Schuyler

Personally, is get more corys. Or at least that's what I would tell myself to do but then I'd be tempted to get something new. If you have a lid you could get a pair of Aphyosemion Australe or Aphyosemion Striatum. Both are peaceful but prolific jumpers so you'll need a lid.

I have a fish bucket list: - Shell dwellers (Multies) - Mouth brooding bettas - Aphyosemion striatum - Aphyosemion Australe - Blue Gularis Killifish - Pea puffers - Pygmy Sunfish - Nothobranchius Rachovii - Nothobranchius Ruudwildkampi - Pelvicachromis taeniatus Nigerian red

If you want to try sharing a little different and you have a lid on your tank, then you could try killifish in the Nothobranchius genus. They appreciate hard water, they're brightly colored, and they're not shy at all. These are my Nothobranchius Eggersi:

Looks like they are just good at hiding the eggs because guess what just popped up:

I wish I could find the video. Someone did a demonstration of how much weight an aquarium could hold. Basically they stacked bricks in a tank and then stood on top of that and jumped. The majority of aquarium bottoms are made from tempered glass which is really strong. Some people put down egg crate to distribute the weight of the rocks. I'm not sure how necessary that is but it made me feel a little less nervous. You also want to make sure that they won't shift and fall out they could hit the sides of squish a fish.

I second that looking like a springtail. They're harmless. I actually paid to get some in my tank for an above water segment. Maybe some of the smaller fish will try and eat it.

First draft for the 20 long hardscape:

It looks vaguely like "Rotala sp Maka Red" it could be some species of fine leaf Rotala. The tank is coming along very nicely! You may even consider just removing the plants that aren't on the island there

It finally happened. At the ripe old age of 15 months the last female has passed away. There was nothing obviously wrong with her. She had been slowing down the last few days but still eating. The male seems to be going strong still. All his fins are full and color isn't fading much.

I may have found the next inhabitants of the 20 long that's been sitting there collecting dust for a few months. My LFS has a small group of Betta Simplex: They are a mouth brooding species of Betta where the males carry the eggs in his mouth until they hatch out. Sounds like something interesting and totally different from anything else I've tried. The black worms have started climbing up the moss and plants in the tank they were put into. It's really weird looking:

Sometimes these fish look totally surreal It doesn't really come though in pictures but they almost seem to glow in low light. You can also see an anubias root growing down behind him. I didn't really expect those roots to grow so fast. I'm going to need to pull things out periodically to make sure that they can still be separated. Still no signs of spawning in the tank

I say embrace the snails they're a good barometer for if you're feeding to much. If you have too many snails then you're feeding enough to support a big population of snails and you need to dial it back. Something I've run into with floating plants is they don't like flow. If you hang on back splashes on them they may die off. They also really soak up nitrates. That can be a good thing for the fish but bad for other plants that can't compete. They also have a tendency to block out the light for other plants. Amazon swords can get pretty tall. At one fish club auction I went to, someone sold one that filled up a clear garbage bag. That's an extreme example and it has been in a massive tank for years but you get the idea. A lot of fully grown crypts will grow to be the size of the swords you normally see in stores. Do you have any plans for fish to keep in the tank other than otos?

It seems like the problem went away on it's own after about an hour. I initially tried it right as the last email went out. I was on an android device, using the Gmail app (pretty sure that's using chrome behind the scenes when you open a URL)

Went to a new aquarium store on the area on Saturday. They had lots of fancy L number plecos And some truly tiny sparkling gourami (finger for scale): I got a black worm starter culture there so we'll see if that actually takes hold. I also ran into Alexander Williamson from the Fishtory YouTube channel

How long has the tank been running? Have you seen the barbs show any aggression towards the otos? I think it's been running for a while, the barbs haven't been showing aggression, your parameters are stable, and you filled it the rest of the way then it could be fine. Odds are they will just hang out in the plants and you will rarely see them so you'll want to make sure food gets through the barbs fur then to eat.

Does anyone else get a ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR error when they click the view newsletter link in there emails?

Welcome to the forum! Things are way less toxic here. I made the mistake of going back on Reddit recently. I made the suggestion that someone could keep killifish in a 5 gallon tank and got flamed. It's always cool seeing what people can put together from non-aquarium stuff. What's the thing you're most proud of? Or if that's too broad, what's the coolest thing you've made recently?

Thanks for the detailed response! I'm sure that drives up prices some but that still sounds really nice. I just saw in a keeping fish simple video that in Australia the wholesalers are legally required to quarantine. With how often sick fish are sold in the US that seems like a good idea.

@Fish Folk do you know if there are any cool NANFs in Tennessee?

It's so funny when fish do that. I wonder what's going on there when they do that. I would try giving them anti parasite meds directly in their food. I've also had good luck with garlic getting fish more interested in food.

Try sucking them up into the water column. If they swim they may be detritus worms. They're beneficial and you can feed them to worms too. They're more tubifex with size

One of my favorite cooking YouTubers revealed fairly recently that he keeps fish. One of his tanks has a floating land section for vampire crabs: This got me thinking... I kind of want to try making a floating island with a craft mesh cone full of aqua soil with a ring of spray foam to keep it all afloat. Then you can put plants in that soil and let the roots grow down through the mesh. Has anyone seen anything like that?

There was a talk at my local aquarium club about outdoor tubs. He recommended using liquid rubber that you can paint on. You can buy it at hardware stores. If I remember right he said that he uses a brand that says something about Canada. I would probably go with a big Rubbermaid but if you go galvanized I would consider coating the inside.

I just noticed yesterday that the club finder lists three aquarium clubs in Tennessee! I guess the hobby is going strong there. What pulled you back into the hobby?

Welcome! The Rockies are beautiful. What's your water like there? Really hard?