FishChannel Forums / Freshwater Forums / General Freshwater

Culling fish

princessotfu — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 04:18:58 GMT

I have to cull fish periodically at work as we grow successive generations, and I started taking pictures of some of the more warped fish we get. I thought it might make an interesting running topic. Plus, for those beginners that have never culled for breeding, it'll be a pictorial resource for learning how to cull fish and what characteristics to look for. Not all deformities are obvious, but they will still lead to higher percentages of deformed young.

Candidate #1 was found 2 weeks ago, actually, and I forgot about the picture until this morning. I believe the fish is about 4 months old and should have been culled long before this, because the deformity is very obvious. It's not really an issue though, because it won't be ready to breed for about 9 more months or so.

*disclaimer: for beginners reading this, culling does not necessarily mean killing. It simply means removing from the breeding population. So don't get upset, when we remove ours, they are put into a spare tank to live out their normal livespan which is usually greatly shortened by their deformities.

Stuff non-aquarists say...

Bettaaddict — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 09:51:47 GMT

What sorts of things have non-aquarists said to you (or you've overheard) that made you roll your eyes, laugh out loud, lose all hope for humanity, or all three simultaneously?

I was at Walmart one day and a woman walked over with a couple kids and said, "oh, look at those bettas (pronouncing it bay-tuhs, of course)! We could get a couple of those and put them in the vase with the rose!"

Lemmegethisrait - you want to buy a couple of male bettas and put them together in a flower vase occupied by t***-stemmed rose? Ah, what the heck. Go for it!

Ideas for an Agassiz' Dwarf Cichlid Tank

germanblueramlover — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 12:29:53 GMT

I have a twenty gallon long set up to hopefully house a trio of Agassiz' Dwarf Cichlids sometime soon! (It is currently occupied by platies, but they will be moving out)

I've got almost a full one gallon ziploc bag of more sand, and I am hopefully going to get some more slate/driftwood.

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions to make a really good set up for breeding the cichlids.

I have about two watts per gallon, and the temperature is about 78 degrees.

Thanks!

trying to balance PH levels with planted tank

Aqua friend — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:25:56 GMT

Hello fishy friends,
I have a 215 gallon planted discus tank. The water we use here is well water and very hard, therefore I only use RO water to fill the tank. When I test the ph of the RO water right out of the bottle it sits about 6.5, yet when I retest the water out of the tank after, it sits at about 7.5. why the difference. Here are some tests that I did today, ph = 7.5, GH = 120, KH = 70, Ammonia = 0. The tank also has 3 large pieces of driftwood. I fertilize the plants with flourish, flourish trace elements, and flourish excel, according to directions. I would like to get some balance in the tank as I am kind of new to using the plant ferts, and what could be bringing up the ph? Any comments would be helpful, and thank you in advance.

Vacation and Fish feeding

cdell — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 12:31:03 GMT

We will be going on vacation for about 8 days. There is no one to fish-sit for us, so we were considering buying the blocks for the tanks. I was advised against that in another forum because of the potential of affecting the water quality which is worse than leaving the fish for the period of time without feeding. Additionally, where they will be without food for a week, they will be better off as fish can go without food for that period of time providing the water quality is good....

Advise,

Guppy Question

bettasrcool — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 13:57:45 GMT

Do guppies need to be in schools? I want to get only three or four female guppies so there aren't guppy babies all the time. Luckily the local Petco keeps their female guppies in a separate tank than the males.
Also, can they be in a tank with soft water fish like cherry barbs or do they need salt added to the tank?

Looking for GOOD quality flake food

Sick-Lids — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 08:36:37 GMT

I have been feeding my fish flake food in the morning for years... I have tried a variety of flake foods and I always get the same results.... My fish take about 50% of it is taken in and then spit back out... So I guess I'm asking... Is this normal, are my fish spoiled with live and frozen foods, or am I trying the wrong flake food?

bettas and dwarf gouramis

lou zello — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:10:00 GMT

just wondering if anyone out there ever kept bettas and dwarf gouramis together?

dwarf cicchlids

GRUBYGUPPY — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 21:36:52 GMT

HAs anyone here,had or heard of different species of apisto's cross breeding? I have a female Macmasteri female and have a chance to get a real nice double red cacti(whatever) male who looks great and the price is right $5.00. Any info would help.

Dalmation Mollies turning Black - a problem ?

Aquascaper — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 19:41:36 GMT

New to fish keeping.

Added 3 Dalmation Lyre tailed Mollies to my 37 Gal tank (new) at Christmas and they are growing well (all about 3-4inches) but they are losing their colouring and becoming totally black. They are very active and seem to "Bully" each other and the other fish occassionally (Guppies, Platys, Neons, Red minor Tetras, RainbowFish and a female Betta). My wife says I over feed the fish.

Do I have a problem or is it just natural growth ?

Soon to be two additions to the goldfish tank

princessotfu — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 18:32:07 GMT

I just ordered two watonai from a goldfish farm in hawaii. I'm so excited. The new arrivals won't be here for two weeks, but I couldn't wait to share the news! Trust me, there will be pictures later.

29gal stocking help

kenzie263 — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 09:54:48 GMT

Wow I haven't been on fish channel in ages! Anyways I need some help finishing socking my 29 gal bowfront aquarium.

So far I have 5 Panda Barbs, 3 Celebes Rainbows, 2 Mollies (:doze, and a Bristlenose Pleco.

I'm open to any ideas, although I would really like to add some sort of "community" cichlid that won't terrorise my other fish.

My tank is very well planted with driftwood and good filtration, and my pH tends to be between 7.0 and 7.4.

Thanks!!!

IMPORTANT UPDATE: FishChannel is getting a new look

FC Community Moderator — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:35:05 GMT

Hi Everyone,

FishChannel.com will be getting a new look tonight and the website and Forum will be down starting at 11pm Pacific Time. Check back tomorrow (Wednesday) morning to see if we are back up yet and to see the new look.

Please SHARE this information with all of your friends on FishChannel.com.

Questions or technical support issues should be sent directly to: FishSupport@i5publishing.com

The Roll of Carbon in Filtering Water

Ed's Fish Tank — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 09:09:26 GMT

Hi, From a DVD about fish have discovered what appears to be an "older" school of thought regarding the use of activated carbon in filters.

The host of this movie about setting up and maintaining an aquarium said that "after one month of operation the carbon should be removed".

I use Fluval HOB's where the water passes thru the sponge media first, then thru the carbon second and lastly thru the Bio-Max pellets before returning to the tank.

From my understanding, so far, think the carbon media should always remain in the filter. Is this correct? Or, are there any circumstances that would dictate removing the carbon, besides medicating?

Thank You

Please identify this pleco!

stephyykinss — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 14:08:19 GMT

Please help my identify this pleco! Thanks!

What is a good site to order fish from?

RELLIK — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:35:23 GMT

So the two stores in my town besides walmart that sells freshwater fish just are not worth driving to anymore. One is a small chain in the mid west and it is a showcase of every parasite and disease a fish could have and the other is a petco. The petco has very healthy systems and fish but its all the same fish every week and they do not special order anything. Another thing on the petco is that i am sure my 6 year old son knows more about the animals than most of the employees.So my question is what site should I trust? Anyone with personal experiences good or bad please let me know. I am thinking about liveaquaria.com because I order from fosterandsmith a lot but I know there are many more. I already know not to deal with arizona gardens.Please help

Spotted Blue-Eye

Bettaaddict — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 20:35:49 GMT

Does anyone know where I might find a spotted blue-eye (pseudomugil gertrudae)? They're so beautiful, and I'm trying to find one anywhere!

seeking opinions on when to add fry to main tank

Golddenim — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 19:11:35 GMT

I have a single turquoise rainbowfish fry residing in a 20 gallon tank with some tetras and corys. He is several months old, and about the size of a cardinal or glowlight tetra. I am debating when to move him into the 95 gallon tank with the other rainbows. Last time I had fry, there were a couple, and I moved them in once I felt comfortable with their size. Based on size alone, I would leave the current fry where he is for a while longer. However, I think he is lonely or stressed out being the only rainbowfish in his tank. He seemed fine until the other fry he was with died, which was about a couple months ago. Now he is rather figitty in his movements, and a little dull in color. He is eating fine. He is certainly large enough he wouldn't be eaten by the fish in the larger tank, I just don't know if he could compete for food or be accepted by the older fish. Any thoughts?

ID Sharks making me Crazy !!

Cr00z — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 15:23:00 GMT

Dear all ..
Am facing a problem i dont know if it is Normal ..

I have a 500 liter aquarium that used to have 6 Gold fish`s and two neon small one`s , After I made everything ready for more fish`s I bought 7 small fish`s and Two ID Sharks Two Koi`s which after that i had to move to the pond coz they are stressing everything in the Aquarium .
my problem is that since the ID sharks is here they didnt eat at all it have been a week now .
I have so many kinds of food . Flakes , sticks.. all fish`s is having fun eating and getting bigger just the ID Sharks . what should I do ?
all the food is from Tetra company.
they are so pretty and I dont want to Lose them .
I have 6 air bump with stones , one External Filter and one Internal Filter.
neon light that is inside the aquarium . and a Heater .. the floor of the aquarium is stones but not equal size big and small .

oscars

vaquero — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 20:33:20 GMT

Anyone know what I can put in with my Tiger Oscar and two convicts? They are in a ten gallon tank until this weekend where I'm going to be putting them into a 75 gallon tank. Planted with Dwarf Hair Grass and frogbit,one or two nice sized pieces of driftwood already boiled tannins gone.

Hello from Costa Rica

Tabithalongman — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 22:02:45 GMT

just found this site and have many questions regarding how a muslim can be secular or moderate in today’s world of fanatics and fundamentalists - my primary questions are relative to muslims living in the United States

Favorite Food?

MoFish — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 12:27:52 GMT

They say that variety is the spice of life but when it comes to feeding your fish, along with all the different types, what is your favorite texture? Is it live, frozen, freeze-dried, flakes, etc

Steve

WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?

MRBLUBS — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 18:38:55 GMT

Well, I dont have a picture, but I went down stairs this morning to feed my fish before I had to head of to school. I dropped a cory pellet in there and gave the flakes to the rest of my fish. I look down to see if the Cories found it or not they didnt yet but something did. Coming up from the gravel and then munching on the pellet is this (suspense) this brown worm! I Could only see it head part as the rest of it was in the gravel but it looked exactly like a brown worm. I was sitting there starring at it when the door bell rang so I ran up the stairs, but when I came back it was gone and one of my cories were there eating the pellet. Do you any of you know what it was? And better yet how did it get in there in the first place? It was the weirdest thing...

Tank leaking help!

neon46 — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 07:54:44 GMT

This morning I went to feed my 4 female convicts that are in a 5 gallon tank and i noticed some water around the edges and rim of the tank. my first thought is no its leaking! is it possible that the seal on the edges broke? is there any way to fix it? I don't really have any where to put the fish if it does totally break. What can I do? I don't have another 5 gallon tank and if i wore to setup my extra 2 gallon tank it wouldn't be cycled. I can't put the 4 female convicts into my other convict tanks because they would kill them. SO I am kinda at a loss as to what to do. Is there any way to fix the seal?

Goldfish sexing

Bettaaddict — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 06:03:45 GMT

I know several of you out there are goldfish experts, so I thought I'd throw out a question that I haven't been able to answer for a long time: How do you sex a goldfish? Particularly a comet? One of mine is seven inches long and about a year old, and since I got him/her I have been wondering.
Thanks!

Freshwater fish

sam7152004 — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:26:43 GMT

I have a 30 gallon tank with 15+ platys, 2 bontas, 2 albino cory cats, 2 ottos, 2 regular algea eaters, and 5 ghost shrimp. I have substrate, driftwood, a large cave, a bubbler, a heater, an Emperor 280 filter system, and an assortment of plants. I am looking into getting more fish. Any suggestions?

70g stocking

larscywinski — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 19:27:04 GMT

I have a 70g fw, no plants, some rocks. So far I have one common Pleco, which is about 14 inches, and one Bristlenose Pleco, about 2.5 inches.

I'd like to get 4-5 Bala Sharks for this tank, but don't know what else to put in.

Any suggestions. Would German Rams work?

PH 7.2, Temp 75, Nitrate 10, Nitrite 0, Ammonia 0.

Thanks,

Lars

Aquarium Lighting & Fishless Cycling

MoFish — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 13:06:27 GMT

Will aquarium lighting help/hinder the fishless cycle? Or will lighting have no effect at all? Thanks, Steve

harlequin rasboras and red cherry ghost shrimp

Shidohari — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:47:16 GMT

my species specific tank will have 8-10 harlequin rasbora in it when it completes it's fishless cycle. The tank is a ten gallon.

Two questions,

1. once my tank cycles at the end of the month or so, can i add all 8-10 harlequin rasbora at once or should i do them in batches of 4 or 5?

2. can red cherry shrimp co exist in a ten gallon tank with 8-10 harlequin rasbora without overcrowding the ten gallon tank. If so how many shrimp would be acceptable.

3. Okay i lied, third question...My tank will be planted and have a small slate 'cave' neither of which i plan to add until the cycle is complete and i do that water change at the end of the fishless cycle. I have crypto wendii in both of my planted tanks, and in the ten gallon that i currently have i also have a anubis plant. Is there any plants that you would suggest for this rasbora tank? They will be added towards the end of the cycle because i don't want to kill plants with ammonia even if i'm using seachem's stability. I have a local petsmart near me that i normally get my plants from.

Aquariums and super glue

Rebel1970 — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 18:51:53 GMT

I have read on salt water and fresh water forums all over the web about super glue being safe and not safe. I contacted 2 super glue manufacturing companies and both said NOT SAFE fresh or salt. I am sure that they might just be covering their butts. Any other opinions on this subject?

Concerns about my Bioload in my betta + cory 10 gallon

Shidohari — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 05:51:19 GMT

I'm concerned about the NitrAte bioload in my Betta and julii cory cat ten gallon.

I just did a 50-75 percent water change yesterday, and post water change the Ammo and nitrItes were zero, however NitrAtes remained at 10.0. This concerns me what they were initially at. The last time i changed the water in the tank prior to this WC was last weekend so there was about a week space between WC.

I just tested my NitrAtes and NitrItes this morning NitrItes were still at Zero and NitrAtes were creeping towards 20.0 already. I placed the color about 12-15.0 taking into account both colors on the API Freshwater Master chart.
I know that too much water changing also harms the tank, and yesterday's water change was done with a gravel vaccum, which was good because there was alot of decomposed food and slight algae in the gravel.

I have 3 julii cory cats in with my double tailed betta in this tank. Julii cory cats can get up to 2-3 inches at maturity on average. My filtration is fine as a penguin 100 filter is supposed to be good up to 20 gallon tanks.

Should i consider rehoming/returning to petsmart/ giving to another LFS my julii cory cats given these numbers. I won't be able to get any store credit on them at petsmart as it's past their time of allowance. If i do rehome the cory cats what could i get to be partners with my betta. I know if i want a bottom feeder still khuli loaches are supposed to be peaceful and their maximum size is 4 inches with a mature size of 2.75 inches. But i want more than just one fish in there i think. I may be able to do without a bottom feeder in both the ten gallons.

Please advise. I want to do the right thing here...

Keeping Your QT/HT Cycled

MoFish — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 13:28:32 GMT

For those of you that use HT's and/or QTs, how do you keep them cycled when not in use?

Would my ph in my tap water be okay for harlequin rasboras

Shidohari — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 13:30:54 GMT

Was wondering, my tap water is a steady ph of 8.2. While my julii cory cats and betta fish are doing fine in it as i've never lowered the ph in any of my tanks to stave off PH SHOCK, i was wondering if the same was true for Harlequin Rasboras.

I think if i keep the temperture at least in their acceptable range and the ph is steady as i don't add any ph addatives or ph removers to any of my tanks they should survive as they're supposedly very hardy fish.

can anyone confirm or deny this, because they are the fish i'm putting into the tank that is currently fishless cycling.

Also today i saw my first nitrItes reading.
Fishless tank is at 1.5 ammonia and .5 nitrItes so that means the true cycle has finally started and i no longer need to add ammonia drops to my tank. (really wish i had a eyedropper for that part when i was doing it because that stuff stinks lol.)

Advise and comments welcome.

Aqarium Vacuums

ironbush — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 07:22:22 GMT

Having a hard time finding a decent vacuum. Don't really care for battery operated or gravity vacuums. Is there such a vacuum that work using electricity?

Are the Metal things that Hold down plants at Petsmart safe for fish?

MRBLUBS — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 19:31:04 GMT

Hello!
I have recently gotten tired of replanting my ludwigia repens that I cut off of my roote plants. Ive had them planted behind my drift wood beside my existing ludwigia but the thing is that they are planted where theres only about half an inch of space to plant them. I had them stuck in the grael for a while but they recently floated up and I cant get them to stay down. Its hard to plant them too because I can easily uproot my other plants as well. At petsmart they use these metal or whatever weights to keep them down and I thought it would be really easy if I could just plop them down with a weight and that be that. But are those weights harmful to fish? They keep their plants with Mystery snails and such. Does anybody know if they will harm my fish?
Thanks

Fluval?

Deluxechuck — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:58:53 GMT

I have been thinking about getting a Fluval Flora. I want to use it to grow plants to put into my 55 gal. planted tank. I thought I would use it as a decorative piece for a undetermined corner in the house and just put some cardinal's or shrimp or maybe to put some gobies in it?

Anyone have one? Are they nice or are they a waste of money. If they are a waste, what are some ideas to more
or less have the same thing?

Just looking for a small decorative tank that I can grow starter plants and still have it look nice.

Thanks,
I tank my answer off air.
Chuck

Aquascaping a new tank

Aquascaper — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 23:04:42 GMT

New to fish keeping (lets get that out of the way incase I ask something stupid !).

I want to create my own scenery (aquascape) for a new 37 gallon tank, to include but not limited to a castle (part) a couple of "hills", a river with bridge and possibly the L.E.D. bubble volcano.

My thoughts were to use a new sculpting clay I have found called "Amazing Sculpt" which dries waterproof and then painting as necessary with Acrylic paint. The big question is.....is the modelling clay safe to use and will I have to coat the paint (varnish or epoxy resin) ? Anyone got a view on this ?

As a backboard I intended to use corrugated plastic in two layers glued together, the second being cut to provide slots for horizontal sheets to fit in at different levels (layers of the hills), the outer edges being supported by rods of perspex or plastic.

Do The Hatchery's Work?

MoFish — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 06:55:24 GMT

Do the Brine Shrimp Hatchery's work? I mean do you actually get live shrimp from the eggs?

Thanks, Steve

Need some suggestions

emt1971 — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 17:47:10 GMT

I was given a used 75 gallon tank and stand and the tank was not cleaned after it was taken down. I need some suggestions on what to use to clean the calcium and algae without leaving behind any chemical residue.

And I could use some suggestions for stocking the tank.

Cherry Barb fry!

MRBLUBS — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 15:26:29 GMT

Well, yesterday after doing plant matenince I happened to hit the Java moss and a tiny little fry comes swimming out! I was like no way I Knew that they had spawned on the weekend but didn't think that anything would become of it! I some how managed to catch the little guy and put him no a breeding trap but he swam out through the tiny cracks in the trap! Then I noteiced he had a buddy down there but thats all Ive seen so far. Im not going to try to catch them again since it was so freaking hard and that I have no where to put them. I like how they are miniature versions of the adults. Hopefully they will live but ill let nature take its course. Well, I guess not nature but you know what I mean. It certainatley was surprise!