AnimalNerd98

I would love to see the photos from that competition. @JimmyGimbal shared some good tips for taking photos of fish on the iPhone (sorry, I don’t know for you Android users). The part relevant to the phone stuff is at 6:40. Cheers!

Haha, no worries about spelling! That being said, it is Vallisneria for future reference! 😊 This looks like a type of staghorn algae to me, we’ll have to wait on someone else’s opinion. It’s just a type of algae. Most people treat it by flushing Fluorish Excel or Easy Carbon over it with a pipette daily. However, the active ingredient in both products (glutaraldehyde) can also negatively affect Vallisneria growth.

I bought some rosy loaches and after going through quarantine, I realized that one does not look like the others. Any idea what this fish is? I also included some photos of one of my rosy loaches for reference.

Dwarf water lettuce and Amazon Frogbit will be your friend if you plan on community breeding them. They love those long roots. Alternatively, you can use shorter things like red root floaters or salvinia, use one of those coarser spawning mops, and hatch them out in a breeder box in the tank. I rotate my spawning mops every 5-7 days.

How many are you planning on putting in there? As long as it isn’t a crazy amount, I think it should be fine! I have bred ricefish in as little as 2.5 gallons (not recommended). I have found that keeping floating plants, especially in smaller water volumes, helps loads in terms of sucking out nitrogenous wastes. Something you might want to consider if you don’t have them already 😊

After trying several methods, I have finally been able to keep the Zoe alive for more than a few days. The Zoe were released September 11, 2022. I’ve found that the strain that I have does best at salinity levels close to that of seawater (30-35 ppt, or 1.022-1.025 specific gravity). I tried 14 ppt, 18 ppt, and 20 ppt in the past and the Zoe never made it. They are in a 3 gallon unheated set-up with a sponge filter. I leave the light on 24/7 with blue LEDs to encourage algae growth. I still supplement with 3-4 drops of SeaChem Reef Phytoplankton every 4-6 hours. I learned a lot from this thread: Thank you @BettaQueen124 for starting the topic and everyone who contributed to it.

After trying for over a year, my pea puffer finally ate Vibra bites. Excuse the algae on the glass.

I would also suggest chili rasboras as a great schooling fish. If you wanted to do something like a biotope type scape where most of the fish come from similar areas, you can look at doing either Kubotai rasboras or Rasbora Hets with your betta and Kuhli loaches as your bottom dwellers.

I think writing on the bags with sharpie is fine. I have been to several LFS where they write my name directly on the bags. Alternatively, you could use pre-printed labels or do my hobo version: 1) Write out the labels on a sticky note or small piece of paper 2) Put it on the bag and use packing tape to enclose all the sides of the label on the bag. This will protect it from water. The number of fish depends on the volume of water and how much gas (whether it be oxygen or just atmospheric air), in addition to other factors such as shipping time, amount of insulation in the box, temperature, etc. I think 5 should do just fine, but divide them up if it makes you feel a bit safer. I have seen an ASTOUNDING number of fish crammed into a bag at my LFS’ shipments. You could also put it in a piece of Poly-Fil to absorb ammonia if you want to be EXTRA safe.

I have these guys. I have had the normal and leucistic ones. There are a couple methods for feeding them, depending on what else is in the tank with them. My advice with them is to feed frozen foods. I have never really seen my frogs go after pellets or other dry foods. Also, avoid keeping any large interior decorations like a big piece of wood or rock. These guys can dig themselves under these large objects, get stuck, and drown. They’re cute, but not terribly smart. feeding tips: 1) If it’s only the frogs and maybe some snails or something slower than them in the tank, just drop the food on the ground of the tank. Some people will also use terra cotta pot saucers and train the frogs to come to the dish to eat. It helps keep the food in one little area. 2) If there are any other fish or other fast inhabitants, they will most likely get to the food before your frogs. I keep mine with fish so I hand feed them thawed bloodworms and brine shrimp. Pretty soon, they become accustomed to the tongs and will just bite at your tongs out of habit.

Although 20 gallons may be “the ideal,” lots of people have bred apistos in 10 gallons, including master breeder @Dean’s Fishroom. Provided that there is enough cover and line of sight breaks in the tank. See more in the video below for how to set-up the tank for breeding. I am not sure about how the other inhabitants may affect the pair, but brown pencilfish have been suggested as good dithers by Cory in the past. I don’t think there really is a way to guarantee that you won’t have an overly aggressive male, or vice versa, a female that beats on the male too heavily. I would just say to keep an eye on them and separate them whenever you think it has gone too far (one in the main tank and whoever is injured/the aggressor in the quarantine tank). I am not sure about doing anything special before adding them in… maybe someone else can chime in. Good luck!

I've fed mine Repashy powder and Hikari first bites for dry foods. I agree with @Scot, try to get some live food cultures going if you can. I think the movement of the live foods really triggers their feeding response. If you can get a green water tank going, just toss the fry in until they grow big enough to eat baby brine shrimp. Let us know if you want to know how to get some of these live cultures going.

I cannot comment on if they do better in deeper ponds or not, but I am sure they would have no problem. I have seen people in Japan that keep them in pots no larger than 2 or 3 gallons, and there are dozens of ricefish packed in there. Cory and Dean have kept them in ponds outside with ice over the top and they're still fine. Hence, why I said that I worry much less over rice fish than guppies in terms of cold tolerance.

Thanks! They are from PetCo. It was closing down and had a 75% off sale on all fish. They were about 80 cents each.

Female or plakat male betta. Not the best hunters, but African dwarf frogs will also chow down on fry.

Haha, you live and you learn! As long as the tank inhabitants are okay, no harm done… unless you have hardwood floors 😂 Also, I have that same rack! Are those 6 gallon cubes from PetCo?

Baking soda works in a pinch, but if she is starting over anyways, crushed coral is much more reliable.

I also vote for rice fish. Cory has said in the past that mutt guppies always sell the best in stores. Even if you have the rarer strains, you either have to sell online or find some really nermy people in your area willing to buy them. Rice fish are easier to sell (at least in my area) and in my opinion, they are probably hardier. As we have seen in the past few years, cold snaps can happen, even in “subtropical” areas like Florida. If the temperature ever drops too much, I would worry much less over rice fish than guppies.

I agree with the comments above. As long as the fish seems happy and you are providing good water quality and food, I see no reason to give up your fish. The conditions may be not ideal at the moment, but it is temporary. I would just keep an eye on the water parameters and bumping up water changes if there is ammonia or <50 ppm nitrates. You could add some rooted pothos or some floating plants to help with nitrates. Also, I am a proponent of vacationing your fish outside during the summer months. If you have space in the backyard or something, you could let your fish vacation outside in a pond or large tub if you want to allow your fishy friend to stay in a larger enclosure, even if it’s only temporary. I know some people who vacation their goldfish outside in 30 gallon rubber maid trash cans 😂

Pic #1: The way the light hit the gold white clouds made me stop for a second. I only just put them in this bucket so I haven’t had any fry out of them yet. Pics #2-3: I made a fry system with floating plastic food containers, based off of Dean’s system. They have air and water running to each. They have platinum rice fish and CPD fry respectively. There are also some Neon dwarf rainbows that snuck in, but I won’t know which ones are the rainbows till they get bigger 😂

Wow! The tanks are gorgeous and I love the lights! I found it on Amazon if anyone is wondering where to find them. $28.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08VHS9SRT/ref=emc_b_5_t

This thread has some great sources. I am actually trying it out now as well. However, the first batch of Zoe did not make it so I need to tweak the salinity. Waiting for my new refractometer to come in. Advice: 1) Buy your phytoplankton now. I think they sell LiquiZell in Europe, but I am not sure which countries carry it specifically. 2) Net out the berried female and keep an eye on her. 3) Prep your grow out tank and get the right salinity. Some people use 18 ppt or up to 34 ppt. I went on the higher side and none of my Zoe made it.

Awesome! It reminds me of Kijiji, the Canadian Craigslist ✌🏻

Could you tell us a bit more about: 1) Tank size 2) Tank parameters 3) Stocking 4) Light intensity (send a photo of your tank or the brand of light you have) and light cycle 5) How long has the tank been set-up? First and foremost, I will tell you that Val is sensitive to liquid carbon like API CO2 Booster. The active ingredient is gluteraldehyde and its main job is to inhibit algae growth. However, some plants like anacharis and Val are sensitive to it. “Which plants are sensitive to liquid carbon?Certain plants, like anacharis and vallisneria, are notorious for melting away in the presence of liquid carbon. If you have sensitive plants like these, consider dosing at half the recommended amount.” This is from the Co-Op‘s article on Liquid Carbon. Finally, while technically Jungle Val does not need root tabs to grow, I have personally found that root tabs or a well-seasoned substrate (with lots of fish poop) can lead to explosive growth for my Val when compared to tanks in the past where I just had it in sand and liquid fertilizer.

Did you get it from a family/friend or a friendly stranger getting out of the hobby?