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Stoca Zola posted:What kind of cories did you get? I guess they all behave different depending on what region they evolved in. Got any pictures of your new tank? What substrate did you use? I got peppered cories. I suppose I'm not worried about their lack of schooling - they actually do all bunch together when I'm doing water changes, so I think when they're roaming around alone it's because they're not at all stressed. Here's a picture of the new 75 gallon tank. It has about 2" of organic soil underneath another 2" of pea pebbles--  In the picture you can see the huge huge bloom of hair-like algae I had immediately after setting up the tank. After a few rounds of manual removal during water changes it looks like things are under control and stabilized. From this tank I've already learned that I should have spaced my background plants a little more-- I really did not anticipate such rapid growth from everything, and I've already had to trim some of the plants that reached the surface. Two of the homies:  I really like the Cory catfish - they're fun to watch.
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Jul 1, 2016 13:10
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That's a really nice layout, lots of nice little nooks so no wonder the corys are so relaxed!
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Jul 1, 2016 15:49
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So I'm having my first inter-fish conflict and I was hoping if there is a solution that does not involve getting rid of the aggressor. The situation; A few months ago I set up a 50g tank, cycled etc and finally added 10 tetras, 3 catfish and 2 three-spotted-gouramis (Gold & Silver). The gouramis are the relevant fish here, they do not seem to interact at all with the other fish. Gold is male and Silver is female. I got them at the same time. Quickly, they established a pattern of Silver getting harrassed by Gold constantly whenever they met. Silver now consistently retreated to one side of the tank; clearly stressed (lack of colour and non-smooth fins). I added more decoration and at one point Silver decided to take up permanent residence in one of the decorations, only coming out to feed. Not surprisingly she does not look so great. I know that a possible solution is the addition of more female gouramis, so I added a pearl gourami (Diamond, biggest I could find, same size as Silver now though substantially smaller than Gold) recently, hopefully to divide stress between the females. So far this has not worked out great. Now I simply have two stressed females hiding out at the same spot in the tank. I like these fish and hope to find a solution that can lead to the three fish living in relative peace without giving one away (by now Gold is big and strong and gorgeous). I've done some reading and suggested options are a) add more hiding spots to create more visible barriers and get more separate territories and b) rearrange the tank, presumably in combination with (a) and to fool the fish into thinking they've moved or something so they re-establish territories? Does anyone have any other ideas or experience with this?
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Jul 2, 2016 12:03
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Pretty much all you can do is add more cover, rearrange things to disrupt established territories, maybe you need something more substantial like vertical driftwood if extra plants aren't cutting it? By the sounds of it there is a bit of size disparity between your fish too which is probably making things worse - big fish will always pick on smaller fish, but often aren't as inclined to take risks vs a similar sized fish. I've only had experience with aggression between penguin tetras, which isn't quite the same, but it really did improve when I added a couple of big ugly clumps of hornwort. Now that the smallest ones are larger it seems a bit calmer too. I wonder if bubblewalls would work to break things up too, if adding hardscape is a problem?
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Jul 2, 2016 18:12
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They started out the same size. Unfortunately the male was dominant so got more exercise and presumably food so he naturally grew bigger. Actually the moment I went downstairs to check on them after typing it already seems to have improved (I added an extra plant yesterday), with the female seemingly having claimed that and actually (successfully) chasing the bigger male away. So it looks like I"ll go with "add more and disrupt" and I think that will improve things. She looks a bit ragged now, so hopefully I am not too late.
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Jul 2, 2016 19:53
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Our gourami used to fight frequently but seem to have gotten it out of their systems. Good luck.
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Jul 3, 2016 15:04
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It's with a heavy heart that I write I took down my tank today. From inheriting a disaster 9 months ago, to learning the ropes, to giving a bunch of fish a healthy home, it was a frustrating and time consuming ride. I just didn't have the enthusiasm and time to dedicate to making it better and pushing through green and brown algae issues, diseases, deaths, and constant upkeep. I gave it my best shot. I gave my fish away to someone who had a big fish room and seemed to know what he was doing, and emptied everything out. RIP aquarium, you were a challenging experience.
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Jul 3, 2016 23:10
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Bummer to see you go, you really did good considering the mess you inherited.
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Jul 4, 2016 04:43
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Agreed, but it's not for everyone especially if you didn't get to choose it yourself. At least you did the best you could every step of the way, right down to finding decent homes for the fish once you couldn't do it any more.
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Jul 4, 2016 05:01
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This morning I found a snail shell floating in my tank. I know they get unintentionally introduced on plants or other objects, but I haven't added anything (fish, plants, decorations, etc) to my tank in close to a year. Is this normal? Can snail larvae be dormant for that long?
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Jul 4, 2016 20:16
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I'm building a temporary pond to house my koi until I can rebuild their current concrete pond. Old pond  Rough model of the new pond:  Here's my progress so far: 
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Jul 5, 2016 02:54
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Hello fish-goons. I have a betta and I'm wondering if its fins are healthy. He is very active and has a healthy appetite. I just can't recall if his fins were this ragged looking when we got him a couple months ago. No tank mates until very recently, added a pleco and corie.     
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Jul 5, 2016 03:37
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He looks good to me..
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Jul 6, 2016 02:21
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PyroDwarf posted:Hello fish-goons. I have a betta and I'm wondering if its fins are healthy. He is very active and has a healthy appetite. I just can't recall if his fins were this ragged looking when we got him a couple months ago. No tank mates until very recently, added a pleco and corie. Looks fine to me but cories are best kept in groups to be honest,if your tank is not big enough for more I'd suggest rehoming him.
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Jul 6, 2016 12:05
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Thought I'd post my new and improved tank: I've been running this tank for just over a year now and decided that I should, you know, aquascape. Before:  After:  35g tank, 10k Oceanlife light, Fluval 206 and U2 filters. 3 sterbai cory, 1 dwarf gourami, 5 brilliant rasbora, 5 zebra danio, 1 bristlenose Pleco and some shrimp (cherry and Amano)
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Jul 7, 2016 17:12
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I just lost a staring contest.  (My pre-filter sponge keeps falling off like that - probably time to replace it.) McStephenson posted:Thought I'd post my new and improved tank: I've been running this tank for just over a year now and decided that I should, you know, aquascape. What's are those rocks? Love the contrast between the black and white rocks. And do you know what type of wood that is? I've been meaning to pick up some driftwood for a while now - I even collected some on my last camping trip, but it turned out to be pine, which people don't recommend using in an aquarium.
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Jul 10, 2016 03:26
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I've inherited a tank from a broken home. Never looked after fish before so I'm picking this up as I go. It's got a lamp in the roof of the tank, but the bulb appears to be dead. The label says '15W self-ballasted' but gives no other information. Do I need to look for a particular type of light or anything special to replace this? Looking around online there are few options that seem like they'd fit, the only one I can find at a reasonable price doesn't say it's self-ballasted. It is bright daylight though, which I gather is important for plants? (the tank has some plants).
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Jul 21, 2016 18:23
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alphabettitouretti posted:I've inherited a tank from a broken home. Never looked after fish before so I'm picking this up as I go. It's got a lamp in the roof of the tank, but the bulb appears to be dead. The label says '15W self-ballasted' but gives no other information. Do I need to look for a particular type of light or anything special to replace this? Depending on your plants they might need a little or a lot of light. Also the depth of your tank will factor in too. Just sounds like the previous globe was a CFL to me, bright daylight at the same wattage might be fine (although I can only guess since I run LEDs in my tanks); aquarium plants use red and blue wavelengths of light while algae and other pests use the other wavelengths ie from "warm" coloured globes or sunlight - so if your light isn't right all that will happen is your plants might not grow very fast or you might see some algae growth. The light doesn't need to be on all day either, I've had a lot of success with four hours on in the morning, a break in the middle of the day, then another four hours late afternoon/evening. Do you know how big your tank is, or what any of the plants or fish are? Have you got the equipment and treatment chemicals for doing water changes? Do you know how to maintain the filter? There's good info all over this thread and elsewhere on the Internet. But it's been pretty quiet in here lately so post pictures, ask questions, etc and welcome to the hobby.
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Jul 21, 2016 21:38
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Stoca Zola posted:Depending on your plants they might need a little or a lot of light. Also the depth of your tank will factor in too. Just sounds like the previous globe was a CFL to me, bright daylight at the same wattage might be fine (although I can only guess since I run LEDs in my tanks); aquarium plants use red and blue wavelengths of light while algae and other pests use the other wavelengths ie from "warm" coloured globes or sunlight - so if your light isn't right all that will happen is your plants might not grow very fast or you might see some algae growth. The light doesn't need to be on all day either, I've had a lot of success with four hours on in the morning, a break in the middle of the day, then another four hours late afternoon/evening. Thanks. Have chemicals and water change stuff. Don't know about the filter, I will have to investigate cleaning it. The fish are some kind of common coldwater type whose name escapes me.
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Jul 25, 2016 11:35
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Filter cleaning is pretty easy, mostly just involves saving a bucket full of old tank water and swishing everything around in it and knocking off the worst chunks of gunk, then putting it back together. No soap, no bleach etc required or even desirable, for example your fish bucket should be a clean one that has never been used for anything else except fish tasks, and keep your fish things separate from your normal household things. Anyway don't replace any of your sponges or filter media (mechanical and biological filtration) unless they are falling apart or totally clogged, and even then don't change out all of it at once since you need to maintain a good stock of bacteria for decent filtration. On the other hand chemical filtration such as activated carbon or resins should be replaced or recharged on a regular schedule - most people get by without chemical filtration though. It's useful for removing medication after a treatment, or to help correct a particular chemical problem. Cold water/ subtropical fish I can think of off the top of my head: zebra danio, barbs, white cloud minnows? Actually probably not rosy barbs since you still have plants and those little shits will gobble any green in the tank. A lot of plants like cooler water I believe since more gases will stay dissolved on cooler water so more CO2 is available for them to use.
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Jul 25, 2016 19:03
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My friend left the country and left me all his fish. I had acquired a tank the week earlier but I think it might be a bit small for what he gave me. His tank was significantly larger, but had already been sold. I'm not against acquiring a second aquarium if need be, but preferably would like to offload some of the fish to someone else. Can someone give me advice on what to keep? I'm not exactly sure what everything is. I have two of these Angelfish:  Three plecos (I think):  Four tiger loaches (a bad choice it seems from the op):  Five I don't know whats:  And eleven (!) of these little ones (tetras?):  I have an Aqua One Aquamode 600, which is 65 litres (about 17 gallons). The tank was cycled for a week (with some water from another tank) before I put the fish in.
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Jul 26, 2016 12:58
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Bag posted:I have two of these Angelfish: These guys would need at minimum a 29g tall tank (30"L x 12"D x 18"H) Bag posted:Three plecos (I think): These look like some type of otocinclus maybe? Not plecos I think. Might work in your tank, would need a positive ID though. Bag posted:Four tiger loaches (a bad choice it seems from the op): I think these are clown loaches, and definitely grow too big for your tank. I keep a group in a 180g tank. Bag posted:Five I don't know whats: Denison's Barbs! Great fish, but again need a much bigger tank. 55g at a minimum. I also keep a large group of these in my 180g. Bag posted:And eleven (!) of these little ones (tetras?): Candy cane tetras, super cool fish. These would actually look great and work out in your tank.
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Jul 26, 2016 17:04
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Pretty sure those are a gold variety of "Chinese Algae Eater". They only eat algae when they are little or haven't yet got a taste for meatier food and they have a reputation for sucking on and damaging other fish ie at night while tall bodied fish are sleeping. They can grow quite big too, more info here. One of their example pictures does look a lot like yours. 11 tetras might seem like a lot but that's a good number for them to have a happy healthy school, I'd definitely keep those. Edit: oh god thank you whoever got rid of my ponytar
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Jul 26, 2016 18:09
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Stoca Zola posted:Pretty sure those are a gold variety of "Chinese Algae Eater". They only eat algae when they are little or haven't yet got a taste for meatier food and they have a reputation for sucking on and damaging other fish ie at night while tall bodied fish are sleeping. They can grow quite big too, more info here. One of their example pictures does look a lot like yours. no problem
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Jul 26, 2016 20:58
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Anyone have experience with using loaches for snail control? My new 75g tank has 8 happy corydoras catfish and approximately 50,000 snails. I was thinking of getting 6 loaches when they become available from one of the local stores.
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Jul 26, 2016 22:24
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Thanks for your help. I'll try and find a keeper for the clown loaches, angelfish and denison's barbs (I live in Hong Kong if anyone's interested). Here are some more pics of the golden, sucker type fish.   
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Jul 27, 2016 02:41
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Clown Loach.. I have one in a 55g tank that is four years old now and he's not that big maybe 4-5 inches. He is the definite choice for snail control though, the bottom of the tank is a wasteland of snail shells. He also goes after my red cherry shrimp when the population gets low and there are not enough full grown snails to munch on. sharkbomb posted:Anyone have experience with using loaches for snail control? My new 75g tank has 8 happy corydoras catfish and approximately 50,000 snails. I was thinking of getting 6 loaches when they become available from one of the local stores. Don't do six, that is overkill and a school of loaches that big will devour everything in that tank then one day you have six hungry fish with nothing to eat. They start off small but can get to 8 inches in the right conditions.. mine is about 5 but again you don't want a starving school of fish in your tank. demonR6 fucked around with this message at 17:28 on Jul 27, 2016 |
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Jul 27, 2016 17:25
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demonR6 posted:Clown Loach.. I have one in a 55g tank that is four years old now and he's not that big maybe 4-5 inches. He is the definite choice for snail control though, the bottom of the tank is a wasteland of snail shells. He also goes after my red cherry shrimp when the population gets low and there are not enough full grown snails to munch on. I've been looking into getting loaches but have avoided clowns because I read they get to be a foot long? I have a 75 gallon tank, if I got 3 clown loaches do you think that would be okay, or would they get too big?
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Jul 27, 2016 17:27
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Start with 2, monitor the progress. He was slow to start off but one day I was sitting there and heard the cracking of snail shells and sucking of snail. He went to work. I'm not kidding the bottom of my tank before I cleaned it looked like that scene in the Terminator where it was walking on a sea of crushed skulls and bones.
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Jul 27, 2016 17:30
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Does anyone know if I put a Marimo ball in with my Sea-Monkeys if it will kill them? I made it into a pictogram. 
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Jul 27, 2016 22:16
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That variety of sea monkey is very hardy and should survive just fine.
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Jul 27, 2016 23:27
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Unless you've gotten a predatory species of marimo.
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Jul 28, 2016 03:33
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I couldn't find someone who would take the extra fish so I had to flush them down the toilet  Nah! Another neighbour was selling this beast. I picked it up for about $45 US. It's about 365 litres (96.5 gallons). Took me about an hour to drag it the two miles back home (weighs a ton even without water) but now my extras won't go homeless!  Should be enough for the fish I have already... maybe even a few more? Will post pics when everything is set up.
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Jul 28, 2016 05:18
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Bag posted:I couldn't find someone who would take the extra fish so I had to flush them down the toilet Haha you fooled me - probably because I'm sick of having the "do not flush" conversation over and over with my sister. That tank looks like it will be great for angels, nice and tall. Wait and see how everything settles in and make sure you have filtration capacity and time in your routine to do necessary water changes to keep up before adding anything new. No need to rush! Especially if those loaches grow bigger and bigger and "use up" your spare capacity. I'm super jealous that you could pick up a tank like that for so cheap, not jealous of having to gravel vac a deep tank like that. Even if I was on a ladder I think I'd need a vac on a stick to reach. Edit to add: those Denison barbs are $80-$100 each here depending on size  crazy to think of those guys going down the toilet
Stoca Zola fucked around with this message at 06:17 on Jul 28, 2016 |
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Jul 28, 2016 06:01
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Stoca Zola posted:Haha you fooled me - probably because I'm sick of having the "do not flush" conversation over and over with my sister. That tank looks like it will be great for angels, nice and tall. Wait and see how everything settles in and make sure you have filtration capacity and time in your routine to do necessary water changes to keep up before adding anything new. No need to rush! Especially if those loaches grow bigger and bigger and "use up" your spare capacity. I'm super jealous that you could pick up a tank like that for so cheap, not jealous of having to gravel vac a deep tank like that. Even if I was on a ladder I think I'd need a vac on a stick to reach. Thanks, will keep the same fish I have until everything's settled. The tank came with a big filter housed in the cabinet underneath. Think they were just using a hose to vacuum the gravel so need to pick up a proper one. I was cleaning out the big tank just now and found out I had a hitch hiker. He's now housed in my small tank. Any clue what he is?  Edit: Janitor fish?
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Jul 28, 2016 07:53
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Looks like a longfin bristlenose pleco. He's cute! Bristlenose plecos don't get as big as regular plecos although I can't remember how big bristlenoses get. They need driftwood to suck on and eat algae wafers and blanched zucchini. Must be a tough fish to survive sloshing around in a couple of inches of water in transit.
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Jul 28, 2016 11:57
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sharkbomb posted:I've been looking into getting loaches but have avoided clowns because I read they get to be a foot long? I have a 75 gallon tank, if I got 3 clown loaches do you think that would be okay, or would they get too big? While true, I'm pretty sure this takes about 20 years.
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Jul 28, 2016 12:48
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Stoca Zola posted:Haha you fooled me - probably because I'm sick of having the "do not flush" conversation over and over with my sister. That tank looks like it will be great for angels, nice and tall. Wait and see how everything settles in and make sure you have filtration capacity and time in your routine to do necessary water changes to keep up before adding anything new. No need to rush! Especially if those loaches grow bigger and bigger and "use up" your spare capacity. I'm super jealous that you could pick up a tank like that for so cheap, not jealous of having to gravel vac a deep tank like that. Even if I was on a ladder I think I'd need a vac on a stick to reach. Almost 15 years ago I worked for Petsmart. I worked with the fish (though I was hired for just reptiles and small mammals. Hahaha, that was a good joke on Cowslips.) and knew enough to barely get by. I had, I think, maybe a 10 gallon tank? So we were used to assholes coming in and dropping off fish, or trying to. Usually it was someone who had an oscar who, amazingly, killed everything else they put in their 20 gallon, or someone who was bored of their 'super mean' Green Terror eating their angelfish. I remember at least once tracking someone down in the store, so right as they left, I gave them their 5 gallon bucket back with the oscar still inside. But one Saturday rear end in a top hat Deluxe comes in with the usual Home Depot five gallon bucket. Slams it at my counter and tells me if I don't take the fish he will throw them in the parking lot and it'll be on the news, and every time I try to explain we don't take fish back, he raised his voice and kept screaming the same thing over and over. Unlucky for me, the manager wasn't in. Lucky for the fish, the cashier was. She came hurrying over, took the bucket from the dude, and told him to leave, now, she would put the fish in her pond. rear end in a top hat screams at me some more (the usual poo poo, we all know it working with fish) before storming off. Cashier and I exchange glances, she insists she will take the fish but can I please hold them till end of shift? I agree and decide to clean the bucket and throw in some air stones, etc. There was a 6 inch black ghost knife in there. Almost 12 cories. A ton of tetras. And motherfucking 6 goddamn loving discus the size of your palm. Those fish alone would go for $100 each easily. I kept wishing I could take them but alas, even I knew discus would hate a 10 gallon tank. So the cashier took them home and who knows what happened. I prefer the left-behind fish compared to the people these days leaving dogs and kittens behind in the rabbit cages. Maybe that happened before but since I work with a rescue now, I am just more aware of it. Now for loaches. Clowns are the most common for snail eaters, but yoyos work too. Keep in mind they might (and even clowns might) get nippy on angel fins. Clowns tend to be more fragile and keel over but that's the nature of their game. And they will happily eat most any food with or without snails too.
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Jul 28, 2016 14:24
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Food often includes other fish, as I learned.
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Jul 28, 2016 14:27
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Bag posted:Thanks, will keep the same fish I have until everything's settled. The tank came with a big filter housed in the cabinet underneath. Think they were just using a hose to vacuum the gravel so need to pick up a proper one. Longfin male BN pleco. They tend to max out, to end of fin or so, maybe 7 inches, keeping in mind at least 1-2 inches of that is flowing tail. Not a schooler and less a janitor fish as a catfish that will take care of leftovers (but so do snails and loaches) so be sure he gets some green beans or lettuce (romaine) or zucchini too. And yes needs driftwood! edit: as for fish eating other fish, like most animals and some people, fish minds go to one of three mindsets: 1. Can I eat it? 2. Can I have sex with it? 3. Can it eat me or have sex with me? A weak or dead fish is fair game. Usually a healthy fish won't be a snack unless there is a huge size difference. Cowslips Warren fucked around with this message at 14:30 on Jul 28, 2016 |
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Jul 28, 2016 14:28
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