Show me your aquarium

[extraT]

Caddyshack said:

Looks great. Test daily as that is quite a lot if stock if done in one go….any spikes do a 25% water change and withhold food. A spoon full of cooking salt can help reduce the effects of nitrite (I didn’t believe it either)

Cheers Caddy! It’s about half the possible stock. But I’m not going to push it much more. I’m going to get two beautiful female bettas (the eye catchers) and that’ll be about it.

So far ammonia is less then 0.25, but not quiet 0/yellow. Nitrites and nitrates are good. Going to test before going to bed, if needed I can do 25% water change then.

[105.4]

Caddyshack said:

I think they are just being normal crabs/ lobster (crayfish) it is just what they do. You could try all sorts of food from tab type sinking pellets to something like smelt or frozen muscle.

Thanks Caddy.

[extraT]

Sooooo…. For those following my diary… you will one know of the organge armoured catfish died around 24 hours after being in my tank. It was listless at the bottom of the tank, and then could t swim. All other inhabitants are doing fine. Other catfish are behaving normally. Tonight I saw a slight ammonia spike, nothing major, but decided to clean out any poop and nip the problem in the bud. Then I realised some of the tetras have a swollen belly… tried to capitulate him as best as I can do in the pic below. Should I be worried? When I got them all in Friday, they were fine. Been fed once since then (on Saturday morning as per LFS instructions) and again this evening. Definitely not over feeding. Should I be worried? Or is it because I haven’t fed them and I saw them eating something (poop?!) that their belly’s are bigger? I read one boild pea may help.. how would that work?

Edited by extraT on Monday 21st June 19:00

Edited by extraT on Monday 21st June 19:16

[Caddyshack]

I wouldn’t worry about the tetra bellies. In the early weeks…if in doubt then don’t feed, skip a few days then feed the tiniest of amounts. Maybe pick up some green type flake next shop visit but I would not overly worry.

[African Grey]

Sway said:

Liquid CO2 is never a bad thing (dosed correctly!) to help them out though.

Am not sure about it. Liquid CO2 is pesticide that also effects the fish's gills so I would have said use it but only when there is a need but not as a regular additive to the tank.

[Hoonigan]

Just upgraded my aquarium, custom made tank that I’m really pleased with.
Sadly lost I my clown fish in the tank swap, must have dressed him too much for which I’m gutted but that said he was getting on a bit…

So at the moment just a lonely Damsel fish but I will be adding a few friends soon, just need to get all the rock glued together first and get a new skimmer.

[Caddyshack]

Great looking tank. I like how you neatly mounted the circulation pump controllers. Worth investing in one of the battery backups that they do. I have one for a close to surface mounted circ pump on my Ray tank to give surface movement in the event of a long power cut or other faliure.

[S11Steve]

Caddyshack said:

105.4 said:

KILLER CRUSTACEANS

A little advice please chaps.

A few days ago it dawned on me that there suddenly appeared to be noticeably less fish in my tank all of a sudden. I know we’d lost two, (a cardinal tetra and a molly), but all water specs were fine, so I just put those two down to natural losses.

Then last night I caught our red crab in the process of catching and devouring a female guppy.

A quick head count of my remaining stock shows quite a few losses. A small angel fish, two male guppies, one female guppy, a gourami, a red-tipped shark and another molly.

We also have a decent sized African Blue lobster in the tank as well as the red crab.

We had a couple of red crabs in our old tank many years ago, but without the current losses. They always seemed content eating the algae off of the driftwood.

Would adding a crustacean specific food calm down the killer instincts of my crab and lobster?
How often should such food be added?
Would adding such food likely have negative effects upon my water quality?
Can anyone recommend a brand if this type of food?

Any other suggestions?

I do t want to have to get rid of my crab or my lobster, but I also don’t want to keep on suffering losses either.


Thanks in advance

I think they are just being normal crabs/ lobster (crayfish) it is just what they do. You could try all sorts of food from tab type sinking pellets to something like smelt or frozen muscle.

I've no experince of freshwater crabs, but I'd tend toagree with the advice above. By all means try a pellet or fresh mussel meat, but crabs are scavengers and well eat whatever they can. In the time you're trying to wean them on to another food, the fish are still at risk.

The correct answer is always to get another tank to keep them in....

[Hoonigan]

Caddyshack said:

Great looking tank. I like how you neatly mounted the circulation pump controllers. Worth investing in one of the battery backups that they do. I have one for a close to surface mounted circ pump on my Ray tank to give surface movement in the event of a long power cut or other faliure.

Thanks, I will look to get the battery back up at some point, but skimmer, ATO and dousing pumps first. Rarely have power cuts here fortunately and I have a genny so not too worried just yet…. (Famous last words)

[Caddyshack]

Hoonigan said:

Caddyshack said:

Great looking tank. I like how you neatly mounted the circulation pump controllers. Worth investing in one of the battery backups that they do. I have one for a close to surface mounted circ pump on my Ray tank to give surface movement in the event of a long power cut or other faliure.

Thanks, I will look to get the battery back up at some point, but skimmer, ATO and dousing pumps first. Rarely have power cuts here fortunately and I have a genny so not too worried just yet…. (Famous last words)

I am pretty sure I had a Did dosing pump here somewhere that I can send you.

[Khonda]

I have two tanks.

A 200l ish one:



And a 20l ish shrimp and guppy one:



I used to do twice weekly water changes on the bigger one but since I had kids nearly 4 years ago I now only do this every 6 months or so. It seems to take care of itself pretty well though!

[Hoonigan]

Caddyshack said:

Hoonigan said:

Caddyshack said:

Great looking tank. I like how you neatly mounted the circulation pump controllers. Worth investing in one of the battery backups that they do. I have one for a close to surface mounted circ pump on my Ray tank to give surface movement in the event of a long power cut or other faliure.

Thanks, I will look to get the battery back up at some point, but skimmer, ATO and dousing pumps first. Rarely have power cuts here fortunately and I have a genny so not too worried just yet…. (Famous last words)

I am pretty sure I had a Did dosing pump here somewhere that I can send you.

Wow thank you, that is an incredibly kind offer that I’d def take you up on if you do have one? Happy to cover P&P etc

[Chester draws]

We now have a pair of Angelfish. Only had them in 24 hours, but they seem really calm and relaxed. They're quite a bit bigger than the Platy babies, but no sign of them looking to snack on the little ones...

[Chester draws]

Khonda said:

I have two tanks.

A 200l ish one:



And a 20l ish shrimp and guppy one:



I used to do twice weekly water changes on the bigger one but since I had kids nearly 4 years ago I now only do this every 6 months or so. It seems to take care of itself pretty well though!

That planted one with the Angels is beautiful... Do you think the plants keep the Nitrate down? What do you do to help the plants along??

[Caddyshack]

Chester draws said:

We now have a pair of Angelfish. Only had them in 24 hours, but they seem really calm and relaxed. They're quite a bit bigger than the Platy babies, but no sign of them looking to snack on the little ones...

If one fish can fit another fish in its mouth then 99% of the time it will do that sooner or later.

[S11Steve]

Does this count as an aquarium? I've set up a copepod culture



I saw the plastic fermentation vessel in a discount store, it's got a hole in the top for the air line, and a tap at the bottom to get pod rich water to feed the main tank. I need to keep it light green with phytoplankton and a gentle flow of bubbles and they'll double in number every week.

Free fish food

A lot of the micro organisms in the tank took a battering when it crashed, so this is the first culture set up and I'm looking at a mysis shrimp hatchery in another spare tank.

[Khonda]

Chester draws said:

Khonda said:

I have two tanks.

A 200l ish one:



And a 20l ish shrimp and guppy one:



I used to do twice weekly water changes on the bigger one but since I had kids nearly 4 years ago I now only do this every 6 months or so. It seems to take care of itself pretty well though!

That planted one with the Angels is beautiful... Do you think the plants keep the Nitrate down? What do you do to help the plants along??

Thank you!

Literally nothing, I used to put all sorts in (ei dosing I think it was called?) but that relies on regular water changes which I don’t have the time or inclination to do anymore.

The plants must help as the levels are always perfect when I test. In fact the nitrate levels are lower than our tap water so a water change makes this worse! I only do this when cleaning the substrate now.

The smaller tank hasn’t had a working pump for 6 months and the plants seem to keep everything nicely balanced.

[Chester draws]

Khonda said:

Thanks, sounds like you've got it very nicely balanced and can enjoy it with minimum effort!

[Caddyshack]

S11Steve said:

Does this count as an aquarium? I've set up a copepod culture



I saw the plastic fermentation vessel in a discount store, it's got a hole in the top for the air line, and a tap at the bottom to get pod rich water to feed the main tank. I need to keep it light green with phytoplankton and a gentle flow of bubbles and they'll double in number every week.

Free fish food

A lot of the micro organisms in the tank took a battering when it crashed, so this is the first culture set up and I'm looking at a mysis shrimp hatchery in another spare tank.

Cool, I love seeing stuff like this.

[Khonda]

Chester draws said:

Thanks, sounds like you've got it very nicely balanced and can enjoy it with minimum effort!

Also the sand helps apparently as that can build up lots of bacteria.

Seems to be the case, I did lots of research when I first set it up which helped me avoid mistakes but can’t quite believe how easy it has been. Having a larger tank definitely helps, I had a fluval edge (23l) before this and I could never make it work.

If anyone wants more details you are more than welcome to message me, I can give a full rundown of the setup and what bits I think are crucial to it being successful.