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I currently have a 20g long with 3 clown plecos and a German Blue Ram. At my wits end with the pleco poop. Originally I was hoping to breed them, but they are poop factories. I can imagine breeding them would be best in a substrate less tank with excessive filtration. I hate giving fish away, but I can't keep up with them. So cute but they apparently crap their body weight daily.
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Aug 27, 2013 20:46
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Cowslips Warren posted:I don't think clowns have been bred in captivity; that said they are panaques and need a ton of loving wood to eat. In short, you could breed them in a 20 gallon if the thing was filled with driftwood, heavy filtration, and you found the trigger to set them off. Yeah, I apparently have 1 Panaque maccus which has been bred according to planetcatfish. But one of my other two is LDA068, and third could go either way. So my odds of having a viable pair of either species is pretty low. LDA068 hasn't been bred according to planetcatfish. I guess the trigger for Panaque maccus is a good dry season/rain simulation. E: Panaque At The Disco would be a great forum handle. Just throwing that out there. Bulky Bartokomous fucked around with this message at 01:50 on Aug 28, 2013 |
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Aug 28, 2013 01:46
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LingcodKilla posted:They would just cling to the walls ins not get on the dance floor. Not if the band sucked. 
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Aug 28, 2013 03:20
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What are your thoughts on keeping clown plecos with a single Firemouth, assuming there is a good amount of driftwood and hiding places? I've found Firemouths to be maddeningly in the middle when it comes to aggression. They are definitely too aggressive for community setups, but at the same time will get their asses handed to them by most other New World Cichlids. My plan is to put a single Firemouth in a 20g long. I'd like to put the 2 clown plecos in there, but if it's going to be a problem they can stay in my community tank and crap all over my nice white sand. I figure they are decently armored so they can handle the occasional nip, but I don't want them to live in fear constantly.
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Oct 6, 2013 20:27
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Whale Cancer posted:I've had quite a few firemouths over the years and my opinion of them is they are all bark and no bite. If they gill flaring doesn't work they run away. Most fish ignore plecos anyway. Years ago I had a male betta and a clown pleco in a 10g hex. The male betta did NOTHING except attack the clown pleco. Maybe it was just the size or something.
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Oct 7, 2013 03:02
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w00tmonger posted:So I've just had a platy die after have 3 and a Cory in my new tank for about a week. All the levels seen to be fine, but is there anything I should be looking into. Did you add any of the supplements to cycle the tank? If not, water changes could set you back in going through the nitrogen cycle. If don't know what I'm talking about at all, just say so and we'll walk you through it. When you do add more fish I vote cories. They are schooling fish that get  when kept alone.
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Oct 22, 2013 21:16
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Whale Cancer posted:Your tank is pretty small so you might try baiting them out ever day for a while. That's your only non-lethal option. The only other way is to put snail killers in there. Since you can't add any other fish, like loaches, the last option is an assassin snail. Yeah, you can bait them with Zucchini. Just put a slice in overnight and in the morning it will be covered with snails.
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Oct 27, 2013 13:21
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w00tmonger, you never answered this. We need more info to help you.Dantu posted:Did you add any of the supplements to cycle the tank? If not, water changes could set you back in going through the nitrogen cycle.
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Oct 27, 2013 23:25
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w00tmonger posted:My bad. I had assumed at the time that I had a weak fish as I had done a water change and added the couple solutions to our mentioned at the store (I believe a de-chlorinator, bio agent and an anti algae). The issue is whether or not the tank has cycled yet. When you setup a new tank there isn't much in the way of nitrifying bacteria yet. When you add fish they produce waste, which causes an ammonium spike (technically fish waste contains ammonia which turns into ammonium in the water). This allows the first batch of bacteria to build up and they turn it into Nitrite. This produces a batch of bacteria that break that down into Nitrate. Nitrate is either taken up by plants as food, or removed during partial water changes. The problem is if you don't let the process happen it just keeps restarting so you will always have dangerous levels of ammonia and nitrite. IE, perpetually stressed and sick fish.
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Oct 29, 2013 01:34
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w00tmonger posted:I figured as much, and I had the tank sitting for a couple of weeks (arguably should have waited longer). It was a case of having waaay to much ammonia in the tank, and Ill be keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't spike. You have to let it spike. And then go down on its own. Then let nitrite spike and go down on its own. Then let nitrate spike and go down on its own.
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Oct 29, 2013 12:25
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demonR6 posted:Once you notice the snails multiplying, it is too late. Baiting them will only make things better for a little while. Once they are there in numbers it means they are reproducing nicely and for every 100 you capture there are equally as many little snail egg pouches all over every surface of your tank. I spent a good solid month of baiting snails in a very effective traps removing dozens and dozens of eggs. I added assassin snails, a clown loach, removed plants. Nothing short of nuking the tank and starting over but the snails persist. Drop dozens of assassins in there and sure they will help but just like the loach they will only go after them once they are a suitable size for them to snack on, they won't eat every single snail they encounter and even then I have two assassins who prefer the damned algae wafers I feed the cories so that can backfire on your as well. If you nuke the tank, start over with new gravel, if you have live plants bid them farewell and hot water with a 10-15% bleach solution will take care of the remaining snail sacs that hide on the glass. I didn't find this to be the case. I probably had several hundred in tank before I added 3 assassins. Now I have maybe 10 assassins and less than 10 visible pond snails at any time. They seem to have reached equilibrium, YMMV of course. I do have some assassins that prefer algae wafers though 
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Oct 29, 2013 12:27
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candywife posted:I have some neat small pieces of beach driftwood that I'd like to throw in my tank for my pleco to nibble on. I'm guessing you don't have a saltwater tank, otherwise you could just check the specific gravity of the water it's been soaking in. Maybe try freezing some of the water? I don't know what level of salinity would prevent it from freezing though.
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Oct 30, 2013 02:14
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So yesterday I noticed my Firemouth was not looking his usual self and actually appeared to be partially paralyzed (from the "waist" down, if that makes sense). So I tested the water and my ammonia was .5 mg/L and Nitrate was 20 mg/L. I immediately did a 30% water change. Spread out over the rest of last night I did 2 more 10% water changes. This morning ammonia was down to .15 but nitrate was holding steady at 20 and may have actually gone up a little. So this morning I did another 10% changed my carbon out for Fluval Zero-Carb and picked up some Seachem Prime which I triple-dosed. The firemouth looks little better this morning. His tail fin looking less limp, although he is still mostly swimming with his pectoral fins. I hope he makes it. 
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Feb 17, 2014 16:23
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Fusillade posted:Your water parameters are still pretty good. Curious about what may have made that tiny ammonia 'spike' but a lot of commercial kits will give false readings of up to 0.25, and depending on your water source, nitrates may already be 10-20 ppm out of the tap. The nitrates are not too outrageous for the type of fish you have. I personally am not convinced his condition is related to water quality. Does he have any other tank mates? It's a 55g with that firemouth and one adult oscar. I originally had two firemouths but lost the other about 2 years ago. At the time I thought it was swim-bladder disease. Same symptoms. This time around I did some googling and nitrate/ammonia poisoning seemed to fit the bill. Last time I moved the fish to a quarantine tank and treated with epsom salts and tried to feed him frozen peas, but he died with 24 hours of being separated. As for the spike, I did find a clump of uneaten food sticks tangled in the plants. I have some fake plants in there, that typically end up floating at the surface, thanks to the oscar, no matter how well I try to block them in with rocks.
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Feb 17, 2014 22:44
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Bait and Swatch posted:Could it have been injured by the Oscar? I had a jack dempsey that was slammed into a piece of driftwood by an adult tiger oscar. He seemed to have a spine injury afterwards and died in quarantine a week later. Possible. Every now and then the oscar attacks the heater and sometimes works himself into a frenzy where he darts around the tank afterwards. Like most oscars, he's kind of a weirdo. He went through a phase where he nipped at and chased the firemouth at one point too, but that was a few months ago and only lasted a few days. I was worried that he might go after the firemouth in his weakened state but he hasn't. Bulky Bartokomous fucked around with this message at 00:00 on Feb 18, 2014 |
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Feb 17, 2014 23:57
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He's defnitely paralyzed. He was just in a spot where he wanted to back up and his tail got caught on a rock and he just kept pushing with his pectoral fins until it got unstuck.
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Feb 18, 2014 04:34
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SynthOrange posted:Jeez. Does he respond to contact on his rear end at all? Signs arent looking good for him. If he's unable to feed tomorrow I'm putting him in a quarantine tank. I'll see then if he is able to move at all when a net him.
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Feb 18, 2014 04:53
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Eifert Posting posted:Weebay the Betta died. Worst part is it happened while I was on vacation and my GF was caring for the tank. There's no way it could be her fault but she's torn up. Neon tetras are pretty hardy once they get acclimated. Since they are tiny you can get a nice sized school, even in smaller tanks. Bonus points for you is I've never heard of them jumping out of tanks. Whatever you do, don't get hatchet fish. They managed to jump out of my covered tank through a pretty small opening, those poor, crazy bastards.
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Feb 18, 2014 16:04
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This morning my firemouth looked a little perkier. His color was great but he was still acting paralyzed. I just checked the tank before shutting the lights off and he was floating at the top, gasping. I setup the hospital tank after work, was planning on transferring him in the morning. I just moved him into it and he's no longer floating but can't stay upright. gently caress. Poor little guy. What's strange is you google "paralyzed cichlid" and you get tons of reports of this. Seemingly healthy fish that suddenly can only use their pectoral fins and just drag their tails on the bottom. However, it's mostly just forum posts and they all end up reporting the fish is dead with days and nobody really has an explanation. Some blame nitrate/nitrite/ammonia poisoning, others blame trauma, TB usually gets throw around too. It's just so strange. Are fish that easily paralyzed by running into things? Bulky Bartokomous fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Feb 19, 2014 |
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Feb 19, 2014 05:30
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Bait and Swatch posted:It could just be a freak thing. I did the same google search after your post yesterday, and there were a few people who said their fish was back to normal after a week or two in the hospital tank. I've had some Cichlids come back from some gruesome injuries, so don't give up hope yet. Update: after 3 days of him sitting on his side on the bottom of the tank I came home from work and he was upright but still resting on the bottom. For 3 days after that he maintained at that level. I tried to feed him a shelled pea a few times, I was able to grab him easily and just kind of push it in his mouth. He spit it out every time. Two days ago I tried to catch him to force feed and with a few tail swishes he easily avoided my hand. Last night he ate a few pellets. I wouldn't say he's out of the woods by any means, but I am hugely encouraged. I won't be putting him back in the oscar tank, but for right now I'm just going to leave him alone in the hospital tank.
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Feb 27, 2014 20:19
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Fusillade posted:I do have pics of the other show entrants too, but I suspect you're interested in Orson. This isn't the best pic, but the others do not have him in scale with anything. I showed him in a standard 5 gallon tank (I will do a 10 next time!!!), which is 8" wide by 16" long. You can see the other edge of the tank on the bottom of the photo. I didn't photograph him with a tape measure, so "noticeably longer than 8 inches" will have to do for his official size. I had a very small Raphael cat in my community tank when I was little. Remember the Tetra sinking pellets that looked like hockey pucks? I think they were called Tabimin or something like that. He could eat a whole one even though it was about the same size as his head, and you could hear him crunching on it. I bet Orson is a noisy eater
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Apr 12, 2014 02:52
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Goldmund posted:Got home from work today, and my 3 year old OB peacock was dead. He was probably my favorite fish too. Sorry, that sucks. Always hard losing a fish like that out of the blue.
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Apr 12, 2014 02:53
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Wolfgang Müller posted:Been looking on some sites trying to find out for sure what kind of pleco/algae eater we've had for several months. He's currently in a 55g with tetras, mollies, platies, etc. In my experience a Jack Dempsey is probably going to be too aggressive for a severum to deal with. You might luck out, but I'd recommend against that mix, curious as to what others think.
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Apr 15, 2014 11:20
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It almost sounds like he didn't dechlorinate the new water 
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Apr 17, 2014 04:19
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I can't remember the last time I saw a pond snail and I have stable assassin populations in all 3 tanks.
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Apr 21, 2014 16:07
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A few pages back I posted about my firemouth that seemed paralyzed all of a sudden, I guess that was almost two months ago now. When I pulled him out of the 55g he was floating at the surface in a C shape gasping. For a week or so he just laid on his side in my quarantine tank breathing, but nothing more. A week later he was able to sit upright on the bottom, a week after that he could move his tail again and maintain buoyancy. This is him today: So glad I ignored all the information I found in various forums that all said to euthanize him because it was hopeless. 
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Apr 24, 2014 01:15
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Bait and Swatch posted:Awesome to see that he made it and is doing so well! He is a great looking fish. Thanks. mobby_6kl posted:Always great to read a feel-good story! Did you do anything to treat him other than relocating to a quarantine tank? I put a little bit of salt in the water and a random dose of Melafix, mostly because I couldn't think of anything else. I tried to feed him peas but he wouldn't swallow them. He really was paralyzed for a bit, when I tried the peas I was able to catch him by hand easily. Other than trying to paddle away with his pectoral fins, his body was limp. Still no idea what caused it, my best guess is that the my oscar crashed into him while fighting his nemesis, the heater. At any rate, quarantine tank has been setup as a regular tank, I don't want to risk putting him back in with the oscar.
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Apr 24, 2014 14:30
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I don't think I could have resisted naming Stripey "Rorschach".
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Apr 25, 2014 12:25
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Don't you all mean clown loach? I don't think a clown Pleco will go after snails. Unless they are made of wood.
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Apr 28, 2014 21:28
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Fejsze posted:Very possibly... I do know loaches will either gobble my shrimps or make them hide, so I'll just have to go the long route on this, unless, in fact, driftwood nibbling plecos will go after snails as well... I really don't think clown plecos could catch a snail if they tried, much less a shrimp. Oddly enough though, I had one that loved shrimp pellets and used to come out in broad daylight the second they hit the gravel.
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Apr 28, 2014 23:53
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Lacrosse posted:Man, my 15 year old dojo loach finally died this morning. He got some kind of horrible cancery growth on his tail that's been steadily getting worse over the last few months. He sure was a trooper right up until the end though. Sure gonna miss that little wiggleworm. Sorry, but at least you gave him a nice long life.
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May 1, 2014 13:38
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Niel posted:Where's a good place to get some crushed coral? For what? Crushed coral is bad for most freshwater applications.
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May 6, 2014 15:55
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I have had a 1.5 inch fire mouth in my office tank for months now, with just a clown Pleco as a tank mate. In that time I have seen him outside of the PVC pipe I put in as shelter a grand total of two times. He doesn't even come out for food. I can only assume he eats the sinking pellets when nobody is around because he hasn't died, but he's also not growing. Anyone deal with a scared cichlid this long? Should I add dither fish? Never seen a fish refuse to come out for more than a few weeks before. I thought about taking the pipe out but then I'm sure he will just hide behind the driftwood.
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May 6, 2014 16:14
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Cowslips Warren posted:What size tank? It's a 20g long. There's also a piece of driftwood that the clown pleco calls home and two little stands of plants. Last week one of the assassin snails cruised into his pipe and it was the first time I've seen him do anything besides sit in the pipe. There was much gill flaring and he bit the snail (on the shell) until it left.
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May 7, 2014 11:31
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Niel posted:I've got some sort of Psuedotropheus or Metriaclima or something in a tank, and I'd like to get some to harden up the water a bit. Crushed coral seems to have fallen out of favor with the hobby, even with saltwater enthusiasts. When I was setting up a saltwater tank a few years ago the person working in the store said "Oh, we don't use THAT anymore" and acted like I asked if could use crushed panda bears as substrate. That said, the other store I go to still carries it.
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May 7, 2014 11:35
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mobby_6kl posted:Convicts must be the cats of fish, because I just had one bite me while I was trying to clean up their poo poo In all my years of fish keeping, a Convict remains the only fish that has ever bitten me in anger. He spawned with my firemouth and they had a eggs in the tank so I really couldn't blame him, though.
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May 14, 2014 13:12
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Bait and Swatch posted:I had a tiger Oscar that attacked anything in the tank, and tried to attack anything close to it. Hands, siphons, nets, he didn't care. He also hated the cat and would have mouth opening contests with anyone who came to look in the tank. He was a mean fucker, but had loads of personality. Mine likes to brawl with the heater but otherwise is pretty chill.
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May 15, 2014 15:13
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This is getting ridiculous. My pet firemouth tank idea is failing miserably. I haven't seen him outside of the PVC pipe since I got him, and I think we are going on three or four months now.
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May 22, 2014 15:56
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For the first time in years I saw Keyhole Cichlids in a store for sale! Downside; they are at a Petco and in a tank with Jewel Cichlids so they are beat up and stressed.
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Jun 1, 2014 13:24
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So I added 3 black tetras to my shy fire mouth tank. He still won't come out of his pipe, but he moves around inside it so he can watch them intently.
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Jun 4, 2014 13:52
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