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It's been a stickerful week. Although, this is probably going to be the least popular sticker in the collection. I mean, the Vienna Guppy is ooooK. 🤣

bOOM

I just tied the actual razor blade before going to chemicals and to my surprise it actually worked (whole lot better than the plastic scraper) I had to scrub each spot roughly 5 times a bit more on the thicker spots but after about a hour and 15min. It looks a whole lot better a whole lot of scraping but it was probably worth not resorting to chemicals

I thought fish keepers were required to use the soap with the fish on the label?

The rating/history thing on Aquabid is very useful but you have read between the lines also. What I mean is that there are some very good fish people who are good shippers that possibly have some crappy feedback. Case in point: Shipper has 521 ratings Shipper has 31 negative ratings 4 of the negative ratings are in the last month Those 4 negative ratings are extremely harsh, "Guy is total rip-off artist" or "Complete scam, don't buy from this person" Could be sketchy buying from this person right? Look more closely All 4 negative ratings came from 2 buyers Both buyers were 0/0 meaning they have never received any feedback good or bad, i.e. they were new to Aquabid Other buyers with say a 359/361 rating (long time well respected users) were very positive about their transactions One the best indicators is that the seller has done many transactions. The fact you have survived over time speaks volumes. Anyone can be mad at you for any reason and when something goes wrong malice is suspected instead what is more probable which is just a mistake instead. And one final thing. People who sell fish on Aquabid are an unusual lot. Treat them gently and respectably. No sudden moves and keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times. Pay quickly. Communicate with them constantly and clearly. Read the fine print on the ad 2 or 3 times. Maybe the seller only takes money orders and you only do PayPal. And if they do a good job but 1 out of the 20 fish you bought dies...don't harass them about it. Be happy about the 19 that made it and leave them good feedback.

New fish for the week of 9/13-9/20 Not a bad list got some cool bettas and plecos in, plus a real unique oddball. Frogs, Inverts, and Snails African Dwarf Frog Amano Shrimp Bamboo Shrimp Cherry Shrimp Orange Shrimp Blue Velvet Shrimp Red Rili Shrimp Yellow Shrimp (Back in stock!) Nerite Snail (Olive and Red Spot) Mystery Snail (Black) Assassin Snail Goldfish Red Cap Orandas (Nice size little bigger than a golf ball and have a nice Wen forming) Bettas (all betta splendens are male unless noted) Veil Tail Black Orchid Halfmoon Halfmoon Dragon Scale Halfmoon Dumbo Ear Betta Strohi aka Blue Ninja Betta (Super cool looking) Gouramis and other Anabantiformes Powder Blue Dwarf Female Gourami Sunset Honey Gourami Pearl Gourami Scarlet Badis Cichlids Common Krib (Nice size on this lot) Corydoras and other Catfish Bronze Cory Albino Cory Corydoras Similis Corydoras Hastatus Panda Cory Pygmy Cory False Julii Cory Plecos Super Red Bristlenose Pleco (locally bred) L018 Gold Nugget L134 Leopard Frog Pleco Colombian Otocinclus Loaches Golden Dojo Loach Reticulated Hillstream Loach Kuhli Loach Rosy Loach Tetras Cardinal Tetra (Wild) Ember Tetra Glowlight Tetra Green Neon Tetra (Back in stock!!) Neon Tetra Barbs and other Cyprinids Albino Veil Tail Cherry Barb Danios and Minnows Giant Danio Kyathit Danio Glowlight Danio Burmese Hikari Danio (Super cool danio thats sexually dimorphic color wise) White Cloud Minnow Rasboras Green Neon Rasbo Brigittae Rasbora Exclamation Rasbora Pork Chop Rasbora Livebearers Assorted Male Endlers (Lime Green and Scarlet) Assorted Fancy Female Guppies Assorted Fancy Male Guppies (Blue Variegated, Flamingo, Japanese Blue Lyretail, Tequila Sunrise, Leopard Tail, and Red Snakeskin) Gold Lyretail Mollies Blue Tuxedo Platies Red Tuxedo Swordtails Killifish Clown Killifish Norman's Lampeye Oddballs Zig Zag Eel Palauan Riffle Dwarf Goby Dolphin Mormyrid (Tank Raised and super cute)

Fish police here, those species are not compatible.

1930’s WPA poster

I’ve gotta know if anyone else had a similar or even crazier boot. I largely ignore Facebook groups....my town’s group is insane. I happened to be on Facebook you checking my notifications and looked at the one betta group notification. Below I saw a post of a girl’s betta in a store cup. She uses it to remove it for cleaning.... it said how the fish was acting lethargic and had not eaten in a week. Nothing else. I saw one comment asking parameters and others just listing meds. I would say it’s unbelievable but it happens daily. I commented that removing the betta was not advised for cleaning. Asked, parameters, tank size, filter and heater. The girl had only said “good” for parameters and “decent” for tank size in a group that says it doesn’t condone less then 2.5 gallons but it’s constant. Another person commented that she hated seeing these posts constantly and without more information people would kill the fish with their misguided advice. I agreed that it would be nice if the admins stepped in with having people list the basic information but I asked and couldn’t force her to answer. All of my comments were deleted. >< Not even the girl complaining about people asking questions. I asked the admin in a message and she was such a flake. Sadly she wrote a book on bettas she says she just released. I was muted and could not get through to her that listed qualified breeders and sellers helped people not buy from petsmart and petco which they say they are against....but you can’t mention breeders.... So that’s my story and I just want to say “Thank you.” For all the folks on the board. 20 years keeping bettas....I know I speak in a very “to the point manner” but she’s got a fish laying on its side in an inch of water. Any words of encouragement welcome....that losing faith in humanity feeling is sure common this year.... Just keep swimming.

Saw this on Facebook today:

Seachem Tidal series. Saw it on Prime Time Aquatics YouTube channel. It has a built-in skimmer AND it's self priming! Super quiet too.

Agreed. The gobies will tell you if they're not happy. 🙂 In my opinion (and I believe I've heard in many livestreams), an "ideal" setup is irrelevant if the fish aren't stressed. Excessive nitrates can be a stress factor. Lack of space can be a stress factor. And so on. Ultimately, I view our "job" as fishkeepers is to remove stress. It looks fantastic, and I don't think you're overstocked. But I wouldn't trust me on that front. 😉

Moved the gobies this AM, so far so good as they explore and cling to walls with their little monopods. Technically, all 3 are semi-visible in this shot... And here is a time lapse because let's face it they're not very fast. This might be a dumb question but how would I know if this was too little space? The 10g felt a little large but they were too nippy to add other fish. Should I be watching behavior and nitrates as my primary metrics?

I finally have guppies, sort-of.

Early fall in the Mad River Valley, Vermont.

I like the embers over the espies. Napoleon has a lot of dark, I would pick something bright/lighter for contrast, and I think the embers are brighter. Glowlight tetras are also bright, or green kubotai rasboras. There are some really pretty yellow tetras at the Co-Op, I forget their name...Silvertips! I think that is it. Thanks google.

Shrimp enjoying some monte carlo

Quicker is better. Overnight is better. Overnight can be twice as expensive and I often choose that because I want the least amount of stress on the fish. That being said, I have had plenty of 3 day shipments on Aquabid with about the same results as overnight shipments, that is, all the fish were in reasonably good shape. I have had a couple of shipments that took 5 days from Aquabid and the fish were in reasonably good shape. When there have been deaths, it was something like 2 died out 15 fish in transit. Or this week I got a shipment where 1 died out 20 fish in transit. The biggest potential problem is that if 1 fish dies in a bag, its ammonia can quickly degrade all the other fish in the bag. Many shippers bag each fish separately. You would be shocked how long 1 fish can live just fine in a teeny weeny bit of water. I have plop and dropped fish that have been on the road for 3 days and 5 minutes later they are perky and eating food like nothing unusual just happened. Others take a couple of days to fully wake up after shipping trauma.

Spot treatment with liquid carbon (e.g. Easy Carbon, Flourish Excel) in a pipette worked well for me! I treated the plants while they were submerged underwater, and turned off the filter for a few minutes to let it soak. I usually have to wait 4-7 days before I see any effect on the algae. Highly recommend. 👍 Bolbitis before treatment: Bolbitis after 2 liquid carbon spot treatments (about 2 weeks apart):

Wow! That is the most POSITIVE I have ever seen for internal tape worms..unless you fed something completely white lately... This is a great example for all viewers. Although not all poop is this long beware.

I have 3 Aquaclears, a 70 and (2) 20's. The 70 is a little noisy (the top has a rattle), but the 20's are very quiet. I like the Aquaclears becasue they are so easy to modify. For instance, in my 70, I have 2 sponges and Purigen (to take the tannins out) on the inside, but on the 2 20's, I have 1 sponge and a Co-Op pre-filter. Also, "parts" are VERY easy to get for the Aquaclears. I'm setting up another tank in November and I'm torn between the Aquaclear 30 and the Tidal 35. I don't think I've seen a bad review on the Tidal. Depending on the day, I go back and forth.

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!

Hot off the presses. Will be available soon!

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

Hello, My name is Rick and I joined to share experiences and gather information for my stocking/care plans. Its actually been about 20 years now since I last had an aquarium and I was quite young then. My fiance has been keeping a 10 gallon for the last year or so with some harlequins, a few corys and a bristlenose. We recently got a 75 gallon and got it setup with live plants and a school of 6 congo tetras. The plan is to move the bristlenose over to the 75 here soon and the corys once the newer ones get a little bit bigger. We want to make a few ropefish the core fish of the 75 gallon but what little information there is online for them seems to vary wildly on their size and care so I'm hoping to talk with more people who have had them. Here are some pictures of one of the corys and bristle in the 10 gallon and some of the 75 gallon with the congos. Edit: Im waiting for some Crinum Calamistratum to come in stock at Co-op to order with some root tabs, I want to put it behind the right side of the driftwood arch to give a good focal point. that and I'm a sucker for long wavy plants. (sorry for the varying picture quality there seems to be some compression issue with some of them, I will get more later tonight)

this is one of my favorite plants, it grows well and really fills out large tanks. i have some growing in a high tech set up and the leaves start turning purple once they are about 4-5” from the surface. easy way to add color to all the green! anyone else getting this with their pogo? any other plants that surprised you with their color? i wasn’t aware when i got it that it does turn purple in high tech.

I really like the Macmasteri. Very good looking fish. Still looking for females though. They each have their own 20 gallon set up. They're a bit shy, probably because they're alone at the moment.

Great perspective @Daniel. Best advice is things to think about and questions to ask. seller has about 130 comment. 113 unique people. One neutral, and none negative. Not the largest sample but enough to get a feel. Looking at 4 Apistos, so loss of one is 25%. But maybe I can ask for individual bags. I might pay a little more but worth it to reduce risk to the fish.

just keep swimming is very good advice, but hard to do sometimes. I am right there with you, every day seems crazier than the last.

I just received a shipment of fish off Aquabid yesterday that was shipped on the 12th, so about 5 days in the mail. They were shipped from Florida to Pennsylvania. I had no losses. This is largely impacted by how well and experienced the seller is. I would only buy from someone with excellent feedback and a lot of it especially at a time like this. Also check to see if they are still guaranteeing "live arrival".

I've never purchased the Top Fin bulbs before, but here are the instructions I used to plant my dwarf aquarium lily bulb: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/dwarf-aquarium-lily-bulb-only I just rested my bulb on top of the substrate (no burying, completely submerged underwater) and waited for it to sprout. Once the shoots started coming out, I slightly pushed the bulb into the Eco-Complete substrate (while making sure not to cover the area where the shoots emerged from) so that the bulb wouldn't roll around as much. As you can see, most of the bulb is still above ground, but now it's grown roots into the substrate and has firmly anchored itself. Hope that helps! Day 1: Week 1: Week 2: Week 4:

Happy Birthday! 🥳 A Fluval Flex 15 would make a very nice Apisto tank. There's so many to choose from. Would love to see pics once it's up and running and stocked.

I think your set up is great at this point. If you are wanting to get more growth, you would need a substrate at the bottom of the tank that promotes that. I use eco-complete and let the nitrates in the water do the rest. With the lights on for 12 hours and watching the algae growth under the tank lights for shading, this helps my plants grow at the rate they need. I am constantly researching the best way to grow them too! I want faster growth, but honestly, some plants won't grow as fast as we want them without the fertilizer properties in the water by the fish waste, or by using fertilizer.

Watching cobra Kai. Still need to catch up with the final season of Future Man. Looking forward to the hour long covid special of South Park, and of course mandalorian season 2 whenever that may come. Watching The Boys every Friday.

First off....Happy Birthday! That tank would be perfect for either species you mentioned. If you're wanting to do some breeding, then go for an Apisto species, and you can have some small tetras or rasboras something swimming in the mid and upper levels of the tank. Good luck and be sure to show off whatever you decide to do.

I have no experience with this, I’m trying Apistos out for the first time. But! I can tell you what I think, and am planning on trying. I haven’t ever used a planted substrate before but I definitely want to try it. So I got some eco-complete for my Apistos and I’m going to see how it works out, I think it will work out great! I also want to try shrimp with them. I plan on setting up a colony in a separate 10 gallon Tank, so that if some of the shrimp get eaten I can add more and more until they are able to get their numbers stable with the apistos. these are my plans and experiments I want to try, and I hope I can pull some of it off.

Hello Loach.

I have had fish eat them, when they surfaced, accidentally. While we don't want them to eat them regularly they are safe, my fish had no ill effects from the root tabs. Pushing them as far into the substrate, down to the glass is ideal.

I used fake plants to fill in while live ones grow. As the live grew, I'd remove the fake ones. Honestly, some of my favorite tanks I've done were artificial or half and half.

Well besides the obvious suggestion of any moss, I would suggest bolbitis difformis or bolbitis fern as another rhizome plant that can be attached. Another plant you could use is pearl weed, would require frequent trimming. You could also do monte carlo, but pearl weed is much easier and almost always rock solid in low tech setups. Sometimes monte carlo can be hit or miss. Best of luck!

@IreneI really like the look of your tank. I am contemplating trying my first planted tank in a 10g. Thank you for sharing and listing the plants used.

Traps will get the big ones and control numbers... They really do work with the right type of bait. There are harsher chemical treatments but they can kill some fish and snail species so, it's really dependent on the tank.

So awesome, going to have to order product soon.

Well you could run the new and old one at once if possible

I imagine this is the layout of @Cory's new house 😄

I only have success with spot treatment. BBA is very resilient and it probably won't die off if you just dose the recommended amount in your tank, but if you overdose it'll have adverse effect on the other critters.

I finally mounted the TV in my bedroom. Quite the relaxing view.