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I dont think any of us who have seen @Mmiller2001 has failed to be wowed by the look he achieves in his tanks. Mmiller2001 recently submitted an entry in the Aquatic Gardeners Association Dutch style competition and won second place in a field of 21 entries. https://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2023/index2.html clicking on each entry allows you to view larger photos, description of the tank and judges review of it. The competition was awfully good. I would be pleased to have my name next to most of them… I have found studying these tanks and reading the judges response quite educational and thought others might enjoy reading them to. There are also categories for garden style that might be more akin to how most of us style our tanks rather than following dutch style rules closely… Congratulation @Mmiller2001for your outstanding results. I know I am beholden to him for help he has given me to grow healthier plants and suppress Algae…

Photo updates: 40g "Marmaduke" the dwarf araguia acara Koi swordtail "Aileen" the green dragon bristelnose pleco "Gogo" the fantail goldfish 75g "Blueberry" the red cheek crayfish I got these pretty cool red rainbowfish recently "Mars" "Saturn" "Buttercup" the gold gourami "Opal" the opalescent gourami Pearl gourami "Jed" the electric blue acara I also got some ottos to help with algae on my plants 10g I did a pretty big rework on my 10g. I rehomed my guppies and the tank now has a pair of apisto borelli, honey gourami and sparkling gourami. I also got these pretty rad red neon blue-eye rainbowfish. Sparkling gourami Red neon blue-eye rainbowfish "Pluto" the apisto borelli "Honeybear 2" the honey gourami Cherry shrimp 29g "Sol" and "Luna" the apisto agassizii fire red "Derp" the angelfish Brackish paludarium Neon blue-eye rainbowfish Pacific blue-eye rainbowfish

I’ve only been able to count 15 but I’m happy with that for my first try. I got some of the fry food that was recommended to me also just in case. Thanks for that. I have another bin with more that haven’t started swimming. Hopefully my survival rate will be better. My LFS said he was definitely interested in buying them from me.

Hi everyone. Long time stalker/ gawker here. I started my first aquarium when I was 10 and 20 years later, sold all 17 tanks & equipment and moved out of the city. Fast forward to last Christmas (2022), we received a a tank of goldfish as a rescue mission when we moved from an acreage into town, as the previous owners were moving across country. (My husband used to have fish! He'll take care of that aquarium for you!", I be the conversation went...). 6 goldfish in a greasy green 5 gallon, but my son was smitten so I gave it a shot. Sad ending as before I had the new tank cycled for transfer, Epistylis ravaged the tank, even with 2 additional filters and weekly water changes. Antibiotics are impossible to get in northern Canada quickly for pets. So I cycled the 20 gallon and popped in harlequin rasboras, a couple Amano shrimp and 3 albino corydoras. The powerhead driven under gravel filter with matten bottom (an idea from Gardenman from ACO) and small canister filter kept that tank crystal clear and still does. Then the addiction kicked in again... three 37 gallon tall tanks fully stocked & planted, two 10 gallon planted neocaridina (Sunkist, Blue Dream & Yellows) tanks with Daisy's & Platinum ricefish and a 5 gallon red cherry tank with a booming daphnia culture that helps feed the critters (Ember tetras, glowlight tetras, Glofish tetras, cherry barbs, Blue eyed red neons & Gertrudes CPO dwarf crays round out the stock)- all in my living room. The culls and babies are paying for the renovations and equipment in the basement fish room. Almost 30 years later, here we go again. Anyone else get vacuumed back into the hobby? 😊

Oh, my! Just when you think you know your darling little fishys ..... Bam ... MURDER I feel like my fish are just too nice to do something like that. LOL 😆 Wow, great story about your shrimp experience.... Thanks, that makes me feel better.

Went to the LFS that specializes in aquascaping and nano fish. Got some more Yamaya stones for the major rescape that will happen hopefully very soon. Currently having a stand made where I can stack a 60B and 40B. I took some photos of the aquascapes from the store: Holding tank for the plants that he sells I also did a minor rescape on both tanks. I had so much mini Java fern floating around the 40B so I decided to attach it to a piece of driftwood I cut the sponge from a sponge filter that I had lying around Also some baby plants I grabbed all the surviving stem plants from the 40B and planted them on the Java moss. I’ve done this with a previous scape and I had great success in growing them. Also added some mini Java fern to the driftwood of the 20 long. I also added some dragon stone to set some territories for the rams. They’re constantly able to see each other because I took out the Yamaya stones from this tank There’s just plants everywhere. Here’s a random Java fern leaf without any roots, sprouting some babies with the croaking gourami trying to photobomb Full tank shot: 40B 20 long Once I’m able to get the stand, I will start scaping the 60B. Will move the fish from the 40 to the 60, and then from the 20 to the 40.

My sterbai surprised me with about 25 eggs today. No complaints here. 🙂 Got my 55 cleaned out and ready for the next inhabitants which should be here tomorrow if this massive snow storm doesn't delay them!

I bought six cherry shrimp when I first re-setup an aquarium a couple of years ago and at varying times I thought they had all died. When I tore the tank down to relocate the fish and plants and everything all six adults were still alive AND there were like 40 shrimplets. Turns out the ACO course sponge filters are basically shrimplet hotels. While all of your shrimp might not still be alive, it's possible there's still some. I don't know if it's worth going crazy trying to tear the tank apart. I'll also say that I have seen my kerri and cardinal tetras eat adult shrimp. So there's that to consider.

What type of filter do you have. My neo shrimp can crawl through the ACO coarse sponge material. They take up residence inside sponge filters, inside HOBs and canisters.

@Mmiller2001 Congratulations well deserved. I remember the days you would not consider entering a competition. I always thought it a shame the world could not share in the beauty you create. I’m so very glad you decided to enter. 🤗

Hi @anewbie Sorry for the delayed response, I was on vacation with my family over the holidays. What I see in your photos is blue-green algae, aka cyanobacteria, which is a unique type of 'algae' in that it is part plant and part animal (bacteria). I occasionally get it in my tanks like I suspect many hobbyists do, usually when I am 1) delinquent in doing my weekly water changes, 2) not changing sufficient water and allowing a build up of nitrogenous waste, 3) not cleaning my filter as often as I should. I have also found it to occur when I have high light, insufficient plants, and/or poor water circulation. Typically my first step is to physically remove as much of it manually. I gently remove it from the leaves putting a finger on each side of the leaf and lightly squeezing from the stem to the tip. Blue-Green Algae (BGA) comes off very easily, feels a little slimy, and has a pungent aroma. For the substrate I siphon off the areas that have BGA removing the BGA and some of the substrate. Then I add more substrate if needed. After removing as much manually as I can I check to see if I have been lazy doing some of my maintenance, do a 50% water change, and clean my filter. If the BGA consistently returns, and my maintenance and water circulation are good and the light isn't excessive, then I look at add additional remedies. Some folks have had success killing BGA using a antibiotic (erythromycin) however I try to avoid using antibiotics in my tanks because diseases can become resistant to them if used too frequently and their is already too much in our environmental wastewater. Also, if you use any sort of chemical remedy and too much of the BGA dies, then the dying BGA will deplete the tank of oxygen, the water will cloud, and the loss of fish may result. About two months ago I had a bad outbreak of BGA in my 75 gallon discus tank. I had gotten lazy and not cleaned the three (3) Fluval 307 filters for about seven (7) months and I usually clean them about every two (2) months.....my bad. So I did what I suggested above, spent several hours manually removing the BGA from the leaves and hardscape and siphoned the BGA from the white pool filter sand substrate. I got out as much as I could but I knew I didn't get it all so I looked for an alternative to antibiotics. What I found was interesting.....combating one bacteria with another. I read about Dr. Tim's Cyanobacteria Treatment for BGA (link to PDF) and decided to try it. I had met Dr. Tim (Yes he has several science degrees) about 20 years ago at a aquatic expo in Seattle. He had just started his own company after 17 years as the Chief Science Officer of Aquaria Inc., the parent company of Marineland Aquarium Products, Aquarium Systems (Instant Ocean). His views on cyanobacteria were interesting but since his initial products were for saltwater applications I did not think too much of it. I did my first experiment with Dr. Tim's in August with bad results. I used both products (Refresh and Waste Away) on a 45 gallon as lost about a dozen Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia praecoxis) - when they suggest starting with 1/2 dose on both products they mean it. The dying BGA / bacteria clouded the water and caused oxygen starvation. In early November I decided to try again on my 75 gallon starting dosing at 1/4 dose and increasing slowly over a couple of weeks. The result was by Christmas almost all the BGA was gone and when I returned from vacation it had not returned. I will continue to use the product once or twice a month as 'maintenance' but I was very happy with the results. I found the best prices of both products on Amazon. Hope this helps! -Roy

Thank you @Pepere, I really appreciate it. I also read all the judges comments for each tank I enjoy in every category. It's valuable information for sure. Here's another cool thing to look through even if Dutch isn't your thing. It has some water parameters listed and such. NBAT

The treatment seems to be working! 5 gal quarantine tank (symptomatic individuals) - 1 tablespoon Fritz aquarium salt and 1/2 teaspoon of Ich-X at 75F 20 gal tank - 2 teaspoons of Ich-X at 78F The number of organisms that had colonized the glass of the 20L have been reduced to just a few spots. Only a couple of the QT shrimps still have parasites on their heads. There have been 4 deaths so far, but that is out of hundreds of individuals so I am very pleased. Copernicus (betta splendens) is doing just fine. I'm glad I had the meds on hand (shout out to Cory). Big thanks to everybody on this thread. 🙂 I'll continue to post updates.

What size is the aquarium; if it is large you might return it as depending on the exact issue it might create undue pressure point - i can't really see what you are talking about so no clue if this is serious or not. If it is small it probably doesn't matter. A 10 is small a 55 is large everything in between is gradiant but 20 gallons of water on a wood floor can do $40,000 of damage.

If the tank is very mature with lots of this and that you won't have to do much as mom will make sure the kids get fed. In my tank they dug their own home beneath a piece of drift wood but this requires you have relative soft substrate that is deep enough and some decent drift wood - this was their cave: And this is mom looking after her brood; note that they don't use this cave other than a feeding area; the frys are returned to their cave shown above at night: She was very attenative and kept very close eye on them 😉

My first guess is Cryptocoryne parva.

If it is cold where you live, it may be that your tap water is holding a lot of gasses. You know how when powder of any sort is mixed into a cup of water it helps it to dissolve faster if the water is warm or hot? The chemistry principle works in the exact reverse with air gasses mixing into water flowing through pipes: if the temperature drops, tap water coming into your house drops, absorbing a lot more gasses. The old aquarium masters always used to say “rest your water.” By that, they always meant … fill up a 5-gal bucket, leave water to “rest” for 48-hours before adding to your aquarium. So you could draw ca. 5-gallons _out_ with your Python, then use a large measuring cup or specimen container to refill from your clean bucket of rested water. This allows tap water to “gas off.”

I've been growing a colony of Bloody Marys this year and so far I've only seen a few of these culls, but not one of them has colored up to full color in maturity. As you say, all the other early juveniles are showing color. I'm going to catch them out this week, if I can! I'm thinking I'll try sticking a cube of freeze dried food to the side of the glass to bring them in where I can see them and hopefully net them out!

Shrimps are the masters at hiding. Give it some time. If they successfully breed, the shrimp born in your water will do excellent. Give it some time and you’ll have a thriving colony that you don’t know what to do with.

haven't seen this one yet....zip ties

I've been posting my photo updates on the Facebook group, so I figured I would use the forum to do journaling. It will also be nice to have my photos centralized so I can look back on them. I currently have 5 tanks: #1 10g with ember tetras, guppies, cherry shrimp and ramshorn snails. -I recently moved over some of the colorful guppy fry from my brackish tank to act as dither fish for my shy ember tetras. -I'm working on growing out some of my ludwigia rubin cuttings for the background plants. I also sorta don't like how the melon sword doesn't go all the way to the top of the tank, so I am trying to grow some hygrophila behind it. I may just go back to suction cupping a floating plant back there. -I swapped the kedagang that was on the center rock with the black pearl that was on the right log so it is more symmetrical with the left log that also has kedagang. -I've been struggling to deal with planaria in this tank, that I think is preventing my shrimp for repopulating. I've tried expel-p a few times, and am currently finishing a dose of prazicleanse, which also doesn't seem to be doing the trick. Going to try "no planaria" next week. #2 16.9g + penn-plax trutle topper brackish paludarium with guppies, gold claw fiddler crabs, indonesian batik fiddler crabs, a red claw crab, nerite snails, amano shrimp and ghost shrimp. -These pictures are a bit dated because I didn't have a chance to take photos today. -Figuring out what plants will work in a brackish tank has been a process. Most of my anubias has rotted and died, and most of my crypts melted all the way back. Some of the crypt parva is hanging in there. Some of bolbitas fern seems to be doing well. Val, hornwort and maybe even my rubin sword and hygrophila are thriving. I'm going to try micro sword for the foreground, since it is supposedly one of the most brackish tolerant plants. "King" "Crabby" #3 29g with an angelfish, german blue rams, platies, honey gourami, ottos, kuhli loaches. -This tank is my closest to being "complete." My water sprite died off when I raised my temperature in preparation for my blue rams, so I have been working on replacing them. Currently trying a green rotala on the left and hygrophila pinnatifida on the right. Other than that, I am happy with where the tank is "Derp" (my partner painted this for me for my birthday) #4 40g breeder with a fancy goldfish, bristelnose plecos, zebra danios, swordtails, peppered corys, mystery snails, and apisto borelli. -My orange and black goldfish Jasper recently died of dropsy, which was heartbreaking, so am moving away from keeping goldfish for the foreseeable future. -I recently added a black mystery snail "chocolate chip", so now I just need a chestnut mystery snail and I will have one of every color combination. -No particular goals for this tank. I have a lot of slow growing plants, that I am curious to see how they will shape up. "Jasper" (RIP 😭) and "Ruby" "Phantom" "Chocolate Chip" #5 75g with pearl gourami, roseline sharks, siamese algae eaters, flagfish, reticulated hillstream loaches, bolivian rams, a rainbow shark, indian lilac crabs, CPO crayfish, a blue kong zebra crayfish and amano shrimp. -Recently moved the log on the right in front of the dwarf sag because it was being completely blocked. I decided to add repens in front of the log, because I saw some nice ones at my LFS. -Decided to use larger anubias species for the top of the center cave instead of the nana petite that was there. "Mortimer"

I went to my LFS a few minutes ago and got some moss, the guy threw a bunch of a different plant in the bag as well. Anyone have an idea what it is? It reminds me of one of the little crypts.

After getting back into the hobby almost a year and a half ago, I have realized there are some tools I never thought I would ever use for a tank or really need in the house at all but low & behold, here they are...what are some of the tools you were surprised were suggested to you that you never thought you'd need and now cannot do without? I'll start....a turkey baster. 😂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTXNsKrrT5A Please check out my first fishkeeping video on YouTube! In this in-depth guide, I'll give you some tips & tricks on creating a Tanganyikan Cichlid aquarium. From selecting the perfect species to setting up the ideal underwater landscape, I've got you covered!

So I witnessed a weird thing today, I did a WC using the python (About 25% on my 29G since I had a slight .5 ppm ammonia spike from adding new fish). But afterwards the Corys (all of them) were like "floating" in weird positions...and it almost looked like there was a bubble in their abdomen. It's almost like they were struggling to "stay down" and would just sorta float around. All of them acted like this but no other fish did. The water temp was similar enough, and while my tap pH is 8.2 my normal pH in my aquarium is 7.8, and it was only a 25% WC. There are 2 factors however. 1. I was having trouble with the python, so the WC took a good 30+ minutes but surely the tank wouldn't have ran out of oxygen by then? 2. I did forget to dechlorinate the water (I know I know, major Facepalm moment...I think because I was fooling with the python to get it to work). The new water was maybe not chlorinated for 1.5 hours before I realized. They did eventually come back to normal and seem to be swimming around like normal.....but they almost looked stunned. Any ideas? I mean obviously swim bladder disease doesn't develop in 1 hour in all of them..so maybe shock from the chlorine maybe? Do you think they will be ok since it was only an hour (Obviously I need make sure i set the bottle out before WC so I don't forget). But im curious what could've caused this. Ive seen similar issues that other people mentioned cory's acting weird after WC's before. FWIW I did a water change before with the same group (Using manual gravel vac before) and they were fine....but I did dose the dechlorinater right before. edit: FWIW They were ALL fine before the WC.

Thank you. I’m pretty patient. I have plenty of fish to keep me busy so I try not to focus on how fast they’re going. The fry are definitely not scared of me the way their parents seem to be. I was hoping that if they see me often they wouldn’t be skiddish of me when they grow up. I suppose that’s just natural behavior. edit: spelling

Yay! In two months they'll be 30% bigger and you'll only be able to tell if you go look at old pictures. 😄 I'm only semi-exaggerating. They're pretty fun to watch. My adults are really secretive, but the fry seem to be almost personable, at least for awhile. Best of luck growing them out! 🙂

That's what I usually do, but the python (which is also new to me) was giving me problems so I think I was messing with it too long and it threw me off balance. Is it likely the dechlorinator missing for an hour substantially hurt them? Im in Kentucky so it's cold right now, but I did such a small water change (25%) I don't think it could be a ph/temp issue. Especially since I had done it before and they didn't do this. I have a 55G as well so I don't see how I could realistically do "resting buckets" anyways for something like that. EDIT: I did read something about like there being too many bubbles or microbubbles in the water? I've never heard of this? (But I did notice bubbles in the corys abdomen....but maybe there were over gulping for air or something)

I have used chemclean before with success on a 29; but before i go that far I want to make sure it is in-fact cyanobacteria. On another forum someone said the stuff stinks and you should smell a distinct odor but that does not seem to be the case here. The tank has virtually no nitrate and decent circulation. The light par was around 15 at the substrate but recently I raised it to 50 (this is after the start of this thread). I added some powerheads that were very strong (mostly to attack some surface duckweed) but that only seemed to make this stuff grow faster. It returns in 24 hours after removal. The tank is nomally 180 gallons (4feetx4feetx18inches) and i do a religious 40 gallon water change weekly with ro water. The stocking is 8 b. cupido; 40 cory hastatus and 10ish apistogrammade (there is only one species). Does this help with diagnostic ?

You will absolutely know by the sniff test whether it is alive or dead.

I don't think a day or two in cooler water will kill them. Some folks do keep them in unheated tanks. Yes, they are known to stink when dead. They can remain motionless for days, in and out of water. If you are concerned, I would place the snails in a separate container for a few more days. You can float this container in the aquarium. This would prevent contaminating the whole tank. At the very least I would turn the upside down snail in your picture over. They are known to have problems righting themselves. If you find that the operculum (trap door) is open the snail is dead. I can't tell in the picture.

It is all about the liters/hour output. The lower the output the less likely it will work as a biological filtration and only an aeration. It is hard to determine specifics Cory made interesting video and ofcourse it depends on other things, the sponge density, depth of the tank.... https://expertaquarist.com/sponge-filter-selection-guide Dont forget to wash the sponge in normal water 🙂

Wanted to start a platy tank. Surprisingly I had to drive 50 minutes to The Fish Hut to get them, none of the shops near me had any. I had an established tank that had only snails and 5 cory cats.

I fed the fry crushed up pellet when they became free-swimming.

You can maybe put a net into the tank and a boiled veggie with a plant weight on it inside the net. @Creedmoor Aquatics

@Seattle_Aquarist provided an excellent answer to a similar question on another thread a few years back…

Major water change day yesterday. I was too lazy and did over 50% WC on my pseudomugil tank and did it with cold water, for future they DO NOT like that, almost lost a male, was dazed, swimming on its back and dark. I will do it slower like I do it always, not just dump it in cause I am a lazy person... poor fish. Other than that, I fed grammarus as I have them in the freezer and I do not know what I was thinking, none of the fish I have has such a big mouth... hence water changes 🙂 I have been contemplating adding a spark of movement to my indostomus tank, since they are less active than ever (I suspect it is the temperature drop, but they are also really satisfied and dont have to hunt too much) but there is nothing that could go to a heaterless, basically filter less, no lid 25 liter. Too bad there arent any super small bettas, I would even put a lid in for one 🙂 Picture dump Cube tank Do the pygmy corydoras look ok? Indostomus emptiness

Yes, you can grow plants in sand, including the Caribsea Sunset Gold. Its an inert substrate (doesn't add o remove fertilizers, hardness, or other chemicals), so using root tabs and fertilizers like Easy Green will help your plants grow. Most plants common to the hobby can take quite a lot of flow, and plants that are specifically tolerant to the highest levels of water flow, like you would find in fast flowing streams and rivers are called Rheophytes. Generally speaking slower growing plants will do better in very fast flow compared to fast growing plants. Fast growing plants will quickly get whipped around without having developed strong stems to resist the flow. Plants like Anubias, Bucephelandra, and Java Fern would fit well in this group.

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/what-would-you-do-with-these-kribensis.645086/ Bred Kribensis Pulcher a few years ago. The female would use a section of pvc pipe to lay her eggs in. I had a little algae so fry had something to graze on. A very hardy species but are very aggressive if eggs, wriggler, or free-swimming fry in the aquarium.

One day I may take the time to start working on the bap program in my fish club as well. Just so much paperwork. Maybe I'll get one of my girls to do the paperwork and I'll get the plaques. 😆

Beautiful conformation, I do enjoy a long slimer fish than the wide big platy cross going around

I've always had sorta high pH, in 5 years it's been 7.6 to 7.8.

Item C looks like Eraserhead’s kid. 🤣

Garbage can on wheels! wonderful for syphoning water into while cleaning tanks. Goes right out to the garden for watering plants. Quilt stuffing from Walmart etc for hob filter material. And me too with the turkey baster.

Good to hear! I hope she knows we wish her well, miss her, and hope to see her back to full speed as soon as possible. @Irene, please do not feel obligated to reply. Just know we’re thinking of you and we wish you well!

Pomegranate the indian lilac crab living her best life. I also added some more plants to the terrestrial part of my paludarium. It's looking pretty lush. 29g 10g

I got a couple okayish photos and some video of Blueberry the red cheek crayfish today. They have gotten a lot bigger and their color has matured quite a bit since August. Before After Bonus. Signifier blueeye photos

I love that folks here on the forum know this kind of info. I come here to learn and y'all are bringing it!