Bacteria colony...worked?

O

OrangeCones

Elite Fish
#41
Feb 27, 2009
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#41
They don't readily accept commercially prepared foods, if that is what you mean by 'hard to care for.' I feed mostly live foods to all of my fish, so do not find them any harder to care for than other fish. If you want to feed flake foods mostly, these two fish will not survive.

They both require a steady pH, clean water, and the right sized live foods. The B. badis 2nd generation captive bred are eating freeze dried foods now, so I'm hopeful they can be trained on things like flake foods someday. But there is nothing like live foods to bring a fish into top condition.

The I. crocodilus eat only infusoria, greenwater, and vinegar eels. They go nutzo for vinegar eels, and since they are an aquatic critter, they don't drown and pollute the water if not eaten right away.
 

O

OrangeCones

Elite Fish
#43
Feb 27, 2009
4,395
0
36
#43
I bought my starter cultures from aquabid (microworms, banana worms, wingless fruitflies, vinegar eel) for about $12 plus $5 shipping. That was years ago. Easy to keep a culture going.

My local Petco and Petsmart sells fruitflies in a vial (but a bit pricey). The local mom/pop fish store sells microworms and the fruitflies too.

You wouldn't need greenwater or infusoria unless you were breeding the fish, but they can be grown from what you already have in the tank.
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#45
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
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0
Northern Arizona
#45
Fishman, you need to feed your ram sinking foods. I've found that my GBR (which is CLOSELY related to the Bolivian ram and has similar care and feeding requirements) prefers the sinking shrimp pellets I feed my cories, as well as FROZEN bloodworms (I don't feed freeze-dried because they can cause constipation). I have tried feeding him Hikari Cichlid Gold pellets and Omega One Super Color pellets, but he won't touch them (they get too soggy by the time they sink). He's also nibbled on the algae wafers I've tossed in for the clown pleco, as well.

As far as stocking...I think you could do five dwarf neon rainbows. You could also do some sort of SMALL bottom dwellers (like the smaller cories [pandas, pygmies, dwarfs, dainties] or some kuhli loaches). I wouldn't do the USD cats if you're going to do the rainbows, though. You'll overstock yourself if you do.
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#47
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#47
Personally, I think you're going to find that peppered cories are going to be a bit too big/rambunctious for your tank. They get to be the same size as the albinos and my biggest albino is almost 3" long and VERY fat (big female)! You'd be better off going with pandas or pygmies in a 20gL. I'm thinking about moving my peppereds to my 55gal and getting some pandas for the 29gal when I can afford it, just because the peppereds are running out of room to play in the 29gal.
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#51
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#51
They're still cichlids and you haven't had her that long. It took Tyr almost two weeks before his personality started showing and I'm *STILL* finding new little quirks in his personality after two months. For example, I still can't catch my horseface loach out of the 55gal from when I put him in there after my near disaster with that tank, but I always know when he's out from under the sand because Tyr goes absolutely nuts. For some reason, he REALLY doesn't like Kyron (the horseface loach). He hasn't outright attacked Kyron, but he has charged him down several times. Luckily Kyron is afraid of everything and dives under the sand when he sees Tyr coming. I would hate to see it if your ram decided she didn't like the betta and charged at him...the betta probably wouldn't back down and that could lead to a huge mess. It might not happen, but why chance it and potentially kill a beautiful fish?
 

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