OutBout

No one's water parameters are exactly the same, thus crypt melt is likely to happen. Might not be all at once, but this is just part of the acclimatization process and requires a large energy expenditure. You can help the plant not waste excess energy by observing leaves that look malnourished and trimming them. This will prevent the plant from trying to salvage the bad leaves and focus its energy on growing new healthy leaves. Placing root tabs under crypts will also help during acclimatization. But ultimately this just takes time (CO2 will accelerate this), so stay patient.

Tiger barbs definitely need a group in order to thrive. They live in a hierarchy and a singular barb seems to be out of sorts.

Body characteristics can be indicative of where a fish lives. High flow loving fish can be elongated, flattened (vertically or horizontally), large caudal fin, lack of swim bladder, and have strategically placed mouths. Some examples are certain danios, rasboras, rainbowfish, catfish, loaches, shiners, gobies, etc. There's lots to choose from. What specifics are you looking for (look-wise, behavior-wise)? For snail control, have you checked out assassin snails?

Heard of similar products. The seeds will initially sprout and the plants will likely grow for a certain time submerged, though temporarily. They'll eventually die off due to not being aquatic.

Love these gouramis. Are they quite shy?

New river tank incoming. Scape is going to take a few days.

Not only does it look fat and happy, but could also be a gravid female with a belly full of eggs.

Lots of plants can thrive in higher temperatures. I have a shallow pond (4 inch depth) that was sitting in 95-100 ambient temperatures for week long stretches. The water temperatures was at least 85 and plant growth was intense. No real die off occurred.

I believe Ludwigia palustris is either a Washington state native or naturalized plant. It's quite hardy, so no surprise it lived through the recent snow of the past winter!

Instead of throwing them away, have a look at Facebook groups if you're interested in selling off some plants.

Neither are voracious in terms of algae eating. Both do much better with high flow and dissolved oxygen. Not sure how compatible this would be with the betta. Have you considered amano shrimp?

Fascinating observation, and not surprising that something like this can occur in fish! I agree that this congenital heart disease is probably due to inbreeding, though other factors could contribute and exacerbate such a defect.

Amazing stuff! Thanks for showing your setup and thinking process. I've always been thinking about doing dace or shiners for a hillstream tank. If you don't mind, where did you source your fish from?

Great colors. Are those nurii Rosen Maiden up front?

Walked around next to a local pond shop and saw a few rough skinned newts.

Thanks for sharing! I definitely want to get a few least killifish myself in the future.

Here's a larger shot.

Earlier this summer I had an empty litter box and an assortment of plants from a torn down tank. Decided to put the two together outside and see what would happen. The tiny pond has about an inch layer of organic soil for the substrate, and is exposed to at least 8 hours of direct sunlight every day. So far the plants have been loving it! Plant stock list: Alternathera reineckii 'Mini', Echinodorus sp. 'Aflame', Heteranthera zosterifolia, Hygrophila augustifolia 'Rubra', Hygrophila polysperma 'Sunset', Lindernia dubia, Potamogeton crispus, Potamogeton gayi, Rotala rotundafolia 'Blood red', and one unknown stem I collected in a creek.

Pumpernickel. So quirky and flavorful!

If this were my tank I would take out the bamboo and vampire shrimp. They prefer higher flow than what some of the other tankmates would like. Feeding these shrimp is another potential challenge, as they're "filter feeders" of sorts. If you see them crawling around all over the tank using their fans to pick up debris/food that means they aren't getting enough nutrients from the water column.

I've kept quite a few species throughout my fish keeping journey, but recently lost a bunch due to an ich outbreak in a community tank. Right now I'm pretty downsized, and currently have: dwarf horseface loaches (Acanthopsoides molobrion), rosy loaches (Petroichthys sp. 'Rosy'), purple kuhli loaches (Pangio filinaris), reticulated sculpins (Cottus perplexus), and some mosquito fish for my mini pond. I also keep a few Caridina shrimp varieties, as well as some native aquatic snails (Juga plicifera).

Hi all, been a full time lurker for awhile but finally decided to join up! I've had aquarium since 2006-2007 and have mainly focused on the smaller species. Currently I'm setting up a river tank, looking more into ponds, and exploring my local waterways.