Woowala

I think if you're losing an inch of water a week in a covered tank, it's gonna be really bad without one. The tank will lose a lot of heat too. I'd try to figure out a leak proof ato if I went with a screen in that situation.

I use the twin walled polycarbonate as well, but I'm not concerned with looks, just evaporation and fish jumping. That's your best bet if you don't mind it looking terrible. If you do then I'd go with the sliding glass diy option for max light penetration and ok looks. Or you could do a light screen for the fish and set up an auto top off to deal with evap. A reef forum would be a good place to get ideas for both and how to make it look best.

Nice. If it keeps climbing just remove some shells. I have soft tap water too, about 2 kh and 2 gh. I use rift lake salt to bump the gh up to around 4, and 1/4 tsp baking soda per 5 gallons to bump the kh up to around 4, both added to a mixing bucket to aerate for a day or so before using. I never add either directly to a tank.

Ok, the seashells should keep the pH from dropping further. Just check it in a day or two and see if it's going back up. If it's not, add more shells or crushed coral.

If it were me I wouldn't risk the water damage to the furniture and I'd find/make a more appropriate stand for the tanks. jmo

This is a pretty good idea. I'd be tempted to just leave whole rig in place with water in the line so you didn't have to start the siphon each time. I usually just use airline with some fine mesh filter bag zip tied around the end, or with some rigid airline if I'm removing detritus. But it's tedious and I hate it.

Well you definitely have the best look at it. My next guess is some terrestrial seed that made its way in. I guess it could be Rhododendron, which I just now learned is where spiderwood comes from.

What are the actual numbers for pH, kh, and gh? What are those numbers for your tap/water change water?

jeffgoldblum.gif My money's on anubias as well. Would be cool if it wasn't though.

I'd probably just wait with a net and keep an eye out for more. I wouldn't worry about it too much either unless you have fry/very small fish. Just watch and pull them as you find them.

likely predatory anyway, I'd remove it if you haven't yet

dragonfly most likely

That's good to know, hopefully these guys are similar. I've been grouping them about 7-10 days apart as they hatch out, and so far the difference been the early and late ones is fairly evident, but we'll see how it goes. I'm still gonna try the peat incubation cuz I'm curious now. Worst case they all die and it's a waste of 20 minutes.

Has anyone here ever incubated Pseudomugil eggs in peat like killifish guys do? Or heard if it works or definitely doesn't? I'm trying to get them all to hatch out around the same time, like you might do with non-annual killies. Couldn't find much info online. I'm gonna give it a try either way, unless it's known not to work.

I've never looked into it, but I wouldn't let the salt/brackish stage stop you if that's what you want to do. Unless they have some kind of crazy long pelagic stage, it's probably not too difficult. I bet you can do it.

They'll make more, and when they do you'll be more prepared.

How old is your kid? Can he handle them dying? I would personally do nothing, they'll either live or get eaten. But if you want to save them, collect them all with a net and bend the handle to hook it onto the side glass and make a little temporary spot for them until you can get a breeder box. Or just float a plastic container in the tank for them with some holes in it. Or just put them in a gallon bucket or something with some plants in it and do frequent water changes, couple times a week should be fine. Crush up whatever you're feeding the adults for them and add just a bit so their bellies look round.

My theory is that lots of shrimp kick up a lot of particulates.

Omg, those plants! You're gonna start getting rainclouds in there soon. I love it.

You should be able to tell if you've got a good population of infusoria by putting some of the bucket water in a clear container and shining a light through it from the side. Maybe put a light over one side of the bucket for a bit before collecting the sample to concentrate the infusoria, similar to bbs. They're tiny but not microscopic. If it looks like this video then you're good to go. Generally I'd say if it doesn't smell then it's fine, but introduce as little of the culture water as possible to the fry tank just to be safe. With any culture, it's important that it contain only the organism you're culturing. If you introduce any predators like copepods it won't work, or at least not as well. What I would do is collect the sample from the bucket and start 3 new small cultures with it. I used quart mason jars. Add just enough bakers yeast to make the water a bit cloudy (a tiny amount, like 10 grains), then leave it somewhere warm with some light until the water gets clear. Then check each for infusoria and start new cultures from whichever one looks best. Once you've got a good culture going you can take from that and experiment with different methods to see what works for you, like restarting another bucket with moss or grass clippings. I hated maintaining the cultures so right now I'm just using 5-50 micron golden pearls for my gertrudae. If I have to culture infusoria in the future I'll probably try Lowell's method, looks clean and easy.

Nice. I figured the borellii should be easy enough for any decent fish store to get, glad you found some.

a bit of googling says it's purple loosestrife, an invasive plant. might have to go dig this bastard up tomorrow lol

Ahh, too bad. Sure would be nice to cut that 3 week period down to 3 days.

Thanks 🙂 I have not. Honestly I've found them to be extremely durable, from getting hot to almost drying out they've been fine. I did watch one of that guy's videos on the ebb and flow system cuz I'm a sucker for that kind of thing (in theory, not in practice) and all the algae he got on them convinced me that fully emersed and benign neglect was the way to go.

Most economically friendly- get some hardy plants for cheap/free from someone local, set up a rubbermaid bin or old tank (any container really) with soil and grow them emersed for a couple months or however long it takes. Super easy, super cheap.