Recent content by Blue_trillo

Lets see ... Sunfish wasn't being too photogenic so she only gets one. Her name is Phillip by the way ... a great girl's name. Attempting to eat surface bubbles due to food excitement. His name is John, but uhh, I have no idea what gender the fish really is. Turning off the...

I figured I would post a 9 month update here in case anyone comes along looking for info in the future. Tank is holding steady with no major issues. The crappie and sunfish are getting along well and the sunfish is now almost 6 inches long and the crappie is a little over 10 inches. I found...

Well tank is stable now, no movement of any chem levels, the two remaining fish are in peace. I switched diet to backyard earthworms, crickets etc after doing some reading on fish nutrition and realizing feeder fish are a fairly bad option. Gonna stop here on this one. Might open a new thread...

Whelp I spoke a bit too soon lol. Had an power outage that lasted like 7 hours with the outside temp at over 90 degrees. The tank temp warmed from 71F to 80F before the power came back on. No fish died but it seemed to trigger some behaviors in the male green sunfish. He dug 9 nesting holes...

Tank is good. Cycle is getting near done and all fish are doing well. The crappie ended up claiming one side of the tank and the larger of the sunfish claimed the other. The smaller sunfish seems to wander with neither of them really caring where she goes. Speaking of she, I noted some...

A week later, update time. Cycle progressing nicely. Ammonia is being handled to 0.0 daily. The nitrites are very high however so I am doing 50-75% pwc daily and dosing via Safe. I also added some salt, having read about how it helps mitigate the effects of high nitrites. Fish are eating...

Are you trying to pull water a long distance?

The three fish hanging out. Thus begins the photobomb..... He likes people. The small sunfish in dark mode... apparently they change colors. The larger sunfish at 105% food input.

Dios Mio !! :eek: Nitrites ! I guess its progress. Ammonia 2.0 Nitrite somewhere between 2.0-5.0 (bright purple) Nitrate 30.0 pH 7.4-7.6 Temp 71.0 75% pwc in progress and 5x'd the prime. I already have some aquarium salt enroute which i hear can also help with nitrites. Retesting in an hour...

Of yeah definitely still doing the Prime, also I started using the seachem Stability to hopefully speed the cycle process up. Another note, it is amazing to turn off the tank lights. All three fish immediately switch into attack mode on the feeder fish.

Nothing new to report. Doing 50% pwc a day and ending up @ 0.5 ammonia after each. Fish all eating fine and getting along well.

Noted 2 partially digested snail shells in some leavings today, I guess that answers that question. After 50% pwc: Ammonia 0.5 Nitrite 0.0 Nitrate 7.0 PH 7.4 Got a python no spill water changer coming, soon no more buckets hehe.

Ended up doing 75% replacement instead. After pwc: Ammonia 0.5 Nitrite 0.0 Nitrate 7.0

Afternoon check, pre 64% water change: Ammonia 2.0 Nitrite 0.0 Nitrate 7-8.0 Added a half dozen chubby minnows and a dozen tiny feeder minnows. Surprisingly the larger greenie ate a big minnow, which was about 25% his body size. :eek:

I guess I got lucky. I had some small gravel set in that might have helped. Baby