drewzero1
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Posts posted by drewzero1
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@GatorFair point. What I forgot to mention is that they tend not to stock fish that don't do well in our water. No discus or anything like that. A lot of livebearers and African cichlids though. (I think what I was specifically asking about were corydoras.)
I guess what I'm trying to say is, your LFS owner may know something about the local water, and may be able to make stocking suggestions based on what people with the same water are having success with.
(Incidentally, I did ask them about goldfish in a 10 gallon when I was just starting out. They instead recommended some nano fish alternatives and showed me some larger tanks they had for sale in the back.)
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Caught a sunbeam again today right before the light came on.
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When I was getting started I asked one of the owners of my LFS about trying to lower my 7.8 pH for some south american fish I was thinking about. He told me that unless otherwise noted, all of the fish they sell are kept in the same hard water I've got and should be adapted to it by the time of purchase. Unless you're trying to condition certain fish to breed, having a stable pH is generally better than trying to achieve a specific pH.
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Not much new in the tank but the aponogeton bulbs are taking off! A few leaves around 10 inches (25cm) when I measured yesterday. I switched the two around earlier in the week, because one was getting more leaves and the other one was getting longer leaves.
I happened to catch the tank in the late morning when sunlight was streaming in through the basement window. I opened the curtain and admired the tank in (literally) a new light.
I'm currently looking into a feathery stem plant (to replace the plastic one on the left) and some kind of floater (in addition to the lilypads). Every so often I see a duckweed leaf or two floating around in one of my tanks, but no luck getting it to really start growing back.
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Wow! Those top view pictures are stunning! I've been keeping plain white clouds around a year and a half and have recently been contemplating adding some longfins into the mix. Pushing me closer to a decision, I think. Would love to see some side views of your coloration too.
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When I was breeding mollies I loved the way they would swim right up and nibble food pellets off of my fingers. They also just have a wiggly way of swimming that I find really cute.
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On 12/6/2021 at 12:51 PM, ADMWNDSR83 said:
Moved my four white clouds to a new home in my office tank. Previously, they were in my Asia biome, but I was worried it would be to warm for them, so I moved them here with no heater. Hoping they adjust alright. They're still very skittish, but they had a rough morning!
They're a great office fish, not too distracting since they don't interact with people like my mollies or gourami. The white clouds just do their own thing and I find it calming to watch for an occasional moment during my workday.
I'm setting up a new security camera at work and needed a test subject, so my office white cloud tank is filling in:
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I just re-watched Feed the Fish which is a pretty good movie, except for the gratuitous use of fishbowls and scenes in which goldfish are flushed (off screen) and frozen.
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I'd be interested to see it from the other side, since it kind of looks like it extends farther back. Either way I have to imagine a tank like that is a real pain to keep clean.
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On 12/7/2021 at 9:34 PM, lindabee53 said:
I read that so many years ago! I think I've read all her books at one time or another, even Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, which my kids thought was hysterical because we had a store called the Piggly Wiggly.
Ooh, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle was a favorite in my family growing up! I wasn't aware of the author's other books though, sounds like something I'll have to check out. We also have Piggly Wiggly in our area but usually went to Pick n Save instead - an equally silly name but lacking the literary connection.
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Mine's a bit of a triple entendre... my name is Drew, but a favorite teacher back in school used to call me Drewzer. Zero1 is both a reference to a potential phonetic spelling of my last name (prior to marriage) and a nod to binary data in my career in IT.
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On 12/7/2021 at 1:55 PM, eatyourpeas said:
The package is back in WA State, and supposedly should be delivered today. We'll see.
@drewzero1 I am like you, no live anything via shipping for a while...
No need to ship when you can walk to where you get your fish 😆
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On 12/5/2021 at 3:01 PM, Streetwise said:
When I was getting married, I wanted a ring with cool, technical materials that had a connection to sailing, so I asked for titanium and carbon fiber. The jeweler convinced me to do tungsten carbide and carbon fiber, so that the ring could be shattered with a hammer if I ever had a finger injury. Even then, I would still take it off for sailing and soccer.
My jeweler warned me the same, but doing my own research I couldn't find any examples of actual injuries where medical personnel couldn't get a titanium ring off with their normal tools. Regardless of material any ring goes in my pocket before my hand touches woodworking tools or enters an engine bay. Never would have thought of carrying buckets though 😱
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On 12/7/2021 at 9:20 AM, meadeam said:
That's cool. I have some White Clouds I accidentally got in a bag with black neon tetras from Pet Smart a little over a year ago. I didn't know what they were until recently (assumed they were a type of tetra) but I really like them. Mine have never bred that I know of, but I keep them with tropicals at ~77F so that may be why. I am thinking about getting some more for an outdoor tub this summer. I may start the tub indoors this winter and just not heat it.
I got mine summer 2020 and they never seemed to spar or show off at each other until it started getting warmer again this spring. I don't have a good water thermometer but air temps in the basement got down to the high 50s F near the tank during the winter. I have some of the first fry from June in my low/mid-70s F office and they're already sparring, so I think water temperature influences their breeding behavior. I've never tried them with my tropicals though so I'm not sure how they behave in temps over room temperature. In a few weeks I'll be moving the adults to my 20 long which has a heater, so I may experiment with a low heat setting to try and keep them spawning over the winter.
I also would love to try tubbing some of them next summer. Either that or a pond!
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I've been breeding (or more accurately, allowing to breed) white cloud mountain minnows in an unheated 10 gallon with a lot of java moss. I'm not pulling out the fry as a rule, except for some larger ones I've moved to a 5g tank on my desk at work.
I'm fairly happy with the number of fry that are surviving and growing, but I'm sure I could increase the survival rate with some floating plants and specific fry foods. (I've been letting the tank grow out and accumulate mulm to try to provide aufwuchs for the young fry to eat, but haven't been feeding anything special besides the parents' flake food.)
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I've had several nerites and one horned nerite, they've all been great for keeping algae off the glass. I've been looking for another horned nerite all year and haven't seen any available in my area. They're so cute with their little crown of spikes!
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I recently had a package track through New York - LA - Chicago - New Jersey - Chicago - and finally head toward me in Wisconsin. I'm a little afraid to have fish shipped to me! (Though to be fair, this package originated outside the US, so customs was definitely a factor.)
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On 12/4/2021 at 6:56 PM, OnlyGenusCaps said:
I want to be one of your fish!*
*Except for the gladiatorial battle to the death happening in that tank.
I want to eat like one of your fish, but I wouldn't want to be eaten like one of your fish!
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@xXInkedPhoenixX I hear you on that. I've had some really sad losses when I've lost fish that I'd gotten attached to, finger trained, etc... I still miss my two big female mollies coming up to nibble my fingers when I fed them or rearranged things in the tank.
I'm trying to get a herd of endlers but don't seem to be getting any fry. I've got a trio in the tank with the honeys, maybe they see the gouramis as a threat? I don't think the gouramis' mouths are big enough to eat them. I've had the endlers since September but I've only seen one fry which ended up disappearing (before I moved danios, corys, and molly out of that tank).
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My most recent change of heart has been gouramis. I'd avoided them because of their aggressive reputation, but a few months ago I picked up a pair of honey gouramis for my dad's new tank.
While I've been taking care of them I've come to realize how graceful and (usually) gentle they are. They chase each other around occasionally but don't mess with the endler's or pygmy cories. I enjoy the way they're always exploring their surroundings and checking out the snail.
This has led to me choosing a pearl gourami for my own tank. I'm really enjoying it so far!
I'll agree with @xXInkedPhoenixX that endler's livebearers are also on this list for me.
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On 12/2/2021 at 11:15 PM, CalmedByFish said:
I actually think one of the biggest "well knowns" in the hobby, that isn't true, is that having an aquarium has to control you.
Very well said. At first I thought it was just pet shop owners, fish breeders, and crazy people on YouTube who had a bazillion tanks, then I got a bit deeper and realized it's a really easy trap (decision!) to fall into (choose!). When I went from one aquarium to two, and then two to three, I felt the additional responsibility pile on as a result of my decisions. It felt extremely freeing to break down that third tank when I was done with it.
I know I'm in control when I can walk into a pet store, see some amazing fish I *need* to have, observe for a few minutes, and walk out empty-handed. Maybe later. I either go to the store to buy a fish, or I don't.
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On 12/3/2021 at 11:56 AM, PineSong said:
Celestial Pearl Danios?
They've been on my radar for a while now but white cloud mountain minnows have been occupying my slot for temperate nano schooling fish. I'll do some research and see if they'll fit in! It would be kind of fun to have pearl danios of both the celestial and non-celestial variety.
My son greeted me first thing this morning saying "sish foof" (fish food) so after getting dressed we went down and gave them an algae wafer. The cories and the molly are enjoying this new development in toddler linguistics.
I spent some time watching the tank last night and the gourami is starting to get less shy. After a few minutes she came out from her hiding place behind the filter tube and started swimming around with the other fish. I had read some accounts that the constant activity of danios can make pearl gouramis nervous, but she doesn't seem fazed by their quick movements or the fact that they're as big as she is.
I was glad to confirm that she's mostly just scared of me. I think with time we can work on that. Meanwhile the aponogeton are coming in quickly to provide more cover in the near future.
(Photo taken with the tank light in "night mode" and color-corrected to look a bit more normal)
I'll be working from home a bit more next week, which means I'll get to spend more time observing and interacting with the tank inhabitants. I'm looking forward to it!
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I'm glad to hear everyone's experience on this because I picked up a "betta bulb" pack last week and two of the three aponogeton ulvaceus bulbs are already sprouting and growing quickly in my 40. They were branded as "betta bulbs" but looking at pictures of full-size plants I really don't think that would fit in my 5 gallon!
(Photo taken with the tank
Sexing Pearl Gouramis
in General Discussion
Posted
@ScothsonThe first pic is definitely a male (orange throat, extended rays on dorsal and anal fins) and the second is probably female. It's possible for a young or subdominant male to appear female sometimes though. I'm fairly new to pearls and gouramis in general, so maybe @JettsPapaL(or anybody else with some experience) can chime in.
Low surface flow is good. I've read that floating plants can be helpful for pearls and that they also like plants with feathery leaves (I imagine because the leaves blend with their spotted camouflage).