Lennie

If one is a newbie, sand might be a bit struggling. If one is not, sand is the easiest to take care of imo. All of the poop, detrius, mulm, whatever basically sits on top, all you have to do is siphon the top of the sand whenever you want and that's it. You dont have to use full sand type of setup. Many aquascapers use different stuff on the bottom like dirt, aquasoil, lava rocks, etc to create more plant root friendly base. And cover the top with sand. I think aquasoil and/or fine sand is a requirement. Not even sand. It is a daily requirement of their normal behavior not for their survival. They don't just swim around search for food like cories. When it comes to cories we usually worry about their barbels and potential damage. Kuhlis are different. They dig and bury in with their whole body. I see many of mine laying inside as a whole in the aquasoil. Their heads popping out of the soil looking so silly.

I have a question If a fish is not wildcaught, how is it supposed to know what fish they would know or react with in their natural environment? They basically grow up seeing only their own species, with different plants, rocks, water parameters, substrates, etc compared to what they have in their nature. In our tanks we keep different fish, plants, shrimp, even rocks, substrate and woods from all around the world and in water parameters nothing like their natural environment. A lot of fish dont even look like what they would in nature nowadays. I bet even their colors play a huge role in their nature and in their behavior. Like most rams, apistos, discus, angels look nothing like their wild colors

I agree with @JettsPapa. Especially considering otos are herbivores and the ones you get are tank-raised. I would instead observe them. Quarantining otos and keeping them well fed in a fresh new tank is problematic. Introducing objects to give them grazing spots won't last long enough considering quarantining fish takes weeks. You can find horror stories about anything online. I haven't lost a single oto myself and they were not even tankraised. And I introduced them to a hard water high kh 8.0 ph tank. The only thing I specifically done was drip acclimating mine slow and long like I do with shrimp. Or even longer. But I got mine from lfs and not shipped to me so no clue about drip acclimation of shipped fragile fish. This topic is always open for discussion and without being a science guy, I don't wanna say anything that may mislead.

Btw, you can also check this topic Ive created before. and this

My pair of GBR even killed 2nd female in a 100x40x40cm tank and they shooed angels away whenever they swim close to their territory. However they were letting gouramis and bettas swim in their territory. I removed the pair to their own tank later on. I wouldn't try if you ask me

I found this: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3271940/

Thanks for sharing. Ive seen these stuff. I know they are hermaphrodites, but not sure it means they can definitely self fertilise. I bet people rarely have one ramshorn egg that hatch their tank and end up keeping them, just like my case. Bcoz snails can store sperm for a long time and even if one get a snail from somewhere, it is very likely that one has mated with another. The only occasion to know they have never mated is like mine, having a single snail hatch as an egg and kept as only one its whole life I believe. The thing is, water parameters are perfect for snails. I feed them snellos, blanched veggies, calcium foods etc. Always have access to some algae/diatom. Anything that would trigger a healthy breeding for a "pest snail". I can't see any reason why it wouldn't breed if it can self fertilise

I personally would classify hastatus/habrosus/pygmys small size, pandas mid size, and anything bigger than that size big/large, like sterbais, venezuelans, lasers, albinos, etc. I dont see people keeping much but ofc there are even larger ones like brochis. You are very likely to get males and females in a group of 10, so you can always breed your own which is fun

Sounds fun. Looking forward to see the tank. Bottom dwellers will basically utilise the bottom area as you know. So height does not play a big role on this regard. I see no behavioral difference on my cories between 25 cm, 40cm and 50 cm high tanks but it changes based on the length and width, and group size. I would do: 1 female ancistrus because males almost never leave the cave. One of the following: 10 big cory species, 20 mid size ones, or around 30 pygmy size ones For kuhlis lots of shade areas and a big group. I have 10, but in that tank size I would go like 20. I believe having an aquasoil is needed for kuhlis. They constantly bury themself in my tank. Seeing their lil heads popping out of the aquasoil is adorable. I know people say fine sand but Im not sure how they would bury themself in fine sand as it tends to be quite tough to dig in. And as I witness their behavior, I wouldn't keep them on anything other tank aquasoil or maybe sand, knowing they would never be able to bury or dig in is sad. I would also add 3 SAE myself. They are not exactly bottom dwellers I believe, but they do like to rest that fat belly on the bottom sometimes ;D I love mine. They are fun and good looking imo. Also comes with algae eating benefits. For otos, it is either a group of 10+ or none for me in the future. I agree with Rachel O'Leary. It is about you if you can sustain their diet, source them tank bred, and so on

If I gotta be honest, I have soo many mysteries but I havent seen any going this deep. The shell dmg is already a sign of you are keeping them in a low ph environment as you can see the patches of shell erosion. The shell growth on the other hand looks to be thin to me. It does not look strong and healthy. What do you feed your mystery snail? What's your gh, ph and kh? Temp?

I moved my ramshorn to my rabbit snail tank. Getting food or veggies daily. I guess it wont breed but I love it, so adorable

I use Tetra and Aquael ones myself. Aesthetically this is my fav one:

You have a huge tank but you aren't happy with what you have due to your stocking. If I were you, I would change the things that would make me happy spending time with my tank. Rehome or sell all the fish you don't like and have a tank you will like to spend time to watch everyday. That would be my suggestion. I got a feeling the tank has a feeling of a chore rather than joy for you while reading your post. Maybe I'm wrong That would be my suggestion

@Guppysnail would anchor catfish be okay with such community setup and find food?

I kinda hope so. I want baby ramshorns 🙂 and mini ramshorns are too small for my liking

Hey guys, So, interestingly I had two hitchikers with plants in different tanks which I dont mind at all. One is a ramshorn snail. Has a dark red/brown color to it. The other one is a bladder snail. And yes, I got only two, one of each. Im sure because they are with me for a couple months by now. They are easily adult size for a some time. Has easy access to food because I feed mystery snails in those tanks. But... they never breed. I keep reading they can self fertilize and breed this way. But they don't. Pretty sure if I had two at this point, I would start having babies. But Im never seein any babies ever. Why is that? Do they need a partner even if they are hermaphrodites? Some say you need two, some say you need only one to self fertilize? I'm confused. If it is a chance, why don't they self fertilize and make babies when they can reach food easily? @Biotope Biologist any ideas? I keep reading conflicting comments on this one. Id like my ramshorn to have babies. I dont really care if bladder snail breeds or not tbh. I dont think guppies eat their eggs, because I have miniramshorns in other two guppy tanks that continue their population 🤔 Thanks for the help, Lennie

In my experience neocaridinas do well basically in a lot of setups. I have 7 neocaridina tanks and none of them matches the exact ranges given online yet they all do just good. I have mine anywhere from low ph softwater to 8.0 ph harder water with 20kh. Anywhere between room temp up to 28C. the only negative thing Ive observed until this day is, higher temperature cuts from their lifespan I used to have molting issues in an old 29g of mine which is taken down at the stsrt of this year due to being a very old tank. I dont have any molting issues in any of my tanks but I use montmorillonite clay now, I didnt before. So it was just a mineral thingy I believe no matter what my gh kh ph or temp is

For flakes, I use Tropical krill flakes and insect menu and happy with both options

Such tiger barb only setup is a dream tank for me. Hopefully one day! They look amazing 🙂

I have 2 angels in my 100x40x40. And I have a discus pair in their breeding tank 60x60x50cm. If I gotta be honest, I would go for angels only (but not big ones like altums) and no discus if you certainly want these two. If not building the tank specifically for these species, then I would consider gouramis. First, discus are very limiting due to their big size, hot temp liking, and fragile nature. Mine are pain to feed well. I cant imagine keeping mine in a community setup. You need to consider anything that may block or injure them while decorating your tank. Not every plant will enjoy discus temps. I personally have mine in a setup with a simple tank with floating plants and background stem plants only Angels are usually more flexible, hardier and easier to take care for, and should be much easier to source locally. The only problem is potential aggression and pairing up in the future. Stuff may go wrong and you should be ready for it. Are you willing to run another tank for or rehome the potential pairs, for example? Or any potential bully let's say I know people keep discus in much smaller tanks for breeding purposes, but believe me, for a discus pair, even 60x60x50cm (47.5g/180 Liters) feels small. I wouldn't keep a group of discus in 100x50x50 myself. You can also consider gouramis. Pearl gouramis can be a nice one. I like my golds but they are known to be bullies I guess. I keep mine with my angels, but it has been 2 months early so I dont wanna recommend with such short time of experience. But pearls are known to be peaceful.

Pineconing, dropsy. I havent been able to save any fish of mine that reached this level. I hope you can. It can be caused by many things, and it has likely organ failure rn. Please see here:

I like to put mine right where the HOB flow comes out. Idk if it is a good idea but I like it this way. Like, in the water, right below the flow. Not inside or any part of the hob Visually it does not look the nicest, but it prevents the annoying splash to a good extend, which I care about more

To be fair he has been in everything; from low ph soft water tank to high ph kh gh tank. He seems to be doing fine on everywhere. But the current tank he is in is low ph and okay amount of gh and kh. My plan was normally dedicating this tank to kuhli loaches only. But he had issues it seems and I dont wanna move him to fishroom in the basement, and keep him in my bedroom tanks instead. The best options I can find right now seems like cpd and ember tetras still. Blue tetras are also a bit agressive it seems, besides their energetic nature

Thank you for the suggestion Rube! I have them in my endler tub. I find them quite boring if I gotta be honest. Also they used to be in this tank and they do jump into the hob. I thought I lost one and during one water change I found it living inside the HOB... ouch

Plant sisters ritual 😝🤣 (susswassertang acting like a firepit)