PonyPlantedTanks

A 10g actually gives you quite a few options in terms of schooling fish. Most species that top out around 1”-1.5” do well (such as chili rasboras, ember tetras, CPD’s, clown killifish, etc). In a five gallon, you could still do chili rasboras or other tiny Rasboras from the same genus (strawberry, phoenix, least). Or if you are ok with feeding frozen or live foods every day, one pea puffer would be super fun. They have tons of personality, but, similar to bettas, can’t have any tankmates. Bettas can be super fun but it’s tricky to know if they’ll accept tankmates. You can up your chances by adding them to the tank very last and trying to see how they do near other fish in the store (aka if they’re in a cup, hold their cup up to another tank in the store and see if the betta flares like crazy). Good luck!

@doktor zhivago That video is super helpful. Thanks!

Some varieties, probably yes. I have Rotala Indica and it’s done well for me in pretty low light (and high pH)!

I second @Tony s! My pH is around 8.4 and I still don’t have too much trouble growing stem plants. You should not have many problems with your pH being much lower than mine😂 I don’t think high pH affects plants as much as we think… it has an effect, but nothing very noticeable in my experience.

Hi all - Im doing my best to eradicate the last bits of BGA (cyano) in my 10g betta tank. I did a big water change and manually removed as much as I could. I then ordered Fritz Slime Out which arrived today. My question is 1) is an air stone necessary? I believe the package says recommended but I’m unsure if I should throw one in there or not. I’ve got an Easy Flow going and it puts off pretty decent flow. and 2) one packet treats 25g. Anybody know the best way to essentially “split it in half” for the 10g? I’m assuming I’ll just eyeball it and call it good😂 And to those wondering - unsure how it got there, but it’s been getting less and less pronounced over the past few weeks bc I think I’m finally finding the balance between how much light and how much fertilizer I’m putting in! HALLELUJIAH!

I never had any of the glass ones, but I do like the plastic ones. Except I’ve broken the kids off of two😂am I the only one? Ok, just me…😂😂

The names for your hillstream loaches are absolutely genius! Dyson kills me😂😂

No plant order is going to be completely snail free, but I’ve ordered many plants from the Co Op and have never run into a snail problem. They do a noticeably better job making sure there aren’t pests than most other sites I’ve ordered from! But if you want the peace of mind, you can use Reverse Respiration, a bleach dip or an alum dip 🙂

Definitely depends on what type of algae you’ve got going on. If you’ve got flat, brown diatom algae then something like a bristle nose or clown pleco, otocinclus, or hillstream loach would do the job. At the end of the day, the best algae eater is you, and you balancing your tank. By balancing I mean aligning the amount of light you have, the amount of fertilizer you put in and the amount of live plants you have. More aquarium plants = less algae 🙂

I used regular Maracyn to treat fin rot on my Betta and honestly I don’t think it did anything. @Colu told me Maracyn treats positive gram bacteria or something and fin rot is negative gram bacteria? I can’t remember but it made sense. I think Kanaplex or Maracyn 2 is the way to go. And salt and catappa leaves did a lot for my betta as well.

Thanks for sharing that mini guide! Super helpful. I’ve been wanting to grab a new tank for some blue dreams and you may have just convinced me😂

Another idea: try to get your algae under control. Add more plants too! I think having algae makes the whole tank an eyesore (by no means am I saying your tank is an eyesore!) so then you want more fish because the fish look pretty, and the rest of the tank/plants don’t look as good. When I remove all my algae and tinker with the lighting and fertilizers trying to balance them out, I enjoy the tank more because the plants look good and I’m not dreading cleaning that thing.🙂 I really hope you don’t take this as me being rude because by golly my tank has horrible algae right now and I’m more or less telling myself this too😂

I have blue green algae too… ugh. It’s the worst. But I’m going to pick up some Fritz Slime Out because I’m done trying to remove it by hand! I was out of town for a week and came back to a cyano jungle😭

I second this! You should try it. Would be a fun little project that I’ve heard is pretty easy. Then you’d have more anyways and wouldn’t have to buy more! You could also try shrimp! Like cherries or blue dreams or other neos. Just probably throw in some extra plants so they have somewhere to go if your White Clouds come prowling around😂

Looks great! Throw some plants in there and you’ll be golden😉

@Guppysnail are hillstreams fairly easy to breed in your experience? Congrats on fry anyways! They’re definitely a bucket list fish for me. Such awesome little mini stingrays😂

I wish I knew someone who’s kept them or kept them myself. But from what I’ve seen I think you could make two in your 5g work. If you plant it up pretty densely they should do well. From what I’ve read they do better in pairs or small groups of their own kind anyways. Was yours rude to other fish? I’d probably only start with one more and see how it goes. But maybe be prepared with a backup plan in case your little guy decides he doesn’t want a roommate 🙂 With two, you might get to hear their croaking!

I think they mostly do it when they’re sparring/breeding. It’s the craziest thing. I don’t have them myself but here’s a video I found: It’s a weird sound, almost like loud tapping or something!

Following! I think Sparkling Gouramis are the coolest. Have you ever heard yours do the weird croaking sort of noise? 🙂

BOOP THE SNOOT😛 What variety of bristlenose is that? Very handsome little man!

If you can find one, a female powder blue dwarf gourami can be peaceful centerpiece fish and still comes with that awesome blue color. The females are near impossible to find, though. The males can work but sometimes can be bullies - you can set yourself up for success by adding them to the tank very last. Red teacup platys are a really fun fish that would work for your tank and they come in a small, fiery red package that your husband might like 🙂

Same, mine look like tiny brown tubes lol. Not sure if the turds look different depending on what they’re doing eating?😂 But I’m sure it’s poop. I wouldn’t worry! Haha

Same here. Some people can get it to grow like weeds and for some it just dies off. Ugh, I wish I could grow it! I think it can sometimes pretty demanding of having higher lighting when it gets started? But I wouldn’t discourage you from trying it again! Water sprite is a good one. Guppy Grass is another one that’s done well floating for me. Any other floating plants like dwarf water lettuce, salvinia, and Amazon frogbit and red root floaters would all be good choices. Another option would be to get a pothos plant from your local nursery or hardware store, rinse off the roots really good, and stick the roots in the tank. Pothos are crazy at eating up those nitrates! Best of luck! 🙂

That’s exactly how it’s supposed to be! It looks stunning and everyone looks quite happy. You’ve done an amazing job with it 🙂

I had it on my Anubias leaves a while back. Unsure what causes it but my Nerite snail does a great job cleaning it up. I doubt the algae was the reason your shrimp passed. Algae is usually beneficial to tanks. It doesn’t look pretty but it has several benefits. I bet there are other forum users out there who can tell you what causes it/other ways to get rid of it 🙂