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Permalink Reply by Breezer on June 17, 2012 at 10:29pm

im in the exact same situation as you with my 10g planted, im about to start university in september, 7 hours away from my home. im dreading moving the tank and finding ways to have the fish fed when i go home for short periods. but the challenge should be fun and the tank should make my tiny room feel a little cooler.

 

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Permalink Reply by aduman on June 17, 2012 at 10:53pm

Everything you do is a learning experience, especially in this hobby. But don't worry too much about it, if anything try to mange your time to keep up with your tank maintenance. Platies are very easy to breed with the right condition and sometimes surprises you when you start seeing fry swimming around.  

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Permalink Reply by Robert Jango on June 18, 2012 at 2:15am

When I go away for a week or so I dump a bunch of live blackworms in my tank and let them sink to the bottom where they become entrenched in the gravel or Java Moss. Blackworms will not cloud your tank because they stay alive and feed off detritus and debris. Like snails they help keep your tank clean. In the meantime they provide a constant supply of food for your fish while you're away. Fish love hunting for them. If fish don't eat for a week it won't kill them either. In fact fasting is probably good for them.

I'm surprised your Platies died after the water change. Usually the opposite happens - they become healthier and energized. Make sure you add chloramine remover during water changes. Its also possible that if the water in your tank and the water you're adding are from the different sources, you may be changing the PH drastically. This is very unlikely, but you said your Platies died; so I'm just trying to be cautious.  In case the water is from different sources, start off the water changes in smaller amounts - like 10%.

In one of his videos, Dustin said we all need little victories once in awhile. Traveling back and forth is rough, but when you finally achieve something you'll appreciate it. When I went to college in NYC, I brought my evil but beloved Snakehead with me from my pond. The fish was a monster but died within a week of moving.  I replaced him with an Oscar and rarely needed to spend money because all the sadists in my dorm bought him goldfish to watch the carnage. I didn't complain too much.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Bielecki on June 18, 2012 at 3:49am

I think the fish died due to some fungus or something caused by the thread I tied the java moss to rocks with biodegraded. Although that seems to be a really rare thing.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Jango on June 18, 2012 at 7:12am

I think something else is going on besides the thread and I suspect its related in some way to water quality. Fish-keeping should really be called water-keeping because that's what it is. Its the reason behind most fatalities. Here's what you do to keep your water clean. 

1) Change it.

--How often?    As often as you can. (At least once a week)

--How much?   As much as you can up to about 80% and at least 20%.

--What kind of water do you use?     Water from the tap or a combination of rainwater and tap. Add de-chlorinator if you have chloramine. A tiny bit of chlorine is ok but very little.  

--How do you change it?   Siphon off all the debris from the bottom when you remove it and make sure you don't change the water temperature too much when you add it.

2) Fill your tank with TONS of plants. You can't have too many. Include lots of fast growing plants and especially floating plants. Plants keep the water very clean.

3) I don't use filters but if you do keep them clean.

4) Don't add any wood or ornaments to the tank that you're not sure of. And definitely don't add food that goes uneaten.

Certainly, water isn't the only issue but its the most fundamental one and behind most of our problems in the aquarium. When I was in college I knew very little about fish-keeping. So much so that my roommate placed an advertisement on our door that read "Welcome to Bob's Dead Fish City" He went on to become a wealthy advertising exec in the music business and I finally learned how to keep fish alive - or at least most of them.  

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Permalink Reply by Joe Bielecki on June 20, 2012 at 10:20pm

Well, I lost my job on monday. Temporary jobs tend to be fleeting some times, I'm not super upset, just off balance now. So on Monday, I decided to go to my LFS as I now had the time to buy and acclimate some new additions to my tank. I was looking for some leafier background plants at first. My Cabomba is great, but not all that lush, so I was looking at what they had. I decided on some wisteria because it looked cool. I was also looking for fish replacements. Almost all of the platies the store had were gone, dead, or sickly looking, so I decided to stray away. I was looking at some albino cory cats until one of the employees I talk to a lot came over and showed me a tank full of Endler's Livebreeders. These fish were full of energy and looked interesting, so I bought three pairs of them. I bring them home, acclimate them and introduce them to the tank. 

I love these little fish. The males are tiny and lively and always trying to mate with the females. The females are plain but have interesting personalities and get along well with my last platy.

Then today, the surprise. This morning I showed my girlfriend my new fish, we looked at them for a while and then went downstairs to cuddle and watch TV. When it was nearing time to leave for her Dad's birthday party, we took another look at the tank. We found three fry swimming around near the top of some Wisteria. When I got home I  found a fourth! I'm very excited about this. I have enough plants that they should be able to hide from the adults, and most of the other fish seem uninterested in eating them. I'm wonder if they are platy fry, or if I was sold a pregnant Endler. None of my female fish look any different, so I guess I won't find out for a few days. I'm also wondering how I'm going to feed the fry without them getting in the way of the adults, I don't have a fry tank because I wasn't expecting fry so soon. 

Either way I am very excited about this new development in my tank, and I await the day I know what type of fish these are.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Jango on June 20, 2012 at 11:48pm

Sounds like a victory! Have a cigar for me. I don't really know what kind of fish they are but I'm gonna guess Endlers. Water changes stimulate fish and introducing the Endlers into your aquarium probably amounted to a water change for them.

Good choice with the Wisteria - fast grower, attractive, easy to care for, and does a great job consuming the waste produced by the fish in your aquarium. Add Water Cabbage next time you visit the fish store if they carry it. Its a great cleaner and excellent for hiding fry.

Personally I love Guppies. They're very closely related to Endlers but more colorful. I just threw about 20 babies into my backyard pond - they love it.  Outside, where there's room, the female Guppies separate from the males and form their own groupings. The males, by default, are forced to school together - like a permanent "guys night out".  This tells me that in their natural habitat female Guppies, and probably female Endlers, are not used to being under constant harassment by males. I know its fun to watch but consider the female's health and maybe cut the population down to one male per 3-4 females. If you had a 55 gallon tank the 3-3 grouping would be fine.  

I'm not sure why, but Endlers are the "cool" fish these days in live-bearing circles. The president of my Aquarium Society is a Guppy Maniac but raves about Endlers. Maybe crossing them with Guppies could produce a larger, more colorful Guppy - a super Guppy. Who knows? (I sure don't!)

Anyway congrats and you won't have any problem with your tank getting over-populated. Fish stores always take in livebearers. You may not get cash for them but you should receive some kind of store credit.

I almost forgot. Feeding the babies...

Endler babies, like most livebearing fry, come out of the womb larger than their egg-laying brethren. With the plants, and hopefully a little algae on the sides of your aquarium, they'll have plenty to pick at the first few days of life. All kinds of things, invisible to the naked eye, exist on plants and algae - especially if the tank receives a little sun. After that you can switch right over to flake food ground up between your fingers. And if you really wanna make them happy give them microworms. There's a very nice couple on the site "Aquarimax.com" who will sell you a starter culture of worms for cheap. The husband is a professional (and employed lol) zoologist who really knows his stuff and is very generous with helping people out.  

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