Karmicnull
Member
Astonishing fish. I wouldn't have thought there was enough water flow for them to breathe if they spend the day buried, but clearly there is!
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Consistency Deficiency
- Thread starter Hufsa
- Start date
Ive bought some more new fish after the thermometer knives, and I figured they should also get a proper introduction to the journal.
First among them were 4 juvenile/subadult Rineloricaria eigenmanni, henceforth referred to as the grey fishsticks. They made themselves at home immediately and the day after I got them in the tank, two were already humping each other vigorously in a cave
They have been doing this on and off for almost a week now, and when I woke up today they had finally gotten something to show for it. A small clutch of green eggs were found both in the cave and partially scattered across the sand. I was planning to let the male take care of the eggs, but since they had made such a mess of things I ended up taking the eggs and transferring them to a tumbler. This is probably their first spawn, and I could already tell some of the eggs were unlikely to be fertilized. Most of them have gotten milky as the day has passed, but some look like they may be viable. We shall see. The male was quite offended when I removed him from the cave and so the grey fishsticks have been skulking in the shadows all day. The following picture was the best I could get of one. They will come around im sure. There is another female among the 4 and she is even more rotund than the first, so if Mr Fishstick wants to try again, he wont have to wait too long to find a willing female.
I also got 4 young Sturisomatichthys panamensis, nicknamed the brown fishsticks. My SO is a bit unhappy with this, as they arent brown at all at the moment, but rather black and beige. But they should get browner with age. "Other fishsticks" doesnt really work as a nickname.
These guys are spunky little things and have an amazing way of claiming possession of their desired algae pellet. They shove and whip their tails as hard as they can when someone gets too close. The other fish roll their eyes and just swim around this strangely aggressive twig, but if two should decide they want the same pellet, something like this may happen.
Luckily for everyone they have no teeth or any way of actually hurting anyone, so its just a hilarious display of various power stances.
They also quite like sweet potato..
They came in a little thin, but the concavity in their bellies is already on the mend and soon they will be in better condition.
Big boi made an appearance earlier, and I managed to snap a few non blurry pictures of his head. Hes still not out of the woods. He is eating only minimally at feeding time and tires easily. He is noticeably less energetic than the other three. His wound is healing but he may have something systemic he is dealing with. They are being treated for various parasites, but I think it comes down to him, wether he will be able to recover from his long journey or not.
I also got 20 tiny Corydoras pygmaeus. I have been looking for C. hastatus which is my favorite cory, but couldnt resist getting these guys. I figured I can sell this group on later if I want to switch down the road. They are adorable though and not as shy as the hastatus, so I may not want to replace them. I didnt get many good photos of them but here is one next to a shrimp.
The last new addition proved impossible to photograph, but rest assured these 20 Boraras brigittae are perky and faster than they have any right to be. I was taking a photo of some BBA growing on the bolbitis leaves, and managed to capture one right as it was about to enter Warp 9. I have really missed having this species, they add so much life to the upper areas of the tank and I have never seen them bother the shrimp. Almost all my favorite fish are bottom dwellers, but these guys really are the exception to that. They have been having a grand time eating any detritus worm foolish enough to swim in the water column.
With these new additions needing to gain weight, food has been abundant to say the least. My Corydoras venezuelanus are extremely fat and very jolly. I think theyre converting the food directly to more cory eggs. I have spotted several tiny corydoras fry swimming around in the nooks and crannies.
I had around twenty of the adults before, but to reduce stocking density and competition for food, I traded in half of them to the fish shop and now only have 9. Which is still more than enough.
Bonus Otocinclus + Shrimp combo picture
First among them were 4 juvenile/subadult Rineloricaria eigenmanni, henceforth referred to as the grey fishsticks. They made themselves at home immediately and the day after I got them in the tank, two were already humping each other vigorously in a cave
They have been doing this on and off for almost a week now, and when I woke up today they had finally gotten something to show for it. A small clutch of green eggs were found both in the cave and partially scattered across the sand. I was planning to let the male take care of the eggs, but since they had made such a mess of things I ended up taking the eggs and transferring them to a tumbler. This is probably their first spawn, and I could already tell some of the eggs were unlikely to be fertilized. Most of them have gotten milky as the day has passed, but some look like they may be viable. We shall see. The male was quite offended when I removed him from the cave and so the grey fishsticks have been skulking in the shadows all day. The following picture was the best I could get of one. They will come around im sure. There is another female among the 4 and she is even more rotund than the first, so if Mr Fishstick wants to try again, he wont have to wait too long to find a willing female.I also got 4 young Sturisomatichthys panamensis, nicknamed the brown fishsticks. My SO is a bit unhappy with this, as they arent brown at all at the moment, but rather black and beige. But they should get browner with age. "Other fishsticks" doesnt really work as a nickname.
These guys are spunky little things and have an amazing way of claiming possession of their desired algae pellet. They shove and whip their tails as hard as they can when someone gets too close. The other fish roll their eyes and just swim around this strangely aggressive twig, but if two should decide they want the same pellet, something like this may happen.
Luckily for everyone they have no teeth or any way of actually hurting anyone, so its just a hilarious display of various power stances.
They also quite like sweet potato..
They came in a little thin, but the concavity in their bellies is already on the mend and soon they will be in better condition.
Big boi made an appearance earlier, and I managed to snap a few non blurry pictures of his head. Hes still not out of the woods. He is eating only minimally at feeding time and tires easily. He is noticeably less energetic than the other three. His wound is healing but he may have something systemic he is dealing with. They are being treated for various parasites, but I think it comes down to him, wether he will be able to recover from his long journey or not.
I also got 20 tiny Corydoras pygmaeus. I have been looking for C. hastatus which is my favorite cory, but couldnt resist getting these guys. I figured I can sell this group on later if I want to switch down the road. They are adorable though and not as shy as the hastatus, so I may not want to replace them. I didnt get many good photos of them but here is one next to a shrimp.
The last new addition proved impossible to photograph, but rest assured these 20 Boraras brigittae are perky and faster than they have any right to be. I was taking a photo of some BBA growing on the bolbitis leaves, and managed to capture one right as it was about to enter Warp 9. I have really missed having this species, they add so much life to the upper areas of the tank and I have never seen them bother the shrimp. Almost all my favorite fish are bottom dwellers, but these guys really are the exception to that. They have been having a grand time eating any detritus worm foolish enough to swim in the water column.
With these new additions needing to gain weight, food has been abundant to say the least. My Corydoras venezuelanus are extremely fat and very jolly. I think theyre converting the food directly to more cory eggs. I have spotted several tiny corydoras fry swimming around in the nooks and crannies.
I had around twenty of the adults before, but to reduce stocking density and competition for food, I traded in half of them to the fish shop and now only have 9. Which is still more than enough.
Bonus Otocinclus + Shrimp combo picture
Great story, great news and great fish......and shrimp 🙂
I was gonna write a cheerful post today about the ~500 eggs my corys have laid, but my day has somewhat been derailed by a bad filter smell.
I was doing a 75% water change to mostly clear round 1 of the parasite medication out of the tank water, when I decided (on a whim) to make sure the filter was clean and nice.
And thank god that I did that.
When I opened the prefilter compartment of the Ultramax, a very different smell than the usual "fresh forest mulm" greeted me. The best comparison I can make is the smell of unaged driftwood that has been buried under sand and turned blackish.
It smelled what I imagine anaerobic stuff smells. To say this was very alarming to me would be an understatement. Clear in my mind was Darrels many posts on the importance of oxygenation and how canister filters can turn anoxic with disasterous results. I hurriedly went through the rest of the filter and the same bad smell persisted throughout the filter media. Cue internal screaming. The detritus worms were at a record high and they were creeping up the sides of the filter baskets. Part of me wonders if they were trying to get out. My overfeeding for the new arrivals and slacking on cleaning the filter intake strainer has caught up with me. The question now is how screwed am I..
I have not tested the water because I dont trust the tests any more, and even if they showed a positive I wouldnt be able to rely on the results to guide me. Its led me astray one too many times. So where does that leave me. Im telling myself that I have done what I would have done if the water and filter was indeed bad. I changed a ton of water. I have another ton preheating in my 220 liter barrel for another big change tomorrow. The prefilter strainer has been replaced with a coarse sponge. I added an airstone right next to the intake to make sure the water there is circulated. While I had the filter open I threw out the finest sponge layer entirely, and spread the medium sponge out into two baskets to help flow. Theres Seachem Prime in the tank.
What else can I do at this point?
I dont think I will un-panic until I see that everyone is ok. Or maybe I have just killed all my fish.. I hope not..
I was doing a 75% water change to mostly clear round 1 of the parasite medication out of the tank water, when I decided (on a whim) to make sure the filter was clean and nice.
And thank god that I did that.
When I opened the prefilter compartment of the Ultramax, a very different smell than the usual "fresh forest mulm" greeted me. The best comparison I can make is the smell of unaged driftwood that has been buried under sand and turned blackish.
It smelled what I imagine anaerobic stuff smells. To say this was very alarming to me would be an understatement. Clear in my mind was Darrels many posts on the importance of oxygenation and how canister filters can turn anoxic with disasterous results. I hurriedly went through the rest of the filter and the same bad smell persisted throughout the filter media. Cue internal screaming. The detritus worms were at a record high and they were creeping up the sides of the filter baskets. Part of me wonders if they were trying to get out. My overfeeding for the new arrivals and slacking on cleaning the filter intake strainer has caught up with me. The question now is how screwed am I..
I have not tested the water because I dont trust the tests any more, and even if they showed a positive I wouldnt be able to rely on the results to guide me. Its led me astray one too many times. So where does that leave me. Im telling myself that I have done what I would have done if the water and filter was indeed bad. I changed a ton of water. I have another ton preheating in my 220 liter barrel for another big change tomorrow. The prefilter strainer has been replaced with a coarse sponge. I added an airstone right next to the intake to make sure the water there is circulated. While I had the filter open I threw out the finest sponge layer entirely, and spread the medium sponge out into two baskets to help flow. Theres Seachem Prime in the tank.
What else can I do at this point?
I dont think I will un-panic until I see that everyone is ok. Or maybe I have just killed all my fish.. I hope not..
rebel
Member
- Joined
- 4 Aug 2015
- Messages
- 2,256
What media do you have in your filter? I only run biologic media; noodles impede flow more than matrix. No filter wool etc.
Its two baskets of Sera Siporax, which is one of those white tube types of media. Had one basket of coarse sponge, one of medium and one of fine sponge but now the fine sponge has been removed. No floss.
Update this morning, no signs of anything bad going on as far as I can tell. Fish are behaving normally from what I can see. The brown fishsticks were pale yesterday, beige on beige instead of black on beige. But they look normal again today. Oto gills look a normal shade of pink to me, but I didnt notice them looking different yesterday either. Fingers crossed we make it out of this unscathed. Either way I have learned my lesson and wont be doing these mistakes again 
Pictures of cory eggs from yesterday. Unfortunately (/fortunately?) approximately half were unfertilized or were eaten. But maybe its for the best, imagine how many corys this would make if they all hatched and grew up. Not pictured are all the smaller egg groupings scattered every-which-where.
Hard to see but the Rineloricaria eigenmanni eggs are developing small grey fish in them. About half were unfertilized so there is only 10 left in the tumbler.
The second female moved into a cave a few days ago and the vigorous humping resumed. I cant tell if this was a new male or the same one, but either way, this morning there were more eggs. The male will be allowed to take care of this batch. I think they need some longer caves as the eggs were laid quite close to the opening. These are just some caves I already had on hand. Maybe ill make them some PVC tube ones.
A large gathering of Corydoras pygmaeus were schooling yesterday. I hope it wasnt because they were stressed. Either way I snapped a picture
This is my surface agitation as of three days ago.
Spray bar is back, my package with the JBL in/out set arrived. I might write some more on this kit later as im not super impressed with it.
Is this enough surface agitation?
The circulation seems a lot better in the tank when I have a spraybar on the back, but the Boraras have been acting confused since then and surfing in a corner. Im a bit concerned for them, as they are from relatively still waters. When I had the spade shape outlet for a while they seemed more at ease and knew where the current was. They would go racing every now and then but not do so constantly, and there were easy to access areas that had calmer water. Now they are in the current almost all the time.. Hmm..
Pictures of cory eggs from yesterday. Unfortunately (/fortunately?) approximately half were unfertilized or were eaten. But maybe its for the best, imagine how many corys this would make if they all hatched and grew up. Not pictured are all the smaller egg groupings scattered every-which-where.
Hard to see but the Rineloricaria eigenmanni eggs are developing small grey fish in them. About half were unfertilized so there is only 10 left in the tumbler.
The second female moved into a cave a few days ago and the vigorous humping resumed. I cant tell if this was a new male or the same one, but either way, this morning there were more eggs. The male will be allowed to take care of this batch. I think they need some longer caves as the eggs were laid quite close to the opening. These are just some caves I already had on hand. Maybe ill make them some PVC tube ones.
A large gathering of Corydoras pygmaeus were schooling yesterday. I hope it wasnt because they were stressed. Either way I snapped a picture
This is my surface agitation as of three days ago.
Spray bar is back, my package with the JBL in/out set arrived. I might write some more on this kit later as im not super impressed with it.
Is this enough surface agitation?
The circulation seems a lot better in the tank when I have a spraybar on the back, but the Boraras have been acting confused since then and surfing in a corner. Im a bit concerned for them, as they are from relatively still waters. When I had the spade shape outlet for a while they seemed more at ease and knew where the current was. They would go racing every now and then but not do so constantly, and there were easy to access areas that had calmer water. Now they are in the current almost all the time.. Hmm..
Hi all,
My guess would be no harm has been done. You've still got the plants, as your <"other source of biological filtration">. If you hadn't had a planted tank that would, most likely, have been a total fish kill because of <"single point of failure and positive feedback loops">.
cheers Darrel
That was all you could do. I'm pretty sure that most of us have been there at some point.
My guess would be no harm has been done. You've still got the plants, as your <"other source of biological filtration">. If you hadn't had a planted tank that would, most likely, have been a total fish kill because of <"single point of failure and positive feedback loops">.
cheers Darrel
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Did a 50% water change last night. I had to decide between 75% and 50% and since the fish were looking seemingly ok I decided on the lesser amount. The fish get more worked up and stressed when I do 75%, it seems like they can feel the water level getting very low and they pale and start rushing around maybe trying to avoid getting stranded.
Was upset to find that a venezuelanus cory I had seen looking a bit strange a few days ago had now gotten very strange looking indeed. As I was fishing it up with a net I realised it had dropsy. Ive never seen a cory with dropsy before, but now I know what it looks like. It was quickly PTS with a sharp knife and I spent the rest of the evening nauseated and worried.
Ive been fiddling with the outlet of the canister filter again today, because some of the fish seem unhappy with no calmer areas in the tank. The boraras do not settle down with too much current and I am worrying that they will exhaust themselves fighting the current constantly. The honey gourami is also extremely upset because her favorite corner in the back right was turned into a torrential bubble stream from the airstone I placed to help the filter recover. She has been melodramatically flopping around the tank, to the point where we thought she was dying.
I have argued with myself a bit because as you may have noticed I tend to overthink things a smidge. I think that the circulation in the tank was likely perfectly fine the way it was, but it was the huge increase in food breaking down and maybe partically clogged intake that tipped it over the edge. Lots of fatty protein rich food breaking down in the canister filter would have pushed the oxygen demand way over the amount the flow through could supply. So now that I have stopped feeding so much and is cleaning the intake sponge nervously, the oxygen demand should go back to where it was and the flow should be sufficient again.
What do you guys think? I really welcome more opinions on this as I tend to get lost in my own lines of reasoning and overlooking other aspects.
Is this enough surface agitation do you reckon? I know this is a bit like asking how long a piece of string is
This is how it is set up as of writing this. Red is the main flow from the canister filter.
Purple is the skimmer, set up to try to aid the main flow and not disturb it.
Teal is the airstone that I have moved slightly away from the back right corner and now it sits pretty much directly under the canister outlet. I would like to remove this airstone when the filter smells earthy and nice again, since I find all airstones quite noisy.
Pink is the gouramis precious hidey area and this is where she has her bed as well..
We noticed her always sleeping in that corner and a few weeks back my SO suggested I put in the bed I made for the betta I had before.
She seems to like it, she doesnt use it quite as much in daytime as Jeff did, but it supports her at night when shes sleeping.
Was upset to find that a venezuelanus cory I had seen looking a bit strange a few days ago had now gotten very strange looking indeed. As I was fishing it up with a net I realised it had dropsy. Ive never seen a cory with dropsy before, but now I know what it looks like. It was quickly PTS with a sharp knife and I spent the rest of the evening nauseated and worried.
Ive been fiddling with the outlet of the canister filter again today, because some of the fish seem unhappy with no calmer areas in the tank. The boraras do not settle down with too much current and I am worrying that they will exhaust themselves fighting the current constantly. The honey gourami is also extremely upset because her favorite corner in the back right was turned into a torrential bubble stream from the airstone I placed to help the filter recover. She has been melodramatically flopping around the tank, to the point where we thought she was dying.
I have argued with myself a bit because as you may have noticed I tend to overthink things a smidge. I think that the circulation in the tank was likely perfectly fine the way it was, but it was the huge increase in food breaking down and maybe partically clogged intake that tipped it over the edge. Lots of fatty protein rich food breaking down in the canister filter would have pushed the oxygen demand way over the amount the flow through could supply. So now that I have stopped feeding so much and is cleaning the intake sponge nervously, the oxygen demand should go back to where it was and the flow should be sufficient again.
What do you guys think? I really welcome more opinions on this as I tend to get lost in my own lines of reasoning and overlooking other aspects.
Is this enough surface agitation do you reckon? I know this is a bit like asking how long a piece of string is
This is how it is set up as of writing this. Red is the main flow from the canister filter.
Purple is the skimmer, set up to try to aid the main flow and not disturb it.
Teal is the airstone that I have moved slightly away from the back right corner and now it sits pretty much directly under the canister outlet. I would like to remove this airstone when the filter smells earthy and nice again, since I find all airstones quite noisy.
Pink is the gouramis precious hidey area and this is where she has her bed as well..
We noticed her always sleeping in that corner and a few weeks back my SO suggested I put in the bed I made for the betta I had before.
She seems to like it, she doesnt use it quite as much in daytime as Jeff did, but it supports her at night when shes sleeping.
Those thermometer knives are great fish! Any idea what size these get to and if they will eat small tetras etc? There’s not too much information out there so it may be a case of learning on the job lol.
I’ve always liked the look of glass knife fish as something different for a South American tank but these seem even more unique.
Cheers
Conor
I’ve always liked the look of glass knife fish as something different for a South American tank but these seem even more unique.
Cheers
Conor
They should get about 20-25 cm long. They will definitely not eat tetras, and I havent seen them show any interest in my dwarf shrimp. They are not predatory in behavior but more like a grazer that eats only tiny crustaceans and worms in the sand. They are very peaceful so I would not house them with anything aggressive or that could pick on them.
Make sure you can feed them late at night, and that the food wont be eaten by other fishes before they get a chance. Im considering rehoming my big corys to ease competition even more.
They will want very fine sand and enough open room, I wouldnt house them on anything coarser than 0.6-0.7 mm sand. Im planning to make the switch from 0.2-0.7 mm sand to 0.1-0.5 mm just to make them as comfortable as possible.
They come from very soft and clean water, I found this snippet of info in a youtube comment while I was doing research
From video
"Depending on high water/rainy season (ca. December - April/May) and low water/dry season (starting May/June, hottest months August-September, up ca. Dec.); those rainforest creeks are always much colder than the main streams (R. Negro, Solimoes, Purus, Xingu, Tapajos... 28 - 30++ - up to 36° C).
Current strongly dependent on water level.
This spot/creek:
May (still rainy season): 25.1°C, pH 4.1, conductivity 7.9 µS/cm, 0.4 - 0.6 m/s current, 0.5 m visibility;
September (dry season): 24.8°C, pH 4.6, 6.4 µS/cm, 0.23 m/s, visibility higher (much shallower water, 0.32 m vs. 0.87 m at the same spot at highwater/rainy season), clear blackwater is "crystal clear", but during highwater or after heavy rains visibility decreases dramatically.
GH, KH? - it's nearly "destilled water", see conductivity.
This video was made in October (low water), did not measure at the exact spot of the video this day (was night 😉 ), but at a small, similar creek nearby (pH 5.1, 6.3 µS/cm, 24.7°C).
Current there is always low at low water and much higher at higher water levels; but current is highly dependent on the spot one measures; measured "in the middle of the creek", but in curves, behind or in front of rocks or wood, the velocity can differ significantly. Not all spots in a small creek show the same water current."
You might have some trouble sourcing these guys, they appear to be rare in the hobby.
If you think you can provide them the right conditions I would definitely recommend them though 🙂 They remind me a lot of seahorses and have completely stolen my heart
Thanks for the detailed information. I wouldn’t keep them with anything larger than a corydoras or dicrossus. My aquarium currently isn’t large enough but looking to upgrade To a 4/5 footer when I move house in the near future. These sound like they would be ideal as a stand out oddball. I’ve also seen dwarf tiger knife fish advertised recently, apparently they only get to 6 inches long so are another one to consider.
cheers
Conor
cheers
Conor
Karmicnull
Member
I'm about the forum's least qualified person to comment but based on all the other journals I've read your surface agitation looks fine. Now that you've got rid of your backlog of decomposing protein, and cut back on excess new protein, your Archaea should catch up pretty quickly.
Cheers,
Simon
Cheers,
Simon
Today I picked up a nice new upgrade for my tank, an Akvastabil Fusion 250 liter, measuring 100x50x50 cm.
If this was a perfect world (aka where I was King) I would force them to make the tanks 60 cm wide and 40 cm tall instead, but alas I am not.. yet.
Despite this im looking forward to 100x10 cm more space for my bottom dwellers and driftwood, rocks, and various other bottom dweller paraphernalia.
It will replace my older generation Akvastabil 180 liter. It has served me (and a previous owner), faithfully for god knows how many years. I picked it up second hand when I was a teenager, so the tank is at least 13 years old. This brand is highly regarded in Scandinavia, the tanks have aluminum frames and are thought to be able to withstand most anything short of full blown nuclear war. There are 30 year old tanks of this brand still knocking about with original silicone work. Its a bit like the Eheim of aquariums.
Except Eheim has gone downhill in later years but I digress..
Hopefully this new gen is as solid as the older ones. It has a top frame and a bottom frame, but no side frames, which will be nice. Fish, shrimp and eggs tend to get hidden from sight behind the side frames. I know framed tanks arent "haute couture" right now, but there is something very comforting about the solidness of the frame. The tanks are less delicate in general, and can tolerate much more shenanigans from whatever you place it on.
The light top/lid of the generation I have now is really annoying. Im sure it was groundbreaking / innovative or whatever at the time, but the openings are only about 10 cm wide, way too small to comfortably work inside the tank. If I want to reach something in the back I have to pick up the entire lid and move it back towards the wall, where some plastic corners will helpfully stop me from achieving decent working space. The slot in the back lid to allow tubes and stuff to exit the tank is way too small and thus the back lid is never properly closed. I cant have an automatic feeder without making some sort of wild tower for the feeder to stand on, and of course a lid flap would have to be open constantly for the feeder to have access to the water. Open top aquariums have been vetoed by my SO and I tend to agree with him. It does get really damp really fast. Modifying the lid is not really a good option as its all solid aluminum aside from the helpful corners. For the same reason, waiting for the tank/lid to die on its own and need replacing would likely end up with the tank winning.
The old tank also has a brace across the middle, in -exactly- the location where it feels the most natural to drop the fish food in.
The new lid has two helpful feeding holes, and can be removed in three sections. The light is independent so I will be able to remove the entire top and still see what I am doing in the tank.
The marketing blurb states that the two slim cross braces (made for LED lights to rest on) are "removable for when youre decorating". Im hoping this means I can go without them entirely, but I will be contacting the manufacturer beforehand just to be sure.
The aluminium frame stand the old tank came with is way too low and gives a tall person instant back pain when doing maintenance. In addition to this, it has a very inconvenient bar running across the front, that makes you lift/drag ~20 kilos of filled Aquael Ultramax filter over said bar, every time you want to do filter maintenance. Of course it is also just slightly too low to open the prefilter in situ. This frame stand is also indestructible just like the tank so it will never "need" replacing.
So I also ordered the matching furniture stand for my new tank
Ah, to be able to effortlessly slide the filter towards me! To have a shelf! And doors to keep all the mess inside hidden! What luxuries
I got the tank and flat packed stand home today, but am not in a hurry to make the switch itself. The back glass of the new tank needs painted black, and the stand needs assembling. Im planning to make the switch from my current sand to the very fine 0.1-0.5 mm sand with this new tank, and this will of course take out a good chunk of the archaea/bacteria community. Especially in light of the recent filter disaster, I am in no rush to rock the boat again.
If we say plants are one pillar of support in a tank, filter is another pillar and the sand/wood/glass surfaces is the third pillar, I will be resetting 2/3 of my third pillar. I dont feel like this would be a very smart move to do when I just (almost?) killed off my entire filter. So the filter needs to recover completely and smell nice and fresh for a while before I will consider switching.
I also have a ton of baby fishsticks on the way and tiny corydoras fry roaming around. I dont want to accidentally squash any or leave anyone behind.
The new tank is going in the same spot the old tank is, which makes things extra difficult and fun.
For a good while I thought I would build a custom lid, custom stand and order a custom frameless tank with my ideal measurements, but in light of my health this year, I think this will be a really good compromise. And things will actually get done instead of just being a plan for like 5 more years 😁
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Oh I almost forgot!
On our way home we stopped by a petstore we dont usually frequent, mostly on a whim. I was expecting to see the same old common fish there, guppies and platys and goldfish, but suddenly my eyes spot zebra otos. This is a rare find here, even in a well stocked fish store. They were perky and healthy looking, with no ammonia burn and nice tummies.
I couldnt find any price tag on their tank, only for standard otos, so I asked the lady minding the store. She somewhat disinterestedly told me the oto fish cost 3,2 pounds each, or 8,2 for three. I asked her if she was sure, and she said yes.
Now at this point I might have been a bit unethical, because instead of asking her if they really shouldnt have been more expensive, I told her id take all of them
All 4 zebra otos came with me for the same price I paid for just one in my regular store. I'll just tell myself its not my fault they dont know what theyre selling.
The lady minding the store had such a horrible time trying to net and bag them that I almost asked her if I could just do it myself.
But the fish were eventually transfered to a bag with way too much water, symbolically and poorly wrapped in some newspaper at my request, and on their way home with me.
I might be going to hell but at least ill have these sweet otos
Edit: Second almost forgot, also got more plants. Will write more on these later
On our way home we stopped by a petstore we dont usually frequent, mostly on a whim. I was expecting to see the same old common fish there, guppies and platys and goldfish, but suddenly my eyes spot zebra otos. This is a rare find here, even in a well stocked fish store. They were perky and healthy looking, with no ammonia burn and nice tummies.
I couldnt find any price tag on their tank, only for standard otos, so I asked the lady minding the store. She somewhat disinterestedly told me the oto fish cost 3,2 pounds each, or 8,2 for three. I asked her if she was sure, and she said yes.
Now at this point I might have been a bit unethical, because instead of asking her if they really shouldnt have been more expensive, I told her id take all of them
All 4 zebra otos came with me for the same price I paid for just one in my regular store. I'll just tell myself its not my fault they dont know what theyre selling.
The lady minding the store had such a horrible time trying to net and bag them that I almost asked her if I could just do it myself.
But the fish were eventually transfered to a bag with way too much water, symbolically and poorly wrapped in some newspaper at my request, and on their way home with me.
I might be going to hell but at least ill have these sweet otos
Edit: Second almost forgot, also got more plants. Will write more on these later
I checked the filter today and it smells nice again! Not as strongly as it usually does, but it is very light in particulates and dirt now since ive been in there a lot looking after the oxygenation.
Ive always loved the smell of the filter but I have never been as happy to smell that earthy smell as I am today
I stood for a while, just sniffing sponges in the kitchen, and im sure I looked quite insane.
But yeah, very very happy.
Things are fairly well in the tank, I think? Ive lost a few adult shrimp, but I think its because I used less GH powder in the change water and then did several large water changes almost back to back. They dont like being forced to molt and ive had issues with this before.
The long boys are doing good still, some are better at coming out and eating than others. Big boy's scrape was completely healed a little while ago. A few are still flashing their gills against the sand, and I find it curious that it seems worse now that im medicating than before. Im using a Praziquantel medication. Today is the last day of the second (last) treatment. Im unsure if the flashing means the knives are bothered by the medication or by the parasites. Or maybe the medication is bothering the parasites, which in turn bothers the fish. But the parasites should be dead now 🤔 I might do a third course in a weeks time, or I might take a break and observe. Im hoping im not dealing with resistant parasites. None of the other fish are flashing or seem bothered in any way. The smallest knife does not itch at all, and he appears to keep his gills closer to his head than the others.
Its possible that there are water quality issues from the filter episode, but none of the other fish show any symptoms or issues, aside from those few shrimp I lost. If the shrimp were dying because of poor water quality, then shouldnt all the tiny cory fry I have swimming around, also be affected? It would make more sense that its a shrimp specific issue.
Either way, im trying my darnedest not to worry overly much about it.
Im feeding with great restraint and looking after the filter as best as I can. I also increased my plant mass. Fate will have to take care of the rest.
I bought a new batch of red mosquito larvae to feed them, and unbeknownst to me, the store grabbed extra large ones. They are the biggest mosquito larvae I have ever seen and I dont even want to think about what sort of mosquitoes would hatch from these. The only fish with big enough mouths to eat them are the venezuelanus corys. And they are more than fat enough already. This has resulted in me having to finely chop little frozen cubes of disgusting larvae for every dinner. It almost looks like strawberry jam. Forbidden strawberry jam..
On to a different subject, papa-grey-fishstick is doing a great job looking after his eggs. He is dilligently cleaning them and defending them from anyone who dares look in their direction. They all look to be fertilized as well. The eggs in the tumbler are hatching as of writing, but we had some last minute egg casualties to fungus. So it looks like we might only get 3 fry in there. One is out of the eggshell, one is struggling to get the shell off his head, and the last one remains a mystery. I feel for the one with the eggshell hat, he is having the struggle of his life and he isnt even fully born yet! Unfortunately he is so impossibly tiny that I think if I were to try to help him, it would be impossible to grab only the shell.
Ive always loved the smell of the filter but I have never been as happy to smell that earthy smell as I am today
I stood for a while, just sniffing sponges in the kitchen, and im sure I looked quite insane.
But yeah, very very happy.
Things are fairly well in the tank, I think? Ive lost a few adult shrimp, but I think its because I used less GH powder in the change water and then did several large water changes almost back to back. They dont like being forced to molt and ive had issues with this before.
The long boys are doing good still, some are better at coming out and eating than others. Big boy's scrape was completely healed a little while ago. A few are still flashing their gills against the sand, and I find it curious that it seems worse now that im medicating than before. Im using a Praziquantel medication. Today is the last day of the second (last) treatment. Im unsure if the flashing means the knives are bothered by the medication or by the parasites. Or maybe the medication is bothering the parasites, which in turn bothers the fish. But the parasites should be dead now 🤔 I might do a third course in a weeks time, or I might take a break and observe. Im hoping im not dealing with resistant parasites. None of the other fish are flashing or seem bothered in any way. The smallest knife does not itch at all, and he appears to keep his gills closer to his head than the others.
Its possible that there are water quality issues from the filter episode, but none of the other fish show any symptoms or issues, aside from those few shrimp I lost. If the shrimp were dying because of poor water quality, then shouldnt all the tiny cory fry I have swimming around, also be affected? It would make more sense that its a shrimp specific issue.
Either way, im trying my darnedest not to worry overly much about it.
Im feeding with great restraint and looking after the filter as best as I can. I also increased my plant mass. Fate will have to take care of the rest.
I bought a new batch of red mosquito larvae to feed them, and unbeknownst to me, the store grabbed extra large ones. They are the biggest mosquito larvae I have ever seen and I dont even want to think about what sort of mosquitoes would hatch from these. The only fish with big enough mouths to eat them are the venezuelanus corys. And they are more than fat enough already. This has resulted in me having to finely chop little frozen cubes of disgusting larvae for every dinner. It almost looks like strawberry jam. Forbidden strawberry jam..
On to a different subject, papa-grey-fishstick is doing a great job looking after his eggs. He is dilligently cleaning them and defending them from anyone who dares look in their direction. They all look to be fertilized as well. The eggs in the tumbler are hatching as of writing, but we had some last minute egg casualties to fungus. So it looks like we might only get 3 fry in there. One is out of the eggshell, one is struggling to get the shell off his head, and the last one remains a mystery. I feel for the one with the eggshell hat, he is having the struggle of his life and he isnt even fully born yet! Unfortunately he is so impossibly tiny that I think if I were to try to help him, it would be impossible to grab only the shell.
Poor quality photos from feeding time, Episode 37:
Smallest knife eating with the others. I like his pattern a lot, the patches on the back on creamy yellow, the stripe along the side, with the transparent thermometer markings below it
Enter stage left, the gourami is wondering what all the fuss is about. Actually, she is wondering why the fuss isnt about her.
Shes not sure what im doing but shes quite sure she would make a great center of attention regardless.
This is the first time shes seen the knives, and she gives it a good frisking with her feelers.
In the background, daddy fishstick guards his eggs and wishes we would stop floodlighting his cave.
The gang is left to eat in peace.
Smallest knife eating with the others. I like his pattern a lot, the patches on the back on creamy yellow, the stripe along the side, with the transparent thermometer markings below it
Enter stage left, the gourami is wondering what all the fuss is about. Actually, she is wondering why the fuss isnt about her.
Shes not sure what im doing but shes quite sure she would make a great center of attention regardless.
This is the first time shes seen the knives, and she gives it a good frisking with her feelers.
In the background, daddy fishstick guards his eggs and wishes we would stop floodlighting his cave.
The gang is left to eat in peace.
Its been in the tank for -ONE WEEK- and a part of the JBL in/out sets has already broken. Unbelievable!
I wrote that I wasnt particularly impressed with it, but little did I know just how poorly this crap is made.
The colors of the spray bars dont match the rest of the kit, the fittings are completely hit and miss on how well they fit together, and the elbow doesnt want to stay attached.
If you so much as look at it wrong it pops off and its a pain in the ass to carefully balance it just so - so it stays on straight.
And yesterday, the plastic elbow just split open right where the seam is.
The kits (including some overpriced suction cups that would make Eheim blush) cost me no less than 32 pounds
I have bits and pieces costing half a pound from fleabay that are way more solidly made than this.
Its not that ive been too heavy handed with it either, its made to be push-fit and I am very careful when I assemble and take things apart.
The thing that bothers me the most is now I cant trust the U shaped fittings that go over the tank. If one of these were to split open in the wrong place, the filter would pump water out all over the floor.
I'll try to contact the webshop where I bought the kits, but I expect them to give approximately zero shits about this.
Their customer service policy has been to just ignore any emails you send them that they dont feel like responding to.
On the much more positive side, the plants seem to be doing good.
Maybe ive had a consistency deficiency all along.
Should I rename my journal I wonder. I'll wait and see a little while longer.
Im seeing less hair algae, and not noticing the BBA spreading significantly either. Theres still a lot of old BBA on some of the driftwood branches, but thats just because ive been too lazy to take them out and treat them with glut. My laziness figured there was no point treating the BBA if it was just gonna grow right back, but that might be wrong. Either way it has been a convenient excuse.
Ive bought more plants in two batches, more bolbitis and various types of java fern. Im going back to a lot of epiphyte plants again like I had years ago. I miss the variety in colors and textures that stem plants offer, but the rhizome plants have other qualities that are a good fit for me. They dont mind being moved around, and I can plant them off the sand (obviously), leaving more space for my fish. They grow, but do not grow so rapidly that they are ever that out of control. Stems in low tech seem to either have the freshly trimmed and way too bare - look, or the way overgrown and rowdy look. I dont think im good enough with management to consistently having them the "just right" length.
I havent stayed entirely on the mark with adding fertilizer, it has been about 50% of what I had written down that I wanted to add.
Especially K, just because its 4 times more dilute (because of solubility concerns), and I have to pump like 20 pumps to add as much as my notes say. Yes I am THAT lazy.
Im looking at getting one of those dosing bottles with a chamber just so I wont have to pump it
It hasnt seemed to make any kind of difference to the plants to be honest, so im thinking I can decrease the amounts a bit and see how it goes.
I think my targets were around 1/3 or 1/2 EI, which is probably much much more than I need to add.
Now the high priests of EI will probably exclaim that there is no harm in having way too much nutrients.
Just as im writing this, I can hear them sharpening their aquascaping scissors and see the blindingly bright light of their ADA torches in the distance.
But before you come and beat my algae growing punk ass, consider this;
How many things in life are completely black or white, either or, no shades of gray at all?
There is not a lot of things like that ive found. Maybe fertilizer is one of the exceptions, maybe not. Its worth considering
Maybe ive had a consistency deficiency all along.
Should I rename my journal I wonder. I'll wait and see a little while longer.
Im seeing less hair algae, and not noticing the BBA spreading significantly either. Theres still a lot of old BBA on some of the driftwood branches, but thats just because ive been too lazy to take them out and treat them with glut. My laziness figured there was no point treating the BBA if it was just gonna grow right back, but that might be wrong. Either way it has been a convenient excuse.
Ive bought more plants in two batches, more bolbitis and various types of java fern. Im going back to a lot of epiphyte plants again like I had years ago. I miss the variety in colors and textures that stem plants offer, but the rhizome plants have other qualities that are a good fit for me. They dont mind being moved around, and I can plant them off the sand (obviously), leaving more space for my fish. They grow, but do not grow so rapidly that they are ever that out of control. Stems in low tech seem to either have the freshly trimmed and way too bare - look, or the way overgrown and rowdy look. I dont think im good enough with management to consistently having them the "just right" length.
I havent stayed entirely on the mark with adding fertilizer, it has been about 50% of what I had written down that I wanted to add.
Especially K, just because its 4 times more dilute (because of solubility concerns), and I have to pump like 20 pumps to add as much as my notes say. Yes I am THAT lazy.
Im looking at getting one of those dosing bottles with a chamber just so I wont have to pump it
It hasnt seemed to make any kind of difference to the plants to be honest, so im thinking I can decrease the amounts a bit and see how it goes.
I think my targets were around 1/3 or 1/2 EI, which is probably much much more than I need to add.
Now the high priests of EI will probably exclaim that there is no harm in having way too much nutrients.
Just as im writing this, I can hear them sharpening their aquascaping scissors and see the blindingly bright light of their ADA torches in the distance.
But before you come and beat my algae growing punk ass, consider this;
How many things in life are completely black or white, either or, no shades of gray at all?
There is not a lot of things like that ive found. Maybe fertilizer is one of the exceptions, maybe not. Its worth considering
rebel
Member
- Joined
- 4 Aug 2015
- Messages
- 2,256
Keep a journal dude. Sometimes it helps to identify patterns and learn.
