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Super glue will dry faster when wet. So if you do it while they're still wet you have to be fast.

I know you are like me and enjoy less common fish. However one of the more common fish I REALLY enjoy are my Rohanella titteya (cherry barbs) I grew them out in a 20L with my 6 Bolivian rams. Everyone is grown up now and totally cramped. I’m moving them to a 40B as soon as the electric is finished in my new fishroom. Even cramped they are totally peaceful. My Bolivians constantly spawn unmolested. When the cherry boys fire up the breeding color they are stunning. Internet photos do not do them justice. Large enough not to get eaten and always be seen. Not fearful yet not so boisterous they annoy others.

No reds should be against the walls. The street is too center and needs to disappear into or begin at the rule of thirds. Move the Sword right and street disappear left of it. Do not have a straight line of plants across the front of the tank. The wood should be considered as a plant and as such should have green behind or in font of it. Keep the red plant count lower and only use 3 plants per foot of tank length. Use lighter green plants in the corners and using curtain plants adds depth to the scape. Everything I mention here is heavily waited to true Dutch rules and can definitely be bent for "Dutch Style." That said, keep the fish count on the minimal side and let the plants be the focus. Here's a kick ars link to look at for true Dutch and just bend it to what you like as "Dutch Style." Also focus heavily on not having similar leaf shape next to each other. This is harder than it seems. https://online.fliphtml5.com/hwppk/nvsi/#p=3 Book mark this, it's amazing. Here is one of the best "garden Style" tanks I've ever seen. "Dutch Style" is not the best term IMO. Here was my second place in the AGA, this is more true Dutch but has many problems and lacks reds. Hope this helps.

Sewellia lineolata hillstream They are fast. You get to see one at the end of this few second video swim by. The eyes of another. They do t come out if the moss much yet.

Super glue or coral glue will do the trick! Wear gloves with coral glue it is sticky and it can cure while fully submerged which is a plus if you don’t want to disturb the tank too much

Hi I will keep this thread as a mind map on our journey. We have finally got a place where we can have all our tanks and to put up more breeding racks. Until now, we have 1 larger rack up and running and 1 smaller rack with 6 smaller tanks. Also, some others tanks all around the apartment, and one larger 550 liters community tank. Soon (1 July), we will have access to our new place, and it will fit our needs to start with. We have like 70 tanks in total. Setup : 2 racks with 12 115 liters in each rack. 24 in total. 1 rack with a total of 24 tanks, 12 60 liters and 12 30 liters 1 rack with 6 45 liters and some other tanks. We haven't got to the place yet to measure out everything, but I think we will need some serious planning. Maybe some CAD program or something similar to make a sketch of the place. And plan all the plumbing beforehand. Air loop system, water changing system and so on. Most of the tanks have holes in them and are prepared for some type of water changing system. Is building a larger sump for each rack a good idea? We will probably have more questions later on when the project starts. Our plan is to sell fish to different shops around where we live, and we have some good relations with several shops in our area, some of them are really professional and helpful. We will upload more pictures soon Best regards Alex & Sofia

I know i already asked, but i am still unsure. I will be redoing the stocking in my tank and want to find a fish that will complement the fish i want to keep and will be interesting. 120x50x60 cm tank. Fish that will stay in - 5 pearl gouramis, 4 bolivian rams, some kuhli loaches, otocinclus I am looking for a mid level school fish. Something that will not abuse or nip the pearl gourami, will be interesting in behavior. I used to have ember tetras, do not like them they are lazy and gluttonous and boring. I doubt i will like any similar ones like black neons and lemons and other small lazy fish of the same shape. I have rummynose tetras, they were fun, but i am over it. Also they are sensitive and prone to overeating the food i feed and having issues. I used to have harlequin rasboras for like 6 years so not looking at those or espei. I do not wish to ever keep neon tetras. Water is ph7, 25 degrees, maybe bit more in summer. Tip of fish you liked will be appreciated, what were some surprises you liked or enjoyed ?

I would get 2 smaller (100W or so) heaters and put them on a single inkbird. You can set one lower than the other to save wattage, and only come on if the temp gets low enough (the main one fails, or you waterchange with colder water.)

Easy rule big fish eats smaller fish. Fish and any other animals normally eat anything smaller enough to fit in their mouth.

What about reticulated Hillstream loach’s? Would those be a good fit for a 20H? I figured I would just get one due to having the 3 mollies and 6 Pygmy cories. I want two but apparently with two they get aggressive and I’m not sure that I have room for 3 Hillstream loaches.

Absolutely. The fish don't care what their water box is made of. My last big move was a rescue, done with buckets and coolers, but the fish lived in a 40 gallon hazmat tub for a week until I got the water equalized. It was a little crowded, but there were zero losses. I mentioned retaining as much of the original water as possible because on the other end of the move, I believe that you have some water, wet substrate and decorations and when the fish arrive they are placed in an already cycled tank with identical water parameters.

1) an air stone is always recommended, it might even have helped prevent BGA by increasing flow/oxygen saturation on the bottom of your tank. 2) Id weigh the slime out package contents and split its weight in half.

I did a fishless cycle with plants and inadvertently some snails that hitchhiked. I didn't do any water changes just kept monitoring the water did a big change 50 percent before adding the first fish like a week before

You don't have any fish in the tank, so I don't see any reason to change any water. Let the nitrite-eating bacteria population grow. Moreover, you've got emersed-growing plants that I remember from your other thread, so once they really get going those nitrates will likely go down on their own.

I sometimes use MD Fish Tanks's trick of gluing a small rock to the roots of an epiphyte, just enough to weigh it down, then place it wherever I want. The rock holds it down and the plant eventually roots in.

Finally made it to Home Depot and got a new bucket for Sunday Morning water changes. To compensate for the missed maintenance I gave the big tank a 40% water change today instead of the standard 20%, although everyone was doing great even after missing a few weeks. The other notable thing that happened during my water change was I actually gravel vacced for the first time in years. I don't like to vac the background areas as the plants pull nutrients from those, but in the foreground the mulm just looks bad. (Even if i could grow them I dont like carpeting plants as they make it difficult to feed sinking wafers). I used the tube I usually use for water changes but used the tube attatchment and actually used it as a siphon. It was interesting to me that just the siphon from gravity and pressure drains water much faster then my ACO powerhead which has about 200 gph. Most of the foreground areas definetly look much cleaner now. I've known for a while that my substrate is really ugly. A mix of black, blue, and green gravel with crushed coral mixed in is not the most natural or eye pleasing mix. I've thought about changing it a few times but it would be a waste to get rid of the nutrient load of 3 years that my plants could be using, and I've just become used to the substrate mix and just ignore it mostly. Just for comparison how dirty my substrate is, Before: After: The Platy fry are thriving. They are growing super fast on BBS and Easy Fry Food and are starting to develop some coloration, it's crazy that these guys are only three weeks old and I have a feeling they will be sexable soon, it definitely feels like they are much older just based on how well they are developing. I have been feeding pretty heavy for them which has led to some mulm build-up, but fortunately in a 1.8 gallon bare bottom tank, I can take out all the mulm and do a 50% water change in like 10 minutes. I have also recently discovered that the platy fry have a friend in their tank I was not expecting. Basically a week or so ago I found my Albino Cories had laid some eggs, I put some in a breeder box to hatch and also threw a few into this tank with the mindset of "If they hatch, they hatch". Well turns out one of them did hatch, and he is now surviving with the other fry despite being much smaller then the platies. I think that even though the platies are getting bigger, their mouths are still small so they can't eat the Cory and therefore ignore him. Just a fun little surprise I found.

I just flipped on the lights so not full color or activity yet. My Bolivians are full size chunky monkeys for size comparison. The barbs swim higher in the mid level after breakfast

Cherry Barb I have with my Tiger Barbs and that beautiful red on them they don't get lost. The juvenile are neat looking also. Check my thread for more fun pictures of Barbs

@TinaPax-Peeks yes, agree completely with @doktor zhivago. But didn’t want to muddy the water, again. Nitrates for fish aren’t really directly poisonous either. Think of it as being in a smoke filled room. You can survive in it, bit gets more difficult as levels get higher. Causes long term damage, not direct poisoning. Which is why we try to keep it down African cichlid keepers that can’t keep plants often get to the lower hundreds without ill effect. And plants need at least 20ppm to survive well. Also depends on the species. Discus and rams like very low levels. Almost 0 for a good discus tank

fish can tolerate nitrates into the hundreds of ppm, not ideal but survivable plants need nitrates to thrive keeping mine under 100ppm but above 40ppm seems to work well for both my fishies and my plants.

40ppm is fine, actually great for the plants. I usually don't water change until mine get around 80-100ppm. I try and keep my tanks around 40ppm for the plants. I wouldn't mess with the water until the nitrites start dropping. There is some controversy about nitrite levels getting too high and stalling the cycle but I'm not sure. If they stay less than 5ppm it should be fine.

I’ve used them all. Aqueon Quiet Flow, Fluval C2, Tetra Whisper, Seachem Tidal, Marineland Penguin, and nothing is better than Aquaclear. Everything else seems way over engineered for no good reason and is cartridge oriented, which makes for a less than optimal experience if you want to use your own media. Aquaclears move lots of water, have a huge and wide open media chamber that you can put anything in you’d like, and just keep kicking no matter what. Also, for those of you with the impeller startup issue, I’ve got a tip: take your filter plug and rapidly plug/unplug it in your outlet (generally just barely putting it in the outlet and wiggling it back and fourth is the best) and generally the impeller will be shaken free. I’ve used this trick with Aquaclears and Fluval canisters for years.

I do like the plastic ones, though they do stain a lot quicker than the glass ones, I get side tracked easily.

A photo of the breeder from the tub, they have more black body marking due to living in the black tub

It actually could be. Your bacteria live on the surfaces of your tank. Not in the water. If you remove a lot of your substrate, you will be removing bacteria. If you keep the sides of your tank wet and the filter running, bacteria will survive there. As well as on the plants. but, now is the time to fix it to your liking. It’s either going to be okay, or if you don’t like it now, it could gnaw at you for a long time. You could end up kicking yourself for not doing it now. Fish can wait until you’re satisfied.

Unfortunately, so do the glass ones. I figured out 6 months after finding a nitrate test again.

Until recently I rented out the basement as storage space. Our house was larger than Hubby and I needed. Storage tenant is leaving.They stopped paying rent so space available now. So I decided my fishroom-s needed to go downstairs to make it easier on me. Currently they are two converted spare bedrooms. One room still partly what used to be my dressing room. It’s now dual dressing room that is not working well as a dressing room and a squished in fishroom. When I put out my tote for water changes and bucket I siphon out used water there is no room to walk. It’s a step careful and try not to trip situation. I get water by running a hose through the house from the kitchen and used water goes out the window or to the bathroom down the hall. I store my buckets in my bathtub because I’m out of room. Very inconvenient and requires moving them every day to shower. Working in my rooms means everything I’m currently using for whatever fry hatch setup sits on the floor in front of tanks. I bought rolling shelves but they don’t roll over the throw rugs I use in front of each tank to protect the carpet. The house is split level so rooms are above the garage on the second floor. The basement is actually the first floor. This is the basement. 13’ x 26’ plenty of room. 😃 My Hubby ❤️ and friends from Smallworld Aquatics are helping me. One is a contractor. The challenges The room hits 44 in the winter. The HVAC was not installed correctly by the houses first owners. It was an attempt at finishing the unfinished basement. The foundation stone stick uncovered 3 inches into the room and works like ice packs. The garage is not insulated and drafty. We run a heater in the garage over winter to keep the pipes from freezing (they froze and burst one year) The only plumbing down there is hooked to the washer. No faucet available. No drain other than closed sewer line the washer is hooked into. 3 plugs wired to a circuit containing mainly outlets outside, in the garage. And my laundry room. Not usable in capacity for 20 plus tanks. I bought the electrical supplies to run more sockets my breaker box has room for more breakers. I bought the flex duct but they were out of boots the size I needed. Gup is learning to HVAC 😲 Hubby bought the paint and flooring. He also helped me get the first coat on. The insulation board will be delivered Saturday to cover the exposed foundation concrete This party has officially started 🥳 Flooring, utility sink and beautiful island Hubby surprised me with ❤️

Hi, I'm korik. I used to keep goldfish as a teen but have been out of the game for a long time. More than a year ago, I snuck back in with a 2.5 gallon shrimp tank. (That's how long I've been lurking here.) And as I've wanted a pond for a long time, I started building a stock tank pond in October. This weekend, I finally got 3 little Shubunkins. Collectively named, Koba, Yashi, and Maru. They are still in my quarantine tub. But this is my pond they will be going in. The canister filter is run by a solar powered pump. Which I think I will modify to have a stronger flow than that little tube next season, but should be fine for now. I also have an air pump with an air stone and a large sponge filter (which is currently in their quarantine tub with them.) I'm a little nervous about introducing my wee little fishies to my pond. This was a lot easier when I was a blissfully ignorant teen adding feeder goldfish to my 20 gallon whenever I saw a pretty one I wanted. 🤷 But, I'm fairly sure that I've done this as best as I can. I look forward to spending the summer sitting by my pond watching fish swim happily to and fro.

No chemistry needed, just some measuring spoons. https://a.co/d/9KK8ccj

Thanks everyone- the obvious issue is the increasing bioload from my growing snails. I'm looking to rehouse them in another tank. i was just surprised how quickly they caused the kh to drop! This is my first time raising snails and I am paranoid about having enough calcium for their shells so I was erring on being heavy with calcium supplement. @Mmiller2001 I'm not a chemist, but i guess because my calcium is already high, the CC/calcium carbonate doesn't release the carbonate to act as a buffer and thats why its not working? That actually makes sense! I'll give the Potassium carbonate a try. I was hoping there was an easier way than water changes. I've been timing my changes just based on nitrates but i guess i'll have to go back to daily testing- hopefully will stabilize soon or the K2C02 helps. Thanks!

Had company over today, so late getting on here! Thank you, so much Tony! I had read about the regulator and mixed that up somehow with the Equilibrium apparently! I appreciate you getting me straight on that. I did read their site on their Equilibrium and they did say (it's a little confusing, honestly, lol) that Equilibrium raises the essential mineral/electrolyte content General Hardness (which may not be good for me since my GH is so high already) of the water to balance with and promote stability of the carbonate hardness. To maintain KH, we recommend the Alkaline Buffer. So, I think for now, I'll stick with what I'm doing so I don't go and really change the pH on the fishes. But, if we have to get an RO filter for our own safety with our water, you've just given me a good plan on what to do to remineralize everything! I really appreciate that! Thank you! 🙂

Yes, good catch guys, that was a typo, I’m using tablespoon i just went to Petco and bought an adhesive strip thermometer and a small heater. It’s suppose to stabilize temp at 78. we shall see how it goes this time thanks for the help!

I fixed it. Hubby likes it better and so do I. (I still can't stop it from flipping my picture, sorry.) The issues I wanted to address: 1) the hornwort (and cabomba?) looked terrible the way I had attempted to plant them. I decided to use them as floating plants. I wove them through the soap dishes so they are submerged but contained somewhat. 2) I had planted an anubias because the container it came in said to do so. I since learned better so I have attached it to the ship. 3) checked the bulbs that had not shown growth. One had growth but three were dead. 4) I moved the black quartz gravel to the areas I wanted to plant and used the very coarse blue gravel under and around the ship and where I wasn't going to plant. Several of the front plants were already rooted in enough that I left them alone with their mix of black and blue gravels. 5) added the fert tabs that came with the second batch of plants. I think it has a neater appearance now. I don't like cottage garden style in my yard and I don't like Amazon jungle in my aquarium it seems. 🙂 Of course, as the filter plants develop their roots, I probably will need to embrace the Amazon. 😂

Thank you so much for the fast response. I do have a sponge filter in there and will be adding the salt now. Thank you for providing the dosage.

Just dose the tank base on 10G as you have shrimp and snails in the tank I would dose with maracyn kanaplex can be harmful to shrimp there's always a chance antibiotic treatment will harm your benefial bacterial @Supermassive

I thought about that. Mine are also very active, They swim in one of the four directions, graze like cattle for a moment and move on to the next plant or rock. so far, I've never seen them swim the complete length of the tank. I have five of them in a 29, which is 6" longer and 2" taller than the 20H. Mine spend little time near the surface, so the extra 2" of height is not important. I think that due to their stop-start feeding habits, that a pair is doable, I have two more in a 65 gallon. They aren't as active as the others. This might be due to the lack of cousins to hang out with. They are young, so only time will tell if they will get bigger because they are in a bigger tank.. SAEs aren't the last word in algae control, but they are far better than any of the others that I've tried.

20High is too small for saes imo. Dont you think? I have three in 160 liter tank/ 100x4040cm tank and they are very active. Like VERY active in my experience constantly grazing and also chasing each other. I even feel like 160 liters feel kinda small

Its fully possible the shrimplets are being eaten, it's also possible the shrimplets just feel threatened with the Cories nearby and are just hiding where they think the big fish cannot get to them.

The general rule of thumb is if something can fit in a fish's mouth, sooner or later the fish is going to try to eat it. For over 15 years my striped Raphael catfish never bothered any of the dither fish in my 135. Since last Summer, my cardinal tetra school in that tank went from about 150 to under 10, with no bodies to be found. That's also why no new fish have been added to the tank since Spring last year. They're too expensive for fish food. 😂

I never had any of the glass ones, but I do like the plastic ones. Except I’ve broken the kids off of two😂am I the only one? Ok, just me…😂😂

I like to slope my substrates -- mostly inert sand and gravel -- to an average depth of about 2.5 to 3 inches, I guess, but I'm just eyeballing it. It might be an inch or so at the front and four or so in the back. It'll depend on tank size and what size plants (and plant roots) you've got. Hopefully some of our resident expert growers can chime in.

Is it still trying to float? If not let it be

I've never had to take an extended trip with fish. When I purchase fish, the bagged fish travel in a cooler lined with a bath towel. This absorbs vibrations and movement, muffles sound, and provides insulation. How you do this will likely be determined by the size of the vehicle you use, and how many helpers. First, take the apartment that you want. I don't think that a second move two weeks later would be a problem for the fish. There is never a guarantee as to how your fish will react to a move. I would use 5 gallon buckets and air stones. In addition to 3 hours of travel time , you must consider teardown and setup time on either end. The fish can't live in the bags for two weeks. I believe buckets or tubs are less stressful than bagging and re-bagging. The bucket allows for more swimming space and gas exchange than a sealed bag, You have larger fish, so I don't really know how many fish can be in one bag for 3 hours. You probably don't have the ability to move 200 gallons of water, but I would also be keeping as much of the original aquarium water as possible. This makes everything simpler on the other end.

Those are a combination of frogbit and red root floaters

Wow, loving the powerhead/pump. It did push sand a bit again, so I may add more gravel along the back. This little plant is now in a sand dune. lol! The device looks large in the photo, I think? It’s really not. Smaller than the 60 tabs root tabs container. I’m sure there are nicer looking/black powerheads but I think I needed that guidance of LFS and the ability to dial down the flow if needed. Actually, maybe I will do that vs more gravel. I know ACO has a powerhead but I thought the flow was too high for this tank? Idk. New to the powerheads game. Also I saw a video where the OP turned off the powerhead at night so the fish can rest more easily. I unplugged it last night but will snag a Kasa wifi timer for this purpose. I love love love these timers! Also I told my husband about the powerhead and Flint’s bioload and he said, quote! “You need a much bigger tank.” (!!!). However I will properly budget for all the things and not rack up the credit card. I can at least snag the tank now since it’s 50% off sale. 40B or 55? Hmm… 40B less water to change, also only wet arm to elbow …55 more water for livestock. that is the internal debate right now.

Everything eats shrimplets

Hubby did all the HVAC. We have a few more new drop ceiling tiles to put up. Next weekend finishes flooring and baseboards. He thinks he will finish installing the sink also. Then my friend will install the 3 dedicated breakers and all the sockets. End in sight.

It’s getting there

Both coats of paint are on. Trim is painted. Carpet and tack boards are up. the lower 20 inches of 2 walls are exposed foundation stone that sticks 2 inches into the room. We are in process of putting up 1 inch insulation board over it. We already picked out the wallpaper for over it. Next step is redo the duct work. The vinyl flooring was delivered. It’s coming right along at Gup’s old people pace 🤣 NOT a scale drawing by even the most wild stretch of the imagination. But a rough draft layout. mAlso those stand are all double tank stands. They each represent 2 tanks. All these tanks are current the only new tanks being added are a 40B and 8 10g tanks for breeding and grow out