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Author Topic: Fish Tanks  (Read 166786 times)
Raph
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Reply #175 on: February 05, 2014, 05:48:52 PM

I forgot to mention, remove all largish rocks. Those you definitely do not want to roll loose in the tank while it moves.
01101010
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Reply #176 on: February 05, 2014, 05:59:01 PM

Also helps to put something between the tank and whatever you are resting it on in the vehicle. Enough cushion to take the edge off the bumps but stable enough so it doesn't slide off. Also, after the trip, set the tank up and fill it without setting it back up to test for seal leaks. sucks major ass to set everything up and find out 2 days later one of your seals broke... especially a bottom seal.

Does any one know where the love of God goes...When the waves turn the minutes to hours? -G. Lightfoot
Raph
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Reply #177 on: February 05, 2014, 08:55:59 PM

We used those packing blankets to wrap it, I think.
MournelitheCalix
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Reply #178 on: February 06, 2014, 02:16:51 PM

I drove from tulsa ok to illinois with  dwarf petricolas in a bag inflated with oxygen and in a styrofoam box.  I expected to arrive with dead fish but I didnt lose a single one.  Happily for travelers who find must have specimens in other cities some things work to our advantage.  Keeping fish in sealed containers with just enough water and alot of oxygen is a good move because the bumps and turns churns the water allowing for oxygen absorption.  keeping the livestock in a dark sealed container keeps them calmer thereby reducing stress.  Keeping them in a cooler or styrofoam box (sealed mind you).  Helps keep the temperature stable during the trip.

In my years in the hobby it has been my experience that fish can be kept in good condition for days provided that they are properly packaged and kept in insulated, sealed containers.
« Last Edit: February 06, 2014, 02:20:14 PM by MournelitheCalix »

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JWIV
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Reply #179 on: March 03, 2014, 03:47:53 PM

Kids have been clamoring to each have their own fish (sharing a single betta apparently was not ok).  Saw on a local parent group where someone was offering up a tank and two bettas. I figured it was a 2.5 gallon split tank. Not ideal, but workable for a bit.  Instead it was a split half gallon box with the fish basically having no room to do anything but float in place or mope on the gravel.

By comparison, the betta I have in the 5 gallon swims around constantly and is playful.

I got home and immediately ordered new tanks and supplies.

_sigh_

Moral of the story - never ever buy a fish tank. It's a horrible rabbit hole of a hobby.
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Reply #180 on: March 03, 2014, 04:14:09 PM

Moral of the story - never ever buy a fish tank. It's a horrible rabbit hole of a hobby.

No truer words...

And bettas are a small pool breed - they really don't require larger tanks than 2.5g. Nice, sure. They'll be more active because they have a bigger territory to patrol, but is not necessary - unless you are breeding them and would like to save the female. Swimming with those curtains would be hell regardless of the type of fish. Having said that... I am always glad to hear when kids are getting into the hobby.

Does any one know where the love of God goes...When the waves turn the minutes to hours? -G. Lightfoot
JWIV
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Reply #181 on: March 03, 2014, 05:06:38 PM

Moral of the story - never ever buy a fish tank. It's a horrible rabbit hole of a hobby.

No truer words...

And bettas are a small pool breed - they really don't require larger tanks than 2.5g. Nice, sure. They'll be more active because they have a bigger territory to patrol, but is not necessary - unless you are breeding them and would like to save the female. Swimming with those curtains would be hell regardless of the type of fish. Having said that... I am always glad to hear when kids are getting into the hobby.

Yeah - I didn't want to go too crazy, so I started looking at the 1.5 gallon tanks originally, but then upgrading to a 3 gallon was $5, so I went ahead and got that for each of them.  Should be plenty large enough for them to roam as well as allowing for a filter and the like so I don't have to change the water on a daily basis. 
 
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Reply #182 on: March 03, 2014, 05:30:53 PM


Yeah - I didn't want to go too crazy, so I started looking at the 1.5 gallon tanks originally, but then upgrading to a 3 gallon was $5, so I went ahead and got that for each of them.  Should be plenty large enough for them to roam as well as allowing for a filter and the like so I don't have to change the water on a daily basis. 
 

You can get away with weekly changes with bettas given their hardiness and their labyrinth organ, even with standing water. However, if you are trying to get the kidlets into the hobby, best to teach good skills now rather than down the road. 

Does any one know where the love of God goes...When the waves turn the minutes to hours? -G. Lightfoot
Raph
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Reply #183 on: March 06, 2014, 12:49:32 AM

Here's the quarterly update!

In the big tank, I threw out several pounds worth of watersprite. It was a good two feet tall. Whacked it back significantly to make room for the other plants. It was floating on the top and blocking all the light.

The centerpiece sword is doing well. The ludwigia is almost to the top of the tank. The willow hygro (big grass looking stuff) is twice the height. The giant crypt has suffered. But it threw off a baby, which I put in the small tank... we'll see how it does.

Some of the java fern is recovering a little bit.


Small tank, the shrimp are thriving, and I didn't lose any this time! You can just see one in the lower left. The lace is doing very well. The ozelot is slowly recovering. I have thread algae, boo. The anubias is throwing off lots of new leaves, the rotala is going nuts, and I will need to move the sword and the lace over to the big tank in probably another month.

You will notice I whacked back most of the sprite in here too, Also chopped the wisteria in half, it was about four inches taller than the water. It readily sprouts offshoots, so I tossed the part I capped off into the big tank, hoping it can sit in a back corner.

The two crypts have done a little too well for foreground! They block the view farther back. Oh well :)

I also tried out some new hygro stems. They lost all their leaves, and are now sprouting back.


No new fish in the tanks this time around.

I am getting some christmas moss to try out, see how the shrimp like it for hiding. It'll go where the lace and sword are right now, so there's somewhere for the shrimp to hide. (They love hiding in the lace).

Also, I am finally moving to dry powder fertilizers starting tomorrow... new adventure.
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Reply #184 on: March 06, 2014, 05:50:40 AM

Absolutely beautiful Raph. 
Signe
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Reply #185 on: March 06, 2014, 07:28:05 AM

I love those fish tanks.  They so vibrant.  I get mesmerised.    You should set up your own fish tank cam!  I'd watch even if you put on adverts.  Maybe.

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Reply #186 on: March 06, 2014, 05:17:25 PM

Finally got the new tanks set up tonight. Fish are unsurprisingly much happier and active.  I need to even out the gravel a bit (the kids decided to "helpfully" add some more while I was out of the room), but otherwise the bettas took right to the plants and hiding spaces.   Still plastic plants, much to the dismay of my daughter who was very excited to hear you could grow plants with your fish, but we're not ready for that project just yet.

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Reply #187 on: March 06, 2014, 05:24:58 PM

Srsly.  CAVE??   Heart  Love it to bits.  I used to see a doctor who had a whole wall that was an aquarium in his waiting room.  It's what kept me going to him, I think.  He wasn't the greatest doctor in the world.  He wasn't even a tribute.  But had an awesome wall.

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Raph
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Reply #188 on: March 07, 2014, 02:10:33 PM

Looking good!

Just a heads-up though, If you are ever going to do real plants, that gravel is way too large for most kinds.
JWIV
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Reply #189 on: March 07, 2014, 05:46:10 PM

Looking good!

Just a heads-up though, If you are ever going to do real plants, that gravel is way too large for most kinds.

Good to know!  I mostly grabbed this because I was trying to keep my costs down, and it was relatively inexpensive while still going towards a more natural look for the tank.  I haven't really had the chance yet to research and plan out exactly what we'd want to go with in terms of plants and a tank to go with them.   
Raph
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Reply #190 on: March 07, 2014, 08:57:49 PM

Yeah, rooted plants need a substrate that has small enough pieces for the roots to grab.  Even small gravel isn't the best. Sand works, for some sorts of plants that don't need heavy root feeding. Soil or dedicated plant substrate is ideal. For gravel, I'd go with plants that feed from the water column or float (you can anchor them down). Hornwort, water sprite, java fern, anubias. They are also good beginner plants and don't need CO2 or high light.
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Reply #191 on: March 10, 2014, 03:58:20 AM

What is your opinion on specific plant substrates, Flourite, Eco Complete, and so on?

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Raph
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Reply #192 on: March 10, 2014, 10:29:25 AM

They are all expensive and mostly the same. Some of them can stain the water a bit. They all run out of nutrients eventually. I don't even remember which I got.

I ended up putting small gravel over it because the fish would generate a giant cloud of muck every time they swam near the ground. This hampers growing ground cover, like hairgrass or baby's tears, quite a lot.
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Reply #193 on: April 07, 2014, 04:51:27 PM

In case anyone needs a little inspiration for their next tank layout -

http://twentytwowords.com/fish-tanks-incredible-art-look-beautiful-world-competitive-aquascaping-21-pics/

Each year an intense competition is held that you’ve never heard of — the International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest. The highly competitive event is typically led by participants from Eastern Europe and Asia who vie to create the world’s best aquarium…
Lantyssa
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Reply #194 on: April 08, 2014, 06:36:57 AM

Wow.  Those are beautiful.

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
01101010
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Reply #195 on: April 08, 2014, 07:43:27 AM

People have come really far from back in the day...  awesome, for real

Hands down my favorite planted tank guy: http://www.amanotakashi.net/portfolio/nature_aquarium/

I was asking my X about plants in a tank and she gave me a magazine with this guy in it. I was floored.

Does any one know where the love of God goes...When the waves turn the minutes to hours? -G. Lightfoot
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Reply #196 on: April 08, 2014, 12:59:57 PM

When I finish my degree later this year I plan to pick up a non-computer related hobby.  I'm leaning towards a freshwater tank like those, once I get some time back.

I wonder what size would be good to work with.  I've done 55s and 75s in the past, nothing bigger.  In my current place, anything bigger than that would have to go in the basement because I don't trust my old home floor support.  Which somewhat defeats the purpose of having a large plant tank.
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Reply #197 on: April 08, 2014, 02:14:37 PM

When I finish my degree later this year I plan to pick up a non-computer related hobby.  I'm leaning towards a freshwater tank like those, once I get some time back.

I wonder what size would be good to work with.  I've done 55s and 75s in the past, nothing bigger.  In my current place, anything bigger than that would have to go in the basement because I don't trust my old home floor support.  Which somewhat defeats the purpose of having a large plant tank.

Bow front tanks. 72g bow front is very nice and yields a surprising amount of space.

Does any one know where the love of God goes...When the waves turn the minutes to hours? -G. Lightfoot
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Reply #198 on: April 14, 2014, 12:26:57 PM

A lot of planted tanks are on the smaller side, for a variety of reasons (lighting gets VERY expensive for deep tanks; lighting strongly enough for plants in something over 18" deep is a pain; fertilizers add up too, unless you go with dry powders). Bowfronts also have the issue that it can be hard to get the lighting dispersed to the bow part, because the hoods are basically for the squared version of the tank.

One of mine is 80g, and I run 4x T5 bulbs over it. The fixture cost several hundred bucks and I don't want to know how much it draws in power. :P

Bowfronts do have a cool optical illusion in terms of how big the tank looks.
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Reply #199 on: September 13, 2014, 12:01:53 AM

Pic from this month. I took out most of that giant watersprite since it was threatening to take over. Have small ones on the right, and wisteria on the left. The hygro grasses have done very well, but the fish dismembered the hygro plant that was in the front left corner. Poor amazon sword right in front also gets beat up by them. I took the grases and cut them all in half and replanted the top for this pic -- they were starting to bend down the front glass.

Spoilered for size. You can see the big clown loach right in front. He's a good six inches.

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Reply #200 on: September 13, 2014, 07:27:32 AM

SIX INCHES!  Wow.  That's like dinner or something!  Really awesome looking fish, though.  I have leggings with those exact colours but I never wear them because of the bumble bee factor.

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Reply #201 on: January 15, 2015, 06:12:29 AM

Right, Apologies for the bump, but I'm now desperate.

The fish have White Spot and it Won't Go Away.

Help.

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01101010
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Reply #202 on: January 15, 2015, 07:59:26 AM

Right, Apologies for the bump, but I'm now desperate.

The fish have White Spot and it Won't Go Away.

Help.


Ich. Easiest way is to increase the temp of the tank (just watch the fish for any severe change in behavior and slowly back down the temps). You can also treat with copper, but that will kill any invertebrates you have (snails, crabs, shellfish).  The ex also used methylene blue. I have no idea about formalin but that seems to be another go to.

Pretty common ailment.

reference for temps to raise to that won't cook your fish:
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=16+2160&aid=2421

Does any one know where the love of God goes...When the waves turn the minutes to hours? -G. Lightfoot
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Reply #203 on: January 15, 2015, 08:32:13 AM

I have used Methylene and for all the good it's done, I'd have been as well putting it up my arse.

I guess heating is a way to go now, but knowing my cack-handedness, I'm going to end up with fishsoup.


"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
Lantyssa
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Reply #204 on: January 15, 2015, 08:40:38 AM

At least you'll get a meal out of it then.

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
Ironwood
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Reply #205 on: January 15, 2015, 09:00:52 AM

And the eternal enmity of the daughter and wife.

Pass.

"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
01101010
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Reply #206 on: January 15, 2015, 09:02:35 AM

From my own experience: raise the temp gradually - fish won't really notice if it is done slowly. They may act more sluggish/hyper depending on the fish as the temps get higher, most fish will get hyper though. Think of it this way, raising the temp is you manually giving the fish a fever to kill off the virus (parasite in this case). Of course, this is also a week process with plenty of water changes and substrate vacuuming that you might have to repeat a week or two later. I'd try the formalin after if the fish are still itching after two temp shifts(fish will rub on your aquarium rocks when they need to itch - which is never a good sign).

Also forgot to add that you can treat this with aquarium salt as well. In essence you are turning your tank into a brackish tank. I know the ex had some success with it, but really relied on the temp increase. Unfortunately, aquarium salt comes in huge bags (at least here in the US). The ex had a few saltwater tanks so we had that already.

Another reference article - http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich2.php

They point out that you will need to increase the oxygenation in the tank with more frequent water changes and/or increased aeration.

Does any one know where the love of God goes...When the waves turn the minutes to hours? -G. Lightfoot
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Reply #207 on: January 15, 2015, 10:57:26 AM

Just stopping to say that everything the binary dude's posting is spot-on correct.  Ich can be tricky, but gradual temp increase, increased aeration and treatment should kick it. 
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Reply #208 on: January 15, 2015, 11:05:09 AM

I have used Methylene and for all the good it's done, I'd have been as well putting it up my arse.

Thanks for this. Made my day.

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Ironwood
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Reply #209 on: January 16, 2015, 05:59:08 AM

You're welcome.

So, increased aeration;  how does it work ?

"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
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