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I would use it for growing out plant cuttings, and hydrating a cat.

the sun hits my tank for about an hour every morning when the sun rises and it’s my favorite time to watch the fish. they seem to glow in the sunlight. my snakeskin gourami pair was looking extra good this morning snacking on krill flakes. my goldfish look good too share your natural sunlit tanks, i think fish look best in sunlight.

I multitask while watching the livestream. I also hangout on the forum. If anyone one is up for it, we can talk about the livestream amongst ourselves (which starts in a little less than 20 minutes).

A few months ago I bought my first tank and got it cycled. Last weekend I ended up getting my first inhabitant for it. He is very active and loves swimming around constantly. I hope he stays active over time. I plan on getting some larger plants to put on the right side and back of the tank. I named the betta "Zero" and got him from Aquarium Co-op. I did notice one of his ventral? fins is bent. I am hoping that is okay.

Almost a year ago I was suffering from depression and spending (for me) way too much collecting watches. Watches are fun to research and buy, but then they sit. I bought an aquarium to help both problems. The aquarium forced me to do something everyday, and it helped me mentally. I have also stopped (almost) buying watches and started buying plants, fish and equipment. I had aquariums most of my childhood and even when the kids were little. We had guppy babies and bettas, but life got in the way. So this hobby is helping me a lot and keeping me pretty happy.

Have others seen guppies bubble surfing? This a first for me. I am moving fish from one aquarium to another and have a bunch of guppies in a 5 gallon bucket with an airstone this morning, and I noticed them chasing the bubbles and leaping. If I take the airstone out they just lollygag around.

@Cory I’m just thankful you host this forum. A little safe corner in the World Wide Web where we can support our fellow Addicts, um I mean hobbiest

Working on a corner filter. The pics below are of the version 2 model and version 1's actual working print. Air stone powers the flow up the tube in the back and out the outlet. This pulls water in through the grid at the surface and down through the filter media. There's one inch of depth so it fits cut sponge, two layers of filter floss, and a bag of bio-media. It moves 22.5 gal/hr with the air stone on high using one of the pumps sold on this site... which is a little low even for a 10 gallon tank, but I might give it a go anyway. If I raise the waterline above the outlet, that might improve, but I won't have any way of knowing or measuring it. Have to print it in halves because it's just too tall for my printer. It's otherwise designed to print easily without support. you can use cyanoacrylate gel glue with baking soda to glue the two halves together air-tight (just don't screw up because it cures fast and permanently). I use t-glase filament because it's FDA approved non-toxic and doesn't absorb water or get brittle. Thinking of going with black for the second prototype since you can see through the clear t-glase... the sponge is too noticeable. If you want to give it a shot, I can send the files. It's not ready to go on Thingiverse. I'm super open to improvement ideas. This is really for fun and learning CAD a little better.

What is the best way to prepare for a power outage in the winter time? What is the secret to growing Vallisneria? Mention the question is from the Forum as it will drive people to the Forum

Gonna be honest I had a brain fart and I don’t really know what I meant. Lol sorry

a long time ago I mean a looooong time ago I asked my mom for a pet chameleon but when we went to the place we were going to buy one they were all sold out. There was a petsmart near by so we thought we would check if they had any there. Turns out there were no chameleons at that location so I just bought a fish tank. I think you know were it went from there.😋

Congrats on your first order! I get as excited everytime I order something as I did the first time. I'm addicted to the little USB pumps. I bought a couple first to hang on hooks on the wall above my fry growout tank. I thought for sure they would vibrate against the wall at least a little and was prepared for it, but they are insanely quiet. Not an single noise.

In a Thanksgiving miracle, I fed a lot of BBS to the tank this morning, and lo and behold a single amano shrimp came flying out of nowhere. He/she swam around like a mad shrimp amongst the BBS and had a good time. Then, poof, gone. So far I have found one dead shrimp, one shrimp skin only, and now one live shrimp. My mollies left the shrimp alone and it just did shrimp things. This gives me hope some of the others might be hidden as well. My kids (20 and 22) think I am crazy. My wife knows I am.

You americans are lucky! A turkey dinner with pumpkin pie for dessert! I'm Canadian so I had this last month, but stil...

Diffuse sunlight on a cloudy morning in the discus tank.

My experience with Corydoras is that they are very hardy and will tolerate a very wide range of pH. I just thumbed through my copy of Ian Fuller's 'Breeding Corydoradine Catfishes' and it looks like the typical range for breeding across about 100 species of Corydoras is between 6.5 and 7.5 pH.

I am about 4 weeks into running a trial with 3 similar aquariums. All the aquariums have Finnex Stingray lights and similar fish and plants. One has Eco-Complete (Eco) as the substrate, one has soil from my asparagus bed capped with Black Diamond Blasting sand (Dirt), and one has Caribsea Peace River gravel with root tabs (Nerm). Dirt is very similar to what you describe above. This is the planting arrangement in all 3 aquariums: All three have behaved very similarly, with the EcoComplete cycling first: Closely followed by Nerm: With Dirt finishing a couple of days later: The tank with the most fertilizer, Nerm is currently has the greenest water, but also has the best plant growth. The water in Nerm is clearing just like the other two aquariums, just a little more slowly. I haven't done any water changes so far and do not anticipate needing to do any in the near future. All the fish and plants are happy in all three aquariums. All of this is a long way saying, the Walstad style tank you are contemplating is very similar to my tank Dirt. Dirt has behaved very similarly to Eco and Nerm. In fact, it is kinda of the middle child of the group. I don't think what you are attempting will be a dumpster fire, but just like all aquariums, I guarantee you will have to make adjustments as the aquarium matures.

I once had several wine glasses filled with water, mini-salvinia/giant duckweed, and pond snails on a windowsill. Some of the glasses developed lively colonies of cool-looking tiny round crustaceans. Was quite fun to observe them.

@Fishmonger_X Blue light is actually very important for photosynthesis. The green area of the spectrum is the least used in most plants which is why most plants appear green. It's the only light not being absorbed. Here's a chart showing the absorption and action spectrums of some common photosynthetic pigments.

I never feed my fish when I travel. I change water the day before I leave, make sure I test and everything is ok. Feed heavy last day and have never lost a fish or had any issues. My trips are 5 days. My fish are all pretty mature, no babies or anything.

I have a 29g that had 6 neon tetras for a long time, one died and the 5 left all hid. I bought 15 more and know they are by far the most interesting thing in the tank. The group has taken over the tank and are so fun to watch. There are neons everywhere and all together at the same time. I am really starting to understand schooling a little bit now.

Maybe make a small paludarium with the filter as a little waterfall, then some sort of low light carpeting plant on the bottom? Just my 2 cents I don't have much experience with anything terrestrial (or plants for that matter).

For those who celebrate, have a happy and safe Thanksgiving, my fishy friends! May your day be filled with bellies full of turkey and aquariums full of life!

@James Black, I don't see the harm in another turkey dinner with pumpkin pie! JOIN US! 😉

My wonderful wife just made a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies and that is what my belly is full of. First the smell of cookies baking, and then the warm chewy goodness of cookies fresh from the oven! Happy Thanksgiving!

Update... so after several water changes to lower the phosphates, the use of easy carbon daily for a week or so, and feeding more brine and frozen than fish food, as well as the Siamese algae eaters, and slowing down on the easy green . I have attained control of the black beard algae that was getting a little out of control ...

So its been close to a week since I have put in the first fish in this tank and they seem to be doing great. I even suspect the Swords have been fooling around already, seen quite a bit of fanning and the female looks fat and round. Obviously I have been keeping a very close eye on parameters, and even after over feeding yesterday I consistently have a NO2 of almost zero and a NO3 of below 20 so pretty happy with that. Next thing I will do is probably add another smaller Aquaclear HOB for backup acting duties and remove and sell the Canister filter. Its just much easier and a much cleaner look in the tank. Also I have been wanting to put more fish in it, problem is with current restrictions I can't easily go to Barcelona in the weekends so will have to see what I can do. For sure I will be adding more Cardinal Tetra's . Also I have been eying orange Nerite snails (but will have to go to Barcelona), thinking of a small group of either Cory's or Brochis or an L number and one or two more signature fish. Thinking Bolivian Ram's or perhaps a Gourami (never had those) but not sure if my 80cm tank is big enough for a Gourami - I think so. Oh and the Baby tears indeed seem to end in tears as Daniel allready commented. They don't really seem to root or grow and I think with the lighting setup I have, there is probably not enough light. Stay tuned - more to come! Greetings from Spain, Ruud

That's a lot of plants in a 5.5 gallon tank. That's a lot of plants in a 55 gallon tank. You've got some very quick growing plants in Hornwort and some very slow growing plants in the Anubias. Dwarf aquarium lilies aren't all that dwarf. They're dwarf compared to a pond waterlily, but pretty big in a 5.5 gallon tank. You're making a tank that will require pretty much nonstop maintenance to keep the faster growing plants from choking out the slower growing plants. Can it be done? Yeah. It could work. I'd be more inclined to focus on fewer plants with the same rate of growth. All Anubias in a 5.5 gallon tank wouldn't be a bad idea. Your betta may need a weedwhacker to move around if you slip up on the maintenance for even just a few days with that many plants in that small of a tank. I'm weeding out duckweed, red root floaters, water sprite, and even java fern on a weekly basis and some of my tanks still resemble a jungle more than an aquarium. Your tank could look great when it's planted with those plants, but once established, yikes! Keeping up with it could be a real challenge for you.

It's a male, around 6" head to tail, maybe a little more, and you're right, he is spectacular, I can watch him for ages. This is a 4 minute clip of him...please ignore or mute the sound👂, the music I've added isn't right IMO.

Sooo many great pics here. This is a New Zealand native freshwater Crayfish, Paranephros zealandicus. They are not often found in blue.

@Kieflow I wouldn't worry about them unless your planning to be gone over a week. They will scavenge for anything that is still edible in the tank. I actually skip a few days once a month to encourage scavenging. If you have algae eaters you can also keep your lights on longer for a week before you leave to increase algae growth so they have more to eat while you're gone.

29. Here is a full view. It's also a plants for profit tank, and tons of cherry shrimp living and breeding in the water sprite.

If you're breeding anything you can use it for fry. The shrimp idea is cool too.

That pleco looks so good

I tried to explain this to mommy and daddy pleco, but they didn't listen. 😄 Yeah, I certainly don't want to have 150 full grown bristlenose plecos in this 29 gallon. I keep a constant supply of food in there and do water changes twice a week. As they grow, I'll have to ramp up the feeding and water changes, but I intend to start selling them soon. My LFS only wants them when they're 3+ inches, so I'll likely look elsewhere for buyers at first.

If pulling eggs the meth blue typically goes in the hatching jars only. Slate upside down with airstone in 1 gal jar tank water + meth blue. 24hrs transfer slate to new jar with aged water and meth blue. This step not always necessary. But can help with less sorting of unfertilized eggs later as they will be the only ones to fall off the slate once you get the airflow right. Jars and meth blue ends once they become wrigglers. Then you decide your final rearing method through trial and error with the fry trays, fry tanks, tumbler, ziss breeder box, marina hang on box, angels plus jars, etc. I was attempting to use the angels plus rearing jars but prefer the ziss stuff that co-op sells. I built a dean inspired fry tray tank with a 10g but it's hard to beat the ziss box. Can go in any tank or be removed when not needed. Try them all and good luck. S1

Goldfish details

Here is what I would do Angelfish lay eggs Take the eggs out into a fry grow out (dean uses little food containers for the first week or two of their life. and use methane blue to keep fungal from the eggs 1-2 week old fry move to 10gallon Yes, you can use methayne blue on fish eggs.

What would be cool maybe is one kind of neocaridina shrimp per box. So in one box would be a cherry shrimp and the box after that could be a blue velvet shrimp and then the one after that a yellow shrimp.

I'm still waiting for the sand and gravel that I pulled from my Askoll 20 to dry, so I can sort the layers with the sifters. This tank has had all the experiments.

algae is completeley normal. It is not harmful to your fish at all. When cycling your aquarium and there is algae it means your almost ready for fish. This being said, no you do not have to remove alage at all. All it does is make your aquarium look dirty. Many aquarists like algae because it makes their tanks looks more natrual. Its all up to you, if you like the look of algae keep it. If you don't scrub it off and if you don't care leave it.

I love all your different corydoras! They're one of my favorites but I don't currently have any right now. Instead, here are a couple of my otocinclus hanging around:

Thank You for your kindness

Or you have to find clever ways of disguising your grow out tub from your landlord.

I wouldn't remove the sprout root babies. Sometimes we just have to trust the plant. I think you plant is Java fern and all of those little sprouts are just one of the things that Java ferns do.

Unfortunately aquarium co-op doesn’t ship outside the US.

Someone from work said on Slack yesterday "I really miss the chatter in the office", I said "I don't miss it at all, I prefer the trickling sound of water from my fish tanks".

Oh yes. The prettiest shiniest sunlit fishies. Here are some of mine in the late afternoon, the only time when my tanks get a little bit of sunlight (and a lot of reflections).