Scaperoot

This is pretty disheartening. I haven't seen her poop lately, so I'm hopeful this is just constipation. I'll pick up Daphnia today. Thank you for all the advice. I've never had a female Betta before, so I didn't know what to expect as far as her growth, but I know this isn't normal.

She is behaving normally, swimming well. No pineconing. I'll have to get a mirror to try and distract her.

Our female Betta shares a 20 gallon (long) with about 10 cpds. How do I ensure the cpds are well fed without over feeding the Betta. I got Daenerys about 3 months ago. She was tiny and had very little color. I usually feed frozen baby brine, and some krill flakes from time to time. Her belly worries me. I feed her 6 times a week, in the evenings.

It’s clear to me now that I rushed into this without doing proper research. The fish are fine, thankfully, except for our Pictus catfish, who doesn’t have as much hiding room as before. He picks up the sand constantly, leading to a permanent cloudiness in the tank. I’m trying to figure out how to fill more of the open space in the center of the tank. I don’t want to prioritize the design over the fishes’ health. It looks good to us, but if the fish are stressed this much, it’s not worth it. I’ve added pics.

Thank you all for the replies:) It took quite a while, but I was finally able to get the sand in. I should have spent more time cleaning it. I decided to add it in slowly so I wouldn't have to move the fish., but it was still messy and stressful. They were stressed, but I took breaks and tried not to disturb them too much. A day later, and the water is still cloudy. The transition to fully planted will be a slow one, especially since some of these plastic plants look so good on black sand. I added 50 lbs of black sand, a few medium Seiryu stones, and some new decor. Once the water clears a bit, I'll post a pic. I've added some filter padding to help absorb some of the excess sand that's floating. The fish ate and seemed to be fine. Am I missing anything?

Has anyone tried setting up a planted tank with *just* black blasting sand? I was considering using sand and root tabs for a planted community tank.

Thank you!

A few of my Ember Tetras seem to have Ich. I’m really struggling to gather any of them in my heavily planted tank. Is it absolutely necessary to remove them for treatment? I have cpd’s, Ottos, and cherry shrimp in here as well. I have Ich-x and aquarium salt.

Good to know that it can be done efficiently! My main concern will be with our Pictus catfish. He’s always in the back of the tank when the light is on, and gets spooked easily. My aim will be to do this in the least stressful way possible. Thanks for the help!

We have a 40g community tank which I’d like to convert to a live plant tank. How do I ensure the fish do well in the transition? I have Platys, Mollies, neon tetras, some Corydoras, a Pictus catfish, and mystery and Nerite snails. I have so many questions. Main one would be, is this something I can pull off in one shot (substrate, planting) in one shot while the fish are moved elsewhere, or should I leave the fish in and slowly add substrate and plants over several days and weeks? The health of the fish is top priority. Thanks in advance for any tips, and Merry Christmas!

I decided to buy some Co op planters and keep some plants in their small plastic pots. I'll try it Cory's way and add root tabs right in the pots. I don't think I want to add gravel just yet.

Our oldest tank is a 40g breeder community tank. We have Mollies, Platys, neon tetras, various Corydoras, and mystery snails. For over a year, it's only had plastic plants, no gravel. We've been adding some of our 'left-over' plants lately while we rescape the smaller ones, so I'm considering turning it into a planted tank. We have 4 other planted tanks (2 20s, 2 10s). How big of an undertaking would this be, and why are we (aquarists) like this?? lol

I have a dozen cpd’s and a few Ottos in a 10 gallon. I just found a single fry and just wanted to confirm if it’s a CPD. I couldn’t upload the video so I’m posting a screenshot. I’ll try and get a better pic.

My brother in law was gifted a 30 gallon tank, and wants to get Angelfish. He wants plastic plants, decorations, and gravel. I don't know anything about Angelfish. I sent him an Aquarium co op video of Dean talking about his experience with them. He lives in NYC. Any tips (where to buy, parameters, feeding, temps, etc) would be greatly appreciated.

I appreciate all the great advice and encouragement. Today, I switched out the fast-growing plants in one of the tanks for driftwood and Anubias, and it’s made a huge difference. No more dealing with constantly pulling shed leaves. I bought a Wendti green as well. I’ll keep adding small pieces of driftwood and Anubias or Buce and keep it simple. I definitely rushed into too many tanks at once and it’s been humbling. I’m glad to say the fish all seem to be doing well. Our newest tank (double island) is really coming together. We added 4 Julii Corys today. I’m so glad I joined this forum. I usually get crickets on Reddit lol.

What would you say is the typical learning curve for new hobbyists? I know you'll always learn new things, but I'm wondering how long it will take me to really get a grasp of what I'm doing with my tanks. It seems like every week, I'm dealing with some issue in one of my tanks because of something I did wrong, or forgot to do. Our 40 gallon breeder community tank is pretty much on auto pilot because it has hardy fish and fake plants. We have 2 20 gallon tanks with live plants, and 2 10 gallon tanks (one is a quarantine tank). One of the 10 gallon tanks has ottos and cpds, with quite a few plants. This is the one that gives me the most issues. It's like I've heard said, the least forgiving. At the moment, I'm dealing with Nitrites and BBA. 2 of my tanks have Eco complete, which has been very difficult for me to plant into. I use weights and don't even bother trying to plant anything. They just sit on top of the gravel. The 10 gallon with fish is the one where I've lost the most plants. I have a tiny filter in there, as well as an air stone. I had capped the gravel with sand 3 months ago, but it all settled into the gravel at this point. I'm not enjoying the hobby as much, but I know I have to stick with it and give the tanks time. It's just...exhausting. Sometimes I get home and spend over an hour dealing with melt (clipping, removing). Cory said the first 6 months are chaos. I get it now. I rushed into this and now I have 5 tanks (4 planted) to take care of.

Hi everyone. I’m pretty new to the hobby. My wife’s had tanks for a couple yearsbut up until 4 months ago, I never scaped or invested much time into learning about various fish and plants. I started watching MD fish tanks on yt and felt inspired to start. I now have several freshwater tanks between 10 and 20 gallons, in addition to our original 40 gallon community tank which still has plastic plants (for now). We are keeping a Betta, Nerites, and CPD's in our forest tank, Ottos, Nerites and CPDs in the jungle tank, and Guppies in the beach tank. The 40 gal. community tank has everything from Mollys to Corys. I’m absorbing as much as I can so I can take good care of the fish and plants. I post regularly on IG (scaperoot), which is where I’ve found the most support so far. Reddit was rough lol. I’m looking forward to learning and sharing my love for the hobby.