FrozenFins

@Ron Uni Thats really sad to here. It sounds like this isn't your fault. If they started acting wierd hours after introducing them, and your parameters are what you say they are then its probably the distrubuters fault. You can always call your store to see if there cardinal tetras are acting fine, or see if other customers have had problems with it. It could be a problem of there water parameters. And the Cardinal Tetras couldn't take the shock to the recent change of water parameters. @Irene recentley had a simillar problem with fish that she brought home from a lfs as well:

I have recetnely started to listen to the Weeknd! My favorite song of theirs being "ordinary life":

Monte Carlo would look really good in that aquarium! And I defentley some rotala and moss will look fantastic in that tank! However in my experiance monte carlo won't carpet without co2. However it will still do fine without co2, just no carpeting. I had monte carlo in a tank without co2. The monte carlo was very green and pearled but never carpeted.

The number one thing I need in all my lights is a timer. Because I WILL forget to turn them on/ off. I usually like lights that have timers built in, but those that don't I use a wifi plug. Another thing that I think is very important, but not a must is that its waterproof. I have never understand why someone would make a light for water and not make it waterproof. Those two are my musts. However some features that I enjoy in my lights and look out for are: Are the lights customizable Can I use a phone to control the light? how easy is it to program the light? My favorite light is the fluval 3.0. After using that light I have trouble going back to the budget lights. Everything about that light matches my criteria and beyond. I use the nano version, it costed me around $150. Totally worth it IMO. However not everyone can afford that light. Which is why I like some of the Nicrew lights as a budget light.

Its been two years since I started keeping fish, so I though I would share my journey of how I not only got into the hobby, but also how my hobby has progressed. July 2019 It was late July of 2019 that I went to the petstore to pickup my dog from the groomers. I figured while I was there I would take a look around. This petstore only sells bettas as their livestock, and specializes more with pet foods, toys, etc. It was when I came across the bettas that I said to myself "I want a fish". I went home and started researching about what fish to buy for newbys. I remember clownfish at the time really peaked my interest. Mostly because an article that I read said "they can be kept in small aquariums". Which is true, but I thought they meant a fish bowl. But it was because of me not wanting to make my own saltwater that made me say "lets get a betta". I ran the costs of everything: Fish Bowl Kit $10 Betta Fish $10 Food $10 Meaning that this would only cost me $30!!! Unforatntley nobody told me fish dont belong in bowls. August 10th 2019 August 10th 2019 was my 14th birthday. The only thing I asked for was a betta. But instead of a betta I received a 10 gallon aquarium. I thought "this is too big for a betta, so what should I put in it...?" Later that day my Dad and I went to walmart to get the gravel. And the next day we got decor, and set it up! We later got plastic plants for this as you'll see in later photos. August 13th 2019 I woke up to the sight of a foggy fish tank. uh-oh, will it still be safe for fish? Later that day we went to the fish store to not only look at what kind of fish I could get, but also ask questions about that foggy tank. The employee ensured us that it was just the cycling process and that it still should be fine for fish. She even gave us a test strip to test the water and see if its ready for fish! This first visit to the fish store is what really started the spark! Seeing all the fish one could put in a tank. August 14th 2019 ITS FISH TIME!!! I got... Baby Angelfish Female Swordtail Yellow Glowfish a Single Corydora August/ September 2019 This is when I discoverd the "fish tube" community and really what fueld my hobby from the beginning. I cant remember how I came across fish videos but I do remember the first video I watched. It was the Kind of Diy. I soon after subscribed to him and a bunch of other aquarium related youtubers. All though I didnt start watching aquarium co-op until July of 2019. September 24 2019 I had finally decided to get that betta fish I wanted from the beginning. Unfortantley I did buy one of those tiny 0.5 gallon betta kits. I got this betta and him Marlin. He became a very personable fish. Later I started teaching him to jump for his food, and even follow my finger. This was mindblowing for me as I didn't know fish were for smart enough to do any of that. November 15 2019 My aquarium bursted. It had some how sprung a leak and it went all over my floor. Thankfully I came hom right when it happened. I got all the fish into buckets and started cleaning up the water. Later that day we went to a fish store to get a new 10 gallon. Heres a picture of the tank with a few inches of water: Thankfully almost all of my fish survived the stressful day. The only fish not surviving was my corycat. I was able to get him into the buckets. But I belive his passing to be because of how stressful that day was for the fish. Getting moved into a bucket, and then just hours later getting moved back into the aquarium. I woke up the next morning to see him on his side, he passed hours after. March 2020 This is when the stocking of that aquarium was really bad. Over the past few months I had acquired: Gourami Threadfin Rainbow Electric Blue Ram And then still having the Angelfish, Swordtail. I gave the glowfish back to the LFS. It wasn't the best stocking options. The gourami had soon after nipped the threadfin rainbows fins off, and then few months later killing that rainbow. April 2020 I upgraded my bettas tank to a 3 gallon. I relized the tank he was in before was way to small. I included a heater and a filter in the new tank. September 3 2020 I had bought a 40 gallon breeder off a guy from kijji. The plan was to make this my first planted aquarium. September 21 2020 This day changed my hobby forever. I had decided to make an acoount for this forum! This forum is now whats fueling my hobby. Before this I didn't really know anyone in this hobby. However this forum has allowed to meet people that share the same interests, and allow me to share things in the hobby that I find exciting. October 31 2020 The plan was to put this new 40 breeder down in the basement. At the time our basement was under renovation. But the floors had finally been in installed so it was time to set it up. I went to the LFS picked up plants, fertilizer, and sand. and ohhh-boy did this planted tank fail. I bought a sword, anubias, and some green hedge. Later on I learned that grene hedge is not an aquatic plant. November 7 2020 Time to add the fish! I had tested the water the day before and determined the aquarium was cycled! Its important to note that I dropped in fish food every day to boost the cycle. Which is why I was able to cycle it in a week. I picked up two angelfish, and a school of cardinal tetras. Soon after I moved all the fish in my 10 gallon into the new 40 breeder. I forgot to add that the gourami along with my betta had been given away to a LFS. Leaving only the angelfish and swordtail to be moved. I gave my gourami away because he was too much of a jerk, already killed the rainbow and then started bullying my swordtail. My betta I gave away due to the fact that I thought I couldn't take good care of it. Figured it would be better in the LFS. A day after moving the fish the swordtail had developed a bad case of popeye. I was unsucessful in treating this and she died shortly after. December 25 2020 I was given a fluval spec 5 as a gift. I knew that I wanted to not only do a betta, but that I also wanted to sucessfully keep plants after my first attempt failed misserbly. So I set it up with Seachum Floursih Substrate, Dragon Stone, and Monte Carlo. It was a beutifal and very succesfull aquarium. The monte carlo would pearl, but do it no co2 never carpeted. I created my first journal on this aquarium: Janurary 25 2021 I got my betta, who I named Hugo. Hugo is now defentley the favorite fish that I own, he has lots of personality. He lets me pet him now. Feburary/ March 2021 Anyone who followed my betta journal knows that Hugo went through some drastic finrot. I had started treating with salt, but it had only seemed to make him worst. I dont want to go super in depth about this, but if you wish to learn more about read the journal. There were times where I thought I was going to wakeup to a dead hugo😪. But I never gave up and eventually his fins started growing back. Here is a video I shot of him playing with a laser pointer through his finrot treatment. Even through the worst, he constantly showed lots of personality. April 9 2021 I had decided that I wanted plants back into the 40 breeder. I was confident that I was going to be able to do it right. And I made sure to stick with "beginner plants" May 14 2021 I had wanted to start breeding guppies, so I set up a tank to facilitate that: August 10 2021 - Present Day Today is not only the day that I celerbrate my 16th birthday, but also my 2 year anniversary in the hobby. Its fun to see how my hobby has progressed. From fake plastic plants with blue gravel - to dirted tanks with actual live plants. Here is each one of my aquariums today:

That will really depend from fish to fish. Bettas in my experiance are some of the biggest fish gluttons. Fish like the tetras, rasboras, guppies will be fine sharing food in my experiance. Especially if your feeding a mixture of crushed up flakes (smaller crushed up flakes will often sink) and regular flakes (these will float) you should be fine.

@Just a Pygmy Corydora there are LOADDS of options! 5 gallons IMO are the funnest tanks. A pygmy corydora tank would be pretty cool, but at the same time not the most active. A colorful option would be Killifish. Just make sure you have a lid as they are big jumpers! Have you considered getting another betta? A school of small tetras, or rasboras would be a neat idea as well. Probably around 5-6 would be a good amount. Guppies or Endlers are SUPPERRR colorful and fun and another great option. Just make sure they are all males or all females. They will breed like crazy and will quickly make that tiny 5 gallon, an overstocked 5 gallon.

The first time I saw my cardinal tetras sleep I thought they were dead, they were so pale🤣. I said "I'll remove the boddies in the morning", I wake up, and see all the cardinals swimming like usual. haha.

Monte Carlo was the first plant that I got to do really well. However it never carpeted, due to the fact that I didn't have any co2. It did pearl in the evenigns sometimes, and was super green. Back when I was starting out with planted aquariums, I failed. I failed miserably with plants. I didn't know a lot of fundimentals with plants that I do now. The first tank I planted the only plant that survived was my anubais. Anubias always seems to be doing well in all of my tanks, defentley a really good beginner freindly plant. Here was a picture of my tank with monte carlo:

Oooh, Baby Brine Shrimp. I started hatching them out as well, it seemed that my zebra danios liked them the most, as well as my tetras. I couldn't tell if my corydoras did though. However my angelfish didn't even go for them, and my bettas thought it was alright. Defentley did not live up the hype that I was expecting, however that was my first and only time hatching bbs. Perhaps I'll give it a go another time. Looking forward to when I have Guppy Fry, that'll be when I start hatching BBS a little more often.

My root tabs came a few days early! They shipped out from the amazon warehouse on Friday, and then arrived today around noon. Just in time too, my swords, madagascar lace plant, and crinum are all in need of more root tabs. The crypts would probably benefit from them as well.

Poutine Pizza! I've had pizza poutine but never the other way around.

I dont beleive you can hang them from the ceiling, at least not mine. However it doed come with a mounting bracket that allows you to place the light on the aquarium without the lid.

I'm tagging @Robert to see if he has any borneo suckers in stock. If not, keep an eye open on the forum. Every thursday robert posts a thread about what new fish they have in stock.

In a 5 gallon aquarium I would be comfortable doing one Hillstream loach, 6-7 pygmy corydora, and one nirite snail.

Went to the LFS and found this in the clearence section! $25!!! I bought it almost imediatley! Thinking about doing some pumpkin shrimp. The plan is to get some driftwood on monday, or tuesday (the LFS didn't have any peices that I liked that much, so going to try either petsmart, or petland.) and then add plants, and fill it up! Also got an anubias for this tank at the LFS. Super excited to try some shrimp. Also thought about it being a no-tech tank. No lights, heater, or filter! I'm going to try natural sunlight, and have it be heavily planted with a deep sand bed for the filtration. I believe its about 4 - 5 Gallons. The LFS worker couldn't confirm but thought it was about the same.

Agree with @Colu for the first one. The second is defentley a silver angelfish.

Yeah borneo suckers would be a good idea! They are also called the Hillstream Loach. I would only do one though, I heard with two you can see aggression between the two. You could probably do more pygmy corydora along with a hillstream loach. The hillstream loaches can eat pretty much what your pygmy corys eat but they will also benefit from some veggitation in their diet like algae, algae wafers, veggies, etc.

@Dolbec Aqua Designs Out of reactions, but thats one of the funniest memes on this thread🤣

I know this thread is a few months old, but heres what I have to say... After being an owner of both a JC&P light and Nicrew Light, I have to say the Nicrew is far superior. I really regret buying the JC&P light for my rescue bettas tank. Its a pain to program. Sometimes I'll be away all day and so I wont be able to enjoy my tanks with the lights on. Often when this happends I just simply turn them on, and then turn them off when I go to bed. Usually when I turn them off again, they go back to their regular timer. But with the JC&P I have to re-program the timer to turn it on.

@RV Tanks you could probably add a cute mystery snail. Not a huge bioload and will help get the cycle speed up. Mystery Snails are so fun to watch!

@Jungle Fanmaybe i'll just stick with the hornwort, frogbit and anubias then.

I heard they were considering another location up north😏. It seems they add more locations every year.

I have some hornwort that does not stop shedding! All the hornwort in my other tanks are green and growing wonderfully! But the hornwort in one of my bettas tanks is not doing so great. Its shedding all the leaves. I know its not a lack of nutrients (I have nearly 40ppm of nitrates and about 1ppm of nitrites, and 0.25 ppm of amonia). I have read that hornwort will sometimes do this when first introduced to a new enviourment. But from what I have read online people will just imediatly trash the hornwort the second it starts shedding. If I leave it in there will it grow back? Should I get new hornwort from my other tanks to take care of that excess nutrintes and let the dying hornwort recover? All though I'm excited for the mulm the shedded leaves will make.

I am really liking the rummynose rasbora as of lately. Its a blue fish with a red head. Other great options would be... celestrial pearl danios (aka, galaxy rasbora), neon tetra, chilli rasbora, glow light tetra (not glowtetras, but these guys actually have a natural glow to them)