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Old August 27th, 2008, 12:40 PM
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So, here's what I've been thinking...

I run three aquariums, here are what's in them:

65g - 3 Blue Gouramis, 3 Clown Loaches, 2 Red Rainbows, 2 Yellow Rainbows, 1 Abramites, 1 Pleco, 2 Silver Dollars.

20g - 1 Loonie-sized Tetra, 1 Zebra Danio, 2 Penguin Tetras, 1 Pleco, 2 Panda Cory cats, 2 Julii Cory Cats.

10g - 6 Kuhli Loaches

So I'm thinking I might close down the small tanks, both of them, and put everybody in the larger one. What do you think of that? I'm finding a lot less time to do my maintenance these days, and it's not getting any better because I'm going to be going back to school starting next week. So I figure if I have everyone together, I only need to do one water change per week instead of three. Still haven't thought it through yet...just wondering if anyone has any input/advice/warnings.

W4R - what do you think?
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Old November 24th, 2008, 08:25 AM
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-blinks- i cant believe i didnt see this. i know its months old... and i feel like a total dolt.... i guess cause my laptop was down for so long??? im SO sorry!!

do you still have the 3 running??

-ash
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Old November 25th, 2008, 01:25 PM
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Things are okay. I dismantled the 20 and gave it away. I never liked it that much anyway. I put my julii cats and kuhli loaches in the 65. the danios, tetas and panda cories are in the 10. Everyone is fine, except I lost a blue gourmai right before the switch. I've also added a couple more juliis to the 65, as well as 2 siamese algae eaters, which I thought were going to be eaten, but are doing well!
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Old November 25th, 2008, 01:39 PM
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so it seems like the consensus of everyone over here (some fishy buddies) is that the plecos are a concern. they get big and frankly the two of them will poop as much as all of your other fish combined. you also dont NEED them at all if you have actual Siamese Algae Eaters. think you can get a pic of them?? if they ARE actual SAE, those suckers are almost worth their weight in gold (functionally speaking) and will to a rather remarkable job of keeping algae out of your tank. if they ARENT SAE and are actually Chinese Algae Eaters.... THOSE will start eating your other fish, bite by bite, as they get older. they are one of the ONLY fish i think shoudl be taken out of the aquarium trade. they are hideous to have in an aquarium!!

otherwise the gourami may get aggressive, along with your headstander (although if they ARENT so far, dont worry about it).

keep up witht he water changes in the 10g. it seems (by my novice opinion having never kept tetras nor corys) a little over stocked. if you notice any of your corycats losing barbells or any sort of excessive algae growth, up your weekly water changes to include another gallon or two.

also those plecos may (which translates into 'will probably') get aggressive with each other. keep an eye out for that too.

lastly those clown loaches will EVENTUALLY get huge. when i say huge i mean HUGE and will need to be rehomed but thats not for a while down the road. from what i understand they grow very slowly.

im -really- sorry i didnt see these sooner!! i feel like such a dolt for not looking specifically. i know ive missed a bunch these last few months.

-ashley
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Old November 25th, 2008, 10:11 PM
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Actually, I gave away my spare pleco with the 20g, so I only have one, but he's kind of lazy

Everyone seems to be doing well so far. The gouramis are getting quite large, one seems to be the head honcho of the whole tank, even though there are a couple other bigger guys in there. The gouramis and the yellow rainbows nip each others tails a bit, but the tails grow back quickly, so I assume everyone's healthy.

My algae eaters are definitely siamese, not chinese. I read about that.
One of my three clowns I've had for over a year and he's just about 5 inches maybe? So I'm not worried about them for a long time, they are growing quite slowly. I just went to estimate his size, and found him molesting the kuhli loaches, rubbing his fins all over them. It was funny. The kuhlis have finally come out of hiding. I put them in and didn't see them for about a month! Now they hang out all the time!
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Old November 26th, 2008, 09:46 AM
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yep, the pleco was the only REAL concern right now. everyone says loaches grow silly slow too so thats good. i dont think plecos get aggressive towards other fish, just other plecos, soemtimes.

good news to hear your kuhlis are out! for as shy as those suckers are! ive been thinking of getting a few for a 10g tank myself. i may make a 10g with a wide footprint and do 4 or 5 with a sandy bottom.

-ashley
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Old November 26th, 2008, 01:57 PM
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The sandy bottoms are cool, and so nice for the fish, but they are a bitch to clean! You can't dig your vaccuum into the sand the way you can the rocks to suck out all the poo. What I have to do is take the end off my vaccuum so it's basically just a hose, and use the tiny hose end to suck up each individual string of poo. It's a huge pain.
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Old November 26th, 2008, 10:16 PM
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yeah, ive run Eco Complete the last few years and have been quite satisfied with how it feeds my plants BUT its a ROYAL PAIN IN THE REAR END to vacuum!! i had another tank with sand in it but thankfully it was just a 10g so i could clean most of it out by blowing the poo all over with a turkey baster and just sucking the water out with my siphon.

i cant keep kuhlis with plants huh?? not with ROOTED ones anyway.

-ashley
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Old November 27th, 2008, 08:05 AM
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I wouldn't know about the live plants...I've never gone there. A friend of mine had everything in her tank die because the root system under the substrate had rotted and poisoned all the fish and plants. Had to start completely over. I honestly have no idea what the kuhlis would do to your live plants. Mine just eat shrimp. They're carnivores, ha ha...unless they just don't have any salad to much on.
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Old November 27th, 2008, 10:44 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by want4rain View Post
i dont think plecos get aggressive towards other fish, just other plecos, soemtimes.
-ashley
DW had a pleco who used to attack her frogs...he'd grab 'em by the leg and shake 'em if they got too close...
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Old November 27th, 2008, 01:17 PM
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plecos are funny like that. I saw one that used to swim on his back and let its owner handfeed him directly into his mouth. I think they're a lot more intelligent than the average fish.
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Old November 27th, 2008, 03:38 PM
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yeah the right substrate is key. if you hvae somethign likke sand, it will rot due to no water flow. Eco Complete is great because of its varying size. grevel is also pretty good if its not too terribly big or sharp BUT you know the best and easiest plants out there are really common, low light and they have exposed root systems. for example Java Fern lives on drift wood or rocks, Anubis of any sort also have above gravel roots that cling to structures... Java Moss doesnt even have roots. all of them take low lighting conditions and low nutrients too. regular water changes replace anythign they need nutritionally. they also arent tasty to fish or shrimp.

-ashley
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Old November 27th, 2008, 03:40 PM
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i love these guys-

http://aquatic-terrors.com/forums/up...1160306072.jpg

the uglier the better for me!! there are a few others i want too. maybe ill link them here later? amazing creatures!

-ash
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Old November 27th, 2008, 10:01 PM
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I agree! There was this fish I saw at WalMart a couple weeks ago called a dragon something. It was easily the ugliest fish I'd ever seen, other than the river carp in my city. Bleh.
Ugly fish are super cool. There are some crazy plecos out there.
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Old November 27th, 2008, 11:36 PM
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poor guy, they are brackish and very very cool little boogers. thats Gobioides broussonnetii or otherwise Dragon Goby. they also get quite large and should be kept (IMHO) in a species only tank. they enjoy live foods and lots of caves. they are also notoriously poor sighted and very messy eaters. id love to have one some day!!! but they are so long lived.

-ashley
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Old December 4th, 2008, 07:05 PM
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Guess what, W4R!
Today I bought myself a Weather Loach aka Dojo Loach. He's pretty cool, but I got home and realized they'd sold me one with no tail! He's jus got a stump, with a tiny little bit of a string of a tail at the bottom of his stump. It looks pretty permanent too, I doubt he'll grow a proper one. I can't bring myself to return him though. In fact, there was another in the tank with him that I think I should maybe buy because they are happiest when there are more than one.

The fish guy told me that they are getting some Zebra Loaches in too. I think I may have to indulge.

My population might be getting up there though:
- 1 Abramites
- 3 Clown Loaches
- 2 Blue Gouramis
- 2 Silver Dollars
- 6 Kuhli Loaches
- 1 Weather Loach
- 3 Julii Cories
- 1 Pleco
- 2 Siamese Algae Eaters
- 2 Red Rainbows
- 2 Yellow Rainbows

Holy smokes! I didn't realize until I wrote it all out just what I had going on! Yikes! I might get rid of the silver dollars...they don't really do anything for me. I really want more loaches, and I saw this really cool school of tetras today...

What am I to do?!?
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Old December 5th, 2008, 01:33 AM
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its quite late but ran across this while waiting for my hubby to reassure me he will drive carefully home....

that beign said.... weather loaches are a very unique fish!! do some SERIOUS research on the guys!! they are so very cool but have some funny quirks.... especially when it comes to the WEATHER!!!

if it were ME.... i would rehome that pleco and the silver dollars and get yourself another weather loach or two (if i felt i could contain the boogers) although i feel the zebras would be too much for the lower part of your tank. you currently have 13 rather large fish tanking up the ground level. most of them venture to the top but those weathers are going to crawl out if they get too stressed.

and i mean it... research those guys!!! they are a really cool fish with some really cool abilities... that can scare the crap out of you... or get them killed. stuff dealing with traveling over land, weird weather stuff... anyway... im going to bed. thats your thing to do ASAP. preferably before the next storm.

-ashley
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Old December 5th, 2008, 01:36 AM
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oh and given your apparent smitten-ness with loaches (oh my gosh how could people NOT love these fish!!! the most pet like of all fish) check out loaches.com

here is their take on weather loaches-
http://www.loaches.com/species-index...guillicaudatus

-ash
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Old December 5th, 2008, 08:15 AM
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Oh! I don't know if I could bear to give up my pleco. I love him so much and he's been with me so long...although at the rate he's growing I know, realistically, that I can't really hang onto him for too much longer. He's quite solid.

The silver dollars I really don't give much of a crap about. I only got them because I had this new BIG tank and wanted some BIG things to put in it. That's why I got the abramites too. The abramites is so cool - I now have to drop in two algae wafers - one for the pleco and one for the Abramites. When I drop it in, the A. swims right for it, grabs it in his mouth and takes off, trying to get it to his corner before he drops it, then eats the WHOLE THING while looking around at everyone else. It reminds me of a dog who takes your sandwich right off your plate and eats it someplace where he doesn't think anyone will find him and shifts his eyes around gultily.

That said, I don't think I could get rid of my A. even though he's preventing me from getting some really cool little guys. I LOVE red phantom tetras, but the fish guy tells me he'd probably just eat them.

I wonder if the fish store that takes too-large plecos will also take my silver dollars...?
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Old December 6th, 2008, 10:12 AM
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Well, I've done it.

I've sold my beautiful big pleco (sniff, sigh) and silver dollars to a man with a nice big 130 gal tank that he uses for goldfish only. I don't know why he wants the silver dollars when all he has is goldfish, but he runs a pond business where he helps people set up their ponds and stock them. So they will at least have a HUGE playground - 130 is twice the size of mine. He's taking the pleco too, and says that when he gets too big for the tank he can just live in the pond as well. So the pleco will have a happy life.

I'm really sad. That pleco I've had ever since my very first 10g tank! He's been in three different tanks since. However, I noticed this morning that he's outgrown his latest favourite hidey hole, so I guess it's for the best. I'll miss him.

The fish guy said that there are a couple weather loaches left, and he'll give me one for free since I got one without a tail, whom, by the way, I haven't seen once since I put him in the tank, except late last night when I was looking for my fave clown and found him wedged between two rocks on his side. I know clowns well enough to know that that's how they like to nap. Anyway, the weather loach was smushed right in there next to him, just looking at me. It looked like they were making love and angry that I'd disturbed them.

So a big day today - three huge fish gone and two new loaches.
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Old December 9th, 2008, 03:10 PM
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i was on vacation!! sorry to miss you plecos exodus from your home!! im sure he will really enjoy his future pond home. they thrive quite well in ponds!!

im really excited to hear more about your weather loaches!! they are a fish i havent kept yet but have always been interested in. *very* interesting!!

here is a good link for finding out some of their unusual talents-
http://www.loaches.com/species-index...guillicaudatus

although they dont go into their unique slime coat production. they have been known to make almost like a snails trail from one water source to another. one of the few fish who can survive hours out side of your fish tank collecting dust on the floor!!! which is good cause they really freak out at barometric changes such as the ones that come before and during a storm. many of them are sensitive enough that they will reliably jump out of your tank every time a storm comes so watch out for that!! there are ways you can net the top of your tank so they can not jump out but your surface breathing fish (gouramis) can still breathe and your equipment can still function.

-ashley
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