RUMMY-NOSE TETRAS, GOLDEN APPLE SNAiLS AND GUPPiES, RiP, PLATY NOT-SO-WELL

I got some rummy-nose tetras! There are five of them, just a small school, hearding around my tank. They are wonderful to watch, and so very colourful! They really do add to the tank’s appearance. I would reccomend them to anyone with a descent sized tank and peaceful fish. I have actually found them quite hardy. The youngest of the five, when i bought it home, had no bottom lobe of the tail. Within a few weeks, it has almost completely grown back!

 

As beautiful as they both are, my two golden apple snails now have antennae about a cm long. The young guppies constantly nip at them. I am hoping that once I get these guppies to new homes they will regrow and my snails can live out the rest of their lives in a much more peaceful manner.

 

My prized female guppy has unfortunatelly passed away. I believe it was likely from stress (poor thing). with only one female in the tank, the male was constantly harassing her and the young guppies were always trying to nip at her tail. She has blessed me with many guppy fry, the most recent of which in the net breeder to ensure their survival (only approx 5 could be salvaged). She was flushed yesterday, on the 5th July 2008.

xRIPx

 

My platy isn’t looking very healthy. She may be getting constipafed, though peas are not helping. on top of her head, she has a bump, and her scales are slightly raised, but only on the bump. I know it is not dropsy, as she is not bloated and her scales are not all raised. she seems to have some type of ammonia burn on the bottom edge of her tail fin, though my parameters in my tank are fine and the tank is perfectly clean. It may be TB, though i doubt it. I don’t think it’s infectios, she has had it for a while and none of the other fish have been affected by it, not even the youngest fry.

Read Full Post »

A LOST BATTLE, A NEW GENERATiON, IDENTiFiED CULPRiTS AND MORE

As you may or may not know, my molly recently came down with ‘pop-eye’, a bacterial infection. Pretty much, fluid builds up behind the eye. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, it was a downhill struggle and he didn’t make it. Rest In Peace, 18th May 2008.

 

On a lighter note, a new generation of guppy fry have been spotted! First seen on the 16th, they are growing well and seem to love the tank.

 

All guppy fry have been seen nibbling on the adult’s tails. If the problem continues and/or gets worse, something will have to be done, i’m just not sure what at this point in time.

 

Once I get the 6′, if i do end up getting it, i am hoping to continue with the guppy breeding, and possibly take up breeding platies and swordtails. My planned method is to have a few breeding nets and put them in there if i spot them before they get eaten. If they do get eaten before i get a chance then it’s not really all that of a big deal, it will be good for the other fish and help keep them happy. Live food is an excellent treat for fish. There will always be more fry. As for the angelfish breeding in the new tank; if they do, great. If not, it’s not a big deal. What may be a problem is their aggresiveness while spawning and caring for the young. Let’s just see how things turn out before jumping to conclusions.

 

One of my females has amazingly recovered from what i believe was a pregnancy problem. She was having a few bouyancy problems, but it does not fit the desccription of a swimbladder disorder. When in a resting state her head would tip down and her tail would almost appear to float upwards. I draped a net into the tank and put her in there. Just as a precaution, I tried feeding her shelled peas, but I got no results. I was expecting to wake up to a sad sight, but after a few days it appeared to just clear up. She has now been released into the tank and looks very happy and jsut as active, as if nothing ever happened. maybe she just needed a break from the others? Particularly the male!

 

I’ve just re-arranged the tank slightly. i took out some screen i had at the back to make the tnak look wider (it certainly worked!) and I moved the filter to the back corner of the tank so it could be hidden by some plants. It looks a lot better now.

 

I’m just having a little bit of trouble uploading my photos now that Worpress has upgraded it’s sight. I jsut need to get the hang of it. I also have taken some photos of the whole tank (before i hid the filter, unfortunatelly) that are just waiting to be posted.

 

I have just one guppy with a slight deformity. It’s one of the oldest ones and it’s lateral line (the line going from the body to the tail, you cannot see this in all guppies) is a bit bent. Other than that it lives just the same as any of the others. I will be keeping it. The guppies’ colours are really coming along and some are developing unique personalities. I am pleased with their progress.

Read Full Post »

PHOTO DELAY, NEW FRY, iNFECTiON iN MOLLY, NEW TANK iTEMS, AQUARiUM TANK INHABITANT POSSIBILITY

I appologise for the delay of the fry photos. They will get here eventually!

 

I would have no idea of what female they came from, but i not have at least 20 new guppy fry swimming about the tank! Unlike in my past experiences, they actually started ‘diving’ to the bottom of the tank on the second day. Usually it has taken a few day. A good sign? I think what triggered the drop was the cucumber feast the night before. not much, but i made sure all/most of the inhabitants got at least a little bit. I have also been crushing up the tiny snails and feeding them to the fish. It’s not a great pass-time but something has to be done about all the snails. by killing all the baby snails i hope eventually to eradicate the specias. seems liek the most humane thing to do in my eyes. Also using this method won’t foul the tank like it would if i eradicated them with the copper treatments. My fish benefit from it too! I try to skip a meal every now and then because i think i may be overfeeding them. While they’re not terribly fat and the adults are in fine shape, some of the oldest fry look like they are developing pot-belly (where the belly drops from improper feeding). While we’re on the topic, all the other fry are growing great and looking their best. they’re starting to get their colour! Most of the older ones I was talking about a second ago have almost gotten their full colours whereas others haven’t gotten any at all.

 

Sadly, my molly Has developed pop-eye.  For the past week I have added Melafix to the tank with no results. Fortunately my platy has had no effects at all. i was going to remove her untill i had the idea of treating them both; A cure for the molly and a preventative for the platy. Because the Melafix has done so little for me i may have to result to salt baths soon. A bit worrying and stressfull time at the moment, I really hope everything works out in the end! I would really like to see all the fish i have at the moment go into my new 6′ once i get it/cycle it.

 

Not much, but the other day i want to a local $2 shop and got two plastic plants. They provided no specifications on the packet and i don’t even know if they are a real aquatic plant (i’ve never seen anything liek them) so i wouldn’t be able to tell you what type of plant they’re supposed to be; Appologies. They aren’t the best quality, i wouldn’t buy any more of the same brand. Both are connector plants. The problem is some of the connections are split in two so I cannot connect it to anything. A bit hard to explain! I think i will stick to the more trusted (and more expensive) brands. I’m very happy with the brand ‘Water Wonders’ and reccomend them if you see them in your pet shop/aquatic shop.

 

Since seeing one in the pet shop fairly recently I have really been drawn toward female bettas. I would love to see one in my aquarium (when I get it), however I had some doubts of compatibility with some of the other planned inhabitants. I turned to Yahoo! Answers (very helpful site!) and found out there might be issues between the angels and the betta and between the gourami and the female betta (being closely related). I probably will give it a go, seeming the tank will be fully planted. If I do I will only get 2 angels. I will put it in at the same time as the angelfish so they can establish territories. otherwise, one species would have an established territory already and have an advantage over the new fish. This makes it harder to introduce the fish and the established fish would most likely be overly aggressive towards the newcomer/s. If i were to get a female betta i would actually name it. I am drawn towards the name ‘Calypso’ for a female betta for some reason.

 

Something to look forward to! Not only the guppy fry pictures but a short review of what I think of the now-settled-in black kuhlie loaches! All i can say is that i am very impressed with them =]

Read Full Post »

PHOTOS ACCEPTED AT THiNK FISH

Great news! A while ago I submitted 4 photos to www.thinkfish.co.uk and two of which have been posted in the gallery! To find them, go to www.thinkfish.co.uk > Gallery (under ‘your fishtank’ in toolbar) > Misc. Fish > find the two photos. One is of my blue male guppy, one is my red female. Here is a link to take you directly to the page:

http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/pages/miscellaneous_gallery

Just click on the photos and an enlarged version will show on the screen provided above. It states the name of the photo and who they are by, mine will have ‘by Melinda’. Enjoy =]

Read Full Post »