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Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics

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Everything posted by Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics

  1. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    Plant Profile Cryptocoryne Wendtii Bronze and Cryptocoryne Wendtii Green I bought both of these plants at a local store. The green was potted, and it was huge! I wasn’t sure if I should break it up when I first got it and it grew near the center of my tank for months. The one that I call bronze was just a loose plant they had from a local aquarist. It was tiny when I first got it. It had three or four brown leaves that layer horizontal on my substrate. It was a weird looking plant for a long time. I planted them booth near the center of my tank in the mid ground. I knew they should get about 4-6” leaves, and I was looking forward to them filling in the middle of the tank. I have been giving them root tabs every other month, but honestly they are probably ready to take them once a month now. The bronze did sprout a runner and I have left them next to one another for now. The green started producing runners like crazy. When I needed to add to my substrate I removed them and I split the green up. Now there are healthy crypts all over the middle of my tank. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about the texture of the leaves, but I love them. The broad leaves are great for my otos and shrimp. The one plants that I separated and replanted are growing much slower than my original plants did, but that may be because I wasn’t quick enough to add root tabs. I know a lot of people experience melt when they plant crypts, but I did not. What is stranger is that the store that I bought mine from uses RO water and I do not. My biggest issue right now is that I have some green spot algae that I am battling and I am seeing it on some of the crypts. I had very little algae until I added tiger lotus to my aquarium. I love the look of the plant, but it through off the balance of my aquarium and I am apparently not experienced enough to dial it in quickly.
  2. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    Yeah, probably going to wait a while before I try to add anymore. I just set up a new QT this weekend, looks like Aquahuna will only ship through the end of the week. I think I’ll wait until next year on them. I need to decide what I am doing about the livebearers anyways. I have 30 or so Mollies in the 75 right now.
  3. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    Typically the larger, bulkier ones are female. The slender ones are male. As they mature it is easier to tell them apart.
  4. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    Sounds like a cool project. Can you tell us more about the species? How far does their area expand?
  5. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    Lost the little guy after the water change. Hard lessons were learned.
  6. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    I really was wondering if it was the water change and not the meds. I just checked in him. Resting on the bottom again. No struggle. When he swims it is kind of sporadic and his gills are red. tested water and everything is good. I dropped some blood worms in. Hopefully he can eat some tonight and we can get n track for recovery tomorrow. No more meds. I’m going to keep him in the QT until he looks plump.
  7. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    I only have Repashy super green. I use it for otocinclus. It is completely vegan. I’ve seen my Paleteus Corydora take a few bites, but never for long. He was struggling again so I changed the water. I changed 30% but I also added 5 gallon (it’s a 25 gallons that I was only keeping 10g in). Hopefully it doesn’t stress him out too much. Maybe I should have gone a little lighter on the water, but I was worried the meds were doing more harm.
  8. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    These mixed Mollies were dropped this week.
  9. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    That sounds like what so was thinking. I was feeding him lightly. I treated with the Paracleanse because of how skinny they were. They were eating. I have frozen bloodworms and frozen brine shrimp. I treated with Paracleanse two days ago. Should I feed lightly today and wait for the frozen foods tomorrow? Also, would you do a water change today to try to remove more meds? Normal directions, say to do a 25% change today. Would you go larger? Thank you for all the help. I haven’t successfully treated something like this before.
  10. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    8 years ago we bought a 10g. We used it for 3 years or so. Then I bought a 25g and the 10 went into the attic. We moved last year and I used it during the move. After setting up our new 75g this past May I started using the 10g as a QT. One day I was changing water in the 75 when I heard water hit the floor. I was freaking out trying to find it when I realized the 10g had sprang a leak! I think the years in the attic and garage may have been a factor... but I am following this thread because I worry that in 5 -10 years my 75 gallon might be at risk.... and that’s a lot of water!
  11. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    I always refer back to this graphic. The thing about stem plants is that they grow fast and they melt fast. I have been struggling with dialing in my ferts as well after adding some tiger lotus.
  12. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    I have also heated the two week recommendation between doses. Hey Bill, I have a Paracleanse question in another thread. I’ve had a really hard time with some Sterbai Corydora. Do you mind taking a look?
  13. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    And the drama continues! Still alive and on the bottom of the tank, upright. Today should be the water change and second dose of the treatment... I am a little worried that the second dose may cause too much stress. He/she is resting on the bottom, but I haven’t seen them move all that much. Would you administer the second dose of the follow up treatment based on the experience I’ve had?
  14. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    These are gorgeous Irene! How large were they?
  15. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    She has dropped over a dozen fry this week. They are everywhere. (Don’t mind the rotalla indica, it isn’t happy right now).
  16. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    These are our second generation mixed mollies. We started off with a black Molly, Dalmatian Mollies, and a orange/silver Molly. I would love to find another creamsicle that isn’t lyre tailed to make future generations more orange.
  17. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    Another follow up. I checked on the tank and found the sterbai floating belly up. I could see him still breathing so I added 5 gallons of fresh water. He swam down into the Java moss and made sure he could rest there. Looks like he is having trouble keeping himself from floating.
  18. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    Had a moment to check things out and the little guy is still alive. He is upright now, but not moving much. If I do a water change I will be removing the Paracleanse. Any suggestions? My 10 gallon sprung a leak a few weeks ago so I am using the 25g, but it has 10g of water in it. So I can add water... I just checked parameters Temp 76 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0 pH 8 I cleared my 75g of Java fern (yeah, right) on Sunday, and it all went into the QT. That might be why the nitrates aren’t reading.
  19. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    Yesterday was two weeks since I used Paracleanse on my Sterbai Corydora that has been chilling out in quarantine. It was the lone survivor of my three. I did a 50% water change last night and then re-administered the Paracleanse. 10g = 1 packet. I found the Cory laying on its side this morning. Such a downer. I keep a community tank, and this is only the second time I’ve spent that much money on a few fish. I have an older sterbai in my 75 gallon and I was hoping to add more.
  20. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    I thought I would do some plant profiles. I have four Amazon Swords in my 75 gallon. The oldest was one of the first plants that I put in my 25 gallon. When I bought it there was a stem with three little swords growing from it. The guy who ran the store said to let them grow roots and then I could remove them from the plant and plant them in my tank. I’ve always loved these swords and I have experimented somewhat with their feeding. The main one grew to the full height of my 25 gallon tank (20” I think) and it filled most of that tank. I wanted to hold onto the little plants in hopes of adding more tanks or a bigger tank. A week before buying the 75 gallon tank I made a huge mistake with my plants. I had started seeing black beard algae. One of my disaster plus attempts at a planted tank had included a very bad bba takeover. After some research I decided to try a peroxide dip. Let me tell you... it was a disaster. Within a couple of days all of my plants were clear of bba. Within a week all of my plants were melting back. My “mother” Amazon Sword melted back to one tiny, puny leaf that was tucked in the middle. I cut everything back and replanted. Hoping I wouldn’t lose this plant. All four melted back, and all four grew back. Some have done better than others. You can see that one is still tiny in these pictures. I wonder if it is the sand or if I have not supplied enough root tabs for it. I love how large these plants are, and how they look in the tank. I don’t see my 75 ever being without them. As you can also see, I am battling some bba again. After adding some plants my balance is off. I haven’t quite dialed in the ferts yet, and I am currently dealing with some bba and green spot algae.
  21. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    This little gal happens to be my favorite fish in my 75 gallon at the moment. She is a third third generation Molly that is completely black. We currently have a lot of mixed mollies. One of our first mollies was a Black Molly. We have looked at purchasing another, but they have all appeared very thin and not very darkly colored. I have been very proud of this little one from the day I noticed the completely black fry darting around. Can anyone who has/breeds mollies tell me how often I need to introduce a new fish to keep from stagnating the genetics? I wanted to get rid of mollies, but the kids love them.
  22. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    I believe it is called Creepying Jenny. I killed it many, many times before I was able to grow it. It’s still slow though.
  23. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    Thanks Sleepy. It started as an experiment. My for attempt at plants was disastrous, actually so was my second. So when I did the 25 gallon I bought a bunch of different plants to see what I could find success with. The one I kept killing was Lloydiella, but I am growing it now!
  24. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    Thank you. I have two large sponge filters (wish I had gone with the medium), and one of those has a medium stacked on it. I could probably drop down to the two large now. The medium was in my 25 gallon and I used it to seed the new ones. A few months ago I bought a cheap canister filter just to “polish” the water. It is stacked with sponges and filter floss. I just couldn’t get the water clear enough for me with the course sponges only. I moved everything over same day. I put all of the fish in buckets with air stones and a heater while I moved the gravel and sand. I then added the new substrate, plants, and finally water. I also used some of the water from the 25 gallon. Not for bacteria, but just to help with the water chemistry. Everything went smoothly. I saw a small spike in nitrates, but it was well below 20 ppm. I have to feed heavy and dose to get 20 ppm with my water. I did lose some red cherry shrimp in the process, but that was it.
  25. Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics
    Hello all! I hope you are enjoying your tanks. I’ve been eyeing this part of the forum because I thought it would be fun to keep a journal of my tank’s progression in a public place. Hopefully, we can discuss some of the successes, failures, and works in progress going on with my 75 gallon aquarium. Here is a little info on my tank. I setup this 75 gallon around the middle of May. 1/3 of the gravel and sand substrate came from my 25 gallon aquarium. I also moved over 30 mixed mollies (mostly fry), 1 neon tetra, three Corydora (2 peppered and 1 Sterbaii), 7 Rasboras, 4 otocinclus, 65 red cherry shrimp, and three mystery snails. I also moved over a lot of plants. My 25 had been my testing site for plants. So I have a variety. here are some images of my tank. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
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