Return of the Hobbyist: A Fishkeeper's Journey

[Shadow]

On 11/19/2023 at 9:36 AM, Lennie said:

Great pics bud. 

 

If you ask me besides more rounded body shape, I noticed a more pointy or wide head shape between different sexes but Idk which is which.

the only exact way for me to say is, under right conditions, male grows those tiny spiky bristles around his nose like a beard while females only start to have a rounder belly carrying eggs

Example of a male with bristles ( if that is what they are called, I am not sure)

my females and males are all the same color. They look better red when they grow up tho. Also  light plays a role I believe.

juveniles they may look a bit patchy. Also another possibility is being hybrids if they are adult size

Example of a female

 

when I got a group of mine, one had issues growing for real. No deworming worked. It was skinny and very small while others were almost adult age.  I had to feed my tank sera baktotabs which is an antibiotic food for other fish. After that, it recovered and increased in size and weight ending up being a healthy adult today like its siblings!

 

I might try the baktotabs...it looks healthy, round belly and all, just smaller and lighter colored than the other two. Another possibility is it was from another batch DansFish got and maybe its younger than the other two. Dunno. Thanks for the sexing info though...it helps a lot!

On 11/19/2023 at 9:31 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

It’s been a pleasure following you through your journey! Way to go! 

Cheers! Appreciate it!

On 11/19/2023 at 9:52 AM, Kaiju said:

@Shadow Thanks for the advice! I plan to have it done by February! I will definitely show the community after its done! I plan breeding Orange Sakura and Orange Rili, by the way, I saw the pictures above and those fish look awesome! That betta caught my eye the most! So unique, with the white tips on its fins! The angelfish also look super healthy and attractive! But that honey gourami was just begging to be in the picture practically, looked like it was posing! Awesome fish and again, best of luck!

The hybrid I have successful and have started culls to the color I am going for is Pumpkin Spice with Orange Sakura then added Sunkist now adding Yellow Goldbacks to brighten even more. I want an electric orange kinda color. Super bright. 

[Guppysnail]

@Shadow I’m so glad everyone on the forum has been helpful. It’s also nice to have a place to share the wins. 
 

One thing I rarely do is watch YouTube. If I can dedicate 30 minutes a day watching every fish and still have extra time I’ll watch a livestream or a video on something I’m interested in learning about fish. 
 

Youtube does two very negative things to me. 
 

1- creates more want. I see fish and such I’ve not kept and projects I’ve not done that seem neat and then I feel more want. 
 

2-makes me dissatisfied with my own tanks. Aquascaping videos make me look at tanks I adore and start see all the not great plant areas or things that need improvement and I love the tanks less. Etc. Things like that.  
 

So I substitute other aquarists adventures on the forum for all my voyeuristic needs. 🤣 

 

My world would be a much lonelier place without you folks. 🤗

[Shadow]

@Odd Duck @Colu one of my female whiptails is bloated... @Lennie linked me what is going on, Metroplex? 

[Colu]

On 11/20/2023 at 11:03 PM, Shadow said:

@Odd Duck @Colu one of my female whiptails is bloated... @Lennie linked me what is going on, Metroplex? 

Can post a picture any pineconing or just bloating is it eating ok any rapid breathing is it possible to tell if it's a female or male 

Edited November 21, 2023 by Colu

[Shadow]

On 11/20/2023 at 6:13 PM, Colu said:

Can post a picture any pineconing or just bloating is it eating ok any rapid breathing is it possible to tell if it's a female or male 

Cannot tell if its a male or female I don't think. Maybe you can. This is the pics I sent @Lennie. Seems ok, eating normally and don't notice any rapid breathing. 

[Colu]

On 11/21/2023 at 1:26 AM, Shadow said:

Cannot tell if its a male or female I don't think. Maybe you can. This is the pics I sent @Lennie. Seems ok, eating normally and don't notice any rapid breathing. 

Can't tell if it's a female if it were it could be egg bound it could have over eaten causing the bloating suffering from constipation could have something else internally going on what I would do is quarantine and fast for a couple of days  and do Epsom salt baths 1 table spoon for 5 gallons for no more than 15 minutes for 5 days and do a course of metroplex I wouldn't go above that level with Epsom as whiptails are sensitive to salt 

[Odd Duck]

All of what @Colu said except the Metroplex for now, see below for the reason, but I would ask if there’s anyway you can get a pic straight down over him/her since that might be helpful. It also might not be helpful with the fish that bloated.

I can’t tell either if egg bound or bloated for other reasons. Try the fasting as suggested but I would hold off a couple days on Metroplex just in case it’s eggs she can lay (if it is a she) since metronidazole can cause birth defects in other animals.  Everything else I would do exactly as suggested.

If she is female and can lay the eggs and if you have a male, she might just need the right incentive.  Do you have appropriate caves?  My understanding is they like very narrow ones, or very flat I guess I should say.  I’ve also heard they like wood caves so a very flat piece of driftwood that’s slightly hollow underneath. And they like some current through the cave or at least across the mouth of the cave. I’ve been contemplating getting some whiptails. 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

[Shadow]

On 11/20/2023 at 7:35 PM, Colu said:

Can't tell if it's a female if it were it could be egg bound it could have over eaten causing the bloating suffering from constipation could have something else internally going on what I would do is quarantine and fast for a couple of days  and do Epsom salt baths 1 table spoon for 5 gallons for no more than 15 minutes for 5 days and do a course of metroplex I wouldn't go above that level with Epsom as whiptails are sensitive to salt 

Ok, I have just set up my rack with a few clean bottom tanks running with just a sponge filter...never really done the QT thing before, so might need to talk me through it. Just net it, move to QT tank and fast for a couple days then when I get home in the evening the other QT tank add 2T of Epsom to it(its a 10 gal) & add the fish to it for 10 mins then put back into other tank? Should I add stress zyme to it as well to prevent undo stress on moving it a lot?

Thanks!! @Odd Duck will try to get better pics today, if possible. I don't have any caves just a bunch of knotted wood as a feature with Java Ferns that they hide in at times. I have pleco caves in my fish supply closet. 

[Shadow]

@Odd Duck @Colu @Lennie Here are pics of each one of the three whiptails I have...best pics I could get.(sat there for damn 20 mins just to get these lol)

#1(One in question)

#2 

#3

 

Edited November 21, 2023 by Shadow

[Colu]

I did some research sexing them is straight forward the males have odontodes on the head and pectoral fins possible all females looking at the pictures that could just be the quality of the picture that would make it more likely to be egg bound Epsom salt will help with that as your using a quarantine tank you could just leave it in a low dose of Epsom salt for 5 days  1 table spoon for 5 gallons what I would do is have extra sponge filter running in your main tanks so you can have  seeded sponge filters to hand  to add to your quarantine tanks when ever your adding fish @Shadow

[Shadow]

On 11/21/2023 at 5:32 PM, Colu said:

I did some research sexing them is straight forward the males have odontodes on the head and pectoral fins possible all females looking at the pictures that could just be the quality of the picture that would make it more likely to be egg bound Epsom salt will help with that as your using a quarantine tank you could just leave it in a low dose of Epsom salt for 5 days  1 table spoon for 5 gallons what I would do is have extra sponge filter running in your main tanks so you can have  seeded sponge filters to hand  to add to your quarantine tanks when ever your adding fish @Shadow

Already on it...have 3 tanks close to break down and had 3 sponge filters in each for my breeding rack so I could add fish to the tanks I wanted and also for tanks I was about to do as well. 

[Colu]

On 11/21/2023 at 11:51 PM, Shadow said:

Already on it...have 3 tanks close to break down and had 3 sponge filters in each for my breeding rack so I could add fish to the tanks I wanted and also for tanks I was about to do as well. 

If you do have all females I would try and source a male that will help to prevent your females becoming egg bound in the future 

[Shadow]

On 11/21/2023 at 5:54 PM, Colu said:

If you do have all females I would try and source a male that will help to prevent your females becoming egg bound in the future 

Yea its just tough unless getting online. I might ask Dan when I do my next order, as I got these from him. 

[Odd Duck]

Solid advice from @Colu.  If the low dose of Epsom salt isn’t working, you can do a higher dose as the brief “bath”.  As much as 1 tablespoon per gallon but must be watched like a hawk the entire time for this bath, especially for whiptails.

I would tend to look for a male first, before going high dose on the Epsom salt, as long as she eats and acts fine otherwise.  The color of that belly makes me think she’s excessively eggy and possibly getting toward egg bound.  Fish often won’t eat when truly egg bound.

[Lennie]

On 11/22/2023 at 2:32 AM, Colu said:

 

I did some research sexing them is straight forward the males have odontodes on the head and pectoral fins possible all females looking at the pictures that could just be the quality of the picture that would make it more likely to be egg bound

 

On 11/22/2023 at 11:04 AM, Odd Duck said:

I would tend to look for a male first, before going high dose on the Epsom salt, as long as she eats and acts fine otherwise.

My males did not grow those facial beard like thingy until I moved them to a species only breeding tank. They all looked like females in their community tank without growing anything. Hard to know. my females that breed also dont have such belly. Yes they get a bit rounded but not as big as it is in the picture. Just wanted to mention these to share some experience to help you guys decide on the medication type/applications

malik also had an issue with one fish from his colony before which looked similar. Im tagging the related part below. You guys know medications better

 

[Shadow]

Hello all! Here's an update as to what I have been up to recently in the fish room remod. I have broke out the high end camera I recorded some video with a few months ago when I thought about starting a YT channel and plan to record detailed video of my room as it stands currently. I HAVE DONE A LOT. 

The breeding rack is fully functional now. Shelve 1(bottom) houses 5 neocaridina breeders with each having the following: Pumpkin Spice x Sunkist - Blue Rili - Green Rili - Blue Carbon Rili - Black Rose & 1 caridina tank(recently set up) which has Red King Kong x Red Panda. Shelve 2(middle) houses 5x 10 gal(1 of them is a feature tank and is rimless), each of them contain: Half Black Blue Guppy - OPEN TANK(has RO prepared water and I am setting it up for possible Apisto breeder) - Panda Corys/Strawberry Rasboras(from Aquarium Glaser in Germany & this is the feature rimless tank in the middle of the shelf) - QT tank - QT tank. Finally Shelve 3 contains 5 10 gal tanks having the following in each: OPEN TANK(once Dans ships again, this tank will house Japan Blue Gold Double Swordtails) - OPEN TANK(No plan yet QT for now, sand bottom) - OPEN TANK(No plan yet QT for now, sand bottom) - Dumbo Ear Mosaic Guppy - Half Black Super Red Rose Guppy. I installed the same lights that TM Aquatics uses in his fish room. Great suggestion, super cheap and perfect brightness for a breeding rack. I added them onto a double outlet Kawa timer as well. Top shelf has Fluval Aquasky lights that were on my shrimp breeders before. As I posted before, I created a air system with PVC and the awesome piston driven air pump ACO sells(HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT...SUPER QUIET AND POWERFUL). @Cory & @Dean’s Fishroom once again helped me with their videos on the member section of the YT. Between Dean's TED talk and AOC posting how they installed their lines, it was a very easy process of figuring out what to do. 

Next I bought 60 gal leak proof plastic barrel. I have added the battery powered air pumps from ACO(AGAIN HIGHLY RECO THESE) to it with 6 air stones in it and it makes changing my fish room's water so much less taxing on ze back. No more Home Depot buckets and temping water as I added a heater to the drum as well to keep the water at 76. Next I plan on installing PVC piping to where my tanks will be to hopefully be able to just flip a switch to add water in post water changes. 

I broke down the OG tank I first set up and had to immediately drain when I moved to my new home... time @nabokovfan87 had to talk me off the ledge lol. I moved those OG guppies and all their fry to a tank in my bedroom in a 10 gal rimless I set up on the original stand(also original tank I started all this with at my old house). That tank cycled and I added a bunch of nice shrimp from my breeders to it to help as clean up crew. Also bought a very nice Red Bushynose from Dan that is still a juvenile and doing well in it. The GL Corys I had in the tank with the guppies along with the Amano Shrimp & Assassin Snails went into my new splurge I mentioned before as well. In saying that, my 40 gallon Waterbox splurge has now been fully cycled. I like the Waterbox tanks and the stands but the stands are very hard to get the door to the cabinet open/closed on a carpeted floor. Tank is level completely and stable, but there is literally zero room between the floor and the doors to allow them to open easy if carpet is in front of them. They open and all, but just my one critique if anyone is thinking of splurging on them. Tanks are incredibly well made, stands as well, customer service is great but only open a few hours Mon-Thurs. For the money though, maybe they could improve these stand problems in the future. I still plan to get my big tank from them that will go on the wall of the 3 tanks I have had since the start(1 of which was the OG tank I just broke down). I have some great plants and rocks in this tank though and the fish have began to be added. I moved all my GL Corys to this tank, added 3 Red Laser Corys to the 5 GL. I also bought 2 Green Smoke Angels, they are still weeeee babies, as well from Dan & 4 EB Acaras(they little bitty too!) along with 10 Red Crystal Tetras(these might be a new fave of mine....wow so cool looking!!) from The Wet Spot. My Amano Shrimp, several Ramshorn snails and Assassin snails as well. My plan is to keep my Kitty City tank where it is or possibly drain it down and move it to another wall. The plecos and corys in there are happy, plus I dig the set up, so I am keeping it. The other holding tank that is a 20 gal long which was supposed to be a plant only tank but now houses 12 fish will be broken down eventually. I plan to set up another tank which will house my Odessa Barbs(I got them as juveniles and now they are fully grown...wow are they beautiful fish!!!) and then I plan to rehome my Chinese Algae Eaters(I was duped as I thought I was buying Ottocinclus). On the big main wall I will get a Waterbox 120 at least which will be my very first African Cichlid tank. I have always wanted Red OB Peacocks and now that dream will come true!

So for now that main wall will be my next focus of setting up, breaking down, moving. The wall under my tele in the fish room will see my desk move as well as the above diagram shows. So need to buy new desk addition and move it before I can move Kitty City under the tele. Christmas presents from gf, friends and my family will all be house plants for the fish room! I bought the following for potted plants(NOT GOING IN AQUARIUMS!): Monstera Borsigiana Albo Variegated & Monstera Deliciosa Legacy Variegated plus some Hawaiian Pothos for the tanks on the breeding rack(I plan to let it grow around the room!). I plan on more plants throughout the room to give it a real jungle aquarium haven. 🙂 

Anyways, once I can get the fish settled and the camera work done, I will drop a video here. Hope all of you following and reading this are doing well! Until the next update!!!

Edited December 12, 2023 by Shadow

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/12/2023 at 12:27 PM, Shadow said:

I broke down the OG tank I first set up and had to immediately drain when I moved to my new home... time @nabokovfan87 had to talk me off the ledge lol. I moved those OG guppies and all their fry to a tank in my bedroom in a 10 gal rimless I set up on the original stand(also original tank I started all this with at my old house). That tank cycled and I added a bunch of nice shrimp from my breeders to it to help as clean up crew. Also bought a very nice Red Bushynose from Dan that is still a juvenile and doing well in it. The GL Corys I had in the tank with the guppies along with the Amano Shrimp & Assassin Snails went into my new splurge I mentioned before as well. In saying that, my 40 gallon Waterbox splurge has now been fully cycled. I like the Waterbox tanks and the stands but the stands are very hard to get the door to the cabinet open/closed on a carpeted floor. Tank is level completely and stable, but there is literally zero room between the floor and the doors to allow them to open easy if carpet is in front of them. They open and all, but just my one critique if anyone is thinking of splurging on them. Tanks are incredibly well made, stands as well, customer service is great but only open a few hours Mon-Thurs. For the money though, maybe they could improve these stand problems in the future. I still plan to get my big tank from them that will go on the wall of the 3 tanks I have had since the start(1 of which was the OG tank I just broke down). I have some great plants and rocks in this tank though and the fish have began to be added. I moved all my GL Corys to this tank, added 3 Red Laser Corys to the 5 GL. I also bought 2 Green Smoke Angels, they are still weeeee babies, as well from Dan & 4 EB Acaras(they little bitty too!) along with 10 Red Crystal Tetras(these might be a new fave of mine....wow so cool looking!!) from The Wet Spot. My Amano Shrimp, several Ramshorn snails and Assassin snails as well. My plan is to keep my Kitty City tank where it is or possibly drain it down and move it to another wall. The plecos and corys in there are happy, plus I dig the set up, so I am keeping it. The other holding tank that is a 20 gal long which was supposed to be a plant only tank but now houses 12 fish will be broken down eventually. I plan to set up another tank which will house my Odessa Barbs(I got them as juveniles and now they are fully grown...wow are they beautiful fish!!!) and then I plan to rehome my Chinese Algae Eaters(I was duped as I thought I was buying Ottocinclus). On the big main wall I will get a Waterbox 120 at least which will be my very first African Cichlid tank. I have always wanted Red OB Peacocks and now that dream will come true!

This reminds me so much of the summer months when I moved 3-4 tanks in a small area about 12 times just to get them in the right place!  I would love to see the BNP as I would love to have one when I am able to order from Dan's. 

Looking forward to the vid and seeing all the things.  Keep up the awesome work and keep grinding.  Progress made for sure and hopefully you're also enjoying all the awesome things around you along the way. 🙂

[Shadow]

On 12/12/2023 at 3:54 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

This reminds me so much of the summer months when I moved 3-4 tanks in a small area about 12 times just to get them in the right place!  I would love to see the BNP as I would love to have one when I am able to order from Dan's. 

Looking forward to the vid and seeing all the things.  Keep up the awesome work and keep grinding.  Progress made for sure and hopefully you're also enjoying all the awesome things around you along the way. 🙂

When I do video, will go into my room and show that tank as well. It is still really small, maybe a couple months at most old, but doing well so far. Not seeing much bristles, so thinking maybe(of course need time to know for sure) its a female. 

Also thanks for the kind words! Its a lot of work getting it going, but the pay off is pretty awesome!

[Shadow]

Still no promised video YET, will soon enough, I promise. Definitely wanted to drop a journal entry after the last 5-7 days craziness...in saying that, I write this mainly as a warning but also as a thanks to my saviors once again @nabokovfan87 & @Guppysnail for answering my distress call per usual. 

My 60 gal this week had a KH/pH crash which I could not explain. Felt like I might've done something when I did my every 4-6 week canister service/Purigen change. I noticed it because anytime I have a fish death, found a dead Sterbai 😞, I just out of habit check my water parameters to see if something is amiss. Luckily, I had an idea there was as my Rummynose males were very muted, stressed in color. Anytime there is something wrong in a tank they are in, you will know with them first and foremost right away as they lose the red in their faces ASAP...this info was dropped to me a while back by @Lennie. So I checked my parameters, no ammonia...no nitrite. I go to the next one, pH and nitrates, now bear in mind I had just finished doing a canister service/25% water change the day before. My nitrates were at 85 ppm and my pH was at 6.0!! I immediately reached out and inquired about ideas, Naboko suggested KH and sure enough it was 0.

I couldn't think of how I could've killed my KH...did I touch the canister against something in cleaning it that would've had cleaner or bleach or something? No. Did I forget to dechlorinate my water change water? No. Did I use my water preparation/storage container's water to do the water change(this water was from a week or more before collected from my tap when my tap was reading 7.6 pH)? No. Meaning I used tap water that day...now I knew there was a flush or couple flushes happening over a month's time but literally nothing has changed with my water other than it got much harder, usually its 7.0-7.2 at most. Well I tested the tap water, without a doubt it was that. 6.2 pH, 0 KH, 1 GH. Now I just got an RO system, but my water source is exterior of my home I am using and running a water line threw into my fish room to my collection barrel. This takes time and also good weather, neither I have had as of late. For now, I have to deal with tap water and figure out a way of fixing the problem and thanks to my aforementioned friends above, I did that. 

I filled multiple 5 gal buckets doing chemical KH/GH buffer means and then GH buffer combined with baking soda in others. Baking soda kept its KH without losing it while the KH Alkaline Buffer from Seachem only raised the pH higher then not keeping the KH stable once it was added to my tank via a water change. With baking soda and Equilibrium mix, the water held its KH with the water change and also didn't blow the pH super hard. Last bucket test I got was this...

5 gal bucket
1/4 tsp Equilibrium
1/4 tsp baking soda

pH: 7.2-7.4, 3 KH, 3 GH. Arguably you want more of a GH than KH I have been told, but for what I am trying to do, recover my KH while not killing my pH in one direction or the other, this seems to be a sweet spot to start. Did 2 water changes with it and have recovered my tank's parameters to 7.2 pH, 3 GH, 2 KH and 25 ppm Nitrates, zero/zero on the nasty stuff. 

My advice, if you live especially in cold areas, check your tap water's parameters throughout the winter time. They love to flush the systems at this time. Glad it wasn't something worse than it was though and once again, this forum saves the day. 🙂  

[Guppylover999]

Hi, if you don’t mind me asking, what type of guppies are they? They look very beautiful 

edit: I found out already 

btw did you get them in a local fish store? I have never seen a guppy like that in my local fish store

Edited March 14 by Guppylover999
Nil