Karen B.

Greetings! Here are 3 questions: 1) I moved fish from one aquarium to another about 1 month (ish) ago. I unplugged the aquarium filter, heater, etc. but left some rocks in it, as well as a branch and the substrate. I want to restart the aquarium - I am changing the substrate, will empty/change the water, but was wondering if I should sterilize the whole aquarium because it was left with stagnant water for over a month or would a quick rince be ok? Can I leave the rock in it or it has to be sterilized as well? 2) I am soaking 2 somewhat big roots to have them sink for a futur aquarium. So far I was replacing the water in the bucket every 3-4 days. I won’t be able to do it for 2 weeks during Christmas. What should I do? Leave them in the bucket with the stagnant water as no aquarium can house them right now. Or empty the bucket and let them to dry? If they dry for 2 weeks, will they start floating again? They are eucalyptus roots. They are a bit slimy ish, as maybe I should have changed the water on a more regular basis? There is nothing visual, it’s just if I touch them or the glass container that keeps them at the bottom that I can feel some slimy stuff. Will it be hurtful for my futur fish? I have boiled/sterilized the wood already. Must I do it again or just rincing would suffice? 3) I have this 10 gallons that have been running for 3 months. I used it for quarantining plants that all ended up pretty much melting. I haven’t touched the aquarium so the bottom is full of yucky mulm/melted plants, etc. However I left a sponge filter run and did add water here and there. Can I vacuum the mulm and yucky stuff, plant the aquarium and consider it cycled? Or should I remove/replace all the water? It wasn’t stagnant as the sponge filter has been working but the quantity of detritus at the bottom is disgusting and I wonder if it could have spoiled the water quality?

Yup

Love, love, love your journal! I always wanted these fish but I am not sure I could put the time/work/energy for now so reading your posts and looking at your videos makes me so happy. Thank you so much for sharing with us.

Yeah. Sorry to be so annoying with this transfer. Never tought it would give me so much problem… or anxiety! 😓 Thanks! That makes me feel better… even if I think he is much nicer looking when dark!

Greetings I moved my pair of Apistogramma cacatuoides from a 20 gallons high to a 20 long. They were rather stressed by the move, hid all the times, very quick breathing. They do not seem to like their new setup as much as the other, despite more space and more plants. They are starting to get out of hiding a little bit more, but are still quite skittish. Their aquarium used to be right next to my couch and they would come up to me, which they no longer do either. I plan to add ditter fish in the aquarium in January to maybe help them settle down. I also noticed that both both fish appears to be paler. I haven’t changed their diet (frozen daphnia, brine shrimp, bloodworm, mysis shrimp, etc.), water parameters are 80f, ph 6.6, kh 60, gh about 150, 0/0/10, planted. I did however change their substrate from black to a more natural river bed look of small gravel. Could it be the cause of the change in color? Right when I moved them : Now Other then changing the substrate, anything I can do for him to revert to his more vibrant color?

Here is an exemple of what she means. I have received a couple of these emails too. I can’t find the button either.

Greetings I am in love with my Dwarf Mexican crayfish (Cambarellus patzcuarensis). Both my females had babies and there is about 3-4 different stages of babies in the aquarium so far. 😍 Sadly one female was attacked (and eaten…) by a male after molting despite all the hides provided. I left the other female alone with the babies and moved the males. The eggs hatched, then she produced new ones (despite the fact there is no male in the tank. I wonder if they were fertile anyway?). However she lost both pincers 2 days ago and today I found her dead. Not quite sure why - no males around, plenty of food and mulm, and if it was the water quality, I would think the babies and endlers in the tank would be affected too.

Thank you!! Is it safe if I put my betta back in the aquarium? I am in Canada and can’t get the product before next week

Nothing new. I rinced it in 4 different batches. Each batch was still foaming with the faucet water (first video). As I said, I would have put the sponge filter in that container, I would obtain the same results as I do currently in the aquarium. Nothing changed in the aquarium. It was running, no bubbles, then I literally in 1 hour removed decor/plants/water in a 5 gallons bucket, removed old substrate, vacuumed the gunk at the bottom, placed new substrate, filled back with faucet water treated with dechlorinated water (about 2-3 gallons to start planting). Added sponge filter and bubbles started right away. I used same faucet treated water (the 2 gallons left) in another tank to top it, no foam. So the culprit isn’t the water. Isn’t the old aquarium water either as when I was removing the old substrate, the sponge filter was placed in the 5 gallons bucket with the saved old aquarium water, decor and plants. It boggles my mind as it’s obviously the substrate but I rinced washed it soooo much. Yet if said substrate was known to foam, I would find the information somewhere… It can’t be a default bag, as I saw it’s actually coated, can it? Ugh. So complicated!!!

Thank you for your reply. My only question is… it is 100% clean already. As I said, I rinced and rinced and rinced it (new from the bag) disturbing it, shaking it, etc. It WAS STILL making foam (the faucet foam is just bigger but had I put my sponge filter, the results would be the same. There was no faucet foam/bubbles with the other substrate I washed). I could not have rinced it more than I did did so I fail to see how doing it again, now that it’s in the aquarium, would change anything?

Greetings I bought the Estes Nature Blend Gravel - shallow creek substrate to replace the Estes black sand I had because it was too compact for my plants to thrive. No matter how much I rinced it, there was some foam forming at the surface before disappearing. I did not use soap, it’s not my tap water or the container used as just prior to rincing that substrate, I rinced some Flourite black sand and there was no foam. I wrote to the company. First answer was : « Thanks for purchasing our products. This is unusual and not something that we experience with our gravel. Given that the bubbles are temporary, I believe there is no problem but we’d like to check further. Do you still have the bag? If so, please send a photo of the UPC code area on the back so we can check our retained sample.» I gave the UPC code and joined this video of me rincing the substrate. I received this answer : « Thanks for sending this video – I don’t see anything out of the ordinary, I get some bubbles that quickly dissipate every time I rinse gravel as well. I suspect it has to do with the water itself and suggest you use a water treatment. » Today I finally got around to change the substrate of my aquarium. I first removed the plants/decor, HOB filter, sponge filter and 50% of the water in a bucket. There was no foam or anything. I removed the sand, placed the new substrate and put everything back in the tank. I added some new water (treated with Prime and stability, as usual). I also added some of that new water in another tank. No foam in the other tank so clearly the foam is not coming from the new water either. Nothing but the substrate was changed. And now the sponge filter is creating foam like crazy. It’s not oily and the bubble pops faily quickly. I added activated carbon to the filter - it’s been running for about 12 hours, foam is still forming. My water parameters are 0/0/5 pH 6.6, kh 60, gh 150. (Aquarium co-op test strips) Temp 78, no chlorine or chloramine. I put my nerite snail and my spixi snail back in yesterday. The spixi is inside the water, but the nerita is above the water line. Can I put my betta back in the tank? I can’t quite figure out what the foam is, I know it comes from the substrate but I can’t rince it more than I did…

They are stunning! But different from blue emperor tetra (completely different specie!). I think they get bigger and wouldn’t be suited for my 20 gallons

I love the picture. The line is such a beautiful blue too!!

Sorry, didn’t mean to come across as rude. English isn’t my main langage Thank you so much for all these precious information! I was leaning toward Emperor but I am not a fan of agressive behavior. Will cross Rummy nose from the list then!

I stated my parameters in my original post - my water is around 150 moving toward 300 gh on the aquarium coop test strips.

No, I don’t think they will breed. Had them for over 6 months now, nothing happened. I beleive my water is a bit too hard for it. So not planning on reproducing them.

Do you have a video of your black neon tetras?

Do you think they would thrive in a 20 long if I get about 10? @anewbie @Colu I’ve had green neon before so I’d like something a bit different then that (so that would exclude cardinal as well). Do you have an opinion on any of these : black neon tetra, candy cane tetra, black skirt tetra, green or black emperor tetra, serpae tetra and rummy nose tetras? I like Serpae, didn’t know them but love the colors!! Thanks for the suggestion

Greetings! I recently switched my pair of apistogramma cacatuoides from a 20 high to a 20 long. To my surprise, while I tought they would enjoy their new home (more space, better scaping, more plants…), it’s the total opposite. They used to be social and interacting with me, now they are really shy and skittish. I figured I could add ditter fish to try to lessen their stress. The tank is 20 gallons long, planted, heated around 79-81f, 1 HOB filter + 1 sponge filter. Parameters are 0/0/5, pH around 6.8, about 60 kh and 150gh. I do not have a lid and would rather not have one. I am looking for 8-10 ditter fish. I was hoping for celestial pearl danios but the parameters aren’t the best for them from what I gathered? I already have Chili rasboras and Endlers. I do not want more live bearers. I’ve had green neon tetras in the past so no to these as well as neon and cardinal. I am currently hesitant between black neon tetra, candy cane tetra, black skirt tetra, green or black emperor tetra and rummy nose tetras. One of my problems is that I have not seen all of them in person and sometimes the internet will show them much more colorful or at their very very best and it doesn’t give a very realistic idea to what they would look like. So, considering my tank size/parameters, the 2 apisto and each tetras specific needs, which one would you recommend? Or do you have other suggestions? If you have videos of the one said above, could you share so I can see them in a tank? thank you! Here is a picture of the tank they will be added to.

Not just you! Or we are both suffering from a collective hallucination 😅

Greetings! I was away from home for 2 days. Came back today, left some food. Eventually I saw the female come out of hiding and eat! I was so happy. Now the lights are off and both of them are swimming around. So it really was just stress. Gosh they scared me! I am a little sad as they no longer come see me or interact with me but maybe with time they will do it again. After Christmas I will get some ditter fish now that I have a 20 long. It should help them feel more secure as well! Thanks for your help and your concerns!

Concerning food, Chanel and Dior do a mix of both behavior. I feed them small cube of frozen food with tweezers - even if food is sinking, they swim right up to me and will feed from my tweezer as long as I am there. When the cube is completely melted/I leave, then they go on their business picking/finding the food that is left! I once tried with a pipette to send food down directly to where they were but both ignored it, swam up and were waiting on me. Here is a video of Chanel in her torpedo position. Head down, in a corner. She only does it in corners. Otherwise she swims horizontally. Sorry for the bad quality - whenever I open the light even on the tank next to hers, she swims away. Her breathing was normal all night through but this morning she is back to breathing very fast. I am so confused.

So sorry for your loss! This is such a terrible thing to experiment - knowing you are the cause of your fish’ passing. We love and care for them so much.

Sure will. Lesson learned!!! Thank you so much. I feel a bit reassured. I did watch old videos of my male and his breathing is a lot quicker than usual but the rest - colors, fins, etc… are the same. I haven’t seen my female in the torpedo position again. She swam around a bit. Both still won’t eat but today I will leave them alone with feeding to avoid ammonia or stress. Will leave the light closed as well. I am sorry you too have accidentally harmed fish. I get so upset at myself when I make mistakes that impact the health of my fish.

Yes, it was the measure of kH. They are still alive so far. I added catappa leaves, some more media from another aquarium. I don’t know what else to do. But I supposed if they are in shock, there isn’t much I can do besides wait and see. I am so upset as I planned this transfer, asked if my method of seeding the aquarium was good, yet I did not think acclimating would be required as it’s from the same water source so to speak. My poor babies are suffering because of my stupidity.