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Author Topic: Fish Tanks  (Read 166777 times)
01101010
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Reply #70 on: December 23, 2010, 10:34:32 AM

Seeing white fuzzy stuff now, so it may be ich or fungus. Raised tank temp and added yet another med to the list. Sigh.

Haven't lost any more fish though.

White fuzz is almost always fungus. Treat accordingly. If I still talked to the X, I'd have her post to the thread... but she refuses to speak to me so sorry I can't tell ya more.

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 #71 on: December 24, 2010, 10:53:59 AM

Yeah, and fungus is almost always secondary, which means the mystery of what originally triggered this might remain. But we had two courses of the Parasite Guard, and they're getting Melafix and Ich Attack daily, so maybe the original cause is toast already. I'm dosing with antifungal now... hate throwing so many meds into the tank and with limited filtration (no carbon bc of the meds) but it sure seems like the alternative is worse.

Really feels like a water change is necessary though... even though it is stressful and will also set back the meds some.
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Reply #72 on: December 26, 2010, 09:56:00 AM

I've only had experience using the Ich Attack, but I held off on the water change until the signs of illness went away. It was worth waiting, or at least, I figure it was -- the fish are now fine.

I traded in my fun blog for several legal blogs. Or, "blawgs," as the cutesy attorney blawgosphere likes to call 'em.
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Reply #73 on: December 27, 2010, 07:16:24 PM

48 hours and no more fish deaths. Ich attack dosing ends tonight, so does the fungus dosing. Tomorrow I put the carbon filters back in. Temp is up at 83-84 or so. Tomorrow I also start bringing it back down a bit.

Final toll:

2 ten year old cory cats.
1 5" clown loach.
2 smaller clown loaches
1 6" T-barb
2 6" pictus cats
1 5" rainbow shark

What remains:

2 six year old diamond tetras
4 fairly new rosy barbs
2 ten year old cory cats
1 7" sailfin pleco

I'm thinking, don't add anything back in for a week or so until after the tank is stable back where it is supposed to be.

And in the future, I will always ALWAYS bleach dip plants. This was the worst fish disease attack I've ever had, and I have been keeping aquaria for 15 years. :(
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Reply #74 on: December 27, 2010, 07:35:05 PM

Ouch. The time I had ich it took out about half my fish after all said and done as well. No fun at all.
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Reply #75 on: December 27, 2010, 08:53:31 PM

So here's a random one.

I think I have a bored oto catfish.

He lives in my 10 gal tank with 2 phantom tetras, 2 red eye tetras and 3 serpae tetras.

The tank is planted with some hornwort and not much else. There is a bit of rock with no algae (yet). He doesn't seem interested in the bottom of the tank. I toss in algae wafers for him. But it just seems that he hangs out under the heater or on top of the heater.

On the other hand, I have a quite active and happy oto in the 30 gal, heavily planted tank. I'm tempted to move the oto from the 10 gal to the 30, just to give him something to do. I have to think that this lack of activity is due to just not enough algae in the tetra tank.

It seems like making the move is the best idea. Or not?

I traded in my fun blog for several legal blogs. Or, "blawgs," as the cutesy attorney blawgosphere likes to call 'em.
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Reply #76 on: December 27, 2010, 10:56:15 PM

Try giving him some blanched or microwaved zucchini first, see if that attracts his attention.
01101010
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Reply #77 on: December 28, 2010, 05:21:21 AM

Could also pick up a small piece of driftwood for cover and for him/her to pick at considering the surface area on driftwood is substantial.

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 #78 on: March 09, 2011, 10:14:58 AM

By the way, my tank is all happy now. Added a school of 15 neons, got four rosy bars in there, rebuilt the cory cat school, and replace the diamond tetras. Have still been trying to get live plants to take, and having challenges. Just ordered a significantly nicer lighting setup than I had on there, after discovering I was way way under the recommended watts per gallon.

We recently moved house, and had all the fish in a tmeporary 20 gallon. While in there, the barbs spawned, though we didn't notice until after we had moved them back out. We were running behind on stripping the 20g back down, and now we can't because there's four dozen baby rosy barbs in there now.  awesome, for real
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Reply #79 on: January 13, 2013, 08:36:38 AM

RISE!

So I've consolidated my tanks down to a 30 gal riverbed tank. I have sparghum, sand, and rock in layers for my substrate. It is fully planted and most of my fish have been going strong for a little over two years now. I think perhaps that I have too powerful of a light on the tank as I cannot seem to prevent algae growth; I've even tried only turning on the lights every other day. I managed to defeat the stringy algae, but I still have these brownish algae tufts on my rocks. Some of the plant leaves get a fine layer of greenish algae. Oddly enough, the fish and the tank seem to keep stuff mostly pruned down and shoved to one end of the tank where I can easily vacuum it out.

This tank was designed to require minimal water changes (I basically only add water to deal with evaporation and when I have to vac the gravel), and I'm pretty sure that my plants are a big part of this. I don't want to kill 'em off, but it sure seems like a return to the stock lightbulb (as opposed to the ZOMG PLANT GROWTH one) would be a good idea here.

At the end of the day, the algae isn't a big deal, but it's annoying at times. I'd get a bunch of snails, but my loach would make short work of 'em.

I traded in my fun blog for several legal blogs. Or, "blawgs," as the cutesy attorney blawgosphere likes to call 'em.
01101010
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Reply #80 on: January 13, 2013, 08:44:52 AM

Pics! Mainly because I am curious and it has been 3 years since I have seen some fish tanks.

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 #81 on: January 13, 2013, 09:20:52 AM

I recently pruned back the swords along the back wall because the big leaves had an algae coating/were half-eaten -- also, they were choking off new growths.

Ok, finally figured out the flickr thing. Here's some photos under the spoiler tag

« Last Edit: January 13, 2013, 10:08:03 AM by CmdrSlack »

I traded in my fun blog for several legal blogs. Or, "blawgs," as the cutesy attorney blawgosphere likes to call 'em.
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Reply #82 on: January 13, 2013, 12:47:39 PM

We just bought the kid a 46 Liter Fluval.  This will make for an interesting new experience.  We've only ever had saltwater tanks and are going to go freshwater this time. 
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Reply #83 on: January 13, 2013, 03:21:21 PM

Here are pics of our two right now.


80g fresh, 1 12" pleco, rosy barbs, diamond tetras, clown loaches, otocinclus, corydoras julii, one longfin danio. One bug clump of waterpsrite got dug up yesterday and I haven't replanted it, but pretend it's in the back left corner. :)


16g fresh w co2, cardinals, panda corys, otocinclus.

Both have swords, anubias, watersprite, java fern. All live plants in both.

And the big one has black brsh algae and the small one has a bad case of cyanobacteria :(
01101010
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Reply #84 on: January 13, 2013, 03:43:07 PM

Fuckers. Now I miss my x-gf's fish hobby.


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 #85 on: January 13, 2013, 04:56:28 PM

If memory serves, that many tanks exceeds "hobby."

I traded in my fun blog for several legal blogs. Or, "blawgs," as the cutesy attorney blawgosphere likes to call 'em.
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Reply #86 on: January 13, 2013, 06:10:53 PM

Can anyone recommend some cheap, hard to kill fish that look cool?  What about the 1 cm of fish (excluding tail) for every 3 liters of water rule?
01101010
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Reply #87 on: January 13, 2013, 07:23:20 PM

Can anyone recommend some cheap, hard to kill fish that look cool?  What about the 1 cm of fish (excluding tail) for every 3 liters of water rule?

Damn metric system... I only know it by inches per gallon - and that is really only a loose rule IIRC. Cheap? Hard to kill? Killifish are pretty hardy and come in some different colors. We had some mickey mouse ones that were interesting. Well, SHE had... They also like to breed a lot and are livebearers so you might wake up one day and notice a cloud of them in the plants. They'll usually get eaten pretty quickly, so if you want to keep some, get the net and float a nursery corral in the tank to put the ones you catch in. Barbs are damn near unkillable if you want to go for a nippier fish. Guppies are a good standby and now-a-days come in pretty freaky varieties.

This is off of memory so YMMV but I think those are right. 

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 #88 on: January 13, 2013, 07:23:42 PM

Most tetras. Danio are also fun. I like the zebra danio.

I traded in my fun blog for several legal blogs. Or, "blawgs," as the cutesy attorney blawgosphere likes to call 'em.
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Reply #89 on: January 13, 2013, 10:10:08 PM

Gouramis. Badass fish. They breathe air a bit too, and are pretty neat to look at.

As an aside, I'm getting rid of my 155 gallon tank, if anyone in the Seattle area is lookin.

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Reply #90 on: January 13, 2013, 11:40:54 PM

When they say tetras, that does NOT include neons, those are fragile these days.

Mollies, swordtails, black skirt tetras, diamond tetras, tiger barbs, rosy barbs, guppies are all sturdy fish. DIamonds are sometimes not as cheap, rosies depending on availability. Mollies and swordtails and guppies are ALWAYS cheap.
01101010
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Reply #91 on: January 14, 2013, 03:49:47 AM

Well, store bought guppies maybe. But they are one of the more pricier fish if you are looking for genetic strains...

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwguppies&1358214604

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 #92 on: January 14, 2013, 10:55:00 AM

No, generic fish store guppies.

Of course, as soon as you go through a few generations of them in your tank, they will have all reverted to mud color. :)
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Reply #93 on: January 14, 2013, 11:21:01 AM

This thread has me missing my old fish tank. African Cichlids. I used to love their interactions (mainly fighting and territorial disputes). I used to have a badass Electric blue. And the Yellow and black striped one. Pricey fish for their survival rate, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fF5x9wEJK0

 ACK!

I think I used to have maybe 5 in a 30 gallon tank. Very pretty freshwater fish.

Yay you tube! Fights! Or makeout sessions...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w38iMLIJC8w

« Last Edit: January 14, 2013, 11:30:53 AM by Slayerik »

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Reply #94 on: January 14, 2013, 12:26:05 PM

No, generic fish store guppies.

Of course, as soon as you go through a few generations of them in your tank, they will have all reverted to mud color. :)

When I kept guppies I got some really pretty ones, even after multiple generations.  It might help that it was a fairly small starting population and they were all horribly inbred.   awesome, for real

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01101010
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Reply #95 on: January 14, 2013, 12:39:50 PM

When my x-gf actually bought a betta for $50 I almost cried. However, it was by far the prettiest fish I have ever seen - fascinating to watch for hours. Then I looked at my Steam library and called it even. That said, I don't think I could pull the trigger on that kinda cash for a fish unless I would travel down the breeder roll and recoup that cost with my own broods. (which my x-gf did and made quite a profit on some of the fish she used to breed)

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 #96 on: January 14, 2013, 02:20:48 PM

Cichlids are gorgeous, but if you keep them, you pretty much only get to keep cichlids. It's like there's freshwater, saltwater, and cichlids. They don't mix very well with other fish.
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Reply #97 on: January 14, 2013, 02:25:28 PM

I guess what I mean by "hard to kill" is really "easy to replace without my kid knowing it is a different fish".   ACK!

Oh, and he wants a bearded dragon now too.   Ohhhhh, I see.
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Reply #98 on: January 14, 2013, 03:31:53 PM

I think I was about eight when I killed my first goldfish.  Important rite of passage IMO.   why so serious? 

Not having access to any real aquarium equipment, I kept it in a gallon pickle jar with marbles in the bottom and changed the water every week with a turkey baster.  I think it lasted a couple of months.  If I were going to teach a kid about fish I'd let him start out that way; it's a good way to learn the basis of the fish-length:water-volume rule.

"I have not actually recommended many games, and I'll go on the record here saying my track record is probably best in the industry." - schild
01101010
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Reply #99 on: January 14, 2013, 07:34:08 PM

For a single fish, you can't go wrong with a betta. Crowntails, half moons, etc., they last forever and have the labyrinth organ to breath so if you miss some water changes, they won't croak. They also adapt well to GRADUAL temp changes and can survive in slightly colder water than they are used to. Single male in a 2.5 gal or 5 gal tank with some substrate and maybe a plant - should be fine for years with bi-weekly water changes and feedings.

Other than that, cichilids are tough fish and some school if you ahve the space for the numbers.

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 #100 on: January 15, 2013, 06:27:44 AM

Don't you need a certain number of cichlids though, or they'll start eating each other?
01101010
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Reply #101 on: January 15, 2013, 06:39:35 AM

Don't you need a certain number of cichlids though, or they'll start eating each other?

Yes. 2-4 cichilids and you'll eventually have 1 left. +5 and you might be ok. All depends on the cichilid though. Off the top of my faulty memory, Barbs do well in groups, and most angels. If you want schooling fish and have the room, I'd stick with tetras - lots of them, like 8-10. Fascinating to watch. 

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 #102 on: January 15, 2013, 10:55:00 AM

With barbs you have to worry about the proportion of male to female. 2 males and one females will equal one dead male in a couple of weeks. If you get to six or more, it stops being an issue. And you can have 5 if it, say, two males and three females. Basically, never get it to where males are fighting over the females.

I second tetras, they are supereasy. :)
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Reply #103 on: January 15, 2013, 11:12:43 AM

I remember guppies follow a similar rule, although it's not so much that the extra males will fight as much as they'll gangbang the female to death.  (I think the cause-of-death euphemism used in the literature is "exhaustion.")

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Reply #104 on: January 16, 2013, 10:26:33 AM

Quote
Don't you need a certain number of cichlids though, or they'll start eating each other?

You either need to give them enough space to develop separate territories which is like one fish in a huge tank or crowd them enough that they don't develop territories at all. I used to have a 55 packed with mbuna. It makes for a nice visual effect because you have a really ludicrous number of fish for the size of the tank and they get out and about instead of hiding in their lairs.

I mentioned this on the thread a few years ago, but if you want easy to care for small tank compatible cichlids, try Tanganyikan "shellies" like Brevis or Multifasciatus. They have the classic shape, similar to mbuna, but they only grow to be an inch or two and are relatively peaceable. They do the whole cichlid pushing the sand around thing, but the really cool part is is they nest in shells. You get a few dozen escargot shells and they back themselves in and curl up in them. I've heard of people going as small as a 10 gallon with them which is kind of unheard of for cichlids. With 20 more bigger, you can also mix them with a pair of something else smallish, but more territorial. You do half the tank in rocks, the other half in shells and they'll split the tank. I have a 30 with multies and Julies (julidochromis). The shellies all breed like crazy as well.

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