Posts by Avery

With all the types of foods out there, which ones you do you feed your fish and why?

With some species it can honestly be super easy to catch them in a net, however others are either super fast or are super smart and can avoid being caught in a net for awhile. What are your go to methods to make sure you can catch all of the fish in your tank with a net if needed?

I think efficiency really can only be talked about based on how big your tank size is, and other equipment. As far as more reliable, it tends to be those that aren’t cheap when it comes to protein skimmers and those with brands you know will be around (ex; name brands) for warranty and part reasons alone.

From a chemical reaction standpoint, I believe that it would take a large amount of time for any element to be fully released and not able to be re-captured by any substrate. Similar to how many use those (in freshwater) planted tank substrates such as Flourite which will release and soak up specific chemicals.

I do always try to keep a fine layer around the whole bottom, and dependent on species I will add more in specific areas to try to have them be more comfortable by creating hills in the sand as if it was done naturally by the tide/current.

I’ve seen people use all different types of sand that come in a bulk like pricing/package, such as you noted pool filter sand, play sand, or the black diamond grit blasting sand. I’ve even seen people who try to buy those plastic pebbles (the ones with weight) to use, or the colorful rocks that you see for sale for like 1 bag full (a handheld bag) for $2 (these rocks are cheap when bought in bulk).

I try to not recommend adding a breeder box or separating into a different tank, since it can add some additional stress especially due to the fact that many of the breeder boxes are small and kind of restrict their movement in the tank. Additionally, many livebearers eat their own fry without realizing as they have no parental aspects (unlike cichlids, for example) for their fry.

An ideal case is to just add many of hiding spots where the adult fish cannot get towards (having some type of bigger next near the bottom, adding additional plants that are thick to provide them with shelter and cover, etc.).

I will normally take some flake food, or even better, sometime small like a leaf and see how it will move around. By dropping it at various levels in the water column and different areas in the tank, you can see where the water current is going and what it would be like for a fish. This also gives you a good idea of dead spots (areas where there is no current so debris and other things settle).

I’ve never personally heard of any anemones having ich, are you sure that there aren’t any other invertebrates (hitchhikers even) that may have been accidentally added in who carried it? It could also be that those snails (not sure if you added them proper or not) may have carried it and now it’s finally showing traces.

I’d separate out in another QT tank to make sure, but ideally if your main tank is fishless running an ich treatment should take care of everything including treating the snails.

I know that there are a bunch of people who have seen this happen, specifically due to the fact that the gender of a livebearer is noted to be done by whichever organs are done first (I’m not sure if there is any actual studies done on this matter or not).

In other cases, it could be seen where a female gives birth, and then gets fin nipped on their bottom fin to appear to look like a male’s fin/organ. Or their fin grows out longer similar to like a high-fin variety, which can give a false positive. Similar to how some high-fin makes look like females but to their fin being longer and flowing, like a female’s would be.

I’m not sure if there is enough of an actual science study done to confirm this or not, however many other species (examples include clownfish) can swap genders if there aren’t enough of the current gender to support breeding in their current environment. Many believe that this trait is in other fish/aquatic species, with some being unconfirmed such as with livebearers.

Have you installed any bulkheads in your own aquarium, and if so, do you have any tips & tricks that others should know about?

Additionally, did you completely drill the tank or just install the bulkhead into a pre-drilled hole?

Inside of your aquarium(s), what would you consider to be your centerpiece fish in them? Is it a lone species, or is it a giant shoal/school of fish that just catches your eye as they move around the tank?

I keep seeing online a bunch of people who have ponds outside of their house (using those liners), or actual ponds in their area. If you have a pond near you, do you have any local turtles that are in it, and if so, what species?

Have you ever had a dirted tank before where there was a layer of soil for the plants? If so, did you inherit it or did you set it all up, and if you set it all up then what soil did you use and how much growth did you get from your plants?

Looks like with the migration we lost the selections to those who picked a post to be the best answer. I’ve gone though and manually resynced these, although you might see a notification or group of emails due to this. Thank you!

Out of habit in dealing with older heaters that weren’t fully submersible - I’ve always placed all of my heaters vertical in my tanks (preferably close to the intake or outlet of my filter(s)).

I’ve been using Seachem Prime since forever, I only recall ever using a Tetra/Aqueon product when it came with a tank I purchased and just wanted to have it filled up and good to go right away.

I don’t think there are too many products that have any negatives, and any just have additional things they do besides just reducing chlorine into a nontoxic chemical (such as trapping ammonia, adding slime coats to fish, etc).

I’d try a dozen or more honestly to get started. Then try to see how much food there is for them since they will be competing with the cory catfishes, and the pleco for the bottom ground of food. Otherwise you can easily add more than that if you notice that everyone is getting enough food without any issues.

I normally just have some driftwood in my tanks, maybe some type of slate/lace rock, and of course having a ton of live plants in there too.

I would say my personal favorite are the blue acara cichlids, their super reflective light blue coloration just grabs your attention in the tank (especially with dark backgrounds and substrate or planted tanks).

With the water always splashing on your light fixtures (unless you have glass lids), how do you manage to keep them clean and what do you use to make that happen?