most of my plants double in size every month. i'm looking into getting some java moss. if i get just a small amount will it rapidly grow, or is it slow growing and i'll be better getting a larger amount to start with?
also, do you just let it float for the fry, or do you need to attach it to something?
I started out with a little bit wrapped around a 2 inch plastic terra cotta pot wannabe about a year ago, removed about half a tank full twice in that year and its back almost full. No Fertilizers except fish waste and low lights. i love the stuff fot tanks with fry or gonna have fry.
Carol
excellent! sounds fast growing then ! i ordered some last night from ebay for £4.25 incl p&p (not alot, so if its rubbish i havent really lost out!). it just said a "good portion will be sent", so who knows how much that is! gonna put some in for the galaxies, then when thats grown a bit, but some with the guppies. more concerned about protecting any galaxy babies than guppies! also got rainbow fish with the galaxies, so maybe they'll have babies too!
thanks for your help carol!
tan
Tan you will have to weight it down with something or attatch it to something or ot will go everywhere. My suggestion is a small terra cotta pot. Wrap it around the pot ans secure it with a rubber band or a piece of sewing thread. It won't look the best in aquascaping but give it a month and it will look much better.
Now a question (whats new huh?) After the galaxies lay their eggs are you going to remove them? and won't the rainbows eat the eggs?
Carol
well, i do have a plan...whether it works or not is another matter!
my plan is.....on sunday hopefully my 45 gal will be fixed. using gravel from my tanks and a filter it should cycle quite quickly. once thats up and running the galaxies will have their own tank (the 15gal). the fish that are in the 15 gal at the mo will go in the 45 along with the bn's from the 28. with me so far? the bns i think need moving as that tank is slightly overstocked once the bns grow up, and i'm hoping to breed them too. i think i can see bristles on one of them (tiny white bumps on his nose?) time will tell. the other baby bn is still smooth nosed. the baby bn's are 4.5cm now. the big bn is smooth nosed. as she's 7 cm now i think we can safely call her a mrs bn! she's fine where she is, so she can stay single! anyway, get me on the subject of bn's and i get carried away! so........15 gal = galaxies and the loach as cleaner
...........top 28 gal = same - fully stocked
...........bottom 28 gal = rainbows, scissortails, leaving plenty of space for any grown up fry
................45 gal = 2 bn's, penguins, neon and cardinals leaving plenty of space for any grown up fry
the java moss will go with the galaxies in the 28 until i can re-arrange tanks. IF the rainbows or galaxies have any fry they'll at least have half a chance! then as the java moss grows i'll split some into the guppy tank. then eventually each tank will have some. but the galaxies get it first as they are the ones i am keenest to breed. the other fish can wait!!!
hows this sound for a plan? does it make any sense? trying not to move fish more than necessary, but i really want to keep the galaxies on their own as it seems they dont tend to eat their young, but i'm sure my other hungry fish would! also i will continue to breed galaxies for as long as i can as they should be easiest to give away/sell. the other fish i will only breed short term as dont to be over-run with fish!! once that happens i'll separate girls and boys! i dont to go buying any more tanks, so just trying to re-arrange what i have already. am i just rambling again?!!
will have a hunt for a terracotta pot or something similar. would a cobble do with cotton to tie it round? i have cobbles already. save trecking a poorly toddler to the garden centre :P! dont think i have any terracotta pots? i have a tiny one in the 15gal the loach perches on that an aquarium plant came in. maybe that'll do? the loach can live without it!!
tan
Tan, I know you are very concerned about trying to breed your galaxies. It seems like until you see if it will work you should take all other fish out. Just a suggestion, but you can vacuum the tank until you note they have laid eggs, you will want to have very good water circulation, and filtration, (covered with netting to keep eggs and fry from being filtered out). You also want to do lots of water changes to keep nitrates down to next to 0. I think you will have a good chance to pull this off, then what will you do? You'll be the center of the galaxies!
mmmm, that loach always causes a headache :! maybe he could go in the 45 gal with the tetras and leave the bns where they are? what do you think? it'd be fully stocked, but shouldnt be overstocked? (2 bn's = 10inches, 3 dwarf rainbows=6 inches, 6 scissortails=12 inches and the 2 shrimps hardly count?) it seems borderline to me. theres plenty of plants to help with any nitrates and i get consistant readings at the mo of 0 for ammonia and nitrite and 5-10 for nitrate and just hold off the breeding of those for now.
i really dont know if loach would eat the eggs. do most sucking loaches do that? he doesnt eat algae thats for sure he's that fussy :!!!
also, while i was doing my water changes this morning and testing my tanks, that 15 gal has come up as pH6.4 again. the other tanks and the tap are all 7.4. why is this? i thought the shell in there could cause it, but surely that would raise the pH, not lower it? 6.4 is ideal for my tetras, but galaxies prefer 7.4. so that kinda complicates things slightly! any ideas? whats causing the pH shift? will the pH affect breeding? i know fish will adapt to most pH's, but for breeding, do they need to be more exact? do you think its the rock the anubia lives on? its like a volcanic lava rock. only other things in that tank are gravel, plants, heater and filter!!!
ANY ideas? talk about thrown in the deep end!! a few weeks ago i was just contemplating breeding bns and guppies where it wouldnt matter so much if i failed, but these galaxies...... :P
tan
there's another idea, dont know why i didnt think of this before :...........leave the 15 gal as it is...... keep the galaxies where they are and just put the other fish that are in there (scissors, rainbows, bns and shrimps in the 45 gal. that way i dont have to acclimate the galaxies and risk stressing them, they seem happy enough in there, they school together so they can find each other to do "what they have to do", the pH is 7.2-7.4 in there, plus the extra space may give the fry a better chance of not getting eaten. do you think the bn's need moving out of there too or shall i leave them where they are as resident cleaners? do bns tend to bother fish eggs? makes no dif to me whether they are in 45 gal or the 28 really!! if i move the bns out shall i get otos to look after the galaxies or will they eat eggs/fry?
so many decisions!!!!!!!!! what i need is about 20 tanks and a new house!!!!!!
tan
I think you have a good idea with the last set up. I would also thing otoes would be less likely to cause problems with eggs than bristlenose, although I haven't personally had bristlenose, all the plecos I have had enjoy their "meat treats" so much I can't imagine they would stop at eating bloodworms, I'm sure they would also help themselves to eggs!
yeah, i dont know why i didnt think of that before!!! i just thought 4 fish need to be on their own.....put them in the smallest tank and the setups that have bred galaxies were 10 gals, so i was just trying to simulate those and common sense left me!!! only to realise thats not as simple as leave them where they are!! i'll leave the galaxies without a cleaning crew i think and see how it does. its just so hard feeding a few fish without overdoing it!!! i struggle to feed the 15gal without overdoing it and thats fully stocked! they get about 5 flakes and there's still a couple left floating!! i really dont know what those fish survive on!! but i guess the shrimp will deal with the leftovers! anyway, i digress!!
got message from mr.java moss man, and cos of the bank holiday he;s posting it on tuesday to avoid it being sat in post office for 4 days which is sensible, but you know how impatient i am!!!!
tan
So does Java Moss Naturally ball up like in Butterfly's pic? I just put some on driftwood in my 55 gal, and I'd rather have it look like fuzzy driftwood than a big ball. Will I have to "Mow" it from time to time?
The reason mine looks like a ball is because theres a small terracotta pot inside and i just let it go instead of keeping it in control I liked it in that tank.
On a piece of driftwood it's great but you will have to keep it trimmed to look how ypu like it
Carol
The reason mine looks like a ball is because theres a small terracotta pot inside and i just let it go instead of keeping it in control I liked it in that tank.
On a piece of driftwood it's great but you will have to keep it trimmed to look how ypu like it
Carol
Hmm butterfly.I bought some java moss the other day from my LFS and i asked the boss how do i mutiply it so he told me cut the top later later on u will see the moss floating and he uses the mesh metal net to scoop up the java moss that is floating on the water and later get some fish net to cover it and tie it with some strings he told me that will prevent it from floating to the surface of the water.Was wondering it that the right way?.I tryed using his way and was wondering how long do i need to wait for me to cut off the fish net covering the java moss?
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It has red grass guppys in it and an oto.
! i ordered some last night from ebay for £4.25 incl p&p (not alot, so if its rubbish i havent really lost out!). it just said a "good portion will be sent", so who knows how much that is! gonna put some in for the galaxies, then when thats grown a bit, but some with the guppies. more concerned about protecting any galaxy babies than guppies! also got rainbow fish with the galaxies, so maybe they'll have babies too!
its like a volcanic lava rock. only other things in that tank are gravel, plants, heater and filter!!! 
