My fav tip for when I'm away is using pill shorters to put a day's portion of food in for each day. I always fill more days than I plan to be gone in case something happens to delay my return. Then their sitter just needs to open up the corresponding day and dump it in the tank. And the sitters always appreciate the way of feeding them! And I have piece of mind my fishies are being fed to death!
Recently had one of my 5" Saimese Algea-eaters jump out of my tank and I only saw him because he was floppi g around on the floor😂😂😂 I scooped Jim up and plopped him back in. If I didn't see something flopping around from the corner of my eye, he'd have been a goner! Now I keep a permanent lid!
I definitely learned the tip about putting your rocks in before the substrate. I used frugal stratum for my planted tank, but had a section that was covered with river rocks. Within a couple months the rocks had all sunk into the substrate and now plants are growing where my rocks used to be! I guess I could dig them out but I kind of like the jungle look that's going right now, and don't want to stir up all that dirt!
I love the bear print rock. I noticed it in the past in both your videos and Mr. Primetime's videos. We tape a small baggie to the front of each tank, so that our guest fishkeeper doesn't overfeed.
I had a sad incident some time ago. One of my dwarf guramis got himself stuck behind the filter and died. There's another lesson - be careful of cracks and crevices that a fish could get trapped in. Especially if the fish is flighty (as that particular fellow was).
Added a few platys to my 20 long with my betta Sunny. At first it was fine then i noticed Sunny swimming weird. The platys had chewed part of Sunny’s tail. I promptly removed them and put them in another tank. Sunny’s tail is starting to recover but I feel so bad he went through that.
I added 8 Green Neon Tetras to my Betta tank and they are getting along fabulously!!! I love them!! 💚💚💚💚💚I am a firm believer that sharing failures teaches us much more than successes. ❤
My worst experience was Cholla wood in my cory fry tank. As they grew, I found one stuck in the wood. It took me 15 minutes to try and cut the wood hole away from his dorsal fin that was stuck in the hole. I took all of the cholla wood out of my tanks and left it in the shrimp tank now.
My old ten gallon aquarium randomly started leaking......my carpeted floor was drenched and smelly for an entire week. And I had to replace the tank to make room for the fish.
This gives me a reason to use my ohko stone... & the SO really wants a honey gourami or 2 + ember tetras are cool. Maybe throw in a cherry, lemon & pumpkin skittles shrimp mix... 🤔
Do you think that before the substrate added, a piece of Holdfast Epoxy Stick from Instant Ocean would help secure the rock and keep it from falling? Just a thought.
Mine comes from using dirt. The cap needs to be 2in. at least or else you could end up with a big mess. Dirted tanks also need water changes daily to start with because of all the nutrients. If you don't, then algae quickly takes over and you have to reset the tank. 🙂
I grew up with Dojo loaches ❤but they always found a way to jump out of the tank through a hole quarter sized hole near the filter😆. Saved a couple but had a couple casualties too. RIP. Some never turned up.
I got rid of all the filters that didn't have flow control. Some of the small fish don't appreciate lots of flow, and rigging something up to slow flow down hasn't worked well for me.
My catastrophe....beware cholla wood and bettas... my betta swam into the cholla wood and almost died. I was able to save him, but it was a rough ride for him for sure. I love the look of cholla, but they can be a death trap. I suggest blocking all the holes large enough for a fish to swim into, unless your piece is big enough for them to swim all the way through.
My son decided to do fish just before I came back to the hobby.. He didn't enjoy it and decided to rehome his fish to my house. Two of the fish were red tail sharks, and both males. The first month wasn't bad then it was. I had to seperate them into different tanks and the one found his forever home, the other he can't be placed in any of the tanks. He just hated any other fish. I was able to rehome him to our LFS. Not fun times.
I was debating adding a female Betta to a 20 long tank that has one Honey Gourami and about a dozen Golden Minnows, but I think I'll hold off. Thank you!
My tap water is too hard, so I 'dilute' it with RO water. After a year of doing this and always using the same ratio and it testing the same every time - I got a bit lazy and stopped testing. My tap water then changed and got much softer so I was overdiluting it and my tank kH went too low and I lost a couple of fish ...... Lesson learned ...... dont assume your tap water is always the same, and dont stop testing !!!
I've had a betta jump out the smallest opening ever. I also pushed my stocking on a guppy tank and crashed the system before I had the chance to cull down the population. Life was super busy at that point, and I kept putting it off while working massive amounts of overtime. I paid dearly for that mistake.... never again will I allow that to happen 😢
I’ve lost fish and literally can’t find them until I look carefully through the little plants on the bottom and under rocks and oop! There it was. A wee gravestone. Sad but at least I had closure. 😢
When I am going out of town I pre-package each day's worth of food in dated ziplock bags. I double-sidded tape them to their respective tanks. Almost error-proof. 😊
A guppy jumped out of my aquarium and since then every aquarium has been covered. Almost any kind of fish can jump out of the aquarium. When your first fish jumped out of the tank, that should have been a strong enough reason to protect the other fish, but you didn't. People usually put a lid on expensive fish... To me, the life of every fish is equally important.
Coming from the ecosphere hobby, the idea of having serious stocking in a tank without a lid just seems ridiculous and terrifying to me. I have had precisely one tank in my life without a lid. A tiny 2.5 gallon plastic junker tank that I siliconed a riparian island into to fill with houseplants. I'm only just now putting shrimp and aquatic isopods in after running it a whole year, and I'm still nervous they're all gonna climb out and die.
Fish are all individuals. Ive seen people have all sorts of incompatible fish living fine together....Wildest ones are goldfish living peacefully alongside cichlids who should be killing them! Exceptions to all rules with this, but observation is a must.
My fav tip for when I'm away is using pill shorters to put a day's portion of food in for each day. I always fill more days than I plan to be gone in case something happens to delay my return. Then their sitter just needs to open up the corresponding day and dump it in the tank. And the sitters always appreciate the way of feeding them! And I have piece of mind my fishies are being fed to death!
Wow. 🤔 Great idea. Thank you.
Thank you! Tip: check the tank's temperature often in the winter months in case your heater goes out.
Great video, and that tip about the string is an extra good one. Thanks for sharing!! 💚🐟 🌱
Hiya! Happy Wednesday to you! 😊
Forgetting to plug back in a heater after tank maintenance. Luckily I remembered eventually and everyone survived.
Been there too.....😕
Wow so many ideas love it! This was helpful and fun👍🏻
Recently had one of my 5" Saimese Algea-eaters jump out of my tank and I only saw him because he was floppi g around on the floor😂😂😂 I scooped Jim up and plopped him back in. If I didn't see something flopping around from the corner of my eye, he'd have been a goner! Now I keep a permanent lid!
Whew!!! Great save!
I definitely learned the tip about putting your rocks in before the substrate. I used frugal stratum for my planted tank, but had a section that was covered with river rocks. Within a couple months the rocks had all sunk into the substrate and now plants are growing where my rocks used to be! I guess I could dig them out but I kind of like the jungle look that's going right now, and don't want to stir up all that dirt!
Beautiful tanks Joanna great info 👍
I'm also a sucker for those glowlight tetras...
I'm doing a volcano-themed, 75g, nano lava tank & I plan on using those as my dithers.
I love the bear print rock. I noticed it in the past in both your videos and Mr. Primetime's videos. We tape a small baggie to the front of each tank, so that our guest fishkeeper doesn't overfeed.
I do love it as well, funny how a number of my rocks I have a certain attachment to. ☺️. Good idea on the baggies!!
Thanks for sharing these incidents and near misses! I am on my toes now!
I had a sad incident some time ago. One of my dwarf guramis got himself stuck behind the filter and died. There's another lesson - be careful of cracks and crevices that a fish could get trapped in. Especially if the fish is flighty (as that particular fellow was).
Excellent advice! Love your channel. Thank you. 🐟
Added a few platys to my 20 long with my betta Sunny. At first it was fine then i noticed Sunny swimming weird. The platys had chewed part of Sunny’s tail. I promptly removed them and put them in another tank. Sunny’s tail is starting to recover but I feel so bad he went through that.
I added 8 Green Neon Tetras to my Betta tank and they are getting along fabulously!!! I love them!! 💚💚💚💚💚I am a firm believer that sharing failures teaches us much more than successes. ❤
My worst experience was Cholla wood in my cory fry tank. As they grew, I found one stuck in the wood. It took me 15 minutes to try and cut the wood hole away from his dorsal fin that was stuck in the hole. I took all of the cholla wood out of my tanks and left it in the shrimp tank now.
My old ten gallon aquarium randomly started leaking......my carpeted floor was drenched and smelly for an entire week. And I had to replace the tank to make room for the fish.
Joanna ... Instead of string that plecos & others can get hung up in could I use tight rubber bands on things instead? Thanks!
This gives me a reason to use my ohko stone... & the SO really wants a honey gourami or 2 + ember tetras are cool.
Maybe throw in a cherry, lemon & pumpkin skittles shrimp mix... 🤔
Have you ever tried pigmy sunfish for a nano tank? Just wondering.
Do you think that before the substrate added, a piece of Holdfast Epoxy Stick from Instant Ocean would help secure the rock and keep it from falling? Just a thought.
Thank you for the items to avoid. Great advice.
Mine comes from using dirt. The cap needs to be 2in. at least or else you could end up with a big mess. Dirted tanks also need water changes daily to start with because of all the nutrients. If you don't, then algae quickly takes over and you have to reset the tank. 🙂
I grew up with Dojo loaches ❤but they always found a way to jump out of the tank through a hole quarter sized hole near the filter😆. Saved a couple but had a couple casualties too. RIP. Some never turned up.
very beautiful tanks amazing escapes and fishes
Great tips and lessons learned Joanna
A series of unfortunate events 🤣🤣🤣 Great books too.
Wow, difficult video to do. Thanks for sharing your toughest times. Great Public Service ......
💁🏻♀️😊
I got rid of all the filters that didn't have flow control. Some of the small fish don't appreciate lots of flow, and rigging something up to slow flow down hasn't worked well for me.
That 15 gallon looked looked like a 2 gallon at first. Brand?
Thank you, for sharing!! 💚💚💚
My catastrophe....beware cholla wood and bettas... my betta swam into the cholla wood and almost died. I was able to save him, but it was a rough ride for him for sure. I love the look of cholla, but they can be a death trap. I suggest blocking all the holes large enough for a fish to swim into, unless your piece is big enough for them to swim all the way through.
My son decided to do fish just before I came back to the hobby.. He didn't enjoy it and decided to rehome his fish to my house. Two of the fish were red tail sharks, and both males. The first month wasn't bad then it was. I had to seperate them into different tanks and the one found his forever home, the other he can't be placed in any of the tanks. He just hated any other fish. I was able to rehome him to our LFS. Not fun times.
I was debating adding a female Betta to a 20 long tank that has one Honey Gourami and about a dozen Golden Minnows, but I think I'll hold off. Thank you!
My tap water is too hard, so I 'dilute' it with RO water. After a year of doing this and always using the same ratio and it testing the same every time - I got a bit lazy and stopped testing. My tap water then changed and got much softer so I was overdiluting it and my tank kH went too low and I lost a couple of fish ...... Lesson learned ...... dont assume your tap water is always the same, and dont stop testing !!!
I've had a betta jump out the smallest opening ever.
I also pushed my stocking on a guppy tank and crashed the system before I had the chance to cull down the population. Life was super busy at that point, and I kept putting it off while working massive amounts of overtime. I paid dearly for that mistake.... never again will I allow that to happen 😢
The gourami and the betta acted like "The Odd Couple" or "Grumpy Old Men" lol
lol YES!!!
I’ve lost fish and literally can’t find them until I look carefully through the little plants on the bottom and under rocks and oop! There it was. A wee gravestone. Sad but at least I had closure. 😢
🤭😭awww - so nice to hear they took care of their friend in there though. 😌
When I am going out of town I pre-package each day's worth of food in dated ziplock bags. I double-sidded tape them to their respective tanks. Almost error-proof. 😊
Can 🫛 puffers live with panda corries?
For sure! Only problem would be the cuteness factor would be at dangerous levels!
A guppy jumped out of my aquarium and since then every aquarium has been covered. Almost any kind of fish can jump out of the aquarium. When your first fish jumped out of the tank, that should have been a strong enough reason to protect the other fish, but you didn't. People usually put a lid on expensive fish... To me, the life of every fish is equally important.
Careful about your lighting
Great video....new sub
Thanks and welcome! 😊
Would keeping a solid cover of floating plants keep your fish from jumping
Keep a spare heater/ stat and a spare airpump / internal filter just in case something busts when the stores aren't open.
*Just saying: I like your new hair color!*
Shes so cool
Coming from the ecosphere hobby, the idea of having serious stocking in a tank without a lid just seems ridiculous and terrifying to me. I have had precisely one tank in my life without a lid. A tiny 2.5 gallon plastic junker tank that I siliconed a riparian island into to fill with houseplants. I'm only just now putting shrimp and aquatic isopods in after running it a whole year, and I'm still nervous they're all gonna climb out and die.
👍👍👍
I also think my betta died because of the strong flow. Very sad.
💚💚💙💙
Fish are all individuals. Ive seen people have all sorts of incompatible fish living fine together....Wildest ones are goldfish living peacefully alongside cichlids who should be killing them! Exceptions to all rules with this, but observation is a must.