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I think I happened upon a Snail Family Picnic:

I got a new batch of Ramshorn Snails, some a very nice powder blue.

Hello everyone my name is Joe I’m 37 I am a disabled veteran. This hobby is my therapy I just got into it it’s been about 6 months now. I have 3 tanks a 75, 20, and a 50 gallon lowboy. I over stock my tanks so I have no idea how many I have in each but I have a lot of them. Mostly smaller fish I like to maximize room.

First time I’ve ever had a plant flower in any thing I own. And honestly probably the first time I’ve seen it in person. its Pretty neat. I’m try and get some good photos the next few days. I noticed it when I was feeding. It’s got a 48 inch current USA light and a sponge filter. I does easy green/iron when I remember to.

I just purchased my first shrimp and snails! 6 Amano and 4 nerite snails in a 4 week old 20 gal long with tons of diatom algae... hopefully they do ok!

You often see something like, "my fish are dying because of a fungal infection". I suspect it is the other way around. That is, "your fish are dying, and that is why they have a fungal infection. With the exception of a few diseases like ich which can spread rapidly when you see that most of the fish in an aquarium are sick, it is because of poor environmental conditions. It is useful to ask why many times. Something like: Why are my fish lethargic? Answer: My fish have a fungal infection. Why do my fish have a fungal infection? Answer: My fish's immune systems were compromised and this led to a fungal infection that normally would have been warded off. Why were my fish's immune systems compromised? Answer: Poor environmental conditions. Why do I have poor environmental conditions? Answer: Now there is the real mystery, because when the parameters were measured they were "all perfect". Hmm...everything is perfect and yet the fish are sick? I think it is all too easy sometimes to confuse the cause (environment) with the effect (sick fish).

I made frozen brine shrimp with spirulina powder mixed in.

I made a visit today. I planted the new plants, added a sponge filter to the bucket of leaves and snails, and cleared out the floaters. Now I’m going to see if one of my LFS is interested in Salvinia and Water Lettuce.

I had one of those for a while. I popped the bottom off and added a piece of sponge behind the vent holes. I used this sponge and cut a small piece, then cut just a thin sliver of it. It didn't bother the flow at all. Sponge Pad Coarse WWW.AQUARIUMCOOP.COM Coarse Foam Reusable Fits all Filters Coarse sponge pad is a replacement for throw away cartridges in aquarium filters. Not only are the cartridges costly, they are also bad for the environment. Coarse sponge pads can be reused...

I took the 6g previously containing shrimp and sparkling gouramis and have been playing with it. I layered probably half an inch or so, maybe an inch in some areas, of black diamond blasting sand. Then I dug up some moss on dirt from my backyard and set it on top. Let that sit for a few days or a week with plastic seal, then filled with water. Then I eventually planted with various leftovers from other tanks, etc. Now I have it as home to some n-class endlers (m,2f, unknown number of fry) and 4-5 baby blue shrimp that hatched out in another tank, along with mts, bladder, and ramshorn snails. circled - moss from yard. It grows much more vertical under water. Valliseria gone red at the tips, assume stress from high lighting and probably high iron in the water. papa endler and hard water stains. plant shot.

Pond snail munching on some hair algae

This underwater walking stick of the genus Ranatra is just too good not to revisit. As of now I am promoting him from 'Critter' to 'Favored Invertebrate'.

My name is Eliot and Im from the Northwestern US. I only have one tank right now as my apartment complex only allows 10 gallons or less, but before I moved I was working on several breeding projects and building out my first fish room. Today I have a 7.1 gallon Aquatop cube tank which is home to a black samurai betta named Alex, and an Amano shrimp named Simon.

The beebee feeshees have been moved to a proper tank and are swimming! Daddy did an amazing job and he’s back in his tank resting while I spoil him with lots of food Now we get to see these little ones grow!

So this smell was detected after a few days with doing nothing to the tank? No water changes or any thing? Just the filtration and airstones running? If so, this is a puzzler. I think you did the right thing of removing the 'unknown' rocks.

This scene is in a drainage ditch. It reminds me of a wabi kusa ball.

It’s my fourth set up but I feel like I’ve learned a lot from each set up. Thanks for the compliments.

Many fish succumb to disease caused by stress. The stress can be aggression from tank mates or it be from the environment in the tank. The stress weakens the immune system and once that happens you’ve got sick fish.

Congrats on all of your babies, how exciting! 🙂 @akconklin said it best with the sponge at the bottom. Aqueon actually has filters like this now specifically for shrimp with a thin sponge covering the slots at the intake, so I don't see restricted flow being an issue with that solution.

You could get an Aquarium Co-Op coarse sponge, wrap it around the bottom and tie it in place. Or, if you have $20ish dollars to spend, get a sponge filter and air pump, let those run for a couple weeks and then pull your power filter. Then you have nothing mechanical that can suck up fry

Fishroom design Part 2, Water conditioning and fill system: Here is a rough Photoshop layout of the water conditioning and fill system I have designed using photos of the actual parts. Please note none of this is in scale relative to each part. The plumbing is so crazy in this room that I am just going to take the hot and cold as a split from the outlets for the washing machine. I can always tap into the copper later if I want to. this is what is outlined in elevation 1 of may drawings but slightly revised for the space available. The system is 3/4" PVC to 1/4" RO hose. The sequence is: 1 - Hot/cold to thermostatic mixing valve 2 - sediment/carbon filter 3 - water pressure and temp gauges 4 - fill manifold with pressure reducers to 1/4" hose; drain to sink; outlet for hose

Been a few days of soaking in vinegar and scrubbing with a wire brush, but it got the stuff(coralline algae) off. Couldn't get in all the deep tunnels, but that was expected. Thanks for the help guys! Hope some color comes back after sitting in a tank for awhile.

I got my supplies straightened out - they were scattered around and in terrible disarray! (Note the GIANT container of flake food - I got the wrong size and not sure how many fish one has to have to make this a viable option, but maybe I can donate it to my LFS). My favorite set of supplies is the brine shrimp setup. It's so easy to make a batch every day and the fish go NUTS over them!

That's no moon...

I set this up a couple weeks ago. At first it was cloudy as stained, I added more plants, water is crystal clear now, fish are healthy and happy. I’ll be moving the angels and gouramis to a 75 I have yet to set up. I’m seasoning a sponge filter in this 29. Do you all think I have too many plants? Is there such a thing as too many plants.

You cannot be too rich, have too much memory in your computer, or have too many plants. 🙂

why do my shrimp look like they have googly eyes attached to em lol

I setup a tank for my folks, where all they have to do is feed, top-off water, and optionally remove Salvinia and throw it in the basement tubs. Setup: 20H, organic soil, Mopani wood, tons of plants, a pair of Nano Sponge Filters, Fluval Plant 3.0 24", White Clouds, Neocaridina Shrimp, bladder snails.

Someone is an 'Elite Puffer' now. And he looks pretty happy about it. 🙂

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!

I’m late in the game for mini ponds but out here in Hawaii you can keep fish outside all year. Here are some pics of my pond next to my garden.

That does look like possibly a shed Scute(part of the shell shedding) could be a minor fungal growth but highly doubt it. Looks a lot like it's most likely just a scratch or mark from a decoration rock etc. If you can feel the texture if soft a gooey its fungal or a wound so get that fixed. If hard but rough most likely damage to the shell. It will be fine just keep the turtle healthy and he will recover without any issues!!

This nub I circled in red the vent. I have a hard time telling but if it appears very blunt I'd say you have a female. That's what I lean toward right now because of how visible the vent is from a distance! My final photo is an amazing photo of a female's vent if you would like to compare.

No they will not grow under water. They would work well attached to hardscape if its sticking out of the waters surface or in a paludarium type set up.

@T.C. 1) When the diatoms die off, your fish and the cherry shrimp, and the snails will all eat the algae. The rest will usually just goa away. 2) Adding more plants will certainly help, and in the long run will help you fight other algaes as well. Good Luck!

(I just noticed the emoticon in this scene.)

I'm fairly certain that dumbo ear are still the same species, in which case those fry would not be sterile. I am not an expert, though.

I ran White Clouds and Neocaridina here in Vermont, just to get the longest season possible. You are going to have so many options—I see more tubs in your future. Paging @H.C. Aqua

I visited a local box and LFS, just keeping an eye on the inventory. I'm going back for CPDs tomorrow. I haven't had a chance to get my Co-Op plants to the tubs yet, so I got them out of their baskets, and put them in a fresh bucket with a small Co-Op sponge filter. I added a mount for my spare Fluval Nano. I am going to see if I can fit both the Nano power cable, and airline tubing thru the Nano mount. I also topped-off water in my tanks. Someone was thirsty.

I’m going to base this off of the tank I set up for my nephew. If it can survive in a 9 year old’s bedroom with maintenance done by my non-hobbyist brother it should be bullet proof for anyone else. -If it’s going to be in a doctor’s/dentist/whatever office I’ll choose a 55 gallon for that full picture view. -Gravel would be a sand/gravel mix from the river in front of my house. I’m using this in some of my tanks and it’s the most “natural” looking and plants grow well in it. -Hardscape would be few “wild caught” rocks while I’m down at the river. I like driftwood in my tanks but this would prevent any questions about tannins -Plants would simply be Val in the back, crypt wendetti up front, and Amazon frogbit for floaters. No stem plants so they don’t need to keep up with trimming. If the plants go wild they can just pull a few out. -Light would be a BeamsWork since I’ve been running a couple for 4 years now and they’re just as good as new. We’ll make sure to add a mechanical timer here so we know the light turns on and off on its own. Mechanical because I feel it’s easier for someone who doesn’t want to fiddle with apps. -Filtration would come in the way of two sponge filters. No need to remind them to replace cartridges and I’ll admit I have some sponge filters I haven’t squeezed in 6+ months. -Finally fish would be variatus platys. Super hardy. I’ve kept them in summer tubs the last couple years (Rhode Island) and they’ve done well from May to October which means they’ve experienced the mid 50’s to the high 80’s. I even left a few fry out this year to see how they would fare over winter. I went outside today and they’re still kicking. This would also mean that they wouldn’t need to run a heater which is one less thing they would have to pay attention to and we all know it’s hard to find a reliable heater. The variatus platys will pack a ton of color and people get excited about seeing baby fish. Altogether I would be in for $100 for tank and glass lids, $90 for the light (I could’ve sworn the 48” DA used to be $60ish dollars. Must be tarrifs and the Covid tax), I’ll say $20 for plants, $20 for a Whisper 60 air pump, $15 for the sponge filters and hose, $5 for a timer, and finally $20 for 6 variatus platys to get it started. Final tally is $270

My first true macro photo with a clip-on macro lens. Juvenile black Neon Tetra.

Ken, I spent about 2 hours on this project and I see mine is very similar to yours!! I really tried to find peaceful schooling tetras that would work with angels, but the larger ones it seems cam tend to be fin nippers and the smaller ones dinner!

Any hobby that you enjoy, learn something from, express creativity, etc. is always worth doing. I would only limit the number based on whether or not I have the bandwidth to give each the amount of attention needed to really get something out of it.

Hmmm. Just tell her she’s right. Your true hobby is having hobbies. This way, in theory, the hobby count never exceeds one.

Banana-fana welcome to you! Nice pics and list of plants.

@be28ans, You might be a bit overpowered with 100% peaks. I would scale down to 25-35% max. I would keep your blue in the low single-digits when you use it. The Nano is pretty powerful for its size. I see room for more plants! Enjoy. You might also want to consider trying the L bracket the opposite way, to give more height.

I added livestock against my better judgment because the tank is cycled but not quite stable. I'm having a lot of bacteria blooming still but this betta was too cute to resist. The rigid hornwort is doing a great job at keeping the duckweed in one place. The roots tend to anchor with the needles on the hornwort underneath. The soft hornwort is transitioning to the new water so isn't looking very good, we'll see what happens 😉

Hello everyone! After buying my first home as a single mom and with no one to tell me no, I bought my first fish! Frank is a blue Betta that I bought on a whim, fell in love with, and now desperately want to give the best life I can! He's kind of dim and likes to swim into my hand or under decorations I’m trying to move when cleaning his tank, but I love him none-the-less. I got him a tank mate by the name of Francis who probably wishes I had not. As soon as I realized I wasn’t killing him, I thought it would be safe to buy a second fish and tank. And so the red crowntail Betta by the name of Fred joined our family. I've learned now that I made a mistake listening to my LFS about the boys not needing bigger tanks. They both are 2.5 gallons and I’m in the process of remedying that. Currently setting up a 10 gallon planted tank for Frank, who seems like the more laid back fish that might get along with others. A few hiccups along the way of course: my plants are arriving before any of my other supplies will (substrate, light, fertilizer), and the air pump for my sponge filter doesn’t work. If everything somehow works out, I’ll look at upgrading Fred next. I’m here to learn and absorb as much info as I can and I imagine I can only improve from here. Quick question, would it be ok to place the plants in my water change bucket with my next batch of water change water from the boys tanks?