Jump to content
Watch our video on the rules of this forum.

Irene

Moderators
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    472

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    2

  • Feedback

    0%

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Irene

    Easy green

    in Plants, Algae, and Fertilizers

    Posted

    On 1/3/2022 at 9:49 AM, Khole new fish said:

    I ask because my tank is only 3.5 gallon planted tank and i am new at this, thank you all for your advice

    The directions on the bottle say 1 pump per 10 gallons of water, so I usually try to do a half pump or less for a tank that size.

    Treatment for guppy fin

    in Diseases

    Posted · Edited by Irene

    Hmm, that happened to one of my livebearers as well. First, I treated it by moving the fish to a quarantine tub without any plants and adding 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt per gallon of water (see Level 3 treatment from this article). Later on, I found out that many fancy livebearers are raised in mineral-rich, high pH, brackish water and the fungus infection started because I have soft water with low GH or low mineral content (see the "Shimmies, Shimmying..." section in this article on livebearer disease). Once I added Seachem Equilibrium to my livebearer tank (to raise my GH to greater than 8 degrees or 140 ppm), then the fungus permanently went away and never came back. You may also want to raise your pH gradually by adding crushed coral (see the last section in this pH article). Hope that helps!

    • Like 1

    Stocking Two Tanks

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Everything is your personal preference of course, but I like honey gouramis for their peaceful nature. Pom pom crabs seem to hide a lot, according to what Cory said in a live stream. I also like mystery snails a little more than nerite snails because of the personality and they are pretty good cleaners IMO.

    • Love 1

    Can't get Algae under control

    in Plants, Algae, and Fertilizers

    Posted · Edited by Irene

    Hmm, when I got my first Fluval 3.0 for a 20-gallon high tank, I had a similar situation: a) plants were growing like crazy at first, b) very little nitrate despite dosing tons of Easy Green, and then c) green hair algae and black beard algae covered everything and plants started dying from lack of light. I eventually cut down the light to 30% intensity for about 6-7 hours to stop the algae growth, and then I noticed any new leaves that sprouted didn't automatically get covered by algae. Also, I didn't have to dose as much Easy Green and nitrate levels were staying higher at 20-40 ppm.

    Back when my lighting was too strong, I did use Easy Carbon to treat the whole tank but the water got super cloudy and the algae grew back too quickly to make a difference. Once I lowered the lighting, I used a pipette and Easy Carbon to spot-treat a few algae-covered leaves at a time, and it helped immensely. 

    As the plants have grown larger and started shading out the bottom plants, I gradually increased the lighting period to 8-9 hours (10 hours was too much). Also, I was still getting some black beard algae around my sponge filter (because the taller plants were getting pushed away from where the bubbles popped), so I eventually put a giant, floating water sprite above the sponge filter to shade out that corner and I believe the BBA will eventually die out from lack of light.

    Oh yeah, and I have the following algae eaters: hillstream loaches, amano shrimp, and platies. I had some otocinclus previously, but they didn't really eat the green hair or black beard algae and more preferred the brown diatoms.

    Here's another forum post that talks about different Fluval 3.0 lighting schedules. I don't do anything fancy except decrease my blue light to almost nothing. Hope this helps!

     

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1

    Nerite snail breeding

    in Fish Breeding

    Posted

    On 2/12/2021 at 4:46 PM, tolstoy21 said:

    @Oded AquaticsI am very interested in taking a crack at breeding these as well.

    I researched this a while ago and found a single post online that I can no longer find. Luckily I saved that to a txt file and still have it as a reference, so I am going to repost it here.

    I'm currently researching nerite snail breeding methods, and I believe I came across the article you referenced (see first bullet). I also found some other useful links that people may find useful:

    • Thanks 1
    • Love 1

    Can I travel from Florida with fish

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 12/6/2021 at 8:19 AM, Wingman12r said:

    @Irene Most recent upload she carries on a Betta.

    Yup, I didn't have any trouble bringing fish in my carry-on (I believe the TSA website says you can't put them in checked bags), and the airplane has a pressurized cabin that was comfortable for both of us. In the video, I said that the fish went through the x-ray machine, but now that I think about it, I think the TSA agent probably passed it around the x-ray machine but I didn't really see since I was trying to grab my shoes, backpack, etc. from the conveyor belt. I just had my betta in my backpack the whole time, but I believe Taylor from Simply Betta actually stuffed her fish inside her coat when she was on the flight. She's definitely a better betta mom than me!

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

    Issue with quarantine med trio? New cories died overnight :(

    in Diseases

    Posted

    @rnn When fish start dying very quickly, I've often found that it is not caused by illness but rather an issue with water parameters (such as ammonia, chlorine, or pH). After my new pygmy corys starting dropping like flies within a few days of purchasing them, I called my local fish store to see how their corys were doing. They said the pygmys had been with them for several weeks and were all healthy. Then I asked what their water parameters were, and it turns out they didn't tell me they had added pH buffers in that tank to drastically drop the pH down to 6.4. (The dwarf gourami I purchased from them at the same time was doing fine because they didn't alter the pH in the gourami tank.)

    The lesson I learned is to always ask the store a) how long they've had the fish I'm interested in, b) what are they eating, and c) what are their water parameters. Store employees are humans and sometimes don't always remember to tell us everything we need to know, so it's my job to make sure I get all the necessary info before I give them my credit card. 🙂 The happy ending to the story is that I found some captive-bred/tank-raised pygmy corys online from a breeder in Maryland, double-checked that his corys would do well in my water, and now they're starting to breed in my 7.8-8.0 pH water!

    image.png.9aedc755f79e7fd58c8fff539bbf7336.png

    • Like 2

    Mixed Platy Breeding

    in Fish Breeding

    Posted

    On 9/12/2021 at 9:23 PM, CalmedByFish said:

    @Beardedbillygoat1975 Oh! You've got some too! 😃The only other person I'm aware of who has them is @Irene. (Her videos is how I found out they exist.) Are your longest ones just 2 inches? I've heard that's as long as they get, but my oldest females *seem* longer. Not like I'm gonna catch one to measure. 

     

    I think my largest female is about 2" as well, but my males range from 1.25-1.5". And so far, they have always bred true for me. The babies start off anywhere from pale peach to orange, but the juveniles all end up coloring up into bold red-orange. I seriously love them so much. I know I should try other livebearers, but I think I'll just have to set up another tank for that because dwarf red platies are so beautiful and fun to watch. 😍

    • Like 1
    • Love 1

    Is this mainly a guy hobby?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I googled it, and the top website results are reporting that YouTube's audience is about 56% male and 44% female. On my channel, my audience is about 75% male and 25% female. According to some of the other FishTubers that I've talked to, their male viewership is even higher.

    Anecdotally, I think men and women both enjoy the art and nature aspects of the hobby, but maybe the science and technical parts of the hobby are what attract even more males. As a little girl, I preferred mammals and birds as pets because they are cute, fuzzy, and can be handled. As an adult woman, I shifted over to liking nano fish because (a) they're tiny and beautiful living creatures, (b) I love having a slice of nature in my home, and (c) I don't need to touch them because I've got cute kids and a fuzzy husband to hug.

    • Like 4
×
×
  • Create New...