What did you get done today?

[anewbie]

Well i now have a new Mommy:

[nabokovfan87]

That's awesome, congrats!

In my neck of the woods, I shipped out my first box of fish.  The local UPS store was really weird about it, sent me down the street and I walked in to ship fish and said exactly what was in the box and got a sigh and a look.  IDK how many people do this, but I totally feel for anyone who does that through the mail, for a living, and has to go through that process normally. 

Fish arrived, stressed, but the key was they arrived ok.  I was so stressed because it was corydoras and the whole toxin release situation.  I've had the panda horde for a long time and it's so nice to be able to feel comfortable in my ability to rehome them if need be. 

I added the fish I had received to the panda tank and watched them acclimate through the day.   They've been in their home for about 24 hours and I did have to move the scape around, I will need to add some moss and plants.  I watched the worlds smallest fry go to town on some brine shrimp and that's the day for me.

Normal cleaning, trying to get rid of this insane algae, but doing better than I was a few days ago with regards to all of the things on my mind.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

@nabokovfan87 ohhh yeahh I almost forgot about the toxin thing. How many cories per bag did you ship?

And what kind of fish did you receive?

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/19/2022 at 2:02 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

@nabokovfan87 ohhh yeahh I almost forgot about the toxin thing. How many cories per bag did you ship?

And what kind of fish did you receive?

Some swordtails 🙂 I have a pic of the male in my journal, more coming soon.  I started the algae experiments thread where I will definitely have some more pics and video.

I didn't have a specific box / set of supplies, as it was my first time shipping these.  The plan was to have a "breeding colony" of sorts, just meaning the request was to have the option to have fry.  As a result of the supplies I had on hand I could fit 2 bags in there, potentially 3 if I had cut the bags in half.  Rachel O'Leary's video had suggested doing the whole "shake" to release the toxin and I really didn't want to do that to these.  I understand the logic behind it, but ultimately I wanted them to arrive unstressed.  I had 2 females per bag, then filled in the males as needed.  One bag had 4, the other 5.  In a perfect world, I would have individually bagged and then put all of those into a larger bag (the bags I had) and then done it that way. 

They did ok. It definitely wasn't perfect, but I did Dean's trick of taping the corners and stuff so they couldn't get tossed into a seam. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 10/19/2022 at 4:38 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Some swordtails 🙂 I have a pic of the male in my journal, more coming soon.  I started the algae experiments thread where I will definitely have some more pics and video.

I didn't have a specific box / set of supplies, as it was my first time shipping these.  The plan was to have a "breeding colony" of sorts, just meaning the request was to have the option to have fry.  As a result of the supplies I had on hand I could fit 2 bags in there, potentially 3 if I had cut the bags in half.  Rachel O'Leary's video had suggested doing the whole "shake" to release the toxin and I really didn't want to do that to these.  I understand the logic behind it, but ultimately I wanted them to arrive unstressed.  I had 2 females per bag, then filled in the males as needed.  One bag had 4, the other 5.  In a perfect world, I would have individually bagged and then put all of those into a larger bag (the bags I had) and then done it that way. 

They did ok. It definitely wasn't perfect, but I did Dean's trick of taping the corners and stuff so they couldn't get tossed into a seam. 

I’d be so nervous to ship anything alive besides a plant!

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/19/2022 at 3:53 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I’d be so nervous to ship anything alive besides a plant!

For sure.  I think breather bags are a lot more.... we'll say "easier" to handle because you know the fish has less of a chance of getting knocked all over.  I with I could've kept the bags vertical or something, but it worked out.... so now I know I can do it.  I was watching Greg Sage talk about it, and his biggest issue is that some shipping companies just refuse to do it outright and it's difficult to do it without going directly through USPS.

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 10/19/2022 at 7:24 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

over.  I with I could've kept the bags vertical or something

I guess you could put each bag inside of a smaller box. Boxes inside a box.

[CornAndCrawlers]

Came back from a one day trip to see I now had many baby white clouds to feed 

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

I took a "brief" 260 mile 5 hour trip to my local fish store to move some things out and primarily to stock up on a new puffer food for current use and long term culture:

A few Mystery snails  ...

The Pao cf palustris  were most appreciative....sharing is caring. This typically what occurs a few days prior to courtship. We will likely get some eggs this week now that they are settled in the self designed custom acrylic " breeder-puffer tank".  Black acrylic panels sides, back, bottom, top, clear front panel. Sand had to be added to reduce reflection on bottom. 

I found a new unexpected project during my stop which will be great fun to learn from. Opportunity had to be seized here .....

Red Eye Red Tailed Puffer -Carinotetraodon irrubesco. I picked out 2 males and 3 females for my initial colony. I am hoping for a productive pair out of the group. 

 

Received the new project I am excited to break the code on:

A pair of Tetraodon schoutedeni who have displayed spawning behaviors prior to arrival here on the mountain top

 

Moved four +/- 3" Pao baileyi Hairy puffers to a 75 colony breeding setup 

I will do a lighting diffuser divider with these 4 moving to the right 1/3 of the tank and leaving the left 1/3 to the three adults who have been a colony for the past 4 years and  are giving indications of spawning interest. I will move them in there this weekend for an attempt at a batch of hairys. 

It was a decently productive fish room day overall 

Edited October 21, 2022 by mountaintoppufferkeeper

[PineSong]

Took 40 fish to the LFS in my ongoing effort to reduce my population density. 

Started an experiment in the 20g long to remove duckweed. I'm planning an 8 week blitz to prove to myself that it can (or can't be) done. I threw all the duckweed I removed in the pond for the goldfish, so win-win.

 

 

[nabokovfan87]

My task for the day, check on everything, but I also shined up the wood.  General reminder. Get a bin or something for those prime bottles and all those chemicals that just leak for no reason..... But! More importantly, clean the wood if you have a nice stand. Fish stuff is always dusty, especially media, and this was so nice to see how much I adore the stain on this stand.

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

Took a fairly decent photo with a female adult palustris. She was looking for some food delivery

 

[nabokovfan87]

Wednesday, so maintenance on "Right tank" and I spotted this swimming around!

For context, here is a picture of the smallest fry I had before discovering the newest one, the new one is super tiny. Very likely was just released.

One of the cool things about live-bearers is how the fry come out and can be colored up. Awesome stuff to see a fish grow and their patterns grow in.

I dropped some repashy in for them and will keep a close eye in the morning during coffee.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 10/27/2022 at 3:19 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Wednesday, so maintenance on "Right tank" and I spotted this swimming around!

For context, here is a picture of the smallest fry I had before discovering the newest one, the new one is super tiny. Very likely was just released.

One of the cool things about live-bearers is how the fry come out and can be colored up. Awesome stuff to see a fish grow and their patterns grow in.

I dropped some repashy in for them and will keep a close eye in the morning during coffee.

What are we lookin at here? Is it a tuxedo platy?

[Ruud]

I got a steal today on Wallapop (Spanish Craigslist), a 91 liter (25 gallons)- 45x45x45cm Cube aquarium with bent corners and optical glass for a 20 euro bill. Going to pick it up tomorrow but the guy is keeping it reserved for me. 

Only downside is it lacks the top and its drilled for overflow and sump which means effectively its only 75 liters or 20 gallons but still a very good deal to me. Now to think what to put in it... maybe a pair of pearl Gourami's or Apist Borelli's... Hmmm choices choices

[cavdad45]

I picked up some red Mickey Mouse platys for my granddaughter, they are in the 5 gallon quarantine tank.

I also picked up a trio of 20gallon tanks, one is a long, during the Petco sale.

Washed gravel and set up the sponge filter for one of them.

Busy couple of weeks ahead

Spoiler

, 

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/27/2022 at 3:45 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

What are we lookin at here? Is it a tuxedo platy?

Black swordtails 🙂  They have a lot of black, teal, green, opal type of coloration. 

 

[anewbie]

On 10/27/2022 at 12:49 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Black swordtails 🙂  They have a lot of black, teal, green, opal type of coloration. 

 

They are hard to find and very expensive; but you can find true black swordtails from tip of the head to end of the tail. I knew someone with some breeding stock; but was never interested enough to pony up the $$$. The 'fake' black swordtails like the one above are only $.

[Ruud]

Had a busy aquarium weekend! Did a water change of my 100 L community tank, went to Urban Natura in Barcelona and picked up a pair of Dwarf gourami's - the male a beautiful striking Cobalt blue. Then I also picked up a 4 step Osmosis unit - something I have been longing for a long time. Goodbye hard crappy water and chemicals, hello soft stable water, hello L numbers (finally) and shrimps and Apisto's and fancy Corydoras!

Pics to follow once I have it setup

[PineSong]

I sorted fry for about an hour, as is my sad fate every non-workday. 

I cleaned all my glass lids and lime scale on the black rims and airlines, removed about a cup of duckweed from the 4 tanks that still have duckweed and fed it to the pond.

While I was puttering, I watched/listened to a recent Cory vid where he showed his tank of "The Best Guppies in the World", planted a crypt garden and showed his tiger shrimp. Fun video.

[anewbie]

Fed my frys some live food; mommy is still keep a close eye on them (see my previous post). There are only 5 or 6. The sad thing is i haven't seen my sheff or shrimps in two weeks as she keeps the open area - well completely cleared of critters. She no longer attacks me when i feed the fry which is probably the only good news 😉

 

[Torrey]

Prepped 3 more tanks for an extended absence, and checked water for microfauna. I need to locate an affordable *functioning* camera for the microscope, so I can request assistance identifying what I have living in my water....

[drewzero1]

I finally finished my pickles! Now I've got a gallon jar to do something cool with. I'm thinking plants from a 10 gallon I'll be breaking down next month, plus shrimp and snails. Debating between a small sponge filter and a DIY undergravel thing.

Also, I learned that there is a difference between "catappa" and "catalpa" (the former being Indian almond which is supposed to be great for tannins and shrimp, the latter being a US native bean tree with some poisonous parts). Guess which one I had put in my tank 🤦‍♂️

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Finished putting substrate in the new 5.5. Now I just need plants and hardscape.

[nabokovfan87]

I have fed it before, but this is the first time in forever where I've been able to feed mysis without issues.  I've always, or almost always, had HoBs on the tank and some frozen foods don't do well with that, especially if they have skimmers and suck all the food in too fast.

So.... I removed the HoB a few days ago, replaced the rear trim with the full length piece and I finally was able to feed some frozen mysis and I'm sitting here watching things as I type. 

I cut my finger pretty deep cooking, slipped on a tomato with a knife I had literally just sharpened and wasn't paying full attention. It is day 2 of healing, but just have been taking things easy and doing everything one handed.

WOAH! Grace the shark just came and took a huge bite! She almost never eats for me. She always grazes.  The cubes floated straight down and didn't really push much into the water. It sunk to the bottom and the pandas are having at it.

The black swordtails are doing just fine getting in there and getting some food too 🙂

Definitely small enough for the fry to eat and it looks like all is happy with tonight's offerings. Grace's big bite meant a little of the food is up and around everywhere, so it's easy for the little ones to get some food.

......and now the Corys are laying eggs.

Edited November 4, 2022 by nabokovfan87