Hey, newb,.. I guess

[Kamen_Kaiju]

My catfish keeps having the zoomies going up and down the back wall of the tank. I keep checking the water parameters and everything's fine. I know he's eaten. Water temp is good. Not sure what's stressing him out for the past couple days. 

Finally it occurs to me this morning maybe there isn't enough oxygen in the water getting mixed in from the pump and I need an airstone. Maybe he's going up to the upper water column because that's where the oxygen is better. There's a bunch of fish in the tank and I thought the pump was mixing the water up pretty good but maybe not. 

I ordered a 'rush delivery today' pump and airstone from Amazon. It's a cheapy but it should work for a few days at least and should be here in a few hours. Then I have a better setup (tetra brand) coming next week. I can either replace the cheap pump and stone or keep the nicer one as a backup. I just want to help the little guy as fast as I can. 

Where is a good spot to put the airstone? In the back-left underneath the pump and heater? Or in the back-right where there's nothing really there? .. or maybe the front-left? My pump dumps the water into the rear-left side of the tank and it goes down and flows to the right. 

I'm not sure how you know where to put the stone to distribute oxygen in the lower water column best for the catfish. And searching online I see conflicting answers. 

Thought I'd ask here. 

Thank you. 

Edited December 23, 2022 by Kamen_Kaiju

[Kamen_Kaiju]

I just saw 2 babies hiding in the grass in my tank!

no idea where they came from. I do see one of my white Mollys has a dark spot in her belly. And the orange molly keeps chasing it. 

I don't have a breeding box or anything. I looked around for something to use and don't have anything. I ordered a breeding box but it doesn't come for a couple days. I guess I'll be prepared next time. In the meantime I hope the little babies can hide until they're bigger. 

Totally surprised me. I thought I was seeing things at first. 

the little guy hiding in the grass...

 

the one 'I think' is having babies, but I'm not 100% sure. But she has a dark spot in her rear belly. I can see it pretty clearly when she gets near the light. But also the orange Molly keeps following her around and nipping at that spot. 

 

I've read what to do with pregnant fish it's why I ordered the breeding box. I just didn't think I'd have to deal with it within days of getting the fish. I tried to find a container or something that I could put hole in for the frys to escape away from the Mom thinking I could just isolate her, but I couldn't find anything that would work. 

 

I thought Guppies were the ones that were supposed to surprise you with babies! Lol

Pretty neat. Not how I saw my friday going. 

Edited December 23, 2022 by Kamen_Kaiju

[Schuyler]

On 12/23/2022 at 1:29 PM, Kamen_Kaiju said:

I thought Guppies were the ones that were supposed to surprise you with babies! Lol

Haha yeah that's more of a livebearer thing in general (guppy, Molly, platy, swordtail)

On 12/23/2022 at 7:16 AM, Kamen_Kaiju said:

My catfish keeps having the zoomies going up and down the back wall of the tank.

Are they doing it repeatedly? It's not uncommon for them to occasionally rush up to the surface to take a breath.

I would put the air stone on the other side from the filter. A lot of their aeration actually come from surface agitation and if the filter is already agitating the water in that spot then you won't get as much out of the air stone.

Something you could do in the meantime would be to lower the water level a little so that your filter's output falls further and makes a bigger splash. That may get more oxygen in the water.

Also, you may get more responses of you start a journal in the "Photos, Videos, and Journals" section. I think most people say welcome in a thread in here once then don't look at it again unless they get a quote reply.