What are these?

[Dubby]

I agree with Alaska, that looks like uneaten food.

If the female is still very large then she will definitely give birth once she calms down. If it is too difficult to move her just add more plants like hornwort to your existing tank so that it provides cover for her and her fry.

 

[richelesro]

I removed it last night. There's a little more this morning, but not nearly as much.

If it is food, then I should start feeding them less, right? After reading about them, I'm thinking of switching to freeze-dried brine shrimp instead of the Marineland Bio-Blend Tropical that I'm currently feeding them. Is this a good idea? Could the Bio-Blend food cause it?

Thanks so much all. I'm really new to this and would love to help these three out.

 

[richelesro]

Is this a better food?

 

[floridalove]

the little nuggets on the bottle look exactly like what was in your gravel,
i had a big piece of flake fish sit on a branch of one of my plastic plants and there was a white dome of fungus all over it

 

[Dubby]

richelesro,

Overfeeding is a problem we are all guilty of at some point of time we love our fishies so much that we cant let them go hungry!

So there is probably nothing wrong with your present food. Just make sure you feed enough to last about 3mins in the tank.

 

[richelesro]

I switched to another food and they're not coming back. There must be something about that food that causes. I dunno. Anyway, thanks all! I'm sure I'll have some more questions in the future. It's great to know that there's help when I need it.

 

[sinistral]

Besides, I'm still doing my learning, so I'd rather not have something too big. This is a good size for what I need to learn before getting a big tank.

Just one detail: big tanks tend to be better for any number of reasons, but mainly because they are much more stable in terms of water conditions (including ammonia, nitrites, pH, temp) than smaller tanks. I had much more trouble getting my second (10g) into shape than my first tank (29g). For this reason larger tanks are better for newbies (like me ). Of course, larger tanks are also more expensive and heavier...

However, if you feel like you are learning and benefiting from a smaller tank, then more power to you!