Coffee with Teejay

[TeeJay]

So I'm sitting here this evening feeding the killis Cory's lemony and luna and my eyes find there way to the apisto cave I put in for the smaller of the borelli girls since the pair was giving her a hard time in the 10 gallon. 

So what do I see lemonys head poking out of it!....I said wait!?..what!?...how the heck did he fit himself in there. So immediately I panic. I'm worried he  has himself stuck in there. So I watch and wait. And he wiggles in and out a bit so I can see he is not totally stuck.

So I wait a few more minutes and he finally wiggles out. And as soon as he does Luna comes shooting out of the cave right behind him!!

So not only was he in there but she was as well. I could just here what she was thinking in her head. "You big jerk head why did you trap me in that tiny cave" 

So I watch them for a little while longer and he keeps going back to the apisto cave then to one of the pleco caves back and forth. Like he is figuring out where the best place is for the love shack. He gets her to go in the apisto cave a couple more times then let's her out. So I figure better to get it out of there before one really gets stuck and hurt. Especially since he has those long exaggerated fins I don't want him to break one.

So he is def mature and ready to breed. I think luna is still a month or two away from being ready. But you can see a bit of white on her sides so she is not far off 

I can chuckle at it now I know @Guppysnail laughed very hard on this one but for a few mins there I was in straight panic mode.

[Guppysnail]

On 6/11/2023 at 9:14 PM, TeeJay said:

laughed very hard

Understatement!  I laughed so hard I had tears rolling down my cheeks and my side hurts. You simply must share the other photos of his head poking in and out and then hiding from you 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[TeeJay]

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by TeeJay

[TeeJay]

Just thought I would put up another small video of the new galaxy blue guppy's. Since the won't stay still for pics. 😆

 

https://youtu.be/ZrSxV9RYHq4

[Guppysnail]

Oh my. Even just scrolling past Lemony made me laugh 🥰

Nice looking guppies. 

[TeeJay]

On 6/12/2023 at 6:38 PM, Guppysnail said:

Oh my. Even just scrolling past Lemony made me laugh 🥰

Nice looking guppies. 

Yeah I about had a heart attack that little turd. I'm still trying to figure out how both of them managed to fit into that tiny apisto cave.

[TeeJay]

Cleaned the prefilter on the 207 this evening. Pretty gunky but it's the first time I've needed to since setting up the tank a couple months ago. I'm running all sponges in all 3 trays. My preferred filter media by far. And last almost indefinitely. 

Love the way the plants are growing in here. Up to 4 new leaves on the pink flamingo. So amazing the color diffrence when you give them a good amount of light. So far no issues with alge except a couple small spots here and there on the glass.

Over the weekend I picked up another 15 or so of the blue jellie shrimp to help boost the colony in here. I keep plenty of java moss and cholla wood on the left side of the tank for hiding grounds. The java has completely hidden the cholla but it's in there. 😆

Edited June 14, 2023 by TeeJay

[nabokovfan87]

On 9/28/2022 at 3:34 PM, TeeJay said:

The next time you're sitting at the tank you'll have to take a bunch of photos for us and show how your colors are doing.  I'm starting to see the "culls" in my line and I'm extremely curious about that process for colonies.  Size is a big factor, but I've even seen pretty crazy differences with very young shrimp!  Some of my BM look like these ones when smaller, others look deep red, and then I have some that look like a rili pattern.

[TeeJay]

I have yet to cull a single shrimp out of the shrimp sanctuary. I get varying degrees of brightness of red as well as getting some that look relli or red jelly. I'm not going for any certain line in color as long as they are healthy and happy I'm good with that. I'll probably be taking a few bags of them to my next fish club auction.

[Guppysnail]

On 6/25/2023 at 10:41 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Some of my BM look like these ones when smaller, others look deep red, and then I have some that look like a rili pattern.

I do not have experience with the BM and I know they are a bit different than standard neos. Standards are like guppies. If your original ones are from a long established color line they breed pretty true but still throw an occasional off color. If it’s from a newer line color they breed less true and throw more off colors. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/26/2023 at 3:48 AM, Guppysnail said:

I do not have experience with the BM and I know they are a bit different than standard neos. Standards are like guppies. If your original ones are from a long established color line they breed pretty true but still throw an occasional off color. If it’s from a newer line color they breed less true and throw more off colors. 

Mixing two (or three) lines to start this colony. The goal was to have good quality but freshen up the genes a bit.

[TeeJay]

So I was in the middle of making dinner. Homemade crunch wraps with cilantro lime rice and ground turkey, when my oldest daughter yelled out to me. "Hey dad there is a really small fish in the 29 with a long tail. Of course my heart skipped a beat. The only fish in the 29 are the least killis, Corys, lemony and luna and the single girl apisto borelli. 

Could it be? Do we have pleco babies? Iran to the living room and sure enough there is a little squirt on the glass just grubbing on tank glass yummies. Then she noticed at least 2 more in other areas of the tank. I didn't think luna would be ready to breed for a couple more months. But I knew lemony has been getting a cave ready and staying in it on a regular basis. Not quite sure how many I have but at least 3. So I added some hikari first bites. With all of the plants wood and rocks I'm sure there is plenty of goodies to eat. But I will keep up with first bites to make sure they always have a good source. They are still very small. I would say between  quarter to half inch. Vir at least a couple weeks old I'm sure.

This is the kind of fish breeding I love. No stressing. No trying for the perfect environment. Just keep your fish fed and happy with a good tank and it's bound to happen. 

[Guppysnail]

CONGRATULATIONS 🎊🎉 I told you it would happen!  You are a great fish dad. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/6/2023 at 4:04 PM, TeeJay said:

So I was in the middle of making dinner. Homemade crunch wraps with cilantro lime rice and ground turkey, when my oldest daughter yelled out to me. "Hey dad there is a really small fish in the 29 with a long tail. Of course my heart skipped a beat. The only fish in the 29 are the least killis, Corys, lemony and luna and the single girl apisto borelli. 

Sounds good!

Congratulations on the success!!! ORD as always, but that is awesome.  I am right there with you as far as the admiration of "keeping things good for the fish and good things will happen" and it is the only way I've spawned some of my fish. 

[TeeJay]

On 7/6/2023 at 7:19 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Sounds good!

Congratulations on the success!!! ORD as always, but that is awesome.  I am right there with you as far as the admiration of "keeping things good for the fish and good things will happen" and it is the only way I've spawned some of my fish. 

Exactly every time I get a new species of fish I'm on overload like oh it has to be perfect and do this and do that to get them to spawn. So nerve racking. I'm not trying to breed for profit and all that jazz. I just want to enjoy them and watch it happen naturally. If it does great if not I'm still enjoying them. Three happy so I'm happy. Same with the apistos. I set the tank up for them. Got some caves and plenty of plants and I just watch and admire. I'm sure it will happen sometimes when it's right. If not I still get to enjoy them.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 5/10/2023 at 3:30 PM, Patrick_G said:

I have these Golden Least Killifish now and I think they’re pretty cool little fish that don’t need lots of space, and seem perfect for a little no tech nano tank. My question is are yours active? I expected them to behave like Endlers or guppies but mine are the opposite, they tend to hang in the water column or just swim around slowly. They’re not skittish at all but they do often find a little dark corner to hide in. 

Is there enough plant cover for them to swim in between? Some fish feel insecure if they are not able to get shade or have a plant nearby to take shelter in.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

[Guppysnail]

@TeeJay just got loaded with a ton of new inhabitants.  I’m not sure he actually has time for coffee right now 🤣🤣🤣

[nabokovfan87]

Or he's hunting the ghosts!

[nabokovfan87]

Checking in @TeeJay How goes the things?

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I was wondering too. My coffee got cold! Now it is Iced Coffee with TeeJay. I hope the ghost didn’t get him.

[TeeJay]

I know it's been quite a long time since I have posted to any of my journals. I have been so wrapped up in fishy type stuff and things with the kiddos that I just got bogged down with life. As well as trying to keep up with so many journals was becoming a bit daunting. 

So I had my partner in crime @Guppysnail combined them all for me into one handy dandy journal. You can still see all of my adventures through the links in my signature and so on. 

There have been quite a few changes with tanks and fish. A little to much to get all in one post right now. So tune in tomorrow morning for the all new coffee with TeeJay.  As always keep it fishy my friends and nerms.

[Guppysnail]

Yay! Coffee with @TeeJay is back!  
@Chick-In-Of-TheSea @nabokovfan87

[nabokovfan87]

I just made cold brew. Let's do this! 🙂

[TeeJay]

Hello my fellow nerms. Who is ready for the first episode of the new coffee with TeeJay? It's been quite awhile so let's see if I still know how to do this. 

I'm sure in every post I won't be able to remember to talk about every tank but I'll always give you as much as I can. 

So as everyone has probably noticed my apisto borelli have made there new permanent home with @Guppysnail. So that left me with an open 10 gallon tank with a new adventure to be had! So a local friend from my fish club has been breeding  dwarf emerald danios that I have always wanted to have. So I called him up and he had some ready for rehoming size. So he brought over a nice 6 pack of juveniles.  I had them for a little over a week now and they have settled in very well so far.. of course they won't stay still for pics lol 

So I knew I would want another type of fish to go along with the new danios. So another fish I have always wanted to have is pygmy corys. So I figured they would be the great choice to pair with the danios. So from lemony and lunas first batch of babies I was able to take a group of 8 to trade in for store credit to get they pygmy corys. Those little guys actually just arrived yesterday.. since they were coming from a wholesaler I knew I would want/need to qt them away from the danios.

So I sent them up in the 5 gallon piano snail and shrimp tank. Thankfully I just got the sand setup in that tank. It had been bare bottom since it's setup. The only thing in that tank are piano snails and shrimp. So safe for a "permanent" at tank I think.  I don't figure I will ever keep fish to large that I wouldn't be able to qt in that size tank for a few weeks at a time with no issues. 

As well the substrate in the 10 gallon for the danios and pygmys has been switched over to the carib sea jungle river sand as well. So @nabokovfan87 I finally have sand! Ha! I know it will sound massive but I moved my modded tidal 55 onto there 10 gallon tank. Yes it will work I just used the first section of the uptake tube with a pre filter sponge out directly onto that. As well with the custom baffel I already had on it makes the perfect amount of surface agitation without being to stong. As well as a sponge filter. And if anyone knows me I always like to run 2 types of filtration on all my tanks. I was able to get a few pics of the new pygmy corys at least. 

So these are the two newest adventures I have been working on lately. I am up to 7 tanks now 😱 mts is alive and kicking.

So thanks for tuning in for the first new addition to coffee with TeeJay! As always keep it fishy my friends.

 

 

Edited October 6, 2023 by TeeJay