From: Russ 2/19/02
Subject: Lowering the ph via oak.
Would oak shavings lower the ph as oak leaves will?
I work in a lumber mill, and have easy access to oak shavings and sawdust.
From: Clint 2/19/02
Subject: Re: Lowering the ph via oak.
I'm not saying it won't work but I've never heard of anyone using oak bark.
Mostly I hear to use dried oak leaves.
Clint
From: Gigi 2/19/02
Subject: Clint: Is the Otto algae eater.....
I bought one tonight to replace my Chinese Algae eater.
Is the fish called a Otocinclus what people are referring to when they say "Otto", and will it eat the green and red algae in my tank? I have a feeling that they are schooling fish, too.
Please advise. It's already in my tank.
From: Clint 2/19/02
Subject: Re: Clint: Is the Otto algae eater.....
Yep it is an algae eater. They aren't really schooling fish but they do lile others of their own around. Don't know how effective it will be with red algae. Let us know how it turns out.
I have never had much luck with Otos, but I have been told that I keep them too warm. I don't use heaters but my house is kept at about 75F minimum.
Clint
From: Gigi 2/19/02
Subject: Re: Clint: Is the Otto algae eater.....
I was at the pet store for two hours tonight looking for them. I tracked them down by observing behavior and cross referencing their scientific name. It seems that pet store sell the "Chinese Algae Eater" as an algae eater, and don't bother to tell customers that they grow to dig pits in tanks, terrorize fish, and hunt down small, sleeping fish at night for food. Mine seemed to be eating algae as a baby, but I noticed that he was merely grazing over it. He takes my Cory's shrimp pellets from them, too.
I talked to the pet store about this tonight, and we sentenced my chinese algae eater to a future in a tank full of Oscars.
I won't get that fish again.
Otto's are supposedly hard to keep alive, but I have an immaculant tank with plenty of algae to eat (not that visible; more on the items in the tank). I haven't lost a fish in over three months, and that was because the tank was new.
From: Timboi 2/14/02
Subject: Re: Does anyone know................
I believe it is 5ppm (the ~ symbol means approximately).
From: Maggie 2/14/02
Subject: Clown Loaches
Hi everyone,
I have had such a fantastic amount of fun with my Pearl leeri and the bronze catfish I am definetly hooked on this hobby now! I saw some absolultly beautiful fish at my local shop yesterday named Clown Loaches. I have tried finding information on them but all the info I find is inconsistant. Can someone please tell me how large these fish grow, if they are friendly to smaller fish and also if they are difficult to keep? Some people have told me they can only eat live food, others have said they can eat pre-made. Some say they grow HUGE others say they adjust to the size of the tank. What is true? Are they recommended for people like me who do not have much experiance with fish keeping? Thanks for the help!
From: AJB 2/14/02
Subject: Re: Clown Loaches
I have two clown loaches and am gradually getting a school of five going.
*These fish get huge-15" at least, and most think up to two feet in the wild. I personally beileve two feet.
*They are slow growers, taking years to get to 8 or so inches.
* They will destroy every snail they find living in your aquarium, apple snails being one of the ones that usually take it, espically big ones. That is the reason I first got one.
*They are very hard to breed, because they don't reach sexual maturity until they are a foot, and it takes years for them to achieve that in an aquarium.
*They will eat any food other fish will.
* They are not usually recommend for beginers, mostly because they almost have to be in a school.
* If you try them get a school of three and work from there.
* www.loaches.com has information and some amazing pictures of huge clowns.
* Currently they are all wild caught, hence the need for high prices.
* I once saw one for sale that was 10" long. The person had two, and would sell them both for $300 probably a fair amount for that size.
Good luck!
AJB
From: Clint 2/15/02
Subject: Re: Molly Babies
Well I took the shells out of the net this morning. But as soon as I moved the mom back to the tank, the male started plucking at her. How long does it take for the molly to have all the babies? Also, will a sand dollar add salt?
From: fire ice 2/14/02
Subject: Re: Molly Babies
I'veheard mollies can even live in full-strength sea water, one of the most adaptable and easy-to-care-for fish :)
From: Lynn 2/15/02
Subject: Re: Molly Babies
I typed in ANOTHER question...but this is my first time using message board so I put in Clint as the name because I thought that you were supposed to put who it was too. OOPS!! Check it out!! PLEASE!!!
From: Hannah 2/14/02
Subject: Melafix
Is it safe to use Melafix in a tank with 13 1-week old guppy fry in? If not, then what is the best way to do a topical application to a small dwarf gourami? Thanks ;)
From: Charles 2/15/02
Subject: Re: Melafix
Yes but what's the problem; If other fish have severe ick or fungus find another place for all non affected fisk
From: Clint 2/14/02
Subject: Re: salt
Hi Sharon,
All of my tanks are small. If you look closely in one of the pictures you will see 2 6 gallon plastic vats on the top row of one of the racks. From each hangs a long loop of airline tubing. When I change water I do all the tanks at once usually. After siphoning the first tank down about 25% I take one of the airline hoses from the water storage vats and start it flowing into the 1st tank, while it's filling I go on to siphon the 2nd, and so on until all are changed.
I siphon some of the fry tanks everyday.
When I'm done changing water I have a long plant watering hose (that I have permanently attached to a Y fitting on tap behind the washer) I use this to quickly refill the water holding vats and add chlorine remover. Makes it a smaller chore.
I siphon all the old water into a 5 gallon bucket that dump outside or in the commode.
I wouldn't add all the alt at once. I would add a teaspoon a day for five days. I mix it with a cup of water and slowly add it to the tank. But from then on I always add a teaspoon per gallon to the holding vats.
It won't make much diference if you start adding now or after the cycle as long as you do it slow.
If for some reason you ever need to treat a tank with salt it would be best to add it all at once, premixed in a cup of water and slowly added over about 30 minutes to an hour.
Clint (up late, 3:00 am)
From: Rachel 2/14/02
Subject: Re: gravel riders
Cories. :o) They come in a zillion different types, and they're so much fun to watch. I keep seeing types I don't have, when I go into pet stores, and it's hard to resist them. But I mmust..at least for a while.
Happy....yeah, I think cories seem happy, too. :o)
From: Clint 2/14/02
Subject: yes cories
Cories are exactly what you want.
Clint
From: Karen 2/14/02
Subject: Hi
Thank you Lynanne and AJB for the compliments.
I'll be back, I miss it here.
From: Leslie 2/15/02
Subject: Re: adding angels
So, what all do you have left in your tank now? I also love angelfish and unfortunately have lost 4 adults to some sort of internal disease. My suggestion is to try to find dwarf or small breed angels. These will not get any larger than 5-6" and do well without much fighting. I had 4 adults that were small breed (about 3-4" max) in a 55G tank and they never fought. In fact, they seemed to enjoy each other's company. The males can be very territorial when ready to breed, so just remember 1" of fish per gallon of water and per gallons is even better. Guppies may get bullied by the bigger fish even when they're full grown.
From: Rachel 2/14/02
Subject: Re: New tank & ammonia
I like this one, too...
http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html
From: Kelli 2/15/02
Subject: Re: I've got some sad news:(
Aww poor fishey and poor you! Go get another from Walmart or someting and save it from harsh treatment. =o)
From: Karen 2/14/02
Subject: Sorry to heat that
It seems even sadder when a pet dies and you are not there.
From: tarun jawa 2/14/02
Subject: Re: setting a new tank
hi sarah..thanx for some tips...i will have that fluvel ordered soon..i am having a 150 gallon tank..now u can imagine that how big it must be...will this filter do adequate for every thing...lemme know sumthing more abt ur tank..i have two tanks..one having chiclids and the other tropical...i dont face any hassels wid them..but i have heared the fishes i want to keep are very delicate..i mean extremely delicate..with me fishes never die usually..i guess in last six years i must have lost six fishes only ...give me more tips..how to handle best of fishes..
From: Sarah 2/15/02
Subject: Re: setting a new tank
Thanks for the comments. The Fluval that I have is a 204 and they go up to 404 I think. It should be able to handle a 150 gallon but you'd have to check. All I keep in my filter are 3 sponges (2 regular & 1 that was used to seed it), 2 carbon packs and 1 main basket of Biomax. I don't use the ammonia packs although you can...actually there's got to be at least 5 different things that you can put in these filters but I've found them unnecessary so far. Yes you are aiming to keep delicate fish. I don't know about the others but I've heard that Discus are hard to keep, especially with other fish. They like high temperatures (80-85 degrees) and special water conditions which most other fish often have a hard time tolerating. But I'm sure there's got to be something out there that can handle it. I guess you'll have to talk with someone at the petstore because I don't know much else about them, just that they are absolutely beautiful.
From: tarunajwa 2/17/02
Subject: Re: setting a new tank
thanx a lot sarah..my i measured it its a 200 gallon tank......can u recommend some other efficient tank
From: Debra 2/14/02
Subject: Re: Platies and Mollies
Is it possible that a Platy and a Mollie would have babies together?
From: Sarah 2/15/02
Subject: Re: Salt
Just make sure it's not table salt!! You can get freshwater salt from the petstore.
From: Debra 2/14/02
Subject: Re: Petco :-(
I used to work for Petco on Long Island, NY. If the store does not have a fish speicalist there don't rely on the other employees. Just about all of the employees don't know about fish, that is why you should not rely on them. If the store does have a specialist and is not on the schedule that day go back another day when they are there.
From: Rebecca 2/14/02
Subject: Re: painted glass fish
Ok, I got suckered into them and had the same problem. I treated for ich for 16 days and the white stuff didn't go away. I believe, after much research, that it is lymphocystis. There is no cure for it. Apparently, they can go into remission after several months. I had a hard time finding out much about the disease because there wasn't a whole lot of info on any one site. There was one site that suggested adding salt to the water, said it would cure it. The other zillion I looked at said no cure at all, it's a virus they carry that comes out when they are stressed. From what I could piece together, when the white stuff grows bigger, it looks like cauliflower. I looked at my fish under a magnifying glass after we euthanized it (we don't have another tank to put it in), and it did look like cauliflower. It's recommended that you isolate the fish until the signs of the disease are gone, this can take several months. I did read somewhere that it is not contagious like ich, other fish can only catch it if they rub against the sick fish. I don't know if that's true or not, but we haven't had any other sick fish. This is getting pretty long, do a search for lymphocystis and you should find out what you need to know. Good luck.
Here is a link that might help explain some of the glassfish stuff to you
http://www.twentysix.net/~jeff/rants/72001rant.html
Rebecca
From: Clint 2/14/02
Subject: Re: painted glass fish
Some are painted, some are injected with dye under their skin. Regardless of the method it fades away pretty soon.
I have noticed that most of the "painted" fish now are Tetras instead of glassfish.
Real glassfish are brackish fish, but tetras are more of a acid loving fish, so you have to know which it is that you have. If it's called blueberry, strawberry etc it's usually a tetra.
Either will adapt to your water pretty easy if they don't die from the coloring.
Clint
From: Christopher 2/14/02
Subject: blame the supplyer not the buyer
I agree that ppl who don't know the proccess should not be blamed. When I first got into fish just last September I thought that the painted ones where natural...like color breeding with bettas. When I found out I went off on the poor woman who was helping us at Pet Smart. I have since been reminded that there are many cruel proceses that bring us the pets that we have..from fish to dogs to cats...look at the inbreeding that had to be done to come up with the hairless dogs and cats. As long as there is a market for it, there will be a supplyer. All we can do personaly is educate ourselves and any we come into contact with. .................................. OK I have vented. I'm done. Realy, I am going to shut up now. I can stop any time I want to. You don't belive me? Ha! Ill show you! ...... snicker :)
From: SilverStorm 2/15/02
Subject: Re: betta in new tank
You're not the only one. My Betta likes to rub/lay himself in the thermometer since I put the thermometer in.
It's a happy little fish though, :)
From: ron 2/15/02
Subject: Re: Dwarf puffer?
Dwarf puffers get to be about only an inch. As any puffer, they may nip the fins of other fish, but you probably will never catch them, as they do it only by sneaking up. I have never seen a puffer chase a fish and have never seen one kill a fish. I have kept them with all varieties of fish including small guppies peacefully. However, some breeds will eat ghost shrimp and snails readily.
From: Kelli 2/15/02
Subject: Bright stuff
heh. Funny you mention the bright stuff. In particular my betta hates black. But, he also has a hissy about bright things. I set down a bottle of yellow spray butter next to his tank and he had a fit. Hehhe. Silly fish.
He thinks he's a soldier today. He's pacing back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.
From: Anonymous 2/15/02
Subject: Re: HeeHee!! My betta is cracking me up!! :)
I think you should try to spend a little more time watching your Betta. In Indonesia, there's this illness, which, if translated to English, is called Tailbite. The Betta will not die from this, the only bad thing is that your Betta won't be as much beautiful anymore since it's biting its own tails. The causes of Tailbite are:
a) The Betta did not get enough feed so it became hungry and its long tails become its 'victim'
b) Dirty water that causes its body becoming itchy.
If your Betta did not try to eat its own tails, then it means it's just playing with himself. I just thought this little information can do little help :)
From: Linda 2/15/02
Subject: Re: HELP!! Fish Emergency!!
Obviously, you must remove the gravel. Yes, you may hurt him, but if you don't remove it, he may die anyway. That doesn't leave you a very good choice, does it?
One of the other responses suggest smaller gravel, but it would seem to me that the best thing would be to get gravel that's too large for the fish to eat. Either that or get gravel that is so fine that it will pass thru the fish if they choose to eat it.