# Looking for fish... and other questions



## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

If anyone sees any horse-face loaches or honey dwarf gouramis (prefer the natural color, definitely not the new gaudy bright colors -- I'm wanting them because they're a yellow/brown color), please let me know. 

Also, does anyone know where to get one of those floating feeder cones for frozen or live food? Internet or local.

Are there any fish that are peaceful and eat snails and are smaller than clown loaches?

How about a place to get CO2 in Arlington? Not the beer place. They don't like selling CO2 to people who are not buying a keg of beer.


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## CrownMan (Sep 12, 2005)

I use Kimbrough Fire Extinguisher Company www.kimbroughfire.com

I refilled all 4 of my CO2 tanks from them when I was using a lot of co2. About $15 a fill but it's always been a full one.

Mike


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

Thanks! I'll give Kimbrough a try.


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## MacFan (Jul 30, 2006)

The True Percula has the cone feeders last I knew. USA Aquariums has giant ones. 

Not all of them have it, but some Home Depot and maybe some Lowes stores carry CO2. They only carry 10 and 20lb sizes though. But it's pretty cheap. Also, nearly any welding supply/gas company will have it in basically any size. These all do exchanges only, so don't bother getting a nice bottle. I got some on Ebay that looked kind of old and traded them in for filled tanks. The welding shops will often let you pay the difference to upgrade to a larger size which is cheaper than buying larger tanks up front. 

Supposedly any loach with "botia" in the scientific name will eat snails. Clown loaches are great and they do grow large but very slowly. Make sure to keep them in groups though, they're social fish. And give them places to hide out... pieces of PVC pipe or wood with holes/cracks. They love to cram themselves into tiny spaces. If you give them secure places to hide out, you will see them out more often, though they are technically nocturnal. 

Michael


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

Thanks, Michael.

I already have the nice shiny bottles, which, as you mentioned, does leave out the places that only trade bottles. Thanks for the suggestions, though. It might be worth it to get one more bottle, a cheap one, for more options.

I'll try True Percula for the feeder cones. I should have looked when I bought the frozen food there. Duh!

I've got to give the clown loaches some thought. I love clown loaches, but I'm concerned they may wreak havoc on stem plants. I don't know. I haven't kept them in a planted tank. They can get mighty big, at least 6 in. TL and I saw one that was about 14-16 in.!! I'm wanting something that will behave as nicely as clown loaches generally are. Clowns are very good at being defensive, but I've seldom seen them be offensive. Not many fish want to mess with them twice. lol Anyone have an opinion on how clown loaches are with plants?


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## MacFan (Jul 30, 2006)

All my tanks are planted and I have clown loaches in several of them. I also have butterfly goodeids in the main tank and they eat hair algae by tugging it loose first, so we've had trouble keeping any fine leaf plants planted in that tank. But I've come to think that perhaps the clowns prowling for snails/food may result in some of the uprootings, but overall it's not a problem. I have noticed some stiff stemmed plants have the outer skin peeled off, but I'm not sure what does that. It only affects some plants, but it has to be something in the tank doing it. Overall, plants and clown loaches are not generally something I'd think twice about. 

Michael


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

MacFan, if I'm remembering correctly, you had bamboo shrimp in at least one of your tanks. Do you have clown loaches in with the bamboo shrimp? Are there any other kinds of shrimpin with clown loaches?

You've talked me into the clown loaches. I'm getting some Friday. 

I've got 3 amano shrimp in the tank. While I hope they survive, I anticipate that they may not. I'd like to have a couple of bamboo shrimp in there. What do you think?


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

I got the clown loaches, honey dwarf gouramis and also some harlequin rasboras. 

I also got the power head I mentioned (in another thread somewhere on here). Sheesh, they rate this thing for a 70 gallon tank. I've got a 100 gallon and had to turn it way down. This one is rated 400 gph. The one for a 100 is 900+. Sheesh, glad I didn't spend twice as much on that! The fish love the power head and I'm confident the plants will, too. The rasboras love schooling in the flow.

I'm still looking for horse-face loaches and I'm looking for Niger Otocinclus.


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## longhornxtreme (Feb 20, 2007)

Kimbrough is very nice. I think I paid $15 total for a 5lb fill, which I think is a touch pricy, but it's been 10 months around 1 bps 24 hours a day and still going strong. 

There's apparently a welding and gas company in Ft W that doesn't require an exchange which I'm planning on going to once this tank runs out (I moved from Arlington to Ft W) and they quoted me $9 for a 5 lb fill. I can't remember the name except it's slightly east of downtown.


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

Kimbrough is up to $16.50 plus I had to pay $17.50 for a DOT inspection on my bottle (once every 5 years). However, it does feel like it is full. I won't ever go back to the beer place any more.


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## longhornxtreme (Feb 20, 2007)

Which beer place, Dr. Jekylls? They were always cool with me when I bought homebrew stuff...

If you suspect less than full fills, ask to use their scale after the fill...

On the side of your bottle there should be a 1) tare weight and a 2) full weight...

If the bottle weighs it's full weigth on the scale... its' full....


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

No, not a brew store. It was a keg store, Kool Keg, maybe? Near the Post Office.


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## longhornxtreme (Feb 20, 2007)

I've never messed with KoolKeg... which post office is that near? 

Dr. Jekyll's is a fun homebrew shop in Pantego near Captain Billy's Burgers. (which is a great old fashioned grease burger joint). I'm not sure if they fill CO2 there though. 

I just remembered that most bottles only show the tare weight. So you add 5lbs to the tare weight to = your full fill. You might have to do a pounds to kilograms conversion though...


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

That's the post office near downtown, 1 block off Abrams, between Center and Collins.

Ah, Captain Billy Whizbang's. Good burgers.

I guess the weight of the bottle doesn't make a lot of difference right now. I seem to have a leak in my system. Probably in the solenoid, I guess. This tank is certainly a challenge, but I'm hangin' in there.


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