Steph’s Fish and Plants

Here are the photo updates

It’s been a while, so let’s do some updates! Plecos are doing well, I’m still hopeful the ones a female and have yet to be proven wrong. Unfortunately, I may be wrong about the sex of the apistos. They might both be males 😒 so I’ve separated them and am watching for male dominance colors on the original female. However, I have a betta in the tank I moved it to and the betta has very minimally been chasing, so the colors haven’t changed. I’m not sure if the colors not changing is from being female, being chased, or just not having had enough time to change, it’s been about a week since I moved it. If it does go male my friend wants him so at least he already has a new home. In sadder news, I think I lost the blue goby, I haven’t seen her in at least 3 weeks. I might’ve accidentally gotten rid of her when trimming plants that she liked to hang out on? That’s my best guess because I’ve yet to see a body and I’ve moved everything around. I’m gonna get some more when the ones at my LFS are available (they just came in yesterday so they’re under a 1 week observation period.) Speaking of gobies, we also got in some Desert gobies that I’m thinking of getting as well along with some ember tetras for the 10 gallon with the betta. Today I added 4 gertrudae rainbows and an Amano shrimp to handle an algae issue in my 20long. Hopefully the male apisto doesn’t eat the shrimp 😅

I currently have 4 crested geckos with 2 more on the way once shipping allows again. My girlfriend really wants a leopard gecko so I might get us one this Christmas (I have done lots of research and will continue to do so). I really want a blue tongue skink someday as well as a few chameleons but that’s not gonna happen till we have a house.

I am actually. I’m currently on the hunt for a purple spot mantis (gonodactylus smithii) but I may end up getting a neogonodactylus wennerae since they’re easier to find. My LFS has a peacock right now but they’re much too big for my setup unfortunately. I do want one someday tho.

I hope you have success, those are both awesome species. I want to work with them someday. How did you get your hands on them? I need to look into legality and collecting and such. Rainbow darters are so cool looking! Good luck

For stocking order definitely go with guppies first. Then add whatever else. I have 7 habrosus cories in my 20 long and I’d love to add a few more. My concern numbers wise with the cories is that the 20 high wouldn’t have as much horizontal space. The pigmy Cory species however would utilize a lot of that vertical space as well, so I’d lean there for a Cory species. Id wait to add shrimp till the tank is really settled in, they like a well seasoned tank. I agree on the light thing, pick a number between 8 and 12 and go from there. Guppies are good algae eaters and the amount of plants you’ll be putting in right off the bat will help too. When you set the tank up put the plants in to help with cycle, once you see plant growth you know it’s producing nitrates and you’re ready for fish. That’s my favorite way to cycle a new tank. Guppies are really hardy so they should do well early on. that’s awesome that he’s interested at breeding and stuff at such a young age!

That’s the hope 😅 at the very least I can look back and watch my hobby progress, I’m glad you enjoyed it. Super reds are doing well. The female sometimes hangs out with one of the males but they’re barely using the cages so far. Hoping to get some new caves soon but I gotta wait till my next paycheck 😅

I have a 13.5 gallon fluval evo. I’m going to be getting a mantis shrimp for it soon hopefully 🤞🏻 I actually just put my first ever corals in yesterday 😁 just some zoas but I’m excited. So far no major issues have popped up so that’s good. Today marks the one monthiversary so that’s exciting. I’ve got a macroalgae in there as well that’s doing alright, a snail, and two hermits. for my freshwater tanks, everything is looking good. I picked up two berried orange rilli shrimp from my LFS yesterday so that’s exciting. My first time having shrimp in almost 2 years.

Yeah they definitely have some more growing to do. That’s a good tip about Greg Sage, I forgot he sold caves. I’ll look into those for sure. I’ve got a couple in there now but I’m probably gonna swap at least one of them and add another.

Alrighty I got some good photos of the likely female. I’m gonna try and get some of the males. Like I said, they’re of a similar relative size.

Yes it is 😁

I’ll try and get some better pictures once my lights come on today as well

Hi all. I wanted to start this off with a quick intro into my breeding experience so far and then get into the thread. I bred a Ton of platies when I was a kid, I’ve bred cherry shrimp a few years ago, and I spawned some celestial pearl danios back in December 2020 (lost them while I was on vacation, trying to get a second spawn going). A few years ago I tried to breed bristlenose but ended up with 2 males and then was satisfied with just having them (1 albino and 1 standard). Well, we finally got some super reds in at my LFS and I leapt at the chance because my boss let me get them half off (I work at my LFS). So I got 3 good sized juveniles. 2 are for sure males because they have lots of medium length bristles on the side and top of the head. But the third has some short bristles only on the side of the head. It also appears that her fins lay more flat whereas the males are a bit angled? I’m not sure if that’s a real thing or just a posture thing. (Any advice here would be great). Now for the tank. It’s a 20 long running at about 77 degrees Fahrenheit with a few caves (I intend to get more from pleco ceramics) 2 hang on back filters, a sponge filter, lots of live plants, 6 celestial pearl danios, 7 habrosus corydoras, a blue goby, and 2 apistogramma hongsloi (that I’m also attempting to breed). Diet wise I’m going to feed lots of blanched vegetables like cucumber, zucchini, and maybe some carrots (anyone done carrots before) as well as get Repashy soilent green, morning wood, bottom scratcher, and super green. I’ve also got fluval bug bites pleco formula and hikari algae wafers, I plan to rotate through these frequently so they get a large variety. I also have plenty of wood and surface algae in the tank for them to graze on. Alright, if you’re still reading, thank you. That was a lot 😅 any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Wow I didn’t realize I hadn’t updated this thread in a while, and a Lot has happened. The 20 long now has 2 apistogramma hongsloi for breeding as well as 3 juvenile super red bristlenose for breeding. the 10 gallon has Drogo the betta and the 5 gallon was torn down. The saltwater tank has been up for almost a month now and is doing well, got a few hermits, a snail, and some macro algae. Ok so about the super reds, I’m certain I’ve got 2 males, but my third I’m not sure if it is male or female. I was looking at @Randy albino female and she has some bristles on the side of the head it seems, just like mine. They’re still juveniles but I’m hoping that the unsure one is big enough to sex. He or she is roughly the same size as the other two and they have well developed bristles on the side and the top of the head, whereas the one I’m unsure of only has them on the sides. If anyone could weigh in here with their opinion it would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Ok so I feel like an idiot now 😂 I think that’s the female going into breeding colors?

So I did a 40% water change to bring nitrates down and I moved the male into a ziss breeder box for a few days in case it was aggression. Last night as the suspected female was near the box she turned this bright yellow and her eyes turned completely black. Then by the time I grabbed my phone she was back to normal. Today I added the male back to the main tank bc the weird marks on both of them were gone and she did the weird color change again, this time I got some pictures. Does anyone know what this is? I’m brand new to apistos.

Just switched to dark mode and so far lookin good. Love the new theming in general as well

How exciting! If I’m remembering correctly they’re almost out of the woods time wise from what Preston said. I love how tiny they still are. Congrats on making it this far, I’m excited to see them continue to grow up

I have a blue goby that disappears for weeks at a time and then all of a sudden is just hanging out on the glass. I also have celestial pearl danios and was convinced I’d lost one bc I could only count 5 for days but #6 has returned from the void (I saw all 6 at the same time). Every like 15 minutes to every few hours I go to the tank and start counting. Every danio. Ever corydora. And then the 2 new apistos. I have gotten to a point that with the CPDs and the goby if I don’t count all of them I know they’re probably fine because I’ve had them the longest, but the cories I’ve had 2 weeks and the apistos I’ve had 1 so I’m still paranoid somethings going to happen to them. I feel like as much as it is a curse, it’s also a blessing. The constant need to count keeps me very in tune with my tank and I’ve been able to notice new plant growth and copepods and behaviors among the fish themselves that I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise.

I’m not sure his teeth could’ve grown that quickly and he was on various shelled foods. Try not offering anything for a few days and then put some snails in, see what he does. If you can get a good look at the mouth and see that would help rule out teeth issues

To sum it up, last week I picked up two apistogramma hongsloi. These are my first species of apisto. They’ve been doing well and eating well. The last few days I’ve noticed minor chasing and the male seeming to “dance” or “show off” for the female. Last night I noticed a weird gold patch on the head of the male. Today I noticed an even bigger one on the female. Gh is 8, Kh is 5 and has been steady for several months. Temp is 74 Fahrenheit. I have really high nitrates because I ended up overdosing easy green trying to clean out the pump head and get it to work. Is the high nitrates causing the issue? Wednesday’s are my normal water change days so it’ll get a water change regardless tomorrow, should I wait and see? They’re still acting normal and eating. The intake sponge on my HOB filter was clogged to the point where there was little water flow, but I also have a sponge filter on the other side of the tank. It’s a planted 20 long with 6 celestial pearl danios, 7 habrosus corydoras, the 2 apistos, and a blue stiphodon goby. Nobody else seems to be affected or acting different.

I’d say Bettas and Platies are the hardiest. Bettas are nice because you only need (and should have) 1 so it’s better cost wise than livebearers where you want 3 and will get babies (which can be a challenge to deal with). Bettas are also attractive because they do perfect in nano tanks that you can put on a desk. I think because of this tho they’re so prone to being put in suboptimal conditions. That combined with how they’re normally presented in pet stores. I agree with @Aubreytho for method of picking out other fish if a betta isn’t something the person is interested in. People in general will put more work into something they’re truly passionate or care about. If someone really likes African cichlids, they’ll put the time in to learn about and care for African cichlids, giving them a betta won’t be good for anybody. And that goes for all fish. The best beginner fish is one that’s either easy to care for, or easy to find out how to care for, and the one that inspires the most in the individual fish keeper.

Wow they’re adorable. And over 40 days now how exciting!! Congratulations

My habrosus are on eco complete and I’ve noticed no issues so far. Cory collected corydoras in the wild and showcased they were among a very sharp substrate at the time. I don’t remember the exact video but i think it’s one of the Peru collection videos from 2019 in the Aquarium CoOp channel.

Any crushed coral should work