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Ah yes, this sounds like you are at risk for MTS (Multiple Tank Syndrome) and having no water in those tanks is triggering for you. We are a great support group for this issue (meaning we support MTS, not recovery from it)... 🤪

It would be a good idea to add a heater so you can prevent those 10 degree temp swings which can be hard on the animals.

Did some major work in one my 20 gallons. Removed all of the Java ferns, anubias, and buce. They’re in bowls right now, but they’ll go into my low tech 20 eventually. I gave this 20 a deep haircut. Trimmed the new tops off of almost every plant and pulled the old bottoms. I spread and rearranged all of the remaining plants in such a way that hopefully they’ll be getting adequate light. Tank looks worse now than it did before, but hopefully it will look much better in a few weeks when everything grows back in! before: after: baby hillstreams are doing great! Parents must be one happy couple cause I keep seeing babies of varying sizes creeping around. Dunno if you’ll be able to make them out in this pic, but here’s one of the bolder babies hanging out near one of the parents. On a somewhat related note, here’s the full tank. What started out as two crypt wendtiis turned into a whole bunch of crypt wendtiis and they’ve taken over the corner of the tank. I want to take them out, but the Cories love hiding in them.

. . . female betta smaragdina? Very doubtful she(?) is genetically all smaragdina, being a Petco fish, but phenotypically? S/he is not very cooperative for photography.

We are planning on moving to upstate s.c. next year, and I have an empty 200g, 29g, 7g, 3g, and a running 10g reef tank. Outside is a filterless, no-maintenance 75g algae/endler tank w a cory still zooming around 2 ys after I took down my fw tank. I live vicariously through co-op videos and media, and have way too much on my plate for the next year, but it's so tempting...

36 is right between being big enough for the larger gourami or not so I would stick with the smaller ones and maybe do a group of them. You have a few options but I want to suggest thick-lipped first. They are slightly larger than most of the smaller gourami. You can often find them labeled as "red honey gourami" but they are a different species as honey gourami. I have had 5 different species of the smaller gourami and they are by far my favorite. They aren't as colorful as some but they have more personality. They are peaceful without being shy. The one I have right now is my favorite individual fish I've ever had. He always comes up to greet anyone who approaches the tank and is happy to see you. You could easily do a trio in there although it can be hard to sex them in the store. Often they are too young to tell. Another option is honey gourami. They are very peaceful and sometimes can be shy. I have had them twice and had 2 different experiences with them. The first time I had a trio who hid 24/7 and never came out of the corner. Right now I have 2 males and they are always out. They aren't as active and personable as the thick-lipped but they can be very pretty. I was lucky and found ones with the orange tail and white belly. Sometimes they come all yellow. I'm sorry I couldn't find a picture of this next one, but another option is dwarf gourami. This is a specific species. It can be confusing and easily mixed up with describing a gourami as small. They are by far the prettiest option. They have been heavily line bred to create different color morphs including powdered blue, flame and neon. They can be a gamble on temperment. Some are entirely peaceful while others are aggressive. Because of this, it's best to go with just 1 but some people do have success with multiple. If you do try more than one, have a backup plan. There are other options as well like sparkling, samurai, chocolate and licorice. I have kept sparkling but none of the others.

Update: the yellow female guppy is still swimming and trying. She still has her patch on her head. She had about 3 days of Maracyn. Today the Kanaplex and Jungle Fizz arrived, so I did a water change and started the new meds. @Colushe hasn’t eaten in almost a week. Can she eat with this treatment, or should I keep fasting her? the guppies remaining in the main tank are still doing well. Saturday is the completion of the med trio, and I’m sure they are excited for a water change! I’ve had to add FritzZyme7 to co trial ammonia and nitrites, but they are still active and seem happy. 🤞🤞🤞 wish us luck!

YOU GUYS!!! I was working on my tanks, checked my phone, and had a text from the Coop. I replied “Y” to accept, and it told me that my package had shipped, and to click a link to track it. I thought for sure this was a scam as I didn’t place an order. I login to my Coop account and see I have something I did not order saying it was arriving on Tuesday. I check my email, and sure enough, I have an order confirmation and tracking for a package from the Coop for an Easy Flow Kit!!!! I start reading the email, and see this at the bottom: I have no clue how this happened. I’m guessing maybe Cory saw my excitement in the general discussion and worked some Coop magic to link my forum account to my ACO account and ship one out? That’s my best guess, anyways. I’m equally excited and confused as to how this happened, but best believe I will be playing with this kit and will report on it here. THANK YOU @Cory and the ACO team! I feel like I won the lottery!

I think it is the stocking. Your tank is way overstocked for pet vibe snails and shrimp to be comfy and your fish selection is risky for them anyway. Ive even seen with my eyes baby guppies constantly picking on mystery snail flesh bothering and scaring him. Your tanks are stocked with fish that may easily show interest to and bother shrimp/snails. Very likely, they will be bothered or even killed, either directly or passively. I think this is the main reason why you don't succeed.

This. I have well water and was convinced for years that I didn't need water conditioner, until I tried to keep ivnerts for the first time. They kept dying. No idea what in my water causes it but something does. No issues now and I use prime. Anecdotal but everything is alive.

I’m sorry you are not having luck. What type of water conditioner are you using? Many heavy metals can be in tap water. You need one like Seachem Prime or Fritz that will detoxify heavy metals. This would be my first guess. My second possibility is what are you feeding. Most of these need protein and vegetables in their diet.

ORD I need some pygmy cories. I don't think any cories are in the cards for me. I have really hard water. 😭

Entirely normal. It means they feel safe enough to have fun and be happy.

I use that. I boil the water and turn the burner off or remove the container of water from the microwave. Then soak the suction cups a few minutes. The melting point of the material used in suction cups is higher than 212F of boiling water.

@Jennifer V Not yet set up. It is going slowly (in other words, according to available funding, lol) My progress so far can be seen here: I have the BDBS but won't be putting it in until I am ready to finish the scaping, wash the substrate, plant the plants and fill the tank all on the same day. I think if I place washed gravel in the tank and end up waiting awhile before filling, the wet sand could get a little nasty. Honestly, it's probably going to be another month or two based on my current rate of progress. I am in the process of cutting custom lids, for each side of the dividing brace, from clear twin wall polycarbonate. When you place HOBs on the ends of the tank, instead of the back, there are few if any pre-made lid choices available. Besides, I like to custom fit is all together anyway to make sure the livestock stays inside the aquarium. Thanks.

For fun……..with some thoughts about selling. I try to make enough fish for my local clubs annual swap, but I’m easily outshone by the guys with 20+ tanks. 😅 I caught a ramshorn snail munching a tetra egg today - the war has begun ☠️ I really should build a rack….but my parents would definitely not stand for it.

Very challenging! Nicely managed there. I'd have been a long, long while working that up to play on recorder. I think the balance was excellent, and the recorder sounded quite period-appropriate. Those violin unisons are brutal if not precisely together. Definitely a favorite piece of mine. Now you have got me on a cello kick. We might not like all of these cello pieces... but I'll select a few that I dig. Let me find some... 1. Astor Piazzolla - Oblivion (setting for Cello and orchestra) 2. Heitor Villa-Lobos - Bachianas Brazilieras No. 1 (International Cello Academy) 3. Eric Whitacre - The River Cam (BBC Proms, Cello and orchestra) I've composed a few pieces for Cello if you're interested in reading some different stuff. Nothing really good, but if you have a good pianist, or a Pianist and Clarinetist. Some of it is very challenging. Tonal, but a slight bit on the jazzy side. Send me a PM if you want scores. I can fish them out from somewhere. A lifetime ago, I got my master's in Music Composition.

Hi Tuppins, welcome to the forum! I've never actually kept silvertip tetras before, but from what I've heard, they may tend to get a little nippy, or outcompete with slower moving fish when it comes to feeding time. This Aquarium Co-Op article says something similar as well. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/silver-tip-tetras. Nonetheless, the article also recommends dwarf gourami as a suitable tank mate. In my experience, dwarf and pearl gourami are always fairly quick to food. I've kept them with guppies, not quite as boisterous as the tetras, but something to compare to at the very least. I would say as long as you moniter the inhabitants during feeding and make sure that everyone is getting enough food, it should work out fine. I hope this helps!

I got a good shock today. Doing a water change on my 29 I plug my pump in underneath that tank. WHAT THE HECK IS THIS???😲 I then realized it’s a root from the monstera growing out the top. How crazy is that.

Visited a neighborhood fish keeper today, and picked up 20 yellow Neocardinas, and some blue ones to add to the existing colony. I’m hoping that because he’s only 30 minutes away, that the stress/adjustment will be minimal. What a lovely Fishroom! He’s very intense with Angelfish, but has a deep love for Endlers, and in fact was the first person to offer me Endlers last year when I started fish keeping again. Great endlers, too, black-bar. I still have them, and recently added several pairs from the wonderful Adrian HD to bolster the genetics. They’re fantastic, and gorgeous. And bred prolifically over the summer in outdoor tubs. Very, very prolifically. A couple of my largest Endler females might even be the ones the Neighbor gave me. Very generous, professional fish keeper, and would be great to have time to talk to him about his angelfish. I’m not able to keep them, but I’m incredibly curious about them. Learning about them would be great. Tried again with the yellow shrimp from his Fishroom, and added them to the Yellow Metal Mosaic tank. Unfinished.

This might actually be the post that motivates me to build it! May just be time to roll up my sleeves, break out my trusty safety scissors, try to resist the urge to eat the glue stick and put my small arts & craft skills to the test!!! 🤣

she can eat. At least once every 3-4 days would be my recommendation. If you can feed every other day, keep strength up, it should help.

If you have a pot you don't care much about, you can boil as much of the driftwood as you can. I have a cheap enamel pot for this, it's like 3 or 4 gallons. Just be warned any pot you use will have a tannin ring around it. Snails, shrimp and other critters will keep the film in check once you have them. If you added bottled bacteria, it won't really do anything w/o an ammonia source, or "food" for the bacteria. Part of the cloudiness you see could be bacteria die off. If possible I would get a bunch more plants in there (sounds like you got that covered), and start working on supporting life: I might also do a water change if the conditions look really bad, hard to tell w/o a pic. But the bacteria you want lives on surfaces not in the water column. OR, get your plants in, wait a few days, and then introduce a light bioload of hardy fish along with your bottled bacteria. I've had good luck with Fritz and API's Quick Start. You got this 👍

And definitely don't get distracted by the shrimp and watching the fish and forget to turn it on. 😂

Hi all - I have a 3 week old 100 gallon tank, heavily planted but lightly stocked for it's size (the fish came out of my 10g, and a couple 20s). It has a canister on each end, and very good flow that generates a circular pattern. I have a spray bar on one end, pointed length-wise down the tank, dialed down quite a bit but there's still plenty of surface agitation. The filter on the other end flows out along the back wall, and also provides a bit of surface agitation. I am liking this so far. The larger plants have a very gentle wave to them. My smallest fish are ember tetras, and they are out and about and not getting blown around. The tank has been fruitful - my cory cats laid a ton of eggs, and now my male/female gouramis are trying to build a bubble nest. There's some deader spots along the surface where there's some val leaves floating and blocking a lot of flow, but they don't seem to be having much luck. I also have some biofilm on the surface, likely b/c of all the new wood (no visible film on the wood), as well as bacteria and plants growing/dying/melting etc. I wonder if this is further hindering the bubble nests (and maybe a water change is in order). I don't think it's from overfeeding, and the water is clear. But, I've never had a planted tank this large, so any advise on the film would be appreciated. I do have a 10 gallon hospital tank that I always keep setup with barely any flow, and a bunch of leftover val providing plenty of cover. Should I try moving them in there? Having just moved them into the 100g tank, I don't want to stress them more - but are the failed bubble nests just stressing them?

If you want babies I would move them. Alternatively I cut a ring from the center of a gallon water jug and secured it to the side to make a dead spot for my honeys. Mine also love their zoomed floating betta logs I use a strip of plant weight hooked over the side to keep them from floating around. They like to build bubble nests in the open hole on top.

The first thing I will suggest is to get yourself a liquid GH/kh test kit. Just to verify what you need from the tap and from the test strips. It's very affordable and ultimately for anyone keeping invertebrates it is a valuable tool. KH is ok. GH is ok. I would do some water changes to drop it slightly, but that's not a big deal. Let's use this as a baseline and only focus on the amano shrimp and the snails before we dive into something more complex like the neocaridina. First hurdle is always acclimation. They need to be done slowly dripped over time and that helps a lot with acclimation stress. If need be I can attach a video on how to do this. The second hurdle is going to be stability. Once they are acclimated, that leads to the necessary step of trying to get them to a consistent environment and a situation where there is enough oxygenation, circulation, and plants. The last hurdle is feeding and there's a variety of things that can compound this. One of the main things you'll deal with is predation, the other is stress. If the shrimp don't feel like they can be out in the open easily, you need to have a good cover for them and treat them as nocturnal. A feeding dish is one of the most important tools for smaller shrimp and snails, but less so for amano shrimp. Snails will graze on the wall and the other surfaces in the tank, as well as the shrimp, but the feeding dish is your visual for how you feed calcium based foods (i.e. "complete" foods for invertebrates) and you can track that they eat those foods to get that nutrition. In terms of your care in the tank, how often are you changing water and how much? Are you able to add air stones of need be? Especially given the bioload in some of those tanks. Very normal behavior. You can use something like moss ledges or even a moss wall to give the shrimp their own real estate. Having a pile of wood or rock also really helps them to have a "hive". One of my favorites being a very big chunk of dragon stone. It has holes built on and looks like a beehive a bit. Dripping for that long could be doing more harm than good. They may have gotten too cold over that time. Essentially, 30-90 minutes should really be all it takes. In my own methodology I tend to double the water volume 2-3 times and then that is what I call as "good". I try to have an air stone in there too during that time on very low in addition to adding 1-2 drops of dechlorinator. 1. Open the bag, add 1-2 drops of dechlorinator immediately and then move that water and shrimp to something like a specimen container. 2. Add air, set up slow drip, and drip them until the container is mostly full. Add some moss also if need be. 3. Pour out as much water as possible and continue the drip process until it fills up again. 4. Using a shrimp net or just letting them swim out of the container, release them into the tank and keep the lights out. I can tell you from first glance that things are pretty well stocked. The 10G might be ok, but both tanks I think you need to have a feeding dish for shrimp. Here's why..... This also applies to snails and fish like corydoras if you have any. I would definitely add in some air. 1 drop in the 10G and 2 drops in the 55G.

I have. It's best to "soak" them in hot water. Clean the glass and then clean the cup so there's no reason for it not to stick. Much like tubing it sort of resets the material and it can be a bit more pliable. That being said, some materials turn to a rock and it's extremely difficult to bring those back. Eheim Jager heater cups sort of invert themselves and have their own issues, but I've seen and experienced some of the other clear ones that will cure and lose all flexibility. Soak those, 5-15 minutes and then you might be able to get them to stick once or twice.

The slime is just bacteria usually. Spiderwood is notorious for this. You can gently brush it off and siphon it out or just pull the wood and give it a clean. In terms of fingers itching, I assume this is figuratively spoken? If so, no worries at all and this is entirely normal. Fish like corydoras, otocinclus or shrimp will eat on "aufwuchs" which is that film as well as the small critters that also eat off that biofilm like copepods.

you're doing fine, dont panic.

That could be staghorn, which I've had many battles with. In my experience it is very fast to uptake excess nutrients - new plants need to establish themselves before they really start uptaking nutrients so maybe you OD'd. Staghorn also loves lots of light. I don't have the coop light, but I would dial the brightness down quite a bit. Carbon-based algicides like Easy Carbon and Excel make pretty quick work of staghorn until you get the tank dialed in, especially if you spot treat. Once it's dead your cleanup crew might eat it.

Has anyone used little cubes of Acurel amonia reducing pads for bagged fish and shrimp when shipping or for auctions? I think this is the correct product but I want to make sure.

I'm not shipping quite yet. I'm just bagging for a local auction. standard plastic bags, I don't have oxygen just air. I imagine the longest the fish would be in bags is around 12-14 hours.

I have the multi test strips and ammonia test stripes. Ive tested with the multi test strips. I also have a test kit for gh and kh. With my first gh test I found I have off the chart hardness. I will do that one again.

That would be approx 16/22 then indeed! I need to try this out.... I don't care about the so called benefits of ribbed tubing, they are a pain!

Your parameters are very similar to mine. My pH is a little higher, but my understanding is that a pH above 7 is ok for shrimp and snails. Where do you buy your shrimp? If you buy them locally they should be ok with your tap water. If you buy them online, they may have been raised in RO water which is very different. What is the feeding regime. Snails eat a lot and have to be fed more than you think. They also need more nutrients than algae alone can provide - they need a combo of protein, calcium, and vegetable matter. Shrimps should have vegetable-based protein food, as animal-based protein can result in molting problems. What is the temperature?

I have another question about my new tank. I understand it's normal for slime to grow on my new wood decor. It certainly has. My spider wood looks like an alien jelly fish is encasing it. I also have some floating on the water surface. Since I just set it up less than a week ago I have done nothing. But my fingers are starting to itch and doubt is creeping it. My ph is between 7.6-7.8. Would this impact when I need to start water changes? I still haven't purchased fish. I'm picking up my shipment with co op plants at my po box on my way to work. So I still only have gravel, wood, air filter, one lonely plant, and my plant light on 8 hours. Thanks!

Yep, I already added fish in this tank because 1 of the 2 Biomaster 600 was already cycled with the same livestock in a 20g (7month old tank). The new Biomaster Is running since early September with some media from the other cycled Biomaster. When I measured the water of this tank after 2 weeks, the ammonia and nitrites were already 0, then I waited 4 weeks more before adding livestock and plants. Before adding more livestock I want to obtain some more growth from the plants and check if melting happen. Ember are always stunning, I bought them as dither for cpd but I'm enjoying way more them than the others. Bit the true eye catcher are otos and pygmy with their swim behaviours

My last pair is still hanging in there. She is really showing her age and had no interest in spawning. He looks pretty healthy so but seems like his eyesight is getting worse. I usually have to point out his food to him.

You are on the right track with Easy Green and a plant light. It is normal for new plants to go through melt, even if you have all the right things to start. They usually spring back. One nice thing about stem plants such as moneywort is that, if the bottom of the plant is doing poorly, you can cut the plant in half and replant the top in your sand and it will become a new plant (you may need to wrap a plant weight around it for it to stay down since it will not have roots at first). @nabokovfan87 is right regarding taking the java fern out of the sand. Here's one way to "plant" it. Cory uses rocks, but driftwood is another nice choice, and your baby snails will enjoy eating the slimy stuff (biofilm) that initially forms on the driftwood. It is a good source of fiber and protein for them. Check out Crayfish Empire for free samples of snail foods, too! They will even send you a package of calcium carbonate for free. (Just pay shipping) Their snail foods are nutritionally balanced with the calcium, protein, and vegetable matter that mystery snails need.

Took some time to enjoy the tank and post some pics. My past 20g the plants grew great, I guessed it was because of the undergravel filter. So when I set up my 65g last January, I installed it back & center of the tank plus a 3 stage canister. In the back of the tank are the bubble tubes at the surface is the exit water jet running through the path of the bubbles...seamed like a good way to airate the 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

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’m especially noticing the caves…🤓

They arrived this morning, they are around 3.5 - 4cm and arrived with a heat patch and seem all okay and happy. Got them acclimated by dripping some tank water into their travel bag and now are hidden behind the heater. Will give them half a Carni wafer in the afternoon, keep an eye on water parameters and see what happens. Needles to say .... I am absolutely in love with how they look and they will only color up better as they grow.

These 2 will be arriving tomorrow morning via local courier from Valencia. The pair of L136B I won at a raffle - about 1 - 1.5 inch or 3cm in size only. I got an 80 L bare tank setup specifically for them, and expecting another 2 to arrive by end of month.

The medication could have exacerbated the symptoms your seeing the fact that the Cory's behaviour changed after a water change I would test amount of chlorine in your tap if it's high you would want add 3x the amount of dechlorinator I would feed blood worms only once a week and start feeding some pellets or flake along side the frozen give it another 5 days with out any medication monitor them and make a note of any odd behaviour or symptoms your seeing then give an update

Playing a new chess opening online tonight. Listening to Bach Cello Suites. Yo Yo Ma is my spirit animal in the background. (Unless it's the Knight in my Chess match that's my spirit animal 🤔 🐴)

One of the first times I bred CPD's I was doing well with a young group of 40-50 and then overfed them and caused what was measurable as a nitrite spike. Over a week or so I lost every one of them, even after cleaning up the water. I have a better understanding now of what happened and how I could have dealt with it but at the time I was devastated and convinced they were the hardest thing in the world to breed. They aren't, not at all, but it can feel like that when things go wrong. My best advice is to take a pause, let the tanks stabilize, let the fish relax, and try again in a few weeks. Breeding fish is a lot of fun but it's emotionally taxing when things don't work out. No one wants to care for living things and then watch them die despite their best efforts. They will spawn again, eggs will hatch again, and I'm betting the next time you get a good group growing, it will turn out better. If your intuition says "last time I fed too heavy," then go a little lighter next time. Trust yourself. you're paying attention and you're learning, even if it doesn't feel like it.