Swamp Sunflower

Right on! I dig your skrimp profile pic. My red cherries might be my favorite tank right now since they have been so active and cranking out the shrimplets. 🦐 You might notice the Aquarium Co-op nano sponge filter aka shrimplet nursery in the back.

I have wanted to go to İstanbul since I saw the documentary Kedi. Your tank looks very beautiful!

I am inspired to pot my loose Amazon sword this weekend. 🤩 I've let it float for 2 months telling myself I would get around to it any day now.

Welcome! 🙂 What got you interested in the hobby? What type of fish do you want to keep?

Thank you! I would like to try building a couple of low-cost Illinois biotope tanks this summer. I would like to find some native plants that: -will do well in aquariums -stay reasonably small -are easy to propagate -are legal to collect -have healthy, widespread populations One day I will work up the courage to post some pictures!

I have been reading everything on the forum about black neon tetras because I have been having the same experience. The group seems to have stabilized with the remaining four black neons--two males and two females, all robust adults. No trouble with any of the other species inhabitants (neon tetras, corys, neos, ghost shrimp, snails).

I have an adult Betta splendens who is a notorious snail eater when it comes to ramshorns and pond snails, but doesn't bother the nerite snail (that I have observed). My juvenile splendens doesn't seem interested in snails at all. I will caution you to feel for any sharp edges on your hard pieces. My plakat betta tore his fin on a piece of driftwood and I felt terrible!

What a ride! How are your black neons doing these days?

That's good to know. I've never posted pictures of my tanks anywhere online before because I've seen how brutal people can be lol. The Co-op community is very welcoming so far!

@Theplatymaster Thank you! I am looking forward to collecting wetland plants this surveying season to see what works in my tanks. I'll post more pictures as they mature (with the disclaimer that I'm no aquascaper 🙂) @Schuyler I hadn't even heard of them before! I am pretty strong in plants and hydric soils but have a ton to learn about fish. I will definitely read up on B. hendra and their habitats. I looked at some pictures and they are gorgeous!

Hi all, I recently moved my salamander to a 20L and freed up a 10G, so I find myself back in the hobby after a ~20 year hiatus. I'm an ecologist/wetland scientist, so I thought keeping fish in planted aquariums would be a fun way to blend interests. One thing led to another, and I am up to: 20L - Fathead minnows (20 cents a piece!? These are an awesome fish!) in a riparian edge setup 20L - neon tetras, panda corys, bandit corys, ghost shrimp, random neo shrimp, pond snails and ramshorns 10G - adult male long-finned Betta splendens 5.5G - juvenile male plakat Betta splendens & low grade blue neos (I have a lot of chinquapin oak leaf litter available, so I use that and cholla wood for shrimp cover) 5.5G - red cherry shrimps (these things have been breeding like crazy. Lots of fun to observe them) My next project is moving my older, less active long-finned betta to the 5.5G and my younger plakat betta to the 10G. They will each get to keep their same floating log bed to hopefully reduce stress after the transition. I just received my first Co-op order (thank you for the bonus sticker!) and I'm most excited to set up the sponge filters and try out Easy Green.