Recent content by joannde

Full tank pics here

UPDATE - its not dropsy and he's doing well :) Part of my "keeping him comfortable" was to up the number of water changes. I figured fresh water would feel ALOT better under those scales. I suspected Dropsy when I saw one part of him getting that "pinecone" scale look. After a couple of...

It really does stink when they go ! I agree with you .... you never do get used to it. I love the idea of the video ! that's great. And I broke into a smile when I saw his soap dish & moss bed. He was well loved. I'm sure he's bragging to all the other fishes about how GREAT his...

WOW - you've made me blush ! Thank YOU ! Spots hanging in there. Still swims over to say 'Hi' and wag his tail every time I walk past him but he's starting to spend a little more time in his hidey hole. He doesn't really seem to be suffering, so I'm keeping him comfortable and giving...

Thanks guys. I'll bleach the tank and hidey-hole and QT the plants after Spot passes - excellent idea. I have a spare 2.5G tank that I'll use for the new occupant when he arrives. All my tanks are bottomless so the beneficial bacteria are attached to the glass, decorations and plants...

My poor Spot has dropsy. He's been my special kitchen buddy for 2 years - he's too young to go ! But its happening :cry: I'm keeping him comfortable right now. He's in a 2.5G planted tank with a handmade ceramic hidey hole to duck into. As I understand it, dropsy can be caused by many...

I feel your pain - I had hair algae like crazy. I never like suggesting a fish to take care of an algae issue (but we'd need more parameters to help you as the others have suggested) but I ended up taking home a beautiful pair of rosy barbs. I had the room (capacity) and loved the long-finned...

LOL F'n'F - understand ! It was the danios I wanted to see - but now that the cockatoos have been mentioned I think I'm going with 2 angels, 2 cockatoos and 6 - 10 (or more if I can) cardinal tetras - its gonna be an awesome tank ..... assuming I can keep the algae away on this one (but thats...

OMG this is too funny MCD ! I really should have read this earlier - reading it all at one sitting has proven to be much to much ..... please excuse me while I clean my chair !!

Oh ! I hadn't thought of the cockatoos ! what an AWESOME idea !!! Thanks !

FishNFries - could you post a photo of your tank ? I'd love to see it

The bigger issue are chloridimides. Chlorine breaks down over time, and as mentioned above, levels vary by town. Chloridimides never break down natrually so a dechlor is a must in this case.

Yep, the frogs will uproot it unless its established with a decent root system. I tried clover with them and it all got uprooted. The recommendation for substrate for them are pebbles so that they can't swallow it - not that I've experienced any problems with them swallowing the EcoComplete...

Mine drains slowly also, and the pressure isn't all that great, but it still beats the bucket thing (esp when you yourself only weigh about 100 lbs ! a 5 gallon bucket of water is mighty heavy at 1/3rd of your body weight). I use a regular syphon into a bucket to gravel vac (I use a 1" tube...