ccc24

Thank you!

Which plant is this? It grows ridiculously fast, and I bought it out of a “pick bin” of plants for sale (of which none were labeled).

Depends on the shrimp. Fully grown bamboo shrimp, maybe. Cherry shrimp - nope.

Your plants sound amazing! I bet you’re going to be great at doing a planted tank.

Welcome! Those fish sound awesome!

Generally, as fish in an aquarium can not escape the Ich parasite lifecycle, they can’t be left to just fight it off. If it were nature and they could swim away - that would break the life cycle. you can wait overnight to see if it spreads and if it has you need to treat it. Unfortunately, Ich will cause havoc vs just being a nuisance.

I personally would maximize my fertilizer before I’d maximize light. I’ve found that water can be nutrient dense but doesn’t grow too much algae until there is too much light, plus with your water change schedule - you can get rid of excess pretty easy.

I would agree - what is your fertilizer schedule/types? That will help pinpoint your issue.

I think small shrimp would be the only animal that may be somewhat safe. I know any bigger or Omni snails are a no go. My mystery snails have straight eaten eggs.

I want one or five or I don’t know. They disappeared before I got back into the hobby this time, and honestly I want to get one to see what all the hype is about.

Beautiful fish! Gouramis are some of my favorites! My opaline is one of my favorites.

Give it a whirl. I bet it looks great once it comes back.

Adorable little babies! So exciting!

Yep. That’s totally it. Why are you doubting the great google? 🤪

From my experience you can just load up. My only concern with putting them in first is that the plant has to have the nutrients to grow to reach that far (but the nutrients are in those deeply buried tabs). I have a pair of hemostats that I use to shove them down in the substrate without any floating issues.