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This is a 40 gallon tuff stuff, some blue hygro and scarlet temple growing out the top. They were emmersed grown when I got them so I just planted them like that. Have white clouds in it: This is a 50 gallon rubber maid stock tank, white clouds and guppies, maybe some shrimp both of the above have dirt with a cap and I use them for storing trimmings/growing out roots this is a 100 gallon stock tank I had setup outside for the summer and brought in. Had mosquito fish in it, but took all of them out when moving it so nothing in it currently as far as I know. With moving it I’ve been holding off putting any fish in it, also not sure what fish I want to put in it, thinking about moving some gold/orange rice fish to it. when I first brought it in 9/23: 10/11: Been skimming duck weed from other tanks into it incase I pick up fry with the duck weed but now there is too much.

bluemoon snakeskin

Aquariums hold many more living things than fish. What is in your tank? I caught this grass shrimp last week in a ditch while collecting banana plants.

As suggested by @Jessica. here is another Sunday theme photo opportunity. My baby sparkling gouramis have progressed a little bit from just being hatched To hunting rotifers and baby cyclops

Here goes...very first post on this forum. This is Fred (my hubby named him), a Dumbo. He shares his Aquarium CO-OP Betta Log with his buddy, Mr. Kool, the Kuhli Loach.

Beautiful shots, @Daniel. Thanks for giving this idea a try. Here's mine for today, a Stendker Discus. Two years ago, at about 2.5": And today, about 6+":

Neocardinas and Pond Snails

I have had very good luck with red wigglers. Big fish love them. Discus love them. Angelfish love them. Even small fish love them. Just dice them up like an onion (but clean the cutting board before you spouse sees what you have been doing with the kitchen utensils).

I normally don't order lots of root tabs. I should; I have tons of plants that can use them. But they are more buoyant than anything I've ever seen in a aquarium, and it's really difficult to get them deep under the root of my plants (even with forceps) so that they'll stay there before the tablet casing begins to degrade! It sometimes takes me several minutes to deposit one tablet, and it's a task I really don't look forward to. When folks on this forum a couple weeks ago mentioned a very expensive, unavailable-to-the-US mechanism made just for this purpose, I hit the internets. But there was no way I could have something like this shipped to the US for less than $60! So I started researching the DIY route, and after some trial and error and lots of research, I've come up with this one-handed solution. It can be made for less than $10 in parts from your local Home Depot. In fact, you can make two for about the same cost! It is sized for Aquarium Co-Op Easy Root Tabs. PARTS: So let's dive in. These are the parts I collected together (non-affiliate links) : 1. Straight PEX Pipe: 1/4" ID, 5' length: $1.76 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Apollo-1-4-in-x-5-ft-White-PEX-Pipe-APPW514/301541226 2. Wood dowel: 3/16" diameter, 4' length: $0.70 https://www.homedepot.com/p/3-16-in-x-48-in-Wood-Round-Dowel-HDDH31648/204354369 3. Drawer pull: 1-1/14" birch cabinet knob: $0.98 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Liberty-Rowland-1-1-4-in-32-mm-Birch-Wood-Round-Cabinet-Knob-P10512H-BIR-C/204143998 4. Drawer pull: 1-13/16" birch cabinet knob: $1.88 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Liberty-Classic-1-13-16-in-46-mm-Unfinished-Birch-Wood-Round-Cabinet-Knob-P10515C-BIR-C5/100156480 5. Springs: 6-pack zinc-plated compression springs (used the 3/8" x 1-1/8" x 0.041" spring): $4.22 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-Zinc-Plated-Compression-Spring-6-Pack-16087/202045468 TOTAL: $9.54 TOOLS: 1. Drill and assorted bits 2. Wood glue (or white glue) 3. 5-minute epoxy PREP: The 1/4" PEX pipe does not fit the Easy Root tabs. I made it fit by enlarging the first inch or so of one end of the pipe using a 5/16" drill bit. Now, the smaller end of the Easy Root Tab fits very snugly. If I don't push it in too far, it's a perfect grip! Next, I cut a 12" length of the PEX pipe and a 13" length of the dowel. I don't have very deep tanks, so this is fine for me. But this can be cut to any length you need; just make sure the dowel is always one inch longer than the tube. The wooden knobs already have holes drilled in them, which made it very easy to enlarge them to exactly the diameters I needed. For the smaller knob, I enlarged the hole to 3/16", making sure not to drill all the way through. I glued in my wood dowel with a drop of wood glue to hold it permanently: For the larger knob, I enlarged the hole to 3/8" diameter, this time going all the way through. I made sure to start with a 3/16" bit, and repeatedly went larger and larger until I reached 3/8". This ensured my hole stayed centered and I had a nice clean cut all the way through. I glued in the length of PEX pipe with 5-minute epoxy. This should hold well enough for my purposes. I'm using the shorter, wider spring for this project (3/8" x 1-1/8" x 0.41"). For good measure, I used some 5-minute epoxy to glue the spring to my plunger. This is totally optional, but gives me one less piece I can lose. That's pretty much all there is to do. I just inserted the plunger in the tube and I'm ready to try it out! I placed an Easy Root Tab in the end, just far enough for it to grip, but not so far that it won't push out easily. I inserted the tool with one hand into the tank, pushed the plunger, and voila! A deposited tablet in 5 seconds! But I am over the moon about how this tool turned out. I just placed about 20 tabs in two minutes. Even with coarse gravel, forcing the pill in was no problem. The two pieces come apart for drying, as that wood dowel won't last forever. Now I understand why the professional ones are so expensive. This makes things so much easier. I'm definitely making a longer one for deeper tanks. Hope you find this useful. Thanks for reading! Bill

So a while back, well over a year ago, I ordered a small wood carving chisel set from Wish. It was one of those "free" items but you pay shipping. I don't know why I bought it, I've never carved anything in my life. Anyway, I've been inspired to make use of it. As an homage to Aquarium Co-Op, I've decided to try to replicate the Enjoy Nature Daily carving(put that on some merch please). Although it will much smaller and more crude with this being my first foray into wooden relief carving. So far I've sketched it out and tested some of the chisels. If I don't post an update just assume it resulted in a failure.

Greetings from Kamloops B.C. MTS sufferer here with 10 tanks totalling 180g. Tanks include a 35g full of fancy male guppies, a 20g tetra glo fish tank with glo tetras, blue and red tetras, otocinclus, a female plakat betta and albino corydoras. A 55g with angels, dennison barbs, rummynose tetra, yoyo loaches, dwarf neon rainbows and a breeding colony of hillstream loaches. A 30g with 14 female Thai bettas just obtained as an established sorority. Three 10g with fancy guppy breeding projects. A 10g with 2 fancy goldfish that will be moving up as they grow. A 2.5g with golden shrimp and a 2.5g with a crown tail betta named Sampson.

At the beginning of March this year, I started my first outdoor mini pond. Given what a summer its been, I found myself spending countless hours sitting next to that pond and staring into it...like I was a crystal ball or something of the like. I didn't find any answers, so to speak, but I did find some peace. So when summer ended I couldn't bear the thought of it going away, and so, I've been taking steps and making moves lol. Which is to say I moved my outdoor mini pond indoors. It's not yet finished (grow lights are on the way) but here are some pictures. I've heard that fish tanks are a thing that exist but there's just something about a pond. I'm curious as to how many like minded individuals there are out there. If you have an indoor mini pond lets see em

I love the genetics talk on the forum!

Here's 2 more of mine, closer up. Also after i finished scaping the tank. Sometimes my pics get flipped upside even after i re-orient, copy and save. idk why. I haven't named him yet but i grew up reading classic literature so i was thinking maybe Cervantes

He's doing one of the classic betta mean-mug moves. Tilting the eyelids down like a cartoon villain

Happy to report I was able to bring back 5 Red Neon Blue Eye Rainbowfish and 5 Bleeding Heart Tetras using this setup. The air pumps worked great on a usb adapter in the car and a battery backup when the car was off. I used small heaters to keep them warm overnight in the hotel.

That was the coolest thing ever I just got to watch her give birth and I only just got her yesterday from petsmart and was super surprised.

This is one of the best things about these fish I think! Congratulations! If you keep feeding them, you will have many, many, many more.

I have a pair of Dorks, too! Mr. Darcy's favorite treat is carrots, whereas Miss Lizzie's favorite is parsley. Your guys are so cute! 😍 Miss Lizzie and Mr. Darcy: My other pets include our pound puppy, Mr. Knightly: Buddy, a Bantam Brahma Rooster and Solo, a feral kitty I found at the base of an oak tree at 2 weeks of age (she's a big girl, now): Joey, a 9 year old Holland Lop, who requires at LEAST 5 minutes of petting daily: And "The Girls", my small flock of hens who happily provide us breakfast (2 Cream Legbars, 3 Barred Plymouth Rocks, a Barnvelder, and a New Hampshire Red):

this was my black calvus at 3/4” and at about 3.5” i gave him away to a breeder and i genuinely regret it, i wasnt planning to breed him at the time but now i wish i held on to him to breed in the future.

Went to my LFS and picked up two Flagfish to eat the algae in my 20 gal. Used the store credit I racked up in selling them my platies. The flagfish are so much fun to watch. They need more love in the hobby. I could see doing a full tank of them at some point. Also got my Co-Op order with several new items. I tried the Xtreme Krill Flake after hearing all the positive reviews and sure enough, my fish love it. Even my normally reclusive white clouds in my summer tub went nuts for it. Extra thanks to the Co-Op for including a Murphy pin in my order! Finally, I also got my shipping supplies from Our Fish Collective. Thanks to @Guppy Guru for the package! Looking forward to sending my first shipment of fish.

@Maggie Thank you, I was very sad. I do think my blue was a male because his dorsal fin was pointy. From what I read males have longer pointy dorsal fins and females have shorter and rounded dorsal fins. I did put in a tablespoon of salt the day before the meds arrived because I was so worried I was going to lose Fire too. I haven't noticed a negative effect on the plants but I also did about a 35% water change before dosing the meds so that further diluted the salt. I had heard over and over again to have the meds just in case. It truly did not register to me how quickly they can show a sign and then down turn for the worst. It was less than 24 hours that I lost Ice from bringing him home. On Fire, that tiny white fungus spec was huge in less than 24 hours. I won't make this mistake again and before I get more fish I will have a quarantine tank and sponge filter prepped. She is moving around a lot today and ate all of the flakes I put in this morning (maybe 1/8th of a teaspoon worth because I know you aren't really supposed to feed much during treatment). I am hopeful she will make it through!

Love seeing all of your bettas! Here’s one of ours. Kiddos named him Spidey (for Spider-Man). Recently lost him. He was very energetic and kept me very entertained. I have picked up a new betta and will post a pic soon.

Just got some purple mystery snails from my LFS.

One of the major factors is how "cleanly" the formula feeds. Stuff like cloudy water, detritus leftover, etc. are factors for this. Generally speaking live foods feed the cleanest and flake foods are the messiest, though not all foods of the same formulation will have the same impact on water quality. Sometimes the form matters because certain fish like to feed at a certain point in the water column (many fish will only eat at mid-water so sinking pellets will go to waste and foul the water). Generally speaking, flakes are "dirty" feeders because there tend to be a lot of leftover particles or bits that sink to the bottom and end up uneaten, pellets and granules are more neutral, and then frozen/live foods are much "cleaner." I have fish food collectoritis (my last inventory totaled about $160 in fish and shrimp food, oops) so if you're only feeding guppies, the Hikari Fancy Guppy coupled with another small-sized pellet/granule (Fluval Bug Bites and Xtreme Nano come to mind) should be plenty. Flake is optional and you'd likely need to crush the flakes into a smaller size to get the guppies to eat them without spitting out the larger pieces. If you want to try one because you're like me and have to try EVERYTHING the only flake I'm really a fan of (liked enough to keep without passing on to another hobbyist) is Xtreme Krill Flakes. If you want to dabble in live/frozen foods, I'd suggest smaller sized proteins like brine shrimp, daphnia, and mosquito larvae. They ultimately feed cleaner in my experience, though that may not be an issue if you have fish like corydoras who will eat the extra goodies on the bottom. Hikari is considered the gold standard for frozen foods by most, though I also have a weakness for San Francisco Bay's Emerald Entrée and Freshwater Frenzy (note that these do feed a lot more "dirty" than most frozen foods but I've found EE especially good at clearing out bloated individuals while still feeding the rest of the tank). This is all my experience so just take it with a grain of salt. I just really like fish food.

I personally would go with a nano sponge just bc it has a smaller footprint, but you can go with a bigger one too, and technically the taller the tube the more suction you have, and the bigger the sponge the more surface area you have for beneficial bacteria and also to catch more debris, so really it depends on those factors and what you're looking for more than this specific one is for this specific tank.

UPDATE: Soooo much clearer today! And nitrites falling daily, too. The hornwort, pothos & no feeding must've been the triple-threat needed. Thanks, everyone!

I’ve kept water sprite floating in my tank ever since I couldn’t grow it in my substrate. I love it and so do my shrimp and livebearers.

I have kept a setup similar to what you are describing and everyone lived to together just fine. The angelfish and the endler populations both increased exponentially, and my Bolivian rams and Corydoras were breeding also. The key was the heavy planting.

Just took this picture, this aquariums been up and running for a year and a half, altho granted I just recently rescaped it and also the white clouds have done a number on the microfauna population lol

My dream is anti-reflective glass aquarium.

Harlequin rasboras

Bred over 400 rainbow shiner and got 2 golden body, I'm happy with these golden body, their red is alot stronger Photo is for comparison Before and after Both female

No, those are trimmings from my other 10 gallon, they also had that clown puke blue substrate in it, but it came with the light and stand and 3 air pumps and an under gravel filter, all for $10. So I was happy about it😊

Yes, they will likely eat fry but I assume you’re used to that with your current mix and rely on plant cover to provide safety. The Kribs are more likely to cause issues I would think but if they can’t get along in 350 gallons that’s kinda on them 🤣 you may have territory issues if your angels pair off too, but I feel like you should have the space to handle it. Share a pic! I’d love to see the big tank.

I have a trick to get them to fully color up sooner in life, since it take them a long time to get their color and even longer to get their full adult color, my lfs can't sell a plain minnow at 15$ lol. I plan to line breed fish that show color sooner, better color(blue family and red family) and perfect conformation. As for 100% fire up thats base on day by day, but its pretty often, about once a week even now when the temp drop to 50ish. If you watched to video all of these are about the same age, only a few weeks apart. Anyway the color up fish in the video was part of my testing all male got their full adult color within the testing, I brought in more to see if I can recreate it again. If this work hopefully they can become more popular and my lfs can move more of them at a younger age. I'm not gonna say what the project is until I can prove it a few more time. But I'm sure you can guess it 😏. Thats only my experience with this family.

Breeding plant/fish hybrids.

Most aquatic plants don't spread through seeds so you may run into some trouble down the line. A lot of people I've seen use them will have temporary success (especially when doing a dry start) followed by the plants melting in the longer term because they aren't meant to grow submerged. Common genuses sold for aquariums are Dracaena, Hemigraphis, Cordyline, Selaginella, Ophiopogon, and Acrorus. Many of the "carpeting" or "grass" seeds are either semi-aquatic stem plants or terrestrial plants.

I feel really lucky. Mom's a great parent. She's been fighting Cory's off this whole time, but seems to have figured out that the little coral pipette means bbs for the babies so she stands back to let me feed. I've been keeping up on that, 4 times a day. She's kept 10 - 15 alive so far and isn't fully grown herself yet. Dad's pretty much a fly by Chucky Cheese parent, All that said. if I manage 1 female out of this spawn I'll be happy. I wanted, planned for, and made space for a harem and I'm a female short of that (the online place I got them only did pairs).

I am feeling more hopeful today. I also used stress coat when I did the water change before dosing IchX/Maracyn instead of just dechlorinater. Fire is moving around a lot more today. I don't know how to tell if things are visually improving. The fungus seems to be getting longer. I'm just glad she isn't struggling in the corner today. The water is a little cloudy but I think that is normal with the maracyn.

You could interview a wall and it would still be a great show!

I got some endlers this year put them in a tub outside and they seem to do pretty well. I’ve recently fell in love with CPDs just got my first group of 6. I’m hoping to get some more next month. Ive got a green dragon betta in a 5 gal on my night stand. one tank in daughters room in full of red tuxedo guppies. The other is a wild type axolotl.

I was at the new place to take a few shots of the progress. Got to fly the drone too! Very exciting stuff on the way. 🙂

An aquarium that is matte finish on inside of back wall to stop glare for photos and define the back of the tank out of the box.

Some do some don't, but here is why I rinse my newly hatched brine shrimp before feeding to fry. So in a tablespoon of brine shrimp eggs there approximately 420,000 to 450,000 brine shrimp eggs. I use eggs that are supposed to give a 90% hatch rate so let just say around 400,000 hatch in a little less that 2 liters of water. It is generally agreed upon that they hatch in 24-48 hours and I run my hatchers for 36 hours. Now I want you to think about this. . . baby brine shrimp hatch and start swimming about, they also more that likely start feeding on whatever exists in the water be it dead shrimp parts, decaying shells, etc. we know this because you can see growth right from the start. Well. . . if they start eating they also start peeing, pooping, excreting, whatever shrimp do. All this umm stuff is of course just bubbling around in the hatching water, and you want to dump it into your fry tanks? Just for the sake of 30 seconds of rinsing it off? My picture shows what the hatching water generally looks like after straining all the shrimp and shells out, pretty grungy right, and the saltwater ammonia test is way off the chart. Do you still want to just dump that into your fry tanks? Now just take a whiff of that hatching water, you still want to dump that in your fry tanks. I know that there are those on both sides of the benefits to rinse or not to rinse your newly hatched brine shrimp. I"m not on the fence with this, I'm firmly on the side of the fence that I always rinse my newly hatched baby brine shrimp before feeding. What if it makes the difference between having 90 fry surviving from a spawn or 300 fry surviving? I've found that sometimes in the fishroom it's just those few extra minutes here and there that produce the much better final results. Oh, and I can't imagine that any fish wants that shrimp pee, poop, or ammonia flavor on their first meals of their life.

I'd love some sort of substance that acted like activated charcoal, but was able to absorb nitrates, so that you either wouldn't need to do water changes or would have to do them a lot less frequently. I sometimes travel for work, and my roommate feeds the fish, but he can't do water changes, which is sometimes a problem. I do use seachem purigem, but i'm not sure how effective it is at decreasing the need for water changes

In my room of small tanks, I keep three pico utility tanks. One is a small betta tank, with four glass slices for five chambers. Four chambers have AquaClear foam, and the middle chamber is a tiny Walstad with a few plants. I also keep two other pico tanks on the same table. While I thought I would use them for fish issues, they have actually become the home for all cuttings and the staging tanks for new plants.

My mini pond has given me great happiness this summer! My friend built it for me about four years ago and it was deeply shaded until this season. Sunlight = pond steroids! The total water volume is about 375 gallons. The top box is filled with pea gravel and acts as a bog filter and water fall. The plants are the stars of the pond. In the bog box, I have creeping Jenny, blue lobelia, chocolate mint, elephant ears (taro), pickerel weed and bacopa caroliniana. I have water lettuce and water hyacinth floating. On the right, there is a laundry basket with three canna lilies. Dwarf papyrus ‘prince tut’ is in the ceramic pot on the left. The water lily is the hardy variety ‘wanvisa’. It blooms almost daily! I planted a lotus ‘.perkinensis rubra’ tuber about three weeks ago. I doubt it will bloom this year, but, who knows? If it gets too big I will transfer it to a tub. I fertilize the lily with pond tabs every two weeks. The marginals, including the bog plants get tabs every 2-3 months. Believe it or not, there are fish in here! I have gold fish that I bought as feeders who have grown fat and happy. I live in northern Indiana, zone 6A, so I do have to winterize this later in the fall. I will store the canna and elephant ear tubers in my basement. I treat the mint, lobelia, water lettuce, hyacinth and papyrus as annuals. The lily, lotus, dock and pickerel rush are all hardy. I will run an air stone for the fish and use a floating stock tank heater for the fish. I welcome other winter suggestions, though! Feel free to ask questions! I love my pond!

My little deck pond. Roughly 125 gallons of water, built in early 2000's so it's 15+ years old. Outer frame of 2x10", with liner over foam boards on sides and base. I'm amazed the original pond filter (Pondmaster) and liner are still functional. Creatures include a half dozen or so goldfish (shubukin, sarasas, and a wakin that Corey bagged up for me from Co-op years ago). I have too many arrowhead plants ... anyone up for a trade?