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Hi! My name is Rob Knox and my wife and I both keep and breed several species. Currently we are raising gold Macmasteri fry from 3 different females, nijsseni (ucayali) from 2 females, red spot gobies and hundreds of peacock gudgeons. Looking to connect more with community, I tend to be more on the reclusive end.

I find space works well for smaller numbers. I have 5 angels in my 150 and they go at eachother all the time. There's enough of them to spread out the aggression so no one fish gets it all the time.

Do you know there sexes? While it might be possible to reintroduce them i have found they have very long memory and it is not overly likely they will get along at a later date. The best chance would be to move the aggressor into the target's aquarium but i doubt it will work.

If the silicone is still soft it's pretty likely that it is fine. I had a tank from the fifties or so that was good. It had a slate bottom that weeped a bit but the silicone which I have no clue how old it was was fine.

Increasing the numbers could work. I had 6 in my 55. 2 got taken out as they formed a breeding pair. The reminding 4 were exactly as you’d expect. The only real aggression is when the pair in that tank spawns, but I just pull the eggs and by the following day it’s back to normal. Eventually I held back 2 Angels that I raised and put them back in the 55 to bring the total back to 6. No problems adding the fish as I grew them out enough before adding them. The male that was paired with a different female is now paired with a female from the 2 I added back. Again, the only real aggression is when they spawn as they protect their clutch.

It's often hard to keep only two cichlids (or sunfishes for that matter) of the same species in the same tank. A singleton is okay, and several are often okay, too, because of aggression dilution (although you're more likely to get breeding pairs, and then all bets are off). However, if you have only two, it's easy for one to bully the other, or for both to go to war, undistracted by anyone else. If you still wanted to keep the two together, you might get away with it if you had other angels in there with them (although again: more likely to get one or more territorial, breeding pairs that way). Another trick you might try is putting other compatible, comparably semi-aggressive cichlids or gouramis in there - or even dither fish or catfish - so that they are distracted and don't have time to fight each other.

No more projects man. I have 25 Tanks 🤣

Intrepid Partner added a light to the stand, it may be temporary since we may go with a light that can change brightness and/or color but it gave us an idea of how it looks. We're at a tiny bit of a standstill. This last week we'd tried to plan to move the tank on top of the stand. So I helped Intrepid Partner do some finishing work on the doors (wood needed notches cut to accommodate magnet closure contact). Let me tell you how much I appreciate him having made the doors removeable. He'd attached the marine grade wood to the top and bottom of the stand as well. Once that was finished the stand was moved in place and we uncrated the tank (at least took everything off but the platform) to get ready to move it. Then we got to discussing how we're going to move this approximately 400lb tank to the stand later (we had potential help on standby) but noticed we have a floor problem. Backstory: The area you see to the left of the stand in pictures used to be a garage once upon. Well the area where the tank is going to be placed (for good reason) used to be a wall so it has support under the house. However, the floor where the wall used to be is not totally flat. One side of the stand is pretty flush the other not so much, almost a seesaw effect. Now while in my estimation this will likely level out (meaning the higher side will probably be pushed down) with a 400lb tank on it (and water) Intrepid Partner wants to look into using a foam pad similar or the same as the one the tank has to sit on. Here is how it sits on the left side closest to the outer house wall: And here is the side furthest away: There is always something isn't there? To be continued....

The Wetspot Tropical has them.https://www.wetspottropicalfish.com/product/andinoacara-pulcher/

I'm not saying it's good for them, but the level of ammonia displayed on that test (the picture you posted above) wouldn't be fatal. Was it higher than that, when the fish were added and died? I suspect there is more than one cause involved, and I admit that makes it harder to troubleshoot/fix. Other than tank not cycled/ready, the most common causes of fish dying when added to new tank by new owner are insufficient acclimation (parameters too different), and disease (often fish are already sick when you buy them). A lot of these issues are cumulative, eg any one problem might not cause death, and might not even be noticed, but when you add them together it's too much. With other problems, the relatively low ammonia level you're seeing could be more important. Re cycling: letting water sit, even with a filter running, and even with live plants, won't "cycle" a tank. "Cycled" means having enough beneficial bacteria to process the metabolic wastes from the organisms within the tank. The plants you added will have introduced a teeny tiny amount of those bacteria (like a starter colony), but if you're not feeding them, they won't increase in number. That's what ammonia is for, it provides food to grow your tiny starter population from the plants (or from bottled beneficial bacteria) up to the level where they are numerous enough to fully process the fish waste, when you add them. The following numbers aren't meant to be realistic, but I suspect you have a thousand beneficial bacteria in your tank, when you actually need a billion. Because a thousand isn't nearly enough to covert the ammonia to nitrate (with a nitrite step in the middle).

I recently got some new guppies from PetSmart. One died of Columnaris, he had an open mouth, and the other one is currently suffering of finrot and tail clamp. It started as a bite in his tail, and after the passing of his friend, his tail started getting clamped, and he has been hanging out by the filter a lot. He still comes out to eat, and swims a little when I tap on the glass, move the filter, or do anything to stimulate him. The last time I checked, the water was okay, and the PetSmart employee said that my water looked good. Anyway, here are some tank details. It is a 5 gallon tank with 3 adult male guppies and one Black Racer Nerite. I am currently doing a treatment of aquarium salt and stress coat. The GH might be a little low, but I am working on raising it with a cuttlebone. I also just noticed the white part in the hole, is that a sign of infection, or has he started healing? Also, since he gets temporarily active with some stimulation, what are some ways to provide entertainment to my fish? Thank you in advance. Here is a picture. Sorry if it is a little blurry, but he wants to stay behind the filter.

Tight lid to prevent evaporation to a big degree and autofeeder. plus as everyone said, someone watching the tanks at least once a week and renewing the food in the autofeeder etc would be nice. Speaking of it, someone else who has no idea about fishkeeping may result in horrible scenarios rather than good. Sometimes even those who have an idea of fishkeeping may result horrible scenarios too. If you will have someone visit and feed your fish manually, definitely get those weekly pill boxes, and fill your own portions into those boxes and tell them to feed only the portion you filled in for that specific day. Overfeeding is a very problematic and common issue even for some experienced aquarists Something like this for a month

All of my corydoras become active after a water change. I believe it is because I use slightly cooler water. Also, this is a good way to induce spawning behavior.

When the water changes in the amazon it’s usually a sign of the rainy season approaching which means breeding time for your little tikes. I imagine thats what has them motivated haha

Understood and that makes sense. I’ve just always been to nervous to try and do it.😁

This might be true if you only have 1 purigen, but I have 3 right now and that would cost $45. Also I have lots of driftwood so they get dirty quick. I do them all at once in batches and it isn’t that much effort.

With very little water movement like you say I would be concerned it would be a mosquito breeding convention. You could 1. Add more surface agitation 2. Add a few fish in the summer. A good option I was thinking of could be a paradise fish or two since they wouldn’t breed out of control. Depending on what plants you choose they might not be able to survive the winter because I assume the pond will be above ground meaning that it will be more exposed to cold. Sounds like a great project!

What age are the angels; in the black one case it looks like the breeding tube is partially extended but the picture is not clear. My wild guess is these angels are 9 to 11 months old and the black is male and the platinum is male or female with a slight lean towards female HOWEVER these are just guesses as you need to see the breeding tube or know something about the parents to have a better guess. Don't confuse angels behavior with gourami even if it appears similar. Also what size is their original aquarium ?

Could a parasitic infection you can the odd random deaths weeks apart with the emaciation you described could be wasting disease have you notice any rapid breathing hanging out near the surface lethargy flashing spitting food out sunken belly white stringy poop @melanochrysum

Given the fact they have had 4 treatment twice with levamisole that would have effectively dealt with camallanus worms what I would do is quarantine the platy in question and do two more courses of prazipro and add aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 2 gallons for two weeks good from there the salt will also help with nitrite poisoning as well it's

Honestly if that’s the case, you’re better off getting directly from a Florida farm, there are tons.

who has female blue gularus for sale? Looking for at least 4 females, could you please text me the info and price? I live north of Phoenix Az so California or near by states would be nice. Cell 480398 6168

I had a female Pearl Gourami do this. I had a trio 1 M and 2 F. After about a year, the larger female decided she hated the male and literally beat him to death. I saw his damage and removed her but the male died by the next morning. The other female is still in my tank and doing well but I feel bad that shes all alone. She is also the only Asian fish in my South American tank. I'm not sure why that makes me feel worse for her but it does.

Welcome to the forum! For live plants, Aquarium Co-op is the only one we can talk about on this forum but I will say that although it's not the most affordable they really do sell quality, healthy, plants. There is not that much savings to be had with plants, most places sell them at similar prices. You could get plants that spread a lot, so you don't need to buy as many though. On the other hand, if you get plants you need lighting so you can save some money there. I like Aquaneat lights from Amazon, they are dirt cheap, and work well. If you're willing to spend a bit more the co-op light is great too. You should do this, but only once you get a lid. Even with the lowered water level I would still be nervous of Darius jumping.

Entry Eleven - April 25th, 2024 I am a forestry intern now!! I received an unpaid forestry internship and am now working to restore native habitat at a small local park. For reference, the park is 3 acres, which is pretty small for a habitat rehabilitation project. Regardless, I am super excited to help out!!! I do not plan on going into forestry as of right now, but it is seeming more and more tempting, so this will give me insight on if I would like to pursue it! Gosh I am so excited...! Here is a quick mimic map of the park and the zones. I was assigned for surveying and invasive species removal. I am surveying two zones and removing invasive species in three zones. For surveying, I will be working in zone 2 and zone 5. For invasive species removal, I am working in 3a, 3b, and zone 4. This poor forest is covered in invasives. Here are our "focus" species or species we are working to eradicate first: English Ivy (hedera helix) - chokes out trees and creates a dominant ground cover, preventing native wildflowers from growing. Himalayan Blackberry (rubus armeniacus) - extremely painful and invasive. It forms thickets that are impassable and spreads via cuttings, runners, and seed; meaning if you don't remove all the roots, it doesn't go away. Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoparius) - chokes out native vegetation and reduces habitat and food sources for wildlife. Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus acris) - spreads by runners and has a powerful root system that makes it hard to remove. Additionally, buttercups in the ranunculus genus have a skin irritant compound, making them unpleasant to remove. Creeping Charlie [Ground-Ivy] (Glechoma hederacea) - a menace. Smells lovely, has great flowers, but is extremely invasive. Thrives in shade, meaning it loves the forest understory. Non-priority / Secondary species (species that we would like to remove, but are not as important as the priority species) Dandelions (Taraxacum spp.) - non-native and weedy; removes growing space for native plants. Yellow-flag (iris pseudacorus) - only one specimen was present, immediately removed. We will be keeping a lookout for more. Purple dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum) - common weed in the Pacific Northwest... yet, it is still non-native, so it's gotta go! Chickweed (Stellaria media) - common weed, but we still want it gone. My first day was yesterday (Wednesday the 24th!). I mainly removed meadow buttercups and creeping charlie in zone 3a. I cleared a large plot and as the sun was directly on me and it was 80 degrees, I then moved into the shady area of zone 3b and started removing Himalayan blackberry. What a chore... ouch! I barely made a dent in that stuff. I ate my lunch by the stream, which was very peaceful. I also heard a very angry Douglas-squirrel who was screaming his angry wrath of blood... also known as defending his territory. Sitting by the stream was amazing. It was shady and misty which was very refreshing, and across the stream in zones 1a and 1b, there were many skunk cabbage plants!!! Skunk cabbage is my FAVORITE plant EVER! So that made me super happy. I finished lunch early, so the head ranger had me begin surveying. I started in zone 2, since that is where I ate my lunch. For surveying, she had me note what plants I saw, their habits, their size, presence of flowers or fruits, and any additional notes. The plants I noted were: Deer fern Skunk-cabbage Redwood sorrel Maidenhair fern False solomon's-seal Siberian Miner's lettuce Western bittercress Lady fern Trillium [wake-robin] (only two plants) Common water-moss Wet rock moss Various sphagnums Some rushes/grasses ; I am not skilled enough to Identify these Nootka cedar English Ivy Of course my notes were more in-depth than that, but you get my point! I also surveyed for any birds or insects that I spotted. Nothing to report there. Anyway, that ended my day! This will begin to be a biweekly internship, so you will receive many updates on it!!! I am really excited about this!

Kanaplex isn't very effective in food as very little of the medication is adsorbed by the intestinal tract if your dosing the tank I wouldn't recommend adding antibiotics to food I would always use the full dose using half dose can lead to antibiotic resistant @CarrieB

Cichlids gonna cichlid!

Hello, I am Ally. I lived in FL when I got into fish keeping around 2015ish. I found Cory's YouTube channel along with a few others that really gave me motivation to try again. Let me clarify, I had tried previously to keep fish around 2009 but I failed as many do with the advice the big stores would give in order to make a sale. So, Cory and a few other avid fish keepers gave me hope again. I moved to TX in 2017 and started with a hand-me-down 20 gallon someone was getting rid of on Facebook. That tank is doing well thankfully, it is my Cherry shrimp inspired tank. I also adopted a 36 gallon wich I switched to a natural tank, took me 12 hours but I did it and it's doing well. My latest are a 10 gallon and a 1 gallon, also natural. They are also doing well. I will attach pictures. My main reason for joining now is a question that I will look for the correct place to post it. I know I am a little late to this party, but I am glad to be part of this great fish community. Thank you Cory, and those who help make this happen.

Those wild oscars are gorgeous! 😀 Yes, the closest thing to wild type oscars is the tiger oscar, which has more red than the wild, but less than the red oscar. As a rule, I favor wild type or close to wild type in fish and really all animals for the following reasons: - Preference for natural appearance - Avoid inbreeding depression - Avoid deformity / dysfunction Whether its fish, dogs, or whatever, breeding animals to extremes usually harms the animals. Flat-faced dogs like pugs and bulldogs often can't breathe or move very well. Hairless sphynx cats can't regulate their temperature very well. Blood parrot hybrid cichlids can't close their mouth. And so on. When it comes to color-bred cichlids, not only do I prefer the wild colors, but the solid colors prevent the cichlids from communicating and camouflaging as easily, because they can't change their color pattern. Red oscars are just solid red, EB acaras, JD, and rams are just solid blue, and so on. If you've ever watched a true blue acara, you know that like most cichlids, they can change their color dramatically. It's awesome to watch, and it's healthy that they can do so. For all these reasons, I'm sad it's gotten hard to find them.

Maybe a little pain but tbh the only annoying thing would be cleaning the back, and if I bring it forward 20cm or so it will give me a lot more space so I think that’ll do.

Those rams you find as wild form are also mostly selectively bred for their colorations. Wild german blue rams are not THAT colorful. Same goes for many fish we encounter today in the hobby. The oscars at my LFS are crazy red even as colored forms, albinos or normal coloring. Meanwhile oscars in nature: Like, in terms of a wild colored GBR that is worthy of a pic: https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/25-perchlike-fishes/mikrogeophagus-ramirezi-wild-2/ GBR many including me would like to have and keep in the hobby which seems to be "wild form" (at least not gold, black, or electric blue) but is surely selectively bred for ages: If not wildcaught, probably those true blue acaras you are looking for in the hobby are also selectively bred for their coloring. And yes, people like flashy look and vibrant colors usually. And this system works with supply and demand just like any other. Btw, Idk about the true blue acara vs electric blue acara comparison, but many acaras are more expensive than electric blues in where I live. Breeding electric blues is super easy from what I see from people around me. Everybody having babies with a regular tap and minimal care meanwhile some acaras are very needy and picky about parameters and such

I had a silver arowana about 40 years ago that was 22" long before he died in a jump. His tank had a very thick (3/8") glass lid that was anchored down but hitting that lid in a jump one night with a loud bang killed him. I heard the bang and went to check on him and he was floating on his side, still breathing, but not in good shape. By the next morning, he was dead. You need a lot of jumping room for an arowana with nothing they can hit that will injure them. Branches above the water or an island might not be ideal. SiIver arowana typically reach about 30" in captivity and as much as four feet or more in the wild. They're a big, powerful fish. They can jump very high, very quickly. And they do. Something like a largish swimming pool with the mesh around it that they use for trampolines is probably the best option for keeping a silver arowana. Even decor in the tank has to be kept minimal as they can impale themselves on something when they land back in the water after a jump. They're a very impressive fish but they have some unique needs that need to be addressed. Mine was the meanest fish I've ever owned. And it wasn't even close. If you put your hand in the tank he'd go after it. I ended up using egg crate to make a divider that I could slide into one side of the tank, trapping him there, very unhappily, as I worked on the other side. Even then he'd try to attack my hand as I put in or removed the egg crate. Neat fish, but they can be a handful. I had one and I have no real desire to ever have another. They are impressive though.

It’s Wednesday. You know what that means. I’m gonna start this week with the things I learned. I learned that you can leave your canister filter off for 24 hours and not have an ammonia spike. I turned my canister filter off to feed, and forgot to turn it back on. I didn’t realize until the following day (last night) when I went to turn it “off”, and it kicked back on. I figured today was maintenance day anyways, so I turned it back on after feeding and let it ride. This morning, I tested for ammonia and the test came back 0. This leads me to believe one of two things happened. Either the bacteria in the canister didn’t die, and therefore didn’t create an ammonia spike or any ammonia that was produced was converted by the tank overnight. I’ll never know which one is true, but one of them is. I also learned that a sponge filter can become clogged in a fashion that makes your air collar/easy flow kit glug. One of the sponge filters in the grow out tank has been glugging, and I just couldn’t figure it out. From everything I tested, I figured it had to be the air pump. So, this morning I ripped off the Hygger 10 watt and put it out on the rack to run the 55 and the 29. Hooked it up, and both ran like a dream. Thought it was strange, but whatever. Hooked the grow out tank to independent Tetra 150’s, and what do you know. No glug! The one that was glugging wasn’t pushing as much air, but I chalked that up to the pump starting to go out. All day the filter was fine. I go to feed tonight, and it starts to glug worse than it ever had! I could visually see the bubbles coming out of the air collar going hard, stopping for a split second, and then going again, causing a massive glug. I figured it had to be the pump so I opened it up, inspected everything, took a couple of things apart, and put it back together. Hooked it back up. Same thing. I figured it had to be the airline. I thought maybe there was a kink or something. I ran a whole new line. Still glugging. Figured it had to be the air collar so I popped that off and cleaned it. STILL GLUGGING! At this point the only thing that was left was the sponge. I popped the air collar off and noticed (this time, finally) that it was producing air at a steady rate with no glug. Cleaned the sponge, hooked it back up, and voila. Running like a dream with fill air and flow coming out of it. I feel like an idiot as I literally bought that Hygger pump because of this issue and it took me weeks to figure it out when all I had to do was clean the filter. It’s just literally the last thing that made sense to my brain. The more you know… Outside of that it was a normal maintenance sesh. Water out, water back in. Cleaned all the pre filter sponges (and the one sponge in the grow out tank lmaooooo!). Boiled some Indian Almond Leaves and hucked those in the blackwater tanks. Next week I’ll probably clean all the sponges. I guess with the Easy Flow I’m collecting more detritus and need to clean them more often. Lesson learned. Still having a ton of fun with my RG405V as well! Crushed Pokémon Silver, and learned that there’s a second half of the game AFTER the Elite Four that my little 8 year old brain didn’t know about back in 1999. Moved on to Killer7. It’s another game I played when I was super young and never beat. So far, I’ve only found one game that doesn’t run very well. I think I might have to turn up the speed in the settings just a little bit. Audio is perfect, but game runs like it’s in slow mo. Still having tons of fun. 29’s looking nice: I love the Black Neons schooling around in the back. This thing is turning into a jungle and I love it. Java Fern finally growing some, too. Some tips have BBA, but baby Ferns are growing out of them so I’m gonna see if the baby Ferns becoming a thing before I go chopping. I hope you’re having fun with your tanks!

I’ve also never quarantined snails. I’ve never really heard of them bringing diseases to fish or anything so I don’t see why it would be necessary. Of course there’s always a risk but in this case it is slim to none😂

As I said in the other post maracyn2 is what I would treat with if after a full course of treatment your seeing no improvement give an update @CarrieB

I would, it just seems more aesthetically pleasing to not see the water seem as it were. and the tank looks really good

Here's one I found a little over a week ago. They're coloring up around here now, and it's amazing to see!

Ideally you would but I know some fish keepers that don't quarantine because of the source of all livestock being the same. Lots of trust but that's them, you do you. If you don't want to quarantine then roll the dice. Good luck with your snails 🐌

My blood parrot likes getting pets, but like others said, gently and sparingly is best. 🙂

I personally would go with a sump but cannister filters would work. @TJ _isme

Look honey! Junior's got his legs!!

made a couple tweaked a couple things. Can’t have a pond without a gater and a pelican. Hope to finish the bricks at the front. Can’t wait to add the goldfish at the end of month.

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.

@nabokovfan87thanks so much for the feedback. It’s workable right now in terms of the tanks in the house and the ones in the garage - but if I could setup a full automated system in the garage that would be the ultimate. I really need to work with my wife in the hard work of cleaning out the garage so we can set the stage for the fishroom to be completed. She’s focused presently on setting up her garden and I’m supporting that so we can then move on to the garage and eventually my fishroom. @anewbieas you may recall I had my own disaster after moving - i got my fish room here, had temporary setups and then had a crash of my floating plants and the nitrate bomb killed a good half of my stock. In terms of the L397s ive had them for about a year, # 6, they came about 1-1.5” and are presently 2+”, I only catch sight of them when I’ve fed something they love which honestly is anything not meaty as they love their biofilms and veggies. I’ve had good success with the EBO spirulina paste, any Repashy, and veggies zucchini and cucumbers. I have a constant stream of woody pulpy mulm on the bottom of the tank which the orange neos search for food through. Have fun 🤩 and best of luck with reestablishing your setups. It’s a pain in the 🫏 but it’s worth it.

Sponge Filter Issue - Part II I had meant to expand on "how" because clearly I had failed on my own technique for cleaning the sponge filters. This applies to basically any sponge filter you can get your hands on and cleaning any sponge. I am sure a lot of this is useless information for some, but if it helps one person then perhaps it is worth the time. Strips or Sheets of foam are a bit of a pain sometimes to clean because depending on how dense or thick the piece of foam is things can generally be difficult to clean. Foam that is 1.5-2" max thickness seems to be optimal while anything larger will be difficult and anything thinner will be easier to clean, but may not hold up over time. I have some of those dimpled foam sheets, .75" thick and 1/3 of that in some places, which is similar to what you see on pond filters or on the x07 series canister filters. I end up rolling the foam to help "protect it" from being overly crushed. Submerge the foam in water whenever cleaning it, especially initially, and then squeeze it like a stress ball. Optimally you will do this 5-10x until things visually appear clean, then roll the foam the opposite way and expose other surfaces to the exterior and repeat. Do this over and over again until all of the surfaces have been exposed and as much of the gunk has been cleaned. Then you can opt for something like a hose or faucet with water pressure to push that last little bit of gunk out that is very difficult to remove. Secondarily, it is always good to toss that into another bucket of tank water and verify that the sponge is clean. Cleaning dirt off in dirty water isn't the best at times and can lead you to assume it's more clean than it is. One of the rules of thumb for me is to have the sponge not release a bunch of junk when it goes back into the tank. that's about how clean I try to get things. Blocks of foam or tubes of foam like what you see in sponge filters will be a bit more tricky. Especially with the hole in the middle you run into the sponge working against your efforts in some respects. I wanted to be goofy and give funny names to the different positions, but I don't have anyone to take the photos of it while I was cleaning. So unfortunately that bit of silliness is missing, but know that I've really thought about this! 😂 The first technique I will call the push method. This is where you have the sponge itself against the side of a hard surface and you "push it" into the bucket to try to apply a good amount of force without getting water splashing too much. This helps and it great for an initial cleaning, but it does leave a lot of debris in the depths of the sponge. The second technique is something a bit more common which is the "tomato method". Imagine you have one hand and you are trying to just crush tomatoes. This is what most of us do constantly at night when you clean out and squeeze out the water from your kitchen sponge! Take the foam in one hand and let if fill with water, squeeze. Rotate it slightly and let it fill with water, then squeeze again. Repeat this horizontally and vertically too! Meaning that, you might get some of the gunk out of the middle of the foam by compressing the top and bottom together, but then you will get other parts of the foam clean by squeezing the middle of the foam and letting the water rush out of the top and bottom. I do this probably until my arm falls off and then I proceed to the last technique. The third technique is the two-handed claw method. Cup the sponge in your hand and use your thumbs as the pressure points. Make a crab sound and then squeeze the sponge together so that your "claws" are compressing the foam with more force than method two above. Basically it's the exact same thing, but you are just able to apply more pressure/force to rush the water out of the sponge and get more of that very fine gunk out of the filtration media. It kind of reminds me of squishing soft cheese or something, like a cotija cheese into little chunks. The goal in the end is that you have a sponge that is visually clean, feels lighter, and doesn't release debris into water when submerged. One of the things I have noticed on very fine sponge or sponge that is growing algae is that you want to clean things in such a way that they don't feel slimy. For whatever reason the sponge I like the most almost feels like... weirdly cheese.... when it's really, really gunked up with the "mud" from the tank. Getting the foam to feel more like foam again means that things are getting closer to clean. I was trying to think of how to have a tool on hand so I could tell when the sponge itself was clean if I had never touched a sponge before. The idea I had was that having a brand new filter there for comparison would be the best tool. Having something so that you can see and feel what "like new" would be gives you that context of how dirty or clean the sponge from the tank really is. Especially as things compress and wear over the years. That being said.... I wish I had one on hand or could buy just the replacement sponge itself as a spare part or something. Lastly, I just wanted to mention one final thing I have been noticing with the uplift tubes on the easy flow design. If you look at the "cap" on the sponge filter, that green piece that you attach the diffuse or translucent tubing into, then you'll see a lip which is used to pressure fit things into place. Because this lip is only on one side it is what basically holds the air diffuser into place. Unfortunately, there isn't a secondary lip on the upper side of the "cap" which means that it is very easy for a fish or for a hand to lift up the tube and move it around slightly. Just something to keep in mind and be aware of. Make sure things are actually assembled and stay together for you after you're done messing around inside the tank.

If you're following this journal for the "hot tips and tricks" when it comes to shrimpkeeping.... this is one of those posts. I do feel like this deserves it's own thread, but it's such a specialized situation that I want to keep in in this thread. I have been dealing with the sick white cloud mountain minnows, which have improved a lot with the salt, but are still awaiting more meds. For the time being they are in my side tank, by themselves while being treated, and I am still seeing the cysts on the mouth appear. A new one appeared this morning on one of the fish. I am hoping that the other med recommended for this type of an issue works (nitrofuri..... however you spell it) That tank has some black corydoras in there now as well, because I am experiencing issues in that tank as well now. Slime coat issues, fin rot. Ultimately they need salt (getting some from the store) and I am going to end up moving fish for anything that needs kanaplex (or polyguard). ......alright, so what happened.... I wasn't able to work on the tank wednesday, so I did the work on the tank this morning. I drained off some water, siphoned the substrate where I could to remove big chunks of gunk that were present. Overall I am trying to do better with maintaining the substrate, considering removing it to deal with the detritus worms. I saw a blackwater tank setup with sticks as the substrate, and that seems like a beautiful aesthetic. Maybe that is where things go, but for right now I am trying to be more diligent with my efforts maintaining the substrate. Water changes are/were mandatory this week because of the water cloudiness and just wanting to clear things up. All of the parameters tested perfectly normal and safe in all aquariums, which made me assume that the cloudiness has something to do with worm-ageddon from cleaning the previous week. There was just as many worms in this bucket during cleaning, so they aren't having any issues with "thriving" unfortunately. I may end up going the route of no planaria if it turns out that the worms were the type which caused issues with the WCMMs. I filled up the tank with water and wanted to adjust the height of the easy flow. This is where I figured out the puzzle that has been frustrating me for weeks now. The flow was not flowing in the uplift tube as you expected it should. Last week I was taking the tube assembly and holding it up in the water column and then lowering it and noticed the decrease in flow. I assume this just meant that it was because it's a taller tank (29G) and that was causing issues. No.... this absolutely wasn't the reason. It also wasn't an issue of the jet lifter being dirty at all either. (cc @AllFishNoBrakes) I lifted the tube up again, watched it work perfectly fine, then had an issue as soon as I tried to attach the diffuser piece onto the sponge filter assembly. The sponge was so bad, filled with gunk.... despite being just cleaned, that the water itself could not flow through properly. For reference, this is extremely fine sponge that I am using and it's the "gold standard" sponge for me in terms of bacteria thriving on this type of filtration. It's from hikari. I pulled the sponge, checked for shrimp, dropped the air tube into the tank to move water around and took the sponge and bucket to the sink. I think it was a solid 30-45 minutes of cleaning the sponge over and over and over and over again before I was at the point of "tea colored" water. The sponge had to weigh at least 3+ lbs when walking to the sink. It is "difficult" to know when it's clean when something is that dirty, but I just kept going and filling the bucket as I squeezed out the debris. I repeated this with the other filter in the tank as well. I added some clarifier and bacteria to start things re-cycling if they need to. I don't expect it to need to do that, but I am thankful I have that available! So, I am standing there squeezing sponge for a chunk of time pondering why this happened. I run a very high flow air pump and it absolutely didn't help the situation with maintenance longevity, but I am perfectly happy with needing to clean the filter weekly. I think everyone who knows me on here realizes that I have cleaned filters to excess just for the sake of having them be clean. I was cleaning these bi-weekly, but I am going to go back to doing this weekly at this point. The best I can think is that the botanicals being very fine mixed with the air is part of the problem, but the other side of the coin here is shrimp poop. Shrimp have pretty small / fine poop. Especially when you're talking hundreds in a tank in a colony and shrimp of all sizes, it makes sense that any shrimp grazing on the sponge will contribute highly towards clogging up the sponge. The air acts as a vacuum and sucks it into the fine pores, which just clogged the crap (literally) out of the sponge. I do feed heavily. I feed for ~300 shrimp nearly every day of the week. I am going to back that off slightly and I want to get more bee pollen in hand so I can avoid always feeding pellets. The tank should be much happier moving forward and the next project will be to go ahead and re-moss the moss wall with new moss (or Susswassertang) and to have that help with the biological stability. Fingers crossed, knock on wood.... I hope that the tank clears up now.

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

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.

Generosity- it’s an attribute I’ve always admired and tried to emulate. As an aquarist I’ve seen a lot of generosity from my fellow fish keepers and I’ve tried to put that back out into the universe. I put out on the GSAS email that I was starting to plan an Axolotl tank for my youngest son and did anyone have a chiller I could buy as a new one was financially daunting. I got a quick reply from a member and made arrangements to take a trip out to Bainbridge Island where they lived. For our family this involves a little bit - those who have children under 10 know what a roadtrip entails and in our case it was a ferry ride and then a drive. Exciting for sure but for the boys being in a car for about 2+ hours would be a challenge. We made sure they were fed and watered and pottied and off we went. We arrived and I suddenly fell into an easy banter with this person and she revealed that it was @eatyourpeaswhom I’d known on this forum since its inception. How cool?! 😎 She was as kind and generous in person as she’s always been on the forum. We saw her tanks, Ursula Ferkin and all her clones, her Pea Puffer, her home and her grounds which are beautiful. Her generosity extended beyond this to the chiller - she was giving it to the boys and I. Amazing!! Generous beyond my expectations. She indicated that she’s slowly getting out of the hobby and as her animals pass and tanks change she’s shutting them down slowly and even offered me a tank - my wife prevented that from occurring! Anyway I’m so so grateful. I didn’t take pictures as she’s a private person but I just so appreciate her both for the years I’ve known her here and for what she did for my boys and I. I am doing some work around my tanks today and will try to take pics and videos later to post but I just had to share this beautiful moment for which I’m grateful. Have fun everyone!

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!