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This has been the best tool so far in my battle with duck weed. Fingers crossed I got it all and will be rid of it in this tank. It's call the Floater pick, has anyone else tried it?

If your pea puffers are that small, then you can add adult bladder and ramshorn snails to the tank now and they should be making young snails that are ready when the tiny murder beans are ready. It would be really nice if you could find scud cultures since they reproduce very fast and baby scuds were THE favorite meal of my baby pea puffers. Pic shows a freshly nabbed baby scud going down the hatch of the young pea puffer. I tried to make scud “refugiums” using plastic boxes filled with leaves and with plastic craft mesh inserts in the lids so the scuds had someplace to reproduce where pea puffers couldn’t get to them. The idea being they would serve as an ongoing, self-renewing source of live food. The boxes didn’t work. They might work if the entire box was made from craft mesh but the lid with a mesh insert didn’t work. The boxes might also have been too small or not a rich enough food source inside for the scuds to keep enough of the juveniles or adults inside to make the next generation, I’m not sure.

Same young blue buck in different lighting…

How stocked is the old tank? If its under stocked, I would think you could just take the old sponge filter out of the old tank and put it in the new tank and the new tank would have a colony of beneficial bacteria immediately. The old tank should have enough beneficial bacteria on the substrate and decor to make up for the loss of the bacteria on the old sponge filter until the new sponge filter grows bacteria of its own. Again this is dependent on your bio load. If your old tank is at capacity with its bio load then losing the old sponge filter bacteria will have negative effects.

Yeah, it’s very hard to go below 60°-F in a heated home without a chiller. I’m not ready for the $$ plunge yet… but my hope is to maintain ca. 62-65°-F, and simulate “spring” with improvised photoperiod change. Adding improved O2 nearer the substrate may also help. I plan to adapt my DIY venturi pressurized spray-bar down 6-9 inches to experiment that way.

My son and I watched the sunrise at Venice Beach day after Christmas. Drove down for the sharks teeth but found the winds had covered them up and deposited thousands of sponges, sea fans, and tunicates torn loose over the holiday. He made an Xmas tree out of them and a piece of driftwood.

Hey My name is Bill - first post. I've had aquariums since I was young. Usually just one or two tanks so never to an obsession level. Probably the last 10 years, I have had exclusively wild caught natives (Ohio). I currently have an established 29 gallon species tank with Central Mudminnows. Recently set-up my 40 Breeder intended as South American Community Tropical. Tank has 2 Bolivian Rams and 1 German Blue Ram with fish doing well after their first week. Lightly planted, others plants on order expecting soon. I'm ready to add some more fish so of course, I'm anxious - reading forums, articles, planning my next aquatic moves. Great to be retired! I try not to over crowd tanks to limit the dreaded water change. Here is a rendering I did as a youth of my 5 Gallon tank that was on my desk. For some reason I did not include the 3 blackline tetras that were also in the tank.

Are there species that are well suited to column tanks? I know most fish appreciate a larger footprint instead of tank height, and aside from the added water volume, column tanks don't make a lot of sense for many species. However, I have a short wall and some unused space that would look good with a column tank visible on three sides. I had considered a peninsula, but the room isn't big enough to be fully divided by a tank. A 37 gallon column would fit in the space without being obtrusive.

(1) Before leaving home, feed live foods heavily. Lots of Daphnia, Baby Brine Shrimp, whatever you have on hand. (2) Adjust conditions to promote spawning behavior: especially for NANF, leave certain tank lights on (i.e. turn _off_ the timer), add a stone tray for riverine egg scatterers, open a vent to a basement fishroom to allow temperatures from central air to lift from mid 60s past the golden threshold of 70-F... (3) After everything has settled down, kids are tucked in bed . . . post a thread about how neat it will be when you return home in a few days to find your fish have been spawning while you were away at your in-laws 😎

(Wait for it… filming videos right now…)

Knowing your luck you will come back to thousands of eggs

Listen, this all got way too complicated for a beginner. Worry the most about getting your tank through the nitrogen cycle so that it will be safe for aquatic critters and plants. For a newbie, you should start small, no fancy plants, no CO2 injection (Carbon dioxide), no expensive lighting, no fancy aqua soils, etc. Just pick a single substrate, like eco-complete black or red. Use easy, low light plants like anubias, java fern, java moss, or any of several cryptocoryne types. Once tank is cycled, add plants and then fish. Do a water change once a week and vacuum the gunk off the top of substrate. Use declorinator like Seachem Prime to make the tap water safe. The more fancy you get, the more things that can go wrong. It takes experience to do high tech. You want to enjoy your new tank, right?!! Relax, set up basic tank and then, on down the line you can branch out. Good luck!

Personally I would put the new sponge in the old tank for something like 2-4 weeks. I’d put it right next to the other sponge to allow the bacteria to colonize the new sponge. Then, I would squeeze the old filter into the new tank, move the new filter to the new tank, stock lightly at first, test often, and you should be good to go.

Little video of the pygmys. https://youtu.be/pLoEL-2HOhc?si=1ZZZUi45y8VQoX4f

When I was picking up the new group of pygmys I got some frozen daphnia and frozen garlic brine shrimp. Buy one get one 50 percent off so I figured it was worth a try. Tonight everyone has a daphinia dinner. Everyone went pretty crazy for it. Tomorrow night we will give the garlic brine shrimp a go.

@Colu makes sense, it could be both in this case, unfortunately. @nabokovfan87 Your Schultzei look a little different than mine. It could just be the lighting. Yours appear to have a brown hue that runs the length of their body on top. I only seem to see that in mine on their fins, particularly the caudle tail. I think mine are younger, possibly they're just males but yours appear thicker than mine. Yours look awesome 👍 nice and healthy. My original 5 from the first breeder are still going strong and the last remaining one from the 2nd breeder seems okay, so far. I included a pic of 3 of the 6. What a ride this has been. When the time is right, hopefully; the next batch I buy will be solid. I was really hoping to spawn these.

Got a couple of good pics just now.

Afternoon fellow nerms. Some exciting news in Teeajays fishy adventures. My lfs had some pygmy corys in stock! So a friend took me over and I picked up 5 more to go with the trio I already had. So now we have a free of 8. All nice and round and healthy. I just got them acclimated and into there new home. I can't wait to see how they all do together. I hope to get more natural behavior since they are a larger group now. 3 of the new ones are already swimming around mid water saying look at me look at me! As well I picked up some frozen daphinia to try out.

You should start to see a difference soon. The spots will usually start disappearing in 5 to 7 days. Make sure you are doing everything to reduce stress, too. Since it’s primarily on one fish, that fish is stressed for some reason. Stress causes reduced immune system function. Try adding more hiding spots. Dimming the light is an excellent choice - good thinking there. I often forget to mention things like that. And see what spots look like on day 5 and 7. If still present, I would do exactly as planned, - water change, add back salt, and redose one or both of those days if spots are still there.

@Colu is exactly right on the treatments. Those look like raised spots that are somewhat irregular in size like Epistylus instead of nearly identical and flat like Ich. Don’t raise the temp as that favors the Epistylus.

Sorry I’ve been absent from the forum for a bit. Got very sick with something stomach and just getting back to normal yesterday. ParaCleanse has both the Praziquantal and Metronidazole. It depends on what I’m trying to treat whether I recommend metronidazole or not. I follow the listing exactly how I have it above if I’m aiming at the most common intestinal parasites. Metronidazole certainly has uses as well and Paracleanse can be substituted in the regimen for straight Praziquantal of PraziPro if that’s what you can get.

Epic! I love when my tank blesses me with live food. My Bolivian Ram loved it! I found another and gave it to a pudgy tetra. Very well received.

Appears to be a cranefly larvae of some sort.

I have some real big mystery snails. They only ever ate old or dying plants. I dont have anything to scale this but its massive. Little over 2 years old

First try at a baked cheesecake. My dumbass forgot to thaw the cream cheese and hence a very thick batter, causing cracks. I covered it with strawberry compote later though so no one sees the oopsie I made 🥲

Dustin has great plants (use code IWANTMORE) but imo hes getting too big for his britches!!! [old man voice] In my day you got his plants wrapped in yesterdays news paper soaking wet & stuffed in a hand tied plastic bag!!! Im not so sure about all this fancy new premium butchers paper and heat sealed plastic....... What will these kids think of next???? Disclaimer: This post was tongue in cheek scarcasm, because im bord.. 🤣

Welcome to the forum. Along with adding to your existing fish I suggest honey gourami. Mine are sunset honey gourami. Very friendly and interact with me. Get along with everything. They are also very pretty. Very hardy easy care fish. The young are very hard to raise so no worries if ending up with too many.

You might consider adding another 3-4 Skirt tetras and another 4-5 albino Cories first…. They are both schoaling fish and live longer healthier and happier with groupings of at least 5-6 of each species.Albino Cories have also been converted to Glo Cories in the orange and Green variants. The Glow and Albinos will schoal together as they are the same species just with added genes for the color expression. A single Angelfish can be a nice centerpiece fish. They do well as a single without needs of a group. Going with a group of Angelfish can be problematic if some pair off and can become aggressive when breeding. A schoal of 6 Neon Tetras add a definite visual statement, and a schoal of Harlequin or Espei Rasboras also add a lot of color once they mature and color up. Their color is usualy much more subdued at the fish store when they are juveniles. Aquarium Co op just sent out an email highlighting several Rasbora species to consider.. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/top-10-rasboras

This is Chestnut. Mystery snail whose brothers and sisters never reached his size. Just like any creature some can be extra large or stay to small. He was a juvenile here and lived 2 years past this. His siblings did not have the size or longevity. Add protein to your guys diet. There is something missing in his diet if he is a mystery snail or he would not eat plants. Pet smart/co contract there critters so it would not have come from them. However petco does adopt unwanted critters and offer them for sale. So it is possible you have gotten a snail someone brought in from their pond.

I am on this journey presently, after having failed a few times and after having bred many other species successfully. Here's a short list: (1) Be ready with a plan in the event of success. - Fry will need very small live foods. I culture Banana worms. After they're large enough, I hatch out live Artemia nauplii (baby brine shrimp). - You'll need to have a plan to keep the air above the water surface as humid as possible for the first two months. Bettas develop a labyrinth organ (as do other anabantids). If that doesn't develop, they can crash at about 6 weeks. - Male and female fry can live together for a few months, but male v. male aggression begins to pick up and males need to be separated to grow in isolation. For my males, I plan to use a 20 gal. long with custom cut Darrice mesh dividers. That allows one common filtration system in subdivided sections. I also have a jug rack that I can repurpose if necessary. Females can grow out as a sorority. (2) Be sure to acquire a healthy male and female pair. - I am just going with a couple that look close enough to pass. Fry I raise will always look better than adults. I selected a Magenta + Lavender + Silvery-pink looking male. Female is the same, with long fins. You'll easily spot the white egg spot between the ventral fins of a mature female. (3) You will want to set up an adequate breeding space. - I use Sterilite -- ca. 15 quart / 3.75-gal tubs that have already long been seasoned, cycled, have kept fish for a long while. I get my clip boxes from WalMart. - I put my male in one, and my female in another. I have peat moss in the bottom, and Java Moss clumps in both. I float large Catappa leaves for the male to build a bubble nest under. (4) Ensure that water and air parameters are all good. - Temperature should be 78-82 F - Water needs to be covered with a lid or wrap to keep the air above the surface humid. This is crucial for Anabantid fry development. (5) Prepare the pair. - Feed with lots of live foods. I use Daphnia and live baby brine shrimp. - I supplement with a variety of frozen foods. Do not overfeed, but be sure to keep them well fed. - I put a small hang-on breeding net cage into the male tub, and add the female there for a few days. She is separated from the male, but easily seen. The male should get excited, and build a bubble nest. - I leave the light on low, non-stop for the next 72-96 hrs. Maybe even longer. This is because fish sometimes “snap” when lights go completely off, and forget their parental duties. This is especially helpful when breeding Angelfish, BTW. Everyone wonders why they eat their eggs. This is one possible reason. (6) When ready, add the female. - Male should have built up a full Bubblenest before a female is added. - Some females will clearly indicate they are “ready” by displaying vertical bars along their sides. However, due to massive ornamental breeding techniques, the wild-caught appearance of many females has been overshadowed by iridescent scales that keep this signal from being easily seen. - Bear in mind that once she is added, he may be very brutal towards her for the next few days. I do keep some added plants in there for her to hide (Wisteria, Indian Swampweed). - Limit distractions, lights, shadows, stresses for next few days. - Keep the lid on full. You want to maximize humidity -- especially tricky in the winter months. - Minimize any airflow (they're Anabantids . . . they can breath air from the surface). This requires a very seasoned, fully cycled breeding tank because the flow will be low and aerobic bacteria colonies that convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate will be low on O2 for a while. I do keep _very, very light_ air flowing through the tiny sponge filter, and through an airstone. Just enough to keep bacterial scum from covering the surface of the water, but light enough that the bubblenest is never in danger. I will add that having peat moss as substrate and Catappa leaves on surface will tend to lower pH, which (along with temperature) may affect the sex-ratio of fry. ______________ The pair should bond and spawn within 48 hrs. Once they have spawned, and the male is guarding the nest, the female needs to be removed. Male stays in until enough fry are free-swimming that it is obvious they are viable. Because the Sterilite bins I use are shallow, there is not too much concern about fry falling away from the surface. I remove male to a separated area in the female tank (I use the breeder net). Fry are fed banana worms, and Artemia. I do not overfeed, and try to change water a fair bit. To set up a water change system . . . I am also trying to preserve the air moisture as much as possible. So, I will be hand-drilling small holes in the top to insert pieces of rigid airline through. These I'll attach to normal airlines, and siphon out stale water / add fresh water with large syringes. I will also use the rigid airline end to feed the worms and Artemia. Here are videos and photos from my most recent set up... I'll add that the Catappa leaves produce a degree of tannin (the tinted water). But I also use pure Rooibos Tea bags to get a desired tint. Here's one of my Daphnia tank set ups... Here's a look at some of my miniature nematodes for feeding fry... And here's how I hatch out baby brine shrimp...

The pic you share on social media😎: You in the pic your friend shared, just because they looked good in there🤪😝: When you look good in a pic but no longer talk to the people in there so they have to be removed:

The Squish, our fahaka puffer, has been added!! Immediately went to hunting and now we will get him grown out as fast as possible!

We have fish in the 270! We did a 100% water change cleaned up the water, dropped in 3 sponge filters from cycled tanks, shut down one of the 40 gallon stock tanks housing fish for this one, and added them in here. Current stocking is 20 leopard danios and 20 kribensis chiclids. Also planted a few swords and added anubias. We have a couple more pots of swords and crypts to plant from the pond. Going to order in some more uncommon swords and bolbitis to add into this tank!

A couple sourdough loaves this morning. Overnight ferment. Normal loaf with bread flour 50/50 whole wheat/bread flour Anyone else bake?

Pretty much! Like an exotic blood worm 😄

Let me know how it goes! For marine water we use a chiller. In some areas it may be required to get the water down to 45-55 degrees Fahrenheit. Which I believe river run fish are used to the temperatures dropping that much from snowmelt this time of year

Cool. So, live fish food?

5 puffers, 6 serpae tetras, 4 Cory's and oto's and only 3 shrimp 40g

Hi Everyone. I found my first berried shrimp today and am very excited to get my colony going. Currently 6 fire reds, 4 amano, 2 mystery snails and ramshorn snails in a 10 gallon Dennerle tank. Being relatively new to neocaridina shrimp, I wasn’t sure if the Oase filter is shrimp (shrimplet) safe. The tank also has a small co-op sponge filter and a Dennerle Eckfilter. Overkill filtration-wise but the tank was sort of an extra tank I kept running that morphed into an invert tank.

Looks like it is full of foam right behind the inlet. I would think that would be okay.

Let's go ahead and extend this one through January just to give people time to check out at least episode 1. It's been a busy month!!! If you already did see it, check back to that thanksgiving recommendation as well.

Hi Nolan, Thanls for the video. I was originally going to put as a foundation crushed lava rock in netted bags to hold the next layer from spreading out. But, thats where i stopped. I dont know what that layer should be. I was going to add Eco Complete and put it on top of the crushed lava rocks, then add some sand for the eye to follow if i wanted to go that route. Since im new at planted tanks, i thought of adding a few swords, valesneria, anarubis, java fern, java moss to put on my driftwood and larger pieces of lava rocks. I would "carpeting " to mimic a forest feel. Tall plants in the back wall, then medium size plants in middle and small plants in front. That way, all tge plants should get the equal amount of light. I bought 3 small cholla wood pieces for fry or small fish to hide in. Im considering buyibg an LED plant light and putting the light inside my full hood and setting the full hood on top of my full glass top. But ive to get special gloves to clean off the calcuim build up. The last time i tried to clean that off with my bare hands, the glass sliced my hand. Ouch!! What kind of plant light should i buy that will fit a 40? I looked at the blue Acara fish, i think i will pass on him but iam considering gettng a blue dwarf grouami and putting community fish in with it. As far as filters, ive an over the top filter for 40 gal. But apparently, im going to have get an submersible filter. Again, im not sure which kind to buy. Heaters. My last heater had so much consendation in it that i accidentally turned it up and cooked all my fish. So, i deffiently do need a new heater. If i had lots of mobey to spend i would get the tiger pleco in a few months from now after my tank has had a few months to recycle. I want tge Boseman Rainbows. They are very pretty. But theres also another fish thats amazing, but i forget whats they are called. The males are blue while the females are yellow. You asked me iif im from Lousiana. No im not. Im still using my ex's last name. His family originally came from Rougeux, France. Ive been born here in PA. My maiden name is Carol. My emails, i go by turtlerouge. I love turtles and at one time i was raising 5 of them. So i chose my handle to be turtlerouge. Where are you from? Your name is Nolan, right?? Thanks, chris

The apple snail is a family of snails, while the mystery snail is a species in that family. You can call a mystery snail an apple snail, but not the other way around. More than that, although their anatomy and appearance are similar, mystery snails never grow as big as apple snails. Secondly, The mystery snail grows up to 1.5 inches in Diameter. Other apple snails, however, can grow as large as 6 inches.(In Diameter) Keep in mind that mystery snails CAN grow up to 3 inches lengthwise especially as you have measured their foot. Thirdly, Mystery snails have darker colors, such as brown, black, or blue while other apple snails have lighter shades of gold brown, pink, red or blue. Mystery snails have more slated feet. Overall, it seems to be a mystery snail.

It sounds like your snail has undergone some impressive growth! 🐌 While mystery snails can vary in size, a three-inch snail is on the larger side. Sometimes, differences in growth can be influenced by diet and tank conditions. If you're uncertain about the species, consider checking its shell features or consulting with fellow hobbyists or a local aquarium expert for more insights.

@Odd Duck taught me how. You put a drop of glue on the plant and shove it through the water column fast. Hold it on the spot you picked out ahead of time. You only have a few seconds because the water activates the curing of super glue.

Lower level of salt 1 table spoon for 5 gallons is safe for most plants have used that level in my tank with water spite water lettuce anubias crinum vall with out any issues you could add a lower level of salt 1 table spoon for 10 gallons that won't harm your plants

I would add an extra air stone during treatment and add a small amount of aquarium salt table spoon for 5 gallons that will aid Gill function and add essential electrolytes After 7 days of doxcycline give us an update if your still having issues with this tank

Some antibiotic aren't effective in food such as kanaplex active ingredient is kanamycin sulfate as it's poorly absorbed by the gut so very little of the medication makes it into the blood stream. maracyn2 active ingredient minocycline and metroplex active ingredient metronidazole are adsorbed by the gut so are very effective in food if your using API fin and body cure active ingredient is doxcycline i would treatment for a minimum of 7 days feeding a small amount twice a day i would test your KH and GH just case something off as to low KH and GH can cause a lot of health issues in Guppies

I did for many years before I shattered my wrist. I loved baking bread above all. The smell that infused the house just felt like a giant hug. Very reminiscent of my my youth. Making bread bowls for soup was a family thing before bread bowls became mainstream. What time is serving? I’ll be right over 🤗