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Myself and a friend did some selective breeding to play around with the colors and figure out the lines they create. We did have a thread going describing this although we have not kept up with it. Basically what we found is exactly what @TOtrees is saying as well as finding the relationships between the colors. For example, you can have one color that appears purple because it has a blue leopard (spots) shell with a red foot. Here's an example of that: As opposed to one with a purple foot like this: It's important to note that they have 2 layers to their shell. The leopard spots are only on 1 layer. As they age their shells thicken and the leopard spots become less obvious. I do go with the idea of some have a translucent shell and some solid. I have seen many examples of the same color with each. Like here is some red/pink with translucent and then some with solid shells: The typical blue in ramshorns tends to be very dark and almost black. It is possible to get a vivid blue but it's not common. Here's a common blue and a more vivid blue: What gets really interesting is the multi colored ones. That's where you can get some interesting genetics if you can get those isolated. Here's some I've had: The last 2 multi colored tends to kick out ivory which is pure white. These tend to be dwarf and stay small. I've seen it debated if they can breed at all. Some say they are dwarf and unhealthy and can't breed. Others say mixing them back with the multi colored is what creates purple. I'm undecided on which is true. Here's some other pics of colors i have had. I know I have had a darker orange before but I can't seem to find the pic.

Roughly 3 months ago I ordered 5 Laetacara curviceps however they sent me dorsigera. I found I adored them so I kept them. They are beautiful fish. They change color and patterns quickly and often as a way to communicate with one another. Very personable fish with the water puppy personality of rams. They recognize me and definitely know the difference between me and my husband who seldom enters the fish room. They come running when I walk up and hide when hubby walks up. I was just keeping them in my journal but now they are breeding so I want to keep a separate log so I can track timelines easier. They sent me only 1 female. So I kept them together until she chose a mate. Once she chose a mate I gave the other 3 to @Purple Guppy to add to her community tank where she has some of my GBR babies. These are fantastic community dwarf cichlids. One has grown so beautiful she intends to enter him next year in the Keystone Clash competition. The second batch of eggs they dug 5 holes about the tank in the sand before they hatched. They moved the new hatch fry immediately and then two or three times a day would cart the wigglers to a different hole. Unfortunately on the third morning dad was swimming along the front as I went to feed grindle worms. That’s what he usually does in the morning for food. When I put the grindle worms in you could almost see him choking and spitting fry Willy Nilly everywhere. So they mixed in with grindle worms and got eaten. I had no clue he was transporting new fry. 😢 Yesterday their third batch hatched and they are guarding them well again. Each taking turns. Hopefully I won’t startle them this time. Here are some photos and videos.

If you can get some rhyme or reason out of it I imagine some variants might be sellable! They look great!

RR kills the algae but does not remove it. Heavily infested leaves are already dying and should be removed.

I need one of those aquariums! Now, I just have to figure out where I can put it so that my wife doesn't see it. Maybe under the bed or in a closet? 😉

Ah! I forgot to mention that I purchased some aquarium co-op easy green. Already received it!

Just an update to this, I ended up with an Aquael Ultra 50W which I have linked to a DD heating controller D-D Dual Heating & Cooling Controller | D-D The Aquarium Solution I don't think these are available in the US but from what I read they are highly regarded. I like the backlit display which means I can easily check the tank temp and it also doubles as a "moonlight" for the tank overnight I think. I have set it so that the heater is running at 21c (second lowest setting) and the controller will cut power if the tank temperature exceeds 23c. I am very impressed with the heater which seems to be running very close to the temperature the controllers probe is reading. The probe is not positioned close to the heater. My cheap digital thermometer that I already had seems to be reading 1c higher which isn't too surprising as these are notoriously inaccurate. I feel much happier now knowing that the tank temperature can't dip dangerously low overnight or if we have a cold spell. The added security of the controller also gives me peace of mind if the heater were ever to stick on although I have heard people allude to the fact that a digitally controlled heater like the Ultra is more likely to fail in an off setting. A few people in local stores I spoke to just recommended getting a low cost basic glass heater with no controller rather than spending extra on a fancy heater and even more on a controller but I personally feel better with the "safety net" and was happy to spend a bit more to have that.

Hooked on these little guys. Started these about a month ago. Hopefully will get an easy win with babies… looking good on that front have 3-5 Buried females now.

I'm kind of getting very hooked on tetras these days. This is my current favorite. Just picked up a small group of these beauties (picture below not mine). Hyphessobrycon spec. "Cherry Red". Next I'm thinking of getting some hyphessobrycon wadai, a.k.a 'blueberry tetras'. But that will probably have to wait until spring.

It if grows for you, just slowly spread it around the aquarium substrate. It will end up looking like a spongy carpet of sorts. I find that whenever I try to propagate it, it hates me and fails. But if I forget about it for 6 months, it grows wonderfully. [ now... NERM alert 🤓 🌱... ] As a very minor grammar matter... the name of this plant is derived from German spelling: Süßwassertang however, the third letter there is the letter Eszett (ß) which is a lowercase for the sound which in English is "ss." So, the _correct_ English spelling for Lomariopsis lineata is: "Susswassertang."

Hey! Welcome! I’m Vicki, a floundering newbie with two tanks that are finally (knock on wood) both keeping fish alive and (mostly) growing the plants I put in them. It’s nice to meet another Denver area coop member! I’m in Aurora, so we’re not too far apart. I will say that my tanks are nowhere as pretty as yours, and neither are looking the way I want them to right now - so no pictures. We’ll get there, though. Anyway, it’s great to have you in the forum. You’ll find it’s a great group!

Here’s my boys, both rescues. They were so tiny, a little over a pound each on their first vet visits. Now they’re each a bit over 16 pounds. Jax is 11, very brave and outgoing. I found him in the parking lot of the store I worked at. Shad is 10, a feral chased into a friend’s garage by their dog. He’s a big baby at home, but very fearful of non-routine happenings. I’ve had horses, dogs, birds (parakeet, cockatiel, finches), small critters (mice, hamsters, gerbils), guinea pigs, hermit crabs, turtles, 2 pet rats which for the record I loved a lot. 🤪

@Cinnebuns Thank you for sharing! Those are some good-looking snails!

Little $5 internal filter showed up today! Ripped the carbon out, replaced that with Poly Fil, modified the little spray bar set up, and got it in the tank. I really dig it! I hope the Chili’s and Green Neons like it, too. I have the flow pointed up and across the tank so as to not disturb the leaf litter and all the botanicals. They’ve basically never had any flow, and the little filter packs a bigger punch than I was anticipating, but I think it’ll be all good. Still playing with the one in the Pea Puffer tank to get it dialed in. Slowly but surely we’re getting there. I’m tempted to put a spray bar on the 107 in the 29 blackwater tank, but I’d have to modify the spray bar as I’d want it on the right side. I know, I know, it wouldn’t be across the back like it’s “supposed” to be and how everyone else does it, but that’s the beauty of this hobby. I also found some Buce on Etsy that I think I’m gonna buy. 15 plants for $50 bucks is hard to pass up. I’ve been wanting to try some Buce for a hot minute, but it’s always felt “next level” or “elite”, if that makes sense. But the more I look into it, it’s just another epiphyte, and a lot of them actually come from blackwater environments. At $20/each it seemed like a waste if it didn’t work, but at $3.50/each that really takes the sting out and makes me want to try it. I never thought I’d be upgrading this filtration and playing with these “next level” things, but I’m having a lot of fun with it. I hope you’re having fun with your tanks, too!

Gracie is my oranda some of you helped me with a bit ago . She improved but then had a slight decline started floating vertically A very . Long story short I have a friend who knows De Lewbart Hello all. Some of you helped me with my Oranda Gracie a bit ago. She had a slight down turn floating vertically so we took her to see Dr Lewbart from NC State he is a Professor of Aquatic, Wildlife and Zoo medicine there and he agreed to see Gracie for me so we made the 2 hour road trip to NC State 2 weeks ago. We trimmed her wen, she had an exam and X-rays done. I attached pictures of her visit for your information. We learned a lot that day. Good news no significant finding except her cranial swim bladder was larger which could be the cause of some of her symptoms. She is at home safely and now we keep her aquarium salinity at 1.002 specific gravity which is helping. I wanted to share our adventure with you and her pictures. One is a video of them listening to her heart I hope you can hear the slow swoosh sound. I am trying very hard to keep a long adventure short so if you have any questions I will answer the best I can. SuzaN I noted some files deleted I will attach

I was keeping multi's for a few years, but then stopped. Totally miss them. Everyone in who is hooked on this hobby should try shellies at some point in their aquarium journey. Here is one of my fishies from back then. 🥲 (I miss you little fella!) One of these days I'm going to start a colony again.

I love Tetras...they and pencil fish are becoming a big fave of mine. I really like the schooling and some of the rarer ones I wouldn't mind trying to start breeding just to get them more into the hobby...like the Blueberry Tetras or Melon Tetras. Those Cherry Red are pretty awesome! Love the colors!!! If I ever get that deep into shellies, I don't think I would change. All I hear are how quirky they are and how much fun they are to watch. I have about 9 aquariums sitting empty...just not sure what to do with them all. 🤣

To answer question three generally speaking it is not a good idea to put male and female bettas together because they will attack each other the only exception is if you where attempting to breed them which is a whole other process and still you wouldn't keep the bettas together indefinitely. Unfourtenly I don't know any good small heaters hopefully someone else does. Keep us updated though on this tank and betta's adventure 🙂

Thanks, I definitely feel bette not worrying about the temp dropping a bit too much. I will also probably take the heater out once temperatures start climbing next year.

Haha you're fine I think I was doing the pronoun game too much in my comment. I meant to say that the magazine said building a river bank was hardcore and then you said using local plants was hardcore so maybe my tank isn't as "loose" of a biotope as I thought. Honestly, I hadn't looked at how other people normally do this. I just assumed that this is how people do it.

How many mLs does the dropper have? I don't use more than 4 squirts (mLs) for any tank. I wouldn't mind buying the small one and just refilling it from the big one. That would still keep it "easy." 🙂 Yes please! 🙂

Sorry I think I might have jumbled words. Let me be clear I would not call myself hardcore biotope. I think if you can loosely get your tank to look like a slice out of the environment than you’re good. My tank plants were easy to source and like my hardiness zone so I have had very good success with them. I have a maidenhair fern that is being a bit temperamental right now but the epiphyte ferns really seem to like having running water through the soil if that seems plausible in your setup I am following because I like your idea!

Light is only a small portion of the equation. Algae grows on plants for numerous reason(s). The biggest (IMO) is poor plant health/stress. Before jumping to the light conclusion, I'd be intrested in seeing the whole tank, the Anubisiss placement and what other supporting plants are in the tank . If its a single Anubias in the center of the tank of course its going to be algae covered! As for cleaning it, @Guppysnailis a wiz with the reverse respiration method which might be ideal in your case. I myself would rather use the eco system method and put them shrimps to work, maybe move the plant to a more ideal spot and improve the health of your eco system.

I've heard a single dwarf pea puffer can do well in 5 gallons. Definitely only 1, though. Other ideas: Clown killifish Chili rasboras Scarlet Badis (also only recommended to keep 1) White Cloud Mountain Minnows

Fingers crossed for late November/early December!

They are the most common ones I've gotten but still my favorites by far. They are the ones I was able to stabilize the best.

these look amazing to me

I havent seen too many isopods out lately, they seem to like to hide in caves in the substrate, i do have a few molting though, they are probably just adapting to my setup (humidity) so this is probably normal.

Looks good! Pay attention to your plants leaves, particularly at first light, mid day and just before your light goes off. This tells you if your plants are photosynthesizing probably. On anubias / Lillys the reaction is a slight bit different with their leaves angling towards or away from the light. You might still have to come up with a good nutritional plan (as im not a huge seachem fan) others around here are more versed on their confusing dosing regimen.

I took as much advice from everyone’s responses as possible. I removed 2/3 of the top water plants. I built a dam of sorts out of clear straws to keep the top water plants covering roughly one third of the tank. I glued the annubis and ferns to the driftwood. I rearranged the driftwood so that the ferns and annubis plants are in the lower light section of the tank. I added some structure, including a tube for the bristlenose to chill out in. I put the lights that can withstand direct light on the right side of the tank where there are no floating plants at the topcoat. I made the driftwood structure a place where the Japanese algae eaters can chill out and burrow under. I added five nerite snails to the tank to help eat the detritus and any algae that may grow (I currently don’t have any algae problems. I raised the Fluval 3.0 light who about four inches using unused building blocks my daughter used to play with. As far as the lighting goes, I am following the advice of Bentley Pascoe. I am starting off with lower light, controlling the blue light, and ramping up the lights every two weeks. I am including the video I watched. also, I am including a picture of my lighting setting so for the first two weeks.

I only have around 12 sterbai in my 450; but i gotta say those females are not small fishes - mine are 6+ years old and the females are easily 3+ inches and quite stocky. To be honest my sterbai spread out and almost never behave like the ones in the video - usually i have 3 or 4 males chasing a female...

I do the same thing. I just added heaters this week. I keep a minimum of 71-73 and when things get warmer in the new year I'll pull heaters out. The main thing is that if the nights are cold, then you can generally check and maintain heat through the day. Once it's cold during the day and night, it's usually time to add a heater and keep the floor where you think is safe. Glad to see everything is working out well for you! Nice work.

For CPD eggs I just put them in a newly setup hatch grow out tank with a seasoned sponge. That works fine for me and I usually get a decent hatch. Corydora eggs either a tumbler or the same as CPD eggs.

Shellies are super fun! Especially if you have a nice big colony of them. They are so fascinating to watch.

Not if you liked your Discus.

My first recommendation is on the human side. Try to disassociate yourself from some of your feelings about the tank, and individual fish. Ie be impartial about receiving recommendations and making changes. If someone asked you what to, how would you advise them? Be willing to take steps towards change, even if it means moving or re-homing fish that you love. Or, as my wife frequently reminds me, if you don't want the answer don't ask the question. 🙂 If you take the one or both of the bettas and angels out of the mix, you're not in rough shape stocking wise. Even with them in there I think your numbers are manageable, but the compatibility is where you'll have issues. In this almost-expert's opinion. And if your feeding and water change schedule are appropriate. I think overall it looks great. Plants are obviously thriving. And that might be your saving grace, if you're unwilling to move/remove fish. If the plants keep filling in and it becomes a jungle, that'll require maintenance and cause some crowding, but it'll really mitigate potential conflicts. Why the hate-on for HOB filter? What type do you have? Are you using disposable or reusable media? You could easily replace your 1 sponge with 2, but for this size of tank, you'd be better to just add another. At the very least, start towards 2 by adding 1, then replace the original one after a month or so. So you're cleaning the sponge filter a lot. Change the HOB media so that it captures all the gunk, not the sponge. Then cleaning it will be easier. For that you want finer media in the HOB than what the sponge is.

A roll of Gutter mesh or any of the other vinyl gutter leaf protection panels should work. I use the gutter mesh to keep the Nerites out of the lift tubes on the UGF. If you are closing smaller spaces, the plastic mesh sold in craft stores for embroidery can be cut to fit. I don't know what sizes they come in.

I'm kind of torn on what my next tank will be. It's either going to be another African cichlid tank or another rainbow tank and haven't decided yet 😂 there's so many beautiful mbuna but also I would like to get some shell dwellers. Either that or one of the larger variety of rainbow. I have a spare 55 that just keeps looking at me and saying it needs to be set up!

I also love and am hooked on shrimp keeping. I don't keep many types (Crystal Red, Orange Rili, Tangerine Tiger), but I am always (ALWAYS!) temped to convert all my fish tanks in my fish room into shrimp tanks!

Hello! My name is Brian. I've been looking for more places to share my experiences and learn more about this awesome hobby. Right now I have 4 tanks. I only have pictures of 2 too share right now though. I have a 55 gallon tank with a 3 spot gourami, about 17 black ruby barbs and 3 pictus catfish that are going into a 40 breeder in a few months to make room for yo yo loaches. The 125 has black skirt tetra, blue king tetra, Columbian tetra, bleeding heart tetra, sword tails, m/f pearl gourami, 3 bristlenose plecos all male, one albino, one regular, and one green dragon, a male apistograma hongsloi and a male black marble anglefish. Going to be rescaping this tank this Friday as the jungle look is getting to be a bit much for me lol. Probably going to make 2 separate islands with smaller rocks and wood in between. Plants everywhere of course. Anyway, this was a long winded intro lol😅. I look forward to being apart of this awesome community!

Just one more example of the lack of absolutes in the hobby. In this case the water actually is the same. I have used the fishless project tank to revive dying plants for about 2 yrs. The tank uses the old water taken directly from the less successful community tank. Beyond that, all of my tanks are different. It is just maddening that plants in the intentionally neglected tank do better than the well tended tank.😖

Guys, I am dumb. There was a male betta I thought had really pretty fins and markings that I saw a few weeks go. Didn’t get him because I was still looking at hybridization then. Checked back last night, sure he’d be long gone - but he was still there! Snapped him up, he’s in a pitcher because they didn’t have the type of tank I wanted. For some reason, in my head I was thinking ‘oh, he has like a rosetail configuration tail, with the ruffles, but it’s short! How cool!’ . . . and it was just not computing that of course it’s short, he’s a baby in a cup. It’s been a stressful few weeks, okay? Anyway, meet Cornelius, who I will probably not be breeding unless his tsil fin actually does miraculously stay short:

I'm not aware of any products to reduce nitrates, other than live plants. Water changes will help, of course, assuming your source water doesn't have high nitrates. You said your nitrates are "out of whack," but didn't give a number. What is the level?

Congrats! I had to look them up to see how they looked 🙃:

@AnimalNerd98 125G yellow lab cichlid tank. 3 20g long tanks one with 29 cardinal tetras that are in quarantine for my planted tank not pictured, forgot I don’t have a picture of it. Right one has my axolotl in it 2 40g breeder, albino plecos I’m trying to breed and actually got fry from and build a Dean style fry container. Then a 90 gallon with a mix of fix that I got when I picked up a 240 gallon tank.

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.

Hi, sorry for the trouble, any time you change something in a tank this can happen, it takes time for tanks to adjust. I think just per the pictures you have you might actually have blue-green algae which is actually bacteria and not algae. It's not hard to get rid of. Here is an article: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/blue-green-algae And welcome to the forum.