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Ok, so this is still in the experimental stage, so it's still a gangly bit of wires. But the below is what I have so far in terms of putting together a DIY aquarium chiller (many thanks to the internet/youtube for help!) I have been wanting to experiment with dropping temps a tad after some of my fish spawn in order to influence sex rations. I heat my fish room, so, while can drop a heater into a tank to boost temps, I cannot do the same to lower temps a few degrees. This is where the chiller comes in. The setup uses a water chiller (basically a small copper block water cycles through) stacked on top of a peltier module. Functionally, the peltier module gets very hot on its bottom side and, in affect, pulls heat from it's top side. This heat is dissipated via the module sitting atop a CPU heatsink with CPU fans running. The whole apparatus is wired to an AC to DC converting power supply, and this is wired into an inkbird. When the temperatures rise above the desired target temp, the inkbird powers on the peltiier module, the cooling fans kick in, and the water pump starts cycling water through the chiller. So far, I have just been testing with a 5 gallon bucket. I can drop and hold that fifteen degrees lower that room temp (going to try to go lower soon), but in reality all I need to do is drop a 20 gallon tank by 2 - 5 degrees Fahrenheit. There are a few walk throughs on how to build these on YouTube, if anyone is interested. For now, here is my monstrosity! My next task is to make a small enclosure for it (most likely from a small tote) and tidy up the wires and conceal them in a small gang box. Anyway, thanks for reading / looking!

It is so cool you actually have these. It would be even cooler if you could see them with the naked eye. What a fascinating pet they would be.

After night, I can said this totally work. I checked around 4 am in the morning and it was still running. And as of 10 am, the battery is full again. Disclaimer: I am in Souther California so we get sun more than most. The only weird thing. The aeration seems to be a little bit weaker at night. I am not sure if had to do with it running on battery or atmospheric pressure at night (outdoor). But it was definitely still running. Hopefully, this will continue long term.

And so the next breeding saga begins!

I’ve been looking for these for the past 3-4 years and couldn’t really find them. I ordered 15 from a vendor who was coming to yesterdays swap. 1 was DOA when I picked up the bag but did not look thin or sick. The other 14 looked pretty good. Not shy at all very out front and active. I put moina in the tank along with grindle worms. This morning they got live brine shrimp so adorable 🥰

My first are Giant Otocinclus catfish - great coloration, they’ve been visible unlike some loricariads you’ll actually see them, and as omnivores they’re a great cleanup crew. Of course the “giant” Here is not that big, <3”. Loaches, I love them. The more exposure I have to them the more I’ve fallen in love with this group of fishes. The diversity and personality are amazing. Dwarf chain loaches, best small fish and if you have a snail problem they’ll single handedly solve it. Panda loaches 🐼 are incredible. Love them, very social amongst their group, and although the stark black and white becomes a little more of a muddy charcoal grey the patterns are still sensational. Have fun!

I don’t know of any treatment for parasites that doesn’t also risk killing snails. Theoretically, if you are keeping only snails and no fish with them, you would potentially break the life cycle of any parasites that need the definitive host (fish). If you have raised snails for multiple generations with no fish, then you are probably as close to parasite free as possible. I would have to do some serious digging into fish and snail internal parasites in order to determine if it’s possible to get snails to be fully parasite free. And the same for whiteworms, Grindal worms, and blackworms. Blackworms are especially concerning for me since they are from an aquatic environment and the others aren’t so they would be less likely to carry fish parasites. One of these days I will, but not tonight.

I have heard that people have successfully kept Apistogramma Cacatuoides (domestic bred strains, not wild caught) in hard water. Those might be worth a shot.

apistogramma is a genus with many species; some prefer water with kh and gh near 0; others require water with kh and gh near 0; others prefer water with kh 2 or 3 degree and gh from 1 to 5 degree; some .... so.... the answer is that it depends on the species not the genus. Having said that borelli are fairly flexible both with water quality and temp though like most fishes in the genus apistogramma you are far better off with hobby bred or wild caught as oppose to cz or asian farmed.

@nabokovfan87. Exactly my point, it doesn't clog! So it's no biggie! . I really like the dropper. It's the easiest way for me to dispense Easy Green in my small tanks ...Now if you have a really large tank, I suppose it would take several hours to do drops! Don't loose count... dang, was that 165 drops or 195? ha ha

Tried live brine. All 3 rams did not notice it. The 2 new rams did not touch frozen bloodworms. Snoopy eats them. Maybe frozen brine would be ok since it is bigger than bbs and easier to see. Will try, but lighting won’t be great. All he does is hide if the white light is on. Also guys, the ram that I bought for my friend- she was picked up last night. Friend took the most adorable photo of her today: Ram ignores

Generally speaking tardigrades aren't quite that large. The species that I have at work aren't visible to the naked eye and that applies to most. I think it's more likely to be some kind of rotifer, especially due to the way that the right half is shaped.

Weird weekend. A sense of déjà vu when working on a presentation on the Battle of Marathon. Turns out I’d also done one on the same subject when I was 10 😂. Times don’t change. I can’t say that shaved legs suit Polo… But hey, at least he’s doing a tad better. BNP fry are a cross between the golden variety and the normal one, and it’s somehow really apparent. 50-60% are gold and the rest are a sort of light brown. Snow lines creeping down slowly. Ski time ⛷️ 😎

I’d say the most annoying thing with my fish would be when a pair of them spawns, and then the other fish in the tank pile in to get a free snack. 🤯

I will list a few but not in a way they are meant to be all kept together. Just to recommend so maybe you like any of them and build a tank around. 1) Hillstream Loach/Borneo sucker 2) Threadfin rainbowfish 3) Asian Stone Catfish 4) Pea Puffer 5) Neon Loach 6) Indostomus crocodilus/paradoxus 7) Glass catfish 😎And last......... Whiptails!

Of the rams that I've cohabbed, Bolivians are definitely my favorites. GBRs that I have kept really needed the elevated temps to thrive and it wasn't the kindest to planted tanks (or other species, for that matter). Their tank got some really bad crypt melt due to the temps. I had a same sex pair of Bolivians in my 50 hex for almost 3 years (the tank has approximately the same footprint as a 20 high if you want to visualize the amount of territory available). They would occasionally get spicy with each other but they were ultimately great fish and I would love to keep them again someday. Since they do get larger than GBRs I would personally limit it to one specimen in a 15 gallon aquarium if you are planning to heavily plant it in the long run. I don't enjoy the green neons because generally speaking I'm not a neon tetra (or even really a tetra) person. Tetra behavior isn't something that I find the most fascinating (genuinely I think that the best part of owning tetras is when a non-schooling fish tries to school with them!). I take care of my mom and she has always had "her" aquarium where she chooses what fish live there as long as it's appropriate for the tank and its inhabitants. Green neon tetras are (to me) neon tetras without the red stripe and there's not much to interest me. In comparison, ember tetras pop against the plants due to their coloration and that's what gives them the advantage. It's hard to go wrong with any cory species, I have an impulse to collect them all (which I am currently not acting on) and I think habrosus are adorable. They're a similar size to pygmy corydoras (probably my favoritie species) but a lot of people don't find their pattern particularly appealing, so I suggested habrosus instead.

Some of these may prove difficult to find wherever you’re at, but here are some interesting oddball fish that could work in a 20-gal. I haven’t kept most of these, but other aquarists have. Here’s my “top 5 countdown” with videos of each in aquariums: 5. Apistogramma hongsloi. These are not impossible to find, but very rarely discussed. Absolutely gorgeous Gemstones! 4. Banded Darter (Etheostoma zonale) Here is one species I do keep. They are very easy to buy (check here) but very rarely kept. You need absolutely cold water, lots of flow, and tons of air. The water needs to be kept clean. They need live or frozen foods. 3. Argentine Pearl Killifish (Austrolebias nigripinnis) Hard to find. Live foods are crucial. You want to be a good breeder to get these. They’re not long-lived, but very special. 2. Hummingbird Tetras (Trochilocharax ornatus) In perfect LED lighting, these are beauty beyond compare. A nice school in a beautifully planted tank could virtually make time stand still. 1. Red-tailed Goby (Sicyopterus lagocephalus) Pacific Islands. Needs lots of flow and oxygen. Large stones with photoperiods conducive for green algae growth is appreciated.

Finally, baby snail(s)! I only see one so far, but it is pink with dots. So small and in a big jar it is hard to get a photo because of distortion. I will try again tomorrow. I thought they were limpets the other day and paid them no mind. Nope, they were just too tiny for me to tell. I have baby orange shrimp too. 🙂 As an aside, I am not sure if I am going to put ramshorns in my "display" tank because the eggs are super unsightly, lol.

Hi Nerms, I am thinking of switching out my gravel for two reasons. One I am tired of it. Two, it needs a deep cleaning. Any idea how to do this so as to ensure I don’t collapse the tank bacterial load and dont drive myself nuts with mixed gravel?

No I have not. If you do please journal it and tag me so I can live vicariously through your adventure 🤗

Congratulations! 😃 I’ve just been reading about Pygmy and dwarf size corydoras. After watching all the various videos and hearing how entertaining they are, I decided I need to put them on my list. I looked into the larger sizes first, but I’ve also decided that a 20 gallon tank will be my largest, so thought the smaller ones will be a better option for me. Have you seen the C. gracilis? Those are the ones I like the best. I like the tans more than the grays. But when I looked them up, first of all, they’re hard to find. Secondly - phew do they cost a lot! Hopefully in the future they’ll get more popular and prices will come down. Anyway, I’m sure they’ll do great for you. You seem to have a blue thumb! 🤣 I look forward to hearing more about them in the future!

It's what I do baybeee! What I'm best at. That and shenanigans!

Try a spawning trap. @Lowells Fish Lab did a video about breeding ember where the method could be scaled (ha!) up.

Will do! Most likely in my journal, and once they’re in their forever home. One of the dudes at the LFS was like, “just so you know, they’re super sensitive. I started with 7 and now only have 4”. So far, so good for me though. I counted 11 (of 12) last night when I fed them, and I’m pretty confident the 12th one was just behind all the moss. Fingers crossed they do well for me! I’m stoked to see them in the cube in a week and a half or so.

I also cannot get them to sink and I've tried a number of ways. Such a mess. What I've started doing is squishing the cubes to a small pebble and then dropping it in. As long as I squish it well enough it mostly stays attached. The other fish will get the floaters anyway so it's not that big of a deal. But the whole tank mobs the tubifex pebbles. Might be worth a shot for you.

It's a little off-topic, so apologies, but one thing @Lowells Fish Lab does in that video is squish out all the air in the freeze dried tubifex worm cube so that it sinks for the cories. I have never been able to make that work. Stick to the glass, sure; sink to the substrate? Nope; it always floats. Some day!

I was just concerned that it would warp or go through the floor, but hearing from y'all and planning on them being perpendicular to the floor joists I feel okay with it.

Ph and Gh are unrelated. Ph is influenced by the presence (or lack of) Kh. Ph is a measure of a water's alkalinity. Kh influences whether your water is acidic or alkaline. Gh is a measure of mineral hardness, mostly magnesium and calcium. Kh is mostly calcium carbonate. You can have both a low Kh and high Gh at the same time, as some of us do.

Why switch to RO? Why not keep things consistent by continuing to use tap water? I use tap water, and my colony is absolutely thriving.

Hello guys, my name is Daniel and i am from germany. Pls excuse me for my bad english, but i try my best. I try to breed the puffer fish too. Currently I managed to get 7 of him big on the first try. These are now 8 weeks old. On my second attempt, I only got 2 large larvae out of over 300, they are now 4 weeks old. I also feed parameciums in lagre quantities, but i think that still wasn´t enough. Do you habe a trick for geeding a lot, wihtout polutuing the water too much? The pichtures shows how i try to breed them.

@nabokovfan87 a Flash Pleco breeding project would be really cool! Good choice!

Also, ange, why didn’t you enjoy green neons? And kit craft, what do you like about habrosus Cory’s? Thanks

I grew up in a double wide and we had a 60 inch 120 in the dining room, a 30 in the living room and a 90 in my bedroom. Mine was setup from 1999-2005 and my uncle put it up in his house, also manufactured, where it sits today. Anecdotal, but that is my experience. Fwiw our home was manufactured in the 80s and my uncles in the 90s. No idea how smart it was but there were never any problems.

Vinegar eels live just fine in the tank and like to be up at the top. If you can get a good dose of vinegar eels, they could potentially live off them for several days. Live Moina, Daphnia, or Ceriodaphnia (that last one is near impossible to find unless someone local is raising them or you can find someone on eBay or something - long shot) are excellent choices since they will also live and potentially breed in your tank if they have enough cover and food. As far as how long you can leave chili rasboras, likely several days to a week if they are currently well fed and healthy, tank parameters are good, parameters are stable, and the tank is aged enough to have some good microlife.

Least Killifish Clown Killfish White Wizard Snails N Class Endlers Apistogramma Borellii Pea Puffer Betta Imbellis

Short of testing the food you’re feeding, meat eaters, especially live food eaters, are going to always be at risk for parasites. If you’re raising your own live foods, the risk drops fairly significantly, but unless you’re doing some testing for intermediate stages inside the live food, there’s always going to be some risk for re-exposure. This is exactly why I raise so many of my own live foods now (or at least I try, sometimes more successfully than others). Are you doing weekly Levamisole for at least 4 weeks and every other week for Praziquantal while peas are in quarantine? If you suspect intestinal parasites, I would repeat the same deworming regimen as in quarantine unless you’re specifically seeing Camallanus. If you see Camallanus, then just the weekly Levamisole x 4 weeks. Always be ware there’s is risk of significant +/- total snail/shrimp die off with every dose of Levamisole and Praziquantal.

It’s really too many with my current arrangement but hopefully I’ll be able to make some progress on getting the fishroom “Offish” finally done and things will get easier. 😝

It’s not about what I did today but about what these 2 did today. I didn’t think they were going to manage it with the way things were going when I left the house late this morning. He insisted on the smallest cave despite me offering 3 different sizes he wants only the watering spike. I put them back in since he stopped trying to breed when they were gone. It took a few days of pouting, but he decided on the spike again for breeding. She has been going in and out of a bigger cave trying to entice either of the boys into action. This guy finally took the hint. Can you see how she gives up in disgust at the end of this video I took this morning? That look like, “He’s pretty but he isn’t too bright!” Well, he must have finally figured it out because they got the deed done. There are eggs in the cave tonight after we got home from paintball. I can’t get a picture because I can barely get a glimpse past his big “shoulders”! But I should have some long-finned babies this time around since the short-finned female is in a different tank now. And look! The old lady figured out how to post her own video!

South American cichlids in general benefit from a varied diet that is based on small invertebrates. I have personally kept a pair of German blue rams in a cube without any other species present, but they were a pair that got along. If you want to have two, I'd suggest having a backup plan available. Personally I don't chase parameters too hard and find that having a hardness or pH parameter too low is far more punishing than too high. Excessively low pH increases the toxicity of ammonia and all living things in your aquarium need the minerals present in the water to survive. I live in an area with quite high GH, KH, and pH and in the long term I don't believe that those impacted my fish significantly. The Bolivian rams that I had were incredibly hardy and I feel like they could have survived nearly anything before the stress began to impact them. If you are incredibly concerned with hardness and pH and want to modify them, you can use distilled water to dilute the mineral content of your water. Having a lower KH tends to result in a gradual decline of pH and that will follow. Rams are incredibly fun to watch and some of my favorites! The reason that I don't have any right now is because I don't want to finish a major project (or two) before committing to them since they're some of my favorites to breed. I like having a small amount of sand available to them so that I can watch their sand sifting behavior, but it's by no means necessary. I don't personally enjoy apistos and can't speak for them. In a 15 gallon I would probably recommend pygmy or habrosus cories. Your choice in tetra is ultimately up to preference and with that said I would say ember tetras! 😂 I have green tetras that my family member picked out and ultimately I don't love them the way that I wish I did. A lot of the things that are recommended to beginner aren't exactly required even if they are good ideas. Tannins can be amazing for creating a more natural-looking environment but the fish that we keep have generally been outside of nature for quite awhile and are adapted to captivity, with a few exceptions. Plants (especially those that feed from the water column) are great because they can reduce the nitrogen compounds present, but there are many other ways to attend to that concern. When you're starting out it can be helpful to reduce the number of variables in play so that it's easier to evaluate problems that show up over time. Enjoy your new fish!

Hello everyone!🙃 So, around 2 weeks ago, I stopped by an LFS that I barely go since I was not a fan of the way fish tank looked before. I gave it a shot again and it was well worth it. They hired a new person and they seemed to work on tanks very well, fish looked much better in general. And.. Guess what! I found n. beckfordiis. 🥳 I got 4m:7f for my shallow long tank. They are very rare here. This is the tank they are in, it is a 110x40x25cmh. At the LFS, the males had breeding dress but overall they looked peaceful. However, when I put them in my tank, males all claimed a corner in the tank, and then, started attempting to breed with any female that enters their territory. Males sometimes shake their bodies and move around in circles for domination. Males usually not schooling with females and only females school with each other. Instead they just protect their own territory and wait for females to make a move. I know the reputation of reds and purples being a bit aggressive. But to be fair, my males are also considerably aggressive as well. Soooo... - What's your pencilfish experience like in general? - If you bred any, wanna share any tips/personal experience? Or about anything in general! - I know they are well known dithers for apistos as they are "top dwellers". well, Mine only eat from the surface sometimes, but usually are in the mid/bottom side of the tank, barely going top. - Would keeping a pair of Kribensis Moliwe be safe here with 11 pencilfish? ( @anewbie what do you think?) My friend just imported 5m:5f and Im interested in obtaining a pair from him. They look beautiful

I went to the big box store again today, but this time I went to "the good one". IT WAS AWESOME! It's a big box store, but for me it's my one and only real LBBFS and it's what I have available if I want to buy fish in person. I went in the store and the manager was there who is the fish person. He greeted me and I couldn't quite tell if he was excited to see me because he remembered me from visits years ago pre-pandemic or was just being cheerful. I was excited to see him because I know that's good that he's at the store and running things. He is a good dude and works really hard. I went in looking for a tank, but I did the usual search through all of the fish section. Every aisle is half-height and only about 4 foot high, most of them only 2 shelves. To give you an idea of how condensed this is the entire aquatics section is probably 12 foot x 20 foot. Each endcap, in order, you have the betta section, plant tank, frozen food, and then turtles. First aisle is tanks and hardscape. They have actual rock bins and wood chunks. Out of 4 stores in the area this was the first one to really have any sort of decor. They have one of each tank out and then replace it on the floor as customers buy them. This also cuts on dings, scratches, and tank damage if done correctly (and they do). So that alone means it's just worth the drive every time aqueon is on sale. Second aisle is lights and then you have all the gravel and fake plants. Next aisle is your maintenance tools, chemicals, additives. and all of your food. 4th aisle is saltwater and filtration. The last aisle is pond items, reptile frozen foods, and then you have some random assorted things that I would term "specialty" tools for aquariums. Might be a test kit, salinity tools, sand, or something for a trickle filter and big packages of filter floss. It's seriously impressive how much is there. 30+ foods in a little section and you can see everything right there. It's all in stock, looks neat, and everything was in it's place. I checked out the tanks and all the fish looked good. They don't have a massive selection as you'd expect, but I did get to see silvertip tetras for the first time. I really do need to get them some day. They have a guppy tank, a tetra tank, glofish, 2-3 massive tanks for feeder fish, cichlids, and then they have a lot of really good looking clown fish and saltwater tanks. They had rainbow sharks and some plecos, but I couldn't tell what kind they were so I didn't end up getting one. We spent some time with the shelter dogs and really wanted to take half of them home. Just what everyone needs, a horde of pups! As we were standing there the manager tells one of his coworkers that he's headed off to lunch and I really wanted to just thank him for how good the store looked, but I didn't want to bother him during his brief break. As always, sometimes you are doing amazing things and no one notices. Sometimes you're doing amazing things and someone notices, but doesn't say anything. I hope and imagine that the sales in this store compared to all the others in the area make it clear how well the fishy section is doing. Genuinely, I really hope so. I could only imagine what this store would really be able to do if they had double the tanks, removed glofish, had proper betta tanks (like the co-op), but it's just good to see them doing a really good job and to see the fish looking good. As I went to checkout with my new tank, the lady there razzed me a little bit and said, "ah, someone is going to have a fun weekend!" 😂 We talked about planted tanks, neocaridina shrimp colors, and it just continued to add-on to that really enjoyable shopping experience. I'll end up leaving a yelp review or something, doing something for them, but I just wanted to share some positivity. For anyone who might not have an LFS and only has a LBBFS, be sure to check and find "the good one" if you can and take that drive. I can promise you it's always worth it. The good stores really do exist.

I agree! But their aggressive behavior was unexpected to me. I am considering to add a pair of cichlids, likely kribs but I cant decide if I should. What were you keeping yours with? In a community tank or as dither?

There are definitely a few baby roots. I'm honestly shocked this plant is even alive. The moss carpet is on top of a pleco cave now (I'll get around to sewing it onto a mat one day) so it has some room to breathe and less competition for light now.

So power went out again (5mins after I put a brisket on the pellet grill!!!) After getting the brisket moved to charcoal power was still out, grabbed the aco battery backup air pump I bought for the 125 I'm setting up and tossed 2 air stones into cheetos 55gal to keep things moving, he's been playing in the freaking bubbles all morning! Having a grand old time! So the question is what would you do? I run a tidal 75 on the back right side, a powerhead with pre filter on the bottom left side, should I move the powerhead elsewhere and put a med sponge filter(have 2 extras) in that corner so he has some bubbles to play in, or do like a bubble wall on a aco battery backup pump? Which I think I would still need to move the powerhead. I'm not having much faith in the power company lately, last time we were out for 22hrs, luckily this time was only 4 thinking of ditching the USB pumps and changing everything to battery backup! I'm glad I found something he likes to kind of stimulate him a little more, he's proven he kills any tank mates we've ever tried so I guess if he likes bubbles I'll give him bubbles!

Thanks, I will look into moina. I have never raised live food before.

Set up two new betta tanks and a shrimp tank! I have no desk space anymore but it was worth it lol

It seems to be working in the morning. The air pump seems to be charging. Will see what happened at night.

Platinum Senegal bichir are just incredible looking. Dwarf crayfish are illegal in Switzerland, as are most crayfish, so maybe some of those 😅.

Not the same corys or anything other than a thought. For about the last week I have been feeding my sterbai corys heavily. They're in a community tank and I have had them at least a year and a half and have never seen any eggs (not saying they've never dropped any). I started feeding them (I have six) at least two cubes of freeze-dried tubifex (one morning and one evening) plus some of whatever I'm feeding everyone else... baby brine shrimp, flake, nano pellets, etc. Also some Rapashy spawn/grow a few times a week for them. Tonight I noticed two eggs on the glass (but something had eaten them). A quick scan saw one more on some driftwood. I put in a spawning mop and a little submersible pump to see if I can get them to concentrate on the mop. I say all that to say this... I've never fed fish so heavily and it's amazing how much more plump they look after pounding them with food. I watched *again* @Lowells Fish Lab's awesome Sterbai breeding video for about the fifth time recently, it might contain some tips that will help you. I never realized how much food they might need even having watched this video multiple times, but picked up him mentioning two FDTW cubes for six adults. Good luck!

Forgot to mention. The co-op measure is ridiculously useful. Especially if you feed frozen food, brine shrimp, use liquids, keep fish, etc.