14 Gallon Cube, FINALLY!

[Odd Duck]

I have hummingbird tetras in quarantine!  Bad news, though, they only sent half of what I ordered and didn’t bother to tell me until I emailed to ask why I didn’t get them all!  After the fact, they claim they had 2 batches and “the other batch isn’t doing well”.  They said they refunded me, which hasn’t yet hit my account.  I’m quite certain that if they realized they hadn’t sent all of what I ordered when they shipped it yesterday, an ethical business would have already sent the refund yesterday.  But they are now magically sending me a refund today AFTER I sent them emails asking why they didn’t send all my fish.  I wonder if they thought I just wouldn’t notice I only got half as many fish as I ordered?  Or that I wouldn’t notice if they didn’t send me a refund for the fish I didn’t get?

What I suspect happened is somebody messed up and sent only 1 of the 2 ten-packs of fish I ordered.  And I think it costs them too much if they have to eat the cost of shipping the other 10 pack.  I won’t name the company but I will say it was NOT Aqua Huna.  I would have ordered from Aqua Huna if they had the species I wanted.  Aqua Huna hasn’t messed up any of my orders.

At least I have a 10 count and they actually sent 11.  If they had notified me yesterday they didn’t have enough and asked what I wanted to do, I would have had them hold all of them until they determined if others were going to improve enough for shipping.  If they had told me they didn’t think they would get healthy enough to ship, I would be disappointed at not getting them all but not mad about them holding fish that weren’t healthy enough to ship.  Then I would be happy they sent me 11 instead of just 10. But now I’m just mad they sent me 11 instead of 20.  Hopefully they will breed for me.  I was hoping for about 15ish, expecting some losses since I’m sure they’re imported.  Some of them are eating already (I risked feeding a bit since some were out and looking at me expectantly).  We’ll see how they do.  Pics of them in the bag before release.  Loose in the tank it’ll be hard to get pics since they’re still anxious.

 

[Odd Duck]

A couple are a bit thin, but hopefully they’ll come around.  I’ll give them a few days to eat, then treat with levamisole weekly while they’re in QT. 

Edited March 1, 2022 by Odd Duck

[Patrick_G]

So frustrating since I expect the shipping cost almost as much as the fish, they should ship you 10 more when they’re healthy!

[Odd Duck]

On 3/1/2022 at 3:57 PM, Patrick_G said:

So frustrating since I expect the shipping cost almost as much as the fish, they should ship you 10 more when they’re healthy!

That’s what I would have elected if they had given me the choice.  Instead, IF I ever find more, I’ll have to pay for shipping again.  If I get lucky, they’ll breed for me.  I hope they aren’t egg eaters.  I can’t find much info about them.  The only info I can find appears to be repeats of the same report.  Apparently they may have internal fertilization of the eggs, then the eggs are laid, but no indication of how/where they’re laid.  It’s said that fry may appear without any observation of breeding behavior.  Fry appear likely to feed on aufwuchs - seems logical since the adults are only about 3/4”.  Very soft, heavy tannin water depending on where you think they originate from (nobody seems to know for sure).

[eatyourpeas]

I hope they breed for you. They are beautiful! I have a thing for transparent fish. 😍

[Odd Duck]

On 3/1/2022 at 5:23 PM, eatyourpeas said:

I hope they breed for you. They are beautiful! I have a thing for transparent fish. 😍

Same.  Glass cats are one of my faves.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Odd Duckcan you dm me who it was?

[Patrick_G]

On 3/1/2022 at 4:20 PM, Odd Duck said:

Same.  Glass cats are one of my faves.

I’ll third that. I’m a sucker for a little clear fish. 

[Odd Duck]

On 3/1/2022 at 9:18 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

@Odd Duckcan you dm me who it was?

They’re working with me to make it right.  I’m starting to actually believe they were telling the truth about not having enough healthy ones to fill the order.  They’re expecting more at the end of the month and they’re going to work with me on price +/- shipping for more.  I set them to working on getting me some giant hatchetfish, too (Thoracocharax securis), so we’ll see what we come up with.  That’ll be about the time the tetras come out of QT.  I’ll still DM you, but I wanted to let everybody know they’re trying to work things out. I’ve let them know I expect better communication moving forward.  I’m willing to give anybody a second chance if they express a willingness to do better and put it into action.

[Odd Duck]

They aren’t all in focus, but all 11 of them are out and about.  Can you find them all?

They are eating some ACO Fry Food, 500-800 micron Golden Pearls, and some Grindal worms depending on the size of each fish.  The smallest don’t quite seem up to the task of Grindal worms, yet.  I’m seeing glints of their iridescent colors even without the lights on.  When I started the microworm, vinegar eel, and Grindal worm cultures, I envisioned using them to feed tiny fry, not subadult and adult fish.  Yet Grindals are just right for the adults, slightly large for the subadults.  I was late renewing my microworms cultures this last time so they aren’t at full production yet.

Today, I’m going to try setting up high density vinegar eel cultures.  They’re more like microworms cultures than liquid vinegar eel cultures and much easier to harvest because apparently they will also climb the sides of the container like microworms will.  I’ll keep my liquid vinegar eel cultures going as back up because they barely need any maintenance, but looking forward to eventually have much higher production and easier harvesting.

 

[Minanora]

Those tetras are gorgeous! That cube looks incredible! That stump is a true statement piece. I look forward to seeing everything come together.

Bummer about the shipment situation. I would be frustrated as well. Communication goes a long way. I'm curious to know the company as well as I have several online retailers that I have been wanting to try, and am looking for more options all the time.

[Odd Duck]

Spotted some bits of fin rot on a couple tetras.  One male on his dorsal fine and a female on her left pectoral.  I couldn’t see all the fish last night, but that’s not surprising at this stage.  I could see them moving around behind stuff.  Started kanamycin (Kanaplex) and will add more tannins.  I’ve got some IAL, alder cones, oak leaves, and roobios tea.  I’ll start with the IAL, but I may end up adding roobios tea also.  We’ll see.

[Odd Duck]

I had 7 of 11 hummingbird tetras survive and are now doing well.  The male with the fin rot on his dorsal still hasn’t grown it back but no further signs of disease for 3 weeks, now.  They finish QT on the 31st.

I FINALLY found some Anubias nana ‘Golden Coin’ again after weeks of everybody being out.  Plus the moss I had tied onto the long wood piece pointing toward the right side had just faded away and nothing was left but the string.  I have some Cameroon moss (Plagiochilaceae sp. ‘Cameroon’) that has a cool look and grows a little faster than a lot of the larger, visually hefty mosses, so I thought I’d give that a try in its place.  I wasn’t going to tie again, so that meant gluing little bits onto the wood with tiny dabs of glue.  🤦🏻‍♀️ 🤷🏻‍♀️  I just had to cut the string remnants off, I wasn’t going to tie again.  Oh, and I placed some overdue root tabs for Crypts and swords.

I have sapphire shrimp in the tank that are doing well and should be safe for the tetras as well as being safe enough from the tetras.

Pic of the whole tank, pic of the ‘Golden Coin’, and last of the ‘Cameroon’ moss.

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Odd Duck
Clarify and typos