Leaderboard

It has been at least a month+ since I saw this! All my gold snails are now gone, but I still have one (old) magenta, Romeo, who has, um.. had the most physical activity of all the snails during his lifetime. 🤣 That just goes to show you, folks! Exercise extends one’s lifespan! And he still “exercises” daily! This clutch confirms at least one of my new snail kids is a girl. 💜 I just don’t know which one yet. 🙂 I think 2 of the new snails are purple (vs magenta), as they don’t have that fuschia type hue like Romeo has. The other new snail is blue. Everybody has a black foot except Romeo.

I need some help again. I thought I was out of the woods with my betta, but yesterday I noticed some light patches (like the one on her head) around her gills and under her chin. This morning her right eye got cloudy again - I'm not sure what to do. For context, I was battling an ammonia spike and got it down to 0ppm. To help with getting the spike down I did a week and a half of water changes and then went to the co-op in person to get more help. I was instructed to put FritzZyme 7 Freshwater and then start treating the tank with Maracyn due to the pop-eye and what I thought was an ammonia burn (the light patch on her head). She perked back up, is WAY more active and her normal self and by the time I completed the first cycle of treatment, the water parameters seemed to have balanced out - that was on Thursday. Tested the waters on Saturday and the same. But today I tested and it seems to have a little ammonia in the water (the API said 0-.25ppm). I think she has a bacterial/fungal thing happening, should I do another dose of the maracyn? I see on the box it helps with bacteria on fish and the description matches what might be happening. Here's the tank info: 3 gallons 77 temp pH: 7.0 Ammonia: 0-.25 ppm Nitrite: 0ppm Nitrate: 0ppm Picture's below of my Augustine - sorry for the hazy glass, was told to leave them alone because that's where good bacteria live too.

I believe your darker fish to definitely be Apistogramma cacatuoides. The three enlarged black rays in the front of the dorsal fin, along with the lip structure, in particular the "underbite", is a key tell in my opinion. Your fish looks like a potential sleeper male, or a female showing a few male secondary sex characteristics. The amount of yellow being shown in the second picture along with the accentuated vertical black eye band are typical female traits though, which muddy the picture a little bit. The second fish is pretty perplexing to me. The caudal fin structure and oval body shape in the second to last picture are pretty obviously non-cacatuoides to me and the presence of the pink and turquoise sheen would be quite unusual. The location of the pink coloration really makes me think female Apistogramma eunotus, but I cannot be certain. They are relatively uncommon in the hobby and I would be surprised if one was present in the cacatuoides stock at the store. I will be interested to hear if anyone else has some additional thoughts on the ID.

Awesome! Also this photo shows some pointy uppy things.

I notice zero difference in boys and girls based on mouth parts. The nose part is narrower in girls looking top down. In mine you can see a light pink spot on the top Of the head for boys. You will not see it in yours. Im saying he is a stunning handsome healthy boy. This based on body shape. my girls all are wider where the breast’s on a person would be. The stay wider through belly and hips. He looks like a mini version of my dads belly. Also the eyes look different from boys to girls. People say I’m nuts but @TeeJayanf his daughter saw what I saw. Girls seem to have sultry eyes to me 🤷‍♀️🤣🤣🤣 Signs -weight loss not eating unusual poo. They should never have an empty belly Here is a young girl. Leftover from a few batches ago a little over 2 inches. All I have of mom she is preggo 🤣 Here is dad for body comparison. This is Angel just coming to maturity you can see the pink on his head

So I have the bristlenose pleco in quarantine, and it seems to be having a nice time: active, out in the open, looks good. Anyone else think so? Also @Guppysnail I need help sexing the pleco. Not sure if it is too early yet, have to wait for more bristles, etc. I think the mouth parts play a factor? Here are a few photos. The sexing is just for my own curiosity. Just want to learn more about my new kid. Poops look good to me. No white stringy characteristics, etc. The pleco eats daily and makes 100 poops. @Guppysnail While in qt, what signs/symptoms should I look for in the pleco? (I’m used to observing swimmy swimmy fishes, not plecos. LOL) Given this pleco came from another hobbyist, I feel more comfortable about its health, but it did have a long journey + an overnight in a bag to get to me, plus a transfer to a friend’s tank for a few days. It had Prime in its water for the duration of the trip. Seems like a hardy fish; the only thing I noticed was the fin splits. (I’m just using catappa for those.) Not sure how the temperature fluctuations were during the trip either, but I know it was kept in an insulated bag. P.S. the string stuff by the pleco belly/chest in photo 2 is not in the tank; I think it’s cat fur. This is a low shelf tank.

Hi @Fish Folk - I took an updated picture, shown in my reply to @nabokovfan87. The photo above doesn't have the spots seen in the first photo I posted. However, I can confirm those aren't there on her anymore. I've looked very thoroughly!

How exciting! I love my little hillstreams. They have each (4) claimed a flat slate and know about when feeding is. They each sit in their stone waiting for me to sprinkle fry food on their stone. 🥰

I cannot get over how cool the hillstream loaches are.

They can be tricky to sex when young. Best advice: buy 6-7 of them young on the cheap, raise them, and let them pair off. Here is a video showing one male (electric blue) with two females on each side of this 55 gal. The females get a washed-out, blotchy look (platinum + blue-gray) rather than consistent bright electric blue. Male dorsal and anal fins also _tend_ to grow longer, nearer to the end of the caudal fin. Females tend to grow a bit less. Over a few years, males will grow substantially larger than females. But at the age / size you've shared here, it is hard o say. My initial _guess_ is male. But I've been wrong before! For perspective, we raised many hundreds of EBAs a few years ago. We almost never sold them as pairs unless a pair actually spawned together. Here's a look at the madness that was the most overstocked EBA tank on the planet... Here are three photos of a pair. Notice that the female, slightly smaller, has a lighter-colored top of her head -- with what almost looks like a line between her eyes, dividing an upper head (lighter gray) and lower face (darker gray). Also notice that the scales along her back / sides nearing the caudal fin (tail) show gray rather than solid electric blue. Those are several clues to sexing them... (1) Male lower left / Female upper right (2) Male left / Female right (3) Male left / Female right -- notice the black scales on her lower cheek / jaw

Winter Update: The tanks are back in full swing! I am adding house plants too. My son wants "rainbow fish" so we are going to work on setting up the 20 long or the 55, I have not yet decided. We are also getting a betta this week, in my 6 gallon. I'm setting it up now. My Killifish is a fin nipper so he's in his own tank where I think he ate all my little shrimp. Thankfully there were only a few in there, the 100s are in the 36. I am considering turning a split 5 I have into shrimplandia. I am also looking at getting rice fish for a bigger tank. I despise guppies, and so I am trying to offload mine (my kids love them, so they are going in their own tank). Ottos are my heart song, I have 6 right now that have done amazingly in my 36, so I want to up the numbers once I remove the guppies. Maryland has started an aquarium club right in my hometown! I am so excited, some of my friends were telling me about it, and it seems like it is getting up off the ground. I'm part of a local GSA community, and we have some fish folks in there too. I shared this forum with a few of them, and I hope they join!

Just an update: This got put together and it is gorgeous. Perfect for my 55 and a 10.

Caught a molt in progress! Had a time of it w/ the camera focus but I tried. There are lots of shrimplets in the tank now! They are free swimming, and it’s obvious because they are clumsy little swimmers at first. ❤️

Intro: I'm starting up this thread to document my 29 gallon planted tank build. After a bit of a tank loss disaster a few weeks ago, I decided to move from shell dwellers to a planted community. This tank was previously a 20 gallon long, so I decided to upgrade to a 29 gallon since it has the same footprint and can utilize the same stand, along with the fact that I tend to appreciate the extra height in planted tanks so that the plants can really grow vertically and go wild. I've attached some pictures of the previous setup. I enjoyed that tank for quite a few years and got to raise generation after generation of Multis in there. Now for the new tank. Stock: I really don't have my heart set on a specific fish for this tank, so I'll probably get it setup, let the plants grow in, and pick out some stock that catches my eye at the shop. I've been thinking some livebearers could be fun since I haven't done a platy or guppy tank since I was a kid. Perhaps a friendly community of various tetras, rasboras, and danios? I've also been kicking around the idea of getting a pair of apistos, but not sure. I've even considered tiger or odessa barbs, but honestly I probably would want a little bit of a larger tank for either species. Right now I am keeping my options open. Would love to hear some suggestions if anyone has some fish that they're enjoying a lot right now. Equipment: Co2 Injection - I'm going with a more high-tech setup on this tank. I generally run all of my tanks with CO2 because I find that it is generally much easier to achieve the rapid and lush plant growth this way. I ordered a Coop regulator (I generally use aquatech, but figured I try out the coop's product) and will be picking up my Co2 cylinder and diffuser this week. Probably just going to go with a standard in tank ceramic diffuser. I thought about a reactor, but I find they don't perform as well with canisters that have a flow rate under 200 gph so I'm steering clear this time around. Filtration - I picked up a Fluval 207 yesterday. I don't love canisters, but really like the minimal in tank equipment and silence that they bring to the table. I've also always liked the Fluval canisters and have been running a 404 on my 55 gallon tank for nearly a decade with no issues. Lighting - I've used most of the planted aquarium lights that have come on the market over the last 10 years and figured I would give the new 30" coop light a shot. My first impressions are that it is VERY bright when run at 100% output and has a very nice color temp. The housing is sturdy and I'm looking forward to seeing how it grows plants (which I am sure it will do just fine). Tank - Just a good old fashioned 29 gallon Aqueon glass tank with black trim. Can't go wrong here for the price. I've got a 7 gallon UNS ultra low-iron glass cube that I really like and while the difference is notable, the price for one comparable in size to the standard 29 gallon is pretty crazy. Hardscape/Substrate: I stopped by an awesome new aquascape supply company that opened up here in Denver this past year and had never seen more awesome wood and rock in my entire life (AquaRocks Colorado if you're in the area. Definitely worth the trip.). While nice wood and rock costs a pretty penny, I find that it generally really does elevate the look of a tank. I picked out a really awesome piece of Malaysian driftwood and some nice seriyu stone to compliment it. The driftwood will undoubtedly be the centerpiece of this tank and I am really excited to see how it looks when the tank grows in. For substrate I am rolling with good old fashioned Eco Complete. I have been on a bit of a sand kick the last few years, mainly because I love how natural it looks in a tank, but I find that nothing grows plants better than good old fashioned gravel or eco complete if you fertilize well. I have other tanks running UNS controsoil and while I also like that substrate a lot, I find that the lifespan of eco complete, which is indefinite, to be a major selling point compared to specialty soils that break down pretty significantly over time. I have attached a few pics of my initial thoughts on the layout and will be getting the substrate in there and filling up with water here in the next few days. I hope you all enjoy following along!

Hi all! A while back, I bought a pair of apistos sold as “cacatuoides” from a chain store. Now that they’re closer to adulthood, I’m starting to have doubts on their species. Here are a few photos! I do believe the darker one is a cacatuoides male, bc of his fins, huge mouth, and occasional color. The other, I have no idea. It is occasionally bright yellow with a black line down its side, or as shown here, a brown-yellow with blue dots on the face, faint black bars on its flank, and yellow fins. Any help would be appreciated!

I tried a few and it's tough! you'd want to find something ~25 watts if you can. Sicce has some heaters that fit that, not adjustable though, and I'll attach a Pecktec vid below. I'll also toss in a Rachel vid where she's discussing nano heaters. Also noting - I will make sure to make her fast. She isn't going to be too happy about that. Does the bloating mean something? It's a tough one. It could be a food issue, it could be just gulping air, or it could be a fluid buildup, but the best thing to do is not to make the situation worse by feeding and making the fish bloat even more. I had one fish and it took the full 7 days for them to reduce the bloat a little bit. Just be patient with it. Fish in the wild don't eat every single day! Unfortunately I do see a bit of fin rot. The meds for that would most likely be kanaplex as the easiest one to get a hold of. the other one to use in lieu of kanaplex is maracyn 2. Again, likely you're looking at 2 treatments back to back to fully resolve that situation. So... big picture. we treat whatever is the worst thing first. Right now the worst thing is likely the popeye and the bloating. @Colu @Odd Duck Given the 3 symptoms we have here, fin rot, bloating, and popeye, and currently undergoing treatment with maracyn (round 2) and needing a heater to bump the temp up, what is your recommendation here for next steps?

Time for an update! After letting the tank grow in and mature for a while, I finally added the first inhabitants! The Emporer tetras at the store caught my eye and as a fish I have never kept before, I decided to give them a whirl! I picked up 8 of them (1 male 7 females) to start off. After they had settled in, I picked up a tiny juvenile albino longfin bristlenose pleco. I've never really been a fan of albino fish outside of the bristlenose. I just love the deep gold they get with the light spots. Finally, the latest additions were a pair of triple red apistogramma cacatuoides which I finally found at a shop and could not refuse. I've only had them for 2 weeks and I was greeted yesterday by a horde of fry being shepherded to the front of the tank by mother! I have always loved how easy they are to spawn. Here is a youtube short of the fry. On the plant side of things, things have taken off quite nicely. I killed all of the star repens when I accidentally left my light off for 3 days while I was out of town (not a surprise due to their lack of tolerance for blackouts), so I picked up some dwarf sag to fill in the right foreground. The hygro and itallian val has exploded as expected, the crypts are transitioned to their submerged mode of growth and are starting to fill in, the amazon swords are starting to shoot out some giant leaves, and the java fern and anubias are constantly putting out new growth. I am excited by the prospect of what this tank will look like in a few more months after getting out of the ugly duckling phase. I am growing a little bit of green spot algae on the glass while the plants fill in, but I am fine leaving it as I would rather have it there than all over the hardscape. On the hardware side of things, I added an old 12" finnex planted+ to the front of the tank as I was not thrilled by the shadowed appearance that the huge driftwood piece was causing by blocking out all the light from the Coop fixture. I am much happier with the viewing experience now, and the plants in the front half of the tank are no longer starved for light like they were. I've attached some pictures to show off the progress!

We will not be speaking of poopapalooza 🤣

@Guppysnail I can’t imagine the bioload you had goin on when you were breeding these guys.

84 is really too warm for sterbai. You might find these video interesting on diet:

As far as total darkness, just plug in a night light in an outlet. I have one with a sensor so it’s not always on. The brightness is adjustable too.

Ok I blew the photo up. I see. Also mom does not have this dad does I call those crazy eyebrows even though they are not in the right place

Aw 😍 My dude has a tiny mustache now, you can see it in the photos above when he is on the glass.

Some get a tiny mustache or one or two bristles but not like the boys. Angel started his at 8/9 months old. I don’t have an exact age in dad because he was young. Being young his size was good and water quality dependent before I got him. He and mom tried once but laid in a decor that got no flow so the eggs went rancid (decor promptly removed) His second batch he went in the cave with a mustache and cam out with babies and tiny bristles. No. That little boy grew bigger than everyone else. Must be good eating under there. I have 6 or so that hid beyond my finding on bagging day.

Is this the UGF pleco?

Thanks @Guppysnail. Doesn’t my dude look like he has a hillstream loach face? Here is @Katherine’s hillstream loach for comparison. But that will change when a bunch of bristles come in. I wonder when the bristles will develop. So the females don’t have whiskers?

Found my ricefish carrying eggs. Built some spawning mops to try and raise some. Couldn't find pool noodles, so I took some Styrofoam bowls, cut out the bottoms, and stuffed the scrubby pads through a hole in the center.

I want to add I’m only right 75% of the time so don’t freak out if it never gets whiskers 🤣

This morning we were back up to .5 ammonia. Did the 50% water change with the siphoning and the Prime (added a bit extra), and then cranked up the air and began the 1 day Excel-P treatment. This would be dose 3 of Excel-P. Tank is blacked out but I did peek in on them briefly. Sleeping as expected. I mean, what else are they supposed to do in the dark? Also @nabokovfan87 was nice enough to send several foods for Spike to try. Thank you! 🙏

I should take another picture - maybe tomorrow or the next day - overnight 80% of the algae broke down into basically nothingness - this current thing seems to make it feel uncomfortable in its skin - sort of like when you put salt on a slug. The angelfishes are not too happy with it; but at least 'their' corner is current free so they have a place to retreat when not eating. They are such a lovely pair i should move them to another aquarium and let them breed without nasty festum eating their eggs.

Thanks madmark. Iv got a couple small tweaks I’ll end up changing but it will be close to that. I realized I’m only pumping about a max of 500 gph through it and that’s really not much for this thing. Should have it up and running this weekend. Iv got 25 gallons of water “cycling” with some air stones for flow. Used 10 gallons of water out of the established tank and shook the filter off in it. Washed out the bags of sand really good and left them open in the bottom of the container. The sand came with bacteria packets so added some of that too and a real small amount of fish food for organic waste. I think this will all work out and can still throw the filter media and some more water from the other tank while things get going.

i'm not sure what to think the pink jacboii is high but the nurii rosen is laying flat; the light is only at 55% maybe i should up it a little or maybe a tall jacboii is worth no algae? What do you think - if i raise the light will things grow better or will algae find a home? btw everything was uprooted sept 10th when i moved the aquarium; alas that didn't dent it. Dang weed i should pull them all out.

Thank you so much @nabokovfan87…that’s fantastic information. I watched the video from Irene that was linked above…very useful and I will watch it again to wrap my head around her advice. My tank is a 47 gal planted with anubia, sword crypt and wisteria, all of which are actually growing well. No C02 - other plants such as Val and grasses did not grow (assuming due to no C02). I am adding ferts but on an ad-hoc basis - I will do this regularly moving forward. Thank you for your light settings - extremely helpful, as well as the link to the fluval thread. I love that this hobby keeps on giving - it is extremely satisfying creating an ecosystem and keeping fish happy and healthy. Kind regards from sunny Melbourne!

@nabokovfan87 is correct… white dots are an added concern. If it’s Ich… try Maracyn + Ich-X together.

I'm not sure if we're heading anywhere. This is my last week of work and then I'm off for 17 days. Hoping to get a deer during late muzzleloader season as well as finishing some additional work on two bedrooms I'm adding to our basement. As well as doing some work on my fish room. I want to reseal a 125 that I have and hope to eventually move my discus into. I've got fry coming along that will need some additional work/space coming up and I have tanks, but not exactly the best plan at the moment. If I could get my discus into the 125 while I'm off, that would be good. But I'd settle for just getting the tank resealed, to be honest. I did a test reseal on a 29 and it went OK. I figure a 125 might actually be easier as it's quite a bit more open. The 29 was tough to get into in a lot of ways. I also want to setup some sort of central draining point for my tanks and/or setting up some PVC overflows that would allow me to do some manual, but kind of automatic, water changes. I don't think I need a totally automatic system, but if I'm changing water on one tank it would be nice to be changing water on a few at the same time. Unfortunately, the floor drain is fairly slow, though. So that's something I probably need to troubleshoot.

😂 You right. Great album. Hit up Alabama Christmas too, the one with Thistlehair the Christmas Bear (for the kids) and Santa Clause I still believe in you (for the adults wrapping the gifts). For me, I need some clothes, yep but it's just how it goes. I would like 3 big ol bags of substrate. I really want my plants to ship out and arrive healthy and happy. Desperate need.... I really want to get a reliable heater for a 20Long that I feel comfortable with or get the heater controller going.

Welcome Kenny I to have feel in love with guppies I now have them in 4 of my 7 tanks

A lot of times you'll get some practicing. It is what it is! The female might be just getting rid of eggs and she was in the mood or it's a sign there isn't enough breeder males in the tank. Don't change anything, give her another chance, and you're likely perfect. From elsewhere on the internet, here is some known fertile ones, notice the grey inside: Someone can correct me here if I misspeak please! cloudy / opaque = unfertile clear = fertile

Water change day, which means I got to add my new uplift tubes. And flake food is a fantastic way to test the new flow pattern, btw. 😂

@Brainsponge @Guppysnail The member's only category of the website was removed due to issues on the back end with our inventory system. As far as I know, it will not be coming back.

If I'm not doing fish stuff on my free time, I just recently (maybe 6 months) began my own small baking business! To my surprise, it's become very popular. I LOVE baking in the kitchen. I have been way too scared to start sourdough as it has become very popular lately. I have done a lot of cheesecakes, cupcakes, cakes, anything you can imagine. Just selling to friends and family to make some side money. I especially have needed the funds to support my fish children! lol 🤣

☺️ Throwback

This is how the eggs in the pouch looked the first time. He is hiding so I will take a pic tomorrow or the weekend. Some random pics

Got some vallisneria spiralis for the right side of the tank in order to fill up the remaining space. I think it all should look nice when it is all grown in. The hygro is growing really quickly and the amazon swords are throwing out all kinds of new leaves. I'm thinking I'll give everything a few more weeks to grow in before getting some fish in there. I stopped by a local store on Saturday and got a few ideas. I think I definitely want to get a pair of triple red Apisto Cacatuoides. I had a pair years ago and really enjoyed them. Even spawned them a few times. I saw some really good looking El Tigre endlers that I think could be fun as well.

The endler in the little tank is a Tiger endler I picked up from The Colorado Aquarium Society auction last spring. He is a pretty little fish. The other fish in there are 15 Chili Rasboras and a betta that I actually believe has a shortened torso kind of like ballon body mollies, rams, etc. I saw him in a store a year or two ago and picked up because he was such an interesting looking oddball. As far as the big tank I definitely think I want to pickup some sort of small pleco or catfish (open to suggestions here) to make use of all of the awesome little caves that the wood has created. I am also leaning toward getting a pair of Apistos to go in this tank. Probably nothing too crazy, just standard double or triple red cacatuoides. Pygmy corys have been something I've thought about and I also think that a school or two of tetras would look nice. I generally like the look of a large school of a smaller bodied species and then a smaller school of a larger bodied variety (think black phantom, lemon, redeye, pristella, etc). I was initially thinking some platys or guppies, but I honestly think this wood will have a pretty significant impact on the the PH of the tank based on the amount of tannins it has produced and it would result in pretty sub optimal conditions for most livebearers. Really though I plan on letting the tank grow in for a few weeks-a month and then just being open to what speaks to me at the store.

Quick Update for everyone. Wood became waterlogged as of a few days ago so I decided it was time to finally get this thing planted. I am just looking for a lush, simple, and enjoyable setup here so I rolled with the following - Amazon Swords, Hygo Corymbosa, Christmas Moss, Java Fern, Anubias Nana, Star Repens, Crypt Wendtii (Tropica), and Crypt Indigo. Probably going to pickup a few more plants for the right background which is empty at the moment, but for now I am content to let these guys grow in until decide on what I want to add. I also stopped by the local brewing supply and picked up a 5# Co2 tank so I've got everything I need there aside from a diffuser. I bought one yesterday but accidentally left it in the wheel well of my car when I was grabbing my keys out of my pocket. Now I know what the crunching sound was when I was backing out of the parking lot lol. Also, right now I am running the Coop light at 60% and it seems to provide good coverage and plenty of light for the species I picked to grow here based on the eye test, but does anyone have any suggestions for intensity settings on this fixture? Also did some work on my 7 gallon cube so I figured I would drop a pic here for your enjoyment!

Oh yeah, I know about the superglue. The only issue is that the wood does not have many contact points with the rock where I can anchor it and considering how bouyant it is, I can almost guarantee it would rip right off until it is waterlogged. The wood has definitely started releasing some tannins. This is even with activated carbon running!

Filled the tank up on Sunday night and am in the process of water logging the driftwood. It is pretty buoyant so I imagine it will take a week or two to sink. I've got it pinned down with rocks for the time being.