Recent content by davefish

I don't think Odessa Barbs are aggressive, although someone may correct me on that. The Galaxy Rasbora was quite a recent discovery (2006 I think) and became very popular because they do look rather nice as you say. Unfortunately this led to overfishing and the destruction of their habitat by...

That's half good in that no fish get kept in poor conditions, but could turn out to be worse if he gets some more after a while and just plonks them in an uncycled tank and doesn't do any water changes. At least if he kept the same tank going with no break it would stay cycled. It should be a...

For what they're worth, I am fairly sure the results are: GH=60ppm <- OK. Maybe a little low for goldfish in an ideal world but no big issue. KH=0ppm <- low low low: vulnerable to pH crash. pH=7 <-fine Nitrite=0ppm <- good, implies the tank is cycled Nitrate=80ppm <- high. Two things to say...

Sorry to hear about your Betta. I think that the most likely reason is that he was ill already because you really haven't done anything wrong as far as I can see. Your tetra sound like they are doing great. :good:

The effects of inbreeding vary a lot from species to species. As you have bred thousands of guppies from just 11, they certainly will be inbred, however that doesn't necessarily mean that they will show any negative effects. I suspect that a process called purging is going on here. Basically...

Mollies don't really get an obvious "spot" like guppies do, they just get really fat. They look almost square from behind. It's common for a male to still go for females when they are pregnant. However, it is possible for a Mollie to "abort" if she is stressed. So there is a chance she won't...

You must have had some really bad experiences with test strips! Generally I agree, but felt obliged to tell him what that result meant even if it's not reliable, since I asked him to take it. It's up to him whether he's satisfied with that or buys a liquid test kit to confirm as it's been made...

That said. Assuming the strip is ball-park correct, you are not particularly vulnerable to pH crashes with that KH. Still need to keep an eye on the pH mind, just in case. You could test the strip. If you add baking soda to the water the KH reading should increase. Distilling or de-ionising...

Seems like it's going well :good: . I think in another thread you said you had soft water. I was just wondering if you've tested the KH of your water at all. It's not massively important as your pH seems to be holding up ok, but I would be interested to know what it is, if you can measure it...

MW is right: stop worrying! The reason you are getting ammonia readings again is because you have had a big increase in waste production in your tank because you added the Betta. Your bacteria could only cope with the waste from the tetra before and will take some time to catch up. This is why...

Mollies don't get on well in soft water. They much prefer hard. So if it's still the case that the water is soft (which you said it was initially) they still aren't the best fish for your even if you pH is ok. Not that I'm saying that would kill them in under 24 hours of course.

I'm inclined to agree with you Tag. I actually said this in my post a few days ago^^ (it's up there somewhere). Maybe check your dechlor to see if it gets rid of chloramine as well as chlorine. I think they all do nowadays, but I'm not sure. I'm assuming you are doing everything else by the...

Breeding traps are only a few pounds in England and are unlikely to cost much more where you are. They'll get eaten unless you have lots of plants, and then only a few will survive. They should eat most things as long as they are crushed up very small. Mollies quite like a bit of algae, so...

I think if you leave it out for a long time the chlorine will gas off. However, if you have chloramine in your tap water then you can't get rid of it this way.

Horseface loaches are great for this. They dig/bury/live in the sand, as well as sifting it: in through the mouth, out through the gills.