xXInkedPhoenixX

Honestly, just clean your glass lid periodically. All sorts of fun stuff grows on it. I've got a thick carpet of algae if I let it go too long. Also, Mystery Snail eggs I need to take down before they hatch on the regular.

I think it'd be fine as long as there's nowhere for them to get stuck. It will give you time to makeshift a floating breeder, buy one, or set up another quarantine!

@BriannesFishFam I was talking about slate and making caves. Yes typically you'd use the inside of the pvc for caves but you can make caves with just the slate as the roof and cuts of pvc holding the roof up.

Do you have a large net handy for temporary housing? You could always just catch them and make a small quarantine tank but I like to try and keep mine in the tank they were born in

ah, there are smaller plastic floating breeders that might fit, I use them for my Oto fry, there are 2 different sizes. One is pretty small- only have to get big enough not to fit in their mouths! 🙂

You can feed fry crushed up adult food until you get other foods if you choose (like First Bites). You can put them in a floating or attached net breeder if you want to protect them from the adults.

@Sombat I hope you get some soon! I think when I said I was looking forward to you hatching some since I remove my eggs, my Mystery snails heard me. I need to be more careful about what I say!

I fully expected that there would be more than JUST ONE Mystery snail- however as much as I've looked I've not spotted more, just this one- granted it could be another one but it would have to be a twin exactly the same size and color. There are lots of places to hide in my tank though. Baby Mystery snails are stupid cute. Here it is hanging with one of my Nerites.

I think @Guppysnail's idea for pots is even better! Those come in a lot of sizes and already have "caps" As far as option A for my drawing, the caves would only be under the slate, partitians could be created with another row of cut pvc. I don't think it's as good as option B but more stable. However you'd not be utilizing the inside of the pvc.

Hahah read my mind I was just going to screenwrite a pic, yes I think that's the one they speak of because I believe that's at least a couple of inches down inside the bucket.

No it absolutely shouldn't be. It should be the "first tab line down on the side of the bucket" or at least a couple of inches below the top. I mitigate this all together with a car wash bucket....it's only 3 gallons, but I have smaller tanks. Car wash bucket has markings.

@Hobbit that was cool! never actually seen it before, was like a slime conveyer belt. Snails rock. I liked the Sea Lion sneezing, feels like me during allergy season. I want a car with that heat sensitive paint!!!!

@Ceci Prime like @Colu said is more commonly used amongst us, but if that's what you have and like you advised you're not able to spend more money- use the Aqueon. It says it binds ammonia and nitrites which is what will help make your fish safe.

@HonourWest since you're in Aus Maracyn = Erythromycin which treats bacterial infections. You already have the equivalent of Maracyn 2 = Tetracycline which is an antibiotic. If it gets out of hand you may be able to use what you have and see if that improves. If I were in your shoes I'd wait and see, but I'm more of a gambler. I think keeping the water super clean, treating with salt will be ok. Keep an eye on them.

Hi @CourtneyA I'm not a ciclid keeper so others might have more personal experience. If like you say you "stocked up" you know you might be pushing your capacity to the edge. If your tank was cycled before you added the fish...did you add all the fish at once? That could have shocked the system, hence the ammonia levels. Whenever I add new fish I act like it's a new tank and personally I dose with Seachem Stability. It's been 6-8 weeks now so I'm not sure if that will help you or not. Water changes and Seachem Prime or similar will be your best friend while seeing if your tank ever stabilizes or if you indeed have too high a bioload- options if that's the case would be reducing fish- or adding plants, lots more plants. Filtration will help. I used to run a sponge and an HOB on one of my tanks, now I run 2 smaller sponges in both my 20 gallons. Without knowing further those are just some general ideas about what is going on.

I feel like a bottom dweller is best for this scenario. The "internet" says minimum 10 gallons but I wonder if 1 Borneo Sucker Loach (they like it cooler) would be happy in such a little wonderland? Has to be something similar, bottom dwellers aren't going to eat the frog and most would probably be too big for the frog to bother with. Plus they could be a cleaner fish. Kuhli maybe??

Glad to be of service. What I like about this particular idea is that most of us have that stuff on hand so there's no store run needed. If it's a big piece you may have to string a couple/few but I've never had it fail.

Well, better yet, dollar store, plastic cutting "board" sheets. That kind of plastic. Flexible, but thick enough, you could glue it, and easily cut it. Wouldn't be expensive.

Well, pillars would be 1 of 2 ways in my head. Option A cut short lengths of pvc set upright for placement of slate on top OR Option 2 which I think is better for many more cave options, lengths of pvc laid down lenthwise and slate on top- multiple apartments made. Heres a crappy drawing of what's in my head:

In lieu of caps, there has to be inexpensive plastic sheets (I'm thinking craft store) that you can easily cut with scissors and glue to the backs of the pvc. You could cut a square shape on the bottom so if you have bare bottom so they don't roll if they're individual caves.

I think the slate ones are super cool but I have no idea how much slate costs. If you get 1 decent sized piece you could potentially cut pillars out of your pvc and make multiple compartments. ...on subject of caves...I saw a clever 3D printed corner cave on Etsy that you can bury under substrate yet see inside it on the outside corners I thought was cool.

This is where my jimmy rigging might come in handy....often when I buy new wood even after boiling it floats. SO I use suction airline tube holders- cut a small piece of airline to sit in the bracket. THEN I string fishing line through the airline and tie it to the wood at the point where it would be closest to the glass. Then voila! I suction it to the wall of the tank and it stays. It's also great when I have to move things, but for my purposes I can eventually just cut the line because the wood now stays in place. I also use this trick to tie Anubias to my aquarium. The suction cups are typically unnoticed and I can take out my Anubias or move them at will.

I don't have a pleco so take my knowledge with a grain of salt but I've seen the PVC thing a whole lot on youtube so I think you're onto something. I've also seen people stack and glue them together into small pyramids (I don't know if the plecos use the "upstairs" or other fish do.) Caps would be inexpensive too.

@Guppysnail yeah they are super cool aquatic pets. I'm not sure how predatorial they'll be they're actually kind of clumsy to me. I feel like they try to go a certain direction and fail miserably most times. Little clowns are fun to watch. But they almost violently attack the worms at the end of the tweezers- soooo. They often recommend not having a tank too deep too since they surface on a semi regular basis, we've got betta leaves and the albino rests often up top there, not necessarily exposing themselves to air (because of course they're fully aquatic frogs that can't be out of water) but they seem to like to hang in that area if they're able, just below the surface.

Aww, that's cool, I hate to see bees drown.