Mr Gumby

hard to imagine just how cold that is!

at some points last week I was seeing minus 7c defrosting the car in the mornings but luckily I have the option to work from home and its a lot milder here now.

Just a plea for all of our US members affected by the extreme weather Stay home, stay warm and stay safe

So latest update, I've moved a dozen chili's to my 5-gallon RCS tank for conditioning. They're getting live daphnia, live BBS, decapsulated BBS as I only hatch live every other day, micro worms and vinegar eels. The great thing about these tiny fellas is they still take my fry foods which keeps the cultures ticking over nicely. I have blended in some rainwater just to get the PH somewhere near neutral but with enough GH and KH to keep the RCS happy. Oddly I've seen two Chili's constantly scanning the substrate and picking at something (my 50-year-old eyes aren't good enough to see what it is). I'm hoping eggs but it could just be bits of food. In a perfect world the moss balls, java moss, star grass and guppy grass in there would provide enough cover for any fry to hide and eat if they'd actually hatch at current water parameters but who knows. Next thing is I'm going to try dropping a Tupperware in with some java moss and gravel like I do with my CPD's and if they are dropping eggs, I might have half a chance of spotting them. If that fails, I'll break out another of my 5 gallons and move the adults on to even softer water exciting times!

that's good to know, I've always used filter floss but I'll give paper towel a go. Do you have any issues with moisture using the towel?

thanks @Guppysnail, that looks like the way forward less mess and easier feeding trying to get a decent selection going, luckily keeping nano fish means I can still feed micro worms to the adults as a snack but the grindal worms should fill them up a bit more alongside live BBS My chili rasbora will even go for vinegar eels which is handy to keep the culture ticking over 🙂

Hi folks, Just ordered a starter culture of grindal worms which is being supplied in peat moss. Yes I went with the cheapest option 😁 I'm intending to use the scour pad method so I'm after any tips and tricks to transfer from one media to the other?

I did experiment last winter with my 245 litre 65ish gallon US and turned the heater off. Monitoring it for several months I never saw it drop below 20c - 68f at night 22c - 72f which for my fish is perfectly acceptable There is always the caveat that more water volume holds temperature longer so cooler night time temps have much less affect....plus a decent lid helps a lot

To be fair bizarre things do happen in the fish keeping world I have been to my LFS and bought 1 fish and the next day it had magically cloned itself and there were a dozen in my tank.....at least that was the story I told my better half 🙂

I'm on Severn Trent and they have stated in the past (according to Google) that when they use an alternate source it does get treated with chloramine unfortunately

Thanks both for the responses Tetra's website is decidely unhelpful on the subject 😞

I'm not sure using a fish room visit as an equivalent to going to jail has the same effect.....unless of course you're going for fish room envy 🙂

Hi folks, can anybody confirm that the chlorine test on strips also picks up chloramines? I'm thinking that once all my tanks are moved to one area I can get a big butt (snigger) and aerate water over night and allow it to temperature acclimate to the room which will be close enough to use for water changes rather than trying to match temps from the tap. My water report suggests chloramines are used occasionally so I'd still have to test before use but I'm not a fan of using chemicals so if I can avoid using dechlorinator I will assuming I can test for chloramine Note...I'm in the UK so no Co-op strips for me, I use tetra but I'm assuming they all work the same way

So I get down stairs this morning, it's still dark and tank lights are off. Check the tanks and my heart sinks as I spot a casualty. Looks like my female flag fish is no more With blurry morning vision I grab a net and proceed to remove the poor dead fish. Here's what it looks like in the cold light of day 😂

Thanks both, assasins are a good shout, however even tho I keep nano fish I dont keep nano tanks 🙂 New rack will be four 36*15*15's which I think works out to roughly 30 gallons US give or take. Currently have 70+ CPD's in my 65 and there behaviour completely changes the bigger the school you have. The internet says they're a shy fish but not when they have lots of friends 🙂

Hi Folks, Just considering stocking options for the new tanks are there any snail eaters that can a) live with nano fish and neo caradina b) tolerate temperate and tropical temps I'm hoping to mainly colony breed and obviously feed heavy when fry are around which invariably causes a pond snail explosion The other option is something to live with white clouds, glowlight danios and a flag fish and just throw my excess snails in that tank as the fish are quick enough and no shrimp. All tanks will have heaters but the temperate tanks will be set to 20/68 just to prevent them dropping too low

as many white clouds as you can knowing that they will make more and I save on buying a heater, then sell the fry to everyone who says they're shutting down their tanks due to rising energy costs!

PSO - pogostemon stellatus octopus I assume??

Hi folks, I'm looking at setting up a breeding tank for my chili's My tap water is 7.3 to 7.4 PH and very hard so I'm wondering if I use an RO blend to bring it down to PH 7 and the hardness just enough to maintain PH stability or go down the rain water root to get it to acidic PH. If I use rainwater how would I get enough stability without raising PH or is it just a case of frequent water changes? In short has anyone had success at a PH of 7 as that would make life easy 🙂

Always interested in seeing people's builds who actually have DIY skills. I can live vicariously through you 😁

@billangothanks for the quick response, did you bother upgrading the MDF or just treat it?

So taking into account the price of timber and my DIY skills had a rethink. Google turned up this and I was wondering if anyone uses something similar? I'd probably swap the MDF for treated ply and cut a yoga mat to sit under the tanks

Thanks @Flumpweesel I remember seeing the post before but I'm the wrong side of 50 and forget lol It's very useful and informative, however would it not have the same affect as HP on bacteria as algae with both being aerobic? Now you've reminded me it will most likely be the way to go for me and I guess I'll just have to cycle more sponges if the bacteria does indeed die off. My back up plan is to utilize my guppy grass farm also known as my shrimp tank, I throw hand fulls of the stuff away weekly so I'll just toss it in the new tanks as ammonia sponges 🙂

Hi folks, So I've been letting my Val, crypts and dwarf sag grow wild as I'll soon be adding the new tanks and why buy more plants when I can grow my own 🙂 The only thing is I do have a bit of BBA in the tank which is being managed by the inhabitants but never really goes away. I'm considering giving the plants a quick HP dip before they move but I was also hoping to transfer as much beneficial bacteria as fish will be moving at the same time. I've got cycled sponges for the new tanks but as we know the plants will be loaded with it as well and I was wondering if it's possible to kill algae without decimating the bacteria?

Ooh, that's a nice looking fish! Failing to see how there can be so much confusion between the two tho??