duh duh duh

I'm looking to heat a few small tanks.  We have a dwarf frog in a 3 gallon tank and another in a large fishbowl at the office.  Both are doing well (one will occasionally call at night actually).  However, we're concerned about the temperature and would like to raise it a few degrees.

What is the best option for heating small tanks, in your opinion?

I don't want to clutter a large component of the living space with the heater.  i'm told there are some small immersible heating pads, but i've never used them before.  

Thoughts?

I've run fish tanks for 30+ years but i'll admit i'm stumped on my latest.  It's a Fluval 9 gallon set up for my 6 year old.  We have it running, filter on, led lights, new gravel (washed), starter bacteria included, and i'm doing my standard 1 fish in the tank for a couple weeks to get things started.  This is the method i've successfully used for decades.

We are now 0 for 3 with our little starter fish (2 glowlight tetras, one serpae tetra).  Always only 1 but replace after the little guy dies.  Dont want to run the tank without a fish because I want the bacteria cycle to commence.  

Our water testing is saying the ammonia levels are spiking. We are limiting the feeding so it isn't from that.There are no heaters in this tank so it is room temperature.  Note, I have 2 other of the same tanks also at room temperature (one in the same house, one at the office) without problems.    Not sure what else it could be.  

Any suggestions or recommendations would be appreciated.  

any news on how Henry and his family are doing? Sure hope they landed on their feet out.

I have decided that I need some snails to get through my sand to keep turning it over. The sand is too fine for my gravel vacuum so it is on to Plan B, namely snails.

My thought would be Malaysian Trumpet Snails but I thought I should ask the experts. Note: I have a tank of barbs, tetras, and will be going to plecos, corys, and possibly leaving 1 bumblebee catfish in there. Not sure which of those would eat snails (if any) but obviously dont want to drop $$$ on something that won't last a day.

nitrites and ammonia have been zero throughout.

Re-arranged everything in the tank and cleaned in the corner or spots where things build up (tank looks great)

Will take a sample in.

Tank in balance for years. Bought new food (NLS Flake and NLS Pellet). Intersperse with algea pellet for the pleco and algae eater once a week. Frozen food once a week.

Had an issue with my water chemistry a few weeks ago - low PH and high nitrates. Have black algae as well. Got the ph sorted out and have done water changes every few days since - 3+ weeks ago. Each water change is about 20 to 25%. one change had to be close to 50%. Nitrates levels are not dropping.

Black sand substrate. Not planted until after the chemistry issues.

Other changes I made:

Changed chemipure media in my cannister filter

stopped feeding flake food (now when I feed all of the pellets are gone within 30 to 45 seconds. maybe one or two will hit the bottom. Not quite sure what the bottom feeders are eating these days)

added some plants

Just tested again tonight and the nitrates are still way high (like 40+) according to the AFI measurement kit.

Im wondering if i'm screwing the test up some how, or if there is a better test kit for nitrates out there.

Otherwise, i'm all ears for solutions.

Should I change half of my bio filter media?

Should I toss out the filter sponges and go with new ones?

Should I be taking a stick and stirring up the sand?

I picked some up over the holidays as it's fun for the kids to toss in a cube of bloodworms or shrimps once a week. The fish go mental for them and everything is eaten within a minute or two. But should I be doing something different with them? What are the experiences with frozen food?

i've had great success with clown loaches myself.

Is there anything else in the tank that could have tried eating him, albeit unsuccessfully? Is there a large pleco or catfish that could have had a go if he was lying a little too still one night?

id be curious how this works out for you with the females and males together. When I tried putting some females in with a male in a well planted decent sized tank, it took him about 5 minutes to find the females and try to kill them. i'd love to put a tank of bettas together though, so i'm keen for your success.

I've got a bit of this in the tank. Not too much and have cut back on the food and light as suggested. It's a tall tank so growing plants hasn't ever worked terribly well. I was wondering if there are any shrimp species that like the black algae. I haven't tried invertebrates yet to solve the problem, and don't mind them in the tank. Suggestions?

that's brutal news.

I bought fish from there since it was Dads Fish Room off of whyte ave (I was there around 2003). I always admired that they were prepared to let a sale walk out the door because they wouldn't sell a fish that wasn't properly quarantined.

I also liked that they were friendly to my young children and the questions that they would ask. It helps bring the kids along in the hobby.

I agree. I drove by myself and the only thing left is the sign. Everything inside is back to the walls essentially.

Is it odd to anyone else that this happened so quickly and without notice? I think a lot of us would have stopped by to pass along our appreciation (and buy some more fish) had we known.

what? This is terrible news. Has it been confirmed they are done?

chinese algae eaters are more resistant to the temperatures and are also an option for ponds.

First entry should go something like this:

My name is ____ and I am an alcoholic. It has been ____ days/weeks/months/years since my last drink.

Here is what I feed my oscars

Hikari food sticks

Hikari massivore pellet

NLS 7.5mm pellet

raw prawns

krill

beef heart

bananas

deshelled peas for the greens in there diet

jumbo dew worms

superworms

crickets

small frogs

Boyds vita chem vitamins

]

do you raise your own "small frogs" to feed your oscar?

No, my buddy has a pond in his backyard, but over the years it turned into a mini swamp where frogs breed -roll- So I get them from there.

so you poached them.

unless you're breeding them yourself or buying them, that's brutal.

Here is what I feed my oscars

Hikari food sticks

Hikari massivore pellet

NLS 7.5mm pellet

raw prawns

krill

beef heart

bananas

deshelled peas for the greens in there diet

jumbo dew worms

superworms

crickets

small frogs

Boyds vita chem vitamins

]

do you raise your own "small frogs" to feed your oscar?

My thought would be your Dianio as well, however I'd have though your other tank mates would have been done it with before the cories.

Re-arrange the decorations for a week or so and see if they magically appear. I had one re-appear after about 3 months of me being certain he was long gone. A bronze cory.

ALso consider Indian Flash Barbs. Neat fish that get to be a decent size as well. Don't shy away from a male betta either if you're looking to add a splash of a certain colour.

I had a couple of swamp eels as a kid. I could leave Guppies in the tank because they tended to stay higher in the water. They would last a couple of weeks. On the other hand goldfish were a terrible mistake. Because they would frequent the bottom, the eel would catch anything that came by, eat out the stomachs, and then leave the carcas. It was absolute annihilation. It wasn't like the little bugger was hungry either. Eventually dried tubifex worms did the trick, but I would have to pierce the worm cube with a metal dowel to sink it for the eel to go and get. He would not come up to the top.

my advice to you is to keep going with the neons.

Try going to a better quality provider for the neons. You may pay a bit more, but you'll end up healthier in the long run. Alternatively, buy about 25 of them and hope to keep 10.

Another good schooling fish that I like is Lemon Tetras or Rasboras. Both get a bit bigger than neons, but can be really impressive schooling fish if you're into that sort of thing, like I am.

Currently I have a school of 10 neons, 10 black tetras, 5 rasboras, 3 lemon tetras and 5 guppies. The neons, rasboras and lemons are always together.

well some good news. On the day I was going to "net feed", I noticed that the mimbo has picked up on the fact that the other fish are eating, and he is now getting the occasional bit of food.

He is still being beaten to the punch and pushed out of the way by the nasty Rasboras (gasp), Neons (the brutality!) and guppies (the horrors).

Maybe he will get it at some point, but at least I'm back to feeding normal amounts and not having to blitz my tank with food so he gets a piece here or there.

http://www.sonof.net/hobartcichlids/forum/...f=18&t=1996

I came across this list that I think may be of assistance to our eager, but less sophisticated fishkeepers on here (like me) when it comes to finding a cool pleco.

Here is an idea, take him out put him in a cup during feeding time, that way your giving too much food.. he can eat in peace, then when he is done put him back in...

Also, the betta might even be not well, so this will help determine if he is or not.

That would be my suggestion ! :thumbs:

won't scooping him up each time totally stress him out?

(the last thing I need is a stressed out mimbo. He will end up on crystal meth or something)