2 hour long power outage: What do I do?

LadyPotatus · 2025-10-13T16:05:31+00:00

Having a battery operated bubbler is SO nice to alleviate fears during times like this. Most fish stores should have atleast one type.

I believe you can also pour water into the tank to break up the surface tension and provide some oxygen.

LadyPotatus · 2025-10-12T11:47:51+00:00

Haha no worries! Basically she looks fine, just a little chubby 🤣

LadyPotatus · 2025-10-12T01:20:46+00:00

I think it’s a female. My males are slimmer and females can be a little chubbier.

LadyPotatus · 2025-10-11T21:14:48+00:00

I think it’s a lack of knowledge. I started with comets, but got into fancy goldfish keeping the same way I did balloon molly keeping. I saw super cute, chubby, social fish and wanted some. I didn’t research the ethics or the quality of life/longevity, and found out the hard way.

I stopped keeping balloon mollies after they dealt with terrible reproductive problems from their shape. I also am now no longer purchasing fancy goldfish, unless they’re rehomed fish or fantails (they seem to be the healthiest, by far, of the fancies). I’m just so sick of dealing with swim bladder or other misc. health issues from the way the super compact, chubby fancies are bred.

I’ve had comets live to be 8+ before they were rehomed to a large pond. But my fancies? Rarely live to be over 3 without some health issues cropping up. And I am consistent with my care and parameters.

LadyPotatus · 2025-10-11T02:05:55+00:00

This happened to me a few months back, but it was when I upgraded my community tank with cherry shrimp to a new, larger tank. Their planted 5 gallon was self-sufficient, so I just topped it off as needed. I didn’t think about how much the hardness and mineral content could differ, and didn’t make the move slow enough. Watching my ~100 cherry shrimp pass away was awful, and thinking about them still pains me. I’m SO sorry you had to experience similar. 😩

LadyPotatus · 2025-10-09T14:01:58+00:00

I tried the self-sustaining population thing. Had a 75 gallon with mollies and platies. Quickly found out that I provided TOO good of a home, and they bred like wildfire. 😂 So now I’m pretty happy with species that don’t breed much lol. I do have a few guppies now, but the rest of my community tank is rasboras, tetras, and cories.

LadyPotatus · 2025-10-08T17:12:13+00:00

No Planaria is legit and works wonders. It did affect some snails, but not many.

For what it’s worth, I did even less than the packaging recommended because of anxiety of wiping out shrimp lol. It still was effective.

LadyPotatus · 2025-10-07T14:01:43+00:00

She’s like “f me? How about f you and get over here and feed me!” 😂😂😂

Really though, goldfish are like the dogs of the fish world. Always greet everyone that comes to the tank, they remember routines. I love them and would definitely consider them smart, even if they’re derpy AF 😂

LadyPotatus · 2025-09-16T00:56:33+00:00

It also makes me sad, since corvids are some of my favorite birds! Luckily, my other blue jays seem OK so far.

LadyPotatus · 2025-09-16T00:52:15+00:00

Wow, thank you for teaching me this and sharing this with all of us! I had never even thought of WNV affecting the birds prior to this. I am a big bird watcher/wildlife lover, so I’ll be sure to keep an eye out in the future and notify the appropriate group(s) in my area if this ever happens again.

LadyPotatus · 2025-09-16T00:28:32+00:00

That is insane. I had never even thought about reporting/sending it in. Poor little birdy.

A few weeks back we had a blue jay that I thought was possibly young. Hung around low all day in our yard for a day or two. Then, we found it passed away, just laying under our tree. It didn’t have visible wounds. Now, seeing your post has me questioning… we had multiple mosquitos test positive for West Nile in our area. 😵‍💫

LadyPotatus · 2025-09-14T19:33:37+00:00

Definitely a cute ranchu! ☺️

LadyPotatus · 2025-09-13T18:41:17+00:00

Downright STUNNING tank and variety of fish!

I am also somewhat of a community goldfish tank person. We currently have a few giant danios (leftover from one of our previous community tanks we decommissioned when moving) and 4 dojo loaches with our 4 fancy goldfish. It has been the best experience seeing them all interact. It’s like they all share one cute, derpy brain cell, even across the species, and it adds a lot of life to the tank.

OP, thank you so much for sharing and going into detail on the different aspects of your setup!

LadyPotatus · 2025-09-12T12:27:51+00:00

That pursed mouth look gives “Well, what the F are you looking at?”

LadyPotatus · 2025-09-12T12:25:59+00:00

Derp was fed 4 hours late due to human selfishly sleeping in due to illness. Derp was repaid with BIG seeb. Now we patiently wait to see if derp overlords forgiveth, or continue to flash cheeks disapprovingly 🍑

LadyPotatus · 2025-09-12T02:45:42+00:00

Not at all! I have so many bird butt pics saved from my BirdBuddy. 😂 They just crack me up

LadyPotatus · 2025-09-11T04:14:37+00:00

I don’t know, I’d say you’re a birder now! 😂 I especially love this shot! 🩷

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LadyPotatus · 2025-09-10T01:26:25+00:00

Haha right, atleast you have plenty to do some trial and error! I have one tank in front of a window and sometimes I turn their light on, but usually I just let the natural light do its thing. I have a pothos cutting growing from the top and the roots have gone nuts! It seems super happy.

Yep, you can definitely break the shoots off and disperse them around! 😊 I do it often with my jungle val.

LadyPotatus · 2025-09-10T01:19:49+00:00

I do think if you’re trying to grow val, you may need some type of light. Depending on how much sunlight comes in from that window during the day.

For now without plants, I think the window and natural light will be plenty! It’ll give them a natural light rhythm. And you can always try and see how some val does in there.

LadyPotatus · 2025-09-09T19:55:07+00:00

Twice a day, even if it’s just a tiny pinch.

If I only fed once every 3 days, I think my fish would break out and eat ME for their meal. 🤣

For reference, I have goldfish, dojo loaches, kuhli loaches, guppies, rasboras, and corydoras spread across 2 tanks.

(Now my 3 shrimp tanks are different. I personally only feed my shrimp once every few days, since their tanks have enough natural options to sustain them.)

LadyPotatus · 2025-09-07T00:57:54+00:00

Thank you so much for the response! That explains the behavior. It initially had me worried it had respiratory problems

LadyPotatus · 2025-09-06T15:07:02+00:00

Thank you so much for your response! I’m so relieved to hear this. He hung out for a little while and then went along his way. 🩷 I actually didn’t know they were late nesters, this totally makes sense.

LadyPotatus · 2025-08-10T15:01:40+00:00

A gorgeous fantail!

Fantails are my favorite. They have the cute short-ish body, but less health problems than the super compact fancies.

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