Leaderboard

I haven't noticed that either one is easier. And I don't know that a lid is strictly necessary. I have ten tanks with shrimp, only one has a lid (mostly to keep the rainbowfish from jumping out), and I rarely find a shrimp that has jumped out.

Neocaridina shrimp (aka Cherry Shrimp) should be a good choice. However, your mileage may vary. Cherry shrimp are also much prettier than amanos. I currently have neos (orange rilis) in a discus tank and believe it or not, both them and the tetras ignore the shrimp. In other instances, I've seen nano fish pick at shrimp and kill them with a death by a thousand cuts. If you have some kind of moss in the tank or something like a rock pile, this will give the newborn shrimplets a fighting chance to not get gobbled up by your fish.

I have actually learned a lot about coloration from my GBR. Many babies went to friends and acquaintances. Those that kept them at the temperature best suited to them and fed them my recommended foods in variety got the same same and coloration from my babies as the parents. Those that kept them at lower temperatures but did feed the food did not get as much size and coloration. Those that kept correct temperatures but did not feed the foods had the same low results. One kept them at lower temps and did not feed the foods saw very stunted growth and almost no coloration. One did everything recommended but had poor tank maintenance also saw stunted growth and lower color. One friend @dasaltemelosguyhad some GBR prior to mine. Followed all recommendations when he got mine and got excellent growth and color but his others never got the color of mine. All that info has led me to understand that food and conditions can influence and can bring out to their fullest extent maximum coloration obtainable in a genetic line. However if the genetics are not there food and conditions cannot make them appear. My lemons are very lemon. Their babies went to folks I know as well. Proper diet and low nitrates bring out the lemon. Diets lacking protein causes them to be lighter. Not enough food causes very pale looks. I feed my lemons EBO spirulina tabs, Ken’s ultra meat wafers, Kens veggie wafers, live and frozen baby brine shrimp, Ken’s growth formula, Kens high protein fry green, occasionally Xtreme bottom wafers and they always have fresh steamed vegetables including carrots and red bell peppers. A friend makes his own for his super reds and they are crazy red. He cooks fresh salmon a variety of vegetables and uses agar agar as a binder (I don’t know all his secret ingredients just those) I’ll tag @Colu who has much more experience with a variety of bristlenose than I do. Maybe they have some other recommendations.

First thing is genetics I believe. As a person who has been keeping and having many batches of babies until today, I can easily say that I have seen many lighter colored fish than mine in comparison online. As these fish are selectively bred for their coloration and look, you gotta make sure the genetics are the way you want as a starting point. As an example, we may consider it like german blue rams I think as they are commonly selectively bred for the coloration. I have never seen any normal colored gbr that is as colorful as @Guppysnail’s pair. If I go to a local store and get me a random pair, I would very likely not end up with what she has when they breed in terms of the look/coloration. Good food is also important. In my country we feed them blanched cappia pepper to boost red coloring too from time to time. Their main diet is about algae and grazing aufwuchs in general anyway. They are majorly on the herbivore side so Im not sure if feeding a krill diet would be any good. Especially young ones are even more prone to issues if fed animal protein. I dont think it would be ideal to feed something out of their ideal diet range just to potentially color them up. I guess red/orange is more about carotine and axanthines. My fish dont show interest to carrots much so I mix it to a snello to feed it. I would say lots of high quality algae based foods and cappia pepper and maybe carrots if they like it. Ideal environment and genetics that are similar to what you desire them to look like at the first place. And yes, they are deep orange color at best, at least mine are even tho I got my pair as their main super red pair as a gift from a very well know breeder here. I have never seen any actual “reds” to be honest. These are what my babies look like and at best they are still orange not red.

Hello there. Hope you are doing well. Is there anyone who keeps Albino Dantums? Some say they are P. scalare. Some say they are a mixture of both altums and p.scalare. Idk if it is possible all. Their background does not seem to be known well. I find them pretty and I wonder if anyone keeps or at least has info on them. My friend just got a group of juveniles imported and I wanna learn more about them, but I haven't come across much online. Like do they form pairs and breed well normally or do they have issues due to potentially being a mixture? Is there anything wrong with the genetic line? Is there any specific requirements other than dim lights due to being albinos? If I keep them with my platinum and black lace angel, would they potentially pair up (I guess they would, but still)

Last weekend, I got a lesson in both pros and cons of too many plants. I noticed my 20g tall tank looked 'off' and couldn't figure out why. I sat there wondering what could cause the conditions I was looking at: the water looked 'thick' somehow. The normal sparse layer of duckweed on the top of the tank was very dense and when I disturbed it by moving a net around, it didn't immediately float back up. It rose slowly-- more like the tank was full of baby oil than water. There were a lot of dead and decaying leaves from my aponogeton drifting around like rotten seaweed. The four fish in the tank looked okay and were behaving normally; I really could not understand how, because the tank looked so grisly and the pH was high. Worried that so much duckweed might be preventing air exchange, I decided to check the airflow into the tank. The airstone was bubbling along as usual. But the filter was not 😞 Between a giant anubias and dense corkscrew val blocking the view, the sponge filter was not visible from the front or side of this tank. I had been turning lights on and feeding every day but honestly could not say when I had last observed the filter. My guess from the Armageddon look of the tank is that the filter had not been running for a couple of weeks or more. With decreased surface motion, the duckweed layer thickened up and choked out light and air, despite a large goldfish living in the tank! So: too many plants was bad because I couldn't see the filter to notice there was no air moving through it. But too many plants was also good because with two large fish (and two small ones) in only 20g, the fish were still alive and appeared unbothered by lack of airflow and devastation all around, because (I assume) all the plants were also putting out some oxygen and consuming some of the waste created by all the rotting leaves. I apologized to the fish, got the filter running, removed the duckweed as much as I could, removed the anubias and a lot of valisneria, added an Aquaclear full of crushed coral to help with pH and catching floating crud, gravel vac'd and did a couple of water changes. It's still an example of Armageddon Lite, but at least the water looks like liquid now. The moral of the story is: don't let plants block your view of your air sources, but if you have a filter failure, having a lot of plants may be a great advantage. No photo of the tank because it's too humiliating!

Hi, I'm Patrick, I'm new to the forums but have a moderate experience in fishkeeping. I've kept Oscars off and on for about 30 years. I'm currently Oscarless as my last big guy passed a few months back. My main interest as of late are plecos and neons...And 1 Polar Blue Parrot (not in the same tank). I'm new to plants and besides val and a few swords, the results haven't been great... But I'm learning. I look forward to learning and maybe helping if I can, where I can.

I'm just outside York myself. It's hard losing pets, especially when they have personalities as big as Oscars. My most recent pair grew up together, I lost one in October and his tank mate followed in December. He seemed lost without his friend and finding him a new friend (that he couldn't eat) never happened... So, I'm taking a break from the water puppies for a bit. Thanks for the welcome, stay warm and be safe out there, the roads aren't the best!

You'll enjoy keeping lampeye killis! I always make sure I have them in one of my tanks. They are great dither fish and are voracious eaters. I like watching them explore the plants and the moss and I always see mine doing the egg laying thing on the mosses but have yet to see any fry. I'm actually planning to purchase more from Aquahuna because I enjoy them so much lol

Well first fish are in that would be 5 honey gourami I was going to go with 6 but they only had 5 and 7 normans lamp eye killifish I wasn’t going to got them but seeing them in person is so much more interesting than in online pictures so ya lol everyone is eating and swimming normally (knock on wood)so I’m happy ill give them a week or so and see what else I’m getting There’s also about three dozen snails in the aquarium and there doing a good job keeping the algae at bay I literally haven’t cleaned anything of the glass or plants and I can’t find any algae to the point I’m concerned leaving the light on for long since the sword doesn’t seem super happy the light might not be bright enough it only puts out about 8 to10 PAR at the substrate luckily I get about an hour of sunlight every day so that’s probably helping I’m considering getting a 3.0 but running it at like 20% seems wasteful so I might just get a hygger light but I don’t know about these longevity so who knows (might make a separate post later lol) the only other thing worth mentioning is i had a small problem with ammonia every morning because the ph was below 6 a small bag of crushed coral (like a couple tablespoons) seems to have stopped that water perimeters just for the record lol No Ammonia or nitrite and about 10 to 20 nitrate gh 50 ppm KH still not detectable but enough to stop the ph from going to low and ph between 6 and 6.5 depending on time of day ps can’t get a picture right now to much glare from the sun I will after sundown

I have heard cherry shrimp are easier to keep in the aquarium than Amano shrimp. What kind of lids do you use?

This is the whole tank to see it in context. my hope is for it to mostly fill in the space between the rock and the tiger lotus and double in height from where it is now and in the same time period have the Rotala wallichii stand in the bavk grow out in height and be able to widen and deepen that patch, and the Ludwigia Repens mature and fill out. The Ludwigia has a lot of small short stems behind the Tiger Lotus mostly out of sight. This week I also added some S.Repens under the Tiger Lotus in bare area coming around the rock towards the front, and I added some AR mini last night on the right side just in front of some AR, and some all the way to the left. Hoping these develop into a thick dense mat around 1.5 to 2 inches tall. My thought was that on the right it would transition nicely from a different AR kept around 4 inches tall. Time will tell…

Interesting, Snoopy was actually eating those. They are calcium. She’d carry it around and then take a bite out of it like a potato chip. Then I saw her go back and finish the rest. This was after she ate worms, and vibra bites.. I guess she wanted to sample the whole buffet tonight! Also I was wondering how those snail foods ended up out of the food dish and scattered around. Now I know. 🤣 There are not many foods she doesn’t like. Loves squash, zucchini, pumpkin, Snello. But doesn’t touch broccoli or green bean. Typical kid.

I've got a 10 gallon tank I'm "aging" to get ready for cherry shrimp. I'm tempted to add some amano shrimp too with the goal of getting them large enough to add to other tanks to eat algae and detritus. I know they won't breed without quite a process, but I do think they're fascinating. Does that sound like a reasonable plan?

Have you tried skipping feeding for 1 to 2 days to see what happens? That would be the first thing to do if he’s otherwise acting normal. If that doesn’t resolve the issue, or if it gets worse at any time, then I would try feeding Daphnia and see if that “clears him out”. Their “shells” are enough roughage to potentially help move things through if it’s a digestive issue. If that doesn’t work, then an Epsom salt soak might be next as the next step in trying to resolve potential constipation. Try the fasting first and try for better pics to get us more information while we wait to see what fasting does. And please get us more information about your water parameters - ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, hardness (GH, KH), temperature, filtration, how long your tank has been set up, is it planted, and anything else you can think of that might be relevant. The more information we have, the smarter advice we can give.

My biggest secret has been my Panda Angels. I get $4 in store credit for each one. I take them 15-20 at a time to the LFS, and that $60-80 stacks up. I let the parents spawn as they please, and if I’m in need of the next batch I’ll pull it. I take the spawn down to a manageable size, roughly 60-100 eggs. I then hatch those eggs, and grow em out over the coming months. I don’t rush it, I just feed them well once per day and do a water change once per week. My goal is to raise healthy fish, not raise them as fast as possible. I grow them out a bit bigger since my LFS was stoked the first time I brought them in a little bigger. No big deal to me, so I do it. Just means I get to enjoy the fish for longer. When I go into the LFS and notice they’re low I’ll hit them up and ask if they’re ready for the next batch. Likewise, if it has been a while and I have the next batch ready and I haven’t heard from them I’ll hit them up. I used to do smaller more frequent spawns, but I’ve realized I can just hatch one bigger batch, and then take em to the LFS 15 at a time, always getting rid of the biggest ones. Then the smaller ones catch up and I take those, rinse and repeat. I’ve spawned other fish, but they take more effort and time, grow slower, and I don’t get as much per fish, so I’ve just stuck to the Panda Angels the past year or so and it has worked out really well for me. I regularly have $200-300 in store credit just waiting to be used. If I need something I always look there first to use the credit I’ve stacked up. If they don’t have it or something comparable, then I’ll go elsewhere. This has garnered a great relationship with the LFS where the manager and employees know me by name, and I know theirs. They’re also willing to bring things in for me if they have access to it. They know I have the store credit, so it’s not a big deal to them to tack something onto an order they’re already placing anyways. I guess that’s the long-winded way to say what @Fish Folk said as #1 in their original post. I’ve found a species that I’m good at and is profitable for me, so I keep doing it.

Nothing to worry about. I see some fine light colored whispy algae on leaves. Their poo is the color of what they eat. Feed carrots and you get orange confetti snow about the tank. @Chick-In-Of-TheSea has orange snow photos in her snail journal. The brown and green standard comes from green algae and brown detritus. They are tough little cuties. As long as they are cruising and eating they are fine. edit to add the long coil vs the shorter dash marks means they are eating very well. You may wish to cut back on feeding and remove some detritus or you face a possible population explosion. Wow that was a long time ago. I can’t believe you found it.

Woohoo 🎉 My German blue ram breeding article was published as a feature story in Tank Tales the ACLC Newsletter AND I made the cover with my photo submission 🎉 I cannot post the article though you must be a club member to get the newsletter 😞 Just wanted to share my excitement

I have cherry shrimp in with mine and the white clouds do not bother them. Cherry shrimp will breed and you'll have a lot of them, but they don't overcrowd the tank. Something to think about: cherry shrimp often do better in a well-established tank. The major changes in water parameters that can happen in new tanks as well as the fact that all the surfaces in the tank are new and clean make it harder for shrimp to survive. So if you are setting up a new tank, I would wait a month or three before adding shrimp unless I had some old wood, plants, or other tank decor from an older tank that I could pop in there for them.

I've kept planted aquariums for a while now but have over the past few years caught the MTS bug and recently tried my hand at casual breeding. The hobby has proved great for stress relief for me and is teaching me a lot about patience! Here are my 3 tanks (soon to be 3.5 as I will be moving my cory babies to their own grow out soon). 10 gallon: set up for about 1.5 years; stocked with breeding populations of neocardina and ramshorn snails; 1 mystery snail; 1 oto catfish; 6 pygmy corydoras; 9 emerald dwarf rasboras (7 adults and 2 juveniles). The rasboras produce a lot of fry but I've only gotten 2 to the age where I'm pretty confident they will make it to adulthood. 20 gallon long: set up since July 2023 (a replacement for my 40 gallon breeder which tragically sprung a leak); stocked with breeding populations of neocardina and ramshorn snails; 2 nerite snails; 1 mystery snail; 2 amano shrimp; 8 ember tetra; 5 adult peppered corydoras; 2 honey gourami. The peppered corydoras have started breeding, I believe spurred by lower tank temps this winter. I now have a mesh breeder box in the tank where I have hatched about 10 of 20 eggs I collected in there. The fry are now 2 weeks old and I plan to move them to a 5 gallon grow out until I decide what to do with them! 29 gallon: set up in early November 2023 and stocked in early December. The tank is my undergravel filter plus plants experiment, which seems to be going very well. Stocked with neocardina (which are rapidly being eaten!); 4 amano shrimp; 1 clown pleco; 7 variatus platys; and 3 male (yes, 3 male) cockatoo Apistogramma. This tank has been a little challenging. The breeder sent me 3 males, instead of a male and 2 females as requested. I am told by breeder that the 3 males should be ok as long as I have plenty of hiding spots and that I never add a female. So far there has been some flaring and chasing but no real fighting or injuries. I am monitoring closely as I think these guys are not yet fully grown adults, and I suspect the aggression could increase. The other difficulty with this tank is the prolonged ich outbreak which I think I have finally turned the tide on. Been treating for 2 weeks with Ich X (at 69-72 F...) and have finally seen lesions subside on most fish. I am fairly committed to running my tanks without heaters, as I have had bad experiences with them in the past, so I am ok with slow and steady treatment as long as everyone is doing well.

This thing hung around barely alive for months and months…. Finally it is starting to thrive and have good coloration…

I want to setup a 29G community tank with cherry shrimp. My tap water GH is 100-120ppm and KH is around 70-80ppm. TDS meter says 180ppm. Ph usually settles at 7.6-7.8. What fishes would that be ideal for? I'm thinking any of the livebearers would do well but I'm not sure if they actually need harder water than that or what my other options could be.

So I heard Cory talking about rosy loaches, but when I checked google, I found conflicting info: Petruichthys sp. Tuberoschistura arakanensis just Tuberoschistura arakanensis "This species continues to be referred to by the fictitious scientific name ‘Tuberoschistura arakensis‘ or as an undescribed Yunnanilus sp. and is also sometimes traded as Y. sp. ‘orange’ or ‘Burmese pink loach’ but appears to be a member of the genus Petruichthys as per Kottelat (2012)." Neither fish is available in europe nor from importers like Glaser it seems, but there are fish like Yunnanilus c. which are also called Miconemacheilus cruciatus which in some pictures looks simillar. One would say Yunnalius is Petruichthys but also it is miconemacheilus? Confused Anyways, have anyone seen Rosy loaches in europe and how come the fish is so popular in the US when it is like one location Myanmar available fish and cant even get the name right. Thanks

Cory's most recent fish room video inspiring me to work on my tank. The water is clear besides for just tannins which are normal, the fish are doing well on a much lower stocking, the one platy male in there is enjoying having 6 girls to himself. I have lots of floating hornwort that is doing well floating at the surface. If there are any platy fry they should definetly be able to hide from predators in the hornwort: The pothos i got from my friend a while back is doing really well. Its growing roots and has starting growing a few new leaves as well. The back left corner of my tank is a small mess of dead plant matter, so i pulled out a good amount of it, though some still remains Also spotted my mystery snail, he is getting old. I got him in march last year so he is nearing a year, which i hear is pretty good when it comes to mystery snails. I was really excited about him when he was new, but he is dark colored, and often hides in the back and i really have just forgotten about him. I barely see him in my tank. I've tried getting him friends in the past and he hasn't really cared, but i think when he dies i will try again with a lighter colored snail. I did a water change on the 5gallon tank, then cleaned out the box filter and replaced the filter floss for just some sponge. The shrimplets in that tank are getting much bigger, im starting to feed some easy fry food a few times a week to the family shrimp tank to increase the growth rate there. The back of the 5gallon is covered in algae, the shrimplets are enjoying the snacks. I dont mind as its pretty much the most natural background you could get for a tank.

I think a good varied diet is the best when it comes to enhancing the colour of your bristlenose at the moment I have common bristlenose black with yellow spots and 25-30% of there spawns are yellow bristlenose I feed mine a varied diet of tropical hi-aglae discs and tropical pleco tablets I also feed EBo youngster grow paste spirulina and Artemis paste and EBo veg sticks which are 50% pumpkin 50% peas EBo algae tabs and frozen blood worms twice a week and cucumber and blanched spinach and lettuce repashy super green and solient green they get fed a different food most days this variety does enhance the colour of my yellow bristlenose a good diet will also mean you have healthy fish less out breaks of disease overall more hardy fish @Fenway

Cory carries them at ACO every once in a while. I imagine he gets them from a local breeder. As for the loaches and their confusing scientific history, I believe they are referred to as Petruicthys rosy most recently. They were once only associated with small localities in the late 1980’s like one town in south east China and one in Myanmar. At that point they were referred to as Yunnanilus as they were thought to only be from Yunnan. Later in the 2010’s to current day loaches and fishes as a whole were looked at again more intensely and they discovered what they were referring to as Yunnanilus was actually 6 species that branched into different genus. And that they actually inhabit the entire lower half of the Mekong and it’s tributaries. I don’t believe they can interbreed but they do look awfully similar. I believe part of the issues for delayed research was the remoteness of some of these areas. There are actually old Chinese naturalist books that refer to all of southeast asia as having a thick miasma in the jungles and therefore could not be traversed.

Dr. Anthony Mazeroll came and spoke at the Portland Aquarium Society. He was talking about water chemistry. One of his big points was that as long as you're just looking to keep fish and not necessarily breed them, then you can get almost any fish to live in your water as long as it's been acclimated. His example was that he keeps discus in hard water with a pH of 8. Now, he is a professor of biology with decades of experience so maybe not everyone could pull off discus like that. But the point is that with good husbandry you can make it work. Your water isn't crazy hard. You could probably do most fish easily (outside of black water fish). If you can get locally bred fish then you'll have nothing to worry about at all.

I did melafix and have some salt in that tank, i generally play it by what type of fish and where they come from and keep a close eye on em. These i got from a real reputable source that quarantines everything and i've never had issues so i dont overdo the meds. I dont want to stress anything that doesnt need it. Now i do have a LFS that he's a great guy and brings in some really nice stuff, but he's also known for washing ich off and tossing them in tanks so anything from him i do the med trio on. And sure enough my last batch of geo's from him came in with ich! As for levels, i was actually having nitrites jump up a bit in that tank the first 2 weeks, i keep the tank cycled and running and this was the first time i've encountered that. was testing daily and changing as needed. Never had an ammonia reading, and nitrates stayed fairly low but that nitrite kept getting a bit darker blue than i'd like. but just passed the 3 week mark and everythings seemed to stabilize!

The biggest thing I think was moving the tiger lotus away from the pink flamingo crypt…. Whether it was root structure competing for nutrients or allelopathy I dont know. I had a mesh bag of aquasoil near it all along. It took a few months after doing so to see the crypt start gaining mass… and eventually it seems to get to a tipping point of growth… Lighting, water changes, and water column fertilization has been stable for about 6 months. for months and months before moving the tiger lotus, the crypt would put out a new leaf and an old leaf would melt away at about the same rate. It was just running in place….

Thanks @Guppysnail! I wonder what @TheSwissAquarist feeds their frog

Basically anything. I vote amano shrimp though! They both come from the same rivers I believe. 😉

I got me a pair but sadly lost my male due to a disease which no treatment method Ive tried worked against. So I have my female in a S.American community tank and she is the only discus there To be honest, if I knew I could find her a great home I would probably rehome her. I don’t think these guys are meant to be kept alone. She was also not happy being with her partner in a tank as a pair all alone without any fish around too in 180 liters. I am not experienced enough to say much, but I think these guys want a community tank, ideally a big one, and a couple discus buddies around. @Fish Folk has a discus tank and that’s a 55g if Im not mistaken. Well ofcourse bigger is better. But if you really want discus you can keep a small group at least rather than a single fish imo. but what cories do you have rn? Also when I got mine they were kept in 28C. I don’t think need to go 30C exactly. That makes it very hard to find tankmates for in those temps and many people I come across keep them at a temp lower than 30C in my researches. But yea long story short, I wouldn’t suggest keeping one alone as a person who is kinda obliged to keep one in a community tank right now

It's possible he can recover if his immune system able to fight of the infection I would monitor if you think he's starting to go down hill rapidly then I would humanely euthanize

@Fish Folk Thanks! It has served me well. I took them 15 today, and have another 10 that will be ready whenever they need them. Behind them, I have the next 60-75 in a 10 gallon grow out. They have another few weeks in there or so, and then they’ll get moved to the 55 to grow out and eventually take to the LFS. I won’t have to hatch eggs again for another 6 months probably, but will continue to have 15 of them at a time to take to the LFS. Way less work, all the same perks. If I had more space I’d do a couple more species, but effort to money ratio is good right now, and my credit at the shop stays balanced.

I really do love this photo. SO..... Filter has been cleaned 3-4x the past 2 weeks because of all the substrate stuff going on. It's been done again. I might toss in more foam in there just for the giggles of it, but yeah... I'm less than convinced of the flow path in that 407 being optimal and working flawlessly. There's literally no reason for it to be designed the way it is and I would love to see a 3d model. If you have a 3d printer and a x07 series, I might have a project for you to fix it. Bad new first? Barb mecca seems to be on a delay because..... barbs won't be in stock for "a while" if ever. The ones I wanted/tried to get had died, the other ones aren't in stock, and the other barbs they do have in stock.... they only have females to add to my current group or they only have 4. I can get some rasboras or something, but right now I'm just waiting. Green aqua did a vid and added these gems to their tank.... Smaller than tigers, green shine... what's not to love. I need to get 1-3 SAEs and some otos, but I just am unsure what else will be in there for visual interest. Melon/panda barbs, plus the guys above would've been awesome. This was another I was looking for: We'll figure it out.... all I can do is wait. GOOD NEWS. The tubing was finally restocked from one of the 3-4 stores I had it tagged on. That's on the way as well as a wonderful surprise for myself for the shrimp tank. I'm excited to see it, excited for the final setup of things to be completed. (removing the plastic intakes and ribbed tubing) The place that I ordered the tubing from is located in SF and would be able to get some decent plants to me as well, so it's good to get a feel for how they handle/pack/ship items.

Endlers are great, but if you add a pair to a 10 gallon, it’ll be rather full in a couple of months tops. If that is something you don’t want to deal with, then I’d go all male endlers.

6.5-7.5 is listed as correct parameters for most fish on internet care guides because it’s midrange. I do not put much stock in those numbers. Most fish I’ve kept that recommended those mid ground numbers are quite fine up to 7.8-8. And have even done ok when my water hits 8.2-8.4 thought to live their entire life that crazy high would probably have some negative impact. I only look to see if it says needs soft low ph water like below 7 or if they say needs really hard water.

I keep African dwarf frogs but I guess they are similar enough. Mine eat only live food. White worms, grindle worms, scuds, daphnia magna. Some ADF keepers have had luck using frozen bloodworms in a feeding dish so the food is always in the same place. If it doesn’t move mine won’t eat it. Many say they have poor eyesight but they do not. Mine can dart towards live worms and catch them midwater. The eyesight myth comes from they just do not normally eat anything not moving. Clawed frogs get much larger and have front claws vs web front feet. I have a friend who kept them a few years ago. She said they can be aggressive when hungry and injure fish. They are also clumsy so can accidentally injure fish. Hers only ate live food. Yours may just be young but does look a bit thin/small. Or it just seems that way to me because mine are FAT and always carrying eggs. If you don’t see him eat he is probably hungry and attacking the fish. @xXInkedPhoenixX has had success getting ADF to eat frozen bloodworms. Maybe they can guide you. I keep so many live food options I don’t even try with bloodworms. I have however given them two types of aquatic frog commercial pellets. They do not even acknowledge its presence and my shrimp eventually clean it up. Yes my frogs eat the shrimp but there are so many the frogs can’t make a dent in the population. I would not keep small fish with mine. I accidentally netted a very young fish when moving shrimp into their tank. The baby was disoriented when it went into the frog tank. Trust me my ADF have excellent eyesight because the baby was nabbed by the frogs before I could net it back out.

Oh man, I really tried to catch it on camera, but I couldn’t. Snoopy was carrying around these square snail foods. It was very silly.

You should be much more concerned with the footprint of the aquarium for that size pleco which will basically double or triple in size. I wouldn’t worry about growing algae because no amount of algae grown will suffice its feeding regimen. Also, if the tank is only a couple of weeks old then that may be why there’s no algae. I’d get it a much larger tank with a ton of hiding spots.

If visually all seems to be ok it's probably fine since you say you're going to treat with the trio. The caveat to that is that the ACO recommends if someone is obviously sick the trio can be stressful and you'd ideally start with the med you think would help what the fish likely has first then do the other 2 meds separately. It truly is a judgement call!

I look forward to seeing how your tank develops!

I am really interested if anyone has experience keeping male cockatoo Apistogramma together, as I am in this 29 gal. Here are pics of 2 of 3 them, in case anyone has an idea of age. I realize I have only had them for 1 month, so my experience so far may not be indicative of what's to come... Also thanks to the forum regarding advice on mystery snails 🙂 I now realize they are such short lived guys, so I'm trying to give them the best life possible.

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. 😆

Badis badis Blue Perch, Blue Chameleon, Blue badis Photo Program submissions of parent Proof of spawn -Spawning occurred in October

Apistogramma cacatuoides Cockatoo dwarf cichlid “triple red” color morph Photo Program submissions of parents. Purchased April 2023 Proof of spawn

Ancistrus sp. L144a Longfin Lemon Blue Eyed Pleco Photo Program submissions of parents. Purchased as very young juveniles end of 2020-beginning 2021 (need better photos ) Proof of spawn -spawn date end September.

Mikrogeophagus ramirezi German Blue Ram total this survivors this spawn 196 Photo Program submissions of parents also hatched in my tank 1/15/23. Proof of Spawn Spawn date 10/29/23

I’m so excited about this! What a great new adventure, your breeders and their babies are gorgeous and healthy. The ones I’ve gotten from you are doing great! I’ll be trying some BAP too this year with the sister Club (livebearers). Very exciting! 🤩🎉

Hi @Cory, Most folks on this forum (thank you btw, very good forum) don't know that at one time I used undergravel UG) filters in all my planted tanks with good success. When I transitioned to using root tabs that contain ammonia I ceased use of undergravel filters. A UG filter draws the the water from the substrate surface through the substrate to the area of the root tabs (where the concentrated ammonia is) and then up the output tubes of the UG filters. Ceasing the use of UG filters started my search for good filtration alternatives - long story short. After trying several brands (but not all - lol) I have decided on the Fluval 07 series of canister filters and the Hagen HOB Aquaclear filters. Why? First they are quiet. Second they are reliable. Third they have good media availability. Fourth, when you need parts (and eventually they will all need parts like impellers, impeller shafts, internal trays, etc) they can be found relatively easily (unlike some brands). Fifth, they have a good warranty backed by a well established company and an (800) number for service support. You may remember an article I did for the GSAS newsletter where my 2 year + 10 month old Fluval 2.0 died. It had a 3 year warranty. I contacted Fluval Customer Service, gave them the purchase information and sent the old 36" fixture with a copy of the receipt to them. One week later a new Fluval 3.0 was on my doorstep. That is the type of service that keeps customers coming back. -Roy