Guppygirl

Welcome to the forum. Great informative people.

Been a while since I updated my tank specs-Quitting ones job and starting a cleaning company sure take up a lot of time. So now I have the following updates: Many, many guppy fry-seem to multiple everyday. 5+ corydora weitzmani fry growing-so glad that my brother and I only took a one day in and out of Edmonton trip total of around 9 hours in the car and only 4 hours in Edmonton. Got home just in time to save the eggs-didn't really think I had a breeding pair of corydoras. They hatched nicely and now are being fed microworms and Hikari First Bites. I have 4 corydora Juli? Had 6 but two have since died-one this evening so sad thought it was going to make it. So sad :cry: Added malaysian trumpet snails as the gravel is quite deep and was trapping gas. As for plants I have added- the narrow leaf, philipine and normal java fern, lots of pennywort, and pygmy chain sword. Will try to post a pic tomorrow of the improvements. :thumbs:

Sorry to hear that. :boxed: :cry: I have had numerous batches of eggs grow fungus-sometimes even with antifungal they still go bad. It could be that you have young breeders. How big are they? If you feed them well- they will most likely try breeding again within a month. To help them along give them a slightly cooler water change and that will usually tempt to breed and give you another chance at eggs and being a cory grandma. Good luck and keep us posted.

Congrats on the eggs, at least you know that you have a female and most likely a male. Albinos are usually either corydora aeneus (bronze cory) or corydora paleatus (peppered cory). Both relatively easy to breed. A bonus. Now to the eggs. Healthy eggs are clear and later turn brownish, fungused and infertile eggs turn white and fuzzy. Not good, if any look like this remove them as the fungus spreads. It is best to get the new cory egg home ready before you attempt egg removal-I just use a net breeder that hangs on the side of the main tank-this allows water movement and heated water. When I first started cory breeding I used the unheated water rearing technique-not realizing the info I was getting was from southern climates such as Florida, and New Zealand where the air temp is so much warmer then here in Canada. Do not use the plastic breeders for the reason that the fry can and will swim through the tiny slots on the bottom of the container and goodbye babies. With your net breeder I also use an airstone connected to a airpump to help circulate the water. I recommend removing the eggs from the glass, for cory baby survival-both breeds are egg eaters-this can be a little tricky. I scrap the eggs off with my algae scrapper that came with a blade-Gently as not to hurt the eggs. First I pour some pimafix on the tool I am going to use as this helps combat some of the fungus. I then ever so gently scrap upward with my tool and remove the eggs. I also use a net under the tool to catch free falling eggs as you scrap up the eggs sometimes dislodge and fall to gravel in my case and become lunch. Any eggs you do scrap off can be gently shaken off the tool and into the net breeder, any stuck ones can be dislodged with a wooden skewer. Netted eggs can be inverted in the net breeder also and shaken out or removed gently with the wooden skewer. I have heard people say they also use creditcards, or some other plastic flat edge to remove the eggs also. I have just never used them. Other anti fungal methods can be used such as Methal blue (sp), thou it is toxic to fry so it will have to be removed before the fry hatch, also a dose of pimafix won't hurt. The fertile eggs if you got to them quick enough and removed them will hatch in usually 3-7 days sometimes longer or shorter depending on tank temperature. Fungused eggs can be removed daily with the help of a eyedropper- I use a bigger version found in drug stores and they have either a blue bulb or a pink bulb. When they hatch they will be small and to me look like pics of sperm. Tiny head with a tail. They don't need to be fed for ~2-4 days as they absorb their egg sacs-any food added during this time with rot and foul the water. It is best to keep an eye on them thou as depending on temp they may use up their eggs sacs quicker or slower. One can shiny a light on them and you can usually see a faint outline of their eggs sac. When it is gone. Feed them. Now to baby cory fry foods. Two lines of feeding-store bought or live. Store bought- I have used First Bites by Hikari-very small baby food-also very good-thou over feeding can cause water problems, also Wardley Liqui-fry. Some use boiled egg yolk-didn't work for me and the babies died. One can also probably powder NLS grow formula-I haven't used it on cory fry. Live foods include items like baby brine shrimp, microworms which I am using right now, grindal worms when they get bigger and when they are adults bloodworm, glass worm, adult brine shrimp, white worms, etc. The adult foods also help condition the parents so they breed more frequently. I tend to mix it up and use both store bought and live-my new corydora weitmani fry are getting the microwom and First bite mix. Any live foods that get missed tend to sink out of the baby net breeder and the other fish get a treat. Or in my case the hundred + guppy fry get fed. Try to feed 2-4 times daily to help growth and hunger. Spread the food throughout the net breeder so they can find it, remember they are extremely tiny for quite some time. It will be many, many months before they are big enough to go with the adults. Also in the net breeder it is advisable to add some sort of floating plant or java moss, this just helps the fry feel more secure, also provides shade for the sometimes light sensitive fry. My fry tended to hide under the plastic support structure that held up the net breeder. Change water fairly frequently to keep it fresh just remember that when you suck the water out that the fry only have the amount of water that can wet the net, any lower and they die. Just keep feeding and hopefully you get some adult babies. It is trial and error in the beginning, so if something happens to these eggs. More are on the way. It took me more then 500 eggs and many attempts in the beginning to get one baby-lucky for me it was female and now she is a massive egg layer. Later attempts got me results such as 10 out of 50 fry, 50 out of 100 and so on. Not ever baby hatched will survive to adulthood-it is just nature and not in our control all the time. Sometimes you will get funny fry- I have some bronze corys that have only one eye, some with small eyes and some with golden eyes, many would have culled them but I kept them and they are as healthy as the others. Once your adults start the breed-they can do it like every two weeks if well fed. Water changes set them off. Adult female bronze cories can lay between 100-300 eggs at a time. Usually closer to 100-150, though you could have corydora paleatus which can have the 300. So good luck with the eggs and if you didn't get them now just wait and you will have them again soon enough. :thumbs: :thumbs: Any other questions just ask.

:welcome: to the forum. Very knowledgeable people on this site. When I first started was not really a fish person either. Now 7 tanks later I sometimes feel that I am slowly growing fins and scales LOL. The wonderful assortment of fish is a great learning experience for you and your son. Ask any questions you want. So welcome. :thumbs:

I don't know anything about ponds and duck problems. To the reply about pelicans-Alberta does has pelicans. You see them on lakes such as Stony Lake near Elk Point in eastern Alberta. When camping flocks would swoop in and rest on the lake. Hope your duck problems resolve themselves quickly.

:welcome: to the forum. Very informative people on this site. If you are looking for certain items ask in the buy/sell area of the site. Lots of people from your city on the site. Good luck.

When I got the tank didn't realize that the tank light had a slight problem- The plastic ballast? the holder of the light was chipped fairly badly in one area. Either the light got too hot, or something else. Not sure but it was very brittle. It also exposed some of the wires not good with water so I have fixed it. Here is what I did: I cleaned the area getting rid of most of the very brittle pieces near the hole. Then I had to think of a way to cover the hole up-wanted a stiff clear piece of plastic. Now I had to find it. Looked around my fish items and my house and finally found the pieces I needed. By way of the middle separator of a floating plastic breeder. I broke it into two pieces and had to trim the one as it was too big-just used scissors, nothing fancy. Then I used clear silicone to glue it into place and hopefully it is fixed. Now I only have to find a piece of glass or plexy to fill in the opening in the top so that the light won't get wet.

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A little about the tank so far: used 29 gallons Black stand natural rounded pebble substrate running a aqua-tech 200 canister filter 150 watt heater I assume came with the used tank unsure as to the wattage of the light as I haven't been using it lately as it has a huge chunk out of the inside canopy-- letting water too close to the electrical wiring-will need to fix it with something. Plants so far are Java Moss(best baby nursery around) Java fern 1 mystery plant (pic to come soon) Plants coming are: Pennywort anubias nana narrow leaf java fern Philippine java fern and some more java fern I am going for a lower light planted so thus the Java's, thou the pennywort does better with light-hopefully with it closer to the light it will do okay. Had some in another tank but the ramshorn and pond snails totally destroyed it. Only one stick-and I mean stick was left after the snails. To my total surprise it shot out new leaves on all of its joints when left alone in a snail free tank. Fish in the tank are 2 corydora weitzmani -I know they would like more of their kind but I haven't seen any around-got these two at the Edmonton Auction in October. yellow guppies a mix of blues, snakeskin, and multi colored guppies males and females. One female already had fry. Would like to get maybe a pair or rams later on-tank is still cycling with stability. Will add pics of the tank and fish when I locate my camera. Just hate it when you want it can can't find it, don't want it there it is--Murphy's Law

Malaysian Trumpet Snails are good substrate turners. They burrow and eat during the day in the gravel and sand and come to the surface during the night. They are also livebearers-as in little snails are born no ugly jelly nests. I have an over abundance of them in one of my guppy tanks and the young seem to die quite frequently but that was due to an overpopulation due to over feeding baby guppies.

I have no idea if this is the right area to put this? I just bought a 29 gallon tank-used. Nice looking tank but one problem-- I discovered the person who dismantled the tank used what I think was ajax to disinfect it. :boxed: It had some dry scum on the bottom when I got it home. I have since washed most of it out-scum is gone-- multiple rinses with and without declorinator. The only thing is how do I know if all of this chemical is out? I can't really smell it anymore and the powder scum looks to be gone but is it safe for fish? Should I keep rinsing it out? Is there a point in which to stop and just fill it? Will declorinator such as aquaplus get rid of the remaining chemical residue if any???? I have used bleach in the past and multiple rinses have got rid of it, but never a chemical such as ajax? Any ideas greatly welcomed. Thanks. :bow: :bow: :thumbs:

Welcome to the site. :welcome:

I have located the instruction on the internet- it looks to be a Magnum H.O.T hang on the back canister filter. http://www.marineland.com/sites/Marineland...TMagProQSUG.pdf. Thanks. Hopefully it works and the tank is 29-30 gallon. Aqua-tech is just another name it seems for it.

Help greatly needed!!!!! I just bought a used tank that came with what I assume is an aqua-tech 200 HOB canister filter???? I have not seen this type of filter before and have no idea how to put it back together or even if I have all the parts- thou I think I do- it came with extra filter water polishing cartridges and carbon and foam inserts. The person that had it before took it totally apart when they dismantled the tank. It also didn't come with the manual or instructions. Now I am looking for someone who has the manual or instructions--as I can't find them on the internet. So can anyone help me? Thank you

Thanks Tanker for the link- Just ordered, looking forward to reading it.

:welcome: to the site and the addiction. :thumbs: Do you have all your fish in one tank or have you gone to multiple tanks yet? Most of us on this site have the MTS syndrome. That is multiple tank syndrome. Can't only have one.

Welcome to spring - and spring runoff . Just a reminder that cities and towns are now adding all those chemicals-Chlorine/chlorimine(sp) in bigger amounts then normal to combat the spring runoff. I have especially noticed it in Grande Prairie- very strong smell/taste of chlorine. Not very tasty for us humans-but to be a fish swimming in it must be hell. So everyone might want to up their amounts of decholorinator to combat this yearly event. :thumbs:

Hi, I have guppies and was wondering which type of NLS would be best for them- the two options I saw for pellets were community fish and small fish formulas that were the right size? I don't want to buy the wrong size and it seems that lots of people are using that kind of fish food. Thanks. Any opinions welcome. :thumbs:

I have a major question-- I have a tank that is infested with pond and ramshorn snails, they are slowly eating my java moss, the last plant to survive. The problem is that this tank has been affected by an ich outbreak. I have since treated the tank and the fish are fine now. The major question I have is can I use those snails from the infected/infested tank to feed my skunk loaches? Are they poison, from the meds?, carriers of ich? The tank that was infected with ich was a tank full of guppies that had babies all through the treatments, so there is no way I am just going to let the loaches in, they attack flake food mid tank so fry would be a snack. The loach tank was totally infested with snails but within 3 days of getting these guys at the Edmonton auction the tank was full of empty snail shells. That was the best, but now I would like to give them a snail treat but only if the food won't sicken them. Any input would be helpful. Thanks.

Welcome to the site. Many knowledgeable people on here. :welcome:

Lost my large female platy today. A little sad, but she did leave me with about 25-30 babies. So she will live on. I have never seen a fish grow as big as she did, she looked like she swallowed a marble, but was filled with air it seems. She did not act like the normal dropsy- no pinecone shaped scales she just seemed to stretch her skin- I just assumed she was huge with babies I was wrong. Good-bye. :cry:

:welcome: To the group! There are many, many knowledgeable people on this site. Any problems just drop us a post and we will try to help. What kinds of fish do you have?

Well mother nature sure showed me :bang1: that I was wrong about the fry all being female. The males are now developing- and they seem to be a pretty snakeskin variety, with a few blueish ones. As I have three orange and yellow snakeskin males and only one blue males the odds are for more snakeskin. Thou the females are mainly blue-black. Only time will tell what kinds of young develop-that is half the fun as a fish breeder seeing the final result. :heart: :thumbs:

Looks like a hydra. I have heard that they won't affect adult fish but can catch fry. I would remove it as you don't want it to spread. Hopefully someone else who has dealt with this creature will respond. Good luck.