FishChannel Forums / Freshwater Forums / A Place for Beginners

YET ANOTHER SNAIL QUESTION

juloea — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:13:33 GMT

okay...my snails are multiplying...i pick a new one out of tank every other day or so. a friend told me that i need to get rid of all traces of snails as they can spread disease. i definetely don't want to use any chemicals or poison and every fish and plant seems quite healthy. so...can i just continue to pick them out? will they spread disease? all seems fine to me. thanks!

Red Sea CO2 Bio System....Questions

James_NYC — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 11:17:15 GMT

I just purchased this Red Sea Bio system last weekend and I've seemingly been having nothing but problems. When it works, it works great. But the problem I've been encountering continuously is getting the diffuser to work everyday. I have the diffuser and my lights on a timer, and every morning when the timer turns the diffuser on, it gets airlocked and no diffusion happens. I have to disconnect the tube, watch the air release, then reconnect. After reconnecting sometimes CO2 will begin to release, other times it won't. If I shake the bottle a bit, I'll see a good release of CO2, but then that's it, nothing more. I have a suspicion that maybe the CO2 mix was old and its just not creating enough to push through the tubing and diffuser, is that possible? Any help would be appreciated. I've posted to two other forums and no one has given me any responses yet.

Thank you!

Finnage

cdell — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 06:03:54 GMT

I had to move a black angel and a dwarf gourami from my 55 gal semi aggressive community tank to another tank because of fin nipping. They are doing fine in a 10 gal with two odessa barbs. The black angel suffered quit an experience with the dorsal and the tail being nipped pretty bad. The dwarf gourami only suffered minor tail fin nipping.

My question is do the fins grow back?

A Success Story

ADSloan — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:25:56 GMT

I just wanted to say a belated but heartfelt Thank You to all of you for the sound council and sage advice you provided while I was cycling and setting up my new tanks. I do not post much but I do read this forum frequently and I have learned a great deal from your post to other forum members.

I have two tanks now established. One is a 10 gallon standard tank that cycled in 28 days. The other is a 26 gallon show tank that cycled in 20 days. The larger tank cycled faster than the smaller one. Go figure.

The 10 gallon is home to my White Clouds and the 26 gallon keeps my Tetras. I had first considered a community tank. But as I learned more about allowing the fish to thrive in their most optimum environment, I choose instead to set up species specific tanks.

The only challenge I have run into is that the pH level out of my tap is +8.0. I really did not want to get into a situation where I am constantly trying to manipulate the pH, but 8.0 is just too high. I have been adding a buffer (Seachem product) with my water changes. This has kept the level at a more acceptable 7.2-7.4 range.

Anyway, Happy fishkeeping everyone. I hope you all have a super great Labor Day weekend!

The foods you can feed

catfishfriend — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:51:54 GMT

I read about the foods you can feed like vegetables or meat (bloodworm/ brine shrimp) is that something i should be doing and if so what servings. How??? Or am i fine with fish flakes. :unsure:

did my fish lay eggs???!?!?!?!?

catfishfriend — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:22:38 GMT

there are tons of little jelly looking thinging on the part of my filter that sticks in the water. are these fish eggs or pariscites. what will happen to them. if eggs what fish i have 2 angle fish 3 corycats 3 glow fish and 8 tettras. what do i do??????:unsure:

festation period for calico fantail

perryp72687 — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 07:54:31 GMT

Hi I'm new at this and am wanting to know how long does it take for my fantails to give birth

Moving day/ Tank upgrade

Napalm — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:20:53 GMT

This is a two part question...

1st off... Im moving and I am not sure how to transport my fish with the least amount of stress to them. Its not a very far move, so I dont think that they will be out of the tank for longer than 2 hours. How should I go about setting up the tank when i install it in my new house?

Next question

I currently have a 10 gallon tank with 2 german blue rams, 4 Rasboras, and a dwarf albino pleco ( not to mention all the unwanted snails). I am shopping around for a 20 -29 gallon tank, but How should I go about cycling my new tank? should I use old water form the 10 gallon? Should I move the fish individualy so all at the same time? Which ones first? I obviously care the most about the rams because I have had them the longest and hear that they are relatively hard to keep. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you all very much

Napalm

Only 2 Neon Tetra

cherridot — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:40:30 GMT

What happens to neon tetras if there is only 2? I worry because I only have 2. They don't eat well and they get scared too easily. People say you have to get 6. I wonder if they are wrong because the 2 are still living from when i started my fish tank. (September)

Restarting my aquarium

CometGirl — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:23:02 GMT

Ok, so the last comet I had died (check out "Can't seem to keep fish alive" to get the full story). I want to restart my tank, do it the RIGHT way, and put the RIGHT fish in so I can be successful (aka keeping fish alive for more than several weeks to 2 months). I have a 10 gallon tank. I tested the water last night just before the fish died. The pH was around 6.8-7.0 (got it up to 7.2 ONCE, but my pH won't change, no matter what I try). There was FINALLY NO ammonia (I've always had VERY HIGH ammonia). Nitrates were 5ppm, but the Nitrites ended up this weird clearish-greyish color, so I don't know if that would be 0ppm or what. It's always previously turned a color that matched something on the grid.

SOOOOOOO........before I do ANYTHING, I want to know what should I do? Do I dump out all the water completely and wash everything? Just change the filter? I don't want to even touch my aquarium until I know what needs to be done so that the next fish (NOT comets) can stay alive for a long time. Just so everyone knows, my comet that just died did have fin rot, if that makes a difference in what to do. It seemed to be getting a little better, but I don't know........Oh, and it never grew in size (at least not noticeably). Don't know if those bits of information will affect what I need to do.

what's the deal with snails?

juloea — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:53:43 GMT

my hubby and i are new at this. have two tanks 29 and 10 gal. the larger one has had every single newbie mistake made - mostly because of advice from large chain pet store employees who didn't know what they were talking about. so, we found an independent, knowledgable and friendly aquarium center and have gotten great advice and are having lots of fun (finally...). i just got a ???golden mystery snail??? because a friend has one and LOVES watching it! but i also have a few snails i acquired from live plants...my questions is...i assume from what i've read i will eventually have TOO many snails...once i collect uwanted ones how do i humanely "get rid of" the ones i don't want - and - do i need to be humane when dealing with snails??? so, what's the deal with snails??? thanks for any advice!

Angel fish with split dorsal fin

Baron — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 07:50:47 GMT

Hi,

We are new to Fish Channel. Currently have a Gourami and Angel fish in a 10 gal tank. One Gourami and Lyre tail molly died. Molly had fin rot and spots, and the Gourami just slowed down and died. Things look stable now, but Angle fish suddenly has split down dorsal fin. What should we do for this? Water tests good. thanks

Can someone help me?

cherridot — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 20:04:32 GMT

So I have a 10 gallon tank with community fish, a balloon molly, a guppy, a mickey mouse swordtail, a sunburst platy, and an endler's livebearer. Can you recommend harmless fish that don't cost to much and look pretty? I might take those ideas and think it over. (Might even buy them and put it in my tank if it is okay.) I just want something to light up my 10 gallon. Oh and maybe some recommendation of plants too. Thanks :)

pH 7.6

DH 12

1.7 wpg

no fert, or CO2

should i clean filter intake tube???

juloea — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:56:47 GMT

i'm kind of a neat freak...so i often have to restrain myself from cleaning aquarium apparatus etc...but should i clean the water intake tube on power filter? it is a little green and slimy...how do i know when it should be cleaned and what is best method??? thanks for any help!

missing harlequin rasbora - help!

juloea — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:38:20 GMT

i brought home two harlequin rasboras yesterday...added to tank with three xray tetras and 5 zebra danios. one rasbora is gone...have looked everywhere! kind of creepy...is one of my darlings to blame??? thanks for any clues...

spending time at fish store

newfishguy — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:34:43 GMT

On a daily or even bi-daily basis I find myself at the fishstore, I have been

with the hobby for about 2months now and I find it fun and relaxing but i wonder if this is normal for new fish lovers.... am I a freak. Does this near obsession go away or taper off.

Great Way To Catch Unwanted Snails!!

FishCreek — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:02:44 GMT

I found an ideal way to catch tiny and small unwanted snails with disturbing my tank. I use a Turkey Baster that I bought just for another aquarium use. Sucks them right out of the substrate. It's a snap. Just suck them up, put them in a container and crush them and your good to go!!

chiclids

staffordmom — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 07:55:01 GMT

Hi,

Right now I have a 29 gallon freshwater community tank. I've had it up & running 4 months and am enjoying it. Next time though, I would like to get some chiclids. Can anyone suggest some good beginner chiclids? I may move up to a 55 gallon in the future. I was thinking of angelfish or convicts or kribensis. Could you keep 2 angelfish in a 29 gallon (as I've read in a book) or would I need the 55 gallon? African cichids is also a thought except I don't know about meeting their water requirements.

staffordmom

Been a lurker from Utah

sweeze — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 20:42:48 GMT

So....hello.

I'm interested in freshwater fish. I'm hoping to get a list of good LFS and get info on any aquarium clubs in Utah.

I very new at this so I need a lot of help.:)

Algae Eaters

David Lass — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:49:36 GMT

Let's start with understanding one basic thing about algae in your aquarium -- algae itself is not bad. Too much algae, or the wrong kinds of algae are what is bad. Every healthy aquarium that has the normal complement of fish has plenty of algae -- good algae. We have all seen the absolutely pristine planted aquariums of the Amano school of planted aquariums. These systems are very high tech, with lots of lighting and carbon dioxide injection. Also, with the exception of a few different types of tetras, all of the livestock in an Amano aquarium are in there because they eat algae. I am not talking here about Amano type tanks -- I am talking about a normal aquarium where the stars of the show are the fish -- and the plants are there because they look good, make the fish feel more comfortable, and also help achieve a natural balance in the tank.
"Nuisance" algae can take a number of forms. Green water is a common algae problem, and all it is is algae living in suspension in the water column. Slime algae is actually a phylum of its own -- cyanobacteria -- and is in between a plant and a bacterium. Hair or brush algae is little tufts all over things in the tank. All of these, and other, nuisance algae are caused by two factors. 1) Too much light and 2) Too much food. Light is easy to control by putting the aquarium lights on a simple timer, and setting it for between 8 and 10 hours on each day. Food for algae is in the form of nitrogen and phosphate, and both of these come as a result of feeding your fish too much and/or too often. Fish food in either form -- having gone through the fish or sitting around the tank uneaten -- is food for algae, and too much of it makes for nuisance algae.
The best way to limit problem algae in your tank is to have plenty of fast-growing live plants. Live plants compete with algae for food, and since true aquatic plants are a "higher" order than algae, they can usually successfully compete with algae for food. Having lots of growing live plants essentially starves the algae, and will keep the algae limited to a beneficial and minimal amount.
There are a number of fishes that are sold by your local fish stores as "algae-eaters". Some of these, although they may eat algae, are on balance not very good for a tank. The two most common "algae-eaters" that are sold are common plecostomus (sucker mouth catfish -- plecos) and Chinese Algae Eaters (CAE's). Both of these are inexpensive, and when they are small they will, indeed, munch on algae -- but not on the nuisance algae, only on the good algae. Plecos and CAE's will do absolutely nothing for green water, brush algae or slime algae/cyanobacteria. Not only will they really not do much for controlling algae, but these two fish get large -- common plecos can grow to 18", and CAE's to 8" -- and they can start sucking the slime off the sides of fish, especially larger disc-shaped fish such as angelfish or discus.
There are a number of fishes that are better for controlling algae in a tank. They are a little more expensive than plecos or CAE's, but they are well worth the price. Otocinclus are dwarf sucker mouth catfish, and Ancistrus look like a pleco, but they only grow to 4" -- 5". Siamese Algae Eaters (SAE's) are excellent at eating all kinds of algae. Some of the fancy "L-number" plecos are good algae eaters, but an equal number of them are, in fact, not algae eaters at all, but require a "meaty" diet. And one final thing to mention, all of the fish that are good algae eaters also need to be fed vegetable based foods. In almost all tanks, the good algae eating fish will rather quickly eliminate most of the algae, and will soon be looking around for more to eat. They need to be fed either fresh vegetables such as potato or zucchini, or flake or wafer dry foods that are high in vegetable matter.

Snails and shrimps are often sold as a solution to algae problems. Neither of them will do anything for green water or cyanobacteria, but many of the shrimps will do a very good job of eating algae on plants. There are a number of shrimps on the market now that are sold as "Amano" shrimps, and while there really is only one true Amano shrimp, most of that shrimp's close relatives will also do an excellent job of eating algae. The only problem is that you need a lot of them, somewhere on the order of 1 -- 2 per gallon. Most snails are really a toss-up between whether they may eat algae versus the fact that many of them will eat plants. The only snails that I really recommend for a planted tank are the Malaysian live-bearing snails, also called "trumpet" snails.
I hope this little dissertation helps. Control algae in a tank by using the proper amount of light, feeding the proper amount of food and having lots of live plants. And be very careful in what fish you buy for assisting you in dealing with problem algae.

First Tank Options

David Lass — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 10:41:33 GMT

The key to the future of our wonderful hobby is getting new folks -- especially kids -- started with their first tank, and making sure they succeed with that first tank. I want to start this thread with some of my ideas of what to do -- and what NOT to do, and I hope that many of you will also post your ideas. Two things-- 1) I'm not endorsing any specific brands, and 2) all of the tanks have live plants in them. And each group, "a", "b" "c" etc. is all the fish for that size tank.

5 -- 6 gallon "mini-cubes" -- These are the smallest tanks that I think any beginner should start with. Perhaps the smaller tanks are ok for a single betta, but for a small extra cost you can upgrade to a 5 or 6 gallon. These tanks have a filter built into the hood, but no heater. For this size tank I would recommend: a) a single male betta b) a small school -- very small = 4-5 fish of either celestial pearl danios or gold white clouds c) various small ornamental shrimps -- Amanos, red cherry, zebra, etc.

12 -- 16 gallon "mini-cubes" or a 20 gallon tank -- moving up to a larger group of tanks, these also will have a filter built into the hood, or with a standard 20 gallon tank you should use a hang-on-back type filter, or a small power filter. In the larger tanks you can also add a heater. Some suggested occupants for these tanks would include a) guppies -- 2 females for every male, 9 total b) school of 10 tetras -- lemons, serpaes, etc c) trios (1 male 2 females) of two different color variations of platies, honey gouramis. In any tank I would add 3 small cory cats.

29 -- 34 gallon "mini-cubes or standard tanks -- as you increase the size of your first tank, you also increase your probability of success. With these tanks you can easily go with a heater, and a power filter, and also more light for better plant growth. a) you could have 2 schools, each with 8 -- 10 tetras. I would go with one "round" type tetra like a black tetra, lemon, head and tail light, red eyes etc. and the other school of "long thin" ones like neons, white clouds, slender rasboras or the like. b) trios of swordtails or mollies, especially sailfin mollies. Got with 1 male and 2 females, and a trio of three types would be good. c) gouramis -- pearls, dwarfs, honeys. For whatever group you decide on, I would also add 5 cory cats and a single botia, either skunk or yoyo.

Two fish NOT to get -- there are some fish that are simply not good for beginnners, even though they get recommended often. Goldfish -- often sold by the lfs's for beginners, they are really not good beginner fish. They need lots of room and lots of filtration, and they grow large. Kribensis and convct cichlids -- these are easy to keep fish, but if there is a male and a female they will ALWAYS spawn in the tank, and they will terrorize all of the other fishes.

One final note -- all fish sold at your local fish store are juveniles. Be sure to find out how large the fish you want to purchase will get as an adult.

Have fun -- and please -- everyone -- post your ideas for starter tanks.

need pregnancy advice

veec124 — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 10:10:10 GMT

Hi I am new to owning an aquarium I need help. I have a 29 gal hexagon aquarium with 2- neon Danios, 1- zebra Danios, 1- sunrise platy, and 1- mickey mouse platy. I think my mickey mouse platy was pregnant when I bought her which was probably true because I never checked to make sure I got two that were the same sex. However since I have realized both of my platies are females. Either way my mickey mouse is huge! I thought she was just growing but a friend of mine told me no she is pregnant. So not wanting her to eat her babies I got a 5 gallon tank and put her in it. For three weeks I watched and waited and nothing. So then I began to think my friend was crazy and she is not pregnant so last night I moved her back to the 29 gallon. Now I am reading online that maybe I just shocked her and she really is pregnant. I'm so confused! I jut want to do whats best for my fish. She likes to sit or hide on the bottom of the tank but rushes to the top when I come near to get fed and eats for a while. Is she pregnant or fat? Should I take her back out? Someone help!

First Time Fish Breeding

coolfish1 — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:25:43 GMT

Hello,
I have been successfully keeping goldfish for a number of years now and i have just started a small tropical aquarium. I am very interested in breeding up some fish. Could you suggest which type of fish would be easiest to breed? I was thinking along the lines of fancy guppies or swordtails. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

5 gal aquarium question

LuvThoseFishes — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:42:57 GMT

I have 4 cory catfish- 2 peppered, and 2 green in a 5 gal aquarium. I just got a new TopFin 10 filter and put in a bubble wand as well, for aeration. Also, I have a heater in the tank, and I keep the temperature around 79 degrees F. I also bought gravel and a plant, and there is a log decoration, for them to hide in. They seem to love playing in the bubble wand stream. Is there anything else I should do to make sure that my fish stay happy and healthy? The tank is staying very clean since I purchased the new filter and with the bubble wand, the fish seem to be happier.

Thanks :)

What's your favoret fish?

Rob — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:43:10 GMT

I thought it would be cool for people to post their favoret aquarium fish. You don't have actaually own the fish.

My favoret is goldfish and mt top favorets are my black moore and pearl scale.

Ideas on stocking a 225 gallon tank?

felixpaws — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:20:44 GMT

My parents have been talking about starting up a big tank in my house, and I figured it might help move things along if I had a list of possible residents for them to look over. I have a few species books, i.e. axelrod aquarium fish, and several other popular beginner fish books, so might actually have pictures to show them of the fish in question. I'd be responsible for the tank, and they'd get to enjoy it. Please, don't include tiny fish that would be considered food, like the angelfish/neon tetra conundrum. Cichlids might be considered, but not a tank of exclusively cichlids. Thank you, so much! (I need another tank, and this is the only way I'm gonna get it) Sorry if I seem a little anxious, I need more water to take care of!

My Missing Shrimp!!!

cherridot — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:11:06 GMT

:unsure: I once had a tiny ghost shrimp that went missing so I bought two new ones. But I found one of my ghost shrimp laying down next to the new one that was ALIVE and the dead shrimp was pink and white. It was either my newly bought ghost shrimp that died or my old tiny ghost shrimp that died.

Prego Platy's

northernltz — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 11:29:49 GMT

Ok, so I got this nice 40 gal. tank set up and it is working great. I have 3 platy's, a molly, a female Betta, 4 guaranies(gold, pearl, dwarf, & some striped thing), a silver tip shark/cat, 2 ghost shrimp and a pectus cat, and a african frog.

Well, I noticed 2 platy's getting very large in the belly. I first thought they were overeating, then I read in the forums that because there is 2 female platy's and 1 male that they were pregnant. I watched them keep growing and they looked like they would burst. I read that the best thing was to leave them alone and the babies would feed the rest of the tank if they were pregnant and delivered.

Well, my daughter of 13 would not have any of that. We had to let them live or at least try. I kept looking for a "dark spot" on the fish and never seen it on either. I had to leave for a 3 day vacation, so, I netted the 2 platys and put them into a 2 gal tank w/ lots of grass on the bottom to deliver. I put a air stone in with them and have watched the temp. It is around 78 to 80 degrees. It's a week later and no signs of babies or anything. There is no filter in their new tank so I do a 30% water change every 5 days, or that is my plan.

They are still huge, and no dark spots. They haven't seemed to get any bigger, just still real large. I have had them for 30 days now, and they have been in a sperate tank for 1 week. They just sit on the bottom of the tank and work their two side fins over & over. They come up to eat briefly & then go back to the bottom. Am I killing them by separating them from the big tank? Could they be just fat? How big can they get before popping? I thought that platy's basically bread like bunnies and it was easy to raise them. What am I doing wrong? :cool:

Kurt

new 30gal tank

ccfishkeeper — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:16:48 GMT

ok so I got a brand new tank 30gal. I am envisioning this tank as a planted and aquscaped tank with amazon swords in the background and dwarf hairgrass as foreground. I want to slope the substrate from left to right 7in to 3in non gradual so this is almost a shore slope effect possibly a piece of wood?. I was thinking of having only shrimp RCS and yellows and the plants.

Right now it is empty and I am going to get my supplies this week, and my plants this weekend at my lfs.

I am going to do the fishless cycling with supplies from the lfs, but I wanted to list my tap water test results here to ask what yall think of it. This is straight from tap. I got the product aquasafe to treat the water, is there anything else I should get to treat it?

Nitrate 20
nitrite .5
hardness 75
alkalinity 300
ph 7.8

what happened to my platy?

cherridot — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:40:49 GMT

My male platy has holes in his tail and I was wandering if he got old. But he eats well, swims at the same pace as before, and he is not stressed out.

platy

bettasrcool — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:17:03 GMT

I bought four fancy guppy males for my new aquarium and could I put a platy in with them? I only want to get one platy due to space limitations. Will the platy get along ok with the guppies?:)

A new home for an old goldfish

Davidu — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:22:10 GMT

Hi,

I'm a newbie to both this board and to aquariums in general. I'm writing on behalf of my near-90-year-old aunt who has an ancient but seemingly healthy goldfish. However, her ancient aquarium (bought with Blue Chip stamps, to give you an idea of the vintage) is falling apart. So we're looking for a new setup. I'm wondering what the minimum tank size should be -- her current one rests on a low table that is maybe 4 feet x 2 feet -- and most importantly, what type of filtering system is best. My aunt currently has a ritual about every month of emptying the whole aquarium and scrubbing it out, but I know this is harmful to both fish and frail humans alike! So I'd like to have a robust filtering system such that total water changes are a thing of that past. Thank you for your expert advice!

Fishless Cycle

ADSloan — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 05:09:43 GMT

Greetings all,

I am setting up my very first tank and I have read a few articles regarding the fishless cycle method. Have any of you ever had experience with this cycling method? I would love to hear about your success and any tips that have worked for you. Thank you.

Have a super great day!

Rams

David Lass — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 11:54:38 GMT

In a couple of different threads the topic of rams (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi) has come up. They are one of my favorite fish, and since they seem to be a problem fish for many of us hobbyists I thought I would start a topic just on rams. My experience has been that rams simply do not adjust to water that is anything other than soft and acid, which is what the water is like in their natural habitat. In addition, they really prefer warmer temperatures than most typical tropical fish -- this is why they are so often recommended as tankmates for discus, i.e. around 84 -- 86 degrees F.

Rams are such a beautiful fish that fish farmers all over the world breed them and offer them for sale to wholesalers and then to your lfs. The only ones that I have ever had any luck with are the German Blues -- the enclosed photo is a batch I have right now down in my wholesale fish room.

These beauties are from a fish farmer in Florida that I have been buying from for ages. He raises them, along with his angels and severums, in a room that is supplied with water that has been softened, with the pH in the mid to low 6's, and the temperature is in the low 80's.

The problem is that the vast majority of the rams that you will see at your lfs are from the Far East. These are very weak fish that have been "pushed" to get to sellable size at high temperatures, sterile conditions, and lots of live food; they also may have been fed hormones to bring out their colors vividly. These fish get tossed into a bag with a whole bunch of their brothers and sisters, then into a box that is flown half-way across the world. When they are at the wholesaler's/distributor's they are at lower temperatures, have been stressed from their long trip, and all of a sudden they are expected to eat dry flake food. Then, at most lfs's rams are kept under the same conditions as all the other fish.

If you want rams, ask your lfs to specifically bring in some German Blues -- not necessarily from Germany, as there are quite a few breeders in Florida -- but definitely NOT from the Far East. True German Blue Rams will cost more than the Far East ones, but they are worth it. I know that I pay my Florida guy almost twice as much as I could buy rams from the Far East, but they are worth every penny.

Finally, if you are fortunate enough to get some true German Blue rams, they will really only thrive for you if they are kept in soft/acid water, at 80 degrees or higher.

pearl gourami's & angel's ?

lilsaltyfresh — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:32:46 GMT

i have a standard 29 g tank and i currently have two male pearl gourami's and are somewhat aggressive toward eachother, and i was wondering if angelfish would be good community fish with the gourami's???

NEW! 46g freshwater tank

lilsaltyfresh — Sat, 31 May 2008 12:05:23 GMT

Hey, my bro. just got a 45-46g tank from his friend and we were gunna break down the 29g to set it up. anyway's i was just wondering if you had any good ideas for what kind of freshwater livestock would be good.

Thanks,

Thoughts on my fish selections

northernltz — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:13:18 GMT

Hello everyone, I have a new setup in a 40 gal tank. I am new to this fishkeeping thing and have already had trouble because of listening to a store employee instead of a better professional.

I know that I needed to cycle the tank so I bought some inexpensive fish to start with, but I really have grown to like them. I have 2 guaramies, both dwarf red belly's each 1 1/2" long. I have a black/white molly at 1" long. A female betta also 1" long. A water frog at 1" long. An australian rainbow fish around 1 1/2" long. I also have three 1" fish called Mickey Mouse's (Sunburst color) and last is a very small 3/4" bottom feeder cat type. I am quite sure these are not the actual names of the fish, just the names on the local PetSmart tanks.

I would like to get any input on the compatibility and longevity of this group. The total fish size/length is currently at 11 3/4 inches. Now I was told that I needed to stay under 80 inches of fish for this tank. Is this true? Is it a problem if I am so far under the 80 inches? Is there a minimum amount of fish that needs to be in a tank to keep the filters working?

I am sorry for so many questions, but I really feel I was led astray by the store where I originally got started. They had me cycling/running a tank for 3 weeks without any ammonia, nitraits/nitrites working in the rocks. So I found out today that I was actually just running the water around and not accomplishing anything. :angry: I am very excited about this experience and want it to go as smooth as possible.

Question for Newbies

math-only aquarium — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 12:11:10 GMT

Hello,

Sorry about using your guys' time, but I just wanted to check and see if anyone was getting use out of the new spreadsheet. Thank you for your time and sorry for the inconvenience.

FYI, it is an attachment in the first post in the thread "Freshwater Stocking Guide" in the General Freshwater section.

light time

bettasrcool — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:56:10 GMT

What is the maximum amount of time each day that you should keep the tank light on so the fish don't get over-stressed?:unsure:

another line up

muskrat13 — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:12:42 GMT

for my 10 gal.

-1 rubbernose pleco

- 6 black tetra

- 2 african dwarf frogs

overcrowding?