What did you get done today?

[Chris]

On 12/24/2021 at 10:48 AM, CalmedByFish said:

I wonder if it would work to just use the stalks instead of florets... says someone who's never given their fish fresh veggies. Just a thought.

That probably would work better - the stalks seemed to hold up better in the water. I may try cauliflower next. I certainly won't eat it!

[KobaBetta]

I finally added a new nerite snail to my ten gallon after my 4 year old snail, Snailo, committed snailicide by crawling out of the tank. I wonder if she might have gotten a bit senile and forgot where she was. She shall be missed. The new one is named Shelldon.

 

Also plan to work on a ten gallon that has essentially been a box of water with anubias in it that has had the lights off for a good while trying to kill blue green algae. It's finally dead so now I get to clean it and go fish shopping!

Edited December 24, 2021 by KobaBetta

[PineSong]

Gave myself the gift of more counter space in the kitchen by getting rid of my last 3 gallon betta setup and putting my betta Fireworks in the 10g. Since I am officially not buying any more fish until April, I won't need the 10g for a QT tank any time soon and I hope he enjoys it. 

Enjoyed the challenge of moving all my otos into one tank. Not super fun to try to catch them in a heavily planted tank. There are six of them now and I'm hoping they will be more comfortable in a bigger group. 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@PineSong I find adult Otos some of the hardest fish to catch. 😑 ESPECIALLY in a planted tank.

[Torrey]

On 12/20/2021 at 7:42 PM, FishPlanet said:

Weeeellllll. Got several plants today, moved them around the tank, and I officially have a live plant only tank. Arranged and rearranged. Then fed BBS to platy fry, fed bloodworms to adult fish, and cleaned my Scarlet temples of algae and dead leaves. Busy, busy. 

Does your scarlett temple grow cyanobacteria?

I've discovered that while I was recuperating from surgery, my scarlet temple I propagated and distributed to 3 new tanks is growing cyanobacteria. It's a beautiful Christmas red&green, but not really the look I was going for in my tanks😅

[drewzero1]

Did a water change on the 20 and 40 and added a digital thermometer to the 40 (the glass tube thermometer that came with it suddenly started reading 120+°F). First time cleaning the canister filter and it went pretty well.

Cleaned up algae/detritus in the office tank to prepare for 1.5 weeks out of office. Considered bringing the minnows home but an aquarist coworker offered to feed them, so they'll be fine.

[anewbie]

In a few minutes I will have to start the water change routine today; not expecting any drama - none of the fishes are spawning 'cept a pair of angels in the 120 has 3 day old eggs; this is 2nd generation pair who have taken the back corner as their spot - she seems to be doing a pretty good job - but unlike her mother she doesn't attack me with a vengeance but is rather accepting; her mate on the other hand attacks everyone and everything... he is one of the most violent angels i have ever owned and to my shame i raised him from an egg. Oh well we can't all be proud of our kids.

[WillC]

Removed some fungus from the tank.

Trimmed up some dying leaves.

Tossed in a tiny piece of food for the snails.

Dosed Easy Green.

Now to sit back and just leave the tank alone for another week.

Merry Christmas all!

[drewzero1]

On 11/29/2021 at 10:37 AM, drewzero1 said:

😆
I suspect one of the fake plants had something nasty on it that probably killed my poor cory, the tank had smelled odd after I put it in so I pulled it out right away and did a 25% water change. No other casualties so far 🤞.😡

 

On 12/25/2021 at 3:43 AM, drewzero1 said:

(the glass tube thermometer that came with it suddenly started reading 120+°F)

It took me almost a month to put it together, but this evening I realized the bulb on the thermometer had broken and was releasing a small amount of smelly red oily stuff into the water. I must've cracked it while rearranging plants, and never noticed until now. So, that's one mystery less!

[Odd Duck]

I have had the great good fortune to receive a free 100 gallon tank and stand.  No tops, but it came with a wide variety of other stuff.  A couple canister filters, heaters, lights, siphons, nets, food, the usual clearing out the hobby kind of miscellaneous stuff, and . . . . . . . . . . Fish.

I’ll be keeping the 2 cories (2 different species - Corydoras sterbai and trilineatus), and the lone angelfish (skinny and scarred - Scalare sp).  I’ll be rehoming the 2 common plecos (8” and 14” - Hypoatomus plecostomus), 2 subadult albino rainbow sharks (Epalzeorhynchos frenatum), 3 adult 3 spot gouramis (Trichopodus trichopterus), and 4 African cichlids - an adult pair and 2 subadult offspring.

I’ve never been too interested in African cichlids (beautiful, but jerks) so I haven’t ID’d the species yet.  I know it’s a relatively common species to see, just not one that I know the name right off the top of my head so I can’t even Google the binomial.  I’d appreciate any of our cichlid gurus helping me with an ID.

My goal is to replace the 46 gallon bow front with the 100 gallon.  I’ve been having serious doubts about trying to have a group of angels in a 46 even with loads of “roots” and sword plants in the tank.  I’ve never been crazy about the 46 with it’s awkward top, too tall stand, not quite big enough for what I wanted, etc.  So I jumped at the chance for this free 100 gallon.  It has black trim and stand and is the same size and shape as my current 100 G.  The stand is not identical, but similar enough that I think it will look great as a yin/yang type effect with my current 100 G on either side of the TV.

My 100 G has a brown wood stand, wood tone trim, light colored driftwood, and black sand.  I was already planning to do light sand and have darker wood in the 46 G.  Now I will just be using a 100 G instead of the 46 G.  I was concerned about how crowded the 46 was going to look with everything in it, so the new 100 G completely solves that issue and will be perfectly balanced, yet different than the current one.

I am very excited about this, but thinking about all the cleanup I have to do to the new 100, rehoming the fish I’m not keeping, emptying, cleaning, and selling the 46, then finally setting up the new 100 G (the fun part).  In the mean time, the fish I’m not keeping are in the 46 G, the wood is back in my soaking barrel, most of the plants are moved because, . . . . . . cichlids.  I kept a couple big swords in there and pray they don’t tear them up too much.  I have and HOB (sized for the 46) and 3 sponge filters in there, just because I haven’t moved the two old ones yet.

I’ll need to get new HOB filters because at least one of the canister filters that came with the new 100G leaks!  I’m not big on canisters anyway, but the 46 has been only a plant holding tank with a few snails for months, so I thought, “I’ll just pop one of those canisters on the tank since I’m plunking some big fish in there and my bacteria are going to take a few days to ramp up”.

I sit down to eat my reheated supper since I was still in the middle of things when the hubs got back with fast food.  Eat 2 nuggets and a few fries and realize I’m hearing some water dripping!

Jump up, check the canister, yep, leaking, . . . . . BAD!  Pull the plug, leaking worse since it’s now siphoning down the tubes.  Flip the lever on the canister to detach the tubes since that activates a cut off in the hose fittings.  Grab old towels to throw them around the canister, start futzing with the tubes to get them out of the tank and break the siphon, turn around to go get a bucket, and see one cat and one dog munching on my lunch on the floor!  Grawr!  Mean mommy yells at said dog and cat (cat likely the thief, dog likely took advantage of the thievery), they scurry away in shame.

I pick up now fuzzy lunch, throw it away, yell about my now ruined lunch to poor, minding his own business in the garage husband about the stupid leaky canister and stupid animals, wash hands, get bucket. Take stupid leaky hoses to the sink, cuss a lot.  Carry stupid leaking canister to the sink to dump, cuss more.  Go back to tank, finish sopping up water.  Realize it was only about a gallon or less since the water level in the tank hasn’t changed appreciably.  Heat up leftover pizza from yesterday (was supposed to be for supper, not lunch) and eat so Krampus can go away.  Decide to sit down and read to take a little break from fish so Krampus doesn’t come back.

Then finish cleaning up hoses, canister, etc, enough so at least one side of the sink is usable.  Canister is now in a bin with the other assorted junk that I may, or may not, use.  I may try again Monday but I’m playing paintball tomorrow since now I’ve definitely got frustrations I need let loose!

Pics of the 46 G now (cloudy since the substrate got disturbed) and pics of the fish in there.  Also a pic of the poor angelfish with wounds, possibly permanent scars.  We’ll see.  S/he is very thin, it could be Hexamita but it’s all on one side.  S/he is in QT - only had a 10 available but it’s got plenty of plants and s/he needs some peace and quiet.  S/he did eat some whiteworms for me.  The cories are in another 10 to recover from their injuries (minor fin stuff).  Don’t wonder why I’m not a big fan of big cichlids.  Of course, they should never have been put in with community fish in the first place.

The rest of the fish seem to mostly be holding their own against the cichlids.  I have a friend that will be taking the rest of the fish in a couple days.  Then I’ll be tearing down the 46 G and putting up the 100 G after a good cleanup.

Good thing I already have a plan in place for the angelfish tank.  It will just be scaled up a little.  Now I just need to carry it out!  I’ll have to shimmy the TV few inches closer to the 100 G so the angel tank will be at a better viewing angle, but it should look really good when I’m all done.

Edit to add that I’ll do a new posting once the 100 G is cleaned and I’ll step through the set up.

Edited January 4, 2022 by Odd Duck
Typos

[FishPlanet]

On 12/25/2021 at 1:47 AM, Torrey said:

Does your scarlett temple grow cyanobacteria?

I've discovered that while I was recuperating from surgery, my scarlet temple I propagated and distributed to 3 new tanks is growing cyanobacteria. It's a beautiful Christmas red&green, but not really the look I was going for in my tanks😅

What is cyanobacteria? Sorry. 

[Chris]

Messed around with my betta tank today - removed the rock that was holding the driftwood down (it sinks now!), added in a struggling Crypt from my brackish tank, and removed the filter floss since it really wasn't gathering anything.  I also did a roughly 40% water change, for giggles.

Kind of insane how much happier this guy seems now, after me having him for a couple weeks or so. He looked healthy in the cup, but now he's actively flaring at his reflection and jumping up out of the water at my finger, if I tap on the lid. Bettas are sassy!

[Doc Gonic]

Finally replaced the gravel in my shrimp tank with a nice black substrate. Really makes the green plants and Cherry shrimp pop.

 

 

 

[HH Morant]

Today I finally put fish In my new upstairs  tank - about 115 gallons.

I put 41 baby angels in. Got tired of catching them. May put more in before I go to bed.

[SJ fishing]

I’ve been playing around with the hardscape in a 5 gallon betta tank and a 20 long for some peacock gudgeons.  Here’s a pic of the soon to be betta tank

[anewbie]

41 is a lot to put in a single tank; I wonder if it takes that many to keep them from beating each other up when they become adults. The spawn i raised had 52 but i put them in a 5 gallon pail (well not the 8 i kept); until they were 1/2 dime size then gave them to the lfs (which breeds angles in the back to add to their large tub). Hum - anyway did water changes today. Check on my baby pleco and of course there is always this scary scene popping up:

 

The one earlier was even more warped around a leaf. Oh well at least he didn't harm his back.

[HH Morant]

I  put my baby angelfish into the new 115 gallon tank. I used the "what I do" cycling method from aquariumscience.org. It took about 18 days.

 I estimated that I had 150 baby angel fish in this 1st batch. But when I moved them from the 20 gallon tank to the 115, I counted them. There are actually 229.

I put some plastic plants in for now, just so the fish feel more comfortable.  Real plants will come later.

Edited December 30, 2021 by HH Morant

[Taco Playz]

Found what I think is a white cloud egg in my 5.5 and put it in a breeder box. 👍🏼
 

I also made another spawning mop out of yarn for just whenever I need it. 

[PineSong]

On 12/30/2021 at 10:36 AM, HH Morant said:

I  put my baby angelfish into the new 115 gallon tank. I used the "what I do" cycling method from aquariumscience.org. It took about 18 days.

 I estimated that I had 150 baby angel fish in this 1st batch. But when I moved them from the 20 gallon tank to the 115, I counted them. There are actually 229.

 

229?! This is why we need an OMG emoji!

[Chris]

Excuse the quickly-taken phone pics - tonight was more of a "get things done" kind of night, rather than a "make them look pretty with a DSLR" kind of night.

Here's the 55 I've had sitting in my closet for like 6 months - after my Mantis Shrimp died, I didn't really have a reason to set it up back up. All the fish that lived with her died as well, so I was kinda just meh about it. But, I decided to throw it back together for my Marine Betta and Long-Fin Mocha Clownfish. All this rock in here right now is dead and dry - I've got a few pounds of live rock I'm going to throw in tomorrow, once I can get an accurate salt reading on the tank. If things go to plan, I should be stable, cycled, and ready to start adding fish 1-2 at a time this time next week.

 

This is the 47 gallon Eheim tank I've had for a year and never set up. I've posted about it several times, but I've always been afraid of setting it up without a proper stand, since it's rimless. I figure a level floor with a carpet and rug underneath of it would work well enough, don't you? Leak testing right now. I ordered some lid clips from Amazon that should be here Monday, and I'll probably go to Lowe's tomorrow for a piece of eggcrate to serve as a lid.
 

 

And here are the little guys I picked out to go in the 47. This is their QT. 12 Tiger Barbs, all around 12", and a 2" Red-Tailed Shark. I figure I might add 6-10 more Tiger Barbs once these guys are all settled into the tank, and then maybe another small group of boisterous schooling fish - either some large tetras or maybe another school of barbs. Or, maybe I'll just go all in on Tiger Barbs and see about adding in a group of bottom dwellers or something. The tank will be a stream/river tank, with a relatively high amount of flow, smooth pea gravel, and either some slate rock or some rounded river stones, depending on what the LFS has.

 

I also did a water change on the Mystery Snail and Shrimp tank - still no eggs from the mysteries, though. I'm beginning to think I ended up with all one sex.

 

Here's the Betta tank. You can see some pretty good growth out of the Ludwigia and the Crypt on the right - the Crypt on the left is brand-new, rescued from my brackish tank, and the piece of Jungle Val hasn't really taken off yet. The Scarlet Temple was just something I threw in here out of curiosity, since I've never tried it under low-light.

And, of course, an obligatory puffer pic.

 

[Tanked]

I got two more Christmas presents. 

While putting away some of the holiday clutter, the box of wrapping supplies slid off the shelf and landed upside down on the floor.  I found the new digital thermometer that I haven't seen since Christmas 2020, and a Home Depot gift card. I guess the next time someone offers to help me clear the table I should be more specific as to where things go.

[anewbie]

Did water changes; notice lemon bn have spawned again - so more baby pleco pictures in the future. Trying to figure out how i want to treat this poor fellow:

 

[Odd Duck]

On 1/1/2022 at 2:36 PM, anewbie said:

Did water changes; notice lemon bn have spawned again - so more baby pleco pictures in the future. Trying to figure out how i want to treat this poor fellow:

 

Pristine water with a bit of salt.  You can work up to 1 tablespoon per gallon, start at 1 per 5 gallons.  Add some tannins, too, from IAL if you have them.  If that doesn’t help or things start to look worse, get some Kanaplex in the water.

Do you know what happened?

[anewbie]

On 1/1/2022 at 10:31 PM, Odd Duck said:

Pristine water with a bit of salt.  You can work up to 1 tablespoon per gallon, start at 1 per 5 gallons.  Add some tannins, too, from IAL if you have them.  If that doesn’t help or things start to look worse, get some Kanaplex in the water.

Do you know what happened?

For cory it has been suggested I limit it to 1 tbl per 5 gallon to prevent kidney damage; and limit duration to 10 days. He's been like that for a very long time (6 to 12 months); finally netted him and will start treatment in a couple of days - i had moved him to a calmer tank and wanted to give him a couple of days before moving again.

[Chris]

On 1/2/2022 at 3:03 AM, anewbie said:

For cory it has been suggested I limit it to 1 tbl per 5 gallon to prevent kidney damage; and limit duration to 10 days. He's been like that for a very long time (6 to 12 months); finally netted him and will start treatment in a couple of days - i had moved him to a calmer tank and wanted to give him a couple of days before moving again.

FWIW, I've treated cories at 1 tbsp per 2 gallons  for two weeks before with no issues. They lived for several more years before they were sold to a store - no clue what happened after that, but I'd imagine any issues would make themselves apparent during the next couple of years.