Chad
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Everything posted by Chad
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I say that, but here's the thing: this will be my kids tank. It's hers to decorate. I have veto power only on things I think will harm the fish. In this case a cute floating castle attached to a base with monofilament line. Yeah, that worried me with those googley puffer eyes.
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I don't have anything rooted. Just Anubius, java fern and moss, with some frog bit to float. I'll be sure to tie or glue everything down though 🙂
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Okay, thanks @Odd Duck. I don't have a lfs around that sells puffers. At least they're not currently in stock when I asked and offered no idea when they might get them back. But, I could dice up the worms or brine shrimp a bit for the juvenile puffer at first. At least try it anyway. Appreciate knowing what to look for in a well fed puffer vs an over fed one. I'm going to stop by one the lfs' this afternoon and see if they have any snails in their tanks and ask if I can walk off with them. Fingers crossed.
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I called them instead of walking in and was told by the likeliest lfs seller that their bladder snail tank is too low to sell them right now. To try in a couple weeks once stocks have rebounded. I always thought I lived in a sewer, seems that this pest snail loving town I live in is proving me right 😉
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Thanks again @Odd Duck. I do intend to heavily plant and decorate. I've got all those things at the ready and even have a small ceramic dish/coaster that could work for feeding like you mentioned. How much do you usually feed a single pea puffer? I was guessing maybe 1-3 bloodworms at the most per day?
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Fantastic to know, both about being solo and the tip about growing bladder snails. I have now called 3 LFS' and have been told that they do not have pest snails for sale. Would Petsmart have/sell them?
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Sorry @Odd Duck for your loss. But thank you for the info! I'm already committed to a solo pea puffer at this point but your experience and insight is really appreciated. I'll be watching closely. I did warn my daughter that we may need to add more. I have an empty 20 gallon long at the ready if what you're saying comes to pass. Unfortunately I can't commit to anything larger. I know what I'm trying here isn't ideal, but I've been enough of a pack rat with fish supplies and what-not that I think I'm at least ready to give it a try, eyes wide open though. Thanks again @Odd Duck for your insight and advice.
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That's what I was really curious about, thanks @Ashlyn! Just called a lfs, they didn't know what a bladder snail was. A pest snail? That they understood but said they didn't have any to sell. Onto lfs door number 2.
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Okay! So you think I can grow snails pretty easily and get a colony going if I get some from a lfs and use a tote? Any more tips for setting something like that up? Thanks so much @Beardedbillygoat1975, that would be neat to do, but I'd have to hide it away in the basement. The wife won't like this plan 🙂
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I am crazy for rummys. Here's a fish that loves to school quickly from side-to-side, with a red face and striped tail. It's perfectly designed for this and utterly beautiful to watch in motion. That said, I really like the neons. I was slow to try them since they're supposedly weak and unhealthy. And everyone has them (so snobby of me). But they've been amazing, beautiful and healthy. Healthier than the black neons I tried initially. -
My daughter wanted a fish and she chose a pea puffer. Proud papa, cuz I really wanted to get one too. No one around us sells them so I'm buying one online (flip aquatics) and it'll be shipping today and here tomorrow. I'm curious if any puffer keepers have any thoughts on them? Specifically the tank I'm using and the food I'll be feeding them. I'm putting the little puffer into a fluval spec 3 tank. I've gutted it out and the water volume is 3.5 gallons. On the low side of pea puffer care, I know, but I'm putting a medium coop sponge filter in there that's been seeding in my community tank for 5 months. Any experience with puffers in a sub 5 gallon tank? Would lethargy be my main symptom that things aren't working out? I'll monitor it closely, and can rehome to a flex 9 (currently my quarantine tank) if I have to but would rather not if this size works out. As for feeding, I have frozen blood worms and brine shrimp. I also have vita-chem to enrich the food with. I'd use a pipette to carefully feed it without getting too messy. Concern: do I have to provide live foods? I can't get any around where I live that I'm aware of. Maybe I can hit up a lfs for bladder snails but that's a big reach. Is my feeding regime okay without any live foods? Any behavior or symptoms to look out for if things are going south? Appreciate any thoughts and tips, thanks in advance!
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I strongly believe rummy's are the best schooling fish. And as mentioned earlier, it's because they are more nervous fish. My neons dispersed after they got comfy in the tank. They still school sometimes, but not nearly as often as the rummy's. But a little observation shows how the rummy's are jumpy. Little things get them twitching and running/schooling fast.
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Love snails too. Mystery snails are more active and engaging, nerites are more attractive (to me) and better algae cleaners. I prefer mystery snails over nerites for one huge (to me) reason. Those nerite eggs were welded onto decorations and glass. Brutal time removing them, in some cases I couldn't remove them completely. I do think they're very pretty. Just be ready for the tank to look like you spilled sesame seeds all over it.
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I freeze mine too. Keep the bottles in bulk frozen while keeping a little in a zip loc back in the fridge. I make sure to label and date them since I can forget what's what and how long they've been in the fridge or freezer. I have no idea if it helps, but I do know it hasn't hurt anything.
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Purely my opinion here with a tiny bit of experience: but I say if you have to ask, then yes, you need to do water changes. I believe water changes are helpful for the beginner to intermediate aquarist. I tried to do minimal water changes early on and it didn't go well. Again, this is my opinion. Keeping plants takes time/experience. Balancing a tank is easy, BUT it takes time and experience. These factors and more are learned over time. So while one is going from intermediate to advanced experience level, keep doing water changes (20-25%) a week until you're confident you have your tank figured out. A quick aside, one tip I learned was to not clean the filter much. Let that get nasty before cleaning, and then, only lightly clean it. I do believe my fish are thanking me for that. But again, just my opinion.
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I have the 207 on my 33 gallon long. Very happy with it. Agree with @Guppysnail's advice about foam but especially about removing the floss. It makes you have to open it up far more often, with leakages more likely to occur. Enjoy!
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Holy smokes with that elodea!! "Rapunzel, let down your hair!", is all that comes to mind 🙂 I love the the tanks, always have tho. They look great, can't wait to hear about CPD's.
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The Don’ts & Do Nots of Fishkeeping - Chad’s Journal
Chad replied to Chad's topic in Photos, Videos & Journals
So I mentioned earlier... When I added my Panda Cory's I worried that they weren't getting enough food and made a joke earlier about how the Platy's were forcing them out and hogging everything. While true, I should've realized that was just new neighbors getting used to the neighborhood. This pic doesn't do any justice as to how aggressive my Cory's have gotten when the buffet opens so I added another depicting the scene as it unfolded in my head more accurately ;). They're now fine bumping elbows, reaching over and under the sneeze guard, and just that general "all in" approach toward chow time. Patience. I'm reminded that patience, once again, is the key. Give it a week and it all worked itself out. What I saw in my head:
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Yeah, what others are saying. While early, I'd personally say the med trio has run it's course and now it's time to water change and do a full treatment of Ich-X. Perservere and be patient, I had to treat Ich-X with three separate treatments to rid my tank completely once. But it did work.
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To my knowledge @Suz, I’m the only person who has platies that do. Understand, they don’t just eat them. Well, kinda. Okay, so whenever my mystery snails try to move around my platies peck at them. Not their shell, but them. It caused my snails to hide in their shells all day, only coming out at night to feed. This isn’t sustainable for snails and two have died with two left that are dwindling. I’m not happy about it but I reached the decision that I like the fish more than the snails. I have shrimp too, my platies never bother them. I bought platies on four different occasions from two different fish stores, same results each time.
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I had a fluval 9 that just wouldn't cycle. Except when it finally did and was then very robust. It simply took longer than I intended since I added more fish than I should have. I did what @xXInkedPhoenixX mentions to do above. Kept cool, test regularly and small water changes if it rises much above .5 or .75.ppm. Personally, I think the term "crashed" has too much of a "do over" ring to it. Your cycle is simply playing catch up right now. Basically treat it as a fish-in cycle, that means proactive monitoring. You're gonna be fine and so are your fish, it will all settle down once a few more days and/or weeks have passed. My one specific thought is to monitor your neons closely. They can sometimes be a bit temperamental to water parameters. Mine turned out to be bullet proof but I've read that others have issues with ich and neon tetra disease. Mine had ich from the pet store but shook that off with some Ich-X easily. Again, good luck and hang in there.
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Do you have any nerite snails? I know nothing about fish and eggs (only had livebearers give birth) but those remind me of the cursed (to me) nerite snail eggs I had in my tank a while back.
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Me too, but make sure it works with your brand and diameter of hosing. My fluval UV sterilizer won't fit onto an FX6 or anything that large.
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Agreed! I'm nowhere near a lfs on that level.
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Good to know because my Buce grows slowly too. Seems pretty hardy though.
