[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by pyrodrive

Hi everyone, I'm looking for an asian arowana. Specifically high back golden within a budget of around 15k.

My 1500 liter tank is ready for new occupants after a decade and half of blood bath with dozens of red belly piranhas.

Have Aro prices rock bottomed? I remember buying a banjar red aro for 15k (6-8") many years back.

High back Goldens were almost triple the price then if i remember correctly.

Good luck and please do post pics when you do get one

What else is going inside with him?

Florida Gar? Polypterus? Catfishes?

[pyrodrive]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Have Aro prices rock bottomed? I remember buying a banjar red aro for 15k (6-8") many years back.

High back Goldens were almost triple the price then if i remember correctly.

Good luck and please do post pics when you do get one

What else is going inside with him?

Florida Gar? Polypterus? Catfishes?

Yes. Current prices for RTG can be as low as 8k, high backs from 11-20k, but 24k gold 30+. Not sure about reds prices, since I'm looking into the golds mostly now.
Regarding tankmates, I already have two polypterus endlicheri since 4 months now and recieved two peacock bass two days ago. Also on the way is a trio of featherback knifefishes.
Sure I will post pics once everyone has assembled

[amol4184]

Any tips on keeping white sand white? My tank has white sand as top layer and has slowly turned brown-ish. Filtering all the grime and waste food is difficult because the sand gets sucked so I have to be careful but that also means it doesn't get cleaned properly. What can I do to keep it clean? There are live plants and 2 nerite snails and 1 Betta, the tank size is 5 gallons.

[Maverick Avi]

Originally Posted by amol4184

Any tips on keeping white sand white? My tank has white sand as top layer and has slowly turned brown-ish. Filtering all the grime and waste food is difficult because the sand gets sucked so I have to be careful but that also means it doesn't get cleaned properly. What can I do to keep it clean? There are live plants and 2 nerite snails and 1 Betta, the tank size is 5 gallons.

If its a new tank then you might be going through diatoms phase. In that case you just got to keep up with maintenance routines(specially water changes) and it would subside after 2- 3 weeks.

If tank is older, then there are many reasons for sand turning brown. Substrates with high silicates have a tendency of recurring diatoms which are hard to resolve unless silicates get depleted. You can manage them to some extent by having otocinclus, nerites and shrimps. But its not a sure shot method as you are not resolving the root cause. Unless that substrate with high silicates is removed diatoms will keep coming back.

If you really need an instant fix just cap a thin layer of fresh sand and you are good to go.

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by Maverick Avi

If its a new tank then you might be going through diatoms phase. In that case you just got to keep up with maintenance routines(specially water changes) and it would subside after 2- 3 weeks.

If tank is older, then there are many reasons for sand turning brown. Substrates with high silicates have a tendency of recurring diatoms which are hard to resolve unless silicates get depleted. You can manage them to some extent by having otocinclus, nerites and shrimps. But its not a sure shot method as you are not resolving the root cause. Unless that substrate with high silicates is removed diatoms will keep coming back.

If you really need an instant fix just cap a thin layer of fresh sand and you are good to go.

Thanks. The tank is about 4 months old. Plants are growing at moderate pace. The substrate is Seachem flourite black sand, not sure about the top white sand - it was bought loose from the store. Can't say if those two are culprits. The Nerites seem to clean up some, may be I need a couple more. I had no go with shrimps. My Betta bit and killed them. May be I will try with bigger Amano shrimps that he won't attack.

[Maverick Avi]

Originally Posted by amol4184

The substrate is Seachem flourite black sand, not sure about the top white sand - it was bought loose from the store. Can't say if those two are culprits. The Nerites seem to clean up some, may be I need a couple more. I had no go with shrimps. My Betta bit and killed them. May be I will try with bigger Amano shrimps that he won't attack.

Your loose sand can be the problem. I got mine loose and added it to 3 of my tanks. Problem started to occur in 1st tank roughly after 5 months. Diatoms just wouldn't go away. Then it happened to my second tank too and that's when I guessed that it can be the loose sand I bought. My fears were confirmed when it's started to happen in my 3rd tank a month ago. I rescaped my earlier 2 tanks but not in a mood for the 3rd.

So now sticking to regular water changes along with thorough removal of detritus. Would be adding lots of Hornwort, Guppy grass, Elodea and Hygrophilas as they are fast and easy growing stems. Nothing can tackle an algae or diatom outbreak better than bunch of healthy growing plants.

[Maverick Avi]

Just thought of sharing an update with fellow hobbyists regarding handling of aquariums while getting a paint job done at your house. I didn't do my homework and my poor shrimps paid the price.

My house is getting painted since the last 20 days and my daily routine was to cover my 4 tanks with folded bedsheets during the day when paint jobs were in progress. I used to open the covers and switch on lights during the night as all my tanks are planted. Everything was fine untill yesterday when I woke up and saw 2 of my tanks being cloudy with a white precipitate on the substrate. On close inspection saw all my shrimps dead. Immediately tested my water parameters and everything was fine. Changed 70% of water and still saw cloudiness in the tank with fish being restless. Not having any logical reason for the deaths I just moved all my livestock to a bucket. Similarly my second tank was also cloudy and shrimps were trying to come out of water. Could sense that were not well so transferred them outside of tank as well.

On thinking back as to what might have been causing this issue I realised that polish work on furniture had kicked off the previous day and there were fumes inside the house. At night I did open up the covers and seems like the toxic fumes persisted in the air and settled down on the tank overnight thereby poisioning it. Researched online and came to know that there was a high probability of this being true. Quite a few folks reported tank poisoning due to paint jobs and even while using perfumes and aerosols. As a precautionary measure moved all my livestock out of my tanks and placed them outside.

Really disappointed with myself for not researching enough earlier which not only could have saved the shrimps but lot of effort on my part during this already tedious process of painting.

[muneemmk]

Mods delete the post if not the right place to post this.

I am done with my fair share of fish keeping, I have a lot of aquariums,stones,filters,medicines,test kits,tweezers,planting soil (some german and taiwanese brand substrates) and couple of aquariums with me which I would like to give off , do dm me if anyone wants anything, I'm in Cochin so can only offer pickup of the same from my office , Took it a bit seriously that I went a bit too pro when I think about it now.

[Fillmore]

Originally Posted by audioholic

I’m running a planted setup, my second stint from the last two years. ..

Just bumped into this thread. Amazing setup.
I think a backdrop poster would add to the beauty.

I used to be an avid fishkeeper , but not anymore. Other priorities caught up.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Fillmore

Just bumped into this thread. Amazing setup.
I think a backdrop poster would add to the beauty.

I used to be an avid fishkeeper , but not anymore. Other priorities caught up.

Thank you. Fortunately/unfortunately I am now in the process of setting up a new tank. The background to this is my current fish tank is almost 14 years done with the silicon bond. My aquarist always recommended repasting the glass every ten years. Recently my mom noticed water at the base of the fish tank which I wrongly assumed to be a tank that was giving up. Rushed home to realise there was some water being splashed from the filter outlet which was getting collected outside the tank. But by then I had already made up my mind to change the tank. Hence will be getting a new one shortly. But it’s a real challenge to transfer such a stable tank.

Speaking of backdrop. I am a bit unsure of the same. Is it really a nice idea to go for a flat black background? I dont like the printed backgrounds in any way so if I really go for a background it will be coloured flat.

Please pour in suggestions from the planted tank perspective. The only time I had a black background was when I had my Oscar and that too for a brief period of time before I removed it.

That also means I'm now going to give away a bit of the plants that you can see in the image. Especially the short grass which has exploded in quantity.

[Maverick Avi]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Thank you. Fortunately/unfortunately I am now in the process of setting up a new tank.

Speaking of backdrop. I am a bit unsure of the same. Is it really a nice idea to go for a flat black background? I dont like the printed backgrounds in any way so if I really go for a background it will be coloured flat.

Please pour in suggestions from the planted tank perspective. The only time I had a black background was when I had my Oscar and that too for a brief period of time before I removed it.

Nothing gets me more excited than just the idea of setting up a new tank. Would be waiting for updates on your new setup.

Black background is the way to go for planted setups. It makes the green plants stand out and also avoids unnecessary reflections.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by muneemmk

Mods delete the post if not the right place to post this.

I am done with my fair share of fish keeping, I have a lot of aquariums,stones,filters,medicines,test kits,tweezers,planting soil (some german and taiwanese brand substrates) and couple of aquariums with me which I would like to give off , do dm me if anyone wants anything, I'm in Cochin so can only offer pickup of the same from my office , Took it a bit seriously that I went a bit too pro when I think about it now.

Happens to the most of us :(

I have also dwindled down on my hobby and have downsized a lot. The thing is, we want the best for our fishes and with the sheer amount of stuff available these days, I get tempted to get the best and end up spending quite a lot.

It was ok, but just can't seem to find the time to do maintenance and have stopped for now (again)

Demolished a 10x4x3 lilly pond, emptied my 120Gallon african cichlid tank.

Now have a 70Gallon Tank inside house with Texas, Papa Pleco and Clown Loaches.

Yesterday setup a miniature paludarium for my fighter.

So yeah, my interests are veering towards terrariums and paludariums these days.

Could you share a list of stuff you have? Shall check if my cousin in Kochi is interested.

[beejay]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Yesterday setup a miniature paludarium for my fighter.

Can you please share some details? Would love to see a picture too, thanks.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by beejay

Can you please share some details? Would love to see a picture too, thanks.

It's a work in progress Shall post better pics once it is completed to the image in my mind

And mind you, it's nothing fancy.

Need to buy a few more anubias and add some more ferns. Remove a stone add some more pieces of driftwood here and there.

Simple joys to occupy a Sunday morning.

[CarsAndDrives]

I have a huge problem with small snails in my tank. What is the best way to rid the tank of pest snails. I have seen some drops available online, but not sure about the safety of my fishes. If anyone has any suggestion on the best way to address this? Are there any snail eating fishes I should be looking at?