Chris's Fishes Fish Room Journal

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/16/2022 at 8:59 PM, Chris said:

 

What a busy day!

I made a visit to @PineSong today, and I haven't met someone so nice and welcoming in a long time. Both I and my girlfriend spent most of the ride home talking about how pleasant you were, and how beautiful your tanks are. Thank you!

 

Nice to see Nerms socializing!!

What does your Krib tank look like??

Its always interesting to see other members tanks!

[Chris]

On 10/16/2022 at 3:00 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Nice to see Nerms socializing!!

What does your Krib tank look like??

Its always interesting to see other members tanks!

My Krib tank is... interesting!

It was a turtle tank that got filled with algae, and now I've kinda repurposed it as a conditioning tank with all the algae and critters in it. I still need to rearrange it and add in some breeding caves. I'm thinking I may have accidentally gotten two male kribs instead of the male and female I picked out in the store. Guess that's what I get for not keeping an eye on the fish store lady.

[PineSong]

It was great to meet you--always fun to talk fish with other MTS sufferers. If any of those "females" turn out to be males, just let me know and I'll hook you up with another girl.

I love that algae. Looks like the perfect setting for a Led Zeppelin video...maybe a little Ramble On?

Edited October 16, 2022 by PineSong

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/16/2022 at 9:50 PM, Chris said:

My Krib tank is... interesting!

It was a turtle tank that got filled with algae, and now I've kinda repurposed it as a conditioning tank with all the algae and critters in it. I still need to rearrange it and add in some breeding caves. I'm thinking I may have accidentally gotten two male kribs instead of the male and female I picked out in the store. Guess that's what I get for not keeping an eye on the fish store lady.

The day that you’re able to let your tanks get covered in algae is the day you realize that you may have reached the pinnacle of the hobby.😉

[Chris]

On 10/16/2022 at 4:04 PM, PineSong said:

It was great to meet you--always fun to talk fish with other MTS sufferers. If any of those "females" turn out to be males, just let me know and I'll hook you up with another girl.

I love that algae. Looks like the perfect setting for a Led Zeppelin video...maybe a little Ramble On?

I'll let you know if I run into any late bloomers!

On 10/17/2022 at 1:05 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

The day that you’re able to let your tanks get covered in algae is the day you realize that you may have reached the pinnacle of the hobby.😉

I wish! I'm nowhere near any sort of pinnacle. I do enjoy a natural tank, though, and sometimes that means they aren't the most aesthetically pleasing - I don't find most algae ugly, anyway! Diatoms can stay away, though.

Kind of a sad morning in the fish room, although all the fish I got yesterday are well, thankfully.

One of the two kribs I got last weekend is dead - I definitely received two males. I had planned on getting into the tank over the next day or so to net the one that was hiding so much out to confirm he was male, but it seems I waited too long. He looks healthy other than being pale, so I assume it was aggression or pure stress that killed him. I'll keep an eye out for a female over the next little bit and will be insistent about the fish I get next time. Everybody else in the tank is well, so I'll hold off on any treatments or such until I see signs of disease.

In my 37 gallon guppy tank, I'm really not sure if those white spots are sand or ich - they don't seem to stay in the same place for more than 24 hours, so that makes me think sand. But there are more spots now than there were a few days ago. At this point, I'm just going to treat for ich to make myself feel better about things. I added 20 tbsp of salt to the tank this morning, and will leave that in there for two weeks to marinate.

On a more cheerful note, the swordtails are settling in great! They were up at the glass, begging for food this morning, and I of course obliged.

Don't tell the others, but the one below is probably my favorite, color-wise:

[Chris]

Here are some halfway decent shots of the swordtails. They're fast little buggers in a dim tank, so getting clear pics is difficult even with a DSLR.

 

[Patrick_G]

The new Swordtails look spectacular.

Is the urchin and snail in the GSP tank? Is it full marine? 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/18/2022 at 3:07 AM, Chris said:

Here are some halfway decent shots of the swordtails. They're fast little buggers in a dim tank, so getting clear pics is difficult even with a DSLR.

 

Love the look of the long tank! How big is it?

[Chris]

On 10/18/2022 at 2:54 PM, Patrick_G said:

The new Swordtails look spectacular.

Is the urchin and snail in the GSP tank? Is it full marine? 

Right? They look even better in person - the colors on these are crazy bright, even from across the room! Much more intense than the red wag colors I'm used to.

The GSP tank is full marine (around 1.022 or so), and the urchin is in with him. Puffers typically don't go after echinoderms IME, although it's always a bit of a risk. Urchins are safer than starfish - I think the spikes are a pretty good deterrent. The snail shell was an old mystery snail shell I had. Urchins will pick up different objects as they wander the tank, and he's had ahold of that shell for the past couple days, wearing it like a snail would. I think it's funny!

On 10/18/2022 at 3:20 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Love the look of the long tank! How big is it?

I do too! It's one of my favorite sizes. It's a 33 gallon - 48"x12"13". Basically a 55 minus 8" of height. It's the only tank that made sense, being that the top of this tank is 7 feet off the floor, meaning a 55 would have been nearly 8 feet!

[PineSong]

Oooh, nice to see the swordtails in such a long tank. I know they will love the space, and those photos reminded me that I saw a developing gonopodium at AM feeding time, so I better go net that guy out now!

I'm interested to see how the intensity of the orange develops on the swordtail fry that were born in my tank recently and not outside in the pond--right now their orange looks more pale/peachy rather than red/orange. On one hand, they are only 1/3" long right now so maybe they'll get more red as they mature.  Here's a photo of the pond fry at around the same size, though--more intense coloring.

[Chris]

On 10/18/2022 at 7:19 PM, PineSong said:

Oooh, nice to see the swordtails in such a long tank. I know they will love the space, and those photos reminded me that I saw a developing gonopodium at AM feeding time, so I better go net that guy out now!

I know they will!

On 10/18/2022 at 7:19 PM, PineSong said:

I'm interested to see how the intensity of the orange develops on the swordtail fry that were born in my tank recently and not outside in the pond--right now their orange looks more pale/peachy rather than red/orange. On one hand, they are only 1/3" long right now so maybe they'll get more red as they mature.  Here's a photo of the pond fry at around the same size, though--more intense coloring.

They're awful young, so maybe the color needs to finish coming in. From what I've heard, most coloration differences fish pick up from being outside wear off after they've been inside for a while, but I don't know if it'll make a big difference in their long-term development as fry.

[Patrick_G]

On 10/18/2022 at 2:52 PM, Chris said:

Right? They look even better in person - the colors on these are crazy bright, even from across the room! Much more intense than the red wag colors I'm used to.

I becoming more and more of a swordtail fan. My Marigolds practically glow under the light. My current grail is the Wagtail red white from Aquarium Glasser in Germany. That one you have is pretty close!

Thanks for the info on the puffer tank. I’m still getting mine up to marine sg, but I’m excited to try different critters and macros when it’s ready. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/19/2022 at 3:08 AM, Patrick_G said:

I becoming more and more of a swordtail fan. My Marigolds practically glow under the light. My current grail is the Wagtail red white from Aquarium Glasser in Germany. That one you have is pretty close!

Thanks for the info on the puffer tank. I’m still getting mine up to marine sg, but I’m excited to try different critters and macros when it’s ready. 

Thanks for posting the name of the wholesaler  @Patrick_G! I might finally be able to get some Xiphophorus Montezumae.(Montezuma Swordtail)

[Chris]

On 10/18/2022 at 9:08 PM, Patrick_G said:

I becoming more and more of a swordtail fan. My Marigolds practically glow under the light. My current grail is the Wagtail red white from Aquarium Glasser in Germany. That one you have is pretty close!

Have any pics of your Marigolds? I like the Wagtail Red Whites. My great grandmother kept a 55 full of red wag swordtails, and that was my main experience with them up until I got these. I've had a few Pineapple swords when I was a teenager (13? 14?), and I loved those guys - I'd actually buy some if I ever have a free tank suitable.

On 10/18/2022 at 9:08 PM, Patrick_G said:

Thanks for the info on the puffer tank. I’m still getting mine up to marine sg, but I’m excited to try different critters and macros when it’s ready.

No problem! Hermit crabs have been a go-to tankmate for me with GSPs. They get nipped at, but never seem to be able to do any damage to the crab. Keeps their beak filed, gives them something to hunt, and keeps algae down. More traditional crabs and shrimp are definitely on the menu, though - I even had a GSP eat macros, once. This current guy will eat cichlid pellets 😂 They aren't picky a bit!

After all the work (and spending) of setting up this rack, dealing with a bit of ich with the guppies (yes, confirmed ich), an algae bloom in the flowerhorn tank, and keeping an eye on a bunch of new fish, I'm planning on waiting at least a month before I add any more tanks. But, that won't stop me from planning, right? 

Next project will likely be the rack that'll replace the 20 long the Krib and tetras are in. I plan to keep that 20 long there on top, but want to build a cinderblock stand with room for a handful of 5.5's on the bottom lengthwise. I think those 5.5's will be mainly for small-scale projects to keep costs down - I'd like to do a high-tech planted tank, and I think a 5.5 will keep me from going too crazy with it. Same thing with a reef - I've kept small reefs before, so I know it's a bit easier to spread the costs of such a thing out with a tiny tank. I'd also like to keep some interesting species-only stuff - I've never kept Scarlet Badis, so that's on the list. So are Pygmy sunfish and clown killis, among others.

Y'all need to help me plan out the high-tech tank... it's a bit out of my wheelhouse. I'm definitely wanting it to be plant-oriented, and probably no fish. Maybe some shrimp and snails for algae control. I have one of the Fluval Nano pendants, and I think that'd work well enough for a crisp high-light setup, right? No idea what a good CO2 setup for such a small tank would be, but I'd like to do it right without completely breaking the bank, if possible. 

Edited October 19, 2022 by Chris

[Patrick_G]

On 10/18/2022 at 10:37 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Thanks for posting the name of the wholesaler  @Patrick_G! I might finally be able to get some Xiphophorus Montezumae.(Montezuma Swordtail)

You’re lucky! That wholesaler has some great fish.

[Chris]

Just a chill night in the fishroom. Fed lots of food to all the tanks - kinda bored and wanted to watch the fish eat!

Feed the Krib and tetras some bloodworms. The Krib is coloring up really nicely now that he's settled in, and so are some of the larger tetras. They're actually a nice pair - the purple/pink of the krib's belly and the blue sheen of the emperor tetras go nicely together. Can't wait to get a female krib in there!

The swordtails got a cube of bloodworms, too, and all 10 of them swarmed it. Lots of nice, round bellies.

Guppies got some Emerald Cuisine, for the veggie content. They seemed to like it, even though 3 of the 5 still have pretty bad ich. Two of them don't show any symptoms, one of them has one or two specks, and the others are covered. Still active, though!

The clownfish got Emerald Cuisine, too. Doing well in QT!

GSP got some Emerald Cuisine, too. I'm thinking he might be a little wormy - I might deworm him again soon. Puffers are so bad for parasites!

Flowerhorn got some pellets. Still got tons of greenwater in his tank.

Ginga Sulphereous Guppies got some crumbled up Krill Extreme flakes, since they're too small for the Emerald Cuisine and bloodworms.

Finally, the Musk turtle (and his friends, the white clouds and mollies) got bloodworms.

I actually grabbed a bunch of pics but don't feel like getting them all off the camera right this second...

[Chris]

Alrighty, pic dump and ich update:

The colors on the one remaining Krib are getting better every day:

Some of the Emperor Tetras are getting pretty, too:

And here's the swords enjoying their bloodworms last night:

The guppies with ich are showing some improvement, but one particular female has more spots than she did the other day - she seems to be getting worse. I think I may add another 5 tbsps of salt to the tank to see if that helps. It's odd I'm seeing improvements in all but that fish. Any thoughts?

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/21/2022 at 2:06 AM, Chris said:

Alrighty, pic dump and ich update:

The colors on the one remaining Krib are getting better every day:

Some of the Emperor Tetras are getting pretty, too:

And here's the swords enjoying their bloodworms last night:

The guppies with ich are showing some improvement, but one particular female has more spots than she did the other day - she seems to be getting worse. I think I may add another 5 tbsps of salt to the tank to see if that helps. It's odd I'm seeing improvements in all but that fish. Any thoughts?

Maybe separate her from the group if you have the space?

[Chris]

On 10/21/2022 at 2:25 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Maybe separate her from the group if you have the space?

Possibly. Not a bad idea - I don't see males pestering her, but I may separate her out if she doesn't improve over the next 48 hours. The other four fish are showing some signs of illness, but not to the extent that she is. 

I added another 5 tbsps of salt last night, for a total of 25 tbsps in the tank. I should mention I'm using marine salt, so the tank is now at 1.0025 SG, give or take .0005. In the past, I've found 1.001-1.002 (which is roughly 1 tbsp of salt per 2 gallons) to be plenty for treating ich, so maybe I've got a salt-resistant strain or this isn't ich at all? It looks like ich, but it has been years since I've dealt with freshwater ich. I'll have to get some pics when I get a second tonight.

If I don't see any improvement in the next couple of days I'll probably raise the entire tank to 1.004, or roughly 1 tbsp of salt per gallon. I've never heard of any freshwater ich surviving that, although that can have a pretty strong negative impact on the biofilter. With 5 guppies in a 37 gallon, though, I think I'll be able to keep a mini-cycle at bay if it comes to that.

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/21/2022 at 3:44 PM, Chris said:

Possibly. Not a bad idea - I don't see males pestering her, but I may separate her out if she doesn't improve over the next 48 hours. The other four fish are showing some signs of illness, but not to the extent that she is. 

I added another 5 tbsps of salt last night, for a total of 25 tbsps in the tank. I should mention I'm using marine salt, so the tank is now at 1.0025 SG, give or take .0005. In the past, I've found 1.001-1.002 (which is roughly 1 tbsp of salt per 2 gallons) to be plenty for treating ich, so maybe I've got a salt-resistant strain or this isn't ich at all? It looks like ich, but it has been years since I've dealt with freshwater ich. I'll have to get some pics when I get a second tonight.

If I don't see any improvement in the next couple of days I'll probably raise the entire tank to 1.004, or roughly 1 tbsp of salt per gallon. I've never heard of any freshwater ich surviving that, although that can have a pretty strong negative impact on the biofilter. With 5 guppies in a 37 gallon, though, I think I'll be able to keep a mini-cycle at bay if it comes to that.

Ever thought of Ich-X?

[Chris]

On 10/21/2022 at 10:32 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Ever thought of Ich-X?

Yeah, I've used it before and had good luck. I just prefer salt if possible - not a big fan of medications if I can keep from them. In this case I may have to order some, since I'm sure the bottle I've had for years is probably separated and nasty by now.

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/21/2022 at 4:39 PM, Chris said:

Yeah, I've used it before and had good luck. I just prefer salt if possible - not a big fan of medications if I can keep from them. In this case I may have to order some, since I'm sure the bottle I've had for years is probably separated and nasty by now.

Salt doesn’t stain silicone sealing like Ich-X does, so I guess it’s more practical in that sense.

[Chris]

Not so worried about the silicone - this tank has black silicone, so I doubt staining would be noticeable.

I know Ich-X is safe, and I'm definitely not afraid to medicate when necessary, but I prefer natural methods when possible. Salt has worked well for me in the past, and I usually QT most of my freshwater fish in at least a little salt, and livebearers will usually get a brackish QT to avoid issues like this. I just got a bit ahead of myself with these guppies and am paying the price...

I'll pull the trigger on some Ich-X if this higher dosage of salt doesn't work.

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/21/2022 at 5:05 PM, Chris said:

Not so worried about the silicone - this tank has black silicone, so I doubt staining would be noticeable.

I know Ich-X is safe, and I'm definitely not afraid to medicate when necessary, but I prefer natural methods when possible. Salt has worked well for me in the past, and I usually QT most of my freshwater fish in at least a little salt, and livebearers will usually get a brackish QT to avoid issues like this. I just got a bit ahead of myself with these guppies and am paying the price...

I'll pull the trigger on some Ich-X if this higher dosage of salt doesn't work.

Sound good 👍 

[Chris]

Checked in on the guppies today, and 4 of the 5 are healthy. The single female I was concerned about still has a few spots - I'm not sure it's ich, though. The spots aren't uniform, they're different sizes, extremely raised, and look almost spherical. Not sure what this is, but ich it isn't.

Regardless, the salt seems to be helping, finally. No spots on any of the other fish, and the female has less spots than she did during the week. All fish are behaving normally, too. I'll continue to observe.

I'm going to move an Amazon Sword into my Musk turtle tank today and probably move a few stems and other assorted plants in too, just to see what will and won't survive with him.