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I've kept fish before and have quit keeping fish forever several times. I kinda want to start again, but my house is made of stairs and hauling buckets around gets awkward. What's the easiest way to do water changes?
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Sep 17, 2014 23:40
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Sostratos posted:You could get a water changer like a Python. It hooks up to the faucet on your sink and can drain and fill with one hose. It's a lot easier than using buckets. I had been worried about water draining and something going drastically wrong in another room, but that doesn't seem to be a concern. I guess I have a lot to think about now.
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Sep 18, 2014 01:16
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Desert Bus posted:Sorry, but by not doing any research, you've gotten yourself into quite the pickle. On the upside you will probably get to explain death to your daughter and get that difficult conversation out of the way. I can't blame the guy entirely, he was put in a bad position to start. It's similar to how I got my first fish, it was in a centerpiece decoration at a table with a lighted candle on top. My parents did the best they could, but there wasn't much of an internet back then and we didn't have a lot of money. We thought we were doing okay with a 5 gallon tank and a filter, but it's incredibly obvious that we weren't doing the right thing in retrospect. I don't know if there was anything we could have done differently though. I type this while looking at my betta in his 40 breeder while wondering how ethical it is to keep them in anything much smaller.
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Nov 28, 2014 06:07
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Dragonscale betta? My sympathies, I've heard horror stories.
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Nov 28, 2014 07:01
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FuriousxGeorge posted:The reality is, don't feel like you need to support goldfish for a lifetime just because some dumbass was giving them away and you didn't realize what their real lifecycle is. They are probably going to die soon no matter what you do because they are hard to care for and you are a beginner. When they do die, look into maybe a betta for your small tank if you want to stick with the hobby. Fire Storm, you're looking at spending at least $100 for an obligation someone dumped on you. Unless you're really devoted to these particular fish and can buy it the things it needs right now, you're probably best off humanely euthanizing them while your daughter is at school or while she's asleep. They'll end up dying over the course of several days if you don't. Is it cruel? Yes, but so is letting them die a slow but certain death. You need to euthanize or buy a much larger tank, and most people don't want to suggest killing your fish outright. edit: Alternately you could take them back to the store. That would be less dramatic. Dogwood Fleet fucked around with this message at 10:28 on Nov 28, 2014 |
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Nov 28, 2014 10:15
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SkaAndScreenplays posted:I was thinking 7-11 Amazon Puffers Do you mean these guys?. CPDs would be a disaster, but these guys might be less of one. I'm not familiar enough with turquoise/pearl/whatever danio to really say.
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Dec 24, 2014 06:08
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Sparkling gourami might work if you want something similar to but not a betta. You have time to think about what you want while your tank cycles. Plants work really well in a small tank, partially because the shallower water means that you don't have to spend as much money on lighting. Some people just use desk lamps with the little ones.
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Dec 26, 2014 05:27
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DrNutt posted:Also Petco's dollar a gallon sale starts on the 28th, so it's going to be a good time to grab one. Petco has some cheap and sturdy stands too. It's a good way to start out. edit: I grabbed a 40 breeder at their last sale. I put a betta in there to see how well fish would handle a dirted tank. It was going pretty well, but he vanished during my last water change. Anyone have stocking ideas? I'm looking for something that will do well with plants and a slow current. Pearl Gourami and harlequin rasboras were my original plan, but after I put the betta in there I wanted to keep him in the big tank. Now that the betta is gone I could have them or I could get another betta. My last one loved having that much room. Part of me wants to get 4-5 pearl gourami and then a swarm of cory cats. Would otos be okay with the slow current? Dogwood Fleet fucked around with this message at 21:55 on Dec 26, 2014 |
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Dec 26, 2014 21:37
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Enos Cabell posted:Plants and slow current are also pretty ideal for apistos, if you wanted an alternative to gouramis. Cories and otos would go well with both I think. They are pretty, but they're higher maintenance than what I'm looking for. I have hard water, which doesn't help. Does anyone have experience with peacock gudgeons? I've had trouble making any real decisions since October, I'm still thinking about just throwing otos in with celestial pearl danio and see if I can get them to breed.
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Dec 27, 2014 02:17
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After my betta died, I got lazy about water changes because why bother? Today I saw some flatworms in the tank. What should I do about them? Do I want to get rid of them? It might be nice for future fish to have something to hunt, but if they're going to cause a problem I should get rid of them now.
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Dec 29, 2014 17:46
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demonR6 posted:Walked into PetSmart and they are having a sale on that horrible teddy bear with the fish tank in the tummy. I so wanted to take it to the managers office and burn it. This? It's like the teddy bear is pleading for death.
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Dec 29, 2014 19:37
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demonR6 posted:One of the reviews said since you have to shove your hand down the bears mouth to open and feed the poor hapless creature in the bowl it tends to get moldy and what not. Ooh and it does not seal well in some instances so be careful it does not spill. Slugworth, if she didn't get a gift receipt it might be best to just put the poor teddy bear out of its misery. I wouldn't even give that away.
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Dec 29, 2014 23:38
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It looks like Petsmart is starting to copy Petco on the dollar per gallon sale. It's only on the 10 and 20 gallon tanks, but that's still a neat deal on the 20 gallons.
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Dec 30, 2014 14:20
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I don't have pictures, but I found a hitchhiker today. It's some kind of free swimming fry. I have some panda cories in my tank, but they're way too young to be breeding and I would have seen them spawning. I bought some plants about two weeks ago and I guess it came with some eggs. Are there any particularly likely suspects or am I just going to have to wait and see if it gets bigger?
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Feb 9, 2015 04:11
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Desert Bus posted:They are stupendously incompetent. If and when they ship most everything will arrive dead. They don't charge for shipping until they ship and they charge as though they're doing a good job when really it's just norm fish bags tossed in a box. Google them and the reviews are harsher than this. This has been a thing for years. I don't know how they're still in business.
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Mar 11, 2015 05:51
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I'm redoing my planted tank for the umpteenth time and I need to buy plants again. The LFS around here are ungodly expensive, where are good places to look online?
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Apr 29, 2015 03:22
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Slugworth posted:I mean, if you wanna half rear end it, sure. Probably better to just get the 125 now though, right? You'll still want to keep the 30 and the 55 though, you never know when you'll need them.
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May 14, 2015 21:45
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SocketWrench posted:Aheh, I've been checking on weight loads myself because i'm planning on increasing my tank size this year and was thinking of just putting the 30 underneath to be a shrimp tank and either a 75 or 100 above. I'm very thankful to have limited space.
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May 16, 2015 06:54
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republicant posted:Thank you for the advice. It's a little embarrassing to have flaming blatant newb moments like that but I guess it's part of the learning process. Time to start brainstorming and finding things that can support a great deal of weight. Since you're going to have to drain the tank anyway, this would be a good time to check for leaks/recaulk the tank.
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Jul 20, 2015 01:57
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republicant posted:Aquatic Arts. http://www.aquaticarts.com I haven't actually gotten the animals yet and I'm interested to see how stressed/not stressed or alive/not alive they are, but everything I've read about them has been impressive. They have a 100% live arrival guarantee even with USPS Priority Mail and not $50 overnight shipping. I was surprised at how few sellers there actually are on the internet, I'd thought there would be tons. They sell shoaling fish in groups! Why doesn't everyone do that?! So smart but so stupidly simple. I'm probably going to buy fish online soonish, before winter hits anyway.
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Sep 20, 2015 04:19
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ShaneB posted:OK, here are the goods of the aquarium I inherited: Agreeing on the koi. The one does have damaged scales, but I can't tell if it's from an injury or an old disease. Then you have tiger barbs, the more orange ones I believe are albinos. They're pretty nippy, but shouldn't bother your koi at least. Then, yeah looks like some kind of ram. You also have two (probably) male bettas. Under other circumstances they may well fight to the death, but there is a lot of space for them to stay away from each other and they're probably in more danger from the tiger barbs. It is a very weird assortment of fish. As for lighting, it depends on what you want. Putting the lights on a timer and splitting up how long they are during the day will help clear out your algae. If you want to grow plants (which you already have a good start on, I didn't think this would be an option from what you were saying about fish moving the gravel around), then you'll want something with a higher color temperature. I have had good luck with Finnex and they're cheap and you're just starting out. I'm guessing that a lot of your algae problem came from someone who wanted plants but had too low of a color temperature on the lighting and tried to compensate by leaving the lights on too long. Plants are going to be iffy just because you have those koi, but you're going to have to make some stocking decisions anyway. Those koi don't belong in a 55 gallon, they really need to be in a good sized pond because they are going to get very large and they are very messy. They need colder water than the rest of the fish as well. The bettas should not be housed together and should not be housed with the tiger barbs at all. Bettas can do well in community aquariums, but it depends on the individual fish. The rams are relatively peaceful and won't interfere with other fish or plants. If this was my aquarium, I'd move the fish out temporarily, replace the gravel with something I liked better, rehome the koi, read up on the rams and see if you're up to caring for them, decide if you want the semi-aggressive tiger barbs in the tank, and move out at least one of the bettas. That pretty much leaves you with a blank slate. I'd split the lighting to 5 hours on, 2-3 hours off, and then 4 hours on. That killed off most of my algae and my plants did well with it. Other than that, make sure that whatever fish you get will be appropriately sized for a 55, that they are behaviorally compatible, and that they they are meant for the same temperature range.
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Sep 22, 2015 02:27
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ShaneB posted:So basically I need to either sentence the fish to death or stick them in a local freshwater pond or something? I'm not really attached to them, and I know they aren't exactly a cat or a dog, but I'm not sure what is acceptable practice in the aquarium community on how to deal with stocking issues. Ah, sorry. The gold dudes are a color morph on the barbs. I wouldn't keep them, but that's more of a personal preference. I'm not sure on the best way to rehome fish. You'll have trouble giving away the koi, especially the one with missing scales. Do not release aquarium fish into the wild, ever. Craigslist would probably work for the not koi, and I'm pretty sure that anyone would be happy to take the rams off your hands if you decide to not keep them. On the gravel, I just don't like the color. Pool filter sand looks good and is fairly cheap and there is a wide range of gravel at chain pet stores. https://liveaquaria.com gives good basic information on popular fish. Peaceful fish will probably easier for you to deal with. I wouldn't get any new fish right away, you're still figuring out what you want to do with the tank and you have a lot of reading to do and you want to find a good store to get fish from and you'll want to know what a good fish store looks like. No one here will complain if you ask about stocking suggestions, I just didn't give a list because I started to and didn't know where to stop.
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Sep 22, 2015 03:04
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Slugworth posted:Unless you see the barbs being aggressive, I would say keep them. That's a big tank, and if it's not currently a problem it probably won't become one. I sort of feel similarly about the betta - I never would have suggested it, but if it's working in an established tank, so be it. It's working okay now, but I have no idea what will happen once those koi are out. I'd still take out one betta and find a place for a 5-10 gallon setup, but I really like bettas and finding places for betta setups. edit: spot treating with small amount of hydrogen peroxide (get a bag of plastic transfer pipettes, they're cheap on amazon and you'll want them for measuring anyway) will help with the algae, as will spot treating with Seachem Excel. Dogwood Fleet fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Sep 22, 2015 |
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Sep 22, 2015 03:48
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republicant posted:I won pink ramshorns and a variety pack of colored mystery snails on Aquabid, they arrived yesterday and feeding time in the invert tank is a lot more colorful now. Great, now you've got me looking at over priced guppies at 4 in the morning.
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Sep 25, 2015 09:54
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republicant posted:Could be worse, there was that SA goon who got high on an experimental Russian benzo, blacked out, and tried to buy a grand piano on eBay. Imagine waking up to the UPS guy bringing you one of those $500 plecos. Now I'm just glad this isn't the saltwater thread.
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Sep 25, 2015 10:31
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ShaneB posted:Please tell me it's a right of passage as an aquarium maintainer to order something that's the wrong size for your tank? Welcome to the infinite money pit 
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Sep 25, 2015 21:27
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What color of overpriced guppies should I get?
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Sep 26, 2015 05:52
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This is going to sound really stupid, but guppies are on my bucket list.
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Sep 26, 2015 06:24
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ShaneB posted:Some progress: It's looking good! Try spot treating hydrogen peroxide with either a syringe or plastic pipette. It won't hurt the fish in small concentrations and it will convert to H20 fairly quickly. Seachem Excel will also work with the same method. How long are you planning on keeping that filter on the tank? After the bacteria establishes it might still be nice to have the extra filtration/current.
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Sep 26, 2015 18:32
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ShaneB posted:At least the return process was insanely easy, they gave me free shipping on the replacement, AND gave me some kind of coupon code as well. I'm getting the correct one for less than I paid for the wrong one, even after the $7.00 or so return fee. I remembered how nice a battery powered airpump is and then and went looking through my purchase history over the past several years and inventory from free stuff. If you haven't already spent enough money, I just thought of some things: Forceps tissue scissors Power center (surge protector and it's good for timing your lights) battery air pump in case the power goes out. It'll keep water circulating/oxygenated. Airline tubing, which can be bought any place that sells fish. THE ULTIMATE LIFE CHANGING GRAVEL VACUUM. I don't know what kind you have, but this is seriously amazing. No more hauling buckets! Other things: you're going to want latex or equivalent gloves. Some of the water testing chemicals are corrosive and they're handy to have around anyway. Also, buckets. I've had good luck with Finnex. I do not have this model, but I wish I did. You'll want to do more research before you commit to your lighting/tech level.
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Sep 26, 2015 23:56
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SynthOrange posted:Recommendations for anyone going for the quick snip with the scissors as an euth method: Make a few cuts to completely destroy the brain quickly, or you get to see the head flap its gills a little. Thanks for reminding me how awful this horrible hobby is. God I'm going to have to cull babies, aren't I.
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Sep 28, 2015 02:33
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ShaneB posted:This seems like what I should have got in the first place. It's the only reason I'm still in the hobby.
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Sep 29, 2015 02:46
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Slugworth posted:I have the python knockoff (Lee's, different colors but appears to be exactly the same product) and I have never gotten great suction for gravel vacc'ing with it. Good pressure at my faucet, but I can't ever get the connections water tight, so I can suction water out slowly, but fish poo just falls back down. What does work well though is filling the line with water, then disconnecting from the faucet and throwing the end of the hose out the front door and down the stairs. It's a little less convenient, but at the same time, I run less water that way I suppose. There are some decent DIY options for the part that connects to the faucet.
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Sep 29, 2015 03:13
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ShaneB posted:Speaking of stocking - that's obviously what all this work is moving towards: stocking with more fish! I'd keep them as your centerpiece fish. If you want to get something in addition, 3 spot/blue/opaline/gold gourami might work. I think it'd be best to increase your tiger barb school to at least 14-15, keep the rams as centerpiece fish, and add some kind of bottom dweller. Cory cats are always fun, but you'll want Sterba's, a lot of the other ones aren't built for warmer water. Otos are good algae eaters. Both of these species are social and should be a bare minimum of 6 of the same species. Really, closer to 10 is better. You'll still have to keep a close eye on those bottom dwellers though, the tiger barbs still might go after otos. AqAdvisor is your friend. They tend to be conservative with stocking levels, which is good for you right now. They also do fish compatibility. Don't take what they say as gospel though. Here's a site of endless FAQs that might help you. Tiger barbs aren't really my thing, so don't go entirely off what I say either.
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Sep 29, 2015 20:57
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ShaneB posted:No, I get that part. I'm just saying that's what I have now, so either I get rid of them somehow or fit in fish that will work with them. The tiger barbs are more of a commitment than most of the other fish that you would feasibly keep. Most of the easier to keep species are relatively interchangeable, your main concern is water temperature because of the rams. If you stay with the tiger barbs, everything from fish to decor is going to revolve around the tiger barbs' temperament.
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Sep 30, 2015 04:09
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ShaneB posted:I really really hope chemical tests look better after 3 days of tiring and messy water changes. I really got the wand deep in the gravel (TWSS?) and the water buckets were quite gross. How long should I wait before testing the water again? Cories aren't going to do you much good for algae, but they are fun. Maybe get some nerites for algae or something. Hatchets are built for jumping and will find any possible holes in your lid. You're also going to have to be on top of water changes for them. Glowlights are a good choice. Rummynose tetras are also very popular, but require more care. Have a look at fish with similar body types, like harlequin rasboras. Those API test kits (you're using the kind with the bottles and the test tubes, right?) have a lot of liquid, so it's not going to hurt to test daily if you feel like it. I'd probably check right before whenever you do your water changes. Not only are you not following a lot of the mistakes that a lot of first time fish keepers make, you're correcting mistakes someone else made. It might not feel like it, but you're off to a really good start.
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Sep 30, 2015 22:24
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I bought guppies from Aquabid. I decided to take a risk and go for Priority 2-Day because the weather has been nice and why the heck not. This might have worked out okay except my fish were shipped to Hawaii.
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Oct 1, 2015 22:29
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Stoca Zola posted:PS dogwood I hope you are in Hawaii Well, I am impressed that they made it to Honolulu in two days. Sadly I am in the midwest. I've kept Endlers before, I figured this would be somewhat worse but I'm also going to have bigger fish to help cut back on their numbers. I am upset about this, but it is hilarious. 
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Oct 1, 2015 22:56
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The guppies are probably dead and so is my filter.
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Oct 3, 2015 02:40
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Guppies are here and alive and beautiful!
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Oct 3, 2015 17:52
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