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He waited so patiently while I mixed it up... I did give him a dog cookie after. 😂

Aloha everyone new here but long time aquarist. I live on the big island of hawaii, and have been into aquariums for as long as I can remember. I went to an explorations academy on the west side that specialized in marine and plant biology where we raised everything from reef fish, all the way up to baby hammer head sharks and eagle rays. That was the start of my journey, I am currently undergoing a small fun project of betta breeding and crossing so join along with me on all of my adventures 😄 currently looking into guppy breeding next so any advice or suggestions on that would be helpful. If you guys have any questions or just wAna chat feel free to reach out to me I’m always thrilled to make new friends in the same hobby and interests. Aloha again and hope everyone has a blessed and awesome day. I have included some pics of my current setups, I have my two pairs of betta currently in their holding jars as I set up their permanent tanks, my two fry tanks and my community tank. My community tank has 4 angels, two baby plecos, 8 long fin zebra danios and 7 neon tetras.

My 2.5 gallon pico tanks are shrimp tanks with lots of plants and no technology. My 1.25 gallon is just hosting plants and snails, like a wet houseplant. For my tanks, the tea color comes from organic soil, and tannins from the wood. I love it!

I really enjoyed this thread, we should keep it going.

Checking out this week's Science magazine and the cover story is a fish/cyanobacteria/waterweed 'in the news' trifecta. Cyanobacteria grows on waterweed. Fish eat the waterweed and eagles eat the fish. Eagles have convulsions, become paralyzed and die. Hunting the eagle killer: A cyanobacterial neurotoxin causes vacuolar myelinopathy The waterweed in the accompanying photographs looked just like Anacharis/Elodea to me so I had to look up a key to sort out what was what:

Okay I think it’s up? Can someone test this link? You still can’t find it by searching for “nerm” but under my account it says it’s published. Not sure if other people can access my account page. https://my.urbandictionary.com/author.php?author=Hobbit22 And it probably goes without saying, but don’t visit Urban Dictionary unless you’re prepared to read some pretty dirty/crude stuff. It is not a family friendly site. 😛

I’m really impressed with the community response, and all the ideas and organizing! I think it would be cool to do a virtual yearbook group photo, or some sort of Nerm photo grid.

I cheated the system and voted twice. Once on my phone and once on my laptop!

There has been no progress on the magnetic base. I used six magnets (3 on base and three on the mount. It had a better grip; however, the ends of the bars started to mess with each other. The base in the tank didn't want to center on the three magnets on the mount. This is the workshop and my son's game room. His computer and desk are behind the photo. You don't need a tank heater when you have Two CPUs and three printers running simultaneously. It gets uncomfortably hot.

Nano tanks, meaning 10 gallon or under. Go ahead, share them. Post pictures. I have a veiltail betta and 3 pygmy corydoras in a 5.5 gallon tank. I also have an empty 1.5 gal and 2 gal tank.

I've thrown plenty of shade on angelfish in the past, and I don't think I'll ever like the creepy boney look of white angelfish, but I just got this lil guy in the mail, dealer's pick, to help control my endler population and he just got of quarantine. So gosh darn cute! I love how curious he is, looking around slowly at everything, and how he has to tilt his whole silly body to look at things, like "...wooowwww..." I probably shouldn't call him "he" yet because I have no idea how to sex angelfish. But I'm thinking of calling him "Fafner" since I hope he teaches these young endlers a little fear 😛 Anyway, I formally apologize to the angelfish lovers out there for dissing them. They are totally fun to watch and I'm so happy I have one. May have to get another for the swordtail/guppy tank!

I vote you order in some killifish eggs for the 2 gal. Watch them hatch... grow... and eventually add to another tank, or sell. Watching this right now with a 2.5 gal - Fundulopanchax Scheeli (Emerald Killifish). Photo of adult below...

C'mon, there is always "pico"...

Wow! I am out for a week due to re-injuring my back and come back and a huge event is being planned!! Yay! I'm a terrible event planner and still nursing my pain, but would love to be in on the contests and any livesteam!

A nano tank to me means any size setup that houses only tiny inhabitants (around 1 inch). This is a bit of a controversial opinion, but if I were to do a nano tank, I would actually not prefer a high tech, delicate carpeting aquascape. I instead would prefer to just do a long tank (20 long), or a 40 breeder and make it a jungle type aquarium (I've be starting to lean toward these recently). Limiting oneself to tiny fish allows for not only large numbers of inhabitants, but also a very large variety.

I've also been battling hair algae in my tank and I found that lowering lighting intensity helped a lot for me. Also, what does your tank cleaning regimen look like? You can do a lot of damage to the diatoms with a gravel vac and water changes. It would definitely give your otos a chance to catch up as well. I have a 12 gallon long and I have 4 otos, so I would second Inked's suggestion to maybe get 6 otos total. Otherwise, increase your water changes to try and get things under control would be my suggestion.

Shrimp or snails are usually fine for a smaller volume like that! I keep my small 2.5 gal available as hospital tank. A tank in that size might also be a decent place to culture slower growing plants like java moss

I was the tenth vote. It says it’s the Top Definition now.

Always! Couldn't be happier with the shots too

I searched for "nerm" on UD. It's on there, definition number 5 currently and has 3 votes already. I think we can do better! You are a hero @Hobbit! Plus I've bookmarked your link above, and now whenever asked I, or anyone here, can just link to the page rather than a 2 hour live stream. Easier to find that way. I don't know why I am so excited about this, nor why I find it so funny. But I am enjoying it thoroughly!

I started selling my yellow tiger endlers on eBay and aquabid back in January, and I initially priced the females cheaper than the males because they have no color. I did not expect them to fly off the figurative shelf. I ended up pricing the females higher later on and still can barely keep up with demand. Apparently a lot of breeders do hoard the females. Fortunately, my colony produces a lot more females than males.

Here is the aquarium after a month. The plants have started to grow in nicely except for the background stem plants that did grow but not very well. They were eventually swapped out for dwarf aquarium lilly bulbs. Here is the aquarium 6 months in. The plants have grown in a lot and the lilly bulbs are beginning to reach the surface. Now this picture is of what the tank looks like today. The plants are large now and the crypts are flowering. Looking back at the old pictures, this aquarium is actually almost a year old. I mistakenly dated it as being 2 years old. I recently added the diy riparium planters with plants. Please let me know if anyone would like to see in detail how I made those. It is very simple and effective. The golden pothos above the tank is actually resting on the driftwood and not in a planter. I did not have that many photographs but I hope what I did have helped someone. Please let me know if anyone has any questions. I know I skipped some steps here and there. I will do my best to provide answers to all questions. Thank you all for taking the time to read about my aquarium!

Forum friends:

Hello everyone, I've been meaning to create a journal on my 29 gallon aquarium and my experiences with it, but I just haven't had time recently, as I am constantly bombarded with homework, tests, and projects in school. As you can probably infer, I have a little period of rest right now from school, which is why I am creating my journal now. Anyway, I've done something similar to a journal in my introduction where I covered my journey through the entire hobby, so I thought that maybe I would do a more in-depth story with pictures and only about one aquarium. Hope you guys don't mind the read... Okay, so it started out with me getting my 29 gallon started up and cycled for a couple of weeks. Setup: I added in pool filter sand as the substrate (I had never tried this before previously I used gravel in my 10 gallon), because I knew Corydoras would love to sift through the sand. For hardscape, I originally included only a few river rocks, but soon later added in some driftwood from my pre-existing 10 gallon. Lastly, I added in a couple of plastic plants I had used in my first setup, and a Java fern grown in gravel, now planted in sand. In terms of equipment for this tank, I originally started with an airstone and a cheap hang-on-back filter from a 10 gallon aquarium kit, as well as a cheap heater from PetSmart. I increased the filtration later on as I get more fish. The original stocking for the aquarium was all the fish from my 10 gallon aquarium (not including the male guppy that had passed away a day before I transferred the fish), meaning a pair of peppered cories (Corydoras paleatus), two albino females (C. aeneus), one Venezuelan male (C. venezuelanus, I didn't know he was different from C. aeneus at the time which is why I only have one), and two Endler's livebearer males (Poecilia wingei), along with a number of Assasin snails (Clea helena) of all sizes. Here is me first releasing the fish from my 10 gallon into their new 29 gallon aquarium. Soon after their introduction, our last guinea pig Samuel passed away, so my parents allowed me to get more fish to compensate (also simply because the tank wasn't at all full, and needed something that would eat algae). I bought a school of five pygmy cories (Corydoras pygmaeus) (also not to eat algae, simply for my enjoyment), and my little sister wanted a pleco, so she chose out a female bristlenose pleco (Ancistrus spec., maybe A. dolichopterus?). With the purchase of the bristlenose pleco came a tiny little guppy (Poecilia reticulata) fry that had made its way into the bag. We added this fry into the 29 gallon as well. Also I added an Amazon swordplant shortly after. After a while, algae started to rapidly take over in the aquarium. Specifically whatever kind of algae this is: I think it's staghorn algae so that's what I am going to call it for now. So I introduced three Amano shrimp from my LFS in order to combat the algal bloom. They immediately got to work on the staghorn algae covering the driftwood, and soon the driftwood was completely clear. Unfortunately, one shrimp jumped out of the aquarium (I don't even know how there is a good lid, and even though it has a space for the filter and stuff, I don't know why a shrimp would jump out, because the other two stayed in the aquarium), and I was not at home when this happened, so sadly this one did not make it. Anyway, they ate all of the mystery algae. At this point, my pair of Corydoras paleatus were beginning to breed, laying eggs which I scooped out and put in a small 1/2 gallon container right next to my aquarium. This container was aerated with an air stone, but otherwise had no other equipment. This first batch of eggs all grew fungus all over it, and I was heartbroken, until a week or two later, right as I was about to throw the container away, I noticed a tiny little baby fish in the container. I put him into the 29 gallon aquarium because I had no other aquariums ready. He made his home under the rock caves that I constructed near the air stone. But soon after this problem came the bloom of hair algae and black beard algae, the former covering the Amazon sword and plastic plants, while the latter took over my driftwood and Java fern. My guppy fry, which grew up and happened to be a female, then had babies with my male Endler's, producing many hybrid fry. In this stage, I also added a MarineLand Penguin Bio-Wheel 150 Power (hang-on-back) Filter made for 30 gallons. Although I have heard bad reviews for it, it worked for me because it was just and had a decent amount of space inside of it to add sponges, cartridges, or filter floss (I started with the cartridge that came with the kit and then switch the media later on). Also, I added an intake sponge over the intake of the filter so that no fry would get sucked up and also so that algae and plant leaves and things like that would not clog the filter. Soon, my Corydoras paleatus started breeding again, and laid about 30 fertile eggs. I used the same process for these as last time, and amazingly, all 30 hatched. I added them into a breeder basket in the main tank. They did fine for a couple of weeks, but then I noticed one or two had died under the frame of the box. So I decided to release them into the main tank, as I was afraid all would meet the same fate. Honestly, I think it would have been best if I just kept them in the box. After a couple of days, I never saw any of them anymore. I think that they might have, 1) gotten eaten by the other fish in the tank, but I don't know who could have eaten them I only had Endler's livebearers, cories, Amano shrimp, and a bristlenose pleco at the time, 2) died of disease, or 3) they died of starvation and not being able to compete for food. Fortunately, three of the 30 survived and I began to see them later on as they got bigger. So at this point, I was really upset and just wanted something new. I finally got my parents to allow me to get plants (ordered off of Aquarium Co-Op they took a lot of convincing though because they were afraid of me getting pest snails that would take over like the trumpet snails in my 10 gallon). I ordered a Cryptocoryne wendtii, Vallisneria, dwarf hairgrass (Eleocharis), and a dwarf aquarium lily (Nymphaea stellata). After this I went to my LFS to get Cabomba caroliniana, two Siamese algae eaters (Crossocheilus siamensis) for the still going hair algae problem, and a male pearl gourami (Trichopodus leeri). Also picked up my first Repashy to try it out as well. Soon, my aquarium was nice and green, and I added a black background for viewing purposes. I also decided to add more filtration (the water was pretty cloudy) so I ordered an Aquarium Co-Op sponge filter meant for 10 gallons (I had ordered this for my 10 gallon aquarium but wasn't using it at the time). After keeping this setup and stocking for a while, and while the guppies/endlers kept having more babies, I noticed my tank was way overstocked. The gourami was being aggressive toward the cories during feeding, the Siamese algae eaters were constantly fighting, and the bristlenose pleco was always chasing the other fish away from the food on the bottom (she, unlike the gourami, would just charge straight at whatever she felt wanted to take her food, even if they were half the tank apart. This meant baby cories, the gourami, and even the Amano shrimp). So I started by removing a large school of guppies (I took out the ones I wanted to breed) and added them to my newly restarted 10 gallon to start a colony. I removed my disintegrating Cabomba and put it in there as well (I never can seem to have success with this plant someone please give tips). Later, due to continued aggression, I moved both the pearl gourami and one of the Siamese algae eaters into the 10 gallon as well for temporary holding. They are still in there now, and aren't too big yet, so I plan on moving them or getting them a new home once they get bigger. Anyway, my guppies continue to have babies in the 10 gallon, but the ones in the 29 are not old enough yet, so they will soon. I added in water sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides) in place of the Cabomba, and it is growing well along with the dwarf aquarium lily and the Cryptocoryne wendtii. My goal with this setup is to create a nice "jungle," where there are a lot of plants covering the back and sides of the aquarium, with many different species of fish of different shapes and sizes all thriving together. Right now, it doesn't look too good though. Despite the plants that are growing well, algae is taking over the glass walls (I think green spot algae and some other type). In addition, the Vallisneria in the back doesn't grow anymore, and the Amazon sword that I had originally put in the tank several months ago has gotten smaller and smaller (it was propogated underwater at my LFS), and now is looking green and brown. The hairgrass is growing okay. Any suggestions on what to do with these current problems would be well appreciated. Also, I thought I might add that the bristlenose pleco died just a week or so ago, probably due to internal parasites that might be causing the fish in both my 10 and 29 gallon to scratch themselves on the substrate. I am ordering the medications (API General Cure I heard works well) now, and so far no one else has died yet. Anyway, I thought I might include a few pictures of the fish in the tank at the moment: Here is a pair of Amano shrimp on their favorite driftwood. The female has eggs, but I heard they don't hatch in freshwater. But if anyone has hatched Amano shrimp before, please give advice I want to try and hatch her eggs. Corydoras attacking Repashy: Community Plus So currently, my conditions are: Equipment: Nicrew 30 Inch Light, MarineLand Penguin Bio-Wheel 150 Power Filter, Aquarium Co-Op 10 Gallon Sponge filter (powered by Aqua Culture 5-15 Gallon Air Pumo), 6 inch airstone (powered by Tetra 20-40 Gallons Air Pump), Some kind of heater I forgot the brand Plants: Vallisneria (2), Cryptocoryne wendtii (2 plus new plants from runners), Dwarf Aquarium Lily (1), Dwarf Hairgrass (1), Amazon Sword (1), Java Fern (1 large, plus many smaller plantlets planted in different spots), Water Sprite (1). Fish and Other Livestock: Albino Corydoras (2), Peppered Corydoras (5), Pygmy Corydoras (5), Venezuelan Corydoras (1), Guppy/Endler's Livebearer Hybrids (Around 20 of various sizes), Siamese Algae Eater (1), Amano Shrimp (2), Assassin Snail (Many). So that's my journey with this aquarium so far. As I mentioned earlier, I want a bit more variety in my fish species, so I plan selling some of the guppy/endler hybrids and assassin snails (or moving them) and stocking the aquarium with a couple other different peaceful fish, like tetras (I like rosy tetras, cardinals, diamonds, lemons, black neons, and pristellas), rasboras (maybe the micro rasboras?), minnows (white clouds), or other Corydoras (I know that would probably be too many bottom dwellers though, so maybe only a friend for the Venezuelan or albinos, or more pygmy cories so they school in the middle instead of taking up more room on the bottom). I also like Bolivian Rams, but I know they get pretty big and act like a gourami so not suitable for my community. So if you guys have any ideas on which other fish I could do in the aquarium, go ahead and give your suggestions down below. I'll make sure to give updates on this aquarium in the future. Sorry for the long read, but if you did make it this far, thanks for reading!

I wanted to share my personal experience with my first DIY project using PVC pipes. I searched online quite a bit and decided to give it a shot myself. It turned out to be quite simple, so I wanted to share it here in case anyone else would like to give it a try. Parts: 1-1/2" PVC pipe, cut to about 12 inches long (1) 1-1/2" to 3/4" PVC bushing. Get the one that has threads on the inside (3) 1-1/2" PVC DWV pipe (it's a U-shaped pipe) (1) 1-1/2" Sani Tee Pipe (1) 5/8" hose barb x 3/4" MIP nylon adapter (2) I got the hose barb with 5/8" barb for my 16/22 mm hose 1/4" x 1/2" MIP push-to-connect adapter for the CO2 tubing (1) 3/4" to 1/2" PVC bushing. Get the one that has threads on the inside. The CO2 connector goes to that How I got it free-standing: I ended up needing to build a stand as well, because the reactor itself won't stand upright. I found a little part of my old computer desk, that had a metal plate and a connected short metal tube (it was meant to hold a small table top that swivels out). I was able to fit another PVC pipe right onto it and got it to fit snugly by putting a rubber band on the metal tube before putting the pvc pipe on. Then I cut open a few more 1-1/2" PVC pipes and screwed them into the stand, which clamps perfectly onto the reactor! I used bolts and tightened it with nuts on the inside, so that it would be more stable and not have a risk of pulling out eventually. I was really happy to see that I could re-use the PVC pipes to act as a clamp, it made my job so much easier. Reasons for creating this PVC CO2 reactor: I am currently using an FZone CO2 inline diffuser, which ends up sending lots of micro-bubbles into the tank. When I had lights that did not have as high intensity, I didn't notice it much. However, when I switched to using a higher intensity light, it became very noticeable, and I don't really want to have that 7-up effect I thought it would be really cool to try and building something using PVC! It's super fun 🙂 How it works: The idea of the design is that water will be flowing from the top of the reactor, downwards and then out from the bottom The CO2 line injects the CO2 from the top as well, and as the CO2 gets pushed down, it will try to rise up and keep getting flushed down, until it dissolves into the water The idea then is that any water that is able to flow out, should only contain dissolved CO2 I decided not to have any bio balls in there, because I won't be able to get in there and clean the media when it eventually gets dirty As of writing this thread, I have not yet connected it to my filter. I am waiting on my new filter that will be more powerful (Oase Biomaster 300), so the flow won't be restricted too much. Once I have it connected, I will update this thread with more information!

Sounds like MTS is hitting you! I would do anything in the 1.5. Maybe some shrimp but you will have to keep their numbers down, as they do breed rapidly. Some shrimp wouldnt be a bad idea in the 2 gallon, just once again keep their numbers down. Take a trip down to your fish store everymonth and sell of some shrimp. You could do both snails and shrimp in the 2 gallon, but probably not both. I would reccemend some sort of neocardina shrimp species like the Cherry Shrimp. For plants I would do plants that absorb the excess nutrients in the tank, because it will be overstocked. Maybe some Hornwort, any floating plants, Java Moss (shrimp really like moss).

Could be normal. My betta fish is less than 1 year old and is what I would consider to be fairly active. When I looked at him just now, he was lying down on the ground with his fins draped over a cryptocoryne plant. Then a minute later, he swam away, examined the sponge filter, and then took a breath from the water surface. Afterwards, he came back next to the crypt plant, trying to snuggle next to it and find a comfortable resting position. When I glanced back, he was gone again. Just another day in the life of a male betta. 🤷‍♀️

Great stocking plan, with only a few concerns on my part: Make sure the pearl gourami is very peaceful. In my experience, gouramis (like the dwarf and pearls) are peaceful, but will be pretty aggressive/territorial during feeding. They often will swim to the bottom of the tank and eat the sinking wafers (after eating the flakes provided) and nip the cories and other bottom dwellers away from their own food. Keep in mind that I have only had males, and gouramis all have different personalities, so this may just be unique to my experience. Bristlenose plecos can be quite food aggressive as well, but other than that, they are great algae eaters. Fin nipping: Cherry barbs are actually one of the more peaceful barbs. They are one of the few that do not fin nip. I heard black skirt tetras might though, but I have seen them kept with bettas and gouramis just fine. Just an opinion: a group of small schooling fish to contrast with the medium ones (cherry barbs) and the large ones (black skirt tetras) would look great. Something like neon tetras, harlequin rasboras, or similar fish would probably work out fine. One more thing (I'm just curious): what kind of Corydoras do you plan on? I hope this helps, and good luck!

I agree with @James Black post a picture if it gets worse. It could in fact just be the natural shape of his fins. The pygmy corydoras are very peaceful and don't even have the capacity to tear other fishes' fins, so it's not them.

I wouldnt worry quite yet. If starts to get worse, then maybe post a picture. Fins usually heal on their own, except when its finrot.

Letting them eat what they find. Adults removed. It’s a very established tank, two sponge filters. Plus, feeding some vinegar eels and using Dean’s concept with a dry paintbrush dipped in New Life Spectrum Fry powder, and then tapped off into the water.

Add an air stone, it’s the number one tip @Cory always recommends.

I'll have to get some pics tonight when the house isn't so full of glare. :3

5 corys, 2 super red Bristlenose Plecos completed QT. Took the meds fine. Everyone is settling in to the display tank. I was concerned about the Betta accepting roommate, but he is indifferent to them. He isnt even possessive over food. More often I find him moping around laying in the Death Star or at the bottom of the tank.

Unfortunately the crude definition is still the top google search result. I sent a complaint to Google. 😆

murphy needs his teath cleaned lol. I wonder does anyone brush big fish's teeth?

I am thinking about the best way to do this....still thinking.

i think the crypts would do well for you.

Great timing my finding this as I’m battling Cyanobacteria in my betta tank 😂. (I advise against using a plant grow light as an aquarium light. You will acquire many uninvited guests) edit: now I’m peaking under the towel covering my blacked-out tank staring at my large cluster of big-box store elodea trying to confirm that it is in fact elodea 😂

FYI. Shrimp and snails will eat biofilm.

I laughed, but it was a sad sort of laugh. X3

They’re active, colorful and really inexpensive.

I'm just getting back into roses now. My whole backyard was ringed with hybrid tea roses about forty years ago. Then my old neighbor got married and his wife was convinced the rose spray I used was going to kill her. I finally got tired of her acting like I was trying to murder her and moved on to a perennial border and gave up on the roses. She moved out to her daughter's house last year so I bought a Mr. Lincoln this year (my favorite red rose) and I'll work a few more roses back into the yard. I won't have as many as before, but a few here and there will be nice.

my tetras dull their colors and hide not really interesting

Yes, I should say more. Many years ago I tried a no aeration method of hatching baby brine shrimp. At best I was able to achieve an 80% hatch rate and most of the time even less. Having each batch be 20 - 40% unhatched eggs was both time consuming and I didn't want my baby fish to consume unhatched brine shrimp eggs of which some always remained. Then I graduated to a suspended 2L Coke bottle with an airstone and got much better results. Eventually I found the system I currently use which consists of 3 cones in which I start a small batch of brine shrimp eggs every 12 hours. Below is the very first video (speaking of anniversaries🙂) I ever posted to the forum back in July of last year: It takes me about 2 1/2 minutes in the morning and about minutes 2 1/2 minutes in the evening to setup a fresh cone. What I get are easy to harvest (see video) just hatched baby brine shrimp at the peak of the their nutritional value when they are still mostly egg yolk. I can make batches off any size large or small and I never, ever get any unhatched eggs in what I feed my baby fish. That is why I voted for the Ziss. I didn't care for the no aeration method but the Ziss is the most similar to what I currently do and is what I recommend.

Here is my Ammannia Gracilis x3, from the COOP. looking good, really cool plant.

This baby shrimp is less than half a grain of rice long!!