Stocking moms 55 gallon.

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yeah he is huge. wish i could get him a bigger thank but that would be to much for her to take care of. plus more money to get it setup.. she loves him though. if he was the only one in the tank she would be perfectly happy. im sad i have to leave tomorrow and won't be able to help out with the tank. ill try to get her to send me pics so i can keep this up to date.

going to try to get some shrimp for her before i leave.. i want to see them to haha
 
going to pick up some shrimp before i have to leave tomorrow. mom also says she wants a couple snails. i don't know a thing about them.. would they work in her tank? what kind?
 
Mystery Snails, Nerite Snails... The choice is yours! I would pick up maybe 2-5, but 5 might be pushing it.
 
Yep sure thing. Mind you, they might reproduce, and that makes for a big BOOM in population, lol. If she finds herself totally overrun by snails, tell her to borrow 5 loaches from a lfs, LOL!

I haven't really dealt with snails, only the mystery snail who lived with my betta, so please do your research ;)

My new main function is to show people rams-


Lookup bolivian ram or german blue ram, see if your mom likes it :)
 
hmm just looked into them. i knew they were chichlids so i just assumed they were aggressive but from what i am reading they are pretty peaceful.
 
Yes. Although German Blues may be more colorful than their Bolivian counterparts, they are said to be much more fragile. Bolivians will color up greatly in good water conditions. I suggest a pair, or maybe if you are up to it (Research this, I haven't), one GBR and one BR... :)


Great fish.


And just read up on the profile of assassin snails, look those up, they eat snails that infest the tank. Haha, assassin. Ninja.


Ah; sorry.

What is your PH?
 
haha i will definitely look into those snails and the rams. i have plenty of time to research the fish since we have a couple weeks before adding more.

ph is 7.5
 
Ah, I thought you were leaving.


And alright, but watch any GBR you put in that PH, I believe they like it lower, but I'm sure they'll do fine.


Take it from a thirteen year old ;)


What state are you in BTW?
 
That pleco takes care of all algae, I'm sure, so nerite snails may not be the best bet. They eat algae only, and are tricky to supplement. By the way, they do not reproduce in freshwater, so they can never overpopulate the tank.

Apple aka mystery snails would be a better option. They are more of a scavenger snail. They will eat leftovers and should be supplemented with something like shrimp pellets and algae wafers. They are more enticing to fish, but I'd only expect the gourami to harass them. Unlike the common pond snail and ramshorn snails, they are not hermaphoditic. You must have a male and a female to reproduce. Even better, they lay their egg sacks above the water line, so they can easily be removed if you do not want any snail babies.

I wouldn't go for a GBR unless you can get one from a local breeder. If you buy one in a shop it's been raised in water very different from yours (probably very soft water with a pH of 5.5-6) and they typically do not adapt well. Take this from someone who has purchased 5 from different sources and never had one live much longer than a month. Plus, with the filtration and bio-load of the tank, I doubt the nitrates in the tank are going to stay low enough for a GBR. They are quite sensitive and to better your chances with them, you want to keep the nitrates super low. A bolivian ram or another dwarf cichlid like an apisto would be a much better option for your mom. :)
 
plotter, i am leaving but i will be guiding mom on when and what to add. she is in nc, i live in utah.

siva, thanks again. will stay away from the nerite snails. we will have a look at the mystery snails tomorrow. im guessing she will end up just wanting the shrimp and not wanting snails but we will see.

and i think we will just stick to the original stock list instead of the rams.
 
Yep. Sounds good. I'm in Florida, so I save money on a heater :p lol.


Well, I sincerely hope your mother's tank flourishes. You are a good son, going out and buying all that top fin stuff, setting it up, getting her fish....

Do you own a fish tank in Utah?
 
thanks man. i try to be.

i don't have one right now but i will be picking up a 72 gallon bowfront the second week of december. its going to be my first saltwater tank. im super excited to start working on it, trying to decide on a sump design right now.
 
well just got a call from mom saying that some of the new black skirt tetra aren't looking good and have white spots. im assuming its ich but im not there anymore to see for myself.

what should i have her do about this?
 
Uh oh, you have a pleco in there, dunno if you can do salt heat.


Actually,


Tell her to crank up the temperature to 87 degrees F for 3 weeks. This will kill the ich.

You have a fluval heater, right?
 
That is the ich treatment. Ich is always always always in the tank, waiting for stressed fish, to pop up.

I do 84 degrees and 3 teaspoons of salt, but I don't have a heater.

Plecos are extremely sensitive to salt.

Heat speeds up ich's lifecycle, and kills it off too.

So keep the heat at 87-88 for 3 weeks (dots prolly gone in 2, do 3 as a precaution).


That is what will kill the ich. Don't do meds unless you absolutely absolutely have to.




QP
 
Can she take pics of the infected fish? White spots are often ich, but can also be fungus or velvet. Make sure the spots look like granules of salt, and aren't fuzzy looking.

I've never done just heat, but I have heard it works. If she wants she can try that first before adding any salt. She'll need to be able to get the temp up to atleast 86 degrees, and keep it there for about two weeks, atleast one week after the spots are gone. During this time doing as many partial water changes as possible is a good idea, thoroughly vacuuming the substrate. I believe you already added some air stones to the tank, so you should be fine in that department, since the extra oxygenation is crucial when the heat is raised.
 
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