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They are maturing. Spawning age cichlids will invariably produce drama. The black & white striped ones are male Auratus. They will dominate and crush everyone else eventually. Cichlids will always have a “tank boss.” When that role is in contention, lip-locking battles will go on interminably. I think that there are some females holding already — not positive… but if they look like they’re holding a bunch of marbles in their mouth… they are! (except its eggs, not marbles) I’d be sure their diet is heavy in greens. If too many meaty foods are fed, they’ll break down with illness.

Big update and plans... @Odd Duck tagging you as I am in the same process as you are it seems lol. So when we moved to the new house last Spring, I basically just chucked racks together and added extra support(or so I thought @nabokovfan87 will remember my move well lol) or so I thought. Well, everything seems ok, but I can tell there is slight bowing...not much but its starting. Meaning this rack and the ones beside it likely need to be addressed in the upcoming months. Also, I use way too much power for this room, so I need to address consolidation practices now that I am learning more and am more comfortable as a hobbyist. My plan was to move into my next build asap...my 100 gal. But instead my next project(s) will be building wood racks that will support 1) 9x 10 gal breeding tanks for shrimp/nano fish 2) 9x 20 gal long & finally 3) one that supports a 100-150 gal tank with space on top for addition tanks of whatever. #1 & #2 will run off a sump system on each that will take away from the numerous filters I use. I also plan to add a main air supply for sponge filters in all tanks for both racks. My large tank will run on 2 canister filters and I will install airlines for that area as well. It will alleviate the amount of a) lights b) air pumps & c) filters. Lighting will be controlled off one light suspended above all the tanks instead of one on each. After that I will work on installing everything and then work on my water preparation spot which will be in the corner of the room. Planning on getting a 150 gal completely leak proof container and run a line from a water source where I will install a RO system just outside the room's window. Then when I need to pump new water in, I will crack the window and hook the hose up, pump and disconnect, close window back. Fresh RO water that way no more conditioning liquids and less stress on my back as the water in that will allow me to change water 2x in my room probably before refilling the container. I will have a large air stone inside it as well. All in all it should cut my power by about 30% in the room, keep me worry free as they will be on strong, sturdy racking systems & less stress on my back during water change time. Won't help me with the other 4 tanks in the house but I have sump pumps for them when I change. 🙂 Thoughts on my plans? @Lennie @Fish Folk @Chick-In-Of-TheSea @Guppysnail @TheSwissAquarist

Here's my attempt at explaining ramshorn appearance, for the lay person. There are 3 basic parameters that make up a ramshorn snail's appearance. Shell color, body color and spots. I've seen some sources that say shells can be opaque or translucent, but it's not necessary to know if that's true or not to understand this model/analogy. For any ramshorn that is born, think of it like rolling 2 dice and flipping the coin at the same time. One die each for the shell and body color, and the coin flip is for spots or no spots (because there's no such thing as a 2 sided die). Body (foot) color can be brown, red, yellow or purple. Shell color can be brown, white or yellow. The classic "blue" ramshorn has white shell with brown body. "Pink" has white shell over red body. And so forth. In reality, it's unlikely that the 4 body colors and 3 shell colors all have equal probabilities, so those two dice may be "loaded" or weighted to prefer certain outcomes. But the colors are distinct, and don't blend or mix. This is where they are different from cherry shrimp. In shrimps there is blending or gradients of traits, and they do tend to drift back to the original form (brown) if not reinforced over time. So if you have a tank of only blue ramsnorns, their babies will have more blues than you'd find in a random or natural population, but not all blues. And there would be some of the other color combos as well. Over time and over many successive generations, the number of blues (% of total population that is blue) diminishes but never gets to zero, and the % of other colors increases also. Final thought. Make sure your snails get enough calcium, both in their diet and in the water. Ramshorns are really pretty when their shells are clean and shiny, but when calcium is low they get pitted and chalky, and they don't look nearly as nice.

Ahh cool. I used to have auratus. Bought it as a yellow fish. Then it got to breeding age and during the mating dance (my brother and I called it "doing the Yin Yang"), the fish went through several color changes. It was incredible! It ended with purple, and then remained purple for the rest of its life. It had mated with an orange mbuna (red zebra?), not another auratus. The orange one then tended the young, carrying them around in its mouth. Was super cool. Re: the lip locking - Prime Time did a video on this re: Bolivian rams. Same type of behavior. It is territorialism. A pecking order, if you will. Line of sight breaks and hides are a good idea. Here are 2 videos of fish rubbing together. This is mating. You can show it to your friend to see if it looks like the behavior they are observing. From what you describe it sounds like it is. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_uTjqOa7VHpcqpSL7ChH786IcFPIxgn2/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ilv45huWVZEVJa5MBRy1-lt0AQO-eCu6/view?usp=sharing

Lip locking is common in cichlids it aggressive behaviour the other behaviour you described could be breeding behaviour I don't think there's any need to medicate I would look at pH KH and GH before doing anything else

It’s an interesting journey, getting deep into aquatics. The first leg of the journey is about establishing the overall domain. Whether it’s just a couple of aquariums or a whole house full, decisions focus on figuring that out. I think there eventually comes a time where you find a sweet spot… a balance. After that point, decisions all revolve around (1) improving (2) maintaining, and (3) streamlining that level. Beyond this… life happens. Big moves reset things. Focuses shift. Budgets vary. Eventually there comes an atrophy. Something has to cut back. I’d say: enjoy the journey wherever you’re at. Jim Cumming in 🇨🇦 🍁 has (last I heard) _thousands and thousands_ of gallons of large aquariums in his basement. He breeds huge Central American and South American species. But he tells of a time when his entire hobby had to be relegated to one closet in his house in which he bred Killifish in tiny aquariums. Your build looks great! (I am not jealous, having absolutely no desire for any new tanks, racks, space, etc). Enjoy your journey! Keep going …

If you ever want a fun challenge... try to get your RTBS to sit still. I had a bit of fun watching Grace this morning. Very coy and very majestic. She looks like she grew a little! Slightly funny how small she is (camera trick) compared to the amano being gigantic in the back!

The blue ones seem to be the rarest at least with my population. Idk as you are aware snail genetics are very confusing and I attempted to read some genome reports and my head started hurting, so I decided to stop. All colors occur naturally and don’t seem to be influenced by environment or diet factors. My population is as follows with these numbers being guesses: white shell/red foot- 5% grey shell/blue foot- 1% brown shell/red foot- 30% brown shell/ brown foot- 40% gold shell/brown foot- 10% others I can’t remember-14% I have had a mixed population for a year and a half now as they make great goby food! But otherwise I just let them do their thing. I have a beautiful red foot gold shell one that has produced quite a few clutches for me. They are my oldest snail. Thats all I got the rest is 🤷

I just did a search to find out about Riddick. She’s a very lucky fish to have you! I’m glad she’s happy in her own tank.😃 Does a corydora live quite a while? Are eye problems common with them?

The top shapes looked too much like Squid Games; he was trying not to play.

No Planaria is shrimp safe. But this also applies to No Planaria:

trying out a piece of wondershell in my tank (also from @Guppysnail) The fish are very curious about the bubbles emerging from the wonder shell (so am i) and have decided to swim back and forth through the bubbles now, it is fun to watch.

I’ll definitely post up, but that’s a project months away from now. I’ve got to actually make progress on my fish room because the only spot for that tank is where my current rack is. I’ve got to rearrange practically the entire house to get there. Hubs and I have been living in this house for 26 years. We’ve accumulated. 😆 Past time to purge! 🤣 We’re not as motivated or as strong as we used to be. 😂

Other than tying it down to wood/rocks, has anyone actually tried to carpet with it? I've seen people mention carpets, but I've been at a loss to try and find a photo or video showing this.

As we all suffer from MTS and our faves change both old, new...so what's everyone into atm? Any new fish obsessions...nonstop old ones? Here's some of mine... Coral Red Pencilfish...thought I located some but they ran out just before I got ahold. As red is one of my favorite colors, want some for my upcoming big tank. Sunset Honey Gourami...newest fish to Mama's tank I built her recently. They are so interactive and always checking out the tank. Not sure how to sex them, so wondering if they are a pair or not. Still fun to watch and the life of that tank! 🙂 @nabokovfan87 will love seeing this...but yes, I love the Sterbai now. I have been a longtime Gold Laser fanboy, but the activity and overall liveliness of these Corys are amazing to watch! Really happy I added them to my future Discus home. They and my final fish are really cool additions in this tank. These suckers aka Red Lizard Whiptail Catfish(wow that is a mouthful!!) are so unique! First week I added them, they were very reclusive and I was wondering, as rumor is they are so sensitive from shipping, if they had made it or were doing well. Well, after some acclimation time, they come out quite frequently and I am noticing they are growing! They really are cool wet pets!! If anyone has higher temp tanks for SA Cichlids, these and Sterbai are def a good thought. What about everyone else? 😁

I enjoy watching these various tanks each evening at feeding time. Here’s 6x tanks, 20-sec. shots for each…

I’ve wanted to get a Scarlet Badis last year but was told to wait until my tank is seasoned well before buying one. My 24 gallon bookshelf tank is now 1 1/2 years old now, fairly heavily stocked with plants (see photo) and only a few small fish: 4 endler male guppies and a small regular guppy, 2 neon tetras, 1 mystery snail and about 80+ cherry shrimp. All good so far for the most part. I know Scarlet Bais need live food (maybe they can eat some of my smallest cherry shrimp) and my LFS says they feed theirs Freshwater Frenzy frozen cubes with success. My question is how anyone out there handles feeding Scarlet Badis (or other very small live food eaters) when they are on vacation? I have an Aquarium Coop dry food auto feeder for my other fish, but how would I feed a Scarlet Badis while on vacation (I would say max time away would be between 10 and 14 days). Any advice from someone who has dealt with this before will be appreciated. Thanks.

I'll message you when I'm ready to purchase, thanks!

Thanks for steering my question in the right direction! Ok, thanks for the suggestions. I may give Scarlet Badis a try soon!

While I don’t have personal experience, I’m not sure I would risk the expensive puffer snacks (Discus). Maybe someone who has had the two together will chime in, but that’s just my initial thought. Discus are just so expensive that I personally wouldn’t risk it.

Thank you so much for your comment!! I really appreciate all of you taking time to help me!!!

I want to say I have.... but I think something like super green or soilent green is more their jam. At some point, for breeding, fish will need a protein source. It's good to have some to offer, even if it's once a week. I rarely, ever see my otos eat. They pretty much just do their own thing and the food is there for them in droves all over the surfaces on the tank, plant leaves, etc.

@nabokovfan87 Appreciate you my dude. I’m pretty confident this new internal filter will be everything I need it to be. I literally want it to just polish water, and it being internal it can’t flood! Should be easier to clean as well. Should solve all my problems for a whopping $5. You’ll be one of the first to know as we’re always choppin’ it up in here, which is very much appreciated!

we had a shrimp death 😦, the body has been removed and dealt with: its sad, but after getting new shrimp i knew a few would die, it looks like some of the shrimp have started molting, so its possible this one had trouble molting and thats why it died.

For sure. I can’t grow a Java Fern to save my life, and they’re always marketed as “easy”. Anubius generally do well for me though, and I have so much Java Moss it’s coming out my ears. PSO crushes in some of my tanks, and can’t even get going floating in others. I’ve had Val that was absolutely crushing it, and then I propagate it somewhere else and it won’t even take hold. On the flip side of that, I bought 1 stem of Jungle Val that did basically nothing for 2 years, and NOW it’s sending out runners and new stems are thriving. Same with the Val in my Pea Puffer tank. Did basically nothing for 2 years and now all the sudden it’s throwing runners.

Yea that is basically what I am going to go for...I am just not sold on the small racks I have. The big one I have already with shelves may instead house all the breeder tanks and sump. Then I will build the others for my big tank and other fun stuff. Just trying to be a little more conservative with my space, power and back health. 😂

I'm not sure how you can route things, but I really like the layout that simply betta did for her rack. Drain setup: Air setup: I've seen it done a lot of different ways, but the reason I like this is because you can literally move the rack and it's all one unit. Works well long term. Essentially: Water in from RODI for top offs. Storage on the top shelf to drip in during water changes. Bottom shelf is a sump for the sake of filtration on the whole rack. Each row goes to the drain, that drains down to the sump, pumps back up to circulate. All runs through overflows and "just works".

When the stuff gets a lil technical like racks, system building etc. Im not great at those. These stuff are usually covered by my dad as his profession helps him a lot to design the best way. He designed everything for the fish room. That was a big help. I instead got the tanks custom made, scape, plant, cycle and stock. Im more of the hobbyist one here I hope other peeps may help. Fingers-crossed for your new project! 🤞🏼

Spike is doing great, but I am down to just three Neocaridina. I will be ordering another 10 soon. They can't keep up with the workload, but they're trying!

Greetings, looking forward to speaking with others about this hobby :)

That’s a very cool looking tank

Yup - this is why I toss some crab cuisine in my tank, and add some cuttlefish bone.

I think leaning towards more algae based ones would be a better idea as they are mainly herbivores. I had a group of 16 pygmy cories and 5 otocinlus. Both were schooling together. Otos were eating commercial food due to following pygmys and imitating whatever they do, including taking a gulp of air from the surface. It was sweet, however I guess animal protein rich food didnt do good for otos. I had no choice to stop them from eating the same stuff with pygmys other than seperating them. I lost one oto to bloating and I blame the animal protein rich food they eat with pygmys. So long story short, I would keep otos diet algae based mainly and try to offer surfaces and natural growth as much as I can in the tank.

@Cinnebuns may help. She was breeding for colors if I remember correctly

Got a few fish when I bought a new to me tank. Thanks to you guys I got to ID few of them. I lost one fish to unknown reasons, but I also did a deep dive into the electric catfish, maybe, maybe not because of the catfish. Either way move it out to its own tank for now till I can find someone that wants it. Within 30 seconds the catfish got himself stuck. Figured people could use an easy laugh.

For sure. I told @nabokovfan87 that I was trying to remain in the “if you already have it, just use that” mindset instead of buying something new. However, I’m tired of messing with it, and after using my cash back on my credit card I only paid $5 for this new internal filter that should provide everything I’m looking for. We’ll know over the next few days!

I have noticed PH is trending low, so I have been adding baking soda incrementally.

@Zenzo @Biotope Biologist Here is a pic.

I’m completely obsessed with trying to breed gold nugget plecos. Started with a “used” fish that I stumbled onto when I went to pick up some used lights. Guy asked if I was interested in any fish. What ya got? African cichlids. No, anything else? I’ve got a cool pleco. Took one look and said how much! That was my first and I’ve been strangely convinced from the beginning that he is a he but I truly have no idea. He’s caving a lot these days so I’m even more convinced for no truly good reason. I just added another 2 more fairly well grown fish (paid twice the price that I did with the first guy and these 2 are smaller than the first guy was when I got him). This brings me to 1 subadult, probably near breeding age, and 6 more juvies (2 still fairly small) in a grow out tank. I recently picked up a 180 G tank that will get set up where my current rack is standing. It’s already drilled so I’ll have some options I hadn’t previously considered in creating current in a riverine set up for them. This will help push me through the mountain of tasks I need to complete to get to the stage where I can set up the “gold nugget breeding tank” that I hope intensely that the 180 G turns into. First pic is the most recent with the stupid cloudy water since the lemon bristlenoses are still stirring up the substrate like crazy. Second is the best clear pick of him from many months ago. He’s caving diligently right now. I’ve been so worried about how I would ever catch him out of this tank. He’s so tucked into his cave that I’m certain I’ll only have to pick up that wood piece and move it to the new tank. He’s welcome to keep it in the new tank. Whatever makes him comfortable! Once that tank is set up, it’s big enough all the gold nuggets can go in at the same time. Previous obsessions include gold laser Cories. I also now favor the sterbais I have in that same tank. Much bolder and more interesting to watch. I’ve also all but given up on my Betta persephones. Still have a pair but they just hide too much to hold my interest well. I was prepared for reclusive fish but not for quite this reclusive. Same with my pygmy sunfish, hide too much and too well to keep my full interest, sadly. Even though my big BEL boys are tearing up my substrate and have recently floated an Amazon sword that has been planted for 2.5 YEARS, I still love them. I’m definitely finding myself a bit pleco obsessed overall. The babies with their giant, “laying on a beach ball bellies” are just so stinking cute!

So I woke up to this awesome surprise my favorite fish in the world had babies but Im wondering what am I gonna feed them once they start free swimming I bought first bites does anyone know if that’ll work? I didn’t make infusoria 😔

I’ve not attempted to actually raise any babies from my honey gourami. My understanding is they are difficult. Here is a video from @Irene that may be useful. Good luck please share your progress with us.

My glowlight tetras bred today! (well, sometime yesterday, but I only noticed the eggs today)

Looking at everything I think you need take a step back stop most of the medication as am not sure wheather the medication and salt have caused some of your losses and reassess what I would do is leave one dose of ick X in and let it marinate for week if your not seeing any ammonia or nitrite just feed them with frozen or live brine shrimp daphnia Cyclops micro worms and monitor combination of good quality foods and good water can do wonders after a week with no intervention give an update I no it seem counter productive to not do anything when a disease has been going on as long as this has sometimes its good to reassess things @tetra

A few days isn’t nearly long enough for the sponge filter to become fully populated with beneficial bacteria. I leave old filters in for a few weeks and make certain some of the mulm gets into the new filter. Your biofiltration is gone and you are starting over with a fish-in cycle. You’ll want add some bottled bacteria as soon as possible. If you have another tank, squeezing some debris out of a seasoned filter into this tank is even better. It will “dirty” things up for a bit but will help re-establish your beneficial bacteria. In the mean time, do frequent water changes and use Prime or other water conditioners every other day until your biofiltration can develop. Depending on the salt dose you’re using, the plants might have been able to stay in. Most plants will tolerate 1 tablespoon salt per 10 gallons and some will even tolerate 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons. Taking the plants out also reduced your biofiltration. The plants were absorbing ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate and with them out, these compounds are feeding the algae/Cyanobacteria. If it’s only one fish with fin rot, I would recommend you move that fish to another tank or a tote for treatment. Do as close to a 100% water change as you can. Add bottled bacteria - there are a variety that will work and sometimes combining different types and brands works even better. Do “emergency” dosing with Prime (or other dechlorinators) for the fish in the tote/hospital tank and in the main tank. Frequent water changes will help control your parameters, getting mulm from a well-seasoned tank into your new filter or using some bottled bacteria, and dosing with Prime or other dechlorinator will all help. Definitely do not do a thorough clean of the substrate yet but you can try to vacuum the Cyanobacteria off the substrate and other surfaces in the tank. But don’t try to get debris out of the substrate yet. That debris is mulm which holds significant amounts of beneficial bacteria that your tank needs to get back in balance. Good luck and don’t give up because it will get better with time.

Hey Elyse, I can speak to this one: I have a 125 with two (2) of the original Co-op 100w heaters. I have one set to 77, and one set to 76... both on one Inkbird. The tank maintains 77.5 degrees without a hitch. In fact, the one set to 76 never turns on unless it's during a water change. I keep the room cold as well (about 65) because I have an axolotl tank in addition. So a room temp of 62 should be manageable with the two 100W heaters. Now... for my personal "cons" on the co-op heaters, which may be good food for thought: 1) The blazing red temp display is distracting, and to me, is a personal eyesore. I use an Inkbird, so I really wish there was a way to turn the display off. 2) The suction cups...welp... they could be better. I have cleaned the glass; straightened the cord to avoid tension.... and for me, they just don't work. 3) I don't think this applies to the newer versions, but one of my heaters flashes "EL" which means end-of-life. Ironically, it's the one that never kicks on. It's barely ever been on. Not only is that a bit frustrating, but the flashing is incredibly annoying. The day the flashing started, my big Oscar moved the heater all the way across the tank. (Suction cups definitely didn't work.) He had never done that before, so I guess the flashing drove him mad too. Anyways...food for thought. Good luck!

Greetings everyone. I had an interesting discovery this morning. I was doing my normal routine of feeding my fish tanks and checked in on mystery snail clutches. After doing maintenance, I discovered some gelatinous looking eggs attached to some stem plants. At first I thought another snail egg clutch fell into the tank again but this was not solid like the previous clutches. I pulled it out of the water and almost threw it away. But I decided to place it on the styrofoam along with the existing clutches. I wish I had taken some pictures before I moved it out of the water. I decided to check out Rachael O’Leary’s YouTube videos and there it was… information on snails that lay eggs underwater. THE ZEBRA APPLE SNAIL. The last snail purchased was from PetSmart when I bought two ivory, and four black mystery snails. I’m wondering if somehow I got this zebra apple snail. I had never heard of them. At any rate I placed these eggs under water within the breeder box hoping they are still viable. I did take a photo of the gelatinous eggs now where I intend to let them be. Let me know you thoughts.

Hi Sombat. To answer your ultimate question I'm going to say no. I think if you didn't see any movement since your post there weren't any survivors. My understanding with Mystery Snails is that if they aren't ready to be released from the egg sack and are released underwater, they essentially drown. It's one of the methods people use to NOT have snail babies, knocking the sack underwater so the eggs lose their viability. I've found a few good youtube videos from Rachel O'Leary about breeding Mystery snails, if you haven't seen them you might want to check them out. Good luck in your future breeding endeavor, be sure to post if you get some hatchlings.