Guppysnail Aquarium Journal

[Patrick_G]

On 10/18/2021 at 8:00 AM, Hobbit said:

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 feel your pain! I had the same problem, even with a valve to control the flow I had way to much pressure. I’m going to put a pressure reducing fitting on the hose. Also, a metal hose clamp will help keep the hose on the pump outlet. 

[Zenzo]

On 10/18/2021 at 8:00 AM, Hobbit said:

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! 😄 

Some submersible pumps have foam inside them acting as a filter to prevent little things from getting sucked into them. I have several pumps, but use that style on the tanks with fry. 

[Guppysnail]

@Hobbit @Patrick_G here is how I baffled and secured. It then rains into the aquarium through the holes the fish love it cheap measure cup I drilled holes then an extra canister filter clamp. 

[Guppysnail]

 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I did the same thing with the top of a Gatorade bottle and also use a colander from the dollar tree. I like that it has a nice handle!

[Odd Duck]

Here’s mine.  Hose clamped to fitting that converts to pipe fitting to attach PVC, then ball valve in the “U” shape, dry fit, then glued, drilled PVC (don’t drill the end cap).  Sloppy glue is my fault.  😆 

A “do-over” would be to switch to a larger diameter on the drilled portion to disperse pressure better and drill a shorter section of the fatter pipe.  Plus more holes to disperse better.  I have a bigger pump than I need since my taller/bigger tanks fill plenty fast and my higher tanks are small enough they don’t need to fill nearly as fast as this monster will do.  It’s pretty fresh, so may slow down with time.  The last one was getting unreliable about starting but it was 20 something years old (not in continuous use for most of that time and not used at all for about 10 years of that).

This is in my rolling barrel where I pre-mix my water.

Edit to add this is a pic of the old pump but the new one is the same brand and roughly equal capacity to the old, worn out model.

 

Edited October 18, 2021 by Odd Duck

[Vanish]

Here is my version. I used  few different parts of an old canister filter, I think? The PVC section slides up and down to allow for different depths, but there is enough friction it doesn't come off.

For the second photo, i pulled the bottom off, which has no holes in it. Inside the mesh basket is a mesh tube, so the water gets double dispersed.

[Guppysnail]

On 10/18/2021 at 5:00 PM, Odd Duck said:

Here’s mine.  Hose clamped to fitting that converts to pipe fitting to attach PVC, then ball valve in the “U” shape, dry fit, then glued, drilled PVC (don’t drill the end cap).  Sloppy glue is my fault.  😆 

A “do-over” would be to switch to a larger diameter on the drilled portion to disperse pressure better and drill a shorter section of the fatter pipe.  Plus more holes to disperse better.  I have a bigger pump than I need since my taller/bigger tanks fill plenty fast and my higher tanks are small enough they don’t need to fill nearly as fast as this monster will do.  It’s pretty fresh, so may slow down with time.  The last one was getting unreliable about starting but it was 20 something years old (not in continuous use for most of that time and not used at all for about 10 years of that).

This is in my rolling barrel where I pre-mix my water.

Edit to add this is a pic of the old pump but the new one is the same brand and roughly equal capacity to the old, worn out model.

 

Your valve switch—- could i attach one to pond tubing that’s just tube no end connector or maybe use a 1/2 inch joiner and attach one to that?  I have to unplug to stop the flow. I’m headed to the hardware store this morning and wondering your thoughts on a stop valve that does not include unplugging with wet hands. 

[Odd Duck]

On 10/19/2021 at 7:32 AM, Guppysnail said:

Your valve switch—- could i attach one to pond tubing that’s just tube no end connector or maybe use a 1/2 inch joiner and attach one to that?  I have to unplug to stop the flow. I’m headed to the hardware store this morning and wondering your thoughts on a stop valve that does not include unplugging with wet hands. 

You’d have to have some kind of connector to give you a firm attachment to the ball valve. It’s not the easiest to turn, so it might give you trouble.  Look into “bar” fittings since they have a valve that has a wheel for easier adjustment.  I’ve heard you can adapt those.  We couldn’t find any when we bought this one, but I would look harder for one if I need to replace this valve at some point.

[Guppysnail]

@Odd Duck I went with your suggested handle thank you. When we were at the hardware store (small one) I did struggle and could barely turn the twist valve. We went to a larger and found this. I hit the hose with the hair dryer since I intentionally got one slightly to large to make a better seal. When it cooled it shrink wrapped around perfectly.  Works like a charm 😁

[Guppysnail]

Busy, busy, busy. Woke up this morning dad left part of the fourth batch of babies out.

I have roughly 20-25 cpd fry now. The biggest either plucked a wall clinger one off the wall or injured it enough it fell so that’s it for this round. Most are still too small to show on camera. Here is the first/biggest. Sorry tiny picture forgot to turn my camera. I put about a dozen more shrimp from pygmy tank in cpd fry tank. Because of the way they hatch and cling to the floor and corners I have not yet been able to vac. So brown diatom algae and left over food are getting a bit much. 

today I lowered all the ar below the water line. All 6 pots are still thriving.  I only got pics of 2 during water change but I took them from tops and sides

this guy is 2.5 inches 😲. He was my nemesis I could not catch

lefty is doing good. Still won’t let me get a broken wing picture

why I was so busy….

I have to take a minute to give my 🥰husband 🥰some fish recognition I hope you don’t mind. He knows how I have been struggling with some physical aspects of maintenance and worrying I won’t be able to keep up in eventually and that I have been finding things to improve that. Monday was his birthday.  Every year he saves up mad money to buy himself a frivolous pricey toy in addition to what I get him. This year he handed me the last 2 fluval canister filters I needed. 🥲. He said he never wants to see me struggling and it brings him joy to make my life easier 😭😭😭😭. Yup I cried. He is the most selfless person I know. 
so I moved the 107 from pleco baby tank to the boy grow out with lefty and a few other smaller pleco babies. Put the new 307 on the baby pleco tank. Put the new 207 on the girl guppy grow out with the overly large pleco babies. So the only 2 hobs left are the Pygmy tank and cpd fry tank. Those will stay two is very manageable for me. I have both pumps 1 clean 1 waste water all set and working. I feel like I just discovered electricity exists. After full maintenance day which took 2 hours instead of all day I had enough left in me to do the winter scrub top to bottom on my kitchen!  
 

HAPPY ADVENTURES…TRY SOMETHING NEW

[Torrey]

On 10/15/2021 at 7:50 AM, Guppysnail said:

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🤣

 

 

I love your snail!!!!!!

 

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

You are doing a great job with your videos, you should be proud.

Everything looks amazing. 

<embarrassedly adds 'remember to clean tanks before taking pictures' to check list😅>

[Guppysnail]

On 10/21/2021 at 5:47 PM, Torrey said:

I love your snail!!!!!!

 

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

You are doing a great job with your videos, you should be proud.

Everything looks amazing. 

<embarrassedly adds 'remember to clean tanks before taking pictures' to check list😅>

Yeah. I never remember to do glass first and usually take pics vids right after I add food 🤣. My tanks that were meant to be fish tanks I usually do but that’s 3/7. The rest were forced tanks for excess baby fish. I have not done interior glass since august when the pleco babies were born. They are the only reason I can even see the fish 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Guppysnail]

My pharmacist came for pleco babies. I gave her three, plus green beans and repashy on a stick and a thing of wafers so they could transition slowly to whatever she feeds. The entire time she was enchanted by my guppy boy babies that just got tiny hints of yellow orange and blue in the tail. I gave her 5 boys and a scoop of girls. I say scoop  because even nets every guppy in the tank insists on going in. So I just dunked an old Lee’s specimen container in and dumped half the girls back in the tank. She should have 3 maybe 4 girls to each boy. 😁

I put 4 of the real small baby plecos in the diatom covered funny tank/cpd grow out. Lesson learned I should not have put 2 different batches in the same grow out. They were the same size when I put them in but a week later batch one had a huge growth spurt. 
 

LFS guy went somewhere else now I have a new guy to deal with. He put a Chinese algae eater mid size in with my snails. 😢. One empty one just killed and being eaten by it. Now I wish they would sell them before they are eaten. I’m at capacity so couldn’t bring them home 😭😭😭😭

Laying the spider wood over for the pandas did not work. The bottom of all that beautiful ludwiga was just to low. It weakened and my guppies shredded it now it’s floating at the top. 

so football Sunday I’m moving all stems out of that tank into shorter tanks and figuring out how to redo plants on spiderwood.  
the pleco babies 4 that I put in funny tank did this this afternoon they just went in this morning.  I wish I had taken pics of the rocks first but who takes pics of rocks heavy coated in diatom?

HAPPY ADVENTURES…TRY SOMETHING NEW 

[Guppysnail]

Just took this via flashlight. Sidewalls are covered with babies as well 😲😲

 

[Torrey]

ORD 😍😍😍

[Guppysnail]

I used the bbs today for the CPD fry because it looked like most could be ready and they were. What I did not expect is 15-20 more to come rushing out of the hornwort.  So possibly 35-40. 😁. Most of those were too small for bbs or for the camera to pick up. 

The pleco babies are devouring the yummies in that tank much quicker than anticipated.  The heater 1/4-1/3 clean the rocks and they started on the front of the floor. Good for them but I’m glad the cpd are getting big enough for bbs because all that yuck was the microfauna food. 

lefty not great pic

Scooter is now tank BOSS. In typical CPD fashion she has been chasing guppy boys all day letting them know she is boss including being first to eat bbs from the pipette (I didn’t have enough hands or I soooo would have videoed that comedy. 

Went to get more crickets for my frog. They had one of these. I must have watched it for 10 minutes. 

I came home and looked them up and found my new dream fish. It used to be  Elassoma gilberti but my live food culturing skills are just 😕. And I thought my mosquito dish kept drying out but hubby blew a gasket when he found out I was trying to get mosquitoes to lay and proceeded to show me each and every mosquito bite he had 😬. Collecting other food reliably is not something I can do anymore so I just had to say no. But here is my new dream….Pseudomugil gertrudae 😍

now to talk nicely to my pleco and guppies and ask them to stop having so many babies so I can free up a tank 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

HAPPY ADVENTURES.. TRY SOMETHING NEW

[Hobbit]

Oh I’m so touched that your husband spent his birthday money getting you two more canister filters! That is true love right there!!

My husband and your husband should spend some time together. Remember when we had a cold snap in the spring and had to bring the tubs in our kitchen? Remember how we ended up with 50+ mosquitos on our ceiling every morning? 😬

 

[Guppysnail]

On 10/23/2021 at 1:45 PM, Hobbit said:

Oh I’m so touched that your husband spent his birthday money getting you two more canister filters! That is true love right there!!

My husband and your husband should spend some time together. Remember when we had a cold snap in the spring and had to bring the tubs in our kitchen? Remember how we ended up with 50+ mosquitos on our ceiling every morning? 😬

 

I’m showing this to him!  His few bites do not compare 🤣

[Guppysnail]

I slept in today past sun up. The two largest cpd fry had suspiciously big bellies and it seemed like a few of the tiniest fry had vanished 😵. So I moved the two largest and Scooter into the Pygmy tank. Here is the first Scooter met other CPD. 

I redid the guppy community and moved all the stems to the guppy girl grow out. My light is not strong enough for anything other than anubias, Java fern, Asian water fern, and pennywort to do well at the bottom.  The bottom of my elodea wasn’t looking so hot either. 
mom n dads tank is messy plant looking but with so many newborn BN babies not a lot I can do

AR is growing dynamite in all tanks but especially well in guppy boy grow outk

Just for fun..guppies and panda approve of the redo 

Lefty is just like mom n dad..where is my green bean pleaseAWWW there it is 🤗

HAPPY ADVENTURES.. TRY SOMETHING NEW 

[Atitagain]

😃Lefty is such a tuff lil dude. And spoiled a whole green bean to himself? Lol

The AR looks great the red is so bright. Them hanging planters are working out well?

[Guppysnail]

On 10/24/2021 at 7:06 PM, Atitagain said:

😃Lefty is such a tuff lil dude. And spoiled a whole green bean to himself? Lol

The AR looks great the red is so bright. Them hanging planters are working out well?

No. he has to share with 2 siblings that stayed smaller from food competition. In the first photo at the bottom of the stick is one. But he is always first to all food 🤗. The planters are great. I moved the AR below the water a few days ago and it’s already poking above in all the tanks. I love the AR it grows like a weed. 

[eatyourpeas]

On 10/24/2021 at 4:15 PM, Guppysnail said:

I love the AR it grows like a weed. 

Looking great! This makes me want t try AR in the new tank for the Lampeyes and CPDs. 😍

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Guppysnaili have those planters on my Amazon list can’t wait. For the plecos I have (7 from 1 year plus to just under a year old) I need to feed some green beans just not sure how messy it will get in comparison to the cucumbers which seems to not shed too much in the tank. My wife and kids go through a lot of cucumbers so I get the scraps for the plecos. 

[Guppysnail]

On 10/25/2021 at 5:17 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

@Guppysnaili have those planters on my Amazon list can’t wait. For the plecos I have (7 from 1 year plus to just under a year old) I need to feed some green beans just not sure how messy it will get in comparison to the cucumbers which seems to not shed too much in the tank. My wife and kids go through a lot of cucumbers so I get the scraps for the plecos. 

Im sparing with cucumbers/zucchini because they make so much more mess than green beans. I have also found cucumbers i have to monitor i occasionally get a slight ammonia or nitrite spike i dont get with steamed green beans. 
the planters are fabulous. Today a huge chunk of AR was floating about. I had to stuff it back in it had grown so much. I cant seam to grow floating plants to save my life so im considering using the AR as floaters in my tanks since its so hardy and grows so fast.