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Bobbie

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  1. Bobbie
    This may also be completely unrelated to the dead fish, but what did you boil the wood in? A regular pot? Did you make sure it was completely clean beforehand - if there was something like washing up liquid in the pot the wood may have absorbed it
  2. Bobbie
    Yeah, I’d separate them too. You don’t want the weaker male getting sick and then spreading something to the stronger one. Male gouramis are similar to bettas in that they’re comfortable alone.
  3. Bobbie
    You could maybe try a trio of guppies or platies, they also breed but will eat their young so don’t overpopulate. I’ve heard a single platy also works. Maybe a group of small corydoras? They happily eat live foods that I give them so shrimp fry will probably count as food to them. You could try a betta, but it might harass the adult shrimp. Overall, though, I think the population mostly controls itself (less food = less babies) and if need be you can always sell the young.
  4. Bobbie
    So, bad news, Charlie was looking good & on the mend yesterday and today but about an hour ago I noticed his dorsal fin looks kinda torn and isn’t being raised properly/is flopping over constantly. It’s rather late here, so I’ll do a large water change/filter clean tomorrow and give him another dosage of the finrot cure. Unfortunately I’ll be leaving the city on Saturday and don’t have anyone who I trust to treat him, so I’m just gonna cross my fingers and pray that nothing goes wrong while I’m away. As soon as I get back I’ll be doing another water change and treating him with aquarium salt. I’m still trying to decide if I should keep him in the 15g where he has loads of space & plenty of hiding areas, or put him in the 6g quarantine tank where he’s only got 2 wee fake plants & a single small cave. I don’t want to stress him out just as he’s settled into the community tank, y’know?
  5. Bobbie
    The holes in the leaves could mean a deficiency in the water, I think it’s caused by a lack of iron? Unless, like me, you’ve got it in with fish that just like to eat plants.
  6. Bobbie
    Welcome! Your tank looks nice. In my experience, the tank is ‘cycled’ when there’s plenty of algae and the plants have been growing very well for a few weeks - then you can maybe try adding some hardy fish (zebra danios and albino corydoras are popular species) and see how they cope for a month or so. While you’re dosing the easy green, I’d also recommend seachem equilibrium - it’s good for the plants and I think it also raises ph a little bit. I rather like snails, because they reduce the need to fight algae, but if you find you’re getting an infestation of them then most aquatics places sell assassin snails - two or three will keep the snails at a reasonable number.
  7. Bobbie
    Hey y’all so I’m currently planning for a 29g long that I’ll hopefully be getting in the next few months, and I’ve become very interested in adding a bumblebee catfish to the tank. My questions are: - Is a 29g long even large enough for a bumblebee catfish? I’ve read that they can go in a minimum of a 15-20g, but that seems too small to me for most catfish. - Do they need to have company or are they fine on their own? If they do need their own kind with them, how many and what size tank would be needed for them all to be happy? - Would they be alright with some of the larger corydora species, and what shoaling/schooling fish could be added to the upper levels of the tank? Apparently they do well with some barbs, but I thought barbs were aggressive. Thanks for any advice! I’m currently saving up for the tank, and if need be I could save up for longer to get a 40g instead of the 29g but this’ll be my largest tank so I wanna be very sure of what fish I’m getting before I go and buy the tank, stand or any equipment. If I don’t have enough space for the bumblebee catfish then I’ll just move my interest to something else.
  8. Bobbie
    Did you quarantine or medicate any of the fish before mixing them? It could just be that you got a fish that already had something dormant in it’s system, and the stress of the new environment let the disease take over - or maybe one of the other fish were carrying stuff that they’re immune to but the wee fella wasn’t. Also how long did you leave them to assimilate before adding them to the tank? It could be that they water they came in was very different from your current water, and his body couldn’t cope with the change. Oh and you said the tank was established, but are the corycats and the forktails both new fish or have the corycats been in there for a while? If the tank was only used to dealing with the waste from some shrimp & snails, then adding too many fish too quickly could’ve easily overloaded the filter.
  9. Bobbie
    Hello, and good luck with your new fish! Even though they’re the first fish in the tank and don’t show any signs of illness, I’d suggest maybe dosing them with a little bit of aquarium salt anyway just to kill off anything they might be carrying. I think the recommended dosage is 1 tablespoon for every 3 gallons, and then just leave the tank for a week before doing a water change?
  10. Bobbie
    Thanks for the advice! I’ve noticed him squeezing into nooks and crannies in the tank, but I automatically do a headcount of the fish in the mornings & evenings (my male corycat loves to shove himself into tiny crevices) so if he gets stuck anywhere I’ll quickly notice. And yeah, I suspected that the gouramis had a part in the fin injuries - there were something like 10 males in the tank, and the only hiding place was a small piece of driftwood with sharp corners. I’ve finished treating him with meds, but if his fins aren’t visibly healed by the end of the week I’ll stick some aquarium salt in just to help him along.
  11. Bobbie
    I think glo-bettas came onto the market around 2 years ago, but some places still don’t stock them - and I second Johnny in that they’re said to be very fragile like all other glofish, at least compared to their regular counterparts
  12. Bobbie
    Thank you! It took a lot of effort to get the tank looking this nice. I think the blue look is just my poor phone camera picking up the blue from the room walls, the tank background and the thin coating of algae on the glass. Some photos make it look very green while others make it look like the water has medication in it.
  13. Bobbie
    The rainbowfish would be pretty, and the yellow would certainly set them apart. You could also do a single male apistogramma if you like cichlids
  14. Bobbie
    Don’t know if it counts as a bachelor pad, but here’s my current tank - the zebrafish & corycats voted to let Sir Charlie (the betta) join them so long as he behaves.
  15. Bobbie
    If you’re willing to wait for a while, you could do what I did and make all the community fish very comfortable before going and getting a betta from somewhere that has bettas in community tanks. That’d also let the plants grow in dense so there’s plenty of hiding spaces. If you got the betta (or gourami) before the rest of the fish were settled and happy then you’re more likely to have aggression issues, or at least I figure that’s why I was successful in introducing a betta to danios & corycats. I’ve also heard that a single platy can be used as a centrepiece fish, but they’re jumpers so you’d need a tight lid.
  16. Bobbie
    It looks like it might be dropsy? Or maybe constipation? I had a zebra danio who looked the same way (I didn’t realise it was a problem since it came looking like that) but was acting perfectly fine until I found it dead in the tank one day.
  17. Bobbie
    I’ve got zebra danios, albino corydoras and a betta in a community tank, although I’m planning to get cichlids or livebearers to join the gang later this year. What about you? Any fish you’ve got or want?
  18. Bobbie
    I’m from up in Glasgow, Scotland myself. I was in the same situation as you when I started in the hobby, I didn’t know anyone who kept fish or where to buy stuff but it turns out there’s a bunch of aquatics shops nearby & there’s folk in my neighbourhood who sell fish online - though I’ve not really spoke to many people yet.
  19. Bobbie
    I’ve always used API melafix & white spot cure for quarantining new fish, and I’ve been lucky enough so far that I’ve never had to treat sick fish, but I was wondering if there are any other meds I should buy that I’ll be able to find in the UK?
  20. Bobbie
    Welcome, great to see another Glaswegian! I love your setup, what fish are you gonna be keeping?
  21. Bobbie
    Gonna turn this into a wee journal for myself because why not, y’know? The good news is that the clear areas on Charlie’s fins are starting to turn opaque and I can actually see the nice smooth edges properly, so fingers crossed that means the finrot is completely gone and he’s healing. I couldn’t get any photos this morning, but I’ll try in the next few days - because I still am very out of my depth when it comes to finrot (that’s a good thing right? over a year & a half in the hobby and I’ve never had finrot, and I didn’t have to deal with it years ago either on my old fish) so having more experienced folk give advice is very much appreciated. The tank is looking very pretty with the new plants I put in the other day. It still looks like the beginnings of a miniature jungle and the java fern will have to go, but the fish love all the hiding spaces it gives them.
  22. Bobbie
    Oh lovely, good luck growing them!
  23. Bobbie
    I suppose that leads to an important question, @Acara Mom what kind of plants do you have? Slow growing plants will always have more algae problems than fast growing ones, and will have an impact on how you treat the outbreak
  24. Bobbie
    I agree that salvinia is a great floating plant. For the betta tank, you could also buy a java fern or a few anubias and glue them to the wood - my betta loves hiding in them. If the anubias is growing well in your tanks then it won’t hurt to buy quite a few and stick them near each other to make a dense planted area for your fish, they’ll love to race through the roots and rest on the leaves and it gives them a nice wee safe space to hide when they’re spooked. I kept my anubias in their pots and just surrounded them with pebbles/stones so it almost makes a cave system, but they do well attached to wood or planted in the substrate.
  25. Bobbie
    Hmm, I’ve always found that my algae issues were the worst when I overfed and added too much fertiliser, because algae thrives on nutrients. Maybe cut back on light, food and fertiliser for a few days and see if that helps? But also do you have any small snails in the tank? I know loads of people hate them but they’re great for managing algae, and I’d really suggest getting 2 or 3 once you get the algae under control.
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