It's been a while since I last posted an update on my tank, so here goes!
I have successfully re-homed my 2 julii corydoras! I found a free fish page on Facebook and the person who took my fish sent me pictures of my fish swimming happily with other julii and other corydoras in a 35 gallon aquarium!
Thanks to the 4 otocinclus I have, the algae issue is mostly gone. Now I only find hair algae stuck to some of the floating plant roots here and there. However... The way the otos eat their algae wafers has caused my tank to be invaded by bladder snails, detritus worms, ostracods, and most recently even hydra!
Since all of these little critters seem to be so prevalent, I'm going to start fasting the fish for two to three days between feedings to help get the populations under control.
I think once the otos and the betta eventually die of old age, I'm going to get one nerite snail to help with algae control and a school of 8 chili rasboras to keep all the other little critters' population down. I actually like the little bladder snails. They're cute!
I have the lights in my tank on when I'm awake, so the light is on for 10-12 hours at a time now. I have a timer now, so I just have to reorganize my wiring and plug that in and it will be on for 12 hours at a time. I also dimmed the intensity of the lights and turned the blue lights off (It has RGB and white lights).
I have a question now though... My dwarf water lettuce and duckweed is going insane and I pull fistfuls out every one to two weeks. Would it be okay for me to give away the extra plants with all of the extra stuff living in my tank? I would of course disclose what I have in the tank when giving the plants away, I'm just wondering if it would be okay to do in my case. I feel bad throwing the extra away.