Guppies, snails, breeding

[Cinnebuns]

I first want to thank @Guppysnail for making me realize this was a thing. While typing the title I also realized my top 2 favorite livestock is literally your name so that's cool lol. 

Quite a bit happened in my aquarium world today both physically and planning wise. 

Let's start with a positive.

 

New mystery snails are born!

A couple of weeks ago I was gone for 4 days for my brother's out of state wedding. I had planned ahead and my plans were almost 100% successful in keeping my animals alive with 1 exception. I lost about 90% of my 2-4 week old mystery snabies. 

I also had a hard week the week after getting back and was unable to send out a clutch i had intended to a customer. Long story short she's getting a better deal now because I like to make things right. ANYWAY, the clutch I had originally intended to send her had developed to the point where it would have hatched mid transport. I've been told they do fine in this condition but I don't really like it.

The snabies I lost were purple and magenta but this clutch was laid by my chestnut female and has a magenta father. More of a chance of imo less fun colors. I still decided to hatch and raise the snabies. I was expecting full chestnut but imo looks to be more ivory than chestnut so that's a fun surprise. Although I also have a hard time seeing the difference at this size so who knows haha. 

Here's some pics and a video of me hatching them. 

 

 

 

Guppy fry deaths

And with birth also comes death. 

Today about half my fry in my unsexed tank died. What upsets me the most about this is that a large part of them were rescues from a lady I have stayed in contact with. I'm embarrassed and feel like I let her down. I'm scared to admit it to her if she asks about them.

I'm also embarrassed as to what I believe the cause of the deaths were. I'm pretty sure it was nitrates. Last night I noticed they were all in the middle of the tank swimming in place. I worried it was a high flow issues so I turned the extra filter off. That seemed odd to me however because they have had the same flow their whole lives with no issues.

Then I realized I hadn't done a water change since I left for a few days a couple of weeks ago. I got so thrown off and behind on things I missed that tank. Sure enough, even after 2 water changes, it measured 40+. Tbh, idk what it was before those 2. I'm kicking myself for missing that. There is always more guppy fry coming during the great guppy invasion but these felt different since they were rescues. 

 

To end on a positive

Maintenance 

I had planned on doing this today anyway but the fry deaths kicked me in the butt to do it more. I did some sort of Maintenance in all 6 tanks today. 

 

Upcoming topics: 

Organizing sales, cats, cory breeding, should I get a 40 gallon?, algae

 

[Guppysnail]

I’m so glad you are doing a journal. Other folks journals allow me to expand my fishroom experience vicariously through others journals. I’m looking forward to following along.

On 7/20/2022 at 1:37 AM, Cinnebuns said:

More of a chance of imo less fun colors

Chestnuts are hands down my favorite 🥰 I have 6 magenta that I like and chose because magentas are easier to rehome than chestnut. 
My chestnuts alway live longer as well.  Ivory has the shortest lifespan for me.  Things I notice are the ivory hide under things to find shade much more than chestnuts  so I think she’ll coloration lends shade and chestnuts get the most and possibly this allows them to rest better and be less stressed so live longer  just another of my crazy old lady theories.  
 

On 7/20/2022 at 1:37 AM, Cinnebuns said:

I'm also embarrassed as to what I believe the cause of the deaths were. I'm pretty sure it was nitrates. Last night I noticed they were all in the middle of the tank swimming in place. I worried it was a high flow issues so I turned the extra filter off. That seemed odd to me however because they have had the same flow their whole lives with no issues.

Hopefully this helps. But nitrates do not affect my guppies very much. My tap runs 20-30 so my tanks ALWAYS have 40-50. When I had a bursitis flare they were at 80 p-100 for a week in 3 tank with guppy babies including newborn fry. No ill affects.  When mine group and swim in place I know to turn UP the flow. They improve immediately with more oxygen.  I actually use powerheads with my guppies they love playing in the stronger area of current. I do angle it so they have calm water areas in the tank to rest. 
 

Im sorry you experienced this. Explaining to your friend what happened if they are a real friend they will know you did your very best, no one is perfect and fish are not an exact science and how much the loss hurt you. They will understand.  

[Cinnebuns]

On 7/20/2022 at 6:44 AM, Guppysnail said:

magentas are easier to rehome than chestnut

Magenta are my favorite mostly because of the wide range of colors they can come out as from pink to dark purple, but this is the primary reason I don't enjoy hatching chestnut lol. I love my chestnut girl but when i got her I had ordered a magenta and just never complained. 

On 7/20/2022 at 6:44 AM, Guppysnail said:

Hopefully this helps. But nitrates do not affect my guppies very much. My tap runs 20-30 so my tanks ALWAYS have 40-50. When I had a bursitis flare they were at 80 p-100 for a week in 3 tank with guppy babies including newborn fry. No ill affects.  When mine group and swim in place I know to turn UP the flow. They improve immediately with more oxygen.  I actually use powerheads with my guppies they love playing in the stronger area of current. I do angle it so they have calm water areas in the tank to rest. 

Now I'm less sure of the cause lol. Today now almost all are dead. It did take 4 30% water changes to get the levels below where they weren't showing 40+.  It's possible the levels were above 100 and maybe for a few days idk. 

[Katherine]

I will never get over how cute baby snails are! I look forward to following along your journal. When Guppysnail mentioned you as another snail person in a thread last week sometime I looked to see if you had a journal going.

I'm sorry about your guppy losses. 💔

[Guppysnail]

On 7/20/2022 at 1:45 PM, Cinnebuns said:

4 30% water changes

Rapid change is hard on fish. Even when it’s really bad trying to make it better slow is best. This would be a good approach for Am and nitrite since those are rapidly lethal. Next time if you get in a nitrate bind try doing this but one change a day until it comes in line. 
Having nitrate that high so quickly it all was ammonia at one point before conversion. Am and trite could have spiked and that may have also affected them. Often ammonia poisoning can take a bit to show up in fish. I think it is up to a week. 
Hang in there. Unfortunately learning curve for aquarium is steep with harsh grading. Try to stay positive and know you are trying your best. These were rescued so they may have done no better without your try. 🤗

Edited July 20, 2022 by Guppysnail

[Cinnebuns]

On 7/20/2022 at 6:25 PM, Guppysnail said:

Rapid change is hard on fish

All 4 were after almost all of the deaths. That's also why I decided for 4 small rather than 2 large. Initially planned to only do 2 but I kept testing out high nitrates so I kept going. It was 2 a day for 2 days. The first 2 were def panic ones. 

 

On 7/20/2022 at 6:25 PM, Guppysnail said:

Having nitrate that high so quickly it all was ammonia at one point before conversion. Am and trite could have spiked and that may have also affected them. Often ammonia poisoning can take a bit to show up in fish. I think it is up to a week. 

That's a good point. It's possible I didn't catch an ammonia spike while I was gone and catching up. The ammonia may have done most of the damage and the nitrates either finished them off or just been what I noticed as the result. 

 

On 7/20/2022 at 6:25 PM, Guppysnail said:

Unfortunately learning curve for aquarium is steep with harsh grading.

One thing I didn't mention as to why this deaths kinda hit me hard is that this is the 2nd group of fry this lady has given me that ended up dying. The first tho I'm not 100% sure what happened. I got them late at night and they were dead by morning. I have theories but nothing that can really be solid proven. I just feel extra responsibility when it's fish someone hands over to me because of their lack of ability to care for them but I also fail them. 

[Cinnebuns]

New Fish

Before I get into the old topics I never finished, I have to say I got new fish!  @nabokovfan87 ty for helping me decide on specie. This is not only a new breed to me but a new family too. Rainbow fish!  Fortail blue-eye rainbowfish to be exact or Pseudomugil Furcatus.  Me being me, I couldn't just got fish without also getting snails. I stopped myself at 5 different types of nerites including a red and yellow racer!  Pumped!  Also slightly pumped about the king Koopa but it hasn't moved yet so we'll see. 

 

 

 

Cory Breeding

Since I started breeding my cories it's been almost exclusively 1 female doing the spawning. I have 2 longfin females and 2 standard fin. I knew both longfin were old enough to be sexually mature but I wasn't sure about the standard fins. This past week one of the standard fin females has started to spawn. Yay!  One interesting thing of note is she has been spawning every night but only laying a couple of eggs a night. This is very different from the other 2 females I've had spawn who will lay 1-2 nights a week but much more at a time. Kinda annoying tbh because I'd rather gather a bunch at once but oh well. 

I've also discovered how to the the 2nd long fin to spawn more often. She seems to spawn more readily after I feed vibra bites. I'll have to take note if this continues or if it's a fluke. 

 

 

Edited July 23, 2022 by Cinnebuns

[nabokovfan87]

Looks great, they are smaller than I thought they'd be!

[Cinnebuns]

On 7/22/2022 at 9:15 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Looks great, they are smaller than I thought they'd be!

I agree. Maybe they will grow a little and are juveniles. We'll see. The blue eyes are pretty striking and fun

[Cinnebuns]

Today was a fun day!  Well, yesterday?  It's 7am and I haven't slept yet idk what day it is...

What did I do?  Let's see...

I spent some time propagating many of the plants. I did a few water changes. Hmm...what else?  

OH YEAH!!!  I GOT FISH!!!  INCLUDING ONE IVE WANTED FOR AWHILE!!

So first off my aquahuna order came in. Pretty cool. 6 more forktail rainbow fish to add to the group I already had and 2 reticulated hillstream loaches to add to the 2 I already had. Kinda fun seeing 1 new and 1 old one next to each other to see how much they've grown since I got them about a month and a half ago!!

 

Then, I got more....

I decided I needed otos. I've been battling with BBA for awhile. My friend keeps telling me to get otos but I keep trying other things. Yesterday, while trying to clean it off of my Amazon sword, I destroyed 4 leaves. That was it!  In getting the otos!!  Problem is I JUST got an aquahuna order in and didn't feel like paying shipping again since my funds are pretty much gone. 

My LFS doesn't currently have otos. My local petsmart is SUPER small and has a very limited selection. Although they have been doing a much better job lately at keeping a nice variety, it's still mostly guppies and goldfish. I had no hopes of them having otos but for some reason I felt like checking. THEY HAD JUST GOT THEM IN THE DAY BEFORE!  I decided to drive up there. 

Before flagging down an employee to bag up my otos I decided to look around at what they had first. And then I saw it....a powdered blue gourami!! I've been wanting one for awhile. I realized I have the space for it too!  So I got it!!  He's so pretty!  I do kinda fear DGD but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. 

 

 

 

 

[redfish]

He's very nice looking.  I'm enjoying learning and reading all these journals.

[redfish]

On 7/20/2022 at 6:44 AM, Guppysnail said:

SNIP:
I actually use powerheads with my guppies they love playing in the stronger area of current. I do angle it so they have calm water areas in the tank to rest. 

Glad to know this is normal.  I noticed my few guppies like to do this.  They seem to like to swim upstream into the current.  It freaked me out the first few times I saw/heard it.  I thought something was wrong with them.

[Cinnebuns]

Today was a horrible fish day. Many deaths. Most of which not yet explained...

2 that I do have a general idea of:

1.  An oto which I got yesterday from petsmart the day after they got them in themselves. Not entirely unexpected. 

2.  This one breaks my heart. He's not dead yet but he's doing so bad I don't have hope for him. My long fin and high fin juvenile panda cory that was one of 2 that I bred and held for myself instead of selling. I feel horrible for him. I accidentally trapped him under a decor piece while putting it back in after doing some work on the plants on it. I always try to be super careful and watch to make sure nobody is getting covered but I screwed up big time this time. 

Now for the unexplained deaths...

Forktail blue eyed rainbowfish. 5 found dead. 3 of which were found in the spawning mops. 3 MIA and assumed eaten since 2 of the 3 found had been mostly eaten. Only 5 left of the 13 I've recently gotten. 

I don't wanna go into all the specifics right now other than to say there's a thread up about it right now:  it's called "is there a solution?" In general. Idk how to link threads and don't have the energy to figure it out rn tbh

Let's end this on the one positive. One of my blue neos is saddled. Here's to hoping for my first shrimp babies. 

Edited August 7, 2022 by Cinnebuns

[redfish]

Hate to hear that.  Hopefully you can figure out the mops.  Small consolation for the oto is you can get a refund on it under 14 days. 

[Cinnebuns]

On 8/6/2022 at 8:41 PM, redfish said:

Small consolation for the oto is you can get a refund on it under 14 days

I didn't even think of that lol. I probably won't do it tho. Was only 2.50 and petsmart is in the neighboring town. After gas + time investment I would come out behind. Unless I get a replacement then it might be worth it but I'll have to consider. I did throw it in the garbage so idk if they will even honor it. Tbh, they probably will. They know I know what I'm doing and often offer me fry and sick fish for free. I've gotten to know one of the employees a bit. Reputation helps sometimes. 

[Cinnebuns]

Idk how but that cory is still alive. He was all white at one point. He's pretty white still but gaining a little color and his breathing is more steady now. Maybe giving him a chance was the right move. I couldn't bring myself to euthanize.

[Cinnebuns]

Was just his last rally. I think he's gone now. 

[Cinnebuns]

I realized I haven't written in here in awhile!

Mystery snail babies are growing so fast!

 

I've been finding rainbow eggs!

Ok that's it for random catch up now for more detail:

Panda Cories

I picked 3 panda cory keepers. I haven't kept a panda cory in awhile. I had been eyeing the one on the right for awhile. The other 2 swam into the net and forced me to choose them and I accepted. They have been in the main tank for about 3 days now and I haven't seen much of them other than this one pic I got after the lights were off. That's fully to be expected. Not only is that scary for them but for some reason I've noticed all 11 in this group are super jumpy. The ones still in the grow out tank freak out more than I've seen. 

Here's the lights off pic 

 

Here's a video right after I net them. You can see how freaked out they are. 

I've noticed something about this batch or group or whatever term. I tend to get 50/50 standard to long fin and occasionally a long and high. This group of 11 has 4 standard and 7 long. Of those 7 4 are also high. Maybe momma found a favorite boy?

Side note:  since adding the shrimp to the breeding setup the rate of getting fry has dramatically increased. 

 

 

 

[Cinnebuns]

Guppies

I started a thread on this but I'm putting it here too. 

I've been considering switching to galaxy blue tails instead of blue dragons. I rescued one and fell in love with the strain. I can't do both. There's issues with switching. There is startup cost of getting at least a female since I have a male but the larger issue is rehoming. Dragons are much more popular and more widely known. I may have a hard time finding places for them all. I decided it basically comes down to goals.

I was leaning heavily towards switching and then I found this STUNNING female. Best I've seen in my stock. I already also have an amazing looking male. This makes me wanna keep going!  There is a 50/50 chance they are siblings but I'm pretty sure that won't matter in 2nd generation. Maybe later it will. 

The female:

 

The male:

 

Oh I would like to add, I've literally only been keeping 1 female pregnant at a time to manage fry output. The problem there being that narrows the genetics dramatically. The reason they have a 50% and not 100% chance of being siblings is because I did start with 2 females and 1 jumped to her death. I do plan to keep with the 1 pregnant at a time setup I already have going. And no, it's not a myth, it is possible to do lol. I've had many people not believe me.

@Guppysnail what's your opinion in the 2 strain choices?  Idk maybe I can make 1 female of each strain work?  I do have extra space with how things have been working...

 

[Guppysnail]

I’m not the best to answer strain questions. I outcross to eliminate as much inbreeding as possible and keep the ones closest to what I wanted. I do fish based on what makes me happiest. This results in my batch giving my babies to an LFS free because they are not a strain. I would rather get the most joy and lose money..  Hope that helps. 

[Cinnebuns]

Mystery Snail Babies

I noticed the water quality in the breeder box was going bad. I was scooping out the older ones into the tank as I have some that just hatched. Then I said "F!@# it" and dumped them all in. I'm gonna take my own advice and put food all around the tank so they don't have to travel as far to get food but so far I do not regret this choice. There are more plants and such them in there. I kinda look forward to what this may bring lol

[Cinnebuns]

RAINBOWFISH FRY!!!!!

it is confirmed. I have a rainbowfish fry. The "small cory eggs" were rainbow eggs. It's super super tiny and I was playing a game of "fry or speck" today but I def could see its trade mark blue eyes. 

Video sucks but best I could do lol:

 

There is a CHANCE it's already dead as I saw it laying on the bottom but maybe it was trying to imitate a cory idk. I don't see it there anymore so maybe that's it. Regardless of if this specific one makes it or not it's confirmation of what the eggs are which is what counts imo. 

 

Does this mean I don't have to spend money on more rainbows?  Buy snails instead?  What do you think @Guppysnailand @Chick-In-Of-TheSea?  More money for Pokémon nerite?  Haha

[Cinnebuns]

I just noticed I'm not even on page 2. Imma slacker!!

[Cinnebuns]

I really need to be better about updating this. I do like it as a tool to track things in my hobby. It's also always nice to get feedback. I just forget about it so easily. 

29-Gallon Crash

A few weeks ago? 1 week ago? I don't remember lol. Anyway, some time ago my 29 gallon crashed. It appears it only killed my nitrite bacteria because ammonia stayed at 0. It forced me to move all my fish into other tanks. Luckily I had a couple that were very under stocked. Most went into my 20 gallon.

The day I discovered the crash and moved all the fish I thought to myself how glad I was big momma guppy was late to drop and hadn't yet so I had extra space. She dropped the very next day.  WHY BIG MOMMA WHY?!  Almost all of the fry probably got eaten because of all the fish around are are hiding really well. I did manage to scoop 2 out. Meh. Not a huge deal. There's more where that came from lol. 

I am taking this crash as an opportunity to rescape that tank. I got some dragon stone and did a ton of research. I have an idea of what I'm going to do but haven't put it together yet. I'm hoping to have the energy to practice some and then set up the hardscape this weekend. 

 

20-Gallon

As I stated above, this tank received the most refugees from the 29. I added a 2nd filter to help and dosed bottled bacteria. The bioload definitely more than doubled so I'm shocked that I never saw more than a tiny ammonia spike. It has been set up for awhile but def isn't used to this bioload. 

About a week in I noticed some cloudiness. I figured it was a bacteria bloom as I had just set up that new filter plus the added bioload. It wasn't. This is my first experience with green water. I've def seen worse in pics but i acted once I realized it. I've had the lights off for 3 days. I've done a 20% wc every day and dosed excel twice. I'm watching to make sure to not over dose that. Idk what the bad effects specifically are but I've heard there may be some. Anyone have any other tips? Idk who would be good with this so imma just tag a few people. @Chick-In-Of-TheSea  @Biotope Biologist

@Guppysnail @nabokovfan87

Shrimp Tank

I was pretty sick in bed for 5 days straight 2 weeks ago and low energy for another week after. I'm still slightly feeling the effects.  This made it hard to do water changes. I'm fairly certain that is partially why I had 4 shrimp die in 2 days. Another possible contribution is that it is a new colony and losing 50%+ is pretty typical from what I hear. I did notice 1 more dead today. I still have a decent number so I'm not too concerned. 

One positive tho is that I have a berried female!  She seems to be doing great!  She's not heavily berried at all. Infact it took me some time to decide she actually was. This is an amazing sign that I'm doing things right. I'm super pumped. 

Ramshorn Snails

See other journal. 

Edited September 8, 2022 by Cinnebuns

[nabokovfan87]

On 9/7/2022 at 8:56 PM, Cinnebuns said:

About a week in I noticed some cloudiness. I figured it was a bacteria bloom as I had just set up that new filter plus the added bioload. It wasn't. This is my first experience with green water. I've def seen worse in pics but i acted once I realized it. I've had the lights off for 3 days. I've done a 20% wc every day and dosed excel twice. I'm watching to make sure to not over dose that. Idk what the bad effects specifically are but I've heard there may be some. Anyone have any other tips? Idk who would be good with this so imma just tag a few people.

Light off, water changes, black out the tank, and then don't feed anything for 3-4 days as a start.

Green water is "usually" handled with a UV add on, but I think you can manage it with water changes instead and light control.  I would be doing 50% WCs minimum and at least that every 24-48 hours until you get nutrients in balance. Once you do, it's likely just down to blacking out the tank and then letting the algae become omnivore food.

I've never experienced green water but general cloudiness does happen based on food. Take the advice above with a grain of salt as a result, but I just mean to say that I hope others can chime in and clarify their own methods.

9 times out of 10 I think people are trying to get green water and can't keep it alive!!!

On 9/7/2022 at 8:56 PM, Cinnebuns said:

I was pretty sick in bed for 5 days straight 2 weeks ago and low energy for another week after. I'm still slightly feeling the effects.  This made it hard to do water changes.

Glad you're ok. It's tough. Please take time to recover and do what need be, but especially taking care of yourself and those around you as a focus!!!

On 9/7/2022 at 8:56 PM, Cinnebuns said:

This is an amazing sign that I'm doing things right. I'm super pumped. 

That's awesome 😍

On 9/7/2022 at 8:56 PM, Cinnebuns said:

Idk what the bad effects specifically are but I've heard there may be some. Anyone have any other tips?

I have specifically heard that it shouldn't be used with shrimp. I don't know why, liquid carbon I use lightly. Excel is a different animal I believe and those warnings and reports I haven't understood because I literally never can find it locally.