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Saffron Shiner Journal


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On 6/10/2022 at 4:47 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

@Fish Folk I’m setting up a 10 gallon planted tank and I will use a seeded sponge filter, aquarium water from main tank, and pool filter sand (new sand, no bacteria). Would I be ok to use an eco substrate under the sand and immediately add fish?

Well, you’ll find that finer substrates eventually fall underneath coarser substrates. It might appear as you like for awhile, but it will eventually trade places.

As for cycling, that’s a great start! Just add lots of live plants and test your water.

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On 6/10/2022 at 5:05 PM, Fish Folk said:

Well, you’ll find that finer substrates eventually fall underneath coarser substrates. It might appear as you like for awhile, but it will eventually trade places.

As for cycling, that’s a great start! Just add lots of live plants and test your water.

Always! Thanks!

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Acclimation process:

(1) remove ice from box, and set bags (doubled) on styrofoam lid on floor with aquarium thermometer underneath. Leave closed. Wait 1-2 hrs.

(2) Examine temperature: 70°-F. That’s 8° lower than my room temperature.

(3) Set fish bags in one pail. Fill another pail with cool tap water. Test temperature. Adjust as necessary. Be sure to add dechlorinator.

(4) Open fish bags, and net shiners over.

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(5) Add an air-stone. This keeps O2 levels up, and allows more room-temp air through the water to bring it up.

(6) Every 10 minutes, move 2-4 cups out, and 2-4 cups of tank water in. This acclimates temperature and chemistry. I do this for ca. 40-60 minutes

 

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First look 👀

Very washed out. 20x total. One looks pretty stressed.

Honestly, these are a total unknown. Perhaps they’ll fall apart. Maybe they thrive. No knowing. They’re wild fish. If I can breed them and raise fry, generations grown in my water should be better. Might take a full year to get there. Long game. No problem.

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On 6/10/2022 at 7:17 PM, Fish Folk said:

First look 👀

Very washed out. 20x total. One looks pretty stressed.

Honestly, these are a total unknown. Perhaps they’ll fall apart. Maybe they thrive. No knowing. They’re wild fish. If I can breed them and raise fry, generations grown in my water should be better. Might take a full year to get there. Long game. No problem.

Anyone excluded from the group I'd be concerned about, otherwise your great water parameters, your attention to detail, and your live food regimen I'll bet has them in good shape pretty quickly. Maybe consider Gianne's betta breeding stress reducer, of covering up all the glass with construction paper (with the exception of a few peek spots) until they are eating well? Staying in a tight knot is reassuring, as long as you can get the stress down and the weight up, and deworm at some point in the future when they have good color and full bellies.

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On 6/11/2022 at 11:55 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

@Fish Folk their chins are orange now. Is the lil dude that was stressed still social distancing?

Yes, they are coloring up nicely in non-spawning dress. All shiners are schooling / shoaling nicely. If you scroll up and examine the iNat photos screen shot, you can definitely see taxonomic similarities.

They’ve eagerly eaten BBS, crushed New Life Spectrum flakes, and frozen bloodworms + Daphnia. They spat out spirulina flakes, and were so-so with frozen Spirulina brine shrimp.

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Learning about a new species by reading scientific journals is excellent! But so is exploring how they act in a “live lab.”

I’ve been observing some unique things about these new juvenile Saffron Shiners that I share here in two videos…

 

 

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On 6/12/2022 at 6:22 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

@Fish Folk I have a 10-year old black neon that has become a little swollen; some forum members believe she is egg bound, slightly. Anyway, since the swelling she makes the same movement as your shiners, chasing off others that swim into her personal space.

Wow! If you’ve been keeping a Black neon that long, you’re doing everything right. No fish lives forever.

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On 6/12/2022 at 3:22 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

@Fish Folk I have a 10-year old black neon that has become a little swollen; some forum members believe she is egg bound, slightly. Anyway, since the swelling she makes the same movement as your shiners, chasing off others that swim into her personal space.

10 years?  That’s amazing! Post a picture!

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On 6/13/2022 at 9:26 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

 

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I see what you mean about a slightly distended abdomen. Do you ever make any batches of live baby brine shrimp? Feeding that a few times might help to loosen the fish up if there's an abdominal blockage. It sometimes acts a bit like a laxative for fish that eat a high protein diet.

If this is an egg-bound female, I do not have any really good recommendations. By the time they go egg bound, it may not be possible to reverse their condition by introducing breeding males.

Many fish develop internal illnesses that are just slow-motion breakdowns. I've had a handful of Black Neons that would appear to bloat . . . then get a bent appearance . . . and finally just fall apart and die. But I never have kept any so long as you have! 

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You really did a nice job with this tank. Fish look super happy and natural in their environment. They look much more vibrant since the introduction last week. Sorry if I missed it, but what kind of light are you running?

Edited by BradleyH20
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