Changing things up

[sfaqua]

I've been doing this for almost 40 years now but I've gotten dated on products this past few years. Mostly because I ran some long term project tanks for the past decade+ who have started passing on leaving me in a weird spot.
My biggest questions my need of a few products to simplify things.

First - I had a Congo river eddy setup that has lost its primary fish. 55g down to 1 synodontis nivingritis and 1 erupts. I picked up a full grown older blue peacock as a centerpiece for the next few years to accompany the 2 synos and bring some life back to the tank. The issue for me here primarily is feed - I dont care for the feed the aquatics place recommend for the peacock. Any recommendations? I'm a decade+ out of date on research and just need somewhere to start again.

Second - I had a breeding setup for CPDs, rabbit snails and Sakura Reds. Obviously heavily planted. Ive wound the tank down on maintenance, gotten ferts entirely out of the picture, sold the last of the stock and replaced with WC minnows and Tiger Rasboras. Of course they removed the last of my Sakura colony... I have reduced lighting to 20% but now I'm struggling with a flat black algae almost impossible to remove even with razor scraping in the corners and bottom. It arrived with GHA which was an easy issue to resolve but I cant nuke this black stuff. And also I cant find my favorite food for small fish anymore, open to suggestions as Im kinda floating around disappointed with what I tried so far.

 

[aniebla]

I've been doing this for almost 40 years now but I've gotten dated on products this past few years. Mostly because I ran some long term project tanks for the past decade+ who have started passing on leaving me in a weird spot.
My biggest questions my need of a few products to simplify things.

First - I had a Congo river eddy setup that has lost its primary fish. 55g down to 1 synodontis nivingritis and 1 erupts. I picked up a full grown older blue peacock as a centerpiece for the next few years to accompany the 2 synos and bring some life back to the tank. The issue for me here primarily is feed - I dont care for the feed the aquatics place recommend for the peacock. Any recommendations? I'm a decade+ out of date on research and just need somewhere to start again.

Second - I had a breeding setup for CPDs, rabbit snails and Sakura Reds. Obviously heavily planted. Ive wound the tank down on maintenance, gotten ferts entirely out of the picture, sold the last of the stock and replaced with WC minnows and Tiger Rasboras. Of course they removed the last of my Sakura colony... I have reduced lighting to 20% but now I'm struggling with a flat black algae almost impossible to remove even with razor scraping in the corners and bottom. It arrived with GHA which was an easy issue to resolve but I cant nuke this black stuff. And also I cant find my favorite food for small fish anymore, open to suggestions as Im kinda floating around disappointed with what I tried so far, Space Waves.

For the peacock, I’d look for a quality spirulina-based cichlid pellet and avoid overly fatty/high-protein foods. For the black algae, I’d first check whether it’s actually black beard algae; if so, manually removing the worst patches and spot-treating with liquid carbon can work, but I’d start conservatively with the dosage.

 

[sfaqua]

For the peacock, I’d look for a quality spirulina-based cichlid pellet and avoid overly fatty/high-protein foods. For the black algae, I’d first check whether it’s actually black beard algae; if so, manually removing the worst patches and spot-treating with liquid carbon can work, but I’d start conservatively with the dosage.

Thank you for the advice and I will update the peacocks food to something better, just felt something was off and yes he will definitely be served better with something different. Again thank you for that lead.

As for the algae, Think its just the winding down on the tank or a new balancing issue? I dont like to declare war until I know Ive got the upper hand. Too much time to commit to. I've never had more than sporadic episodes of BBA that generally were caused by changes I made. They have always resolved themselves after a couple weeks as things balanced again or I pulled the stone/wood and treat outside and put back because I know my 10 days out of town caused it kind of thing. Never had it just persist or appear on the glass!

 

[AlistairDunmore]

I've been doing this for almost 40 years now but I've gotten dated on products this past few years. Mostly because I ran some long term project tanks for the past decade+ who have started passing on leaving me in a weird spot.
My biggest questions my need of a few products to simplify things.

First - I had a Congo river eddy setup that has lost its primary fish. 55g down to 1 synodontis nivingritis and 1 erupts. I picked up a full grown older blue peacock as a centerpiece for the next few years to accompany the 2 synos and bring some life back to the tank. The issue for me here primarily is feed - I dont care for the feed the aquatics place recommend for the peacock. Any recommendations? I'm a decade+ out of date on research and just need somewhere to start again.

Second - I had a breeding setup for CPDs, rabbit snails and Sakura Reds. Obviously heavily planted. Ive wound the tank down on maintenance, gotten ferts entirely out of the picture, sold the last of the stock and replaced with WC minnows and Tiger Rasboras. Of course they removed the last of my Sakura colony... I have reduced lighting to 20% but now I'm struggling with a flat black algae almost impossible to remove even with razor scraping in the corners and bottom. It arrived with GHA which was an easy issue to resolve but I cant nuke this black stuff. And also I cant find my favorite food for small fish anymore, open to suggestions as Im kinda floating around disappointed with what I tried so far.

For food, I’d probably keep it simple and use a good quality small pellet as the staple, then rotate in frozen foods like brine shrimp, daphnia or bloodworms depending on the fish. For the white clouds and rasboras, a small micro pellet or finely crushed flake usually works well.


On the black algae, if it’s the really stubborn dark stuff that stays attached even when you scrape it, I’d first try to identify exactly what it is before treating the whole tank. A close-up photo would help a lot. If it’s black beard/brush algae, lowering the light alone often doesn’t solve it — stable nutrients, good flow and removing badly affected leaves/hardscape usually matter more.


Since you’ve already cut lighting so heavily, I’d also be careful not to starve the plants while trying to beat the algae. Healthy plant growth is usually your best long-term competition against it.


After 40 years in the hobby you definitely haven’t forgotten much — the products have just multiplied!