KittenFishMom

I am a newbie, so keep that in mind. You asked where the ammonia could be coming from, I will tell you what I understand about ammonia, but this is not based on experience. These are just WAGs. I have heard an ammonia spike can be caused by a dead snail or dead fish, often out of sight someplace in the tank. That would not explain why both tanks went up. If you cover your tanks at night, and uncover them during the day. ammonia is volatile, so it might always be higher in the morning and lower in the evening. If your filters are clogging up some, and their return involves air, like a sponge filter or an HOB, less ammonia might be evaporating through the filtration process. Again, this is just a guess, but increasing water circulation and surface agitation might help some the ammonia escape from the water. I'll keep thinking about it. I hope you feel better very soon.

I would love to force some forsythia branches in my fish tank now, and enjoy the yellow flowers during the snow storms of February. Will cut forsythia branches harm fish or anything else in an aquarium? I would bet the warm tropical tank water would get them opening very fast.

Today I received pearl weed, tiger lotus bulb, and baby tears that I ordered for my 55 tank build. Now it looks like that won't happen until spring. I have some 3 inch basket pots. What do these plants need so I can hold them until spring? Can I just put them in a glass punch bowl full of well water? Do they need a heater? Should they have something like a sponge filter to keep the water moving? All advice is greatly welcomed.

@Mr GumbyKeep them in a well lit hidden bucket while enjoying the tank, then add them at bed time. They are just from the veggie department at the store. They don't like salt. I lost my first one when I added some salt to a tank. The scuds are enjoying it now. I bet your better half would let you float some flower bulbs for spring. Daffodils are poisonous, which is why you see them growing in places long after the house that they accompanied has been long gone. You would have to find flowers that wouldn't hurt fish if they eat the roots. A good florist might even be able to recommend a cut flower that is long lasting, like a carnations, they are edible if grown organically. I wonder if forsythia branches are save for fish? All you need to do to force they is bring them inside and put them in water. The bright yellow flowers are hiding in the buds now. Very cheery in February. If they root, you could plant them in the spring.

Trying young cooper hawk photos again after scaling. I hope they are easier to load. Please let me know if you can see the images. Thanks

@Mr Gumby Want photos of the roots?

I have found turnips gobble nitrates very fast. Here is a photo of a turnip in an HOB and a floating turnip, "The SS Turnip" float is clear, and the outriggers are clear shipping pillows. Not for the display tank, but if you put it in overnight, your nitrates will drop a lot.

I have a few tiny fry swimming in the craigslist mutt guppy tank. This is very exciting because that tank was such a mess when I got it. I'm trying to find out about guppy fry behavior and development and care while they are in a tank with adults. How long do fry hide in the weeds before swimming out into the tank? I put some floating plastic "baby hide out" plant in the tank. I wondered how long the fry use/need them, and if I should try to feed them while they are hiding, or will the close set leaves hold the food and fowl the water? When the fry are at the point that they are swimming in the middle of the tank, should I take the hide outs out of the tank and wash them, or leave them there for the next batch of fry. There are a lot of live plants in the tank. So these fry do have places to hide if they want to. I would also love a link to a chart that shows the guppy fry development, so I can take a guess at the age of these fry. I googled it, but the charts I found weren't very helpful. Thank so much

@scott the fishmanThere is more info on the website. I just copied that part about the leaves and the bulb rotting if not exposed to water.

It is a very pretty betta. I love the coloring. I am new to bettas myself. Looking in my book, I am guessing it might be a "brush or scallop edge", but that is just a guess. Where did you get it?

I found the info by searching the web site. It does say to take the rockwool off: How Do You Plant a Tiger Lotus Bulb? If you purchase this plant from Aquarium Co-Op, the bulb will arrive in a plastic pot covered in rock wool. There may be some small leaves sprouting from the bulb, but they are often damaged in transit or may melt away after being planted. Not to worry – a healthy bulb is the most important part. Remove the bulb from the pot and rock wool, and rinse off any debris that is stuck to the bulb. Tiger lotuses get rather large, so plant it the midground or background of the fish tank. Gently push one-third of the bulb into the substrate such that the shoots or leaves are completely above ground. Do not bury the entire bulb or it will rot. If the bulb is floating at first, wait for it to become waterlogged enough to sink. As the roots grow into the substrate, they will firmly anchor the bulb in place.

I just ordered one. I think I remember reading that at least 1/2 the bulb should be exposed... let me double check. I can not find it on the ACO site now. I am very sure that it said it might not have leaves when it arrived, or it might loose them due to shipping. I also think it said to set the bulb on top of the substrate or only bury half the bulb, and it would send out roots to anchor itself. Many plants, like Java fern will die if you bury them. They need water, not soil around their base. Here is an example from the directions on the Red Dwarf Lilly: "To plant your lily, place it on top of the substrate until you see some growth. It will send roots down into the substrate to hold itself in place. If no growth can be seen after 1-3 weeks, try turning the bulb over. " Do let them know you are concerned, but don't give up hope just yet

You just need a 75 QT. Problem solved 8-)

@BeginnerFishKeeper My hammock is under my floating food ring. The only thing my betta does with the hammock is check it for food that fell from the ring every time he swims by. It often has a few snails vacuuming it, top and bottom.

@jwcarlson I am really hesitant to do it without "the forum" saying it should be just fine. I want to do it, but that doesn't mean it is a good idea, or that I will do it. I want me fish to be OK more than I want to plant the tank over the winter. They are my pets, not my money making game plan.

I have 3 tropical 10 gallon tanks going now. I know those fish will be growing and should go to the 55 gallon tanks sooner than later. I thought that the votes would be for cleaning out the native tank. I was just hoping I was wrong. Spring and summer are a very busy time, gardening, boating, fish keeping, etc., and I wanted to start on the 55 gallon build during the slow winter months. That would be good for me, but not for my fish. These fish are all pets, so I will wait until spring to take the natives out and start the cleaning and then the build. It may take the bulk of the summer to get the build completed. Right now I have a cart full of driftwood I need to cull, and a big pile of stream rocks. I ordered more plants today. I might start another 10-gallon to hold the plants for the build until I am ready to plant. That way I can get more substrate and filter material cycling before I start on the 55 tank.

I often wonder about this. I fill buckets in the tub, mixing hot and cold until I am at 78 for the tetras or guppies, 82 for the betta, and 66 for the native tank. Should the replacement water temp match the tank temp?

I hatch baby brine shrimp. The cold slowed the hatching in the last batch, so I added some Spirulina powder and let it go another 24 hours. This fed the shrimp that hatched early while waiting for the rest to hatch. A lot of the brine shrimp were bigger and more active when I feed them. They spread out in the tank quickly. My betta was very busy for a long time finding and eating the bbs. He also likes to chase scuds and live adult brine shrimp. I have peppered corys and a small flagfish in my 10 gallon betta tank. The betta often tell the flagfish to "move along, nothing to see here" but does not chase it once it moves away. I have read that flagfish nip fins, so when the flagfish doesn't flee quickly, I will move it to another tank. I found some suction cup rings on Amazon to hold rolled IAL. After the leaves have been in the tank a few days, I fold them lengthwise and put them through the ring, like a half pipe. Everyone in the tank enjoys checking them for food and scuds and anything else they can imagine. I have 2 betta logs that he checks often for snail eggs and such. I have a lot of floating plants and hornwort with the stems threaded through ceramic bio media cylinders. The scuds are often darting from plant to plant to IAL and under rocks. My rocks and stone are piled loosely over the substrate it give the scuds a chance. I have seem the betta swim sideways under a rock to flush out some scuds. It is a very busy little 10 gallon tank with only 5 fish.

@ScottieB I'm not much of a photographer. You can see 2 photos of my native tank in my December 21 post in "Off Topic" in "Anyone use random décor in theur tanks?". (sorry about the type, I haven't found a away to correct topic headings).

I feed mine Spirulina powder, use a heater, an air hose, saltwater made with water taken from an active fish tank and Instant Ocean salt, keep a light on them, and added a large clump of "Chaeto macro algae Live Coral Reef Sps Softies Marine Tank" from ebay. I also added a Welco Wonder shell and add a bit of a variety of fish food now and then. I have read that you should only add the spirulina powder when the water has cleared for the previous feeding. I tend to feed more often than that. Once I get adults mating, the population can drop, but always to come back. When I hatch a batch. I feed all I harvest to the tanks of fish. then add about 80% of the remaining water to the colony, and discard the 20% of the water with the floating shells. I use SF brine shrimp hatchery with a 2 litter soda bottle and Aquarium Co Op brine shrimp eggs because the shells seem to separate and float better than others I have tried. (Note: the 80% of the remaining water is full of hatched and unhatched shrimp, it is about the right for the amount of salt water.) Right now I have 2 colonies going in large square-ish pretzel jars. If the water level drops due to evaporation, replace with NON-salt water, because salt is left behind when water evaporates.

I am wonder what steps I need to take when switch a natural native tank to a tropical tank this spring, to prevent problems for the tropical fish. I would to plant the tank during the winter, but it might be safer for the tropical fish to wait until spring and completely clean out the native tank and filters before I start planting. This is the current set up. Aside from 3 plants, everything I have in the tank came from Owasco lake (NY state finger lakes). The tank is a 55-gallon room temperature tank that I never quarantined. All the fish seem very healthy, but I know from preparing bigger versions of these fish to eat, that they almost always have parasites. I have removed a few leeches from fins in the fall when I set up the tank. I haven't seen any lately. I think the fish ate the rest, but you never know. The fish in the tank are: 3 bullhead catfish that are the last that I raised this summer, a bunch of blunt nose minnows, 3 banned killifish, a rock bass, and 4 or 5 sunny/bluegills. (all small, probably less than a year old) There are also several large snails. I think Guppysnail thinks they are apple snails. There is one rusty crayfish. There were a lot of small snails, but I think the bullheads ate all of them. I have put in large number of scuds to feed and seed the tank, but I think the fish have eaten most of them. There is a wide variety of plants floating about, as well as some living in pots with rockwool. I have 4 HOB filters, some with media, others with plants. I also have an internal Marineland filter. I have gravel, pebbles and rocks at each end of the tank and an arrangement or large rocks going from one end to the other. I think I have 3 options. 1) I am hoping I can start planting the 55-gallon tank at one end, and work toward the other over the winter, (with the native fish still is the tank) Then in the spring, move the native fish to my 120 native tank (in the garage when the weather warms) and add heaters and then my tropical fish to the 55-gallon tank. 2) I may need to wait until spring. Then remove the native fish and completely empty and clean the 55-gallon tank & filters and start planting it and cycle it before I put the heaters and tropical fish into the tank. This would be to make sure that the native set up did not have anything harmful left behind for the tropical fish to get infected/infested with. 3) possible do option one, but add a complete quarantine trio on the 55-gallon tank after I take the native fish out, and wait a week or 2 before putting the tropical fish in, while feeding the tank fish food to keep it cycled? There may be many other options I haven't thought of that might work out better. Please let me know what you think. Thank you, KittenFishMom

@Hobbit Use different designed chimes for different windows so the cats know where the action is. I get small chimes at the dollar store, on clearance, so it is easier to fill the feeders. Windy days really confuse the cats.

I think if you feed the brine shrimp north fin krill, algae pellets and fish food now and then, you can make them more nutritious. I mostly feed them more for enrichment, so the fish have something to hunt. I feed a wide variety of food. If the adult brine shrimp are laying eggs, and the hatched eggs are nutritious, then the nutrition is in the life cycle. I also feed some of the stuff that settles to the bottom of the tank. They fish eat that, even though it is not moving. It might be for the minerals and a bit of salt. I would not feed only one type of food. Everything need variety.

I recommend a cookie sheet that will hold water with a towel draped over it so the towel stays cold and wet.

@Odd Duck I was only joking about getting the cat a pump, hose, and stone. Cats have been training us for decades. Maybe I could sew up a soft fabric air set out of fabric stuffed with catnip as a joke. I would not encourage the kitten to play with a real set.