[Unexpected coitus happening in my tank]

I used to collect the Cory eggs and let them hatch-out in a separate tank. ... Then I had a 100 Corys to rehome.

[What strain of guppy is this?]

On 5/24/2023 at 9:56 PM, lmhicks101 said:

I’m looking for 2 distinct patterns but both with the current tail finagle but with more dumbo ears.

The first I’m looking for is a solid dark to bright red tail with a black rear section and a colorful front half similar to a cardinal tetra. Either a neon stripe on top with red on the bottom or vise versa. From what I saw with the mosaics, they don’t have distinct color separations that I’m interested in. The attraction is that the fish looks looks a chimera or someone just took a bunch of fish parts and stitched what they like the best together. 

The second is the intense patterns of colors on the tail like that one and with endless guppy striping and patterns in the body. I don’t want either fish to have massive float tails but I’d love this one to have either a pintail, lyre tail, or double sword tail. I want this one to be a blast of color to match something you’d see in a saltwater tank. 

My suggesting would be focusing on one little thing at a time. Small changes.

The genetics are not a simple: A + B = C

Some traits may not be compatible.
Some traits will be dominant, while others will be recessive and may only show up in certain generations.
Some traits are Y linked and only passed through males. Some are carried over through generations in the females.

Any time you do a cross, it's a dice roll what you'll get.

--

Also having a fish you like does not guarantee traits will be passed to future generations.
You often get 'transition' fish which look nice, but their children don't stick to the same look. As the genes resettle future generations may end up having a very different look to their grandfather.

When you get a cross you like, keep them separated from your other fish so you can isolate and establish them as a new line.
Then you inbreed over several generations to try to get the traits to stick. ... They might not.

It's quite a lot of work. Keep good records and stay organized.

[What strain of guppy is this?]

If you have the strains in the same tank with females, they've already breed. ... Kinda of up to you what to do.

If you are trying to maintain the look of each strain, you should keep each strain in a separate tank. (preferably get new uncontaminated females)

Mixing strains will give you wild variations.
It's not as simple as saying "I like the color on this one, but the tail on that one, so I'll mix them together."
Each time you cross strains, you scramble the genetics.
It takes many generations of line-breeding to try and stabilize them again.

[Can 2 Zebra Dainos go into a 10-gallon tank with 5 guppies?]

I have danios in with guppies, but it's a much larger tank with lots of plants and the danios are old fish.

In a new tank with young fish it's not really a good match.
The danios will become too active for guppies, especially when their breeding behaviors kick in.

Danios really need more swimming space than a 10 gallon. Also more comfortable in a school of six or more.

[Just added new fish, now concerned]

If you have an extra sponge filter setup somewhere else, you can move it to this tank.

All of my tanks have excess plants. If I have a new tank setup or one that's a bit overstocked, I just throw a clump of plants in. 

Between the sponge filter and the plants, a new tank is instantly cycled and can handle a decent amount of fish.

If you are applying meds for quarantine, just watch the ammonia since meds will kill a bunch of your bacteria.

Plants also provide hiding places for timid individuals.

[What in your opinion is the biggest obstacle you face when keeping fish?]

Winter/space.

I have tons of outdoor space to raise fish and do setups. Once cold weather arrives, it has to get culled down or brought inside.

[Ponding - outside aquarium co-op hose]

Sponge filters work fine outside.

Really can't imagine what issue you might run into.
If you have the air pump outside, you obviously don't want it rained-on. Simple cover is all you need.

Otherwise, you should be fine.

The one thing I will say is, raccoons love them.
You'll want the sponge filters covered somehow so they don't keep pulling them out of the pond. ... I just cover the tubs. Easy fix.

[Issues With Baby Brine Shrimp]

What brand of brine shrimp are you using?

The coop brine shrimp are nice because the egg shells float and separate really well. I usually don't get any gunk at the bottom at all.

Other brands I've used, the eggs tend to be more dry and 'powdery'.
The shells sink to the bottom and make a mess ... so your brand could be messy.

-- That being said, your first picture doesn't look like egg shells collected at the bottom. It looks like dead shrimp.

 

Personally, I actually prefer decent agitation from the air source.
It doesn't hurt the shrimp at all, and it keeps the water in your container well-mixed.

[Brine Shrimp Sieve]

I use these:

https://www.amazon.com/Shrimp-Aquarium-Hatchery-Hatching-Separator/dp/B0BGS9VNDV/

The fine one strains most of your batch thats just water and shrimp.
Then I add the bigger one when I goto strain out the egg shells.

I use the sprayer on the sink to 'pressure wash' them clean when I'm done.

I guess you could also re-rinse them in fresh water a second time if your worried about the salt.

[Why did the under gravel filter lose popularity?]

Undergravel filters are good if you don't like the look, or place to hide a sponge filter.
They keep the view nice an clean. You just have the bubble towers in the corners.

--

These days, I prefer sponge filters because I'm lazy.
I can move an extra sponge filter from one tank into a new tank and it's instantly cycled and ready to go.

You can do the same with hang-on-backs — just move them around when you need to.
HOBs are annoying though because eventually the little propeller makes noise. You have to keep futzing with them.

[I have debating to start a channel about the science of tanks]

If it's something you feel needs to be done, do it.

If you are looking for some pay-out for doing it, you might want to think twice. Youtube channels are not profitable for most people.

That being said, the best information in the hobby comes from people just doing what they love and spreading it around.
If you love it, spread it around and have fun doing it.

[What kind of endlers are these?]

On 4/28/2023 at 10:50 PM, Oliv said:

Thanks for the reply! not new to fish keeping but very new to endlers/ guppies. I know you said pink isn't very stable but if wanted to try to continue it would I simply need to find other pink ish fish to go with these guys? 

You would be better off breeding it out for a bunch of generations first.
If you want to keep the pink/metallic look, you maintain it by culling fish that veer-off. Try to keep your breeding population sticking to that same look.

Introducing other 'pinkish' fish is not recommended.
Even if they look similar, they will have a different set of genes. Guppy/endler genes are very complicated.
Any time you introduce new fish to a line, you are essentially scrambling the genes, more likely resulting in a random mess.

[Does Freshwater Algae get a bad rap?]

I have a short fuzzy green algae that looks nice. 
Fish nibble it. If it gets too overrun, I clean it out the same time I'm trimming plants or doing water changes. No big deal.
 

[Guppy Selection]

For females, you look for good body shape and fins. Those aspects will effect children and future males.

Specifically, you want a thick peduncle - the body from the end of the dorsal fin to the tail.
A thicker peducle will allow males to support a bigger tail and stay strong.

The shape of the female's tail fin will effect children.
If you want delta-shape males, you look for a specific angle on the tail of the females.

This video from Bryan Chin goes into much more detail:

 

[I think a male guppy isn't a male]

That's normal male competition.
Especially for young males, they practice their presentation dance and compete with other males at the same time.

They usually don't damage each other. It's just competitive display.

[LF advice on breeding bluegills in an aquarium]

I've fished them for years and kept some as a kid. Here's some basic info that checks out.

https://animals.mom.com/raising-bluegill-in-an-aquarium-12571624.html

I am also doubtful that 75g is enough. The males will make a large circular bed a couple feet across. If you were to raise them it would normally be done in a pond.

The males will also be very aggressive and territorial. Once spawning is complete, I'm not even sure they would tolerate the female being in the tank.

If I had to guess, I would say one male + one female. Hope they pair up, then remove the female.
You can potentially also remove the male after spawning so he doesn't stress out and eat the fry.

[I don’t understand]

I think maybe the teacher was thinking of something like this. If so, her construction and application is completely wrong.

• The gravel above the water needs to 'breathe' so there's proper gas exchange. You wouldn't use dirt above it.
• The water needs to be changed regularly to keep the fish healthy.
• You still need to feed the fish. The idea is supposed to be that they nibble the roots, but that's not really a balanced diet.

I've seen things like this sold, but even this one is a very poor design.

What she's really done is made a regular planter, which normally just has water in the bottom. - Then randomly decided to add creatures where they shouldn't be.

[need help thinning out the snails]

Guppy stomachs are tiny and they get far more food in an aquarium than they would ever see in a wild setting. Cutting back on feedings won't hurt anything unless you're actively trying to breed them for profit or something like that. You can legitimately not feed them at all for a couple days and they'll be fine.

Generally snails don't eat healthy plants. If they're already looking ragged, that's a different problem of plant health.

You cut the feedings and the snails will eventually die back. It will take some time since they are pretty darn hardy.

[Female Pearl Gourami Bullying]

Great that it worked out.

Another trick I've used in the past is to remove the fish. Change the tank decorations a bit.
Then put the submissive fish back in the tank. Let them get settled. Then add the one that was trying to be dominant last.

A lot of times, a little tank reset can diffuse aggression.

[What’s the hardest lesson you’ve learned breeding fish?]

Hardest lesson:

Not culling the second-line fish.

I want to give everyone a fair chance, but it takes space and resources away from my prime breeders.

[Culling Fish. The Dreaded Part of Breeding]

I cull my guppies. If you let too many fill up the tanks, they become stunted.
It's important for the ones you want to keep to have grow-out space.

I do freezer to compost.

[Interesting breeding ideas for the lazy fishkeeper?]

I agree with Corys. I don't do anything except clean the eggs off the glass and move them to a fry tank.

Also, getting rid of extras is easy because who doesn't need more Corys.

["less hardy fish"]

Yeah. I think how they're raised is on-point. My tap water is hard and I've never had trouble with local store-bought Rams.

[Crayfish Experience]

Dwarf crayfish are probably more manageable than larger species. I've kept larger varieties and there are some things to consider:

Larger crayfish like the electric blue will dig up the bottom. Treat your decorations like you would a cichlid tank. Any plants will need to be fake or floating.
They're much stronger than you may think and can move around decently-sized rocks.

They're also territorial. If you're going to keep multiples, you probably want some large rocks to act as dividers.
You also have to watch when they molt since the molting crayfish will be vulnerable to attack. Other crayfish may try to kill it. You might need a hospital tank for the molting crayfish to keep it away from the others until it's shell is strong again.

They can make clicking noises with their claws. If the tank is in your bedroom, that will be annoying.

You want the top tightly sealed - preferably with some extra weight on it. They are experts at escaping, crawling somewhere in your house and dying. ... or a family member stepping on them in the middle of the night. Not cool either way.

[WHAT on EARTH is this stuff????!!!??]

Aquarium Cthulhu.
Not to worry - it takes millennium for them to grow to any size.