AllFishNoBrakes’ Journal

[AllFishNoBrakes]

The Lotus Pod finally sank. 

So far no issues with the snails and shrimp on the change of environment. I know we’ve barely just started this journey, but so far so good. Test strip on this tank was very comparable to how this tank has always ran. Low to mid 6 pH, soft water, barely any buffer. We’ll see if the tannins eventually crash the little to no buffer and if the pH swings from that, but so far so good. I can’t wait to get some fish in here, but all in due time and when the space is available. For now, I’m excited watching how the tank changes both in appearance and parameters and how the snails and shrimp are reacting.  

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Contrary to my handle, right now it’s “AllFishSomeBrakes”.  I really can’t raise any more fish without taking up all the space and preventing me from doing new things. I’ve decided to not hatch anything out until I move some of what I already have. Some of the Pandas are getting to a sellable size, so I’ll start moving those and letting the smaller ones continue to raise up. I also have all these Bristlenose Pleco’s, but they’re still pretty small. I also moved the next 25-30 Pandas and the 12 Julii Cory’s today. The (2) 2.5 gallon tanks are gone off the kitchen counter, and a 10 gallon is being utilized to start growing them more. 
 

I can’t add to the 20 long or the 20 high without quarantining fish, and I simply don’t have anywhere else to quarantine them. I simply gotta move some fish before I can bring anything new in. 
 

Since my last post, the Albino Cory’s spawned, and the Panda Angels spawned again tonight. I knew it was coming soon, and as I was putting away the 2.5 gallon tanks I noticed a massive spawn:

Probably the biggest one I’ve seen from them yet. All good though, I gotta focus on what I already have to free up some space to bring in some new things. All in due time my friends. 
 

Also crushed through Resident Evil 4 being on vacation this week. Truly, just a magnificent game. I was worried they were going to botch it, but I truly think they couldn’t have done any better. They took an absolute classic, kept everything that made it great, modernized it, added to it, and made it something spectacular. I knew exactly what was coming next, but it was updated and tweaked just enough to make it feel like a brand new experience. Simply incredible. Stoked for new game +!

Edited April 3, 2023 by AllFishNoBrakes

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Yo yo,

Back to work this week. Gotta love it. Tanks are crushing though. 
 

Water changed everything and it definitely feels nice not having the (2) 2.5 gallon tanks lingering over my head for the first time in a long time. Also, reset all the air stones on all sponge filters. 
 

Boiled some more Indian Almond Leaves and a couple other botanicals I had my girlfriend pick out this time 

Cooled them down and then threw them in the tank. 

Really diggin this tank, and the Pothos from the tank above it can finally be laid across the top! Once it reaches the end I’ll probably take another cutting or 2 and try it in a couple other tanks. 

Dirted tank got another massive trim. Also gonna start putting a few drops of Easy Green in here for the Red Root Floaters. They’re not doing so hot and I believe it’s because there’s 0 nitrates in this tank. The whole time, up until today, it has been a “no ferts” tank. However, I want those red root floaters to keep crushing cuz I wanna see them flower! I’ve seen what dirt and a year and a half can do, so now I wanna see if a few drops of fertilizer can make those red roots flower. Also added a floating right in the center of the tank to keep the rrf pushed to the sides to not just get straight blasted with the light. We’ll see how it goes. Also need to scrub the glass again after the trim as it’s a little hazy.

Panda Angel male and the all black female spawned. Being total jerks to everyone in the tank so I pulled the spawn as soon as I could. At least they used an old leaf that needed to be pulled anyways for once. 
 

Until next time, Nerms!

[TheSwissAquarist]

Everything looking great as usual. 🙂

[AllFishNoBrakes]

What up Nerms?

 

Been a rough couple of weeks over here in this neck of the woods. I found out my cat that I’ve had for 12 years and my whole adult life had 2 types of cancer. A couple of days after confirming and finding out, things took a turn for the worse and I had to make the incredibly difficult decision to put him down. Still doesn’t feel real, yet is incredibly tough daily at this point. I’m glad he didn’t suffer for long, but I miss my little buddy. 
 

Last week I skipped maintenance cuz honestly I just wasn’t feeling it. I needed a break and knew the tanks would be fine skipping a week. I tested water for the first time in a long time and sure enough the tanks were exactly where I expected them to be. 
 

Jumped back on the maintenance game today and water changed everything. Really need to trim out some PSO from a tank, but that can wait until next week. 
 

Gonna place an ACO order when the dual outlet air pump goes live. Gonna order 2 of those and make the final adjustments and organizational tasks that I started 4-6 weeks ago at this point. Need to pick up those pumps and a few foods and I’ll be set for a hot minute again. 
 

Blackwater tank still crushing it:

Need to hit up the LFS with some of the Panda Angels I have ready to go so I can move the next batch over and free up a tank to finally quarantine some fish for this bad boy. 
 

Cheers, Nerms. Hope your last couple of weeks have been better than mine!

[nabokovfan87]

My condolences @AllFishNoBrakes

That's tragic and I feel for you.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@nabokovfan87 Appreciate the kind words!

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Found a couple nice Anubius today so I planted them up:

2 Nana and 1 Congenesis. One of the Nana tubes actually had 2 rhizomes so another Anubius is cool with me. The only thing this tank is missing is some fish!

[TheSwissAquarist]

Hello from Singapore - so sorry for your loss. 😢

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Panda Angels spawned. Again. 

These will probably become a midnight snack for the Pleco’s. Not expecting any eggs still here when I get home from work tomorrow. 
 

Totally fine by me! I need to focus on moving the fish I already have. Speaking of, taking ~15 Panda’s to the LFS on Thursday. Gonna feel good to once again have my stock available to other hobbyists and continue to stack the credit. 

Still really diggin’ this blackwater tank. Can’t wait to get some fish in here!

I’ve contemplated opening up some of my stock to the other LFS that I frequent often that typically has the fish I’m looking for. The problem is, when I’ve inquired about bringing them fish for store credit they’ve said, “Ya, for sure! Hit us up on Facebook or just bring them in”.  I just simply can’t bring myself to use Facebook, and I also don’t want to spend the time to bag the fish and bring them in without negotiating prices and walking in blind on both sides. Decisions, decisions… Life is all about decisions. I’ve thought about bringing them a “sample”, to get the relationship going, but then I just have to circle back and do it all again the following week. Maybe that’s worth it, though… I guess it couldn’t hurt. Maybe I’ll hit them up again when I need some Hikari mini bloodworms and am forced to go into the shop. What would you do if you were in my shoes? Continue to work with the shop that’s pretty much guaranteed to take my stock whenever I have it at my convenience, and stack the credit and wait until they have what I’m looking for? Or do double the work and start to build a new relationship? I’m curious what you would do. 

Hope you’ve all had a great week!

Edited April 25, 2023 by AllFishNoBrakes

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/24/2023 at 7:57 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

 I just simply can’t bring myself to use Facebook, and I also don’t want to spend the time to bag the fish and bring them in without negotiating prices and walking in blind on both sides.

Do the Dean method. First one is free as a gift saying "here, let's build a relationship and this is how things would arrive for you and here is the quality of my fish."

That opens up the conversation and all you really have to do is verify they are ok for you to bring in fish for them.

I don't use Facebook. It's not secure and I get about 5 warnings a day that they promise that it wasn't me trying to use my account.

 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 4/25/2023 at 4:57 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Continue to work with the shop that’s pretty much guaranteed to take my stock whenever I have it at my convenience, and stack the credit and wait until they have what I’m looking for?

I vote option 1 as it means that you won’t be pressed for stock that you don’t have…but then again: if you want to really start cranking them out, option 2. Argh, I get your dilemma!🥵

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Back on the maintenance grind. Here’s some pics from today:

Amano shrimp full of eggs. If only I had a brackish set up and the patience to learn about larvae and how to grow them up. Maybe one day, but definitely not today. 

Water taken from the blackwater setup. Definitely has the tint I’m looking for. 

I know I’ve posted this tank a ton, but it has just been so fun. Makes me want to convert the 10 gallon in my bedroom. Maybe one day. 

Up close on some of the botanicals that aren’t IAL’s. It’s been fun trying new stuff and seeing what I like best! Still have a few different things in the box I haven’t even tried yet. 
 

A handful of Panda’s going to the LFS tomorrow. Maybe I’ll come home with something new to play with. We’ll see what tomorrow brings!

[TheSwissAquarist]

Those colours are epic! What kind of botanicals are you using?

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@TheSwissAquarist So far I’ve used Indian Almond Leaves, Lotus Pods, Twisty Pods, and then like 3 other pods I’d have to be at home to get the actual name of. They all do the same thing, just look a little different. 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@TheSwissAquarist Back home from work. The other botanicals I’ve played with thus far are: Jacaranda Pods, Coco Curls, Curve Pods, Pear Halve Pods, and Arti Pods. At least according to this box I have lolol

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Bristlenose Pleco caviar, anyone?

~50 eggs, which is in line with the spawn that I hatched. Didn’t keep any of these as I literally don’t have space and need to sell some fish if I want to free up quarantine space for the blackwater aquarium. 
 

The male has been hiding in the cave the past couple days, but today is the first time I actually saw the clutch. I’ve been using a flashlight, and thought he was protecting something, but didn’t actually see it until today. 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Couple shots from todays maintenance sesh:

Dirted tank ready for a trim again. Already lol. This is the angle you guys have seen the most.

Dirted tank from the angle I see it from the most.

Amano shrimp muchin’ on a shrimpee pellet

Tiny shrimp and snails in the Blackwater tank. The smallest shrimp was born into this water. Pretty wild that they’re just acting like nothing changed.

The water continues to darken. For the first time since I started adding botanicals to the tank I didn’t add any more. The water is pretty dark, and I did have some boiled down tannins from when I added stuff last week, so I poured that into the fresh water change water to recoup a little of what was taken out. 
 

Simple round of maintenance. Just water changed everything and removed some floating plants. The (2) dual outlet air pumps that arrived last week are killing it and I’m quite pleased a week later. The air pump that used to run the 55 gallon grow out tank is just chugging along running the 4 quarantine/grow out/my girlfriends shrimp tank. All is well.

Still looking to move some fish around and start the quarantine process for the blackwater fish. Maybe this upcoming week I’ll hit the other LFS that has the mini Hikari bloodworms; their weekly newsletter consistently has the fish I’m looking for. Fingers crossed 🤞

[nabokovfan87]

If you ever feel the need to donate some plants!

One day I'll have that issue of plants to trim again.... that isn't just moss!

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 5/4/2023 at 12:36 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

 

If you ever feel the need to donate some plants!

 

I’m down! Under 2 conditions:

1. My tanks have duckweed and snails. I would do my best to not allow either in the package, but know that the chance is there, especially with snail eggs, and have a plan for yourself to get rid of both if you’re not down. 
2. You pay shipping at your desired method. If you want overnight, priority, or ground that would be your call. With the weather I’m not really worried about temps, and I do not have heat or ice packs, but I do have a couple ACO liners I could use if you wanna go that route. 
 

PM me and we can discuss further, including what I need to trim if you’re interested. 

Edited May 5, 2023 by AllFishNoBrakes

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Recently I’ve been kind of confused by the blackwater tank. When I pulled all the plants out and started converting it I stopped fertilizing. I figured there was no point to keep nitrates up if I didn’t have any plants. 
 

However, the past couple of weeks since I put the Anubis’ in there, I started fertilizing again. I did a liquid test yesterday as I don’t really trust the ACO strips for nitrates specifically. Even in my heavily stocked tanks the strip will test at like 0 or maybe 10 when the liquid test says 80. Overall, I just trust the liquid test as more accurate for nitrates. 
 

Anyways, I’ve been fertilizing for a couple weeks but my liquid test showed 0 nitrates. I was thinking to myself, “Where did the nitrates go? I have just a couple Anubius and there’s no way they ate all that fertilizer. Maybe it has something to do with the botanicals? But that doesn’t make sense either… Theres sand substrate in here, but it’s not a “deep sand bed” to grow anaerobic bacteria that eats nitrates, and there was always nitrates present before the conversion even chocked full of moss and Guppy Grass”. I was just generally confused, dosed another round of Easy Green and went 🤷‍♂️. 
 

Today, I figured it out though!

The Pothos that’s been growing across the lid of this tank (and out of the 20 gallon tall above it until I could start growing it across the lid) grew a new leaf (and a spot for a potential root) and the root reached down into the water! This little root has been soaking up all the nitrates and just further fueling the Pothos! So now this plant is just soaking up nutrients from multiple tanks. Pretty cool!

As you can see from the picture, I used a twist tie to slightly pull the plant back, but that’s simply so the leaves don’t block out the spotlight from the gooseneck light, and the root is still touching the water so it should continue down into the tank. Mystery solved!

This hobby is so much fun and these magical “ah-ha” moments keep me curious and interested. I hope you’re having fun with your tanks, fellow Nerms. 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

What up Nerms?! It’s been a hot minute since I updated this journal (for me anyways). I’ve been on the forum daily, but just haven’t found the time to update this. My girlfriends cousin came into town because my girlfriend had a medical procedure performed, work has been nuts, and generally I just haven’t had time to update here. Hope you guys like fish/tank pics cuz I’ve still been taking them!

I traded 10 Panda Angels at a new LFS and received $2.50/fish as opposed to the $4 I normally get. Hoping that helps open the door to the things I breed and I’ll have another outlet to move fish to. Regardless, I’m glad they took the fish, I got some credit, and helped cut down on the bill. Picked up 20 Chili Rasboras (they gave me 22), a couple packs of mini bloodworms, and a new pack of algae wafers and got $25 off the bill so that’s always rad. 
 

Chili Rasboras made it through the med trio and they’re doing well! Gonna wait another 10-17 days and then I’m gonna move em to the blackwater tank. Super stoked to get some fish in there! Gonna be the first fish in that 20 long that’s almost 3 years old and I’m pumped.

Everything else still just cruising right along:

Blue Velvet shrimp from the LFS looking nice! My girlfriends shrimp tank is coming along and will be ready for shrimp soon! It’s growing algae, it’s coming alive, and she has the slate to build her caves she wants to do. As she continues to heal from her procedure I’m looking forward to her getting her shrimps!

Blackwater tank still crushing. Dwarf Mexican Crayfish still cruising right along. 

Pleco babies growing out and I should be able to start moving them soon. They were all chilling in the corner (with the Albino Cory being one with them) and I thought it was a funny picture opportunity. This tank gets hella cloudy from all the bottom dwellers constantly kicking up anything on the glass bottom but I really don’t care about it. Fish are happy; I’m happy.

 

Angel spawn, per usual. Still hatching nothing out as I need to move the fish I already bred. Still crushing it though. 
 

Thanks, everyone. Appreciate you hanging out with me and my tanks. 

Edited May 22, 2023 by AllFishNoBrakes

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/26/2023 at 7:46 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

I vote it's at least 500 amano eggs right there.  😂

^^ Gotta love it when the forum robot scrolls you to some weird old post for no reason.  Oh whales.

On 5/21/2023 at 7:10 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

It looks like bits of marimo moss balls or something, is that what the carpet plant is?

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 5/21/2023 at 8:39 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I vote it's at least 500 amano eggs right there.  😂

If only I could hatch them I’d have slightly more store credit! 😂

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 5/21/2023 at 8:39 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

It looks like bits of marimo moss balls or something, is that what the carpet plant is?

I’m not sure what it is and I didn’t ask. They were doing maintenance on the tanks in this section and I already felt in the way enough just taking a peek and snapping this picture. I just assumed it was algae, but you might be on the right track with the marimo moss ball pieces.