Louise02

My daughter is setting up her dwarf gourami aquarium. He is aggressive. She doesn't want him to hurt anything else. Are there any critters that help keep aquariums clean that she can safely add to this dwarf gourami aquarium....or not? Thanks!

Has anyone run the numbers to know if it is cheaper in the long term to hatch and feed baby brine shrimp than to feed other foods? I know that fish need variety, that bbs would not be the only food that we would feed. I am just wondering about the economic side. Thank you!

Thank you. I haven't even purchased anything for this particular aquarium yet, so I don't have specifics on this one. I just know that I need to add minerals to it. I will be sure to test before making decisions. Thank you!

@Flumpweesel Thank you.

Is there any harm done to anything if you overfeed your fish baby brine shrimp? We used to have a brine shrimp colony in with the mystery snail, and it was so neat to watch. Now that we have fish in every aquarium, will it hurt anything if there are surviving bbs after a feeding?

We are starting a new 10-gallon for my daughter's gourami. How can I inexpensively give it the cover that it needs while the plants grow in? Does anyone know of any large, fake, submersible terrarium vines? or have another idea?

We were watching some of Cory's molly videos. He suggests crushed coral for substrate. That sounds like a good idea, but I am rethinking putting larger snails and the female betta in with that substate. Wouldn't that be too sharp for mystery snails and bettas? Which brings me to my next question....which kinds of bottom dwellers and tank cleaners would you add to a molly tank? or do you let the mollies handle the clean-up themselves?

Where do you order your aquariums from?

Um. Almost all of the above. However, the molly has a grotesquely swollen stomach, not sunken. If it hadn't happened so quickly I would have thought that this male was a pregnant female. I am sorry that I don't have the parameters. I can test tomorrow. The tank is planted and filtered, and I change water whenever needed. Now that I think about it, though, even the bacteria collumn must have taken a real hit from the Para-Cleanse.

Thank you!

We lost a molly. When we received her, she immediately showed signs of fin flukes. We treated the tank water with sea salt and she improved rapidly! However, we suspected that the other molly had intestinal parasites, so we treated them with Para-Cleanse. At some point the female started swimming in circles, out of control, then dropping to the floor of the aquarium as though she were dead. After a couple seeks of this, she died. There is another molly and a gourami in the tank that she was in (they were together). Any advise on purging the eco-system? on what this epileptic-type-symptom might have been caused by? on how to keep the others alive?

At the moment I have a gourami and a molly together. How do keep them from killing each other? While I set up another tank? (BTW, I did not purchase these fish, we're just dealing with what we've got...and trying to keep the remaining ones alive.)

I used an expensive clay substrate for our smaller tanks. What are good substrate options (for a 29-gallon aquarium) that will work well long-term without completely breaking the bank. I don't want to go broke, but I don't want to regret it either. Help?

My ten-year-old daughter ended up with a molly and a gourami in a 5-gallon tank. Needless to say, we need to plan a larger aquarium. We live in the middle of nowhere, so I can't run down the street and get supplies. While I am waiting to receive the tank (It will be almost a month!), I would like to plan this one out better than the tanks I have previously started. The gourami is getting really nippy, so I don't know if he will go into this 29-gallon tank. However, the female betta is incredibly mellow. I think that she might do fine with mollies in a large tank. Right now I have one female betta, one male molly, and one male mystery snail to go into that tank. Obviously, we'll need a few more mollies. I'd like to plan this out to have a more complete eco-system, but I would still like for it to be peaceful. This grouchy gourami is unpleasant. Is there a simple guide somewhere that I could use to help my daughter plan this aquarium to be lightly stocked, heavily planted, and easily kept? Thank you in advance for any ideas! Also, if you have any suggestions on plants that can be propagated, that would be appreciated. My daughter likes to watch to plants grow, and it might be a little more affordable to fill in a larger tank with plants that can be propagated. Thank you!

Why did I not think of that? That is a great idea! I will have my daughter try to feed her by finger. Thank you!

Thank you. Thank you! I will try that food. Thank you. I just added Bug Bites to my cart. I should have called the pet shop immediately. I'll do that tomorrow. Thanks!

Thank you! Hope you're right! In the mean time I have fresher food coming...just in case. Thank you!

My daughter received a new female betta a week ago. She looks healthy, swims better than any other betta we've ever had, is very curious, does not act timid. She will nip salts off my daughter's finger. Everything seems to be going well, except that I haven't seen her eat. I have given her Hikari's Betta Bio-Gold floating pellets (that we successfully used with bettas in the past) and Xtreme's Community Crave, that the other fish seem to love. Do I need to start hatching brine shrimp? Would that help? Is there a better way to feed her? Thank you!!!

I have two new mollies that showed signs of possible parasites (gill flukes and intestinal worms). I have treated with Para-Cleanse, and I am supposed to begin water changes tomorrow. BUT I don't think that everything is entirely cleared up. Do I wait a few days before starting water changes, of do I finish this cycle and begin a new Para-Cleanse cycle down the road, in a month or so? I have never had to use Para-Cleanse or anything like it, so any advise is appreciated. Thank you!!!

Thank you. I will. Honestly, I don't like this gourami; I've never had such an active, aggressive fish before. I've mostly kept guppies, bettas, ADF, and other mellow creatures. This is, however, my child's aquarium, so I have to do what I can to make it all work out. I'd really like to just give him away. That said, I appreciate your advise, and I will keep a hospital tank open in case we need to come up with other long-term arrangements.

Hello! Someone else picked out these fish. Honestly, gourami was never on my list of options, but the salesclerk sold it. From what I can tell, it looks like a dwarf gourami. I don't know what kind of betta it is, but it is a female. She is so calm and peaceful that I don't want to bother her with a community, but she doesn't eat well. I will need something to clean up her tank. I have to offer her a little food, but, so far, what I have offered has ended up in the substrate. Perhaps switch to live food?

Fantastic. Thank you. Would you happen to know: Would it be inadvisable to put a gourami or betta in a tall aquarium, since they have labyrinth organs? It would be a great space saver to have a tall 29-gallon, but I do NOT want to worry about killing one of them. Better safe than sorry. Advise? Thank you so much for your time!

Fake plants are a good idea. I avoided them for obvious reasons, but it's below zero here right now. I'll order some silks until the weather is cooperative. Thanks! Got it. I just didn't want my daughter's precious snail picked to pieces. I'll give the larger ecosystem a go. If all else fails, he can go back into his five-gallon. Thank you!!! @ccc24 Do you think that I could manage with a 30 gallon, plus the two small tanks as backups or hospitals? 40 is just so big. BTW, it would be nice to have a few more snails in the mix. My child loves mystery snails. Thank you.

@ccc24 Thank you for sharing that photograph. You're on a whole different level! It's fascinating! If I move the other fish to a large tank, should I keep Turbo in the five-gallon? I know that it isn't that big of a tank, but at least he wasn't having his antennae nipped when he was in there alone.

Do you have a suggestion? I need to develop a long-term plan. If we need four aquariums I want to get that transition going as soon as possible. Thoughts? Thank you so much! BTW, someone nipped an antenna off our Mystery Snail, Turbo. I know that it is partially due to overstocking, but is it more likely for the gourami to pick on the snail? I've seen all of them pick on Turbo.