KittenFishMom

I bought the boy down the street a gold panning kit a few summers ago. I have buckets. If I can find the gold pan I will try it both ways and report back. @JettsPapaWe bought it at a pool store, so it may not need rising.

@Louise02 press the "..." in the upper left of your post and remove your email address. I will send you a message through the forum email.

I did find a second shipping box. I could send you a lot for free. They are mixed/mutt guppies, very strong and healthy. I'll pay shipping. You can look at my post in the swap thread. You can have male and females. I would rather rehome them than cull them. I was an accidental breeder this winter when my Mom got sick. (If you could take 30 or more that would be wonderful !!!)

I bought the boy down the street a gold panning kit a few summers ago. I have buckets. If I can find the gold pan I will try it both ways and report back.

I double checked in this thread: and I have a bunch of damselfly larvae in my bucket where I was collecting daphnia. If anyone wants them, let me know, or I will just put them back in the lake. They are all sizes and green to brown, so I would guess they are different ages. They swim in a very fancy dancy way and all have 3 hairs at the end of their tail. I don't think they would ship well, but i could try it in a padded envelope. Let me know before they go back in the lake.

@Zenzo Thanks, Like panning for gold. Sounds good to me.

I bought a 50 lb bag of pool sand for my 55 build. In the meantime, I want to rise some of it and put it in pint deli containers and put one in each tank for my loaches for their exploration and enjoyment. I want to know the best way to rise the sand, and find out in I need to poke holes in the deli cups for water to circulate in and out and if I need to fill the cups more than half full. Any other suggestions or advice is very very welcome.

Last Friday I moved and removed a lot in my tanks to catch a Cory to rehome. Saturday afternoon I started getting a bacteria bloom, because I vacuumed half the tank well, where I have removed things. I didn't touch the filters, so I thought I would not get the bloom, but on Sunday, there it was. I loaded the tank with live daphnia from the lake, and today the water is very clear. I also added IAL and complete and some turbo start 700, but I really think it was the daphnia that cleared the bloom so fast. Definitely worth a try if you get a bacteria bloom. I put about 2 table spoons of drained daphnia in a 10 gallon tank. Has anyone else used live daphnia to clear bacteria or algae blooms in they tanks?

@TOtrees The tank has a large sponge filter, a HOB and an internal filter and an air stone, so the water is moving a good bit. The water isn't moving fast, but it is moving all around the tank. The heater has a guard covering it and the kuhli loaches are hanging out in the guard. They used to hang out in a cave I made by leaning an easy planter leaning against a hollow ceramic log. But now they seem to be hiding in the heater cover. I think the guppies were pestering the kuhli loaches in the cave, but I can not be sure. I added more IALs to give the loaches more options to hide. Since I have added a lot of daphnia to all the tanks, I am using very little fish food in hopes that the bioload will drop some. I got the kuhli loaches in hopes that they would stir up the water at the bottom of the tank to move solids to the mechanical filters. My LFS said he probably would not order fish again this week. He use to order fish every week. This is the 3rd week he has not ordered fish. He hasn't taken any of my guppies in more than a week. I have a feeling the new chain pet store across the street is putting him out of business. Want any guppies ?

To the fish, we humans and cats are all living in outer space. I saw some fish drawing up plans for a spaceship behind some hardscape.

There was a kuhli loach swimming around the big female guppy tank this morning, but I will bet it will hide when the tank lights come on. I saw 2 kuhli loaches on the heater cover in the small female guppy tank. They were close to the top of the tank. 3 kuhli loaches were swimming in circles against the glass while the yoyo loaches were poking around the hardscape. The male guppy tank is so densely planted I only saw a tail on a kuhli slipping away from the glass. @TOtrees I put wondershells and more daphnia in each take last night. I think it is interesting that the kuhli loaches are resting so near the top, in the heater guard and between the floating driftwood and the glass. Even the tiny yoyo loach is doing it. I wonder if the water conditions they are sensing indicate bottom feeding predators are coming. When we get a strong north or north west wind here, it stirs up the bottom and the bullheads come in to feed. You can catch the bullheads as fast as you bait your hook.

I put more daphnia in last night, and all the tanks still have a lot of daphnia this morning. I put a pinch of guppy food in for variety. The neon tetras get very excited. I think they can eat the daphnia, but I don't think they can smell them.

@bryanisag How big was the tank? All my current tanks are about 10 gallons. Each tank has a male betta. 2 of the tanks are well planted. I just put a huge foxtail piece of seaweed from the lake in to the loach tank. It was in probably 3 feet tall, with lots of branches. I broke it into 4 parts and put each stem through a ceramic ring and hide it deep in the substrate. The betta can't seem to get his nose in to the base of the leaves, but the yoyo loaches can. The other 2 tanks have female guppies and very few plant, nothing very tall, nothing floating. These 2 tanks don't have much daphnia showing now, but they may be hiding. I collected daphnia from the lake again tonight. I am still removing damselfly larva from the bucket. I would guess I caught about 1 cup of drained daphnia tonight in less than an hour. I would guess I put about 2 tablespoons drained daphnia in each tank last night. I'm sure at some point the daphnia with be eaten or die off, but it should take some time in the planted tanks. I plan to set up several colonies and hope keep some going even if some crash. The daphnia really seemed to help clear up the bacteria bloom from vacuuming the substrate. I don't think I will be able to do much vacuuming now that I have added the foxtail. I am really looking forward to starting up the 55 gallon tank. My husband bought the pool sand today. We need to move the tank and stand forward a bit and make a few adjustments, then the build can begin !

@TOtrees and @TheSwissAquarist Don't we all enjoy share what we have learned and learning what is shared. I love this forum.

You did a very nice job. I may break don't nd buy red Russian Daphnia eggs if these don't work.

@TOtrees sorry about so many questions. Thank you for ALL the info. It is very helpful ! I'm asking all these questions at once because there is a narrow window to catch daphnia at the lake here. You have to have complete calm so the surface of the lake is like glass. It has to be before or after mosquitoes season, or you get eaten alive (If you feed them, it only encourages them). If you are harvesting from a tub and snage mosquito larva, and you have a planted tank. you can have a building FULL of hungry adult mosquito. (I did that last summer. It was weeks before they were gone. We would not use bug spray near the open 120 fish tank in the garage.) So given this narrow window, I am trying to get it close to right the first time. Also, they will be taking the level on the lake down very soon, and we are at the muddy shallow end. It is wonderful for studying wildlife, but you can not get to open water once the Throughway Authority drop the lake to make room some spring snow melts and rains. Thanks again for answering so many questions so patiently.

@TOtrees I am trying to start green water in some jugs of use fish tank water. I have a container that went green by itself a while ago. I put some dropper of that in the used tank water in a window. I wouldn't put plants in that. I have the impression that you feed green water to daphnia and the water should clear in about 15 minutes. I add plants to the daphnia colony with the water that is clear most of the time. Do those plants need to be removed? Should I add yeast or your 3:1:1 mix to the jugs I want to turn green into sources of green water? Also, how long to daphnia normally live? What is the time from hatching to reproducing? (I added some hornwort and foxtail and more java moss to the tank with loaches and all the daphnia. I figure the adult daphnia might be too big for the loaches at this age, but the baby daphnia won't be. I'm trying to figure out when the daphnia will be gone from that tank, if they do not reproduce. and I don't add more daphnia.)

@TOtrees Thanks for the water change info. I have been trying to figure out how to change the water without sucking out the daphnia.

I put a few bit of lake seaweed in the lake water bucket with the daphnia colony. While I was raking seaweed out of the lake to launch my row boat, I saw a tiny bluegill flopping on the shore, so I picked him in the butet with the daphnia and seaweed and air hose to see if he was hurt. He is gobbling my daphnia like crazy. I should let him go before the daphnia is gone, but it is so much fun to see him hunting in the foxtail seaweed from the lake. It looks like hornwort, but is much denser. I will probably let him go and catch more daphnia after dark. I am toying with acclimating him to the tank with the big female guppies and see if he can clean up some of the little guppies that the betta missed. Probably should not until the females are out of the tank. I don't want to contaminate the fish going to the fish store. I hope they are going to the fish store ! I do have some green water, I have put droppers full of it in bottles of water from fish tank changes. I hope they turn into green water. I will put a few snails in all on the containers. should I add a bit if yeast as well?

The daphnia in that tank are very active. I will add some complete and turbo start 700 and IAL. I put an extra light pointing at the side of the tank. I will be testing the water in all 4 tanks shortly. I must say it is a lot of fun watch the kuhli loaches swimming all over the place. Once I get the 55 gallon tank up and cycled, I want to get some of the banded kuhli loaches.

@TOtrees I think you are right. Friday I lowered the water to the width of my largest net and took out the sponge filter, HOB, the floating driftwood, the betta log, ceramic log and java moss. I had move the heater to vertical rather than horizontal the night before. I was able to catch the cory on the first try. While I had everything out, I vacuumed the substrate well under where the objects I removed had been. this took the water even lower. I then move the heater back down near the bottom across the back and filled with bottled spring water at room temperature. It is a big heater, so the water came back to temp rather quickly Saturday I added the daphnia and noticed the kuhli loaches were swimming all over and and all 4 were resting between the floating driftwood and the glass instead over under the items on the bottom. Even the tiny yoyo loach went from resting on the bottom to resting on the driftwood. Now it is Sunday morning and the tank looks cloudy. I didn't change or clear any filters, but it looks like I got a bacteria bloom going anyway. I do have a big air stone as well as a large sponge filter and an HOB. I have also started a turnup on the HOB and the roots reach down into the tank not, but it hasn't leafed out yet. I will go test the water and see what is going on.

I can relate. When my parakeet passed on, I convinced my parents we needed a pony. Go for the bigger tank! You have nothing to lose if they say "no". You could end up with a 120 tank and have them feeling ever so grateful that there isn't a pony setting up shop in the yard !

I got 13 black kuhli loaches at a big box store because I did not want to leave one all alone. I was hoping they would help with the over stocking by getting more junk to the filters. In the 3 tanks with the guppies, I never see the kuhlis, unless they are darting around in the dark. I think the guppies pick on them, which seems weird, but the guppies are overstocked, so who knows. In my fourth tank with 2 big cory's 3 yoyo loaches, a male betta and 4 kuhli loaches, the kuhlis are out and playing all over the tank all the time. They may be chasing the daphnia, but I thought kuhlis where scavengers, not hunters. They are swimming top to bottom and side to side and swimming circles around each other. I thought I would be really luck to see much of them, but they are swimming all the time. They didn't start doing this until the guppies were gone. I can't wait to see what the other kuhli loaches do in the other tanks as the guppies leave. I am so hoping I can take the ones in the large female tank to the fish store this week. They won't stop begging for food. I think they may be the only tank to have eaten all the daphnia from last night.

I just found this: I'm a member, it is member only. I am watching it now. "Aquarium Co-Op Club: Carlos Rodriguez - Culturing Daphnia" on youtube.

@TheSwissAquarist That is very true 😁