NatureNut

Wow! Welcome aboard! Quite the story. I'm glad the fish found good 'parents'... I'm surprised they survived through the previous owners. I just recently got into salt, and it's more work than the fresh for sure, but sooooo rewarding. I'm sure you'll find tons of support here.

Way cool! I'll be living this vicariously through you. Keep us posted on how things go! As soon as my tank limit is lifted I'd like to go for a seahorse tank. What will you do with all the babies? Is there a market for them?

If you want to keep it simple, you can have success with little effort, I believe. I have a 30gallon tank with a basic hood and 20W light over it and a sand substrate. I use wisteria, tons of little crypts, java moss, java fern, hygrophilia, anubis and amazon swords. I know I'm forgetting something in there. I have problems with hair algae since I got some fern from someone that had it on it. Before that I had no problems at all with this. I just pluck it off when it gets bad and call it filter media. I just put some flourish tabs in when I picked up the swords a few weeks back. Prior to that I wasn't doing anything but water changes. I KNOW I could do heaps more with CO2 and and and and, but the simple life is for me. If you're interested in what it can look like, let me know and I'll post pics. I've been afraid to before now because I KNOW it doesn't compare to the plant pros. I've had this tank running for about 1 1/2 years.

I've been pleasantly reminded how fun it is to watch white clouds surf in the outflow from the AC filter, but one of them took it a step too far! I moved 4 white clouds into a 5 gallon to see if they'll do ok there before sending them to my son's class. I was checking them this morning and could only see 3... after much investigation, I could see one swimming UNDER the media basket in the filter. LOL Lucky for him I didn't have the flow set to max. I'm guessing he got out of the tube and around the side without becoming blended by the impeller? I haven't quite figured it out. He's dumped back in AND I have the sponge over the intake that I stupidly forgot on Saturday when I moved them (guilt guilt guilt). All is well, she looks just fine, and lesson learned. Incidentally, the seem to be doing really well in there... I was worried after discussions in another thread about white clouds being too "twitchy" for a 5 gallon hex, but I've seen no sign of stress in them there. I've given them heaps of plants, and a nice chunk of bog wood with lots of hidey holes. They cruise around in it a lot.

HA! Yes! -roll-

I'd vote for cycle it first... you can speed it substantially by using filter media from your existing tank, though.

Welcome!

http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/story.cfm?id=5185# Had this forwarded to me by a colleague and I thought people might find it interesting.

There's lot of people here with OMTS (one more tank syndrome), and as far as I know there's no 12 step program in place yet. Mostly here you'll find enablers ("Just tell your wife/husband you found the tank in the garage"). I'm sure you'll enjoy the forum here, lots of good advice, good humour, and great people.

Welcome! We also got ourselves readdicted after some time away from the hobby... now the 1 tank has become um... 4, including a SW. LOL Beware!

I've got Malasian bogwood here. I just soaked it for about 24-48 hours before using it, and after a few months in the one tank I still get tannin buildup. I don't mind so much, really... tannins are supposed to be good. At least that's what I tell myself.

Water changes? I find my tanks are clear for about a day or two after I change the water, but I tend to do big changes. By the time it's water change time again the tank is brown. I can't think of anything else that would work, personally... I'll be interested to see if anyone comes up with something.

I'm sorry about your loss.

Yikes! Lucky! And yes... I tell the teacher never EVER to put her hands in the tank at school unless it's unplugged, yet how often do I move this rock or scrub off that piece of algae without unplugging. Sheesh... I REALLY need to be smarter about these things. Thanks for the reminder, and I'm glad you're fine.

Welcome!

Post pictures! I'd love to have seahorses, but I'm on a tank restriction now. LOL

I spent awhile watching mine today. They do have fast bursts of movement... what I guess you'd call twitchy. I also noticed that there was a lot of chasing and bossing going on... I have mine in a 10g planted tank with a few hidey spots in it, but I'm going to rearrange things more so there's more hiding spots for the fish that's getting chased all the time. You might want to watch for that.

With a little help from google and some formulas I figure you have a volume of about 4.8 gallons according to your measurements. 1cm is small for sure! My dwarf cory is closer to an inch. I did have one who was a bit smaller, but it died over Christmas... I'm down to one now. In my experience the white clouds alone would be more than enough for that tank... but I tend to try to understock everything to be safe.

I'm sorry to hear that he died... I hope things go better for you. I have no experience will keeping fish in unfiltered conditions. Even when we had just a bowl for my husband's classroom betta we ran a little filter in it. Someone else might have more tips.

I seem to remember you saying this was a 6 gallon tank in another thread. Seems to me like it would be over double stocked with what you've listed here. How is their water quality? Planted, filtered, heated? WC actually do well in cooler water... maybe their temperature requirements aren't the same as the cories, too. I found our WC do best around 68 or so... most of our others I keep at least 4F higher. I have some very young WC minnows now, and have kept them in the past, and never noticed them being 'twitchy'.

From just a brief search online I'd say you should research 'slime disease'. I'm sure someone will come behind me with more help... I don't have much time to research right now. Have you considered moving your bettas to filtered, heated setups with at least 2 gallons, preferably 5 or more? I find they do much better when they don't have to deal with unfiltered, cold environments.

Welcome! There's a plethora of people here with information for you. I've never been disappointed when I've posted my questions. Sounds like you've got a good start, and admitting you need help is 9/10 of the battle, IMHO... I admit it all the time! LOL I hope you find yourself at home here!

What a great setup! Can't wait to see it fully loaded! Maybe in 18 years when my kids are out of the house one of our rooms will be converted. LOL

Welcome aboard!

I'm so sorry to hear about this.