Think Fish Keepers Daily News. [2016-2019]

Your vision is not far from reality. 

There's not anywhere that's suitable to move the fishtank to long-term but it's possible that the QT could be set up temporarily in the spare/multi-purpose room, after moving some items off the top of a chest of drawers to somewhere (it's already floor-to-ceiling in the flat as it is, but I'll try to figure out something...) Might be easier to move into a bigger house - which would simultaneously give the option for a larger fishtank or even multiple tanks..!

I'm glad I came on here and mentioned this - it's amazing what can be learned through a fish forum (thanks, @Sue!) and even Mr FCMF is impressed as it was something that hadn't occurred to him . Although the pipe can't be reached from the window - it would need a cherry-picker to reach from the ground - at least the snow is beginning to melt this morning, so the problem may resolve itself once the cold spell passes.

Argh - there's no such thing as a perfect filter. My remaining female x-ray tetra vanished this afternoon. I've spent the best part of the afternoon with an aquascaping tool, prodding the plants individually to see if she floated out from the leaves - no luck. I removed both lots of wood to get a better view - still no luck. The new filter was close-fitting to the wall, so I ruled that out as a possibility. I began to wonder if I'd misunderstood the lack of appetites this week, and which I'd put down to the fish becoming fussy because the food packets had passed their shelf life (not 'use-by' dates but 'open for a long time' dates), as some form of withholding of appetite in preparation for a feast on a morbidly obese tetra even although this wouldn't be "in character" (as far as I know). Finally, I decided to remove the new filter - and out she swam, as though "put out" by the fact that I'd disturbed/found her. 

Turns out that the filter is not as close-fitting as I thought; new models attach with magnet strips but the model I got only has suction cups at the top and actually it's quite easy for a fish/invertebrate to push their way / be chased up the bottom/back corner of the filter despite no actual gap being present. (Additionally, the nozzle which allegedly twists to alter filter output flow doesn't seem to do as it claims...)

Hi all

I thought I'd share a pic of my first tank! I've had it up and running for just under 2 months and the brown algae is largely gone (thanks to much cleaning, otos and shrimp), tests all good, plants healthy and fish look happy.  With all going well, I thought it best to make the most of it before any problems set in. I've read a lot of your posts about the problems that can crop up! 

I've just got one restless kuhli, (Kevin) who swims round the tank when the lights are on. It's strange since the others mill around at the bottom. I can only assume that Kevin is restless, either that or they take it turns to swim around as only one does it. You can see Kevin at the front of the tank in the photo.
 

I had a lot more brown algae, but I gather that's normal in a new tank. My approach was to disturb it so it was floating about then siphon it out when doing a water change or use a net to collect it. I was doing 10-15% WC every 3-5 days for last 3 weeks and I think is what had the biggest impact. The other thing was putting in a small power jet, which meant less chance for it to settle and more filtered out.

In the middle it's a lizards tail. It's generally a pond plant, but I read somewhere that it's fine in an aquarium. This may be a big mistake, but it's looking good so far. My plan is to let it reach the surface, but keep it fairly restricted. The otos spend most of their day on it, so they're definitely fans. If this plant turns out to be a disaster, I'll be sure to post about it! 

The other one is dwarf hair grass. It grew well, but it's a magnet for brown algae, so I wouldn't get any until you've got yours under control. I would have waited a few weeks before putting mine in if I'd known. The power jet is situated right behind the grass and helped to loosed the algae. That's why it's flowing out sideways in the pic.

My best guess for my kuhlis (and hope)is that I've got plenty of hiding places, so they're relaxed. Either that or they're starving because my barbs are eating all the food! The only food the kuhlis seem to get a chance of eating are algae pellets. Even when I hide food under rocks, and putting it right where they hang out (as suggested by Sue) the barbs seem to root it out before them.

Another tip for feeding kuhlis is to feed them at or after lights out. They are generally nocturnal fish. I drop food at the front of the tank and then watch the kuhlis come out. When I refurbished my substrate, the kuhlis would hunt the tiny substrate life that had been disturbed. It was really fascinating to watch.

I currently only have 2 kuhlis. They could be up to 8 years old. They were the only kuhli survivors from a case of white spot. Since then, my tank has been through severe neglect and they have still survived. (I think they ate all / any snails)

 Over the last 6 months or so, I have been refurbishing my tank and have since tried to increase the number of kuhlis. I have an open 'order' with my local MA for more, but am not having much luck. I should probably give them a call, but because kuhli are scale less fish, they can be quite delicate, so I  being patient (the case of white spot was when I bought kuhlis in snowy winter). I went in to the MA about a month ago to collect 6 or 12 (I hadn't decided) that I'd reserved and the stores entire stock had been wiped out by white spot.

I am looking forward to increasing the numbers as they are my favourite fish. Though, my most recent additions of dwarf rainbow fish (bought on the kuhli trip) are climbing up the popularity rankings!

I've been working on the river tank for the past few weeks, mainly draining, re-arranging decor, and refilling to check the flow. Over the weekend I had the misfortune of the handle of one of my buckets breaking, and spilling 11 litres of water onto the carpet 
I think I've finally got it to the point that it's nearly ready, or at least to the point where the work involved in draining and refilling seems like too much effort for any more minor changes for a while.

One of the male tetras was behaving oddly towards something on the tank glass, as though eyeing it up and ready to take a pounce to eat it from the glass. It turned out to be a tiny white worm of about 3 mm long which was moving around. I watched for about a minute, then went to wash my hands with a view to removing it with an algae scrubber but, by the time I'd returned, it seemed to have disappeared and the tetra had resumed normal behaviour - I suspect he consumed his prey. I had "planaria" in my head and, if this was/is it (am I correct?), a quick search on here suggests that it's probably harmless (thoughts/suggestions welcome if not, though); thanks.

From what I understand about planaria, I think most of us probably have a few of these in our tanks even if we don't know about it. A few is ok, as with anything, but if you get an infestation it can be a problem. They feed off detritus in the tank, fish poo etc. so the way to keep their numbers down is through good tank maintenance. I'm pretty sure that your tank is very well maintained @fcmf so I'm sure there is no need to worry 

http://www.aquariadise.com/planaria-in-the-aquarium/

I've seen a video if someone use that dewormer to great effect on an infested tank but it was on a shrimp only tank... not sure how it would affect fish.