The other thing that comes to mind is perhaps a swim bladder defect?

Mine do this when stressed, particularly if the lighting levels change suddenly or if the water gets too acidic.

Jen

The oven thing would probably work as well, and you'd have more control over the drying, but you'd have to be careful about splitting and perhaps fire.

Ah, well, I face one of those two risks every time I cook. If anything amusing happens, I promise to post pictures.

Jen

Given that almost nothing in FL is ever really dried out, I may try heating it in the oven on the lowest setting to dry it out, if it turns out I have pieces that might work for my fish...It works for garden soil...

Jen

I have an insane amount of bamboo growing in my yard. Is boiling it all I need to do to make it aquarium safe?

Jen

BN will likely get replaced by a farlowella in the 20 long. He/she is just hanging out for now.

Yes, the 20 long is 30" wide, 12" deep.

Jen

My reticulatus are still doing well - I have six (I lost two shortly after bringing them home :( ) and am hoping that my LFS will bring in more in the next order. I'm so taken by them that I'm setting up a 20 gallon long just for them. :) They are quite calm, don't generally scatter when I approach ...

Mine showed up at my favorite LFS. Have you had any luck getting yours to eat anything? I fear that mine is not as chubby as he should be.

Jen

On a related note, I'd thought that it would be useful to be able to search for a particular value (or range of values) in a particular field. For example, I might be interested in cories to put in a tank I already have. I could search for Family "Callichthyidae" with a value for pH that includes 7 ...

I'd love to see responses to this, too. I have had my chubby pl*co for a few months now, and I've not seen him feed, except for once, where the lights in an adjacent room (and no others) were on, and I'd just squirted bloodworms in. I rarely see him, really. I'm afraid he's not eating enough and ...

I have two C. aeneus, both females, who agressively go after veggies I put in the tank for the otos, whiptails, and pl*co. There are three groups of cories in this tank and only these two fish seem to go after the veggies (squash and zucchini mainly).

I seem to recall seeing something here that ...

My C. sodalis are all over the Veggie Rounds (they actually have quite a bit of protein) made by Omega One. They also seem to like the "leftovers" from my feeding Aquadine flake foods to the other fish. I use the Spirulina and High-Protein tropical foods from the Aquadine line. They will eat, though ...

Well, my guys continues to do OK, though I've still not been able to get him to eat anything I've offered (various sinking wafers, zucchini, bloodworms). I offered the bloodworms thinking he was protein deficient, since he went after the slime coating on cories with whom he was temporarily housed ...

if its a common pl*co, its always too early, thats because you cant tell. and even if by chance you found the way to tell them apart, how would you use tha information?

Pretty much just for my own amusement. :) Though, I do think it would be cool, in the future, to have a large pond (not ...

I see a large tank in your future, Jen

Yes, he's lucky to have come home with someone committed/able to provide whatever resources he needs to be happy. Makes me think about the number of these that are sold (esp. here in FL) - where do they all wind up? I guess part of the answer explains why ...

Went suply shopping at a big-box pet store and came home with this guy. I was told he's "just a common pl*co".

I've searched around and can't seem to find what exactly matches this guy. He's got a marbled belly, and very striking orange-colored edges to his dorsal, caudal, and pectoral fins. Sorry ...

Well a few things I might add...

- Please be careful with the addition of rainwater. Rainwater has no buffering capacity (that is, it has no chemicals which can help to stabilize pH). If your tap water has low buffering capacity, you could subject your fish to big swings in pH. I know it's usually ...

Thanks. I'm keeping a close eye on all of them, since I had the one that developed the buoyancy trouble (he's doing much better in the hospital tank after 5 days of treatment with Maracyn-Two).

I just won a used acrylic tank on eBay. It was cheap because it has coralline algae that's grown all over it. My guess (I pick it up tomorrow) is that it is also scratched from the previous owner trying to get said algae off of it.

I'm looking for advice on how best to (1) remove the coralline ...

OK, I got some pictures. Apologies in advance - fish are camera-shy...
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b154/jnelson2776/DSC01224.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b154/jnelson2776/DSC01223.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b154/jnelson2776/DSC01222.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com ...

I have a group of B. splendens that will swim upside down at the surface of the water to eat freeze-dried tubifex. They're so enthusiastic about it, they actually chase off tetras and barbs, who are left to get the "scraps"! Apparently, no one told them they were scavengers. :) I have also started ...

These cories have the stylin' quarantine tank. In addition to the usual assortment of plastic plants and a little PVC elbow/tunnel, they have 5 large java ferns.

They all seem quite happy, except for one that appeared to be having some swim bladder trouble, possibly due to a wound on his side, just ...

I picked up a group of C. reticulatus (Network Cory) about a week ago. They are being kept in a QT with the following parameters:

pH 7.1
GH 4 degrees
kH 3 degrees
Ammonia/Nitrite 0
Nitrate <20
Temp 75 F/23 C

Filtration is by biowheel power filter rated at 200 gph (tank is 10 gal - remember, it's a ...

pH shock perhaps? Perhaps a water source change has instigated a problem? (Random guess - I have had this happen - very not fun.)
Best,
Jen

I'd had the same issue with mine. One idea I've seen from others here was that it might be an abrasion from shipping - apparently they will try to get into the corner of the shipping bag (seeking refuge) and damage themselves in the process. Good water quality and care was all that was needed for ...

I acquired a Chubby Pl*co (Parancistrus aurantiacus) about 2 months ago. He was in my outdoor tub pond for a while, but I got tired of never seeing him and moved him into the aquarium, where he's settled right in. He actually seems to dig his own "caves" under the overhangs of he driftwood, and ...

Hello all,

I've noticed recently that a few of my Corydoras sodalis have developed a darkening of the area on top of their heads from their mouth to about their gills. No one seems unhappy, so I'm really more intrigued than anything. Is this a normal maturation color change, some sort of breeding ...

Hi there,

The test kit is about 3 months old and it seems to read very rational values in all the other tanks/pond, so I think it's giving me a good indication - I just think it doesn't read low enough to give a true value.

How I got in the business of raising acid-bath cory fry is a whole ...

Apologies if this is a stupid question...

I've got a tank that is registering a pH potentially lower than the lowest value on the test I'm using (6.0). The tank contains apparently very happy fry. I'd like to keep them happy by keeping the parameters stable, but that's difficult if I don't know ...

Why not skip the chlorine all together?
that way you can keep a load of fish in the pool, and swim with your own fish!

I can't convice the person who pays the other half of the mortgage that that's a good idea.

The pool is really over-filtered, too, so it would be almost perfect...

Jen