Beardedbillygoat’s Fish & Shrimp Tank Journal

[Patrick_G]

Congratulations, it turned out great!

It does get pretty cold up there in central OR. I think you’ve mentioned it but what are you using to heat the room? 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I am not heating it. My goal is to use the lights and the heated water to maintain an evenish temp. I am going to track the temps and then decide if I want to proceed with a heater. I would want to avoid overloading the circuits we are using now. If I decided I want to heat it I will need to get an electrician out to update the box and install the outlet. 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Patrick_Gtemp has stabilized at 66-68 - first thing in the morning 66 and then last night when I got home it was 68. I wonder if part of that is also all the lights the last of which go off at 10 (cycle is 10 am to 10 pm). 

[Torrey]

On 2/7/2022 at 4:13 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

I am not heating it. My goal is to use the lights and the heated water to maintain an evenish temp. I am going to track the temps and then decide if I want to proceed with a heater. I would want to avoid overloading the circuits we are using now. If I decided I want to heat it I will need to get an electrician out to update the box and install the outlet. 

If you heat the space, you won't be using the tank heaters.

Back in the before fire days, I discovered that I saved on my electric bill by converting a bedroom to a fish room and having a dedicated environmental control system for that bedroom.

The kids were quite willing to help take care of tanks because in the winter it was the warmest room, and in the summer it was the coolest😁

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

A buddy from work who has a koi pond expressed interest in bankrolling a project expanding my breeding efforts with ricefish. He wanted to diversify the gene pool we are using as all of mine had come from one breeder. After lurking on the FB group for ricefish breeders/keepers I located a new source who was bringing in stock from Japan. It’s been pretty exciting. I took delivery yesterday. 

The plan is to have 4 setups - 3 ponds and 1 tub with the 3 new strains and another with my existing brood stock: Sanshoku, Champagne and White Buchi Lame.

Here is an online resource I have found helpful in defining some of the breed characteristics and types.

I have them in a 40 g breeder at present but will be building a Dean style muck bucket pond this weekend to keep them until late Spring. Then I’ll divide them up by strain in the 3 outdoor ponds. The 4th tub will be our mutt tank with the idea to develop interesting color morphs that we may eventually line breed. 

Once I get some eggs I’ll probably start a breeding thread in that section but for now I’ll document the setups here. 

[Patrick_G]

I’m ORD but this sounds fun. Are you doing in ground ponds or above ground? 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Above ground, the lava rock around here precludes it plus I have a Portuguese water dog and needless to say anything in ground will be a problem. I will have to already take some extreme measures as it is with a plan to use plastic greenhouse material already.  I have a 50 g Rubbermaid, a 27 g resin planter, a 17 g muck bucket pond all eventually outside and a 30 g tote in the fish room although the muck bucket will start inside. 

[Hobbit]

Aww the new ricefish look great! For some reason I can’t see the link to the online resource. Do you mind sharing it again? I’ve been trying to figure out what makes a “good” ricefish so I know what to select for. I’m debating getting some new ricefish from AquaHuna to add to the gene pool.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Hobbitwould help if I put the link in !!!

https://www.medakanoouchi.com/kind/index.html.en

[Hobbit]

Thanks 😁

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I’ve been dealing with sick ricefish this weekend. They arrived healthy and happy but have lost 4 of them fairly suddenly. No hemorrhages or signs of illness. I’ve been doing frequent small water changes and adding salt. pH 7, ammonia and nitrite 0, nitrate 5-10, They hadn’t been eating until tonight when I fed brine so who knows. Med trio and a whole bunch of other meds are in waiting after my recent help with the 15 g tower. Yeah! From one veterinary issue to another! 

The redesign of the 45 g display went well added some Brightwell Rio Oscuro and some Val, swords, crypts, bacopa and Brazilian pennywort. 
This is what I was starting with. 

I sketched out my plan pretty juvenile drawings but it worked. 

The swords and Val will fill in the void in the middle background. You have to have faith that they’ll grow and fill it in. 

 I put some Brazilian pennywort in the back corners. Crypts will fill in the foreground in the middle. 
I love bacopa and this giant bacopa is super cool. 

And here’s the final product with a background on it! I really do have this stuff on hand I just well forget about it sometimes! 

I’ve also setup 3 new breeding tanks in the fish room. Getting nitrite and nitrate on the test strips so the usual tricks are working to speed things along. I see shrimp and guppies, guppies and dwarf platys, and Gardneri killis going in these tanks.

I’d intended to setup the Panda Mansion but alas with a super bowl get together with family and baking bread for the boys lunches it wasn’t to be. Hey sometimes you just have to corn some beef and make some rye and when life brings you lemons make Reubens! Have fun everyone!

[Hobbit]

Looking good! That’s a festivum, right? Seems like a neat fish.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Hobbitthat is Spikey Feathers, indeed a Mesonauta festivum. He’s the benign tank boss and the EBA Bluey is the underboss. 

[Torrey]

On 2/13/2022 at 9:48 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

I’ve been dealing with sick ricefish this weekend. They arrived healthy and happy but have lost 4 of them fairly suddenly. No hemorrhages or signs of illness. I’ve been doing frequent small water changes and adding salt. pH 7, ammonia and nitrite 0, nitrate 5-10, They hadn’t been eating until tonight when I fed brine so who knows. Med trio and a whole bunch of other meds are in waiting after my recent help with the 15 g tower. Yeah! From one veterinary issue to another! 

The redesign of the 45 g display went well added some Brightwell Rio Oscuro and some Val, swords, crypts, bacopa and Brazilian pennywort. 
This is what I was starting with. 

I sketched out my plan pretty juvenile drawings but it worked. 

The swords and Val will fill in the void in the middle background. You have to have faith that they’ll grow and fill it in. 

 I put some Brazilian pennywort in the back corners. Crypts will fill in the foreground in the middle. 
I love bacopa and this giant bacopa is super cool. 

And here’s the final product with a background on it! I really do have this stuff on hand I just well forget about it sometimes! 

I’ve also setup 3 new breeding tanks in the fish room. Getting nitrite and nitrate on the test strips so the usual tricks are working to speed things along. I see shrimp and guppies, guppies and dwarf platys, and Gardneri killis going in these tanks.

I’d intended to setup the Panda Mansion but alas with a super bowl get together with family and baking bread for the boys lunches it wasn’t to be. Hey sometimes you just have to corn some beef and make some rye and when life brings you lemons make Reubens! Have fun everyone!

The tiny electric blue/purple fish really catch the attention! I just can't get the screen big enough to identify them.😅

I'm ORD😍😍😍

I am sorry you are dealing with sick ricefish, however. 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Torreythey are black phantoms I think that you are seeing the blue and purple. I really love them, super elegant and so fun to watch them flare at each other. 

The ricefish seem to have bounced back 5 of the 9 are still with us after a lot of water changes, good food - what fish doesn't feel better after some BBS? and extra filtration. I also cut down on the flow by baffling the hang on back so theres lots of turn over without any violent water movement. 

[anewbie]

On 2/18/2022 at 11:37 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

@Torreythey are black phantoms I think that you are seeing the blue and purple. I really love them, super elegant and so fun to watch them flare at each other. 

The ricefish seem to have bounced back 5 of the 9 are still with us after a lot of water changes, good food - what fish doesn't feel better after some BBS? and extra filtration. I also cut down on the flow by baffling the hang on back so theres lots of turn over without any violent water movement. 

@Torrey it talking about the blue fishes behind the black phantoms which are near the front.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

electric blue acara, green neons?

[Atitagain]

Everything looks great, hope your rice fish are doing good. I’m such a fan of Brazilian pennywart it seems to be doing well in a couple of my tanks. And very fast growing.

hope all is well with you, I’m heading to check up on your fishroom now.👍

[Torrey]

On 2/18/2022 at 12:22 PM, anewbie said:

@Torrey it talking about the blue fishes behind the black phantoms which are near the front.

 

On 2/18/2022 at 1:57 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

electric blue acara, green neons?

Gotta be the green neons, because too small to be the black phantoms, plus completely wrong shape.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

This is my to do list and it’s daunting!

Aquarium To-Do List

-Build out the 29 g and empty the tub, turn tub into a plant growout with leica on the bottom.

-Build out the ricefish pond so we can get them out of the 40 g

-transition the killis and plecos to their forever homes

-build out guppy and platy + shrimp colonies

-take all the plants out of the growout and transition them to the growout tub

-turn the 10 g to a fry growout 

-figure out how many more tanks we can get in fish room and what configuration 10s,15s,20s

-build the wabi kusa St Nermy’s day tank
 

I was on kiddo duty today for a 3 hour birthday party. Afterwards I got to work on #1 on the list - the 🐼 mansion! 
 

I first had to break down the tub and I was amazed to find a half a dozen killifish fry in there.  Coooll! I’ve seen some in the tub with all the mops but this is proof that if I gave them a good tank and had a place to put mops I’d have a good supply of Gardneri. Damn have to add that to the list!!!!

1. It’s a 29 g I picked up at the 50% off sale in January 

2. I decided to use an ugf but to seed the tank I threw in a sponge and a homemade air driven box type filter. A hang on back will be involved for the flow. 

3. I used 2 Lee’s ugf plates with used media from a tank underneath 

4. I wanted to use aquasoil to buffer down my pH (usually 7.2) and a sand area kind of a sand box. So I used some landscaping fabric to keep the fine aquasoil and sand from getting into the ugf.

5. all the substrate went in - I was going to use some laterite and lava rock but then realized anything I plant the pandas will uproot so I just put some lava rock down underneath the soil and sand. I’ll use planters and float plants. Then with filters in place time to fill it up!

6. I had the pandas in the 17 g pond I’ve got to build one of Dean’s ponds for my ricefish. 

7. I ran the filters for about a half hour. My homemade box filter had a runaway in it - found one somewhat beat up panda cory in there. So I put all 12 of my pandas 🐼 in the new 29 g mansion. 

I’m really happy for them and their joy just gave me such a lift! Here’s a couple videos. 

I then moved on to my normal maintenance- water changes for the ricefish newbies who seem to have settled in and for the F. Gardneri killis/BN Plecos. I then did a nice trim and water change on my 45 g. 

I’m hoping to get to my LFS to grab a 1” bulkhead for the pond and a new hob for my sons Krobia tank. 

Have fun!!

[Guppysnail]

Those pandas look so happy!  I get mesmerized watching pandas. There is just something about how stinking happy they are all the time. That is quite a to do list. Work, family and a list like that is impressive time management. 

[Torrey]

Honestly?

All looks amazing *and* I got exhausted reading about it 😆

I hope you take some time for you, in there!

::goes back to watch video again::

[Hobbit]

The look so happy! Aww! 🥰

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Torreyironically the green neons are gone save one. I think that cheeky EBA is eating them. My wife wonders if it’s the festivum but I never see Spiky Feathers harassing other fish whereas the EBA does all the time - he also prowls the plants and cover at night I think he’s hunting. Cherry barbs are also looking like they’ve had it - torn fins and some trauma /abrasion like injuries. I can’t catch them - tried before and to say they are good at evasion/hiding is an understatement. If the injuries start to look worse or like something else some Maracyn and Ich-X may be called for. It would really suck if I have to bomb this tank after all the work I just put in to scaping it! If that’s the case I’d take all the plants out then bomb it. 

Yesterday I was supposed to be given time to work on the ricefish pond but alas was not to be. I was knee deep in 4-8 year olds and their drama. Wife well she went AWOL first time in awhile but probably deserved honestly but jarring none the less. I then had to take the 4 yo for a COVID test and in solidarity did one as well. Ice cream and a trip to the fish store was in order. They didn’t have what we wanted but fry goods wise we stocked up- heaters, a new hob for my son, a bulkhead for the pond and some frozen food. Had an interesting conversation with the owners. 

I’ve ordered some additional livebearers as my LFS keeps begging me for more - I guess platys and other LBs are really in bad shape when they get them with a very poor survival rate no matter which supplier they go through. She’s hoping I can supply them with a decent strain of platys and guppies. I’ll start with these: 

These 2 plus my guppies and teacup platys as well as my mollies should help. I’m also looking to one of the breeders I’ve been working with to see if he can get me another strain of guppies or something different. I’m already working on another 30 g to house these groups. 

My youngest has decided he’s done with Lake Tang cichlids and wants a South American tank like his brother with hatchets. That’s really in the end what he wants the rest is secondary. I’d tried to reason with him but nope. So I’m working on figuring out a housing arrangement for the Lake Tangs - The brevis group has not produced much in the way of fry but then again there’s so many fish in there that I’m not sure they’ve been given a fair chance. I think I may purchase another 3-5 brevis and see if I can get a pair that produce and put them in the fish room. I may take back the leleupi and the caudopunctatus as well as a 3 spot opaline gourami to the LFS to rehome.  

Unfortunately, my most recent black worm culture died. Not sure if I could have done more. 2-3 x a week water changes, fed them, good filtration- sponge, floaters and a lucky bamboo. I’ll stick with bbs for now and I’m consider vinegar eels. I suppose if everyone starts a black worm tower and that’s the way to go I may try again but these are expensive experiments.

The ricefish are really perking up and I’m planning to get a hole saw for my drill and finish the pond this week.

Hope everyone has a great week and have fun! 

[anewbie]

On 2/21/2022 at 11:38 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

@Torreyironically the green neons are gone save one. I think that cheeky EBA is eating them. My wife wonders if it’s the festivum but I never see Spiky Feathers harassing other fish whereas the EBA does all the time - he also prowls the plants and cover at night I think he’s hunting. Cherry barbs are also looking like they’ve had it - torn fins and some trauma /abrasion like injuries. I can’t catch them - tried before and to say they are good at evasion/hiding is an understatement. If the injuries start to look worse or like something else some Maracyn and Ich-X may be called for. It would really suck if I have to bomb this tank after all the work I just put in to scaping it! If that’s the case I’d take all the plants out then bomb it. 

Y

Hope everyone has a great week and have fun! 

Both would eat the green neons if in the mood; I had swordtails go after mine; but they were young. My nannacara (a dwarf cichild around 3-4 inches) eats all my pleco frys (and they are nearly the size of a green neon). In fact he sits outside the bn cave all day long just waiting for a new hatching....