John B

With all the time I have been keeping tropical fish, I just have to ask this. There is a lot of inbreeding and over breeding with tropical fish now days, I have seen crooked backbones in many livebearers, hell, I even had a guppy that had a double faced fry. Still born but it was the same size as the others. I have this male Red Wag Platy that is at least seven to eight months old. The rest of the brood are full sized and are breeding and having fry. Well, this little guy looks like a fully developed male platy but is only an inch long. I would say the same size as my male Endlers. He has a functional gonopodium, which seems a little large for his body, and has been mating with the females for about 2 months now. He even keeps other males away. Has anyone out there ever come across this before? I have been doing this for over 50 years and like I said, "This is a first" for me. A Dwarf Platy??

I have never used Prime before and just use to the way I have been neutralizing my tap water for water changes. I use gallon jugs and add 7 drops of Tetra Aquasafe plus and do the water change. Is Prime used in the same way??? Can you add the 2 drops and do the water change or do you have to let it sit for a while? Not into adding a lot of chemicals to my tanks, just confused how to use this product. Thanks.

Is there a secret in keeping potato salad from turning runny after a day in the frig? I have tried all kinds of ways even following good recipes and it still runs.

I have noticed that some people do not use carbon filters. Why and what do you use and why? Is carbon not needed for an established tank?

Have been raising fish off and on for 50 years and only have used well water and city tap water. I have come to the conclusion that city tap is a pain in the butt. The PH is like 8.6+. So I decided to use reverse osmosis four staged water. Everything is taken out of it. So is there something I should know about the electrolytes and minerals needed for freshwater fish? I only started to use it when doing my water changes, so is it necessary to add something different? Second question: If setting up a new aquarium with RO water, is it necessary to cycle? There is no chlorine, ammonia, nitrates or nitrites in it. And again what do you add to it? I can't find it on the net anywhere.....

This is a first for me. My Mickey Mouse Platy's eggs are just hanging out of her. She has been like this for 12 hours. At first I thought she was dropping fry but it just stayed there. I think she may be losing her uterus or some sort of parasite? Any thoughts? I have her in quarantine.