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Post by brownrexx on Oct 27, 2018 13:14:05 GMT -5
Unfortunately, I was a DUMMY and did not use a quarantine tank, and diseases popped up. Laura_in_FL, I did the same thing with baby chicks from the farmer's market auction and all of my adults got sick with a respiratory infecton and our oldest hen died. You would have though that such cute baby chicks carried disease?
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Oct 28, 2018 9:32:54 GMT -5
Aww, that's sad, brownrexx. Life can be a cruel teacher - we get the test first and the lesson later.
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Post by horsea on Oct 28, 2018 23:13:39 GMT -5
That blue juvenile betta is the most beautiful fish I've ever seen.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Mar 28, 2019 15:07:50 GMT -5
So I bought my 5 gallon desktop mainly to keep ornamental shrimp. Of course I lost the first batch of expensive shrimp to the betta.
Then I lost another pricey batch of shrimp to...I don't know what! There was no betta in there to harass them, just a few Endlers, which are teeeeensy little fish that pose no danger to the shrimp at all (well, they will eat newborn shrimp, but they are harmless to adult shrimp.) The shrimp just died one after another, a day or two apart, and all were dead within weeks of purchase. I have special shrimp-safe substrate, only aquarium safe decorations, a few plants, a few Nerite snails, and Marimo balls in there. All things that are recommended as safe to have with shrimp. I tested the water repeatedly and it was fine, temperature is stable. I even got a copper test kit to make sure there is no copper in the water, since shrimp are super-sensitive to copper. Nope, no copper. So maybe they had some kind of shrimp disease?
Anyway...with no shrimp in the tank, the Nerite snails weren't able to keep up with the algae, and there are some kinds of algae they don't seem to eat at all. So I finally broke down and went to the pet store and got some feeder shrimp (Ghost Shrimp). At $2 for 10 shrimp it's a lot easier to risk it than when each shrimp costs several dollars each.
I got them Monday, and except for one that died immediately, they are doing well. Crossing my fingers that they will continue to do well. They are not as cute as the ornamental ones, but they are still interesting. Since they are transparent, it is both slightly revolting and fascinating to watch them eat. Since they are a little bigger than the ornamental shrimp, I can actually see the tiny claws at the end of their forefeet working as they grab bits of food and put it in their mouths. They have already made the tank look quite a bit better, but it will take them a while to clear up all of the green hair algae, since there was a lot of it.
Four of the shrimp I got were berried females. It would be cool if some of the young were to survive to adulthood, but it's unlikely unless I were to set up a breeding tank. Ghost Shrimp are cannibals, and the little Endler's fish will also eat the baby shrimp while they are small. But if some do babies survive and I end up with an increasing shrimp population, the extras will go to the big tank to help with cleanup in there.
Even if they don't breed, if they do well for me I might get a bunch for the big tank and see how they do. I could get a whole swarm of them for $5-$10.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Mar 28, 2019 15:33:28 GMT -5
Though I would have to find a way to quarantine them first...I risked adding the shrimp to the small tank since I only had two little Endler's fish in there.
We haven't done the living room and hall repairs yet (we wanted to do the kids' rooms first). We intend to try to replace individual damaged boards of our laminate flooring with some spare boards we have in the garage. (The spare boards are still in their shrink-wrapped box, so we believe they are undamaged.) If that doesn't work out for some reason, and we end up having to replace all of the flooring, then we will need to break down the big tank and move it out in order to replace the floor. For that reason, I haven't done anything other than basic maintenance on that tank since the storm - no new fish, plants, equipment, etc.
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Post by Hensaplenty on Mar 28, 2019 19:31:24 GMT -5
Had not seen this thread until Laura_in_FL, posted the update. Enjoyed reading it. I kept African Cichlids years ago and had a breeding pair. I set up a nursery tank and sold the babies to the local pet store. It was a lot of fun and educational for my kids when they were little. They were so much fun to watch especially the mouth brooding. Unfortunately our tank heater malfunctioned and pretty much cooked the fish. It was horrible. I did not replace them and sold the tank.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Mar 29, 2019 11:28:48 GMT -5
Awww...poor cooked fishies! That was not your fault, though. Just really bad luck. I used to keep African cichlids, too. They are very pretty fish, and because they are so fast and active, they are lots of fun to watch. The mouth-brooding is cool, too. I eventually switched back to other tropical fish because it was too difficult keeping the pH and alkalinity high enough. Continually buying all of the special salts and buffers and adding them at every water change got old. Especially since African cichlids are dirty fish, so you have to do a lot of water changing to keep their tank clean if you have a well-stocked tank. I learned LATER that my pH and alkalinity problems were my fault, because when I switched to African cichlids I kept the plain quartz gravel substrate that I had used in the tank before. If I had changed out the substrate to aragonite, dolomite, or crushed coral, then the substrate would have maintained the pH and alkalinity for me. If I ever keep African cichlids again I'll make sure to use the right substrate and save myself lots of time, money, and stress about water parameters.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Mar 30, 2019 0:11:19 GMT -5
I can relate to the malfunctioning heater, Hensaplenty. Many years ago, more heaters were malfunctioning than not, so I tried to get the minimum amount of wattage needed for a tank. And another trick was to use two heaters under the wattage needed, to add up to just over the needed wattage. The likelihood of both staying on was much less than just one. As you can see, this definitely happened a lot back then, if this much was done to avoid it!
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Post by pepperhead212 on Apr 5, 2019 23:24:32 GMT -5
I finally got my new fish - a tiger oscar. Something I had been looking for, and the old guy at this family run fish place, that I have been going to since the 70s, heard me talking to somebody about wanting a tiger oscar, so he said that he'd order some on his next order. He didn't get them in last week, but when I called this week, they had them. Good day to go out there - too lousy to work in the garden! Here's a photo: Baby Oscar, 2 1/2 inches, 4-5-19 by pepperhead212, on Flickr Already eating, which is a good sign.
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Post by september on Apr 6, 2019 0:17:29 GMT -5
Isn't he a cute baby! So pretty.
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Post by brownrexx on Apr 6, 2019 8:27:04 GMT -5
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Apr 6, 2019 11:56:58 GMT -5
Yes, he is. He'll be a foot long before you know it!
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Post by pepperhead212 on May 24, 2019 22:52:46 GMT -5
Here's the oscar after about 6 weeks of pigging out. At first, he didn't even know what to do with a worm, but now, he freaks out when I give him one, hoping I have another one! I took a photo of him in front of the same heater tube, as a reference. Oscar 5-22-19 by pepperhead212, on Flickr
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Post by Laura_in_FL on May 25, 2019 7:29:51 GMT -5
They grow up so fast!
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Post by september on May 25, 2019 11:50:22 GMT -5
So cute! Makes me wish I had the energy to set up my fish tank again!
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Post by pepperhead212 on Dec 30, 2019 11:46:32 GMT -5
The oscar continues to grow, though he's pickier than any others I've had. Gotten quite a bit larger now! A little over 5". by pepperhead212, on Flickr Today and yesterday I totally cleaned out my 40 gal tank, removing the last fish in it - a blue gourami. I siphoned out the gravel - not a fast process, but it's all gone. The UG filter was so old (I think that I set it up in the 80s or early 90s) that the plastic was breaking as I removed it - I'm surprised it lasted this long! The tank is being "bleached" now, to kill the algae, but I don't know how long that will last! lol As soon as I get the UG filter, I'll get this set up, and cycled. Haven't decided what I'm going to put in it yet...depends on what's in the stores then.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Dec 30, 2019 12:14:29 GMT -5
Neat!
Your oscar's color is starting to develop beautifully. He is going to be a real looker. Sorry to hear that he is a picky eater, though.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Dec 30, 2019 12:22:50 GMT -5
In 2020 I will refurbish my 100 gallon setup and have some pics to post. Since we have to take the 100 gallon setup apart to move it anyway (to replace the floor due to water damage from the hurricane), we are going to take the opportunity to re-do the setup completely. Step 1 of that process was DH getting me a new canister filter for Christmas, since my old one was kind of marginal for a fully-stocked 100 gallon tank. There are lots more steps to come, as I hope to make the tank into a display tank I can be proud to have in my living room again! In the meantime I am shopping for a cheap 20 or 29 gallon as temporary housing for the few fish that I currently have living in the 100 gallon. And I am dreaming of stocking plans. One of the fish I really have my eye on is the electric blue acara. It's one of the few plant-safe cichlids, and should get along well with my rainbowfish:
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Dec 30, 2019 17:54:59 GMT -5
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jan 1, 2020 1:06:05 GMT -5
I have that tank almost completely set up - it may need 5 more lbs of gravel, but otherwise, it's all set up. Amazingly, that UG filter came yesterday, and I wasn't expecting it for a long time! So I went shopping today - first to a Petco out by a Home Depot, where I went to get one of those "egg crate" overhead light diffusers - the Home Depot nearby didn't have them (small store), so I stopped late yesterday at an electrical supply place, and they don't carry them any more - the guy told me they are hardly used at all any more, but some HDs carry them. So if you use them for anything in gardening, stock up! The Petco didn't have much gravel stocked up, plus it was 3 and 4 dollars more than their online site! I went to the aquarium store I usually go to, but they didn't have much, either (I can at least get that 5 lb bag I need!). They did have a lot of nice Electric Blue Acaras there, Laura_in_FL! Too bad my tank isn't large enough for them. So I came home, and get this - I went to Petco's online site, figuring I'd order enough to get free delivery, probably next week, and it turns out a closer place had all of the items I wanted, in stock, and I could order it, pick it up at that store today (larger than the other, so a lot more in stock), and get 10% off, on top of the lower than store prices! Something to keep in mind, if you are going to shop at a Petco. Also, I got a new food that my picky oscar likes!
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jan 1, 2020 13:45:36 GMT -5
Love that 10% discount and convenience! Very nice find for you, pepperhead212. Unfortunately there are no Petco stores near me so I can't take advantage of the same deal. I have PetSmart and PetSupermarket here, and neither of them have everything I need. Not many local pet stores either, especially since Hurricane Michael. (There are a couple, but they aren't great.) So I get a lot of my fish stuff from various places online.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jan 1, 2020 14:47:19 GMT -5
I always get most of my aquarium supplies online, Laura_in_FL. Drs. Foster And Smith was my favorite, but last year it was bought out by Petco. I discovered that when I tried to go on their site, and it went to Petco! Still a bunch of their products on Petco - not sure if they are still making them (I hope so - they were always good, less expensive products), or if they are just selling them out, until they are gone.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jan 3, 2020 11:18:38 GMT -5
I didn't realize that Drs. Foster and Smith had been bought out by Petco. Guess it has been more than a year since I ordered from them. That does explain why they quit sending me emails but now Petco is emailing me.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jan 5, 2020 20:05:19 GMT -5
Something that may interest you, Laura_in_FL, for anyone with pets, for that matter): I just made an order from www.chewy.com I always assumed that this was not an aquarium supply place, and they don't have a lot of aquarium products, but when searching around online for aquarium supply stores, this popped up. Just the other day I got a piece of junk mail - I've thrown these out many times, but I opened it, and there was a deal for first time buyers - $15.00 off a $49.99 or more purchase, which is also when the free shipping kicks in. This is owned by Petsmart, so maybe you'll get those ads in the mail, since you have a store there. I didn't see it online in promo codes, but you may be able to find it. Of course, you may have already bought from them online, so the deal doesn't work. The order was made early on Friday. They say in the ad "shipped in one to two days". I got it today - just 2 days, and Sunday, no less! Not bad!
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jan 6, 2020 15:02:49 GMT -5
Funny, I got one of those Chewy postcards with the $15 off coupon a couple of years ago. Happened to be right before my son needed supplies for a science fair experiment on how temperatures affect the reproduction rate of fruit flies. So I blew the coupon on that. :-)
I don't use Chewy very often, but I check it when I am making expensive pet purchases. A few months ago I got a scratching post on sale there. Normally Amazon would be cheapest, but due to the sale Chewy's price beat Amazon, PetSmart, and the other places I had looked for that particular scratching post.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jan 16, 2020 16:50:17 GMT -5
I saw something today that reminded me of something I did while I was a teenager, fooling around with all those fish. The cherry barbs in one of my tanks seemed to be eating something on those plastic plants in the tank. They usually don't do this, and really aren't into eating algae, as a rule. Then, I saw some other fish doing something that explained their tactics: some rasboras were spawning on the undersides of the leaves on the plastic plants! I was reminded of the strange way pairs of these fish would turn upside-down, and deposit their eggs on the leaves. They didn't last long, with those cherry barbs in the tank - caviar! I tried getting photos of them doing it, but they would stop, with me in front of the tank, no matter how still I was. Here's a video on YouTube, showing their strange way of spawning:
These are now labeled "harlequins" in many pet shops now, as they are no longer in the Rasbora genus (I think it's Trigonostoma, but I probably mis-spelled that!), but in my youth, they were just called rasboras, as they were the most common species of the genus, and probably are still more common than any other, though scissortails are another that are very common.
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Post by spike on Jan 16, 2020 17:12:17 GMT -5
Laura_in_FL, pepperhead212, OMG I LOVE CHEWY!! I get monthly deliveries of wet and dry dog food and treats. They also deliver the pups Revolution! Great prices on pet meds etc also. Deliveries over $49 are free. Plus with auto ship you get a monthly discount. It is just amazing to me how much money I have saved using Chewy. Just on the Revolution alone. I get 2 months for the 3 pups at the same cost I paid for one month at the vet. They send the pups birthday cards and we get a Christmas card every year lol. Sorry! I am just a big fan!
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jan 17, 2020 9:55:14 GMT -5
I used to have some Harlequins - cute little fish. I never observed mine spawning. That tank had other fish and snails, so even if the harlequins did spawn, the eggs were promptly eaten. They are very active and showy little fish - very good for smaller tanks in smaller rooms. However, since they are happiest kept in groups, and since they need swimming space for all their activity, 10 gallons is the smallest tank I would put them in long term. However, due to their small size, I think that they are best enjoyed close up. When I had them in my 100 gallon in our great room, even though I had a big school of harlequins (20+ fish), all I could see of them was flashes and blurs from the length of the room. I had to walk over and stand near the tank to really see what they were doing. So, I like bigger fish (3" and up) for a big tank in a large room, so you can see the individual fish clearly no matter where you are in the room. Though I still might keep them in the big tank again if I find myself in a school of small "dither fish." Currently in my little 5-gallon desk tank I have six male Cobra Endler's - I got them from a different vendor, but this is what mine look like: aquaticarts.com/collections/nano-fish/products/cobra-endler-s-livebearer: As you can see, they are very cute little guys, and since the aquarium is right here on my desk - literally 2 feet from my face - I can see them very clearly despite their tiny size. Each fish has unique markings, too. So I can kind of tell them apart. Most of mine have more yellow at the front of their bodies than the fish in the picture. Also, though you can't see it in the picture, but they can raise their little dorsal fin up like a flag when they want to show off. (That's not my picture, by the way. They are tiny and constantly in motion, so I can't seem to get a decent picture of them. I need a better camera for that!) Right now they are showing off at the corner of the aquarium closest to me - they are telling me that it's breakfast time. I guess I should quit typing and feed them, huh?
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Post by september on Jan 18, 2020 10:57:39 GMT -5
Laura_in_FL, Those sound like perfect fish for smaller aquariums! Do they stay tinier than common guppies? Of course, I've noticed size variations there too. Wondered if it was genetic, or nutrition related. I wonder if they would interbreed with common guppies? I've always loved the guppy types for their many possible color patterns, and the small size, so you can have lots! I used to have a 10 gallon tank at work on my wide window sill. Gave away my extra fish to the biology department since they reproduce like crazy. And the babies are so cute! I agree, though, that in a larger tank, the bigger species of tropical fish are more watchable.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jan 18, 2020 11:57:37 GMT -5
They are close relatives of guppies, but not the same species. (Though there is some disagreement on that point.) The males are only about 1" long at maturity, and the females a little larger, up to about 1.5". So they are smaller than guppies, which are usually 2" long. They prefer being in a group, say 6 or more fish. They are active and moving around most of they time (though they do seem to sleep, which is neat to see). They need some open swimming area but seem happier if the tank also has plants, driftwood, and/or other decor to explore. Female Endlers tend to be drab, so often sellers will keep the females for breeding and sell only males. If you buy only males that means you don't have to worry about your tank being overrun with babies. But if you get a mixed group of males and females, they will breed just as prolifically as guppies. They are surprisingly hardy little fish, too. They need good aquarium care, but they are tolerant if conditions are not absolutely perfect all the time. They are not picky about food and not prone to illness. They are good companions for snails, dwarf shrimp, and small peaceful fish, but avoid putting them with fish that are "fin nippers." In my little 5 gallon aquarium, I only really have capacity for a group of Endlers. You can have a smaller snail or two and maybe some dwarf shrimp in with them in a 5 gallon, though. Don't keep them with dwarf shrimp if you plan to breed the dwarf shrimp, though - they won't hurt the adult shrimp but they happily eat shrimp fry. Caution: they JUMP. You need a good, tight-fitting lid on your tank or you will lose some or all of them. Here's a web page with photos of some of the color morphs available: www.fishlore.com/aquariummagazine/sept08/endlers-livebearer.htm Though it seems that every other week someone has bred a new color morph. Some color morphs have different fin shapes, some have longer fins and some have little tail fin extensions. TLDR: I love my Endlers and think they are perfect for a little desktop aquarium.
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