What Did You do With Your Tank Today?

[Autumnsky]

Big fish auction day.

Found 5 pretty Cobra Guppies at the Auction and got 4 males and 1 pregnant female. One I paid 5 and the rest 3 each so pretty and a good deal.

Got some free bags of plants, Italian Val, Dwarf Sag, Staurogyne repens fully rooted, like 20 of them, and a plant I am not really familiar with, Hygro Saliciafolia.

3 Buces on stones - 2 Godzilla and 1 Artemis 7.50 each

Cholla wood petite pieces 3. half off

Shrimp safe plant fertilizer Thrive was appx 10. new, I had been meaning to get some.

A $20 gift certificate to a lfs for 10, so I got 6 Chili Rasbora on the way home, they are so little!!! But they were 4.99 each so I paid a little more to get them. But $20 instead of 30 and helped the club in the mean time. A fun store with lots of nano fish.

A new or like new Zoo Med single light for warming or just light for a paludarium or vivarium no light but I have one I can use. 2.50 was half off

Vinegar Eels culture, ready to split was free.

I worked the whole day but had plenty of time to buy some things, haha.

Some people left stuff behind and they didn't want and I got a few other things, like a big heavy utility pump and a smaller pump. And a little CFL mini SW light. With an actinic and 10k bulbs.

And some little stuff.

A friend gave me a couple boxes of misc aquarium stuff since she was moving. Haven't got to look in those boxes. Plus I have 2 boxes of items to bring back to the next meeting mini auction. A wee bit of overload today.

So many things.

 

[Tamera]

Just sat drinking my coffee enjoying watching them.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Got home from a day out with the wife, kinda lateish for me nowadays. Went to feed the fish in the living room. Noticed some uneaten food. Had to second guess myself.
"Have I already fed them?"
Only one other person in the house.
"Tim? Did you feed the fish?"
14 years old and never shown any interest in fish or aquariums.
"Yes."
I start to notice more and more uneaten food.
"How much did you feed them?"
"Like 3 or 4 pinches."
I can see more than 3 or 4 pinches of food sitting in the tank.
"Show me."
Proceeds to empty a pile of hikari micro pellets out onto the palm of his hand, maybe half inch deep, the size of his palm.
"That's more than enough food for a week!"
I spend the rest of the evening doing an emergency water change and gravel vac. No food and another water change for them tomorrow i think.
Not quite on a par with some of the posts about entire tubs of food being dropped in tanks. But thats what i did today.
A+ for effort for Tim I guess. That will teach us to go out to a birthday party without him.

 

[Autumnsky]

Eek! Sounds like a trick and not a treat!
Reminds me of when an elderly family member added in a number of chunks of freeze dried chicken chunk cat treats for the Betta. Freak out plus a 100% water change, substrate rinse and move the fish out of that room.

That's fun you can now have some bonding time with fish keeping and learning all the details. Will be interesting which fish his favorites will be.

 

[gup_gal]

cleaned quarantine & maternity tanks

I cleaned and did a 50% water change on my quarantine tank and vacuumed my maternity tank then removed mother fish back to community tank.

 

[Autumnsky]

Trying to get geared up to do a couple rounds of water changes in the next couple days, will be gone for a couple weeks and won't have any water changes during that time.

Have to get a few bags of Purigen for the tanks I have had more algae since I moved, and one thing which I could think back on was not having any Purigen running in the tanks. Before almost no problems, everything was more stable.

Bought some new food, Ultra Fresh Vegetables Shrimp Pie sinking wafers. Fish aren't overly impressed. But seem to eat it up, just not as quickly as some other foods.

It has a bunch of stuff in it like probiotics, garlic, mulberry leaves, vitamins, which I like, but also some binder/fillers which I wasn't thrilled about.

Like to keep trying foods. Was going to get the community fish food version, but think not at this time, after their response. The wafer food was available to ship immediately, why I got it first.

So will likely spend that money on yet another variety of food instead.

Hate leaving the little guys for so long but do not have a choice.

Also need to move my very old little SW Clown to a nano tank, so he can be easier to feed in the smaller space than a 50G tank. Food gets lost in the big space.

About a month or 2 ago I wiped off a bunch of algae from the side of the SW tank and there was a Aiptasia on the side which completely slipped my mind, and lo and behold after a month there are ~10 new little ones, and apparently all the stories of them shooting out little ones as the think they are going to be destroyed they send out masses.

I will need to dry out the rocks and kill them off.

 

[Autumnsky]

Got the tanks cleaned up.

30G cleaned the 110 AC and did 2 20G water changes.

PRL and Chili Rasbora 12G white Edge, picked out gobs of tuft algae and 2 back to back 4 and 3G pwc.

12G Black Mixed PRL, BB and Red Fishbone shrimp 5G water change and cleaned the filter shock out the jumbo Java Fern / Subassertang glob and got a bunch of stuff, dirty cloud, and rinsed out the fine filter pad again and also the prefilter to help the mess. Shrimp are everywhere in there. New BB babies and some Black and white like CBS. Tons of PRL/CRS babies. Need to cull out some maybe the end of the month.

50G SW basic maintenance add 5G new SW

Endlers 5G Mystery snail babies just added water. It is very lightly fed and the filter small AC filter has plants growing out of it so I do not bother it, the other one was cleaned out a month ago. It is a huge mass of Subwassertang and Moss inside.

Then the problem child 72G is a nasty mess. I didn't have time to vac in there, but it has lots of dead plant debris /dead bits of moss poofs.

The filter was rinsed out and there was so much dead moss stuck in there, it was nasty. I removed huge DW with Bolbitis and the huge DW covered in Java fern was covered in dusty scum and algae.

Brushed all the leaves and the 4 or 5 types of Anubias look trashed.

The Java Fern is super thick and the Java Fern was moved towards the outflow. It was basically blocking the intake pretty much.

Then discovered that the intake paddle screen had a big glob of dead moss and plant strand tangled up and it definitely reduced flow.

Water is cleared mostly but there is a haze in it. I used Accu-Clear and it looks a little better but not great.

I added Fluval chemical bag of Clear-Max and a new fine filter pad. I bought a set of new sponge pads, but will do that later. When I will be home to watch it. Also the FX-5 motor sounds like it will be going out soon. Noisy.

It might not be working to capacity either, also causing trouble. So hope it lasts 2 weeks. I have a used back up, but no one to install it, I would have to call in a HUGE favor from a fish friend.

 

[LHotelUmbraQua]

FOR my tank (not *with* my tank, as it is mine — purchased — but not with me — not delivered…), today I have:

• Started making as exhaustive a list as I can of everything I will need, every single thing, to have my tank and system fully operational, decorations in place, fishlessly cycled, waste matter recycled; tested and retested, mind-scaped, landscaped, aqua-scaped and man-scaped on paper, first; then, for real, plant species selected, purchased, shipped, received, planted, if needed supplanted; and everything else needed or reseeded for them to grow.

• Sketched out semi-daily schedule of every activity of the pre-fish preparations and chores my fish will need me to complete and check-off a worksheet; to monitor, record, analyze it, have the whole she-bang rubbed, scrubbed, and bubbled (and if necessary, de-flubbed and efforts re-doubled); metrics monitored and detected, investigated, reflected upon, instigated and corrected or deflected, Made some firm selections on systems, brands and equipment that are still reversible, still not received but returnable, depending on how additional yet-unselected things (bacteria / food) integrate with current choices.

Continued to do heavy research on species. Still strongly leaning towards a betta-type fish (1); small hardy fish (1-2); and snail (1).

Many notes, much typing.

Continued to design, redesign, and hypothesize on the decorations (interior design)

ALSO, FANTASIZED and imagined “tank design concepts” so I can force myself to research what I don’t yet know in order to execute the design concept (a “concept” example: “WWFFT” — World Wide FishFaceTime).

 

[jake37]

Did my usual saturday water change. This is my white 29 not to be confused with the black 29. Everyone seem happy enough; but i'm always paranoid when i do water changes that i will mess something up. On saturday i water change 3 - sometime 4 tanks - the white 29 the black 29 the 120 and on occasion the 5. i don't consider the 5 a serious tank as it mostly has plants and a few ember tetra. Hum oh - i added a couple of baby pleco to the 5 this afternoon. I guess i'll attach a picture of my curses as well as the white 29:

 

[Kenobyte]

Water change, spray bar setup! Getting some real plants soon!

 

[Autumnsky]

Away for 2 weeks. Things with the tanks are okay as I hear from reports. won't be back for at least a week more. Makes me very nervous.

 

[Mr. Overfilter]

Another major advance for my water. I've managed to figure out how to cycle my LED through a pseudo day\night run automatically.

 

[Autumnsky]

Another major advance for my water. I've managed to figure out how to cycle my LED through a pseudo day\night run automatically.

That's a very happy event.

I just bought an auto one step timer since I couldn't program my light. Should arrive tomorrow and maybe DH can figure out how to make it work.

I'm still away from home. Tonight the Spec 5 long tank started squealing from low water. There is the built-in pump and a AC 20 on the end, filled with house plant starts, and that one had low water. So it got immediate attention via video of the issue and was filled back up. Kudos for the excellent care the tanks are all getting.

Due to the huge amount of evaporation on the open rimless Waterbox tank, and not having an endless supply of distilled water, it was remedied with plastic wrap on top.

Things are gonna look crazy when I get back.

The fish will be partially fasting this week as well till we can walk through refilling the pill box with specific foods.

 

[shellyx]

Haven't posted in here for a while.
Not doing much with my tanks today, just made up repashy for my loaches.
And sitting back watching my congo tetras in my elephant noses tank having fun! Seriously think of changing the aqua scape up in here.

 

[Mr. Overfilter]

That's a very happy event.

After reading about your adventures, me figuring out a fussy light switch doesn't seem all that deep.

 

[gup_gal]

Hi all... Sorry to say that today I lost the battle with columnaris and lost the last of my fancy guppy lines. I have been fighting this for 2 months and had several strains that looked to be pulling through but lost the fight this week with the last pregnant female who died this morning.

On the bright side, I still have a plecostomus who seems to have either resisted catching columnaris or has remained healthy due to treatment. I am in no rush to restock my tank yet, but am not sure if I should drain and scrub clean my 20 gal tank then start fresh with a recycle and if so, what do I do with my Pleco while doing this?

Any advice is welcome.

 

[Autumnsky]

Hi all... Sorry to say that today I lost the battle with columnaris and lost the last of my fancy guppy lines. I have been fighting this for 2 months and had several strains that looked to be pulling through but lost the fight this week with the last pregnant female who died this morning.

On the bright side, I still have a plecostomus who seems to have either resisted catching columnaris or has remained healthy due to treatment. I am in no rush to restock my tank yet, but am not sure if I should drain and scrub clean my 20 gal tank then start fresh with a recycle and if so, what do I do with my Pleco while doing this?

Any advice is welcome.

Very sorry to hear that gup_gal. That is more than disappointing. You can do a search here and there are many threads about Columnaris. Possible to treat with Furan-2 and Kanaplex combination. Sometimes works and sometimes it is too far along.

 

[Autumnsky]

Well was not gone for 2 weeks but SIX.

That was unexpected and a huge stress in many ways. For this conversation, will discuss the fish, there were some difficulties and hurtles to overcome.

I pre-packed 2 weeks and a couple days of fish foods for my "2 week" trip.

Things were prepared and I wondered if it might go an additional week away (maybe 3).

As it turned out it was mid blowing that there was seemingly unending delays while I was away.

The fish were cared for as best they could be considering the problems.

Since there weren't any more than just over 2 weeks of food packed, the person who took over caring for them made new pill box squares of pretty much what I had put in there - "re-engineered" the combination.

Unfortunately it was on the heavy food square. I had made every other day more and less the next. So the fish were over fed.

Water quality in a few of the tanks likely went down and it seems I lost a good amount of fish and shrimp.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So.

Got home and did water changes in the last 2 days.

2 - 15G pwc on 30G Waterbox tank

back to back pwc 2 60G on 72G and that tank the FX5 motor was making a bumping noise.

After the water changes, removed the FX5 and swapped out the canister and connected motor with my extra one. Now it is quiet as ever.

2 pwc's on the White 12G Edge. 2G and a 1G

5G long Spec V 3G pwc

12G Black Edge 1G pwc

50G SW Dead Clownfish and my Yellow Clown Goby. My only 2 fish in that tank. I thought the Clownfish had already died since I hadn't see it for weeks. But never found a body .

My immense sadness is about the Yellow Clown Goby, I have had about 7 years.
~~~~~~~

12G Black Edge was packed with little shrimp when I left. But upon return it seemed maybe only 60% were left. Maybe the moss and Subwassertang was hiding them. Not sure yet.

In the 72G tank, there seems possibly to be missing the 3 largest clown Loaches. They hide sometimes, so I hope they are just hiding. Praying they are. I see 4 all together at the front of the tank, and I really never see them all 8 together. I am hoping. I really love these guys and it will be difficult if they are actually gone, I think at least the 3 big ones :'( are gone.

Overall, so thankful I had additional support at home while I was gone.

Algae is crazy on the 30G the 72G and the 12G Edge white.

And lost a couple Chili Rasboras from the 12G white Edge and possibly the pair of AAA PRL shrimp.

Guppies from the 30G.

A few fish from the 72G.

Tough trip.

 

[Autumnsky]

Back to getting things in order.

Been cleaning up the tanks and doing the additional water changes this week.

Talked to a friend in the next town a couple months ago about picking up a large bunch of Ramshorn snails for my Clown Loaches and some Vallisneria Americana 'Gigantea' which I DID used to have in the 72G tank.

But he sold off the excess Giant Vals because I was gone so long. Though did have many additional snails. So I got a few hundred RH snails of all sizes. Mostly were Blue, and a few Reds. I kept a hand full of reds, they were all small guys. Didn't finish emptying out the bucket yet, though could be more. And also kept a bunch of Blues. SO!

He also had some Endlers and I took him 8 CRS and will go pick up 3 or 4 Giant Vals later.

I brought home one almost grown male and about 20 juveniles and some babies.

They look like Red Chestnut double sword but some have a nice lower sword on the tail. Fun and basically didn't cost anything. So hoping they will grow up and then as they become larger juveniles and adults will move to the 72G where the babies will be food for the shark like behaving Wadai Tetras.

They didn't really eat all babies before but most so there wasn't the usual crazy explosion of babies. Probably will move the majority of females to the auction at the Colorado Aquarium Society meeting in the future.

Also back to pondering the consolidation of some tanks inhabitants and eliminating a couple more tanks.

Considering moving on from the CRS and going to just a big mixed Bee tank only for a while. Sell off the CRS and buy a bunch of Blue Bolts. Then maybe a year from now IF I have more time, get some PRL again. So far, I believe the friend who took my breeding PRL tank is having success. An then I can grab a bunch later.

That would close down 50G SW tank (in progress asap).

12G Old black Edge (current CRS)

5G long Spec is just 2 male pink lavender Endlers and a bunch of snails, RH, MTS, some Mystery snail juveniles, and a rabbit snail.

That would leave 3 tanks
72G Bowfront, mixed Community
30G Waterbox ???
12G newer white Edge, Shrimp

Hmmmmm. I have been getting an idea.???

 

[Autumnsky]

Unfortunately, so many things to do has made tank changes to get pushed out much further. For now have been just doing maintenance.

Also think I mentioned I got a bunch of little Chestnut Endlers a few more are maturing and coloring up, and babies are growing too. they are looking nice.

I did move the 2 male Pink Sumer Endlers to the 30G with all the others (out of the 5G Spec V). Now all just snails in that one with tons of Subwassertang.

Otherwise did ADD 3 more Boraras Brigittae / Chili Rasboras. And one Dwarf Orange Mexican Crayfish male to the White 12G Edge tank.

And in cleaning, found one large Silver Hatchet dried out on the floor. Had wondered where he'd gone. Could have happened during cleaning out the tank, or he escaped a 1/4 inch horizontal space where I leave one glass top cracked open due to the back of the tank duck taped closed and limited air circulation. It's only 1/4" at the center and and for just a few inches gradually decreasing to the side.

Have been sorting out fish stuff, ~10 months after moving, hoping to get the majority of organizing this next 2 weeks. I have very little time to do it.

I found a box of filter supplies in my shed(???). And that was a good surprise, as I had had been wondering where the stock of supplies had gone to. Also found 3 boxes of Fluval filter pads I bought on clearance for half price, I had misplaced in a different location. It's so nice to be getting things in order again.

Hoping to get a female CPO in the next few weeks. And I might want to put in an order for Ember Tetras, I have about 9 in my 72G, but don't think I can catch them very easily. And I want some color in that White 12G Edge. The Chili Rasboras are so hard to see, when I am 15+ feet away looking at the tank. Still might move it next to my chair.