alexyay

Also I might get some photos up in the next week, so it won't just be my long wall of text and dumb questions :thup:

So it might be easiest if I list exactly what I feed to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong - since reading I'm considering changing from JBL to NLS (but won't switch until I'm out of JBL unless it's really that much better). 140L- Tetras - JBL flakes, Tetracolour tropical granules (not keen on this but I have it to add variety, it's probably fed every second day) and they get to pick at Novotab and Omega One shrimp pellets Bristlenoses - JBL Novopleco, zucchini (mostly every second day) Kuhli loaches - They get to pick at all of the above 120L- American Flags, Gourami (variety), L129 and Red Whiptails all get - JBL flakes, Tetracolour tropical granules, Novotab, Novopleco, Omega One shrimp pellets and bloodworms (every second day). Also occasionally the AquaOne spirulina tablets only because I need to get rid of it lol. 55L- A australe and hara catfish - Flakes every second day, bloodworms every other day. One killie will eat flakes but the others don't seem too keen (it seems to sit and rot in the tank) - is it OK to be feeding bloodworms every day? What does everyone else feed their killies? Bloodworms aren't very good for them daily, but they don't seem very interested in prepared foods :nilly: 31L- Snails daily, bloodworms every second day Everything is fed once a day, except sometimes the Novotab and Novopleco will be fed twice a day. Any major red flags? Anything I should be doing differently?

I never new NLS was recommended - I've been feeding JBL but am more than happy to buy food online if it's better - would you recommend NLS for all kinds of tropicals? I've seen things like potato been put in food ingredient lists - is it normal or recommended to feed food that contains things like grains and "non aquatic" foods? Am I right in thinking that I should be looking for things like "Salmon" rather than "Salmon meal"? What kinds of major red flags are there when it comes to vegetarian/omnivorous/carnivorous food (and what kind of major ingredients should I be looking for as an ideal for my fish)? Does HFF not sell NLS any more? D: (Sorry to thread hijack)

They're both new tanks, so I expect it - I'm hoping it'll just gradually decrease over time. It doesn't bother me too much, but it grows on some plants where it's hard to remove it without destroying the plants. I'm trying to keep my nitrates low to keep it at a minimum, though.

Yeah - that's the weird part, none of the other fish were infected - because it attacked the face only and the infection didn't spread, that was why I was a bit iffy about columnaris being the diagnosis. I don't blame you or anything for the BNs (in case it sounded like that) - most likely my fault, I'm just not too sure what I could have done differently (or why they died). Will look at the phosphate/silicate remover! Any way that could be done naturally? Or is it necessary to buy a certain product?

I just lost the second calico today - no sunken belly, nitrates at 10ppm - all other fish fine. Not sure what killed the first one either. He was looking "off" yesterday, sitting at the bottom of the tank, a bit lethargic. Not sure why I couldn't grow them or why they died now.

Haha, I figured they weren't giant snail eggs Just can't believe you can see them! What kind of lens are you using to get that kind of magnification (is it the regular 1:1?). The eggs are just stunning to see up close.

Woah! How big are your ramshorns? I have brown ones and their eggs are way too small to see (well, I've had them for years and have never seen eggs, lol). My bladder snails lay eggs in clumps like this though - was really cute at first, not so cute when they boom and there's jelly clumps everywhere! My photo isn't nearly as impressive as yours, though! No idea what the eggs are in the bucket though, sorry D:

OK - so the tank above seriously needs to be saved before I get a new one and go for a whole new idea. Because at the moment, I hate it. Can someone please suggest ideas to fix it? The driftwood (willing to change to a different piece) needs to stay because I want a bit of a hardscape and the plecos need it + they need hardscape cover. However, I'm thinking of moving it to the other side? I might be able to wedge it in place so I can give it a permanent place despite not being entirely waterlogged. I don't know what to do regarding plants. It's 90L x 30D x 50-ishH? Can't remember the height exactly, but it's freaking tall and very slim. I want to give it height or at least have it "bushy" to give shade for the fish. At the moment, because it's so slim, the plants aren't placed anywhere specifically and they're just a mess. The tank's gonna drive me insane if I don't fix it, because I hate it at the moment. (Different topic) Is there anything else I should be supplementing my BNs with for the best growth? At the moment they're getting JBL Novopleco and zucchini - my rios and standard BN are growing just great, but my calico hasn't grown since I bought it. What is with that fish :nilly: It seems to eat when everyone else does, isn't bullied or anything like that. Also, has anyone here got American Flagfish and know their typical growth rate? Mine have hardly grown - they get a bit of everything (novopleco, novotab, flakes etc) and I try to grow string algae (but I'm afraid they don't get it as often as I'd like) - they seem to have no interest in zucchini. Any ideas there? My male is trying to breed, but I don't think my females are mature. But they haven't gotten any bigger either D:

+1, if there's no aggressive fish that might harm it or out compete it, it's best to add it to the big tank whenever you can.

Lol - we had a similar situation with our fire eel. Fortunately we already had it in a 450L tank, but it will eventually be in a 500L "monster" tank. Good ideas would be a medium spiny eel sp - something like a peacock or zebra spiny eel. Eventually a fire and tyre track might get a bit big for a 400L tank, but they're possibilities too. Synodontis and hoplos are both good bottom dweller species. Angels might be a possibility? I imagine it would depend on the aggressiveness of your ghost knife. There might be other good "new world" cichlids suitable (I don't know much about cichlids, though). I can't be of much help RE the Juwel and Aqua One. When we had a Juwel we hated the internal filter, and it's not a great filter for such a large tank anyway. So that was replaced. I think I liked the lighting though - but it was a while ago. I loooove the way Juwel tanks look, though. I'm personally not keen on most Aqua One stuff (not had any luck with their lighting for growing plants, and hate their HOB filters, but my experience doesn't go much beyond that) - but some say they do the job just fine. For tanks that size, a custom built tank is a good option. There are a few tank builders available through the forum.

I keep on getting mixed up about this plant - what species of hygro is the one to the right in this tank? It's not polysperma, and I can never remember what sp it is. Any help?

It is an algaecide but I would not recommend it as a first option nor would I recommend it for long-term use in a tank with fish. ODing it can have serious consequences - also be careful as people have experienced ammonia spikes after using it as when all the algae dies off it will give off ammonia and some small tanks and small filters aren't prepared to handle the sudden increase. Natural methods are always the best methods to get rid of algae, as you have very little risk towards the fish (it's essentially a weed killer, while at low concentrations and reasonably safe, it is not something I would want to use long-term or be careless about dosing rates).

Oh! And the threadfin rainbow with the bent spine disappeared, I didn't find her body (about a week or so before the nitrate spike). I didn't see any other fish show similar symptoms. Now for the betta: About half an hour after putting him in the tank, I came back and found him like this - Raised scales only around the face, but no other symptoms. He looked a bit grouchy (probably sore), but was not lethargic - swimming normally, ate normally etc. His face looked like a parrot. It was suggested that this was stress, no one had seen it before though. So, we kept an eye on him. The next day he looked similar, but had lost a couple of scales. The day after that, he had lost a lot of the scales around his face. I think about day 4 I managed to get some Furan 2, but he passed overnight (I simply wasn't able to get it day 3 when we had decided it was the best course of action - because no one knew what it was). This is what it became: He was still eating at this point, just very sore and unhappy. It got worse on the last day, but I didn't get any pictures. In the end, it was suggested it was columnaris (ate at the flesh, progressed quickly) - I personally just found it very odd that it attacked his face and only his face. The rest of his body looked fine. It ate away most of the flesh, just about down to the bone. I was wondering whether anyone has a picture of what it looks like when you lift the operculum (and the one thin layer of blackish gills) - in him there was a fine layer of white flesh/tissue but nothing underneath (hole straight through to the other side). I lack fish knowledge - is this normal? Would I expect to see more gills than that one thin layer that was easy to lift (lifted with the operculum)? I was just wondering whether it was attacking him internally at all. I might just be stupid and ignorant of fish, though. It's kind of hard to get reference photos, and bettas are darn small. The whole thing was really, really upsetting. He came from the same tank as the bristlenoses and all other fish look just fine. I had intended to breed him (a dragon, mustard gas HM to another dragon yellow/blue HMPK - preferably one with no red wash at all) - I keep on losing my bettas to weird things! Not having much luck with them, am taking a break at the moment (the new tank isn't covered properly anyway, so that is a concern). But if anyone has seen this and has a definite diagnosis of it, please let me know! I saw about two other cases on the internet of the same thing, and no diagnosis was made (no one knew what was going on). I'd like to be able to help people in the future if they have the same issue.

Not many pics available, but here's a few tank pics - - 55L, 3x female australe "gold" 2x hara catfish Current plans: Get another female and male killi. Planning on getting 3-5 more hara cats. I want to replace the rock with some driftwood, specifically spiderwood. I'm really not sure how to go about getting a small piece of spiderwood from anywhere other than a pet store though - it's a shame they cost so much. Hopefully this will provide some more hiding space for all the fish. It is now covered in oak leaf litter as well, which the fish are really enjoying. I'm basically planning on making it more "biotope" (not quite, but more natural for both fish species), minus the sand as it's too difficult to change now that it contains fish and dalton's mix. I'm still deciding on a carpeting plant species. It is only being run with 2x T8 bulbs, so there's little light. I currently have stargrass in there but am not too keen on it. I'm thinking of adding a third species. My current like is the licorice gourami - but I have no experience keeping these. Do you guys think they will be compatible? Or too boisterous for the killies? I have one weird killifish who will even eat from my hand, but the other two are very shy. Excuse the brown algae & the string algae lol. And the insane amount of duckweed covering the top. 31L - 1x Dwarf puffer Current plans: Not much, really. Brown algae has always been a pain in this tank, but I've also always had quite low nitrates. I would increase light but that gives me cyanobacteria which is even worse lol. I've gotten some gross brown stringy algae that grows in clumps, it smells atrocious and is really hard to get out - I'm not sure how to get rid of this. I'm currently feeding extra Iron which I've been told is what used to cause my excess green string algae - I'm growing this for the american flagfish as they love it. So, not much to change. Want to eventually replace the water wisteria with something. Still not getting much growth from the crypts, unfortunately. 120L - 1x Thicklip gourami (female) 1x Red honey gourami (male) 3x Indian banded gourami (I think female) 5x American flagfish 1x L129 5x Red whiptail catfish Current plans: I want another female and male of the wild-type thicklip and 2 red female honey. I also want to get a male indian banded gourami. I have a thread in the WTB forum if anyone has any of these. Eventually I would ideally have 2 females and 1 male of each gourami. Does anyone have any idea of what the stocking levels sound like? I had a weird nitrate spike - I lost a kuhli and threadfin rainbow and those are my only thought as to what might have caused it. I lost all 3 otos - my nitrates seem to be 60-80ppm (lost 1/3 otos). I did multiple WCs, about 3 days to a week later (I can't quite remember the timeline) and the nitrates were back up at 60 (and lost 2/3 otos). I'm still not sure what created these spikes. I've since moved, and removed the threadfin rainbows and remaining kuhli loaches. I'm now thinking of adding more fish (on top of the current plans), either rocket pencilfish (10-ish), or 4 more L129s. The L129s are pricey, though, and will be added over time (this, or I think I will have to sell mine, as I think it would be happier in a group). But I can't afford to have my nitrate spike happen again. If a fish dies, it cannot cause others to die if I cannot find it and it causes the nitrates to spike There have since been more plants added, but it takes a lot to remove the nitrates from 60ppm water! I do 30% WCs once every 6 days. It looks heaps different than it used to! I now have a gorgeous red tiger lotus, and all the plants are really flourishing since using dalton's aquatic mix under the substrate - I never had this much growth in the last tank! The crypt from the last setup totally melted, so it's looking pretty miserable I'm really upset about that, but hopefully it'll grow back soon. Still deciding on a carpeting plant for this tank too. It's also covered in plants converting from emersed growth, so ignore those lol. I can't seem to get my emersed Hydrocotyle verticillata thriving, which is a real shame. -140L 4x Rio bristlenose 1x Calico bristlenose 1x Regular BN 8x Black neon tetras 7x Pristella tetras 1x Platy (not mine, growing out) 3x Kuhli loaches Current plans: Add more kuhlis (lost one without knowing, then one swam into the heater guard and got stuck...), and give Dad the pristellas (I think they're big enough to not be eaten by angels?) and get more black neon tetras. I'd really like some Sterbai cories, but I'm thinking the footprint is too small for these + the BNs and kuhlis. I'm finding crap really settles at the bottom though - I have a wavemaker in one dead spot but it shifts the sand and messes stuff up, more than anything. I was hoping maybe cories would sift through the sand and lift dirt and help to keep things circulating. Of course, it's a matter of whether my bioload can handle it and whether the footprint is big enough. I will eventually find a mid-top fish to keep as well, as there's no top dwellers other than the tetras. Suggestions definitely welcome here. This tank is currently a mess lol. I had this amazing planted scape in mind, and had the driftwood set perfectly. Common sense is not my forte. Water went in, and the driftwood shot up and floated. Duh. So, daltons everywhere. And I'm trying to figure out what kinds of plants I'm going to put in it. It's a very tall tank, and hard to plant. And of course now when it water logs I'm going to have to try and shift it without squishing any fish :oops: it's pretty embarrassing to look at. I'm trying to find a white plastic background, but not sure where to find any. So yeah, everything is a mess right now. Sorry! I lost my betta fish. That's a whole other post lol, but I'll post it here to record it (just in another post). I also lost my calico BN and am not sure why. It was one of my favourites, too I'm afraid those are the only pics I have. BN death: I was wondering whether anyone had experienced this as a symptom before a bristlenose dies? One of my Dad's last BNs died a week ago, and the day before it did the same thing as one of my old BNs about a year or so ago. A day before its death, it develops really bright spots - looks stunning, but to me means "that bristlenose will die tomorrow". Mine before it died: His before it died: Mine was only about 6months old, his probably a few years (but definitely not at the end of its lifespan). I found they hung out in full view, when both were very timid normally (my guy was an idiot - went under rocks when I was placing them, got stuck trying to swim up the filter - opposite to the flow, so he hated people and was always stressed). It's not a major, but it'd be interesting to know whether this is a "thing" or not.

We used polyboxes - I wasn't actually there but I think what happened was we completely drained the tank, removed gravel etc, and had fish in polyboxes (either in bags or straight in the box). Just leave the canister full with the taps off and the bacteria should be OK for a day. Maybe do a WC a day or two afterwards in case of any dead bacteria etc. It's best to remove any decor and plants first before catching fish, otherwise it's mayhem. It's best to add the fish as soon as possible, otherwise you have to transfer filter media to holding tanks, let holding tanks heat up etc. It's a lot of stress within one day but in the end I preferred doing the switch as quick as possible. Some fish can get really stressed being moved into transport bags, then into a holding tank, then into the main tank again. The general suggestion is to not bother with transferring water, as it holds little bacteria. Just acclimatize fish slowly, but it's pretty much like treating them how you would if you took them home from the store.

Sounds fine to me! I honestly haven't found my BNs help much with algae. I get GSA, brown diatomic algae, BBA and occasionally hair algae (I also grow string algae on purpose for the American Flagfish). Although I've noticed I don't have much brown diatomic algae in the tank with the BNs, I guess. But yeah I think the best way to get rid of algae is prevention of it - I also don't mind a small amount of algae in the tank anyway. Some BNs are different and some are fussy while others chow down on most algaes. I've found I prefer Otos for their smaller bioload but be prepared to spend a bit of money as they are sensitive at times. Nothing wrong with the BN - just be aware it'll get a bit big I think the new list works just fine - even if the widow tetras are nippy, the guppies are much too fast for them. No idea on tetra suggestions - I have black neons and looove them, I've also got albino pristella tetras which Dad loves but I'm not too keen on them. Other options are glowlights, neons, cochu's blue (can be fin nippers), penguin (I think?) and emperors. There are just SO many options out there!

I tend to not recommend having BNs in anything under 70L but even in a 70L it's a bit cramped. I think maybe a 70L long might be sufficient for one BN - however I eventually moved my BN into a 140L. Otos are a really good idea, as they're very small and you can keep many of them (they prefer schools). They're quite sensitive to acclimation and nitrates however so be careful with that. I know little about barbs other than they're often fin-nippers. The pearl gourami will outgrow a 70L - it needs at least 140L imo. No way could we fit our 3-spot (similar size) in my gourami tank - he's in a 450L, mine is 120L. Other options are dwarf gourami (often sensitive and prone to disease), thicklipped gourami, honey gourami or indian banded gourami (not quite so common). My favourite are the thicklipped - they're great for beginner gourami keepers and are generally quite peaceful. My female (lost my male, am looking for the wild-type at the moment so she is on her own for now) is quite territorial (especially the male when nesting) - but does no more damage than chasing other fish (no biting, fin nipping etc). I have mine with honeys without issue. I haven't tried to attempt keeping it with dwarfs, as I've never been a fan of dwarfs and would want some female dwarfs anyway so that can be difficult to find. My favourite gourami setup is 2 females to 1 male, as it reduces the stress on the females. Tetras are fine I think - my only suggestion is to up the school to 7+ to help keep them feel safe and comfortable They're fin nippers, but I've never had fish nip at the gourami's ventrals and its other fins are short anyway. However I wouldn't recommend boisterous fish with honey gouramis as they can be quite shy.

Never tried feeding them "squished" but in my experience they won't eat live snails. I've kept the small brown ramshorns in my tanks with bettas without them ever touching the snails

Thanks guys - that's what I suspected. I think I'm deciding between a Kobo tablet or another tablet - probably not an iPad knowing their price! Definitely decided I don't want to give Amazon any of my money at the moment.

I'm looking in to buying an ereader for books such as the Diana Walstad book(s) and other biology and fishkeeping books. This means that it needs to be in colour and have a good format for picture display. The two brands I seem to be interested in are Kobo and Kindle. It looks like I can't get colour display without buying a tablet, though. I mean, I have no use for a tablet whatsoever and it's just extra money but the colour thing is really important to me. It also seems that I can't get colour format with a matted screen (like the "paper" textured screen which doesn't hurt your eyes when reading at night). It also looks like Amazon have some BS "anti piracy" policies where it's hard to get compatible books outside of their store. And it looks like you can't buy things from their store and use it on other brand ereaders - which is an issue because most books are available on Amazon. Is it easier to find biology & fishkeeping books available on Amazon as torrents (reluctant to not pay for some of these) so you can read them on ereaders like Kobo - or is it easier to convert or find Kindle-compatible books elsewhere and get a Kindle? Are there any free books compatible for Kindle? I feel pretty unwilling to give Amazon any of my money as I don't like their policies around ereaders and ebooks one bit. However, if I can only find "uncommon" books on Amazon it might be my only option. Ereaders for me are far more efficient - I looove flicking through a nice hardcover biology book but not at $80 a book (vs. $10-$20 an ebook). I also don't have the space for many books and this means I can read "on the go". Does anyone here have any experience on using ereaders for the purpose of non-fiction and what is their preferred brand? What's your favourite site for non-fiction books? Are books like the one by Diana Walstad available outside of Amazon?

Kribs get quite big and territorial - I often see them in slightly bigger tanks than small tanks. Blue/gold/etc rams would work well otherwise though? I mean the kribs are possible but not preferable I also don't know whether kribs are fin nippers or not but threadfins (as Adrienne has said) are quite delicate and prefer very peaceful, slower moving fish as tankmates. Honey or thicklipped gourami are great tankmates in my experience. For threadfins you also want a group of 7+, they're best in big groups and you can have multiple males to a group (not particularly aggressive and the males chase and flare at each other).

Anabantoids: Honey gourami, thicklipped gourami, dwarf gourami, indian banded gourami, siamese fighters - sparkling and chocolate too but these are a bit more "expert" fish Rasboras: Most kinds as far as I'm aware. Rainbows: Threadfins, furcata rainbow, celebes rainbow (all of these are quite shy fish and can't be around fin-nippers) Pencilfish (timid), dwarf cichlids (apistos, rams), danios, killifish (also often shy fish), barbs (fin-nippers) etc. Bottom dwellers would be otos, small whiptails, "fancy" small plecos (I personally find anything under 70L-90L a bit small for a bristlenose), corydoras (pygmy and regular). Species tanks could include dario dario, dwarf puffers, shellies (maybe?) and bumblebee gobies. Some put DPFs and bumblebee gobies together but even the species that tolerates fresh water won't thrive in the same way that it will brackish so I prefer to keep them in brackish only. Dwarf puffers can *sometimes* go with otocinclus, it depends on the personality of the puffer though. Dario dario will do OK with otos and maybe a small rasbora species.

Beneficial? They root up all my DHG I stuck some in my puffer tank and he's decided not to eat them so now at night there's so many! Will excel increase my carbonate hardness the same as CO2?

Ah, I haven't tested my 3 spot out yet - the clown loaches get to them first By giant I assume you mean the actual giant gourami and not indian banded gourami (which for some reason are sometimes called giant gourami)?