River

It’s so cool! I’ll take it off your hands lol

I don’t have experience with Prime or Amguard but I looked them up. Prime is a dechlorinator that also removes heavy metals and will detoxify ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite. Amguard binds ammonia for up to 72 hours in case of an emergency spike. As Alex said, the bacteria actually need ammonia and nitrites to feed on so they can replicate and establish a large enough population to effectively process ammonia and nitrites once fish are in. I don’t know this for sure, but I worry both Prime and Amguard could actually slow down your cycling process by making ammonia and nitrite less available to your bacteria. Maybe look up how much ammonia your snail can tolerate and let it climb up a bit?

I’m envious! I love bookshelf tanks. A single betta or dwarf gourami would be cool, or a pair of scarlet badis. I love nerite snails and Mexican dwarf crayfish.

I’ve been fighting this for a while now. This is a long post but I’m getting worried and would really appreciate help. TL;DR I’ve fasted him and given him cooked frozen pea three times now and wondering what to do next. 5 gallon, running since 2020. Temp 77-78F Ammonia 0, PH 7.4-7.6, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 5-10 (today). Started fertilizing tank with Easy Green a month ago. Been testing water every few days and the parameters have stayed good except for nitrate around 20 a week ago, which I water changed down to 10 ish. I do have a Cyanobacteria bloom right now, probably because I raised the temp and the higher nitrates. I’ve had him about six weeks. Mostly feeding 3 or 4 pellets of Hikari Bio-Gold, and he grabs some of the flake I put in for the 2 endlers in the tank. Couple of weeks ago, I noticed he was positively buoyant and having trouble swimming down. Fasted him for 3 days, then fed him a smidge of a cooked frozen pea. He was swimming perfect the next day, so I gave him one pellet and half a frozen mysis shrimp and he immediately was too buoyant again. Raised the temp to 78, fasted 4 days, pea again, this time he was just a smidge negatively buoyant and his tail would sink if he he wasn’t actively swimming. The next day he got a single mysis shrimp. Immediately stuck at the surface again. Fasted another 3 days, yesterday he got pea again, and now he’s negatively buoyant and his tail sinks when he’s not moving forward again. His color and fins look good, no loss of appetite, but he is tired and spends most of his time resting on plants. The only poop I’ve seen was mostly white with a brown tip. LFS says to try feeding pea for a couple more days, but I’m worried because the only protein he’s had in the last two weeks is a pellet and 1 1/2 mysis shrimp. I don’t want to salt the tank because I’ve worked really hard on those plants and the buce is really special to me. Hospital tank is occupied with quarantining neons. I might be able to move them, but sanitizing that tank will kill the nitrifying bacteria. Don’t want to medicate the betta’s tank with maracyn because I’m afraid it’ll kill my nitrifying bacteria and I’m pretty convinced it’s a digestive tract issue since he gets worse immediately after feeding. I’m thinking maybe Epsom salt bath next but I’m a little scared it might stress him and make him worse. Any advice appreciated!

Fishkeeping isn’t easy! There are so many variables that can go wrong, and even experts mess up and kill fish all the time. I’ve lost several fish. A couple were because I got depressed and neglected the tanks. Recently I’ve been taking very good care of my tanks, and even then I got a new batch of neons where only 2 of 9 made it. Sometimes they’re sick before you even bring them home and there’s nothing you can do. Those tiny snails aren’t a threat to fish or other inverts. If you sanitize your gravel with chemicals the snails will probably die, and that’s ok too. I like my little snails. Their population only booms if I’m over feeding.

My betta is in a 5 gal with two small male endlers, some Amano shrimp, and a nerite snail. He’s never bothered anybody. My two other bettas also got along fine with their tank mates, but I know each betta is different and some are murderers lol.

Thanks! I think I’ll give it a try.

Leeches get an unnecessary bad rap. People freak out about being bitten by a leech, which doesn’t transmit disease in North America, but a mosquito bite is just like “eh that’s annoying” and mosquitos totally do carry disease. Do you have a YouTube channel? I love Alexander. He’s who has gotten me interested in understanding my ecosystems better.

Sounds like the high-tech folks have given you some great advice if you want to keep fighting the algae. My advice is to declare a temporary cease-fire if the frustration is making your hobby not fun. When I change things, my tanks go through an algae bloom regardless of how hard I fight it. I’ve made peace with it, and learned to love a more natural look. You’re good at this. I’m confident you’ll figure out what your tank needs. In my experience, my tanks usually sort themselves out whether I do everything right or not.

My guppy grass has been like the giving tree for me; takes care of my tank no matter how I abuse it lol. One of the LFS’s gave it to me for free when I was new. It floated a lot at first, then it rooted itself and took over and I would just pull handfuls out when it got too crazy. It didn’t mind. It kept the water nice and clean while I was learning and getting other plants established. I decided to get rid of it all one time so I pulled it all out but it was like “nah I still gotchu boo” and magically reappeared in a way that looks very nice in my tank now. I actually wish I had more of it right now so I could put it in my quarantine tank and make my new fish more comfortable!

Have you ever had a dwarf aquarium lily? I have two and they’re both a beautiful silky pinky-brown. The first year or so they sent up long, huge leaves, and with time they have chilled out and are more bushy. I also have some ludwigia (I don’t know the species) that have always stayed shockingly red. Highly recommend.

Oh wow I’ve had this before and had no idea what it was. Thanks!

Yes! I’ve been wanting to try to get some small benthic creatures in my tanks and have been a little nervous about trying to collect them because I’m worried I might collect from somewhere that is polluted. How are you planning on collecting your copepods? He’s the one that got me thinking about it! I love Simply Betta and Creative Petkeeping! Thank you for the other recommendations; I’ll check them out.

I love your stocking ideas! I want a huge group of chilis so bad but my my tanks are too small. I agree with the advice already given; definitely don’t buy all those fish and inverts and add them at once. Start with the animal that’s toughest and make sure your biological filtration (bacteria and plants) are handling the bioload before adding the next group. When I add new fish or inverts to a tank, I test the water daily for a few days to make sure there aren’t toxins building up. Then I test less often if everything is stable and nobody is showing signs of illness. Once I’m sure the tank is stable with the bioload for a couple of weeks, then I’ll add the next group. I’ve heard everyone who got sunlight on their tank had nightmare algae issues. I don’t have personal experience so I’m just spitballing here; Perhaps in addition to posterboard you could add something that insulates/reflects sunlight between the back of the tank and the window. Maybe some styrofoam and a piece of one of those car window reflectors or aluminum foil?

I like Amano shrimp for eating algae, but the barbs may eat them. I usually keep very small fish, so I don’t have much experience with larger ones. Nerite snails are good algae eaters and may be less susceptible to predation than shrimp. I don’t have experience with algae eating fish but I’ve heard otos are the best small algae eating fish. I believe they need to be in groups to be happy, but I may be wrong. I personally like a bit of algae in my tank; algae helps keep the water clean just like plants do. I clean it off the glass so it looks nice but I think it growing on decor and hardscape looks natural (which I like). You could also try adding some floating plants to uptake some of the nutrients that are fueling algae overgrowth, or reducing the amount of time your lights are turned on.

This scape is beautiful! You’re worried about fish getting trapped between the rocks and the side of the tank? I’ve had hardscape up against the glass for years and never had anyone get stuck.

Fishkeeping isn’t easy! The best advice I ever got is that we’re going to mess up and kill fish even if we’re doing our best. You sound attentive and knowledgeable. I’m sorry you lost your little friends.

Is this how you reply to comments? I’m new here lol. And thanks for the advice! I’ll check out some research papers. And I agree that “advanced” fishkeeping doesn’t necessarily mean “harder”. That’s why I want to know more, because a mature, healthy ecosystem=happy, healthy, beautiful plants and fish.

I love the 10 gallon I have right now; I’ve attached a pic of it. It’s honestly pretty close to dream setup. It’s got dragonstone and driftwood for hardscape, and lots of plants that have been in there for years so it’s very natural looking (I actually like a bit of algae and mulm in a tank). It’s got a couple of Amano shrimp, a nerite snail, and 2 neons in it currently (the neons were from PetSmart and most of them died; I know they need larger groups). I’m currently quarantining some new neons from a better source and once those are in I’ll add a betta if the tank tells me it can handle the bioload. If I had the money for another 10gal setup, I would do a hillstream-type with celestial pearl danios, hillstream loaches, and maybe a lesser-known goby. And whatever inverts and plants that can tolerate the slightly cooler water CPDs and hill streams like.

Hi! I’ve been keeping fish in planted tanks for a few years and I’m starting to scrape the bottom of the education available from most YouTube channels and Google searches, as most of it is geared for beginners. I’d like to start learning more advanced things, particularly about bettas and aquarium microfauna. Anybody have suggestions for a turbo nerd like me?

I am not knowledgeable on the subject but I have seen some YouTube gurus putting alder cones and oak leaves in? I think if you research it a bit you might be able to find appropriate botanicals for free outside.