jamesbarr

hey, I got a bunch of platies from a friend of mine. I am pretty unfamiliar with them but I am told by my friend that they are pretty prolific with their breeding habits. Lately Ive noticed them hanging out on the tank floor and it looks like they are rubbing their bellies on the sand... normally when the fish hang out at the bottom I get worried, but the fish dont seem distressed at all. No dicoloration, they dont seem to have any kind of vertigo or anything. Anyway, just wondering how they are since I have no idea. I actually only took them because I liked the look of a few of the cross bred ones with guppies. I have a few that are platy in shape but instead of being red, they have a red tail and silver bodies. I assume that the cross breeds are like a mule and are not able to breed. I took a few others that arent cross bred and I have no idea if they were bred prior.... Whatever the case....Im just wondering if anyone has any experience with them or other live bearers doing this.

bill peyto says its a dandy! nice tanks dodge!

hey, so I started my tank on co2 the other day. I have a farily new planted and I was reading about peoples result in various places on the interweb and have read a few times that CO2 can kill RHS. I happen to hate the little buggers and luckily havent got any in my tank that I am aware of however I have a buddy with a large population in his tank. He has tried different methods, yoyo loach, handpicking and what ever all else, but not this. Has anyone here got any experience with this? I am just wondering if its true or not. partly for selfish reasons (to keep it going in case along with other benefits) and for my friend with the rhs infestation....

im willing to guess that this is a thread posted out of exasperation :P

you may want to consider the length of time you leave your lights on. Algea thrives when there is plenty of light and nutrients. I would just do w/c once a week and start to tinker with your light timer a bit. If you dont want to do that, I would say that previous biological attacks are good options. Inverts (mts, zebra snails, shrimp) or bottom suckers (pleco, ottos) would be my first thoughts. I have some plecos and I see them sucking on stones all the time. I dont think they are thirsty :P Im against baking or bleaching because the gravel has good bacteria on it that help to maintain your chemistry. Do something agressive like baking or w/e and you will have to start the substrate all over. Not to mention the potential of residual bleach inside your gravel leaching into your tank. In my opinion its probably better to find out why the algea is there in the first place and deal with that rather than treat the symptom and have to do it again in a few months. Just my thoughts on the subject

i took that small filter from my smaller tank and put it on my larger tank with the old media in it to help seed the tank. If you dont want a ton of flow just turn your larger and the smaller filters down to slow flow rate and run them together, That way when you take the small one off (or just leave it on like I did) you can adjust the larger one to meet your flow rate needs....

hey, i have heard that if you buy pea puffers that they will eat the hatchlings. Also, I have heard of yoyo loaches doing the job too.

I think that if your line waves at all, you will be pretty upset if its black since it will be more obvious. Clear at least it wont matter so much and will take on the colour of whatever is behind it (since its clear lol) Do you often build your own tanks?

lol i gave my dad a kick in the rump to go planted. Its more daunting than difficult. I bet that you can do it. To start with if you have one of those single tube units you should be able get a spectrum bulb from big als or w/e that will fit. That will make a major difference. Also depending on your bio load, a general fertilizer may be a good idea (big als has a generic one that is way cheaper than the flourish stuff), but if you have lots of fish, I would add the plant and change the light to start until you become addicted to the feeling of growing plants and your bio-load isn't enough to keep the plants going

wysteria is a brutal tank take over kind of plant. I had that in my tank and it took over in less than a month in a tank that was completely new, uncycled. I threw some in a tank with tap water and conditioner and some platys all at the same time. All that with a cf bulb is stole from a lamp. I have also had anubias survive cycles and java fern is an old stand by. Vals are a good recommendation too. Whatever plant you choose, get rid of those silks! :P

you should do a time frame video of the beginning of the tank til present. that would be pretty impressive. Also, your tanks is really awesome

hey so I did some changes...just thought id put them up just finished doing it so its a bit cloudy

some more pics.

k the image button ^

http://albertaaquati...showtopic=35943 take a look @ that, will help you out. hey got this figured out thanks

thanks for the encouragement! I was thinking of a iwagumi tank, but got scared because Ive never done one. I dnt know how to get that ground cover look that I see whenever I see one of them. I have some umbrella hairgrass that has taken in my tank half decent. Maybe someone has some experience with it. I got the hairgrass at the spring auction and have never mucked with it before and have no idea how it behaves.... Any tips?

nothing like the reward of being able to be frugal while doing a potentially expensive hobby! Thankfully we have this website to connect and share ideas!

I dont do w/c anymore, but i have focused on low maintenance plants and fish. I have worked out a system in my tank where I watch what things are doing. Plants are languishing, too many fish/ over feeding. Plants not growing, not enough fish/not enough food. I dont use chemical ferts tho either mind you. My tank is a constant experiment of balancing out waste production and waste up take. Just my take on the W/C

hey vallisneria I took your advice on a background, I put a light grey towel on the back there. I dont really like printed background ie; plant pictures and so on. The towel made a major difference! I really makes the light reflect nicely into the tank, making the tank seem brighter, and it also makes my fish stand out a lot more. Thanks for the advice! I dont think that my lfs stocks driftwood, (im from a small town) so I will have to wait for a bit to get into edmonton for that.

Thanks! Ill do my best to keep posting more pictures as things get more established My anubius flowered today and I have a picture of that but I cant figure out how to post pictures in my replies....

welcome to the site!

hey all just wanted to post some pictures of my set up so far. Lots of help for the design came from this site and its members. So I figured I own you all some shots. Thanks for your help so far! If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them

thats more along the line that I was thinking of. do they get very big? special requirement?

I think that I will have to look at that for sure. I was thinking more along the traditional looking catfish. long bodied, whiskers and so on. Have I got the wrong name? Like this http://www.buzzle.com/img/articleImages/373395-3231-17.jpg no so much like this http://www.joe-ks.com/archives_aug2009/CatFishA.jpg

jewels, that is a massive amount of wisteria you have there.