Journal - 29G Black Schultzei Corydoras Breeding Project

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 3/3/2023 at 8:45 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

she does the "morning shimmy

Snoopy does this. Geppetto as well. Seems the more intelligent fish do the greeting.

On 3/3/2023 at 8:45 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

and nearly gassed the tank

Yeahh.. that’s why I don’t do CO2 at all. I don’t trust myself. What if I adjust something, go do something else and forget I adjusted it, then later in the day adjust it again? And then ☠️ Low tech it is for me!

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 3/4/2023 at 1:05 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Snoopy does this. Geppetto as well. Seems the more intelligent fish do the greeting.

In that case 95% of mine are stupid. 😂

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/4/2023 at 4:05 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Yeahh.. that’s why I don’t do CO2 at all. I don’t trust myself. What if I adjust something, go do something else and forget I adjusted it, then later in the day adjust it again? And then ☠️ Low tech it is for me!

I agree low tech is nice.  My low tech tank is an algae ball no matter what I do.  The one with CO2 at least it's starting to have a fighting chance or sorts.  Pressurized / fancy co2 is probably the most overrated thing as far as difficulty.  It's very, very easy.  The only real thing is to just be careful when you adjust, verify. make sure.  CO2 was cranked up, tank was running for a few hours, no issues.  Had I not checked it, obviously would've been bad the next morning.  The fact I can dump in a ton of CO2 and it does just about nothing, also speaks to some pretty weird issues that I've been working on. I wish I had the skill to disassemble / reassemble the whole regulator to make sure everything was correct and working as it should.

[Lennie]

On 3/4/2023 at 11:31 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

My low tech tank is an algae ball no matter what I do. 

I feel like understocking, lots of plants and 6-7 hours of light is the key. Anything above 7 or arguably 6 means algae. Maybe a bold argument, but I really don't think we need long lighting periods personally

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/4/2023 at 12:43 PM, Lennie said:

I feel like understocking, lots of plants and 6-7 hours of light is the key. Anything above 7 or arguably 6 means algae. Maybe a bold argument, but I really don't think we need long lighting periods personally

I had no lights.  Algae.  I had a few hours. Algae.  I had normal amount.  Algae.  Add more plants. Algae.  Add more surface movement / air.... algae.  You get the idea. 

Something is just funky and it's often CO2 for me.  Maybe this is entirely due to the very high followed by very low temps, difficult to say.

 

[nabokovfan87]

Amano vs Corydoras vs Oto

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 3/4/2023 at 3:56 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Amano vs Corydoras vs Oto

Trying their best to imitate the 3 lines on the top corner of the website. Amanos are big!

[nabokovfan87]

Coffee made, out of coffee beans again.  😞

I spent the day helping the little one with school work, cooking class, so that's fun.  During a break while work is uploaded to google classroom I went in to work on the tank.  I realized I hadn't had food all day and was very clumsy.  Just felt like I was going to make a mistake.  First time I've done maintenance on the tank post moving it, and so everything was taking a little bit of getting used to.

I moved the plants around, I tried to check on everything.  I fixed the rock pile a little bit, just a bunch of little pesky work.

Which leads me to the entire point of posting, I have a very good tip for everyone.  You know how you have that prefilter and how a lot of people use a plastic bag or something to get it around the sponge.  Go grab yourself a fine mesh seachem net, never need a bag again and that muck isn't going anywhere.  Worked so well I even got to scoot the little amano out of the net. It's kind of fun to see the little ones compared to the adults.  Night and day difference. (about the size of a full grown neo I'd imagine)

I still have a bit of a struggle trying to get back around the wood to get the sponge off the tidal, but that'll be a little better after the move to the 75.  I'm kind of excited for the bigger space.  I can tell how cramped this 29G is.  😞 

[nabokovfan87]

In the middle of a few things today, finally sitting.

Of the things I tested here are the results. I wanted to do a sanity check on things.

Temp: 71.6
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 5-10  (I'll dose ferts tomorrow)
KH: 70-80
GH: 150 gh
PH: 7.0

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 3/5/2023 at 11:35 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Coffee made, out of coffee beans again.  😞

I spent the day helping the little one with school work, cooking class, so that's fun.  During a break while work is uploaded to google classroom I went in to work on the tank.  I realized I hadn't had food all day and was very clumsy.  Just felt like I was going to make a mistake.  First time I've done maintenance on the tank post moving it, and so everything was taking a little bit of getting used to.

I moved the plants around, I tried to check on everything.  I fixed the rock pile a little bit, just a bunch of little pesky work.

Which leads me to the entire point of posting, I have a very good tip for everyone.  You know how you have that prefilter and how a lot of people use a plastic bag or something to get it around the sponge.  Go grab yourself a fine mesh seachem net, never need a bag again and that muck isn't going anywhere.  Worked so well I even got to scoot the little amano out of the net. It's kind of fun to see the little ones compared to the adults.  Night and day difference. (about the size of a full grown neo I'd imagine)

I still have a bit of a struggle trying to get back around the wood to get the sponge off the tidal, but that'll be a little better after the move to the 75.  I'm kind of excited for the bigger space.  I can tell how cramped this 29G is.  😞 

My PFS is a pain. First, diameterwise it’s ridiculous. It’s like the medium ACO sponge filter. Also I have deep substrate so it sits almost on the substrate and the tube can’t be shortened unless I saw it, which I don’t have time for.
 

To remove it I have to go into the HOB and pull the intake tube up, then I have the clearance to remove my PFS. I have the big piece of spider wood in there also, so that doesn’t help. I can’t see how I can bag or net my PFS. 😕

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/13/2023 at 7:38 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I have the big piece of spider wood in there also, so that doesn’t help. I can’t see how I can bag or net my PFS. 😕

Yeah. It's fishkeeping yoga for sure. That's why I often don't use them because I just feel like it's much easier to clean the HoB than the prefilter. Given that the pump is in-between that and all the pump issues, now I have to.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 3/13/2023 at 1:55 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Yeah. It's fishkeeping yoga for sure. That's why I often don't use them because I just feel like it's much easier to clean the HoB than the prefilter. Given that the pump is in-between that and all the pump issues, now I have to.

I don’t think I really need the PFS, except for the one, maybe 2, shrimp that are in there. But they are adult shrimp so maybe they’d be ok near the intake? Not sure. 🤔

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/13/2023 at 11:37 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I don’t think I really need the PFS, except for the one, maybe 2, shrimp that are in there. But they are adult shrimp so maybe they’d be ok near the intake? Not sure. 🤔

With shrimp, probably best to just run it with them.

It's alive.

I'm sure Grace will try to jump over into it while I'm asleep, but hopefully she can wait a few days for me to get it setup and running. 🙂

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 3/14/2023 at 1:16 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

With shrimp, probably best to just run it with them.

It's alive.

I'm sure Grace will try to jump over into it while I'm asleep, but hopefully she can wait a few days for me to get it setup and running. 🙂

The top looks bowed?  Maybe it's just the light that's bowed.

Can't wait to see Grace enjoying the space.

[Miska]

They are so cuuute. I need more pictures whenever you can. 

 

Your setup is amazing! It's gonna be gorgeous. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/14/2023 at 6:09 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

The top looks bowed?  Maybe it's just the light that's bowed.

I'll check everything out.  It's not leveled, room is FULL of stuff on the floor so I'm hoping whatever you're seeing is just a camera trick.  I cut the background last night, need to move power over and adjust a few things.  It's in place though

On 3/14/2023 at 6:15 AM, Miska said:

They are so cuuute. I need more pictures whenever you can. 

Definitely can make that happen. Thank you!  🙂

[nabokovfan87]

I went to check on the tank, just to see how algae is doing (lighting adjustments and all that).

Grace hanging out with the corydoras, then she saw me try to get a photo and ran to her cave.
"hi dad, how are you today"


Checking on the amanos, small, medium, and then a big one!  This is one of the older ones hanging out on the moss.  Seemed like they could use some shrimp pellets, so I went ahead and tossed a few in.



Tried to take a photo of the smaller corydoras in the back and guess who decided to photobomb




And of course the (yes 3) males in there being boisterous and wanting some attention 🙂


A few minutes passed since the food was dropped for shrimp and I see the small corydoras going bananas!  Hard to see in the photo, but about 15 of them swam to the front glass trying to find food. 

I tossed in some wafers and they acted like they didn't JUST EAT.



Parents got a little food and then waited to go sit away from the foodball.  This is one of the larger females. She knows she's the boss, but had her bites of food and went to go relax 🙂

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 3/14/2023 at 5:36 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I tossed in some wafers and they acted like they didn't JUST EAT

Lol

On 3/14/2023 at 5:36 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

today"


Checking on

Great pic of Grace and her little buddy. That must be the one she frolicks with.

[Miska]

Beautiful! They are so amazing 

[nabokovfan87]

Reminds me of the scene in Good Will Hunting where he goes to Harvard to hang out with his friends and he dances up to the table and just stands there waiting for her to talk. Goofball, but he just says "oh, hello there"

My bag of "root tabs" are in. Tank is leveled, equipment ready.  I could literally work until 3-4 AM and have it moved tonight, but I seriously think that I need time to dial some stuff in and to get the substrate to "simmer" so to speak and absorb some nutrients and leech out some ammonia.

It's there, it's done, light is on, and electrical is fixed.  Turns out it arced on the box of the outlet because the outlet had 6 wires and because it wasn't grounded and because it was a metal outlet receptacle instead of a modern plastic one.

Fun.

It's been a day. Now I get to go and do my normal maintenance! (And yes, I'm actually excited to do so)

[itsfoxtail]

On 3/14/2023 at 4:36 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I went to check on the tank, just to see how algae is doing (lighting adjustments and all that).

Grace hanging out with the corydoras, then she saw me try to get a photo and ran to her cave.
"hi dad, how are you today"


Checking on the amanos, small, medium, and then a big one!  This is one of the older ones hanging out on the moss.  Seemed like they could use some shrimp pellets, so I went ahead and tossed a few in.



Tried to take a photo of the smaller corydoras in the back and guess who decided to photobomb




And of course the (yes 3) males in there being boisterous and wanting some attention 🙂


A few minutes passed since the food was dropped for shrimp and I see the small corydoras going bananas!  Hard to see in the photo, but about 15 of them swam to the front glass trying to find food. 

I tossed in some wafers and they acted like they didn't JUST EAT.



Parents got a little food and then waited to go sit away from the foodball.  This is one of the larger females. She knows she's the boss, but had her bites of food and went to go relax 🙂

What an amazing thread of pictures!!! For some reason the motion blur on Grace in the photo in the middle is just peak comedy to me and I laughed a little longer than I should have. 

The corys are adorable as ever and you have so many growing out!! The 75 is lookin' snazzy too; I can't wait to see the hardscape go in!

[nabokovfan87]

Now or never.....  Time to go see how easy it is to net all these guys again.

[nabokovfan87]

Halfway done....

So far I have this much substrate moved.

Fish are moved here:

Plants here (and on hard scape):

Spraybar moved, not setup at all.

Hardacape is here for now. Move it over after I cap half the tank.

 

[nabokovfan87]

Bye bye my little 29....

We learned a lot and definitely fought

But I appreciate all you did provide.

 

[nabokovfan87]

This tank has been moved to the 75G which is now moving to this jornal.

A massive thank you to everyone who followed along and helped me along the way.  I genuinely appreciate it, learned a lot, and I'm very thankful for that journey we took.