Crystal

My 90g has snails, I don't mind a few, but when they start to increase population I simply bait a snail trap with an algae pellet and drop it in overnight. Snails go in but can't get out of the trap. It won't get rid of all of them, but I like how they keep the tank clean of rotting food. I had some assassin snails, they left a lot of empty snail shells as trophies of what they had accomplished, but they never bred for me...

I love my canister filter and would put one on any tank 40g and up. HOBs (Hang-on-Back power filter) can work, but I find they aren't as easy to clean as canisters and there is a chance of 'overflow' when the media gets full in HOBs. I got a Rena XP3 and put it on my 65g goldfish tank, it was a life saver.

That is about where I started too, with goldfish in a 10g and upgraded to a 55g. (I later put the goldfish in a pond and upgraded to a 90g high tech planted tank). Are you sure that is a 55g? Looks a bit small to me.

Welcome. There is an auction coming up on Feb. 24, you can find more details on this site under Alberta Aquatica Sponsor Forum, and then under ACE. Lots of varieties of plants and fish, and even more people who are willing to talk endlessly about them!

Welcome.

It sounds interesting, I created one once just out of boredom - the frogs and the fish liked it. Mountain cloud minnows and danios are small fast fish that do quite well in room temp water; although I have also seen tropical fish like Neon tetras used with heaters. The Big Al's in Edmonton has a couple set up for display. I wouldn't worry about the odd fish getting eaten - some of us here breed fish just for feeders. If you were planning on dissecting them alive that would be a different story.

Welcome. I love my planted tank too, now I just need to get some more shrimp for it (now that I found the fish guilty for eating them). There is an auction coming up on Feb. 24, you can find more details on this site under Alberta Aquatica Sponsor Forum, and then under ACE.

Welcome

Anything FISH seems to show up at the auctions, sometimes there are more plants, sometimes there are more fish, or equipment. Tanks are usually a steal and go for cheap. I am going to be bringing a group of breeding Neon Rice fish, lots of plants, and some live food cultures. I usually never manage to completely decide until the last week before the auction. So who is bringing the shrimp and swordtails?

I seem to prefer the more natural look, I love the silvery shine of Mountain Cloud minnows. They remind me of my favorite minnows from the lake where I grew up. When the males display to one another, they get almost black with a red stripe. They never bothered my cherry shrimp. http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq176/c_scherer123/aquarium/Jan201111.jpg http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq176/c_scherer123/aquarium/Jan201110.jpg If you were adventurous, you could even add a group of smaller cories. My gold line cories don't do anything to keep my cherry shrimp population in check despite only feeding every other day... It does seem to be hit and miss whether or not fish will decide that shrimp are food. I had one betta that never bothered them, and another that considered them snacks. I even had a red jewel cichlid that let the bright red female cherry shrimp help clean her eggs - if they weren't bright red, they were lunch...

They ate this clutch and one more since. They can't seem to get past the stage where the wigglers tails start to break free... Then again, there isn't much open sand in that tank, the sand is almost completely covered in micro chain-swords. I may have to pull the next clutch just before the wigglers tails appear, just so I have some fry to look at. If the parents tend the nest, they don't lose many eggs to fungus; if I put the eggs in another container in the same tank the fungus goes rampant even when pulling the fungused eggs out. Methylene blue slowed the fungus when I pulled the last clutch which the plecos were after, but I still only had a few eggs avoid fungus. I found my male got really territorial after the 8th clutch, he keeps 3/4 of the 90g free of the other fish. I think I may try moving the pair to a planted 20g and see if they will remain paired without fighting.

My bn plecos always ate any eggs after the lights went out. With blue moon lights some fish (larger africans) managed to defend the eggs, but others didn't seem to realize that the plecos were actually a fish and the plecos ate the eggs. Next time you see them entering breeding colors, move the pleco to another tank or if you have no other suitable tank, try adding a chunk of zuccinni for the pleco. I am betting the pleco will go for the eggs over zuccinni though.

My feeder goldfish lived for many years with no problems, I kept them in a 65g tank in winter & a small pond in summer. Once treated for disease, I never lost any except to predators visiting the pond. Some plants can survive goldfish, but not many. Mainly elodea, java moss, and a wild lily from the pond - they love to eat duckweed (I also had cucumbers, lettuce and peas growing out the tank, but that is a different story). They lived with mountain cloud minnows, a pair of bn plecos, and a couple of weather loaches. No heater but it remained at 19-21C. PS. If your fish live long enough to need a bigger tank, go straight for a 40g+ and a Canister filter - my Rena XP3 was a life saver for that tank. Regular water changes are a must, the goldfish grow quickly and pull a lot of calcium out of the tank. 3 adult goldfish can live in a 55g for life, although bigger is always better. They grow within 3 years to 8" and then slow down, although they will evenually reach 10-12" or so. They can grow bigger, but not normally in aquarium conditions. For a planted tanks in general, 1.5-2.5" of substrate, fine gravel or even pool filter sand work excellent. For some reason I found a number of plants didn't like the gravel that was bigger than 6mm. Sand is currently my favorite - I use the black Moon sand, although pool filter sand is easier in some aspects - pool filter sand is much cheaper. Weights aren't really needed unless the fish dig or pull on them (goldfish do just by playing in them). I just cheated and siliconed some thread to a small pebble and then tied the plant to it. With planted tanks, it seems to all depend on the light. I always go with HO T5 if possible, or a good T5 can work with lower light plants. I did have 2 goldfish in my 90g planted tank when I first started. Excellent fertilizer producers and they always swam in the top half of the tank and never uprooted anything. I must admit that the 12" long poo strands everywhere eventually lead to them getting their own 65g and a pond.

Have you ever seen those 'Tier tanks' for bettas? I only saw the one once, I think it was custom ordered. It was about 4' long acrylic with numerous compartments that were all interconnected by a small circulation holes, each compartment was about 8" high and 6" wide. The person had about 8 of them on her wall, one above another all connected together and drained to a 40g 'sump' that contained a number of females. There was a flourescent light over each tier and a betta in each compartment. Think about it - one wall with tier tanks and bettas, the other wall for a built in shoe stand.

My African Butterfly cichlids (Anomalochromis Thomasi) have finally kept a clutch alive overnight. This is at least their 8th attempt. I (finally) managed to remove all the BN pleco fry from the tank and it seems to have succeeded. I did try to attempt to raise the last clutch myself when I noticed the plecos moving in, but even with methylene blue most of the eggs got fungus. Out of 5 wigglers I only have 2 remaining fry, which are 2 weeks old and doing great. They are in the 90g planted community tank. There is another male and 2 females in the tank. Interestingly enough, if you isolate the breeding pair to their own 20g, they don't get along - only in the presence of others of their kind would they call a truce and breed. They ignored the various dithers and other fish in the 90g unless they get within 8" of the eggs. Please forgive my blurry pictures (and the dirty glass - Honest, I cleaned it last week!). Female with eggs: she is in the shade so you can't see most of the iridescence. Breeding male: He is shy and hard to get a picture of. Non-breeding Females: They are very drab compared to the breeding female, but it gives an idea of what her colors are.

I have heard of people taking the particle stand apart, making a frame and screwing the particle board on the outside for appearance. I have to make a decorative front for my metal frame stand this summer... sigh...

Anyone remember their first fish tanks? I look back now, shake my head and wonder how I managed to break numerous scientific laws. My Mom bought me my first tank when I was 10 - and I knew nothing about fish except how to catch the ones in the lake on hook. It was a 10g, it had the stock filter (wasn't bad actually), heater, mixed brown gravel. Two 5" goldfish (they were only 1" when we bought them and the petsmart employee swore they only grew to 3") 6 neon tetras 5 guppies a 6" pleco one siamese fighting fish 4 painted tetras No water changes, just evaporation top-ups. And yet they all lived peacefully for 3 years until I saved enough to buy a 55g - and they filled up my 55g! And I bought the Fish for Dummies book at the same time! Amazingly, only one fish ever died and it was a pregnant guppy.

I have had a few requests for how I maintain my daphnia cultures, so I will post it for all to see. I apologize beforehand for it's length. How set up and maintain a Daphnia cultures: Tank: It is best to have a main "tank" and a backup - my backup is a 1g vase in the windowsill. I usually try to have 2-3 backups (anything under 5g doesn't need an airstone/filtration). Although I have had success with 5 one gallon vases on the windowsill for small applications. Main Tank & Aeration: (glass tanks, or even clear plastic tupperware containers work) I recommend a 5g or larger - thin layer of sand on bottom and gentle aeration (no tiny bubbles, as they will get stuck in the daphnia's shell and kill it - just leave the airstone off of the end of the tube). 1 bubble every 3-5 seconds is plenty, the daphnia live in still water. Snails and shrimp are welcome to eat any leftover food and produce inforsia for the daphnia. I have found that aeration isn't really needed, simply using a turkey baster once a day to "bubble" the water for 10 seconds kept over 200 daphnia alive in a 1 gallon vase. Backup tank: (try to only have 20-50 daphnia - or the culture can be overwhelmed and crash) I recommend a 1g vase in the window sill, 1/4-1" of sand, a small plant or some moss, add some green water to kick things off, and 6-10 snails. The snails will produce inforsia for the daphnia, algae will also cloud the water. This vase should be self-sustaining for 2-3 months without a water change - just ensure to remove excess daphnia. Feed snails every week or so. No aeration or pump needed. Vase should always have at least a slight green tinge to the water, if you can't see an inch into the water due to suspended algae, even better. Biggest problem with cultures: The biggest danger is a another "bug" called cyclops, which present in most aquariums. They will decimate a culture in short order. So rule number 1 - never use tank water (or dip daphnia nets in other tanks). These bugs are smaller than the daphnia and cling to the walls, they are very quick to catch the slower daphnia and they reproduce even faster. If you do get cyclops in your tank - know that it is only a matter of time before the culture crashes. Use daphnia from an uncontaminated backup culture to start another culture in another tank/container. Remember even 3 daphnia can fill a 5g in 5 weeks. You will have to bleach the infected container for 3 hours, it is the only thing I have ever found that works - ensure you use a lot of water conditioner to de-bleach the residues. I have watched cyclops survive 3 days in water with chloramine. Also treat any tap water going into the tank with prime or other condition that removes ammonia, chlorine, and heavy metals as daphnia are very sensitive to these things. Food: You can feed daphnia many things, algae being the best; but yeast, blended veggie juices, and other things work too. Algae: easiest to grow on the window will - Use treated tap water, and add a few grains of miracle grow powder, stir well, and algae will grow swiftly. It is easiest to have 2-3 1G containers, empty one half ways and top up with new water and ferts. (I use a solar powered water pump to circulate the water and send my algae tanks into overdrive). Yeast: the average baker's yeast works well. Use treated tap water and add the yeast (about 1 tsp per 500ml or equivilent). Do not overfeed yeast, as it consumes oxygen and can rapidly foul a tank. Water should be slightly cloudy and should clear up within 8 hours - if it is not clear then you are feeding too much, if it clears sooner, feeding too little. It is advised to feed green algae at the same time to help counter any water fouling. Veggie juices: use a blender to blend carrots and peas (even frozen veggies work if you defrost them) into a fine slurry - use a nylon stocking to separate juices from pulp. You can freeze the juices in an ice cube tray, and use the pulp for snails, plecos, soups, or compost. Finely ground dry food: you can finely grind foods (nls pellets, algae flake/wafers, fish food, etc) - it must be extremely finely ground - fine enough to remain suspended in the water column for 12-14hrs. Mix in a small cup of water and add to the daphnia tank. Water changes: 25% water changes every week or so are crucial (due to amount of food put in the tank and the fact that daphnia use a lot of calcium present in the water). Some people put a brine shrimp net at the end of a siphon so as not to waste daphnia. Refill using algae water, or water that has been treated for at least 3hrs. High phosphorus levels will slow daphnia reproduction, so if you daphnia culture isn't doing great, do a 50% water change and add green water. Daphnia: Daphnia females will clone themselves (most are female). They can start producing at 3 days of age, and live up to 28 days. A culture can triple in size every week. Daphnia with white saddles are normal. Daphnia with black saddles means something is out of balance - the black saddles are eggs that will hatch only once they have dried out. Do a 50% water change and do a check for cyclops or other predators. I sometimes force a small daphnia backup culture to crash just to collect the eggs - I then dry out the eggs and keep them as an extra backup in case all my cultures crash. The easiest way to cause a crash is to let them over-populate and then feed slightly less. Use an egg baster to collect the big females with black saddles and put them in a fine mesh net - they will drop the black eggs in 1-3 days. Note: snails love these eggs, so no snails in the net. Or simply let the entire culture die in the vase and collect the 'dirt' (ensure no snail or shrimp are present). Dry the eggs out and store them dry until needed (they are good for 3-5 years, but some may hatch even after 10 years).

I found mine don't like pellets, they prefer flakeand enjoy frozen. Mine especially love live daphnia (I use the daphnia as "vacation feeders" and I usually come back to fry). Shells can be found in Dollaramas - they bring in bags of whaleseye 13-18 for $2. They only bring them in once a year around April-July sometime. I haven't found any for the last 3 months. Check the candle section in any store you go to, it is sometimes amazing what you can find. (Never buy the dyed shells). One Walmart I checked had a 3lb container of shells that was nice. http://cichlidbreeding.com also carries lots of shells, mine prefer whaleseye, muffin shells (males), and Japanese snail shells(females). You have to email them for a shipping quote. Multis are hard to find, it took me almost 4 months to find my original 12 fish. Mine are not breeding at the moment. I know there are some in the pet store in Westlock for $8.50 ea. I used to have an entire 90g with them, but I sold most of them and just kept a few. Multis normally grow quite slowly; but, as I found out by mistake, if they have a 24/7 supply of live daphnia their growth rate goes up exponentially. I had separated about 25 1cm fry for someone, and dumped a 'whack' of daphnia in every couple days, they put on 3 months of growth in 2 weeks. :shock: Can you tell that I now love live daphnia? They swim around until eaten and don't pollute the water. By the way, after you introduce the original fish, it is nearly impossible to add more later on. Even in my 4' tank with 8 fish in their shell bed in the far right corner, I had to temporarily place a divider so the 4 new ones I got could settle into a new shell bed in the left hand corner. Adding females is hard enough, adding males is nearly impossible - you may not be able to tell, but they sure can!

Well, I got 2 bags of neon rice fish at the auction. Anyone have any experience in breeding them? I know the females hold the clumps of eggs on their anal fin for several hours and they drop or rub them off after that. I have already seen at least one female with an egg clump. I assume a spawning mop? Do the eggs stick to the mops or are they non-adhesive? The internet has widely varying info on time for eggs to hatch - 15 days to 6 weeks. I do have a separate container for the eggs/fry.

I managed to snag 2 bags of neon rice fish for unbelievable prices (1 bag for $6, the other for $4) the other bags went double or triple that. I got a bag of 3 gold rams for $30 - and considering their colors it was a steal. Got some plants for under $5 (I'm cheap). Watched a big piece of driftwood with moss and plants on it go for $7 right at the end... Some of the cories went well above store prices, quite a few shrimp were present although the yellow ones went higher than I wanted to go. (Anyone selling yellow shrimp? ) Almost no cichlid juvies this time, I think there were 2 or three bags. Kudos to our auctioneers who did a great job as always! :thumbs: So, the next auction is in march - who can't wait? :thumbs:

Is anyone else getting excited? I know I am.

It is often used in ponds for severe algae or greenwater, it is a liquid that is extracted from Barley (aka. plant juices). It looks like heavily tannin colored water, and kind of affects the tank the same way. Never had problems with adding it to tanks with fish, plants, or shrimp. It may lower your ph a bit if you add too much. Kind of like putting barley straw in your pond/tank to reduce algae, only it is an extract so it acts a lot quicker. They sell it at any fish pond store and many pet stores in the pond section.

Welcome! Care to share a picture of your mexican giant sailfin mollies? I had thought about getting some at one time, but didn't have the space.

Welcome to the forum!