What did you get done today?

[Pete]

Threw a 300W Eheim heater in my outdoor tub because a snowstorm blew through. Water temps are still sitting around 50F so my white clouds should have no problems.

Delivered 30 Red Wag Platy up to my LFS and came home with my first Pea Puffer! I'm so extremely happy to have it and have spent way too much time trying to get video of it eating small bladder snails.

[Tanked]

17 minutes ago, Pete said:

have spent way too much time trying to get video of it eating small bladder snails.

As soon as the camera comes out the magic.......stops! 

[ADMWNDSR83]

I effectively roped in a new fishkeeper!  I was training a new hire the other day, and showed her my office tank and pictures of my home tank.  She emailed me today to tell me she is cycling her brand new ten gallon!

[Daniel]

The rat keeping subculture is just as intense as the fishkeeping subculture. My youngest son and his girlfriend always have about 8 rats at any one time. The rats live about 3 years at the most so there are funerals from time to time. Today was one of those funerals and we buried Maggie in a garden bed this afternoon.

[Maggie]

36 minutes ago, Daniel said:

The rat keeping subculture is just as intense as the fishkeeping subculture. My youngest son and his girlfriend always have about 8 rats at any one time. The rats live about 3 years at the most so there are funerals from time to time. Today was one of those funerals and we buried Maggie in a garden bed this afternoon.

No, not Maggie!  😟

[ADMWNDSR83]

3 minutes ago, Maggie said:

No, not Maggie!  😟

I almost hit the laugh icon, but thought it inappropriate as we talk of a funeral.  Granted, I did call my younger brother Jimmy throughout my grandfather's funeral! (After Jimmy Dean... his jacket was WAY too tight, it made him look like a sausage.)

[Daniel]

11 minutes ago, Maggie said:

No, not Maggie!  😟

I was totally thinking about @Maggie every time my son mentioned the name. 🙂

[Streetwise]

First time feeding brine shrimp. I also topped off the water and salt to try to keep this batch for a little bit longer.

Edited December 15, 2020 by Streetwise

[ChemBob]

Found a baby pencilfish from an accidental spawn. One of those happy accidents! At least I'm 99% ita the pencilfish rather than a cory. Only 2 species in my tank. 

[starsman20]

Last night I Picked up 4 cories to add to the 4 I have and 4 rasboras.  I wanted 10 but he only had the four.  Now I have an excuse to go back next week.    They went into the quarantine tank with the med trio and the castle I moved out of the 36BF earlier. Looks like one of my nerites was inside the castle and is also getting the med trio treatment.  I'll move him back tonight as I was running a bit late this morning.  Lesson learned - look inside the decorations when you remove them from a tank.

[Maggie]

I finally got my plants for the 20L. Not set up exactly right bc the wood still wants to float. I put the poor danios and shrimp in and the danios are traumatized - they lost all their fabulous color! I also had two missing and no sign of them at all. So down to 9 danios. But I did find an extra baby shrimp. 

[Maggie]

Today I brought water sprites to the LFS - no discount, but they took the donation. Maybe if I keep bringing them every couple months they'll give me an extra fish or two. I left with 12 adorable juvenile harlequin rasboras, who are now settling into quarantine. They seemed hungry so I fed them a little and they all ate. The danios got baby brine shrimp this morning, are settling into their new tank, and starting to get their color back. I'm worried about two who are hanging back a little and still very pale. The dominant male is reminding the others that he's still boss. I'm so happy to have them in the bigger tank! Refilled all the water jugs. I already regret my lighting purchase for the 20L. I will be saving up for that more pricey light (Finnex? Fluval? The programmable one - could be the same kind that @Danielfound dropped in his tank). Now time for coffee and to watch the season's first snowfall for a while! 

[Lemon]

cleaned a little bit around my tank

[gogomarigo]

Not the best photo but I have my first berried shrimp! It’s a blue neo from the Coop😊 This one seems to be a blue rili.

It’s funny cause last night, my partner had remarked on how big that particular shrimp was getting (she hadn’t dropped her eggs yet). And I was doing extra research on neocaridina life cycle, trying to estimate when they’d transition from juveniles to adults and begin mating—very anxious to make sure my shrimp feel comfortable. I think it’d be cool to observe the lifecycle of neos but I also want breeding because to me, it’s an indicator that the shrimp are happy and feel safe.

I’ve been wanting sparkling gouramis but the Coop has been sold out. The bright side is that this gives me a better opportunity to grow my shrimp colony in the meantime. I have Pygmy Corys but I read that they’re safer for baby shrimp since they’re omnivores but have more scavenging behavior rather than actively  searching for and chasing little moving things to eat. I have lots of plant cover and leaf litter too. I read that Pygmy Corys are also relatively easy to breed🤔 They lay eggs tho so it would be more complicated for a beginner like me compared to “live bearers” like the sparkling gourami (can that term be used generally or is it only used for particular types of fish like mollies and guppies...?)

I feel like most beginner fish keepers are attracted to the bright colors of guppies, neon/cardinal tetras, bettas, apistos, etc. but there’s something that makes my heart flutter seeing the hint of rainbow flashes on “plain” colored fish like Pygmy Corys and sparkling gouramis (kind of like the sparkly details of the book, “Rainbow Fish”). Plus sparkling gouramis have those beautiful bright blue eyes!

Anyway, I marked the date to start actively checking for missing eggs/baby shrimp in my planner (which I mostly use for work). I feel like I’m a grandma😂 I’m excited!!

[Sapere_Ceta]

Today I water tested my cycling tank and preformed a water change on a holding tank I prepared for a betta fish that was arriving today. Added some extra tannins, leaves, and a tad amount of salt. Few hours later, he’s arrived and is all well!
I took photos of him in his little bag, and acclimated him afterwards. He was released into his holding tank, adjusted to the remaining parameters, and has been exploring and nibbling leaves since then 🥰 

[mouseturd13]

Didn’t really get much done but I did come home and get to admire my tank that so growing in well! Even found an extra oto cat in there to my surprise fully grown. Guess I must have some lovers in the tank and had no idea 😂... yes I put some Christmas decor on my tank so they are festive! 

[Nataku]

On 12/14/2020 at 6:07 PM, Daniel said:

The rat keeping subculture is just as intense as the fishkeeping subculture.

Its also just as volatile, I just wish the rat world had a place as respectful and open as the Aquarium Co-Op forum!

Today was rat day for me. Tubs cleaned, babies sorted. Tomorrow will be tank day, I plan to trim and relocate some jungle val from my 58 gallon which has sent out a ton of runners. The rats of course, get all of the trimmings as snacks while the new plants will likely go to the 220 to continue filling that in.

[Lemon]

added catappa leaves fed frozen for the first time and watched a lot of Greg sage videos 

[Maggie]

Did WC in the 45 and took out most of the water sprite, in favor of the salvinia minima, as they made a tangled mess. I'll use some in the other tanks and keep the rest in a bucket until I figure out what to do with it. I also removed a large amount of the minima due to its growth and taking over too much of the top. Moved the brine shrimp hatchery from my dining room table to the "fish room" (a tiny 10x11 spare bedroom, which has the 20L and q-tank in there plus is dog's "bedroom" as well as storage for entire house). Salvinia minima looks stunning from the root side! 

[ChemBob]

Water change day! Also added Java Moss to the 20 gal and 40 gal display tanks after trimming the pogostemon, wisteria, and val. I moved fish from quarantine to the main tanks as well. Endlers to the 20 and a Red Lizard Whiptail Catfish to the 40. And found 2 fry in the quarantine tank after everyone was moved! Guess it will serve as a grow out until the are big enough to move more easily. 

[Machete]

Cleaned some algae from my cycling 40 breeder and tested parameters in my 2 tanks.

 

 

[FriendlyLoach]

I had to euthanize two of my fish. 😞 

[Ken]

Boiled wood. Over and over. The place I bought it sells all kinds of birds, reptiles and bugs. I'm pretty sure the dust all over it is not good. 

[wendypizza]

Started the rescape of my 36g; noticed eggs on my orange ricefish and threw in the spawning mop, started expel-p on the 10g ricefish tank!

[Hobbit]

Progress this week:

I’m still unsure whether my baby plecos have eaten any of the food I’ve offered. Once I saw the smaller of the two accidentally suck on a shrimp pellet I put in there, and then promptly move on to the rock next to it. I took a video of it not eating the pellet. 🤦🏼‍♀️ I know it looks like he’s munching on the side of the pellet, but he’s not. 

The tetras with fin rot regressed unfortunately. I tried a week of 3 tbsp of salt per 5 gallons and, seeing no improvement, I decided to get out the big guns. The first dose of maracyn went in just now.

The log in my 55 gallon tank came detached from the wall (it’s held down by suction cups) and floated up into Dad Fish’s nest of fry. I didn’t want to get bitten so I’ve left it there, only to discover that the plants and Java moss are making an awesome shelter and food source for the fry! So I’ll leave the log where it is for a while and see what happens.