GoofyGarra Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 Fish have been caught out, they have been in a 5gallon bucket with a sponge filter and heater all morning. Just called the LFS and i can bring them in. Im going to start bagging, i will head out as soon as my ride gets here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 Back from the LFS. Didn't really get much for my fish but i understand why. The tank suddenly feels super empty, but at least its not as stocked, hopefully i can get some platy babies soon. The other thing that happened was in order to make my life easy catching these fish i pulled out everything not rooted down, and i probably put it back in differently, so some things that have not been visible are suddenly visible. Now that the tank is better stocked my goal is to get more plants growing so the tank looks good. I can grow floating stems, but i want to try and plant them. Ended up losing a plant weight in the process of moving everything out of the tank and that is sad, as i only have a few. Right now stocking is: 1 small bristlenose pleco 1 panda garra 1mystery snail (i dont talk about him much, he kinda just does his own thing in the tank and i completely ignore him) 1nerite snail 1male platy 7 female platies 9 albino cories alll of which is much more managable then what i had before. Another reason i wanted to reduce stocking was so the tank is cheaper to feed, im on a tight budget but like high quality foods, so the solution is just have less fish, feed less food. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted January 15 Author Share Posted January 15 (edited) Lost the sick platy this morning 😞. Hit me hard as she had been sick for a week and i was medicating and hoping she would improve. I feel like if i would've dosed meds other then salt sooner i could have saved her. Feeling really bad right now. But i dislike photographing dead fish, so here are some random pictures from this morning to cheer everyone up: Garra Guy has a little smile 🙂: and my mystery snail made an appearance on the amazon sword: Edited January 15 by GoofyGarra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted January 15 Author Share Posted January 15 I got 2 nice pictures this morning. 1. Moquitofish that was curious about my camera: 2. Breeding corydoras (note the female carrying eggs): Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted January 16 Author Share Posted January 16 (edited) noticed my mystery snail upside down with his reproductive organ sticking out, should i be concerned? I setup a breeder box to hold moss closer to the light so it would grow faster: Also call me a fool, im trying to get platy fry again. This time i have a vegetable steamer basket from a rice cooker floating in my 5gallon tank. I have some pennywort in there as a hiding spot for the female, and using electrical tape have since turned down the light from what it appears in the picture. I have serious doubts i will succeed in making fry, but im going to try. If she gives birth the fry can fall through the holes in the bottom and live with the shrimplets, the shrimp are of a significant size im not worried about anyone eating each other, unless the female platy escapes, or shrimp decide to explore the basket... im going to wait a month now, if nothing happens i will not be surprised, but watching videos on livebearer breeding it seems a smaller container can work too, so im going to try it. Edited January 16 by GoofyGarra 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted January 17 Author Share Posted January 17 On 1/16/2024 at 6:12 PM, GoofyGarra said: Also call me a fool, im trying to get platy fry again. This time i have a vegetable steamer basket from a rice cooker floating in my 5gallon tank. I have some pennywort in there as a hiding spot for the female, and using electrical tape have since turned down the light from what it appears in the picture. I have serious doubts i will succeed in making fry, but im going to try. If she gives birth the fry can fall through the holes in the bottom and live with the shrimplets, the shrimp are of a significant size im not worried about anyone eating each other, unless the female platy escapes, or shrimp decide to explore the basket... im going to wait a month now, if nothing happens i will not be surprised, but watching videos on livebearer breeding it seems a smaller container can work too, so im going to try it. brief update, this failed. THe basket does not have enough of a rim, and the female just jumped out into the tank. If she is comfortable there, and will develop her pregnancy better there i am fine with this change as long as my shrimplets dont start dissapearing, then the female will have to move. I think i want to take the basket, add a lower flotation point (via a ring of airline tubing), and drilling lots of small-ish holes in the side, they put that in my main tank and let platy fry use it as a refuge area if they so need one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted January 17 Author Share Posted January 17 ok, sorry about so many posts. The female that ended up in the 5gallon is my "tri-color" platy. I call her this because she has gold, blue, and red all on her, which seem to blend in a cool combination on parts of her body: Here is a better pictures of the fish showing off her colors: In the past when i tried moving females into isolation they were usually very shy and skittish and often had trouble eating. This occured to the purple female who i unfortunately lost a few weeks ago. However this time is different. The tri-color platy is swimming around exploring and nipping at algae and stuff like a healthy platy should be acting and appears active and healthy. I've been feeding the shrimplets in that tank easy fry and small fish food to encourage growth and she ate some too. I have high hopes because she appears to be doing very well right now. I hope as time goes on i can see some pregnancy developing and eventually get fry. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted January 17 Author Share Posted January 17 Fed some grindal worms to the tri-color platy today, she loved them and is doing great. Thx again to @Guppysnail for the grindal worm culture, its a crazy easy source of live food. I tried to get a good photo of the tri-color female but just how hard that was shows how well she is doing. She was super curious what i was doing and was swimming around the corner where i was, investigating. These are good signs. The shrimplets in that tank are getting big and doing amazing as well: I'm also trying something new for growing moss. Ive seen serpadesign cut up moss when he used it to encourage growth, and it makes some sense so im trying it. I took my moss patch and cut it up into a bunch of pieces, im hoping it grows well now. I want lots of moss as cover for platy fry, and to use in infusoria cultures: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted January 18 Author Share Posted January 18 Created a recirculating fry tray type system just with a breeder box and an easy flow kit (Unnecessary but kinda fun). Though it gave me a filter idea. People dont like that sponge filters can filter out fine particles, and that filter floss will clog and overflow filters. Here is my solution, use an ACO sponge filter with easy flow kit, and have it flow into a breeder box like this one with small holes full of filter floss. Flow reduction, fine filtration, and easy filter maintenance all in one. Also working on a little DIY overhead trickle filter just for fun: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 Well... I think its snowing outside 🙂. Gonna try to increase the aquarium budget shoveling. In the meantime, kinda stuck inside, so i think im going to work on finishing up my DIY trickle filter, then ill see how it actually works, most of the time my ideas work well in concept but not application. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 Cory's most recent fish room video inspiring me to work on my tank. The water is clear besides for just tannins which are normal, the fish are doing well on a much lower stocking, the one platy male in there is enjoying having 6 girls to himself. I have lots of floating hornwort that is doing well floating at the surface. If there are any platy fry they should definetly be able to hide from predators in the hornwort: The pothos i got from my friend a while back is doing really well. Its growing roots and has starting growing a few new leaves as well. The back left corner of my tank is a small mess of dead plant matter, so i pulled out a good amount of it, though some still remains Also spotted my mystery snail, he is getting old. I got him in march last year so he is nearing a year, which i hear is pretty good when it comes to mystery snails. I was really excited about him when he was new, but he is dark colored, and often hides in the back and i really have just forgotten about him. I barely see him in my tank. I've tried getting him friends in the past and he hasn't really cared, but i think when he dies i will try again with a lighter colored snail. I did a water change on the 5gallon tank, then cleaned out the box filter and replaced the filter floss for just some sponge. The shrimplets in that tank are getting much bigger, im starting to feed some easy fry food a few times a week to the family shrimp tank to increase the growth rate there. The back of the 5gallon is covered in algae, the shrimplets are enjoying the snacks. I dont mind as its pretty much the most natural background you could get for a tank. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 (edited) Random picture of Vulcan, getting a photo was hard as the tank lights were off and Vulcan is afraid of flash and will run away Trimmed back some algae covered and rotting leaves on my amazon sword, this allows more flow and more light into the tank now Garra Guy was out enjoying the higher flow (first picture is with flash) Crypt parva i got is still alive! I have a bad history with crypts but this ones seems to be doing ok. Its probably putting out roots before it starts to very slowly grow, but in a decade or two i should have a nice carpet 😄 Also just for fun, spot the Panda Garra in this picture (He is there) @GuppysnailI'm going to hold off on the honey gouarmis for now. All my current fish like higher flow, and the honey gouarmis dont, so they dont really fit in. Maybe ill try a pair in the school tank, that has much lower flow... Edited January 21 by GoofyGarra 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 Picture of the tank right now. I ended up removing most of the floating hornwort because it blocked my view into the tank. Instead i made a bunch with a weight and put it in the back of the tank to grow in, ill have to trim it regularly to make sure it stays the right height and only stays in the back Also, this might have been a bad idea but i added 4-5 shrimp into the main tank. These were a few of the bigger shrimplets i had in my 5gallon tank. They were the perfect size to move right now, they are big enough that they dont fit in any of my fishes' mouths, but small enough they will adjust well to the new setup. After adding them in the platies really just ignored them, so i think they will work fine. Also the family shrimp tank is going to be overrun soon. The shrimp are on a real breeding cycle. a female is Berried, the eggs hatch to shrimplets, and within the next week the female is berried again. I only moved in red shrimp to the main tank, we have lots of them. However i've spotted a few orange shrimp that i like, so as i find oranges, im going to make those my own little project, (Top shrimp is orange, bottom shrimp is red) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 The tank is just really peaceful to watch right now. The filters are moving water around, the fish are out and active, the water is clear, the plants are where i want them, I'm really enjoying my tank right now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xXInkedPhoenixX Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 It looks awesome! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 (edited) On 1/21/2024 at 1:50 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said: It looks awesome! I apreciate it, this tank has taken over a year for me to get to a point that im relatively happy with it. For the past few months ive been struggling with an overstocked tank , and now that i have that taken care of, i'm trying to focus much more on aesthetics. Edited January 21 by GoofyGarra 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xXInkedPhoenixX Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 Well you have some beautiful plants that's for sure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 @xXInkedPhoenixX The amazon sword is getting a bit too big for the tank, but im afraid to move it because i dont want to have to disrupt the substrate releasing things into the water. I got a new camera and im trying it out, everybody please let me know if its better then my old one. The following pictures are new camera pictures: Vulcan looks really good against the black background, the "super red" stands out Currently my only male platy (the red one) Cories and Garra Guy because why not? and full tank picture: 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xXInkedPhoenixX Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 Yea, I wouldn't pull the Amazon either. Clip individual leaves maybe, but not remove because you're right- amazons definitely spread out too you'll disrupt the whole tank. The pics look great! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 Orange shrimp! Rare but im loving the ones i can find: Birds eye shot of the tank, because why not? Nerite Snail And His Goofiness, Garra Guy 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 Preparing for Noplanaria treatment for Hydra in my main tank. I have removed the nerite and mystery snail and put them in other tanks. I plan to dose NoPlanaria as 1 dose for 20gallon as this kills hydra in my experience, then wait 24hours, and start do daily %20 water changes for a few days, then reintroduce the snails. How does this sound? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 Nerite snail exploring her new (temporary) home: 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Take care returning your snails to that tank. I have heard quite a few times 3-4 months later nerite and mystery snails are added after using no planaria and die in short order. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chick-In-Of-TheSea Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 On 1/23/2024 at 5:47 PM, GoofyGarra said: Preparing for Noplanaria treatment for Hydra in my main tank. I have removed the nerite and mystery snail and put them in other tanks. I plan to dose NoPlanaria as 1 dose for 20gallon as this kills hydra in my experience, then wait 24hours, and start do daily %20 water changes for a few days, then reintroduce the snails. How does this sound? No Planaria tends to linger for a long time despite many water changes, and hobbyists using it tend to wait a few months before reintroducing snails. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted January 24 Author Share Posted January 24 (edited) On 1/23/2024 at 6:47 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said: No Planaria tends to linger for a long time despite many water changes, and hobbyists using it tend to wait a few months before reintroducing snails. On 1/23/2024 at 6:41 PM, Guppysnail said: Take care returning your snails to that tank. I have heard quite a few times 3-4 months later nerite and mystery snails are added after using no planaria and die in short order. oh no, i knew i should have waited for a reply before dosing 😞 ... Well i guess i will reach out to friends and see if they want any snails, if i cant keep any in my tank now. So since i messed up big time, i need to find these snails longer-term homes now. The mystery snail will probably go to school, and i moved the nerite into my shrimp tank, then realized we had dosed that with NoPlanaria recently, so the Nerite is just in the 2gallon right now. All these pest killers that kill snails forever are incredibly agitating, had i realized i would have tried some other options, but i impulsed on it and lost. 😞 Edited January 24 by GoofyGarra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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