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That’s the introvert one Charging its social battery back to school

For me? Yeah it’s that time of year again! but this year I’m going bigger - 300g. Adding a fountain and a cute chubby gater ‘cause, Louisiana! Moving fancy goldfish in at the end of month.

Yep. I’m aware you should do 50% wcs daily for discus until they are grown to make sure you don’t stunt their growth, so what I would do is fill up a brute heat it overnight the night before a water change, next day take heater out and just pump water into aquarium, that would work right?

Why not buy 1, see how you like it. It’s really bright on its highest setting. Then if your plants need more, then add another.

I move fish all over the place, especially when I’m raising fry. I hatch in one tank, move them to another tank, and then eventually move them to the final grow out tank until they go to the LFS. I’ve never acclimated them. Just netted them out and plopped them into the next tank. Same goes for fish that are done with quarantine and going to the display tank. Just net out and plop into the display. FWIW: I’ve never had issues doing this.

Came back to the forum after 5 months AWOL… Hi!

Give them more time to get comfortable with their new surroundings, but also keep an eye on the loner, in case it's not eating or something else is wrong with it. Even if more would make the primary 5 more comfortable, I wouldn't add more until you know everyone you currently have is okay.

About a month or so ago I collected and hatched over 100 panda cories. The most I've ever had at a time is 30 so it's been a lot. The increase of fry plus other factors crashed my growout tank and so my fry tank has had to hold juveniles longer than it usually does. While dealing with all of that, the adults have been constantly spawning. For 2 weeks they decided to spawn every single day even!! I started ignoring the spawning mops and letting the eggs mostly be eaten but now I have about a dozen fry showing up in the main tank. Just tonight I checked the mops and found TONS more eggs. Someone please stop putting viagra in the tank lol So, I think I know why they are so "excited" moreso than ever before. It's known that the presence of young can trigger a species to spawn. I think it's also causing them to not stop. It started with me adding 2 juveniles to the tank that I wanted to keep. I believe me ignoring the mops and assuming the eggs would be eaten made it worse. It caused younger and greater numbers of fry to be introduced. I even noticed that as those fry grew older, the spawning has slowed down.

Sounds like a swim bladder issue.

Hello, just wanted to introduce myself. I’m a biology teacher in Missouri, and I’ve had freshwater aquariums ever since I was a boy. I’m especially a fan of percomorph fishes, ie cichlids, sunfishes, and anabantoids. I also like livebearers, minnows, and catfishes, as well as snails, frogs, and turtles After taking a break for a few years, I recently got back into the hobby. I currently have three tanks: - A 10-gal with one African dwarf frog and bladder snails. - A 29-gal tank just cycling with bladder snails. - A 55-gal tank with about 200 guppies. The plan is to use the 55 for angelfish, blue gouramis, and a red tail shark. I’m thinking of using the 29 for the guppies, and perhaps dwarf gouramis and/or kribensis cichlids. The 10 will likely be getting a couple more African dwarf frogs soon. Well, that’s all for now. Looking forward to some nice chats soon.

I'm in the "just do it" camp. Or tank. I move fish between tanks regularly, and the only time I acclimate is for temp changes larger than 10F. Otherwise, plop and drop. Since your temps are nearly identical, should be no issues.

Albinism is specifically lack of melanin, which is why leucistic is sometimes considered a form of albinism despite sometimes still having other pigments present. Leucism is also defined somewhat differently in different species of animals. Generally it’s defined as reduced pigments (including melanin, yellow, orange, etc) but leucistic animals usually still have a dark eye. Lucy snakes species are usually all white with dark eyes. Axolotls the same - white with dark eyes. Leopard geckos usually still have a bit or a lot of yellow. Leucistic cockatiels (usually called lutinos) also have both yellow and orange still present and usually (nearly always) have dark eyes. Many lucies will develop pigment spots as they get older and they can be born with pigment spots. “Dirty” and “calico” super red bristlenose plecos and blue-eyed lemons whether they have spots or not, are all likely some form of leucism. Snow white plecos are also probably lucies since they are white with dark eyes. I’m definitely not an expert but it’s been an interest of mine and I’ve occasionally taken a dip in that genetic knowledge pool over the years. 😝 I don’t think the chocolates qualify as albino even with lack of melanin in the eyes. It may be an unusual manifestation of albinism but I don’t think the fish would qualify as a true albino with that much melanin in the skin. It might fit into a long stretch of the leucistic definition but I’m not sure. I’m not sure how much that clears anything up or if it confuses things further. I have not watched the linked video to see what they say. All this is just definitions to start, then my personal experience on what people generally call lucies.

honestly. with that little of variation between tanks. I'd probably just do it. the .6 difference in ph isn't going to be an issue. neither is the kh. most fish are acclimated because of temp differences (mostly), which you don't have. I honestly wouldn't hesitate to net and drop in new tank. actually less stress that way

Pair or trio and +1 on green neon

This reinforces my belief that many fish don't need the narrow range of temperatures that many people struggle to maintain.

Dwarf aquarium lilly my @$$!!!

I have never pulled eggs, so i really don't have any advice there. But, I can say that I tend to watch the female for indicators that she has spawned. As you mentioned, she will disappear. But her attitude towards the male will also change and she will begin to act defensive. This aggressiveness of this can vary from individual to individual, but all females will strike some 'defensive' posture to one extent or another, in my experience. So, knowing your couple's specific/typical behavior certainly helps. It also helps to check on them daily to see if they are engaged in any courtship displays. You won't always catch them in act, but when you do it gives you a heads up on when you might have fry coming. I will also position the caves so I can shine a flashlight into the opening. My typical setup is to have the cave near the side of the aquarium, secluded under a flat piece of driftwood. I'll also position some small, potted java ferns around area to increase the female's sense of security. I keep the caves about 1/3 of the way away from the aquarium front, with the opening facing me. Usually, if there are fry in the cave I will see them. Unless I know that a specific pair of fish has successfully raised fry without eating them, I will pull the adults instead of pulling the eggs. Having the parents raise them is the best route to go, but if I need to relocate some voracious child munchers, I will. Typically, I almost always relocate the male to reduce the stress that can often be put on him by the female. Not the exact answer you're probably after, but what you're experiencing is pretty much what I experience in terms of spawning not always being obvious. The above is how I've adapted to that fact over the years.

You can do small to mid size cories, neon tetras and one BN. You can’t do angels as they get big, so they need a big tank. I personally wouldn’t add zebra danios too, because in a small tank, one school of big fish that uses the same swimming level is a better idea, and zebra danios are too active and I don’t think a 15g would satisfy their energy levels. Also would crowd the mid level with neons and your centerpiece fish quite a lot. As centerpiece fish, I would lean towards a betta, or honey gourami, or maybe 1m:2f sparkling gouramis. You can also do one apisto that can do in a regular tap water but not male and female together. My kribensis male is also angelic, but again, no pair. Example; the cories in the pic, one BN, one male triple red cacatuoides, 15 neons, 2 nerites, one borneo loach, and 3 amano shrimp For a scape, you can watch some videos and decide on what both you and your fish would like, and create your own style or imitate a style you like with whats available to you

Hi @FLFishChik! It depends on your stocking and the ambient temp of your house but you may not need a heater. My house ranges between 68-78F depending on the season, and I keep all 3 of my tanks unheated. The seasonality brings out some different behaviors in your fish depending on time of year. For example, at 78F you may not see much spawning behavior in your peppered cories, but if you let the tank get to 68-70F you may start to get a lot of spawns! Many tetras and catfish will also do fine at these temps. I see from your journal you have kuhli loaches, I have not kept them so I cannot provide recommendations there. I know some fish are traditionally not supposed to be kept at these lower ranges, but I keep fish like honey gourami and platies in water temps as low as 68F in winter and they seem to do fine. My single cockatoo apistogramma is fine too. I do suggest keeping a heater around for emergencies or if u need to treat ich. Treating ich in a tank kept at 68F is not fun... Just a thought if you decide you don't like heaters! Personally they scare me and it is just one more thing to plug in!

Leg and arm are doing so much better!! I spent Xmas like a vegetable, and the last months have been hectic with uni preparations, physio appointments and crud like that… How is everyone? My Endler population (and YouTube channel!) has been exploding in the last few months, and I finally started a saltwater tank!

So... funny story there... I told my wife about Petco's 50% off sale on tanks. Showed her where a 20 High would fit nicely on my office desk. Then today we're looking for something to do with the kids. I tell her, let's hit the open air mall; take the kids to the splash pads; hit up Petco on the way out. We go to Petco; I pick out a tank; she points out a decoration that would go well in the middle of the new tank with the aquascape I have planned. I prepare to leave. She asks: "is there anywhere in the older girl's room where we can set up the 5.5 gallon we have in the garage?". Well. Of course there is! And so, we will be setting up not just one new tank tonight, but two. My 20 gallon pea puffer tank, and a 5.5 gallon beta tank for my wife - er, I mean, daughter.* *Since the kid is only 2, even though there are definitely places in her room where a 5.5 gallon could go, it sounds like it's going on my wife's desk for now... 😏

Algae is just another way of planting your aquarium. And, frankly, it is the one that I'm most successful at growing.

I mention the specific tank as it's a popular recommendation for first-time aquascapers, which is why I got it...I looked at a bunch of scapes in this tank model before making mine so, I wanted to make this journal easy to find for similarly-situated newbies I started my tank with plants (...and hitchhiker bladder snails) only in November 2023, added my first intentional livestock mid-January 2024, re-did the scape with the same materials (plus some more plants) at the beginning of this month, and added my centerpiece fish, a pair of peacock gudgeons, on March 30. Here's how the tank looks now: and how it looked when I first set it up: The inhabitants are: 1x Mystery Snail (Gale of Waterdeep), 2x Otocinclus (Dot and Dash, named for the respective shapes of the markings on their tails), and 2x Peacock Gudgeons (as of yet unnamed). Temp is 74 F, pH about 7.2, GH a work in progress (6 at the moment, adding Seachem Equilibrium to bring that up 1 degree at a time every 3 days bc I'm worried about Gale's shell, but I don't want to shock anybody by changing it too quickly), Nitrate about 10 ppm -- actually trying to increase that for the plant health, Nitrate/Ammonia both 0. I'm running CO2 using a DIY system (the kind where you mix citric acid and baking soda in a reactor) with a solenoid. Usually, the drop checker goes green by the end of the CO2 period but is blue most of the day -- all the plants are easy/beginner plants that don't strictly require CO2 so this fine by me, as I'd rather have less CO2 and not risk fish health issues. Goal with the CO2 is to speed up things growing in for a jungle-y look...and Gale was eating the plants I'd added from in vitro pots so I figured they could use a boost.

For those of you with planted tanks. How long did it take for your tanks to balance out. I'm doing a 150 gallon planted tank and recently added a ton more high light plants due to my new lighting setup. It produces about 30k lumens at 2 watts a gallon. I fertilize every other day with easy green. I use root tabs upon planting and that's it. I also have co2 injection running 8bps. My parameters are 20 to 40 ppm of nitrate, 0 nitrite, ph of 6.8, water temp of 84 for discus. Zero ammonia, kh of 40 ppm, and a gh running on the high side up at almost 300(tap water issues there). I still have algea growing on certain plants like the Java fern so I've since removed them since I know not all plants will work in every setup. Any thoughts or advice is greatly appreciated.

I've been incredibly frustrated for over a year now with multiple failed spawns from my apistos. I'm down to a single pair now (actually only ever had a single pair since of the four pairs I received 7 males and 1 female). I need to be able to see when they spawn. I'll explain why. I believe that I have figured out why they have not had a successful hatch and I wish I could say that I know exactly why, but I don't. But here's what I do know. As part of troubleshooting this issue, I bought a number of pairs of pitch black rams. They've spawned multiple times and have never once had any eggs hatch. Eggs look good, are clearly developing, and then eventually turn white. The TDS of the tanks is under 90 and has been down to 15. I know that TDS isn't a perfect indicator, but just leaving that here to say that it's quite soft water. Nearly straight RO. I talked with a few discus breeders who also breed rams and a some of them cannot get eggs to hatch without pulling the eggs to straight RO shortly after they spawn. They accomplish this by putting them in a pitcher or hang-on box. Most of the time these people then artificially raise the fry. I do not have a lot of interest in that route. So, I have been re-introducing the fry once they start hatching and wiggling a bit. I've pulled eggs three times now and they have hatched successfully all three times when moving to RO. No successfully raised fry, as I think the parents kind of slowly pecked them up. But this last batch as of this morning the parents have not eaten any of the fry in the few days they've had them and I think they're getting pretty close to going free-swimming. They're starting to "hop" a bit in the dish and are constantly moving around on the dish surface. But that's not the focus here, just showing that I think I've pinpointed the issue. The people who I have talked to with this issue don't have a great idea of why it's this way for them (or for me), but it's clearly "water". The issue I have with my apistos is they never spawn "obviously"... at least for me, but I think they do sometimes spawn because she'll disappear for a couple of days and then show back up. I have a terracotta pot or two that I could place against the front or side of the tank so that I could see into it, but I feel like she would be hesitant to lay in there since it would be "open" on the big end. I'd like to hatch them in RO and then move the babies back with the parents. I have no idea if apistos will take to it like the rams seem to have. But I think it's worth a shot. The reason I want to spawn these fish is entirely to be able to observe the parental behavior. I could play parent and raise them in a fry tray in my "Dean-Style Fry System", but I don't really have a desire to do that. Has anyone done this? Should I get some sort of a one-way film so she can't see out? Am I overlooking something more obvious? I'll clearly have to pull the other caves, but maybe if I can give them a couple options that I can see into I will be able to get a shot at spawning them. I know Lowell's Fish Lab had a video where he captured his apistos spawning on camera, so maybe I can glean some information from that video. Thanks for your help in my quest to make Sushi the one-pectoral-finned wonder fish a successful mom. The kids named her. 😄 The male is either Rice or Iorek, I can't recall which is which.

Hello I'm new to the group. I have an Amano Shrimp tank. A friend gave me 2 pink & 1 blue Ramshorn snail. I now have a lot of babies..!! I know I've over fed..so I've reduced that. I'm just wandering if these are blue/leopard baby ones? The others are obviously pink ones! Or are they a random different type? I have recently removed 3 small bladder snails which I think arrived on a couple of plants. Thankyou xx

Just be careful with it. Someone here got a badly prepared cuttlebone. Started stinking and lost fish from it. put it in the hob behind the cartridge. At that point you’re going to have to figure it out. How to keep it in. With my ro water, I use seachem products to target my ph gh kh. Haven’t used the cuttlebone. But seems rather straightforward.

That's about all I can think of. I'd done it awhile back with some black static cling stuff. But I didn't give it enough time. And it was before I switched males. This male she's with now has been extremely chill and doesn't seem like he's going to beat her up like the other one did as soon as I switched some caves around.

Cut out a piece of black plastic craft sheet or aquarium background secure in place with masking or scotch tape. Cover the large side where the pot is against the side glass. Once you suspect there are eggs you can peek.

So look for a value. If you have outdoor faucets, most likely they are connected before the water softener. Of course the next question is, can you get the water to a convenient location? I am an old guy, the days are carrying 5 gallon buckets of water are long gone. I ran a hose to a 32 gallon trash can, use a pump to fill the tanks. How big is your aquarium(s)?

Yep, and like noted many people already have one. We have one for our kitchen cold water. I cut into that line and supply the cold for my utility sink in the basement where all my fish water comes from. If you do go with RO, you will want to use the softened water for that as the membrane will last longer. I age and preheat all of my water as I have a very big pH shift when my water is aerated for 24 hours. That's another important thing to check as well.

So, should I try and lower the temp then?

Yeah it is on the main water line

I think it is a time for a change The indostomus are with me for over a year now. I know when I moved them last June, there were 8, as I managed to count all of them when moving their bamboo tubes, easiest fish to catch ever. I know I lost one a month ago, and I know I have two for sure, cause I keep seeing two fish. However not more. I keep feeding like there are fish int here, which creates an algae, and with the removal of shrimp, noone cleans up. The tank looks empty all the time and having the fish did not result in them breeding, removing the shrimp didnt result in breeding, so I am done trying to breed them. I want to add something to the tank to liven it up. I have two options: move a pair of clown killifish (and get a lid) from my other tank, or get least killifish (Heterandria formosa), have a trio perhaps, two pairs, something like that. People here keep them in small volume without issues, should have their own breeding cap. Or I could move my last remaining endler male in here Not sure yet, advice much appreciated! spot the fish The darios work so far, trio is not having issues, I saw only two for a long time but during feeding the third popped up. Also issue with algae, because darios are slow eaters and force me to overfeed, also crypt melt. I am not as in love with the dario as lets say the clown killifish. Maybe I was too excited, or maybe I have a spring gloom, not sure. I mean it is nice, all works, the colors, but... The spawning mop is there for some day, to collect clown killifish eggs, once the luminatus fry grows up and moves from the cube behold the "crypts" Speaking of the fry in the box, it is doing ok, growing steadily. Will wait some more before moving it to parents tank. No picture because... tiny 🙂 So what do you think?

A bypass would just be a value connected on the main water line before the water softener, most likely you already have one. It is difficult to give advice as this is a home plumbing issue, I don't understand "water softener connected to my faucet"? Is this a small device connected to one faucet? Or do you have a large softener on the main water line? Another option, instead of Discus, go with African cichlids from the rift lakes (Mbuna, haps or peacocks). They love hard water. Wise advice I use for aquariums, the more difficult it is to maintain your tanks, the higher probability you will not maintain them properly. Adding a RODI just makes it more complicated.

@only6foot6 I’d follow the directions on packing. Sometimes it’s not the med, it’s the carrier or binding agent. We see this with livestock meds. They will have different usda instructions from different manufacturers, even though it’s the same drug in the same amount. It can even alter medication withdrawal times.

You have to find a way to stabilize your water at 200 gh. Fluctuations can actually cause stress, and then disease. So I’d pick a method and use it constantly. Crushed coral in a media bag is good, wondershell works good. Cuttlebone works as long as they prepared it correctly. The key is a nice flat 200 gh. it shouldn’t raise. Gh shouldn’t raise ph. Kh raises ph

I'd put a bypass around your water softener and just use tap water for your fish, unless you're breeding something that needs very soft water. I'm not convinced that hard water cannot work for most fish. I've kept a bunch of different "soft water" fish over my years in the hobby including discus, apistos, and rams (rams are fairly recent addition) and I don't think it causes any issues as long as you maintain your tank.

During the rest period after the medicated food, Geppetto healed on his own, and I didn’t need to remedicate. 🎉

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. I'd like to get a group of scissortail rasboras but haven't located any near me yet, so in the meantime I'll put a few mollies in to see if that helps, and obtain some puppy grass. I appreciate the assistance!

That's really interesting. Thankyou. So you would say these are Ramshorns? They are so sweet..

Of course you would 😀. Most people would. But… if you look closely, it does have a kind of beauty to it too. Yours looks very alive and healthy 😀. It’s all relative. 🤣 I think this is kinda cool in a different kind of way

Besides the look, there’s really nothing wrong with algae. LRB aquatics uses algae in his tanks. Have heard Bentley Pascoe was thinking about using black beard in an aqua scape. Iv’e seen black beard in some of Cory’s tanks. It honestly doesn’t have to be a big deal. Adding siamese algae eaters or Florida flag fish will help. Some people get really into having well manicured display tanks. Which is great. But that’s a whole other rabbit hole some people go down. Most average people just want healthy fish. Heck, most average keepers are quite content with colorful gravel and plastic plants for that matter. It really is in the eye of the beholder.

Same here🥲the hair algae is THRIVING

Sunburst platy has been released and is settling in well, he already has figured out he has lots of friends in the tank The previous male is in a breeder box so i can easily catch him out later to move him

Darios are almost three weeks in and displaying chasing and dominance. I really dont know when/how will I decide which one to separate They also do not stay on the bottom almost at all. I thought they were a bottom dwelling fish Those two are for sure males. The rest, no idea... On other tanks, I found a pygmy coryodras stuck behind a filter sponge. I freed it, expecting it to be dead, was not but is swimming funilly. I put it in a net on the surface to have it easier time breathing, but I expect it will die. Either it was hurt by the very soft sponge, or the reason it got stuck was it is already not ok. I did a water change wednesday though 😞 If it dies, I have like 5 cories left. I will either buy another 10, but it is an expensive excersise like that, or get an aspidoras, or... nothing? Am sad

One of the darios is stripped instead of solid color, not sure if stress. It is also very much chased away. Wonder what is going on there

I replaced the sponge in the luminatus/rabbit tank, and tried to hide it with an anubias. Not sure how it works. I also left the old sponge in, for now. Some egeria, some cryptocoryne, pennywort, frogbit. Will see I keep collecting eggs and removing the ones with fungus. For next time pictures I need to remove the whie box in front of the tank, the glare is always visible

Today dario update - will have to try to take some pictures at night, to avoid the glare on the tanks. I fed a mix of live bbs and few frozen bloodworms, was not bad, they did eat the worms as they were falling down, saw one eat one that was lying on the ground too. I think I will have to remove one of the darios. I will first rescape a bit more, I already moved one of the stones with the java fern to the middle part. I have lush green in the left side, a mass of green on the right but the middle is sort of opened. The fish chose the territories as right front, right back, right back center and one fish has the whole left side. But the fifth one is being chased away from basically anywhere There is one massively red fish I cant take a picture of, since it hangs near the filter and in the back