Carinotetraodon No Longer In Cuba

[AdAndrews]

so pics as promised:

so, these are the pics, bout a week old with hemathius micranthemoides(now gone)

just to fill you all in, i had a bit of a problem with my nitrite levels, after purchasing the dp on tursday night, and moving the mature filter as planned, it was reading 1 on the scale so i was told to keep doing water changes, but it wasnt helping, still reading at 1, thenon friday when i got back from school, it was reading 1, and again i did plenty of water changes to no avail...then today i did 50%, and filled, 60% and filled, then decided to move mr dp to a seperate bucket, then i did 70% and filled, then 80% and filled, all the time trying to catch all of the rotting bits of plants, which were what i suspect to have caused this issue, so 50 water changes later, i have this:

i have some video's so will try and post them... but they are taking ages to upload onto photobucket
does anyone know if it is a boy or girl, i suspect boy due to the yellow colouration on its belly

feel free to comment

 

[AdAndrews]

stupid videos are taking forever.... i get the feeling i am talking to myself

anyone?

 

[aaronnorth]

how big do DP's grow?

 

[BigTom]

stupid videos are taking forever.... i get the feeling i am talking to myself

anyone?

Haha I'm here! DP looks great, very similar to mine when I first got them. Tank should look great once its grown. You planning any other livestock at all?

how big do DP's grow?

They top out around an inch, females a little larger maybe. Certainly fatter anyway!

 

[AdAndrews]

ok thanks, i have a slight issue with algae starting to grow, shall i try and put my oto in?? will it get killed, its about 1 inch maybe a bit bigger..... and then i planned on some shrimp, so will be getting them soon, i have a choice of:

Cherry shrimps 1/2" £2.99
Tiger shrimps 3/4" £3.99
Manderin shrimps 1/2" £3.99
Longnose shrimps 2" £7.99
Wood Shrimps 1-2" £5.99
Platinum Red Bee Shrimp 0.5" £8.99
Crystal Red Shrimp

these are the ones my lfs does, i would prefer some that DONT breed, it will be too much of a mess

 

[BigTom]

Aye, my DPs lost interest in the otos I added pretty quickly, sadly the little fellas did that thing that otos like to do and died off 1 by 1 over the first month. I certainly wouldn't add an oto until you're sure your water is spot on. Ive got cherry shrimp and tigers in with mine, some of the very small ones did get picked off, the full size ones are largely ignored.

 

[AdAndrews]

Aye, my DPs lost interest in the otos I added pretty quickly, sadly the little fellas did that thing that otos like to do and died off 1 by 1 over the first month. I certainly wouldn't add an oto until you're sure your water is spot on. Ive got cherry shrimp and tigers in with mine, some of the very small ones did get picked off, the full size ones are largely ignored.

ok, i think i will go for tigers, do they eat the excess meat aswell as algae?- the plan was ghost shrimp, but i cant seem to get hold of any

 

[AdAndrews]

finally, they have been uploaded :





i think you will get a better idea of the puffer like this, even the snail is pearling in the second sorry about the flashing....

WARNING FLASHING IMAGES!!!! MAY CONTAIN NUTS

 

[BigTom]

Nice! That reminds me, must set up a snail breeding tank

 

[iSnail]

Awwwww....... the little fella is so cute It does look like a male but wrinkles will confirm that. Be careful if you are still getting nitrite readings. DPs are very sensitive. Do 15-20% wc twice daily if necessary.

The shrimps will eat anything really, algae, fish food, bloodworms, etc..... The shrimp prices seem a bit steep where you are

Enjoy the little puff

 

[AdAndrews]

thanks isnail, i have checked and there is wrinkles behind the eyes plus a bit of bad news, the nitrite reading has gone up again, i took about 8 hours to get from 0 to 0.25 yesterday and then when tested this morning its gone back up to 1, but why isnt the filter dealing with this??

 

[tom_os]

if you get cherry shrimp, the do will eat all the babies and provide a tasty snack

 

[iSnail]

thanks isnail, i have checked and there is wrinkles behind the eyes plus a bit of bad news, the nitrite reading has gone up again, i took about 8 hours to get from 0 to 0.25 yesterday and then when tested this morning its gone back up to 1, but why isnt the filter dealing with this??

Ok.. did you have mature filter media in your filter or did you do a fishless cycle? If not, then it is still cycling.

Suggestions:

- get a bit of mature filter media from another tank and put into your DP tank's filter.
- keep up with the daily water changes to minimize the damage done to your DP.
- stick some fast growing plants like elodea, hygro, hornwort in there to take up some of the waste.

Hope things improve soon

Edit: Just realised you'd already posted in the Emergency forum and receiving great advice

 

[AdAndrews]

a quick update to tell you that the water is still the same atm, about 0.50 nitrite, the dp seems fine, but i will be doing 2 more wc tonight and then just hope it will be better soon

does anyone know if i could risk putting my otto in with the dp, algae is starting to take over (obviously not until the water quality is way better)

thanks

 

[AdAndrews]

the water still continues to match its daily routine, get up and test: 0.25 nitrite, then get back from school, test : 0.50-1.0 nitrite, do 2x50's wc's and then test 1.5hrs later, 0.25, then the cycle begins again

little puff is doing well though, getting used to the tank, been in the caves a few times, my plants are starting to grow abit more, i pulled up of on the p.helferi shoots to discover loads of roots!! i didnt realise it was growing that much, hopefully in another 5 weeks i will have a fully grown carpet... might try and post some new pics later