Another Poisoned Novice

[tetrakid]

That is quite a mystery! No way 6 fishes could have gone missing like that.

....... Just to put the thought out here, could house geckos (common lizards) have eaten the fishes? I have heard some rumors from office friends that they have geckos sneaking under the lid and grabbing the unsuspecting fish that comes near to the surface.
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That is highly likely. House lizards are able to get into the tiniest gaps. And we seldom see them during the day since there's not much insects to eat during the day. At night they may be very hungry so they may go all out to get the fish while the fish are half asleep and still.

[thebaldingaquarist]

That is highly likely. House lizards are able to get into the tiniest gaps. And we seldom see them during the day since there's not much insects to eat during the day. At night they may be very hungry so they may go all out to get the fish while the fish are half asleep and still.

Serious???? I always wondered why lizards stay above my tank... I just assume they are parking near the lights for the flying insects......

[QuintKana]

If you take a look at the tank cover pic, the only gaps I have is where the light's clip to the tank is.
The gaps is about 1cmx0.5cm on each side of the clip. Not sure if its possible for a lizard to squeeze through.
There is water condensation on the inside of my tank, so would a lizard still be able to "grip" onto the inner tank walls?
Unless a lizard went skinny dipping into my tank... sounds quite disgusting lei... haha

When I have the time, I will get a fish and will use a webcam to record what happens in the night.

@wongwong - wah you did not set a lizard trap immediately after that? haha

@Eric - "open buffet" for the lizards?? haha

[thebaldingaquarist]

If you take a look at the tank cover pic, the only gaps I have is where the light's clip to the tank is.
The gaps is about 1cmx0.5cm on each side of the clip. Not sure if its possible for a lizard to squeeze through.
There is water condensation on the inside of my tank, so would a lizard still be able to "grip" onto the inner tank walls?
Unless a lizard went skinny dipping into my tank... sounds quite disgusting lei... haha

When I have the time, I will get a fish and will use a webcam to record what happens in the night.

@wongwong - wah you did not set a lizard trap immediately after that? haha

@Eric - "open buffet" for the lizards?? haha

so sad. maybe thats where my endler went. i had 2 endlers. now left 1. ARGH.

on note of the missing fish.. if its not coming out, not in the tank, not eaten, not hunted, then where can it be? maybe get 1 cardinal tetra and see. with the blue streak, its easier to find.

[wongwong]

Haha uncle eric tie string or bells

[thebaldingaquarist]

Haha uncle eric tie string or bells

i high tech one ok.

get those radio active carbon or Fludeoxyglucose based fish feed. feed the fish in a separate tank for 3 days. wash the fish briefly and transfer them to the tank. use a scanner to find out where the fish went.

of course, this will cost more than 1000 tetras..

[wongwong]

Haha i go traditional ways one

go pray and ask deity where the fish go haha

[Y3H]

That's scary! I would probably get all crazy and try to kill the lizard for taking my poor fish!


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[Y3H]

.....

When I have the time, I will get a fish and will use a webcam to record what happens in the night.

.....

Paranormal Activity : Aquarium ?

Later you record those that you aren't suppose to record. Hahahaha!!

[QuintKana]

@Y3H - Same, if a lizard is catching my fishes, I will go kamikaze on it. I'll hunt it down
My colleagues already told me that when I do the recording, please don't tell them if there is any paranormal activity going on.
They say ignorance is bliss. LOLS

[Y3H]

Remember to keep us updated. The mystery case of missing fishes.

[QuintKana]

Hey guys!

Mystery is somewhat solved, haha.

I did try out the webcam recording, but I didnt realise that Windows Movie Maker could only record up to an hour or so. So the recording was useless.

However, what happened is that in my colleagues mini tank, she had 4 FRS in it and 2 tetras. The 2 tetras were quite big at about 1.5cm to 2cm and what happened is that after one weekend, we didnt see the 2 fishes. After carefully searching, we saw the skeleton of the fishes... the shrimps ate the fishes up very cleaning!

So... I guess my fishes were somehow all eaten up by my shrimps...

Back to my tank, I also realise that if I dont throw in more food to last over the weekend (I do drop a piece of food everyday too), I will find missing shrimps that are eaten up by other shrimps.
Is this normal? Just over this weekend, today I see bits and pieces of another shrimp's body. I will always see this on Monday...
My baby shrimps are ok, headcount more or less consistent, I guess its because they are able to hide well.

Should I worry or just leave things be? From 5 adult shrimps, I'm left with 2 after the last few weekends

[Urban Aquaria]

Its natural population control at work... especially for shrimps, if there is no to enough food available, the weak ones will die and the stronger ones will just eat them to survive. Eventually they will reach an equilibrium of food availability vs population and stabilize. The larger adult shrimps need more food and small new tanks usually tend to have insufficient bio-film built up to sustain shrimps. so its a good idea to drop in some extra food to tide them over during the weekends.

[thebaldingaquarist]

Shrimps are scavengers. they eat the dead... and we love them. LOL. that said, they are not hunters, they do not hunt the living.

if you find shrimp dying, it makes it worthwhile to find out why they are dying.

[tureblue82]

recommend mosura gravidas,its a powder food!

how old is the tank,maybe death is caused by nitrite poisoning.

[QuintKana]

Hi all

The tank has been progressing ok recently. No major issues have happened at the moment *touch wood touch wood* haha.
I'll post some pics on how the tank currently is soon

Need to seek advice on the following that I have been thinking about.

1) Changing to a new filter
I'm thinking of changing out the filter as the current one seems to be a bit bulky. So I will either to a new internal filter or to a external filter. Can I just remove the current one and fix in the new one?

2) Getting a chiller (maybe...)
Because I've added CRS into the tank, but they seems to be doing pretty well, even better then the fire reds.
So if I get a chiller, and my filter is internal or a hang-on, how do I set it up? Tank water > Chiller > Out to tank, bypass the filter?
If I change to an external canister filter, then it will be Tank water > Filter > Chiller > Out to tank?

I would need to move the tank from my office to home if I go get the above. Managed to clear out some space in the living room. It just seems a daunting task, moving the tank and getting canisters and chiller...

[Urban Aquaria]

To avoid the tank losing its cycle and going through a new tank cycle again, you can either run the new filter with the old filter concurrently for a few weeks (so that the new filter will have time grow and establish its own beneficial bacteria colony)... or transfer the seasoned bio-media from your old filter to the new filter, then do the swap (but this method may require some extra monitoring for the first week or so to make sure everything is stable).

If you get a chiller and you are using an internal or hang-on filter, then you need to get a submersible powerhead or pump to connect to the chiller to take water from the tank, move water though the chiller unit and then return the chilled water back to the tank.

If you use a canister filter then its easier and much neater (less equipment and hoses in the tank), just connect the chiller inline at the outflow hose and it'll chill the water as it exits the filter.

[QuintKana]

Thank you UA.

I decided to get a external filter and chiller in the end. Looks to be much less hassle.
Will be doing a slight re-vamp, going to take out the weeping moss and tie my mini fissidens trimmings onto the branches instead. The mini fissidens looks very green and I like it much more then the weeping moss.

Manage to get another colleague to start a 2-ft tank for aquascaping spreading the poison around

[QuintKana]

Lols, just when I am in the midst of preparing to shift the tank home next week, this is what I found this morning.

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Got to be careful when I capture the shrimps out for the move >.<

[Subdave]

Luck you

Lols, just when I am in the midst of preparing to shift the tank home next week, this is what I found this morning.

20.jpeg

Got to be careful when I capture the shrimps out for the move >.<