nabokovfan87

Fun 🙂 Nice idea @Cinnebuns! 1. What is your favorite species of fish or invert and why? Hard to say, I really enjoy Amano shrimp and Corydoras. If you make me choose, Corydoras. They are a smaller fish (usually) and work well with the water and tanks I keep. When you scale the size of the tank (and horde of corydoras) they are just so much fun to keep! 2. What is your favorite species of plant and why? Anubias! It's ridiculously easy, looks great, comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, and someone like me who isn't great with plants can easily walk in and have a tank full of them and feel great about it. 3. How many gallons total do you have in tanks? Technically 135, but only 60 has water inside. 4. What is your favorite color in a fish? Green, especially the darker greens (ironically, the neon blue rasbora). I also enjoy black or grey if it covers the body of the fish. 5. What is the hardest fish you have to net and what tips can you give others to catch them? Pretty much the most difficult fish is the one that knows you're going to catch it and would rather hide in something than be caught. Especially on a big tank. In terms of netting a fish, borneo loaches were the most difficult because they don't really like to use a net. Just use a specimen container and it's a lot easier to get them inside and moved. Less stress, and they usually don't put up to much of a fuss. I highly recommend Cory's hand method for using a net with any fish. 6. What was your first ever species of fish and what age were you? No idea, and I really don't remember. I was probably 14 or so when I had my first tank on my own (5G hexagon tank with bala sharks, yep, really bad choice there), but we did have a family tank before that which was probably when I was 8-10 years old. I just remember having a catfish in there and it loved this ornament with a cave and dragon on it. The tank had a gourami as the "centerpiece" but I enjoyed the other fish in the tank. 7. What fish or invert you have accidentally bred the most? Swordtails! When I got back into the hobby, I had no idea what a livebearer was and how easy it was to have fry with them. I had done all the research and stocked the tank for what was in the tank, but then completely missed the fact that they might breed. Whoops. 8. What fish or invert that gets in the way the most during water maintenance time? The majority of them don't really care. I keep a lot of bottom feeders. I would say the clown pleco that I have is often "in the way" but that's just because the piece of wood she likes is right by the pre-filter sponge and she's a stubborn. She eventually moves, but I understand it's her spot and thinks she is camouflaged. Bumps happen 😞 . 9. If you have a gigantic tank would you add a few large fish or tons of small fish? It really depends. If we are talking a tank the size of a house. I'd have a reef and keep a saltwater shark. If we are talking a "normal" size large tank, it's going to be a hoarde of 200+ corydoras. 10. What is your favorite fish or invert that's not in the hobby? I know some of them do exist, but the biggest missing item for me is access to fish. There's a lot of fish I can't get because of something like price, distance, location.... BUT, if I could have a fish in my tank, I would want to have an actual shark species that stays under 6 inches. 11. What's your newest project? Hanging lights above the tank. I have a suspension kit for the fluval planted 3.0, but I also have string lights I want to hang that are to light the room and make it a LOT easier to work and be able to see. Right now the lighting I have is behind me when facing the tank and all I see is shadows. 12. What's going well in your hobby right now? One of my breeding for profit species is actually breeding and I might actually have more than I put into the investment to start up the tank. It's been about 2 years and I haven't successfully raised fry reliably or triggers spawns. I had a spawn this week and the equipment to care for the eggs on hand. There's fry. It's a massive accomplishment for me right now in my hobby. 13. What's not going so well in your hobby right now? Space, budget, and plants. I have a tank infested with algae and I am craving a planted tank. While the tank does have "some" plants, I really want to have a tank that has plants that are doing well. I wouldn't mind a dedicated plant tank either. Of all the plants I have purchased I am down to 3 that survived. The algae is just taking over and it's been a fight to keep things alive. I wish I could have a rack, have more tanks, and then I just want to be able to fill those tanks with clippings from a successful mother tank. 14. Do you feed your homosapiens tacos? Yes, I am the one that cooks in the house. I recommend Chicken Shawarma tacos! Very good stuff. Don't just do boring tacos, invent new ones! 15. What food do you use the most of? Frozen Spirulina brine is what I like to feed most often. I probably feed vibra bites the most currently. 16. What is something you wish you had done differently in your hobby? I wish I hadn't jumped from tank to tank to tank and realized I should've just gotten a 20L, then a 75. (went from a 38G bowfront and couldn't see into it with the curve, then to a 29G, then a few tanks added elsewhere, then all of that went into a 55G and then I realized I wanted the dimensions of a 75G). It was a waste of money and glass and I wish I had just known what I needed/wanted from the start for the plants I had. 17. What is your favorite hack? At this point, using dish sponges and toothbrushes to clean equipment. It's an uneccessary evil, but having the tools to the big scrub downs really helps. 18. Other than declorinator, if you could limit yourself to one product what would it be? (Ex. Bottled bacteria, meds, etc) I think the "best choice" here is salt right? It's a hard question to answer. Let's say one chemical.... then I think it would have to be a medicine that treats most bacterial+fungal diseases. 19. What is more fun, breeding or show tanks and why? I think you get more enjoyment out of a tank that you can sit in front of an enjoy. For me personally, that's a "show" style tank. But let's be clear. I cannot aquascape well and I am just going by what looks good to me. I wish I had the fancy tank and amazing setups, but right now it's just about plants in a box to grow and fish to thrive. 20. What is your favorite part about your LFS? Unfortunately, I don't have one. Not freshwater anyways. I have big box stores and I have a few saltwater shops. The answer though is always going to be the opportunity to talk and share tips with the people working at the store. Having a place to show, discuss, and ask for advice.... that's invaluable and the reason why buying from a local shop matter moreso than buying from an online retailer. Which, is why I really try to support Cory for all the knowledge he's let us to.

interesting. You can probably get "more efficient" flow by doing this. Meaning, you reduce bypass (see how we get back on topic for the thread now! 😉) Essentially, you force the muck to go from the center of the sponge, then to the outside, to the bottom, then up through the tube. The section where I said "seal entire layer of grid" you might want to leave the area in red (sealed on top layer) open, so that you do have some flow through the actual ceramic media that is "high flow" but it's hard to say without running some tests. On the outermost grid, you'd seal the outside border so the muck can't just go straight down the sides. Minimal issue, but slightly better filtration by modifying the pattern. Essentially, what you would end up with is: Top Grid Course foam Medium Foam Fine pad Center Grid Ceramic media Bottom grid Chemical media Base layer

ORD. What a nice plant!

Panda corydoras and I forget what else. I had nerites in the big tank and then I had pond snails in the smaller tank.

Sweet! I appreciate all the efforts and meds you used! I am just monitoring it. I think the fish just eats.... A LOT. and can't control himself, 😂

eh. to a degree. I am all for controlling where snails are. Shrimp enthusiast though. I don't mind nerites, I just don't want them in the tank to put spots all over the wood. (50-50 shot there). Bigger the tank, less annoying snails can get for me. I did have puffers for a little bit. So... that's when snail town happened.

yep, 100% LOL! Very true, I can use Microsoft paint with the best of them! It doesn't matter. Just make sure the lid fits. Depending what "rings" you're using you might get more gravel in there. You can also look at something like biomax (aquaclear stuff) which is just a different shape, similar performance to the rings but smaller shape. You can also get lava rock/eco complete or matrix/pumice too. I'm very confused by the way they designed this.... why. why why why! mmmmmmk. So it looks like the tube is tied to only the gravel / ceramic chamber?

you're fine! I am guessing most of this was triggered by my own issues and nothing you did! I am just trying to be very cautious because I don't want it to spread to the other tank. This tank very well could be fine and it's just damage from aggression. It's hard for me to say, that's why I am trying to get opinions. PH swings could also be a major factor if we're talking it was just split fins from shipping or something. The male could be chasing this one (she dropped fry after arriving). Who knows.... I think she's recovering, so it's just making sure I'm doing what I need to as well 🙂 . On the doses of prazi and paracleanse (same stuff I think, similar enough at least) was it two treatments in total? Honestly, I think it's just the color of the food I'm feeding and normal. Just eats a lot (it's the big suprise male one). I'll increase it slowly. Thank you 🙂

very sorry for your loss 😞

Very cool, never boring! Best of luck with them,

That's awesome, what kind!? What else is in the tank? Hopefully they do well for you. It's definitely a more intriguing process pulling eggs to hatch and care for them manually.

Yeah. They have coconut huts and stuff like that, they have a lot of ceramics designs which might lend to the shape for a betta. I think you can drill it? The only thing I can think is that the crazy / insanely strong ziss suction cups would hold it on there. Just a question of how to get them to fit. BUT, you're right. Trying to glue what amounts to a brick to the side of the tank probably isn't the best idea in a glass box. LOL

Definitely interesting. Why can't we have a BBA Pleco! lol. I have also heard that hillstream loaches will eat it too.

Water comes in from the top then down it looks like? so you'd want to reverse the fine pad to be under the foam. What does the bottom look like? I would remove media to get this lid to fit and let the foam and all of that sit properly on that plastic spacer.

I bet they are loving that open area! Very cool to see them doing their herd laps. horde laps*

you might have more rigidity with some foam board if you have an exacto knife and can use that to cut it. I am not sure what glue you'd use to bond it, but I see that used all the time for walls and aquarium projects for fountains and other kinds of scapes like that. I like the layout of what you have. Looks good!

Hey everyone, Unfortunately one of my tanks is showing a potential fin rot which may be on the edge or have reached the form of body rot. It's hard to tell, but I really don't like the way the fish is looking in terms of it's status. I did see some pretty severe red blotches on the fin rays (tail, 3 of them). I have seen those alter there color, but I'm not seeing them fully healed yet. I understand it takes time, but I want to help ID what's going on and make sure I'm taking the appropriate steps here. pH - 6.5-6.7 Nitrates - 10 Hardness - 300+ Nitrite - 0 Ammonia - 0 KH/Buffer - 50 Water Temperature: 71-72 (200W heater set at 73 degrees, cooler in the morning, tank is next to a window) I am currently treating with Salt, Ich-X, and Kanaplex. I am on first round of treatment with Kanaplex (dose 2). I started with a dose of Salt, Ich-X, Erythromycin because that is what I had at the time while I waited for kanaplex meds to arrive. I am going to do another 50% WC when the time is correct to do so and then redose everything again (kanaplex as opposed to erythromycin). All other fish in the tank look ok. There might be some internal worms, but I am not treating those at this point in time right now. I am monitoring it to verify (white stringy poop). Tank has about 10 swordtails, 14-16 panda corydoras, and a RTBS.

It's brown diatoms and mulm. Might be a pleco, overabundance of light or something causing the diatoms. Siphon it, remove it with a brush, then do a big WC and keep ahead of it. It'll go away on it's own. Keep in mind, if you don't have filtration working, this stuff will end up showing up for you. What is your filtration like?

Thank you 🙂 It's getting there, but not great. I went from low demand plants to high demand plants. I went from one dose to multiple. I went from a normal light to a stronger light tank so that the S. Repens at the surface can get more light. I went from 10h --> 8h --> 6h ---> 4h lighting windows. I went from 50% intensity, up to 75% and was doing fine prior to switching the light out. Then with the new light I went from 60% down to 50% ---> 40% ---> 30% and now I'm down to 25%. So far this algae only responds to low light and low dose. spot dose treatment will work for this algae. Dosing the water hasn't, but spot dosing will.

@Evan it might just be their gills/lungs. Usually you'll see something like rapid breathing, redness. This is similar to Otos where their gill plates can get pretty red when stressed. Add an airstone and that might help. Secondarily, verify temp is acceptable. That big clear white spot, I would need to see it in focus, but I can try to compare it to the anatomy on my corydoras.

I mean... to be fair, he did try to check on the snail after a major fall. 😂

@tolstoy21 how do you keep your apistos? In terms of aggression, how many in a 20H or 20L do you have? Any special scape needs?

I wonder if you can suction cup a pleco cave type of thing.

Yeah. Tank is finally clear enough to take photos and stuff. I did 2 days of erythromycin + salt. and today is day 2 of kanaplex + salt (ran out of erythromycin). Meds seem to be helping, but it's my tank with the pandas and grace the shark and I just don't want to see it pop on fry or other fish in my tanks. I have a male in that tank I need to move to the black corydoras tank and so it's the type of situation where I need to do what I can to clear it out. It's very, very, very likely damage and stress from shipping and new water parameters, but we'll see how things develop. I see improvement, but I fully expect to need 3 full treatments right now.

So.... I guess the best thing is to start from square one. They are in QT, but what meds have they received? Have you dosed aquarium salt at all? In terms of feeding right now, what specifically are you feeding the fish? I give all credit to @Odd Duck for the awesome methodology, but here is what I did in a similar situation. Day 1: Siphon, change water, Dose expel-P (or prazipro), black out tank for 24 hours Day 2: Siphon and Water change (30-50%) and dose in paracleanse and aquarium salt (1/2 cup per 10G) Day 3: Monitor Day 4: Dose in paracleanse Day 5: Monitor Day 6: Siphon and Water change (30-50%) Day 7: Rest Repeat this for 3 weeks minimum.