The "Dream Tank" is becoming a reality!!!

[Kannan Fodder]

I added some pond snails to my tank, but they end up in the sump. I also think the tinfoils eat them. Debating on getting a few mystery snails. Nerites are out because I find it unsightly when they lay eggs everywhere. I'm trying to grow a couple of BNs up so I can transfer them to the 180. The only BNs available locally are the tiny inch long babies, which will most likely immediately get eaten by the larger fish.

 

[rufioman]

^yeah, it's hit or miss with tinfoils and snails. You can always find a thousand baby bns, and not a single grown out one haha. I'm moving soon, and would gladly ship you my large bn, but I cannot bear to part with it yet lol.

 

[Kannan Fodder]

Yeah, my sis wanted to keep my clown pleco, but after having it for so long, I couldn't - even tho she's only 2 miles away and I'm the one who maintains her tanks. I'm trying to grow up some baby BNs in my 29, but broke down today and bought a couple for the 180 today - and might go back for a couple more tomorrow after work. The algae is getting out of hand, and it's really starting to bug me. The wood discolors the water, which isn't all that bad, but it's making the tank look very dark. The algae is really adding to the problem.

I'm going to swap out some water tonight, and give the tank another good scrub, but am debating on trying some hydrogen peroxide on the plants. Was going to put some in a spritz bottle and then spray the plants. Not sure if this might hurt the fish, but I'd rinse the plants really well.

 

[Kannan Fodder]

I did a big water change the other day, with what I thought was a good algae scrub and an attempt to do a decent substrate vac..... Key word "thought". Front of the tank is still very hazy, so will have to use the hand scrubber instead of the long handled one - which I bought because of the width/depth of the tank. And didn't do so well with the vac either.

Did add a few more anubias, tied to suction cups and stuck to the back of the tank and sump tower. Cut back on light to help bring the algae under control and try to keep the tank from getting too warm. The lights are LEDs, but the fixtures themselves generate a fair amount of heat, and it's gotten HOT here lately (110-115) and my thermostat is set at 80. The tank got up to 85.1, but the fish weren't showing any signs of distress. I still think that's too warm, so decided to swap out water, and managed to bring it down to 79.5. It's back up to 83.3 in a little over 56 hours. The tank is in my bedroom, which is the last room on the AC duct, so is the warmest room in the house at about 2 degrees above what the thermostat is set at.

 

[rufioman]

I've roasted fresh and saltwater fish to 86* on accident before, lol. Stuff happens. It's the rapid swinging back down that gets them weird. Hopefully everything is okay!!!!

 

[Kannan Fodder]

I'm keeping an eye on the tank temp. Have a digital thermometer on one side and the glass tube kind on the other. They are pretty consistent with each other. The fish aren't acting stressed or distressed in any way. Eat like pigs, all of them. Tinfoils do the dog thing - let's see how many food pellets I can get in my mouth at once. Reminds me of a dog trying to pick up 3 or 4 tennis balls at once.

 

[rufioman]

Haha, dog thing is hilarious. I had a Malawi cichlid that would take a whole algae wafer chunk in its mouth and just mob around the tank. It looked like the Joker, lol. Tank temps are strange phenomena. Mine swung up to 84* recently during the AZ heat wave. We never usually get above 85* this time of year maximum, but had 95* temps hit us for three days while I was out of town. Everyone was okay, but that difference of 6-7* freaked me out. Fish really are durable creatures, haha.

 

[Kannan Fodder]

I sat down to update yesterday, but due to having to replace the AC and the chaos here, I never got the update written - which makes yesterday's intended update kinda pointless now because the new AC unit/condenser is more efficient than the old one. The old one wasn't getting the cool air flowing to my bedroom, so it was staying about 2 to 4 degrees above the thermostat setting, and raising the tank temp due to the higher temp in the room. Today the tank has naturally come down in temp (atm 82.2) because of the better airflow throughout the house - and my bedroom is noticeably cooler.

The fish haven't seemed distressed, but I did notice that they seemed more active when I was able to get the temp below 82. The tinfoils still zip around gobbling up everything, and I stuck a couple leaves of romaine in the tank. It took them until I switched to "nighttime" mode on the lights, then they attacked the lettuce like a bunch of piranhas. They had effectively skeletonized by morning.

However I have noticed the 2 bichirs hanging out together a LOT. Not sure of the age of the smaller one, because what it's former owner said didn't really make a lot of sense. I have had the larger one for 2 years, and bought it as a baby. Anyway, today I noticed the smaller one following the larger one very closely, and nudging the larger one's gills. Then they did something that looked like the bichir version of the wild thing. So am now wondering if I have a male and female. I haven't been able to count fin rays because they rarely stay still long enough out in the open.

 

[Kannan Fodder]

Update..... Yes the bichirs are breeding. This is a very unexpected surprise.

 

[rufioman]

Dude, epic breeding project? Haha never heard of them breeding in aquariums before, but that was probably due to nobody I know having them. Congratulations! Pretty cool surprise to come home to, haha. I can't imagine they'd get aggressive, do they?