Leaderboard

Command home from the swap with these guys today. My friend got them from Dans Fish and asked if I would breed them. https://dansfish.com/catalog.dive/3 These are so gorgeous in person. Absolutely stunning. Looks like 2 boys 3 girls. I put them in a 15g with a collection cup. Wish me luck !

Two 150 watt 15000 lumen 6500k lights. I'm only 45 bucks on this project. I'm hopeful for some good results on my 150 gallon.

I have black substrate in a couple of tanks. Of the Cory’s, only the albinos tand out. The rest kind of blend in. White or gold mystery snails are ok and visible. Vibrant shrimp should work fine. Neon tetras red stripes disappear. My tanks also have painted black backgrounds. So a whole lot of black/dark. Green neons are probably the best. Possibly glow lite rasboras, glow light tetras. Lamb chop rasboras.

I'm always going to beat this drum, as they're so underrated. But, I would get 15-20 Chili Rasboras. When they color up, they are the best looking red fish you can get, imo. And...AND....they're practically like shrimp, where they add almost zero to your bio load.

My favorite fish I have currently is probably my electric blue acara. My most wanted fish is an electric blue jack dempsey or a green terror. Top 10 fish I have in no particular order. 1. Electric blue acara 2. Turquoise rainbowfish 3. Koi angelfish 4. Three spot gourami 5. Koi swordtail 6. Panda apisto 7. Candy koi betta 8. Honey gourami 9. Apisto borelli 10. Red neon blue eye

Ones I have. Angels for sure, just got a group of Bolivian rams. And large groups of corys. Pandas and skunks right now. realy want to try. Severums. Flower horns or Midas cichlids. And shell dwellers ah heck, who am I kidding, I want to try all the fishes

For shrimp population explosion it’s not a big concern. They produce very little bioload (waste). Many babies will get eaten as @Lennie said. Ramshorns are a different matter. They produce a lot of waste and will degrade your water quality. I’m a snail lover and find them beneficial to planted tank but I speak from experience on that. I recommend removing some of them as you see them in an easy spot on the front glass to help keep the numbers in check. it won’t seem like they are a problem until they are. They multiply exponentially.

Personally I love black substrate! I think it really helps the fish and plants pop. Only issue is it will show fish poop and dead plant leaves a lot more than lighter substrates. But if you’re ok with a little gravel vac work to make it pretty, it’s no big deal! As for suggestions, I use Eco Complete and I like it. It’s relatively inexpensive and looks nice. You can always use regular black gravel or sand from your local Petco/PetSmart and load it with root tabs! Both are fairly smooth and soft so wouldn’t bother your future Cory’s! Those are the two main options I can think of but I know there’s more out there 🙂

The short answer is yes, that’s way too many fish for a 6 gallon. Consider only the honey gourami and some shrimp.

Yes, they've got such unusual body shape, gorgeous pattern, and a funny/elegant way of movement! I particularly love that the pattern extends to the tail and the fins too. This is mine when it was a lot younger and smaller (it's about 5" now, I think)

It’s up and running!!!!! Got the 75g going today and starting cycling!

My favorite type are wc dwarf cichild. Those with their natural colouring. Some species i have or will soon have include a. winkelfleck, b. cupido, i. bimaculata, a. ortega, m. ramirezi, a. cacatuoides (mean suckers), a. lineta, ... I guess we are suppose to post a picture so this is my male a. winkelfleck: and a. bitatina and laetacara dorsigera and ... well was going to do b. cupido but don't you think this is enough pictures ? I mean how many pictures do you all want ? Oh well we will do the cupido family and that is it: All photos are fishes i actually currently own; i have excluded pictures of fishes i owned in the past like this one:

My favorite fish at the moment is my goofball Panda Garra named Garra Guy

I agree White Clouds are a must for me I have the gold variety which are so pretty. I would take corys as a close second they are so goofy plus they have given me an excuse to upgrade to another tank 😂

Great Question! I love all Cory’s and plecos those are my top two for sure! But I recently got some killifish and I am in love with them! Thanks for putting such a cool post together! Excited to see what else everyone loves

They are larger than my beckfordi. So far about the same personality with a bit higher activity level. I’ve only had these in the tank for about 3 hours. I love the intense wiggle sparring of the beckfords as well as the color change and personality. I can’t give any more comparisons yet. These are way too pricey for me. But hey if someone gives me free fish and asks me to try and breed them I’m all in!!!! Here are my Beckfordi.

@KentFishFanUK I’m pulling on an older thread here… My kid just stumbled on a high cache of Fairy Shrimp in a local park minutes from our home… We started out birding… … but quickly turned into all out naturalist “whatevering.” He found these… And caught one…

For what it's worth, my first planting of stems (Bacopa caroliniana) I was convinced I was terrible, but I was planting into coarse, rough gravel. Finer substrate is so much easier, so you were kind of planting with one hand tied behind your back, there.

We use greenhouse sheets, as mentioned above. Cory has a youtube video on this. Here is a photo of mine (lid was lifted a little because I had some airline wedged in there): https://forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/33733-helplessnewbies-20g-planted-tank/?do=findComment&comment=321291

I attempted to breed honey gouramis a few months back. I placed a conditioned male into a 10 gallon tank (lowered water level to about 4-5 inches, sponge filter, heater, air stone with good aeration, and a java moss clump). Placed the female into a deli cup with water into the tank, acting as a physical barrier (since the male chased the female without a bubble nest in previous attempts). Didn't keep her in there for long, as the male prepared a bubble nest. I then separated the male and female, and left for a few hours. After returning, the male had all his eggs in the bubble nest. He then began eating them and destroying the bubble nest. I removed the male from the tank and salvaged the remaining eggs. I wasn't sure I could raise them up as there was no information I could find online about raising gouramis without the dad. I lowered the water level even more, to about 1-1.5 inches, and increased the aeration. The next day the fry hatched, and the majority survived into the free-swimming stage. I began with feeding paramecia, eventually upgrading to vinegar eels and live bbs. The water level was raised very gradually, water changes were tedious, but I used a deli cup to - very carefully - lower the clean water into the tank, tipping the container very slowly to let the water out. I did not raise any water for the first 2 weeks, and then increased it by maybe 1-2 inches every 1.5ish weeks (depending on their size). I was only able to raise about four fry into the juvenile stage, but I do not think this was due to the lack of a dad. I had very few deaths in the first week. The rest were unfortunately care related, as this was one of my first few times raising fry. Here are a few photos of them. Sorry for the bad quality lol

I have very little experience with gourami. Give yourself a pat on the back for your quick action removing the male. Even if it was 1 fry that made it from the egg stage to free-swimming stage and growing. That's quite an accomplishment for your first breeding. @Gliderzz

The other way to keep them in groups, if you can find someone that sex them correctly. I started with 6 in 75 ended up with 2 pairs. One pair is mild, the other has a very aggressive male in it. I now know who is who though. I think I’m going to separate the aggressive pair and let them breed once. Then separate into male and female tanks. They’re not really aggressive unless they’re laying eggs. Then watch out. @Gliderzzso if you can actually sex them before buying, I don’t think you’ll see much aggression. If keeping alone, and I wouldn’t worry about that. They’ll be fine. They can be kept with a ton of midsized fish species. Anything from large tetras, to any bottom dweller, to things like severum, geophagus, electric blue acara. Just not anything too fin nippy.

All tetra have adipose fins. It is a distinguishing feature used in the field for marine and freshwater fish alike. Although we still don’t know what it was used for, as it appears to be vestigial in most fish.

@Guppysnail Do not worry, just wait till fall to try breeding the Aspidora. I am in no hurry. We can wait till fall There is no use sending them in different packages I can wait And it sounds like you have your hands full, but sounds like fun and heaven having so many babies and eggs … Best wishes on your Breeding program, I wished there was a fish club near me If You still have the same phone number, I still have it. I have the same home number but different cell and number, this cell is more reliable than my last cell …changed companies But I do not have texting on my cell, it is a flip phone ... But I can talk on either home or cell unlimited, I will private message you my numbers. I use my house phone the most. Usually use Cell if I am out, not sure if I set up my cell voice mail messages yet … I did not know that about the worms and breeding, wonder if that would help the cories to ... … Might have to feed more worms I feed the worms 2–3 times a week still have white worms I have two boxes of the white, the others died the Aspidora. And the cories and few of my mix fish loves the worms, the Aspidora. Always comes to their feeding spot when I get near the tank hoping for food, they are friendly little boogers when there is food involved or cleaning 🤣🤣

That betta, oh man is it cool! Nice fish there! 😂 Corys are really looking cool, definitely looking into some, nice fish @Tony s! @tolstoy21, @FLFishChik, @Tony s, @Ninjoma, @Galabar, @Fonske, @reefhugger, thanks for sharing! Love all the the cool fishes!

@Guppysnail Oh, I hope the eggs are ok, and you will have babies ... Big hugs 🧡 Bert and Ernie is beautiful, I love your videos and I have done stupid stuff too and smack myself for it, I tried everything even the mop to try to have my cories and Aspidora to lay … Nothing ... The Snails I learned from a wonderful friend and teacher. (I think you might know her. LOL 🤣i) If I leave the clutch, it in the tank and let mother nature do her thing now I have babies everywhere. Maybe I'm trying too hard with the cories and aspidora. Bur I just in love both breeds, they are so cute but Mom is greedy I want more of them When I stared out I got a mixture of different fish and over many years found I love the bottom dwellers, letting the mixture have a good life, but I am not trying to replace the mixture only have one red eye tetra left he is so old I know I have him for 7 years they say 5 yeas is their life span he is swimming slower and staying in one place and more at the top will have to keep an eye out … I quarantine him so he will not get bullied, and I think Barney my bristolnose is going blind, not sure if he seems ok, but he can not see me when I am near, and he used to come running at mealtime now he acts like he can not see the food unless I put the food right next to him glad he is not afraid of me @Guppysnail yes please on the Aspidora I am no hurry just when you have some in spring or fall Not sure how many I need, yet I want them for two tanks, the ones I have need more buddies. And I wonder how many I need for a 29 gallon I am going to get few more Pygmy cories to, … for the 29 gallon …will add snails and some shrimp in there with them This week coming I have on the schedule of therapy and doctor visit but this week the baby snails are going to their forever home I have 6 people picking up … And one guy. From next town over is setting up a brand-new fish room, he wants as many snails as I can give him for 17 tanks he is taking shrimp too He was last on my list so not sure how many he will get, but I think there plenty for everyone and myself I always keep a few from each hatch I will stop gabbing ... You all have a good weekend and love to all 🧡

I love Hillstream Loaches. Cute as can be and its fun to watch them interact. I also am fond of a koi Angelfish named Spot I've had for years. His wife Goldie died recently...I think he's kind of happy about that as she was a bit of a bully.

I'm thinking, what would be my favorite fish? Maybe if I only could have one fish, what would it be? If that is the definition, definitely guppies. 🙂

I'm thinking along the same lines. Unless I harvest them moments after they feed, digestion alters all the compounds (the law of conservation of matter). I still believe in feeding them properly and avoiding unnecessary bacteria. Keeping them healthy and breeding is enough. ... but I'm still going to dedicate 2 cultures and try it for myself. I just can't help myself. Gotta tinker.

After several years of fish-keeping I narrowed my preferences down to "fish with some brain cells", which is apparently more important than looks for me :) Currently this category includes a trio of blood parrots, an angel, and a leopard bushfish.

2 months and a little neglect. Not fertilizing as much as it needs. A little green hair algae showed up, but the amanos too care of that quickly after I took a couple extra days not feeding the tank. I do have some staghorn algae showing up. I've never dealt with that before. I'm going to increase ferts and give it a couple weeks. Then if that doesn't work I will try reducing light intensity. Nitrates are hard to keep above 20ppm. I did add 6 cherry barbs I had in quarantine so maybe that will help keep nitrates a little higher. I did lose an oto a couple weeks ago. The other it still doing well

Monumental DUH I AM AN IDIOT day yesterday. I have been trying to get Psuedomugil luminatus eggs for a year. They hide from any spawning mop or moss hanging clump I put in the tank. I did see them spawn on the intake sponge of s HOB. I tried the mop again 2 weeks ago. Everyday for 2 weeks I checked the mop for eggs AGAIN. Nothing 😣 Yesterday I was so frustrated I pulled the mop and laid it out so I could clean it. It laid there for 20 minutes. I picked it up to clean the now drained mop and almost fell over. 20 eggs. How??? They hide and won’t go near the mop. I plucked the eggs off and returned it to the tank. Certain I killed these eggs I contacted a friend @SJ fishing who breeds these and he assured me he has left his eggs out and these should hatch just fine. They also explained the eggs are crazy hard to see if you don’t drain the mop a bit. My old lady eyes have probably been missing hundreds of eggs over this past year I never drained the mop before to look. I will know in roughly 10 days if I killed the eggs by drying to much I know when I’m not in the room the luminatus hunt the substrate. As soon as I enter they dart to the top. They won’t hunt the substrate when I’m in the room. I sat peeking around the corner for an hour and sure enough they spawned again in the mop. Maybe not going near the mop is a defense mechanism so potential predators do not think there is anything in the mop worth checking out. 🤷‍♀️

I would reach out to companies that you value yourself and are happy with the values that they embrace like co-op has or a number of the others, be it the customer service, or the focus on the environment, etc.. Someplace that will drive your passion and not lead you to dreading the work. I may be in manufacturing but I love the fact that the parts I build are for school buses and to UPS trucks. I can tell anyone that I build parts responsible for the kids to go to school. You want that level of passion.

Yeah, me too on the anxiety! Even on line. That's one of many reasons I love this forum. People here are very kind and generous with knowledge. I've always felt welcome. Another thing is the knowledge base of forum members is vast and based on experience and science. 30 gallons is very good size to start with. Its big enough to be nicely stocked with plants and fish, and be forgiving as you stabilize the setup. . Corys do love to be in a herd and they love plants, so I think that's a great fish. I feed mine Repashy gel foods a few times a week and its fun to watch them swarm to it. So Sunshine, welcome.

air likes to take the path of least resistance. so in order to run multiple objects off the same pump takes multiple valves, and some fiddling to get things balanced out. for only a few small tanks, just run 1 pump per tank, life is easier that way.

Tetras… all of them 😁

Yes and are now functionally extinct in the wild there. Yeah, and that’s the way that PetSmart/Petco sells them. All males. Correct, mine was the last one in the store, I almost suggested a trio, but with a school of wccm”s that’s pushing the tank limits. Especially if pandas are also wanted. Cherry barbs are an option, but they do prefer to be in a group. The 10g may be too small for both schools. just checked with aqadvisor. You could do both schools of 6 for 111% of tank capacity. add in 1 mystery snail for cleanup crew and your at 116% of capacity with a 38% water change weekly

Great work, nice choice!

I use 200 micron filter pad. Same material as filter socks. Dump the dirty ones in bleach solution wait a few days rinse with dechlorinator and ready to go. Sorta like purigin

I'm currently really getting into tetra species.

Put it in the garden. It’s so nutrient rich my flowers go crazy. Worm castings are the best fertilizer…even better than used tank water.

Planted a few of my plants that needed to get some roots

I have heard thet useing eldercones/tannins works like methylene blue In this video: Does it work?

Unless you personally raised it and separated it as a juvenile before they became mature it's not a question of "is my you pregnant?" it's "how pregnant is my guppy?"

has it at any time been near a male guppy? if so, 97.327% she's pregnant.

Got my very first Pleco today! Longfin Blue Eye Lemon Bristlenose! So tiny and so cute. He’ll eventually move to the new 75g, but he’s gonna live in the 29g Community tank until he grows up!

Slightly higher GH, okay. I guess I'm just fretting because, in terms of shrimp, I've only ever had Amano, and I want to get this right from the beginning. Plus my LFS is really hung up on TDS, and while the "TDS can be misleading" idea makes a lot of sense to me, 500 seemed high for shrimp and soft water fish, so I wanted to float the idea here first to draw on the forum's collective expertise.

I’ve recently been pining to get back at Cory breeding and almost bought a group of Coryadoras melanistus Ive somehow resisted the temptation to go back and pick them up. The store indicated they’d had them for months and were surprised that they still had them but the price 8.99 I was very tempted! It’s good it’s slightly off my beaten path to work! My Pygmy corys continue to look great and I’ve loved watching their secondary sexual characteristics emerge - females with big bellies and boys starting to strut their stuff. I’m super tempted to do a big colder water change but have been afraid to do so with all the other inhabitants.

have you heard of the American Fisheries Institute . Its a institute, that i think is ran by the government, that is in charge of stocking lakes and rivers and dealing with problems like Overfishing and Polution in these habitats.