Free swimmers today, quite a cloud of the little buggers. The other occupants of this 150-gallon aquarium are jammed over to the far, far right, in an area about 1' wide by 2' high.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Fly! Be Free!
Free swimmers today, quite a cloud of the little buggers. The other occupants of this 150-gallon aquarium are jammed over to the far, far right, in an area about 1' wide by 2' high.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Spawn of the Nasties!
So mean, but so true. The M. festivus that I added most recently paired off and are being more and more aggressive to the other fish. I had decided to net out the pair and leave the singleton that was in there originally, since that one seems like a nice enough chap and never caused trouble.
Today I had a little time and netted out 30 juvenile angels to sell to the LFS (I thought I had about 40 but after netting out 30 I still have what appears to be about 30 babies) and thought this would be a good time to net out the pair of festivus in the big tank and take along with me to sell as a pair. They are not afraid of the net and are always close to the top, greedy for a feeding.
I went in there to net them, and what do I see? Wigglers. This explains why they were keeping the angels from eating, and showing stress bars constantly. The area where they spawned is where I typically put the feeding cone. In the pic you can see the dirty pile of babies near the stem of the Anubias leaf, and there are more babies resting on the leaf above the fish's head in the pic. I did not notice them because of the increased algae growth on some of the Anubias leaves recently. The wigglers blend right in. They are close to free swimming stage. (Click on the pic for a closeup view of the babies)
I decided to leave the parents in there, and feed on the other side of the tank. The worst piscivores in the tank are the festivus, so if they are the ones doing the guarding we may get some babies that get to juvie stage, at which point I could net them out and put them in the 37-gallon to grow out. We'll see. I don't particularly want the 150 to be a breeding tank, since it is a display and breeding cichlids can cause chaos in any size tank, but we'll see how it goes. These fish are capable of injuring my wild angels, and I don't want that to happen. I'll wait until these babies are independent and fending for themselves, and then I'll try to net the parents out, and either give them a dedicated setup of their own or sell them as a breeding pair. They are chunky, brightly colored Mesonauta species, with very bright yellow breeding colors, so I think they are great specimens, but perhaps not the best fit for my 150 display tank. I will leave the third festivus, who has never bothered anyone and continues to glide around with the angels, avoiding the strikes of the Mesonauta pair.
Today I had a little time and netted out 30 juvenile angels to sell to the LFS (I thought I had about 40 but after netting out 30 I still have what appears to be about 30 babies) and thought this would be a good time to net out the pair of festivus in the big tank and take along with me to sell as a pair. They are not afraid of the net and are always close to the top, greedy for a feeding.
I went in there to net them, and what do I see? Wigglers. This explains why they were keeping the angels from eating, and showing stress bars constantly. The area where they spawned is where I typically put the feeding cone. In the pic you can see the dirty pile of babies near the stem of the Anubias leaf, and there are more babies resting on the leaf above the fish's head in the pic. I did not notice them because of the increased algae growth on some of the Anubias leaves recently. The wigglers blend right in. They are close to free swimming stage. (Click on the pic for a closeup view of the babies)
I decided to leave the parents in there, and feed on the other side of the tank. The worst piscivores in the tank are the festivus, so if they are the ones doing the guarding we may get some babies that get to juvie stage, at which point I could net them out and put them in the 37-gallon to grow out. We'll see. I don't particularly want the 150 to be a breeding tank, since it is a display and breeding cichlids can cause chaos in any size tank, but we'll see how it goes. These fish are capable of injuring my wild angels, and I don't want that to happen. I'll wait until these babies are independent and fending for themselves, and then I'll try to net the parents out, and either give them a dedicated setup of their own or sell them as a breeding pair. They are chunky, brightly colored Mesonauta species, with very bright yellow breeding colors, so I think they are great specimens, but perhaps not the best fit for my 150 display tank. I will leave the third festivus, who has never bothered anyone and continues to glide around with the angels, avoiding the strikes of the Mesonauta pair.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Gotcha!
I used a larger trap last night and was rewarded with a female bristlenose waiting for me this morning. I used a 2-liter plastic soda bottle instead of the 20-ounce, and this larger size means the fish can enter and swim around and have trouble finding the exit, whereas before the fish did not have room to move around much, so the exit was right in front of them.
I set the trap with zucchini before lights out, but managed to trap two festivus and the juvenile domestic angel! Why they were so very interested in zucchini I do not know, but I realized I needed to wait until lights out, and that was met with success.
I slowly acclimated her to the 37-gallon, since the pH is much higher and the temperature is about 5 degrees lower. Hopefully this will not bother her. I will attempt to trap the male now, and construct some simple caves for the fry growout tank, and perhaps the pair will spawn for me. Once I sell of the remaining babies (40+) then they will have no competition for whatever food I put in there, and they will have a spell on their own before the next batch of angel fry is introduced. Hopefully. If the planets align. I don't want to get ahead of myself (yes, yes I do!) so I will concentrate on trapping the wiley male bristlenose tonight.
I set the trap with zucchini before lights out, but managed to trap two festivus and the juvenile domestic angel! Why they were so very interested in zucchini I do not know, but I realized I needed to wait until lights out, and that was met with success.
I slowly acclimated her to the 37-gallon, since the pH is much higher and the temperature is about 5 degrees lower. Hopefully this will not bother her. I will attempt to trap the male now, and construct some simple caves for the fry growout tank, and perhaps the pair will spawn for me. Once I sell of the remaining babies (40+) then they will have no competition for whatever food I put in there, and they will have a spell on their own before the next batch of angel fry is introduced. Hopefully. If the planets align. I don't want to get ahead of myself (yes, yes I do!) so I will concentrate on trapping the wiley male bristlenose tonight.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Updates
No luck trapping the Ancistrus so far, but as my daughter saw one of them go in the trap, and zip right back out, this is not much of a trap.
I believe that the bottle is too small, so once inside, the fish turns around and finds its nose right in the inverted bottle opening, and can go right back out. I will plan on making another trap with a larger bottle, so the fish will go inside and have to swim around to find the opening, hopefully foiling its efforts. These fish may be too smart for this type of trap, but I would like to give it another try.
Also, I have decided to hold off on moving the M. festivus out of the 150, since they are really not hurting anyone, and I believe a pair bond is forming. It may be that the best course of action will be to remove the extra third fish, rather than removing two and leaving one. I will have to monitor their behavior and make sure they are not stressing the tank or injuring other fish in their efforts to defend territory.
The domestic angel babies continue to grow and I am slowly selling them off. If I cannot get the Ancistrus pair from the 150 to move into the 37-gallon growout tank, I will find another bristlenose for that tank, as I think that is a very appropriate fish to keep the tank cycled until the next batch of eggs.
Agnes & Frank still have not spawned again, and they continue to gaze at the fry tank, so I am anxious to move the babies out and inspire the pair to spawn again.
Otis continues to be his awesome self. He enjoys his snails and the single thawed frozen krill I give him every other day or so. Those are a relatively large meal for him but he relishes tearing it apart, and I can easily hear his teeth crunching up the exoskeleton, as is the case when he eats snails, so I am comfortable his teeth are getting the maintenance they require. I do hate the idea of trimming them myself. Ugh.
I believe that the bottle is too small, so once inside, the fish turns around and finds its nose right in the inverted bottle opening, and can go right back out. I will plan on making another trap with a larger bottle, so the fish will go inside and have to swim around to find the opening, hopefully foiling its efforts. These fish may be too smart for this type of trap, but I would like to give it another try.
Also, I have decided to hold off on moving the M. festivus out of the 150, since they are really not hurting anyone, and I believe a pair bond is forming. It may be that the best course of action will be to remove the extra third fish, rather than removing two and leaving one. I will have to monitor their behavior and make sure they are not stressing the tank or injuring other fish in their efforts to defend territory.
The domestic angel babies continue to grow and I am slowly selling them off. If I cannot get the Ancistrus pair from the 150 to move into the 37-gallon growout tank, I will find another bristlenose for that tank, as I think that is a very appropriate fish to keep the tank cycled until the next batch of eggs.
Agnes & Frank still have not spawned again, and they continue to gaze at the fry tank, so I am anxious to move the babies out and inspire the pair to spawn again.
Otis continues to be his awesome self. He enjoys his snails and the single thawed frozen krill I give him every other day or so. Those are a relatively large meal for him but he relishes tearing it apart, and I can easily hear his teeth crunching up the exoskeleton, as is the case when he eats snails, so I am comfortable his teeth are getting the maintenance they require. I do hate the idea of trimming them myself. Ugh.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Bristlenose say whaaaa????
The bristlenoses are not having anything to do with my clever little fish trap that has worked so well for me over the years. They have not had their customary slice of zucchini for two whole days now, but they are not entering the trap, nor have they seemed to even approach it.
What now? I'm not willing to tear the tank apart to get them. We'll keep trying. I was careful to make the opening of the trap the right size for them, but maybe it is just too weird looking. I'll leave it in place a while longer and allow them to get used to it being there.
I'd sure like to get them moved, and once I make a decision like this I tend to obsess on it, but I need to be prepared in case I am unable to trap them and resign myself to leaving them where they are, and consider the cory cats the unfortunate ones in this scenario.
What now? I'm not willing to tear the tank apart to get them. We'll keep trying. I was careful to make the opening of the trap the right size for them, but maybe it is just too weird looking. I'll leave it in place a while longer and allow them to get used to it being there.
I'd sure like to get them moved, and once I make a decision like this I tend to obsess on it, but I need to be prepared in case I am unable to trap them and resign myself to leaving them where they are, and consider the cory cats the unfortunate ones in this scenario.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Ejected from the Game
I have decided to move the Ancistrus pair from the 150 to the 37-gallon angel fry growout tank. I need something in there to hold the cycle for me until the next batch of fry, and their diminutive size makes them good candidates, but they'll still have plenty of room. Perhaps, in their own private digs they'll spawn for me. I'll provide a cave for them and see what happens. I have left a good deal of brown algae on the glass of this rank, and there is a large piece of driftwood in there (it is not possible for me to maintain a bare tank) so hopefully they will be content. It is very sparsely planted.
I can't tolerate the bullying of the Corydoras in the 150, and I'd rather make them comfortable and eject the Ancistrus, though I do enjoy them in that tank. They are out and about more than other Ancistrus I have kept, and they seem to do a good job of controlling algae on the glass, though I don't know how much algae I am growing, actually. I will soon find out, if I can get them moved.
The problem is trapping them. I set up my usual clear soda bottle with the top and neck section cut off and inverted into the body of the bottle, with a nice slice of zucchini inside, and a rock to keep it down on the bottom. No takers. I omitted their zucchini feeding last night to be sure they'd be hungry, but they are not going in yet. I don't have a practical way to get them out of the tank other than trapping. I will wait them out, I suppose.
The tank is too heavily planted and 'scaped for me to try to chase them down with a net. I'd have to drain the tank and remove all objects to do it. This is a problem when you have a large tank like this. Any fish I want to get out must be trapped, or they have to be relatively curious and not easily spooked, where I can lure them to the net.
I have discussed this whole thing with Deborah, my catfish expert friend, and she finds their bullying tendencies to be unusual, but she is an advocate for the corys and is in favor of moving the bristlenoses out - there ought to be no issues whatsoever between them and the angel fry, no matter what the size of the fry might be.
She is also considering other options for me in terms of a suckermouth catfish for the 150, if I should desire to replace them. I also may wish to consider a replacement for my beloved Planiloricaria cryptodon that I lost not too long ago. I do miss that fish, and it might be a better environment for one now without the Ancistrus, which did seem to pester him a bit, though he did not put up with much from them. He was much bigger than they, unlike the little cory cats, which are intimidated by the Ancistrus. I could try to find another whiptail like before, or go with one of the twig catfish or Sturisoma species, but I need something that does not mind the balmy 82F water. I would not mind an algae eater, but I don't know that there are that many species that do a particularly good job of that, except for the Ancistrus sp. I may be very wrong about that, however, and will discuss it with Deborah if I do manage to remove the catfish pair and I find algae growth to be a problem. I will hold off on it and hopefully will see the cory cats scooting around in total comfort, knowing no spiny face will be coming after them and keeping them in hiding.
I can't tolerate the bullying of the Corydoras in the 150, and I'd rather make them comfortable and eject the Ancistrus, though I do enjoy them in that tank. They are out and about more than other Ancistrus I have kept, and they seem to do a good job of controlling algae on the glass, though I don't know how much algae I am growing, actually. I will soon find out, if I can get them moved.
The problem is trapping them. I set up my usual clear soda bottle with the top and neck section cut off and inverted into the body of the bottle, with a nice slice of zucchini inside, and a rock to keep it down on the bottom. No takers. I omitted their zucchini feeding last night to be sure they'd be hungry, but they are not going in yet. I don't have a practical way to get them out of the tank other than trapping. I will wait them out, I suppose.
The tank is too heavily planted and 'scaped for me to try to chase them down with a net. I'd have to drain the tank and remove all objects to do it. This is a problem when you have a large tank like this. Any fish I want to get out must be trapped, or they have to be relatively curious and not easily spooked, where I can lure them to the net.
I have discussed this whole thing with Deborah, my catfish expert friend, and she finds their bullying tendencies to be unusual, but she is an advocate for the corys and is in favor of moving the bristlenoses out - there ought to be no issues whatsoever between them and the angel fry, no matter what the size of the fry might be.
She is also considering other options for me in terms of a suckermouth catfish for the 150, if I should desire to replace them. I also may wish to consider a replacement for my beloved Planiloricaria cryptodon that I lost not too long ago. I do miss that fish, and it might be a better environment for one now without the Ancistrus, which did seem to pester him a bit, though he did not put up with much from them. He was much bigger than they, unlike the little cory cats, which are intimidated by the Ancistrus. I could try to find another whiptail like before, or go with one of the twig catfish or Sturisoma species, but I need something that does not mind the balmy 82F water. I would not mind an algae eater, but I don't know that there are that many species that do a particularly good job of that, except for the Ancistrus sp. I may be very wrong about that, however, and will discuss it with Deborah if I do manage to remove the catfish pair and I find algae growth to be a problem. I will hold off on it and hopefully will see the cory cats scooting around in total comfort, knowing no spiny face will be coming after them and keeping them in hiding.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
When Too Much is Not Too Much
Could an Aqua Clear 30 and an Eheim Ecco 2232 be overkill for a 10-gallon aquarium? Sounds like it, but it does not appear to be the case.
I do not intend to keep the AC on the tank, but for now as I grow brackish bacteria in the Ecco I want both filters running. Puffers are sensitive to water quality problems and I don't want to take chances. Are the plants blowing all over? Is the puffer being buffeted about? Nope. Otis actually appears quite perked up by the additional water movement, and the tank is definitely cleaner.
The rocks no longer have the fuzzy accumulation after I began using a toothbrush and in small areas at a time, scrubbing off the fuzz and silt (this stuff is still a mystery to me). Over time I have cleaned all the rocks, but whereas the debris used to fall to the bottom and I'd have to siphon it out, now the offending stuff is carried off to one of the filters. Love that.
In an effort to provide the angel pair more room to swim I pulled a large piece of wisteria out of the 40-gallon breeding tank, and since it was covered in wee tiny snails (the 40-gallon is my snail farm for Otis) I just chucked the whole plant into his tank and let him go to work on the floating snail barge. He is an active hunter type, so this was supremely enjoyable for him, if a puffer can be joyful. He seems to be smiling all the time....
I left the plant in place, hoping it will survive, and now I put his snails on the plant itself for him to find. This keeps him busy, which is good for a figure-8 puffer.
Meanwhile, I put the Emperor 400 on the 40-gallon in conjunction with the Eheim Classic canister, but the Emperor is just too noisy. I ordered a replacement impeller assembly for cheap and we will see if that helps. In fact, the Eheim ought to be plenty of filtration for this tank with just two fish in it, albeit relatively large fish. It is hard for me not to overfilter my tanks. Did you notice?
I do not intend to keep the AC on the tank, but for now as I grow brackish bacteria in the Ecco I want both filters running. Puffers are sensitive to water quality problems and I don't want to take chances. Are the plants blowing all over? Is the puffer being buffeted about? Nope. Otis actually appears quite perked up by the additional water movement, and the tank is definitely cleaner.
The rocks no longer have the fuzzy accumulation after I began using a toothbrush and in small areas at a time, scrubbing off the fuzz and silt (this stuff is still a mystery to me). Over time I have cleaned all the rocks, but whereas the debris used to fall to the bottom and I'd have to siphon it out, now the offending stuff is carried off to one of the filters. Love that.
In an effort to provide the angel pair more room to swim I pulled a large piece of wisteria out of the 40-gallon breeding tank, and since it was covered in wee tiny snails (the 40-gallon is my snail farm for Otis) I just chucked the whole plant into his tank and let him go to work on the floating snail barge. He is an active hunter type, so this was supremely enjoyable for him, if a puffer can be joyful. He seems to be smiling all the time....
I left the plant in place, hoping it will survive, and now I put his snails on the plant itself for him to find. This keeps him busy, which is good for a figure-8 puffer.
Meanwhile, I put the Emperor 400 on the 40-gallon in conjunction with the Eheim Classic canister, but the Emperor is just too noisy. I ordered a replacement impeller assembly for cheap and we will see if that helps. In fact, the Eheim ought to be plenty of filtration for this tank with just two fish in it, albeit relatively large fish. It is hard for me not to overfilter my tanks. Did you notice?
Thursday, October 8, 2009
More Options for Otis...
The AC 30 is not big or bulky, and aside from the flexibility with how media is loaded this does not seem like it is any more powerful than the Penguin 125. It is certainly no bigger.
I run an Eheim Classic plus a small Eheim Ecco on the 40-gallon breeder tank, so what I will do is pull out the Emperor 400 from storage, dust it off and put it on the 40, keep the Classic, and put the Ecco on the 10-gallon, and see what I think. I can tuck it under my desk, and it might do the trick. I have been very disappointed with the two Ecco filters I own, finding them remarkably underpowered and cheaply constructed, but the lack of power may be to my advantage when putting a canister on a 10-gallon tank.
If that is too much current (I believe puffers enjoy some current) then I'll stick with the AC30, or maybe sell some more angel babies and get the AC50. That way whenever I upgrade the tank I'll have a filter that can be used on the larger tank, plus the canister would certainly be appropriate for the 20 if it is not for the 10. I doubt it will be too much for the 10, however. I admit it - I'm an Ecco hater.
I have been having some algae problems in the 10-gallon, and since it is definitely not brightly lit I know (or suspect) it is an excess of nutrients. The Anubias is not growing fast enough to combat it, and itself is covered in a fine fuzz. The tank looks horrible. I puts some hornwort in there but it promptly melted, as it is wont to do.
I will try very judicious dosing of Excel (no, I have not forgotten the disaster that I attributed to the use of Excel earlier in these pages) and will be very careful with it. This is easier to do in a 10-gallon, where we are talking very small amounts, so there is no casual "glugging" of the container into the aquarium. I will see if this helps combat the algae and the Anubias to do better. It seems to be struggling terribly in the tank, even though it is supposed to be a plant that does well in brackish water. I don't think it is the SG causing the problem, actually, but I sure don't know why it is not growing. If it has nutrients and light it ought to do fine.
I have a 13w CF desk lamp over the tank, but it is raised way up above it, and there is a fluoro ceiling fixture in the room as well, but that is not on all the time. I will try turning off the desk lamp when the ceiling fixture is on, and basically just cut down the artificial light. You would think the light would be low enough not to have algae be a problem, but as is often the case for me, I have unwanted algae that I can't figure out how to cure. In my tanks where I have been successful dealing with algae, I have A LOT of plants present, and medium lighting. I don't want to heavily plant this little tank, since Otis needs his swimming space, so I will have to figure out what is causing it.
I run an Eheim Classic plus a small Eheim Ecco on the 40-gallon breeder tank, so what I will do is pull out the Emperor 400 from storage, dust it off and put it on the 40, keep the Classic, and put the Ecco on the 10-gallon, and see what I think. I can tuck it under my desk, and it might do the trick. I have been very disappointed with the two Ecco filters I own, finding them remarkably underpowered and cheaply constructed, but the lack of power may be to my advantage when putting a canister on a 10-gallon tank.
If that is too much current (I believe puffers enjoy some current) then I'll stick with the AC30, or maybe sell some more angel babies and get the AC50. That way whenever I upgrade the tank I'll have a filter that can be used on the larger tank, plus the canister would certainly be appropriate for the 20 if it is not for the 10. I doubt it will be too much for the 10, however. I admit it - I'm an Ecco hater.
I have been having some algae problems in the 10-gallon, and since it is definitely not brightly lit I know (or suspect) it is an excess of nutrients. The Anubias is not growing fast enough to combat it, and itself is covered in a fine fuzz. The tank looks horrible. I puts some hornwort in there but it promptly melted, as it is wont to do.
I will try very judicious dosing of Excel (no, I have not forgotten the disaster that I attributed to the use of Excel earlier in these pages) and will be very careful with it. This is easier to do in a 10-gallon, where we are talking very small amounts, so there is no casual "glugging" of the container into the aquarium. I will see if this helps combat the algae and the Anubias to do better. It seems to be struggling terribly in the tank, even though it is supposed to be a plant that does well in brackish water. I don't think it is the SG causing the problem, actually, but I sure don't know why it is not growing. If it has nutrients and light it ought to do fine.
I have a 13w CF desk lamp over the tank, but it is raised way up above it, and there is a fluoro ceiling fixture in the room as well, but that is not on all the time. I will try turning off the desk lamp when the ceiling fixture is on, and basically just cut down the artificial light. You would think the light would be low enough not to have algae be a problem, but as is often the case for me, I have unwanted algae that I can't figure out how to cure. In my tanks where I have been successful dealing with algae, I have A LOT of plants present, and medium lighting. I don't want to heavily plant this little tank, since Otis needs his swimming space, so I will have to figure out what is causing it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
