So I've been pretty busy

lately. That new snail died just a few days after I got it. Saturday, I moved both the amazon swords from the 20 gallon to the 55 gallon. I also clipped the baby plant off the big sword and planted it. I got an anubias (Anubias nana) from the Aquarium Store, along with another (little!) African butterfly. The new butterfly is female and the big one is male, so I might try to breed them sometime once this one gets bigger. I used a rubber band to attach the anubias to a piece of driftwood from the 20 and put it in the 55 temporarily.

I moved the Bolivians to the 55, and dropped all the tetras off at PetCo since the angelfish would probably eat them. I hadn't realized that my cory catfish are a bit larger than the Bolivians. In the 20, I took out the wood from the farm because it's starting to rot, and decorated the tank with fake plants and stuff. The only inhabitants of the tank are the baby African butterfly, Trooper the snail, and two golden Dojo loaches (it's hard to get a good picture of them) I got Sunday from PetsMart.

On Monday, I finally cleaned the two 2.5 gallon tanks. I put one in storage, then took the other one up to my room; I want to try a nano planted tank. So I dumped the last of the black Eco-complete substrate into it, took the Java moss from the Liberty's net and spread it on the gravel and added a darkish rock and the small driftwood with the Anubias to hold the moss down. Sometime soon I'm going back to the Aviarium to get a couple male Endler's Livebearers or some dwarf rasboras to help liven up the tank. I would also like to get three Red Cherry shrimp too eventually.

The nitrogen cycle

It's a big problem for many beginner aquarists. The fish and other little critters you may have produce ammonia, which good bacteria convert to nitrites, which are then converted to nitrates. Nitrates are nowhere near as bad for you fish as ammonia (or ammonium, depending on the pH of your tank) and nitrites. The bacteria have to build up over time; you need to "cycle" a new tank with a source of ammonia for usually about four weeks for a good amount. If you can get any material (filter media, substrate, decorations) from an established tank, it's called "seeding" the tank, and the cycle will go much faster and you can get live plants and animals quicker. A good source of ammonia for a new tank cycle would be fish food, as broken-down food gives off ammonia like fish waste. Two types of bacteria, Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira, make up the cycle.

1. the fishless cycle: You set up your brand new tank and put all your substrate and decorations and everything. Install the heater (if needed) and filter, then fill the tank with fresh dechlorinated water. Plug in your appliances; use a thermometer to make sure the heater works and keeps the water at a stable temperature (usually 76-80F is good for a tropical community). If you can't get any material from an established tank, then throw some fish food in every day and test the water for ammonia. 
   
    You should get an ammonia spike after a week or two, and should then start testing for nitrites but keep up with the food. After about another week or two, the nitrites should spike and start to go down again. Once the ammonia and nitrites are completely gone and you have a reading for nitrates, you can start getting fish and plants. Only get one or two fish each week so you don't stress out your bacteria culture. Make sure to research the fish and plants you buy to make sure you can give them the proper care and see if they are compatible for your tank's environment and other inhabitants of your tank.
   
   
   
2. cycling with fish: Another option is to use a fish to help cycle the tank. Since this option may cause serious illness or death to a live animal, it is not recommended. Set up your tank and let the appliances run for three days to make sure they're stable. Then go buy one very hardy fish, like a betta or zebra danio (GloFish are cooler than plain zebras though) and introduce it to your tank. Only feed a few flakes (or whatever it eats) a day, since the fish will produce as much ammonia as you need for the cycle; any extra food is just more for your new bacteria to process. If the fish dies during the cycle, examine the body to make sure it wasn't ill; if it seemed healthy, leave it in the tank since it still produces ammonia which you're going to need for the cycle to finish. 
   
    You should get an ammonia spike after a few days, and should then start testing for nitrites. After about another few days, the nitrites should spike and start to go down again. If the fish died, you can remove the decomposing body and change 25% of the water. Once the ammonia and nitrites are completely gone and you have a reading for nitrates, you can start getting other fish and plants. Only get one or two fish each week so you don't stress out your bacteria culture. Make sure to research the fish and plants you buy to make sure you can give them the proper care and see if they are compatible for your tank's environment and other inhabitants of your tank.
   
   
   
3. bacteria cultures: Instead of using either option given above, you may decide to try a bottled bacteria culture. Using Colonize has given many people success with seeding their tanks. Another good product is Tetra SafeStart, which has given some success.

To keep your fishy friends healthy and happy, you should do partial water changes each week. Take about 20-25% of the existing water (use a gravel vacuum to remove waste and leftover food from the tank) and replace with fresh dechlorinated water. Make sure the temperature of the new water is the same as the old water. This helps to keep nitrates down and replenish trace minerals in your aquarium. Plants also help with nitrates by absorbing them and using excess food and fish waste as fertilizer. When changing filter media, only change a little at a time; like if your filter has a sponge and carbon and floss, change the sponge one week, the carbon the next week, and floss the week after.

(Is it bad that I learned more chemistry stuff in fishkeeping experiences than I did in my chemistry class last year?)

Fish of the Month — December

The African butterfly fish.
(Pantodon buchholzi)

African butterfly fish are not a shoaling fish, so you can have one in your tank and he'll be perfectly happy alone. They get along well with other fish if the others are not top-dwellers. Large floating plants are okay, like plants that aren't duckweed. They get along great with bottom feeders and mid-dwellers. They need to be in at least 20 gallons, with preferably more surface area than depth. They're great jumpers, so you'll need a hood with any holes covered.

Butterfly fish come from west Africa; they're native to Nigeria, Cameroon, and Zaire. The waters are still or slow-moving and with plenty of plant cover.

Sexing butterflies isn't too difficult. The male is slimmer than the female, though that is hard to distinquish unless the female is fat due to carrying eggs. The rear edge of the anal fin of the male is a convex curve and the fin rays form a tube, which is the genital organ. The rear edge of the female anal fin is straight. (The one pictured is a male.)

Butterfly fish are adaptable to many aquarium parameters. They thrive in soft, slightly acidic water with a pH between 6 to 7 and dH between 1 to 10. They can tolerate any pH from 5-8 and dH between 1-19. An ideal temperature for them in the aquarium is around 75-82F (24-28C).

Butterfly fish grow to about 4 inches, sometimes 5. They often accept flakes and pellets made for carnivores, but they love live and frozen foods as well. They will eat small surface fish as well. Mine gets a lot of live crickets and sometimes gets frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp. He also likes freeze-dried bloodworms.

African butterfly fish are not very pretty in color; brown or olive green with unsymmetrical, odd patterns. They have an upturned mouth and big eyes that make them look angry and evil. The pectoral fins are large and wide, making the fish look like a butterfly from above; they help the fish glide above the water to avoid predators and catch flying insects. Butterflies have large fins and a long tail, so they can't be with very nippy fish.


Pros:
-they look awesome
-they're entertaining to watch as they eat live foods
-they have cool color patterns
-they're freaking awesome with their poison-filled tentacles!


Cons:
-they aren't the prettiest colors
-they can't stand other top-dwellers
-they may eat smaller fish
-they need to have a cover for the aquarium

(12/18/2010 EDIT:  I always wondered why my tiger barbs didn't nip at Maxwell's fins. A few people at the Aquarium Store today told me that Butterflies were poisonous! The small tentacle things off their ventral fins are venomous like a lionfish. It'll kill other fish, but feels like a bee sting to humans; if you're allergic to it, you can have very bad reactions.)

So I finally got around

to a water change for the 55 gallon tank. It took 5 hours, and it was nastyyy. I changed out about 25 gallons, so it was a pretty big change. And of course I forgot that my knight gobies are brackish (bad ideaaa) and I filled the tank back up before adding more salt. So I came home from school and they were both dead. It was a great ending to a fantastic day.

What can I say?

I'm a slacker. Every few days or so, I tell myself I'm going to update my blog, but then I never get around to it. Or I just don't feel like it.

A few days after my last post, I got some Crypts for the 20. They all melted and rotted within a week. But the Amazon sword in the 55 has already grown a new plant on a runner, and is sending out another now, so I'll just put those in the 20 sometime. My Argentine swords are starting to die too, but I gave up on them a couple weeks ago.

Both filters decided to stop working in the 20 about 2 weeks ago, and the fish have been really stressed out since then. I'm doing water changes this weekend, and hopefully I can fix the filters. If not, I'm going to get a Marineland Duetto mini, mostly because Marineland is awesome. Or maybe I'll even move the rams, sell the tetras, and ditch the 20. I don't know.

The orange angelfish has been regularly laying eggs every three weeks, and then eating them. It's odd, but whatever.

I went to the Aquarium Store today and got a big snail for the 55. It was labelled as a Tiger Nerite, but I'm not entirely sure about that. He might already be dead. They had some cherry shrimp, which I would love to get, but they'd probably die too.

Anyway, that's it for now. Enjoy these amazing pictures.