Aquariums

[Synchronized]

New random question...

Does anyone know anything about keeping fresh water mussels? Or any other fresh or salt water bivalves?

I've kept freshwater clams before, and they really don't do much-- the only difficult thing is keeping them well fed. Most aquariums are too clean to give them the nutrients they need without outside help, so they often starve.

I took a cup with a hole poked it in and placed it over the clams, defrosted some prefrozen vegetable mixture(like San Francisco Bay's Emerald Entree), sucked that up with a syringe and squirt it into the cups under the water. They seemed to respond well to it. Apparently they also help reduce nitrates. I eventually gave them to my coworker with a bigger tank.

[Piney]

So a couple weeks ago I posted about getting a betta and I got one yesterday.



His name is Vos! He already built a bubble nest which I'm assuming is a good sign. I've been trying to get him to flare but he doesn't seem to care much for his own reflection. Also I'm thinking about putting in some more stuff for his tank cause it just has gravel and a few plastic plants right now. I saw these 'hammocks' at the pet store and do bettas really need those kinds of things? It seems to me I could just stick a plastic leaf to the wall of the tank and it'll be the same thing.

[TNHawke]

New random question...

Does anyone know anything about keeping fresh water mussels? Or any other fresh or salt water bivalves?

I've kept freshwater clams before, and they really don't do much-- the only difficult thing is keeping them well fed. Most aquariums are too clean to give them the nutrients they need without outside help, so they often starve.

I took a cup with a hole poked it in and placed it over the clams, defrosted some prefrozen vegetable mixture(like San Francisco Bay's Emerald Entree), sucked that up with a syringe and squirt it into the cups under the water. They seemed to respond well to it. Apparently they also help reduce nitrates. I eventually gave them to my coworker with a bigger tank.

That is a nifty idea. By 'prefozen veggie mix', I'm assuming you mean something designed for fish, and not human frozen mixed vegetables, right?
I ended up putting the mussel back in the river after a week. She was cool to watch, but back into the wild she went. I rescued another one that I found while I was there too, tossed them both into deeper water. The one that I brought home I found WAY out of the water and looking dried out, but not chewed on. No idea how she got there, probably humans.
But, I still have a handful of little Asian clams. They are now in my fish tank, and buried themselves in the gravel. I don't even know where they are now!

So a couple weeks ago I posted about getting a betta and I got one yesterday.
His name is Vos! He already built a bubble nest which I'm assuming is a good sign. I've been trying to get him to flare but he doesn't seem to care much for his own reflection. Also I'm thinking about putting in some more stuff for his tank cause it just has gravel and a few plastic plants right now. I saw these 'hammocks' at the pet store and do bettas really need those kinds of things? It seems to me I could just stick a plastic leaf to the wall of the tank and it'll be the same thing.

Awesome little Vos. Yes, bubble nests are usually a sign that they are happy and healthy. If you can make a hammock, I would. They do seem to enjoy resting on something near the surface so they don't have to work to float and can just lift their head up to get a breath of air.

[Niada]

Hi, I kinda have a problem with my angelfish. I have three that were bought at the same time, and they were tiny. Now one of them is big, and the other two are still small, though they've still grown a bit.

I think this might be because the big fish has an easier time eating the flakes I give them. The other two miss a lot when trying to eat them, so the big fish ends up eating most of it. So he's getting fat while the other two don't seem to be eating a lot. I'm not sure how to fix this. Food that sink might help, but when the fish flakes sink, the fish ignore them, as if they don't recognize it as food.

The two small ones also have really short ventral fins, while the big one's fins are fine, if uneven. It might be because the big one's bullying them, but I only saw him chasing one of the smaller ones once, and he stopped when I came over.

Any suggestions?

[BlackHeart]

The biowheel ones are decent, but the best seem to be the cannister type filters- although those will usually be overkill in anything smaller than 50 gallons.

They do make smaller canisters-- on my 32 gallon tank I have a Eheim ecco pro rated for 35 gallon paired with an AquaClear 50. I'd only gotten it because it was on clearance for $50 at my store and that's super cheap for a good canister, haha. I'm going to upgrade to something like 60-80 gallon canister eventually because I have having two running at once. "Overkill" isn't bad in a tank-- the more extra filtration you have the better, and if the intake is a little too strong it's only a matter of putting something over it(pantyhose or prefilter, maybe) to prevent fish getting stuck. Is the water pouring out is too strong, you just baffle it. The water from a canister's tube generally comes out in a very thin stream depending on the make so current from the water usually isn't too much of a problem for most tropical fish(and some like strong currents, regardless).

Anyway, on to my stuff:

Setups:
32 Gallon Bowfront
- Tropical community, slowly crossing over to Tropical semi-aggressive

5.5 Gallon
- Guppy breeding and ghost shrimp currently, switching to dwarf shrimp in the near future

I have four tanks in sizes .5 gal, .9 gal, 1 gal, 1.5 gal all housing bettas. The .5 will be upgraded soon.

What kinds of fish you have kept : Tropical freshwater. I have some brackish fish too so there's a tiny bit of salinity in the two bigger tanks.
How about other aquatic friends: I have billions of snails. This infestation sucks. I also keep freshwater shrimp and may get clams in the future.
Don't forget the plants:
32 Gallon Will be changing soon, I'm in the middle of revamping my tank.
- 2 large Anubias
- 8 or so small Wisteria
- 2 Aponogeton
- 5 or so small Amazon Swords
- 2-3 clumps of Dwarf Saggitarius
- 1 Crypt, unsure of species
- a few clumps of hair grass here and there
- 2-3 small Java Ferns
- Duckweed
- 2 Marimo, one of which is flattened out and used as a house by my kuhliis.
- 1 Water Ivy

5.5 gal
- 1 Crypt parva
- 1 Marimo
- JAVA MOSS AND CHRISTMAS MOSS EVERYWHERE OH MY GOD

3 of the betta tanks have small Anubias in them, and the 1 gallon has small Java Ferns and Christmas/Java Moss.

I dose all of my tanks with Seachem Flourish and API C02 Booster, occasionally push in Seachem Flourish tabs/API Root tabs into the gravel for the rooted plants. Soon to get Seachem Excel because I have a breakout of black beard algae that needs treating, and I can't find siamese algae eaters or american flagfish in my area.

What kinds of fish are, and are not compatible in your experience? For the safety of smaller fish please don't attempt housing bettas in communities. And keep them far away from gouramis.
Also beware housing different species of gouramis together.

Fish Health: The only thing I could catch in time to treat was fin rot for my oldest betta. I just used erithromycin.

Why : it's pretty :V

Anyway, here's pictures:
32 gal

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5.5 gal

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The bettas + other random fish pictures: most of these are from before I started revamping/before i moved some bettas around

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bumblebee catfish

variatus platy with albino cory in the background

some harlequin rasboras and danios

kuhlii, another cory in background

trilineatus corys, kuhlii loach, mystery and zebra nerite snail

powder blue dwarf gourami

Spoiler

Halfmoon, Tager.

Dragonscale, Hui

Marble veiltale, Cho

Veiltail, Columbus AND HIS STUPID FISH FACE.

I love your tanks. I was trying to keep a 10 gal one and my fish kept dying on me. I think it was our water. It had arsenic it. Before they cleaned it all up.

Can someone please give me some pointers on keeping Guppies. I'm moving to Florida soon and I would love to have a tank again. Thank you.

[TNHawke]

Hi, I kinda have a problem with my angelfish. I have three that were bought at the same time, and they were tiny. Now one of them is big, and the other two are still small, though they've still grown a bit.

I think this might be because the big fish has an easier time eating the flakes I give them. The other two miss a lot when trying to eat them, so the big fish ends up eating most of it. So he's getting fat while the other two don't seem to be eating a lot. I'm not sure how to fix this. Food that sink might help, but when the fish flakes sink, the fish ignore them, as if they don't recognize it as food.

The two small ones also have really short ventral fins, while the big one's fins are fine, if uneven. It might be because the big one's bullying them, but I only saw him chasing one of the smaller ones once, and he stopped when I came over.

Any suggestions?

The one with longer fins is possibly a hi-fin while the other two are normal. Now that he's bigger, he could very well be bullying the others. Make sure there's plenty of plants- shorter bushy ones, and tall ones that will reach to the top of the water level. This will give the small guys a better chance at hiding and getting some relief from the big guy. Don't give them sinking food, angels are surface to upper-mid feeders. You can tell by how their mouths are angled upwards. It is also possible that the one with bigger fins, because he's a different breed is just faster growing, but if he's hogging all the food, he'll definitely grow faster. You might try separating them with a tank divider (not in different tanks, angels can be aggressive towards any fish they don't grow up with) and cutting down on his food until the other two have caught up. Just don't overfeed.

I love your tanks. I was trying to keep a 10 gal one and my fish kept dying on me. I think it was our water. It had arsenic it. Before they cleaned it all up.

Can someone please give me some pointers on keeping Guppies. I'm moving to Florida soon and I would love to have a tank again. Thank you.

Jeeze. Arsenic isn't good for people, I can imagine how bad it would be for fish!
Normally, I don't recommend guppies, but I'm actually having really good luck with my current tankful. After my move, guppies and corycats are just about the only things left. Now if they'll just get back to breeding! I need babies for feeders!
They seem to fare pretty well with standard tropical setup. You definitely want some bushy plants if you want babies. I've been keeping their temp closer to 79 since I read they're more likely to breed in warmer water, but I've had them as low as 72 and seemed to be fine. As soon as I can get my hands on some marine salt, I'm going to add some salt to the water to help with breeding too, but they don't NEED it. Table salt works too, but marine has other trace minerals that is good for them. I've never had a problem with keeping just males, other than generally not being able to keep guppies alive. Currently, I'm trying for a ratio of 2 to 5 females per male, but again, that's because I'm trying to breed them.


I accidentally killed all my baby snails when I moved. I left them out of water for... days... *sad*

[Shadedrifter]

I have "Had" a Tank and Fishys but mystically they died it was small guppies and 2 suction catfish's and a bunch of snails. only the catfishes survived. I gave my Tank/Plants and all the other stuff to a friend of mine and now she have 1 of my cat fishes the other dies everything dies. Exept my cat

[TNHawke]

I have "Had" a Tank and Fishys but mystically they died it was small guppies and 2 suction catfish's and a bunch of snails. only the catfishes survived. I gave my Tank/Plants and all the other stuff to a friend of mine and now she have 1 of my cat fishes the other dies everything dies. Exept my cat

*hugs* Fish can be hard, especially if you don't really know what you're doing. A cat needs the same kind of environment you do- air to breath, food to eat, water to drink, shelter from rain and snow and comfortable temperatures.
Fish are depending on you to create a little mini world for them. They have to swim, but there has to be air dissolved in the water for them to breathe, the water has to be clean, or they're swimming in raw sewage and that's not only gross, it's deadly. They have to have the right kind of food, and enough, but not too much. Their water can't just be straight from the tap at room temperature, or the tank in front of a window.
There's just so many different things that can go wrong with them. It took me a few years to really get the hang of it... and to learn things like do NOT put a heater in the goldfish bowl...

[Shadedrifter]

I have "Had" a Tank and Fishys but mystically they died it was small guppies and 2 suction catfish's and a bunch of snails. only the catfishes survived. I gave my Tank/Plants and all the other stuff to a friend of mine and now she have 1 of my cat fishes the other dies everything dies. Exept my cat

*hugs* Fish can be hard, especially if you don't really know what you're doing. A cat needs the same kind of environment you do- air to breath, food to eat, water to drink, shelter from rain and snow and comfortable temperatures.
Fish are depending on you to create a little mini world for them. They have to swim, but there has to be air dissolved in the water for them to breathe, the water has to be clean, or they're swimming in raw sewage and that's not only gross, it's deadly. They have to have the right kind of food, and enough, but not too much. Their water can't just be straight from the tap at room temperature, or the tank in front of a window.
There's just so many different things that can go wrong with them. It took me a few years to really get the hang of it... and to learn things like do NOT put a heater in the goldfish bowl...

I had the right care. They dies becaus ethe place the tank was standing or Stress my cat scared them and tried to catch them all the time

[Synchronized]

Spoiler

Redid my 5.5 gallon tank again, the black gravel was peeling so it needed to go. Natural, thick stone gravel now! Accidentally ended up with a desert theme somehow, whoops.

-5 zebra danio glofish
-1 japonica/amano shrimp

-Dwarf chain sword
-java/christmas moss
-watery ivy
-cabomba
-dwarf baby tears

More shrimp will be added eveeentually. Need to order some cherries or more rilis, might toss in some ghost shrimp just to have something in there. Need some more amanos too.