jwcarlson

Biology will do that to you, won't it? I'm jealous that you see your apistos doing things together sometimes. 😄 Mine are at the "we have separate bedrooms because he snores" stage of their life now that I've had them for a year.

I'd call them orange, but if you kill the air you should be able to see something swimming around if they have hatched. Part way through they look like they're parachutes hanging out of their eggs. After that they will just sink to the bottom. Then they start getting their swimmerets or whatever they're called and can move.

I plop and drop when I get them to temp, typically. That said... how much ammonia is building up in the ride from LFS to your house?

Maybe I've always had small bettas, but I can't imagine one making a snack out of an adult CPD. Or catching one, really. They could absolutely eat the CPD fry, though. That said, a couple of amoeba could probably gang up and take out a CPD fry.

I don't think I would try to mix CPDs and betta, mainly because of the temperature as @RachelElizabeth mentioned. I've enjoyed CPDs, have had them a bit over a year. They're pretty reclusive, but they are interesting. I would just do CPDs and shrimp, personally. 10 gallon seems awful small for corys, but I've never kept the pygmy ones, so perhaps that's totally appropriate for those little fellas.

Levamisole can also decrease appetite in my experience, so it's best to be limited on how much you're feeding anyway. I do still try to keep them eating a little bit because the idea is that you're paralyzing the worms and they're able to pass them and then you can gravel vac them from the tank. Without something to push it out I always worry it will be less effective. That said, I've had instances where I wormed my discus and then something like 10 days later the one that was the most sick was passing TONS of worms. I netted him and took a sample and under a microscope everything was dead. I don't know what else it could have been. Perhaps they can become paralyzed and start to get digested or something? Or weakened in some way. I do a little different treatment for my discus dosing levamisole on days 1, 5, 14.. and then I usually throw in another one at 21 days. Hope your guy can pull through, levamisole is also (I believe) and immunostimulant. Though I am not sure the technical term for it. An immune system booster, basically.

They're only about 7-10 days apart and of not dissimilar size. Well, at least I don't forsee any risk. I guess I'll find out. I don't think CPDs are capable of growing fast. 😄 I got some trays on Amazon and some from Walmart. Let me dig up links. Unfortunately, the ones I got on Amazon were all the bigger size, which is OK when I "upgrade" the tray. But too big for initial spawns. The smaller trays from Walmart. Actually quite a bit cheaper than when I bought them right now: https://www.walmart.com/ip/iDesign-Linus-Plastic-Fridge-and-Freezer-Organizer-Bin-with-Handle-11-5-x-4-x-3-5-Clear/28212825 There hasn't ever been small ones that I've seen on Amazon. But there's the middle and larger size. The middle size is worth having one of, I think. The big ones are too big, probably. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BRXYQW/

Combined the two batches of CPDs down into a single, but bigger, tray. These are about a month old. My phone did some weird stuff, so I can't get an accurate count. But I think it's close to 60 total. I tried to spawn them this weekend and got ZERO eggs. Which is strange. I'll give them another spin this weekend. They're certainly spawning in the tank, saw some eggs in the plants.

I can't tell if it's metal or glass. If it's metal you might be able to scrub off some of it with a scotchbrite pad, but it's likely to scratch the metal a bit. Scotchbrite would also work for glass.

Looks like some stuff grown on it. I suppose it could be a sponge? I would try cleaning it off with a razor blade if it's crispy/crusty. Is it still soft at all? If so you might be able to brush it.

Got it filled. Not the permanent setup, but will see what pairs up hopefully. Shipping was rough on them, winter storm delayed them and they showed up at about 64 degrees. They were all pecking at a bit of brine shrimp tonight, though. And they seemed to perk up with a little salt. I've never kept rams before so we'll see how this goes. One gold and five pitch blacks.

Hey, easy plant diagram that way though.

If you net all the fish out of that setup will you take a video, @Mmiller2001? I want to know if it's just me that can't catch fish. 😄

Sounds like detritus worms maybe. Do they look like this? (not my picture)

You're going to be waiting awhile on a couple of those. That said, I think good books are almost too common anymore! Sooooooooooooo many things to read.

It could be from the stress of transport/transplant if it's the older leaves. I think they're kind of neat when they start growing more little java ferns from the leaves. But I agree with, @JettsPapa... I don't know how much stock I'd take in most YouTubers plant advice. Those people are setting up and tearing down tanks left and right.

This type of pleco gets enormous and isn't really fit for most home aquariums.

@BIRD0887 The pleco needs to go for sure. Common plecos shouldn't really even be in the hobby, in my opinion. The goldfish in a 75 it might be ok for... one of them? Maybe two? Someone with goldfish knowledge will have to comment, I have never kept them on account of how huge they get. The tank you have them in now I feel isn't good for any goldfish longterm. What filter is on the tank? Bottom line, you will have such a.huge bioload that you're always probably going to struggle with nitrate and maybe even nitrite. The tank isn't fully cycled OR the filter isn't capable of keeping up or both. Without knowing what filter you have, it's tough knowing what to suggest. Definitely change water and definitely start getting rid of fish.

@BIRD0887 Is this the same tank from this thread? If so, what filter are you using?

Hi, @BIRD0887, first off... welcome to the forum! A couple of observations, some of which you might already know. Safety first, you're going to want to relocate your power strip in case anything drips down the cords or if you splash a little around and swamp the thing. It would probably be easiest to fasten up the wall a little ways. There's a bit of bubbling remaining at the top, this can indicate ammonia building up. Or possibly you have some medication in there, that can also cause it. I don't see a filter on your aquarium, but maybe I am just missing it. Is there a filter that I'm missing in the picture? The pleco and both of the goldfish get BIG. The pleco can get probably close to double the size he is now (up to about 24") and both of the goldfish can get probably 10-12". Unfortunately, this aquarium isn't big enough for any of them, even alone. And they all produce a TON of waste. And the strictly vertical footprint can make stocking a little difficult as there's not much swimming space. But at the moment, what are your long term plans for the fish? They look healthy and happy so far, just want to make sure you've got the best chance for that to remain the case! 🙂 Editing to say that I misread and that you actually have five goldfish. There's way way too much in the tank.

Petco around here takes surrenders and I think they even might quarantine them. At least at the local one. I bought some kuhli loaches awhile back and just wasn't enjoying them. I also had 15 swordtails that were getting close to breeding age and I want nothing to do with live bearers. I contacted the LFS that I usually purchase my fish from and told him they were his fish and all I did was QT them and feed them for months and that I didn't want anything for them, but he said he doesn't take them. I kind of get it... but to me all I did was feed the kuhlis BBS daily and change a bunch of water and fatten them up. They would have sold in a heartbeat. So I called Petco as I needed a lid anyway and they said they do take them. It feels bad, no doubt, but I think it's inevitable that someday some of us are going to have fish that we either got in over our head on or maybe "rescued" from someone else or maybe your life circumstances change drastically. I rehomed three male apistogrammas a few months ago through a local fish rehoming Facebook group. So that's a possible opportunity as well.

I'm surprised you could get flow through that melamine at all!

Also, I ran into bad hatches when I wasn't scrubbing the hatcher out after each hatch. I was rinsing it really well, but wasn't using the brush. With small hatches the build up on the bottom isn't really visible, but now that I've built up to more eggs, it's really obvious that I wasn't getting it clean enough.

I've got two of the Ziss hatchers, they're hanging on a piece of 1x10 that holds my electronics and whatnot for a water aging/heating setup. I just use rigid tube with a small piece of flexible airline to connect it to the lid. Even the rigid tube occasionally get some salt buildup, but I always rinse it off after a hatch so it's not too big of a deal. With the film (molts?) that coat the bottom towards the end of a hatch I would think the airstone would get yucky. At least the way I hatch.

@Katherine to quote one of my posts from earlier in this thread...