AllFishNoBrakes

Personally, I would add ferts for the plants. Will also help grow algae, which is what you want. All my tanks get 10 hours of light. Snails: Do you have an air stone going? What kind of snails? If I was going to put snails in a tank that’s not cycled and no filtration I would only use “pest snails” and would want oxygen going. Best case scenario they help season your tank and bring it alive. Worst case scenario they die from starvation or poor water quality and if that happens I’d rather lose a couple pest snails than say Nerite or Mystery Snails.

Here’s what I did with my shrimp tank, what I’m currently doing with my girlfriends shrimp tank, and what I would personally recommend from my experience with shrimp: -Leave the filters/sponges/whatever to season/seed where they already are. Shrimp have a very minimal bio load, so throwing the sponge(s) in when you put the shrimp in would be recommended. Then, you don’t risk the bacteria dying off with nothing to eat. -Set the tank up as you want it, including hardscape and plants, and then wait like 6-8 weeks before adding shrimp. You WANT algae, you WANT biofilms, you WANT life in the tank to help sustain the shrimp. Let the tank come alive and get “dirty” before adding shrimp, and the shrimp will thank you for it. Over time, your shrimp will clean up that tank, but you want all that stuff mentioned above for an alive/seasoned tank to sustain the shrimp.

Thanks! I wish I could get a good picture showing how dark the tank looks in person. Especially next to all my bright, planted tanks. Idk where you’re located, but I got bulk IAL’s on Amazon for what I felt was a fair price, and a box of like 139 botanical pieces off Etsy. Together they were ~$50, but that box of botanicals will last for a looooong time. Blackwater is definitely different than all my other 13 planted tanks, but I’m digging it. Some wood, some tannins, boom bam you have a great looking tank.

Here’s my blackwater tank. It started as a shrimp only tank about 3 years ago. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been loading it up with botanicals and tannins: In person it looks much darker. I’m really diggin’ this tank and trying something new has been really fun. Here’s my dirted tank. It’s about a year and a half old: The Pearl Weed has taken over, but I love it. Agreed with this! For this reason, I personally wouldn’t combine both styles of tanks. For my blackwater setup I’m gonna go with a couple Anubius and call it a day. For now, I’m just digging the tannins and seeing how the shrimp and snails react to the new environment. When I find some nice Anubius locally I’ll snatch them up and add them in. When it comes to your tank, do whatever you want! That’s the beauty of keeping an aquarium; you can do exactly what you want with it. I also think that if you’re going for a light tint in your water, that won’t block out as much light and then maybe the aquasoil/dirt makes more sense. I’m personally going for a dark tint to the water.

I have 6 Pea Puffers in a 29 gallon tank. I’ve had them for about a year and a half. I believe that the snails will sustain them for a certain amount of time, but eventually they’ll hunt down all the snails and will need supplemental feeding like bloodworms. Mine get bloodworms daily, and then snails on top of that 3-4 days per week. One cube of mini Hikari bloodworms gets split between 6 tanks daily, and then I’ll drop in 7-10 Ramshorn snails 3 or 4 times per week and the snails are gone by the following feeding of bloodworms the next day. Pea Puffers may be small, but don’t underestimate the amount they can eat on a daily basis if you let them.

Agreed that a 10 gallon would be much better. Substrate should come in today for my girlfriends 10 gallon shrimp tank. Cheers to new 10 gallon shrimp tanks!

Yo yo, Back to work this week. Gotta love it. Tanks are crushing though. Water changed everything and it definitely feels nice not having the (2) 2.5 gallon tanks lingering over my head for the first time in a long time. Also, reset all the air stones on all sponge filters. Boiled some more Indian Almond Leaves and a couple other botanicals I had my girlfriend pick out this time Cooled them down and then threw them in the tank. Really diggin this tank, and the Pothos from the tank above it can finally be laid across the top! Once it reaches the end I’ll probably take another cutting or 2 and try it in a couple other tanks. Dirted tank got another massive trim. Also gonna start putting a few drops of Easy Green in here for the Red Root Floaters. They’re not doing so hot and I believe it’s because there’s 0 nitrates in this tank. The whole time, up until today, it has been a “no ferts” tank. However, I want those red root floaters to keep crushing cuz I wanna see them flower! I’ve seen what dirt and a year and a half can do, so now I wanna see if a few drops of fertilizer can make those red roots flower. Also added a floating right in the center of the tank to keep the rrf pushed to the sides to not just get straight blasted with the light. We’ll see how it goes. Also need to scrub the glass again after the trim as it’s a little hazy. Panda Angel male and the all black female spawned. Being total jerks to everyone in the tank so I pulled the spawn as soon as I could. At least they used an old leaf that needed to be pulled anyways for once. Until next time, Nerms!

Black poster board and scotch tape. Seriously. That’s what I did.

The one thing I’ll add is that I wish I put plywood UNDER the rack to spread out the weight more evenly than just on the feet of the rack

Absolutely!

I have a rack like that and I wouldn’t worry about it. Mine is not secured to the wall as I rent. Bottom shelf has (4) 10 gallon tanks. Middle row has (1) 20 Long and (1) 29. Top shelf has (1) 20 High and (1) 55 gallon. Top shelf has plywood, but the other 2 do not. If I could go back, I would add plywood on all levels, but it’s been up for 3 years without a single issue.

For sure. Definitely know the risk I would be taking, but a pair of them, especially if I could effectively spawn them would be rad.

Jealous! I’ve wanted a pair for my 6 gallon dirted cube for a long time. Best of luck with them!

When I do water changes with fry I use an airline tube with a small piece of coarse sponge shoved in the end to remove water from the vessel. Takes time, for sure, but the fry don’t get sucked up so it’s worth it to me.

Contrary to my handle, right now it’s “AllFishSomeBrakes”. I really can’t raise any more fish without taking up all the space and preventing me from doing new things. I’ve decided to not hatch anything out until I move some of what I already have. Some of the Pandas are getting to a sellable size, so I’ll start moving those and letting the smaller ones continue to raise up. I also have all these Bristlenose Pleco’s, but they’re still pretty small. I also moved the next 25-30 Pandas and the 12 Julii Cory’s today. The (2) 2.5 gallon tanks are gone off the kitchen counter, and a 10 gallon is being utilized to start growing them more. I can’t add to the 20 long or the 20 high without quarantining fish, and I simply don’t have anywhere else to quarantine them. I simply gotta move some fish before I can bring anything new in. Since my last post, the Albino Cory’s spawned, and the Panda Angels spawned again tonight. I knew it was coming soon, and as I was putting away the 2.5 gallon tanks I noticed a massive spawn: Probably the biggest one I’ve seen from them yet. All good though, I gotta focus on what I already have to free up some space to bring in some new things. All in due time my friends. Also crushed through Resident Evil 4 being on vacation this week. Truly, just a magnificent game. I was worried they were going to botch it, but I truly think they couldn’t have done any better. They took an absolute classic, kept everything that made it great, modernized it, added to it, and made it something spectacular. I knew exactly what was coming next, but it was updated and tweaked just enough to make it feel like a brand new experience. Simply incredible. Stoked for new game +!

Agreed that multiple power heads in a 30 gallon tank could be a lot of flow. Definitely test it out before you throw any fish in there.

The Lotus Pod finally sank. So far no issues with the snails and shrimp on the change of environment. I know we’ve barely just started this journey, but so far so good. Test strip on this tank was very comparable to how this tank has always ran. Low to mid 6 pH, soft water, barely any buffer. We’ll see if the tannins eventually crash the little to no buffer and if the pH swings from that, but so far so good. I can’t wait to get some fish in here, but all in due time and when the space is available. For now, I’m excited watching how the tank changes both in appearance and parameters and how the snails and shrimp are reacting.

So are mine. I normally unplug something else to plug in the pump for water changing the tank next to it. Must’ve accidentally unplugged the heater that time and not plugged it back in. First time that’s happened to me in 3 years lol

My best advice would be to let the tank get seasoned and grow algae and biofilm, feed every other day, and provide a stable environment for them as they can be sensitive to change.

Congrats! So dope!

Last night I noticed that my Pea Puffer tank water was chilly. Grabbed the temp gun and it was ~70°. I turned the heater up, but didn’t see the light come on. Checked again this morning and it was about 67°. Today while doing maintenance I realized the heater was unplugged 🤦‍♂️. I must’ve unplugged it doing maintenance last week, but thankfully the Pea Puffers seem to be alright.

I’ve never soaked my flakes/pellets/granules/Vibra Bites/wafers and haven’t seen any issues. Just me though!

What up what up?! If you’re a Resident Evil fan and you’re NOT playing RE4R idk what you’re doing this week! That game is absolutely incredible. It has all the nostalgia of the old game where I know what’s coming next, but the world is tweaked just enough that it feels like a whole new experience. Simply fantastic. 10/10 recommend. Now, onto the fish. The Furcata Rainbow chapter has officially come to an end. I knew they were a species that lived relatively short lives, but I really didn’t see it coming. I know now that they were older than I initially thought when I got them as I’ve seen them in other fish stores much smaller. I should’ve bred them when I had the chance! One-by-one they just started… dying. They’d be fine the night before, and the next morning they’d be squirming upside down on the bottom. It’s a shame, but it just opens up that tank to try something new. I’m thinking Cherry Barbs, but we’ll see what happens. It has been a while since I uploaded pics of multiple tanks, so here we go: Did the first water change on the blackwater tank. I’d say we got some tannins in there! Added a couple more full, smaller leaves, and tore up a couple more big ones yesterday prior to the water change today. Lotus Pod is still floating, but it’ll sink eventually. Really enjoying the look of this tank and it will only get better with time. Once I find a couple nice Anubius’ they’ll go in here and will be the only plants. Felt weird not fertilizing this tank today, but really enjoying it so far. 29 gallon cruising right along. The PSO need to be trimmed but other than that it’s just doing its thing. 55 gallon Angel tank with the ACO light. Super glad I started enjoying this light more. Still love this tank and can’t wait to see all the baby Swords start to grow up. 20 gallon that used to hold the Furcata’s. Still has the 2 Bolivian Rams and the 7 Julii Cory’s. All of these fish just hide all the time. 10 gallon in the bedroom. I’ve seen a couple more tiny Pygmy Cory’s! Apparently a couple have survived. Heck ya. 29 gallon Pea Puffer tank. Siphoned out most of the mulm that was sitting on the black sand. I’ll never buy sand for a tank ever again. 55 gallon grow out. Hard to tell, but there’s like 70ish Panda Angels in here. They all swam to the top when they saw me as they thought it was dinner time. Massive chunk of Guppy Grass on the right side that came out of the 20 long. Maybe the LFS will take some… Panda Angel parents on the other side of the wall chillin. Bristlenose in here still doing well, too. Harvested Brine Shrimp today, too! Big day of fish keeping. I have an empty 10 gallon tank that I’m gonna move the baby Angel’s and Julii Cory’s into to grow out. Then, I can take down the (2) 2.5 gallon tanks on the counter. I really need to finish growing out some fish and trading them off before I breed anything else! Gotta move some Panda Angels and Chocolate Bristlenoses to open up some space to quarantine some new fish. Here’s what I’m thinking: A) 6 or 8 Cherry Barbs for the 20 gallon high to replace the Furcatas B) 24 Chili Rasboras and 12 Green Neon Tetras for the blackwater tank. I’ll probably do 12 Chili’s at a time and then the 12 Green Neons. 3 rounds of quarantine to stock the blackwater tank. Maybe 2 if I do all the chili’s at once. We’ll see. Can’t decide if I want to start stocking this tank first or get the Cherry Barbs for the 20. Probably just depends what the LFS has at the time. A different LFS has Chili’s and Green Neons pretty regularly, but I don’t have any credit there. Decisions, decisions… C) Expand the CPD population in the 6 gallon cube back to 6 or 8. I started with 6, didn’t medicate them as they were gonna be the only fish in that tank, and I’ve paid the price for that. I have one solo guy left, and I’m sure he’d like some friends. Simply gotta grow out and trade some fish to open up some space. Man, this hobby is so fun and the choices are limitless. Hope you’re having a good week my friends!

My Angels are my bread and butter to trade to the LFS for credit! I did a pretty extensive explanation of how I do it in the “Fish Breeding” section of the forum. Best of luck to you and holler if you need any help!

@wes.crockett The sponge alone should do a decent job, but it may not polish the water like a HOB can.