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DebSills

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Everything posted by DebSills

  1. I second @Flumpweesel - I wouldn't buy anything new until you check with the store...Bettas usually eat just about anything, but start with what the store was feeding and then go from there. I use Extreme Betta and some Bio Gold on occasion for mine, I've tried flake in the past, but she's not the brightest, so I find dropping the pellets in front of her is a lot easier and I know how many I've given her (honestly, if the pellet drifts too far, I have to lead her back to it...def not the brightest...lol) if you have any flake, you could try to have your daughter put some on her finger and try that, since she nips salts off now?
  2. That's for sure!! I had an overgrown 29 and thought I only had one of my 3 Otos left because he was the only one I could see (there was a spot under the driftwood he liked to "hang")...until I did a full re-scape and low and behold, I still had all three in there and they're still going strong πŸ™‚ Love your tank! especially the corkscrew val, that stuff is so cool!
  3. This guy looks pretty close? Paracanthocobitis mooreh
  4. Quick update to the tank...its finally starting to grow in and I am really loving it - bits of algae here and there, but I am loving how it came out and apparently my Anubias seems happy too πŸ˜„
  5. Welcome to the forum! I'm from MA too πŸ™‚ Your setup sounds like it will be a great home for your neons, I look forward to seeing it all set up! I recently got a 20L and love it! I have Stratum in most of my tanks and find it works really well, but can be a bit of a nutrient overload in the beginning, but after a few months it settles in just fine πŸ™‚ looking forward to your setup!!
  6. I've had my pygmies for about a year, when I first got them, they did seem to swim around a bit and definitely took some naps on the sword leaves, but unfortunately that tank ended up getting super overgrown and jungle-ly and I honestly thought I had lost them all because I never saw them...ever. After re-scaping, I do see them more now (surprise, they were there all along) but, they have "carved" out their own little cave under/behind one of my lava rocks and they hang there most of the time...I do see them during dinner time and right before the lights go completely out, but outside of that, they are under that rock, or hanging with the otos under the heater πŸ™‚ I wouldn't worry too much if they're hiding, mine definitely seem to enjoy a little hide and seek - but, an absolutely great "excuse" to get a 20L...I just got one too, and I love it!! I was going to give it to my in-laws, but I may "sacrifice" one of my 10g tanks for them and keep the 20L for me πŸ˜„
  7. @Beardedbillygoat1975 I'm kind of deciding between Platies, Cherry Barbs or Danios atm...but, I am open to almost anything @NOLANANO I've thought about Bolivian rams actually - my LFS has blue rams, but she'd probably get me bolivians if I asked her to (she's super nice!) am I correct that they don't need to be as warm as blue rams need to be? I've also been tempted to get a hillstream loach, they look so cool - I will definitely be getting some Amanos for sure...they'll probably go in the tank while the plants are growing
  8. thanks @smm333 I have a small group of pygmy cories in my 29, but they hide a lot of the time 😞 they're so darn cute though!! So...we finally have a date for my in-laws moving in, AND the assisted living facility said we can have an aquarium...they just said "we don't recommend anything too big" well, that's relative depending on who you ask, but I think I'll cap it at a 20 just to make it easy...I'm leaning towards a 20L, unless someone can convince me why I may want a 20H instead... I'm still not sure of stocking, I'm going to get the plants going and then see what my LFS has in stock when I'm ready - I definitely appreciate all of the suggestions, and I'll try to focus my "troll" of my LFS stocking list with these suggestions...the only thing I'm really set on is Amanos...and probably panda cories...I can't decide what I want as the main draw to the tank though...always fun to keep looking πŸ™‚
  9. So...maybe I won't go with swordtails after all...lol πŸ™„ I'm not quite ready to start setting up the tank, I'm just looking for ideas - basically "if you could stare at a tank all day, what would you put in it" - I have three tanks set up right now, so I can get some BB from there, and I'll run it for at least a month with just the plants and nerites, and once the algae starts I'll put the amanos in to nip that πŸ™‚ I'm not in a rush, just looking for ideas at this point πŸ˜„
  10. that's ok @Fish Folk I read it that way too at first and then realized it was glo πŸ™‚ @TheSwissAquarist I may look at swordtails, but maybe just girls - I had a male sword eons ago and he was a total jerk and attacked all my other fish in the tank 😐 my LFS does have some really cool looking "koi" swords or the red lyretail would be cool...they also have "peppermint" platies, that I want someday just because of the name πŸ˜„ (they're red and white and I just love the name...lol)
  11. They do allow pets, but I will definitely confirm that they will allow the aquarium in their unit - they have a koi pond in the lobby, so I'm guessing it won't be an issue πŸ™‚ I will definitely look into this option - they do have their own thermostat in their unit, but they're also from KY so they may keep it warmer once they move up here to MA with us. I think Cory has a no-heater video out there somewhere that I'll have to find I also love the idea of danios (glo or standard), I've never had them, but they do seem very active I'm thinking that guppies may be a little small - just in terms of the food size - but they are definitely still an option. We may be able to get to a point where my father in law would want to feed them, but I want to make sure at least in the beginning that I have the auto-feeder and I think super small pellets may be hard to get the portion size right (?) I am loving all of these suggestions! and I think the Rosy Barbs are the only one that my LFS doesn't have right now - but she would definitely get them for me if I wanted πŸ™‚
  12. hi - just to clarify, my father in law is active and aware of what's going on, but his aphasia makes it impossible for him to read, has some trouble finding his words especially when he is stressed and struggles with long term memory. I am just trying to find some ideas for fish that will be ok with him sitting by the glass, fun to watch and also something that will eat a pellet so I can set up an auto-feeder. I want to make this as low stress as I can for my mother in law and just something to enjoy for my father in law. My initial thought was platies, but I am always open to as many ideas as possible πŸ™‚ Thanks all!!!
  13. So, first of all - I will be taking care of the tank in terms of water changes, and any issues that come up, but will probably only be "with" the tank once or twice a week. Here's the situation...I'm looking at setting up a tank for my father in law, he suffers from aphasia and currently sits at a window and watches the world go by as it were. We are moving him and my mother in law into an assisted living facility soon and unfortunately their view out the window stinks (for lack of a better word). So I thought he may enjoy watching a fish tank instead. What I'm hoping for is a tank that has a lot of interest for him to look at as well as stocked with fish that won't be spooked if he sits at the glass all day watching them. It will be planted, with probably a nerite or two and probably some amanos for help with algae. Tank size will probably be a 20, maybe a 29, but no bigger than that. doesn't need to have a ton of stock, just something active and not skittish (and also preferably something that does well on pellets since I want to set up an auto-feeder). I'm not sure if I'll be able to do a sponge filter unless I can figure out how to make the pump absolutely silent (he also has Tinnitus, so a constant sound like that may drive him crazy and then he won't be able to verbalize what's wrong) - so something that can have at least a little flow either from an internal filter or a small canister would be good. Anyway, no true rush on this, but looking to get some ideas from everyone so I can build him the best tank possible πŸ™‚ Thanks in advance!!!
  14. So I spent about 4 hours this morning completely breaking down, cleaning all of the BBA off of the glass and intake/output, etc...adding some substrate and new hardscape and then replanting...I lost about 90% of my plants to the BBA outbreak - I let it get too far and it just got out of control to the point where I wasn't able to get it back, so I decided to shut it down and start over...I wanted the tank a bit more open anyways, so I'll get that with this scape. I definitely needs to grow in a lot, but I think it will be nice once it grows in a little and it will be a lot better for viewing my fish and giving them more open swim areas as well (of course they're all a bit stressed right now and are all huddling towards the bottom of the tank under the plants right now, but...) The picture below has a lot of microbubbles, and I took it before I put any of the fish back, but so far I really like it...the fish are starting to color back up and a lot of the microbubbles are starting to fade...I have some ludwigia repens in one of my 10gs and I definitely want to add some of that to this tank, its just not big enough yet πŸ™‚ I also swapped out the standard output for a spraybar, but went the short way instead of the long way and moved my heater to the bottom Now I just have to be better about keeping on top of my maintenance and making sure that I don't let the algae get that far again!
  15. Most of my plants were a bit too far gone for this process - I'm still working on my Anubias nana, because I don't want to let it go, but I'm going to probably end up losing more than half of the leaves to the BBA, its just too stuck on there...I was able to save some of my stems (of course I completely failed to take before/after pics πŸ˜–) I will definitely be using this process in the future (I got a black small trash can and a black towel for the top...worked really well!) I still have a few plants to put back in my 29, so I'll try to post some after pics in the next day or two πŸ™‚
  16. @clovenpine - me too! I have clearly not been spending enough time on this forum of late (trying to get a kid into college is hard 😞 ) anyway, I was literally days away from scrapping everything in my 29g because its become completely overrun by BBA and I just can't deal with it at this point, I let it go too far and while the fish are thriving, its not making me want to deal with them, so I was just going to scrap it and start over. Now I have the chance to save at least some of my plants instead of throwing everything in the trash (there's a giant sword in there that I'm not keeping, but hope to save at least some of the stems and my crypts)...I'll definitely post before and after pics and see how everything works out! So excited I decided to figure out what the heck Reverse Respiration was!!
  17. starting the rebuild of this tank, sadly Hiu passed away, so I am doing a full rebuild of this tank, going with just a few river stones and plants...I'll be using the same gravel as above, but really banking it towards the back and doing the base layer a little different...Here's a pic of the base layer - about 3/4 stratum and 1/4 flourite red...I really have no idea, but figured I would give it a try and see how it works, just kind of experimenting at this point πŸ™‚ I'll post more pics after I plant it, then I'm going to let it run for a few weeks to make sure everything is growing and thriving and then move the livestock in, will probably start with the nerites and then move the fish from the 29 πŸ™‚
  18. I would suggest some stems, it can take a while, but they are super easy to propogate, my favorites are Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus, water sprite and/or water wisteria and rotala. I also love crypts and anubias (I am probably the only person on the planet who can't grow java fern). A dwarf aquarium lily would look great as well! I would suggest getting one or two types of stems maybe an anubias, it would fit into the holes of the stone on the right back perfectly...the petite might be a bit small if you're looking to fill out the scape sooner rather than later...a crypt and a lily bulb. Also, if you don't want to break the bank you can always get a few things at a time and see how they grow in πŸ™‚ You may want/need to take out a few of your stones to make some room for the plants (maybe the large one in the back middle?), but it looks great so far! Can't wait to see how it develops soon!
  19. So, its been a while since I posted about my 29 gallon...just looking at the picture above really puts it in perspective for me! My tank is now a complete jungle, the chain sword has since wrapped several times around the tank, killed both of my crypts by just overtaking them and am now fighting BBA - I had gotten control of all of the above algae and it was going really strong, but then one or two tufts of BBA became a lot of BBA and I can't keep up with it...I initially was just going to let it be and let everyone do their thing, but the more BBA started to take over, the more I started to hate looking at the tank and just don't want to deal with it anymore...well...my current plan: I have a few ideas, but my first thought is this... I have one 10g which has been running for about 4 months currently housing a female betta and a nerite snail and another that I am working on a full tear down and rescape, currently housing 2 thorned nerites and one racer nerite - the new 10g tank will obviously need to settle in and cycled, so this is not going to be a quick process, but, my thought is that I will split my CPDs into two groups of about 6 - 8 in each of the two 10g with the Betta in one and my Honey gourami from the 29 in the other...I will then set up my hospital 10g for the embers and the shrimp who will go back to the 29... the 29 I am just going to completely tear down and start over (keeping filter, some of the plants and substrate)...there will be crypts and stems and NO chain sword...I want something that will give more swimming space for the fish and plants that aren't going to completely overrun my tank...I'm hoping to have a heavily planted, but less "jungly" tank with my school of embers and something new in there once I get it back together...not sure what I want yet, other than getting something a little bigger than the embers/CPDs...maybe some platys or something of similar size...I still want a lot of color in here, but the embers have rally colored up, so maybe even something like a red eye tetra, I'm open to a lot of things, and since this is going to take a while, I think it will be fun to look at different things while I'm getting the tank set up and pretty again πŸ™‚ So...the picture is a little worse than I would normally have it...one, I just got back from vacation, and two, my brother in law is rescaping his 55 gallon and wanted me to grow a bunch of stems for him, so the rotala is a bit worse than I would normally have it, I need to trim and bunch some for him soon πŸ™‚
  20. is there a neighborhood kid that can feed your tank and bring in your mail? You could use one of those weekly pill dispensers to put only enough flakes so the tank didn't get overfed? you could get a couple of them for pretty cheap?
  21. I would maybe suggest getting 4 more Harlequins (I like odd numbers, that's just me though) - if you want Kuhlis, I would second @Zac and reduce to 4 and totally agree with the amanos, I have 8 in my 29 and it works great - I also only have 1 Honey gourami as my "centerpiece" fish and he definitely stands out I can always find him even though my tank is a complete jungle now πŸ™‚ I think whatever you do will look amazing and it all sounds good!!
  22. I have a small Nicrew internal filter (Magi200) in my 10g - it has a small sponge and a little compartment where I shove a bunch of filter floss into it and then I use a small sponge on the other end to kind of get the best of both worlds - the flow isn't too strong (I have it on a shrimp tank and they don't have an issue with the flow), but it does give a gentle flow to the plants and circulates the water pretty well, I still have some detritus, but not too bad
  23. I feed mine frozen baby brine, frozen cyclops (only once or twice a week), X-treme community flakes and pellets that I crush in a pepper grinder, I've had mine for about a year and are pretty brave now, when I first got them, they were pretty shy, but after a couple of months they figured out they were safe...
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