Recent content by Polycomb71

Yes, the nerites will lay eggs. Can be somewhat unsightly. Honestly, I could never sex my nerites. But good thing is, even my dwarf chain loaches leave them alone.

Bettas don't tolerate shrimps much, IME. Additionally, the shrimps must moult at some point and repeat moulting periodically. That would make them even more vulnerable, and the Betta will have a rather easy meal. You can try nerite snails, which are attractive, and won't breed in freshwater...

Do you have any preference for a particular biotope/region? Rough and tumble or relatively peaceful? It is a good sized tank for dwarf cichlids, for at least two pairs plus dithers. Some smaller South Americans are quite possible too. If you do not have pairs, and have different cichlids of...

Abw0004 offered really good advice. Also, Badis are really beautiful little fishes, and will be great candidates for this tank. I would l also consider Peacock Gudgeon ( Tateurndina ocellicauda), very peaceful, with superb colours.

The slime is probably blue green algae. That is actually a cyanobacteria,and they can photosynthesise. They also can propagate extremely rapidly. Does your tank has a distinct smell, like sewer like smell? Also, at a very low pH the nitrifying bacterial colony that are going to take care of your...

Most are probably hiding under the substrate. Will come out after the lights are out. The snails multiply quickly. You may consider raising snails in a nano tank, and feed the puffers as needed, otherwise the main tank will soon look like a ?ocalypse.

I am a biologist by profession. In our kind of research, use of EDTA in many of the buffers is indispensable. But we use masks and protective eyewear when we weigh this thing out. Quite hard to dissolve in water, and solubility is rather poor below the pH of 8.

EDTA chelates divalent cations, like Calcium and Magnesium. AFAIK, prime has bisulphite compounds in it. But yes, I have noticed EDTA in so many cosmetics related products.

How long have you had them in the Malawi cichlid tank? The water parameters of rift lake cichlids and South American blackwater cichlids like the Rams are radically different, and may not pan out well for the Rams in the long run. Rams are also poor competitors for food, not in the ballpark in...

TMaier is so right. These guys love munching on small snails, and are notoriously messy eaters. They need to keep their fused teeth worn down, as the teeth grow continuously. Snail shells help there a lot. I have a couple of them, but they eat frozen bloodworms and frozen daphnia as well. Maybe...

Was she kept in freshwater? I don't know much about crabs, but fiddlers are probably best off in brackish water, and won't do too well in a freshwater environment. That might have caused her to attempt the "escape". :-)

I am so sorry to hear that Gimpy Girl passed away. It could have been an internal infection from that tail for that may have been the cause of her demise. Are you still getting high chlorine after the stress zyme / stress coat treatment? It is possible that you got sick/ already weak specimens...

That much chlorine in your local tap water was not only irritating the fish's gills, but more critically, was killing off all the good bacteria in your tank that are in charge of the nitrogen cycle. Now as the bacterial colony is reestablishing itself, the cloudiness has come back. It will soon...

AFAIK, these guys need cooler water with a high degree of oxygenation and a high current in their water. Loaches need very clean water as well. A small tank is much more prone to parameter swings, and are generally problematic, unless the bioload is very small. A high turnover filter, a...

I am Sanmay, located at NYC and am glad to be a part of this forum. I kept fishes for maybe 7-8 years as a teenager, then had to discontinue. However, I picked the hobby up again some five years ago, and have been keeping mostly cichlids. Right now planning on setting up a central american...