AllFishNoBrakes

It really is that simple! Rinse off all the dirt, and stick that bad boy in the tank. As it grows it will need more food. My Pothos vine has been growing for years, is over 20’ long, and I give the tank a double dose of Easy Green on maintenance day, and then another little dose on Saturday. The roots in the Blackwater tank it started in. Giant Pothos vine that has now almost made a full lap. 6’ to the right, 3 or 4’ up to the next shelf of tanks, 6’ to the left back across the tanks pictured here, and now it’s starting to come down to the original starting point. This vine is nearly 20’ long now!

Definitely a ghost shrimp as Amanos require brackish water to breed and cannot breed in freshwater. I wish they could, though! I have a male and female Amano, and the female often carries eggs. Kind of a shame knowing that I’ll never have tiny Amano larvae floating around, but that’s how they work. Also, definitely snail eggs in the cluster.

@Rube_Goldfish Personally, I wouldn’t sweat putting a ball valve on it. I’m not an engineer, but I wouldn’t hesitate to try it.

I love my Blackwater (heavy tannins) tanks, but if you’re going for a clean look, then botanicals and leaves probably won’t be your thing. My thought is that nature doesn’t perfectly place wood, rocks, leaves, botanicals, etc. so I really enjoy the natural look. I just huck my botanicals in the tank and where they end up is where they end up.

IAL are good. I buy them bulk on Amazon. Some of my favorites are Lotus Pods, and Acorn Caps. Certain types of wood will also release a lot of tannins. Just all depends on what you’re looking for.

Excited to see what the tank turns out to be! Kribs were some of the first fish I bred. You’re a brave soul for diving back into that one!

I always recommend quarantining new fish. If you choose to do that with or without medication, that is totally up to you. Either way, if you can, you should quarantine new fish and observe them for disease, illness, etc. before putting them in a healthy tank that already has fish in it. For me, once fish have cleared their quarantine (I do medicate, and do an ~6 week quarantine) I just net them out of their quarantine tank and put them in the display tank. All my tanks are pretty similar when it comes to parameters, so moving them from one tank to another hasn’t really presented any challenges or additional need to “acclimate” them to the new tank.

Totally up to you. I was able to move my Panda pair to a tank without breaking the pair. It’s totally your call and what you wanna do. Remember that at the end of the day Angelfish are cichlids, and their name is deceiving. They’re some of my favorite fish I own, and over the 4 years I’ve had them I’ve just gotten some luck and have come to understand some of their behavior.

@ButtonMcThickums A “Nerm” is essentially someone that is a closeted fish nerd. Completely normal in regular life and work, but then you find out they have a basement full of tanks and are a full on fish nerd. It came from a livestream where Cory misspoke, and thus a new word was born.

If your goal is to breed Angels, let them naturally pair. Instead of removing the fish, just remove the eggs and artificially hatch the eggs yourself. I have a breeding pair of Panda Angels. I let them breed as they wish, and I pull the eggs and hatch them myself when I need or want to. I have a different pair in a community tank. 6 Angels in a 55 along with a trio of Dwarf Rainbows, Cardinal Tetras, and Albino Cory’s. When this pair breeds it turns into the thunderdome as the pair guards their eggs, so I just remove and dispose of the eggs. The following day, the tank is peaceful again.

@TeeJay Indeed. It’s a neat little trick. Efficient, easy, and works well. Right up my alley.

Chili’s are fun little fish. I started with 20 or 22 in my 20 gallon long. I’ve had them for over a year now, and have lost a couple. Just last week my new batch finished quarantine and got moved in with their older buddies. Fun little fish with beautiful color when they grow out and color up.

I use it when hatching eggs. Unfertilized eggs fungus, and that fungus spreads to fertile/viable eggs. The methylene blue helps stop that fungus from spreading.

Agreed with @Pepere. I like to take out just enough so I can get my hands in and move around without overflowing the tank.

The blue tint to the water was probably methylene blue. I’ve heard of fish being shipped with it, but have never personally seen it.

Salvinia. The roots grow super long in this tank. And then they die 😂. No fertilizer in this tank so they suck up the tiiiiiny amount of nitrates available. They do well for a few weeks, and then die off. @Rube_Goldfish Same story with red root floaters in this tank. They do well and turn suuuuuper red, and then they die. Also gotta mention that I love that you got yours (or, the lady got hers) to flower! I’ve always wanted to see that, but have yet to see it in person. One of those things that “floating plants are all super easy”, but I’ve yet to pull it off.

What do YOU want to stock it with? Giving us your thoughts or what you plan do is much easier to guide you or offer suggestions vs. just throwing out everything that could fit in a 9 gallon cube. I can tell you that I have a 6 gallon cube, and I have a Ramshorn Snails, 2 Amano Shrimp, and 8 Blue Axelrodi Rasboras in it. It’s also dirted, no filter, no fertilizer, and no co2. It has become a Pearl Weed jungle, and it’s a fun little tank.

Same. I’ve never personally seen it with my two eyes, but it’s talked about and I believe that it could happen. If you want to get rid of them, you can cut back on very small foods like @Rube_Goldfish said, you can use medication, or, I’ve also had luck with just the 3/8” hose from my siphon. Get the siphon going, and then scrape the glass with the hose and they come off and down the hose. You wanna be careful as if you break them both sides can regrow, and now you have two hydra when you used to have just one. But I’ve found that they don’t really escape the siphon and get carried out of the tank into a bucket.

As long as it’s cyanoacrylate you should be good to go

Someone who is smarter than me will be able to help you out. What I can tell you from my personal experience is that they don’t color up until they’re older. My older, established group The juveniles I got to boost my numbers The older guys looked like the younger ones when I first got them. As they grew up they colored up really nicely. I will say that yours look like 2 different fish to me. The Chili’s have more of a stripe across their body, while the other ones with less color seem to have just a dot.

Hydra is just… kinda… whatever… Really depends on your circumstances. I currently have it in my 55 Angelfish tank. That tank has Angels, Dwarf Rainbows, Cardinal Tetras, and Albino Cory’s. No harm no foul in that tank. If it was in my shrimp only tank, I wouldn’t freak out, but I would prefer it to not be there. Hydra feed on small things, so fry and shrimplets can become snacks. Hence why I would prefer to not have it in the tank I’m breeding shrimp in.

That can be true. I don’t mind prophylactically treating my fish. Just like I vaccinate my dog, or myself for that matter. It’s worth it to me for the longevity of the ecosystem and piece of mind should I ever want to add another species to the tank. I’ve had species only tanks and took the “well, this IS their quarantine tank” route and still looked back and went “ya… I should’ve just not been lazy and put them through the whole process, and then moved them to this display species only tank”. To each their own. You gotta find what works best for you and what you’re comfortable with.

Every time I haven’t quarantined fish I’ve regretted it. Maybe I’ve just had some bad luck that matched with when I thought “it’ll be fine” but it has always come back to bite me at some point. And then I feel silly because I have everything to do it effectively and I should’ve just done it. The piece of mind for me alone is worth it. Also, at this point I’ve spent 4 years building and maintaining super healthy ecosystems. It’s worth the time, energy, and resources to ensure the new fish do not upset the healthy ecosystem. I guess I’m the odd one out here that does in fact quarantine with meds. I do the trio and let it marinate for a week, and then do another 5 weeks or so after that to ensure something doesn’t pop up. Again, the time and resources is worth it to me to ensure I don’t disrupt the healthy ecosystem of the display tank. As far as the tank itself, I use bare bottom 10 gallon tanks with a small ACO sponge filter and a small heater. From there, I’ll throw some Java Moss or PSO in there and viola, you have a quarantine tank. I’ve never personally seen meds crash the cycle. Once the fish get moved to the display tank, I keep the snails in there and feed them a couple of times per week to keep the cycle going. There is always many ways to get to where you want to go. This is just my method and has worked well for me for the past 4 years.

I would skip the Pleco. My male is one of the biggest fish I have. I personally believe a 20 is too small for them. They also rasped my gigantic Amazon Sword to death when I first got them. I would personally do the Cory’s. Pick your flavor. I’d do 8-10 of them.

My 55 display tank runs an ACO medium sponge and a HOB with a pre filter sponge. My 55 grow out tank runs 2 ACO medium sponges and a HOB with a pre filter sponge. My point being, whatever you want to do should be fine.