[wetmek]

messy

[zeroperks]

what if a shrimp was a baby..........................

[fimbry]

Not to sound silly but setting up and designing this tank has been really theraputic for getting back to my hobbies post-baby. Feeling like myself again, you know?

[painted-bees]

One scentence horror story, aquarium version:

"My fish are acting sick after I deep cleaned their tank and I don't know why."

[oodles-of-boodle]

I'm not an aquarium person, may I ask what the horror here is?

[painted-bees]

Yippee, haha okee buckle in because I don't know how to summarize! lmao Before bringing home a pet fish for your aquarium, you need to establish a nitrogen cycle. This requires you to grow a few different kinds of beneficial bacteria in your tank that will live on all surfaces of the tank, including substrate, decorations, and inside the filter. These bacteria are a requirement because they convert deadly ammonia into nitrates (these nitrates can then serve as nutrients for plants, or is kept to healthy levels via SMALL[like 5-10%] weekly water changes). While nitrates are harmless unless they build up to crazy high levels (usually over the course of months if there are no plants or no water changes), any amount of ammonia in the water will negatively impact the fish's health and can become deadly very quickly. A stable population of beneficial bacteria will always keep ammonia readings to undetectable levels (almost none).

Many folks do not do their research before buying an "easy" pet like a fish, and so just assume they can put water in a tank with some water conditioner to remove chlorine or w/e, and then plunk the fish in right away. In actuality, a stable nitrogen cycle that can support the bio load of a fish may take up to a month to establish. Or longer, if you're unlucky! It's a process! Sometimes, people get lucky with very hardy fish like bettas, and the fish survives in an uncycled tank long enough for the nitrogen cycle to establish itself. At which point, everything may appear to be covered in a fine film, or maybe there is even a healthy mulm build-up on top and within the substrate. If the tank has a filter, the filter medium/sponge starts to look very discolored and chunky by this point at well. Because of the bacteria flourishing on all these surfaces. While the fish is finally comfortable after months of burning alive in ammonia, a well meaning person may look at the build-up of biofilm and think "wow, this tank is SUPER groady...It's time to clean it!" and then proceed to completely decimate all the healthy bacteria, replacing the filter and cleaning everything with soap or whatever. And without that bacteria, uneaten fish food and excretions like fish poop will immediately cause a huge ammonia spike in the fresh "clean" tank, creating a toxic environment inconducive to fishy life, and the fish quickly becomes seriously unwell as a consequence. whew..!

[painted-bees]

Shots of my fish over the past years...as fish tax:

no deep cleans!!

[doctorbluesmanreturns]

OK GOOD so healthy fish tank =/= green totally opaque water (my uncle had a fish tank you literally could not tell if any fish were in and I was hoping that that was not optimal fish ownership)

[painted-bees]

Indeed, green opaque water is an algea bloom and is indicative of a long unaddressed imbalance wrt nitrates/nutrients and lighting--not optimal 😩

[painted-bees]

So I put together a new 20g tank yesterday, and this is what it currently looks like:

Super cloudy water. This is one of those things that triggers new people in the hobby to "clean" their tanks.

They'll do a biiiig water change to clear up the water, only to find that the cloudiness returns even WORSE by the next day. Which means something must be wrong with the substrate or the wood, right? Water that is this foggy can't possibly be a good sign for the health of the tanks, right???

Well...

The white cloudiness in these cases is caused by a sudden increase of bacteria [as opposed to green cloudiness, which would indicate an algea bloom]. These bacterial populations are not the same as the bacteria you grow when establishing the nitrogen cycle, but they are a sign that the process is underway! They boom in numbers when there is a sudden excess of nutrients. You actually don't want to mess around with your tank at all when the water looks like this. Replacing the water may only bring in a new wealth of nutrients, prolonging or intensifying the cloudiness (the water may look more clear immediately after a water change, but will become cloudy again as the bacteria repopulate the water column).

What will happen is, if you leave it alone, the denitrifying bacteria that you actually want in your tank will outcompete this cloudy bacteria once the cloudy bacteria runs out of excess nutrients to consume. At which point, your tank water will clear up, and your nitrogen cycle will be well under way of establishing itself♡

So once again, the best course of action wrt to this cloudiness in a new [and fishless] tank is to do nothing😁

On the other hand, if you DO you have fish during this stage, you'll need to make sure the water column well oxygenated at night after the lights go out, because this murky bacteria uses up a lot of oxygen, and the plants don't produce much oxygen at night while the lights are off

Also check your perameters [ammonia, nitrite, nitrate] daily. If your ammonia is spiking, ideally, you'll want to move the fish into a different holding tank [which I will likely need to do for my temporary guppy residents here in a day or two--I have a plant holding tub with an established cycle that I'll be moving them to]. But if you don't have that option, then you'll have no choice but to do some water changes--which will prolong the cloudiness but is absolutely required for the health of your fish😔

If your tank was previously cycled already and suddenly becomes cloudy like this, test your perameters [ammonia, nitrite, nitrate]. This cloudiness may be an indication that your cycle has crashed and the bacteria are needing to repopulate your tank again (and are in the process of doing so). There are excess nutrients causing the bacteria to bloom and produce this cloudiness, and the denitrifying bacteria needs time to catch up in numbers and outcompete them.

okee, that's all for now.

As tax, here's a picture of Hugh's tank today!

ah...nice and clear.

[cathoderaytube]

What do you do if you DO get an algae bloom?

[painted-bees]

Turn off the lights, feed fish very frugally, and pray. Buy a UV filter...

Best cure for algae is prevention. Your tank will most likely ALWAYS have some algae in it, even if you can't physically see it. But once you start noticing it growing on your plants or on the glass of your aquarium, it's your cue to reduce the amount of light you tank gets and make sure you're not feeding your fish excessively. It's usually the combination of high lighting over too many hours and excessive nutrients that produce an algae bloom. This is one if a few reasons why putting tanks infront of widows is generally regarded as a bad idea♡ You want to have full control over the amount of light your aquarium receives.

[Admittedly, I have never had to contend with an algae bloom, and so my experience with treating my tank for one is limited. Seems like a nightmare to manage tho 😫]

[fourteen--steps]

Green water is actually quite sought after among some breeders, it's a great food source for fry. I run in goldfish circles mainly and I've heard lots of positive things about it. It does take a bit of extra management to avoid parameter swings, but it's not harmful to the fish in itself.

[xxdrowninglessonsxx]

crochet aquarium

[gaynfl-moved]

[bethanythebogwitch]

Archerfish feeding time

They stick fish food to that ball and let the fish spit water to knock it off

[tiktoks-for-dead-pope]

[vacueabissi]

[fishhag]

Some baby gouramis I raised up and sold to local hobbyists. Here’s an older video of them figuring out flaring with each other. They were still so small, but their colors were great .

[mylittleaquarium]

Let’s all be little blue shrimp and hang out in the vibrant greenery together

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

[palaeoplushies]

Do you want your very own suckermouth catfish?

Don't have space in your aquarium?

Don't have an aquarium?

I've got the very thing for you!

Handmade plushie plecos!!

They're available on my website www.palaeoplushies.com!!!

[dazzelmethat]

Fishkeeping is hard.. not because water perimeters is too hard or keeping plants alive or any of that. But because I only ever learn about a common problem a fish has when I'm googling symptoms.

I've been dreaming about a dwarf gourami for 3 years and just now I find out that 70% of them in the market die from a virus they are susceptible to?

It's so hard to imagine little fishes as a cog in the capitalistic machine that doesn't care about the health of those fish when they are just little guys. They are just so little..

Where do the fish people of tumblr get your information from?

[fishcommunity]

Its semi-defunct now since the owner died a few months back, but the majority of the information I have on fishkeeping started with Wetwebmedia. The owner, Bob Fenner, was involved in all areas of the aquarium trade for his entire life and wrote articles on just about any fish you are likely or unlikely to find in the trade. He and his crew answered questions from readers every day (including a few from me!) for well over a decade and archived all that info.

I highly recommend my followers check out the site. I really hope it doesn't get taken down, but I fear it might eventually.

[skippygoldfish]

imo it's getting increasingly harder to find good fishkeeping info because the internet is now flooded with AI-generated or at least hastily-written articles.

But sites that were recommended to me, which I have found some helpful info on, were The Spruce Pets and Aquarium CoOp. i also try asking other keepers on here, discord, facebook, etc for personal advice, but those are often contradictory :'))

edit: oh also fishcommunity, if you dont want a site to be lost, you can save the pages to the Archive site! i think theres a Firefox extension to help.

[mellifexfarm]

tank is planted and the co2 is installed :)) now to wait

[mellifexfarm]

two week update

[mellifexfarm]

the plan is to stock it with a nice group of celestial pearl danios. and guppy/endler hybrids (ginga rubra, ginga sulphureus, japan blue gold) and my beloved panda garras

and then add shrimp in a few months when it’s nice and mature

[eelpatrickharris-deactivated202]

The America COMPETES Act is putting fish and reptiles at risk

Hello, friends! I’m returning from my hiatus to let people know about something very important. As of today, 2/4/2022, HR 4521 along with the COMPETES Act has been passed (mostly along party lines) through the House of Representatives and is making its way to the senate.

This matters to the fish, herp, bird, and invert communities for one big reason: there’s an amendment in Division H from the Committee of Natural Resources that modifies the Lacey Act. According to this amendment, all non-native species would be classified as injurious by default until later review. There would be an import ban on non-native fish, reptiles, amphibians, and the like unless they are reviewed by the Secretary of the Interior and found to not be an “imminent threat to human beings, to the interests of agriculture, horticulture, forestry, or to wildlife or the wildlife resources of the United States.” They must also be verifiably imported or transported between state lines in “more than minimal quantities” in a 1-year period before the COMPETES Act is passed. Those quantities have not been decided yet.

We’re talking a devastating blanket ban on any species that isn’t well-known and studied enough to be proven non-threatening.

Keep reading

[oh-yeaahhhh]

This aquarium allows kids to see the fish they drew inside it!!

[post-rock-pigeon]

@sea-boi

[bettaworldforbettas]

Help show Aqueon that there is a demand for them to stop manufacturing betta fish aquariums 1 gallon and under.

Their betta tanks are some of the smallest tanks on the market. Most lack a filter and heater, and they don’t have enough room to create a stimulating environment.

Aqueon claims its goal has always been: “Doing what is best for the health and well-being of fish and aquatic life,” but by manufacturing these betta kits, Aqueon misleads consumers and exploits the resilient nature of bettas in order to maximize their own opportunities for profit. Bettas in these tanks endure low-quality conditions their entire lives. Here are the betta tanks 1 gal and under we are asking Aqueon to stop manufacturing: Betta Bowl Kit (0.5 gal total or 0.25 gal per fish) Betta Castle Kit (0.5 gal) Betta Princess Castle Kit (0.5 gal) Betta Puzzle Kit (0.5 gal) Betta Falls Kit (0.7 gal) BettaBow 1 Aquarium Kit (1 gal) LED MiniBow 1 Kit (1 gal) A lot of people have already been raising awareness about how unhealthy these Aqueon tanks are. As consumers continue to learn about proper betta fish aquarium needs (5+ gal, heater, filtration, enrichment, etc.), the demand for these kits will decline. For a company that claims “it’s all about the fish,” should Aqueon be proud to have its name and brand associated with these betta tanks?

Ways to contact Aqueon:

Fill out the “contact us” form on the Aqueon website:

https://www.aqueon.com/about-us/contact-us

Send a DM/Comment on Instagram: @aqueonproducts

Send a DM/Tweet on Twitter: @aqueonproducts

[anthropophagiie]

to any betta who needs to hear your fins are impressive and i’m incredibly intimidated when you flare also your bubble nest is massive

[strflr]

blue shrimpy

patreon / twitter