We have a 20, 35, and 2 x 55 gallon tanks. Today we took the plunge and put a 6 foot, 125 gallon tank with stand on layaway. It will be our last tank.
It'll take a couple of months for me to pay off the tank, stand, heaters, filter, etc which gives me plenty of time to figure out what kind of substrate I want, whether or not I am finally going to try live plants, and what kind of fish to keep. Actually, i'm not even sure what kind of filter to get yet.
Our current tanks are very colorful and artificial looking (think Vegas, tacky but entertaining) as you can see in these pictures:
I'm thinking I would like the new tank to look more natural. We're going to use it as a room divider in our basement so it will be visible from both sides of the tank, we won't be using a background. So far I'm leaning toward some Balas, Barbs, and Loaches, if the tank is big enough.
Can't wait to get the sucker home and set up! Going to be a long couple of months. My 3 year wedding anniversary is July 18 and I'm hoping to have it then, as this is my anniversary gift.
A 10g can work, provided not too many or too large a fish are put in it at one time. I happen to have a 20g that runs permanently with some "spare" plants and a sponge filter. It is just easier for me to have this than having to set up a "new" tank if I come home with fish. But a 10g can serve too.
When I started my pea puffer tank, I cut a hunk of an established Aquaclear 70 sponge to fit the Aquaclear 20 on the puffer tank. I put the rest of the sponge, and a nylon full of substrate, into the tank. How long do these need to remain in the tank? I need to get them out so I can put some plants in their place.
Why are they in the tank? For cycling? If you have live plants, this isn't necessary.
Byron, do you think the brown spots on my plants are due to inadequate light, or simply because I had copper medicine in the tank and didn't use liquid ferts for a few weeks?
The brown blotches on the leaves of the Echinodorus in photos 5-9 of post 691 are iron deposits. This can obviously happen if iron is being dosed in excess, but it is more likely due to a lack of calcium. I had this issue until I started using Equilibrium to increase the GH. What is the GH of your tap water?
Another thing, the excess of copper might also have thrown off the balance. My recollection is that the copper just melted some of the plants, but the proportion of nutrients required by plants is such that when any one nutrient is in excess it can cause issues with other nutrients. Your GH may tell us more.
Why are they in the tank? For cycling? If you have live plants, this isn't necessary.
The brown blotches on the leaves of the Echinodorus in photos 5-9 of post 691 are iron deposits. This can obviously happen if iron is being dosed in excess, but it is more likely due to a lack of calcium. I had this issue until I started using Equilibrium to increase the GH. What is the GH of your tap water?
Another thing, the excess of copper might also have thrown off the balance. My recollection is that the copper just melted some of the plants, but the proportion of nutrients required by plants is such that when any one nutrient is in excess it can cause issues with other nutrients. Your GH may tell us more.
The media was in the tank because I set that tank up brand new for the puffers, and put them in a day later. I added the plants gradually, so when the fish were initially introduced to the tank there was only half the plants that are there now. So I should be able to remove the used media now? It's an eyesore, and taking up plant space. Some people suggested leaving it in 4-6 weeks.
As for the GH, I have no idea. I read these PDFs and tried to find it,
But all I could find was a rating for Calcium Hardness, Magnesium Hardness, and Total Hardness, not General Hardness. Odd. Tomorrow when my LFS is open I'll call and ask them. Pretty sure we have the same water.
The media was in the tank because I set that tank up brand new for the puffers, and put them in a day later. I added the plants gradually, so when the fish were initially introduced to the tank there was only half the plants that are there now. So I should be able to remove the used media now?
But all I could find was a rating for Calcium Hardness, Magnesium Hardness, and Total Hardness, not General Hardness. Odd. Tomorrow when my LFS is open I'll call and ask them. Pretty sure we have the same water.
The total hardness tells us what we want to know, and the calcium and magnesium support this. At 30 or 31 mg/l, which is equivalent to ppm, this is very soft water. About 1.6 dGH. This explains the swords. The calcium is insufficient for proper cell structure, and the plants assimilate iron to replace the missing calcium, and as the iron increases the leaf slowly dies, and eventually the entire plant will die. As I said, I had/have this very same issue.
The soft water is ideal for the fish, but the plants will struggle and some not manage. I tried a few options, and the only one that worked was Equilibrium. Seachem make this, and you can buy it from Pets&Ponds. I buy the large tub which is almost $70 but this is much less expensive than buying the small containers in stores. I go through two tubs a year. I add enough to raise my GH up to around 5 or 6 dGH. I have less than 1 dGH out of the tap. Equilbrium also contians the needed magnesium, and additional potassium, iron [this won't hurt anything] and potash. The calcium and magnesium in Flourish Comp is insufficient, as this fertilizer is designed more for those with some hard minerals in the source water.
Yes, with fast-growing live plants there will be no ammonia issues, and especially with only 3 puffers.
The total hardness tells us what we want to know, and the calcium and magnesium support this. At 30 or 31 mg/l, which is equivalent to ppm, this is very soft water. About 1.6 dGH. This explains the swords. The calcium is insufficient for proper cell structure, and the plants assimilate iron to replace the missing calcium, and as the iron increases the leaf slowly dies, and eventually the entire plant will die. As I said, I had/have this very same issue.
The soft water is ideal for the fish, but the plants will struggle and some not manage. I tried a few options, and the only one that worked was Equilibrium. Seachem make this, and you can buy it from Pets&Ponds. I buy the large tub which is almost $70 but this is much less expensive than buying the small containers in stores. I go through two tubs a year. I add enough to raise my GH up to around 5 or 6 dGH. I have less than 1 dGH out of the tap. Equilbrium also contians the needed magnesium, and additional potassium, iron [this won't hurt anything] and potash. The calcium and magnesium in Flourish Comp is insufficient, as this fertilizer is designed more for those with some hard minerals in the source water.
Thanks for looking into the hardness for me Byron, and explaining it. I appreciate it.
Can I use the Flourish Comp in addition to the Equilibrium in the same tank? If so, can I add them on the same day, or should I alternate? Or should I just switch to the Equilibrium and stop using the Comp?
oo byron i have a question for you. i upgraded my 10 to a 30 and am running both filters at the moment. i took all the gravel out of the old tank, mixed it with the new and have the old filter running with the new. it is planted and i was wondering how long should i leave it like that? i would like to retire the old filter and keep it just in case i start up my 10 again. it's been up for... maybe a week and a half. but it has a lot of plants in there. and did a water test today and everything was at 0. i stirred the gravel so it was all mixed in not like the new is on top or anything. how much longer does it need?
Actually, I can record with the push of a button. I really should have. Maybe next time. Lol.
I'll soon have enough live plants in there that I can remove the 5 fake ones that I started with. That is my goal with the Amazon Puffer tank as well. There are still two fakes in there.
Now I have 3 tanks with real plants and 4 without. Only one tank, the pea puffers, is exclusively live plants.
My Silver Dollar tank will obviously always be fake plants, but I think it is time to better research the fish in my 20 and 55 gallon tanks to learn if they can co exist with plants or not. We are enjoying the real plants.
Anyone know if any of these fish will eat or otherwise destroy plants? Or can I start gardening in these tanks too? Darn fishkeeping. Now I'm a hippie farmer. :-D
I don't know if there is any point putting plants in my Betta tank. It just has a "regular" bulb in it, not a florescent one.
Add plants to your Betta tank. I switched out and "Fred" my red fantail was estatic. I even threw in a couple of lily bulbs that actually sprouted and he sleeps on the leaves. He really enjoys swimming through the plants. When they were plastic he wouldn't go near them. I went and bought him a floating log for feeding to keep the food in one place. Hope it helps.
Will plants live with the non florescent, regular type bulb in my 10 gallon tank? I would have put plants in there but I didn't think there was any point. I think it just basically a regular light bulb shaped like a tube.
My little Julii is crazy active during the day. I feed him alternating algea waffers and sinking shrimp pellets. I am hoping to get more soon. He was the last one they had when I went to PetSmart. I couldn't leave him all alone. I keep trying to get more, but they stay sold out. My little Todo is healthy and happy at the moment though. I can't wait to get him some friends :-D
The hampster tube thing is actually quite popular in the Betta forums. I hope when I eventually get my dream tank, I can have some of them in it. I've seen pics and it was beautiful and the fish loved it! :-D Posted via Mobile Device
They make a florescent plant light bulb (found it in the light section at the pet store) here in the states for about ehhhh, $10.00. I put that in the hood. I started with a LED light, but I personally didn't like it. To each his/her own I guess. The plants grew OK with the LED, but slowly. I went to The Planted Tank forum and studied up on lights, plant and nutrients, and my plants are happier now.
My hood doesn't hold a florescent light and I am not interested in shelling out the extra $$ for a new hood (I bought the whole thing used, a new hood costs more than I paid for the tank/filter/hood together). The Betta will just have to make do without real plants.
If there were any plants that could grow with a regular bulb I would do it.
I assume when you say you bought a fluorescent plant light bulb, that you already had a hood that used fluorescent bulbs, not regular screw in bulbs.
No, my hood holds the tube shaped regular light bulbs. Not the long skinny things. It's made ( the florescent bulb) in a tube shape light bulb. Sorry, sometime what I write doesn't come across right. Just wanted to pass it on to you. No biggie,
Well that's cool. And it just screws in the way a regular bulb screws in?
I may have to order one, I don't think they have them at my LFS. I asked if I could grow plants with my setup and they just said no. They're always looking to sell, sell, sell so I would hope they would have told me if they sold such a bulb.
Do you know what it is called? I just tried finding one with google but had no luck.
I have regular bulbs in my 10g AND my 5g - they screw in. . . but they're twirly bulbs. Got 'em at Home Depot - full spectrum, and the plants love 'em.
LOL. Twirly bulbs. That terminology I can understand. I know exactly what you're talking about. We use them in all our light fixtures. So if I can find fullspectrum, small twirly bulbs that fit in my hood, they'll grow plants?
Niiiiice! Thanks for the heads up. My LFS sells Zoo Med bulbs too. I am shocked they didn't sell me this when I asked if I could grow plants in the Betta tank. Not like them to miss out on a potential sale.
I'll totally get one of those and add some plants in with Mary Poppins (that's my son's male Betta)
What I put in was this - Zoo Med Ultra Sun Daylight Compact Fluorescent Bulb
*nods* Those are good, too! I went the cheap route! It was 3 bulbs for around $7 ;-) I'm poor - but those tanks are filled with greeeeeeen!
Yup!!! These are the exact ones that I have in my 5g and my 10g (2 in the 10g) They're twirly, but have a kind of bulby thing on the outside *shrugs* I just got 'em cuz' I needed them to be the right size to fit in the plastic space around the bulb, and the normal sized lights were too fat. The right sized ones had screwy things that were tiny, though - these came with screwy thing adapters. *nods* so they can have FAT screwy things and STILL fit into the casing around the light in the tanks. . .
did THAT make sense? I fail at terminology!
BTW, welcome to hippy fish farming! It's a wonderful world, neh?
I should rename this thread "the things I still need to buy" thread. Tonight I have Equilibrium and Screw In Florescent Bulbs. And more plants.
Well, my kid is bad enough that if he gets nothing on Christmas morning we can say he was on the naughty list.
Haha. Seriously though, I have go into Santa mode soon and put the fish on the back burner. I'll need to get the Equilibrium though, because I don't want to lose the plants I already bought.
I won't start planting the other tanks until 2013, after Santa comes. It's just around the corner.
Does anyone know if I can use Equilibrium and Flourish Comp at the same time?
Princess Shimmer Blue and Mary Poppins?!? What names they got stuck with! XD
Speaking of poor fish, I have a family friend that I regret helping the other day. She said she had a tank and wanted me to pick up 5 of the little goldfish they sell at PetSmart. I even brought her a jar of flakes I didn't need and some water conditioner. I did it all in good faith only to find out that her "tank" was in fact one of those mini 1.5 gallon corner ones! I explained to her the rules of fishkeeping, but she said she knew what she was doing as her mom had a large tank when she was growing up. Besides the small tank, she doesn't think they need pwc because they can just breath air and they can live off dry oatmeal! She obvously
doesn't know the first thing about taking care of fish and wouldn't listen to anything I tried to show her. The poor things don't stand a chance. I really am hoping someone can get through to her as I had no luck at all. :-( Posted via Mobile Device
my betta paco is in a 10 gallon and i feel guilty sometimes that he shares it with ghost shrimp. lol. but he doesn't seem to mind and neither do they. i always feel bad for those fish who get bad owners who have NO idea about a fish's needs. i hate the "know it all type" who haven't the first clue how to take care of fish. i hope that someone talks some sense into her and she moves her fish to a larger tank asap. lets hope that this is a very bad qt tank......
You must have posted while I was editing! My my, you are fast mister! XD
Yeah. I can't imagine what kind of hell they are in now. I kept my Betta Gus in a 1.8gal for about a month until I could get him a proper home, but I did pwc every day! I think hers is smaller than mine was, so it might just be a 1 gal. And to make matters worse, I also got her a few Ghost Shrimp. At least I saved the Black Tetra she was supposed to get! I know they are schooling fish, but he will just have to deal with being in a happy community. I don't know anyone locally who can adopt him so he can be with a school, but I think he will have a happy - if not ideal - life in my tank. Better than the alternitive I tell you that! Posted via Mobile Device
I agree. Poor Goldies.
What really disgusts me and disappoints me is Big Al's, Petsmarts etc and the local Mom/Pop fish stores still to this day promoting sales on the .5 gallon and 1 gallon double Betta tanks with the divider. I expect it from Walmart. I am flabbergasted that Big Al's promotes it. You know I love my Big Al's!!!.... but make a stand and quit selling that stuff. I even stopped by mine and was looking at replacing the Betta that went off to College in his 2.5gallon (max 3 gallon allowed in Dorm) with a new Betta in a 5 gallon... The Big Al's salesman tried to tell me they like the tiny cup sized tanks. :shock::evil::evil::evil: Snaps fingers left, right, left.... talk to the hand.
they actually make half gallon tanks that are not even shaped to allow for decent room. the tanks are shaped funky to fit "fun shapes" like batman, or grinch.... tetra makes them. i have started to order most of the things i used to get from petsmart online or trying to get the lfs i now prefer to go threw to order them. they are really pushing them in petco and petsmart. i refuse to shop there right now. well not like i shopped at petco anymore anyways. they are HORRIBLE here. i just want to liberate all the pets in that store every time i even think about them.
so many people are under the misconception that bettas live in these less then half gallon pools of water and LIKE to live like that. that is like saying hey...you were born in a womb about the size of a watermelon...so you must like small spaces and this 4*4 room would suit you nicely..... the bathroom is in the corner there, and there is stove. the petsmart lady here tried to tell me that bettas don't need plants and actually don't like them because they get into way for them. lmfao! pet store employees just make me laugh so hard. thank god she was only filling in for pets that day! wish that you would have to have some sort of real training to work in a pet store. like you should have to study up on the pets the store sells. that way you can give EDUCATED responses to questions not just a poorly thought out educated guess. the ignorance is just baffling sometimes.
We have a pet store in the small town where I work and the lady there is the fish nazi she won't sell you a fish unless she knows where it's going she actually hit me with the papers on her hand when she found out how Much bloodworm I fed my fish on one hand she can be really hard to deal with but on the other hand there's less fish dying out there or leading miserable lives Posted via Mobile Device
I would LOVE to be able to get to the profiles, but it doesn't work on moble and clicking on the hilighted name (like in your post) just takes me to a white screen. :-(
How can I tell which kind I have? They sold them to me as Julii Cory Cats, but then again, it is PetSmart.
And if I can't qt them, what should I do!?! Just throw them in the tank and hope for the best? It's what I have been doing and I guess if they look healthy, I can do it, but it worries me. :-( Posted via Mobile Device
I would LOVE to be able to get to the profiles, but it doesn't work on moble and clicking on the hilighted name (like in your post) just takes me to a white screen. :-(
How can I tell which kind I have? They sold them to me as Julii Cory Cats, but then again, it is PetSmart.
And if I can't qt them, what should I do!?! Just throw them in the tank and hope for the best? It's what I have been doing and I guess if they look healthy, I can do it, but it worries me. :-( Posted via Mobile Device
If you already have the new fish, introduce them to the tank. Float the bag (open top), add maybe a cup of tank water to the bag, leave for 10-15 minutes; then add another cup and leave for same period. Then net the fish out of the bag and into the tank. Do not tip any of the water into the tank.
Hopefully the corys will settle, and hopefully there was no disease in them or the store tank.
I guess using a mobile device affects the site somehow. I'm attaching a photo below [smaller photo] of the Corydoras trilineatus, which at Petsmart is almost certain to be what they will call "julie." The second photo [larger] is the true C. julii fish.
His body shape and eyes match the trilineatus, but his markings don't. The spots are a tad larger than the ones on the Julii, but save for the stripe along his side, they don't connect.
I don't have any more yet. I'm still searching and waiting until they get more at PetSmart. Would anyone on here sell me any or am I too new to fishkeeping for someone to be willing to sell to me? Posted via Mobile Device
His body shape and eyes match the trilineatus, but his markings don't. The spots are a tad larger than the ones on the Julii, but save for the stripe along his side, they don't connect.
I don't have any more yet. I'm still searching and waiting until they get more at PetSmart. Would anyone on here sell me any or am I too new to fishkeeping for someone to be willing to sell to me? Posted via Mobile Device
You can't see the profile I take it, but the text therein explains that both species can be very variable in their markings, and especially C. julii; the fish in the two photos in the profile for C. julii are so different some might question if they are the same species. But when considering the two species, they are usually easy to distinguish. The head is probably the most obvious. On the true C. julii, the marking is quite obviously dots or spots, whereas on C. trilineatus they are obviously not dots/spots but more reticulated--squigly lines of varying length, though all usually quite short, but clearly not uniform spots. The lateral dark line along the side is always distinctly present in C. trilineatus, but may be present, or indistinct, or almost completely missing on C. julii, and if present only extends mid-body as a distinct line.
Just to add to the confusion, there are two other species that are also sometimes confused with these. But when it comes to so-called Julie corys in stores, almost in every case they will not be C. julii unless the store imports from Peru.
Welcome back Koi, sorry to hear you're not feeling well.
I love Boxer's pond too.
More good news, my Pea Puffers finally ate some food today! Frozen blood worm. Finally. I haven't been back to LFS so I haven't gotten any live white worms yet.
Bad, or at least mysterious news, as I mentioned in a stand alone thread, I have completely lost a pretty large catfish.
I think maybe the Aliens came and took him. He's probably getting probed right now.
Oh my! Poor catfish. . . I hope you solve that mystery quickly! HUZZAH for the Puffers! Food is GOOD, guys - all the OTHER fish like bloodworm. Sheesh. . .
sorry that your catfish got abducted by aliens.... but glad that your puffers are munching down on some tasty grub! tell the truth...you gave them spam didn't you?
(sorry, dude. I couldn't resist. Honest. I hope you find him...)
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