clewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis) (05/06/85)
My wife and I have just started a tropical fish tank with several types
of fish: Neons, Mollies, Platies, and Corydoras. The books that are
obtainable from most pet stores are quite small and don't have
much detailed information. I would like to ask a couple of questions
of fish fans:
1) The books talk about adding a small amount of sea-salt
(eg: 1 tsp/gal) for the Mollies to keep them happy. It doesn't
say whether this can be done in a tank with other fish - though it
did say that it won't hurt plants in that quantity. Can we put a
little salt into the community aquarium for the Mollies without
hurting the other fish?
2) We're hoping to do some fish breeding - live-bearers at first.
The books tell you to isolate the pregnant mother. However, for
both the Platies and Mollies, the books tell you to avoid using
breeding traps (because the mothers get claustrophobic and can
hurt themselves trying to get out, or have premature births).
We've had one pregnant Molly so far - we put her in a big (1 gal)
goldfish bowl along with some plastic breeding grass and some
fairly bushy live plants for the babies to hide in. In spite of
several books saying that Mollies aren't particularly
cannabalistic, she ate all but one of the babies (we were away
while she was giving birth). (We had originally thought that she
ate them all, so we left her in the tank for a day - after she was
moved the little thing appeared just before I was about to dump
all the water down the drain). Any suggestions on how to isolate
pregnant mothers? Just *lots* more vegetation?
3) (related to "2") For various reasons (pregnancy, sickness etc.)
we want to isolate individual fish from the main community
aquarium. We have several goldfish bowls which are perfect in
size for the task (we have even used well-washed and rinsed
canning jars and ultra-large beer glasses). The only problem is
temperature. We would like to keep the fish at 75 degrees or more
(80 for the mollies) for the best results. They don't make tank
heaters appropriate for anything less than about 5 gal tanks.
They are too big physically, cost too much, and have too much
power (temperature changes *very* fast when they turn on).
Ideally we would like to use something 35mm film cannister size
with only a few watts of power (say 5) - fixed setting would be
okay. Does anybody know of where to find small heaters or where I
could get schematics to make my own? I remember seeing
construction articles years ago, but I don't have any of these
magazines anymore. Preferably these should be really cheap (say <
$10). We've tried to use light bulbs, but the heat regulation is
very poor (10 degrees or more overnight).
The best way that we have discovered so far to handle this is to
put containers in the aquarium itself so that we can use the main
aquarium's heat (and air). Right now, we have three fish
isolation tanks -
1) Large beer glass sunken in the aquarium containing the
1 baby molly (has it's own airstone). We're waiting until
she's as big as a Neon before putting her in with the
other fish.
2) Home built (sewing thread and needlepoint plastic grid)
top-less sieve-box attached to inside main aquarium rim
containing 1 pregnant fish. There's so much foliage
that she can barely move (but she still seems calm).
3) Purchased version of above containing another pregnant fish.
It isn't very satisfactory. We cannot put the cover on the
main aquarium.
4) Has anybody out there ever designed and made their own
air-powered aquarium vacuum? I want to make one, and would
appreciate anyone suggesting good "geometries" for one. I am
currently thinking about something similar to an under-gravel
filter pump. Eg: a fat tube containing an airstone at the
bottom and an exit hose at the top running through a filter
and back into the tank.
--
Chris Lewis,
UUCP: {allegra, linus, ihnp4}!utzoo!mnetor!clewis
BELL: (416)-475-8980 ext. 321westling@cvl.UUCP (Mark Westling) (05/09/85)
I hope this helps:
1. Whether to add salt to your present tank is a tough question because
neons and Corydoras catfish do best in soft water while mollies and
platies require about one teaspoon per gallon, as you say. If you can't
move one group to another tank or trade them back to a pet store for a
more compatible species, then I would try adding only a quarter to a half
teaspoon of salt per gallon, and reduce the amount if the neons lose
color or seem weak. Remember that when the water evaporates from your
tank the salt will remain, so you will need to siphon out some water
before you add any more salt. In any case it's a good idea to change
about 25% of the water every week or two to remove organic wastes.
2. A one-gallon bowl is rather small for pregnant livebearers, since the
mother won't have to look far to find her young. I would suggest at
least a five-gallon tank to save a good percentage of fry. If you don't
have the facilities for another tank, try a low round-sided bowl which
will have a larger surface area than the popular flat-sided drum bowl.
Surface area is important because livebearer fry usually go immediately
to the top. For this reason make sure that most of the plants are
floating. Bushy plants like water wisteria and water sprite are good,
and while cabomba looks great, it's not the easiest plant to keep alive.
3. Heating small tanks/jars is a BIG problem. If the water is too shallow
for a heater, you can put the heater in a tall jar full of water and set
the jar in one corner of the tank. Of course, this won't work on a
container smaller than a gallon or two.
I keep bettas in quart jars. Between adjacent jars I connect a siphon
made out of 18 inches of 3/8" flexible plastic tubing (from a hardware
store). The jars are connected in a ring, with one jar containing a
heater. One of the siphons leaving the heater jar was made into a lift
tube by feeding an air line into it about an inch above the bottom, and
resting the other end just above the surface of the next jar. The
circulation is pretty good, though you may have to use multiple siphons
or larger tubing to keep the water levels even. My only problem is that
algae grows rapidly inside the clear tubing so it must be cleaned often.
I recomend Dan Sea submersible heaters. They're not the cheapest, but
they give you great peace of mind, especially after you've had a cheap
heater cook a tank full of fry.
4. Most people use siphons to clean gravel since regular water changes are
important, a fact you won't see in the older aquarium books. The air-
powered vacuum cleaner isn't a bad idea, but there's no reason to save
existing water (except maybe in saltwater tanks?).
For practical information and a range of articles from beginner to expert,
look for "Freshwater and Marine Aquarium" magazine at your local pet stores.
This magazine really puts "Tropical Fish Hobbyist" to shame. ( Last month
the Potomac Valley Aquarium Society took a poll of its members, and exactly
one person said he prefered TFH over FAMA. The rest of us thought the margin
should have been greater.) You can also find discount mailorder ads in FAMA,
which I've found to offer around a 30% discount from the local shops.
Now a question to spark more discussion. Let's assume you successfully
breed and raise mollies, then platies, swordtails, and so on, then decide
you want to try an egglaying species. What would other people on the net
suggest as a beginner's egglayer? I've seen books that say bettas are easy,
and though I'm raising a lot of them now I remember the days back when I
couldn't. Danios or barbs? I've never tried them, but I've read that they
are almost a traditional first egglayer. How about rift lake cichlids (no
kidding), such as zebras? Now that the novelty has worn off, I think
everyone is almost embarrased to admit how easy it is to breed many of these
species. Many killifish could be included, the only problem being
availability. In fact, my first egglayer was Aphyosemion gardneri. Any
other ideas?
--
-- Mark Westling
ARPA: westling@cvl CSNET: westling@cvl
UUCP: ...!{seismo,allegra}!rlgvax!cvl!westlingclewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis) (05/13/85)
In article <413@cvl.UUCP> westling@cvl.UUCP (Mark Westling) writes: >I hope this helps: Thanks for the information - it'll come in useful. Actually, you're a little late regarding the Neons. We seemed to have a touch of "ick" and used Maracide.... The Maracide booklet doesn't mention that this stuff is fatal to Neons (at least at the recommended dosage). The only way I found out was noticing that other "ick" medicines have the warning. We moved all four of them to a fresh (un-medicated) Guppy tank we bought for the breeders. It was too late for three of them... >Now a question to spark more discussion. Let's assume you successfully >breed and raise mollies, then platies, swordtails, and so on, then decide >you want to try an egglaying species. What would other people on the net >suggest as a beginner's egglayer? I've seen books that say bettas are easy, >and though I'm raising a lot of them now I remember the days back when I >couldn't. Danios or barbs? I've never tried them, but I've read that they >are almost a traditional first egglayer. How about rift lake cichlids (no >kidding), such as zebras? Now that the novelty has worn off, I think >everyone is almost embarrased to admit how easy it is to breed many of these >species. Many killifish could be included, the only problem being >availability. In fact, my first egglayer was Aphyosemion gardneri. Any >other ideas? My SO and I have sort of decided to get a couple of the miniature cichlids (eg: the "Agassiz Dwarf Cichlid"). The books seem to indicate that it is fairly easy and that they take such good care of their young that you don't really have to separate them. Mind you, our current tank is only 5.5 gal... Do they really need "hard" water? I know that the books say that they do prefer hard moderately high PH water, but they didn't mention it about this species. We aren't really interested in making a big deal about fish. My SO and I have basically compromised on getting one 15-20 gal tank when we move into our house and the current 5.5 gal, guppy tank and a couple of gold fish bowls. -- Chris Lewis, UUCP: {allegra, linus, ihnp4}!utzoo!mnetor!clewis BELL: (416)-475-8980 ext. 321