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Could it be a stillborn baby? Swordtails are livebearers, i.e. the give birth to (usually) live young.

The only fool-proof method I know of getting rid of snails (and the one that worked for me) was to reduce the amount I feed my fish. In fact dont feed them at all some days, and then when you do, just a small pinch. The snails died off very quickly after I tried this tactic.

Is it safe to use sand / gravel and maybe wood, collected from freshwater rivers in the wild, in my tropical freshwater setup? Anything I should look out for / avoid?

Well done for keeping them alive. What did placing the sponge in the tank do? In your sig it says you have an internal filter, so surely the sponge was already in the tank, in the filter?

Its my fault - I didnt realise my location wasnt displayed in my details to the left of each post. Ah well. I was hoping there would be a particular trade / process that calls for black gravel, and therefore it would be avaialble for cheap at local hardware stores / etc. Its possible there is...

That looks good playboy. I'm in Australia though - I've searched for something similar here, but no luck. My local lfs sells 1kg of this stuff for about $15. :angry: Fine black gravel is what I'm looking for, otherwise black sand...

My lfs sells tiny amounts of sand for very high prices. Does anyone know a method of obtaining black gravel / sand on the cheap?

Looks interesting - a bit too barren & monochrome for my liking though. I wonder if plants could be effectivley used here?

I use a big 9L watering can, with a head on it so the water comes out like a shower instead of one big stream. As close to natural rain as possible I guess! Far from stressing the fish they get very inquisative, and swim over to see what all the bubbles are about.

Thanks. One question I left out is - how long should I wait between adding the seachem prime and putting the water in the tank? I.e. how long does it take to remove the chlorine? It only takes a couple of minutes for the water to get up to temperature, so I normally add the water to the tank...

Currently when I do a water change, the process I use to treat tap water before I use it to refill my tank is: Pour cold tap water into 9L watering can Add tiny amount of Seachem prime to remove chlorine Rest watering can in a bath of hot water for a few minutes to match the temp with my...

Dont quote me but I think only the dominant male develops a sail fin. I think maybe if they die, the next dominant male will develop a sail fin. Well I hope so, I just lost mine, but there are loads of much smaller ones, no doubt vying to become dominant.

Yes thats a good idea! They look like this: It sits on a spike inside the filter. Cutting them in half or even thirds would work well I think. How long does a peice of media take to become full of bacteria? Or would I have to monitor water quality, until it is back to the same as before...

I'm replacing the big block of foam in my Ehiem internal filter - its throughput slows down to almost nothing almost every week, and I saw a packet of replacement foam blocks which says in this situation they need replacing. So what is the best method for this? The current foam obviously holds...

I've read its Mollys only, not Platys, that require salt. Either way, I have the two types in my tank and I've never put salt in, and they seem to be fine.

No I have very coarse gravel - so nothing except bits of dead plant, poo & food can be clogging it up. But it doesnt seem clogged when I examine it. Saying that, if I take it apart & give the sponge a good squeeze it normally fixes it. No it makes little to no sound. Not even a whirring that...

I got a filter with my 2nd hand setup. Its a 160 Litre tank (3ft), and the filter is an Eheim - one of the old box-shaped ones, not the new sphere ones. It seemed fine when first plugged in about two months ago - strong flow and plenty of air bubbles coming from it. Since then a few times...

I've just had to move another swordtail / platy to the quarantine tank - his scales between his mouth & eyes look very loose (peeling off?), and have turned purple. Other small fish have been trying to nibble at them. He was starting to look miserable in one corner of the main tank. I wonder...

Tetra has now died :( Bent swordtail / platy is still looking very bent & sad, other one with small fin seems ok, not sure if he should be in the quarantine tank now... I'll do the water changes, but the gravel should be clean (cleaned very thoroughly 3 weeks ago). When I got the setup the...

Update: blood fin tetra has been lying on his side on the bottom for a while now, still breathing but doesnt look good at all. I've removed him from the quarantine tank & put him in a small plastic tub - dont think he's going to last. :( Looks like his skin is flaking off all along the top &...

Tank size: 42 US Gallons / 160 Litres pH: 6.8 ammonia: 0 nitrite: 0 nitrate: 20 kH:? gH:? tank temp:26 Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): I have a blood fin tetra who came with my 2nd hand tank. Seemed fine for first 2 weeks, now in the...

I noticed last night that it is just one that is being picked on - slightly fat - possibly pregnant? I also noticed both of the other black swords picking on this one - same behavior, almost like dogs sniffing other dogs bums. I'm only worried because it is mainly the one fish getting picked...

I was thinking about having gravel only around the rocks /plants in my setup, and everywhere else sand. Minimal to no gravel under the sand - I agree, no point in that.

Hi, I have recently acquired a tank full of about 12 or so (what look like) female swordtails. At least none of them have developed swords. They range in size from 1cm to the main girl, who is 3-4 inches. When I feed them, they start darting all over the place, grabbing food, obviously quite...

Thanks, I agree with you on the tetra, but not so much on the golden barb. If I do a google image search for golden barb, all the photos show a much sleeker, streamlined fish than mine. I'm not sure if this is a surefire way of identifying, I know some fish species can vary greatly in colour...

I just bought a 2nd hand tank mentioned in another post, with it I got various fish, 2 of which I cannot ID. Can anyone help me with names for these types of fish? First one was apparently a feeder fish, which never got eaten, and grew up in the tank. He is very twitchy, and quite shy, bit of...

Amongst the various fish that came with my new (2nd hand) tank, are 2 Kuhli Loaches. These look great, but I never see them. How can I coax them out? I've already read about adding more - I'll probably snap up 3 or 4 more when I can. Is there anything more I can provide to get them out more...

Its 3ft x 18in (height) x 15in (depth). Yeah, I didnt think I'd be able to keep him forever :( Thing is I had to take everything that was in the tank, so had no choice about him. Ah well. I want a planted tank one day anyway. How big should I let him get before I think about having him...

Thanks everyone for the fast replies! Great news, but of course I'll keep monitoring daily, for a couple of weeks. Jen - I believe it is a common plec, but I could be wrong. He's really nice, looks like he has a proper sparkle in his eye, and spots like a jaguar or something. He's about 5...

Hi my name is Simon & I'm new to keeping tropical fish, and new here too :) I've got loads of questions, but my first & most mportant one is - is my tank already cycled? I just got a 2nd hand 40 gallon tank + fish & equipment from a freind of a friend. It all happened very fast, I didnt have...