Guppysnail Aquarium Journal

[Guppysnail]

On 9/20/2023 at 1:44 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Did you breed these @TeeJay? 

No he did not. George and Tammy were in a 10 Crystal was moved to a 29 due to not enough space to live without fights. 

[Odd Duck]

On 9/19/2023 at 1:24 PM, Guppysnail said:

A bit of overhang 😝

Just put a plant over there.  It’ll be fine!  Multi-purpose!

Frogs are looking adorbs, BTW!  And the trio or gorgeous!

Edited September 21, 2023 by Odd Duck

[Guppysnail]

Tomorrow is their big rehoming day. 🥲

 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 9/22/2023 at 6:22 PM, Guppysnail said:

Tomorrow is their big rehoming day. 🥲

 

Yikes, there’s tons of them! How many are you keeping??

[Guppysnail]

On 9/22/2023 at 2:14 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Yikes, there’s tons of them! How many are you keeping??

4. That gives me 8 in the 20 long which is a very comfortable number. Not overstocked but enough they feel cozy. 

[Atitagain]

wow that’s beautiful!

[Guppysnail]

@tolstoy21 here is the tank the trifasciata are in. I just finished redecorating to accommodate dual territory. 
I was originally moving my hillstream loach group to breed. I will just redo the tank they are in to accommodate breeding. They are still juveniles. 

[Guppysnail]

@TeeJay just sent me a photo of Lemony and Luna’s baby growing big. It dawned on me Mom n Dad are now great grandparents!

Angel and Lefty are Lemony and Luna’s parents. 
🥰

 

Photo of the great grandkid

[Odd Duck]

I’m fairly certain that my current babies are from one of your girls.

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 9/27/2023 at 1:07 AM, Guppysnail said:

great grandparents!

I wonder how far you could take that with guppies 😅? 

[Guppysnail]

SERIOUSLY 🤬

Looks like I have to redo a 40 breeder. I have pleco babies living under the UGF filter plate. 
@Ken Burke I’m no longer enchanted by filter fry. 

[Guppysnail]

Crisis averted…temporarily. I lifted the plate and siphoned him out with a wide hose. 
 

New issue..so much gravel under the plate it will not work properly. Issue… 2 Pygmy spawns of fry 3 melini spawns of fry and dad pleco should release his latest wigglers tomorrow. I saw one scooting about. This one was from the previous spawn. 🙄 sigh. 
 

I was wanting to put sand in it EVENTUALLY… not now… not soon but eventually. So next weeks lfs cricket run includes several bags of sand 😝 this ought to be a project and a half. 
 

Here is the culprit after being siphoned into a bucket. He now lives in my CPD/ miscellaneous other Cory fry grow out tank.  Community fry tanks are fun at least  

[nabokovfan87]

On 9/28/2023 at 4:58 PM, Guppysnail said:

Crisis averted…temporarily

It's always something!  Nice work. 

[Ken Burke]

@Guppysnail, how’d you find that one!  I still luv filter fry.  

[Guppysnail]

On 9/28/2023 at 10:35 PM, Ken Burke said:

@Guppysnail, how’d you find that one!  I still luv filter fry.  

There is a community fry grow out tank below that tank. I was sitting in the floor watching the fry before lights out. I was looking at the emergent plants and realizing they were getting tall and needed trimmed. Movement caught my eye. 
 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 9/28/2023 at 7:58 PM, Guppysnail said:

Crisis averted…temporarily. I lifted the plate and siphoned him out with a wide hose

LOOOOOOOOL the water slide ride 

On 9/28/2023 at 7:58 PM, Guppysnail said:

New issue..so much gravel under the plate it will not work properly

No worries, just remove riser tubes, top holes with substrate, add different type of filter. That’s my current setup, there is still a UGF plate in my tank

[Guppysnail]

On 9/29/2023 at 9:44 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

No worries, just remove riser tubes, top holes with substrate, add different type of filter. That’s my current setup, there is still a UGF plate in my tank

I thought about this. But I don’t think it’s a good option for me. 
 

Reasons…as much for me to get opinions as an explanation as to why this I dont think will work for me. 
 

- my nitrate from the tap @25-35 issue. This mean I must stay hyper vigilant about no excess organics decaying in the tank. 
 

-the roots on one of my crypts has started clogging the middle section. I need to get a thick layer of detritus already built up out. 
 

-my Pygmy and panda Cory new hatches dive through the cracks of the gravel. There is currently a fry every inch the size of an eyelash hidden. When I vac I siphon a gallon at a time to a white bucket and retrieve the fry. 
 

-The stock in this tank is stupid now. Not intentionally but I can’t figure out fish birth control to save my life 🤣

STOCK

mom n dad full grown bn pleco- several stray babies from other spawns where I missed stray eggs and a new batch coming out of the cave right now. The girl who buys my fish and another retailer requested a batch to split. 
 

My Pygmy Cory group grew from what I could not catch Roughly 20 and untold number of fry 

10 melini is now 20 adults 20-30 frustratingly fast young juveniles. And a living substrate of those fry

I think my adult CPD group has now grown to 15-20 plus wigglers and clingers everywhere 

 

If this tank, which is supposed to be a retirement tank when I’m done breeding each,(fish did not get that memo obviously) is so polluted with fry vacuum is insanely hard. The Cory fry don’t do well when the substrate is not tidy. 
 

Last reason… SAND IS EASY TO MAINTAIN  gravel is not 🤣 

 

 

 

 

[Guppysnail]

The cause of my impending work is doing great. Obviously no shortage of food growing up under a filter plate 😝

He is larger than his siblings I just sold 🤣

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 9/29/2023 at 11:41 AM, Guppysnail said:

I thought about this. But I don’t think it’s a good option for me. 
 

Reasons…as much for me to get opinions as an explanation as to why this I dont think will work for me. 
 

- my nitrate from the tap @25-35 issue. This mean I must stay hyper vigilant about no excess organics decaying in the tank. 
 

-the roots on one of my crypts has started clogging the middle section. I need to get a thick layer of detritus already built up out. 
 

-my Pygmy and panda Cory new hatches dive through the cracks of the gravel. There is currently a fry every inch the size of an eyelash hidden. When I vac I siphon a gallon at a time to a white bucket and retrieve the fry. 
 

-The stock in this tank is stupid now. Not intentionally but I can’t figure out fish birth control to save my life 🤣

STOCK

mom n dad full grown bn pleco- several stray babies from other spawns where I missed stray eggs and a new batch coming out of the cave right now. The girl who buys my fish and another retailer requested a batch to split. 
 

My Pygmy Cory group grew from what I could not catch Roughly 20 and untold number of fry 

10 melini is now 20 adults 20-30 frustratingly fast young juveniles. And a living substrate of those fry

I think my adult CPD group has now grown to 15-20 plus wigglers and clingers everywhere 

 

If this tank, which is supposed to be a retirement tank when I’m done breeding each,(fish did not get that memo obviously) is so polluted with fry vacuum is insanely hard. The Cory fry don’t do well when the substrate is not tidy. 
 

Last reason… SAND IS EASY TO MAINTAIN  gravel is not 🤣 

 

 

 

 

My tank is

Sand cap 2”

Gravel

Ugf plate

The plant roots eat the gunk in the gravel, and the sand cap kinda like “seals” the organics down below. The 2” depth of the sand allows anerobic bacteria for the sublayer. But it takes an awful lot of substrate. Mine is like this because of the evolution of the tank; it was not my initial setup.

On 9/29/2023 at 11:41 AM, Guppysnail said:

SAND IS EASY TO MAINTAIN  gravel is not

Idk, I think sand gets to a point where is looks cruddy no matter what you do. I want to go to the caribsea stuff like you have.

[nabokovfan87]

On 9/29/2023 at 10:36 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Idk, I think sand gets to a point where is looks cruddy no matter what you do. I want to go to the caribsea stuff like you have.

My favorite thing about sand is literally being a goofy kid whenever I do water changes and playing with it like I'm at the beach. For me it's my highly underrated, trivial, little bit of fun.

[Guppysnail]

On 9/29/2023 at 1:36 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

want to go to the caribsea stuff like you have.

Yes the carinae’s jungle river is what I meant by sand. I would never do another true sand for the exact reason you said. It just gets yucky. 

On 9/29/2023 at 1:40 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

playing with it like I'm at the beach

Oh yes. Every time I do maintenance I find myself making hills and valleys I think the kids will like. 

[Lennie]

On 9/29/2023 at 6:41 PM, Guppysnail said:

my nitrate from the tap @25-35 issue. This mean I must stay hyper vigilant about no excess organics decaying in the tank. 

Same. That's why I never use fertilizers that has N in it. In fact, my water changes increase my nitrate readings 😄

[Guppysnail]

 

On 9/29/2023 at 2:45 PM, Lennie said:

In fact, my water changes increase my nitrate readings 😄

I FEEL that deep in my old bones. 

[Guppysnail]

When I am forced to redo a tank I avoid it and hate it. 
 

So in proper avoidance style I redid the hillstream loach tank 🤣

Jen gave me her last one. It looks subtly different than the boys so I’m hoping it’s a girl.  
 

I took the Pygmy cory group out. Now it’s just 3 loaches and shrimp…always shrimp 🙄

I did not want man made caves. So I made the entire tank a rock garden loach paradise. 

Sat BESIDE the tank that needs redone and watched my dorsigera flirt again today. These are seriously cool fish. More entertaining than the curviceps. Much less shy. 

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 9/29/2023 at 1:40 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

My favorite thing about sand is literally being a goofy kid whenever I do water changes and playing with it like I'm at the beach. For me it's my highly underrated, trivial, little bit of fun.

Ick. This is my sand. I would not play in it. Just messing with it kicks up dust clouds like Pig Pen. It get maintained every week, but always looks about the same. So I’m figuring you probably have newer sand, newer tank, and/or lighter stocking.

 

Edited September 29, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea