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My bala shark recently went through this. i gave him some medicine (can't remember what it was called right now), but he's swimming right side up again. He's still recovering a bit I think, but is eating and swimming normal again.
That all depends. For me I do water changes every 2 weeks. Takes about 45 minutes to do water changes on a 110, 75, 55 and now a 20 gallon fry tank and I don't fill a single bucket. Well, actually I do for the 20 but filling 1 bucket is no big deal. The more often you do water changes the better off you are. Monthly is OK but twice a month is better and once a week is even better. If you do them so often that you get sick of doing them then you will slack off. So do them often enough without getting sick of them. Remember, it's a hobby not a job...shake zula said:
That Ludwigia has a bunch of nice new growth. That stuff is going to thrive. Nice job...
Sounds like things are going great. That's good to hear.Me, I've been a slacker. Been working on landscaping and the newborn and water changes have been put on the back burner. I really need to knock one out this week. I lost a dwarf flame gourami a couple days ago in my 55 and a female peacock in my 110. And I haven't bought any gold fish for the clown knife or frozen brine for the others in quite a while. Huge slacker here, but sleep seems to take precedence right now...
TLEF that tank is gorgeous.I just got my first tank 6 months ago (used off craigslist), and it's been a slow learning process. It's 55 gallons with a Tiger Oscar I raised from a baby (now quite large), as well as three smaller cichlids (Black Convict, and two African ones). I originally bought it for my baby son, who loved watching the fish at the doctor's office, but I ended up losing all the plants when the Oscar tore them up (Lesson #1: Oscars love to rearrange their surroundings, including live plants). I also went with a blue gravel substratum instead of sand, and from the looks of your tank, the sand looks much MUCH nicer.
from what I've heard, under gravel filters won't work with sand. I think they clog up. From what I've read, Oscars are very very messy. If i was keeping one, I'd probably get a canister filter. The sand comes with its own set of issues. I get some greenish alage on the glass under the surface of the sand. In certain areas, it's tough to get to. Also, fish poo sits on top and it sticks out like a sore thumb. If i do another planted tank, I think I'd go with black sand layered over some sort of planting substrate. Thats obviously a lot more expensive though. The play sand i used was dirt cheap (just makes sure you wash it really really well.)
So the filtration system doesn't take care of solid waste? You have to manually remove it?
as you can see from the pictures, my filter intake tubes don't make it all the way to the bottom of the tank. Plus, all of the decor disrupts water movement in certain areas. As a result, some waste settles in a few areas of the my tank (mostly the back left corner and in the center underneath the red ludwigia) I have to vacuum that stuff up. In the future, I may upgrade to some cannister filters. This way, i can regulate the intake and output a little better. Plus, there is room for a lot more media.
Pale tetra croaked. He started losing scales, got really chubby, then seemed to get paralyzed.
sorry to hear that. I've had a few small fish do the same thing. Probably an internal parasite. Just be glad it didn't spread at all.
Apistos are kind of hit and miss. My advice is to find a local aquarium society and see if any of the folks there are raising them. Most of them are going to be wild caught, and they'll probably want really soft low pH water. If your local store gets tank raised Apistos those should work, and will probably be a bit sturdier than the rams. Quality on rams varies a lot depending on where they're raised, how they're shipped, etc.
Odd you lost some danios, they are usually tough as nails. The more corys you have the more they'll school.
Best thing for Java fern is patience. It does grow slowly. You might also want to look into Riccia for the driftwood. Wait for advice from Fanatic on this, sounds like he's better with plants than I am.
Ottos come in in rough shape. Initial mortality is pretty normal for them. Offering some algae tablets or zucchini slices might help if you don't have a ton of algae in the tank.
You're hooked! Within reason, multiple tanks don't add a lot more time. If you're breaking out the Python to do a water change on the 75, another couple of small tanks don't take much longer. A nice planted 10 gallon would work real well for a small group of Apistos.One last piece of advice. Set up a quarantine tank. Especially since you are looking at things like wild caught Apistos (which often show up full of parasites) or rams (which are often raised or held in an antibiotic bath, this doesn't help their immune system). 10 gallon tank, sponge filter, an air pump, and a few lengths of PVC pipe (for hiding places) and you're done.
Just got a couple hundred of these in. Puntius denasoni, usually known as a rose-line shark. I haven't heard them called torpedo barbs before. $70 is outrageous; they're not cheap but they shouldn't be that pricey. How big were these? Thats not a bad price if they're 5 or 6", but they usually come in around 2" (and the bigger they are the worse they ship from what I've seen). Should probably be somewhere around $20 retail. If you want, PM me your local store name and I'll see if I can sell them some fish. They're either getting a huge mark up, or I can be real competitive on prices.
Yeah, thats what they were called in the store too. I just know them as torpedo barbs because one guy over at plantedtank.net had a bunch of them and referred to them as that. Yeah, they were 5-6 inches and very robust. Extremely healthy looking fish. The store is Absolutely Fish in Clifton, NJ. Link It was actually recomended to me by someone in this thread. (thanks, by the way) It's way out of my way, but their stock is top notch and they have an outstanding selection. Only negative is they don't have much of a selection of natural decor. They don't replenish their mopani wood or river rock stock very often. I'm thinking about taking out the rock cave in the back of my tank and replacing it with something a little smaller and more practical. It takes up a ton of space and makes it very hard to decorate the top right of the tank. Plus, the fat clown loaches may soon out grow the holes.
I've talked to Todd a couple times, already trying to get them on board. Probably not doing anything soon, but they get my price list every week. It sounds like a great store, he's told me about the kind of stuff that sells for them and the variety they have. Maybe you'll see some of my fish there some day.FYI, I've always gotten my rock from a local stone and tile place. Yeah, there is a minor risk, but I've never had issues. Rinse thoroughly, let it soak a little while, if you're worried throw it in a small spare tank with some test fish. I was paying somewhere around $0.15 a pound for nice stuff that would have been at least $2.00 a pound in my local store.TLEF316 said:
yeah, the rock thats in my tank right now came from a landscaping place. A lot of those places seem hesitant to sell the small quantity that I'd be looking for. Not much room for rock in my current tank anyway. I may check out Adam's pet safari. The one in warren should be a lot closer to me.
Looking fantastic. Looks like you finally have some plants and wood reaching the upper reaches of the tank. Really brings it all together that way. I had a bunch of stuff in my tank for a buddy of mine and a fem holding eggs so I gutted my 110. Pulled everything out I needed and reassembled the tank.
Pandas are really tough. And the more I tried them with plants the more I think that the extra things plants bring to the water are not good for pandas. Go with a stronger stock of cories. Sounds like the guy that was sucked up the tube was worse off that you thought. He wasn't able to get away from someone who started pecking at him. Apistos will go as high as they have plant cover. If you have a lot of plants that go high, the higher they will go in the tank. My buddy has then in a high tech 125 and they are always a foot off the gravel Good luck bro...
yeah, i think you are right about the pandas. You warned me before. I just didnt listen. Gotta find a new species to try. The store i go to gets some pretty rare species, but they are absurdly expensive (sometimes like $14 a piece) There is a really good seller on aquabid that has a ton of diferent types. Maybe i should do some research and order a bunch online.
looks to me like they are expeting to be fed, which is why they are up top....
What. a. fun. tank.I'm an African keeper, but have usually kept mbunas separate from haps, the malawians separate from tanganyikans and the peacocks alone together. Currently I have a 60 with mbunas (colony of melanochromis maingano), and a 40 hex grow out.
Buddy of mine just set up a 24 gallon nano. Cost him about $1200 just for the tank the really expensive light, the live rock, all the cleaner crew (crabs, shrimps, snails) a banded shrimp and a coral. Good luck bro....
It can be, and I have since paired it back. One of the yellow labs died. He was about 6 years old. My remaining one isn't eating a lot which concerns me, particularly when I'm feeding frozen brine about 5 days a week.The Marleri are gone. As is the Kenyi. The German Red was a fem so she's gone. I have since added an Otter Point peacock, Electric Blue Ahli, Sunshine Peacock and another peacock that I'm not sure what he is just yet.What. a. fun. tank.I'm an African keeper, but have usually kept mbunas separate from haps, the malawians separate from tanganyikans and the peacocks alone together. Currently I have a 60 with mbunas (colony of melanochromis maingano), and a 40 hex grow out.
Mixing like you have is considered risky, but being both roomy and busy enough, I'm sure the zebras have little interest in killing the julies. The "big" julie looks spunky too. Nice mix of cats and plecos too. The peacocks seemed to dominate the water waiting for their grub, but I'm sure settled down it is just a fun tank to observe. The OB looked sweet. The loaches made me chuckle. Get some hap and altolamp compressiceps (calvus) in there for a nice touch. Cool tank. My kind of tank. Thanks for posting.
My next fry of Maingano is spoken for, but after that I'll probably sell sixpacks on Aquabid. I might sell the colony (2 males, 10 females) and do something like you've done. It's not breeding, but it's more interesting to watch.
TLEF, your tank is gorgeous too. Not my kind of fish (I'm strictly cichlids), but you're off to a nice start in the hobby. Just scanning this thead it seems like you lose too many fish without explanation. Of course, that happens. My kid lost three tetras in two days last week and It's a mystery to me. They seemed fine and had been fine for a long time. But still, I would consider a new supplier if all these difficulties are coming from the same supplier(s). My nephew uses Aquabid and gets great fish and plants all the time. He's at about 600 gallons total and I got him started a couple years ago, so be careful.
Mbuna are rock dwellers more than peacocks and haps which are the primary focus of my tanks. They like open water. So rock halfway up and leave some room to swim. But it is compounded by the fact that I was standing there so they were expecting to be fed. Ever since I started feeding them frozen brine and frozen blood worms they have all become crack addicts. I think my dried foods seem like methadone to them. With a couple of sets of breeding pairs in there including the Juliis, there aren't as many hiding places as they would like and that forces even more fish into the open water which is just fine with me...
Sounds like a good idea. Wish I had seen your post sooner. That Fish Place is awesome BTW.Clowns sound like a good idea, Definitely let it cycle for a couple weeks. If you got test kits, wait till ammonia and nitrite are down to 0 (not close to 0 but actually 0).Did the nano come with a light or did you buy it? You need strong lighting for most corals but with a nano you can have too much. Clams need very clean water, it could be tough. Shrimp are very easy, a cleaner would be good. Don't get a damsel they can get nasty. Besides the clown, I would look at gobies, basslets and dottybacks.Once they cycle is over add a couple snails and maybe hermit crabs.Good luck!!
Annubias LOVE shade. Don't plant them up high on a piece of wood. They will "burn" up. Plant them under overhangs, under large leaf plants like your swords or Lotus, etc....
Any plant that is red requires about 5 watts per gallon and C02. In other words you need a high tech tank for them to grow well. The sorta red plants like red Crypt Wendtii and those Lotus will do well, but truly red stuff will not do well unless you have an insane plant set upOne more thing. Unless you are taking these pics with a phone, most digi cameras have a sports setting for getting action shots. Try that when taking pictures of fish. You can thank me later...OH, and the tank is looking great. Love the Java Fern on the rock. Be sure to trim it back periodically otherwise it will take over your tank....
Looks sweet!
