Dani's First Aquarium Adventure

[DaniV]

Alrighty!  Last water test of the year!  Haven't used the Easy Carbon for a week after that massive pH spike, and it's back down to normal numbers.  Still don't know if that's what caused it to jump, but not gonna mess with success now.  Tank was still getting covered in brown stuff, and even though I said I wasn't going to add any more fish, I caved and bought 2 Bristlenose Plecos and 2 Pepper Corys.  Tank is looking much cleaner now, even the rocks are their natural white color again!  That being said, now I think I'm pushing it.  The testing showed 0 ammonia (yay), but the very very very faintest hint of pink color for Nitrites.  Not enough to register it as .25, but not completely clear either.  I know that's nothing too crazy to worry about, but I haven't seen any hint of Nitrites for weeks.

I've also had the itch to get a 2nd tank, but I haven't decided what I wanna put in there, and where.  I could get a small tank for a betta (like I've wanted from the start), or I could do another community tank to get some other fish that can't fit in this one like an all tetra tank, or mystery snails, or some other cool fish I haven't seen or thought about.  Maybe if I hear of a tank sale at Petsmart or something, that'll help motivate.

Started doing Easy Green treatments 3 times a week now instead of 2, and I'm already seeing some recovery in my older plants, especially the Amazon Swords.  Bulb is still just sitting there, being furry.  It's been 2 weeks and I've been turning it looking for growth, but I'm just not seeing much.  It'll be just my luck that I happen to get the one dud.  😛

One of the mollies wanted to say "hi!"

 

I'll try to remember to post these monthly in the future, but for now, here's the record of my tests since I started this bad boy.  Even though it was very late in the year, jumping into this hobby has been a big highlight of 2022 for me.  Here's to a half-decent 2023 for the fishies!

EDIT: Page 2...party time!

Edited December 31, 2022 by DaniV

[Schuyler]

On 12/25/2022 at 8:25 AM, DaniV said:

Still need to get scraping/cleaning tools

Lots of people just use a credit card or gift card or something like that to scrape the sides. You can also use an unused toothbrush if you have an extra one for a recent dentist appointment.

[DaniV]

The water has gotten really cloudy lately, and the parameters are good.  0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, Neutral pH, 5 Nitrates.  Tried dosing the tank with some Accu-Clear, barely did a thing.  I gave my filter a good cleaning today and replaced the filter cartridge since it was due for a replacement.  I think I may be putting in too much food and it's contributing to a bacteria bloom, so I'm gonna try cutting back on the pinch size for a few days and see if the water clears up.

That being said...

Try as I may, try as I might...I can't!  I can't resist it anymore!  MTS, I AM READY, TAKE ME NOOOOOW!

The plan for this is to be the betta tank.  So help me, I will have my betta!  I got the tank setup, the driftwood, ordered my starting plants from ACO, and I'm gonna try out red colored gravel for this one.  Once the plants come in, I'll get everything set up and running to start the cycling process.  Eventually I wanna throw in some catfish and maybe a small school of tetras with the betta and call it.

[DaniV]

Set up the 10 gallon tank tonight!  Also set up the journal for all the deets!

[DaniV]

So I'm replacing the Dwarf Aquarium Lily bulb today.  It's been sitting for weeks with nothing but fuzz.  Even when I rotate it looking for any kind of growth, nothing.  But the good news is that there's already a sproutling peeking through the new bulb!  Below are pictures of the 2 bulbs, the first one being the dud.

I also bought a proper API GH/KH test kit, just to be extra certain on parameters.  I bought a 4 pack of strips when I first got my Nerites, and now that I'm setting up a Betta tank I really wanna make sure everything is good in that tank in particular.   Tested this 20 gallon first, and assuming I've done the test correctly, I've got about 200 GH (took 12 drops to change color) and 100 KH (took 6 drops).  

[DaniV]

I can happily say that this bulb is a winner!  I'm honestly shocked at how fast it's growing!

Took this Wednesday night.

And this I took this morning.  I can't wait to see this baby grow and change!

That being said, I'm a little worried about the nerite snail that's in the photo.  Little guy has barely moved all week.  I fished him out this morning to take a sniff, no weird smell, but I did see him move in the shell but barely.  The other two have been palling around upside down on the driftwood.  Is this particular nerite dying on me?

[PineSong]

Yes, when those lilies start to take off, they grow pretty quick. Welcome to MTS 🙂

 

[DaniV]

So today I finally took my betta out of quarantine and into my 10 gallon tank, and was set on getting some Tetras on Tuesday to start their quarantine.  Well, that's gonna have to wait.  I took a look in my tank and saw that both of my female Swordtails are ready to give birth!  I honestly couldn't tell for a while.  It looked like they would get bigger, and then stop.  Now they're like balloons!  I tried to get them both out and into the quarantine, but my scaping kept getting in the way and I didn't wanna risk tearing it up, let alone stressing out the ladies.  I was able to get one into the quarantine tub at least.  I don't have a breeder box, so if they haven't popped when I get home from work tomorrow, then I'll quickly go out and buy one.  Otherwise, here's hoping that nature is kind for my first fry batch!

[DaniV]

Well, false alarm on the swordtails.  Apparently they were just full of poop instead of fry.  Sad face.

I've noticed the tank water is getting green again, and the bit of Anubias that I have glued to the top of the driftwood has some hard green speckles on the leaves and have some hairs sprouting out of the leaves.  Gonna look into how to control this before it gets too out of hand.

[Schuyler]

On 2/11/2023 at 8:25 PM, DaniV said:

Well, false alarm on the swordtails.  Apparently they were just full of poop instead of fry.  Sad face.

I can't tell you how many times I've looked at a guppy and thought "oh it's happening! It's having babies!" Only for it to end up just being poop...

[DaniV]

Thanks to the lovely experts here, I learned I got Staghorn Algae!  It was growing on the Anubias that's at the top of the driftwood.  Applied some Easy Carbon directly onto the plant while doing a water change, and within a day it was turning grey and brown.  Today it's disappearing completely.  There's still a few stragglers on the leaves, but it's considerably less!

I added some Water Sprite to start growing some floating plants, and added a Marimo Moss Ball just for fun.  Didn't expect it to be so small, but it's cute as hell!

[nabokovfan87]

That's perfect, congratulations!

[DaniV]

FRY HAVE BEEN SPOTTED!  THIS IS NOT A DRILL!  REPEAT!  THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

Last night, Mom, Dad, and I were just checking out and talking about this tank and dad makes a comment on how the female swordtail looks pregnant.  As we continued talking, we spotted a baby against the black gravel and cheered!  At first I was panicking because I am quarantining Neon Tetras at the moment, so that was out of the question.  But fortunately the shrimp tank I made (and have yet to start a journal for) had finished cycling literally a day ago.  I took the chance and placed the baby in the tank.  Dad said to take a look in the filter for any stragglers, and sure enough, roughly 6 more that were still alive!  I placed them all in the tank, and just now I found another one that was in the tank, and moved them just to be safe.

All of the fry are swimming around, hiding amongst the java moss I've got in there.  I've been grinding up some flake food, gonna go to the good LFS for more fry-appropriate food.  I'm so excited!  I have no idea which fish these babies are, as I have both Dalmatian Mollies and Sword Tails in the tank, so it's one or the other.  The babies are pale, and I assume the color develops as they grow.  Here's hoping these babies live and grow up strong!

[Guppysnail]

Oh my goodness!  That is so exciting. Fry are always great but first fry are the best 😍

Congratulations. 🎊 

[DaniV]

First week of fry update!  I was able to fish out 3 more that were hiding and somehow surviving in the 20 gallon, so now I'm up to 8 fry!  Everyone is healthy and swimming around.  Color is coming in.  They're starting to turn a pale orange and there's black on the tops on their tails: Red Wag Swordtail babehs!  I had ground up some of my regular fish food for them, but they're still too big for the fry so I bought some Hikari First Bites.  Been feeding them 3-4 times a day, changing water every 2 days to keep nitrates at bay.

It's so exciting to see these little guys swimming around carefree in the tank!  At the same time, I can't wait until they get big enough to move back into the 20 gallon and I can get some shrimp to start on the algae tufts that are in there (as is originally intended).

[DaniV]

Week 2 Fry update!  Everyone's growing bigger pretty quickly and the colors are far more pronounced.  I went and bought some Ocean Nutrition Instant Baby Brine Shrimp at the LFS.  I'm aware they're not living BBS, but for now it'll do cause I don't have everything to hatch BBS myself.  Might need to look into that if my swordtails keep breeding.  I also cleaned up a little bit of the puffy algae that was growing on the java moss.  Didn't want to get rid of all of it, as I still intend for this 3rd tank for neocaradina and they'll need some sustenance.

So I've been feeding the babies the BBS once a day, and then Hikari First Bites 2-3 times a day.

[nabokovfan87]

I'm very jealous! They are adorable.  I cannot wait until my swords give me some fry soon.  Hopefully soon.

[DaniV]

Week 3 update!  Babies have been growing well and I hope that within another week or 2 they'll be big enough to introduce into the 20 gallon tank without any worries of them being eaten.  I went and purchased some Otocinclus to help with the algae until I get my cherry shrimps.  Hopefully they'll live.  I had bought 3 for my 10 gallon a few weeks ago, and within a day 2 of them died.

Don't mind the baby brine shrimp!

[DaniV]

OK, it's been about a month since the babies were born, and they're still growing strong!  They're big enough now that I can sprinkle in some ground up fish food to change things up a bit, but I'm still giving them the jar of baby brine shrimp, which is almost out.  They look like they won't get eaten by the fish in my 20 gallon, which is where I plan on transferring them, and I was hoping to do that this weekend and get my shrimp colony started already.  Dad talked me out of it for now, his concern is the bigger fish (the adult swordtails and mollies) bullying them and stressing them out, so he said still wait a couple of weeks to get a bit bigger.

The otos are doing very well, in both this tank and the betta tank!  They've been cleaning a lot of the algae build up, but hopefully there will still be some munchies for the shrimp when I eventually get them.

[DaniV]

Here we go again!  I woke up Wednesday morning, went to feed the babies and checked on the other tanks and what do I find?  MORE FRY IN THE 20 GALLON!!

I found mom hiding in the plants and placed her in the quarantine tub, hoping she'd finish in peace while I was at work, but it turns out she had finished delivering in the middle of the night.  No new babies in quarantine when I came home (unless she ate them).  I returned mom to her tank, and with my dad's help we moved the first batch of babies into the quarantine tub and began fishing out the new fry.  A lot of them were hiding in the water sprite, which made them easy to spot and catch.  Couldn't get a final total, but I have a feeling I grabbed 12-15 minimum.  Once they get bigger I'll know, but of course now there's the issue of "what do I do with these guys?"  I intend to bring the first batch into my 20 gallon to join up with the community, but I'm probably gonna have to ask the LFS if they can buy fish from customers.  If so, then I'll do just that!

Edited June 29, 2023 by DaniV

[nabokovfan87]

I checked on the fish today.  My biggest female sword is gigantic.  It looks like she swallowed an army of fish and then some.  I've been waiting for fry and it looks like they'll be popping soon.  I'm going to be right there with you with the issues, but it is definitely fun to see fish go through their cycles.