macdaddy36

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!

I had no idea something as common as a dandelion or deadnettle was invasive. Do you know if these are invasive or native in the midwest?

I took a video of them schooling, they school better than I expected.

some stuff arrived today QT is full of stuff again. The Blue emperors are schooling around and have already eaten and the plants looks good, although the swords have all of water leaves. The tetra have some fin damages unfortunately. Neither of the hillstream loaches survived the trip. No delays, but when they arrived the water stunk so bad and was 8.0 ppm ammonia. Not sure what happened there.

Just want to finish this thread off... I'm hoping this is not a violation of rules as it says in the forum guidelines that Aqua Huna is still an approved vendor. I ordered 4 plants from Aqua Huna. I got a Red Melon Sword, a Crypt spiralis, a Red Flame Sword, and an Anubias All are fairly large. The sword and the crypts are completely out of water grown leaves still. The Crypt didn't have enough water for the journey and arrived slightly wilted. The are from Florida Aquatic Nurseries based off the tag.

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.

Or platies, there are purple platies I think

"Occur in standing waters of floodplains, canals, rice paddies (Ref. 12693) and medium to large rivers (Ref. 12975). https://www.fishbase.se/summary/4768 Bettas come from a wider variety of habitats than we typically believe in nature. I think that they would be fine in a tank deeper than 1 foot, especially if you have lots of structure near the top of the tank to allow them to rest in (tall driftwood, floating plants, tall stems, floating Betta logs etc.)

There are also purple harlequin rasbora, purple kerri tetra, some German blue Rams especially ones with dark traits I think.

And what are your parameters?

Corys and betta will probably be fine, neons might struggle. On the other hand, your water will be great for guppies platies etc.

I got the confirmation email. The new fish and plants should be arriving Thursday and I'm very excited!

I think you should be doing more than a weekly water change if there is still ammonia. In a established tank the ammonia should be at a level which is undetectable with the API test kit or strips. Adding the cories will increase the bioload and if you are still having ammonia issues then that will only make the problem worse. Still this ^ What are your nitrates looking like? How much are you feeding?

This is generally true, although I have found in larger tank (especially taller) that a variety of tetra and rasbora can work. I current keep mine with splash tetra and harlequin rasbora. Definitely not suitable to go with cories, gourami, live bearer, etc. though.

What are the dimensions of your tank?

Quick update I got my QT setup because I ordered some new fish yesterday 8x Inpaichthys kerri, AKA Blue Emperor/Royal/Kerri Tetra and 2x Reticulated Hill-stream Loach They will both go in 10 gallon QT but longterm the Kerri tetra will go in the cube and the loaches will probably end up in the 20 high. The 20 high actually has an Aquaclear 30 HOB, fluval 107, and sponge filter so there is a decent amount of flow. I also ordered some plants which were Red flame sword, red melon sword, crypt spiralis, and anubias something or other Can anyone who has hillstream loaches comment on what they eat? Right now I have repashy soilent green and lots of algae. The loaches will be having a shorter QT because I want to get them into the algae tank quickly.

You can if you want to, but that Amazon sword in the middle should fill up the space pretty quickly.

Aquaneat light of that size probably $15

What the heck is that thing!?

I like the nicrew and aquaneat LEDs for the price. The nicrews are adjustable and have timers but the aquaneats are cheaper and brighter. Both are on amazon. I’m not sure about nicer, more expensive lights. I’d imagine the co-op lights are great though:

Could you post a link?

My fish go crazy for fluval bug bites and xtreme nano pellets.

Moneywort is a medium light plant so I don’t think those kit lights are enough to grow it. I see you have gravel right now but if you get a nutrients rich substrate you could try crypts. Also, if this is a new plant it might be melting and then coming back.

Most endlers in the hobby aren't "pure" endlers, and yours likely weren't either unless you purchased "n class" endlers, which are generally more expensive and difficult to find. Because of this I don't see why further crossing them would be an issue. I do think it is important to preserve the original "natural" variants/type locations of endlers since they are threatened by pollution and hybridization in the wild.