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Been a while since I've been on the forum, just wanted to post some updates of the Fish office and where's its at today if anyone wants to check it out. The 60G is recovering from a filter failure while I was away on my vacation, thankfully my buddie was able to salvage some it. Lost a lot of the adult Guppies, but enough fry has survived to rebuild. The snail population has exploded though, still working on that. Plants are obviously still going strong, those Sword plants on either side continue to grow into bushes. The 195G is looking healthy, that java moss on the right is doing really well, I'm pulling most of it out every month with it soon regrowing right after. Still feels a little empty, I think I want to put a school of angels and a few more Congo tetras and rainbow fish in there. The Bolivian Rams are doing really well, had a surprise spawn in the tank, saved as many as I could, must of been 100 fry when I first noticed them, was able to fish out maybe 25 and left rest with the parents with the hope they could protect some of them, that didn't go to well, but the fry I was able to raise myself seem to be growing fine. (Sorry for the bad pictures). So out of the 4 Celestial rams I acquired I received 1 male and 3 females, after the male paired off with a female, I moved them over to there own tank (was breeding a pair of Apistos in there previously, hence the home made caves). They've spawned unsuccessfully once so far, I'm doing my best to condition them back to spawning health again. The Gardneri Killi's are also doing well, I've gotten 3 fry from them in the short amount of time I've had them. I know I could really get more fry if I set up a proper breeding tank for them, for now I'm just enjoying there company. That'll be a future endeavor. Lastly the "Easy Tank" is doing its thing. Was fighting a losing battle with algae until I put the water lettuce in. Really digging the look of the long roots of the floaters. so much so, I've added it to most of the tanks. A school of Rummynose and the 2 other female Rams are calling this one home. Little update on everything here, love to answer any questions or receive any constructive criticism from anyone that took the time to read this, especially any Ram or Gardneri breeding tips, fry care, best thing to do with all the extra plant growth, or snail removal/management (especially that one). Thanks

This will be a journal where I post about things I am not proud of, in an effort to break stereotypes about skilled/experienced aquarists making rookie mistakes and failing at certain aspects of the hobby. We all experience failure and errors and I think we should be talking about it, because I believe it makes us better caregivers for our animals if we are open about our hard lesson-learning moments. Join in if you are comfortable doing so, I will ensure this thread stays judgement-free. First one to kick it off: Yesterday I arrived home and immediately checked on the paradise fish, which had been recently added to their permanent home from quarantine. I couldn't find one of the males, and I had left the lid off the tank. My heart sank, and I knew he had jumped while I was out running errands. Sure enough, I find him on the carpet, miraculously still alive even though he felt nearly dry to the touch. He is currently in a breeder basket, shedding his slime coat and looking like he is knocking on death's door. He is clearly exhausted, and feeling pretty bad. I treated with Ich-X immediately to stave off fungal or bacterial issues as he regrows his entire slime coat. It's hard to not feel like a bad fishkeeper when stuff like this happens, but I have to remind myself that mistakes are normal, and that beating myself up about it is not going to help him recover. I have a fresh batch of BBS brewing for him, and I have some twin wall on order so I can make a lid that is easier for me to open and close without having to rearrange my equipment to get into the tank. He will be getting plenty of Vita Chem-laden Repashy to help him gain his strength back, as well. What I learned: The right equipment can make a huge difference. The makeshift eggcrate lid sags, and it makes it hard to get into the tank because in order to remove it without breaking anything, I have to remove the lights and carefully weave it through the rest of the equipment and set it on the floor. If I had purchased a proper lid, or made a lid out of the correct material, I would not have left it off long enough for this to happen. I know that my ADHD brain struggles to remember to put stuff back where it belongs, which means I knew this could potentially be an issue and I ignored my instincts because I was busy and stressed. Moving forward, I will not leave a tank unattended without a lid, especially when the tank houses anabantoidei species.

I wanted to correct a mistake that's going on here to make sure nobody makes the same mistake. I bought my crabs as "vampire crabs". I also saw some other sites selling mine as Vampire crabs too. Well, they are not! They are actually Lepidothelphusa SP crabs. So this is important because they don't have exact same needs. In case anyone wants to learn more, check this video out: I feel like this wrong naming is sometimes more dangerous than we think about and may result in the damage of a life due to different care needs.

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.

Don’t ask about fish tanks ask about water beds. If the apartment allows king sized beds they hold 250 gallons. Apartment managers are weird about fish and try to deem them as pets even though most renters laws around them word them as ‘water features’ or ‘water entertainment’ so if you ask you apartment manager ask if they allow water beds and what size water beds. Than you will have your answer. I have kept a 128g aquarium in an apartment space with no issue

Hummingbird hobby update; yard animals Hummingbirds are in migration to Honduras now and visits I get may be very temporary. I am grateful for and charmed by them.

Japanese trapdoors and rabbit snails. both are awesome. Both like to bury from time to time in my tanks so I would recommend finer sand. Here you go:

Are you doing anything to condition the water for the shrimp when adding it to the tank? This would be something like salty shrimp or another GH/KH buffer. Both caridina and neocaridina need this. If possible, when you keep shrimp, try to keep that to every two weeks when you do your main water change. This is how I run it to reduce stress: End of week 1: 1. Turn off equipment, pull the tidal sponges, siphon to "check" the substrate and fill a bucket to clean the sponges and rinse media. Especially the prefilter. 2. Clean all the sponges, replace the media and fill the tank back up (very small amount, you can do this with RO water, if you do this on the 10G then you'd likely want to add buffers and stir the water. 3. Turn the equipment back on, add in plant fertilizer. Check plants End of week 2: 1. Turn off equipment, move all sponges and filtration gunk to the buckets. 2. Let debris settle, check under wood for mulm (I keep clown pleco) and remove shrimp feeding dishes. Starting with half of the tank cleared, gently move the shrimp away and siphon the substrate (VERY VERY easy for amano shrimp). When you're done with one section, move hardscape so you can go to the next section. 3. Siphon the tank, pinching the hose to reduce water being removed and allow shrimp to escape if they end up in the tube. 4. Check very carefully for baby shrimp (or set bucket aside to check later). I use multiple buckets and this allows me to do this. 5. Siphon out the water until the desired % is removed. 6. Get your water matching to the tank prior to adding it back into the tank. Verify that GH and KH is close, within 0.5-1 degree, and match temperature as best you can. Add back in the water using your own methods. 7. Check on everything for stress signs, move all the hardscape back, add in ferts. Essentially, water in Should be like water out. Think of it as a river and you're just seeing water flow from one region to the next. That water is also well oxygenated. Equilibrium is your GH buffer, but you'd be shocking them with 0 KH water. There's no real way around this using just crushed coral and using RO water with very low minerals in that water. One other thing to verify is that you DON'T have a water softener or something that is adding salts and other things to the tank water.

Just catching this thread. I have a great daphnia culture going, so I feel have something to offer here. My method is based on Aquarimax Pets, you can find a few daphnia videos on his youtube. I have a 20 gallon culture that really thrives, and a 5 gallon bucket as backup. Like all water in glass box setups, more volume is more stable. So keeping a 20 gallon is way easier than keeping a small window culture, I feel. I think a 10 gallon tank would be a good sweet spot, if you don't need a lot of daphnia. Also this is one of the places I'd absolutely go with vertical over horizontal, eg a hex or column tank would be ideal. I feed both my cultures daily, but missing a day here and there isn't an issue. Food is around 3:1:1 spirulina powder, rice flour and chick pea flour. I feed about 1/2 tsp of this mixture stirred in water (tank water or other aged/chlorine free water - I've been told to stay away from dechlorinators with daphnia), just pour it in. It stays suspended quite well. Both my cultures have a TON of ramshorn snails, which I remove periodically. No plants in either culture. I don't have enough light to make green water, and any that did occur would be snatched up immediately by my high daphnia populations, but I've heard that live plants take the nutrients that green water algae could otherwise use. I feed them to any fish I'm trying to put size on (along with regular high protein fish foods), and also to my dart frog tadpoles. I harvest in one of 2 ways. A) soft brine shrimp net, start at the bottom make 3 passes is z shape, first to left, up and back right, and up again and back left then lift. Otherwise I get too much snail poop. Invert the net into a plastic deli cup with water, and feed from that. B) The other method (that yields a ton more daphnia) is via water change. I remove 5 gal from the 20 gal culture using a 3/4" diameter hose, focusing on the parts of the tank with the most daphnia. Then I refill the culture tank from any other running tank, and fill the other tank as I would following water change. Then I pour the 5 gal bucket filled with daphnia through a reusable coffee filter, then use a baster to remove the ~heaping tbsp of daphnia in the filter into a deli cup with water where it's easier to work from. Can pour this straight into tanks, or pass through a bbs filter to serve them without water (if that makes sense). I sometimes separate smaller from larger daphnia if I want to feed smaller fry or my tads. Just add a step passing the daphnia from one deli cup into another through a fish net with appropriate sized mesh. Lights aren't on in fish room yet, i'll add a picture later.

I used to laugh at the constant use of Latin binomials. Over time and falling to this exact issue I learned the absolute value of those long impossible to pronounce names.

That looks like a different scenario. I believe the reason why your jar didnt probably work is because it is pretty small space for 3 mystery snails and shrimp and has no filter and/or absurd amount of fast growing plants so no cycle or anything to help with potential ammonia or nitrite (if there is any) toxicity. Mystery snails have a huge bioload and shrimp do well in seasoned tanks and ofcourse both require a cycled tank with no off parameters. Did you test the water for ammonia and nitrite back then from the jar? Also in the picture above, the mystery snail looks scared to use its antenna. Thats basically how they feel around and move normally as they have poor vision. That says something about potential agression or harassing easily. You should see those antennas flowing around freely. I cant clearly tell if there is antenna damage there of its hiding because of being scared. but instead, should be like this, feeling around moving freely:

@Lowells Fish Lab does a mix of yeast and water and just pours it in and leaves it to sit.

I’m finding the way it reaches for the plug hilarious 😂

Hello there To answer your question: do nothing. My KH is 20 and I haven't seen or heard any fish dying from kh reading being 12 before. There must be something else I believe, 12 kh does not sound extreme to me. If I were you I wouldn't add more fish to that tank if you don't want it overstocked. It already seems decently stocked as it is. Also it is a high tank rather than long. Fish usually utilise the length and depth more than the height. And you already utilise the height of the tank by keeping fish that spend time on different levels. If you really wanna add a few more fish, I would suggest increasing the size of an existing school rather than having another. But overall I would not add anything, as gradually some guppy fry will likely survive even in a community tank considering your tank offers hiding places with plants. So gradually your tank will have an increasing population anyway. Im not familiar with the filter you mentioned. Maybe US peeps can help with that better.

After doing alot of research, I hope to start a freshwater community tank sometime. There is so much I've learned and am still learning. I am one of those people who once they take interest in something, they kinda fixate on it. I'm a newbie that live in the States and I currently don't have any fish. As a kid I had a Betta but he was more my mom's. I just got to feed him and name him (Saturn). He was also taken care of in a different way than the ways that are suggested today. He still lived a long time, but he was pretty angry. That's as far as my hands on experience is currently. I currently have 4 small dogs, 2 boys and 2 girls. 3 dogs are seniors and one dog is under a year. I don't want to get any more dogs ever, because I love mine and it's important to me that they all knew each other. Probably a weird thing, but whatever. Two of mine really slowed down this year and they both got really sick. Although they are recovered (yes they had vet attention), they are still different than before they got sick. They are both at the end of their estimated life span. Though the one that isn't as close to their estimate range had life long bladder issues that require a special diet so I'm sure that unfortunately effects the estimate. Anywho, to get to the point of this paragraph, I thought fish will be a good pet for my future for various things I'm not going to list because this post is already long.. but I'm very interested 🐳 I decided to join a forum. Mostly because I have a question I want to ask people, about something that isn't talked about as much anymore (I'll post that in the appropriate area later instead of here) but I also thought when I get my tank, I may want to take a few pics and share it with other aquarists now and then. And, I'm sure Ill find great info while browsing around here from experienced keepers so it is all win. So, Howdy👋

I don't doubt you. That's what I am thinking as well. But I just can't figure out what it is. I always bring them to room temp before putting them in the tank. Even though I have soft water, I added minerals to combat that. For food, calcium rich food. Didn't even perform water change in the 5 gallon jar because didn't want to change the parameters. Always had some kind of air going in the tanks. If it was harassment from fish, 5g would not have any issues. developed algae in all the tanks before adding shrimps.

Yeah, I suppose you are right. I heard they were pretty hardy. I will give them another go then.

I use api water conditioner, easy green liquid fertilizer. As for additives, I use Seachem equilibrium and crushed coral to raise gh and kh. As for bottled water, I think for shrimp keeping is not a bad idea if you are keeping 1-2 tanks. I have heard of shrimp keeper going years without changing water.

So, I have super glued the skimmer and the bottom of the pump housing box, and installed pre filter sponge on the intake. I personally would buy the aqua clear next time instead of tidal but that's besides the point. I only had either a sponge filter (10g)or just an air stone(in the 5 gallon jar) with my shrimps. I never put them in the 55g to begin with. I just put 2 blue dreams in there after losing 9 of them in the 10g. These two actually lasted the longest. Good to know. I know about filter feeders do that but didn't know neos and caridina's do that as well. I perform weekly water change ~20% Clean the tidal every week. Sponge filter every month. Don't really syphon the gravel. I have to dose easy green 3 times the suggested dose every other days to keep up with plant intake. if I miss one day, it reads 0 ppm nitrate. I mean I can go longer without water change without any issues. I have gone more than a month without changing water and everything was fine. I don't like to look at mulm build up which is why I clean the tidal every week. I don't really siphon the substrate. What ever tidal and sponge filter picks up goes to my house plants.

I haven't jumped into shrimp keeping yet, so I can't help too much. My first adventure with Amanos only lasted a few months, I never saw them for the first 2 weeks. My snails don't seem to have any issues. This pretty much eliminates harassment as the problem. I think at this point I would set up the 5 gallon shrimp and or snail only tank. using bottled water. This might be cheaper than sending your water out for professional analysis. What water conditioners, fertilizers and other additives do you use if any?

The leeches lay eggs, which survive the treatment. So you have to keep the treatment going while the eggs incubate, then you have to kill those leeches.

I never really successfully raised fry other than my first batch. For some reason, the eggs never really hatched again. I cannot pin-point what the problem might be. I tried iterations just leaving the parents in a tank alone for a few days and not messing with the eggs. Then separating them again. Absolutely no luck. I did get like... 3 tiny ones at the wall clinging stage. I was leaving for a bit so I sucked them into a pipette and put the parent tank, which is a total jungle. I mean, I went about 3 months without really seeing a CPD. The good news is... some have survived outside of my efforts. So there's now at least 10 or more in the parent tank now. At best, I contributed three of those. There's at least a few more, but it's hard to see them. I went down to idle on basically all my tanks, not really burned out. But certainly bummed out with the continued CPD failures. And my apistos have also been total failures. I'm planning on trying to find some people looking for male Hongsloi. They're beautiful fish, but of the three pairs I bought, I got only one female. I've had three in a 55 and they actually get along really well. They're neat fish, but I'm really wishing I had another pair... what if one of these is sterile or something? Either way, I wanted to give them a big break, so I cut the BBS and just let them recover. They're ramping back up now, though I do not think they've spawned yet. But the female is in breeding colors and has a beautiful rose colored belly that she's showing off to him a lot. Also found out my male is way to big for "apisto caves". So I added a small terracotta pot and chipped a bigger hole in the bottom and she seems to be favoring that cave and they're both in there sometimes. Anyway... CPDs, I haven't really done much with since the last post. I idled down all of my BBS hatching too. In the last month or so I've gone back to one BBS hatchery going again so feeding all the possible breeding fish BBS twice a day about four days a week. And been doing lots of cleanout of the CPD breeding tank which was just a plant catch-all for the past several months. I believe one of the babies that did survive is a second female CPD now since I only had one before. So I'm hoping that two females with one male will end up being better for fertilization/breeding. They seemed to harass each other quite a bit when it was just 1:1. Thanks for asking, @TheSwissAquarist 🙂 I haven't given up, but I did absolutely settle everything down. Hope you're doing well!

Frosting!

Looks like the early stages of a growth there really common in Bettas due to low genetic diversity thought inbreeding they usually progress very slowly so what I would do is add some Indian almond leaves as they have antibacterial and antifungal properties and monitor for the next two weeks give an update if it gets worse

I made this exact post in several fb groups too and based on about a dozen or so responses I've gotten so far this is what I'm leaning towards. Funny part is those posts were in international groups yet somehow word must have gotten out. I've already gotten 3 messages from people in my state asking how much for the colony haha. I have no idea how to price that.

No idea but be sure to point that flow at the heater! 😉

How has the CPD breeding worked out @jwcarlson?

Maybe the one of the black water tanks?

There’s people like @Cory who quarantine for months on end, but I usually quarantine for about 2 weeks, unless there’s some disease that turns up.

One of my bettas also has one of these. Salt (1tbsp/5 gallons) worked really well.

Option 3. Restart the entire shrimp colony, seeing as most of the current shrimp probably carry the dud gene.

So I have lots and lots of babies today. I may need to harvest some tomorrow. It was too cold for my snail. He stayed huddled in the same spot. I added about 100 seed shrimp to help keep the debris cleaned up. I think I’m under feeding but until I get the hang of not poisoning the tank I think small feedings often may be a safer bet? Not sure suggestions from experience always welcome

I would do a large water change then you can run active carbon for 24hr to remove any remaining medication then dose the prazipro

First things first I would not categorize pest snails with more of the “pet” ones and shrimps. Pest snails are quite hardy in general. They can tolerate undesirable situations and conditions much much better in my experience. In addition, those small ramshorns are usually not interesting to a regular fish as much as a shrimp or bigger snail with wormlike huge antennas can be. This is more about fish potentially showing interest here I believe. Those ramshorns may face some damage if you happen to put them in a puffer tank for example, since this way, they will be the potential food target by the specific fish. If you ask me, I think shrimp are silly and they trust unconditionally. I keep shrimp in 10 different community tanks at this point, they seem to lack the surviving instinct. I think that is the most possible scenario. The other one can be your water has stuff that are deadly for shrimp, maybe like copper? But then, how are ramshorns thriving is the question. They dont sound to tolerate but thrive you say. So I still think it is the aggression

What I would do is treat with prazipro once every two weeks for 3 full course of treatment so treat on week 1 week 3 week 5 with prazipro I would stop treating with ick X for now @awong918

That looks more like natural colouring to me any rapid breathing hanging out near the surface lethargy how often is he flashing @awong918

What are your water parameters can you take a picture of the sick fish it will help with a diagnosis and he's a picture of betta with velvet for comparison does it look like this

Yep. Just playing in the flow. They may have smelled something and one went to look. It's basically just shoaling behavior.

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.

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.

Aim for 2/3 air and 1/3 water if possible.

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)... 🤪

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

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.

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.

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.

No I’ve not done paramecium. I’m getting ready to brave moina and daphnia magna. Hubby is skeptical but willing to allow me to try on the condition “if it stinks like that stuff (epic fail infusoria attempt) you did before I’m dumping it. 🤣

Yes it starts off very easy.them you see this fish and that fish. Then find out you cant put fish A with fish b. So then it's another new tank. So on and so forth. Then you end up with a dinning room full of tanks 😆. Good choices so far. Welcome to the forum and keep it fish my friend.