redmare

That’s beautiful! I wonder how old those oscars are… mine was good with plants for the first 8 months or so and then decided they must die

So over the last… 6 months or so, I’ve been on the down side of enthusiasm about my aquariums. This is a pretty normal cycle for me, it hits highs and lows and comes back around. I’ve been trying to maximize the hobby by minimizing it lately. I’ve condensed and gotten rid of tanks so I’m now running 4, rather than 8 like I was last summer. When I initially set up my tanks, I didn’t think about longevity of my plant choices or scapes, and picked mostly stem plants that would just take over and then die on the bottom and just get nasty. My 10 gallon used to have a super fancy scape I was so proud of and now it’s just kind of a mess- quite a healthy mess, but not so attractive. I’ve really fallen in love with different crypt varieties since they grow slow and love a messy substrate, as well as house plants growing out the top- pothos consumes waste like nothing I’ve tried before! so I’m planning on doing a bit of a restart in at least two of my tanks, plant/hard scape wise, but I’m not sure what I should do to help build this low maintenance, pretty, sustainable vision I have. This is my most recently updated tank- it’s a 29 gallon, primarily with guppies and endlers, plus some kuhli loaches that moved in when condensing tanks, a Bristlenose pleco, and an angelfish I got about a month ago to help eat guppy fry. I love the big healthy crypts I’ve got growing in the middle, but the rest of it is just kinda empty or messy. And also a handle of a net that fell in and I haven’t moved because I find it fun watching the fish go through it. this is my other 29 gallon. It has some pristella tetras, an angel, what used to be 3 endlers and is now like 30 (I want to catch them and put them with the other endlers but they’re sneaky), a long fin bristlenose, and a few panda cories. I think I’ve lost a few of them in the last year- or they’re sneakier. The crypts are the newest plants in here as well, and also my favourite. The moss is annoying and keeps growing bba, but the endlers like to peck at it so that’s fine. I used to have the back filled with stem plants but now they’re just kind of all gone and it’s empty at the back. This tank is in my living room and could really do with an aesthetic upgrade. this is my 10 gallon that used to be awesome and is now just kind of… well, this. It got a few random occupants as I condensed tanks and now currently has a (very chill) betta, a few neon and ember tetras, two oto cats, cherry shrimp, and an abundance of tiny ramshorn snails. Of all my tanks, this one I most want to basically tear down and start from scratch again. The next 3 photos are what this tank was when I set it up initially a few years ago… I miss it 😞 and then this is my last tank, 180 gallons with my pride and joy Ursula the Oscar. I tried keeping plants in with her which worked when she was tiny, but she enjoys destruction like any good Oscar. I want to change her tank around a bit to make it prettier- it is like half my bedroom- but obviously there’s not a ton I can do. I do love the emersed plants I’ve got going though! And fun fact, those green pebbles used to be scattered around. She put them in a pile there. so please- if you look at these tanks and have any ideas as to what plants or hard scape or other changes would make them better- but be super easy to maintain- please let me know! Also they all used to have black backs on them but I think in most cases the cats thwarted that plan I’ve been meaning to stick them back on. Thanks so much for any input, or general encouragement!

This would be a pretty straightforward design with some 2x4s. frames for the rim to sit on, resting on legs. I have one at home that's just one on top of one but you could expand it sideways pretty easily. I think I based it off a design by kgtropicals

There's no reason you couldn't but bio media on the substrate, it will grow bacteria anywhere it's coming in contact with water. If your tanks are already stable and running with whatever media you have though, I wouldn't feel the need to add to it or swap it around. Why are you wanting to add additional media?

It's a very open opportunity! The prof I'll be working for does population ecology mainly, but he says he's happy to help me design just about any experiment I'm interested in. We've been talking about doing some behaviour based studies since that's something particularly interesting to both of us! We were talking about perhaps temperature and spawning behaviour/aggression I will 100% come back to share along the way! I think there's such a wealth of knowledge here that could be so useful in designing and troubleshooting a project like this! Along with my supervisor of course 🙂 Yes! He has been my fish ecology prof this semester and that's how I found out about the opportunity. He knows my interest is in aquarium fish, and his research is in native populations, but he's down to help me design a hobby-based experiment!

Hi fish friends! So I have an opportunity to do my honours thesis next year working in a fish lab (how cool is that???) This will involve designing my own research project, carrying it out, and publishing a paper on my findings. I think this could be such a cool opportunity to try and mythbust some aquarium lore or learn more about the things that affect us as hobbyists. My question to you is... what are some big questions you have about the way fish work? What would you love to find out but don't have the resources (or time or energy) to test? I have some ideas already but there's such a smart science-based community here I thought I'd see what cool ideas the nerms have. Some of the things I've thought of: How different diets affect growth/reproduction, how temperature affects sex ratios of livebearers, SOMEthing to do with salt and it's medicinal properties... there's honestly so many things. So many potential topics in breeding, in growth and development, and in disease treatment. The possibilities are a bit overwhelming!

I don't have kanaplex, Canada. I moved him into my always-ready qt with 1tbsp/2gal salt. we'll see, hoping for the best. he still is acting fine... very happy to explore his new digs 😞

I haven't seen or not seen a poop. But I don't think constipation would get so severe so fast.

My betta friend was looking perfectly normal yesterday. He was kind of big this morning, as though he had just had a very large meal, this evening he is severely bloated and pineconing. I had no idea this kind of thing happened so fast!! 10 gallon, 80 degrees, tank running for nearly a year, had this betta for a few months, he lives with 6 ember tetras and shrimp, params 0/0/5, water change 20% a week, struggle to keep enough nitrogen in there for all the plants, pH 7.6, dh 9, kh 7, tank is heavily planted. Never had any other issues with this guy except for a brief tail biting incident when he had no tank mates and got bored- well healed up from that. No change in colour or behaviour, he is still very active and engaged and begging for food. His staple foods are hikari micropellets and bug bites but he gets a large variety with frozen foods about once a week. I've never dealt with this before!! I don't wanna lose this guy, he's the best. I'm in Canada so no antibiotics or meds available here.

Thanks so much, everyone! I ended up taking one of the two heaters out of my oscar's tank and the heater out of my cool tank in the house that only gets a few degrees above room temp and moving them out to the ponds. I'm so glad I did, since the temp dropped right to zero and snowed!! The fish are just fine this morning 🙂

I have some new mini ponds that I just put fish in yesterday- a 110 gallon with sunset variatus platies and a 20 mini with endlers. So far they're shy but doing well. I just saw that there's gonna be an overnight low of 6C (42F) and then tomorrow will only be a high of 11C (51F). Should I worry? What's my best plan of action?

Thanks for the starting advice guys! I got the 100 gallon and two 17 gallon minis to go alongside it. They're full, dechlorinated, and full of easy green ready to grow buttloads of algae!

If the betta is living with no other fish, there's no need to quarantine. Honestly, the way bettas are bred and raised, they never make contact with other fish. The best thing to do in my opinion is get it into a nice new home with good food and good water.

First thing I'd do is a water change and clean, maybe see if your filter needs servicing, and as said above make sure there's no food on the rim.

I've decided to try my hand at an outdoor summer breeding project, here in Ontario, Canada. I can't decide between getting 2 40 gallon tubs or 1 110 gallon tub... and of course I'm not sure what to breed! My short list is platies, white clouds, and rosy barbs, but I'm open to any and all ideas. I'm also not 100% sure what the best way to sell the results of this project will be, but I guess I'll figure that out, and worst case I'll make a bunch of snacks for my oscar, I guess! I'd love to see photos of any of your pond setups and any hints, suggestions, or other advice!