#29gal

[lockawayknight]

// observe,

[turochamp]

crabitat critiques? !!!

i was recently acquired four ~1 inch shelled hermit crabs. I work at a pet store, and it was someone coming in at close with them and saying they had nowhere else to go.

This 29 gallon was my cornsnake's baby bioactive enclosure (no isopods!). The coconut fiber is all new, but I left the drainage layer of hydroballs in there. There's a beatup pothos in there and 6 inches of dirt on the higher side (once I have sand it'll be 6" all around). Heat mat and screen lid.

I'm going to get a hygrometer and glass lid, play sand, sphagnum moss, a hamster saucer, and more appropriate shells (i have 7 in there, but many are too small or large, as they were just what I had onhand)

Any other suggestions? They're all purple pinchers and two are in painted shells. I will be going overbudget for the little guys already tho so a bigger tank won't happen for a while.

I've considered asking my responsible pet knowledgable friends if they'd like to adopt a pair of them so its less crowded in my 29gal, but is splitting them into groups of 2 advisable?

[xannerz]

✅ did some tank maintenance and didnt end up drinking aquarium water when i had to manually start the siphon for the 29gal 🎊

✅ 5gal should be ready for a new betta in around another week. i went back and forth on taking the whole thing down after weeks of it just sitting fishless but i think i'm ready to try again.

❌ got too used to drawing on asp on the ipad and now drawing on csp desktop feels 10x harder than it should. i'm rusty, i think my hand-eye coordination is completely thrown off. i never thought this would happen and as happy as i am to have finally found a rhythm w the thing, i dont want it to be my default program bc the ipad's fucking w my neck and wrist. yes i do stretches yes i take breaks but it's still not great for my posture/carpal overall

[tauforged]

strongly contemplating moving my crayfish to a 20long as opposed to the 29gal, as he doesn’t use the vertical space pretty much At All and having a shorter tank would make it possible for me to move the tank stand somewhere where it’s not getting constant direct sunlight 🤔🤔🤔 much to think about

[bufomancer]

Awesome I'll send some other people some questions too! I'm just trying to get a general pool of ideas to make final decisions from haha. I'm going to be upgrading my 12 guppies but I'm debating on going up to a 29gal (30inx12x18) and I'm just curious if there's any suggestions that would go well with the lil guys. I desperately want to keep the tank understocked, but if I have something that large I thought it would be nice to have something simple for the bottom space. If I can't make up my mind they'll just be staying a solo guppy tank though so there's no bad suggestions xD even if you don't have any ideas thank you for considering the question ❤️

Also all my gups are girls so keeping babies safe isn't a worry for me xP

Off the top of my head I can’t think of anything I’d recommend for a tank that size to pair with guppies.

A lot of bottom dwellers tend to be shoaling fish, or else on the large side.

You’d be best off if you really want another species to look into a solitary or pair fish, about 2-3 inches, that does well in higher pH environments. Possibly some kind of cichlid could work, but I don’t know any specific species I’d recommend as I never really got into cichlids. But you could seek out a cichlid group and ask! You’d also want to ask about the risk of them eating your guppies.

There are some higher pH catfish out there but iirc they tend to be too large for a 29 gallon.

Snails would be my foremost recommendation.

[letsgetsalty]

There’s only three shrimp in here but they manage to make it feel full 💚

[happyscales]

Can we just take a moment to appreciate the size of this crypt? Ft. my hand and my Betta for reference. I’ll have to see if I can find any old pictures of this tank...

[gouramissimo]

my one-eyed baby having a nice flop on the marimo

[patrickztump]

Before and After 🙌🏻 Obvs the tank trim won't match, but it looks so much better than the wood. And now it'll match all my other stands.

[l3irdl3rain]

Advice from someone else with an axie and cats. If you stop by a hardware store you can get something called egg crate ceiling tiles. You can use that to make a top for the tank, and just cut out bits for where the pump is gonna be sitting, and if you need any tubing. It's working well for the 29gal I currently have for my axie (tho she will be getting an upgrade when I finally get my own place and have space for it), and the cats have gotten on top occasionally and not fallen in, which is good for everyone involved.

Ahh thank you! I’m honestly not worried abt my cats at all because they’re all too old to jump that high. I need to get an actual lid for the 75 gallon tho bc it’s so close to the bird’s perch. If I don’t it’s definitely going to get all kinds of feathers and bird dander in the water and I can’t imagine that’d be good for it. I have the stand set up there and the side closest to the bird perch already has quite a bit of dander on it lol.

Not to mention when the doorbell ring it scares Chester and he’s definitely jumped off the perch and “flown” away (its more like falling with style). I’d hate for him to wind up in the tank if I didn’t have a lid on it.

[xannerz]

Ashur isn't doing well 🙃☔

rambling ahead - I've been struggling to talk about it, but I've never had this issue before with a betta :c (not counting the fishbowl era of my childhood but ykwim)

he had a couple tears in his pectoral fins after I updated his tank. I think it was from being moved in and out of his tank while I worked on it (i was being as gentle as possible, too? made sure to use a fine-mesh net and not jostle him, but i wonder if he just overexerted himself or snagged them on something i didnt see).

I had sanded down the driftwood before putting it in - I always do?? and boiled the pieces for hours. But he just seemed to decline after that? I panicked at one point and (against my better judgement) tried refreshing half of the filter media while doing a water change to keep the tank extra clean for him, and that was a mistake on my part -- I think I wasn't being patient enough, or maybe I misperceived his condition in fear of it developing into a real infection. I overcorrected and ended up crashing the cycle.

He's still eating but otherwise acts like a zombie. I keep doing water changes b/c the ammonia keeps creeping up, but I'm seeing little to no improvement. Been dosing with ParaGuard and StressGuard... added basic aquarium salt the other day... I can't tell if it's helping or not, frankly.

Everything else is fine -- it's just the ammonia, it keeps hovering around .25-.50 ppm despite 50%+ water changes at a time. He's just... floating, sometimes twitches and glides over to another corner of the tank. He'd love to loaf or nap in his cave but I'm not even seeing any of that.

No evidence of fungal/bacteria infection; no dropsy; no swim bladder issues that I can discern. I know water changes stress him out, but I can't just... let him sit in bad water. Been trawling different forums and sites to see if his symptoms track with anything and I don't think so - unless I'm missing something? There's also that issue of having 3 fishkeepers in 1 thread offering 18 different anecdotes/tips/conclusions lmao

I want to believe he can bounce back, but I feel so guilty :''D The 2 major factors are me likely crashing the cycle and trying a different brand of sand?? I'm also wondering if the brand I got was a bad choice-- I liked that it's fine grain, but revisiting some of the reviews I see people talk about how it kicked their pH up and it's been around 7.4?? the 29g isn't that high. I wonder if that's what's bugging him, but I know bettas are hardy and can handle up to around 8 as long as you don't swing things too quickly.

Idk! I'm at a loss. I'm wondering if I should get a different filter, too. The one I have can barely fit any filter media. I might cut some of the sponge sitting in my 29gal and put it in this one and see if that makes a difference; just bring some of that bacteria over to help nip at the ammonia levels. gdi.

if anyone wants to msg me w/ advice i'd greatly appreciate it! i just needed to vent and feel so frustrated at the situation and myself. i'm always so careful! i think i panicked too much... shouldn't have messed w/ his setup so much after noticing the tears, idk! idk. uu

[tauforged]

bought some freshwater clams for the crayfish tank. running theory is either they’ll establish in the 29gal and help keep the water clearer, OR thingu will find a way to pry them open and eat them. either way the results will be interesting

[geraskier]

hey not to sound totally oblivious but can i get some opinions on if someone is flirting with me or not. the goldfish person from the fish store, the one with the actual goldfish tattoo, definitely recognizes me and is always very friendly. i keep having to run back to that store for something bc fishtanks are money pits so i've been there at least once a week for a bit.

at one point we had a nice chat about goldfish and i showed him pictures of p.b., and he saw the trans flag sticker on my phone and said "me too". and then when i called the store to see if he specifically had room to take p.b., the person who answered the phone told me goldfish guy's name in the context of "oh [redacted] isn't here but i remember him saying his tank is full". THEN the next time i saw him working he rang up my purchase so i was like "hey you're [redacted], right? i remember you have a bunch of goldfish, how are they?" he seemed surprised but i couldn't tell if it was cause i knew his name (employees don't wear nametags there), remembered he had goldfish, or that i specifically remembered the names of some of his goldfish.

and then every time i have seen him since then, over maybe 4 or 5 visits, he's made a point of saying "oh it's you! :)" and we talk for a minute or so. my relative that has bettas was with me one of these times and she said, quote, "he was making eyes at you the whole time we were standing at the register". when i went to have my 29gal water tested a few days ago, he came right next to the help desk and started working on a tank display and we talked some more. now this is a HUGE fish store so walking from one section to another is a bit of a hike, but i also don't know that he wouldn't have been doing tank displays next to the help desk if i wasn't there.

i am super not good at telling if people are dropping hints that they're flirting or if they're just trying to make friends. he's cute and i wouldn't mind getting to know him better but i also am not at a place where i want anything romantic. i've been in multiple situations before where my being excitedly friendly at people i think are cool was received as flirting...i think i did that again here but also if he's reciprocating that's neat i guess??? help

also i don't want to make him uncomfortable by trying to be friends if it's unasked for bc retail workers can't tell customers to fuck off

[arlo-venn]

You guys & your friends have helped me accumulate a little over $500 so far, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am for it.

Thank you so much.

I still need, like, $200-$300 to get through August’s bills and necessities, and a minimum of $1,133 for rent/car payments in September. I’m hoping I’ll have found some sort of a solution for my situation by November.

I have a few things I’m going to try to sell, some furniture pieces and a fancy skateboard and Arlo’s crate and a glass 29gal tank and a 6x9 unopened ruggable rug, so hopefully that helps me out a bunch as well. I’m still scared as heck but you guys have brought me a lot of comfort. Thank you again. I’m gonna reblog my post again, a few times this week.

xoxo

[amazingpetenclosures]

Once I move my millipedes into my 29gal, I'm going to have a nice 12"×12"×18" Zilla terrarium just lying around with nothing to put in it. The only caveat is that the lid is custom made with acrylic and there's only a small hole for ventilation to keep the humidity high enough for my millipedes, and it's siliconed to the tank, so ventilation will be low. I was thinking of raising dubias for my beardie in there, but does anyone else have any ideas that wouldn't require eventual upgrading?

[unkillability]

new project