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The two clubs I belong to Cichlid Club of York and Aquarium Club of Lancaster County host the Keystone Clash so that makes it all the more fun. If you got to attend share your fun please! I went with @Elodie Rose 🤗 @tolstoy21 brought me a stunning trio of Apistogramma Trifasciata. Amazingly healthy and well conditioned. Packed expertly in the box! Thank you 🙏 Some great folks were there. I started bagging everything right after my shower at 4AM 😲 Long day. BE KIND It was a hectic morning and I did not realize I never even brushed my hair after my shower 🤣 Father fish was there. Super nice guy! He bought some of my grindal worms off Jen at Smallworld Aquatics who I wholesale all my critters to. Jason from Prime Time Aquatics was there. One of the nicest people I ever met. Very down to earth. Dan from Dans fish was there. We talked about pricing and shipping some of my critters wholesale to him. @Elodie Rose got to chat with him about some fish she had previously purchased from him. Outstanding guy. Really lives up to his reputation of promoting small hobbyists. Got to say hi to @Bentley Pascoe Super nice as always So many great YouTube folks and awesome vendors! @Odd Duck I thought of you the entire time I shopped Jens massive selection of stunning moss. Picked up a few plants from Silvermoon Aquatics Some interesting wood from Jesse at Just One More Fish m. A few other plants from some vendors I did not know I took a bunch of photos of the aquascaping competition. Very interesting ideas. There was also I stand with fantastic terrarium stuff with water falls. For some reason I can’t upload those photos. I’ll work on it.

The Keystone Clash with @Guppysnail was tons of fun! Really had a fantastic time. I’d been nervous about it, but all the vendors, guests, and really just everyone, was super kind, friendly, and approachable. @GuppySnail found me a lovely little baby GBR, Simon the Second, so that River doesn’t get lonely. He’s in a 5 gal QT tank for a bit, but to say that I am thrilled (and also somewhat terrified) to have him is an understatement! Least Killis! That was one of the fish I was specifically looking for, they’re the smallest livebearer, AND they’re native, AND I found out that @Guppysnail had had a colony and that Jen of Small Aquatics had the remainder! Six teeeeeny little least killis came home with me! Jen is such a sweetheart, and wow, did she work the heck out of that booth. I was able to help a tiny bit, and actually got to wait on Father Fish and sold him some grindal worms! Along with micro worms and banana worms. What a sweet guy! He’s lovely in person, and it was great to buy some of his supplement without paying the shipping for it. I joined the Maryland Aquatic Club!!! Suuuper happy about that! And I got some peanut beetles from them, to try out and see what I think. The neighboring booth had an aquarist from Tennessee who’d caught some critters, which of course came home with me, to get a pickle jar of their own to see just what they are and how they grow. Dan from Dansfish, who I am a huuuge fan of, was super nice and fun to talk to! I mentioned the goodeids I had, and it turns out the redtails aren’t eiseni, they’re doadroi! (Sp - I’ll check on that) So I need to correct my logs with that name, they were identified by Gary Lang. Dan is just the sweetest guy! His commitment to shipping healthy fish is fantastic, and while some heroes don’t hold up when meeting them, Dan from Dansfish really did. Delighted to have met him! (Thank you @Guppysnail, lol, I was too star-struck to approach him on my own!) Jason from Prime Time Aquatics was one of the judges for the fish show, and he was super nice as well! Didn’t see him until we were on the way out, but it was cool to meet him just the same! (But by that point it had been many hours, and I was pretty tired/overheated.) Okay the heat. Was nearly unbearable. Since it was chilly and rainy outside, I wore jeans. BIG MISTAKE. Don’t do it. Wear shorts. And sandals. So hot, omg. But that’s what the fish needed, so the people just got to sweat! Heh. It was tough to handle, but I wouldn’t have changed it. Those fish in bags needed all the help they could get! Jen from Small World Aquatics sold me a 2nd pair of the gorgeous violet mosaics she has. Violetta is growing, and becoming one of the most beautiful guppies I’ve ever seen. Victor and Victoria joined them yesterday! Ten or so blue dream shrimp joined the growing colony that I am attempting to build, from two different vendors. I didn’t know that I was joining one of the clubs that hosts the Keystone Clash!! Next year I really want to be more involved and help out more. Jen was very kind and let me keep all my stuff at her booth, and I retreated to the chair beside her booth a LOT when I was tired and overheated. She works HARD, I was glad to help out a tiny bit. Hopefully I can learn enough by next year to be a bit more useful while I enjoy the Clash! Because that was incredible, and I’m DEFINITELY going next year. Also came home with tons of plants and mosses, which I’ll have to take pictures of later. Fantastic experience. The fish community is so welcoming and wonderful! ❤️

Hey everyone! The hate for the ziss brine shrimp hatchery stand is pretty universal, so I decided to design this 3d printable stand that I designed. Makes it way easier to turn the nozzle, it lifts the hatchery itself up a bit more, and it has a drip tray that you can print so you don't get your table dirty. If you're interested in printing this yourself, here's the link to the files.

@Zeaqua have you tried fasting them for a bit and then feeding wafers or whatever else you’d prefer feeding? A hungry fish will eat what most full belly’s won’t.

Mine will eat pellets and wafers once they start disoulving. They also love blood worms.

I usually wait 24 to 48 hours after they start swimming; the thing is they still have yolk sacks they are eating and so don't require immediate feeding.

@tolstoy21 here is the tank the trifasciata are in. I just finished redecorating to accommodate dual territory. I was originally moving my hillstream loach group to breed. I will just redo the tank they are in to accommodate breeding. They are still juveniles.

Glad you like them! Happy to have met you in person. Next year I'm hoping to stay longer and meet more people. My kid enjoyed the Clash immensely. He now wants to go back next year, get a table and sell fish! He's so excited about the idea of that. Well that, and he wants to stay in the hotel and use the pool. (Kids always have ulterior motives!) The only thing I came home with was some tangerine tigers. Was going to buy some orange laser cories, but someone bought ALL of them right before I could get some! Very nice event. Well worth attending.

They Keystone Clash with @Guppysnail was tons of fun! Really had a fantastic time. I’d been nervous about it, but all the vendors, guests, and really just everyone, was super kind, friendly, and approachable. @GuppySnail found me a lovely little baby GBR, Simon the Second, so that River doesn’t get lonely. He’s in a 5 gal QT tank for a bit, but to say that I am thrilled (and also somewhat terrified) to have him is an understatement! Least Killis! That was one of the fish I was specifically looking for, they’re the smallest livebearer, AND they’re native, AND I found out that @Guppysnail had had a colony and that Jen of Small Aquatics had the remainder! Six teeeeeny little least killis came home with me! Jen is such a sweetheart, and wow, did I she work the heck out of that booth. I was able to help a tiny bit, and actually got to wait on Father Fish and sold him some grindal worms! Along with micro worms and banana worms. What a sweet guy! He’s lovely in person, and it was great to buy some of his supplement without paying the shipping for it. I joined the Maryland Aquatic Club!!! Suuuper happy about that! And I got some peanut beetles from them, to try out and see what I think. The neighboring booth had an aquarist from Tennessee who’d caught some critters, which of course came home with me, to get a pickle jar of their own to see just what they are and how they grow. Dan from Dansfish, who I am a huuuge fan of, was super nice and fun to talk to! I mentioned the goodeids I had, and it turns out the redtails aren’t eiseni, they’re doadroi! (Sp - I’ll check on that) So I need to correct my logs with that name, they were identified by Gary Lang. Dan is just the sweetest guy! His commitment to shipping healthy fish is fantastic, and while some heroes don’t up when meeting them, Dan from Dansfish really did. Delighted to have met him! (Thank you @Guppysnail, lol, I was too star-struck to approach him on my own!) Jason from Prime Time Aquatics was one of the judges for the fish show, and he was super nice as well! Didn’t see him until we were on the way out, but it was cool to meet him just the same! (But by that point it had been many hours, and I was pretty tired/overheated.) Okay the heat. Was nearly unbearable. Since it was chilly and rainy outside, I wore jeans. BIG MISTAKE. Don’t do it. Wear shorts. And sandals. So hot, omg. But that’s what the fish needed, so the people just got to sweat! Heh. It was tough to handle, but I wouldn’t have changed it. (Though lacking a thyroid is definitely a -4 penalty to heat tolerance.) Still, those fish in bags needed all the help they could get! Jen from Small World Aquatics sold me a 2nd pair of the gorgeous violet mosaics she has. Violetta is growing, and becoming one of the most beautiful guppies I’ve ever seen. Victor and Victoria joined them yesterday! Ten or so blue dream shrimp joined the growing colony that I am attempting to build, from two different vendors. I didn’t know that I was joining one of the clubs that hosts the Keystone Clash!! The Cichlid Club of York. Next year I really want to be more involved and help out more. Jen was very kind and let me keep all my stuff at her booth, and I retreated to the chair beside her booth a LOT when I was tired and overheated. She works HARD, I was glad to help out a tiny bit. Hopefully I can learn enough by next year to be a bit more useful while I enjoy the Clash! Because that was incredible, and I’m DEFINITELY going next year. Also came home with tons of plants and mosses, which I’ll have to take pictures of later. Fantastic experience. The fish community is so welcoming and wonderful! ❤️

Intro: I'm starting up this thread to document my 29 gallon planted tank build. After a bit of a tank loss disaster a few weeks ago, I decided to move from shell dwellers to a planted community. This tank was previously a 20 gallon long, so I decided to upgrade to a 29 gallon since it has the same footprint and can utilize the same stand, along with the fact that I tend to appreciate the extra height in planted tanks so that the plants can really grow vertically and go wild. I've attached some pictures of the previous setup. I enjoyed that tank for quite a few years and got to raise generation after generation of Multis in there. Now for the new tank. Stock: I really don't have my heart set on a specific fish for this tank, so I'll probably get it setup, let the plants grow in, and pick out some stock that catches my eye at the shop. I've been thinking some livebearers could be fun since I haven't done a platy or guppy tank since I was a kid. Perhaps a friendly community of various tetras, rasboras, and danios? I've also been kicking around the idea of getting a pair of apistos, but not sure. I've even considered tiger or odessa barbs, but honestly I probably would want a little bit of a larger tank for either species. Right now I am keeping my options open. Would love to hear some suggestions if anyone has some fish that they're enjoying a lot right now. Equipment: Co2 Injection - I'm going with a more high-tech setup on this tank. I generally run all of my tanks with CO2 because I find that it is generally much easier to achieve the rapid and lush plant growth this way. I ordered a Coop regulator (I generally use aquatech, but figured I try out the coop's product) and will be picking up my Co2 cylinder and diffuser this week. Probably just going to go with a standard in tank ceramic diffuser. I thought about a reactor, but I find they don't perform as well with canisters that have a flow rate under 200 gph so I'm steering clear this time around. Filtration - I picked up a Fluval 207 yesterday. I don't love canisters, but really like the minimal in tank equipment and silence that they bring to the table. I've also always liked the Fluval canisters and have been running a 404 on my 55 gallon tank for nearly a decade with no issues. Lighting - I've used most of the planted aquarium lights that have come on the market over the last 10 years and figured I would give the new 30" coop light a shot. My first impressions are that it is VERY bright when run at 100% output and has a very nice color temp. The housing is sturdy and I'm looking forward to seeing how it grows plants (which I am sure it will do just fine). Tank - Just a good old fashioned 29 gallon Aqueon glass tank with black trim. Can't go wrong here for the price. I've got a 7 gallon UNS ultra low-iron glass cube that I really like and while the difference is notable, the price for one comparable in size to the standard 29 gallon is pretty crazy. Hardscape/Substrate: I stopped by an awesome new aquascape supply company that opened up here in Denver this past year and had never seen more awesome wood and rock in my entire life (AquaRocks Colorado if you're in the area. Definitely worth the trip.). While nice wood and rock costs a pretty penny, I find that it generally really does elevate the look of a tank. I picked out a really awesome piece of Malaysian driftwood and some nice seriyu stone to compliment it. The driftwood will undoubtedly be the centerpiece of this tank and I am really excited to see how it looks when the tank grows in. For substrate I am rolling with good old fashioned Eco Complete. I have been on a bit of a sand kick the last few years, mainly because I love how natural it looks in a tank, but I find that nothing grows plants better than good old fashioned gravel or eco complete if you fertilize well. I have other tanks running UNS controsoil and while I also like that substrate a lot, I find that the lifespan of eco complete, which is indefinite, to be a major selling point compared to specialty soils that break down pretty significantly over time. I have attached a few pics of my initial thoughts on the layout and will be getting the substrate in there and filling up with water here in the next few days. I hope you all enjoy following along!

Recently (in the last few years), I've been branching away from canister filters, trying internal filters and UGF filters. I really like to be lazy in the hobby. So, I'm looking for something that allows minimal tank maintenance. The UGF has been rock solid and the Sicce Shark ADV filters have been incredibly quick and easy to maintain. However, I thought to myself, is there something quicker and easier? Maybe I can reach way, way back to the days that I used HOB filters and see what I can see. My criteria where: 1) In-tank pump for self priming (Aqua Clear disqualified here). 2) Minimal need for modifications. I'd like to run with what comes in the box. 3) Cheap and very quick to maintain. This led me to the Tetra Whisper IQ 45 filter: For under $30 (including tax), I was able to get the filter and 24 filter cartridges. I'm going to run the filter cartridges without carbon and just toss them when I need to change them. This will cost < $1 per cartridge and I should be able to go about 1 year with the above 24 cartridges (in a 30 gallon tank). I'm hoping this turns out to be the ultimate in quickness and convenience. I may add some biological filter media inside the bag and just move it over to the new bag during maintenance. However, that would add time and effort. So, I might just add a little sponge to the plastic "bio" lattice that comes after the cartridge. In any event, I'm hoping this fulfills my lazy dreams and makes maintenance just that much easier. I love the Sicce Shark ADV, but you do have to get your arm wet... 🙂 It would be so funny if the answer for the lazy aquarist is to go back to the unmodified HOB filter. 🙂

Some photos updates. 10g I got a trio of sparkling gourami's from @Cinnebuns 29g My new electric blue ram "Neptune" "Derp" the angelfish "Marge" the german blue ram "Shade" the german black ram 75g "Arrie" the rainbow shark "Jed" the electric blue acara "Opal" the three spot gourami "Honeybear 2" the honey gourami. Derp was bullying them in my 29g, so I moved them over here. 40g My new Araguaia dwarf acara "Marmaduke" Brackish

I had “troubles” with Platy’s when I first got into the hobby. Not so much trouble as I expected way more fry from what I read. As soon as I was feeding baby brine shrimp daily that’s when I really got into trouble!

Mine seem to eat almost anything. They especially love Repashy Soilent Green, Hikari Sinking Carnivore Pellets and Hikari Algae Wafers. They clean up almost every bit of food that lands on the bottom of the aquarium.

Bluey ate again hurray. 🙂

looks like nerite eggs. Female nerites will lay them, whether or not a male is present. They will not hatch as that requires brackish water.

I'd put Anubis there, the high flow will help keep algae off their leaves but you'll also have to figure out how to shade them. With either lots of tall plants or a partial cover for the light.

You could do a course of medicated food he's a medicated food recipe for levamisole @Stroy15

Just treat this fish on it's if you can't quarantine than I would treat the main tank with ick x

Did not know we had a spoiler feature, that's funny. I'm looking forward to the October selection. I'm going to try to watch at least 4 scary movies in October and something about fish will be a nice counterpoint.

There were cancer issues with the half-black swordtails way back in the sixties/seventies/eighties that kept me from ever keeping those. Those swordtails were red on the front half and solid black from the mid-dorsal fin back. I haven't seen those fish in a while, so they may no longer be actively bred and commercially available due to the health concerns. They were beautiful fish, but not very strong. Most recently I was raising Neon Swordtails, and they were extremely prolific and hardy. The high-fin and long-fin varieties of swordtails are very beautiful, but you typically need to keep a "normal" male to breed with the females due to the elongated and no longer functional gonopodium of the high-fin/long-fin males. Goliad Farms was experimenting with surgically modifying the gonopodiums (hacking off the "excess" with a razor blade) of the long-fin variety to see if they would then reproduce, but I never saw the result of that experiment. I'm guessing it didn't end well. The poor guys went from "Hello ladies, look at what I've got!" to being nicknamed "Shorty" though no fault of their own. The photo posted above of the gold and black swordtail shows the overly long gonopodium that's the problem with the high-fin/long-fin varieties. The solid red male's gonopodium seems to be less of an issue based on that photo, but we don't see enough to know for sure. A quick search for "Red Lyretail Swordtail Experiment Goliad Farms" should bring up that article if you're interested.

@nabokovfan87 the addition of your sword plants adds such a charm to your tank. I love them. before: after: It may seem like a small change, but it looks good! It has improved! (And look how cool that red tail looks in front of the green plant) I remember when I was watching a bunch of Father Fish videos. He made one about preventing algae. And the secret is to have A LOT OF plants. The plants will suck up the nutrients that the algae wants. Now, you may have also forgotten.. you can cheat. You can add fake plants. Get some good ones, realistic, and it will fill in the tank and no one will know. They won’t melt. Then fill in around those with live plants that you can afford. Maybe some Aponogeton or Vallisneria? They seem to do well in deep tanks. Recently my Java fern turned to mush. It was doing great for a year and a half, then one day, blehhh.. that was after a bacterial bloom where I did water changes on 3 consecutive days and ran carbon (for just 2 days) to try to clarify things. It didn’t like that situation at all. Melted and made a huge mess all over the tank. 😐 Java fern: When that died and had to be removed, the fish felt exposed. I could tell they were confused and very nervous. There are plants on the side, but they prefer the middle. So I added this: They love it and went into it right away. Their whole demeanor changed. The Small Scape YouTuber adds fake plants into her tanks as well. There is one at big box sold as a mat that looks like Anubias nana petite. She cuts it up and attaches it to driftwood. As far as the filter, hey, you tried stuff. You like to brainstorm and experiment, and we like to follow along. So it didn’t work long term. So what? You gave it a shot. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” -Thomas H. Palmer ”Do, or do not. There is no try.” -Yoda

1. Your tank can easily support several full grown angelfish. 2. You can basically fit any pleco that stays at a manageable size in a 65 gallon. Bristlenose plecos are quite popular. There are a lot of bristlenose pleco variations, and they are easy to breed. You could also try rarer/exotic species (L134, Zebra, L333, L397, etc.) 3. Any fish that can't fit in an Angelfish's mouth and isn't a known fin knipper would be great tank mates. I personally like apistos, larger bodied tetras, corydoras, etc. I've personally had neon tetras eaten by my large angelfish. 4. For advice, I'd always recommend quarantining your fish. Cheers!

The nitrate is probably from the EasyGreen. You'll want to watch for Ammonia and Nitrite. Those should increase and then fall to zero, with nitrates following that.

First, THANK YOU for showing off some of the happenings and goings ons at the event. I know of a few of the speakers, was excited to see what gets recorded and what not. I tried to look up on the youtubes about if any of the talks would be up/streamed and all I saw was the KGT drama stuff and just checked out. Some of those aquascapes look amazing! (to be honest, all tanks look great compared to mine right now). I love the wood/dragon stone setups that were there. I'll be very interested to see how the rose moss looks and does for you. I haven't heard of that before! Thanks for sharing. Congrats on all the fun. 🙂

I recently found a research study that some lines that have melanoma issues, the parents can actually become sterile as a result of this after a certain time period. I can find the study if need be, but it was during a deep dive trying to identify what was going on with my own fish. Generally speaking though, yes.... add water, add cover, you will have fry. The main difference between these and something like guppies is purely style and size.

I always found swordtails to be absurdly easy to breed, with one caveat. The high-fin varieties tend to have issues where the males' gonopodium is no longer effective due to the length. Standard, short-fin swordtails should breed readily for you. Just be aware that they're pretty aggressive predators also, so fry survival can be more of an issue than with less predatory livebearers.

All the ones in the photos are the ones I brought home. So one of ALL of them. 🤣

I’d say it depends on the LFS. The LFS that takes basically everything I breed most definitely QT’s their fish. I know because they’ve allowed me back there a couple of times to take a look. Even though they do their own quarantine, I still do mine on top of it. My other LFS, I have no clue. Their stock is healthy and they have other fun things the first mentioned LFS doesn’t, but I’ve never seen their QT space. It’s entirely possible they have it and I’ve just never seen it. My best advice is to build relationships with your LFS and ask questions. I went to LFS #2 this past week to walk the floor and pick up a filter, and as soon as I came in the manager asked me, “where’s the boss today?” Normally my girlfriend is with me, but this time she wasn’t, and this let me know that not only do they recognize me, but they recognize my significant other as well. Get to know them, let them know you, and it typically works better for everyone.

Aaaah, this is good to know. I may be buying soon from my LFS, so I appreciate knowing about the high stress the fish endure while at the store. I have had luck buying from fellow hobbyists and from AquaHuna for my stocking.

I worked at a local fish store and our salt water orders came in on Fridays, freshwater on Tuesdays, give or take a day depending on how the airport processed the live animal shipments that week, and how large the order was. Most of the good (when I say "good," just assume I mean healthy, large, colorful) salt water stock was gone by the end of the weekend, save for a few high-dollar fish and corals. Clowns were thoroughly picked over after just 2 days in the tanks. Freshwater was hit-or-miss depending on what was currently in fashion. For some reason popularity for freshwater stock was extremely variable and sometimes we totally missed the mark on our orders. If you get lucky, a high quality specimen that you really want will stick around for a whole week, but we usually tried to avoid keeping fish for longer than a week unless it was a staple we ordered super regularly, like neons. If you're regularly coming in on Sundays, you are probably not getting the best options. If Sundays are your only available day to shop for fish, you may want to switch to ordering certain specific species online. Staples like otocinclus, neons, barbs, most small schooling fish that get ordered in bulk aren't fish that we pick through individually, so those will be a mixed bag on any day. I actually disagree with @HelplessNewbie on fish lasting longer in the store being healthier. Often times these fish are more exposed to disease, and fish stores aren't exactly low-stress environments. There's nets being dipped in their tanks almost daily, sometimes they aren't fed appropriately (depending on the store), and the only store I have ever been in that properly quarantines/medicates has been Aquarium Co-Op. Quarantining fish is an extreme rarity, most stores can't afford to. Because of the amount of stress that fish are usually under in most fish stores, it's not great for their immune system and they are just as likely, if not more likely to get sick, as fish purchased the day they came in. I would recommend chatting with your store staff and finding out exactly what days they get orders, to see if you can plan around those days. Most store staff will be happy to tell you, a lot will put new order arrivals on social media. It's kind of fun to have a nice big variety to choose from, anyway.

From the sounds of your start method it's likely bacteria bloom. I would leave it as long as you have no fish in there. It's only a potential danger when that's the case. The bacteria will settle if you let it and water will clear. Generally you don't have to do water changes when cycling. You're just waiting for ammonia to show, then nitrite, then nitrate. When the first two are 0 and you have some Nitrate you're ready to go!

I would think the longer they are at the LFS, the more likely they survive. They have had longer to acclimate to local water, and they would have shed/shown any illnesses by then. However, I don't have personal experience to back it up.

Hi Cindy, welcome to the forum. Question: How are you starting this tank? Did you add someone else's used media? Bottled bacteria? Ammonia method? Also, post a pic of the tank if you can. Without that info my guess is what you might have is a bacterial bloom. This is NOT uncommon in new tanks and if you have no inhabitants I would leave it be until it clears- as changing water often exacerbates the issue.

I have a huge closet off my dining room-it’s mostly full of aquarium stuff…..I don’t know where I would put it otherwise🙄

Thank you! We went through some hard things, lost my dog, she was 14. Lost a friend or two who aren't on this journey with us. But overall, it has been one of the best summers of my life. We had some great growth!

GL with the tetras!

I might as well redo my entire fish room as try to count these! I’ll be back next year, going to be busy for a while! 🤪

Are they actually swallowing the food? This is what I would try in increasing intervention levels... First, starve them... They can go a long time without food. I had one go months before it died. I routinely fast them for days at a time if we go on vacation, etc. The bad side of that is that you can have a sick fish for a long time before it becomes obvious. Second, discus are absolutely fine at high temps. You can go up to 93 F (34 C, I think) without any issue at least temporarily, wouldn't want to do that for months. I have temporarily fixed picky eating discus with high temp and salt. And they can handle a lot of salt. Easily two tablespoons per 10 gallons and some discus folks say more than that. So, hot water, salt, and starving. Bump it up a few degrees at a time, try feeding them what you want them to eat every 2 or 3 days. If they don't bump it up warmer a bit and try again. Cleaning uneaten food after offering. If that takes you to 93 and they still won't eat, you can dwell there for a couple weeks. In the past this has worked for me, but then when coming back down in temps they stop eating again below 88 or so. Third thing would be doing metro, you want to do it at high temps, that might be your next step if they still won't eat... 93 and metro. So at this point you might see why many suggest bare bottoms and limited plants. My experience with discus (while limited), has shown that they are susceptible to worms. Additionally, any worming effort requires very heavily vacuuming substrate and it's extremely difficult with gravel or sand. The other third option would be levamisole. I now worm all of my fish with pure levamisole at somewhere around 2.5 to 3 PPM. Treatment suggestion I have been following from a discus breeder is dose days 1, 6, and 14. Then another two weeks after that. Levamisole is done at normal tank temps and dose left in for 24 hours then as big of a water change as you can do including full side and bottom wipe down (I use paper towels). Levamisole will cause them to go on a hunger strike itself, so it is important to know that going in. If you have a QT tank you can do this in with a bare bottom that would be great because you want to get all the expelled worms and eggs as it doesn't kill the worms it paralyzes them. During levamisole I have also started doing 1 tablespoon of epsom salt and 1 tablespoon of regular salt per 10 gallons. How to tell if you should do metro or levamisole... again, this is in my limited experience. If they're eating minimally or pecking and spitting food out, metro seems to have been the way to go. That sounds a bit like your experience. For levamisole the symptoms have been more like aloofness. Corner staring, hiding in the back. For both levamisole (each 24 hour dose) and metro (daily dose for 12 days), I shut lights off and black the tank off with a thick blanket. Overall, if those are recent pictures, they look pretty good, but they can starve for a long time before it becomes really noticeable. So your observations probably have some merit. Usually a pinched head shows up. Feel free to PM me if this seems nonsensical. I don't visit forums very much anymore, so unless I get an email saying someone quoted me or messaged me, I don't usually check back, but I will try to follow what you have going on. Best of luck!

Gotcha! I read the IDing thread last month and thought I remembered fin shape being important. I don't care about what sex they are either way, I'm just happy to finally get a honey! 🥰

Hello everyone! The thrilling conclusion to my honey gourami hunt! LFS called me yesterday to say they got in some honeys! So, made a day of it with my fiancée and drove down to get a fish (just one, I decided.) I'm pretty sure they're male, based on that spikey little dorsal fin. But they're the cutest shade of pale yellow and orange with a shimmery belly. I've had them in quarantine for a couple hours now and they've colored up and are swimming good. The new addition. Not naming them until they're cleared from quarantine, feel free to drop suggestions!

specific numbers would be helpful; different species have different requirements; D50 like around 80-140 (tds) (too soft and they cna't breed too hard and they can't); domestic cockatoo as noted above can breed in harder water (don't try this with wc fishes); ph generally doesn't matter but you want gh/kh/tds of course this can get super confusing because some use degrees and other ppm and some use german scale, or uk scale, or us scale and it all gets confusing.

Yup. What @Guppysnail said.

My caucatoides trio breed well for me. 7.8-8ph 350+ gh 180+kh. Make sure you get tank raised by someone not using RO to get soft water. Wild caught will have a hard time. I just add 1 gallon of distilled water /5 gallon bucket of tap for water changes. It does not go real far to adjusting my water but it usually gets me down to 7.8. Check the ph recommend of the type and stay away from ones that need that extreme acidity.

Absolutely. Carib sea jungle river sand. All my corydora love it including my Pygmy. I love it because it can be vacuumed to avoid compacting yet it does not go up the siphon. My GBR, Laetacara dorsigera and curviceps love it. the dorsigera use their body to dig holes for breeding and this is still perfect for that.

Update Ive seen bladder snail eggs for the first time today, still nothing on the ramshorns part 😄

@DaniV Just a heads up, you're on deck for the next one! 🙂 Looking forward to what you choose for us. No rush at all. (let us know the first week of October)

Any suggestions on moving a tank? 20 gallon on top, 5 gallons on bottom. Looking to rearrange room for functionality. Just need to move it about 12 feet away, in same room.

The 20 is really, really heavy and I don't recommend trying to move it with the water in there. I think the 5G can be moved as mentioned above if you drain it as much as possible. Essentially.... 1. Remove the hard scape or anything that could fall while moving. 2. Consider removing plants, they will likely get a bit beat up either way. 3. Drain the tank to the height of your net and move any fish to a bucket or tub with an air stone. For shrimp, you'd want to use tankwater and reserve as much of that as possible. Hardscape usually stays wet too if need be. Cover that bucket with a lid or heavy towel and set out of the way so the fish don't get scared and jump. 4. Move your filter media to the bottom of the bucket with the fish, clean out your sponges and anything like that you would need to maintenance. 5. Go ahead and make a divot/hole to give the siphon access to drain as much water as possible from the tank. You will have a difficult time getting the siphon going once you hit the substrate so having help, drain water and having something where you can keep draining as long as possible is very helpful. Angle the substrate so water drains down into that hole as it drains. 6. Drain the water as much as you can and then move the tank to the floor/somewhere safe. 7. Move your stand, then level it. 8. Add the 5G back, then the bigger tank, be sure to check level as the tanks fill with water. Weight can make things shift. 9. Add back in your hard scape and get the filtration going. 10. Add the fish back once the filter has had a chance to remove any major debris. Usually an hour.

The biggest tads now look like frogs 🥰The tads slow down as I dim the light. They also make their way to float in the plants at night. So far I count somewhere between 20-25. They often float among the plants during the day so very hard to get an accurate count. I have seen zero losses since relocating them to a grow out. This does not mean the largest did not consume a few tiny ones only I have seen none that perished.