GoofyGarra's Journal

[GoofyGarra]

 

I have been in the aquarium hobby for a bit over a year and a half. At the moment I have a 20 gallon high that is stocked with:

A betta that cannot decide whether to be shy or aggressive.

More Albino Cories then i should have in the tank after 2 successful breeding projects

5 Albino Cory fry that are 5 years old

a goofball of a Panda Garra dubbed Garra Guy

2 mystery snails (Batmobile and Smaug)(both male)

1 Tiger nerite snail (Algaecide)

a bunch of pretty cool looking platies

a lifetime's supply of mini ramshorn snails

a whole lot of bladder snails

I'm pretty sure I still have some Malaysian Trumpet Snails alive as well.

some mystery fry i found in a bag on the side of the road a few days ago that i have no clue what species they are.

Ive probably forgotten some inhabitants that i'll need to add in later. It may seem overstocked, but ive had no issues. That being said, at some point most of the cories will be heading to the LFS. The tank is planted with:

a dwarf aquarium lily

lots and lots of anubias from 2 plants i got just when i got into the hobby

a small crypt tropica

some java moss

some other anubias species

some java fern and windelov

occasional guppy grass sprigs

water lettuce

Here is a picture:

I enjoy this hobby from a hobby side, but also view it from a scientific side. I like to breed fish, but im having trouble with platy breeding, and i dont have very many species i can breed.

I have a 2.5 tank that has been setup for a long while as well that has killed some neo shrimp but i should be getting some more in a week or two. It has:

bladder, ramshorn,  and malaysian trumpet snails

guppy grass, guppy grass, guppy grass,guppy grass, guppy grass

java fern windelov

anubias sp. (a small kind and a big kind)

and some other assorted stems that really havent taken off

here is a picture as well:

This will not be the most updated journal as it will fall into categories like dosing ferts where Ill do it if I remember, but thats not usually too often.

 

Edited August 17 by GoofyGarra

[Guppysnail]

Nice tanks. I hope you update with observations of your fishes specific behaviors and what you see in them. 

[GoofyGarra]

@Guppysnail right now all  i see a bunch of  goofballs.

the cories will intend on going somewhere in the tank, then bump into one of their fellow heading in the opposite direction and follow them instead. (or both fish will go in directions other then either of their prior ones).

The platie males will choose favorite females at times,and whoevers closer at other times. Ive got some pretty cool looking platies in my opinion though.

the mystery snails and panda garra are well, mystery snails and a panda garra

the nerite is rather shy, often nocturnal

the cory fry are VERY cute.

Nothing all that exciting about the mystery fish fry, but they are new to me.

 

Edited August 18 by GoofyGarra

[Guppysnail]

I have often seen panda gara and thought they were interesting but I don’t know much about them, their feeding habits, their mating habits or what they enjoy. 

[GoofyGarra]

On 8/16/2023 at 4:28 PM, Guppysnail said:

I have often seen panda Tara and thought they were interesting but I don’t know much about them, their feeding habits, their mating habits or what they enjoy. 

very interesting fish. I highly recommend you give them a try. I wanted to initially get a group but

A.my tank might be too small

B.When i went to the LFS for them they only had one left and

C. he is now much  bigger then any others ive seen for sale so if there is slight agression it could be a real problem.

Mine likes to eat diatom algaes, ill see his mouth marks on the glass. He will also clean leaves that dont appear to have any algae on them, so possible Aufwuchs(?) grazer. Mine just eats xtreme wafers with the rest of the tank. He has fun behaviors and is active and curious. Mine isnt the most colorful but that might be why he was the only one left in the tank. Like everyone else in the tank he is not afraid to eat from my hand, and it feels cool too. (i cant say i reccomend feeding fish by hand, but its fun and ive had no bad results).

[Guppysnail]

On 8/16/2023 at 4:37 PM, BioactiveTrombicula said:

Mine isnt the most colorful but that might be why he was the only one left in the tank.

Often fish do not show full coloration unless there are opposite sex same species fish around. You know home alone just chilling out you wear comfy clothes. Ladies come about and you jazz up a bit. Guys want to hang out you want to look cool etc. 
 

Also I feed all my fish by hand or with a coral feeder to each individual. It makes it fun. 

[GoofyGarra]

i have pictures, ill find one and post it here. Ill put a few wafers on my hand and the fish dont care, it tickles.

[GoofyGarra]

i was at the LFS today, which means we have some rather blurry pictures.

these guppies were my favorite find. I didnt get any though.

I also picked up an air stone.

[Guppysnail]

Is that a metal housing around the airstone? 

[GoofyGarra]

On 8/16/2023 at 8:13 PM, Guppysnail said:

Is that a metal housing around the airstone? 

i believe its just a standard ceramic airstone.  Its just packaged in a plastic thing. That might have not came out so good on the picture.

 

Lots happening today. Im in a summer program at a lab that has some aquariums... The lab has 4 tanks, 2look nice and two are messes. Im in charge of the messy tanks, there is someone they hire for the tanks that look nice.  Ill get lots of pictures when im at the lab but these are some things i think ill be doing:

1.Setting up a duckweed culture for goldfish (the foods they are fed now lack any vegetable content, and the lab does not want to buy new foods, but the goldfish  love to eat duckweed and i have plenty of it, so im setting up a culture at the lab)

2.water changes for a 7-8in african cichlid

3.filter cleaning

4.being told the new tanks have not come in yet.

Ill add pictures when i get them later.

Edited August 18 by GoofyGarra

[Guppysnail]

That sounds like a lot of fun. Looking forward to seeing pictures. 

[GoofyGarra]

@Guppysnail the airstone in question:

im also unsure trimming the guppy grass in this tank is having any effect, it will grow back by the next day or two: (there is a bit of algae which makes the tank hard to photograph).

Very helpful for working on tanks that you dont know much about (just a giant pad of sponge):

 

Edited August 18 by GoofyGarra

[GoofyGarra]

cories are breeding again

but i already have cory fry and dont want more right now

im hoping for some platy fry from this female

and aquaclear maintenance (same blue sponge as shown before)

Anyone know if albino cories will eat platy fry?

Ive noticed ever since i added the juviniles into the tank months ago i havent seen any fry anymore.

Or maybe the fry try to hide on the bottom but are startled by the cories which means they are in open water which makes it easier for them to be eaten?

Also for any wondering. For the past 2weeks ive been trying the 1tsp per 20gallons of marine salt that Cory recommended. So far it seems to be perfectly safe for my mystery snails and plants.

[Guppysnail]

On 8/17/2023 at 8:52 AM, BioactiveTrombicula said:

Or maybe the fry try to hide on the bottom but are startled by the cories which means they are in open water which makes it easier for them to be eaten?

This is more likely what’s going on. 

[GoofyGarra]

hmmm...busy day at the lab, doesnt mean it was a good day at the lab. But lots of pictures as requested.

There was a new tank, its maybe 1gallon, stocking 2 goldfish.

of course thats too small so the bags floated in the 29gallon moss tank for a while, i ended up doing 100% water changes on both bags with RO water (as its a lab there is a specific faucet by each sink for it).

I also got air hooked up to each bag, and had this going for a few hours (more time then i would have liked) until i got the go ahead to add them to the tank too. Now 4goldfish and a skirt tetra in a 29 is not optimal, even though the 29 has lots and lots of moss in it.

(all that green is just moss there is alot)

but it was the best we could do for the moment, im hoping the goldfish will get a better setup later.

Speaking of which i got the duckweed culture setup (the goldfish took a long time to eat the duckweed today, i think once they are fed it a few more times they will identify it as food better though).

this tank also has a few nerites in it:

The other tank i worked on was a 20high with a large african cichlid. There is a african cichlid tank downstairs (ill get a pic tommorow) that this one was removed from for aggression. The water was clear when i went in, then i cleaned the filter and it clouded the water, but it cleared up a few hours later.

i also did a large water change.

due to the fact that its just RO water i added some minerals to the tank with

A.1 tablespoon equilibrium and

B. I teaspoon marine salt. I figured this would be perfectly safe for the fish as there are many "cichlid salt" products out there.

Oh, side note from home tanks. I lost a platy. I dont know why, she was perfectly healthy.  but fish deaths happen sometimes.

 

[dasaltemelosguy]

On 8/16/2023 at 12:29 PM, GoofyGarra said:

"a bunch of pretty cool looking platies"

Here is a picture:

 

 

Hi, what kind of platys are those? Are they Red Wags? I literally just got 10 of those in this morning! Beautiful colors and contrast. Love the lush look you have. 

[Odd Duck]

Sounds like some interesting projects happening.  I’m sure it will be very satisfying to see the previously neglected tanks coming around.  Water changes make all the difference in the world for most tanks.

I’m a little worried about your stocking level in your 20 high.  That’s a lot of fish and sounds like it’s going to be more soon.  If you can thin out the cories a bit and thin out the platies a bit, you should be in good shape.

The cories might eat some platy fry?  I’ve absolutely seen them eat angel fry but they’re a bit smaller than platy fry.  For sure the cories might disturb them out of their cover where the other platies could predate on them.

I think you’ll be glad you didn’t get more panda garras.  They get to 3.5” so adding a whole group of them would mean you would probably have to take more of your current fish to the store.  You probably already know about the AqAdviser program you can access online.  It’s a good starting place to judge whether or not you’ve got too many fish or you can add more.  It is definitely NOT the be all, end all answer, but it does give you some idea if you might be pushing the limits too much.  Heavy plantings, overfiltering, light feeding, overfeeding, how well seasoned your biofiltration is, how often you do water changes, how big your water changes are, etc, etc, etc, can play a huge role in whether your specific tank is overstocked or not. But the Advisor is a decent starting point for a fairly new aquarist like yourself.

Personally, I prefer a lightly stocked tank much better than an overstocked tank since it gives me much more leeway if the power goes out and my tanks are only running on battery backups for the air pumps. I’ve got air going to every single tank and will probably not ever give up having some type of air driven sponge filter in every tank.  Understocking also gives the fish more elbow room and for most species, tends to reduce stress.  Some species (like the African cichlid tank) need to be very understocked or very overstocked.  Understocked as in one male per tank, or overstocked so that any aggression is spread over many individuals and injuries become less likely.

There is often a happy medium for most species of shoaling or schooling fish where at least 6 is good as long as there aren’t so many the tank will become toxic if the power goes out.  It seems like most fish can’t count over 5.  😆  There are some species that like to be in bigger groups.  I have about 30 chili rasboras in my 100 gallon nanofish tank and it took that many before I saw them regularly.  Before I got that many, they were always hiding.  I think they would be even happier and more comfortable if I put another 20-30 in there.  That isn’t going to stretch my filtration in the least on a tank this size.  I have a q4 G cube that has about a dozen chilis and in that cube with only pygmy cories and sapphire shrimp as company, they are confident and bold, too.  But it took adding another small group to make the initial group more comfortable.  Stocking can be tricky, for sure, until you know the limits of your tank and the species you have.

Keep us posted on your lab project tanks and home tanks.  We like journals around here.

What area are you in, by the way?  Maybe someone local could potentially help you out with additional foods for the goldfish?  You might even contact a local grocery store and see if they might donate a bit of leafy greens.  Kale freezes better than you might think.  Many herbivorous fish like it even better after it’s been frozen so the goldfish might go wild for it.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/16/2023 at 3:29 PM, GoofyGarra said:

some mystery fry i found in a bag on the side of the road a few days ago that i have no clue what species they are

Wow, what a random thing!  I’d love to hear the story on this one. It will be fun to see what they develop into.

[GoofyGarra]

On 8/17/2023 at 5:17 PM, dasaltemelosguy said:

Hi, what kind of platys are those? Are they Red Wags? I literally just got 10 of those in this morning! Beautiful colors and contrast. Love the lush look you have. 

honestly im the last person to ask. Ive had these platies for over a year and a half and none of my current ones are my originials. Its just a random bunch of fish and i love them.

On 8/17/2023 at 5:55 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Wow, what a random thing!  I’d love to hear the story on this one. It will be fun to see what they develop into.

there was equipment too but i had no use for it. I figure someone was tearing down a tank and couldnt get a good home. Itll be interesting to see.

 

On 8/17/2023 at 5:30 PM, Odd Duck said:

Keep us posted on your lab project tanks

a bit hard at this point, tomorrow is my last day...

 

Edited August 17 by GoofyGarra

[GoofyGarra]

@Chick-In-Of-TheSeaill keep trying but at the moment the mystery fry are too camera shy to get a good picture. Identification is hard as they are fry and could be seen as a dozen species at the moment. Really looks like guppies without a gravid spot, but i dont think they are guppies.

[Elodie Rose]

Very pretty platies! I’ve never tried to breed them. I’ve just started trying to breed guppies and Endlers, the past year or so. Livebearers are amazing! 

What kind of betta do you have? I wonder if it isn’t eating some of the fry perhaps? I was told that if I wanted population control for guppies, to put a female betta into the tank. I haven’t tried it, just wondering.

Edited August 17 by Elodie Rose

[GoofyGarra]

On 8/17/2023 at 7:35 PM, Elodie Rose said:

Very pretty platies!

thanks!

On 8/17/2023 at 7:35 PM, Elodie Rose said:

What kind of betta do you have?

male,crowntail. Im sure he eats a few fry, but i suspect its the cories as that is what changed when i stopped finding fry.

[GoofyGarra]

Breakfast time!

My tanks are in my bedroom so i feed them in the morning right as the lights turn on. (usually the tank lights are an alarm clock for me...)

today though i was up before the tank lights were on and clearly so were the cories:

then the lights turned on and i got a nice picture:

cories are breeding, again.

Garra Guy and Cories enjoying their breakfast of Xtreme Bottom Wafers.

I forgot to put BBS up so the cory fry get easy fry food.

and the female platy in isolation gets crave flake

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Very nice planted tank. The platies looks great in front of the plants.

 

[GoofyGarra]

On 8/18/2023 at 8:10 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Very nice planted tank. The platies looks great in front of the plants.

thanks. Its taken me a while to get this tank to a scape that i like.