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Well the reason why I did the big water change was because I was getting ready to do a fish-in, but plans changed. So I'm going to try this until we (the kids) are ready to go to the petstore again.

I'm trying again, based on your advice, and just added 4 drops of ammonia and a couple of "shakes" of bug bites. I don't like the idea of using expensive (for me) fish food with no fish, but it's all I had, and I read it may have other things beneficial to bacteria growth. So I just need to remember to feed the tank daily. We'll see what happens.

Wanted to add that I grow out corys on bare bottoms and don't see any issues at all with them.

I find that my tanks with bare bottoms have less snail issues than other tanks. It could be a function that I'm changing more water and therefore removing extra food more often. But I think another factor is that the food gets eaten more completely because it can't fall down in between gravel and sit there for a snail. That said... it seems inevitable that snails will get introduced unless you're following what I consider impractical methods. I'd go with a whole new tank/setup and just cycle it fresh unless you have a snail-free tank you can pull a sponge out of...

I agree with everything you said except for flakes. Flakes can make a betta bloat.

Fed me puffers some frozen Baby Brine Shrimp today, first time trying that particular food. I wasn't quite expecting how tiny it would be! In hindsight, I should have predicted that babies would be incredibly small! It was hard to tell if my puffers were eating or not because of how small the food was. But they did get super excited and zoomed back and forth through the clouds of white specks, so I assume they did get some. I'll feed some frozen mosquito larva tomorrow, maybe I'll actually be able to see them eat that way! A couple of puffer pics from today. I still haven't scaped the tank fully - should hopefully have time tomorrow or the day after. Oops, not sure why the final two photos are upside down. One contains an incredibly cute puffer looking right at the camera!

Still waiting for Bolivian rams to complete qt!

So I bought 2 fancy goldfish and a “rubberlip pleco” at roughly the same time. Pleco has turned out to be a bloodfin bulldog pleco, L276, which is pretty cool. One goldfish, the black moor, is a normal Petco goldfish, though very well-proportioned and pretty. About 4” at 1 year. Then there’s the calico fantail, who is very in touch with her carp heritage. She’s over 6”. 3” in body alone. And still not really adult-shaped. This is the *younger* of the two fish, she’s under a year. And she eats anything and everything. The pleco, meanwhile, is 2 1/2” or so. I am beginning to worry about him becoming a snack. He’s s tough little thing, but even so. The internet tells me he should top out at 6”, which would be fine for a goldfish tankmate, but he’s growing a lot more slowly than the goldies. Space has become an issue, so his living options are: -continue with the goldfish, hope he doesn’t look tasty - put him in with the hillstreams of unidentified species who are probably pseudogastromyzon? 20g long unheated high flow tank. I’d have to add a cave for him, but that shouldn’t be an issue. - put him in with the betta smaragdina male. Blackwater 10g, about 75F, low flow. I think this is probably a terrible idea but throwing it out there. - get him his own 10g to grow in and eventually re-introduce to the goldfish tank. I do not have a flat surface to fit any larger tank than that. Thoughts? The little conundrum himself - his name is Pancake.

My swordtail gave birth last Saturday and I was able to catch about 25 babies. Put them in a breeder box and they started eating grindal worms on day 1. It’s now day 3 and I fed them grindal worms again but I noticed that they already grew bigger. I’ve always kept community tanks and just let things happen in the tank but my roommate was very adamant on catching the babies. I’m super excited to see how they will turn out. Vid of their first day and then today

Hey everyone, Started with a community tank full of plants and products from the Co-op and it's ballooned into a full fish room. Currently working on breeding apistos and CPDs, and well as growing tons of plants for profit. My LFS is awesome for livestock, but not so much for plants so I've built up a good number of customers in the area. Also just emptied a tank of Dragon Mosaic Guppies so ready for another livebearer project!

I haven’t even thought of asking him lol 🤦🏻‍♂️ Thanks for the suggestion! Gonna message him now 🙏🏻

I do but every three days. The way I have my tank scaped makes it very difficult to gravel vac but I do as much as I can. I have messaged Ron and asked if there are any drawbacks to not doing a gravel vac when feeding medicated food and the only reason he gave me was that it can cause a reinfection. When I used it on my 20 long i just vacuumed the front part of the tank and I didn’t encounter any issues.

@knee have you been gravel vac’ing every 2 days? I've also used and swear by that medicated food. I’ve never had any issues. You’ve got me very curious.

I figured it out. I think there is a problem with the pump bulb of the vaccum I was using. I switched it out with the pump from my cleaning siphon and it worked like a dream.

Look for I used stock tanks or the big chemical totes. Here I see them everywhere sold used by agriculture places. I think the fertilizer comes in the big totes

This is incredible. Your vision. Your detail. This is everything a biotope should be. Well done! Very original. I've never seen a setup like this before. Be proud!

Honestly that is what they should be called rolls off the tongue nicely and makes me smile

It's only been a few days of being set up, but I originally set it up with it low at the front sloping up toward the back. That pile and crater you see in the 2nd picture was the Apistogramma doing their own aquascaping.

Never had a problem with ich x causing water issues. I used it for years and if needed is a go to in my fishroom.

I am growing concerned about Rohan. She recovered from the platy disease well and got moved back into the main tank but things are not going well for her. The sunburst male has decided she is not lady-like enough for him and he is treating her like a fellow male and bullying her, she spends all day hiding from him. It is not a good situation, Rohan will need to get moved soon, i like the male too much to move him at this point. I also realized that the mass of floating hornwort i had in the tank was blocking out a ton of light, now that it is removed photographing fish is certainly much easier Native Mosquitofish Whole tank shot: Garra Guy was being a good boy and posed for lots of pictures. The corydoras have pretty much accepted Garra Guy as one of their own when he chooses to join them. They are both active, goofball fish, that love to play in the flow so it makes some sense. Also what do you call a group of Cories? I spotted a few of mine lined up nicely next to each other. Right now im thinking its a gaggle of cories...

your water should probably be blue after dosing, so cloudy wouldnt surprise me. anything you can do to a tank can kill off bacteria, and you may have knocked down the level some. i highly doubt you killed 'em all off, so give it a few days while monitoring the tank. id almost guarantee in a few days it will come back around.

I will let them know you love their scaping

It depends a lot on what you want your filter to do. As people have hinted at above, filters don't just do one thing and there is often no right answer for what the best filter is, even for a very specific tank like yours (75g, planted, low fish load). If your concern is fish health-- eliminating ammonia and nitrates-- then almost any filter that moves water will be good enough if there is strong plant growth. You would be just fine with a sponge and HOB. If you also want your filter to help remove detritus and remove suspended particles from your water to keep it looking crystal clear, then you want something with a log of mechanical filtration and decent circulation (maybe multiple HOB or a canister). If you want to keep a higher maintenance but really pristine tank, then you probably want a canister or sump because you will need the strong flow that their pumps can provide for circulation/to keep detritus suspended but also the media space that a larger filter offers to load up on sponge/polishing media as well as bio media and, perhaps some chemical media like Purigen. It all really comes down to how you balance goals, time, and resources. If you aren't looking for a high-energy show tank full of demanding plants, then sponge filters and HOBs will more than have you covered and, in many ways, be superior to a canister because of how much easier they are to maintain, their lower cost, and much lower likelihood of leaking onto your floor. If you are looking for a filter that you can cram full of tons of sponge/purigen/media to really polish your water and are willing to pay for it in cash and maintenance time, then something like a canister will probably be a good fit.

The panduro are amazing. I love the sand hill.

How warm are your unheated tanks, typically? How warm is the goldfish tank if it's not also unheated? How big is the goldfish tank? That's a pretty pleco! 🙂

Those are some gorgeous Bolivian rams! Great photos.

Same here, but our ants don't tend to be in the same room as the fish tank.

Entry Seven - April 8th, 2024 Update on my saplings Well, I've got a lot to talk about. Let's just jump right in! First, to review the trees I have (in order of approximate age): Garry White Oak (also referred to as 'Oregon White Oak.') - deciduous, angiosperm. Heavily lobed leaves, acorn fruits. Grows in prairies. Close to one and a half years old. Hawthorn spp. - deciduous, angiosperm. Toothed leaves, spikes, apple-like fruits ... unsure if it is crataegus douglasii or crataegus columbiana; will not be able to distinguish until the tree matures to produce fruit. Both species are native and important food sources for birds & rodents. This tree was planted in March of last year, it already stands about 18 inches tall. Nootka cedar (also referred to as 'Alaska Yellow Cedar') - evergreen, coniferous, gymnosperm. Scaled leaves and rough bark. Almost nine months old, about ten inches tall. Douglas-fir - evergreen, coniferous, gymnosperm. Needle leaves and iconic cones. Unknown age, but I would guess about six or seven months old. Pacific yew - evergreen, gymnosperm, male trees coniferous (females produce berry-like seed capsules known as "arils".) Propagated by a clipping of a healthy wild specimen... the stem piece is probably two or three years old, but the parent tree is about 160 years old or so. Even though the stem piece that I planted is the oldest tree, I am including it below the others because I've only personally had the tree for two months. Bigleaf maple (x5) - deciduous, angiosperm. Massive leaves with 'helicopter'-like seeds. Important food source for squirrels, birds, and rodents. My oldest sapling is four months old, the other four are about three months old. Ponderosa pine (x9) - coniferous, evergreen, gymnosperm. I received these seeds in the mail two weeks ago; none have sprouted. That is expected, however, as they typically take about four to six weeks to sprout. I only expect one or two of the seeds to sprout, due to Ponderosa pines very small germination rate. Garry White Oak This tree was a very nice surprise. On the side of my house there is a fenced in dog-run, which my family uses as a vegetable garden. It's my job to tend the garden, (as I love it and no one else does!) and in September while I was mulching the beds in preparation for the first frost, I noticed a cute little stick growing from under the fence. The stunning orange leaves with their wavy lobes made it very obvious to me; it was a Garry White Oak tree! Because it was just about to go dormant, I let it be. I did not want to disturb it. On the reservation there are many oaks... too many for me to count! When me and my family go up to visit, me and my brother each bring a two-gallon bucket and collect the acorns. This gives us at least a months supply, but leaves thousands more for the wildlife. I put the acorns in our squirrel/Steller's jay feeder. Acorns are: a favorite food of squirrels, rodents, and larger birds; the more natural food of squirrels, rodents, and larger birds - meaning they are likely better for them & easier to digest than peanuts, which do not naturally grow in the Pacific Northwest more resistant to the dampness of the Pacific Northwest, making them better for squirrels & rodents to store away. Peanuts are more likely to rot, due to their softer shell that is prone to getting soggy. I have noticed some of the squirrels in our backyard burying the acorns in the garden, which is both very cute and a little foolish. However, one squirrel must have decided to bury the acorn under the fence, only for it to sprout and grow a tree! I transplanted the tree into a pot last week, and it has been adjusting very well! I planted in sandy soil with lots of dry organic matter (shredded bark & leaves) to mimic the natural prairie setting these trees thrive in. Hawthorn spp. So, this is a bit of a doozy! I know this tree is a hawthorn, but I do not know whether it is black hawthorn or Columbia hawthorn. The leaves look like black hawthorn, however the tree is so young it truly is hard for me to tell. The bark looks like Columbia hawthorn... however, the tree is so young it truly is hard for me to tell. Black hawthorn is an incredibly great tree that was a wishlist species for me for a very long time. The fruit is incredibly important for birds, especially our late-summer species. I've also seen cute Douglas squirrels munching on them before! I was on a hike with my brother; this trail was local, about a fifteen minute drive, and had stunning views of waterfalls and the river. It is an amazing old-growth forest with so many diverse plants. We noticed we never saw any grey squirrels, so we assumed they either weren't present in high numbers or they were shy (the latter, likely; dogs frequent the trails off-leash.) However, as we descended and made our way back to the car, we saw an adorable Douglas squirrel in one of the hawthorns! They were eating the berries, and it was so precious. The juice was smeared all over their face and they were eating it like an absolute monster!!! The fella must have been about six months old, as it was late-summer and the little thing was tiny. Gosh, I wish I took pictures of that. Here is a different Douglas squirrel I hang out with though! I know feeding wildlife is not the best practice, but this squirrel is fed daily by many different people. I personally feed him once a week... he is basically a domesticated animal that simply lives in the woods. He even knows tricks and his name; his name is Buzzley (or 'Buzz')! In this picture he is eating an almond. Here is the difference in fruits (and leaves) compared to Columbia hawthorn. Once the tree ages, I'll be able to tell which it is! The blooms of the trees are both incredibly similar, and I am not that smart to know the difference. Honestly, I have no preference which species it grows to be. Both are native, edible, and important food sources for wildlife. The only minor preference I have is black hawthorn grows bigger and taller than Columbia hawthorn; do I care? Not that much. I just think big trees are prettier... and they do indeed provide more habitat for nesting birds. However, Columbia hawthorn often grows bush/shrub-like, which would provide habitat for ground-dwelling birds, bunny rabbits, rodents, and insects. So maybe I truly don't have a preference! Nootka cedar Sadly, not much to comment on. It is doing well! Here's a picture. I have moved it outside because I was running out of room on my window. But it is adjusting well and is still a lovely tree! While we're at it, here are all of my trees that are outdoors. My dad and I built this shelf in February, it was a fun project. He is teaching me how to work with wood and tools and all that manly stuff... it is really fun and I love it! Douglas-fir I was not planning on getting a douglas-fir, but I found this guy on the side of my house very close to the oak, and figured I may as well dig him up! It is bizarre, however, because the closest douglas-fir is 100 feet away and across the stream. Perhaps an animal stored it; I cannot imagine the seed fell there. But I also did not plant it... I was quite shocked to see it. Still, a tree is a tree; I dug it up and transplanted it in soil mixed with some sand, ash, and compost. Douglas-firs are quite aggressive spreaders and are quick to colonize a recently burned site. I did want to mimic this, so I added the ash in. They do okay in moist soils, but not wet -- so the bottom most layer is composed of pebbles for drainage and the soil has sand mixed in, again to aid in drainage. One peculiar aspect was the tree's weakness. Its stem is not very strong and was falling over even before I dug it up. I tied it to a stick to help support it and train it. Another bizarre feature I took note of was the codominance of stems -- that is, when a tree trunk/stem splits into two (or more) three parts. I am unsure if this is common in saplings; I can confirm just by taking hikes that it is certainly not the most common in mature trees; however, I have seen it a handful of times. Perhaps one stem will prevail and grow taller than the other until the other is drowned for nutrients and light? We will see. Finally, it did have some root rot and other root diseases. Despite their ubiquitous appearance here in the Pacific Northwest, douglas-fir is prone to lots of diseases. I did cut off the major pieces of roots that were affected with the disease and treated the ends with some light root hormone. Hopefully it will recover. Bigleaf maple Originally, I had ten saplings; I now have five. Behind my fence, there is a lovely stand of twelve bigleaf maple trees. They are middle-aged, I'd say, about thirty to forty years old. (Side note: Bigleaf maples are just starting to bloom... it is VERY exciting!!!!) Bigleaf maples are obnoxiously prolific. They each produce hundreds of fertile seeds that disperse via a helicopter-like mechanism. That means every February and March we have at least a couple hundred saplings growing in our garden beds. While I was weeding most of them, I selected ten of the healthiest saplings and transplanted them into small planter containers. Two died within the day due to their roots being disturbed; over the next month three more died. Currently one looks as though it is going to die as well. However, one is incredibly healthy and I have full confidence it will continue to grow for many many years. The other three are super healthy as well! I have a theory that perhaps the overall survival rate of these trees is low. While I did pull up many saplings, I have also seen them naturally die after a month in the garden. At least fifty of these saplings did this. With how many seeds they produce, maybe only the strongest plants can survive to prevent overcrowding and too much competition. Hm... interesting. Ponderosa Pine (seeds) No big update on these seeds. None have sprouted, as it's only been two weeks. Ponderosa pines typically take about 4 to 6 weeks to sprout; and even then I only expect about one or maybe two (if I am lucky) to sprout, as the germination rate of ponderosa pine is incredibly low... less than 20 percent. Pacific Yew I was so, so SO excited to give an update on this one!!! Out of pure curiosity, I gently dug it up six days ago, and it has started to grow an itsy bitsy very tiny hair root from the stem!!!!! I cannot express my joy over this!! I am doing more research (not that there is much information...), but I may move the tree from dirt to water instead. When plants propagate in water, pretty much all of their energy goes into growing bigger roots, not bigger leaves/stems/etc. Which is what I want! These trees are incredibly slow-growing, and I can't control that. However, with them being a threatened species but so incredibly important to wildlife -- and beautiful -- I want to ensure my cutting survives. Having large healthy roots is the best way to ensure this! However, I don't want to accidentally kill it or shock it, so I am trying to do more research. I will update if anything changes. Here is a picture! Conclusion Hey!!! Thanks so much for reading about my trees! And even if you just checked out the pictures or skimmed or even if you didn't read... you are awesome! I am so glad I get to share my passion with the world, and I hope you share yours, too! It means a lot to me just how kind, welcoming, and honest people are - especially that they are honest and kind at the same time. Being in this community has really boosted my self-esteem and helped a bit with my online social anxiety. I know I am rambling off-topic, but I appreciate you all very much. It is great to feel so "okay" being unsure or ignorant about something and then being taught things in a kind way by people of all ages. Thanks for reading! Go outside and PLAY!!! I LOVE playing outside... it doesn't make me "childish" - it makes me free.

Agreed. I like both Dan's and aquahuna for different reasons. Agreed

It still automatically links to their website. *shrug*

Sounds like they might start selling gravel if they get enough interest. If you are interested, you should send an email.

My 75 has 2 acoop sponge filters.

To be honest I’ll probably have to age my water anyway, as I’ll have to heat the new water in the container which I’ll probs do overnight anyway so it will be being aerated anyway lol

Yes, this is how i received my Java Fern from them. It was a bunch of small rhizomes all tied together in one big bunch.

You would want to QT them if possible. There are newly found parasites that can go from one group/species to another (neocaridina to caridina even). You would want to research what to look for and then observe them. As things like Australian vs Japanese amano shrimp have found there way into the hobby there is sourcing concerns and parasites that are being found in hobbyist tanks as a result. The link above is the best resource we have when it comes to shrimp diseases that I know of apart from literature available in Europe, mainly Germany. They have good photos and research studies that you can find as well. Get that magnifying glass out!

I’m really digging my 45 gallon, water change and some trimming and the Lilly’s are really popping. This is Princess Peaches 🍑 home until the 65g is purchased and setup probably 2025 realistically. The inhabitants are quite comfortable as I’ve not done my usual pushing up the numbers to the utter maximum- I have to say I have a deserved reputation as a maximalist and it’s worked until it’s not worked. Lately we’ve had problems with the 5 black spotted hatchets I bought a few weeks back. I was going to the Coop every 2 weeks looking at them - they had 8 and when I finally convinced the fishwife that it’s time and she said yes they sold 3 to someone with a preexisting group and had 5 left. Initially it was awesome they schooled and it worked but then came this week they’ve been chasing each other and have spread throughout the tank. I’ll just have to wait for them to bring in a group again and I’d probably double up to 10. I’m waiting for some plants to grow in in the left side near the mattenfilter. I threw In Some water wisteria and sprite to provide some cover for the hatchets and because it’s pond season soon and they’ll be useful. For about 3 hours they seemed super chill and schooled again then all hell broke loose and they’re in their corners again. Good news is fins are intact and as long as they have good food and clean water I think we’ll be ok.

You’ll never know the nightmare that was getting SMALL archerfish out of a QT. I genuinely can’t imagine getting the giant powerful ones out of a huge tank. They’ll cause seriously harm to themselves before they get caught in a net it’s unbelievably tricky. Only one that could rival them is Denison barbs.

Ive seen many occasions of bettas bullying or even reaching to killing phase for guppies, pygmy cories, honey gourami, endlers, apistogramma triple red male (and it was the late addition to the peaceful tank after betta and she hated him for life in a 160 liter tank) and more. I had 11 until this day, and currently have 2 females and 1m in 3 different community setups How long has it been since you have 6 bettas? I would suggest to wait and see. I wish the best of luck, but my long time betta sorority failed too hard once I lost a few and number dropped to three to four. Chaos. If you wanna try Jaws in a community tank, I would do this: Get a small second sponge filter in the Jaws’ 15g tank and start running it as soon as possible. In the following weeks, setup the new 10g tank and directly move the old sponge in and stock with a small school of fish you want Once you make sure there is no ammonia and nitrite issues in the new tank with established filter, you can get other fish you want, or try moving in Jaws there. As a result, based on the scenario, I would either move Jaws to the 10g and keep her alone (if she is a confirmed aggressive one in the first scenario) and move the schooling fish to 15g tank (as 15 is bigger and would provide a better peaceful community) or, If things go well, I would keep jaws with small schooling fish in the 10g, and stock the 15 the way you want.

Interesting feedback. I almost feel like another tank might be in order (10 gallon for Jaws) after reading the feedback. Shame to waste the real estate in the 15. Darn another tank! 🙂 Once the family room is done, I'll be adding a 55 too.

How is the behavior of the checkerboard cichlids? Have they been aggressive at all?

I've been feeding lots of brine shrimp and white works as fry have been popping up. Some of them are a little more ambitious:

I wouldn’t worry about the betta being too aggressive to other fish. Bettas are mostly aggressive to bettas. But you do have the other tank just in case. I don’t think it’s an issue though. Fish we have kept bettas with. Harlequin and espei Rasbora s, platys (we have one currently who thinks she’s a platy) neons, otos, all kinds of Corys, snails (did have 1 out of 20 go for them, but only in a small tank with just those 2 by themselves). kuhli loaches and other bottom dwellers. there are fish I wouldn’t keep with them. Skirt tetras, lemon tetras, zebra danios. These are by far too nippy for bettas. we currently keep 6 bettas in community tank. Really don’t see aggression from them. Them in tank first or last. Not an issue from what we see.

My husband’s 10g needs a water change every week, the 29g about every 2 weeks. The 75g is new, but changed water last week and this week it’s still pretty and pristine with good numbers so we’ll wait. I just like fussing over my tanks. It gives me something to do besides laundry and household cleaning on the weekends 😂

Photo and video bomb 💣 Breeding and rearing projects. Starting to contemplative culling and refocusing some projects. Shrimp 🦐 Santa guppies Diamond tetras Plecos L144 L519 L397

All those are females.

Thanks guys. Today she looks a lot better. She's swimming around relatively calmly and her stomach has broadened back out a bit. Appreciate the advice.

Finally moved all the fish yesterday. I started around 5pm and finished 12 hours later 😅😴😴😴 The 40 breeder has yamaya stones and Icelandic lava rock. I really enjoyed the driftwood placement on the previous scape so I kept that part. Water is still a bit cloudy cause I messed with the media of the filter. Added some quick start to help the bacteria. I’m keeping the kinda dark shadowy vibe of this tank and will probably add some epiphytes and floating plants. The 60 breeder didn’t take long to clear up. I used dragon stone and maple leaf stone for this tank. Wasn’t able to use my other driftwood piece cause of space. I preferred the other piece because it’s grey and doesn’t blend in with the stones. Had to settle with this piece so I tried to make it work I kinda like the more open look to this tank. Planning to add more stem plants that aren’t demanding, some echinodorus and more crypts. Might do some floating plants as well.

Did some feeding tonight- one of the advantages of having 2 boys under 9 are the leftover veggies that the shrimps and plecos get. Tonight it was cucumber and the plecos had a ball. My pride and joy is this female longfin standard L144 ancistrus - gorgeous! Elvira is her name! Nextdoor is my 20 high with Santa guppies, 6 L519 juvies, and shrimp - Malawa, Aura blues and Bloody Mary’s. Guppies are such opportunistic creatures as suddenly a treat for the plecos and shrimp becomes there’s! The 20 long up above has my cherry shrimp and they’re coming along nicely as well. I hope everyone is well and having fun. I have some ponds that I’m getting back into shape and a new fish coming tomorrow so exciting times in the BBG fish house! Updates to come and hopefully sooner than later!

Take your aerator with you and go into your local mom and pop hardware store. Look around for the guy with white hair and tell him you want to hook a garden hose hose to your bathroom faucet. Hand him the aerator and in few minutes you'll be good to go.

Couple Guppy shots, and my 5 gallon blue dream tank.