Guppysnail Aquarium Journal

[Guppysnail]

On 10/14/2021 at 7:09 PM, Streetwise said:

I hope that I don’t sound critical! I help folks with technology for a living, and I am often minimal with my advice.

You should be able to rotate your phone so that the corner cameras are on the upper left, before hitting record.

Your request did not sound critical.. sounded more like you wanted a better view. Thanks for the tip you are always helpful and awesome 😎 

[PineSong]

Your guppies are so beautiful and happy amid all those plants--I'm going to try repashy on a stick and see if I can get my fry to line up like that. Your CPDs are adorable and look nicely chubby.  

[Guppysnail]

On 10/14/2021 at 7:15 PM, PineSong said:

Your guppies are so beautiful and happy amid all those plants--I'm going to try repashy on a stick and see if I can get my fry to line up like that. Your CPDs are adorable and look nicely chubby.  

Thank you. I put the repashy on a stick in for a few pleco babies I’m fattening up for a Friend and the guppies took over. 🤣

Ps the cpd eat repashy on a stick too. I’ll try for some video

Edited October 14, 2021 by Guppysnail

[Atitagain]

I don’t understand why so many people hate canister filters. I run 3 of them and I have no complaints. It does take longer to service them but only have to do the once to every 3-4 times for my sponge and 2-3 times for my HOBs. Your videos are looking good, your blue boys might turn me into a guppy lover. ❤️ 

[Odd Duck]

On 10/14/2021 at 8:57 PM, Atitagain said:

I don’t understand why so many people hate canister filters. I run 3 of them and I have no complaints. It does take longer to service them but only have to do the once to every 3-4 times for my sponge and 2-3 times for my HOBs. Your videos are looking good, your blue boys might turn me into a guppy lover. ❤️ 

I hate them because I had one turn into an anaerobic bomb after a power outage that happened while I was at work.  I saved most of the fish but I was very lucky!

[Atitagain]

On 10/14/2021 at 10:51 PM, Odd Duck said:

I hate them because I had one turn into an anaerobic bomb after a power outage that happened while I was at work.  I saved most of the fish but I was very lucky!

Haaa this is true where a sponge stays in the tank and would have to be a very long outage to happen and HOBs won’t restart without being primed. Although there are self priming HOBs now and it could happen in those. 
mom just thinking out loud tho I don’t know if I’m right about any of that.

[Odd Duck]

On 10/14/2021 at 10:36 PM, Atitagain said:

Haaa this is true where a sponge stays in the tank and would have to be a very long outage to happen and HOBs won’t restart without being primed. Although there are self priming HOBs now and it could happen in those. 
mom just thinking out loud tho I don’t know if I’m right about any of that.

A sponge floating won’t ever turn anaerobic.  Micro aerobic, maybe, anaerobic, no.  And an HOB doesn’t seal enough to go anaerobic.  Again, potentially micro aerobic if out of power long enough but it would take a couple days and even then wouldn’t matter on restart.  But a canister is fully sealed and could potentially go anaerobic in just a few hours, which is what happened to mine.  Then it restarted after turning into a toxic soup and I got home to fish gasping at the surface, swimming weird, circling, etc.  I did a huge water change 2 days in a row and they were pretty quickly back to normal.  Along with a very thorough canister clean, of course.

But I’ve never had a canister since then.

The smell was horrific!

[Guppysnail]

On 10/14/2021 at 10:51 PM, Odd Duck said:

I hate them because I had one turn into an anaerobic bomb after a power outage that happened while I was at work.  I saved most of the fish but I was very lucky!

I worried about this before. I posted a question on the forum before hubby bought his generator as to whether I should pop the lid and put an airstone in during a power outage.  Most folks said it would be fine but it did not make sense that the bacteria would not suffocate. (Along with the bladder snail colony that insists it a vacation home 🙃). How long was yours without power?

[Guppysnail]

On 10/14/2021 at 9:57 PM, Atitagain said:

I don’t understand why so many people hate canister filters. I run 3 of them and I have no complaints. It does take longer to service them but only have to do the once to every 3-4 times for my sponge and 2-3 times for my HOBs. Your videos are looking good, your blue boys might turn me into a guppy lover. ❤️ 

Yes a soon to be guppy lover 🥳 Having my wrist swell and the frequency of cleaning is what pushed me over. For all the awkwardness of cleaning the lines it only gets done once every few months.  I love the ease of my pleco tanks. I run only coop coarse in those hobs with fine coop poly pad on the top layer. I just pull the top layer and replace. I only have to pull those hobs 1x/month to clean the impeller. They are both undersized so easier because they are just for polishing. 

[Guppysnail]

Crazy exciting stuff happening today (at least to me). 3 days ago one of my new cpd challenged my second in command and won. My second lost some scales but does not appear injured.

for the past three hours this young upstart has been challenging my alpha😲. I took 2 vids because nosey snail kept getting in the way.  They have not yet engaged in combat so cliffhanger…to be continued……Thanks to help from @Streetwise you won’t get crows feet from squinting at my teen ie tiny videos🤣

 

 

[Odd Duck]

On 10/15/2021 at 4:08 AM, Guppysnail said:

I worried about this before. I posted a question on the forum before hubby bought his generator as to whether I should pop the lid and put an airstone in during a power outage.  Most folks said it would be fine but it did not make sense that the bacteria would not suffocate. (Along with the bladder snail colony that insists it a vacation home 🙃). How long was yours without power?

I’m not certain but it was at least a 3-4 hours according to the neighbors.  It came back on only 30 minutes or so before I got home.

[anewbie]

On 10/14/2021 at 8:57 PM, Atitagain said:

I don’t understand why so many people hate canister filters. I run 3 of them and I have no complaints. It does take longer to service them but only have to do the once to every 3-4 times for my sponge and 2-3 times for my HOBs. Your videos are looking good, your blue boys might turn me into a guppy lover. ❤️ 

I have several canister filters; i find them a pia to clean.

[Atitagain]

On 10/15/2021 at 4:11 PM, anewbie said:

I have several canister filters; i find them a pia to clean.

I agree relative too a HOB or sponge they are a PIA, but I full serviced my 3 today (not the hoses) in about an hour. And in 3ish months I’ll have to do it again. I run sponges in all them tanks as well and have to service them every 10-14 days. 6/1 HOB I have 2 I service once a month 3/1. 🤷🏼‍♂️ I’m a fan of canisters but don’t get me wrong there are down sides too. Cost upfront and operational, cleaning the tubes, without custom setup not really for tanks under 40 maybe 20G, and like @Odd Duck said anaerobic concerns. I know I’m probably in the minority on this but I think it’s a solid form of filtration for larger tanks. (I most times and these 3 are for 55G+)

[anewbie]

My next aquarium will have sumps; so i'll be able to compare sumps to canister filters in the future....

[Guppysnail]

Today’s soap opera ended uneventful.  My alpha took one solid run at the upstart. The teenager testing his might hid at the other end of the tank for 30 minutes while the boss strutted around and flirted with the ladies. Their little egg laying spot is like the clubhouse and he was allowed back over and colored back up so I am guessing he will still hold the second spot. 
The AR is doing amazing. No melt or leaf loss so far. It grew to touch the glas so I scooted it down. It’s growing out of the planters. When I took the picture of the last one I realized another of my girls had babies. It was swimming in the cup hiding. 
the ludwiga red and oval is are sending new shoots out of the stems

all of my elodea was looking perky today

The narrow leaf ludwiga I cut and put in the guppy girl grow out is doing great  

HAPPY ADVENTURES…TRY SOMETHING NEW 

 

Edited October 15, 2021 by Guppysnail

[Griznatch]

Your mystery snail is killing me lol!

[GameCzar]

I really need one of your blue boys in my genepool, what a handsome lad!

[Hobbit]

Ohhh the dominance drama is so stressful for me! Maybe I’m scarred from my days as a public school teacher 😆 But at least with my chickens, whenever the pecking order shifts, it’s Mean Girls all day all the time. Glad the fish worked it out without violence this round! 

[Guppysnail]

On 10/16/2021 at 2:25 AM, Hobbit said:

Ohhh the dominance drama is so stressful for me! Maybe I’m scarred from my days as a public school teacher 😆 But at least with my chickens, whenever the pecking order shifts, it’s Mean Girls all day all the time. Glad the fish worked it out without violence this round! 

Yes it is stressful but so intriguing to watch. Hubby wonders why I never watch tv…I have real time soap operas in my tanks 🤣 My current alpha severely injured the previous alpha and second unfortunately. They did not recover. It’s fascinating to watch though. I call this one the mob boss godfather.  My girls have their pecking order to be sure it’s just not as intense or violent.  

[Hobbit]

Oof, that’s harsh! Nature is intense.

[Guppysnail]

Evening feeding is playful so I sit and watch the antics. Morning feeding is all business they are very hungry. So lots of floaties in these. Scooter is getting big. Thinks she is a guppy.

Pygmy 😁 most are in the back attacking a wafer I gave my snail in the back but you can see one darting. A few are upper right corner. I was hoping to catch all 22 but not this evening 

pandas nomming their favorite hikari from coop. They are hams and love my big pink phone 🤣 

I got one of these to fill my tanks from the buckets  I’m going to try to figure a way to attach a filter to it so it does not suck up fry and a much longer hose to extend to the bathroom down the hall to drain. 5 gallon buckets are heavy. I used an extra canister hose clamp so I could secure it on the tanks. I get try try this out tomorrow 

If you didn’t catch today’s member presentation take the time. It was very worth it. 
 

HAPPY ADVENTURES…TRY SOMETHING NEW 

Edited October 16, 2021 by Guppysnail

[Atitagain]

Everything looking great. Good luck with your pump set up tomorrow.I’m sure it will make your fish keeping life much easier.

How is lefty doing? haven’t heard about him in a while.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

You can use some filter foam to prevent it from sucking in fry - I’ve used zip ties and rubber bands to hold it in place. I agree this should really help out with your water changes. I’ve seen this pump on Amazon I’ll be interested to see how it goes. 

[Guppysnail]

On 10/16/2021 at 10:39 PM, Atitagain said:

Everything looking great. Good luck with your pump set up tomorrow.I’m sure it will make your fish keeping life much easier.

How is lefty doing? haven’t heard about him in a while.

Lefty is great but a stinker. He always sits with his left fin turned where I can’t get a picture when I have my phone. The fin is growing back the boney piece is still short but because there was a tiny piece left it is also growing as he grows the way @Odd Duck said it would 😃

 

On 10/16/2021 at 11:22 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

You can use some filter foam to prevent it from sucking in fry - I’ve used zip ties and rubber bands to hold it in place. I agree this should really help out with your water changes. I’ve seen this pump on Amazon I’ll be interested to see how it goes. 

I tested it in a bucket. It drained the bucket down to the pump in less than a minute. It has adjustable flow so I’m not blowing my fry out of the tank. I got the idea from watching @Zenzo how to make things easier video on his channel. It pumps uphill 10 ft according to the description.  I only need it to go  up 7. It was way cheaper than I thought too. $20 bucks on Amazon and I got the hose that was listed on things bought together suggestion on Amazon for $10.  $30 vs chiropractor bills…I’m all in! 😁

[Hobbit]

On 10/17/2021 at 5:01 AM, Guppysnail said:

I tested it in a bucket. It drained the bucket down to the pump in less than a minute. It has adjustable flow so I’m not blowing my fry out of the tank. I got the idea from watching @Zenzo how to make things easier video on his channel. It pumps uphill 10 ft according to the description.  I only need it to go  up 7. It was way cheaper than I thought too. $20 bucks on Amazon and I got the hose that was listed on things bought together suggestion on Amazon for $10.  $30 vs chiropractor bills…I’m all in! 😁

I got a pump a few months back to try to make my water changes easier as well. I only use my pump for clean water going into the tanks, so no danger of sucking up fish… but I got a pump that’s way too powerful! I have to hold my hand under the hose so I don’t destroy the scape—or soak the wall, which happens if I position my hand wrong. Also my hose doesn’t fit securely in the nozzle so I need to use my other hand to hold the hose inside the pump. If I don’t, or if I need my hand for something else… instant geyser!!! I soaked myself the other day. Again. 😝

I think the answer here is that I need to buy some larger tubing just for that pump.

Anyway, point being—pumps are great if you get the right pump! 😄