itsfoxtail

I'd have two initial questions: Do you know what your KH is? Are there any fish currently stocked in the tank?

Corrals are the way to go if you're attached to the water lettuce! If you're not, I've found Salvinia Minima doesn't mind higher flow as it just kind of blows around on the top, and Frogbit doesn't mind either once it really gets established in a tank. You'll see some die-off at first as it gets used to the flow but once it takes off it won't mind at all (give it a few weeks). I have a very high flow tank absolutely filled with frogbit and it couldn't care less!

My first and main question would be: what fish are you planning to keep? Just from my experience: -You should absolutely re-mineralize your water, in my opinion, even if it's sparingly. Depending on what fish you're wanting to keep it will matter more or less. For example my rams and apistos love it when I do the occasional water change of pure RODI and tank the TDS, so they care a little less. Other fish such as guppies and cichlids, not so much, so they care a little more. I don't doubt they could live in such water, they just wouldn't be thriving. It's really your plants that are going to care about the re-mineralizing the most. I've had good luck with Seachem Equilibrium for fish and SaltyShrimp for shrimp. However, I've quite literally sort of stopped using Equilibrium in lieu of diluting my tap water. The tap water gives just enough minerals/nutrients to the RO water to create a healthy environment for the more delicate fish I have, as well as enough nutrients for the plants I keep with them! -There isn't what I'd say is a SIGNIFICANT difference between RO and RODI. De-ionization basically is just a catch-all that sifts out what little is possibly left after reverse osmosis. After my water goes through the RO stage the TDS is right around like... 10 I want to say? (It's been a while since I checked). But once it goes through the DI stage it's right at 0. Those last few TDS in my opinion don't matter that much for freshwater. I use RODI water for both my salt and fresh tanks simply because I have it hooked up to go through both, but I'd feel confident using just RO water as a base for my fresh tanks. Most likely those last few TDS are just some type of minerals that the plants will suck up anyway (lol). RO water might have a slightly higher PH than RODI water because of this, but in my experience it's so small that it's literally undetectable in the testing kits. -Does your RO filter have a carbon pre-filter? If so, no need to worry about chloramines. Also no need to worry with RODI as 0 TDS is a surefire way to tell there are no chloramines in the water. I suppose there could be a chance there are some if your RO doesn't have a carbon pre-filter, but I feel like the chances would be low. If you're worried about this you could always do a little testing and see! I'm sure others on here will have some more awesome info and input but this is just what I've come to learn over the last couple years using RO/DI!

I've been wanting to take a road trip to somewhere more mountainous than where I live (gotta love the flat Midwest). Maybe this is my sign. Nothing like a trunk full of rocks. That was a really interesting read! Thank you for sharing that link! I think I'd be too nervous to not at least boil it; I'm excited to keep tabs on yours and see how it goes! Wow! Those tanks are stunning! Unfortunately I do now know where the rest of my day is going. Had no idea they ranked scapes around the world. You learn something new everyday! Also just a quick two cents of my own. I've opted out of spray bars in favor of bubble bars. In my opinion the bubblers do a better job at creating surface agitation, and I put all of mine right underneath/behind my heaters which makes the heat circulate more evenly, and also hides the bubble bar itself almost completely. I know that look isn't for everyone, but just thought I'd throw it out there!

😞 Why do you do this to me?! I've waded around in local lakes and creeks for longer than I'd care to admit and all we seem to have are tan little rocks and extremely brittle shale. I'm so jealous! 😆

You can definitely find some real gems in feeder guppies! Most are just mutts but every once in a while one with some awesome genes slips in. Yellow in the female wouldn't surprise me at all. Male Snow Whites have a bright yellow nose and while females are indeed pretty see-through, there's definitely more of a yellow hint on their face and front end of their body. I'd say you're probably several gens (and a lot of culls) away from true Snow Whites but it would most definitely be a fun project to start! I would definitely stay tuned to see what happens!

I absolutely love the look of the wood running right along the rocks like roots! It makes it look so natural. And I must admit I really expected you to say you got that stuff from a store! Who on Earth has THAT beautiful of rock outside?! I think I'm living in the wrong place. You've got it made! Any worry about introducing unwanted pests from the outdoor finds? I found an awesome piece of driftwood at a local lake but have it sitting in my garage because I'm too much of a scaredy-cat to actually put it in a tank lol. Wow! The coconut hut is barely even visible under that spectacular moss! I'm sure the fish absolutely love it! Keep us updated on any egg finds! You may find the most luck in just scattering containers for the eggs to fall in. In my very limited experience with killifish they have no rhyme or reason to the egg scattering which is sort of frustrating but also kind of neat.

This female looks quite similar to the females of the Moscow Snow White guppies to me! The males are a true opaque white but the females are a little more see-through with some iridescent white on the tail. None have the tell-tale red albino eyes. Do you happen to know the genes/line of the guppies these came from? If they came from Moscow's I'd say perhaps you're on the gene track to some snow whites!

Wow! I am absolutely blown away by this scape! It's quite literally one of my favorite that I've ever seen. Did you gather the rocks and sticks over time from stores or did you get them from outside/backyard etc.? The plants are all growing in so well and that clump of moss in the middle is to die for! The killifish also look so cool! Are you planning on buckling down for the daunting task of collecting eggs or are you just going to enjoy how beautiful they are?

Tiny aquatic Kirby is so accurate it hurts! She's adorable! Welcome to the forum! That is quite possibly one of the most beautiful pearl weed fields I have ever seen!

Just realized I'm an idiot and didn't quote the other post before asking my other questions; it was in response to OP's caption of DIY Ancistrus food. Sorry for the confusion. 🙃

Why? Just a joke because I have multiple times through sheer force of will eradicated duckweed from my absolutely infested tanks by picking them out one at a time. I will not be defeated. The clutch looks to be a good size! I cannot WAIT to see wigglers! Also what do you make your DIY food out of, if you don't mind me asking?

Wow! Stunning plecos! I was unaware of a true snow white variant; they look unreal! Looking forward to pics of the eggs/wigglers if/when you post them!

Lol! That makes much more sense. 😂 Thanks! This forum seems absolutely packed with great info and people so far! Oh and thanks about the tank too! It's brackish so it's absolutely covered in algae 0.3 seconds after a cleaning, but I always try to snap a few pics in between to prove I do in fact have rocks and wood in there.

I'd second that they're not as terrible for communities as they're made out to be! I have a few in my community tank (originally a placeholder from a tank leak and then they've literally been too fast to catch so I've given up) and they get along with all of the other fish swimmingly! They definitely have their territories staked and won't allow each other into them, but they don't seem to mind the other fish. The Corydora scuttle around and smack into them sometimes and they never retaliate, just have a vague "am I a joke to you?" face.

It took my peas I'd say probably a good solid month before they were 100% on board with the frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp. I'm a huge supporter of using "live-like movement" to get them switched over to prepared food. You can do this with either tongs or a turkey baster. (They'll be afraid of both at first but they're curious and they'll learn.) Just grab a worm or two and put it near him, with the tongs just kind of wiggle it around a little (sounds silly, I know) or with the turkey baster suck some up and then squeeze just hard enough to have them come out a little, then suck back in. I think this kind of gets their hunting instinct to kick in and then eventually they learn it's food and voila! I still to this day tie a mussel to the end of a string for my figure eight. He's gotten so he'll eat it without movement now but he just likes it so darn much I can't deny him his fun, haha! It's really hard not to panic when they don't eat. I had one (my smallest) pea who didn't eat at all for two weeks and I was almost losing my mind over it. She came around though. It just takes a few deep breaths and some patience, haha! I guess I should also ask to check in and see if you've de-wormed him. Sometimes peas with parasites won't eat as well. Yours looks like it has a nice non-sunken belly from the pic though, which is definitely a good sign!

Moppers? I've never heard of those before! Unless that refers to spawning in mops? (lol) My favorite is turning on the light and seeing them all draped over wood and whatnot and then all skitter to quick find some shade because the human is watching. 😂 Maybe this is your sign to get some more soon. *wink wink* 😆

Everyone else has already given such great info but I'll throw my little two cents out there too in case it helps! Amano shrimp and pea puffers in my experience has been a great combo! My peas grew up with them so perhaps that's why, but they pay quite literally zero attention to them and just let them live their little shrimpy lives in peace. I've never had any luck with Vibra bites with my peas, but I have heard of those who have so I have my fingers crossed for you! I feed mine frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp. I also have a colony of snails that lives in their tank and constantly produce offspring for them to munch on so I don't even have to throw snails in there anymore. I know it's not advised but I've been thawing out frozen food in my fridge overnight for as long as I can remember and I've never had a problem with it. I do have a couple tips though: I would not advise keeping it in the fridge for longer than a day. I take out the food for the following day at night, put it in a little container, and set it in the coldest place of the fridge (usually near the ice box). By morning it's still almost completely frozen with just some of the food on the periphery of the block/cube beginning to melt. I feed that in the morning. Then by evening it's almost basically thawed with just a few little frozen bits throughout and I feed the rest. Rinse and repeat for the next day. I think as long as you keep it in the right place in the fridge it's fine to leave it for a day. Also a quick tip on bloodworms: for peas I buy the San Francisco Bay sheets. But only the 4 or 8 oz ones (this should last quite literally through expiration for a single pea) as the bloodworms themselves are small compared to the cubes or the sheets that are 16 or 32 oz! This way you also can just pinch off a tiny bit for each day!

Growing up I was dead set on becoming a vet but now being a little older and seeing exactly how much money for tuition and competition there is if I were to transfer to a "good" veterinary school I'm admittedly drastically broadening my horizons. I've been considering taking a little toe-dip into biology and honestly your description of classes sounds like absolute heaven. Kind of takes the whole Aquarium co-op "Enjoy Nature Daily" and applies it quite literally. Thank you for the recruiting effort! I may or may not be looking into what biology classes are available next semester right now... Lol! I always feel sorry for the poor souls who ask us about fish without knowing the can of worms they're opening. I find it hilarious that most all of us don't have anyone as obsessed with fish as we are to talk to in real life so we just resort to these online forums. It's a shame family/friends aren't more easily swayed to join the dark side. 😂 Zebra Danios! I had 7 of them I think and named them like the seven dwarfs based on personality/physical traits (tiny, speedy, scaredy, fatty, think I even named the one stripe-y because he was the brightest of the bunch). I would greet them all individually every morning. Goldfish! What type? My mom had a tank of goldfish when I was little that was actually the reason I begged for my own tank. And Kuhli loaches?! I bet four year old you seriously got a kick out of them! I'm two decades old and I still giggle like an idiot when I see them zoom around a tank I bet a kid would lose their ever-loving mind over them, lol!

I use an LED light so it really puts off minimal heat to begin with and the middle brace doesn't feel warm to the touch at all. Plus, LEDs save you a ton of money on the overall energy costs!

I would personally go for one light across the entire thing. I have a 48 incher on mine and I love it! Maybe it's just a personal aesthetics thing but I think it looks way cleaner and more streamlined with just one. The middle brace doesn't create any sort of shadow in my experience either. If the light blows you're kind of screwed until you can get a new one, but personally I think the risk is worth it.

Elegant? Don't let him hear; it'll go to his head. 😆 I've been browsing and binge-reading other people's journals religiously since joining and they are super entertaining! Maybe I'll get up the courage (or rather gumption) to do one for my little fish room build eventually, lol! I've been keeping fish roughly my entire life with breaks here and there, but only in the past few years have I really "gotten into" the hobby via falling in love with breeding. Oh if my tiny Danios in my little 10 gallon tank in first grade could see me and my stupid amount of fish now. 😂

Wow! I've never heard of this! Add it to my bucket list of things to see along with Ram colony breeding.

How often? I probably feed veggies to the vegetarian/omnivorous (bulls in china closets) plecos three times a week but my meat-eaters (shy babies) I probably only do it once. My wood-eaters don't touch the veggies so I've given up on them, lol!

Oh most definitely. I have two tanks with plecos in them, one has rather shy ones and the water doesn't get cloudy, one has a bunch of boisterous bulls in china closets and the water gets so cloudy from them absolutely demolishing the veggies I can hardly see the fish for a couple hours. I wouldn't worry about it as long as it clears up after they've finished their meal. Also certain veggies are messier than others (I'm looking at you zucchini) and if I accidentally boil them too long I notice they're more apt to cloud the tank as well!