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Here are the 58 juvenile dwarf red coral platies I had in a grow-out tank, all trying to reach that last piece of Repashy gel food. Ended up selling 50 of them to my LFS and keeping 8. Such a stunning red-orange color, especially in a planted tank.

I'm not usually a swordtail person, but I saw this trio at the LFS and had to have them. Something about a solid red fish always gets me. One of the females recently dropped 60+ fry. These guys aren't colony breeders, though. They love slupring up their fry as quickly as possible. The parents in this video are hanging out in my guppy colony tank while the fry grow up in this tank.

40 breeder. I have only culled one crooked one, which lives in my son's 20 tall. I do trade in the grown ups at my LFS every now and then. Water changes are twice a week, but only to encourage growth. The nitrate buildup would probably necessitate weekly water changes. My favorites are the endler guppy hybrids!

Too many to pick just one to photograph

I got this pair of wild Green Sailfin Mollies off Aquabid. Hoping to see some fry in the future. I just have them in a 20H right now in the fishroom.

It is often surprising to realize just how many of our aquarium plants are native to the United States and especially the Southeastern US. One of those exotic looking yet home grown plants is the lovely banana plant, Nymphoides aquatica. Found from New Jersey to Florida in ditches, still waters, and ponds it is one of my all time favorites. My first task was to locate where it could be found in North Carolina. I used my Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas to narrow the search down to specific counties. Craven County had a dot, and so was added to my itinerary for my aquatic plant collecting road trip. I thought surely I could not mistake banana plants for anything else, but you can never be too careful, so I brought my trusty, Godfrey and Wooten, Aquatic Plants of the Southeastern United States just to be sure. After several productive but non banana plant ditches I hit upon this site. Shazaam! Banana plants galore! Checking my Godfrey and Wooten for confirmation against what I was collecting I was sure I had success! Even a few baby banana plants. The eternal question always is: What do plants want? Knowing where and how they grow natively in the wild would go a long way towards answering this question, so I was determined to make observations and take measurements. Here was the temperature This is the water chemistry No nitrates, no GH, no KH and a very low pH. Surprisingly there seems to be a bit chlorine, but whatever the source, I guarantee it did not come from a water treatment plant as I was in a very remote unspoiled location. The substrate was 3 inches of mulm, over a couple inches of mud, over a sandy bottom. Most plants were firmly rooted all the way into the sand in about 1 to 3 feet of water. Some plants had lily pads nearly the size of my hand. Smaller plants on runners or nearer shore had more bananas. Some plants were flowering with delicate white flowers floating just above the surface of the water. I collected a handful of plants and headed quickly home to the 1930s Historically Accurate Planted Aquarium as these would be a very authentic addition!

These are our second generation mixed mollies. We started off with a black Molly, Dalmatian Mollies, and a orange/silver Molly. I would love to find another creamsicle that isn’t lyre tailed to make future generations more orange.

I have a breeding colony of wild-type green swordtails in my infusoria/green water tank. They eat a lot and poop a lot and help keep the water green.

I also have yellow belly Metallic Livebearers (Giardinus metallicus) cool little fish Native to Cuba.

Four out of my five female platies. 29G. Now only females bc I don’t want more. But they are BIG beautiful ladies, 3 inches. Plump and happy. They live well. One of them is from the original group. The others were born here. 😄

The black line marks 12 hours of growth will the new leaf hit the surface. What y’all think

The oldest pic of my 12 gallon over 2 years ago. One year later. You can see a current pic on my profile header.

At 2-3 months old, they were about about 1" long. The adults don't get much bigger, maybe 1.25-1.5" at most. Awesome community fish, easy to breed, and great at eating hair algae. The main trouble I had was in the beginning when I got the adults. I'm like 99% sure they came from a fish farm that used brackish water because they started dropping like flies when I got them. I ended up dumping in a bunch of salt & minerals to raise the water hardness to 20-30 dGH, waited for the adults to breed, and then caught all the fry and raised them up in normal freshwater conditions. Totally worth it. 😍

@Ken Burke Well, after almost a week of spying on that patch of moss, I am sad to say that I have still only seen 1 little cat. However... I spotted 3 swordtail fry in there too. I guess it is baby season in that tank! 🕵️‍♀️

here are my endler guppies in my 12 long

I stumbled on these old photos somewhere buried in my photo bucket account. Mind you these are from 2007, its my 180 liter (that's around 48 gallon) South America tank with Back to Nature 3d background L260 Queen Arabesque - really need these back in my life in a colony tank A colony tank for Orange lasers I had back then (I know Cory likes them)

So, I heard @Cory mention this concept in a video talk he gave about guppies to the Youngstown Aquarium Club. I was intrigued but could find almost no information about it. In the meantime I had guppies breeding in a 10 gallon with a matten filter in one end, and I would dip net out the fry as they showed up as fast as I could and transport them to a new tank. One day when I left the power off, 2 fry swam the wrong way down the tube and I found them happily living and growing behind the foam. then I found some photos on Instagram of a similar tank making use of this concept, and while mine is less beautiful, hopefully it will be more practically helpful. The concept is a divided tank, with adult guppies breeding in one end, with an airlift crossing a divider, and delivering fry to a separate compartment. This is a great way to use a matten filter. Here is the adult side, containing guppy parents, epiphyte plants, and adult red neocaridina shrimp (hiding in the rocks, you have to trust me): Here is the fry side, with more shrimp, and a bunch of newly planted stem plants: Here is the whole thing: Mechanics: Moms tend to hide in the plants to give birth, and newly born baby guppies naturally make a run for the rocks and plant cover, which is built around this air lift tube, available on amazon from aquaneat: Note the small holes on the intake, which admit fry but not adults. Air supplied by an airline creates lift, and draws the guppy fry up and out, where they are delivered to a predation free zone. I used the matten sponge from the 10g in this new 20g high, and made a frame out of pvc. Two things I learned as soon as I filled the tank the first time was that the matten filter and frame, while well fitted, want to float, and when a 20 high is full the glass bows just slightly, loosening the fit. I used black silicone to attach the frame to the glass. I need to clean up the edges a bit, but over all I am happy... And it works!

I posted in my introduction to the forum that I was going to set up a planted aquarium soon but was facing hiccups, such as the plants being scheduled to arrive BEFORE substrate and equipment. Great news! The equipment was early and the plants were late, so everything arrived today! I got a Cryptocoryne Willisii, Cryptocoryne Parva, 2 Banana Plants, Anubias Gracilis, and Microsorum Pteropus (what I’m thinking is going to be a problematic Java Fern?) I would bet money on having done something wrong during setup, but I’ve attached a picture regardless. And @Irene, you told me over on YouTube that I should tag you 🙂 Any tips on how to handle the fern being so thoroughly stuck in that wool stuff? It’s now floating because I don’t actually know what to do with it, bought it without thinking. Also, not sure if this how the sponge filter is supposed to be set up. Any reassurance or changes I have to make? Thanks in advance everyone, and wish me luck!

I'm thankful for this thread @Ruud. It made me get down and check on my Blue Coral Variatus and I noticed fry for the first time!

I started this group with only 6 given to me from my dad. Now there's around 20 in this 20 gallon tank. I've been floating around different ideas about where to put them as the tank is slowly becoming overwhelmed with them. I'm thinking about setting up a 25 gallon tub in my basement to re-home a few of them.

Such an amazing picture @Irene, would love to have a colony tank with those beauties! I am so jealous of the quality and massive choice you guys have in the States. I never realized that Netherlands was pretty good as well, but somehow in Spain its not easy. First of all there are no PetCo and such, and the few mostly specialized shops that sell fish have very little variety and the fish are extremely small. Cory's of less than half an inch are the norm somehow. Anyway thank you all for contributing to this topic. I am enjoying all your pics! Ruud

I had the joy of breaking down a leaking 40 breeder last night! 😑I had purchased 4 40breeders off local club members before I set up my fish room 2 years ago. Talking with @Dean’s Fishroom he mentioned he thought they were Marineland/Tetra tanks and that the history with those tanks includes a period of time with poor quality resulting in bad seals, and boy was he right! Lucky for me I had a spare Aqueon 40 breeder in the shed that is almost new. Just need to have a hole drilled for the overflow. I mean, what fish room having nerd doesn't have spare tanks lying around?? Here are my steps from last night: 1. Get pissed that a seal failed. 2. Be in denial that a seal failed and look for another source of the leak (ie overflowing AC110, unseated water line, etc.) 3. Accept that the seal failed and the tank has to be torn down and replaced. 4. Drain 25 gallons of tank water into a black tote. 5. Remove lid, AC110, ZIss filters, sponge filters, and all other junk. 6. Move a million Super Red Bristlenose, pea puffer, and guppies. 7. Gently remove cruddy, good-for-nothing, 7-year old tank from rack and fish room without busting it or any other tanks. 8. Move and drill spare tank. 9. Silicone seal new bulkhead for added leak protection. 10. Wait for silicone seal to cure, install drain line and move tank onto rack this evening 11. Add water and fish. 12. Pray the other 3 40bs last much, much longer!

here is a video of my endlers. the gif doesn't do them justice. you can also see the least killifish in there. also, on the end of the right side of the tank, top corner, you can see some brown white wizard snail babies. these are also live bearers

All my guppy baby’s are coloring up. The most colorful one was displaying for a females think. Do guppies flash?

I know how this would work out for me. I would buy a new sponge filter, and then immediately find the missing uplift tube.

I decided to go the route of paper and pen. Yesterday I sat down and tried to get as much down as I could remember and today I did the actual water testing to see how it would work out. I think I like the setup.

I recently acquired some CPDs or Celestial Pearl Danios, and I thought I’d start a thread for breeding them. I have 4 males and 2 females (before today I thought it was the opposite ratio) that I got 3 days ago, today was my first day able to watch them the whole day and in the light, and my first day offering live baby brine shrimp. For several hours today I’ve noticed the dominant male chasing around one of the females, and occasionally another male will also try and chase for a few moments and then go off and do something else. I have some videos of this but I’m not sure how to add it (I’ll play around, advice would be helpful) and I’m wondering if this is breeding behavior or if it’s aggression. What are your experiences with the keeping and breeding of this beautiful species? (I posted a few videos on tiktok, I can’t get the video into the right format to post directly from my phone, would it be ok to post a link to the tiktok?)

Hello everyone. This is my first aquarium. I love plants so this seemed an obvious progression of my obsession. Haha! There is so much to know, so I’ve been studying this forum. The knowledge here is epic and very helpful. I’ll lay out what I have set up and some issues I’m encountering. Of course I would delight in any insight you all may have. Thank you! Fluval Flora 14.5 gallon tank- Fluval nano light - Co2 45g kit - Aqua Clear power filter - Fluval M50 heater Substrate- Tropica soil powder - Nutrafin plant gro fertilizer - Plants- Hemianthus Cuba -Littorella - Eriocaulon cinereum - Microsorum windelov - Alternathera - Vesicularia Christmas - Ludwigia Repens Rubin- Dragon stone - Spider wood I did an emersive planting for the first 10 days. Seemed to go well except for the Ludwigia which I delayed until I filled ‘er up. -First week - a bit of melting which I expected. Then a cloudiness on the 7th day. 50% water change -Second week - Started to see a tiny bit of algae. Clear goo blobs appearing on tree bark. (Boiled for tannin removal) Read they can be fungus or from tree sugars/sap. Scraped off goo. Clouding bloom gone. Pruned Ludwigia and Moss. 40% water change. Trying to figure out best placement for Co2 and heater. Need longer hose for Co2! - Third week - Realized I had the lights way to strong! Used the pre-program ‘Plants’. Then I discovered Bentley Pascoe! Thank you Sir I now have your Day SIM Red Late as my Pro setting. The goo seems to be subsiding. But the algae is appearing on the sand. 😞 Some dark spots appearing on Windelov and Ludwigia. 😳 Questions- Should I introduce some shrimp at this point? Would help the inevitable new tank algae? I plan on having a Betta and perhaps some Neon Tetra also. Maybe a snail. Is it best to establish one at a time? Water test kit on its way and don’t want to add until I know water is safe. I live in Vancouver, Canada and the water is a neutral PH. What kind of fertilizer do you recommend? Using the Free sample Size Nutrafin. Should I get separate micro and macro nutrients? I’ll stop now. It’s a lot. Haha Thank you all!

Yes, my CPDs were constantly chasing and circling each other. They also nipped each other's fins regularly, but it never seemed to affect their health or appetite. I believe it was just normal danio behavior, which I talk about in this video. CPD with nipped tail

I just used the Wayback machine to revisit a forum that my close friends and I put together to communicate (the days before Facebook and unlimited texting). I found a collage I made of the fish I put in my very first tank, a 10 gallon. Can you identify these bad decisions (one is pretty blurry)?

I just did my first planted tank also. Its been up a month. Starting to stock it.

WISHING EVERYONE A SAFE & HAPPY HALLOWEEN

On the good side, now your tank is seasoned(ish).

Why yes I can. Holding a Java Fern down. Holding Pleco food on the bottom. Time for a new slice!

She has dropped over a dozen fry this week. They are everywhere. (Don’t mind the rotalla indica, it isn’t happy right now).

Love my USB air pump, the best thing @Cory sells besides his awesome plants!

I just placed an order, so I will report back when I get it. I have a bunch of spare AquaClear foam around, in various sizes, so I bet I already have a pair that would fit. I am such a nerd about symmetry that I had to do two window tanks, one with all the gear on the left, and another with all the gear on the right. I would be ok with asymmetrical HOBs, if they came in left-handed and right-handed varieties, so they could be installed as matching pairs. I'm the kind of person you would ask to help setup a surround sound system. Fortunately, my preferences for hardware do not apply to hardscape, or plants. That is where I enjoy the chaos, emergent growth, and surprises. I do prefer symmetrical fish.

Those thermometer guns we all have now are great for figuring out what needs more insulation.

And do you have something against a big black asymmetrical Tidal 55 hanging on the back of your 20 gallon? LOL.

My first planted tank from 2011. A 20H with a Marineland canister filter, Marineland Plant light, and yeast CO2 bubbler. Boesemani surely would have gotten too big for that tank, I think they went back to the LFS.

Doesnt seem to be excessive indeed @DaveSamsell, even more for a 10 gallon. Looks like a case of just bad luck or bad quality.

Its about to be a full blue moon on Halloween in the year 2020!

It is nearly the same cost to just buy another filter and use that tube and have the other as a backup. But really they will always work without the uplift tube just not create as high a flow. So don't panic to much.

The oto always has one of the most intersting sit ever

Welcome! Glad to see some more puffers from Minnesota showing up.