Keeping Fish

[LeafBlade12345]

Dheltzel, many people keep Oscars in brackish tanks. I have not owned any brackish ponds, but many people who do keep Oscars. The pipefish are most definitely not for beginners or those who aren't ready to take care of such a complex fish. Thank you for your input, I will certainly research more before purchasing any brackish fish or tanks. Do you personally keep Oscars or pipefish? I know almost no one that manages to take care of them successfully, let alone breed them.

 

[LeafBlade12345]

Another tank check: we haven't lost any new fish yet. My guppies are looking okay, but my new breeding male, which is quite young, is showing signs of ick, the last thing we need right now. I have changed the breeding guppies water, treated extensively with fungus guard, taken out dead fish immediately, I even went so far as to isolate particular fish that I hoped to breed. I was wondering if the infection may have caused one of my female guppy's miscarriage, as she was fine before the fungus came along. My filteration system is working, the nitrate and ammonia levels are fine, the temperature is perfect, there are plenty of live plants, the tank is not overcrowded...what am I doing wrong? My fish just won't stop dying, and I was hoping to sell my new fry from the guppy who miscarried. They would have been cobra males or sunsets unless my new male made his move first, which I doubt. My Molly fry seem okay, very fat and nearly ready to be introduced into the main breeding tank. My males are a little territorial, so I keep my fry safe until they are bigger than really neccassary. They grow at such fast paces! Half are tiny, a few are giant, and the rest are normal size. I will update with new developments.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

For ick I usually turn the heat up and cook it out, up to 90, and slowly turn it back down after I see no more, works just as good as meds and doesn't mess up the tanks bacteria. How big are you water changes, I used to have troubles until I upped my water changes, my tropical tanks I do almost 50% a week.

 

[LeafBlade12345]

I do more than 50% water changes, sometimes more, sometimes less. I'm worried about changing the water temp so dramatically...will the fish be alright? I can't lose my new fry from a week ago, they are all I have to show for my new batches of breeders I decided to mate this month. The ick is bad, I can see it on my fat tetras, but it seems to be subsiding with good tank care, treatment, and plenty of good protein. My tetras have been through a lot, I'd hate to lose them now. Well, my neons I'm fine with, they are little $@&$@ to smaller fish. They even bother my hobby guppies and mollies. I would cull if they bothered my fish anymore, but they cause no substantial injuries, so I tolerate them, just saying I wouldn't be too irked if they went belly up....

 

[LeafBlade12345]

Does anyone have any ideas for fun crayfish for a pond? I have seen some pretty cool electric blue and white albinos, but in the US, California no less, albinism doesn't last, the birds spot those that don't blend in. Since the pond they would go into is covered and deep with a curved lip, I think the crayfish would be okay. This pond stays around 65-70 degrees most of the year, sometimes warmer, and is heated in the winter. The crayfish we have kept were temperature intolerant, so I don't want to make any mistakes. Anyone have ideas?

 

[dheltzel]

Dheltzel, many people keep Oscars in brackish tanks. I have not owned any brackish ponds, but many people who do keep Oscars. The pipefish are most definitely not for beginners or those who aren't ready to take care of such a complex fish. Thank you for your input, I will certainly research more before purchasing any brackish fish or tanks. Do you personally keep Oscars or pipefish? I know almost no one that manages to take care of them successfully, let alone breed them.

While it may be that oscars survive in brackish water, they never encounter that in their native habitat, unlike Poecilieds like "mollies" that live in coastal areas and can (fairly) rapidly adapt to changes in salinity. I believe that it would be stressful to the oscar's physiology to keep them in brackish water, so my recommendation would be to keep them in pure fresh water.

I've had Oscars, though I have never bred them. I have bred dozens of other species, including a lot of cichlids. As for pipefish, I have never had the time to properly care for them (or seahorses), so I avoid them. My personal philosophy is to keep fish only if I can provide really great conditions for them, another reason I avoided Oscars, they require large tanks and powerful filtration or abundant water changes to keep the water conditions good. They also don't coexist well with live plants and those are very important to me, so I tend to go with small, plant friendly fish like killifish, white clouds and bristlenose catfish. All those breed abundantly in planted tanks with little attention other than abundant food and great water quality.

I am not trying to be antagonistic, I just cringe when I think of either pipefish or oscars being recommended for beginners. They both take exceptional care and it does not serve a new aquarist well to suggest they start with either. There are far better species that are easy to maintain, leave these for the dedicated hobbyists who fully understand what they are getting themselves into. I despise the "throw away" attitude I find in pet shops, especially the chains. Just because a creature is cold blooded does not mean it's life is worth less attention than a cuddly animal like a dog, cat, or chicken.

I am (probably temporarily) out of the aquarium hobby, all my time is taken up with poultry now. But I am happy to help anyone with their aquariums. It's a shame that people get started in this hobby and fail to keep their fish alive. It's "easy" if you understand what is going on biologically, but it's doomed if you are just blindly following the directions of the pet shop helpers.

 

[LeafBlade12345]

Dheltzel you make a good point. If I ever kept Oscars, I would not keep them in brackish water, I would get them a nice freshwater tank, at least 125 gallons. Pipefish are not for beginners, I have stated that several times, and I never said they were for beginners, so I am a bit confused where your posts about them are coming from. When kept in the right conditions, pipefish will survive, but those conditions are hard to achieve. I agree with you, fish are just as important as any other living creature you take responsibility for, but you really can't compare a guppy or tetra to a cat or dog. These smaller fish only live 4-6 years in most conditions, usually less, while dogs and cats almost always exceed that lifespan when taken in as pets. They both deserve the proper care, but I would much rather have fish die in my care than cats, dogs, or chickens. That said, nothing irks me more than seeing the dyed fish marketed as "glow fish" or "Halloween fish" and given ridiculous names as if they were brands of toys. It simply kills me when I see mothers buying their children these fish and promoting the industry. The dyed fish only live half their normal life span, and the fact that people knowingly continue to cut the lifespan of these animals in half drives me crazy, if this happened to cats or dogs, people would go absolutely insane. I just hate it.

 

[LeafBlade12345]

Tank check: we haven't lost any fish today so far. I did see some improvement in the ick in my tetras, but the guppies don't look great. Our young breeder female is very weak and I don't expect her to live. Out pleco doesn't look great either, but I would hate to see him die after about 8 years of life. I'm looking into ordering some Moscow Green fry or breeding pairs for new bloodlines when some of the aggressive fish are gone in my hobby tank. My breeders seemed stressed, despite a good male to female ratio. I suppose they are all off balance from the fungul infection that has thinned them out. I am thinking about culling my neon tetras, but I have so many and I feel bad killing healthy fish just so I'll end up with more fry. Since the tetras are in my small hobby tank, I may just let them be, but as soon as they bother any of my larger fish, they will end up as turtle snacks or snake chow. My white cloud tetras are pretty and much more docile than my neons, they are most certainly going to live out their days unless they start nipping. I made the mistake of buying these neon tetras, and they seem to be bothering all my fish substantially. The five year old doesn't want the fishes to go bye bye, but they may just disappear soon enough. I am thinking of putting them in a sock and hammering them. It sounds horrible, but it is probably less stressful than catching them all seperately and be heading them with the lily pad cutters. They are probably too fast for that anyway, and I don't want to stress the other fish since they are okay with the net. I'd find them new homes, but they are little attackers and I don't wish them upon anyone's community tank. Do not buy neons for community tanks unless you are okay never getting any fry and having stressed, jumpy fish. Does anyone have any ideas for better culling techniques?

 

[3goodeggs]

Great thread.
We have had aquariums for decades, and outdoor ponds.
We are scaling back, even when everything goes perfectly, there is still maintenance that needs to be done.
I have cut out the outdoor goldfish pond.
I do have a small trickling pond for the birds and gambusia in it to keep the mosquitoes down. I feed the excess gambusia and snails to the turtle.
We have some comets in with him to keep him entertained.

And I bought some feeder guppies to have in the outside tank next to the turtle just because ...I don't know why.
They will get too cold soon. I will feed them to said turtle before that happens I guess. Guppies are pretty though.

The inside tanks are 50 and 90 gallon.
The smaller one is tropicals glass cats, rummy nose, blue and green neon's, cardinal neon's, hatchet fish, and a Betta.
The big tank is native fresh water fish, top water goldens, flag fish, swampdarters, bluefin killie fish, heterandria.
It is a long standing tank. I like it when everything balances out and the only real care it needs is to clean the glass and do water changes.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have found putting fish in a smaller container, like the ones they use in the store, I put mine in there and add some drops of quick cure, like five, and they pass pretty quickly, and quietly, within an hour, I can't do the sock hammer thing.