Leaderboard

Cant believed i waited this long to join xD but better late then never. Been watching cory since his original first fish room tour, i was just getting into the hobby at that time and started researching fish room setups. Mainly just breed and sell plecos now and some endlers. Plecos are my favorite fish. Great to be here, cant wait to read what you all got going on. Heres a quick pic of my super reds tank 🙂

Here we go. I’m braving daphnia magna. No one bothered to tell me they are so adorable. Now I feel bad feeding them to fish. But …. Right now I’m feeding chlorella powder and active yeast. The chlorella powder keeps sinking so I’m going to also try some spirulina powder. My live chlorella vulgaris starter should be here by the beginning on next week. I figure that’s safer so less chance I’ll crash them. They are in a 10 gallon not yet full with duckweed and hornwort. I put in a Spixii snail. I need to dig through tanks and find a few more. Tomorrow I’ll bet some neocaridina and let them drop to room temp to put in. 8 days for juveniles to have babies so hopefully in 8 days I have enough to feed again. Can I control my urge to watch the fish dance about catching them until then….🤣 Wish me luck. HAPPY ADVENTURES…TRY SOMETHING NEW

Black Diamond Blasting Media is also available through TSC (Tractor Supply), but be careful to get the coarser version if you use a gravel vac to reduce the challenge of cleaning sand substrates. If you want a dark substrate and have large tanks (or a lot of tanks to do), why pay more? You can also mix it with other sandy substrates to get a number of interesting color variations. I will be mixing it in about a 80% BDBS to 20% coarse white sand ratio. This will accomplish my goals of: 1. still having a generally dark substrate so the fish colors really pop, 2. add a little light reflection on the bottom surface to bring out more definition throughout the scape, and 3. mute the appearance of mulm between cleanings (black alone can look dirty pretty quick, depending on the bioload). Plus I will be using black slate and snow white quartz rock to compliment the bi-color substrate, as I think it will just look cool. I think a lot of other interesting color combinations that could be done using that approach... imagine mostly BDBS with just a small amount of red sand... a few reddish rocks along with some black ones and then lots of red plants mixed in with the usual plant assortment... that would be amazing!

That substrate always looks so unique when you get a macro shot or something up close. We've talked about it before and I think the only * or caveat is that what we discussed. It really is difficult for some due to it being a recycled media. Black Diamond is the brand and you can find those details on the website. This isn't something designed for aquarium use and I am just going to say we all should use common sense. If it feels sharp after cleaning and all that then you might run into some issues. If you run a magnet and it's full of metal, maybe you got a bad batch. I do love the look of dark, black substrate, and it's a bit difficult to really find something in the sand size. Yours are doing well, corydoras look great, and I can say there are plenty of people running this substrate and having zero issues at all with it.

Male (L) / Female (R) Male (Top) Displays more iridescence on the edges of his fins, and a lighter, brighter color pallet of orange and blue. His body is more streamlined and he is larger, with a less prominent belly when recently fed. His dorsal fin does not come to a fine, thin point, but is more rounded before it comes to a point at the end. Very slight nuchal hump that makes the face appear subtly dished. Female (Bottom) Displays a shorter, deeper body with darker orange and blue tones. Wider belly when recently fed, and very little iridescence, it is really only across the body. Dorsal fin sharply pointed at the end, with no rounded taper. Lacks a nuchal hump, face is not dished at all and slopes down in a smooth line. Face tends to be slightly shorter than males. I will update behavioral differences I notice as I get to know these fish, but since there’s like no good sexing guides on these guys I figured I would put one out there. Before someone asks, I got them from Dan’s Fish, but they are now sold out.

Just in case anybody was worried about how “sharp” black Diamond blasting sand (BDBS) is or isn’t and how it could affect cories barbels I’ve got a couple pics for you. I see this question come up regularly and I don’t think it’s an issue at all. I had a couple cories be a little more cooperative after feeding the other day so I snapped a couple pics. These cories have been raised on BDBS since they hatched in this tank. My BEL boys have settled down a bit and the water is more clear than it’s been in a couple weeks so I got decent pics. These are just a couple of my bronze cories, Corydoras aeneus. They all have fabulous barbels and so do the trilineatus in the same tank. The tri’s are less bold than the bronzes, so no pics today. But I have cory zoomies and eggs again after the weather front that came through yesterday. I haven’t even done a water change. 😆 Enjoy the fabulous “mustaches” on these kids - probably both girls, BTW.

Aloha everyone. Been a while since I hopped back on the forum been trying out different types of fish. Lately I've been loving rainbows. Grew and bred Pygmy dwarf rainbows then got lucky and my buddy sold me his group of kali towas which have been spawning for me nicely, and lastly I just got a nice group of 12 some new Mairasi rainbows from my local fish shop buddy. Now I'm down to 11 sadly, one jumped and I caught it too late so now I lowered the water level down an inch (lesson learned with these guys) and I'm just seeing if anyone has had these rainbows before, they're the same family as the kali towas so I'm guessing their living and breeding habits are the same? Any info or advice or input is much appreciated, aloha! Kea.

Some of the students heard about the fish tank at the lab and are excited. I think ill put up a notice when im setting up and maintaining the tank to teach anyone interested about proper aquatics care.

Hi, I have a heckelii and a mirabilis. My heckelii is larger (6") but much shyer than the mirabilis (4"). The latter is a little nippy but my heckelii has never exhibited any aggression. The larger one below is the heckelii and below that, the mirabilis:

Beats my desk lamp: (Tetra breeding tank)

Very cool! Love it and will probably consider that light as well for my bowl project coming up! You should definitely start a journal, im pretty sure a number of us would like to track your progress as well as see the process from start to finish! 👏👏👏👏

@TheSwissAquarist Hmmm. Not sure. I think it's similar. However, I dado out the vertical 2x4s so the horizontal 2x4s sit inside the uprights. Not sure if ACO does that. (I also built that fence from scratch, if I may take a moment to shamelessly brag)

I just up graded to a high tech lighting system in my guppy tank....

It’s very satisfying watching young fry demolishing BBS 🫠

The first one is a type of fern. I think in the store it's called El Nino fern. It's looks like Bolbitis heteroclita that may or may not be aquatic. It's one of those plants I keep buying to try it out because I enjoy the look of it when it does grow. It's an epiphyte plant and you don't want to bury the rhizome when putting it in the tank. (roots are fine, but not the rhizome). Normally you would tie it or glue it to the hardscape in some way. The second one looks like hygrophila difformis, also called water wisteria.

Yeah. the stuff you're looking for should just say 100% silicone sealant. Caulk usually has some stuff mixed in there. https://www.homedepot.com/c/ab/types-of-caulks-and-sealants-for-your-projects/9ba683603be9fa5395fab90d0b119c3 In fact, the terms “caulk” and “sealant” are often used interchangeably, since both are used to fill joints and seams. However, the biggest difference between caulk and sealant is elasticity. Caulk is more rigid than sealants when dry.

A few spots were a bit thin and needed more dirt. I also added an elbow to the uplift tube, got a piece of cork bark to hide cords, and started planning out where roots will go. I added the plants to get an idea of how things will look: The truck is going to be getting them to look like they are intertwined while still sitting each piece of the lid to be removed in individually. It feels like it's actually coming together now

I’ll never figure out why some people are so flaky. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Sorry, are we inconveniencing you by trying to pay you money? So very, very sorry. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Your tank is going to look spectacular at least! 😃

Hi Everybody 😃 I have a confession to make. I’ve been reading the forum since early spring! I didn’t have an aquarium at the time, in fact I was looking for a retirement hobby. And your journals are what got me researching to figure out if aquariums are it. I want to thank you all for creating those journals as they have set me off on my own freshwater adventures! And many thanks to Cory & crew for starting it! I also want to possibly be an encouragement to other seekers by adding my own journal. 🤗 My brother & I had an aquarium when we were kids. Not only zebras, neons and an angelfish, but also we each won a goldfish at the field days and each spring we brought home pollywogs and raised them til they lost their tails and had to be let loose. We were enchanted. Life moved on and I’ve never had another one. My kids weren’t interested so it never came up. So second childhood maybe … 🤣 Here is a summary then of what I’ve done between spring and now: Spring to June - read and read and read! Decided it was much more involved (& expensive) than I expected. So I chose to start with a ten gallon, no heater. I really wanted a betta but after finding out they’re happier in warm water, I decided on a paradise fish and golden dwarf barbs, snails of some sort and shrimp. June - got equipment, water sprite, java moss, pearl weed, duckweed, anubias nana, added bit of fish food each day and waited. And waited. 🤪 Did more reading & lots of YouTube watching. The duckweed & pearl weed all died, diatoms appeared. I didn’t like the hood & came up with a different setup from a houseplant grow light setup I had. July - Yay! Diatoms! I immediately ordered snails. 🤣 By now I had a LOT of bladder snails which stowed away on the duckweed. I’m sorry to admit I don’t like them at all! I ordered and received Japanese Trapdoor Snails (I call them TDs for short.) I love them. Will do separate post so this doesn’t run tooooo long. After 4 or 5 days when they settled in well, I ordered 10 shrimp (mixed colors) and Malaysian trumpet snails. Also got some lucky bamboo. Didn’t like background so removed it - the gravel was for houseplants & will be replaced in future; the little shelf wasn’t treated like the main part and got mold from splashes so had to throw it out. September - finally got shrimp & snails at end of month (delay at shop), drip acclimated - love them both right off the bat! October - first week: shrimp come out and eat, 6 or 7 of them I can identify anyway, and aren’t afraid of me watching them, but then they hide the rest of the time; the trumpet snails aren’t afraid at all - sometimes I don’t see any during the day and other times they’re all over exploring. I can’t budget in fish til the new year, but I’ve changed my mind anyway. I don’t want any predatory fish because I absolutely love these shrimp! Originally, they were meant to be mainly cleanup crew and my fish choices factored in population control. But they’re so dang cute, I can’t do it. 😏 So, instead of fish for this ten gallon, I’m saving for a larger aquarium and then decide what kind of fish I want. I don’t want any especially active fish, it’s not relaxing to me and definitely no live-bearers. The ten gallon will be my shrimp tank. 😎 What have I learned so far? Patience!!! “Aquariums as a hobby” means ongoing experience, not one & done! Maybe most importantly that they enchant me still! 🤗 (PS I chose “Pokey” because it took me so long to jump in both getting aquarium & joining forum. But to be honest - most decisions take me a long time going back and forth between all possibilities! 🤣)

Hey guys. After watching Corys video about Algae problems I searched the forum for the keyword "zeolith" and I haven't found anything. Im very surprised by this since ive used zeolith for many years now and im more than satisfied with it. So what makes zeolites so special and why is it considered an all-round talent for the aquarium? The reason lies in the mineral structure of zeolites. Because of its structure (and more scientific stuff), zeolite allows good ion exchange and has a huge surface area for bacteria. Thus, it can bind phosphate or ammonium and, thanks to the porous material, offers an internal surface area of 4,500 to 5,000 square meters with only one gram of zeolite (!!!!!). Zeolite can counteract the formation of algae, as it binds not only ammonium, nitrate and nitrite, but also phosphate in the aquarium. Phosphate is an important nutrient for pond plants, but a phosphate concentration of 0.1 milligrams per liter of water is sufficient. If the concentration is higher, algae formation is eventually promoted. Since zeolite binds phosphate, it reduces the nutrient concentration in your tank/pond and counteracts algae formation. In addition, as already mentioned, it offers an enormously large surface for beneficial bacteria. In summary, zeolite thus has the following effects - Binding of nitrite and ammonium - Inhibits the formation of phosphate - Improvement of water quality due to huge inner surface Since I use Zeolith in my Aquariums and ponds ive NEVER had any real struggle or problems with algae, not even in the beginning phase(small and healthy amounts excluded). I really hope that this post gets a lot attention so that less aquarium owner have to struggle with algae. Maybe even Cory sees this post and I can help him out a little bit ( : Btw feel of course free to share your opinion, thoughts or experiences to this topic below.

I have a 20 gallon long that has been up and running for a little over a year now. In July of this year I decided to do some rescaping in the back and removed the original background stem plants and replaced them with some rotala indica clippings. These clippings are from my other tanks where even if I tried to kill it, the rotala grows like a weed. However upon planting it in July, it honestly hasn't done much up to the present. Its branched out from the initial clippings I placed but it stalls as it attempts to grow upward. Just stops growing then algae slowly settles in. I clip the algae stems away, it regrows, stalls and repeats. I usually never use root tabs, but I gave in and tried those as well. That was 3 weeks ago, and I have yet to see much difference. At this point, I assume something is missing in this tank that the other tanks of mine have, but I am at a loss as all my tanks use the same substrate (inert sand and gravel) and water is the exact same parameters each water change between all tanks since I re-mineralize it myself. I haven't noticed any other plant struggling in the tank, outside of the occasional old growth dying off of established plants. Other stem plants in the tank I trim monthly. I've also thrown an image up of the tank as well to this post. I suppose my questions are, what may be causing the rotala indica to struggle? If its not missing nutrients, is it due to another plant competing with it? Background on tank: Tank routine: 10% water change every 3-4 months with reverse osmosis water that has been re-mineralized with salty shrimp GH/KH+. Top offs are with reverse osmosis water only once a week or as needed. Easy Green fertilizer is used once a week, and fish are fed every other day. The lights are on 70% power and are on for 8 hours daily. Water Parameters never really change in this tank, here are the results of testing prior to this post: Ammonia (NH3): 0ppm Nitrite (NO2): 0ppm Nitrate (NO3): 10-15ppm General Hardness (dGH): 9 Carbonate Hardness (dKH): 4 pH: ~7.4 Other plants in tank: Azolla (Floater) Red root floaters (Floater) Water Lettuce (Floater) Hornwort (Floater) 1x Amazon Sword (root plant) Dwarf sagittaria (root plant) Ludwigia sp. White (root plant) Ludwigia green (root plant) Susswassertang Various Buce clippings from other tanks Various Anubias clippings from other tanks I think I've killed this post with data, if anything is missing let me know. 😅

Has anyone tried breeding Acarichthys heckelii / Threadfin Acara? I am considering to buy a group of juveniles and grow them up together and let them choose their mating partners, if there will be any. However, I keep seeing different stuff about their breeding age. Some say 2 yo, some say 3. Some talk about much smaller size, some say 7''size. Is there anyone who may share their personal experience? @dasaltemelosguy I know you have some. Have you ever experienced any breeding behavior mate?

It’s the same accuracy as before just more liquid required. And more expensive in the long run. If you need to measure low kH accurately taking human error out of the equation is the only way

Zeolite is also 100% natural and organic. But ive never heard of the algae solution you mean.

Thats ok, you'll have a good record of progress pictures. I recently posted a filled empty tank mostly just for the reasons of being able to see its progress in a few scrolls. But also partially because I'm always amazed an empty glass box holds water!!!! 🤣 My intrest with yours is probably the same, the progress and to see the light you are using

@JChristophersAdventuresHazarding a guess here based on a known pond algae solution. Barley straw and barley straw extract are used in ponds to fight algae. *** I don’t actually know it is a complete guess.

ive seen honey gouarmis nearly every time ive been to both of my LFSs.

I can take some later if you like but the plants and snails are on their way from the distribution center to my local post office, so I won't be able to finish it until tomorrow. Right now, it is just substrate, hardscape and a small chunk of java fern on cholla wood. Well, and some hidden rock wool from another tank to seed with. I have another one on my coffee stand that I started, and I hope I have some leftovers to put it together, lol. It is only a 1-gallon jar, but I had a small piece of driftwood and some substrate left. I do have some have fern leaves floating in there and some small lava rocks from another tank tucked behind the wood that I am going to glue moss to. Figured I could use it, eventually, for any brown snails or wild type shrimp as a small grow out/overflow before tossing them in one of the cubes. I hope when I get the plants in that this doesn't turn out like a "nailed it" meme. Be forewarned, I am awful with photos, lol. Edit: Here is a crappy cell phone picture I sent my wife when I got the light in the mail yesterday. Still need to take the lamp of my bedside table and center the jar. And close the drawer...lol. That fern is likely not staying or at least not like that. Anyway, that light is nice. It has like 6 adjustable brightness levels, three light modes and a timer for 6/9/12 hours. Quite impressed for under $20.

I would just feed once a day during treatment @Supermassive

It's kind of like some food products... they are allowed to say it is 100%, even when it contains certain other ingredients or trace elements. In the case of silicone sealant, they add mold inhibitors which can be toxic to fish and can still claim it is 100% silicone. Best to stick with ones that are specifically labeled as aquarium safe (or call the manufacturer's customer service number to make sure).

Just wanted to add, though I have no experience with this personally-- There are kits you can get to insulate the garage door. I don't think I saw anyone talk about that. Taylor from Simply Betta (YouTube channel) had a video recently where she put up the garage door kit. She built her fishroom into her garage as a separate room -- but I don't know how many winters she's kept fish in there. I think it's only one, maybe two winters at most. Might be worth looking into if people notice a difference with those kits.

I'm very excited to see how all the plants do for you. For java ferns you don't want to plant them buried in the sand. They are an epiphyte type of plant and they are usually tied or glued to hardscape. You can bury the roots, but not the part of the plant called the rhizome. Moneywort is a great choice. It should do well in that tank with the liquid ferts (easy green). You just plant it like normal. The java ferns would do well if they are towards the back of the tank where something like the moneywort will do great directly below the light (stronger light). Welcome to the forums and to the hobby! It's great to see new hobbyists and hopefully we can help you in any way to set you up with success!

I do have some that I got, but it's not something I've ever used. I hear a lot about it being used in BCB plenum type of setups.

It basically will always leech tannins. It's just what wood does. Water changes will help. If the tank gets too dark for your liking you can also run carbon in the filter. Welcome to the forums @Kit Craft and @Natalie is new !

I can't imagine seeing my fry with big ol' orange bellies like that. Very cool!

Orange Venezuelan

Oh wow, I did not realize that cory barbels could get that big 😍 they're so cute! Good to hear about your experience with BDBS. I have a bag that I got a while back that I've been afraid to use.

Thank you!!! Does it matter if I get sealant vs caulk?

Well friends, we did it. We got tickets to Blink and we’re on the floor again! Mission success! Can’t wait! On a fish related note, the Angel fry have been fed twice with First Bites, and they got their first live baby brine meal tonight:

I have a few cories that have had barbel issues but they were from infections not related to substrate. One of my oldest bronzes developed an infection in a bare bottom tank even when there were fry growing up in there that never had a problem at all. And a couple of my sterbais in my angel tank don’t have barbels from when they got an infection and they’re on “smooth” pool filter sand. They are long since over the infection but barbels didn’t grow back. I barely saved the fish! And no, the infections weren’t related. They occurred almost 2 years apart. I truly don’t think substrate has anything to do with cory barbels. In nature they skim over and hunt food over all different kinds of surfaces.

So glad you posted this! I've been researching cories for well over a year and have found that some people are rather fanatical about the type of substrate, grain size, etc that is necessary for them.

Here are a few pics from my build. I've shared some of these in the past, but I don't think I shared pics of the exterior insulation.

This was originally a dozen "feeder" guppies (wild type Endlers). Six survived and then became: So, just treat them well and you'll have (way) more than you know what to do with. p.s. What should I do?!?!? 😅

Ive just seen that there are already topics about zeolite. But anyways I maybe helped someone ( ;

I don't cycle planted tanks. I just make sure I see some growth in the floating plants, add livestock slowly and test the water regularly until the tank is fully stocked.

But that’s the beauty of LFS #2, I could just go 45 minutes in the opposite direction and not have to buy them online. And I’d still have to spend real money

Fenbendazole

He's a medicated food recipe for fenbendazole what type of medication did you get was it panacur c or one of the other medications I mentioned he how @Odd Duckdose panacur c