Aquarium General: Puffer Edition
Old Thread: >>2106522 →
Discuss anything aquarium related here, including inhabitants, decor and issues.
Google is your friend.
Feel free to ask questions but know that there are a lot of resources out there that could answer your question a lot faster and accurately than /an/.
Make sure to include these things in your post before asking because we can't help you if we don't have the full picture:
-tank size
-parameters
-any and all inhabitants + how long you've had them
Links:
>How to cycle your tank: http://pastebin.com/x4WnB0Ah (embed) (embed)
>General aquarium care sheets - http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/
>Livestock and plants for sale - http://www.petsolutions.com/ http://www.aquabid.com
>FUCKING GOOGLE-
>>2108792
first for cuties
The adorable eyes of a porcupine puffer
A sharp nosed puffer
Going to uni next falk so I'll probably have to move out but I still want to buy qt fish and shrimps. But yeah I know I won't
>>2108805
Fall * fuck sake
>>2108805
Why not? Its like... Super easy.... Shrimps are stupid easy. I've been keeping 15 red cherries in a half gallon vase filled with java moss, with nothing more then a 50 watt flourescent light shining on it. I don't feed it. I don't do water changes. And yet three months later, they are starting to breed.
How many cajun dwarf crayfish could I reasonably keep in a ten gallon. They only get 1.0-1.5 inches and seem to not kill each other.
>>2108816
That depends, how hard/easy would it be to mimic their natural environment as perfectly as possible?
If nothing else, the fact that they are carnivores and thus will be messy eaters means you are going to have to filter the ever living fuck out of it.
I would start with two or three, and as long as nothing goes off the charts or they randomly start killing each other/dying then I would gradually introduce more.
But remember, the more you have, the more mess they are going to make, and thus the more ammonia and shit like that you will have.
>>2108819
My substrate is black diamond blasting sand. I have hornwort, banana plant, and guppy grass. Their natural environment are creeks and slow moving streams, as such I will have it filled with a lot of creek rock and hiding spots. I live in Kentucky where they are native so it isn't too hard for me to replicate their environment. Thank you very much and I will update with my completed tank in 2-3 weeks likely.
>>2108805
Uni over here allows 20 gallon tanks, not limited to aquariums at all friendo
after sort of being out of the hobby for a while I've been getting back in these are two of my 7.5 gallons. The right tank was set up a about 1-2 months ago, stock is a verity of micro rasboras (mostly Boraras brigittae), a nerite, japonica shrimp, and some thia micro crabs (Limnopilos naiyanetri). the tank on the left was set up last Wednesday and only has a nerite and some MTS's in there for now.
>>2108825
That's good, sounds like you have everything in hand. Just remember not to stack anything too tall cause they can knock it over and break the glass. As well has to have a lid securely attached to the tank because they are escape artists.
>>2108833
Will do and thanks again.
>>2108792
Oh boy new thread
>>2108844
Why is that fish so angry? Why are fish mad all the time?
>>2108846
They are mad because they can't see why kids love the taste of cinnamon toast crunch
>>2108789
bamboo sharks are the easiest sharks to keep, but they're still one of the most difficult fish to keep.
a 200g is the smallest you'd want for one.
the main challenge with these guys is keeping 0 ammonia, nitrite and nitrate with a large, messy predator. This includes siphoning out uneaten food, and vacuuming waste out as soon as you see it. Also there's the challenge of keeping perfect water without relying entirely on water changes. Changing out 20% of a 200-500g tank gets old real quick. Also live rock may not be possible in sufficient quantities in a shark tank for reasons of safety, so filtration is usually external.
there are special requirements for their tank as well, but that's something you'd need to look into.
>>2108816
Start with a sexed pair or trio and if it goes really well from there they'll start breeding.
I got these 2 feeder goldfish from petco to cycle my new tank. The first one went full retard, ate gravel and died. The 2nd is still alive and it's been a little over a month now, maybe 2 months. It's super sickly. His colors are still good and there's no irritation or ammonia damage but he lays on the bottom of the tank sometimes. Which sucks because I've actually grown attached to the stupid thing and don't want to euth it anymore.
I've read up on goldfish care and have adjusted his care according to what I learned. He now gets broccoli to munch on all day and still gets some bloodworms from time to time. He also gets tiny carrot chunks and peas (shells removed). His veggies are also cooked and brought back down to tank temp before he gets them.
He's doing better since his dietary change but he's still really listless and still lays on the bottom. If possible, I'd like to keep the stupid thing alive and well since he now amuses the hell out of me. Any ideas?
He's about 2.5 inches and he's in a 20g long (which is ok for now, but if he actually manages to survive, I'll obviously need to upgrade).
Guys. I bought two platys so that have a little more diversity in my new 7 gallon tank for my betta. I read online that Bettas and platys get along together as long as there is enough space. Which there is. Obviously as soon as I put the platys in, the Betta got too agressive and started biting them but fortunately they escaped since they out ran the Betta. However they stayed hidden the entire in corners of the tank were they weren't bothered by the betta. Is there a way to get them to get along? I currently transfered them to the Bettas old tank where they are more active but somewhat sullen. I read online that they can eat Betta pellets but they haven't shown signs that they ate it so I have to buy food specifically for them. Is there a way to get them to eat the food or is there cheap food I can give them in the meantime? Pic related, thats them at the moment.
>>2108891
Oh, totally forgot to say
It's planted and he also has driftwood to hide behind and under. Fluval HOB filter, he had a heater, but I removed it when I learned that heat is no bueno for goldfish. His tank still stays in the 65 to 80 degree range depending on local weather.
>>2108909
Water chemistry is good. The plants really stabilize it nicely now that the tank is fully cycled. It's slightly acidic because of the driftwood and is a little yellow because of the tannin.
I was originally going to fill it up with khuli loaches. Would that be ok? khulis are pretty social and will probably rub up against him too. I've held off on getting other fish because I really don't want to stress him.
>>2108895
Isn't that fish species a social one? As in, if they don't have a certain amount of their own species to school/shoal with they get super stressed out?
>>2108913
Just how high is the acidity? I thought goldfish only do well within the mid ranges. Although they can survive in just about any range. But surviving and thriving are two different things.
But I'm no expert on goldfish, so feel free to google the fuck out of that.
>>2108914
Didn't read anything about it. Theres two if them in there so hopefully thats enough.
>>2108916
About 6 to 6.3. Water changes, even though they're gradual, bring the water closer to neutral.
I got a dalmatian liretail molly from petsmart and it was pregnant. I'm sure it gave birth to more than 1 fry, but I can only find 1 in my tank. I bought the little fry pouch, caught him, and he's kind of wiggling around in there. He's about 2-3 days old and I don't think he's eaten. I feed high quality flakes, but idk what to do with this little guy. I ground up some and sprinkled them in his pouch. This is my first tank, my first fry, I love this little thing. What can I do to have him survive in his pouchy pouch?
I don't know if it makes me retarded or something, but I can't seem to keep any shrimp alive. I started with 5 cherry shrimp, and none of them lasted more than two weeks. The tank was previously home to a small group of guppies/snails, and they did fine. What could I be doing wrong?
>>2108921
Goldfish preffer a range around 7
>>2108922
Squeeze some gunk off of your filter into his pouch so he has micro thingies to feed on.
>>2108925
Next time get berried females. Because cherry shrimp fry can survive even if the female herself dies.
>>2108927
done, thanks :)
still monitoring for anything else, an.
>>2108973
learning how to hatch brine shrimp is useful.
>>2108914
Platies aren't schooling species. Two would be fine together.
>>2108986
Live brine shrimp and blackworms, and blanched vegetables.
Hands down the best way to keep fish healthy.
How do you guys deal with getting ride of snails? I was so sure to rinse the live plants but found some little fuckers this morning. Should I nuke my tank with aquarium salt to kill these the illegal immigrants? Should I remove the filter so I don't kill the beneficial bacteria? There's no fish in the tank btw.
>>2109041
copper should kill them.
malachite green or some similar copper meds.
>tfw have 1 female 2 male platys
>hasn't given birth once
>male platys literally do nothing except try to hump each other
>mfw just want more platys
I think my platys are gay
>tfw everyone on /aq/ has fucking gorgeous open top planted tanks
>mfw mine are dinky tanks with mopani and fake plants
>nearest LFS is miles away
WHY MUST PLANTED TANKS BE SO EXPENSIVE
>>2109077
We've got a selection bias.
/aq/ makes fun of anyone that doesn't have an open top planted tank until they leave or stop posting pics of their tanks.
or at the very least advises them strenuously to get some live plants and black substrate and driftwood and slate and little red shrimp so their 30g can look just like everyone else's.
>>2109080
Planted tanks do look better though T b h, I want some really bad but having an open top with clip ons in my living room with my family is a recipe for disaster. I could just buy bulb hoods but they're expensive as fuck.
WHO RAN OUT OF WALL OUTLETS FOR AQUAIRUMS MASTER RACE HERE
>tfw every room in my house is a massive electrical hazard with extension plugs in every outlet
>>2109077
planted tanks aren't expensive, you're just poor.
it's alright, everyone but two people in /aq/ are poor, that's why they keep memeshrimp with mememoss.
>>2109088
I know that feel.
this is my office tank.
I had an electrician come in a few years back and install a separate circuit in my basement just for tanks.
>>2109091
Yeah I pretty much have two of those on every outlet in my room. Kinda glad I don't live alone or I would have gotten carried away. Doing maintenance on 6 tanks can get hektik.
>>2109093
I only have two tanks running at a time, but my basement tank sucks about 3000 watts of power when all the lights are on. I have a generator in the garage to run the thing if the power goes out. Used to have a closet full of deep cycle lead batteries for it but this year I'm going to switch them out for a stack of lithium ions.
>>2109072
Are they rainbow colored?
anyone know if this book is any good?
>>2108929
>implying you can request berried females at every pet store
>>2108925
Tank isn't cycled, parameters are too off, or there's something in the water killing them.
>>2109041
Try Clove Oil, best alternative to Copper.
>>2108895
>I read online that Bettas and platys get along together as long as there is enough space
First mistake, don't do that shit ever again until you know your Betta's aggression
>Is there a way to get them to get along?
No.
>I read online that they can eat Betta pellets but they haven't shown signs that they ate it
>so I have to buy food specifically for them.
Second mistake, and you don't have to buy food specifically for the Platy, fish you buy will always have to adjust to eating what you give them.
>>2109041
>clown loach
Get a sumo loach, they're small and solitary
t. Loachfag
>>2109041
You could get an assassin snail. The one I had ate all of the unwanted snails in my tank.
>>2109041
Get clown loaches from PetSmart and return them two weeks later.
>>2109041
you just have to accept the snails if you keep plants. they really are not harmful to a healthy tank and if you want to control the population loaches or assassin snails are the best way to go as >>2109288 & >>2109288 pointed out.
>>2109077
I've been in and out of the hobby for 9 years or so and i will say my first couple of tanks did not look that good. it just takes time and practice, also I've been accumulating stuff over time and that helps.
pic is of one of my earlier tanks from about 8 years ago.
>contract biotope autism
>really want freshwater gobies/gudgeons
>no mekong gobies/gudgeons in the trade
Why?
>>2108891
>fish-in cycling
>putting feeder goldfish in a tank
Enjoy your diseases
>>2109077
Just go to your local Lowes or Walmart or whatnot, buy a couple Lucky Bamboo plants tall enough that the majority of their leaves will stay out of the water. (or get some twisty ties and tie their upper parts up so only their lower half stay submerged.) Then get some potho vines, like pic related. Cut the vines close to the little dark nubs (these grow into roots when left in water long enough) and do the same with them as you do with lucky bamboo.
Also, keep an eye out for any plants known as elephant ears. These can be planted in the tank, just like water lillies, and then they send their leaves up and these grow and breathe in the open air. But most people buy and sell them as houseplants. If your tank is too deep, then get an aquarium safe pot tall enough, and fill it with aquarium safe dirt/substrate and plant the elephants ear in that.
You can have all the joy and beauty of a planted aquarium tank without having plants that are completely submerged.
We should go wreck to marine general lol
>>2109450
This is /an/. Not /b/.
>>2109453
We should do it though lol since all they do is talk bad about us
>>2109456
So? Let em
At best, it'll devolve into shitposting
>>2109456
So you want to become what you despise? Be the adult and keep on the topics with fishtanks.
Some anon posted a bit back. Are you still in these threads?
Any fish recommendations?
I have a 20 tall with some driftwood and lots of plants
Substrate is dirt, with a gravel cap
>>2109468
Go be a nuisance somewhere else
Anyways. Got some new riccia and javamoss from a friend and decided to change up the layout.
Anyone got an Idea what I could do to improve it? Still not happy - something seems off.
Got this awesome piece of driftwood today, now to figure out how to cut it up
>>2109456
>all they do is talk bad about us
Wow, it's almost like delusional people like you and fucking ila ran them out of threads every time they posted
>>2109485
Boatload of white cloud mountain minnows, or the golden variety if you want something a little more colorful. Then a shit ton of khuli loaches.
>>2109550
Basically what happened. You wouldn't think there would be this kind of animosity amongst people who have exactly the same hobby, only one has salt in their water. My guess is >>2109456 just has an inferiority complex in general, and takes any comment about saltwater as someone trying to be superior to himself, and lashes out.
>>2109450
You need to be over the age of 18 to use this website.
>>2109566
>still replying to b8
It's really that easy to troll this board huh?
>>2109570
Not anymore you don't. That's why there's an 18+ section.
>>2109573
My life is pain
>>2109573
>You will immediately cease and not continue to access the site if you are under the age of 18.
>access the site
>the site
The global rules apply to all boards
>>2109573
No, read the rules. Sfw is not children welcome.
>>2109485
KRIBS
R
I
B
S
How do I driftwood and how do I plant? Do I need dirt in my fishtank? Any videos or links would be greatly appreciated. I want a low maintenance highly planted freshwater tank using gravel. These are all preferences and can be changed as I know little about tanks and am planning to learn with this first one. How do I go about cleaning such a tank anyway? Without uprooting plants and such? I'm getting a 50-55gal rolling in soon.
>>2109487
Beautiful.
>>2109504
How do I driftwood? I know I should boil it but is that all I should do? I've watched some youtube vids saying I can go pick up some weathered driftwood from a creek or a river or somesuch place and as long as it doesn't fall apart easily it should be good to boil and sink for a while and then place in a tank?
tl;dr help
>>2109609
It depends what you want. Boiling/soaking the wood helps bring out tannins that can cloud your water, plus take out anything that might be still living in there.
Ive always used wood ive found on the beach and never had a problem.
>>2109473
Arowana Anon was the best, I hope he comes back.
>keep two ghost shrimp with a new betta
>one ghost shrimp eaten
>eventually second ghost shrimp goes missing
>2 weeks later
>one of the red cherry shrimps in the main tank died
>remove it and place it into the betta's tank
>it takes a bite and ignores it
what do i do anons, is it a shrimp killer?
>>2109186
Safe ways to euthanize the betta? I didn't buy it, I took it after my little sister left him alone in a 1 gallon tank for weeks. Water was a murky brown, no live plants or filters, just gravel and two fake plants. I was wondering, if I get a bigger tank would that solve the issue? I think I can get a bigger 30 gallon tank instead of the current 7 gallon, that way I can add some shrimp and some driftwood to protect the platys. I wouldn't want to kill the betta but I can't keep the platys in a gallon tank for too long and anyways it seems he has an Ich infection, I don't think people will want a free Betta they would probably be cruel to him. Its sad tho, since I moved him to the bugger tank he's more active and his colored brightened.
>>2109571
>implying that was an honest attempt at trolling
>implying you were not completely serious
>implying you aren't butthurt over the other anons calling you out on your childish behavior
>>2109594
mah nigga
got a couple pairs of these right now in my community tank. theyre both at that point where they lead the fry around the tank and shit. good stuff
R8 my Demasoni
>>2109676
Crashing this plane
With no Demasoni
>>2109676
He's a big guy
I wonder if being caught was part of his plan?
>>2109627
this is down right wrong, bettas can be agressive, some more so than others, but there is no reason they can't be housed in a community tank.
>>2109626
Betas should be in nothing smaller than a 10 gallon, and don't house them with fish that look like bettas. I'd say go for tetras or a gourami. My current tank here has 1 betta 1 blue dwarf gourami, 7 black skirt tetras, and 3 amano shrimp, the betta doesn't let the other fish near the heater where he likes to hang out but other than that they get along just fine.
Pic related
>>2109694
Actually, when pairing bettas with gouramis I found the betta to be in more danger. I had a 55 gal community tank that housed two bettas simultaneosly. Yes, both were male. They just had their own space. I bought both of them in 2 liter mason jars, and when I introduced them to the tank, I put their mason jar 'homes' in there with them at an angle, with the mouth of the jar pointing down, so about 1/4 of the jar was filled with air. Each betta just chilled in his respective mason jar after the initial territory dispute. They would test eachothers territories from time to time, but no damage was ever done whatsoever.
Then one day I had the bright idea to put a pair of dwarf gouramis in the tank. First night, my first betta was murdered. Thinking it might've finally been the bettas going to war, I didn't bother taking any action. Next night, the second betta got decapitated. I've decided it must of been the dwarf gouramis. They stayed in that tank for another 2 years until they died though.. They were fun fish. Just hated the ever living shit out of bettas. Was really unfortunate having my cool 55g betta cohabitation ruined.
I have 3 dwarf pufferfishes living in a 20 gallons. Been in there for many months now. I used to have a second male in it too but it was "the second male" and was bullied, eventually to death it seemed. The three of them live ok now, One male and a few females in a big space is a good setup. I need to fix the light, they have been in the dark for a while now. I feed them only ramshorn snails (algae pellets fed), which I grow in some other 10gal tank.
>>2109701
That's pretty strange, gouramis in my experience are pretty peaceful. My blue dwarf mostly pals around with the tetras, and ignores the betta.
>>2109708
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, ya know.
>>2109711
I think they were beggining to mate and that's what threw them into a fit. Never did see any eggs layed by them, but it was a large community tanks with angels, loachs, all sorts of tetras, and many others, so nothing was ever able to breed successfully in there.
>>2109717
Sorry to disappoint, but I doubt this idea will take off at all.. There's literally no advantage to me using facebook for this group, besides losing my anonymity and sharing personal information about myself to 4chan users, which i'd rather not do. Nothin personal ;)
>>2109717
Everything and everyone on it is visible to people not in it
>>2109717
yea.. I can see everyone in the group and what they are saying and posting... It's really cringe worthy looking at some of these profiles... Looking at your kyloe rene
>>2109734
well now there's no way for me to join it either.
>REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Terrible admin REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEe
>>2109739
We can still see who's in the group, Athena.
>>2108895
>>2109626
Try putting the Betta in the bowl and the platies in the 7 gallon, rearrange absolutely everything in the main tank, wait three days, then but the Betta back in the tank. It might help curb his territorial behavior, but no promises.
Ideally you should have at least a 10 gallon tank before trying to mix the Betta with other fish, though.
>>2109658
They're from West Africa, so they're more suited for planted tanks than the rock pile type scapes that people use for rift lake cichlids. You might want a cave or two in the tank if you're aiming to breed them, but otherwise they're unfussy.
>>2109694
>Betas should be in nothing smaller than a 10 gallon
Highly debatable, but most websites recommend larger than ten gallons for those tetras.
>>2109640
>implying I'm that anon
Faggot
>>2109627
This. They'll pretty much only get on with docile bottom feeders
>>2109824
Get a dwarf puffer. He will rape them.
So, I found a perfect little piece of dead wood near a crick i was fishing at, I grabbed it, stopped at my lfs and even found A POT OF FUCKING ANUBIAS NANA!!! and took it home excited to finally finish my nano tank. Whelp, its been about 50 hours and the thing wont sink, and also, I just realized I fucked up hard I think and was soaking it in tap water. I know I could glue it to slate, and I might have to, but how fucked am I for soaking it in chlorine water? Can I just soak another day in Prime treated water? Poop, i was so excited too.
>>2109871
>how fucked am I for soaking it in chlorine water?
chlorine evaporates fairly quickly so all you have to do to get rid of it is dry the wood. Baking at low temp would do the trick.
it probably doesn't matter though, the amount of chlorine absorbed into the wood probably won't make any difference and will evaporate from the tank about as fast as the wood releases it. Personally I wouldn't worry about it.
hey aq, want to set up a heavily planted guppy aquarium, already have a 2400 lumens led light for a 31cm deep tank. should i just go all in at the start with a Co2 set up or should i just use liquid?
>>2109941
how much lumen per liter you got? what kinda plants you wanna put in there?
>>2109942
really want a dwarf hairgrass carpet, maybe some bacopa compact behind some knife stone (pic related) with some java moss on it.
50 litre tank so thats 48 lumens per litre
>>2109824
sorry no clue you where an aussie. i really wouldn't do anything as long as thay are not harming the tank, any chems you add are more likely to do more harm than the snails will.
Gg
>>2109782
How should I arrange everything. Theres not much going on in the tank in terms of decorations; just a plant, gravels, a fake plant and a hollow rock. Is there anything else I should buy?
My chocolate chip starfish ate one of my turbos last night. What the fuck, man? That turbo probably weighed more than the starfish.
>>2109978
You're a monster for taking a bunch of wild caught animals and forcing them into some tiny tank to get murdered
I can't believe I've never seen this board! I used to rock planted tanks like y'all, but they were too much cost and maintenance. So I rock it simple now with Discus and angles haha. This is the Red Turquoise, he's about 4.5" currently.
Here's the rest of the crew
Someone post their shitty tank so I can feel more comfortable about posting my shitty picture of my pleb tank
Don't mind the stickers, I helped my nephew put them up and he was really proud of it, so I'm not tearing them down for an anonymous image board.
Can anyone here ID the other plant he uses in this setup?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTLsfjRlOGM
>>2109983
Go away.
In a way it's actually nice you use a trip, because I can instantly discount everything said by you. I don't have to see 'anonymous' and wonder if this guys mentally retarded anymore, I just know now.
>>2109978
There is a thread now specifically for us marine aquarists, you'll get more attention there.
>>2109999
I like the balance in your tank
Here's a pic of an old tank
>>2109871
>Can I just soak another day in Prime treated water?
Use a double or triple dose, but that should be fine if you don't want to dry the wood out again.
>>2109948
You'll probably need the CO2 to get the hairgrass to carpet nicely. The other plants wouldn't really need it.
>>2110044
whats all that white stuff on your wood?
>>2110092
That's what she said
It was either a bacteria or a fungi
When new wood is introduced, sometimes it has food on it that micro organisms like to eat
If you leave it, it'll run out of food and die off
>>2110096
i see,
is it safe to put fish in when this stuff is present?
>>2110097
I'm pretty sure it's safe.
>>2110097
Yes, it's safe
>>2109999
Here's the first planted tank I did. 5 gallon with shrimp.
>>2110031
Kind of just looks like short sunset hygrophila.
>>2110031
Staurogyne repens
>>2108792
micropuffer is displeased with your antics
>>2110100
Bruh, I would assume you meant to photograph your pokeymans if this weren't /aq/
>>2108816
There's no magic number to give you, crayfish can get along for years just to turn around and eat a tankmate. I suppose this could be said of most inverts.
>>2110168
Hell, even snails will climb onto the shells of larger snails and cannibalize them slowly.
As far as I know, the only inverts that don't do that kind of stuff are shrimp. And even then, they might still eat each other, but only if it's teeny tiny fry or one died of natural causes.
I'm still new to plants, is it normal for cabomba to shoot up a few inches overnight, or does it mean that the plant's stressed or something? The cabomba was short and bushy when I bought it a few weeks back, but yesterday a few stalks were suddenly much taller. The new growth is sparse. Will it fill in?
>>2110187
It'll fill in and grow runners
Mine grow about an inch a day too
>>2110187
I read that as "Carbombya" and started having Transformers flashbacks.
>>2110199
I'm sorry, I'll remember to add a trigger warning next time.
>>2110044
Thanks. I love tanks with lots of greenery. My tank was going to have a nice piece of driftwood I found but I ended up giving it to my brother instead. Your tank makes me wish I kept it
>>2110100
I love shrimp. I wish I had more room so I could add a few in. By far one of the more entertaining guys to put in an aquarium
Is it possible to build a self sustainable aquarium? For example, lets say I buy a 30 gallon tank. And then just buy lots of plants. And then buy fish that can eat said plants or algae. The plants should provide food for fish, as well as natural filtration of bad chemicals and cleaning the water. I could also just add a filter to keep water currents going, and helping the plants filtrate. Is it possible to just leave it like that by itself, and only clean the filter and switch water every 3-4 weeks?
>>2110302
Depends on the fish, cichlids will eat the plants before they have a chance to grow again
>>2110302
>implying a plant could grow that fast
>implying fish don't have unlimited hunger
won't work
>>2110302
this is theoretically possible, but due to inefficiencies in both fish and plant metabolism there's no way you could do it in a 30g.
A more reasonable goal might be, say, 2000g of water per fish. The water would need to be shallow and wide to allow maximum sun for the plants, and the roots of the plants would best be suspended in the water rather than buried in soil.
>>2110334
that would make it worse, since now you've added another layer of inefficiency.
you'd need even more plants to support the small animals + omnivore than you would to support just one herbivore.
>>2109625
Anon from yesterday here, just added the betta, he hated the dull looking fish(otocinclus and siamese algae eater) for some reason but eventually didn't care about them and left the Red Cherry Shrimp and Amano Shrimp alone.
>>2110302
>switch water every 3-4 weeks
wait would you be doing water changes? also look into the walstad method.
Hi guys. I'm just starting to look into getting an aquarium and was trying to think of some interesting Ideas for "aquascaping".
One concept was a sort of dirty dishes scheme with stacks of plates and bowls and stuff (obviously clean ones).
What are some other ideas for interesting/alternative aquascapes?
Can someone tell me what this brown algae is? I tried to look it up and people called it diatom.
This is a 5 gallon freshwater tank that currently has only live plants and no fish. It's mostly been cycled except for my trying to get the pH and KH up a bit more so I can house shrimp.
I previously had a really shitty light that essentially was a 3w lightbulb but I've now switch to a very nice light.
Will this algae go away once the plants get better and out compete them? Could I simply take out things like the log and rock and wash them off?
Thanks guys
Recently set up a small 20gal tank. Want to put a Betta fish in it, but the filter current is quite strong, at least for a Betta.
Can a Plakat Betta like pic related tolerate a greater current than other Betta's with longer and bigger fins?
>>2110427
My filter is pretty strong too so I ended up getting a plakat, I think a fancier tail type might've struggled. I put a tall ornament and plants in front of the outflow to buffer the current.
>>2110138
>>2110158
Yeah, yeah, I know. It was a different time for me and that's the only full tank shot I have of it.
>>2110302
It's theoretically possible, but no one is going to have a foolproof formula laid out for you. Also, this is far, FAR easier to do without vertebrates. A mature shrimp or snail tank of any size can go for months without intervention (no food, no water changes, maybe occasional top-offs). If you look into the Walstad method for bowls, you can set up a 1 gallon bowl like that.
You can also look at >>2106955 for some vague ideas.
>>2110408
I was considering an Alice in Wonderland theme. Bright coloured gravel & fancy teapots/cups. Another idea I was looking into was Van Gogh's starry night. I'd have the painting as a wallpaper & navy/black/yellow gravel - yellow coloured fish would look cool in that.
>>2110408
There's always the Lego tanks.
>>2110474
Yeah if you want your fish to be nerds
>>2110408
Drainage ditch biotope. Hardscape would be broken beer bottles, pieces of plastic, and cement slabs.
>>2110408
im making my new tank with a space theme
>"moon rocks", open-end rocks that have little glowing rings
>a giant ass piece of quartz
>2 crashed spaceship cave decor
>black substrate sort of reminds me of an asteroid
>lazy so no background, but it's against a wall where there's two pictures of space i cut out from calendars tacked up, sort of like a background
>>2110511
t-the other decor hasn't come in the mail yet senpai
i'll post it when it's all done in a few days though
What could be put in a 2.5 gallon tank? I saw one at the store and was just genuinely curious if anything could live in something like that. Do they even make filters for such a small aquarium?
Maybe like a snail or 1-2 African Dwarf Frogs?
>>2110425
Whatever you do, DO NOT wash off that log and rock. No matter how thoroughly you rinse it, it will introduce soap residue to your tank that will kill everything.
Instead, try and fit it into a large pot and boil it. Or get some plain old tap water, let it sit for a day or two to allow chlorine to evaporate, then scrub the fuck out of the log/rock with a CLEAN scrub brush. Afterwards, rinse all the goop off with the dechlorinated tap water.
>>2110427
Just take an aquarium safe sponge and cram it into the filter output.
Also, check out betta imbellis, no reason why you can't have a gorgeous betta and other interesting tank mates at the same time.
Of course, you will still have to make sure they don't too strongly resemble bettas. But you will have a significantly larger chance of everyone getting along fine.
>>2110526
You can make your own filters with just a tube, an air pump, and an aquarium safe sponge. Look up the King of DIY on youtube. He gives great instructions, so that even if you don't do it exactly as he does, you still understand the basic principles going on and can experiment to find what works for you.
As for animals, maybe three or four white cloud mountain minnows, or other such small fish species.
But I would stick strictly to inverts, such as various shrimp species (and there are a LOT, each more beautiful than the last) and snails. (same as shrimp in variety) Plus you can also have a boatload of low light/low maintenance plants. Check out the Walstad method of setting up a tank so your plants can have as much impact on filtering and keeping the tank as stable as possible.
The main problem with small tanks is that the sheer finite amount of water means that if anything goes wrong, the cascading domino effect harms everything else in the tank at a much more rapid pace and at a much larger scale. Where as if the same thing happened in a 10 gallon tank, the greater amount of water allows all the inhabitants to simply shrug off the effects until the owner can find and correct the problem.
So you'll want as many live plants as possible. Even if it's just wads of java moss and anubias.
>>2110534
Awesome, are there any good bottom feeders that go well with Betta fish?
>>2110425
>>2110533
Well I did a big water change and now all the algae or w/e that was in the sediment has made a thick coat over everything.
Will this go away with time or do I have to do a 100% water change and clean the soil?
>>2110571
Some thoughts follow:
take them with a grain of salt, I've been wrong before...
A. Those DO look like diatoms
2. Diatoms feed on silica
III. To get that many diatoms you'd need a LOT of silica in your water
D. If this is all correct, every time you change water you add more silica
V. Which means more diatoms with each water change
just my thoughts. I'm sure someone here can tell you how best to deal with diatoms in freshwater. In saltwater they're consumed by copepods, amphipods, and ultimately sponges. Of course that doesn't help you to know, but my suggestion is finding out what eats them and going from there.
Yeah get a load of this guy over here. Dr. Knows Shit About Aquariums. Let me tell you a bit about my background. I’ve had a fish tank since I was in the 5th fucking grade. I may have lost the test kit for it years ago but believe me I know this baby inside out. I don’t know what the fuck "breeding" is. I’ve never seen "breeding" and frankly it sounds like bullshit. Believe me when I tell you, I don’t have any patience for people who come into my life pretending to know shit about what goes on in my life. Think for a fucking moment before you come to me with this pedantic nonsense about breeding". Have you ever been to my house? seen my fish tank? I sincerely doubt it because I haven’t had friends over to my house since the Bush administration. Thats a very narrow window of time in which you could have seen my fish tank. And even then you probably hadn’t completed your course at the fucking aquascaping academy. I worked at my LFS for almost two years and I can tell you I spent my time in the department with the fish. I actually spent most of my time in the cat and dog section, but believe me, we had tanks out there, heavily planted ones. I never heard a single fucking thing about a "breeding". Please get fucked.
>>2110645
Is that a new pasta? Already looks stale.
>>2110511
Don't put Quartz in a fish tank, peabrain
>>2110709
why?
>>2110710
The rock will fall apart, poison the fish with heavy metals, screw the ph up, and cut fins and mouths with its sharp edges - and, ignoring all that anyways - it'll get dirty and covered with algae and look stupid.
Paint the background black and then use a needle to make some holes in the paint. Put a small light with some blue cellophane over it behind the tank and you've got a starlight effect.
>>2110427
Point the filter outlet at the glass, it ain't hard nigga.
And yes, wild-type finned bettas will be able to handle current better.
>>2110710
Quartz is fine for fish tanks, apart from the possibility of adding more silica to the water, which encourages algae growth.
Don't listen to the tripfag, just filter him.
>>2110578
Alright here is a better pic after it had all night to settle.
So if I have no live animals currently due to still waiting for the pH and KH to balance what should I do since nothing will eat it? Simply wait for the new nice light to cause the live plants to out-compete all the algae and for it to die off?
I'll try to give some more info.
>It seems like none of this algae is actually stationary and simply floats around and mixes with the water with any sort of movement.
>Substrate is fine soil intended for shrimp and plants (should I just take it all out and strain it of organics?)
>tank chemistry has perfect amonia, nitrate, and nitrate, but with 0 KH and around 6.5pH (still trying to get up)
>About 4 live plants in this 5gallon
>http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=29013 This is the new light I got recommended by my local fish store
Thanks for anymore help guys and I'll answer any questions needed.
>>2110808
RED
RAMSHORN
SNAILS
seriously. they keep my tanks immaculately clean. they also keep my puffers fed. they dont get very big, and they are cheap as hell. throw 10-15 decent sized ones in there, i bet they take care of your problem in relatively short order.
>>2110813
Is there a place to order these online? The pet stores around me only carry nirite, mystery, gold, and trumpet snails it seems, but I can look around more.
>>2110526
Depending on the source, vertebrates considered "appropriate" for 2.5 gallon tanks include endlers guppies, scarlet badis, pea puffers, betta, dwarf frogs, and killifish, but far more sources would recommend a five or ten gallon tank for any of those.
There are tons of inverts that would be totally fine in a small tank like that. Shrimp, dwarf crayfish, snails, micro crabs, and some more oddball stuff like insect nymphs, aquatic beetles, or seed shrimp cultures.
>Do they even make filters for such a small aquarium?
Small sponge filters are pretty easy to find, but buying the pump, valve and tubing would deter me, personally. The Azoo Mignon 60 is a HOB filter specifically for small tanks like that.
>>2110539
>white cloud mountain minnows
Don't put shoaling species in small-ass tanks please.
>>2110817
Trumpet snails get a bad rap, but they're a dually decent algae eaters and keep the substrate aerated. They're also pretty imo.
You can buy brown, leopard, red, and blue ramshorn snails on aquabid from time to time. Like MTS, many people consider them a pest because they can reproduce crazy fast under certain conditions.
>>2110832
>stop liking what I don't like
>>2110817
im not sure, i got my original batch from a guy i found on a forum. they breed readily, so that first group was all i needed. one of the lfs by me sells them by the bag too. im sure if you look around online you should be able to find some. look for forums that are for your area, or on craigslist, you might come across someone like i did.
What are some easy high-light plants I can use for floaters?
My water wisteria is suddenly not cutting it in one of my tanks, and nothing floating ever survives in my other tank, which has a pretty harsh light. I use root tabs which used to keep the wisteria alive but now it's dying. I need something that can handle the high lighting, but doesn't need CO2 or anything like that.
I don't care if it sheds a lot, I just want a floating plant that doesn't turn brown/translucent in a week.
>>2110834
i also like the trumpet snails. good puffer chow, excellent for plants and substrate. not as efficient at cleaning as the reds, but they definitely pull their weight.
>>2110847
Red root floater and azolla are good high light ones. Salvinia is my personal favorite floater right now. It's a good all-rounder.
Just put up my baby piranha tank today. I'm gonna put 2 or 3 more plants on the right side that will hang over the water to produce some shade. What do you guys think?
>>2110887
Sweet background. Won't piranhas just eat the plants?
>>2110887
These are the piranha i bought.
They will enter my aquarium once the cycle is done.
Aren't they cute?
>>2110876
>Red root floater
Seconding this. It will flower under intense lighting.
>>2110905
>I know. Fast motherfuckers.
Those pebbles are moving pretty fast too!
>>2110917
kek
>tfw your Oscar has probably watched you fap more than a few times
>>2110834
I've wanted snails for my tank but I'm afraid of them getting out of hand. How do you guys keep them under control? My set up is 12 golden barbs 1 angelfish and 6 Cory's so im not sure if I could introduce something to eat them. It's a 50 gallon.
So do you all just keep boring community fish or does anyone else keep predatory or large growing stuff?
>>2110926
Most people here are to poor to afford proper tanks for such fish.
>>2110941
Hope that nigga gets a bigger tank for them piranhas. They get a decent size. Tank ooks to small. I like to keep rare fish.
My new shrimp tank is just about done. 5 gallons, fry-proofed filter, and blue/white LED shining down. Planted with 3 meme balls, banana plant, a rando sword, and java moss. I like aquascaping with clay pots.
Currently stocked with 4x RCS and 1x Amano. About a dozen more RCS are in the mail.
Thoughts? Post more shrimp tank photos if you got 'em.
>>2110942
Whatcha got there bro.
>>2110944
Sick aquascape breh, looks like amano himself worked on it. Keep up the great work.
>>2110946
T-thanks anon.
>>2110942
It's 180 litre so they will be fine for a while. planning on buying a bigger tank once they get around 12 cm. Which will be around a year from now.
>>2110946
so looking to set up a planted aquarium, what should i use as a substrate?
was thinking of
http://www.completeaquatics.co.uk/aquarium-accessories/planted-aquariums/plant-substrate/tetra-substrate-2-8kg
with
http://www.completeaquatics.co.uk/aquarium-accessories/planted-aquariums/plant-substrate/tetra-active-subs-6ltr
and taking suggestions on a top gravel if anyone has a place to buy UK
>>2110548
It all depends on the temperament of the individual betta. Some are so inbred and aggressive that they will murder even snails and shrimp. Others are so docile that as long as the other tank mates don't resemble male bettas, then they will get along with pretty much anything and everything.
>>2110808
Are diatoms a legit species of algae? Or do people just call it algae the same way they call marimo "marimo moss"?
Because if it's algae then the easiest way to get rid of it is simply to limit how much light it receives.
Try gradually reducing the hours you leave your light on until you find a good balance between starving out the diatoms and still keeping your plants alive and healthy.
>>2110830
>But I would stick strictly to inverts,
Learn to read the entire fucking post before you get butthurt please.
>>2110945
Congo puffer
>>2110924
All you have to do is make sure you don't overfeed your fish so there is a lot of detritus that sinks to the tank bottom for the snails to feed on.
Also, if there is too many, simply drop a piece of blanched broccoli or zucchini that's attached to a weight and string/fishing line. Then come back a while later and pull it up with dozens of snails attached to it. Drop those snails in a clean bucket/bowl of tank water and either kill them, or sell them online.
Repeat as many times as you feel necessary to curb the population.
>>2110953
Used both. Great results.
>>2110974
Ah cool man. Mbu's are my fav. I look after one. His name is Bert.
Real poor poorfag here, thinking about having an aquarium, only had one when I was a tween and it didn't go so well as my parents didn't give a shit and I was a dumbfag that didn't know what to do. However I was thinking of trying my hand at a smaller aquarium, so I'm looking at a starter set that includes a 126 liter tank which is roughly 33 gallons or so. Are there any particular ezpez memefish I could put in something of that size?
The set does come with this Eheim Aquaball 130, a pump that's certainly good enough(180-550 liters an hour) and Eheim 100 W for heating, if any of that is relevant information.
>>2108792
Is there any significance to dreaming about aquariums? I had a bunch when I was younger, but I've not kept one in close to 15 years.
Once a week or so, I have very, very vivid dreams involving brightly colored fish in a tank with lush plants, usually involving feeding or breeding them. Like...this is a very regular occurrence for me...
>>2111026
It means you were an aquarium in a past life.
>>2111019
livebearers such as guppies, mollies, platies and swordtails are very hardy.
a bunch of corydoras for the ground also always work well
>>2111019
For shrimp, I would get Ghost Shrimp, they won't breed as well as the notorious Red Cherry Shrimp, but like you said
>real poor poorfag
For snails, hitchhiking Malaysian Trumpet Snails and Ramshorn are the best, toss the Pond and Bladder ones away
For fish, livebearers(especially Feeder guppies) and a betta.
>>2111037
Sounds good, thanks. I was thinking about those Plecos or whatever those mostly black suckerfish are called. I've absolutely adored them since I had them the first time and would like to have some again really.
>>2111060
Shrimp would be cool. I probably ought to consider that. Though to clarify when I say poorfag I mean to say have ~$400-500 a month to spend.
>>2111061
>Real poor poorfag
>$400-500 a month
You are a 'tard aren't you!
>>2111068
Thing is that it still puts me substantially below the average joe for here.
>>2111069
Wait, do you mean $500 a month to spend on fish stuff? or just $500 a month in general?
>>2111073
I thought he meant $400-500 to spend on fish stuff.
>>2111078
Photosynthesise, fucking pleb.
>>2110944
Needs a large hardscape featute
. Maybe some large pieces of Terra cotta or a big pile.
>>2110924
Some snails like nerites can't reproduce in freshwater. Others, like assassin snails, usually reproduce so slowly that it's never a issue.
>>2111061
>Plecos
Look up information on the specific species you're looking to get. There are hundreds of disserent types of plecos that get anywhere from 5cm to 60cm+.
Bristlenose plecos (Ancistrus spp.) are easy to find and would be good for that tank.
Hey /aq/ can anyone identify this, found it carpeting in some shallows of a local pond in new England, took some home cleaned it up and hoping to get it to do the same here
Kek the saltwater thread got b8ed hardcore. Some fag thinks $1000 is a lot of money. I spent $2000 on my freshwater set up alone.
>freshwater fags are piss angry at saltwater fags for no reason
I glanced at the Saltwater thread, and it seems like only the Freshwater side is butthurt, what the fuck are you degenerates doing now?
>>2111126
>$1000 is a lot of money
it's a lot of cash. more than it makes sense to have without a specific plan.
>>2111138
There's no anger about saltwater in this thread besides one person. But it usually stems from saltwater being elitist.
>>2111138
Some /b/tard came earlier and tried to start a raid against the salt thread, most called him out on his bullshit.
>>2111139
to be fair that was just what I could hang from the front of my tank.
It's really not that big of a tank.
>>2111153
Das it mane?
>>2111153
Why so much cash?
>>2111162
it's the money I'm going to give my two sons to spend when we go on a cruise in the fall.
>>2111164
you ever heard of a bank?
>>2111173
that's just the pocket change I have on hand is all.
/an/ wouldn't believe what's in my bank accounts, nor does it matter.
>>2111175
I make apps pointed towards children and no one believes how much i make off an hours work into a app. Sit at computer make shitty app that takes an hour or two then get ads on it and bam.
>>2111164
just a followup: I have to treat my wife's son just like my ours or else the Mrs gets mad at me.
