it. The Cory's rolled it around the bottom until it was gone.
Have to be careful here as Repashy is a brand; and they make many different foods; some of which cory like and others well not so much.
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This article has a bit of information on them - https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/mesonoemacheilus-triangularis/
btw they like large groups 😉
(I realize you already indicated they are sold out)
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I'm not an expert on this but my understanding is they can tolerate brackish water but it isn't ideal for them. Their native habitat tends to be very soft clean river water in west Africa but they have been known to travel to locations where there is very thin brackish water.... it is not a habitat they favor. I have no clue what would happen if you forced them to live in hard brackish water full time with no escape.
Question for very large aquarium owners (250G+)
in General Discussion
Posted
You must be pretty tall; for me a 24 inch tank on a 32 inch stand is eye level 😉