KittenFishMom

@TheSwissAquarist I do have pre filters on the HOBs. so that should help. I was surprised to see some still swimming in all the tanks. The fish really went nuts for them when I added them last night.

Last night I took a flashlight and large mosquito net and caught a LOT of daphnia in the lake. I put a some in each tank after staining it in a bbs net. There are still daphnia swimming in all the tanks. I tested the water and they don't need changes today. I figure the way the fish went into a feeding frenzy last night, and they have not finished off what is in the tanks, I don't need to feed fish food today. I put a small puff of easy fry food in the tanks for the daphnia, and some in the bucket with the daphnia I did not feed to the tanks. What are the pros and cons of keeping some daphnia in the tanks. Does in change what I should be feeding the fish. Does the daphnia tend to clean the water, or foul it? Should I put a container in the tank that the fish can not get into for the daphnia to hide or breed in? Any advice on keeping the daphnia that I did not put in the tanks? I know they have a tendency to crash. I fed them a little fry food and a few droppers of green water and will add an air hose without a stone. Should I add hornhort or substrate? should I put them in clear containers instead of the white plastic bucket? (the bucket is about 3 gallons) I figure I should split the daphnia between several containers so I can recover from crashes. All opinions advice and experience is welcome. Thanks KittenFishMom

@Torrey Mr Betta is fine now. I just came inside from catching daphnia off the dock with a net and flashlight.

@Odd Duck and @nabokovfan87 and @meadeam Worked like a charm. I had a huge net, and slowly worked the fish into the net trap area, taking breaks between working unwanted fish out. Was able to net him with just one neon. The water was lower than the net. so I could walk away and come back. The cory is on his way to his new home. Down with bio load. !

@Odd Duck I have pull the things I was going to tonight. Th cory I want stayed behind the sponge filter while the other 2 came out and vacuumed the exposed substrate. I'm going to have a few buckets on hand. I may end up catching most of the fish before I get the shy cory. My 2 peppered cory are bold as brass, but this guy is shy. I am hoping moving him to a tank with one of his kind will help. the new tanks cory is 2 or 3 times as long, so it could backfire. Tomorrow I will pull the sponge filter and the HOB. most of the plants are small, except the one with the lily pad leaves. Thanks for reminding me to go slow. It is hard to remember when the fish turn at the wrong moment. Keep your fins crossed for us.

This is the perfect topic for me. Tomorrow, I want to catch the one large cory cat that is not a pepper cory cat out of my planted 10 gallon cylinder. The back of the tank is flat and hard to reach. The rest of the tank is too curved for anything but my tiny net that the cory would not fit in. The real fly in the ointment is the I put my heater along the bottom of the back of the tank, a little over a cory height off the substrate so I don't have to remember to unplug it and plug it back in every time I do a water change. Tonight, I could move the heater to an upright position. I could take the ceramic hollow log on the right out too. There is a plant on the left side on the tank, toward the back. an extra air stone on the left, a large sponge filter in the middle and an HOB with a pre filter on the right side of the tank. I could take the floating driftwood out tonight, and floating the betta log out in the morning. The plant has long stems and floating leaves. If I take 50% of the water out, more leaves will float. I draped some leaves over the top of the tank while netting out guppies, but I won't be able to net the cory with all the water in the tank. I also have clumps of java moss drifting around. The tank is stocked with 3 same 1.5 inch sized corys, about 10 neon tetras, 3 very small kuhli loaches and 2 small yoyo loach and one tiny yoyo loach. There are a few ghost shrimp wandering around. (I cleaned the 55 gallon empty tank today and hope to start the build tomorrow.) (I was told the yoyos were dwarf chain loaches, store would not take them back, hopefully the 55 will work for them soon. I bought Fritz Turbo 700.) I'm wondering if I should move some tetras into the water I take out of the tank, to simplify things. After I net the cory, I will put him in tanks water in an insulated minnow bucket with an air stone and drive him 30-45 minutes, to his new tank with a larger lone cory that to me looks just like this one I have. I've watched Cory's catching video a few times. I'm thinking of putting the net in the tank and letting it set there, after I take out the water for a little bit, until everyone is acting natural again. ALL advice is welcome. I want the cory to be as mellow as possible for this trip. I think I will put some plants in the minnow bucket, maybe some substrate. The minnow bucket is pretty dark. I could put something over the lid to make it darker.

@Anjum Thanks, I did that weeks ago. Suggested they sell them as "Koi Krunchers" or Goldfish Krispy Krackers" but they said he did not want snails in the store. Oh well.

@Pepere I'm going to try go to try to stick this. It is hard to do when you are looking a hungry blimp of a pregnant guppy. From now on I will mark Tuesday on my calendar as a "don't feed the fish" day. If the fish don't like it, I'll tell the fish to talk to you about it.

The tanks are small. I'll work on feeding less and removing snails myself. I really don't want to add to the bio load. I didn't feed yesterday other than 1 algae wfaer to catch snails. I viewed my snails as clean up crew, but now they cover the sinking wafers I put in at bed time for the kuhli loaches before the loaches get to they.. That snails have really done a number on my banana plant and a few other plants. I can look up they names. The yoyo loaches are growing fast, but I am seeing few snail shells, so maybe they are eating fish food instead. Also a 55 gallon tank without guppies looms in the future, as soon as I do the build and cycle it, so the yoyo loaches and everyone else everyone will have more room.

I have a lot of ramshorn and bladder snails in my tanks. I'm pretty sure it is caused by over feeding the fish. When I cut back on the fish food, the snails gobble my plants. I have put an algae wafer in a long handle ladle with holes in it, and the snails climb in and I can lift them out. This works if the fish don't eat the wafer fist. As I keep harvesting the snails, I am seeing that they represent a good bit of fish food, as well as other stuff. Today I didn't feed any tanks, and the snails are all over all the plants. What type of fish eat snails and hopefully snail eggs. I like watching snails in general, but the eggs on the glass in deep tanks is not something I like looking at. My yoyo loaches are active, but they don't seem to be eating many snails. I am not seeing many empty snail shells in they tank. I have heard clown loaches, killifish, and pea puffers eat snails. I research pea puffers. A pea puffer sounds fun, but I get the impression they would not like my 2 female guppy tanks because there is only 1 plant per tank. The male guppy tank has lots of plants, but also lots of guppies, and some very young corys and kuhli loaches. I think it would be too many bottom feeding fish, for a pea puffer to be happy. My other tank has less plants and bigger fish. I don't know if a pea puffer would work there. Besides the snails are in all the tanks. I still need to reach the clown loaches and the killifish. I am open to suggestions. Please remember I am rehoming the guppies as fast as I can, but there are still too many of them. Anyone want a bunch of healthy snails? Not sure what to do with all of them.

I was thinking about putting the soil in knee high stocking with a knot in the end then covering the knee high with sand. I think the roots will be able to get in easily, but I think trying to move a plant would be impossible. What size netting do others use for hidden soil?

@Pepere How are you stocked? Everytime I cut back on the fish food the snails attack the plants. I have been baiting the snails with an algae wafer in a long handled ladle with holes in it. I let it sit a few hours or overnight and pulling the snails out on the ladle. It makes it clear that those snail come for a lot of fish food that didn't need to go into the tanks.

I forgot to ask... How much will I need for a 55 gallon tank?

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea I never met a cheese puff that tasted like cheese. It they taste like cheese, then they can not be cheese puffs

I'm thinking about using pool filter sand for a substrate in my 55 gallon tank. I have a bunch of questions. Would love to know the pros and cons of pool filter sand. You can point me to threads where they have been covered. Do I need to wash it before I put it in the tank? How deep should it be on average and at it it's deepest places? I want to have some bottom glass exposed for a pond lit from under the glass. If I can find them, I might use some glass paperweights that stick out above the sand. or maybe vases or beakers. Do I need to add anything to the sand before I put it in the tank? I'm thinking about putting some organic soil in net bags under the deeper areas. All thoughts, experience and advice welcome.

2 tanks changed at about 60%. I have started siphoning the "used water" back into the water jugs labeled fish tank water" for friends to use on plants. I think this could be a big win for fish stores. They could price the jugs of "used fish water" to cover the jugs, labor and some shelf space. It would draw a whole new slice of nature loving plant folks into the store. They could get hooked on water gardens in every room, groomed by shrimp or snails or fish. All that humidity in the winter, and poach/balcony ponds in the summer. Solar fountains or floating waterfalls would keep the mosquitoes away. (mosquitoes don't like moving water for laying eggs.) I bet fish stores conserve water in ways that would make their "used fish water" much more concentrated and really make plants grow. Good for the environment too.

I changed the water in the tank, 60% night before last. I took out as many guppies as I could catch and added Complete and Staibily because the test strip was a very light pink, not close to the pink for 1 nitrite. Today I tested it and ithe strip said 1 ppm nitrite. so I used my new API water test kit with liquid chemicals. The ammonia was 0.25, the nitrite was 0.25 and the nitrate was 0 . I forgot to add is pH 7.4 The fish look fine. I fed lightly yesterday and nothing today. I am leaning against another water change today because I think all these water changes are not helping the tank cycle. Yesterday, the filter media was clogged, so I squeezed it out in some tank water and put it behind the uptake pie and put new media in the filter. to keep the water flowing well. Fritz turbo 700 is arriving 10/12 or 10/13, today is 10/10. Do you think a water change now will be helpful? Should I test this evening and see if the ammonia and nitrite are dropping? This tank was doing well until I over cleaned it a while back and it went cloudy. It hasn't gone cloudy since, but the nitrites keep popping up. Not every day, but maybe every 3 or 4 days. It has been overstocked, but after taking the guppies out, I thought it would last another day. I no longer vacuum the gravel, just run the edge of the siphon over it. The plants are spreading which makes vacuuming harder. To change or not to change, anf if to change, what percentage? Thanks. KittenFishMom

The strange thing is that after a big group of guppies leave, it still looks like I have the same number of guppies. I wonder if their friends are sneaking in for bbs?

@lefty o If you don't like the look of a toy boat as a tool, you can get a large square snack jar and empty it and fill it with HOT water and peel the label off. We used them as the tide was going out to watch a large area of the bottom for fish and critters. Also good for holding treasures like kite string on the way to the beach and seashells on the way home. Add a minnow trap and scraps from the seafood store and you can set up an ever changing aquarium for the afternoon. (In the shade, and monitor the temp. If the fish slow down or hanging at the surface just start over with new water and new things from the minnow trap.)

@lefty oMy fish store doesn't carry them. Where did you get them?

I was going to post photos, but the snails are not on the glass now. I will pose photos as soon as I get some. It is so easy to see when they are on the glass.

@Guppysnail and other friends of snails. Almost all of my snails are from the lake. I have what I think are bladder snails and ramshorn snails. What is strange that I have started to notice that most of my snails have brown shells with brown feet(foot?) as they climb the glass. Others are rather white with white to transparent feet. Now I am seeing several white to transparent shells ramshorn snails with red bodies and feet. I don't know if these are just normal variations or if some snails snuck in on plants or if my snails are having problems. I do have a few trapdoor snail that are light green. What do you think? Thanks, KittenFishMom

I use step stools and footstools and such. I had a wonderful wide folding painter bench in front of my 120 tank. They were both 6 feet long. I couldn't more than my forearm in the tank without standing on that. I also like my little toy "glass bottom boat" with a magnifier in it for looking in my tanks from above. It irons out water ripples and is great for finding air stones that escape while cleaning sponge filters. You can NOT let anyone play with it in the bathtub ! You don't want soap in the fish tanks. Not only does it make viewing from the above simple, and finding stuff on the bottom easy, the wheel and props really really work (if you turn them by hand). https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I0D3T16/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The LFS called today and said he would take 36 male guppies. I lost count and may have sent him 50. My wonderful spouse is driving them over to the store. I told Bill that if the store owner wanted to send some back, that was OK. The guppies are got baby brine shrimp, but no clove oil today. (tiny little "hurrays!!" from all the tanks.) I have rearranged the guppies to try to balance the load now that those guppies have left. I feel so much better. Every week the guppies grow bigger. Hopefully the fish store will take more soon. Wish us luck ! Thanks for everyones' help and support! KittenFish Mom

@AndEEss Yes, that is why I add crushed coal and wonder shells, to add more calcium.