Lennie

I didn't want to sound like trying to lecture or something. Please don't get me wrong. It is really tough to reflect our emotions while typing I believe. It may sound negative unintentionally. Hope you didn't get me wrong. I've seen a couple tank bred ones but they are really uncommon from what I know. You can watch the abovementioned video of Cory that @nabokovfan87 has mentioned! It shows a lot about the ottos and what they go through. cheers,

Poor baby. Hope he gets better Glad to know it is on safer hands now.

MTS stands for malaysian trumpet snails! 😄 Just in case you misread. Bcoz once I misread MTS for mysteries too. Happens 😄

My water is also 8.2ph 20kH and around 7 gh. I tried doing weekly %25 weekly water changes with %50 water and %50 RO water, with keeping driftwoods and 1 medium size catappa leaf and 3-4 alder cones in my tank for 8 months. The lowest ph I've seen around was 8.0ish. So it really depends on how hard is your water. I would not advice to try to change your ph a lot too anyway. It will change with every single water change otherwise, especially if your water is so soft and your only option is introducing tap water Thanks for sharing it! I've seen this one before and it just makes me sad. I'm personally against the idea of wild fish keeping, it does not seem any different than getting a wild monkey or a lion from nature and putting it in a zoo to me. You can easily see how frightened the ottos look and how much stress they are under to during whole this time, from being caught to ending up in someones tank, and many don't even make it at the end of it. Meanwhile we can just get something tankbred from our locals or friends, and cause much less stress to fish or damage to nature. They don't do well in tanks, because they are not belong to there but nature. That is why I loved when you said "Be the fish" in that advice topic. It makes it much easier to understand what they go through in this way. We have so many options for clean up crew, and the best one being ourself. We really don't need to catch these lil guys in tons from their nature and make them go through this I believe

We have a lot of earthquakes at where I live too, up to 7.0 ish mostly. But generally staying around 4.5s and lower. The only problem I have seen over the years was, splashing water around as I keep my tanks rimless. My 29g is an acrylic if I'm not wrong. In my new tank(this one is glass), I went for an aquarium and special stand made specifically for the tank itself. So it has covers on bottom sides except the back side, and sits on it inside it for a couple cms. I think maybe it is a help, as it is newly set up, around 2 weeks, I have not experienced an earthquake yet, thankfully :') Here is a pic, hope it is somehow visible. But again, no experience with this one yet

What he meant was, for someone who is a breeder like Dean, potentially snails eating eggs is not optimal as breeding is like a job for him. But for a home aquarium, losing 1 egg out of 10 eggs to snail maybe constitutes a less of a problem for many people who is doing like a few tank at home just for the hobby purposes, especially considering the benefits of snails!

I’m sorry for your loss. here is my opinion; I’m gonna ask a Cory question. How long has been your tank set up? Besides it being “cycled” Gravel substrate would not kill them in one day, but potentially may damage their barbels and limit sifting behavior in the long run. So I don’t think it is gravel substrate causing day 1 deaths. I keep my sterbais and pygmy corys in 8.2ph hard water, I have never had deaths myself before. They are even breeding. But I can see ph difference causing issues if you did not drip acclimate them, especially considering drip acclimating can be risky to do so when fish are shipped, or the water they have been raised in was so much softer and acidic then yours. But you said u did.Is your water even different than your lfs water? I would expect those to survive at least. I always get my fish from my lfs, and it is a 10 min driveway so I always drip acclimate mine with a drop of stresscoat or prime during the procedure. It always worked for me. Drip acclimating shipped fish can be risky. As they keeping pooping and stuff in those bags for a long time. And once the packs are open, and the air goes in. Boom. Ammonia spike, burned gills, hurt fish. Which is very likely one of the mains reasons why you might had big deaths imo. Especially if you have not used something like prime during the acclimation Ottos don’t do well for most people, people generally get numerous of them to get a big group size and expect them to die at a level they have an okay size of group. They are mostly wild caught and fragile fish, which plays the biggest part on the big death numbers imo. You can find something else for your clean up crew, I would say pass on the ottos, unless you find tank bred ones. I have been keeping fish around 20 yrs of my life, I have not kept a single otto yet. You don’t really need them as much as the internet makes it sound. Get something more hardy:) or maybe even dont. You have 5 SAE! 😄 Also maybe trying to introduce 15 fish at a time mightve been a bit extra. Especially if your tank is somewhat new, or for example not densely planted.

hey Rube, I'm sharing this as some people helped me regarding my community tank cory spawning question. Maybe you find something helpful there Also, when I was watching Cory's live stream, I remember him mentioning he keeps snails and like them, as maybe for Dean for example, as he is a breeder, losing 100 eggs to snails out of 900 is not a good option, meanwhile when you keep them at home for fun and don't mind some getting eaten, then this would not be the biggest issue. But they will probably eat some of the eggs, yes. Here is the discussion regarding snails eating eggs, in case you missed it! cheers,

As long as they are not something like planaria, parasite, leeches, dragonfly larvae, hydra etc., I would not worry a lot. Aquariums are like small ecosystems anyway. That's usually why I enjoy keeping some of everything, shrimps, snails, fish, plants, and so on. Nature finds its balance, and such system provides the best outcome, imo. I don't know what critters I have, but I def have detrius worms too. I'm not sure they are a sign of good water, as sometimes critters can populate a lot if there are stuff going on negatively in the tank too. But I would say, critters are generally a sign of a small ecosystem going on there. I think this would work in case of for example an adult bristlenose not grazing much algae, so cutting on wafers make him graze more again. Or in scenarios where you are trying to create a balance for the fish that don't accept dry food but only live/frozen food. When it comes to fish, they almost always go after live food in their tank even if they are full, in my experience. So I would say don't starve them for nothing. If they are not eating them already, which again is bcoz I believe they are MTS, they are more likely to graze on algae than eating them meanwhile.

Idk, they seem like baby MTS to me still. They let themself float on the top of the water and drop themself to the substrate again, a lot of the time. MTS usually hides during the day and are active during the night. I think this is more valid for adults and I keep seing babies awake during the day. They are usually a good clean up crew, and helps to turn the substrate over and helps with a planted tank. They seem like a new born babies, there is probably adults in the substrate but you have never noticed them as they probably only wake up when you are sleeping 🙂 They are by no means bad. They were even helping to clean up your dead fish probably and keep the water parameters at a healthy level. The only reason why people don't like them is bcoz they can increase their population super easily, as long as there is food. And food is, well, fish poop, algae, dead plant matter, fish food, etc. So you gotta be careful with overfeeding and keeping up with maintenance well to prevent population explosion. They wont harm shrimp, but generally shrimp eat slowly, so they will have an opportunity to get lots of food from them. If they are not MTS, then idk. But once they are newborn, they are really, I mean really tiny. And that makes it hard to understand what they really are. I didnt notice that I have a MTS population, until one day I've seen an adult burried in my tank in the size of a baby rabbit snail. Lol. They are very nocturnal @beastie what do you think?

Are we sure they are not baby MTS? I feel like your fish would show interest to eat them if they were insects.

I agree with @beastie on MTS being the number one substrate turner. I have MTS and rabbits, which are similar to faunus aters, and they are not comparable really when it comes to substrate turning behavior. Rabbits dont get buried fully, and they do that from time to time and whenever they want to just sleep. Also, mine have not been burying in sand substrate, and seemed to bury only on clay based substrate. I'm trying to grow dwarf lily again from zero. I've seen nerites making it move around so many times and not letting it root well for the last week while trying to clean it. If you go for planting new cuts and your snail is around there, and if your substrate is a loose one, it maybe can uproot. Otherwise, I don't think so. Bigger bottom dwellers could cause more trouble with uprooting I believe. My pleco and sterbai cories cause more trouble for the new plants until they establish a good root system. I am currently keeping 3 rabbits in my 29g heavily planted tank. Mine does not eat plants at all. I put small java ferns on the ground to tease them, which is the only plant that is well knows to be eaten, but still, nope. What I would advice is, only get them if you can find tank-bred, and if you like their look as a pet. I got two different versions of rabbits, some got shipped to me and got others from my lfs. Lfs ones are very likely tank bred cause almost perfect shells, 0 skittishness, very active. Other two, had no info on them whether they are tank-bred, skittish as hell, shell is not rly that good, and only one made it. And that one still is doing much worse than others. Long story short, dont expect much for substrate turning, and get them if you like their look. I feel like even corydoras would do a better job at that than the snails except MTS. Also make sure to keep an eye on them from time to time, they can be kinda clumsy and easily get stuck somewhere:).

I feel like Jungle val is how people generally call it the easy way. I doubt different varieties react differently as well

they get a bit pale right? just like clown loaches. less vibrant colors went they grow up. On the other hand, I really like the yellow-orange colors on fish! And also the pearl look. So Iove pearl gouramis!! I once thought about making a tank with pearl gouramis and sterbai cories together. They really match with each other, and both are a lil orange-y which I love! I ended up getting a honey gourami tho. Can pearl gouramis do well alone or in groups of 2-3? Looking for stocking options for my new 33g! Thinking of dwarf cichlids, angels or gouramis other than honey 🙂

I feel like it is more or less valid for most fish. I've witnessed my rummy noses being nippy, but more out of curiosity and they stop the behavior very fast. Like when I introduced my honey gourami to the tank, they tried to be nippy with the feelers, but not chasing or bullying. They be like, what is that worm-like thingy.Hmm, let me check 😄 It ended very soon tho. Barbs just have a bad rep in general. Maybe thats why :'). I have never kept barbs, maybe due to the negative impression they have on them. Tiger barbs are on my list, if I ever keep a big tank for sure!

Doesn't excel kill Jungle val? @JettsPapa I remember reading lots of stuff that excel melting Jungle Val.

Me neither. One is sitting on my shopping cart for my next tank. But I can't be sure! 😄 Heard some unpleasing stories 😄 Maybe I go for guppy grass!

If you ask me, I would personally not use it, especially considering I am keeping shrimp and snails. It may work, but I don't wanna such stuff to my tank still. I think it is a better idea to dip stuff into it in a seperate container. I will share a video below 🙂 you may check on this topic I've found. If I'm not wrong the guy who wrote the post in detail is a Biochemistry Professor (Dirk Bellstedt). At least it was mentioned as so in reddit. I directly link the related page where he commented on. https://tropicalaquarium.co.za/threads/so-who-uses-excel-gluteraldehyde.5411/page-3 hope it helps, here is the video:

Welcome to the forum @beastie! Yay 🙃 @Fish Folk @mountaintoppufferkeeper @SugarBassJoe @Colu @Odd Duck Tagging you guys hoping you might have an idea about the clown killis and maybe can help her! cheers,

+1 for elodea. It is like a weed. Maybe skip hornwort, in case it does not like it in there, shredding needles everywhere can be unpleasing 😄

Black devils generally have a more of a smooth look and shape of a shell as far as I know. Like these ; Considering they have been breeding and the last pic is also belongs to same species, I'm not sure it is a black devil. The shell structure does not seem as smooth and shaped as devils, imo

I can see the reason behind that! I've searched a lot about them even if I did not kept them myself. Long big tanks with a crowded group seems to be the key for happy tigers! So yea, It's a pass for me 🥲

Yea :') your tank size looks great. I wanted to keep them a lot, but no way they would enjoy my 125L 50x50cm cube as much as your tank. They are crazy active and energetic :D. And I've heard they can be jumpers, no lid guy here.

@nabokovfan87 Are those tiger barbs. I'm distracted. I like them 😄 Looking beautiful! Thanks for the info btw! Always great to learn from experiences:)

That's true. I agree with this one. I keep my main tank a bit overstocked as well. And with lots of plants assistance, I do weekly gravel vac and water changes, I don't mind. But also, even the sizes of min schools are kinda man-made, I feel like 2 corycat, 4 ember and 2 ottos and 5 neons, with 2 centerpiece fish that likes to establish some sort of territory, does not sound like a good idea to me especially in a 10g. The only group I have that does not meet min group size is 5 sterbais, and even if I see some sort of breeding action and good growth in my 29g, I kinda regret not having at least one more. Well, it was not up to me, they were the last 5 in the lfs and never coming back smh. It is nothing like a hate. It is my personal opinion. And it is those fish' schooling nature. Considering you have a chance to move some into your new 20g, I feel like increasing the current school sizes and seperating the centerpieces sound like a good idea. They just like to be in bigger groups. My rummynose group of 10 is nothing versus Cory's 1000. But probably someone's 4 rummynose is nothing to my 10. The more, the merrier 🙂 Generally breeders overstock their tanks but not with a couple from each schooling fish and centerpiece fishes. I think that's the point where it differentiates with overstocking. This is their home to spend their time in your home whole life unless you are planning to change the tank size over time., not a breeding project. Overstocking with species like some cichlids is also almost the most successful way to go as we know. So yea,the issue is more about school sizes and providing room for establishing territory rather than overstocking, imo I am still kinda new but I haven't seen anyone hating,disrespecting or lecturing someone in such a way here. That's why this has been my fav forum to spend time on so far. Everyone try to be helpful and caring. At the end of the day, we all here caring about our fish friends and enjoying to spend time together by helping and talking to each other.