[Non-Fish Pets]

My fiancé and I currently have my dog and adopted our first cat together. My dog was bought from a mall pet store for me when I was a teen by my parents and most definitely came from a puppy mill, so she has a lot of temperament issues. I am allergic to dogs and can only have certain breeds, so my parents were uneducated and didn't think they could adopt a "mutt" at that time. This is Ellie, our Shih-Tzu/Bichon Frise.

She's my best friend, and I truly believe she has the intellect of a toddler. She's so emotionally tuned in to her surroundings, and greatly suffers from anxiety and resource guarding. Once my fiancé and I got our own house and she became an only dog (my moms dog stayed at my parents' house) she really blossomed. She's played with toys for the first time in her life. I knew she could live with a cat once she got adjusted so we adopted our little grey cat Charmy.She is the sweetest cat I've ever met, and is extremely vocal and affectionate. She really made us a little family. We adopted her from the animal shelter I volunteer at, and she was born with only 1 eye. They found her very sick with her kittens dead inside her, so she had to have an emergency spay.

We had to get Ellie in-home training to help her adjust to living with a cat, and we have to feed Ellie super expensive subscription food (The Farmer's Dog) so she doesn't starve herself so she can stand guard over her kibble, but with all that combined we've finally got the happiest pets. They even lay together sometimes, which is HUGE for Ellie. Charmy is so sweet of course and would cuddle with her all day if she could, but Ellie isn't about that. Most nights she warns her away, but sometimes Ellie even lets Charmy sleep in bed with us. I'm sure I didn't explain it all the best, but replying to this thread made me really just want to brag on my girl because of how far she has come, I'm so proud of her. Like @xXInkedPhoenixX with their rat and @Guppysnail with their dragon, I don't think I'll ever be able to have another dog after Ellie. My fiancé and I talk about it a lot, and emotions combined with the toll it takes on me physically (I'm still allergic to her but it's manageable), I'm not sure we'll have a dog again. She loves my fiancé so much too, she really is like our child. We've been together since we were 15 and I got Ellie when I was 14, so she's know him almost her whole life. Thanks for letting me gush about my kids 💜

[How often do you feed your fish?]

1.) I've downsized gradually and am finally down to only 2 tanks!

2.) I feed my community tank once every other day. I usually fast the whole weekend, Saturday and Sunday, and feed Monday Wednesday Friday. After inquiring about goldfish care on this forum, I decided to feed my fancy goldfish and white cloud minnows at least once a day. If I catch him nibbling on the hornwort in his tank I will end up feeding him twice that day. 

3.) I don't target feed, but I've always kept community tanks with nocturnal fish so I always feed right before bed and turn the lights out. The honeycomb catfish I keep specifically will only eat at night with the lights out, so it's a must. 

4.) I usually feed the same thing everyday: General flakes bought from my LFS, betta and shrimp pellets mixed, and bottom feeder pellets for my community tank, and a 
"veggie lover's" flake with garlic for my goldfish tank. Sometimes I will throw in a couple algae wafers and cut back on the pellets that night. About once or twice a month when I remember I have them, I throw in some frozen food. The community tank will get bloodworms sometimes, or brine shrimp and tubifex worms. I always feed the bloodworms by themselves, because even if I mix anything else with them they won't touch the other stuff! And I will feed my goldfish brine shrimp or the tubifex worms, but no bloodworms. 

[Homemade Double Tank Stand]

Some updates over the weekend; I bought the tank used on Facebook marketplace and it came with a lot of accessories and equipment, so I feel like I got a pretty good deal on it. My dad started the construction of the stand, and is almost done with it! He's got some supports to add and then we are going to stain it black. 

[Can I add more Chili rasbora in my community tank?]

I think you definitely could, they're so tiny. I would say anywhere from 5-10, depending on how often you do water changes. Shoot, maybe you could even add 15 if you want to go wild. It also will depend if your tank has more height than length, or vice versa. 

[Sparkling gourami for a 10 gallon tank]

On 5/4/2022 at 1:54 PM, Dandroid said:

Thanks for the response.  About how many would be appropriate for the size of the tank?

I would agree with @ange since they can get territorial, one would be best for a 10gallon. You might be able to do a pair of honey gouramis in a 10, they're pretty nice. 

[Stocking Idea]

My 33 gal community tank is probably overstocked, but I have 2 big sponge filters in it, lots of live plants (plus lucky bamboo and pothos roots sucking up nitrates), and do weekly water changes. If you are concerned about bioload, adding any/all of the above would help a lot. 

[Sparkling gourami for a 10 gallon tank]

If you do weekly water changes I don't think it would be bad at all 🙂

[Rainbow Shiners Journal]

I love these fish!!! I want to do them in my new 60 gallon goldfish tank alongside a school of white cloud minnows someday. Has anyone ever kept these species together? Any opinions on this mix?

[Homemade Double Tank Stand]

Hello everyone!

So my dad and I are building a custom wooden double tank stand for my new 60 gallon tall goldfish tank and my existing 33 gallon gallon long betta community tank. I wanted to journal the progress here, and also get opinions on the new goldfish tank stocking. And of course take lots of pictures along the way! I drew a blueprint today of my vision: 

I'm hoping we can get it done within the next month. If anyone is interested in pricing along the way, I can start to include those details as well. Thanks in advance for any input, and I hope you guys have as much fun with this as I'm going to! 

[I can't decide]

On 4/29/2022 at 9:37 AM, Fish Folk said:

Beautiful fish! One of my favorites. Many LFS won’t carry. But they sell great online, or at fish club auctions.

I breed mine in a 29 gal. I set out a small glass cube with landscaping rocks in. They spawn over top. Eggs fall in, I pull, and hatch out in a plastic storage bin inside the cabinet — or a DIY floating flow-through fry container…

 

I'm pretty sure I read your thread about breeding them! They are so cool and I would love to take inspiration from what you did someday. I think the fact that they're US native is extra cool too. I'm surprised LFS wouldn't want to carry, but I don't really know much about selling/breeding fish so I'm sure they have their reasons. 

[I can't decide]

Have you ever thought about breeding rainbow shiners? I recently learned about them and am obsessed, they're so cool and I hear they can be bred easily in a 20 gal, and are also coldwater fish. I'm not sure how easy/difficult it would be, but I couldn't imagine a LFS being uninterested in buying the fry 🙂 

[Getting back into the hobby after 15 years]

On 4/27/2022 at 5:10 PM, MatticusRexxor said:

All of my fish have come from the same Petco, and most of them have done very well.  I did lose half of my initial batch of Corys (one albino confirmed dead, one albino and one peppered missing), but the second batch has absolutely thrived.  All three of those three peppered Corys started growing immediately and haven't shown any signs of slowing down.  I might have lost one or two Danios during all of this time, but it's hard to get an accurate count of them when they're constantly moving.  I've got at least eight or nine out of the original eleven in there.

The gourami was the outlier, and he lasted more than six weeks.

That's awesome, you must have a great quality Petco by you! At my previous house the local Petco also had great fish, but since we've moved the one by our house doesn't at all 😞 I guess it just depends! I'm glad your fish are doing so well! 🙂 

[Amano shrimp never leave the heater & not eating much food?]

On 4/27/2022 at 7:06 PM, Lucid_Reese said:

You were absolutely right! I added some cheery shrimp now they're having a shrimpee party lol

That's great! I'm so happy to hear that they're more comfortable, they must be so fun to watch

[Just caught some COLORFUL DARTERS!!!!]

Those are so cool! Do you mind sharing where you caught them perhaps?? I've always been curious about native fish.

[Getting back into the hobby after 15 years]

If you got the gourami from Petco it's possible that it just wasn't strong enough, had weak genetics or was already sick. It could be multiple things. It could be the same but I usually have better luck at a small local fish store. I always get sick fish at Petsmart or Petco. I can't recommend Platies enough! They are so hardy and fun. I had bad luck with mollies but I hope that yours do well and thrive 🙂 I think livebearers are underrated as centerpiece fish, their energy is awesome. I think they should be able to keep up with your danios well. 

[Long Fin Chili Rasbora]

He's stunning! I've never seen a long fin version, I hope that someday they can be bred and available for purchase!

[Amano shrimp never leave the heater & not eating much food?]

On 4/26/2022 at 4:01 PM, Lucid_Reese said:

Good point. There are a total of 9. I didn't want to get too many Amano shrimp because I have cherry shrimp on the way and I didn't want to lose too many shrimplets to predation.

I think the addition of cherry shrimp will help them feel safer too!! 🙂

[Amano shrimp never leave the heater & not eating much food?]

How many shrimp are there? My best guess is they're being timid, and the tank is big so maybe they're just not comfortable yet. I would guess the higher their numbers the more comfortable they will be

[Mystery snail behavior]

On 4/22/2022 at 1:18 PM, Guppysnail said:

I recommend giving them time to settle in at least a month.  I personally would not change the temp. Your little ones are fine at 68.  Snails are vulnerable critters so are fearful. Once they feel safe they will be out and about. My guppy girls are non stop nosey.  Snail sleep patterns can be days long. As long as the do not smell or float at the top hanging out of the shell give them time.  I still after many years of snails fret when mine go on napping binges. 

Thank you so much, I've been trying not to worry. I will keep dropping algae wafers and hoping for the best 🐌

[Mystery snail behavior]

On 4/22/2022 at 12:11 PM, Guppysnail said:

Are the goldfish investigating them? They will stay still during daylight if the dont feel safe. In my juvenile female guppy tank they were like that until I moved them to a tank with less nosey fish. 68 is the lower end of their comfort zone. Temp affects metabolism from my understanding so they are more active in my 77 degree tanks than in my 74 degree tanks. 

He was investigating the first day or two but completely ignores them now. Would you recommend bumping the temp up to 70? Would that be alright for the goldfish? Thanks for your input 

[Mystery snail behavior]

Hello everyone,

I was hoping someone could help me with my pair of golden mystery snails. I got them as tankmates for my fantail goldfish in their 20 gallon long tank, and their behavior seems very off from any mystery snails I've had previously before. The tank is mature and cycled, with strict weekly water changes, extra filtration, live and fake plants and a heater set to 68. But these mystery snails never seem to move or get out of their shells. I've checked them multiple times thinking they were dead, they've even been hanging out of their shells at some points, but they're not dead. I've dropped an algae wafer in every other day because I didn't want them to starve, but it never really looks like they move to eat it. I saw one had moved in another spot of the tank over night, but as soon as I turned the lights on he dropped and stayed in his shell and has been in ever since. I've had them for over two weeks now, and am worried they're going to starve or slowly die, and just can't figure out what is wrong with them. Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance. 

[Betta/fish keeping newb needs HELP!]

I've always been told a consistent pH is better than a low one. I have hard water too, and if you buy locally and they're used to the hard water, they seem to do just fine. Weekly water changes are just perfect. 

[Stocking ideas 20 long]

On 4/22/2022 at 10:29 AM, JessLynne7 said:

So far I have five gold barbs. I ordered a calico pleco - it will arrive next week.

I have some driftwood soaking as we speak you can kind see the gravel it’s light colored and pretty

That’s so true. We trap them for our entertainment 

Same kind of argument as our cats and dogs develop Stockholm syndrome because we trap them with us as babies... maybe objectively true, but they're better with us as good owners than in the pet store. 

[What are your greatest aspirations as a fish keeper?]

I want to keep a fish alive for a long time. I just got a baby fancy goldfish for my 20 gallon long, and in the next year or two I would love to create the perfect 55 gallon for him and another goldfish, and maybe some tankmates, and watch them grow and thrive for years. 

[Input on my 20g high stocking]

From what I know about these individual species, I wouldn't recommend this stocking and would encourage you to do more independent research on each species. A 20gal high is a great size for all of these species, but not all together in it.

Pea puffers need to be in a shoal of at least 5 to establish their hierarchy, and many people recommend species-only tanks for them because of how violent they are. They would most likely injure and terrorize all of these tankmates, killing them or injuring/stressing them enough to introduce disease. They can also be quite hard to keep in general. They can be picky with food, needing frozen food and live snails to eat.

Scarlet badis can be even harder from what I hear, with them being extremely shy and being so picky with food that they would most likely only eat live baby brine shrimp. This makes tankmates hard for this species too, because of their shyness they can be outcompeted for food by other fish. Both scarlet badis and pea puffers would require a very heavily planted tank and specific food, and I would highly recommend against tankmates for either of these. You could do a heavily planted species-only tank for either, if you are experienced and up to the challenge of their requirements.

If you want a community tank with kuuli loaches, corydoras and shrimp, I would do them and a nice centerpiece fish such as a pair of honey gouramis or any variation of German Blue rams. You could also do livebearers such as guppies or platies; they are both very peaceful, friendly and hardy and come in many different variations and colors! They are also very energetic and fun to watch.

I have no knowledge about newts, but have never heard of them being kept with tropical aquarium fish so I would encourage you to do lots of research on their temperament and tank requirements. Good luck with your tank and I hope you do something fun and that brings you joy 🙂