FishProfiles.com Message Forums

excellent pics jasonpisani!

Thanks guys, I'm open to all the advice I can get. Listen and learn, saves little lives. Molly, I got this from Liveaquaria.com: "The Hammers Cobalt Blue Lobster is generally peaceful, except with its own kind. They will not typically bother fish, unless they are very small, and slow enough for the lobster to catch." But what you say makes sense, after all they are the same family as the cray. Yes, I noticed the cae's (only 1-2" have no interest in the algae tabs even after they did a job on the tank. I like the little guys so I'll check w/Gary. Thank goodness for this forum. Having fun in the midst of my confusion. Back to the drawing table...

New plants coming in tomorrow's mail, yippeee!

Blue lobsters are crays - there aren't any freshwater lobsters. Although they look very cute eating algae wafers, they can definitely catch and eat fish. The Cherry Shrimp, however, are totally harmless and great algae eaters - although, have fun finding them locally!
Fry tanks - always nice to have, except that it means you save the fry ... they'll soon overpopulate whether you help them or not, so IMO it's best to let them eat what they like and the strong will still survive. Up to you though, just don't expect there to be much of a market (or even space in a store) for the grown fry.
Thanks for the comments - bettas are great, definitely, and an easy addition anywhere.
Also, allow me to place another vote against CAEs, and this one not because they hit 10" (although they do) or get nasty (although they often do) but because they commonly starve to death. Not so fun, that. However, they certainly can be kept in the home tank - just ask garyroland, another FP member, who keeps a number. All it takes is watching the stock carefully, keeping them in a group to minimize aggression, and crossing your fingers!

-Molly
Visit shelldwellers.com!

Welcome to the site June ! (another addict, great.. lol)

I just want to be the first to warn you about Chinese Algae Eaters, they seem great at first when they're small, some gove no probs at all... But some end up attacking other fish or sucking their slime coats.. I just lost 2 female guppys, a clown loach.. And now my gold female gourami might not make it.. I just wanted to pass this warning to you, in hopes to save your other fish some possible stress.

[span class="edited"][Edited by DaFishMan 2004-08-21 09:28][/span]

The Amazon Nut...

Thanks for all the great info Molly. Yep, I love the platies, they're playful with lots of personality. That's why I'd enjoy some black mollies and maybe even lyre tail. Might go brackish in the 55. Tell me please, do platies always eat their fry and should I get a fry tank?

I can live without the Sailfin. 70 is going to be a peaceful community with lots of variety of color. It will give John who is quadriplegic and shutin during winter months a lot of enjoyment and he doesn't need to be concerned about any agression. He also says he will feel unhappy watching any type large fish constrained. We'll do large variety of short, peaceful, pretty and interesting, neons, glass cats, hatchets, etc. No crays! But I read cherry shrimp and blue lobster are freshwater and very harmless.

Important to do a LOT of reading and LISTENING. I hung out in one of the local lfs recently, just standing around staring at the various tanks, but with my ears open. Two "knowledgeable" employees were arguing about whether a particular tank w/fish had ich, (obviously a battle of the experts). Can't always believe the experts either. I've read profiles @ 3 different websites that cae's are harmless, then read in forums that they will eat the slime from fish. Good thing we can learn from each other's experiences.

Enjoying the pix and diaries of your tanks! Carson's got me thinking betta!


[span class="edited"][Edited by June 2004-08-12 20:35][/span]

I wouldn't worry about the platies - as livebearers go, these guys are the least likely to have problems from being kept in pure freshwater, and I think they're one of the best beginner fish - very hardy, fun 'cause they're livebearers, extremely colorful (that last is useful when recommending them to people - they get this unhappy look when I say "you should probably start with something like platies" and then I move them into the livebearer aisle and their eyes light up), etc.

As for your list, the following are fairly compatible:
bristlenose pleco
highfin pleco
whiptail cats
glass cats
neons
hatchets
Although I might not recommend the Sailfin for even a 70 - but there are plenty of small cute plecs, you might look at Clowns for instance. The Neons and the hatchets do very well together, and the whole group would benefit from a clean, well-planted tank.

These guys:
balloon mollies - brackish, but smaller than their "normal" counterparts, so you could just set up a 10 gal for them.
colbalt hammer lobster or cherry fire shrimp - If the Cherry Fire Shrimp are the same as Cherry Shrimp, they may work well with the Neon/Hatchet/Plec tank. If they're something else, I'm drawing a blank! The crayfish would of course need his own tank, or possibly some very fast top-dwellers.
freshwater puffers? - Best off in a species tank - a 10 gallon's the best way to go.
someday: discus - Well of course! You might look into Severums for now, the "poor man's discus."

-Molly
Visit shelldwellers.com!

ok in the tank i have now... its only been up for about 6 months...but before that in my 20 i had marble and slate in there for years... you just have to becareful when cleaning so you dont bump those huge rocks against the saide and spilt your tank. I've had little or no problems.... just a little bit of a dust problem at first

me

I just vacuum the sand & sometimes stir it a bit aswell. I don't stir it before i vacuum, so i don't suck sand.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

Yes nice pix Jason. And beautiful healthy fish. Thanks for the info too. On cleaning day do you stir the sand, vacuum, stir again, vacuum again?

Thanks alot smurf. We're having another heat wave right now & it will continue for the next 3 days.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

Ok, I'm a newbie to freshwater, and already totally hooked! Not quite 4 weeks into cycling first tank (70 gals w/tetras, platies and live plants). Ran out today and bought a 55 and thinking a backup 30 might be good too... Saw what might be a great deal on a 700 gal tank on ebay, 3g current bid... ooops, wait, where would I put it? Next to my bed if I move the the dresser and computer to the garage... :%)

Back to earth, deep breath, I'm ok. This website and forum is a wealth of info. For now at least 2 tanks are manditory because sooo many fish I want can't live together. Having a great time planning populations and some day would love to breed discus.

Question: Which is better, natural gravel or epoxy coated? I started the first tank with plain small smooth river type rock gravel from a landscape company, making sure there was no lime, lava, etc. Washed it well and it seems to be working fine, plants are growing well in it and cycling fish are happy. With second tank I purchased a sack of gravel that is epoxy coated. Being the organic type it bothers me that the gravel is plastic coated. Does anyone have live plants growing in epoxy coated gravel? I know plants get their nourishment from bios and fert in the water, but I wouldn't want my roots in plastic... What do you all use?

You can vacuum sand by placing the vacuum tube 1 inch above the sand, the fish waste will be sucked up & the sand will still stay there.

Sand & gravel can be mixed, but by time the sand will pack at the bottom & the gravel will be on top.

Yes, you can come & see the tanks, but if you want i can send you a link.

Here it is:-
http://uk.f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/s8xi5heh/album?.dir=/6c29


[span class="edited"][Edited by jasonpisani 2004-08-11 15:00][/span]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

Hi Theresa. Looks like you're making up for it w/5 tanks and my guess is you're not done yet. Nice pix of your fish on the website, pic of Natalie cracked me up! Cute!

For space we moved the floor-standing library, wall mounted book shelves work great. The tank was a freebie and we found a heavy old dresser just the right size at the thrift store on halfprice day. That said I still spent over $500 on equipment on that tank, and before it's even stocked I ran out to buy another sys. Early stages of addiction is causing loss of sanity already.

When I was purchasing the original equip for the 70 the lfs emp told me blackskirt tetras, headlight tetras and platies would be good cycling fish. Since then I've read platies prefer brackish and are not best for beginners. They are all doing fine though, and platies are fun. Will move tetras to 55 for cycling. Not sure yet who to put where but these appeal to me:

bristlenose pleco
highfin pleco
whiptail cats
glass cats
neons
hatchets
balloon mollies
colbalt hammer lobster or cherry fire shrimp
freshwater puffers?
someday: discus

Oh yes and chinese algae eaters, got 6 babies yesterday and the 30" leaves of the onion were totally cleaned of algae overnight.

Be inventive, you can have anything you want.


[span class="edited"][Edited by June 2004-08-11 14:24][/span]

What else do you plan to have in your 70g? Any ideas for the 55g?

You're lucky, I'm an addict too but the largest tank I can fit in our townhouse is a 30g. But we won the lottery we could get a plasma TV, ditch the entertainment center, and get a 70 though

~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Thanks everyone. I will go with the natural. Same reason I've got live plants, can't hang w/more plastic than I have to. Was in such a hurry to get another setup I took the shortcut and grabbed what was available, silly me. Back to the store for a return.

Princess: Marble chips sounds like a real nice look. Slate seems soft, won't it crumble in water eventually? How long have you been using it?

Jason: Is sand more difficult to vacuum? Is there a special suction tool for sand? A blend of sand and gravel would be interesting. Can I visit Malta just to see your tanks? That's all the excuse I need.

Off to do more reading so I can cut back on the dumb questions...

Welcome to FishProfiles.

Sand is very easy to use & natural gravel is quite safe aswell.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

Welcome to the FP family and the obsession that is fish

I've got coated gravel in one of my tanks, but I'm also using just plain pea gravel from home depot, it's much cheaper and so far (year +) hasn't been any different from the gravel from the LFS. However if you're really really interested in the best substrate for plants....well that's a whole nother discussion . There are specialty substrates that are made just for plants.

^_^

marble chips from my local stone placemuch cheaper and bigger variety. everything from marble to slate... jsuat gotta make sure you clean it well

me

I use plain rock/pebble... tho i have been known to use wild stuff occasionally

Fporget the plants for a minute, what about room for the bacteria to grow? natural provides more nooks and crannies

WELCOME TO FP!!

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Welcome, I too am a fishaholic with MTS. I've always use gravel for aquariums, si " know nothing about the epoxy. Sorry

Kim