KittenFishMom

I’m really not very interested in raising and rehoming guppies, but I am starting to see a lot of fry in my community tank. They are hiding in plastic and real plants. I can not figure out how to net them out when they are in the plants. In Aquarium Co Op video “Beginners, WATCH THIS before you get Guppies!” Cory talks about using an air lift to move guppy fry into a fry holding area. I don’t have the bandwidth to find the point where he talks about this, I think Q&A. What I remembered was he said was something like this: You set up an air lift pipe with the bottom covered in rocks space so the fry could enter and the adults could not. The fry head to the rocks for cover and the air lift pulls them up and drops the in a fry holder. I’m thinking about putting white hollow bio filter ceramic cylinders around a sponge filter core, where the sponge would normally be, and have the lift drop them into a net breeder box in the tank with the adults. I am also thinking on use a mess plant pot instead of a sponge filter core. I am just guessing that the fry would head for the black hole in the ceramic cylinders better than the light slits between the black plastic of the pots. Has anyone tried anything like this?

Me too ! Me too ! I would get a 20 long if it was a dollar a gallon.

@Torrey Do blue neon tetras eat guppy fry? I put a male and a few what I think are female guppies in my tetra tank to see if the fry would look like the male. I haven't seen any fry. I have to check the number of days, but I thought I would be seeing some around now. Good judgement comes from experience Experience comes from bad judgement. Oh well

@TorreyThanks so much for all your help !!

I don't want to be a master breeder. I expect to be very busy this spring/summer/fall with non-aquarium things. I want to have stable tanks I can care for and enjoy. I don't want to be trying to rehome baby fish if I can help it. I am using this winter to learn a lot about tropical fish keeping as pets. I am really enjoying seeing a few fry in my guppy community tank. I don't want to see hundreds of them. I might get them a 20 long. We are trying to decide where to put which tank. I wouldn't mind more tetras and more corys when I can move them to the 55 tank. I will be happy to buy them, I don't need to produce them at this point. I just am wondering if I put 10 tetra and 6-12 corys in the soon to be cleaned, planted and cycled 55 gallon tank, will I have a population explosion? I won't put any of the guppies in the 55 tank! The only other tropical fish I have is one female flagfish. I might try to get her some more young, non-breed female friends. That is all I want until next fall. I have decided to put off getting any pure bred guppies until next fall. It might not happen then, depending on how my mom's health is at that time. Thanks so much for all your help and knowledge.

@Torrey That is much trickier than I had imagined. I might try putting only males livebearers in my 55-tank. I want it to be lightly populated for easy of maintenances. How fast do blue neon tetras breed if they are left in the tank with their eggs? I have 10, and would like more, but not 20 to 40 a day more.

@Fish Folk I think the adult guppies are picking off some of the fry. I have a lot of cover for the fry. so I think that will be ok. If she was gooing to leave the adult guppy fins nipped and open for fin rot, that would be a problem.

@Fish Folk I'm in luck. My flagfish is female. Yesterday, I think my betta hit puberty or something. He switched from telling the flagfish to go away to chasing the flagfish a lot. Today I move the flagfish in with the guppy community tank because I did not want her chased to death.. My only other has some guppy and very small tetras and 3 very shy corys in it. The guppy community tank has a few fry, but not a lot. Do you think the flagfish and guppies will be ok together? (Note: the guppies are mutt guppies. No long flowing tails.)

As I clean, plant, and cycle my tanks (because of leeches and the native fish leaving the house), I want to try to get the best match with the fish and tanks I have. I am planning a tank with a male betta I have and a few other fish/shrimp/snails that are better suited to be in a 10-gallon with a male betta. (10 gallon hex or 10-gallon rectangle tank?) I am planning a tank (most likely the 55) with the neon tetras, the corys, the flagfish, and the guppy community I have. In the near future, I plan on getting some more corys to make the school bigger and more comfortable. I’m debating getting more flagfish. I have one that should be in a school, but I also know they are known for nipping fins. In the distant future, I might want to move the community guppies into a 10-gallon tank, and get a true breeding guppy trio for the 55 -gallon tank. I don’t know how tricky it can be to remove all guppies and all their fry from a planted 55-gallon tank, so maybe I should not put them in the tank and keep them in a 10-gallon tank. Also, after being in a 55-gallon tank, the community might get too big for a 10-gallon tank. For tanks, I have two 12.5 inch high 10-gallon rectangle tank and an 18.5 inch high 10-gallon hex tank and a 21-inch high 55 tank. If I don't put the guppy community in the 55-tank, I might get a 20 long for them. All thoughts are welcome. Thanks

I had great luck hatching shrimp this summer, then the first several batches I tried to hatch this fall failed. I put a thermometer prob in the hatchery and realized I was over heating the water. You can check this by setting everything up, but not adding the shrimp eggs. Move the light in and out until you get an arrangement that gets the temp you are aiming for. When I get a low hatch rate at 24 hours, I add some spirulina powder to feed the shrimp that have hatched and keep the hatchery going until I think most have hatched. The fish seem to like the spirulina as much as the hatched shrimp.

There will be no fish in my cycling of any tank.

@HH Morant Information I forgot to add: 1) All that is in the tank now if the sponge filter, heater, water, fish food, and some fritz 7. 2) My 120 tank was a native fish tank all summer with wild, unquarantined fish. That is why I think I may need to boil the gravel to make sure everything from the fish and the lake water is dead. There could be parasite eggs etc in the gravel. I found leeches in one of my tropical tanks after adding scuds and some plants from the lake and plants from a pet store, so I am starting up new cycled tanks. At this point I don't trust anything in any of my tanks, so I am starting with everything clean. 3) The rocks and drift could also have eggs etc from the lake. 4) I didn't see anything about having the tank covered or not covered, so I thought I would ask about it. It may not matter. 5) The instructions are on the Aquarium Co Op web site. It talks about a "fish cycling" using 1 fish per 10 gallons. "Plant cycling" and "fishless cycling": *I am not sure if 1 guppy would do well in a 10 gallon tank, and I do not have test strips that measure to 0.2 ppm, so I don't know if I can do the "fish cycling". *I think I can do the "plant cycling" if the plants can be added to the cloudy water. *They recommend against the "fishless cycling" for beginners. That's me all over. Hope this is explains things a bit more.

@Seattle_Aquarist Can you use a substrate vacuum on Safe-t-sorb (STS), if not, how do you clean it?

I have started cycling a new tank with a new sponge filter and new heater. I scrubbed everything well with hot water. It looked very sterile. I added some fish food the first day, and 24 hours later, there was 0 ammonia. The water was cloudy, so I figured it was starting to work, so I added some more fish food and some fritz 7. I am going to get some Seachem Stability as soon as I can This morning the living room smells a bit swamp and the water is cloudier. The Ammonia was 0.5 ppm. I added more Fritz 7, and will do a water change tonight or tomorrow morning. After finding leeches in one tank, I don't want to introduce anything bad into this aquarium. Once I get it cycled. I can move one of the 10-gallon tropical fish tank's fish to it and clean that one and start cycling it for the next tank with some gravel and an extra sponge filter from this tank. Here are my questions: 1) I want to move my new plants to bigger pots and then add them. Is it OK to add them while the water is cloudy? 2) I don't have clean gravel. I am wondering if I should boil the gravel I have from the native 120 tank, or is there a better way to clean it? I kind of hate putting gravel in a pot I use to cook food. I know it should not matter, but it just doesn't feel right. 3) I have some rocks and some drift wood in a cart that is covered with snow. I can bring them in and scrub them. Do they need to be boiled as well? 4) I don't have a cover for the tank yet. Should I cover it with plastic until the I get a cover? 5) my test strips have 0.0 and 0.5 ppm, but nothing nearer to 0.2ppm. The ACO instructions says to do water changes at 0.2 ppm. Do I need to get different test strip for cycling a tank? All advice welcome !!! Thank you so much. @Guppysnail or anyone else. The ACO link about cycling says you can add one fish per 10 gallons. This is a 10-gallon tank. I don't think a single guppy would feel safe in a 10-gallon tank by itself. What do think would be the minimum number of guppies to add, and at what point could I add that many? Or for 10-gallon tanks, should I just do a fishless plant cycling?

You fall asleep counting guppies instead of sheep You join forums to talk about fish because you spouse smiles and nods, but just doesn't "get it" You always keep sea salt and Epson salt on hand, but humans never use them. "Algae" is a four letter word in your home You would replace the sofa with a big tank, if your family would let you

You know you are a Nerm when... You find a snail in your bed. When you have a shelf in the freezer label "Only Fish Food". Your house plants are out of control due to watering with water change water. All water tight containers look aquascapable.

moved to new thread

Moved to new thread

Is that a saltwater starfish or a freshwater starfish?

My Elephant ears are getting way too big. We can not turn them anymore, or they block the walkway. I can not wait until spring. SS Turnip at sunset

I found one flagfish in a cory tank at a BBS. It thinks it is a cory, but that is good because they like to be in schools. I bought him when I bought their last 2 corys. I didn't want him to be alone. Some places will order flagfish for you. They are fin nippers, but no one told this one. When the male betta says "move along" the flagfish swims away, because he thinks he is a non-aggressive cory. (I'll move him to a different tank when he gets older.) P.S. When I ask the sales person to tell me about flagfish, she said "oh they are just regular fish". It was a different sales person at the same store that insisted I buy only 1 cory when I wanted to get several. It was the first time I bought fish, so I didn't have the confidence to argue.

flagfish eat black beard algae... Maybe if you dye the hair algae black...

Yes, I added salt to a tank with a turnip and the turnip didn't like it. Now the turnip is turning into snails and scuds in the scud colony

By far, the cheapest, low maintenance plant, with explosive growth that I know of is algae. I have a ton ! Want some? I'll pay for the shipping. 😁

@Odd DuckYes, I can see how that could happen. I did look at his nose closely, but I might have missed something on another part of his face. Thank you for thinking this through for me.