Chris's Fishes Fish Room Journal

[Chris]

Snapped a couple pics of the Ginga Sulphereous guppies tonight. Not my best, but they've really colored up well! 

[Chris]

Another update! Not much to go over, unfortunately. 

I finally had a second male develop in the sword tail tank. No sword, but he definitely has a gonopodium. The tank is doing fine - all the plants are growing slowly, but that's to be expected with such a low light tank, I think. Getting a bit of pink on the new growth on the flamingo crypts, which I like! 

The air pump that's powering both the Koi sword tank and the guppy tank has only lasted about three months before having issues. It's no longer pumping air to the bottom of the 37 - a deep tank, but not ridiculously so by any means. So, until I can find a good replacement, this is keeping the tank running. 

Not great, but functional! I have a few fry running around this tank. 

The Ginga guppies suffered an unfortunate setback a few weeks ago during that big cold snap we had here in the midwest/south. Temps got down to about -11 (basically unheard of in Kentucky) and the power company started doing controlled blackouts to keep the grid up. We lost power for three hours and our apartment went from 68 to about 45. Most of the tanks were fine, except the Ginga Guppies. I'm down to one male and several females, so hopefully the remaining individuals will be enough to get a colony going. The shrimp made it through just fine. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

I’ve heard of aquarists wrapping their tanks in those heat-retention foil blankets used for winter ski accidents. Ever thought of trying that?

[Chris]

On 1/18/2023 at 1:25 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

I’ve heard of aquarists wrapping their tanks in those heat-retention foil blankets used for winter ski accidents. Ever thought of trying that?

Wouldn't be a terrible idea. This is one of the first times in my life I've had an issue like this. When I was really young we had a week-long power outage after an ice storm, and it wouldn't have mattered what we did back then - everything would have died. But for short-term outages like the one last month, they wouldn't be bad to have around. I may order a couple to put into my fish supply bins.

I've had a couple things of note appear over the past couple days. For one, I lost one of my male Fancy Guppies out of the blue. Parameters check out fine, all the other fish and fry are okay, and his body looks fine - just like he gave up and quit moving. I'll be keeping a close eye on the tank, but I'm hoping it was a one-off incident. Possibly internal issues due to inbreeding?

For two, I found my first Koi Swordtail fry! I think they may have all already been eaten, though. I walked into the fishroom last night and happened to see a female acting weird in a dark corner of the tank, and sure enough, there were a couple of newborn fry that hadn't even really learned to swim correctly yet. No more sightings this morning, though, and the other adults were hanging around that area when the lights came on this morning. Oh well - I just need to plant the heck out of the tank, and maybe I'll have some make it then. If not, guess I'll go dig out the breeding net, lol. @PineSong, have you had any luck colony breeding these? I've done it with swords in the past, but I've heard some strains are more prone to eat fry than others. I've got two males and the rest female, so as long as I can get a couple fry to survive out of each batch via colony breeding, I'll honestly have more than I really want pretty quickly.

The Ginga guppies have bounced back. I now have two males and 4 females - strangely enough, they're all still tiny. Maybe 1" max, even with the females. They're getting enough food, but I'm wondering if I need to move the tank to a warmer location. I don't even have any shrimplets from the Neos I added two months ago. I may do that in a coming weekend or something. Everybody appears healthy, though.

Oh, and against all odds, the molly fry in the Musk Turtle tank have all grown to about 1". Very few plants, lots of adult fish (including some pretty quick and large WCMM), and a decent-sized musk turtle, and I still have 20 or so fry in the tank. I thought for sure they'd be eaten on day one.

[PineSong]

On 2/13/2023 at 9:06 AM, Chris said:

For two, I found my first Koi Swordtail fry! ...@PineSong, have you had any luck colony breeding these? I've done it with swords in the past, but I've heard some strains are more prone to eat fry than others. I've got two males and the rest female, so as long as I can get a couple fry to survive out of each batch via colony breeding, I'll honestly have more than I really want pretty quickly.

The Ginga guppies have bounced back. I now have two males and 4 females - strangely enough, they're all still tiny. Maybe 1" max, even with the females. They're getting enough food, but I'm wondering if I need to move the tank to a warmer location. 

I bred my koi swordtails in a 110g tub pond all summer, and also had two batches of fry in the 29 gallon indoors. Given the size of the pond, I did not have huge numbers, but I am sure I brought in 50+ at the end of the summer from an initial set of 6 young adult/teenaged fish put out in May. I've also had fry born indoors in my 29g but not truly a colony situation as I did not keep any males in the tank, just put the ladies in who I had retrieved from the pond. I am planning to breed my preferred two juvenile males to my young females in the pond this summer.

re: the ginga guppies, they actually do stay tiny. The females might not get big until after they breed. Some of my mom fish have grown to twice the size of the males but the males stay miniature. Only my French blue star Endlers stay smaller. 

Edited February 14, 2023 by PineSong

[Chris]

On 2/13/2023 at 8:55 PM, PineSong said:

I bred my koi swordtails in a 110g tub pond all summer, and also had two batches of fry in the 29 gallon indoors. Given the size of the pond, I did not have huge numbers, but I am sure I brought in 50+ at the end of the summer from an initial set of 6 young adult/teenaged fish put out in May. I've also had fry born indoors in my 29g but not truly a colony situation as I did not keep any males in the tank, just put the ladies in who I had retrieved from the pond. I am planning to breed my preferred two juvenile males to my young females in the pond this summer.

re: the ginga guppies, they actually do stay tiny. The females might not get big until after they breed. Some of my mom fish have grown to twice the size of the males but the males stay miniature. Only my French blue star Endlers stay smaller. 

Good to know. I'm almost positive that the fry are all eaten, but the first batch from young females tends to be small IMO, and there's still not a ton of vegetation in the tank for the fry to hide in.

Tonight, I moved my two comet goldfish from the little Kiddie Pool pond into a standard 10 gallon tank. One of them has made it to around 4", the other is around 2". Why the downgrade, you ask? For one, the pool was taking up a huge amount of space for the purpose it serves, and for two, it seems I'm moving soon.

This place is a rental - we're buying a home! We had one sale fall through a few weeks ago due to a poor inspection result, but will likely be putting an offer down onto another house tomorrow. It's a roomy home, and I think I'll be able to keep all of my tanks. The comets will likely have a pond outside, once we get settled in - unless I decide to rehome them. I do want to do some outdoor tubbing, and I'd like to have a water feature or maybe a koi pond, but I'm not sure if a comet goldfish pond fits in there anywhere. Maybe we could do a large enough water feature to house them in?

[Chris]

I spotted a sword tail fry! 

For like two seconds, before an adult came by and attempted to eat it. It got away, though. Pretty interesting that that fry was smaller than the Molly fry were when they were born, and they seem almost smaller than the fancy guppy fry in the tank beneath them. I figured they'd be bigger. 

So, I guess I need to get an appropriately sized light (48" vs the 30" that's there now) and plant the corners with something that's good for fry to hide in. Any suggestions? I enjoy plants but I'm not laser focused on them, so maybe a forgiving stem plant would be best. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

Swordtails produce on average 150 fry according to my sources, so I expect they have to be pretty small to fit in there!

I recently had a swordtail experience myself: A pineapple swordtail female who had been kept alone for several months (no fry) caught velvet and died. A day later, 2 - 3 little fry were seen swimming! 

[Chris]

Getting inspections done on the house this week... I'm already planning my fish room! It'll be nice to actually be able to put up airline's and such on the wall. I may even go with a piston pump! 

I hung a blanket up in front of the window in my fish room to try and keep out some of the light. The winter sun has caused algae blooms in a few tanks, including my Green Spotted Puffer tank. Water is clear, but the glass needs cleaned nearly daily. Hopefully the blanket helps. 

Anyone wanna guess how the duckweed got into a saltwater tank? 

[Theplatymaster]

On 2/21/2023 at 8:26 AM, Chris said:

Anyone wanna guess how the duckweed got into a saltwater tank? 

reused net?

on your hands?

[Chris]

On 2/21/2023 at 8:34 AM, Theplatymaster said:

reused net?

on your hands?

Close! Feeder snails. I used tweezers to pull them out of my deeper tanks and drop them in. It sticks to their shells. Takes a surprisingly long time to die in saltwater. 

[Chris]

Did a water change and moved the Ginga guppy tank into a more viewable location. Took a phone video of them afterwards - I count 2 male and 4 female guppies, and a total 5 Neos.

Pardon the particulates! Hornwort has been dying back. 

 

Edited February 22, 2023 by Chris

[Chris]

Brought out the DSLR and got a decent pic of one of the male Ginga guppies.

[Theplatymaster]

On 2/23/2023 at 9:03 PM, Chris said:

DSLR

this is a camera type correct?

[Chris]

On 2/23/2023 at 9:20 PM, Theplatymaster said:

this is a camera type correct?

Sure is! I use a Canon EOS RP - technically a mirrorless camera, but it functions as a DSLR. The main advantage a DSLR has over a phone camera with aquarium photography is actually the variable shutter speed and wide range of ISO and exposure options, at least at my beginner level. My phone camera has a "pro" mode that allows me to tinker a bit, but it really can't get anywhere close to the clarity the Canon can, especially in darker tanks or with fast, small fish like the guppy above.

[Chris]

Flowerhorn tank is clear-ish for the first time in a while. Covering a nearby window has really made all the difference - considering purchasing some actual blackout curtains for my next fish room after the move! 

May look rough in the picture, but it's the first non-opaque look I've had in the tank in a bit. 

[knee]

On 2/23/2023 at 6:25 PM, Chris said:

Sure is! I use a Canon EOS RP - technically a mirrorless camera, but it functions as a DSLR. The main advantage a DSLR has over a phone camera with aquarium photography is actually the variable shutter speed and wide range of ISO and exposure options, at least at my beginner level. My phone camera has a "pro" mode that allows me to tinker a bit, but it really can't get anywhere close to the clarity the Canon can, especially in darker tanks or with fast, small fish like the guppy above.

That's a nice camera! I have a canon but it's just the m50 and it doesn't really take good photos. I mostly use my phone to take photos but I wanna start using my camera. Is there a lens I can use to make my photo quality better?

[Chris]

On 3/1/2023 at 1:45 PM, knee said:

That's a nice camera! I have a canon but it's just the m50 and it doesn't really take good photos. I mostly use my phone to take photos but I wanna start using my camera. Is there a lens I can use to make my photo quality better?

I'm actually not super familiar with the m50. I'd recommend checking out Jimmy Gimbals guide for aquarium photography - there are lots of simple tips that'll help a lot with your camera and your cell phone pics. 

As far as lenses, your best bet is to get a fast lens that captures a lot of light. I honestly don't know what would be best, but a lens that's rated well for sport photography or bird photography would likely do a good job with aquariums. I use the stock lens that my camera came with, but would love to get a macro lens for tiny critters. 

Sea urchin is up on the rocks in the Green Spotted Puffer tank - wearing a mystery snail shell like a hat and chilling.

 

[Chris]

Saw that same sword tail baby again this morning. Glad to know the little guy made it! One of the females is squared off and looks ready to burst, so I expect more soon. If I get the time, I'll swing by the pet store for a breeder box. 

A

Edited March 3, 2023 by Chris

[eatyourpeas]

On 3/2/2023 at 5:53 PM, Chris said:

Sea urchin is up on the rocks in the Green Spotted Puffer tank - wearing a mystery snail shell like a hat and chilling.

I have sea urchin envy! 🤪 Wish I could add one to my PSB... without going to jail. 

[Chris]

On 3/3/2023 at 12:34 PM, eatyourpeas said:

I have sea urchin envy! 🤪 Wish I could add one to my PSB... without going to jail. 

They're awesome! This guy was purchased at about the size of a half dollar coin, and he's getting close to baseball sized now, just about 4 months later. 

The puffer has never messed with him, and seems to know not to get too close. He does great algae control, too - he leaves the glass alone but eats ANYTHING that grows on the rock. He leaves bleached, white rock behind when he's hungry.

[Chris]

On second thought, I'll likely wait until I either A) Move or B) know I'm staying here for a while before I start separating swordtail fry from parents. Best case scenario, I'll be moving within 3 weeks, and trying to move a bunch of 2-3 week old fry seems daunting.

I ended up moving the Purple Emperor Tetras to the Musk turtle tank - I think they'll do well in there, and it'll free up the 20 long for other projects. The one remaining Krib is still in the 20 for now, but I think I'll move it into another tank once I source a mate for it. The tank is still overrun with algae, so I took the opportunity to remove most of it - and found an Amano shrimp I added to the tank (in vain) 6 months ago! And a nerite snail that has to be at least two years old, possible three.

[Chris]

Pulled out my camera and managed to get a slightly better picture of the swordtail fry. Unfortunately the tank is dimly lit, and he's tiny - so even with editing and such, this was as good as I could get. Oh well!

[Chris]

I essentially reset the 20 long today. As mentioned previously, the Purple Emperor Tetras went into the Musk Turtle tank for now,(which is kind of becoming a "catch-all"), and I actually considered rehoming the Krib and tearing the tank down for now. But decided it really isn't too much work to keep the tank going until I'm 100 percent positive I do or don't want to purse breeding Kribs, so I scaped the tank specifically for the krib (each rock structure has a cave underneath), manually removed a bunch of GHA, and moved in a comet goldfish from one of my other tanks to finish the algae off. I took this pic pre-filling, but I figured I'd snap it while I could see both fish. 

[Chris]

Did a couple of small things in the fish room today.

Added a heater to the Ginga guppy tank - I'm realizing that without the heat on (it's getting too warm to run it), this particular tank gets down into the low 60's. Brrrr! No wonder I'm not seeing any shrimplets. I also switched out the light with an LED bar I salvaged from a Top Fin kit years ago. It's an ugly spectrum, but it works! Much brighter, too. Trying to breathe life back into the hornwort I've got left.

I've also taken over the tank my girlfriend wanted for our kitchen, a little 1.5 gallon Deep Blue tank. She had an emerald crab and some hermit crabs in there, but the emerald crab died during a molt, so she was pretty much done with the tank. I did a 100% water change (common with pico reef tanks, no biggie), cleaned up some of the algae, and added a heater. I added a photosynthetic gorgonian and a couple ugly, cheap palys, too. Pretty much just going for something "good enough" to play with some cheap corals. I don't really have the time or funds to set up a bonafide reef tank like I want right now, so maybe this will scratch the itch till we move and I can splurge on a 20 high reef tank or something.

I still need to take care of the algae on the back and sides, but that'll have to wait till the next water change. This tank has no mechanical filtration, so it'll turn to soup if I stir the algae up without removing water!

There's some polyp extension on the gorgonian, but not much - they can be cranky after a move.

Palys look decently happy, actually. They have a really dark green that's actually kinda nice, in a way.