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Happy Meme Monday Evening. We can only hope...

1.) Look at the bottle of water conditioner to make sure it is conditioner. I just grabbed the bottle with a pump. It was the Easy Green bottle. (Only added it to 5 gals before I saw my mistake.) 2.) Don't forget to turn the filter back on after doing a water change. I noticed it 24 hours later. Luckily no Ammonia spike. 3. Don't skip a water change. I went 2 weeks. Nitrates were way to high and it took me doing a 7gal water change 3 times to get it down. (its only a 29 gal.) 4. Don't over feed. See #3. (Started Tank up Sep 2nd)

I purchased a 60 gallon fish tank off of nextdoor a month or two ago and it came with a bunch of stuff including an API Freshwater Master Test Kit. They didn't have the expiration date (only a lot number) on them so I figured they were fine, but after a few months of testing (Also logging it on Google Sheets) I started to notice a ton of weird results. For example the pH test would be a different color every time I tested it. I decided to reach out to API to see if they were expired, this is what they said So all of my water parameter data and diagnosing for the past few months is wrong because the API Master Test Kit I have is expired. I feel like such a fool, but I figured I'd share this will all of you so someone else doesn't go through this.

Hey early birds you are probably going to like this announcement. Starting this November we are extending our retail store hours on Saturday and Sunday. Previous Hours were Saturday 11:00am-7:00pm Sunday 11:00am-6:00pm NEW HOURS (starting 11/7) Saturday 10:00am-7:00pm Sunday 10:00am-7:00pm

Yes, those look like snail eggs.

Heiko Bleher wrote the book on Discus: Heiko thinks of discus as a schooling fish as depicted on the front and rear inners cover of his book. Discus remind me of people as they are extremely social and political. In my experience my discus have always schooled together in a group with the discus at the top of the hierarchy being the leader and main lookout. Their favorite place to hangout is in tall weeds or tangled branches.

The one that is on the right in the top photo looks like a male to me because his ovipositor is smaller. He is the one with the least amount of orange on his head. You can see the differences in the ovipositors in the is video. The males' ovipositors are thin and pointed.

Alrighty, I'm back. Big moves happening in the Apartment-Fish Room and I have been all over the place recently. I'm going to start by stating that apartment living has giving me two distinct perspectives on keeping aquariums. On one hand, at least for me, the apartment is not a permanent living arrangement and underneath everything built, grown, and improved upon here will someday--hopefully sooner than later--get packed up and moved to somewhere else. That reality tempers some ambitions to start projects or tanks and within the limiting space and, shall we call it 'freedom of alteration' available to a renter and many things I would like to do will have to wait. I long for the day I can confidently build a tank knowing that I can allow it to mature and grow in for years. On the other side of the coin, however, is the opposite state of mind; if its all temporary anyway, it can be tried, failed, learned from, broken down and tried again. Nothing here is forever so there's no reason to get overly attached to one tank looking a certain way or disheartened when a scape has to be taken down. Over the course of a few long days I have broken down and moved nearly half of the tanks to relocate into other arrangements and to accommodate new furniture. Long story short, a few heirloom furniture items made their way down to us and we needed to make room for them and the only way everything could fit was to completely switch out the bedroom with the home office/ storage room. That meant that every tank in either room got drained, moved, shifted, reset up all that fun stuff. I am the Petco purchased Oscar who has outgrown his tank. Want to make alot of money? Go buy a nice chunk of land and put up storage units. Between my girlfriend and myself we have so much "stuff" in this apartment it really is quite comical in the fact that we have upwards to 25 aquariums scattered about. We wear our Nerm badges proudly and I am a furniture Tetris Grand Master. So its been a big reset and I'm liking the way things will hopefully go from here. I have a few 33 gallon long tanks in another state that will hopefully find their way to me soon and now I have some places set aside for those as well in addition to a few 20 gallon tanks now empty that we can do something fun with. The living room tanks have remained relatively untouched so as things settle back in with the back room tanks I can still show a few that have gone undisturbed. I've heard mention of people living in apartments who have to deal with tank size limitations so I figured I'd show what I have done with a quaint 5 gallon tank situated on the bar between the kitchen and living room. The setup is very simple, a rock pile in the back and planted with pearl weed, hair algae, and a few floaters on a sandy substrate. In the tank is what has become of a pair of cherry shrimp I separated from the ten I had gotten locally from someone to try and start my own colony. They have done surprisingly well compared to the other eight which occupy their own ten gallon in another room, and the little 5 gallon now has a decent population of shrimp. The fish are neon blue rasboras (Sundadanio Axelrodi) and once they settled in and colored up have proven to be an absolutely stunning little fish contrasted with the green of the plants and red of the shrimp. The pictures, obviously, do no justice to these fish but if you are familiar with this species you know how much color they have. I was a bit concerned with the water parameters between the shrimp and rasboras but both seem to be doing fine at around 7 ph and gh round 4 everyone seems to be doing well. Thats it for this addition. Thanks for looking.

That's a really good point! Thanks for pointing out the silver lining

BRS is great. I've been a customer of theirs since 2013 and I've never had an issue. With BRS you also get great customer support so if you ever have a question, they're just a phone call away unlike something you buy off of Amazon.

I have a laminated print-out of this sheet that I use with wet erase markers! My friend did the art for this while she was on maternity leave and I think it's really cute. The snail on the right corner is the same offender as earlier.

This is my "green jade" colony. Always full of variety.

definitely looks like a prolapse. difficult to reverse but id move her to a hospital tank and treat with salt

Looks like fungal/mold growth, new driftwood gets a similar thing when put in water. In my experience, when bulbs get this it means they're dead, rotting, and won't grow. You might want to take it out and give it a squeeze to see if it is rotting/dead - if it feels soft/spongy, it's probably rotten all through and never going to grow. If it is rotten, it was probably not viable when you got it, so it's nothing you did wrong. (not to say anything bad about the seller. Most sellers note that they don't guarantee the bulbs will sprout. If you bought this from co-op, I've no idea what their policy is) Some bulbs just don't make it through the dormancy period in the bag they're sold in, just like when you plant tulip bulbs, they don't always all grow come spring time. If it doesn't feel rotten (as in, it still feels firm when you squeeze it), I would give it a rinse and a scrub to get the mold growth off, then put it back in the tank and leave it alone for a few weeks.

I just decided early this year to work with geenhead shiner, they are native here so I can't sell them or anything, but I believe they will be a fun project to work with. Theyll get an outside tub and 2 aquarium in my fishroom, thats the maximum space I can give them. If they get out of hand ill have to get rid of some of them. I'll to my best to not cross them with my rainbow shiner since they are from the same family. Goal is to bring out the red in the body and white in the fin. You guys/gals are welcome for the ride lol! the photo are not when they are not fire up

My group had a bunch since february. 😊

I finished building my stand and staining it! My fingers are crossed that the stain will be okay after letting it rest overnight and I can move my 50 hex onto it tomorrow!

When even your dog knows you're in trouble for bringing home new tanks.

I worked way too long on this...

The tech isn't required it's just mostly short cuts. Less water changes,overstocking, advance plants all become a reality with gadgets. However, almost everything we put in a tank isn't required. Heaters aren't needed if your room is steady temperature and in the proper range. Lights aren't required or even have to be anything fancy. Fake plants work just fine as do low tech lights. Filters allow u to keep more fish with upkeep. If ur into the work totally aren't a requirement to have a filter at all. The only thing required in the hobby is clean water.

I agree, the tubes are the best way to be sure. Once seen up close its easier to make sense of it. One tube is big enough to deposit an egg. The other is pointed and more like the tip of a pencil. I have been able to sex angles I was unsure of by putting them in the tank next to a breeding pair. A big tank with a divider may be even better since they will share water. If you can get their tubes to drop its the best way to be sure. Sometimes the same sex will spar through the glass or divider at each other. The sparring method doesn't guarantee anything just something I've noticed while trying to get them to show tubes.

Same here. The Co-Op effect strikes again.

Most definitely snail eggs

As shown above in the pictures, the gender can easily be determined by the rounded skirt of the female which is made for carrying and protecting eggs, as compared to the much slender looking males. This is easier and more obvious in older, larger individuals, and harder in younger, smaller ones. My advice on breeding them is to just put a dozen in a tank. Even if you don't know their genders, the odds are vastly in your favor that you'll have males and females and they'll figure the rest out on their own. If your conditions are right to keep your specific shrimp species healthy, you'll be overloaded with shrimp in no time!

FL have everything in their water lol!

I need to get my native tank pics up. I have a Florida native tank setup.

Yup, it’s easy to get hung up on a target, and miss the big picture. This leads to chasing parameters instead of consistency, and a whole lotta heart ache.

I believe just north and south Carolina. Within the whole catawba River system. I'm going to my a short documentary this spring and ill share it here

I don’t get to see this tank often, but I set up this 20 gallon tank in my nephew’s bedroom for his 8th birthday. It’s a real simple set with ecocomplete substrate, rotala rotundofolia, bacopa, and Java moss. I also added some dwarf sag that I collected from my summer tubs last month. Stocking started out as 4 platys but a few months ago he came to the pet store I work at and he wanted to add some neon swordtails and I also added a lemon blue eyed bristlenose cull from my colony. It’s been a year and a half and this has been a really awesome hands-off tank and it’s always exciting when I go over and he wants to show me his new platy fry. He even asked me the magical question of “Uncle Mike, can we put another fish tank on the shelf under the tank?” Unfortunately his mother turned that down 😂

Females are usually larger and more vividly colored. That's not always true, but is a pretty general way to tell gender. Females also have a "skirt" on their tail end as to where males have a slender tail end. Also in females a "saddle" will be visible when they are preparing to breed. The Shrimp in the front, below, is a female. See how where the tail starts it dips down a bit and rounds up. That is the "skirt." The Shrimp below is a male. See how the tail just tapers all the way to the end making it look skinnier and less bulky than a female. The shrimp on the left is a female. See the orange coloration on her back, just behind the head to about mid tail, that is the "saddle."

The only conditioning for breeding I've done so far is for Tetras. I separate the males and females in 5 gallon tanks with mattenfilters and a clump of guppy grass for cover. I feed them the same alternating between BBS and a high quality food. I may start adding a few drops of Vita-Chem daily as well. I keep them separated until the females have a noticeable egg belly.

Absolutely. I kept it outside on the stand I built for almost 2 months, full of water, to make sure it would hold up. It's now been in my bedroom for 10 months with no issues. I still wonder on a regular basis if I'm "out of the woods" in terms of early failure. This is my first DIY tank, so if this one holds up for some amount of time, maybe 2 years?, then I'll have a lot more confidence in my abilities. It weighs about 200 pounds when empty. I imagine I'll have to move it out the same way I moved it in: with medium difficulty and a whole lot of trepidation.

In this hobby it's not the main draw for me, but I've got to admit I really like gadgets. I have a tech background (building, selling, repairing PCs and other electronics, gaming and workstation focus), so I'm a sucker for shiny new toys that promise to be faster/better/smarter than yesterday's batch. But obviously they have to bring some value to the hobby, and preferably marketed correctly (like, fluval 3.0s aren't the only way to grow plants, but app-controlled lights are more than just a gimmick IMO). There can be a lot of noise to cut through, like any other market, because a lot of "innovative" products are just new ways of presenting an old idea. As for it being a barrier into the hobby? I don't think it is, at least not yet. The most prominent beginner guides/articles still stick to the tried-and-true basics, and your average beginner is grabbing an aquarium kit where the most high-tech thing is a row of white LEDs.

As a mama of a special needs kiddo (who's 20 now, but still a "kiddo" - he's non-mobile and non-verbal), I'd suggest to be sure you include something that bubbles! All children love bubbles, and they are eye catching. Often, those with brain damage have trouble with eye tracking, so the bubble will catch their eye sometimes, even if the fish don't. Maybe a bubble bar or something similar. Our tanks were started for our son, too, but unfortunately, he just isn't interested in them. LoL! I know! How rude, right?! 😆 But we discovered how soothing and interesting and relaxing they are to US and so we continue. You may find that the parents also enjoy the tank very much. I know for sure they are so appreciative of this blessing you are giving to their family. ❤️

The origin of the nerm... it actually stemmed from a dumb question I clumsily typed in chat during a live stream, time stamp 1hr50min:

I see your ottoman and raise you a queen size bed... From where I am sitting, looking right Looking left ......nerm

Where I live, at least from the glass companies I've called, it really doesn't seem to be cheaper to build my own. For me, there were only two pros to building my own 90-gallon aquarium: 1) It was the only way to get a tank bigger than 75 without leaving town, and 2) I could make it a nonstandard size that perfectly fit the space it was going in. So to build this 55 x 17 x 24" aquarium, I spent a little over $600 on half-inch glass. I might've been able to go 3/8" glass and save some money, but a 75G aqueon tank during a Petco sale is a hundred bucks. And the cost of my glass would get you a full 125G kit with stand from Petsmart. Is it as easy as people like Joey make it look? Probably not on your first try, but it's also not a total nightmare even for a large tank -- I'd imagine it's a cinch if you have one or two helpers.

Mixed Neocaridina in the 7.5 cube:

I do basically the same thing. About the only difference is I also am conditioning water at the same time. I recently taken on what some would consider to be more difficult species to breed. Lamp eye Congo tetras, wild apisto Agassizi Tefe. And some L number plecos. So softening the water has become more important for me.

The CO2 star up went okay. Reference the pic below. I opened the tank only 1/2 turn. When I opened the solenoid valve, the connection at the base of the bubble checker immediately popped off. I figured out the needle valve was open too much and the outlet pressure was to high. The lower the outlet pressure, the better adjustment you'll get from the needle valve. I ended up running just over 1 psi at the outlet of the regulator. In the pic, the upper gage is the outlet pressure. The cylinder pressure is the lower gage and is showing about 60psi. The black knob which adjusts the outlet pressure worked very well. The needle valve however (brass knob), even with the very low inlet pressure needs to be almost completely shut off to produce 1-3 bubbles / sec. That was my problem. I started with this valve open about 4 turns. This seemed to me to be 'wide open'. The valve does work, but you need to adjust it with barely detectable turns to adjust the flow. I will be looking for a replacement for this in the near future. The threads appear to be 1/8 NPT so a replacement shouldn't be to difficult to source. The tubing connection will be the tricky part. If you've never played with gas, regulators and valves it can be a bit confusing at first. One simple "rule" to keep in mind is that if you ever need to reduce the pressure of the outlet, the solenoid valve needs to be OPEN for the pressure to have a place to go. Otherwise, any attempted reductions in pressure simply won't happen. You'll be playing with valves and regulator and then realize you need to open the solenoid valve. Be careful as you may open it with too high a pressure and flow like I did. Sorry for being wordy, but I thought new folks would benefit.

Well it was probably a mistake, but I went ahead and moved them from the QT into their home.

You know, to be completely honest I don’t even check my phosphate levels anymore. Or much else , just nitrate every now and then. i used to dose with all the seachem products on an auto doser, and that worked well in terms of plant growth. At that time I ran CO2 and checked all my levels on a routine basis. But since then I simplified everything. I turned my lights down and just plant swords and crypts and anubias and java fern (easy slower growing stuff) and dose twice a month with a dry fert. I’ll supplement that with root tabs every three or so months Everything is green and happy and growing huge. Don’t do much but watch it grow at this point.

I filmed a little tour of my fishroom/bedroom/office/studio. I have been working from home a lot, so my aquariums have been a key source of balance. Sorry for the air conditioning sound. The Italian tank brand is Askoll.