Recent content by cricket

I have read that clown loaches can live 20-30 yrs.

That is also what I have in a couple of my tanks. It was labeled play sand in the Home Depot store. It only costs a couple dollars for a huge bag, and so far I have been satisfied with it. If you use play sand, you must rinse and rinse and rinse some more to get all the dust particles out...

A year ago I put a background on my tank after putting a thin layer of vegetable oil over it. This helped it to stick to the tank, and the picture looked brighter. More like it looks before you view it through all that water, which tends to make it look dark if its just taped on. I still used...

My plec is a sailfin, very similar to a common pleco. He gets fed every day. Foods he loves are parboiled zucchini, cucumber, yellow squash,(these can be cut up and then frozen on a cookie sheet and put into ziplock baggies in the freezer, defrost/parboiled as needed). He also loves all brands...

That's pretty much what I did when I set up my first larger community tank. I wanted everything out there I saw, and ended up with 2 black mollies, 2 dalmation, 2 white, 3 tiger barbs, 2 rosy barbs, 3 glowlight, 3 neons, etc. 1 of each kinda cory cat,etc. Not the ideal for schooling fish, you...

I started keeping fish a little over 2 yrs. ago. Bought a 10 gal. kit from WalMart, and some tiger barbs. I read a book on the basics and thought I would be fine. Didn't yet recognize the need for water testing,etc. Everything was fine for mos. then suddenly all the barbs died on me. I started...

I've got Emperor's w/ biowheels also. At first I changed the cartridges every month. Then I found out I could save money by continuing to clean them and use them for up to 3 months. Of course, I could not use tank water, because I needed the water pressure to clean them well. After 3 mos. I...

I bought a 29 gal aquarium from someone that has been used as a snake tank. I kept hearing that it would not be safe for fish, so I raised dwarf hamsters in it for over a year. Then I decided to take a chance on it. I did the bleach thingy, then added some danios to be sure it was safe. It's now...

I keep lots of records, all on paper. Charts to record results of weekly water testing, dates of ea. water change, carbon replacement, any treatments for disease, etc. Another notebook lists each tank, and the kind of lighting, the inhabitants, etc. I also keep track of dates aquired, deaths...

Clown loaches would not be suitable for a 10 gal. They can grow up to 12', tho' may only grow to 6" in captivity I have heard. They also need alot of room to swim around, even when small, and should be kept in a group. They are really fun fish, try them when you get a tank of 55 or more gallons...