gdachev

A few months ago I also had an unsuccessful attempt at keeping Scarlet Badis. They have been one of my favourite fish for a while and I was not able to find them anywhere in Bulgaria so when I saw that some shop was selling them online I immediately took the oppurtunity. It was said by the seller that they ate flake food, however they did not seem to want it in my tank. So I got to hatching baby brine shrimp for the first time and that was a success I guess. However I was given 2 males, even though i specifically ordered a pair and during the first week one of them disappeared. I don't know if it was aggresion or what. The other one made it 2-3 weeks more and then suddenly disappeared as well. My guess is underfeeding the scarlet badis as I was not hatching baby brine shrimp everyday, but every 2/3 days because I did not have the time and fed frozen baby brine the other time but I do not know how well they were taking it. Well lesson learned and in the future I am definitely going to be making a species only tank for these fish. Some pics from when I had them. I wish I did better and was more prepared but I will do better next time. I am planning on taking it out of the tank during night so I think that should be alright? Do you have any tips on stabilizing the pH in case this thing happens?

DIY CO2 system also done. Waiting for pressure to build up right now. The tank is super fun to look at and every habitant seems to be enjoying it. No sings of stress in any. Also did not expect the cherry shrimp to love frozen brine shrimp. Currently in the tank: 10 Chili Rasboras 9-10 Pygmy corries 3 Clown Killifish 2 Ember tetras (I also had some tetras die on me) 1 Otto 10+ Cherry shrimp Kinda stuffed fora 10 gallon, but with the size of all the fish in mind and the maturity of the tank + the plants, I think this will work. Here is also a short video:

Big changes over the past weeks. Sadly the Dwarf Gourami passed away. I think it was a case of dwarf gourami disease as there were no clear signs and out of the blue it just started hiding and lost appetite and 2 or 3 days later it was gone. This immediately showed effect on the pygmy corries as I started to see them more and more and I realized all that time they were probably scared of the gourami and that's why they were only hiding in the back. Another thinkg is that the Java moss completely covered the whole tank and there was a lot of string algae all over it. This was stopping all the other plants from growing so I planned for a little bit of re-scapping. I bought some new driftwood piece and a lot of plants and came up with this: The behaviour of the pydgmies with no big fish also made me realize that maybe I am better off withouth one and I opted for 10 small chili rasboras. Honestly this is the most satisfied I have been with the tank so far. It just looks so lively with all the small fish and plants. Fish non-stop scattering around. I also forgot to mention that 3 months ago I received some baby cherry shrimp (~15) from a friend who was just going to throw them out so I made a filterless shrimp jar with some substrate from the tank. It actually worked out pretty well and now all the shrimp that survived are in the aquarium so it has plenty of those too. So far pretty satisfied with the state of the tank right now. The next step would be a DIY CO2 system which is to be seen at the post below. A few more pics of the tank from the first day after re-scapping:

So I recently got like 20-30 baby cherry shrimp from a friend who had to get rid of his tank. I wanted to put them in my 10 gallon, however my dwarf gourami started going after them even through the bag while acclimating, so I began thinking of another way to keep them. As I have no space for another tank, nor a tank at my disposal right now I put them in this 0.5 gallon jar (biggest one I could find at home). I filled it with tank water and put in some plants (mostly java moss), as well as some substrate from my cycled tank and some bio media from my running filter. Now I know this is probably not ideal but I was wondering on how I can improve this jar. Getting a tank even a small one is not an option for me as there is no space. Should I try to get a bigger jar let's say 1-2 gallons? Is there a need for air stone? My plan right now is to not do many water changes as I understand they like their parameters stable and maybe run an air stone for some hours/day in order to provide air if needed. I would think of a solution what to do with them once they grow up (probably will put some in my tank and give the others away) but I would like to raise them in a jar. Any tips are welcome 🙂

There is an otto and 2 red cherry shrimp. 🙂Thanks! Well I already have a fish rack planned (schematic drawn and everything) for when we move to a bigger apartment hahah.

I have a dwarf gourami in a 10 gallon with some ember tetras and pygmy corydoras + an otto in a 10 gallon heavily planted tank. The problem is that the gourami hogs all the food, even the algae waffers for the otto. The tetras take their fair share of food, but when it comes to the pygmies and the otto I am a bit worried that they might not have enough left. The gourami would constantly look for food and eat everything it can find. I tried placing a pleco cave with some food inside, hoping that it wont be able to reach inside, but it somehow got to it too. I read somewhere that its a good strategy to feed at night when the corydoras would be more active and the DG would most likely sleep, however is it the same for the otto too? Are there any other methods I can try in order to guarantee everyone gets their share of food? Here is the fucker: Side note: there is no problem with aggression, the gourami is not interested in chasing the other fish at all, its just the food he is after.

Long time no update. Sadly since the last update I’ve had some unexpected mortality in the tank. I lost a tetra, the hillstream loach and one cherry shrimp all in the matter of 3-4 days. There were no signs of anything wrong with water parameters so I am still confused about it. However after making sure there is no disease and all other fish seemed and behaved nice I got some new inhabitants! A local seller had a shipment of dwarf gouramis and I picked up a female one as I was still scared of aggression. Luckily it seems like the gourami is nothing like the betta I tried and she (I assume) gets on with all other fish pretty welll. No signs of aggression whatsoever. Also got an otto and he is very fun to watch, always active. I think I am going to let the aquarium with this stocking tor the foreseeable future. Plants seem to be doing good, except for the dwarf lilly which I had to get rid of. Java moss has completely taken over the tank. Recently found out that a seller in the country has been selling Scarlet Badis and now it is up to getting my girlfriend on board for a second tank.

Looking great! Congrats on the first inhabitant of the tank!

Thank you so much for the answer. I guess I was a bit more optimistic about the whole thing than I should have. I am gonna rethink my plan and research a little more for each species.

Well I am planning on keeping a pair of each of the the cichlids I mentioned alone in a 10 gallon to let them breed. However I was thinking of the possibility to add them to the community tank and not keep them permanently in the 10 gallons. How would I go about keeping them if not in the community tank - let them live in pairs in something like a 20 gallon per pair?

I am planning a future tank of mine that I would like to establish in the near future. My thought is to do a community planted aquarium with different types of fish. It would be a 45-50 gallon and I would like to have one pair of each: Apistos, Rams and Kribensis, as well as a school of something timid like Rummynose tetras and some bottom dwellers. Could this setup work?

It is a Tiger Hillstream Loach - Sewellia Lineolata

Honey Gouramis are nowhere to be found in my area, so here is Kevin

Looking forward to how this project turns out! Scape looks great. Seeing that your LFS has a lot of variety let me suggest some more nano fish if you would like to go this route. 1. Spotted blue eyes - looking at getting them myself. From what I’ve heard they are shy and tend to stay at the more upper part of the aquarium so you can have fish there too if you don’t get killifish. 2. Bumblebee goby - quite rare fish at least where I am from. Pretty peaceful and shy. Not sure if a big group is needed. 3. Asian stone catfish - super underrated and rare fish in my opinion. Looks pretty prehistoric to me. It would love the rocks in your aquarium. Your last list is looking good to me, however I would have one in mind for the Betta. I tried adding a Betta to my nano community tank and it did not work out. Honey gourami would be the safest choice I think. Also maybe think of including some algae eater to your setup like an Ottocinclus or Borneo sucker.

Finally got the aquarium a nice stand. It spent almost 2 month on a little table. Had to do a 50% water change in order to be able to lift up the tank and move it and I am hoping this does not crash the cycle.