NOLANANO

In total you have had 32 fish disappear? No judgment, just making sure I understand the situation. Do they disappear one at a time or you wake up and 10 fish are gone? Is the background fit to the glass or is it possible for fish to get pinned between the glass and the background? I ask because if you do have a bully in the tank (either Denison Barbs or the Gouramis if I had to guess) then its possible that the smaller fish are going behind the background to hide and then either get stuck or just starve to death. Its also possible they just jumped out but I'd think you would have found a body or 2 if 32 fish jumped out.

I have no idea what color she is but I have a name suggestion: Princess Peach

I'm sorry, like I said I am not experienced with cichlids other than dwarf cichlids. I always thought Parrots were african cichlids. Maybe an Oscar is your best bet. you would need to have some luck on your side with personality and temperment toward tankmates though. I don't really know much about leaf fish. WHat about something cool like a fire eel?

I assume you have the cichlids in the 75G with maybe the shark and loaches and then the Angels and guppies in the 40G? This is a complete guess by me so if I have the stocking wrong, let me know. Others who are more experienced with cichlids might have better advice but it seems like your issue is finding a fish large enough to eat the guppies that won't bully your current cichlids and also won't get picked apart by your current cichlids. When I was 15 I had a small Oscar with a couple of convict cichlids in a 29g cuz the guy at petsmart said it was a good idea. The convicts nipped at the oscar for about 2 weeks before he finally succumbed to his wounds. My point being that its not gonna be easy to find a species that can coexist with your current stocking and eat guppies. Just thinking out loud here, Maybe move the Jewel cichlids to the 29G which would free up space in the 75G for a large Hap or Peacock? An Oscar would have been my suggestion if the 75G was empty but I don't think it could live with african cichlids.

I could be wrong here as I have never had any parrot cichlids but won't they eat guppies?

I think to give you a better answer we need to know what fish are in which tank. It kind of sounds like you want to put a predator in a community tank but only want it to eat the guppies. The issue is that a predator like a an Oscar for example will eat EVERY fish that it can fit in its mouth, not just the guppies. If we knew that the Oscar would be housed with a Bichir and a Jaguar cichlid, then thats a different story than an Oscar with some angels and schooling fish.

I fill my tank up with my Python and just dose the whole tank with prime and I have never had an issue.

Is the PH out of your tap also 8? If so, you will either have to learn to live with it or formulate a plan to lower it consistently. Given that messing with the PH can be pretty tricky, I tend to avoid it. Since you don't have a LFS, I'll assume RO water is out of the question as well. If your tap water is more neutral, then something in the tank is driving up your PH and that would need to be addressed. What size is the tank? If its big enough, african cichlids like Mbunas or shell dwellers like High PH and have wonderful colors. They eat and uproot plants but it could solve that issue for you too since you won't need them anymore.

I love my Bacopa Caroliniana, Anubias Barteri, and Red Tiger Lotus. These are all extremely easy plants that are pretty hard to kill and look great.

And a baby Red Tail Catfish as their first inhabitant 😂

Endlers and shrimp would be my pick out of your options. Endlers are fun to watch. They compete with one another all day every day even if there are no female present. Just a bunch of warriors doing it for the love of the game.

The Blue Kong doesn't eat your fish or more importantly your plants?

I second this. Bachelor pad. No females. If you want females, get 2 males of the same species and 4-5 females.

I think Macmasteri or trifaciatta would be a closer match size and aggression wise to the Cackatoo. I am by no means an apisto expert so feel free to give it a try, I just didn't have any luck with a Borelli and a Macmasteri in a 75G heavily planted tank and a Cackatoo is similar in size to a Macmasteri. It really comes down to individual fish personalities with dwarf cichlids. Only other criticism of your plan would be to add the territorial fish (Apistos) at the same time. If you stagger their entrance to the tank, the first fish will view the second fish as an intruder to its territory (your tank). If you add them at the same time, they will (hopefully) divide the tank into territories and defend their space. The only way this works is if the 2 or 3 fish are similar enough in size and aggression to fend each other off but not overly dominate the others. Sure, one will always be the most dominant but the key is to have the other fish fight back enough to lay claim to an area and have the alpha concede that area to them. my LFS claims that they will be getting a bigger selection of Apistos so I may try to mix and match like you are trying to do in my 75G soon. previously, the LFS would get one species of Apisto for a week every 3 or 4 months and you kind of get what you get. Now they claim they will have a rack set up just for Apistos and will have a larger selection. We will see if this comes to fruition.

in my experience, the Borelli will get bullied into hiding and starve to death if kept with a Cockatoo in a 75G. BUT each fish does have its own personality so if you luck out and have a boisterous Borelli and a chill Cockatoo maybe it could work. If I were a betting man, I would say the Borelli will most likely die and if not, would still be hiding the majority of the time. The bristlenose shouldn't be an issue with either species.

Time and Patience is the answer. I have 2 kids and they are in a million different after school activities so there are a decent amount of days where the aquarium lights are off before I get a chance to sit down. Creating the time, not only to do the maintenance but to also sit down and enjoy the little box of water you created can be difficult. Patience is a whole other area that is hard to quantify. The obvious example is when starting a new tank you have to be patient when cycling and adding fish but there are other examples too. I have a low tech planted tank so I have to exhibit patience when I trim the plants (the moss in particular). Right after they are trimmed, the tank never looks as good I think it can BUT through experience, I know that 2 weeks from that day, the tank will look better than ever and it will stay looking great for 2-4 weeks after that before its time for another trim. Knowing this, I usually try to trim the plants a few weeks prior to a party or any time I know that people will see the tank. IDK what that last part has to do with patience other than the fact that I have to plan out things and then be patient. I hate being patient lol.

While I do love my Aquarium, I also have other strong interests and 2 kids that are getting to the ages of constantly having extra curriculars. The time I get to spend in front of my tank and the time I take to do maintenance is pretty minimal these days anyway. I am not looking to get out of the hobby but I also don't think it would be detrimental to my mental health either.

I just rinse mine with tap water. I'd say if it feels sticky to try to use a paper towel or a Q tip to wipe it clean. I personally try not to use soap on anything thats deals with my aquarium.

Yellow shrimp on black sand get picked off with ease. I have had brown and blue shrimp do just fine over black sand.

It seems like only when I go out of town that everything goes haywire. I’ll leave with healthy fish and good water parameters and come back to a ph crash or something weird going on with the fish. it’s like the tank can tell that I’m not paying attention to it for a few days, gets jealous and says LOOK AT ME!

Maybe I misread Lennie’s post but I don’t think the professor was insinuating that the fish keeper would die, more that the snails might have parasites or something that would harm your fish.

Look how small the rocks and wood look, that helps with the perspective of the size of the tank. it looks great! The only critique I’d give is to maybe try to add some height with another piece of drift wood or larger rock or something but honestly, the plants may give you the height piece on their own.

I've always been curious and I would think that the answer is yes but do the vendors ship live fish from the event? Like can I go, see a pair of Apistos I like and buy them? Or is it more of a Hardware and idea expose?

The OP also said she has been doing research but as you know, there isn’t always answers for specific questions such as “does this specific mix of fish work” or “will these decorations work” so the best course of action is to ask people that have been doing this a while. i just don’t like the idea of gate keeping this hobby by making newer hobbiests feel bad about asking questions.

This quote doesn't apply to this hobby in the least bit. People ask questions because they don't know. How could anyone figure anything out if the logic they used was "I don't already know the answer so I guess I can't do it"?