Lately I seem to be having one aquarium issue after another as my Eheim canister
filter had a leak after I cleaned it out because I didn't realize I had to turn
the intake tube at the base of the canister in order to tighten it in place.
So, a week of using many towels to absorb the water from the new carpet (also,
Febreeze was a big help with any carpet smell issue) and the carpet is finally
dry again (from now on I am keeping the canister in a container). Luckily I
didn't go to Florida for the week or I would have came home to a bigger water
mess. The other issue I'm having lately is finding a new algae eater locally so, I may
end up calling one of my fish friends (whom I bred guppies for in DC) to pull some
strings for me or.. I may make a road trip up to PA to find what I'm looking for. Something else I discovered recently was that I am pretty certain all my current ranchu (Sumo, Pocky, and Ramen) all happen to be a tank full of female fish. So, that's all the updates I have for now
and I hope everyone had an awesome Halloween!
11.01.2015
10.25.2015
The 12 Best Small Tank Pleco's
With the recent passing of my bristlenose pleco Eval whom I had for roughly 4.5 years I realized that a pleco is a really good algae eater option for my aquarium needs in my goldfish tank so, I wanted to put together a quick list of the 8 best small tank pleco's.
Most of the pleco's listed below all require at least a 30 gallon sized tank to reach their adult size (aside from the Pitbull and Clown pleco listed below as it needs at least 20 gallons and the Pitbull seems to be more of an herbivore rather than omnivore like the others). Generally I find pleco's to be very hardy and adaptable to a wide range of water parameters, the main harmful things to these fish I would say from my experience is being sure to have 0 Nitrite (as that's harmful to most all fish) and also temperature should generally be in the mid 70F range. These fish are often shy, aggressive eaters, like hiding places (especially driftwood), like water movement, are typically more active at night, and they will clean algae off any plants, decor, glass etc. I don't recommend picking these fish up with your hands as they do have barbs behind there gills that stick out when threatened, and using nets can also end up injuring them (as I'm pretty certain that's what happened to my pleco). They generally need to be fed some type of algae wafer (I've been liking one by Omega One) but can also eat certain blanched vegetables, they may even eat some frozen foods (like bloodworms) and sinking pellets.
Most of the pleco's listed below all require at least a 30 gallon sized tank to reach their adult size (aside from the Pitbull and Clown pleco listed below as it needs at least 20 gallons and the Pitbull seems to be more of an herbivore rather than omnivore like the others). Generally I find pleco's to be very hardy and adaptable to a wide range of water parameters, the main harmful things to these fish I would say from my experience is being sure to have 0 Nitrite (as that's harmful to most all fish) and also temperature should generally be in the mid 70F range. These fish are often shy, aggressive eaters, like hiding places (especially driftwood), like water movement, are typically more active at night, and they will clean algae off any plants, decor, glass etc. I don't recommend picking these fish up with your hands as they do have barbs behind there gills that stick out when threatened, and using nets can also end up injuring them (as I'm pretty certain that's what happened to my pleco). They generally need to be fed some type of algae wafer (I've been liking one by Omega One) but can also eat certain blanched vegetables, they may even eat some frozen foods (like bloodworms) and sinking pellets.
Size: 2.4"
Size: 3.5"
Size: 4
Size: 4"
Size: 4.5"
Size: 5"
Size: 5.5"
Size: 6"
Or of similar appearance is the smaller 3" White-Spotted Ancistrus
9.12.2015
Lionhead Progress (1 Year)
Today I have officially had my goldies for 1 year, to which I feel so blessed to have seen them grow from 4 grams up to 159 grams in weight (and still growing!).
My results show that in a goldfish's first year (12 months) it can gain roughly an average of 134g. Of course results will vary depending on how, what, and when you feed your goldfish, as well as the goldfish's living conditions.
Another factor to note when raising, culling, and/or breeding goldfish is that generally any imperfections found when the fish is small will more than likely still be an issue as the fish progresses in age and growth. Color roughly changes with age, in proper conditions color seems to intensify with age however, some breeding, breeds, or health related issues can cause the fish to go through a more dramatic change in color (as seen with my goldfish Pocky).
Oddly after 5-6 months any major internal health problem/s seem to become apparent in these fish, such as having swim bladder disease. I was unable to find a cure-all for swim bladder disease and I'd like to hypothesize that this is something that can occur mainly due to poor breeding standards. Some swim bladder problems may be worse than others.
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| Pocky, Sumo, and Ramen (left to right) |
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| Click to Enlarge |
Oddly after 5-6 months any major internal health problem/s seem to become apparent in these fish, such as having swim bladder disease. I was unable to find a cure-all for swim bladder disease and I'd like to hypothesize that this is something that can occur mainly due to poor breeding standards. Some swim bladder problems may be worse than others.
8.31.2015
Farewell Takashi
For those that don't already know Takashi Amano passed away earlier this month, and although I did not know him personally he was definitely one of my biggest inspirations for planted aquariums and freshwater fish (I even mentioned him in the first post I ever did on here) as I am sure he was for a lot of people. I don't know any serious planted tank Aquarists that weren't some how inspired by his work and aquatic photographs. He will definitely be missed and my thoughts and prayers go out to him and his loved ones.
Thank you for all you have done Takashi Amano.
8.23.2015
New Betta
Originally I was uncertain I would get another betta, but as I tend to follow a lot of betta forums and such.. I couldn't resist the urge to get another.
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| Hi, I'm Neptune! |
Meet Neptune, a seemingly young male rose petal (AKA rose tail) betta. I got Neptune a few weeks ago from Petco and have put him through a mild quarantine, since he has surpassed that I decided it's now time to share my new fishy friend on here. Neptune doesn't seem to have a huge appetite (nor is an aggressive eater) thus far although a heater may change that, and what he currently lacks in body size (which may change overtime) he makes up for with his huge fin spread. Neptune flairs with a black background and has a big curiosity of the bubbles coming from the sponge filter in his tank. As far as betta personality's go he is just a curious mellow fellow.
8.04.2015
Updates
It's obvious to see (blog stats don't lie!) that a lot of you have been missing my posts recently (and I've missed you all as well), as mentioned I have had a pretty busy summer full of lots of adventure, and basically living life.
So what's new...
I don't really plan on doing anymore goldfish weigh-in's until I have had my fish for a year (which is just around the corner!) just because I feel their growth rates have possibly been bouncing around a bit due to some feeder issues, food and water changes, etc. After that weigh-in is done I may take a break from the weigh-in's in general, and another reason for that is Pocky and Ramen both have swim-bladder issues and I don't know how much longer I can see Pocky go through this because some days seem worse for him than others. Aside from swim-bladder issues with these 3 goldfish I really haven't had any issues with any type of disease, illness, etc. so I feel what I have been doing for them has been working out for the most part.
I'd like to start caring for some other types of fish in the near future. Honestly all that the goldfish community has taught me and everything else I've learned (be it on my own or from general research) has in my opinion helped me become a better fish-keeper in general. I don't find there is a lot of valuable online information for tropical type fish (such as guppies, tetras, etc) as there is for fish like goldfish which is partially why I'd like to venture outside goldfish as I did back when I had guppies as well.
I also ordered some Guppy-Guide logo stickers off of my CafePress shop and they're pretty cute (I plan on getting a new 5 gal. bucket or something to put the sticker on). The "clear" sticker is transparent all over and not just the background color, while the solid "white" sticker is solid all over, and I wish only the background was transparent (*hint hint* CafePress, haha). Eventually I will get around to making some more products for the shop but feel free to follow my shop for updates on that.
I just started a new Instagram account just for this blog (you can find the link on here as well) and the old one will probably be for my personal use (which may get deleted). I opted to make a new one so that it could be made more public and be strictly more aquarium/blog/fish based and such.
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| Blogger Stats (click to enlarge) |
I don't really plan on doing anymore goldfish weigh-in's until I have had my fish for a year (which is just around the corner!) just because I feel their growth rates have possibly been bouncing around a bit due to some feeder issues, food and water changes, etc. After that weigh-in is done I may take a break from the weigh-in's in general, and another reason for that is Pocky and Ramen both have swim-bladder issues and I don't know how much longer I can see Pocky go through this because some days seem worse for him than others. Aside from swim-bladder issues with these 3 goldfish I really haven't had any issues with any type of disease, illness, etc. so I feel what I have been doing for them has been working out for the most part.
I'd like to start caring for some other types of fish in the near future. Honestly all that the goldfish community has taught me and everything else I've learned (be it on my own or from general research) has in my opinion helped me become a better fish-keeper in general. I don't find there is a lot of valuable online information for tropical type fish (such as guppies, tetras, etc) as there is for fish like goldfish which is partially why I'd like to venture outside goldfish as I did back when I had guppies as well.
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