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Do you ever say to yourself, gosh what's that I found (WTF) in my aquarium? Well this morning was a WTF Wednesday for me. I am feeding my young sparkling gouramis their morning ration of baby brine shrimp when an electric blue flash caught my eye. Baby neon's? A baby zebra danio? No, two baby zebra danios! My best guess is just before putting the baby gouramis in this 40 breeder I had used this aquarium for a group fish that included a few zebra danios. While I drained all the water out of the aquarium and set it aside, I didn't clean it before adding green water and baby sparkling gouramis. I never clean between setups because I want the beneficial bacteria to get a head start in the new tank. Apparently there were also some beneficial zebra danio eggs or fry included in the grunge. Welcome to WTF Wednesday.

I’ve had collected these from the wild and kept several species over the years. They are one of my favorite kinds of fish to keep and breed. They very much remind me of cichlids and until recent DNA analysis some people thought it was possible they were cichlids. Pygmy sunfish are very undemanding except for one important factor, and that is they will need live foods They are true ambush hunters and if it isn’t wiggling they don’t want it. Fortunately they eagerly eat baby brine shrimp. Another thing is they can be very reclusive. My wife calls them ‘the fish you never see.’ But that’s not completely true, it really just depends on the set up. What Elassoma seem to like is dense bunches of plants to hide in and then a little open display area to come out where males can court females. You may have to fiddle with your set up until get one where they feel comfortable. The male courting dance is a sight to behold with undulating waggling combined with staccato fin flicking. In my aquariums the males would lure the females into a dense bunch of hornwort where the females would deposit their eggs, often day after day. The males would guard the nest area, but not really pay attention to any resulting fry. Fortunately, the fry are rather large and can also take baby brine shrimp not too long after they are free swimming. They also remind me of annual flowers. They are definitely not like angelfish or discus which will live for many years. In the wild they usually just live for one season, in an aquarium they live longer. They are hard to find for sale.

I am a PhD student in a pain research lab! Our goal is to understand how pain can become a chronic disease, find new targets for treating pain, and develop new therapeutics.

Odd, I thought I had done an introduction post but not seeing one anywhere so must be my memory going on me 🙂 Howdy all, I am Ken from Lewiston Idaho. I have been into fish keeping since a young age after discovering my parents old tanks/gear in the family basement. I have made several mistakes over the years (an Oscar and a 12" black shark in a 29G) and have even learned from a few of them. I took a several (20+) years hiatus after joining the army and then after working a job with a "Cory" schedule and a 3 hour round trip daily commute. Now I have a "part time" job (only 40 hours a week!) and find I have way more time to actually enjoy the finer things in life, time with my family, fly fishing and aquariums! About the time my daughter left for college I found myself with space and the itch to get back into the hobby. What started as a "trust me honey, just one 29 gallon tank" somehow managed to grow to around 30 tanks and taking over the old family room downstairs. While trying to figure out how to get more tanks crammed into the family room I stumbled across a random fish nerd on youtube that was showing how he was setting up his fishroom. Cinderblocks and 2x4s? I can do that! Once the room was setup I was headed to Bellingham to visit my daughter and figured I may as well stop in and visit that youtube nerd's store in Edmonds. There we picked up Gerald the Schoudenti puffer, after that my wife's only rule is at least one tank always has to have a puffer in it 🙂 Gerald has since passed away after ~5 years in my care (I will always hope it wasn't my lack of skill). I enjoy keeping mostly smaller peaceful fish, a few guppies/endlers but mostly kerri tetras, rasboras, white clouds, and such. I have met some very nice folks along the way and love the community that Cory has built, turns out a lot of us get along well with that randon youtube fish nerd 😄

Little ones are looking good! They are swimming around a lot and hunting for little worms mom getting Bbs ready for them

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XTQ86W3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I added a link ☝️ I added a plug in GFCI adapter from Amazon for just a little sense of safety. All the AC around all that water and sometimes wet floor makes me a little bit nervous. ⚡😵

Good morning, I’m in search of as much information on these little guys as I can get. There is not much out there on them. Aside from being easy to keep, they are native to the states, not aggressive unless spawning (which makes sense). And would require live food. Do any of you keep these guys and have any information on them you would be willing to share? I’m looking to be a sponge on knowledge with them. Thank you!

Hello! I am debating on getting a 20 long and was looking for any stocking ideas. Right now I am leaning towards 15 black neon tetras and 8 albino Corydoras. Is that too much for a 20 long? I’m open to any other suggestions. Thanks!

We are also doing online meetings now which has been nice the next meeting is about live bearers and is on Dec 3rd at 7 pm here is a link to the website Announcements AQUARIUM.MN

One more picture. My little guy wanted to be in a picture!

Just got one, love it.

No CO2. Each tank is a 40 breeder with a heater and sponge filter and same plants in same layout. The only thing that is different is the substrate. In my experience healthy fish in good water can take wild swings in temperature and pH and not bat an eye. When the pH was 8.2 they ate voraciously out of my hand and were perky. When the pH was 7.2 a half hour later they at voraciously and were perky. If I had dropped the pH to 6.8 it wouldn't have mattered to them. Was the pH measured correctly? All three probes were calibrated recently and give correct readings in 4.0 and 7.0 buffers. And the probe readings match the pH readings on Tetra strips and also the API liquid tests I do each afternoon. And if that wasn't enough I also have a Seneye in each tank and its readings also agree. The reason I am over-measuring is I am watching the evolution of these three tanks to see what the differences and similarities are on a day by day basis. It might not yield any results or it might.

Hi Max, my opinion (based on 25+ years paralegal experience in civil law) is that it's a disclaimer in the very rare occurrence of a catastrophic failure causing you to be the ground when sticking your hand in and be electrocuted. In court it would be called an affirmative defense.

I’ve had one running since December of 2018 and I’m happy with the quality of the light. It did a great job at growing a S Repens carpet for a while on a 5 gallon and now I have it on a different 5 gallon with dwarf sag and crypts. Would I purchase it again? No, but that’s more because I like using super budget options. Most of my tanks are running led under cabinet kitchen lights I get at Walmart for $8 each. The main reason I have this light is that first 5 gallon was one I set up for our store betta fish at the chain pet store I work at and it really helped sell more of them. So, if you’re looking for a really quality light that looks sleek and don’t mind the price point, I would jump on it. If you just want a light that will grow plants and you don’t mind something that might not be as great quality wise, there’s other options

I just did this a couple of hours ago in three aquariums. Brought the pH from 8 something to 7 something. The graph represents about 24 hours of time and a 30% water change on each aquarium.

I was an IT guy for a long time, but I retired a couple of years ago. I still do some freelance stuff, some usability testing, and content categorization for a large social media company, just to pay for my hobbies.

Found this last Friday, but seems like it fits really well here on the What's That (I) Found Wednesday post: Hope it doesn't give anybody nightmares!!! 😫 EDITED to ADD: The general consensus is that it was a dragonfly larvae nymph. Dragonfly Larvae Dragonfly Nymphs | MDC Discover Nature NATURE.MDC.MO.GOV Dragonfly larvae are aquatic insects with large eyes, six legs, and an oval or rounded segmented abdomen. The lower jaws are scooplike and cover much of the lower part of the head. And now that I know what that part is that was moving, I'm even MORE grossed out!!!!!

Put the big momma in the breeder box and took 1 day for all these fry to come out. This is probably the 4th batch of fry from her. 2nd pic is the mom and dad.

Similar experience. I've never had fish get too excited about NLS food. Xtreme is more popular with my fish for sure.

Expensive plants 😉 My mascara barbs loved their anubias snacks i fed them!

An F3 male coming along

I plan on adding some lights around my aquarium stands. Something soft and colorful. My sons would love that tree topper by the way. They are obsessed with Murphy. Maybe someday we’lol make the trek from St. Louis to the Co-Op. I had to put a Murphy sticker on both sides of my car so they could both look at him while driving around town.

I've been a government intelligence analyst for the past 11 years. I mostly find issues and solve them before they become bigger issues, improve skills, develop and present training, build relationships, and write reports. Prior to this path, I was an airborne qualified intelligence collector and infantryman with the Army (December 2001 through 2008). I got broken in Iraq, was medevac'd home, had a surgery, and medically separated. Currently finishing up a BS Sports Management degree on the side for fun and possibly for future use. The fish family is an important part of my relaxation and development as a person. They definitely get their fair share of the funds for all the enjoyment they bring to me.

Today I discovered the joy of using candy moulds for Repashy! I also have a new fish in quarantine.

Probably, but who really knows, growing bacteria is a black art. But, they gotta eat something. I used to be skeptical of adding beneficial bacteria to an aquarium because the beneficial bacteria are always there anyway whether we add them or not. I think @KBOzzie59 suggested they can even come in to a new aquarium on our hands. But, overtime I am slowly being convinced that these commercial products might not be complete snake oil. The bacteria that process nitrogen in our aquariums are thought to be Nitraspina, Nitrospinacacae, and Nitrospria. These little guys have a disadvantage because they are autotrophs and their only food source is nitrogen. The problem is that there are also lot of heterotrophic bacteria that consume a wide variety of complex organic substances. And, the heterotophs can double their populations every 4 hours, whereas our poor little autotrophic beneficial bacteria double their populations only every 24 to 30 hours. So to give the beneficial bacteria a leg up, we add them on day one and feed them some source of nitrogen (typically ammonia, which can come from uneaten food) and hope they get established before they can be out-competed by their less picky and faster multiplying cousins.

New decal Monday...jk, I wish it was every Monday!

Interesting, I haven't had much luck with pygmy corys either; I've lost all of them just as you've described. I tried twice and decided to give up on them. The only difference is that I bought mine from Agnoquatics. Pgymies are the only corys that I like so it's a shame I can't manage to keep them. No Camerons in the family!

Welcome aboard!

Back in 2007 I started with metal halides but they hot and noisy. I soon switched to LEDs and have been through a series of those. Currently I am using three Kessil a360x's with beam focusers. Without a tight beam it is hard to push light down through 3 feet of water.

Tetra fry at about 2 and 1/2 weeks, picture... I have a new spawn of over 100 anyone interested in them?

The Baensch Aquarium Atlas books are pretty great. Sooooo much information.

The Ziss will tumble more as the media ages, but to me it sounds like you may be just at the border of having enough air to drive it. I would make sure the hard airline on the side of the filter is well seated and not sticking up to much, that the twist valve is fully open if you are using it, and then give it a week or two to see if the media tumbles better once it gets more established. If after a week or two it still isn't tumbling as much as you want you may need to upsize your air pump. (never hurts to have a backup air pump in a pinch so the current one wouldn't go to waste)

I'm not a plant guy but I'm trying! I've heard plants dont grow well in sand so I've moved half of them into pots full of seachem Flourite substrate with easy tabs. Only ones in the sand are the new Amazon swords. The pics actually make them look better than they are. I've got higher Nitrates. Which I've been working getting it down to a more consistent 40ppm. All these plants are surrounded by easy tabs. What else can I test for to give me more answers on what I need? The bigger swords are new so they still look fabulous. Also my anubis has an alge growing on it.

For me I will get algae on anubius leaves from a few of the following: too much/long light period, too little flow, too little tank maintenance. The things that have helped me are: a circulation pump or good aeration, lots of shrimp, ottos or hill stream loaches, water changes, and or lowering the light intensity or length turned on, adding more stem plants. With the barbs shrimp would be hard but maybe something else from my list may help you? Nice tank and enjoy the journey 😊

Dawn Dare I have a full-size Celtic harp and a lap harp, both built by Philip Boulding of Magical Strings, in Olalla. This is a pic looking through the strings on my big harp at my new tank.

I have never done either so I don't know. But since I don't know the answer and easy out would to try the Dr. Tim's because at least that would have some sort of instructions and then it wouldn't all be guess work.

Like I said before, I made the mistake of buying neon tetras at a local PetSmart and in 2 weeks, I went from 20 tetras to zero. So you are not alone!

Thank you @Streetwisei appreciate it

Welcome!

Updates from last night. Got a cluster of eggs from the new Super Red Long Fin tank. Woot! These guys really do not enjoy keeping their eggs in the cave. Into the Ziss Egg Tumbler they go (pic 1) Found a cluster of eggs from the Super Red (normal fin) tank. Another Woot! These guys rarely kick out their eggs. Hmm, only one Ziss Egg Tumbler, gotta use my mini-bucket with an airstone trick. This does fine but I do change the water every night. I feel like I have to have another Ziss Egg Tumbler somewhere in the fish room. If only I was more organized. 🤣 Decided to go with spawning mop egg harvesting for my Blue Gularis instead of one large pull from the gravel. I totally believe Rosario LaCorte crushed it with this method, but I am not having the same luck. My test pair using the spawning mop on the tank bottom is giving me at least 5-6 eggs per night/every other night it seems. With 3 pairs in 3 tanks this should prove to be quite the Blue Gularis egg factory. Now to figure out peat moss incubation. Thankfully @Dean’s Fishroom has already dropped so knowledge...might make for a good podcast episode.🤔 Took a massive ball of java moss out of the Corydoras venezuelanus tank. I think this giant plant might have actually been hindering them from spawning...maybe, what do I know! lol Enjoy the pics!

First Lilly pad of the tank taken a Nov 1st. Now there are more than 5. Will need to take another pic next Tuesday.

The filter came in, but I haven't tested it yet. It looks like it might fit a pair of Aquaclear 30 foam in there. It sits about 2" above the rim, and requires about 2" clearance behind it. The motor is permanently installed, but the impeller is accessible. It is indeed symmetrical. Here are some photos, with Co-Op Small Sponge for scale:

I worked way too long on this...

Purchased a comfy chair to enjoy my tank. Anticipate many hours of relaxing and watching my fish.