Tony s

Let’s ask the expert @Colu

The thing to remember about community tanks. Your yield of fry is most likely going to be very reduced. Fish will definitely eat other fish’s fry. To maximize output, you’ll want species only, smaller tanks. And then possibly grow out tanks as well Smaller tanks are less expensive, but require more maintenance to keep in breeding conditions.

One species in a community tank. So if you were talking about multiple species of shell dwellers in the a tank, my apologies. That’s not the way I read it. Although with an 8 ft tank you might be able to do that. Just have to have 2 separate piles of shells. You can do leleupi and multis together, and their both Neolamprologus. we have the opposite problem here. They’re relatively popular here. Near Chicago. But they breed like convicts and you can’t really even give them away anymore. That’s why I was considering the community tank. They still breed like crazy, but the fry disappear. I was actually talking to the lfs this afternoon about them. They don’t carry them but can order them. Everyone they sell to is into South America, planted, nano tanks. I have so many of those, I believe I’m done doing that for a bit. I believe my tanks are going to get fewer in numbers, but bigger in size from now on 😃

On that line, would a compressiceps be interchangeable for a calvus? Calvus are a bit less aggressive I believe

I honestly don’t know. Depends on the manufacturer and if they’re still in business. I would think it’s a possibility.

Did you add in a beneficial bacteria. Two - three weeks is generally way too fast to cycle a tank. Unless you used a seeded sponge filter or othe seeded material. Do you have your readings on ammonia and nitrites? as a general rule, shrimps do best on older tanks that have a bit of built up funk in them. They usually don’t do well at all in brand new tanks. to increase your nitrates you could start adding a fertilizer like easy green and dose until it reads 20 ppm nitrates. This balanced fertilizer will help replace some of the nutrients the ro removes. Your plants will greatly appreciate it I use ro. It generally doesn’t do anything to the nitrate content

How big is the tank. Makes a difference on how much side pressure there is. And how decorative are you wanting it. There are short term fixes, but nothing that is pleasant to look at. How old is the tank? Maybe replacement parts can be ordered?

Oh, absolutely. Nothing wrong with low kh. Or lower ph for that matter, as long as the keeper knows how to manage it. I, on the other hand, can’t actually use my water as is. Way too much iron and iron bacteria in the well. Watering grass here, you turn everything the water touches to a burnt red color.

This is one of the reasons I like to combine alkaline buffer with acid buffer. It not only allows you to target a certain ph. But it buffers you in to that range and prevents ph swings in either direction

@HansE Here is a video on various types of shell dwellers. I’m kind of torn between 3. Gold ocellatus, multis, and caudopunctatus. All are good. The gold and caodopunks are stunning. Golds are little balls of rage and I may need steel gloves for them. @HansE here is the community tank setup for a 40 gallon. Slightly bigger than yours, but gives you the idea from start to about minute 3

Actually not quite true. You can set up a lake Tanganyika community tank. Easier to do with multis. Then add in Julidochromis or leleupi. Top it off with something like an ink fin calvus. You get little breeding with either the julis or multis. Some, but not much. You will get some though. But you still get the behavior from all the inhabitants. Very interesting setup. Ask me how I know. I just picked up a new setup and am very tempted by this combo. Also tempted by a gold ocellatus tank or straight multis tank.

theoretically you should have a recycling center somewhere near you. We're rural, so they have a couple of covered trailers set up for glass, electronics and such set up in a small town near us. bigger towns should have better options

In Laos where he was at, they had very deep jungle and very little protein to speak of. He was doing illegal missionary work there. Under the guise of agricultural assistance. They made quite a bit of difference for that community. When he retired, I believe they were up to 20 sows. which were capable of producing 200 market animals a year. just unheard of there. including methods of feed production and all the supporting infrastructure. primitive still to be sure, but effective. He goes back now, and it looks like a completely different area. Other interests have kind of moved in and through the surrounding area. Less jungle, more traffic. but the farm is still intact, I believe Yeah, same here. More rabbits and deer though. Although I did have a class on edible insects at university

And angels look tasty 🤣 Our cats just like to use the hobs as drinking fountains, I think the fish make them nervous. although I did catch one watching fish TV. It's possible it was eaten. especially nickel sized. lots of small soft bones. and kuhli loaches could have "disappeared" him

Probably not that quickly. And there would have been traces. Dorsal or caudal fin bits. Is there any way for him to have jumped?

0.25 ammonia is safe. 0.25 nitrite isn’t. But you’re doing it right. Keep it low and keep adding prime. You’ll still read the ammonia. It doesn’t remove it. But it keeps your fish safe

One of the easiest ways to reduce hair algae is to literally go in and physically remove it. An old toothbrush will help. Just wind it up and pull it out. To keep it from coming back as fast, probably the best way is going to be feeding your fish much less. Excess food means excess nutrients in your water. Fish don’t have traditional stomachs like we do, so food in equals waste out. Without adding to the growth of your fish. As long as everyone gets something, you’re good. I am fighting the same issue currently. We had our goddaughters feed our fish during our vacation. They mostly did a good job. The fish were happy and water was clean when we got back. But now we have a hair algae breakout. We can get it under control though. And, importantly, they liked feeding the fish and learned something as well.

For the hornwort, it’s so fast growing, rip a clean chunk off and toss the rest. It’s really not worth spending time trying to clean it. Or at least that’s what I do when I get it in mine

Sponge filter? You could upgrade to coop's new filter that has the easy flow attachment. It should eliminate most bubbles

If it's made like fish sauce. the runoff off whole fish and salt allowed to ferment until the liquid settles at the bottom. not consumable for fish. Barely consumable by humans. only in small amounts for flavoring

We had a banker 20 years ago that spent his vacation time in Laos. trying to set up a small swine farm from scratch. His report was that the jungles there were very quiet. If there was something moving there, they would eat it. everything from birds to grubs. including monkeys, everything we would call a pet, all the stuff they could get from a river. very little refrigeration also. So, all those animals for consumption were either kept alive or sort of fermenting in the jungle heat all day. So, yeah, not surprised at all. makes a lot of sense

Better way might be unscented Mr clean Magic eraser. or the cleaning pads coop has for sale. both should work. Little bit more elbow grease, but you could also use it to clean the algae off the glass at the same time

@Shiba You might want to consider starting a new topic on this just to keep it fresh and get lots of other people's interest. but, yeah, have never done that. too worried about contamination

It depends on the source of the discus. Germany has developed their strain in those exact waters. but for wild caught, way too hard. Even for some domestically raises here it could be borderline. If you can find the german strain, it could get much easier. Such beautiful fish though. I must admit they have me completely intimidated. the thing with them is they need absolutely pristine water. lots of water changes and almost no nitrates whatsoever

Right between 10 and 20. So no need with no fish yet