What did you get done today?

[anewbie]

On 10/18/2023 at 1:59 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

For sure! I am just waiting to see a school of "hundreds" of corydoras. It's too majestic. 😂

 

It's just not the same as a ton of them!!!! I love seeing them do this.

I only have around 12 sterbai in my 450; but i gotta say those females are not small fishes - mine are 6+ years old and the females are easily 3+ inches and quite stocky. To be honest my sterbai spread out and almost never behave like the ones in the video - usually i have 3 or 4 males chasing a female...

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/20/2023 at 11:18 AM, anewbie said:

I only have around 12 sterbai in my 450; but i gotta say those females are not small fishes - mine are 6+ years old and the females are easily 3+ inches and quite stocky. To be honest my sterbai spread out and almost never behave like the ones in the video - usually i have 3 or 4 males chasing a female...

Yeah.... Once you get ~20+ the behavior changes slightly and they get more like a pod of little whales.  They (corydoras) can definitely get bigger than people realize sometimes!  Very cool to see them full grown and doing their thing though.

I look forward to seeing what you do! It's a really unique setup and that's always fun to see what people come up with.

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/20/2023 at 9:58 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Yeah.... Once you get ~20+ the behavior changes slightly and they get more like a pod of little whales.  They (corydoras) can definitely get bigger than people realize sometimes!  Very cool to see them full grown and doing their thing though.

I look forward to seeing what you do! It's a really unique setup and that's always fun to see what people come up with.

Start with 5 and work your way towards that…😅

It’d be pretty cool if you could just point at a school of Sterbais doing the whale thing and say: “ I bred all those in my spare time” . 😂

[anewbie]

I did the usual weekly water change on my 72x30 bedroom aquarium (which used to be a 40B). It has been running for approx 6 weeks; though most of the fishes and plants are from the 40B.  I've not hooked up co2 yet though it does have a pair of reactor; undecided if i should hook up co2 as the plants seem to be doing fine and co2 causes other issues. Here are a couple of pictures:

 

The first picture shows a not commonly seen crypt cordata var siamensis; ive had it for a couple of years but in the 40B it was buried in part due to co2; it seems to be growing fine without co2 but i am keeping a close eye on it. Unfortunately the 'timid' keyhole saw me and came a dashing in hope for some cat-nips or similar treat. 

 

The reactor not yet hooked up to co2 but water flows through it.

 

Below is a semi close up of one of the uninteresting crypts; kind of a shame i chose this one to photograph since all around it are pink jacboi; nuri rosen and a few others begging to be photographed; but beggers usually get passed over... You can see a bit of a pink jacobi to the right of it; just look at the pink/purple thing at the edge of the frame.

 

 

 

The only crypt really hurting without co2 are the spiralis which are kind of pale - they had much better colour with co2. Also my little prince kleiner is starting to regrow (when i tore down the 40B a lot of the plants had suffered terribly from aenerobic bacteria destorying their roots). Anyway i think it'll take 6 months for the plants to fully adjust so maybe by Feb or March i'll make a decision on turning the knob on the co2 canister.

 

As a bonus here are a couple of pictures from the blackwater aquarium which had the water change yesterday:

 

 

Edited October 23, 2023 by anewbie

[Ruud]

These 2 will be arriving tomorrow morning via local courier from Valencia. The pair of L136B I won at a raffle - about 1 - 1.5 inch or 3cm in size only. I got an 80 L bare tank setup specifically for them, and expecting another 2 to arrive by end of month. 

 

 

[TheSwissAquarist]

Can’t wait to see them color up! 

[Ruud]

They arrived this morning, they are around 3.5 - 4cm and arrived with a heat patch and seem all okay and happy. Got them acclimated by dripping some tank water into their travel bag and now are hidden behind the heater. Will give them half a Carni wafer in the afternoon, keep an eye on water parameters and see what happens. 

Needles to say .... I am absolutely in love with how they look and they will only color up better as they grow. 

 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/24/2023 at 2:28 PM, Ruud said:

They arrived this morning, they are around 3.5 - 4cm and arrived with a heat patch and seem all okay and happy. Got them acclimated by dripping some tank water into their travel bag and now are hidden behind the heater. Will give them half a Carni wafer in the afternoon, keep an eye on water parameters and see what happens. 

Needles to say .... I am absolutely in love with how they look and they will only color up better as they grow. 

 

I’m especially noticing the caves…🤓

[nabokovfan87]

This week has been eventful, but nothing finished up.  Sometimes progress is slow, intentional, and it's all about setting yourself up for that future success.

First, I finally got zip ties so I can make that moss wall for the shrimp!

Second, I got the pipes in / on sale so I can swap out the tubing for my canister filter and check everything as a test fit before changing anything out on the tank.  I think I can use suction cups, but we'll see.

Finally, I got a few odds and ends so I can spruce things up.  I got some cords to secure CO2 canisters to things in the event of shakey shakes.  I got some of those adhesive back things so I can hook stuff up on the wall for nets and other random bits.  I also got clamps for the hoses whenever I do swap over the tubing. (pricing on that is a bit excessive for what it is)

I have to decide where things move around to or how to place things going forward.  I would love to swap a lid on my tank, but I think I lost (or used) all of the trim pieces.  I'll need to start selling / gifting some of my old equipment to make room and I listed the corydoras for sale.  Personally that last one is a huge step for me.  I really admire those fish!

[PineSong]

I brought in the white clouds from my summer tub. Very happy with their color and condition--I only fed the pond to show guests the fish once bug season began, but they are plump and fiery looking.

I added them to the 29 that now sits in my home office, which was looking very empty as it houses only a few retired breeder platy and guppy girls and shrimp.

[anewbie]

Added this strange critter to my aquarium last week:

[Ruud]

I have done loads! Changed water in the planted tank, the 136B tank and topped up the Cube and the future to be Sterbai breeding tank. I got insulation material for the garage door, polystyrene panels so in future I can get a small fish room running in the garage. I got a sheet of double walled polycarbonate (or whatever its called) to make tops for the aquariums and hopefully keep more heat in during the winter as it gets cold here. 

I also setup an Aquaclear 70 HOB for the L134 tank and ordered another one for the L136 tank

[TheSwissAquarist]

Set up a spawning tank for my Glowlights - hopefully this time I’ll be able to get fry. 🤞

[anewbie]

Did the weekly water change of the upstair aquarium; which oddly i did last week - but this time i thought i would provide a slightly better picture of a plant; 

I think this is a nurii rosen but it almost look a bit like a pa hang whatever; some slight variation on colour patten sep the two but i think they are basically the same species:

Pretty sure this is a nurii rosen:

One advantage of taking  a few picture i miss things i might otherwise see; in this case we see a pink jacobi growing in the middle of the nurii. No i didn't plant it there - the pink jacobi is sort of like a weed spreading runners everywhere; in this case i moved that plant when i took this picture so it is no longer in that location. My nurii do spread but very very slowly; but the pink (esp when it had co2) would spread like crazy. I can't really find much on the origin of pink jacobi but i think it is related to wenditti.

And this last plant - well i'm not sure why the keyhole felt i should take a picture of it but he was quite insisted that i photograph it; not my best picture but at least he was happy as a puppy after the photograph was taken.

 

 

[Ruud]

Key hole (?) Ciclids... I had them in my first tank, very underrated fish but lovely nonetheless! 

[anewbie]

On 10/29/2023 at 3:50 PM, Ruud said:

Key hole (?) Ciclids... I had them in my first tank, very underrated fish but lovely nonetheless! 

Yes - i have a group of 7 kids and i find them anything but timid. These were tank raised as wc were not available at the time but still it is hard for me to believe the species is as timid as described in the literature. I find them very curious and exploratory and quite friendly. The negative is they don't have large colourful fins which most people seem to prefer but quite frankly i'd take these guys over any of the domestic inbred species of apistogramma commonly available. However as a caveat they are still young and their behavior will change as they get older so my view might change. One of my favorite fishes is nannacara anomala which i had for 5 years and he was a joy as an adult showing a lot of cleverness and adaptable behavior based on various situations.

[Guppysnail]

On 10/30/2023 at 8:29 AM, anewbie said:

my favorite fishes is nannacara anomala

Both these and keyhole cichlids are on my someday list. I hope you share more of your experience with them so I can learn. 

[anewbie]

On 10/30/2023 at 7:39 AM, Guppysnail said:

Both these and keyhole cichlids are on my someday list. I hope you share more of your experience with them so I can learn. 

The only major lesson with nannacara that i found were: they are not pair forming and the female is extremely aggressive towards the male once she has precious - at least in my case a 29 is not really large enough for a pair unless the male is very robust (she didn't actually kill the male but the stress probably did; you really want hobbist bred or wc fishes not cz fishes which seem to have problems - i've been told it is how they breed the fishes for mass market but that is hersey - none the less i've had bad luck with most dwarf cichild cz fishes i've purchased and much better luck from other sources - esp wc).

 

The pair forming issue is critical as most people don't understand how they can go from being loving couples to terror - keyholes are said to be pair forming to a fault - they form pairs for life and if one dies the other will be very sad but mine are young and i haven't enough experience with them to comment further on that aspect. 

 

After my female nannacara died i kept the male - he lived about 5 1/2 years and i was able to observe his behavior in many situation. I did get him new females (always cz because that was available) and none lasted more than 18 to 24 months - if i buy them again i will either get f1 or wc.

[Ruud]

they weren't shy at all in my tank and they spawned within months. Lovely fish but due to their lack of color somehow not such a popular fish. But I love them still and I am sure one day I have them again. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Well.. I made a cookie graveyard

 

[anewbie]

Another week some more water changes; this is the 'blackwater' aquarium - ph is 5.5 and ec is around 30.

-

and a critter from the bottom:

Unfortunately the male - who is a bit more colourful didn't want to sit still but this female froze and I was able to capture it permanently frozen in time.

Earlier in the week in another aquarium i added some cupido and this lady wanted to check it out to make sure i wasn't going to pollute her aquarium with bullies:

Thankfully they are all getting along just fine:

Of course the cupido are just kids and will get a bit larger. I gotta say they just love eating... eat eat eat.... 

-

Oh no picture but i discovered three wayward shrimps in my sump. No clue how they got in their but they must have been there for at least 4 months - maybe i should just build a colony of shrimps in my sump ?

Edited November 4, 2023 by anewbie

[anewbie]

Another week another water change on the upstair aquarium - still trying to decide on co2; everything seems to be growing well without co2 'cept h'ra and spiralis both plants i like but not sure i like them enough to turn on the co2.

anyway a few pictures:

 

My little prinz kleiner or maybe it is kleiner prinz is slowly growing back after nearly dying before the move. A most lovely plant i highly recommend. With co2 and strong light it has a deep wine colour leaves; here it is a little lighter in colour but the leaves are still new and plenty of time to darken:

lousy photo (not sure why the phone has so much trouble with this aquarium); but my little pinto has put out a new leaf (this is a piece that rotted off the larger piece; trimmed the rot away and it seems to be growing); you can't see by the rhizome is above the substrate just the roots are in the substrate.

 

The struggling h'ra rotala - it is growing but very slow which is ok with me as long as it keeps growing. The green stuff in it mid way down is I can never remember how to spell it - swassb or somehting like that - German word with lots of 's' and some vowels here and there.

One of my little Echinodorus Iguazu is also making a strong recovery having lost all of its leaves just before the move; tough little plant. Sorry about the photo quality i really need to look into a nice digital camera cause my phone just doesn't get it right.

 

And of course the required keyhole photo:

[ricbennett3]

I found at least fifteen blue dream shrimp living in the canister of my oase 200 when I cleaned it. All juveniles. All seemed happy. They are in the tank now. Must have grown up in the filter though. There is a pre-filter sponge. Coarse, but not easy for much to get through. Did not expect that. 

[Opie]

I stared at my empty 125 g. Imaging I had the energy to get started on the setup. 🤣

[ange]

Made a trip to LFS and found the lowest price on a Pink Flamingo that I've ever seen locally! I had to get some for my tanks since the one I've had for a year hasn't really taken off enough to be divided.