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I didn't realize how cheap and easy live foods are until I did it. For about $30 I was able to get four cultures of Vinegar Eels and Microworms started. I got the cultures off Aquabid for $10 shipped. The four glass bottles are from Michael's craft store. I got them for $15 using a 20% off coupon. The plastic containers are from Dollar Tree, $1. The rest of the required items I had. Apple cider vinegar, an apple, and instant unflavored potatoes. If you're thinking about getting a breeding program going don't hesitate to get some live foods going before you have fry. Also it's like infinite free fish food for like ever, what's not awesome about that. Cory has two great videos on setting up these cultures, which I followed exactly. https://youtu.be/-kkQS6XgG00 https://youtu.be/AMrU6S3DZRQ

Holy poop! I think I just got banned I promise! No more pictures of cats.

Might have been for the NSFW snail video...

I have been thinking about what are the limits (for example, my home is heated and cooled, is this historically accurate) and I have found a line I am not willing to cross. You can still buy this at Eric Bodrock's AllOddballAquatics website.

I was at our local PetSmart as a middle aged man was buying his first fish. I was thrilled to overhear their staff a) tell another customer not to buy their fish same day as their tank and b) warn this guy against fancy goldfish or large cichlids in a 20 gallon if he wanted multiple fish. I don’t normally pop into stranger’s conversations but I evangelized about the glories of guppies, how they swim at all levels and eat algae, and the crazy variety they come in. He had them show him the guppies!! I had them as a kid and liked them and I got them as an adult and I like them even more. The first tank I bought came with tetras (Serpae, red eye, black veil) and in comparison I find them so. Boring. Even my nano tank for my pea puffer has been repurposed into a guppy home for a sad cripple fry. I have a few other types of fish but I think I’m guppies for life.

Blackworms are super, super well-loved. Whiteworms are super well-loved. Blackworms are expensive, whiteworms are cheap. Blackworms are easy, whiteworms take a small amount of work. Blackworms are expensive because you have to buy them. Strangely 1/8 lb, 1/4, lb, 1/2 lb, and 1 lb all cost the same amount $60 (I get them from Craig Shaubach at Eastern Aquatics) which indicates the entire cost is the cost of overnighting them to you. You don't have to put them in the fridge, you can just put them under a drippy faucet. All in all maintenance is easy. Whiteworms are cheap. Once you buy the $10 starter culture, you put them in a Tupperware container with, bread, or fishfood, or cat/dogfood and keep them cool (60°F – 65°F). You should have a spare culture and restart the culture every 1 to 2 months. Maintenance is very reasonable. Both Blackworms and Whiteworms are the pro move for getting your fish in to condition to breed. @Brandy I don't see you as a blackworm person (no offense), maybe whiteworms though. The first culture can be frustrating as it might not take, but once it gets going, your fish will love you forever. David Ramsey is the King of all whiteworms

Well done Daniel, Bill and Mick!!! All your posts are very informative and inspiring.

This is great video of Eric's vintage aquarium collection, so much cool stuff!

I have been doing colony breeding for the most part, but with only one type of guppy per tank as I use my planted display tanks in my living room. I have noticed that the end result is much less volume of quality stock vs friends who line breed. And I have to reintroduce new genetics often and have more culls (which I keep in my plant grow out tank, I don't kill anything). I have been looking to switch over and try line breeding 5-6 of my favorites. I finally completed my plans to make my bedroom the African cichlids room and ended up with 6 empty 10gal, 2 empty 55gal and a 100gal. I had a lot growing out. Now I just have to figure out how to get the wife onboard with making a non fish room into the guppy room. And converting the living room into planted south American cichlids.

For each strain that I'm line breeding, I like to keep at least 4 setups. 1) Breeders 2) Male grow out 3) Female grow out 4) Fry (to moved out to grow outs when sexable) I seed the Breeder tank with the best of the best new stock from time to time as well as retire old looking ones. It's a simple concept but does require space.

I have an idea. If you can do a geographically accurate biotope aquarium, why can't you do a historically accurate aquarium. Sort of a historotope if I'm allowed one neologism here. At an estate sale a while back, I acquired a 1930s era aquarium with a metal frame and a slate bottom. This is not one of those stainless steel MetaFrame aquariums everyone (including me) had back in the 1960s and the 1970s. It is clearly something much older. Everything about the aquarium was in good shape when I got it, and it was watertight. Last year when I was using it to grow mosquito larva outside I forgot to bring it in when it got cold. When ice formed in the tank the expanding ice blew out one of the glass sides. So, what might the rules be for a historotope? Rules: You are only allowed to use equipment available during your chosen time period. You are only allowed to keep fishes that were available during your chosen time period. You must use historically accurate foods. You must use historically accurate plants. You must use historically accurate substrate and decorations. You must use historically accurate maintenance methods. Since I have the aquarium (once I get it repaired), my chosen time period will be the mid-1930s in the United States. My first step is to get the tank water tight again. I will post more later as this experiment progresses and your thoughts and suggestions come in.

I stand by the quarantine med trio and it has worked beautifully to treat issues for which it was designed. However, I have run into a couple of instances of fish ailments that weren't covered by the trio that didn't really show up during quarantine. (Usually 5 or 6 weeks, for me, give or take a day or two.) From my research (online and books), these don't seem like super everyday common issues and don't generally present symptoms right away or are harder to spot. So far, some of my fish have presented (after quarantine): Camallanus Worms - Treated with Safeguard Goat Drench (Fenbendazole) while waiting for Levamisole to arrive (3 weeks later). Now I am the crazy paranoid fish lady that periodically checks my fish's vents for worms. (Never thought that would be my jam. 🙂 Anchor Worms - Treated with Microbe-Lift Lice and Anchor Worm (Cyromazine) and Cyropro (different tanks, not at the same time). I finally received the Dimilin I ordered (one month later) so I am ready if it pops up again. No flashing for weeks, no lethargy, no nothing. All seemed well until an ulcer on one of my fish showed up. I assumed it had gotten into something and hurt itself. A couple of days later, all of the fish in the tank seemed to have a small ulcer and were flashing. Started general salt treatment (low level), until I could figure out what it actually was. The next day I could finally see the little buggers. Gross. As much fun as it was to treat each of my established tanks after I added in the fish that had "completed" quarantine, I would rather not play those games again. Given the overall world situation, I couldn't go to my LFS to inspect the fish before I received them. At this point, I don't even want to order fish online anymore, not that it would have mattered to see them first as I obviously would not have caught either of the two. I would like to know if anyone can add insight to the following questions so we can all learn something and maybe avoid these types of shenanigans in the future. My questions: 1. Are there any other not so obvious fish issues that can be hard to spot during a quarantine period? (i.e. Not the usual suspects like Ick, Velvet, Flukes, DOA, etc. Lol!) 2. If so, what are the tricks and tips to spot them early (if any)? 3. Are there any good treatments every fish keeper should probably have on hand as they are hard to come by or generally have longer shipping wait times? (i.e. Levamisole, Dimilin, Malachite Green, Potassium Permanganate, etc.)

MOUNTING THE ELECTRICAL PARTS Time to get sticky. Shorter update this time! As planned, I hot glued my black box to the base of the planter. The glue is holding very tightly. From the underside, you can see the ventilation holes that will equalize the air temperature inside the box and hopefully prevent condensation. Next, I bunched up the cords for the air pump and the heater near the box, and secured them with zip ties. After that, it was time to hot glue the power cords. I used the fake "metal strap" as a guide under which I hot-glued the cords. It is holding really tightly as well! I stopped at about the halfway point of the barrel shape, on each side. From here, each cord will make a "leap" of 1-2 inches to the next planter. Although I had thought gaffer's tape would be a really good option, it's not very weatherproof. Aluminum foil tape, on the other hand, is made for sticking through all weather extremes! I covered all the cords with this tape, for extra protection. It holds VERY tightly. I also tucked the coils of cords for the heater and air pump under the loops of power cable. And on the inside, all we see is the heater and a tiny clip for the air pump. I do think I will have to switch from blue to black carabiners for those things. 🙂 Next post, I will work on a second planter, connect the two together, and see how it looks in place. That's gonna take a few days. 🙂 Thanks for reading! Bill

Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, Leonard Harrison State Park

@J. Mantooth Thank you for the The Aquarium, Neon Tetra, November 1936! The scan quality is awesome. Better than the original ☺️

My fish would slurp the grindal worms down like spaghetti. Super fun to watch. I'm not sure on what the smallest range would be, but my emerald dwarf rasboras were able to handle them, and they're fairly small.

Wicked @MickS77, I love the scape and tannins!

Forgot to post the tank in my previous post. Enjoy! Lights at previous setting Lights at current setting. Sun is setting at the moment.

@Wmarian Sach Aquaculture is first class and carries the strangest stuff you can't find anywhere else. There is a Daphnia Jr. called moina that's about 1/2 to 1/3 the size of Daphnia magna. I collected mine in the wild but Sachs sells moina also.

I think I am finally ready to try guppies after all these encouraging threads. Will they do ok with Neo shrimp, Leopard Danios, Glowlight Tetras, White Clouds, and CPDs in a community tank? This is my one kitchen tank with some hair algae from too much window light, so what @Brandy said has me especially interested! Thanks

My beekeeping is slightly different than most. I produce honey bees and my customers are other beekeepers. I also make and sell observation hives to institutions and science centers. That's how I am getting the 1930s aquarium fixed. I made and installed the observation hive for the Imagination Station, and in return they are restoring my old aquarium. Here is a video I made about swarming.

Well that is basically my exact setup. So there you go, I guess I am line breeding...mutts...lol. I guess I didn't think of it that way, since my breeder tank is fully planted and has shrimp and snails and multiple parents and whatnot. I just figured I would learn on the cheap fish!

“The problem with air-driven filters is that they drive off needed CO2 in the tank.” basically yes, sounded like you were taking a tank with no co2 injection and then making it retain even less naturally. It also goes into the relationship between co2 and ph, which since I already have high ph, lack of co2 making it rise further seems bad. From houseplant experiment, most of the times what a book tells you to do optimally is not at all necessary to be a perfectly happy plant owner with lots of props. So I assume it is the same here and I am not accidentally stunting all my plants and slowly killing all the fish, and it sounds like that is right. I am glad to see so many people have tons of plants and no co2. Edit: also this from the book made me concerned - “If you choose to try a tank without supplemental CO2, make sure that you choose a filtration system that does not unnecessarily agitate the water surface. This means no air-driven filters can be used...”

Like Dave said you usually trim it replant it and the trimming will grow vertically. Which you can then trim again and replant.

Pete, They are a stem plant. You can cut & replant. 😊

Just got mine on a tree

Brandy, let’s say you run eight hours now. You could use a timer to do 2h40m on, siesta, 2h40m on, siesta, 2h40m on, then nighttime. You might even find that with the breaks, you could get away with three hours per photoperiod after testing. Cheers

Mike, I would have to say both. 😊

The more I look at these smaller aquariums, the more interesting they become to me. Very nice....😎

😍 They are adorable. Like me! LOL

Never done either. Thanks Mick, and thanks for digging out the YouTube videos and dusting them off! Must try!

Unfortunately I have never been able to meet this standard and this point have given up even trying.

If we look back further, altering nature has always been a part of what we do. Landscapes, agriculture, corn, bonsai trees, potted plants, aquariums, animal domestication, pest control... all starting at least a few hundred years ago. Most of those were low-or-no tech changes (wiring a tree, moving trees and boulders, rotating crops, breeding corn, etc) but some have still been disastrous (introducing wildlife to Australia or Hawaii). I don't have a real moral line in the sand here myself but I think it's interesting that it seems to be in our nature to mess with nature. 🤷‍♀️

Thanks Dave! Blue Moscows are cool! Are you just a fan of the "moscow" or just like blue?

Very nice article, Mick. 👍

Here are some other generic tips for forums in general and Invision in particular: Unread Content is the best way to read the forum. Pick your favorite topics to read and respond to first, then refresh and see what else is going on. The dot next to a thread takes you to the first unread post of the thread. The title takes you to the first post. Cory chose the best current forum software, so the desktop and mobile interfaces are both easy.

That would be awesome!

I didn't have a microscope at the time, so I can't confirm if it was Columnaris or not, but I have treated some of my fish that had what looks similar to what your little corydoras are wearing. I used a combination of Nitrofurazone (Furan 2) and Kanamycin (Kanaplex) to knock it out. It was gone after the week's round of treatments. I simply followed the dosing instructions for both and treated the tank accordingly with both meds at the same time. Nitrofurazone combats gram positive and some gram negative bacteria, while Kanamycin treats gram negative and some gram positive bacteria. So they cover the whole spectrum on both sides. The tanks I treated had corydoras in them and they didn't seem to have any issues. Both manufacturers also say they are safe for sensitive fish. Disclaimer, this was before I had ever tried Maracyn and I haven't had it show up in any tanks since I added Maracyn to my arsenal.

They are active and pretty and the males do a funny little display dance with startlingly fancy fins that are otherwise folded flat, plus their pectoral fins look like ridiculous little antennae to me. Mostly it is the exotic finnage that makes them look like a "complicated" fish to me. They move like they are stop action somehow, dart, freeze, dart, freeze. 🙂 I think their other name is dwarf rainbow?

Conversely, I have been shocked at how easy the Pseudomugil gertrudae are....They look fussy.

Looks like Ladybird is growing nicely! I'm looking forward to seeing how she looks in the 800.

Thank you David

Sample some water in a white cup. If a bacterial bloom, the water will look clear in the cup. If algae, then green, etc.

What a happy aquarium! If I died and were to be reincarnated as a guppy, I would want to live in this aquarium!

This forum is a great idea and I hope to make a lot of new fellow-fish-lover friends here. Some of you already know me from several social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and YT. Currently I'm addicted to African Cichlids. That might change after a relocation at the end of this year. I believe I share Cory's passion for creating a place where fish keepers at all levels can exchange ideas and learn from each other, without the anxiety of possibly being made to feel stupid. Having places like this will ensure that our beloved hobby continues to attract new people who then can learn and grow. Thanks for letting me in. Here are a few pictures. Take care and be well.

I am so excited to be here. about a year ago I lept back into the aquarium hobby with both feet. As a kid I won a goldfish at the fair... and she lived for 12+ years in my 10 gal tank. At the time my mom thought I was neglecting Goldie, but now that I've learned more about the hobby, I'm betting I did JUST FINE. Sometimes procrastination is a good thing. Anyhoo, I was given a betta last summer when a friend from work moved onto another job. Instead of keeping it on my desk like she did, I brought it home for my daughter. Since she's a teenager, and into anything social justice related, the one gal tank was a NO GO. LOL. So, he quickly moved on up to a 20 Long. Within 6 weeks or so we had two 20 gal tanks, a 10gal, plus the one gal for fry brought home from petsmart... as well as a new to me 10gal for my desk at work. LOL. Anyway.. I'll take some pics of the tanks in the comments below. 🙂 they are a work in progress. tee hee. My big aquarium dream? Setting up a minimum of a 55gal, and making it an amazon biotope. specifically for the Violet Corydoras.. It'll be a Jamari River clearwater (floodwater- clearwater) setup... and I'm hoping to have it be a breeding project too.. so I'm trying to figure out the best species for it. Luckily I found a great Journal article (http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1676-0611-bn-2019-0803) with details of other fish in the areas, as well as collection locations.. My goal is to try to be as faithful as possible, to the biotope, but within my aquarium size & budget, and what is currently available for fish. If you've created a similar biotope, or have visited the area I'd love any insights you might have for me! 🥰 I created pinterest board: https://pin.it/36rJixl if you'd like to follow my planning process.

This is my first attempt, 75 gallon. I'm still letting the tank establish so no fish yet, just some crypts, Java fern, and snails. I plan on stocking it with larger bodied tetras and maybe a few angelfish.

I wish there was an underwater remote controlled submarine 4k camera that would swim in my aquarium and stream the results back to my phone. I could watch fish breed and check on fry from anywhere. And if I were in a boring meeting, I could get out my phone and watch my fish instead.

Good day! My name is Jimmy. Fish keeper for about 5ish years. Photographer/Videographer for 3 years. Human for 36. Being the editor for Aquarium Co-Op, I handle most videos, photos and graphics for a lot of what we publish. As for my aquariums, I like them green and neat. I focus mainly on community fish as some of my favorites are Celestial Pearl Danio's, Rainbowfish (Pseudomugil luminatus, Melanotaenia Herbertaxelrodi) and some fancy cories. I probably get it from my dad as he had several tanks during my childhood. My hobbies are a plenty but it usually involves a camera so instead of me explaining what I love, I'll show ya!

Jen, Every photographer has to find their "sweet spot", where shutter speed, aperture, ISO, camera, lens, even post processing software and plug-ins, come together. They each play a part in determining the "look" of the image, and the individual photographer's style. ISO and the corresponding "noise" that increases with raising the ISO, is subjective. As a professional, I've been known to "pixel peek" when processing my images. This comes from typically producing 40" prints or larger. So, being "nit picky" isn't necessarily a bad thing. What we need to remember is how is the image going to be utilized. If we are primarily creating images for use on the internet, and taking into consideration that some sites, like facebook, compress images further, ISO noise is much less a factor than if the image is going to be used for the production of large prints. Also, weened to remember, that most people will never "see" the things that we do. 🙂 The quality of image sensors has been improving ever since the introduction of digital imaging. Each new generation builds on the past and strives to improve in various areas of performance. I started out, back in 2001, with a Fuji S1, then moved to the Fuji S2, then moved to the Canon 5D, then moved to the Canon 5D Mk III, then moved to the Canon 5d MkIV, and now I have the Sony a7R IV. Each cane I made was because of the increase in image quality, noise reduction, and increased exposure range. One thing to remember is there is always a Price/Performance ratio that needs to be evaluated, and of course your budget. If I can't pay for a piece of equipment in a year with additional sales, then I have to seriously consider whether the investment is warranted. Lighting is always a factor, especially with photography. The color temperature of the light (kelvin scale) determines how the camera, or film, will see the image. This is sometimes confusing because our brains color correct based on perception, i.e., that piece of paper is white, so our brain corrects the image for us, so we "see" it as white. If you are going to shoot film, you will need to either make sure that your light source is daylight balanced, or buy CC (color correcting) filters to compensate for the kelvin temperature difference. This is where digital has a huge benefit over film. Are you going to use the additional light strictly for your fish photography, or will you be using it for other types of photography? If it's going to be for fish, I'd recommend Aquarium Co-Op's lights. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/pages/led-aquarium-lighting Not only will they give you more light, but they will allow you to grow plants. 🙂 There are many adapters for lenses. What we need to remember is that today's image sensors have better resolving power, in some cases MUCH better, and that older lenses may not be up to the task. You will need to test this before you invest in one. Most local camera stores will allow you to try an adaptor on your camera/lens before you buy it. Find one that allows this, take your gear, put the adapter on, and take a few test shots (at various apertures, and I recommend photographing a page of text from a magazine, etc.), then take the image files back to your computer and compare them, if you can, with images from other lenses. TLR, there's a term few will know. 😉 My first 120/220 camera was a Mamiya C330, and 55mm, 80mm, 135mm, and 250mm. Great memories! Hopefully you find this information helpful. 🙂 I'm always glad to help. I've been teacher/educator in the professional photography, collegiate field for 40 years. David