Recent content by BlueMoonFox

If you feed them more proteins and keep the tank warmer, they will grow faster and have to moult more. This may increase the rate of breeding, but it also lowers their lifespan. You also have to be more vigilant with tank parameters, otherwise you end up with a bunch of half moulted carcasses...

Having snails in a tank is really a personal choice. They do clean the tank, but also add bio load. Once they are in, it's not easy to remove them; Assassin snails, clown loaches, and puffer fish. I've just come to terms with them.

A note on dropped eggs. It is possible to hatch them if your feeling dedicated. Artificially Hatching Eggs .:. Information on artificially hatching Freshwater Aquarium Shrimp Eggs is a good resource, google being another.

If you need more, let me know. About to trim out a bit to make room.

Killing all of the snails is almost impossible... If it's not planted and the fish are hardy you could look into a copper treatment. If not, assassins work well but they generally can't keep up with an infested tank. Hand removing them, while not the quickest, has been my most effective method...

Everything that I read said that the female will pass the eggs after about an hour after mating. As far as how long the whole thing takes and how to tell if they have mated, I'd love to know that myself.

Not sure. Mine tend not to go for it much in the first few days. Then the leaf will start to change colour and that's when they go to town. Typically, mine is in there for about a week. Day 1-3ish, they might crawl on it but the Oto is the main muncher. Day 4-6 everyone is eating.

I do kale, but same idea. I put it in some water and microwave it for 5 minutes, then stick it in the tank until they eat it away.

It's been in for about three of the four months. It got sterilized due to the BBA on it. The algae got to the moss on it first, spread to the wood and started into my pellia. Moss was tossed, 90% of the pellia gone and the wood boiled. I just noticed some on the sponge filter (to be boiled of...

I'm not sure either. The tanks seems to have settled out and the shrimp I helped is swimming happily. I don't think it's a parasite issue as it was an acute event. Well, regardless, I've got some ideas of what not to do...

I got the driftwood from my lfs, but likewise, it's been in there for about 4 months... I did notice a drop in the pH after everything was put back together but everything evened out so I attributed it to things settling in.

I have a 10g planted tank with about ~25 RCS and 1 Oto. Saturday I did a 20% pwc as per weekly maintenence. Sunday I did about 20% battling BBA. I also boiled the driftwood. This morning I was horrified to find 7 red cherries dead. 5 were freshly molted. I found 1 more struggling during...

Two quick suggestions. 1) a way to help make sure shrimp are healthy is to add a bit of blanched kale. This provides them with the necessary calcium and a grazable food source. I was having problems with shrimp dying and I could figure out why. Turns out they were missing molts. I started...

Thanks. These have been working great. My shrimp food delivery tool (bendy straws) fit right in the window and the shrimp have learned to go in and omm mom nom. The fish gave up trying after the second day. Now I'm just looking forward to the moss filling in so it doesn't look like a mesh hanger...

Neocardinas are a very resilient group. Those are all your Red Cherries, Blue Pearls... Lots of choices. They like their water in the 70's. A little foam filter will do just fine; they have a light bio load. Most people recommend 10gal for them, but I've seen them thrive in much smaller. Some...