HH Morant

Ted

I liked the aquarium in Lethal Weapon 2 Too bad about the fish.

Uh, No, No bleach

You can probably find a way to attach some plant weights to it. Are you sure all the air is squeezed out?

@Fish Folk has a lot more tanks than me, so I'll bet his advice is good. I have a 120-gallon tank and I have done this both ways. First, my decorator decided my aquarium was in the wrong place. In order to move it, I had to take all the water out, so I thought I would go ahead and change the substrate from white sand to lava rock. I put all the fish, plants, wood, rocks, etc. in big plastic containers with the water and removed the substrate. Then the mover dudes moved the aquarium and stand. Then I put the new substrate in, followed by the water and fish (in that order). It was an all-day project. A couple of months ago, I decided I wanted to put under-gravel filters in the tank. This time I left the fish in. At water change time, I removed one third of the substrate and put it in a bucket with enough water to cover it. Then I put one of the under-gravel filter plates in. A couple of weeks later I did that again during water change. So now I have under gravel filters under two thirds of the substrate. I still have one to go. This was a little stressful for the fish, but they got over it. I don't think it was quite as stressful as removing the fish from the tank and putting them in a plastic container. So it is possible to do it either way. Very little of your beneficial bacteria is in the substrate, so as long as you keep the beneficial bacteria in your filters alive, I think you will be fine.

Beneficial bacteria needs both surface area and flow. Little of a tank's BB is in the substrate because of a lack of significant flow. Under-gravel filters or powerheads directed at the substrate can create the needed flow, but most aquariums do not have them. I highly recommend the articles on filtration at aquariumscience.org (spoiler - the author does not think much of ceramic filter media). Surface area inside micro-pores in filter media is not useful because there can be no flow through them. Sellers of filter media hype this surface area, which actually serves no purpose.

Harry Harbord Morant is a historical figure. He is the subject of the great Australian movie Breaker Morant.

I use Safe in a 20-gallon and a 10-gallon tank. At times I have changed the water every day in the 10-gallon tank and every other day in the 20. Recently I can go longer in the 20. I put Safe in the water less than 60 seconds before putting it in the tanks. I am sure I put in too much, since the proper dose is so small. Angelfish fry are in both tanks now, four weeks ago, bristlenose fry were in the 20-gallon. I have not had problems.

I have a Bonsai Jack lava rock substrate (see photo below). I am setting up a new aquarium and I will be trying coarse coal slag blasting media (see picture with quarter). I like the looks of the course coal slag better than the medium, which looks more like sand. The particles in the coarse coal slag are still much smaller than the Bonsai Jack lava rock.

I have a lot of PSO. I have stopped fertilizing. It grows like crazy.

I would go home, too!

I think fine substrates show more waste, no matter what color they are. I had a white sand substrate before I switched to lava rock. It was uniform in color and texture. And, as @Chad points out, the more uniform the color, the more the waste shows. I am going to try black coarse coal slag [Black Beauty] in my next tank. I already have a bag - see picture. It is much finer than my lava rock substrate, and finer is better for limiting the bio load [see aquariumscience.org articles regarding substrate]. But it is not as fine as sand and not so uniform in color/texture as sand or finer coal slag.

I have been pleased with my hoplo catfish. I have 3 albino spotted hoplos and 2 brown hoplos. They have a lot of personality and they don't hide.

I have never tried, but there are several Youtube videos about growing brine shrimp to adults. Just search for "adult brine shrimp." Makes me want to give it a try.

A fireplace in the same room with the aquariums is a big advantage. I think it is a good idea to make it operational if it is not already. During the Big Freeze back in February, a lot of us in Texas lost power. During the power outage I used my gas cook top on the second floor to heat the house, but the aquarium was on the first floor. For about 48 hours, I removed 5 gallons of water from the 120-gallon tank every four hours and poured 5 gallons of hot water in. I covered the aquarium in blankets. That was enough. I also had battery-operated air pumps. Then My neighbor's power came on and we ran an extension cord from his house to keep my fish alive. I have very good neighbors.

You can try putting the food in a bottle or tube that the plecos can easily get in and out of, but which has an opening too small for the goldfish. A pleco cave might work. Or you could use something you can see through. Maybe a glass bottle or small vase. You can leave it in for a couple of hours to let the plecos eat, then remove it

It's a quarantine tank, but became a grow out tank when I decided to save some eggs. Now my plans to use the tank as a quantine tank for some new angels have been put on hold for a while.

Lots of little angels.

I have a black background and a black lava rock substrate. I have a lot of plants in planters. I think the green of the plants shows up very well against the black background. Also the colors of the fish. You can make filter tubes, planters, lift tubes for UGFs, etc less obtrusive by painting or plasti-dipping them black.

You can pour something into your aquarium that will "detoxify" ammonia. Oh yeah - and nitrite.

I have 13 angels in a 120, but I have few other fish in there. I have one angel that is getting beat up lately, so I am considering whether to put him in a new tank I am setting up. Mine are are maybe 15 months old. There are 3 pairs that lay eggs every now and then. I think @Flumpweesel is right. Nine is not necessarily too many. You just have to see how the fish get along as they develop.

I pull the cave with the wigglers in it. In a community tank, as soon as they become free-swimming some of them are going to leave the cave and be eaten. I am not sure whether leaving the eggs in the cave - with the male parent guarding and fanning them - is important for hatch rate, but it is low-risk. I fed Repashy twice a day. It takes the little buggers an hour or so to eat it, so I thought they were getting plenty. There was also a lot of algae in the tank. Water changes are good, and as they get bigger, plecos have a bigger-than-average bio-load (they poop a lot). I had 80 of them in a 20-gallon tank with some plants, a seasoned sponge filter, and an algae problem because it was near a window (not a problem for little plecos). I did 75% water changes every other day. It will take 3 months for them to get to a size that a pet shop will accept. I think I kept mine longer than that.

On dark rocks, the regular superglue can look bad because when it dries it is white. When I was gluing some plants to lava rock I found some black cyanoacrylic glue which blended in with the black rock. I also used it to glue lava rocks together. The brand was Starbond.

@Fish Folk is right. Separate the eggs and the fish so that the fish cannot eat the eggs. The angels may eventually learn not to eat the eggs, but there is no good reason to wait for them to learn. I have pulled angelfish eggs (on a filter tube once and once on a plant leaf) and put them in a 5-gallon bucket with a heater and an air stone. Works fine. One of the reasons for using a slate like yours is that it is easy to move. While waiting for the eggs to hatch, I got a tank ready. After hatching, I transferred the wigglers from the bucket to the tank using a turkey baster (great tool for fry-raising). Let's go @Brandon p!

You are correct that less medication is needed because the fish is getting it directly, not diluted in the water. You should feed the medicated food for five days and then reevaluate. I don't have the directions for Maracyn 2 handy, but it probably allows for a second round of treatment. I am not sure about the dosage. It does not have to be precise. That is a pretty big fish, so I think 1/4 packet sounds okay. Good luck!