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its poop lol

My girlfriend tells me I’m obsessed but I promise her it gets much “worse.” If it’s any context, I have one 15-gallon tank.

Bladder snails can reproduce asexually, so yeah, you'll likely get more. They do eat algae and excess food, though, so I like mine as long as I keep them to a reasonable population. The good news is that the population is easy for you to regulate: if you feed "too much" their numbers go up; cut back and they're numbers will shrink. In a way, they're a good quick visual indicator of "am I feeding too much?"

Thanks for your service, too! It is an adjustable HOB filter. I was thinking of creating a floating "island" of filter plants at the output to slow down the current even more. Thanks for the suggestions!

I'd be careful pairing male bettas with guppies. They don't call them the Siamese Fighting Fish for nothing. The bright coloration and bigger fins on the guppy would likely trigger a lot of aggression. That being said, every betta is different so anything is possible. And your 20 gallon tank would certainly be better than say a 5 or a 10. If you try it I'd be sure to monitor things very closely and have a backup plan available if things get out of hand.

I keep a log. It doesn't specifically call out plant growth, but I have it broken down into three sections. Action (things I did to the tank like water changes, added fertilizer, food, cleaned the filter, etc) Parameters (pretty self explanatory) Notes (kind of a catch all for other things I've observed) Here's an example from last week: 6/2/2024 Action · 60%+ water change · 3 tbsp Equilibrium · 5 pumps Easy Iron · 5 pumps Easy Green · 2 tsp Dr. Tim’s ammonia Parameters · Ammonia 1 · Nitrates 25 · Nitrites 1 · GH 150 · KH 180 · PH 7.6 · Chlorine 0 Notes · Temp 77 and 77.5 · Slurry for Equilibrium works much better. However cloudy water remains for a significant period of time. · Tannins significantly reduced. · Parameters taken several hours after water change and re-dosing. · Seeing some melt, but not extensive. Most on anubias in SE corner and buce attached to rock SE of bridge.

Keep a journal here on the forum under the “Journals” section. Post pictures and what you did to the tank when. Then it’s super easy to track and look back at.

the problem with a tank like that is the fish poop will be on the bottom where you are trying to look through.

Oh, You have fish! How wonderful for you. OR "Why didn't you do saltwater?"

If it fits in the oven spritz it with water bake at 250-300 for like 5-6 minutes. The water will steam and help prevent the piece from drying out. Otherwise super concentrated salt water is pretty good at killing most things. Use a moving tote or similar. Make sure to rinse it real good after! Also my chemistry is starting to get rusty but you could use dilute bleach water then rinse and let it dry in the sun. Pretty sure the bleach reacts with UV, but oh my organic chemistry experience is starting to fade so don’t quote me on that

By log, i mean a detailed written description of what you changed & when, measured plant growth, etc? I tend to lose track of how long it's been since what & actual growth rates. I'll think something isn't having any effect and then realize it's only been 8 days. Maybe a log would help gauge the real success of changes better than my sketchy memory... Anyone do this...& if so, what software do you like? Assuming you're all digital & such.

Hello again, While we wait for our tank to cycle, I wanted to see what y'all would suggest for a 20g community tank. When my husband first mentioned he wanted a fish tank, he said he wanted gold fish. Well, then, we stopped at PetSmart and he saw the community fish. So much for fancy goldfish! Hubby wants color. And, coolness. His feature fish of choice is: Male Betta He would like a community of fish that are a mix of Red, White, and Blue. (Retired Army soldier, can you tell?) (Example: red Betta, blue and platinum guppies, etc.) He would also like an aquatic frog if fits. From videos it seems these make acceptable companions to Bettas: Blue Guppy, Blue Swordtail guppy, Platinum Guppy, Cory catfish, Gold Ring Danio, Celestial Pearl Danio, clown pleco, guppies, snails, amano shrimp, kuhli loach Since we are both newbie aquarists, we want a drama-free tank. Oh, and *I* like plants so I am aiming for a planted tank. I am also including pothos and peace lily as filter plants.

I use Aquarium Note 2 on my smartphone. Works really well for me.

I don't track plant growth but I have a spreadsheet with all the water tests and major changes done for every tank. Notes on when I added fertilizer and stuff cuz I'm super forgetful.

Yep, looks like a little bladder snail to me, too. I have them in all 3 of my tanks to one degree or another. I like having them around, because they’re good scavengers. If you regard them as being overpopulated, you could reduce and/or change the food you’re offering. You could also introduced snail-eating fishes. If you don’t have a pre-filter on your HOB, they also tend to get killed at the intake. So, I don’t find their numbers to be a problem.

Looks like my pond or bladder snails, but they make good snacks for the fish

I do, not as regular as I should. It does help a lot I use a journal and pen

Slate and aquarium gravel should be inert, meaning they won't add mineral hardness to the water. Evaporation is the biggest cause of increased hardness in my experience. That and the super salty water from feeding live brine shrimp, if you don't rinse the brine off the shrimp. Agreed. Plants appreciate mineral hardness and don't do well in water where minerals are absent. There really isn't much of a relationship between Kh and Gh. You can have both zero Kh and a bazillion Gh. But, plants do like the Ph on the lower side.

Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry dates a doctor. When he goes to pick her up from her apartment, she has receptionist and a very doctor's office-looking tank in her "lobby"

Same, mine look like tiny brown tubes lol. Not sure if the turds look different depending on what they’re doing eating?😂 But I’m sure it’s poop. I wouldn’t worry! Haha

My Nerite snail poop looks like small black cubes, not a cluster like that.

Ah, thanks, I didn't know that. That's why I hedged my answer!

Baby mysteries are teeny tiny when they first hatch. Smaller than a sesame seed.

Ok thanks, nothin like clarifying. Case closed. lol

I knew I'd seen a video @Cory did explaining all this with M&Ms: It's sometimes called "old tank syndrome".

I’d run out its course now. Then if they haven’t improved by then. Hopefully they do. You can run a course of maracyn2. General cure is more for parasitic infections. Maracyn2 is for bacterial infections I’d still add that air stone though and maybe a couple of catapa leaves. They also provide some protection from fungus and bacteria

Yes, a great fish, please do! The only unnatural way I've seen them die is when the heater thermostat breaks and the temp rises to 90F 😅. Even then, one made it!

I use a jigsaw with a metal-cutting blade. Works great, highly customizable for the tank needs (filters, cords, airlines etc).

Couldn't you also use dechlorinator to get rid of the bleach?

Avoiding extremes is always the best idea. An absolutely clean, sterile tank is bad, as is a tank that more closely resembles a backed-up septic system. Anything in the middle between those two extremes is typically the best option.

6 June 2024 (Day 31) Wandering through the subwassertang jungle hunting for foor 9 June 2024 (Day 34) First scud hunt recorded

Mine lived on 3-4mm river sand and now a mixture of tropical aquasoil and very fine sand so far for a year. I havent had any problems yet. They do take the small rock pieces and sand to their mouth and they spit it back. Mainly doing this during feeding time I think it should be okay. From what I understand, these guys live in similar substrate in nature anyway? I want to add a note here. They do disturb the bottom of the tank a lot, so the water gets dirty with fine particles. Make sure to have a good filter and add good mechanical filtration. Sponge filter was able to keep up with the biological filtration, but the particles in the water column was so bad no matter how big or often I water change. Big HOB with prefilter sponge, coarse sponge and filter wool helped me a lot Another note, if you will get a couple ( i would do 3 in your tank size), try to get 1m:2f. males do chase females from time to time much worse than livebearers do. Spreading the males chasing behavior is needed. I have 1m:1f and community tank stopped this behavior to a high degree, but species only tank=male focuses on the female a lot

My thoughts exactly! Unless we can get around 80+ pictures, 5 x 8 would be best, and cheaper.

Newbie here. (Sorta) Some 35ish years ago, I kept a saltwater aquarium as part of a college biology class. What I learned was I didn't want to do that ever again. Now, I am venturing into setting up a freshwater aquarium for my husband and I. He is a paraplegic and health issues are keeping him more homebound. He expressed a desire to have some fish but the technicalities are my job. Lol I will post a separate thread to ask questions about this process. Just saying hello first.

It's a blessing and a curse hahaha

Ny partner thinks I am spending waaaaay too much money in this hobby, though they also share my interest in aquascapes. They're not that into fish but they really like shrimp. They think I am insane because I want to buy dragon stones for cash when there are perfectly fine rocks outside 😉

Congrats on the fry! How cute! The honey gourami is stunning 🧡

Should work very well. What you’ve done is create a kind of reverse box filter. Where the sponge and bio media go inside a plastic box underneath the uplift tube of a sponge. I liked Bentley’s take on the good and bad of boxes. But if you didn’t know about these before, very cleverly crafted!

I agree with Tony s where are the nitrAtes? It may take longer for these guys to show up on your test. I think you are close. Wait a minute I see you did a water change maybe that is where your nitrAtes went. Did you test before or after the water change?

Big maintenance day, I kept putting it off. Two largest tanks, both got a severe trim. There is so much light and space it is crazy now 🙂 Front Back

Nothing wrong with cow manure. Just a different source of nitrogen. Agree with all the above. I do tend to trust fritzyme7 more than most. Now, what you’re hearing about instantly cycling a tank mostly works. If you know someone with an aquarium you can install a sponge filter if they let you. In 3-4 weeks it will be full of bacteria. You can then transfer that sponge to your tank and also transfer the cycle. I’ve done that twice in the last month with no issues at all. It does take a bit of forethought. And I usually have a couple of spare sponges running in other tanks at all times. Works great for quarantine tanks also

My thread has the type of panels that have been mentioned. I had to go custom because of the tank I have.

Look on aquarium science.org has information on Dermocystidium

Thanks @xXInkedPhoenixX and @Whitecloud09 for the very warm welcome. Current stocking of the tank includes only a few small snails and two copepods (that came with the floating plants), plus two pieces of sweet potato lol (trying to boost biofolm in anticipation of inhabitants). With a caveat that I have already learned a heap and changed my mind a few dozen times about almost every element of the tank over the months of research and pondering, the following list is far from set in stone and open to change > my current idea for stocking is: * neocardina shrimp * 2 otos * then a few weeks later, assuming the tank is going well, a small group of some sort of schooling fish that will be happy with only 20L and 45cm to live in and add some more movement to the tank Welcome advice on stocking from anyone with more experience than me (basically everyone). Is the above a good/bad idea? Suggestions for changes or what type of fish, if any, would be suitable.

If the your seeing a distention of the body cavity you could have an internal mast the fact it has improved after epsom salt and kanaplex I don't think the prognosis is good can you post another picture of the fish @Cellie

My husband is supportive of my hobby. Because we (he mostly) are housebound for the most part, he knows it brings me joy to “fuss” with my fish. He is ok with it if I were to want another tank, but I’m currently in my sweet spot with 3 (10g, 29g and 75g). He likes to help me decide on fish, is genuinely curious about each of the fish species I keep and will occasionally ask questions about what I’m doing when I’m cleaning or maintaining them. He doesn’t care much about hand plants. He likes to sit in front of the 74g with me I. The evening and just watch the fish.

Great question. My wife likes the tanks. Mostly. She likes the fish that interests her. Like angels. I made her a 75g angel tank that she says good morning too. It’s got angels and dwarf rainbows and corys. She’s actually liking the new electric blue acara I recently added as well. Not as much into lots of little nano fish. But… she wants a discus tank next. I’m totally intimidated by discus 😂

Updated tank pictures and the darios