SIP, my big momma shrimp, mother of colonies. Establishing first colony is hard!

[Wills]

Yep, an airpad. Poor buggers need it. I know cichlids need to be overcrowded, but in a 30L?? The photo shows the kid which says it's an Aqua One 350, which turns out to 30 L/ 7-8 US gallons.

Sorry to spread the sadness, my mind just boggled a bit. @Wills , do you know what kind of fish these are?

No afraid not, know next to nothing about africans. A lot of cheap africans (as I assume these would be) are often highly hybridised. You do see shocking things all the time, I once saw in person a fancy goldfish in a Fluval Edge, the small one, and it had grown too big to get out through the hole in the top!

Wills

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

No afraid not, know next to nothing about africans. A lot of cheap africans (as I assume these would be) are often highly hybridised. You do see shocking things all the time, I once saw in person a fancy goldfish in a Fluval Edge, the small one, and it had grown too big to get out through the hole in the top!

Wills

Ah no worries, just had seen you talk about cichlids and thought you might know I know so little about cichlids, I'm not even 100% sure it is a cichlid, lol. Just looked like that sorta fish.

Omg, what happened to that poor goldfish? How did they/you get it out?

The goldfish in this ad wouldn't be able to cope in a garden pond with shubunkins and normal goldfish, would it? I imagine a fancy goldfish wouldn't survive the winter.

If you go to their 3rd photo, you can see the poor guy

Pets - Gumtree

Everything about pets on Gumtree. Dogs, cats, birds and furries: buy a pet, find your lost friend or search for used pet equipments and services.

www.gumtree.com

 

[mbsqw1d]

Ah no worries, just had seen you talk about cichlids and thought you might know I know so little about cichlids, I'm not even 100% sure it is a cichlid, lol. Just looked like that sorta fish.

Omg, what happened to that poor goldfish? How did they/you get it out?

The goldfish in this ad wouldn't be able to cope in a garden pond with shubunkins and normal goldfish, would it? I imagine a fancy goldfish wouldn't survive the winter.

If you go to their 3rd photo, you can see the poor guy

Pets - Gumtree

Everything about pets on Gumtree. Dogs, cats, birds and furries: buy a pet, find your lost friend or search for used pet equipments and services.

www.gumtree.com

Thats a strange ad.. you never actually see the goldfish in there.. and the tank is stripped down.. so presume they've just got a spare goldfish they'll throw in to help sell it?

 

[Retired Viking]

So many people buy fish without researching, it is sad. When my kids were off at college they were always rescuing fish and bringing the fish home. The 8 African Cichlids I had were young adults that were born in a 10 gallon tank. The student had them in his dorm room. He started out with 3 adults and ended up with a tank full.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Thats a strange ad.. you never actually see the goldfish in there.. and the tank is stripped down.. so presume they've just got a spare goldfish they'll throw in to help sell it?

Hmm, good point! That's incredibly bizarre, because the ad does say "with goldfish, just add water" blah blah blah. I can hope they have a huge tank that he's in right now, but since they're advertising this tank as his home, he's probably crammed in a ten gallon with a dozen others.

I would deeply resent paying £27 to 'rescue' a goldfish that is being sold for profit. But since I doubt it could live in a pond and I don't have room or inclination to have goldfish, the point is moot anyway. Hopefully the set up won't sell. Or if it does, new owner does some googling and discovers how wildly unsuitable it is.

 

[Wills]

I’m good with American cichlids just not Africans I was thinking the other day I really need to get my head around them as my water is perfect for them just never got into it.

The goldfish was at an acquaintances house not sure what happened to it in the end. The one in the link is a regular fancy rather than a really ornate one so could go in a pond but you would probably need to target feed.

Just remember though there are a lot of mistreated fish out there and you can’t rescue them all unfortunately. Rather than rescue individual fish look after your own to the bear of your ability and share it online for others to learn from - that way you can help maybe a dozen or so fish keepers with very tip you share.

Wills

 

[mbsqw1d]

he's probably crammed in a ten gallon with a dozen others.

Or he's in one of the blue food bags in the last pic

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I’m good with American cichlids just not Africans I was thinking the other day I really need to get my head around them as my water is perfect for them just never got into it.

The goldfish was at an acquaintances house not sure what happened to it in the end. The one in the link is a regular fancy rather than a really ornate one so could go in a pond but you would probably need to target feed.

Just remember though there are a lot of mistreated fish out there and you can’t rescue them all unfortunately. Rather than rescue individual fish look after your own to the bear of your ability and share it online for others to learn from - that way you can help maybe a dozen or so fish keepers with very tip you share.

Wills

Thank you, you're very right, can't rescue them all. There will be more badly housed fish posted every week. I don't buy fish or fish stuff from the big chain stores on principle either, would much rather support my LFS or other hobbyists.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Waiting on new substrate to arrive so I can set that up and move plants in there before catching up and moving all the shrimp... dreading that. Sand should arrive Monday or Tuesday, hopefully, but no guarantees what with delivery delays.

Just saw a super berried female, she was carrying so many eggs it was crazy. I'm just hoping she hangs onto them and doesn't drop a load of tiny invisible shrimplets right before I empty the tank. It's a race against time! There are already tiny ones, but they're at least getting some colour so are easier to spot. If she drops those before being moved (and with my luck, she will) catching/acclimating/moving is going to take hours...

Blue shrimplets I got on Thursday seem good, saw 3/4 of them earlier, the tiny baby must be hiding.

 

[Retired Viking]

Please post a picture when you are all done

 

[mbsqw1d]

Waiting on new substrate to arrive so I can set that up and move plants in there before catching up and moving all the shrimp... dreading that. Sand should arrive Monday or Tuesday, hopefully, but no guarantees what with delivery delays.

Just saw a super berried female, she was carrying so many eggs it was crazy. I'm just hoping she hangs onto them and doesn't drop a load of tiny invisible shrimplets right before I empty the tank. It's a race against time! There are already tiny ones, but they're at least getting some colour so are easier to spot. If she drops those before being moved (and with my luck, she will) catching/acclimating/moving is going to take hours...

Blue shrimplets I got on Thursday seem good, saw 3/4 of them earlier, the tiny baby must be hiding.

is there any rush?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

is there any rush?

Sorta. Mainly I need to move the tank the shrimp and otos are in so I can set up the other tank that will be shrimp/guppies, then take down the one they're currently in, clean in, and set it up as softer water for the otos, and room is a bit in chaos.

Or do you mean to catch/acclimate/move them? No, not really! It'll take as long as it takes I just have to be so careful when sifting through any removed water when there are teeny shrimplets since they're so hard to spot. I'd hate to accidentally throw one out.

 

[mbsqw1d]

Sorta. Mainly I need to move the tank the shrimp and otos are in so I can set up the other tank that will be shrimp/guppies, then take down the one they're currently in, clean in, and set it up as softer water for the otos, and room is a bit in chaos.

Or do you mean to catch/acclimate/move them? No, not really! It'll take as long as it takes I just have to be so careful when sifting through any removed water when there are teeny shrimplets since they're so hard to spot. I'd hate to accidentally throw one out.

yeh more so as you've mentioned you have a berried shrimp. i'm still clueless about shrimp so wouldnt know how long it takes for them to .. hatch(?), and then how long before one would be berried again.. so, I guess you're best placed to choose the ideal window of opportunity

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

yeh more so as you've mentioned you have a berried shrimp. i'm still clueless about shrimp so wouldnt know how long it takes for them to .. hatch(?), and then how long before one would be berried again.. so, I guess you're best placed to choose the ideal window of opportunity

I'm still learning how long they take too I reckon if I wait for her to drop these and for them to get big enough to colour up and be a bit more visible, another female will drop a batch in the meantime. Sods law! It just means being really careful with saving buckets of water and sifting though them carefully to check for shrimplets. Once most of the gravel is (carefully, slowly) removed, I might be able to move the tank with only half an inch of water or something and keep looking for babies. It'll be fine either way, will just be a process. And I'm still super happy to see berried females and tiny shrimplets.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Yay! Got a delivery notice that substrate will arrive tomorrow!
However, I can't spot that super berried female anymore... so there are likely dozens of tiny transparent shrimplets that will need to be caught and moved and not accidentally thrown out with the water. Wish me luck!