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A journal for the tank I re-do most often! I've re-scapped this 75 gal tall tank several times in the last 2 years. The height makes it difficult to work on, so my most recent scape was done with the goal not having to stick my arm in the tank so often. This tank is a unique size, 36" wide, 30" tall and 16" deep. It was a lucky craigslist find, with the wooden stand and cap. Most recent re-scape: Timeline October 2018 - Discus & Driftwood May 2019 - A sad amazon sword and some driftwood (we had just moved, so tank was emptied out. Discus moved to a 120 gal in the new house) August 2019 - Plant overload! Looked wild, but was way too much work to maintain. February 2020- planted jungle val in the background and tiger lotus in the foreground. The tiger lotus got HUGE, and I let it go for a bit. May 2020- Overgrown! July 2020- The val became too much to keep up with, so it all came out a few weeks after this photo August 2020- Totally cleaned out the tank, re-did the substrate (dirted with sand cap) Sept 2020- This has been set up for about 4 weeks, and needs a few months to grow in. For this, I purposely went with slow growing and easy to maintain plants. I want to add more buce around the rockwork. My eventual goal is to wean it off co2 and add altums (which are currently growing out in a bare bottom tank) Oct 2020 Thanks for looking!

Hello! I'm Jessica, from New England. I love planted tanks and all sorts of fish. I'm currently keeping 8 or so tanks, with discus, guppies, CPDs, lots of different shrimp, and more. My newest addition is a school of wild caught Altums, which I'm doing my best to acclimate to my water and eventually move into a planted tank. I'll be starting a journal thread about the Altums to track their (hopeful) growth into adults. Here are a few of my tanks & fish-

My latest project in the realm of angels are five of these F1 Pterophyllum scalare 'Manacapuru Red Shoulder' imported from Germany. Fingers crossed!!!!! 🙂

I had a surprise Sunday delivery of substrate, so I finished putting it in the 55 gallon. I also planted all the stuff I had on hand, but I am waiting on some nana petite and some micro sword from the Co-Op to complete it. Just waiting for it to cycle now, so I can get my first rainbow fish.

Good morning on this fine MEME MONDAY!

One week ago, after over a year of waiting, I got the text from my LFS - the altums were landing at the airport that day. They'd told me a week ago they were ordered, so I already had my QT tank up and ready. It was the LFS' first time ordering Altums from Colombia, and he wasn't sure how they would come in. It would also be my first time seeing Altum angels in person. I'm no expert by any stretch. I enjoy my few tanks, and seem to do well with plants and discus. Most importantly, I really enjoy the hobby. The point is, this is just my journal about what I did, and is not meant to be a guide in any way. It was difficult for me to find any info on how to acclimate these delicate wild caught beauties. One site says keep them 78f to minimize bacterial infections, since bacteria multiply faster at higher temps. Another says 86f is best. Most just say only buy tank raised Altums, as wild caught are impossible for a non-professional. Some recommend a PH of 5.5 and half a dozen indian almond leaves. Others say a PH that low is dangerous, and 6.5-7 should be the goal. So, I'm gonna document here what I did, and what the results were- and continue to be. Here's what my altums look like today, a week after I got them: STATS- QT tank is a bare bottom 20 gal high, running between 80-81F with an inkbird temp controller, a pre-cycled ziss filter, & a UV sterilizer. PH is about 6.6, TDS is 30-40 (these are parameters from my tap, I have very soft water from a well), GH & KH are both 1ish. I decided not to try chasing any values and just acclimate them to my tap water, since it's already very soft. I do two daily water changes of 30%, and vac the bottom every day. My tap water has very little ph swing, so I don't age it. **I will be moving these fish to a 75 gal aquarium once they're done with QT, and have larger tanks available if needed down the road. I'm fully aware a 20 gal is not suitable long term for altums. But it is a good option for me for medicating and keeping water quality perfect over the next few months, and these fish are small right now.** I started with 7 wild caught Colombian Atabapo Altums, 6 small (quarter) size and one larger (3") size. Day 1- I asked the store owner to let me meet him as he arrived from the airport, and to not even open the bag of altums. I didn't want him to acclimate them to his water, then have me stress them again with another switch to my water. My LFS is also an importer, so these Altums came directly from an exporter in Colombia. When I got home I drip acclimated them. Before opening the bag, I made sure to have a few drops of prime ready detox the ammonia. For acclimation, I considered the "plop and drop" method that is has been recommended to me by discus sellers in the past, but decided to go with drip acclimating for 1 hour. Since I didn't know the chemistry of the water they were coming from, I didn't know how big of a shock a "plop and drop" would be. The downside to the drip acclimation is that the fish would be in the high ammonia shipping water for longer. I hoped the prime would detox the ammonia, so added that immediately after opening up the bag, and dripped acclimated them for an hour. I also had an airstone running in the bag during this time, with very low pressure. Would plop and drop have been better? Not sure. Meds- After drip acclimation, I did a 30 minute methylene blue dip in a separate container, both for it's benefits of helping with nitrite poisoning and to kill any external parasites & fungus, then added the fish to the tank. In the tank (20 gal) I had 2 large Indian Almond leaves, 4 tablespoons of API aquarium salt, Seachem Stressguard, and Seachem Sulfaplex. I chose sulfaplex because I've had success with it in discus, and I've read it's among the most gentle medications on fish. I do plan to de-worm, but I'll start that week 2. I didn't want to add too much stress with multiple medications, and my main concern in the first days are bacterial infections. Food- By 2pm on day 1 I had the altums acclimated and in the tank. Around 6pm that evening, I offered them a few live black worms from my own culture. Only 3 of the 7 ate a few blackworms. Condition- All had beat up fins and ammonia burns, but all were swimming well. They were terrified of their own shadow, and spent most of the first 24 hours hidden in the back of the tank. A few brave fish would dart out for a blackworm, then go back to hiding. I kept a towel over half the tank to keep it dark and help minimize stress. Altums on day 1: Day 2- I woke up to one altum oozing what looked like pus from it's gill plate, but otherwise swimming normally. I separated the sick fish into a specimen container and dosed the container with a few drops of methylene blue. Within 2 hours the fish was swimming erratically & headstanding. It passed a few hours later (RIP little altum), and I buried the little guy in my rose garden. Photo below is the sick altum. The white stuff seemed to ooze out, and squiggles of what looked like pus fell from the fish every few minutes. I suspect this was some kind of internal infection. Maybe I should have hit them with more antibiotics on day one? This fish died about 3 hours after the photo was taken. The other 6 altums were all doing okay. They still had fin damage, ammonia burns, and one fish (pictured below) had a red spot and issues with it's slime coat that were concerning to me. I continued my regimen of aquarium salt, sulfaplex and stressguard, redosing after every water change. I began feeding live baby brine shrimp on day 2, which they all devoured until their bellies bulged. I think the boost in nutrition was huge in healing up these little guys. Day 3-6 Feedings of live baby brine shrimp and live blackworms continued. They all became more active daily, and on day 3 removed the towel covering the tank. I did dip the fish with the red spot in a methylene blue bath for 30 minutes on day 3 and day 4, to help sterilize and clear up any infections in the wound. Day 7 All six altums are doing well. They've also started eating freeze dried Australian blackworms, which they are munching on in the video below. I can no long pick out which fish had the red spot – it has completed healed up. Their fins still look a little ragged, but are on the mend. If there's interest, I'll keep updating this over the coming weeks and months. Thanks for reading.

Behold the lords of Atlantis.

How to tell the difference between a pond snail and a bladder snail! :3 Easiest and fastest way to tell is if it has thin, thread-like feelers, its a bladder snail, thick triangular stubby nubs and it's a pond snail.

I totally hope to do the same thing! Good to know that pearl weed needs medium light. My favorite plant is currently the dwarf aquarium lily. I've had it for 1.5 months now and it's finally growing huge, bronze-colored leaves with wavy edges that really stand out against the rest of the surrounding green plants. Yesterday I saw the first lily pad making its way up towards the water surface. I'm growing it in low lighting, no CO2 and using Easy Green and Easy Root Tabs for fertilizers.

I've been compiling a reading list, preferably for planted aquariums though anything is welcome. Please comment anything that you have read and enjoyed or have on your own freshwater aquarium reading list! Currently I have: The Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad Sunken Gardens: A Step-by-Step Guide for Planting Freshwater Aquariums by Karen Randall

I just remembered I trimmed it just last week here's how it looks right now today

Well whaddya know apparently i have bladder snails and ive just been calling the, pond snails this whole time. Thanks for the info @H.K.Luterman

Yeah, I wanted floating plants in this one so the top sponges are diffusers and the intake is to keep out fry and shrimp. Swapped sides on the HOB and got the bigger Co-op sponge. But coming along nicely so far.

The angel fry definitely like them!

I had gotten bladder snails from local shops, hitchhiking on plants. But the Co-op gave me pond snails on an order and I was stupidly excited. Yay, new snail! Here's how you can tell the difference!

I did my first batch of online fish ordering last winter, and while we don't get anywhere close to Wisconsin or Minnesota temps here in Colorado, we get some sub zero temps and a lot of single digit lows. I ended up paying for overnight shipping for some of my orders when the weather wasn't looking like it was going to be decent for a week or two, everything shipped, and everyone made it here safely.

I have kept angels and discus together many times. I kept the water temp 82-84 and they did fine together. As long as you can make sure everyone eats their fair share, keep up water changes you should be fine.

From the photo, it looks like a pond snail, but it is hard to tell from that angle. The best way to tell is looking at them from behind. The spire (pointed part of the shell) points to the right on pond snails, and to the left on bladder snails. Pond snails also have thicker more triangular shaped antennae, where bladders are more long and stringy.

IDK why but this one got me good.

Not sure if you guys have seen this one yet or not.

(Found on Reddit)

29 gallon long with 3 Reticulated Hillstream Loaches and about 20 Neon Tetras. I am going to keep the water a little on the cooler side at 75-76 degrees. I want to get a centerpiece fish, single or pair that will not go after fry and that is also shrimp safe. Any ideas for me?

Awesome, thanks so much, exactly the type of feedback I was looking for! .

That rainbow shiner is beautiful. 🌈

Putting veggie slices on a suction cup clip has worked well for me. It seems to be a little easier for them to transition to because its a very natural way for them to eat. I do thick peels of zuchini, cucumber, squash, sweet potato, spinach(basically whatever i have around) and microwave the piece in water for 30 seconds. Ill leave it in for a day or 2. Do this and i guarantee youll have fat bellied oto’s.

Totally following your progress both here and on Youtube......also catching up with all your old Youtube videos - it's Aquarium Co-op all the way - even here in New Zealand - I am so jealous of all those people in the US who have access to all your wonderful products.......

For anyone following or searching in the future, everything seemed to work out well, he’s a little stressed in this photo as he was just removed from the QT tank and placed back in his regular tank. There appears to be a few marks from the infection but all in all he’s looking pretty good.

Got a Lot done today. Did a water change in Dragon’s 5.5 gallon betta tank. I recently trimmed the water sprite I got from the CoOp because it’s going absolutely bonkers rn. I cleaned out some hair algae and scrubbed the beginnings of brown spot algae off the glass. I’m propagating pothos in the back right now and I started an avocado pit floating. I had some success with the avocado in the past but I tried transplanting it to soil and it died, so now I’m starting another one. I also am getting my 10 gallon tank underway (finally) because im going to do a bit of a swap. I’m gonna dose KanaPlex and aquarium salt in the 10 gallon and move Dragon over to help with his Popeye, and I’m gonna grab a betta at my LFS (which I just got a job at) and put it on Dragon’s tank while I get either my 20long or my other 5.5 from my storage unit and clean/set it up. There was still some leftover from the dead rat in the 10 gallon so I’m gonna run it with carbon and do some rounds of water changes over the next few days while letting it cycle. When I’m satisfied with its cleanliness I’ll do the swap. Ive also thought through what I wanna do stocking wise, and I think for the 20 long in addition to the 2 Plecos and the 3 pea puffers from home, I’m gonna try to do some celestial pearl danios. I also wanna try a species of corydora but I’m not sure which (I am open to suggestions so lmk). Now that I have a job I’m much more motivated to get things moving in the fish room since money has been really tight for me for the majority of this year due to losing my job because of covid-19. I also realized that my hang on back has adjustable flow, I’ve had it since 2018 😅 shoutout to my roommate for essentially giving me all my supplies for our first tank. Anyways, I setup the air pump and am running both tanks off this blue tetra pump so I can have my USB nano one free in case of emergencies. Stay tuned for when I start setting up my other tanks and get this fishroom further along in its journey.

I have a lot of favorites, but I'd have to put pearl weed at number 1. It grows really well in my water, and if you're diligent and okay with the initial tedium of trimming and planting stems, it makes for an excellent medium light carpet. The carpet in all these tanks is a year's worth of pearl weed from a single aquarium co-op pot.

I am sure this was mentioned a few times on streams but why did the coop drop the Fluval E series heaters? I have been running one for about 2.5 years with out issues. Recently though after water changes I plug it back in and it will read a low temp. as compared to my temp gun and glass thermometer. I wait ten minutes unplug it and then plug it back in and it reads normal. Which I might not have noticed if it wasn’t for the digital display. I also run Aqueon Pros with out issues. I will be looking into a controller though, thanks for the info on that.

First time I'm trying these after looking at @Irene's video. Cheap clip on Staple's light with a 40 watt bulb keeps the temperature right where you want it.

They do have call ahead for your curbside orders, but I've had issues with our FLS before and felt cheated. So with them, I prefer to know exactly what I'm getting.

October is garlic planting time. Found this little red belly snake (Storeria occipitomaculata) while putting the cloves in. @Taylor Blake might know more about the ID if I am not right.

Just got my latest order complete with krill flakes. Good news, fish love them. Bad news, cats and dogs do too.... much begging commenced.

Congrats on the year! It's easy to support the Co-Op since besides how much they do for the hobby, their prices are pretty darn good and you know it's always a good product. I've only been back into the hobby for about 3 months now, but I've placed 5 of the free shipping orders and I'm about to put in my 6th. Love getting that box.

Those are cool tanks!

Not a sexy plant, but if I could only have 1 plant, it would be hornwort. Because: Easy to grow (or hard to kill), absorbs nitrates like a sponge I never cycle my aquariums - my method is to fill a new tank with water from established tank and throw in hornwort and voilà, instant aquarium! I don't run tops on my aquariums because I am too lazy to be bothered opening the lid, and hornwort represses jumping Hornwort provides a place for fry to hid while they mature Bubblenest builders like bettas and sparkling gouramis readily build bubblenests in hornwort Can be found growing in most road side ditches in the coastal areas of North Carolina, so is a native plant at least for me Holds blackworms at the surface for days at time so surface feeding fish can partake in the blackworm feast.

I think I found one of the few things @Cory has yet to achieve in the hobby! 😉 Maybe he can make it a goal! 😉

Was a bit overdue on the water change and trim but I got it done today. Before/After pics