The Kentucky Mermaid

I was told by my LFS the golden one with the prominent stripe is most likely a Madagascar Rainbow. The silver one, maybe a Bosemani, but we will have to wait and see. 🙂

I have been keeping fish for 20+ years and in February, I set up my first ADA rimless tank. I got lots of beautiful plants from Aquarium Co-op, and a few from my LFS. I had planned on letting the tank become established for a few months before adding any livestock. A few days later I noticed...2 tiny FRY!!! This was a brand new tank, new rocks, gravel, wood, water, ect. There must have been a few eggs somewhere on the plants I had purchased! I was SO happy and surprised! I raised them up on fry food, micro-worms and baby brine shrimp. They have grown into beautiful RAINBOWFISH!!! This has been an incredible journey indeed!!!

After all of the helpful feedback, and further testing, I am sure my fish loss was due to LOW PH, which caused the AMMONIUM/AMMONIA spikes. I also learned from my LFS, that when the water is too acidic, it kills off all the nitrifying bacteria. This is why after adding bacteria, and a month of "seasoning" before adding any fish, the pond hadn't cycled! I am adding crushed coral and might remove some of the driftwood, if need be. I think if I can stabilise the PH, I will be moving in the right direction. Thanks all!

I practice organic gardening and never spray anything in my yard, garden ect. The pond is up against our garage, in my rose garden, not close to any of the neighbor's fences. They do not spray either, as far as I can tell. You never know though. I did check my PH today, here are the results, the lower PH 6.0 is from the pond, the higher is the water in the tank the fish were originally in. I know the driftwood and fallen leaves could be pushing it down pretty low. It has been raining quite a bit today as well. Do you think that could be part of the problem? Should I try to buffer it?

I will definitely check out "The Tub Pond Handbook" and related videos. I will monitor the parameters closely and keep an eye on the temps. Thank you again, to all of you, for your help!!!

Thank you Diving Aquarist! My pond gets morning to noon sun, then is shaded the rest of the day by the eave of the house. Right now it is 75°. I do have a sponge filter/waterfall pump for filtration and oxygenation, on gentle flow, since ricefish don't like current. I too watched every summer tubbing video I could find! Fishkeeping is always a learning process, no matter how long you have been in the hobby. That is what keeps it interesting! I am grateful for this community and all the folks at Aquarium Co-op! Thank you all for the feedback!

We really like the black window tint, and if can peel it right off if you change your mind!

Thank you everyone for the advice! I will give it some time, keep testing, and water change as needed!

Hello everyone! I have been keeping fish for over 20 years, but this is only my second attempt at summer tubbing. Last year, I had a planted whiskey barrel guppy pond, and they did great and had lots of babies! I have recently fallen in love with Medaka/Japanese Ricefish, and have been reading and watching everything I can about them for months! They are supposed to be hardy, adaptable, and perfect for ponds and container gardens. We dug a 30 gallon pond at the beginning of April, put plants, rocks, and driftwood in. We added beneficial bacteria, and dechlorinator, and left it be for about a month. In the meantime, I got a school of beautiful platinum ricefish, quarantined them with meds, and observed them closely for several more weeks. They were doing great and the female even had eggs! A few days ago, I introduced all 8 ricefish to the pond. I acclimated them slowly by pouring pond water into their container of tank water, over the course of an hour. I sat by the pond for the next few days watching them swim happily and gobble mosquito larvae! They were so beautiful! Then, on the 3rd day...disaster! Only 1 medaka came up to greet me yesterday morning. I found the rest dead in the bottom of the pond, and assume the last one has died as well. I was heartbroken! I buried them in the garden and tested the water. 1ppm ammonia, 0 Ni, 0 Na. I didn't think water changes were necessary in ponds/summer tubs, but do I need to do them? What do I do to fix this problem? Or do I just wait...and test every week? When is it safe to try again? I really thought ricefish were super hardy and could tolerate most anything. I am shocked and devastated to loose all of them. They were showing no signs of distress. I really want to try ricefish again, but I won't put all of them outdoors next time (or all of my eggs in one basket). I thought my pond would be ready for fish by now. Please help?! Thank you!

Hello! Thank you for the warm welcome! I have been keeping fish for 20+ years. I am learning so much from Aquarium Co-op and am enjoying looking at everyone's tanks on this forum. We have bettas, neon tetras, rainbowfish, Endlers, khuli loaches, corydoras, and neocaradinia shrimp. My husband keeps saltwater tanks and we have lots of corals, fish and inverts. This is such a WONDERFUL hobby, you are always learning and making new discoveries!