Moss Ball

[GooGirl]

I just bought a decorative moss ball at a store. It is not meant for fish tanks, but I was planning on putting it in a seperate tank with nothing but water in it, then if it was fine, putting it in the fish tank. Would I be able to do that, or would it be too risky?

 

[Thyra]

I do not know what a "decorative moss ball" is but if anything says its not for fish tanks I would be leery of putting it in with fish because of any chemicals that may have been involved with producing it.

 

[GooGirl]

It is just regular moss that has been packed into a ball the size of a small cantaloupe and tied with green string. I have it in my 'carry cage' thing right now. A fine layer of dust has settled on the bottom. I'm not sure if that is the moss dust, or chemical 'dust'. I don't think I will put it in the tank, but I'll keep watching it.

 

[GooGirl]

It is just regular moss that has been packed into a ball the size of a small cantaloupe and tied with green string. I have it in my 'carry cage' thing right now. A fine layer of dust has settled on the bottom. I'm not sure if that is the moss dust, or chemical 'dust'. I don't think I will put it in the tank, but I'll keep watching it.

Oh, and it didn't say that it wasn't for water, if that's what you mean.

 

[Thyra]

If it is the size of a small cantaloupe I certainly wouldn't put it in your already too small aquariums to take up more space. As I remember you have had the problem with the 55 g tank and hamsters vs adequate space for the mollies for some time now and still haven't really resolved the problem. Seems to me you need to make a choice between raising hamsters or fish! lol

 

[GooGirl]

I know, I LOVE all animals! Ever since I was born, I have been an extreme animal lover! Right now I have 8 fish, 1 snail, 6 chickens, 1 duck, 1 hamster (I'm getting another soon), and 2 dogs. I wish I could have a horse...

Here is a pic of the size of the ball next to the tank. It wouldn't add much, would it? I don't think I'll put it in, anyways. It keeps leaking 'dust'. The pic makes the tank look small... (BTW, it's very hard to take a pic with a front-facing camera on a tablet with one hand!)


Anyways, I have come up with a plan for breeding the fish. I will wait until the babies are born, then sell all except either a male and female adult, or a male and female of the babies. Then, I can keep breeding with only 2 fish, maybe 3 if I keep 2 females. This way, I can keep the numbers in my tank down. Does that make sense to you?

Sorry for rambling...

 

[exhumed07]

Breeding fish takes a bit. special foods and places for the fry to hide. also need to make sure the water in the tank is perfect. and when doing water changes to make sure the water temp is exact. i have lost entire batches of fry cause of a 2 degree drop in temp. that's if u want to keep entire batches. if all u want is a few here and there then u don't need to do anything. serious breeding takes alot of extra work though

 

[GooGirl]

I have had babies before, and I am learning. From 3 batches of babies (near 35 total) and almost all surviving, I sort of know what to do. I think the reason I didn't have all of them survive is because I kept moving them from tank to tank. The 5 I have now are from that batch of fry, and most of the others I gave away. Once they were about 1/2 inch long, they stopped dying. Except from getting sick. Like the last one was shaped almost like an S before it died! Any Idea why the fish looked like that? He slowly got more squiggly, and eventually he died a week or two ago.

By the way, what 'special foods' should I feed them? Bloodworms, or those little shrimp?

 

[exhumed07]

Imbreeding will cause disfigurements like that. like my puppies get that way. u need to get a few fish from different sources. if the fry breed together and of they breed with their parents that will happen down the road

 

[exhumed07]

Also like flake foods u need to grind up into a fine powder and upside it. i find that really important for things like my cichlids cause the fry can't eat the pellet food

 

[lauraf]

Most fry will appreciate fresh baby brine shrimp. You need to set up your own 'hatchery' which is easy to do.

 

[GooGirl]

I already know about the grinding up of the food for the babies. And, BTW, I don't think that the parents were related. He wasn't squiggly when he was born and growing up, it just happened a few weeks ago.

Where do I get eggs for the brine shrimp? I can check Petco...

 

[exhumed07]

Petco should have them. serious breeding is just more then adding fish. its more involved then standard fish keeping

 

[GooGirl]

I know. I have been doing some research about it, and I still have much to learn. However, I seem to be addicted to doing research...

 

[exhumed07]

Not a bad thing to be addicted to. U can never know to much. And a word of advice. What some people say works for them may not work for u. So say u read 20 articles. Mostly listen to the common things between all of them. if every article mentions the same water quality that's pretty clear that that's important but only one article mentions to do something then kinda be leery of that. not saying that article will be wrong. just saying for starters stick with things everyone agrees to be correct and once u are successful with that try the other things and experiment.

 

[GooGirl]

OK, thanks!