gold honey dwarfs going to spawn soon i think

[mattbeau]

I thought i had two males since they both looked similar and were acting territorial

well things have changed



I was cleening out the a 6 gllon earlier this week changing substrate and plopped all the anacharis plants into my 20 gallon, when i was finished and ready to put the plants back into the 6 gallon i noticed he was blowing some bubbles under the plants.
so left them there. well now about 3 days later the male is really showing his colors IE tail is darker orange and the throat and lower fin has turned mostly black. (not disease)

she is definatly a female, as her face is almost silvery, and there is a line running accross her side, (which happens some times with females).

He keeps on trying to coax her over to the floating plants, she is being a wimp

temp is at 82 should i raise it to 86 ( i read this temp will trigger the spawning)

dont have a seperte tank ready right now. 6 gallon is recycling.

current tank mates two coryadoris, 3 otocynclids, and 5 neon tetras, and a few pond snails. will these guys bother them?

should i cover the whole surface with plants or just keep the one corner going.

should i hold off on water changes untill they are done? water stats are fine

nitrite 0
nitrate 20
ammonia 0
ph 7

currently feeding a mixed diet of frozen brine shrimp, frozen blood worms, shrimp pellets and flakes.
the whole tank is heavily planted right now with anacharis probably close to 20 plants.

 

[mattbeau]

LOL maybe that was a bad idea,

ok floating anacharis with snails can cause trougble

The day after i posted this I was looking into the plants for anything new and noticed a leafless stem. after i pulled that one out i noticed ohhhh 6 more leafless stems then i notices my biowheels had no moviement on either of my filters. so i investigate further and a sludge had developed all inside the filter, further investigation revealed all those leaves had ended up on the intake of the filter

so i pulled the intake off another bad idea, all the loose leaves just lifted right off and ended up all over the tank.

I pulled the filter off and it smelled like ....muck i guess like decaying plants.

I spent the next few hours running the filter with the intake on and waiting for it to catch the leaves then using my net i wrapped it around the intake and then pulled it off catrching most of the junk.

I decided to then take down the floating anacharis that was still left and as i moved it it went under the filter and all of its leaves fell off.


AAAAARG

so all of the decaying dying dead and week plants have been removed. I cleaned the filters, the biowheels and ran the filters with two filter medias to help transfer some of the bacteria

I still cant get one of the biowheels to keep moving and the other moves extremely slow I might have to replace them



I will be taking measurments in a little bit

alas the male is starting to resume normal colors again

and currently the tank is actually really clean and clear

glad i got the oto's

 

[jollysue]

Hi mattbeau

You might not need to replace the bio wheels. When they get mature they turn slowly and even hesitently. It is usually a good sign. Make sure they are seated correctly and that the water that turns them is flowing sufficiently in the right direction. Some bio wheel filters have flow and directional adjusters. Only if they have been physically damaged are they usually recommended to be replaced. If it is a major brand there is usually a phone # to call. I have found that help useful.


BTW, I have adjusted my ich protocols.

 

[mattbeau]

ok, I know the biowheels are the breeding ground for our benificial bacteria, but both biowheels were extremely coated with plant muck,

the filters became an obstruction, t

he water was only pouring out at half power

the biowheels hadnt moved over a long period of time.

the whole shebang was coated, about 1 mm of muck.

one impeller had a locking washer that keeps the impeller blade down was loose,

I ended having to do a deep cleening and repairing.

The old biowheels were still not moving so they had to be replaced

things are working again the way they should

Deep cleaning has as expected affedcted my bacteria as im now going through a mini cycle.

not serious though i hope

ammonia 0
nitrite 0.5
nitrate 20.

I have done a 20% water change

added a little novaquel

added some Cycle to help bring the bacteria levels back up where they should be (if the stuff actually works)

grounded all the plants and moved some over to the puffer tank

I may move some snails over to the puffer tank (its still fishless cycling)

lowered the water level for the gauramis a little in case things get bad


the neons and corydoras made it through a cycle before so im thinking they should be ok (fingers crossed)

the otocinclids (sp?) are new and the gauramis can be a little touchy to water parameters

 

[jollysue]

Would it help to float the old bio wheels in the tank as they were heavily colonized with bacteria (if they were kept wet)?


My lfs sold me a huge Amazon Sword Mother plant for $10. It would fill a 5 usg. It had been $30. It was disintigrating in a discuss tank with low light at 90 degrees or something. But it is responding to the right environment, and I have only had it floating in it's planter in the big tank. My cockatoos love it. I know my new Honey will like it too when he gets to that tank. I guess the new Sparklers too.

I had 11 Marthae Silver Hatchets shipped to me last week. They are a pretty little 1-2" hatchet. They looked like a little flock of seagulls, They all died.

 

[mattbeau]

Hey jollysue,

nice to have someone watching my back

well I did run the new filter media with the old ones for a few hours before removing the old ones a thing i love about these penguin 150's is that theres room for two filters but you only need one

alas the old biowheels were left out for too long, the whole process took so long and only 1 portion of the biowheel was wet when i removed it anyways so ifigures it was a lost cause

there should still be plenty of bacteria on the floor and plants, the decorations have been cleened very very well by the otos

this tank hace been running for 3 months so im thinking that it sould only be a small spike but will be retesting the water in the morning to see if the nitrites decline or rise

plus ive cut back on feading a little bit to help keep the ammonia down just in case

so are these amazon swords pretty hardy? I bought the anacharis only because i had asked for a hardy plant, the anacharis have A. become fish/snail food and B. arent really doing too hot

 

[jollysue]

Hey mattbeau

My experience with anacharis is that they are very hardy and persistent in the worst conditions. They will survive in very low light and continue to slowly grow.

If snails are indeed the plant eaters in your tank, I doubt Amazon Swords are the answer. The plant forum is a good place to maybe get the information you need on planted aquariums.

The biggest issue for plants is the light requirements (and substrate) to survive and prosper. Amazon Swords have a higher light requirement to survive than anacharis.

I'm probably as usual repeating what you already know.

Plant light requirements are figured by watts per usg (and light spectrums.) Anacharis will grow slowly at 1 watt per 1 usg. That is considered low light. Most tanks don't even have that unless they have been upgraded. My hundred usg came with an 18 and a 13 watt T-5 strip (a third of a watt per gal) 2 watts per usg is moderate and 3 is high--and hot! I have about 2.5 per on the 100 usg.

You know a lot more than me about cycling. I'm still using dip strips--seldom. Never did a fishless cycle. ) Just heard today that Cycle may be a hustle. I am ignorant and confused about the whole thing and all the different and opposing views. People that get on a soap box and get self important about their opinions annoy me. Although I am very opinionated and also long winded B)

Snails can really muck everything up when they get out of hand. I got disgusted with them when they stopped up my filter with their eggs so badly I had to take it apart to get everything working again in an Eclipse 12 system. There are some ways to control them. The first is to squash the little buggers every time you see one or a bunch. (I got Clown loaches which created a new problem. But I my clowns. They are one reason I got a hundred usg.) The snail lovers will say to stop overfeeding, because it stimulates them to multiply. Another control method is to put lettuce leaves in and when the snails pile up on them, toss them. Puffers eat snails too. Pick them out and give them to a puffer

Also Yeah! otos, cories, plecs, clown loaches!!! I my cleaning crews!!

 

[jollysue]

How are your Honeys doing? How did you get your female?

 

[mattbeau]

The honeys are doing great even tough I took down the floating plants because it was causing filter problems. now they are insistant on keeping the plants floating, the keep nibbling the base of the stems and forcing the plants to float. they are a pair of luberjacks really. I think i see one or two plants floating every morning

 

[mattbeau]

woops noticed you replied earlier too. sorry about that(i've been away for a few days. as far as the snail problem. the fishless cycling on my eclipse 6 was complete on saturday and I got a new dwarf puffer. This time I spent alot of time making sure the conditions were right, that he looked healthy fat and happy and mature. over the period waiting for the tank to finish cycling ive been moving the snails to that tank. I put him in last night and this morning i found lots of shells, so he is acting very health.
He also enjoyed a few blood worms this morning.

aside from the anacharis floating from time to time, i am seeing new growths on the plants so i have been plucking the Juvinial plants and planting themwhich seem to be doing pretty good.

as far as fishless cycling is concerned. It isnt as hard as you would think, just lots of testing and making sure not to add too much ammonia, I made the mistake of adding half a cap to a 5 gallon, only after a 75% water change was I able to bring the levels a little lower. also the addition of cycle actually seemed to help out a little, though im not completely convinced. I had bacteria in there before it was just basically getting the bacteria back up after a few days of no fish.

the ammonia I used was Ralphs brand clear ammonia


The dip strips are easier to use but they get expensive, so i ended up getting the master test kit for freshwater.

 

[jollysue]

So your Honeys are the ones chewing your plants? That's scarey!

Have you asked the Planted Aquarium Forum which plants are Honey proof? I know the Honeys like to hide in the plants and like tall plants. There are some plants that are tougher to chew.

Again, how did you get your female? Are the Honeys trying to get the plants up so he can build a bubble nest?

Well, stay in touch. I just got a Honey and I'm interested anyway.


Edit: I didn't see your second post.

Glad about your new puffer and the prospering plants.

I got some testing stuff (Aquarium Pharmacueticals, I think) from LFS--recommended for price and ease of reading. It was like $12-$13 a bottle. (Don't know as I'm typing if you are UK.) Tonight I checked online expecting a savings of a few dollars. It was about $4 a bottle. I'll be taking those back.

I am getting inaccurate readings with my dip sticks. I've been testing at the lfs because I lost all my hatchets that were shipped. But my BN and the majority of the otos (6 of 8, I think) are good. I think I stressed my new Honey adding sand to the quarantine tank substrate, but he'll recover.

 

[mattbeau]

I guess I was lucky with the female, they were the only two in the tank and I grabbed both of them, I didnt realize i had a pair till recenty. when the male started showing his colors and started pushing her around, they seem to be getting along ok now but at first she had to hide out all day because he was being a bully.

The female looks a little bigger than him has a faint line accross the side and looks super yelloiw and hardly a touch of orange if any.

The male is a little smaller has a substantial abmount of orange and areas of black on his lower side and by his eyes.

basically with the plants, all of the bottom stem is chewed except for the center vein (if thats what its called) the leaves for the most part are ok, and there is no other areas of damadge to the stems except for the base.Because there is a lot of current there, im betting they would like to slow the current at te surface so he could build a bubble nest, I wonder if i shut one filter down, what will happen

I'm in the US in california so way different time zone.

 

[jollysue]

Well same here on the time zone. I'm in Fresno.

I was told by someone I think that the bubble builders don't like surface agitation and they do something to try to get the plant branches together to make their nest. It's a little vauge. The last part I read in a species info site Lucky 62 gave me a link to. What you are describing as the female is what was described to me by a member before. Right now I can't locate the thread, but I will and if there's anyting good for you I'll pass it along. I can also direct you to the info link when I get to it if you want.

I gotta go feed my guys before the tetras get frustrated. Later

 

[Ddraig Goch]

Honey gouramis don't actually use plants in their bubble nests like other gouramis, but they do need some still water to prevent the nest from floating away. If you want them to breed is there any way that you can make one corner of your tank's surface water still? or if you put them in a separate tank they should quite happily breed.

 

[mattbeau]

moving them is out of the question right now, the QT tank has been since been converted to a puffer tank.

funny thing is my power got shut off for a few hours, and all that time he didnt make a bubble nest (or even try) so i figure he probably isnt ready. plus I think he is still too young, the female is a little larger then him (i thought it was supposed to be the other way around) and so he still has to grow up a bit.

I'm sure i could fasion something to help control the current in the corner if needed though, a ruler with suction cups perhapse.

So my Dwarf honeys arent the lumber jacks in the tank?

hmm the only others i can think of is perhapse the snails but there is nothing in there but juves now.