Advice

The forum for the very best information on loaches of all types. Come learn from our membership's vast experience!

Moderator: LoachForumModerators

User avatar
ClownLoachSharky
Posts: 381
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 10:27 pm
Location: Adelaide, Australia

Re: Advice

Post by ClownLoachSharky » Tue Feb 21, 2012 6:40 am

some java fern windelov should save the cherries! also how bout amano shrimp, look em up
Image
You wouldnt have that problem with a V8

starsplitter7
Posts: 5054
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2007 11:04 pm
Location: Tampa, Florida

Re: Advice

Post by starsplitter7 » Tue Feb 21, 2012 10:07 am

I wouldn't feed the shrimp to your fish. They are expensive snacks. Sell them at your local fish club. I sold four berried females (cherries) and a few newborns for $10 at the auction of my local club last week.

kgreenjinx
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Jan 17, 2012 3:28 pm

Re: Advice

Post by kgreenjinx » Tue Feb 21, 2012 10:33 am

Really. Our cherry shrimp breed like crazy. We are currently growing them out in a planted 36 bowfront. I would say we have at least 15 berried as we speak and a conservative estimate of 200-300 shrimp and we have only been raising them for about 4 months. of course you can probably take that times 10 as its planted and thats only what we see. I purchased 10 from 3 different sources to start with for varied genes. My 8 year old son is just starting to breed crystal reds. He is learning about selective breeding.

starsplitter7
Posts: 5054
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2007 11:04 pm
Location: Tampa, Florida

Re: Advice

Post by starsplitter7 » Tue Feb 21, 2012 12:02 pm

I have a few hundred at the moment too -- every female I have found is heavily berried. I put a net in the water and place flake in the net, and I can pick up 20-30 shrimp every five minutes. But I also had a crash last year, and lost every single cherry I owned. Luckily, I gave several to friends, who were breeding, and when I got my system back up they returned the favor. I went from having 300-400 shrimp to 0 in a matter of weeks. The fish that lived with the cherries (since I put the orginal 7 cherries in the tank) were unaffected (and the fish did not eat the cherries). People will pay good money for cherries. And crystals are even better. How long have you been keeping crytals? I was able to keep them about 3 months and lost them. I will try them again, but I need to do a lot more research.

NancyD
Posts: 1608
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2006 9:17 pm
Location: SF bay area,US

Re: Advice

Post by NancyD » Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:29 pm

I think frequent water changes are a MUST when feeding beefheart or anything 5 times a day. I did 30-70% almost daily when growing out discus juveniles. Whew, what a lot of work, it'll be a while before I do that again. I fed less after they got to 4+ inches with less WCs too. ( I had to sell them pre-move, then they paired up for my friend & laid eggs :x ). As long as your tap water or however you do water changes is pretty stable there should be no problems if it's done often enough to prevent TDS or nitrate etc build up. Smaller WCs are better if parameters are much different than tapwater.

Hey, Alyssa, It's Nancy from SFBaaps, the algae nut, lol. Nice to see you here!
Image

kgreenjinx
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Jan 17, 2012 3:28 pm

Re: Advice

Post by kgreenjinx » Mon Mar 26, 2012 4:55 pm

I wanted to thank everyone for their responses and give an update. Well we no longer have the 150 acrylic tank. We took the opportunity to upgrade. We purchased another 220 gallon tank and it is setup and running happily. The discus are moved to a 220 gallon tank that we already had and we added 12 more discus. We also added 24 rummynose tetras, 10 kuhlis, 2 bistlenose plecos and it is heavily planted with LEDs. On the new 220 gallon we have 13 angelfish, numerous neons, true SAE, and two 6-7" clown loaches as well as a few gouramis, bristlenose plecos, lemon tetras, cory cats, and rainbowfish. It is heavily planted as well. We are running t5 lights on it for now until I can find time to build LEDs for it. One question I have, are two clowns enough? Do they need more in the school to be truely happy. I hate that they get so big, so thats why I am hesitant to add more.

User avatar
ClownLoachSharky
Posts: 381
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 10:27 pm
Location: Adelaide, Australia

Re: Advice

Post by ClownLoachSharky » Tue Mar 27, 2012 3:33 am

damn, this thread is big, get 5+ clowns,
Image
You wouldnt have that problem with a V8

monicalovefish
Posts: 27
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 6:33 pm

Re: Advice

Post by monicalovefish » Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:01 pm

I don't buy fish from Petco anymore. I've had pretty bad luck with their stock. I don't know why but it seems like the majority of the fish I bought from them died within a year of buying them. I'd go to an aquarium store if you have any. They tend to do a better job caring for their fish. I also go and look at all the tanks so I can see if they are having what I call "issues" meaning not caring for their fish.

Monica

kgreenjinx
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Jan 17, 2012 3:28 pm

Re: Advice

Post by kgreenjinx » Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:40 pm

Yes, i agree. We purchased through live Aquaria and our discus come from Discus Hans. None of the pet stores within an hour and half drive have really good stock of any fish. We buy plants locally though. We did purchase a setup aquarium for the tank, and got a surprise. It had a L134 leopard frog pleco. We are looking to buy 4-6 more if we can find anywhere that actually sells them. And i finished the LED build for the new 220 angel/community tank. It blows the T5 fixtures out of the water. I love LEDs.

Dojosmama
Posts: 219
Joined: Wed Dec 29, 2010 11:37 pm

Re: Advice

Post by Dojosmama » Thu Apr 05, 2012 12:25 pm

Even though your potting soil substrate is "organic", it might still have some chemicals or substances in it that are toxic to loaches. I would be hesitant to use garden products in an aquarium. Aquarium substrates should be formulated specfically for aquariums, with ingredients that are suitable and non-toxic. Who knows all they put into potting soils these days ....

Also, 85F is extremely high even for tropical loaches. And some loaches are cooler water fish, such as dojo loaches, which shouldn't be in water any warmer than 75F maximum.

I would get rid of the potting soil and put in eco-complete or some other sandy substrate that is aquarium-safe. Rinse it thoroughly before putting it into the tank.

You can order fish from Drs. Foster and Smith, either online or through their print catalog, and you'll get better quality, healthier and hardier fish than those sold at PetCo. F&S is a great outlet for aquarium supplies and equipment, also.

What is the pH in your tank? That could be the problem, as well. Your water might be too acidic or too alkaline for loaches to survive. API puts out a good test kit for pH, and you can order that through F&S.

I would bet your problem has to do with either pH or the make-up of your substrate, or possibly both.

-- Dojosmama

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 116 guests