Ben Ellison

The severums

Anyone use a cleaner crew for large breeding tanks? I have a 75 gallon I'm about putting online today for a breeding pair and was wondering if a cleaner crew would be possible.

So I have a shrimp tank that got planaria. The planaria killed the shrimp. They also will eat snail eggs or so I read it was a nightmare.

I have a 75 gallon tank I'm going to be using for the sole purpose of breeding some severums in. Currently I don't have a heater I think will bring the temp up to what I have read is ideal breeding temp of 82. I'm looking at a few options and wanted everyone's advice. I keep the house around 71. So 11 degree difference with a decently snug glass lid. Will be running low light and it has a cannister filter and circulation pump. I'm wondering if 2 co-op heaters would be sufficient?

Yeah I will try to get more. I'd like to get at least two more. I was wondering if regular Otto's would take up with him.

Yesterday evening I was doing my tour of the LFS scene to see what was in to see and I ran across a new fish I had never seen or heard of. The gaint Ottociniclus is what they where calling it. It doesn't exactly look like the standard Otto but it's similar. So I decided I had to have one even though he was 40 bucks just to see what was up with him. Has anyone ever kept these guys or have any knowledge on them? Below is a picture of him beside an average fully grown Juli cory for size.

Columnaris aka Cotton mouth disease would be my guess. Id recommend Salt and Maracyn

Definitely keep us updated on what you decide to do and how it turns out.

I'm at a loss I see no reason you should of lost your cycle and I have no idea what that slimey stuff is. Do you use well water by chance?

Did you move over all the filter media when you swapped the tank? Did you clean it with untreated tap water? How long did it set with out being in oxygenated water?

So I have been reading over this and considering the issue at hand and it seems to me that the best remedy for the tank would be a good old fashioned air driven sponge filter. It will knock on the head any fears of low oxygen at the same time increases biological filtration. Also at the same time it contributes very little to surface agitation if dial in correctly with a valve. I would place it on the opposite end of your tank from the job to get a nice circle flow going to help get a nice even temperature through our the tank. I also run undersized hob that has been hotroded in my tanks. I feel like turn over rate is normally over emphasized. Plenty of tanks do just fine on a air driven sponge and I have successfully ran tanks with no filter at all.

Well it should at least get you pointed in the right direction.

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/aquarium-co-op-power-head This is the powerhead I was thinking of. https://youtu.be/UbekjhjiV74 Here is a video of it being used in the manner described.

Why not look into going with a powerhead that would remove the downside of using sponges with co2

I have never really keep a strictly shrimp only tank with a lot of success. My most successful breeding tanks have had nirities and Otto's and Cory's. I believe the bio diversity helps could just be something else but that's what I've had the most success with

I sourced all of my kit from Amazon and the LFS. The clyinder I bought off Amazon and it was about 60-70 bucks for a 5lbs cylinder that lasts me about 4-6 months per fill on a 40 gallon tank. The regulator I am running is a hydro brand one that was about 110. The diffuser I'm running is also a hydro brand and was like 40. I use just black CO2 grade line to run from the regulator to the diffuser. The bubble counter was some off brand the lfs had on hand that was brass and glass and was like 20 bucks. I run RO water in it but I've heard mineral oil is better and lasts longer. I use the wifi timer off the coops site to turn the gas on one hour before lights on and off one hour before. I started out running 1 bubble a second and monitor the little pH thing that is in the tank that changes color with water pH. I then adjusted the gas over the course of weeks to keep that pH monitor in the optimal color for growth. It makes a massive difference in plant growth. More than a factor of 10 imo

A sponge zip ties to the output will also defuse the current flow some.

Looks like a guppy to me tbh. Definitely not a otto this is otto fry

I'm a massive Cory fan followed up by polar convict parrots and blood parrots. That silly grin on the blood parrots face cracks me up

No he did not. I found him months later. He had crawled under some potted plants and surprisingly never smelled.

They are also escape artist. Imo I think a 10 is to small. I've lost 3 to escapes in what I thought was a secure environment. I found one all the way across my living room somehow....

I'd go some cherries and a amano or two. Bucephalandra and a nana on a drift wood piece. Maybe montie Carlo carpeting? And 3 hasbro cories or pygmy maybe?

@KittenFishMom maybe look into aquabid and do a large batch auction? I don't know if you can get enough to make it worth your time there or not.

I definitely think that would be to warm based on my limited experience. I do know some people use fans to cool their aquariums a few degrees below ambient temp for axolotl so that might be something to consider. I think shade and air stones or a fan might make it doable.

I looked into passive and diy CO2 and ultimately went with 5lb cannister and regulator and I absolutely love it. Well worth the 150 bucks it cost to get setup.