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They say, if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all . . . .

So as part of the last Brand Ambassador package sent out from Aquarium Co-op I received one of the Ziss ZET-65 Fish & Shrimp Incubators. Thank you Aquarium Co-op and their staff! Lets just shorten that to the Ziss Egg Tumbler. I unboxed it and was able to put it to immediate use with two spawns of my L201 large spot plecos. Short review, it works great! Id say it's the best egg tumbler that I've ever put to use, including those DIY ones I've made in the past. Some of the pros are: really good suction cups, the tumbler stands up on its own, easy to adjust the amount of tumbling action, bowl shaped bottom which keeps the eggs in the flow, and sturdy construction so you don't need to worry about it breaking. I know the new Co-op terry towel has been getting a lot of mileage and I will agree the towels included in the package are really nice.

Check out @Bentley Pascoeon YouTube. He's been doing a series on substrate and does pretty in depth explanations on the pros and cons of different types, including kitty litter of all things.

so i love going to stores and looking for jars, bowls, and other containers to make little jarrariums and terrariums. i came across 2 pretty decently sized bowls. these have been sitting in storage for a few weeks and i decided last night that i’ll make a shrimp bowl using only the materials i have in storage. anyone else constantly buying new stuff “to try” and is left with a very full storage room? in pretty happy with how it turned out, the opening of the bowl is about 9” and it is 12” at the widest. no filter and no heater. also sorry about the bad lighting and photos, 2am me apparently cannot work a camera. also unnecessarily difficult to take photos of bowls it turns out. step 1: i decided to use my favorite substrate combo which is fluval stratum mixed with fluorite dark i love the natural look and i find those two substrates mix well together for good plant growth step 2: i have this statue cave i bought online last year that i planned to use in a jar terrarium, never got around to doing it so i forced myself to use it as a centerpiece. step 4: i had exactly two pieces of spider wood that were small enough to fit into the bowl so those are the two pieces i shoved in. i did like how they branched out and gave the appearance of arms to the statue. step 5: i had a storage container full of seiryu stone from a previous build, unfortunately it was all pretty large pieces but i was able to pick a few to put in the bowl. the stone matched the appearance of the statue pretty well and i liked the look. i thought this was going to be the final resting place but i don’t trust those ikea wall shelves and there was barely any room for a light so i moved it to my plant stand. step 6: plants! i pulled plants from the medusa jungle tank and i had a little tissue culture package of s. repens i was saving for that tank. i also pulled a few plants from the goldfish tank. if anyone could ID the moss i have that would be very appreciated. plants used: crypt lucens, crypt wendtii, red giant jungle val (excited to see how this will look in here), java ferns, wisteria, s. repens, creeping jenny, unknown moss, dwarf hairgrass, deep red ludwigia, and a few floaters step 7: fill it up and add some bacteria booster. i keep a gallon of fritz zyme bacteria in the fridge i use and its worked well for me the water was foggy this morning (i didnt rinse the fluorite, oops) so i did a 50% water change. the water is still foggy in these photos but it’ll clear like always. i’ll post good photos once it has cleared! also the light is temporary, i didnt have any nice lights to use but i am going to swap it for a nice pendant light of sorts. the moss excited about this val and how it will look long term, these are baby shoots i pulled from the gf tank

I am not quite ready to stock the 1930s Historically Accurate Planted Aquarium with either fish or plants, but this morning in shifting aquariums around I need a place to stash some juvenile angelfish and some Vallisneria and Sagittaria, so in they went into the aquarium. Cricket has always been a big fan of angelfish, see earlier angelfish tank here So Cricket too went into the aquarium!

Here is a photo of the breeder box and a partially-assembled tumbler. I love how everything is so symmetrical. I am looking forward to trying them sometime in the future.

That fish is too big for that tank. Just sayin'. 😉

Hi There My name is Scott A. I live in Ontario Canada. I have a community tank (40G Breeder), Shrimp tank (5G counter top Wifes) and a shrimp/white cloud tank (10G). I currently have my Fluval 15 setup as a seperation tank because one of the German rams I purchased turned out to be a male and decided the 40g breeder wasn't big enough for two males. He's in the 15 with some moscow guppies. I live in an area with no LFS (only Petsmart) and no clubs so was hoping to find a community to learn from and contribute.

I loaded up several of my tanks with the Grech CBG-800. It has big rectangular baskets that are just like the AquaClear ones, but includes a surface skimmer and on-board 5w UV sterilizer. A real multi-tasker! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LY3YMHG $50 is not pricey when you consider the combined features. I remove the carbon containers and cut about 3 layers of Aquarium Co-Op coarse sponge, and layer those in first, topped with the white sponge that comes with it. For polishing, I top it off with a piece of blue & white floss. Turn the water flow down to minimum for the most hang-time with the UV element. I have three of these in my 20-longs!

Whatever HOB you choose pick one that has the pump in the tank not in the filter box. They’re dead quiet and don’t have issues restarting after a power loss. Most of my HOBs are the new versions of Penguins.

I think that's going to be very subjective, and the names are going to vary. For me, I would say grains around 1-2mm are just about perfect. I can still see individual grains at 3-4 feet distance. 🙂 Some people would call that fine gravel. Others coarse sand.

I'm fixin to do a re-watch of The League.

i just finished up monday’s livestream, the part where cory said that convicts get beautiful long fins if kept alone reminded me of the lone convict we have in the store. we don’t bring convicts in anymore and she’s the only one left. just wanted to share what healthy convict fins look like! id love to bring her home, maybe i’ll get a new tank set up.

I love the 40 breeder. It's easy to clean and not too big where you can still reach the bottom with your arm comfortably.

I feel exactly the same... I cannot even begin to count the hours I've spent watching Cory on YouTube learning. I love having that and this forum to grow and expand my knowledge. I've helped a few friends at work with that knowledge and it feels great.

Most things I’ve read say 8-12 weeks to morph. But I’ve also read that the Amanos need to breed in freshwater and the larvae transferred to something close to marine water to survive and mature. Information out there on this topic seems scant. Best of luck in your endeavors!

More small meals are better in some ways. That is how fish in the wild eat. But in other ways fish don't really have to eat on any particular schedule as that too is often how it is the wild. I have had adult angelfish that only got fed every 2 or 3 days and the water stayed very clean and the angelfish stayed very healthy. But on the other hand, I have had juvenile discus and juvenile angelfish that I fed 15 - 20 times a day because they were growing and to maximize growth they needed near continuous food. Most importantly just don't feed any more than the fish will eat in 2 - 3 minutes.

The favorite tank I currently have is my 20L. I have a 38 gal but the plants are getting too thick. My amazon sword sticks out of the water 2 or 3 inches and takes up about a third of the tank. If I get rid of the plant, the tank looks empty, and the heater and filter are too exposed. I would love to get something a little taller and a little longer and make it the centerpiece. But I think I’ll stay married

I'll share some 🙂 Sony a7iii, 90mm Macro

My tanks are scattered throughout my house and office, and I thought it would be fun to share them one at a time. Each has some sort of quirk that makes it special to me or my family. Hope you enjoy! Coming from the computer world, I have named each of my 12 tanks to make it easier to refer to them in conversation. "Atlantis" is easier to say than "the-top-middle-20-Long-in-the-office-with the-multies" Welcome to SHANGRI-LA aka "Livebearer Skittles" This 20-gallon long is the only tank in in my home with a highly unnatural background. I wanted to give the tank an overtly Asian theme, so the background doesn't convey anything lifelike. I found the dragon imagery online, made some changes with Photoshop, and then sent it out to be printed. (All links are non-affiliate.) EQUIPMENT 1. Filtration: Grech CBG-800 hang-on-back filter. I like this filter because its media section can work exactly like the AquaClear line, with foam blocks and lots of space. I added three layers of Aquarium Co-Op coarse sponge pads to the foam block it comes with. I also add a layer of blue-white floss, and I replace that every 1-2 weeks. This filter also has a surface skimmer, but for me, the extra benefit of this filter is the on-board 5 watt UV sterilizer! The whole thing is about $50, but I like combining my equipment when I can. 2. Heater: Orlushy 150 watt submersible heater. I like this brand because the back of it has no printing. I can turn it around facing the glass, yet the setting numbers are on the end, so I can see them from the side. 3. Air: I use an Aquarium Co-Op USB nano pump and a never-clog airstone on the side of the tank opposite the filter. 4. Circulation: I really like the Sun Sun JVP-110 wavemaker pumps, because they are very reliable and very low-cost. A two-pack can be had for under $20 and a four-pack for under $30. I aim mine directly at one of the rocks to disperse the current a bit. I also cover the pumps with these eFlux PreFilter sleeves, which protect the fish from getting sucked into the circulator. 5. Light: I'm really in love with the NICREW ClassicLED plus line of lights. They are quite a bit brighter than the Finnex Stingray, a lot less money, and only 18 watts for a 30" light (vs. 16 watts for Finnex). Sure, they may not last as long and there's not much of a warranty, but at $43 for 30", I'm not concerned. 6. Light timer: One advantage of using NICREW lights is that they have their own line of timers. I use this NICREW single channel timer to handle my day-night cycles, and it can even be programmed to do gradual sunrise/sunset dimming effects! The timer costs $13, which brings the light back up to a Stingray cost, but it's still brighter! 7. Feeder: I use the iLonda wi-fi auto-feeder on all of my tanks larger than 10 gallons. It costs $20 on Amazon, and is shaped exactly like the older Eheim auto-feeders. The down-side is that it must be plugged in (USB power), but the upside is that it can be controlled by wi-fi. I can trigger a feeding manually on my phone by talking to Alexa/Google Home, or on a timed basis. Calling out "OK Google, turn on the feeder" impresses the guests! DECOR 1. Substrate: I am using 40 lbs. of Carib-Sea Super Naturals Sunset Gold sand. I had hoped it would be more coarse than it is, but it still looks nice. 2. Rocks: I have six pieces of lava rock set up in a semi-circle, like stone pillars. I put the circulator behind one of them, which helps disperse the water flow a bit. 3. Dragon statue: Just your run-of-the-mill PetSmart decoration. 4. Plants: For greenery, I have a single Anubias nana. Being on its own, there is a lot more involved work keeping the light and nutrients balanced, and the plant is constantly struggling against algae. But I think the overall look is worth the effort! STOCKING This is a large livebearer "Skittles" tank, so the intent here was to stock it with a large variety of colors and styles of platies and swordtails, get them fully de-wormed and otherwise medicated well, and then feed them heavily to bring out the colors. These guys are ALL rescues from PetSmart. They've had a full round of each of the meds in the Med Trio (not just one dose), and are really bulking up and coloring up fast. The flurry of bright colors and fast motion makes this one of my favorite tanks. At last count, I had the following: - 2 koi swordtails - 1 old pineapple swordail - 4 sunburst platies - 2 gold dust platies - 4 blue wag platies - 2 red wag platies - 2 gold mickey mouse platies - 2 gold twin-bar platies - 1 panda platy - 1 hi-fin blue wag platy - 1 hi-fin orange mickey mouse platy - 1 black molly - 1 errant hatchetfish that survived a previous iteration of this tank MAINTENANCE I know, that's a lot of fish for 20 gallons. but my maintenance keeps the nitrates at bay: 50% water change and a filter pad cleaning every weekend. My auto-feeder provides a medium-small amount of Hikari micro wafers twice a day. I also supplement with frozen spirulina brine shrimp almost every day. I keep this tank on the top of a cheap Home Depot shelf rack in my home office: Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading! Bill

Hi all, Not sure how well the color from the pic will show this but I had stocked up on some of these a long time ago from the COOP and had kept them in pots when I finally planted them they have now turned almost like Pink Panther or something anyone else experience this? Maybe they were sold incorrectly?

New fish for the week of 8/31-9/6 Some super cute goldfish varieties in this week and some cool corydoras!😁 Frogs, Inverts, and Snails Amano Shrimp (medium sized on this lot) Cherry Shrimp Orange Shrimp Red Rili Shrimp Green Jade Shrimp Blue Velvet Shrimp Assassin Snail (just a few) Nerite Snail (Zebra) Mystery Snail (Gold) Goldfish Assorted Lionheads Red Cap Oranda Black Ranchu Bettas (All Betta Splendens Are Male Unless Noted) Veil Tail Crowntail White Platinum Crowntail Halfmoon Show Halfmoon Super Halfmoon Plakat Super Red (I love these, always have spunk) Gouramis And Other Anabantiformes Sunset Honey Gourami Sparkling Gourami Scarlet Badis (Wild Males, stunning once acclimated!) Leopard Bush Fish (Interesting oddball, really fun to watch stalking food) Cichlids German Blue Rams Gold Rams (Dean bred) Midnight Rams (Dean bred) Apistogramma Borelli "Blue" Apistogramma Cacatuoides "Orange Flash" Assorted Small Discus (Snow White, Yellow Melon) Corydoras And Other Catfish Corydoras Hastatus (Awesome little nano cory that is seasonal) Corydoras Sp. CW010 aka Orange Laser Cory Sterbai Cory Panda Cory Plecos L128 Blue Phantom Clown Pleco L264 Sultan Pleco Common Colombian Otocinclus L333 Yellow King Tiger Pleco (Dean bred) Loaches Kuhli Loach Reticulated Hillstream Loach Tetras Candy Cane Tetra (Absolutely LOVE these especially as they get bigger) Cardinal Tetra (Wild) Lemon Tetra Neon Tetra Red & Blue Colombian Tetra (Good big size tetra for cichlid tanks) Platinum Hatchet Barbs & Other Cyprinids Cherry Barb Panda Garra (Wild) Danios Kyathit Danio Celestial Pearl Danio Rice Fish Orange Medaka Rice Fish (Dean bred) Platinum Medaka Rice Fish (Cory bred) Rasboras Brigittae Rasbora aka Chili Rasbora Pygmy Spotted Rasbora Livebearers Assorted Endlers Male Assorted Fancy Female Guppies Assorted Fancy Male Guppies (Blue Variegated, Cobra Red, Red Mosaic, Flamingo, Sunset) Brazilian Green Moscow Guppy Pairs (Locally bred) Swordtails (Marigold) Limia Tridens Rainbows Neon Dwarf Rainbow Oddball Ornate Bichir

Old, newbie here. Dusting off and setting up my 50 gallon, corner aquarium for a freshwater community tank after a twenty-year hiatus! I am a one-tank hobbyist, not looking to intentionally breed fish, and might have a couple of live plants. Seems like most of the comments in this forum are from folks with much more sophisticated objectives and experience. 🙂 Spent the last week researching equipment and watching Cory's videos. Bought a Fluval 307 for my primary filtration - I had success with a Fluval canister in the past. Some questions: >> Secondary Filtration / Water Flow / Aeration: I'm under the impression that my Fluval 307 should be "enough" filtration. I plan on adding one of Aquarium Co-op's Pre-Filters. I am contemplating buying the Fluval Spray Bar Kit to help with dispersion of the outflow. Any suggestions on whether I should be complementing the canister filter with something else? (Sponge Filter / Air Stone / Air Pump. Nano Circulation Pump. Redundant Internal Filter (Ziss, Shark ADV)). Tank will be in my living room, so I would appreciate any recommendations for specific equipment that is quiet. (Over-the-back filters don't work with my corner tank.) >> LED Lighting: I'm intrigued by LED lighting that can be programmed / controlled by an iPhone app. The couple of threads that I've read on this topic seem to be oriented toward growing plants - versus just illuminating and not stressing the fish. My tank to has room for a ~28x4" or ~20x8" footprint. It is two feet deep, so would one lighting fixture be enough?? I would spend $150 on the Fluval Plant 3.0 if the technology & app features are much better than the $60 Fluval AquaSky 2.0. I also wouldn't shy away from the $30 Hygger or NICREW if they are excellent lighting with basic controlling / scheduling app features. Recommendations? Thanks, Bill

I have a pair of discus that have spawned for the third time in 6 weeks and they ate the eggs again. Eventually they’ll figure out those little round things they put on the filter intake aren’t for breakfast.

Here’s a couple things in my office First one is a jar with some mini hairgrass, salvinia, wandering jewel cuttings, some kind of anubias, a stray dwarf baby tears and a random pogostemon stellatus octopus cutting. It currently has a pond snail and two nerites This one is a future shrimp bowl. I think I may do a Skittles bowl in here with multiple colors. Haven’t decided yet. Only plants are dwarf hairgrass, moneywort, and salvinia. The hairgrass already needs a trimming. I like the magnification effect of many jars and bowls. Fun to play with the perspective of the scape using it.

Slow additions seems like a great idea! Thanks so much! I'll pick up three more today.

In general it is futile and even a mistake to chase numbers. If the fish are doing well, it is usually a good idea to quit while you are ahead. But as far as nudging water parameters goes, a little crushed coral never hurt anything. If the pH is low, the crushed coral will dissolve faster, if the pH is high the crushed coral (Calcium Carbonate) won't dissolve very fast. But usually if there any doubt, my first plan is to do nothing, wait a week and reassess later.

@ADMWNDSR83 Can you rephrase that. I think I know what you are asking, but I just want to be sure.

I like the 75/90 gallon. I really like the 48x18 footprint and a good sized water volume.

Congratulations friends! I'm new to fishkeeping and this forum. I am enjoying the content and ability to ask questions. Thank you all for the great platform.

Thank you. I think I'm going to try small amounts a couple times a day. I'll keep an extra close eye on them as I would really love to grow out the guppies and try breeding them for a few family members.

Amazon sword Bacopa caroliniana Rotala rotundifolia Vallisneria

My favorite background plant of all time is the Amazon sword. It's so easy to care for and grows to an impressive size. They do really well with root tabs. I know you weren't huge on the idea due to the size, but there are several varieties that may provide the difference in texture/appearance that you desire.

The main benefit I've seen from feeding multiples times/day is that it helps my slower eaters compete for food. With larger feedings, some fish will pick up 1-2 bites and then they're done, while other fish of the same species could eat several times more than that because they're eating what's left after the less aggressive feeder is done. Smaller feedings worked for me because it helped spread the food more evenly between the fish who are satisfied after a couple of bites vs. the ones that will always eat more.

I bought one of these back in May/June, tried it with Rice fish eggs in the same tank as the rice fish and then a month or so later i tried it with Kilifish eggs in the same tank as the kilifish, in both cases the eggs turned black with in a few days and never hatched. With more people getting these I am looking forward to the increase in available information concerning them, maybe I'll be able to figure out what I've been doing wrong.

As Candi mentioned they are very heavy root feeders, so you will want to get yourself some root tabs and place them in the gravel around your crypts. Also crypts can be very sensitive to changes. Do you just pour your water in over that crypt when you do water changes, because if you do it could be the temperature difference from the water change that hits the leaves and sends the plant into shock. If so try using a colander or your hand to disperse the water more evenly when adding it.

I'd plumb it with upgrading in mind for the future. It's only a matter of time before an affordable bluetooth solution will come to the market.

Some states prohibited the use of studs, so always check what your state allows. I am not a fan of studded tires, because I feel it gives people a false sense of security that they can drive faster in the winter. I just prefer my snow tires, four wheel drive, and two 80lb bags of sand in the truck bed for added weight and in case you get stuck bust out the sand for traction!

If they are spawning they are happy. I have 5 that I house together in a 125 with a bunch of other fish. The fighting during feeding is pretty normal. They were also square off quite a bit. This is typical behavior and they never really hurt each other. These fish are a lot of fun. Hopefully on of your spawns will hatch and you will get more.

NANO-POND #6: Last, but not least, the daphnia culture. It's still going strong! I harvest heavily every couple days to feed all my tanks. The foam you see here is from the spirulina powder I use. When the water begins to clear I either dump in a gallon of green water or a heaping tablespoon of spirulina powder (usually pre-stirred in a cup of water). The dark patches you see are what happens when I don't pre-mix the powder. 🙂 As you can see, still going strong after several weeks. Two secrets with daphnia: Harvest heavily to keep them from over-populating, and keep the water slightly murky with food. Thanks for looking at my little slide show! Bill

OVERALL PICS First a couple comparison pics, from a couple different angles. Click to enlarge.

Are we using root tabs? Crypts are heavy root feeders, and benefit from root tabs greatly. Looks like some deficiencies that root tabs could help. Trimming dying or damaged leaves can promote new growth.

The apricot chicken from hello Fresh is a hit at my house too. My oldest son works for them

See the thing with round yellow cap? That was the mixing valve I used for aquarium water. Notice that is unconnected? It was a bit fiddley and I did not find it particularly useful either. Seemed like a good idea on paper, but not so much in real life. The rest of the system automation including automatic water changes has been critical to my long term success, but sadly not the temperature mixing valve.

I have seen in several videos that they have used a single handle shower control valve, which is probably cheaper than going with a thermostatic valve. I would just have a place where i could put an inline thermometer to monitor the temp.

I noticed in @Bob's latest video that @Randy is using, what looks to be a shower mixing valve. I doubt the brand really matters except for the availability of replacement parts. I thought that was a pretty good idea, maybe he can elaborate on it.

Yesterday I took my first batch of platy fry to my local fish store. It was my first time ever selling and I was super nervous. Would they like them? Would I "do it right"? Would the fish transport nicely and show well once we got there? The store asked that I bag the fish in a gallon ziploc, and just for fun I used my USB nano air pump to throw an air stone in the bag for the 30 minute ride to the store. I think it helped make a positive impression when I delivered. It was a great experience. The store owner LOVED all 10 fish and offered cash or store credit right out of the gate. I told her I'd happily take the store credit and would follow up soon to see how the fish did for her. She said she expects them to do great and hopes that I bring lots more, and said any other livebearers I wanted to breed would have a buyer waiting. I'm so encouraged.

That looks like an awesome tank! Welcome!

Beautiful buce! Welcome, and hi from Seattle!