AllFishNoBrakes

@mountaintoppufferkeeper is the man you want to ask. I believe they’re working on the same thing, and they’ve bred other puffer species. They also have published articles regarding puffers, breeding, raising fry, etc. P.S. After 50 posts on the forum the buy/sell/trade section unlocks. Others that have similar interests and live cultures might also see this and be able to help you out! Best of luck!

Per forum rules I think you can mention brands, but links is where I believe it’s limited to ACO, Amazon, and ACO partners. I could be wrong on that, but I wouldn’t hesitate to say where I got them. That’s just me, though, and someone more familiar with the rules might chime in. Either way, the advice remains the same, and let us know if you run into any troubles! A lot of friendly people here on the forum that simply want to help others be successful and share the joy of aquatics. I know when I first started I only had myself, so finding other fish nerds was awesome for me.

Indeed. Lots of progress from when I ripped them out of my tank, shipped them through the mail, you RR’d them, and planted them. Making progress my dude. They look great

Your call. Personally, I would post it in the Photos, Videos & Journals section of the forum. Members have specific tank builds, breeding projects, all-encompassing journals, etc. posted in that section. It’s a nice way to document and watch things progress over time and chat with others on the forum.

I’m sure you will! Would be wild if you didn’t, lol. What size tank are you going to keep them in? Altums have always intrigued me, but I don’t have a tank I think would be big enough. My 55 is fine for my standard Angels, but those Altums can get huge. No judgment, I’m just genuinely curious. Once you get a pair and they start breeding you should make a journal! I’d love to follow along. My Angels are my bread and butter when it comes to credit at the LFS. I can live vicariously through your Altums lol

Personally I would just let them naturally pair off. In my experience, it has been basically impossible to 100% tell male vs. female until pairs are formed and they start breeding. As far as I know, Altum’s are no different. Grow em out, let them pair off, and then move those pairs as needed or let the thunder dome commence lol.

I was super worried before I started my first shrimp tank as I read so much that they’re sensitive and difficult and can have all sorts of issues. My experience has been the exact opposite, though. -Try to get your shrimp locally, if possible. If they’re born and raised in your water the likelihood that they’ll thrive for you goes up. My first cherry shrimp came from someone on Craigslist and the shrimp thrived from the start. I’ve also gotten shrimp from my LFS and they’re crushing, too. -Shrimp need stability. My current shrimp tank I’m not even sure I’ve done a legit water change. Just topped off when it needs it. That being said, I also have tons of shrimp in tanks that get a weekly 30% water change. Just keep things stable. -Lots of plants, and if you have it, moss. Shrimp forage all day long, so provide them surfaces to graze and they’ll thank you. -You want a seasoned tank, not just a cycled tank before adding your shrimp. You want algae for them to graze on! Both of my shrimp only tanks were up for at least 8-10 weeks before I added my shrimp and I truly believe it is a necessary step. Be patient and you’ll thank yourself when you have more shrimp than you know what to do with. -I feed my shrimp every other day. For me, shrimp have been pretty easy and I currently have, have made/bred, and have sold hundreds and hundreds of them. Provide a seasoned ecosystem from the very beginning, keep that environment stable, don’t put them with predators, feed good foods, and the shrimp should take care of the rest.

As I’m sure you know, the pics that we take of our tanks don’t quite match up with what our eyes see in real life, right in front of us. I’ve found this to be especially true for my blackwater tanks. The tea and IAL’s I added to the 29 really darkened her up. I get excited to take a pic, and then when I look at my screen it looks nothing like what my eyes see. I decided to take some pictures, duplicate them, and then take the brightness down to try to make it more like what is right in front of me. Unedited picture. 20 long. Brightness down about 70%. Unedited picture. 29 gallon. Brightness down about 70%. I’ve never been one to edit my photos and try to make my tanks or fish appear greater than what they actually are. However, unedited pictures of the blackwater tanks are just not what they actually look like. I doubt I’ll do this moving forward, but this was a fun little exercise to try to get them to what I actually see and hopefully show off how dark these tanks really are. I’m also a little surprised that the Aquaneat light (my standard light on 90% of my tanks) is able to penetrate the 29 gallon as it’s so tall. Im definitely glad I don’t need to change lights, and I can still rock the tank as dark as I actually want it. The Black Neons are gonna look great in there, I think. I’m kind of shocked that I had to turn the brightness down ~70%, but I’m also not terribly surprised either. I’ve thrown in soooooo many botanicals into these tanks, lol.

Agreed with @Chick-In-Of-TheSea that the Swords are coming along nicely! Love to see it my dude. So glad they made it through the mail well and have started to take hold. They look great!

Frozen bloodworms and snails for mine.

What up what up? Did maintenance to every single tank today. Most just water changes, but also topped off my girlfriends shrimp tank, and I still continue to get the Pea Puffer tank cleaned up. Trimmed off some algae covered leaves that were too far gone, mixed up some new c02, replaced some c02 tubing, and we just continue to work on it to try to get it looking its best. One day my friends, one day. Boiled 7 or 8 Indian Almond Leaves but didn’t save any of the tea. However, I did add some of the saved tea to the 29 gallon and put all the leaves in there. I just wanted the leaves to sink quickly so I decided to boil them instead of just chucking them in there and waiting for them to become water logged. Slowly but surely that tank is darkening up. I love the look of all the leaves piled on this side. Makes the green from the plants really pop. The Cory’s don’t mind and the shrimp love it. Snapped a pretty rad pic of a few of the Chili’s. Such a good looking fish. Took the meds out of the Axelrodi Rasbora tank with a 50% water change and quarantine continues. They’re looking and acting great. Gonna leave them in QT until I either need to move the baby Panda Angels to their next tank or the Black Neons come in. Should both of those happen, I’ll have to move the Bristlenose to the 55 gallon tank. I really should just donate those guys to the LFS. I have no clue what I would do otherwise and selling them one at a time for a couple bucks each on Craigslist just sounds like a hassle. I’ll trim the cube before putting the Axelrodi in there, and once they’re in that should be some motivation to not let it get to insane jungle status as we move forward. Also stoked for the Black Neons when they come in. It has been a hot minute since I’ve had some new fish so I’m pumped. Enjoy your tanks, my friends.

Moss, moss, and then some more moss. I have Java Moss coming out of my ears and shrimp really appreciate it. Shoot me a message if you want some. You just pay shipping; I won’t charge you for the moss itself. I also think Anubius is great for a shrimp tank.

The city HAD to have been flushing our pipes the other day. Water was straight brown coming out of all sinks and faucets. Within 24 hours we were back in business and normal.

Mine started in a 29 gallon tank before being moved to a 55. I personally would do it in a 3’ tank if that was my option.

I always have snails in my tanks. My little 2.5 gallon tanks that I use to hatch eggs and begin raising fry in, I wait until they’re free swimming and then add a couple snails.

😬😬😬. Life has been wild as we opened a new restaurant to the public on Friday. I noticed dad was sitting on a clutch of eggs, but I figured he’d kick them like last time or I’d pull the clutch on maintenance day. Put my phone flashlight in the cave today to reveal a bunch of little fry. Uh oh 😬😬😬

I got my first tank in June or July of 2020 so 🤷‍♂️. Regardless, I appreciate that Cory and team listen to the feedback and actively work to improve things. That being said, I will always use a pipette to ensure accurate measurements over a pump head.

That’s wild. I would rather a company not list them at all, so as to not get my hopes up, than keep them listed out of stock or have you “preorder” them when they have no clue when they’ll have them. If they allowed pre orders when they had them in stock, knew the amount they had, and just wanted to convert them or grow them a bit before passing to the customer that would be a totally different thing. At least in my book. Seems shady to take your money, tell you 4-5 weeks, and then 8+ weeks later still have your money but you have no product. Just my $0.02.

Your patience is much longer than mine. After 2 weeks I would’ve been asking for a refund lol.

Will do! Most likely in my journal, and once they’re in their forever home. One of the dudes at the LFS was like, “just so you know, they’re super sensitive. I started with 7 and now only have 4”. So far, so good for me though. I counted 11 (of 12) last night when I fed them, and I’m pretty confident the 12th one was just behind all the moss. Fingers crossed they do well for me! I’m stoked to see them in the cube in a week and a half or so.

For the betta I definitely recommend a sponge filter. It’s all you need and they’ll appreciate the lack of flow. Definitely only recommend 1. Not multiples or a sorority.

Are you only testing for ammonia? With moving bacteria you should have all you need. Me personally, I would be looking for 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and some reading of nitrates. If I saw that happening, then the bacteria you moved over is successfully converting on both sides.

Yup! And clogs. And you drop it in the tank. Or in the bucket when I’m cleaning the felt pads. And you lose the plastic disk, etc. etc. I’m honestly most excited for the air collar and not having to mess with air stones. The additional flow is the added bonus for me.

It sure does!! The air collar replaces an air stone.

Lol, nah. I already have my too many tanks, I don’t need to be doing maintenance on any restaurant tanks, too lol. Ya, I’m hoping the wild caught black neons will appreciate the blackwater tank. I’m excited to get them in there, but they’re gonna go through a long QT