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anewbie

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Posts posted by anewbie

  1. On 7/22/2021 at 2:01 PM, Just a Pygmy Corydora said:

    Where do you live? It might only be your area.

    It isn't - both furan-2 and api general care have been unavailable for months; there are two rumours for cause. First the FDA cracked down on one seller of 'untested' fish drugs (not sure if that had an impact on other companies); second some drug ingredients are in short supply due to covid-19 and vaccine production. I do not know if either rumour are actually relevant but i do know obtaining the drugs are difficult.

     

    It isn't just api; other brands have the same issue.

    • Like 1
  2. On 7/20/2021 at 12:32 PM, Brandy said:

    they have little backwards facing barbs. on their gill covers/pectoral fins I think. they need to go forward, then back, and they probably are not going to figure it out. To be honest, a net is cheap. cut it gently with very small scissors, a thread at a time until they can get out.

    Yea. I ended up cutting both of them out - i think one still has a bit of netting on the nose but he jumped away and now he is 'lost' so hopefully the remaining threads will eventually give way. I actually managed to get 4 of them trapped in that net but got 2 out (I had a shipment of 16 - never had them get trapped in nets before but i think in the future i will just poor them into a specimen container and use my hand because this was a real ordeal for them. Didn't help that the angels kept looking them over.

    • Like 1
  3. I purchased a group of oto and in the process of transferring them to the tank several managed to get their nose stuck in the netting. I've given them an hour to work their way free and tried gently moving the net and tugging the fishes but they are still stuck. Any suggestions as to how to free them ?

  4. Eco complete is available at my local lfs and i have it in my 120 but hate the stuff as it is too coarse. I'm currently using (and am happy with):

    crystal river (caribsea)

    torpedo beach (caribsea); i prefer crystal river as it is a bit finer

    estes stoney river (black); i like this stuff - fairly fine but porous. 

    -

    I had severe issues with moonlight (caribsea) and will not use it again - frequently get anaerobic pockets that cause some serious issues

    -

    These are two of my tanks (top crystal river) bottom torpedo beach:

    40b.jpg.d7df1e6c180185f306d44302e9f13e4f.jpg

     

    xyz.jpg.7124983908ac836750967afde8bdb630.jpg

  5. On 7/16/2021 at 10:22 PM, Brandy said:

    But! I did score the best Craigslist freebie yesterday!

    16264915822075584597867977183015.jpg.af81c8f2b3ed6b2aff73093e1cfd9d0d.jpg

    That's going to go in the living room soon! The question is... Do I go with a UGF, sponges/corner matten, or just circulation, plants, and MTS? 

    I'm leaning hard toward a @Daniel inspired simple box o' water plan. Much like a super sized 1930's aquarium.

    I'm partial to corner matten with a couple of sponge filters in the rear. Id not do a UGF if this is going to be a 20 year planted tank - too much can go wrong down there...

    • Like 1
  6. On 7/14/2021 at 5:02 PM, Guppysnail said:

    I do this only on a tight budget. Penn play silent air backup $13 run on 2 d batteries. Not sure how long it runs though. It’s more a temp emergency measure until I start the generators.  

    I have one of those 8 hours batteries that you can get on amazon - used it when i drove my fishes cross country  in the back seat. It has a bit more power than a couple of D batteries. It isn't strong enough to run something like the fx6 but it can run small heaters and airpumps just fine. I think part of the problem is there just wasn't an indication of the problem. The tank is next to my desk  but last night everyone was pretty happy eating the only one a bit off on hindsight was the sae. 

    -

    Now that lights are off all the loaches are playing in the fx6 jetstream - kind of fun to watch (basically the yoyos clowns and zebra are all happy to join a large group).

    • Like 1
  7. On 7/14/2021 at 3:45 PM, HH Morant said:

    Whether the aeration is enough depends upon the stocking level and how long it takes to discover and solve the problem with the canister filter. When my power went out in the Big Freeze in February I am pretty sure the air pump saved my fish because it was the difference between no aeration and just enough. It runs one large aquarium co-op sponge filter and a bubble wand at the back of the tank. It gave me time to discover the problem and put in two more air stones attached to another battery-operated pump, which was enough for my fish at the time. Sponge filters, although they don't create the flow that canisters do, are quite efficient at aeration. I think Cory has done a video about that.

    The more fish in the tank, the less time you have to discover the problem and fix it. One hundred fish in a 120 gallon tank sounds like a lot, depending on their size of course. So even with two sponge filters running there was not enough aeration to keep all the fish alive long enough for the problem to be discovered and fixed.

    If your electric power is interrupted, and the canister and the sponge filters stop running, you will have much less time.

     I hope you find a solution that works for you.

    As i said the tank has two sponge filters and it wasn't a power outage - both were working.

  8. On 7/14/2021 at 2:35 PM, HH Morant said:

    One way to protect against a recurrence is to have a sponge filter in the tank. It takes up space and it is not pretty, but you can generally find an unobtrusive place for it in a 120 gallon tank. Mine is behind a piece of driftwood.

    If your filter stops functioning for some reason, the sponge filter keeps the tank aerated and saves the fish. My sponge filter is run by an air pump containing a lithium battery back-up, so if the power goes out the air pump and sponge filter will automatically continue to aerate the tank for 9-10 hours.

    The tank already has 2 sponge filters.... However the flow from them is not near the level of an fx6. Not sure what size tank you have but i find it hard to imagine your battery powered air pumps would provide much flow in a tank this large. I do have a large backup battery i could use if i had to but obviously these are not providing that level of flow.

     

    On 7/14/2021 at 2:15 PM, Mitch Norton said:

    Sorry for the losses. What plugged the intake?

    Not sure the sponge on the intake really wasn't very dirty. I need to further examine it before i use it again - i have two that i swap between since i clean them twice a week. This one was pretty darn clean but it had that squish effect which happens when water isn't passing through it. I also went ahead and clean the filter itself. The tank has around 100 fishes so the damage could have been a lot worse - everything was fine last night when i fed them - at least in their behavior - the sae was just a tiny bit off so i'm guessing the reduce flow started sometime before i fed them and then really kicked in over night. On the positive side the angels stopped bickering over-night though they recovered well enough after th water change...

  9. Well i had a disaster. My fx6 intake got plugged and 4 fishes died in my 120- i presume it was an oxygen issue since nitrite and ammonia were 0. Lost 1 cardinal; 1 yoyo loach; my 2 year old 7 inch sae and an oto. Another oto was 'stun' but seemed to have quickly recovered - did a 50% water change and fix the filter. clown loaches were in extreme distress at the top of the tank as were the angels. Now the loaches and cory are going crazy and glass surfing (unusual for middle of the day)  - guess they liked the water changes.
    -
    I normally do a 28% water change twice a week; and clean the prefilter on the fx6 twice a week. it wasn't that dirty when i cleaned it today but water wasn't flowing through it - not 100% sure why. The clown loaches are really really happy now but kind of feel sad that i killed my sae. Oh well guess that is why i'm anewbie.

  10. On 7/14/2021 at 5:38 AM, NorthernAquarist said:

    Great post!

    I literally thought there was just one Echinodorus...the Echinodorus Amazonicus. Lol!

    After looking at the other main ones found in hobby, yeah it does look like Echinodorus 'Martii'. I thought at first it may be the Echinodorus grisebachii or Echinodorus amazonicus. As the leaves appear quite large, but that kinda signature wrinkle in leaf makes it look very much like the 'Martii' 

     

    I have no less than 10 different species of echinodorus ranging in size from 1 inch to over 24 inches.

    • Like 4
  11. You have several options. I find that after 4 or 5 times of laying the eggs the parents can easily get the eggs to wriggler stage if i leave the room lights on (so they can see at night). If you don't want to wait to see if the parents can get the frys along; you can move the object with the eggs into a sep tank (as you suggested) and then put use an air stone to aerate the eggs (to keep fungus from growing). Some people also use a few drops of m. blue. It will take the eggs 3 to 5 days to hatch to get wrigglers and then another few days before the frys are free swimming. Once they are free swimming it will take another 18 or 24 hours for them to consume their egg sack at which time you can feed them bbs (you want the bbs to be a few hours to a day old for optimal nutrient and size). You will need to feed the frys 3 to 5 times a day with bbs for a couple of weeks and then you can ween them onto golden pearl; first bite (hikari, omega-one, ... your favorite brand) or crushed flakes. 

    -

    It is critical to keep the fry water crystal clear (use an eye dropper or turkery blaster to remove dead frys and uneaten food and do a daily 20% water change). Once the frys are 4 or 5 days old you should not have any more deaths (I usually have 6 to 10 deaths out of 50 or 80 frys the first couple of days). 

     

  12. I've done this with several tanks. I have a set of 5 gallon pails used only with my aquariums and this is my step:

    wash new substrate with tap water in a 5 gallon pail

    split a plastic garbage bag down the middle and set it on the floor around the tank (to get drips)

    siphon some water from the tank into a 5 gallon pail

    put all the plants and fishes in the pail (with a sponge filter if you have one in your tank if not an air stone - or in your case neither is required.

    put all decorations into a second pail (with a bit of tank water if you want optional)

    partially cover the top with a magazine to discourage jumpers

    shovel the substrate out with a doggy scoop into a plastic garbage bag (use a pail if you intend to keep the substrate)

    put in cleaned new substrate

    put in decoration

    fill tank with new water

    remove cholorine

    make sure tank is near desired temp

    put in plants in tank

    put fish in tank (optionally with some old tank water)

    clean up mess

    have lunch (it is very important you start early enough to finish before lunch)

     

     

     

     

     

    • Like 2
  13. On 7/13/2021 at 1:00 PM, Jungle Fan said:

    It's an older book I bought way back in 1994 but to this day one of the most complete for Apistogramma even if a few of the designations have changed in the meantime.

    20210713_115610[1].jpg

    Gee that book has been out of print for years. There is a series of newer books but they are in german; but rumour is they might do a limited print in english.

  14. I would post this question over on the forms at apistogramma; there are 100's of different apistogramma with very subtle differences between the less common species and there are some experts over there. Also a lot of these fishes can control there colours based on mood. Generally they turn dark when stressed.

    • Like 1
  15. Hard to make a generic statement like that since there are 100's of tetra species and not quite as many but still plenty of different rasbora. I suppose many of the common tetra can be a bit nippy and at least the few rasbora i've played with have been less nippy; still they seem happy enough to chase each other.

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