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Beardedbillygoat’s Fish & Shrimp Tank Journal


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Got a few minutes here and there yesterday to do tank maintenance in the throes of caring for my boys on my day off. Had some enjoyable experiences with the tanks I wanted to share. 
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I love to work and watch this tank - it’s my sons shelly and molly tank. The mollys population has been pretty well controlled by the shellies but this go round I think momma had so many babies that they can’t keep up. Adorable little buggers - the mother has orange, white black and spangles and these babies are calico like the others. The LFS is excited to get some good quality livebearers and these are coloring up beautifully but we’ll see if the shellies go on a killing spree not going to catch them for now. My son is 4 so we have a very eclectic mix of decor. 
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The Sad Bowl - looking really great, I am stoked about how well this is coming together. The shrimp that are still with us are beautiful and look healthy. The blue Hawaiian juvies are starting to color up. Wife wanted a bit more color so some fireballs were thrown in the mix - one adult and 3 babies. The green gecko crypt is just unbelievable it’s not melted at all and has 4 new leaves. It’s diy under gravel filter appears to be handling the bio load well and the extra aeration from the airstone is keeping the surface nice a clear. 69F198C9-1C5D-4F13-B3D5-05CF51E2415F.jpeg.e5757f5cdf81ccb779e6c373d96a977d.jpeg74DC4D2B-C98A-49F5-8D31-680173C793FA.jpeg.884c51cced6e549d3ae7a1192a0dd1e2.jpegD42ECB5F-76D4-4357-8CF0-ED6769A162DC.jpeg.08b58d51405ae8f14eb1fe071b40d1cc.jpegA584EF05-E2A2-4046-B901-04918E86B8CE.jpeg.35746181dc975c22161c6cead43cf83d.jpeg

The Tower Suite has some new residents- beautiful panda 🐼 corys. Delightful little buggers. They were having a ball this morning with my wife utterly delighted to have them in our bedroom. She’s hooked!

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3 g betta tank- kids named him DJ Turbo and I like the name, he’s totally having a ball. He demolished all the snails and shrimp that were in there and some plants he did not like. So I’ve worked with the plants he does like which so far is ludwigia and baby tears. Dwarf water lettuce for cover and some catapa leaves. I really like this guy he’s got the betta spirit you’re looking for in these fish. Plus his color is awesome. 

Im headed this weekend to Portland for the Fishtoberfest so I’ll have more report after hitting there and The Wet Spot!

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@Guppysnaili agree that it’s great to have my wife on board. There is nothing worse than a spouse having a hobby that isn’t supported! The Sad Bowl now makes me smile, hadn’t done that in a long time. @Patrick_Gthats exactly what I was looking for in a betta and he’s delivering. Yep only worry I have is if the shellies have lost a taste for mollies I’m in for trouble if I can’t unload them to the local shop. I find them to be very prolific in the past. 

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Out of Fishtoberfest I had quite a bit to do and then some of my typical maintenance. I’ve been trying to get more water changes done on my guppy tanks to promote good growth and breeding. My idea is I can over feed and then keep parameters fairly stable to good if I keep the floating plants and guppy grass happy along with clean water and filters. So far so good. My halfblack purple Moscow’s have doubled in size since I got them a couple weeks ago. I haven’t even started them on BBS yet so I’m really excited. Bbs will be ready manana. 
 

The Sad Bowl is now home to some beautiful green shrimp I got from Dani of Daniken Aquatics FishTube fame. I bought 20 but there were some cherries and rilis in there that I culled out to my 15 g tower tank. They loved a nice 50% water change - they were scurrying around so someone is molting and read to breed in there. There’s some nice algae growing on the manzanita and the crypts I bought seem to be settling in and this green gecko crypt is just awesome it’s a nutrient monster and in couldn’t be happier. I also made my own sponge filter from some Swiss Tropicals 20 mm foam, some vinyl tube and an airstone - the shrimp love it! 335B49FB-F3B1-4A22-AF21-EFDBD1587026.jpeg.468758fc5ba90add1cb3f82812f63c5d.jpegE6075441-6AF7-4587-8A94-BBD1E63294B7.jpeg.cdc6616ac8c17bf2ecca056982842812.jpegEA99F254-9D19-479B-9D6A-42A02648B14A.jpeg.bbec33052599179bb04b8a8e0563e7ae.jpeg1DA16581-5E23-4918-9886-0FD61AF3CE47.jpeg.24935a6181b9ec3162e2425b1e9bbee4.jpegF1473A18-036B-4FF8-A3B2-5CEA6A82D447.jpeg.41bcd4670238905272f8d408b5f0aef1.jpegC8608FAF-E218-472F-93B6-38530F6AC33C.jpeg.74d2f2d7541974de673882dd44ffc70f.jpegBFAC3F6C-277C-451A-A9DD-D798844B4E52.jpeg.fba516e3bae7abe4ea6dcc20aeae5c7f.jpeg95FEA7B3-62C3-44AC-8241-90A0937FAFFD.jpeg.8feabfbb4d33a5c120e550d99f119634.jpeg2D5A9FD1-75E2-42E4-B473-96B05CCE9B42.jpeg.076d0015dcb208b80b2d49d2d97fa341.jpegA461C736-1AE8-4D87-B749-3AF175114AD2.jpeg.3501f7f5f9e560244439ccae0ea0a45c.jpeg90CBED01-0D36-4E68-906A-E7C419236770.jpeg.9ea6238d673320b9d7ad46d48c6a6837.jpeg

I purchased a pair of Amoeca splendens but the female was half dead on arrival. The mail trout goodied is settling in. He has this really hurky-jerky swimming movement. Not sure if he’s a little damaged from transport as well. I’ll get some video and post tomorrow. 2371A5A8-0296-4D4F-81E4-F51E0C566563.jpeg.ba93576970abf769c9bbee2bd89b4467.jpeg
The Hawaiian variatus platys are great. Water change today and their clamped fins are all nice and relaxed. They’ve been eating great. 
I now have a black worm culture going which is exciting. I’d seen on Keeping Fish Simple that one of the breeders he visited would put pieces of foam In the culture- the worms can’t help themselves and just climb right in and then they’re easily transported to the tank I want to feed. 594A8E7B-D571-4519-9953-0AB586B87BB8.jpeg.5f09a6c9b0559150c83bc1df3b0c09f2.jpeg
I now have 8 panda corys in a 30 G tote with some wood and plants. There’s no substrate and I think I’m going to throw some sand in and see if it makes them ever more happy as I added a HOB and oh man their behavior has been night and day. Much more gregarious with the flow. 9BCD4A25-C57F-4228-AB26-BB75DF3C1BFA.jpeg.ffaa587d0403344bcdb7343af217609d.jpeg29C38CD4-2F1B-4878-A4A4-56ED26E61CB8.jpeg.f97e551f4344ae5fdf2522fd3ec12aaf.jpeg

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@Patrick_Gits a little bigger move then that - wife’s a New Zealander 🇳🇿 And we’re probably moving there this time next year. I’m in the process of getting my green card as she and our boys all have passports/citizenship already. That’s why I haven’t pushed her on the tanks and I’m sticking with totes. 

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@Atitagainmy wife has always been split In terms of her family (moms from states dads a kiwi) and is feeling the need for more time with her large family there. Here our family and support is pretty small. There it’s a large extended family. Plus it will be a great opportunity for travel in Australasia and I’ll be in the midst of Rainbow central! The Nerm in me is thinking of the fish I can get and keep there. 

In terms of the bowl I’ve stolen a lot from MD Fishtanks, Rachel O’Leary, and the ugf was another YT find. I was always afraid to put a large plant in it but the bowl on Rachel’s channel convinced me it would be awesome. I like this stand and light setup from Amazon. Getting creative with with filters and plantings was really fun. 

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On 10/14/2021 at 9:07 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

@Atitagainmy wife has always been split In terms of her family (moms from states dads a kiwi) and is feeling the need for more time with her large family there. Here our family and support is pretty small. There it’s a large extended family. Plus it will be a great opportunity for travel in Australasia and I’ll be in the midst of Rainbow central! The Nerm in me is thinking of the fish I can get and keep there. 

In terms of the bowl I’ve stolen a lot from MD Fishtanks, Rachel O’Leary, and the ugf was another YT find. I was always afraid to put a large plant in it but the bowl on Rachel’s channel convinced me it would be awesome. I like this stand and light setup from Amazon. Getting creative with with filters and plantings was really fun. 

My spouse is Samoan on dad's side. The Islands (and according to Tongans and Samoans, NZ is one of the islands) take extended family to a whole new level.

Reading Color of Law and Margaret Mead's book on Samoa helped me make the adjustment, lol.

Some of the relatives are in MM's book/ photographs 😳

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I spent some time in Papua New Guinea, it was an experience that’s changed my life in innumerable ways. Exploring Pacifica is an exciting idea for me and my family in particular friends and family have had amazing experiences in Samoa. I’ll take a look at Margaret Meads book and Color of Law. Thank you for the suggestions.  

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I’ve had a bit of a rough week in terms of animal husbandry- I lost 3 half black purple guppy fry inexplicably and a variatus platy. 
For the HB purples I’d not medicated them, they came quickly from a reputable breeder who has good qt procedures and these had been bred in his fishroom so I’d not necessarily planned to medicate the group unless they showed signs of disease. Well 3 dying in quick succession in 24 hours woke me up so I gave them the med trio. I’ll follow that with Expel-P in a week or so as well. C93D2A86-62D0-4735-9267-85951A17D901.jpeg.59eb76240a8ae3c526541a2049614411.jpeg
The variatus initially did well they ate well and had no issues but then I found a body that had been half eaten by snails 2 days ago. The other fish looked ok. 7A2E449E-23D2-4F47-9798-6E7AB476158E.jpeg.aed7cff3f44d5d9fa8610a2d8eab6799.jpegF19DEAD8-38BA-476E-96D2-4DE0C2E8405A.jpeg.88ca9fdc44761678b6668cd22a519cb8.jpeg
Oddly the tank had some nitrites but I thought it was just the dead body so I did a nice size water change, added a touch of salt and watched. Well I didn’t like what I saw. They were huddled together near the top of the tank. 91A49BC4-6C04-40B7-9179-C52C239D88DD.jpeg.758b9870ac7203f5229f7896a7f007ff.jpeg726E1251-03DC-4389-AB6B-AD6BFFFEE04C.jpeg.fc16f5266532670f292158f89122a938.jpeg

So I’ve moved them to a bucket with a sponge filter to medicate them and see if we can Id the cause of their malady. 449F8902-BB5B-4798-924C-38E34FE9E0FF.jpeg.b96231a794b7a8c88d441e4351965a8d.jpeg

The rest of the weekend was maintenance and one conundrum I’ve had is my shell dwellers- neo brevis. I’ve not seen any fry lately. I’ve got a male and female in a shell and 3 others 2 males and 1 female who occasionally shack up together then split up. It’s a bit of a soap opera. Throw in my sons mollies and it’s really a soap opera. I added a different cichlid salt blend this go round and I’m not sure what I’ll do next. Maybe pull the shellies to their own setup. Do the variatus with the mollies once they are done with QT? I’ll have to consult the tanks owner my 4 year old to see what he wants to do. 7FB30DA8-75AC-4531-AB67-37D973B6A1BD.jpeg.c851f5720d5821491ababd8af443d3db.jpeg79C5DBED-032D-4C4A-BBBA-E8B5FE071949.jpeg.b296ac24eebb17d714eeb25eef438d65.jpeg

I’ve seen a little bit of some odd behaviors from my other breeders- full red albino guppies - 3 females were lounging on the crushed coral substrate. I went ahead and did a water change - I’ve been trying to do 2-3 wc a week with them since I’ve been feeding heavy. They perked up after the water change and a dinner of brine shrimp. 5CAAC73A-20A9-4B4A-8973-9DACDD6903AE.jpeg.e68910dbf135dbd4afb005490cceeec1.jpegD8EC9E2C-1DB9-4D18-8147-82DD678286A9.jpeg.e91cdf46efd01135b4d466ef090dbd00.jpeg

Sorry about the images but they do love the aptly named guppy grass! 
Finally I’ve been spending some extra time on my main display- 45 g tetra community- and really just love all the action. It’s over stocked filtered and planted. I’ve added an aponogeton ulvaceus initially positioned it in the back between the dwarf Lilly and the swords but right up against the back glass. Well either the pleco (7 BNs of various types) or the bronze corys (2 f 3 m) had redecorated and it was floating around with a bolbitis I’d picked up at Fishtoberfest. I found a nice spot in the mid ground and planted the ulvaceus and the bolbitis got tucked into a crack in the wood. The fish were very active this evening- I was running around dealing with my tank stuff so maybe they were just eager to please but man do I enjoy this tank! BD78C4F2-4AE7-4DB8-BFF6-A1DEA83E8674.jpeg.c6f6ea27234a598c81c4151d5a83d678.jpegBAAFC797-3036-4A4F-AE59-7FC67CC5F024.jpeg.acec7cec202b90d68f620354f63979a2.jpeg9B7E5CCE-6040-425D-A38B-B78E615BE08A.jpeg.134e1e8f99fea33b3fe45b91d0ad7b61.jpeg346CD166-8CD2-4DFA-846E-10AA785B7FD8.jpeg.bdddae521209268723af0c02b321f3e8.jpegC4E93664-91AA-4870-B50C-16300A431657.jpeg.b5c08d17cf1afbfa1164bf159e51755d.jpegA45C98DA-58D4-4B44-9B63-BAD8E0C9892E.jpeg.d0303c88910a441dc91d341d76700a15.jpeg
I also Spent some time with my blue Hawaiian guppies and my blue dream shrimps. There are now 4 generations in the tub of the guppies and despite my recent cull and sell off to the LFS the BD Neocaridina are taking off again. I’m thinking I may need to separate out some of the juvenile guppies to power feed and get them ready for sale next 1-2 months. They do seem to be slow to color but when they do bam!
Here’s an adult and then some of my juveniles. 
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You can just start to make out the blue and yellow hues on the guppies - I of course stressed them out by pulling them to check and photograph. The neos are super solid color wise and once again just a bit stressed but still excellent color. 
My plan for this week is keep a careful eye on these sick fish and I’m back to figuring out what to do with the cracked flex. I’ve really been thinking of African dwarf frogs. My snails in the flex have been very happy. I don’t think there’s any sad bowl like hijinks going on but maybe I need to reset it again. I did throw some polyfilter in so we’ll see if it colors up. From what I’ve read frogs have their own health issues quite different from fish so who knows!

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