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Round indoor pond project queries.

Hey.

I came back from a two week holiday. One hillstream loaches in the small tank has perished, maybe more, but haven't been able to count yet. I found shrimp munchning on one carcass, no more visual clues.

On a positive note everyone in the pond is accounted for and looking good and grown up. A couple of the new loaches had their noses rubbed white and one had a white scratch mark near the dorsal fin when I bought him. That seems to have gone now. My partner was in charge of the feeding but it still seems they were hungry as lots of my anubias leaves are literally eaten up :mad:...The corys are also looking somehow bigger to me now, although they are adults. I am changing the water now and I will give them a good bunch of worms for dinner. :)

@zozo
My palm looks slightly different species, or at least yours doesn't grow as bushy as mine but rather tall instead. Mine is as tall now but at first it just grows sideways/bushy, then in a few years got tall as well. My guess is you have a different type.
 
I know there are several sp. of this palm, but they all should or could cary flowers and likely fruits.. I forgot wich the big one is, to long ago, also gat a smaller Mexican dwarf version, same story, never got it to flower.. :)

Hope you had a nice holiday.. :thumbup:
 
dw1305 said:
Hi all, I think your palm is a <"Howea">, and @sciencefiction's a <"Chamaedorea">.

cheers Darrel
Click to expand...

You hit the nail on the head Darrel.. :) I indeed believe and faintly remember now i bought it as Kentia palm (H. forsteriana), around 15 years ago, never moved or repotted since, it stands on hydro cultere clay pebbles.. Also got that little Mexican Chamaedorea in a small swamp pot. :)
 
I keep forgetting to tell you guys that I have someone in the tank now that eats the hell out of the anubias. All of the anubias is destroyed with chunks missing out of it....I am not sure if its the barbs or the SAEs but its one of them because the loaches normally would just make a hole here and there, do smaller damage but this time entire anubias plantlets are destroyed..:)

The outside plants on the contrary are growing a lot now that the sunshine through the window is in. The palm has taken off big time and is aiming high these days. It's throwing new leaves all the time. It has even smothered one of the peace lilies which I mean to move away from it so it gets enough sunshine too. Despite the heavy enough fish feeding, the plants are still nitrogen deficient and I get old yellowing leaves every so often...which is a pity but at the same time the fish are being healthy so I am not willing to change things...Fingers crossed but since I set up this tank every fish in it has looked like bursting with health and vigour.

The baby loaches that are raised in this tank are the friendliest ever loaches and they're now as bold as to nip my fingers even during a water change.

I also noticed the harlequin rasboras have become more confident and often swim amongst the larger barbs and SAEs. They must have figured there's no threat in the tank for them now. ;) They're so cute. Generally, all the mid water swimming fish plus the three baby loaches tend to create one big school of fish and stick around together a lot...very odd but nice to see. They probably feed on each other's confidence :)

I also need to try taking a video of my larger loaches for you guys. Every time I see the two very big ones I have, I feel they've gotten even bigger. They're quite the sight now, being so large and chunky, and its amazing that I have been a witness of some of my loaches growing so big. One of them was a little baby when I got it 5 years ago. The other big one as you know I purchased as a 5 incher 4 years ago but my five year old has almost reached it in size.

I spent a lot around my holidays recently so I won't be getting my underwater camera right away but I am going to as soon as I can. I even saw an underwater webcam for aquariums which would be interesting too.....watching my fish while at work :)

As for the hillstream loaches, it seems just the one died. The rest are doing well from what I can see. The temperatures here are up and so is their water but hopefully short term it won't bother them. They are quite the active and entertaining fish to have. I should have gotten some years ago....
 
zozo said:
I know there are several sp. of this palm, but they all should or could cary flowers and likely fruits.. I forgot wich the big one is, to long ago, also gat a smaller Mexican dwarf version, same story, never got it to flower.. :)

Hope you had a nice holiday.. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Hey Marcel...Darrel got it right again :) and my palm is Chamaedorea elegans. If you can't find the species over there and want to try it i can send you a plant. I have another one on the window sill which remained much smaller although its from the exact same plant I divided in two a few years back. They adapt fast to water conditions and its a great fish tank plant :) It also doesn't grow that fast so can be kept in smaller tanks for quite a few years. But it seems to do better with a big pot for its roots. I previously had mine potted in quite the small pot and I think it restricted its overall size, though it did well and flowered nevertheless. Its root system is very hard. It feels like tiny web of thin branches, brown in appearance when mature and not very nice to be in the water :) So I rather the roots stay in the pot :) I used to be afraid some fish would get stuck in it :)
 
Hey Everyone....

I've been fish disinterested for a while this summer, unusual for me to be honest but life has taken over..

I haven't neglected my favourite pets though. They've been water changed and fed regularly....though not all of it was done by me :)

I got an eheim fish feeder. That thing is brilliant. Works like a charm, especially suitable for the small granulated food I normally feed(NLS pellets)
For the last two weeks I barely looked at the pond. I actually bought it because I am going away for two weeks in September and didn't want any big fish to eat small fish because of starvation for that period...I always fear the big clowns will eat the rasboras or kuhli loaches :) Fears and problems sorted :)

Despite of my lack of attention for the last maybe few months in general, fish are going strong and nothing changes to the worse(knock on my wooden head :)
Everyone is there looking good. This pond idea is proving to be the best thing I did so far though I wish I had space for a bigger one....one day maybe......
My palm is growing huge, smothering one of the piece lilies to death but the other peace lily Ion the other side of it is challenging for space big time and I won't be surprised if it flowers soon. Its leaves have gone huge.......There's definitely something about plants competing with each other even if they are from the same species. The suffering peace lily is the one that gets the least window light...you figure :)

Besides the above I've got a few interesting observations in regards to my other summer experiment....
I probably mentioned it before but 3 months back I bought some hillstream loaches for my small tank. I decided to set up another plastic tank for them in the mean time to possibly move them over as they grow.(...they have not grown one bit yet though...not sure if the species I thought I bought is what I got)...

In my attempt to make the best conditions for the few plants I put in there, to get some green algae, and for lack of fish in the tank, I overdosed with powdered nutrients....This caused an almost immediate cyanobacteria outbreak that lasted for maybe 2.5 months up until a week ago. It was so bad everything was covered in dark green/bluish tick film, all sides, bottom...everything. I only had a few snails in the tank...Red ramshorn snails....So I left it be.....Guess what?....These snails absolutely love cyano. They grew to the size of my biggest toe..:) I'll take a picture I promise....I had never seen such big rumshorns before and I've kept them for years... .I remember someone here asking how to multiply ramshorns and I said that they don't multiply that fast....and in fact for the first time in many years I've seen them grow that big in a matter of weeks! And I've got lots of them now in this tank....Sadly, the cyano is gone.....I sort of wanted the phase to last longer :) Maybe I should nutrient oversode that tank again to make those beautiful snails happy :) And then feed them to my clown loaches? :mad::D:)
 
sciencefiction said:
n my attempt to make the best conditions for the few plants I put in there, to get some green algae, and for lack of fish in the tank, I overdosed with powdered nutrients....This caused an almost immediate cyanobacteria outbreak that lasted for maybe 2.5 months up until a week a
Click to expand...
You Heretic you :eek: :shifty:
Have you not read on here enough that
excess nutrients does NOT cause algae!!!!!!
Blasphemer :crazy:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

If only your ramshorns had mutated into all the colours :wideyed:

I've definitely missed your photo & video updates
- but now I can look forward to vacation & fish pix st September's close :D
 
Ha, ha Alto :lol: Yep, overdosing does trigger cyano and I did not dose phosphates, just all micros, extra iron and potassium nitrate ....Thinking do dose that tank again to keep the snails well fed :lol: I never knew ramshorns like cyano that much :)

I spent some time observing my fish yesterday. They acted really hungry when they saw me :lol: so I waited to see if that fish feeder is still working.....and it is. It dumped quite the amount of food but it gets floating on the surface so my bottom feeders don't seem to be getting at it immediately...Well, they're going to have to learn fetch it.....at least while I am away :lol:
 
Hi All,

I've been too lazy to post but I just wanted to share something really weird happening to one of my denison barbs.

When I came back from holiday 3 weeks ago I noticed some sort of a colour problem with one of the denison barbs. I didn't pay much attention as I didn't know what it was and the fish didn't look sick besides that but there was something happening to its colour.

Roll 3 weeks forward, I am doing a water change and see that weird looking clown loach. Upon further look I see it is the "patchy" denison barb.

It has gone through some colour metamorphosis and it now looks like a clown loach :confused:

See for yourself below...I've never seen such a thing...The barb looks like a clown loach wannabe right now :nailbiting: Any idea what is happening?

There it is right now:
Denison Barb Loach.jpg


Denison 2.jpg
 
I'm not sure why it happens but I've seen it before with my beckfordi pencilfish. It looked exactly the same and stayed like that for a a few weeks before returning to normal. At first I thought it was mating colours but I'm pretty sure it's not. Maybe it's a hierarchal thing with the most dominant individual showing off.
 
I fed them bloodworms this morning and observed for a bit. The denison barb above was right amongst the clown loaches competing for food where the rest of the barbs stay away when all the loaches are out for food. It could be something to do with dominance and now that it has this colour it feels more confident in the tank. Also the fish does not act sick at all. It looks quite healthy otherwise. I'll see what happens long term because sometimes one could never know. The type of colour change is really odd though, looking like a clown loach, lol :)

Yesterday I saw another "older" clown loach in the shop. Its only 4 inch max though and looks a bit stunted by what I can see. Someone brought him in a week ago apparently. It looks healthy otherwise, good colours and very active, was doing stunts with two siamese algae eaters around the glass. . I am thinking to get him to round up to 13 clown loaches :) Any objections? :lol:

My two biggest loaches look quite big now and my 5 year old loach has caught up to almost the size of the largest loach, I can barely tell them apart. They'd make a dinner for two for sure at the moment:lol: They dwarf all other fish right now....and they bite :lol:
The 3 larger loaches I bought in May are doing good also. Generally, ...(knock wood)...I have not lost a single fish in the tank, at least that I have noticed. Mr small pleco is looking good too, so are the corys and I can still see khuli loaches although generally they're the only ones I can't count and I can't be certain about

Someone, however, has totally eaten all the anubias. They are in shreds and I'll just remove them. Whoever's doing this is not eating the crypts...;).

My above water plants have exploded over the summer. The palm is flowering again though the peace lilies have not yet.....
 
I've rescued a couple of clown loaches over the years and they really do think the more the merrier. When a friend broke his tank down I inherited a 6" one that sat roughly in the middle of the sizing for my group, I saw some sparring but they became inseparable in a couple of days. So if it's healthy and qt'd I'd say go for it. The only reason I won't add anymore is that mine are all well over 20 now apart from the two smallest ones which are about 15 (there's nothing in there less than 15 years old) and my parents bought them when I was little. I've wanted to turn the tank into something else many times and currently think a planted discus tank would be nicer but I don't trust anyone to look after them as I've had them so long.
 
You do have to post some pictures of those 20 year old clowns :) I'd love to see them...There's no way I'd replace mine for boring Discus fish :)

Well, I got the clown loach and he's actually in the big tank. No quarantine. He's been in the shop for over week prior and prior to that in someone's house so I doubt it there'll be trouble plus they do way better if not stressed any further.. Large clowns do ok with moving and this one is nicely coloured and chunky enough.
He's not much bigger than the year old clown loach I bought last September....so not even 4 inches. He's exploring already and looks good and not stressed. He didn't spend much time travelling and the water in the shop and at home is identical, bar the pollution in the fish shop. I did drip acclimate him though.
 
sciencefiction said:
You do have to post some pictures of those 20 year old clowns :) I'd love to see them...There's no way I'd replace mine for boring Discus fish :)
Click to expand...

I'll try and remember to add some pics later. It's not that I'd replace them, I'd never get rid of them but after a couple of decades with the same stock you can't help but be interested in other species.
 
I haven't forgotten about the pictures but my led finally gave up the ghost so waiting for a new one. The tanks also really tannin stained from the new wood at the moment that it makes getting them without the light impossible. On the other hand they don't seem bothered in the slightest.
 
The new loach is doing well, out and about with the others, though still more skittish than the rest. But its obvious its liking the company in there. Its a very active loach and comes out often exploring.

The oddly colroued, clown "wannabe" denison barb seems to have released a lot of yellow pigment around the body but the irridescent green top/back seems to be coming back You maybe right it has something to do with dominance. Its very brightly coloured at the moment and the red nose and line on the body is very intense.. Combined with the yellow, the colouring is very eye-catching. She/he's swimming about healthily, so it doesn't seem to be health related at all.
 
Hey.

I just thought the other day its been a year and a couple of months since I first set up this tank. Time flies.
Except for the loach that jumped out, everything has been going well with the fish and everyone is still there, active and happy looking.
My bigger now clown loach bunch is extremely bold, finger biting me at each meal.

I don't know if I mentioned or not that the BBA disappeared long long time ago. And I think that's because the tank is not overstocked.
However, I have some serious anubias eaters in there. The entire anubias plants have been shredded and destroyed. Interesting that they don't touch the crypts much at all......The clown loaches never did damage to this extent before and I suspect the dension barbs.
Overall, the underwater plants are doing bad enough. I have not been dosing any fertilisers at all. The emerged ones on another hand are doing really well have grown big. I think they're outcompeting the other plants.

By the way the clown loach wannabe denison barb has turned back completely to its normal colour. I've no idea what it was up to :p I am glad its ok.
The denison barbs have grown quite a bit since last year but the SAEs are not as fast growing though both of them were the same size when I got them. A couple of the SAEs are visibly smaller than their counterparts as well. I am not sure if that's sex related or not. The SAEs are the friendliest fish I've ever had. They don't miss to go all over my hands at water changes, literally attached like glue. They're really curious and active fish and I enjoy watching them a lot.

My corydoras have also been doing great in there, despite the high competition for food amongst bottom dwellers. I don't have that many anymore. I lost a lot of them the year before and I still can't forgive myself but I couldn't do anything to save them at the time. Corys and overstocking don't do well...I hope whatever is left is long lived...The ones I have now, except for a few older corys, are about 5 year old only.

I see kuhli loaches coming out for food too all the time. Whether all of them are still there or not is difficult to say because they're in and out of the driftwood...But they're tough little fish. I've had them for quite a few years now as well and that's their third tank.

There's no fear for the pleco and the small rasboras are doing fine. I've always been tempted to get more rasboras to bump the school but I am not keen on going through the diseases they came riddled with the last time....I'll think about it...

The thread is really due some pictures/videos but its not so visible with the net on top...:)

All the best to everyone. :)
 
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