Tony s

I think he is now too old to actually care. he spends a lot of his time just resting

And if algae ever gets on the hornwort. rip off a clean bit and throw out the rest. I have hair algae that gets in my hornwort. Hornwort is very tough to kill, unless it runs out of ferts. haven't tried the guppy grass (or water wisteria) to know if it's a chuck and go kind of plant. dwarf sag in gravel grows just fine as well. both types of lilies grow really well in any substrate but need root tabs for optimal growth. both will send lily pads to the surface and may act as shade. tiger lotus can be kept trimmed with less stress on the plant. and the red color is outstanding. dwarf lily has a mostly rust red and sort of dull leaf

oh and for the bettas, I usually keep around 6 in various community tanks. Bettas are usually only aggressive to other bettas. depending on their personality. and if they already have a territory staked out. I'm still impressed with lennie's going after the cacatoides. no ideas about shrimp, but i assume they both eat small ones

That is all personal preference. Bettas are way cool and colorful. but the honey's can be a bit more active. and the yellow really pops. Honey's can be in any amount you want. There is a member who was keeping 7 at once with no issues. I have 1 in a 10g. Shares it with some neons and a betta of all things. that's not recommended. but it works for them and i assume nobody else. and probably yes on adding the betta last. Mine are usually last in as bettas from petsmart/petco don't live that long. the one with the honey is the oldest we've had at 2 1/2 years. So, if it was me, I would actually do a trio of honey's. which would be fine. they're not fast swimmers so a trio in 20 would be okay. I wouldn't worry about the stocking levels, you probably wouldn't notice a small amount of extra work

Yeah, mine too, but reverse reasons. average temps in January is 20. so warm air meeting cold glass causes condensation. without the tanks in the house and the furnace running constantly. the air is dry enough to cause skin problems. add that to being outside mostly, and i end up with cracked skin on my hands. so very much appreciate the humidity in the winter

10g, 20g inside. 75g just outside in the hallway. all on the second floor. the 75 is on the center load bearing wall though. and yes, our favorites are in that tank In summer that's a definite issue, makes it harder to cool down. In winter it works in reverse. It feels warmer and things are not bone dry all the time.

the other thing to watch out for. Just keep your qt bare bones. no substrate or anything. if you start adding that you won't want to take it down. smaller bubbles from the sponge, so less popping and bubbling noise

if you could leave it in for several weeks it should become established. yeah, it's not fast. That's why people with multiple tanks leave an extra one in at all times. once your sponge is in there for a month, it should be good. wouldn't need the ammonia. just observation that it stays down at a reasonable level

we have two of them but must have the new improved version. for about a month that compartment was full. Of kuhli loaches. 🤣 That was a serious pain to undo. the design department didn't think about that, I'm sure. agree with @GoofyGarra. As long as you are sure you have water flowing in it, it will become cycled. but it is cramped, so you'd have to make sure. and any sponge filter can be quieted with airstones inside the filter. but there are filters that will not accept the addition of an airstone. Unfortunately, I have a few of those kinds as well. no way to hook one up, unlike the older style of the coop sponge. The tight-fitting lid should help to dampen the noise a bit On the older style coop filters you would take them apart and add them underneath the main hookup. with a very short airline. possible ones without that attatchment you could thread airline down between the vents and underneath the original hookup point. if it allows for that

Probably not. at least in our area the well is supposed to be about a foot above the ground with an aluminum cap to protect the water supply. pesticides applicators would have to be extremely negligent to contaminate it. We take license exams for pesticides (yes, i actually do have one, had a research level license at one point) on a yearly or semi-yearly basis. and for residential licenses it's worse. the other thing, diatomaceous earth is made from diatoms, think brown algae. it's mostly considered fish safe. unless there was an additive to it. It works in insects by using the sharp edges of the dried diatoms and basically shredding their internals. more than likely what they used internally in the well was not even close to fish safe. I'm not sure they would have even thought about it or been concerned about it. It may have been safe for mammals to use but definitely not the fish. Honestly, the only way I can see out of that situation would have been to get some water from an lfs or petsmart/petco. which would have been a pain. And I would have been in @Nikki's shoes and would have thought it should have been gone in a month.

Looks like a very small isopod. Something like an aquatic sow bug?

If you can get even 1 micro pellet per fish per feeding. That should be enough. You just went a whole week without. So 1 or 2 per would be plenty

Well. If we can get your nutrients down. Maybe you won’t need as many? Hopefully?

Coop bug bites may be perfect. Haven’t tried them. I use tetra micro pellets

The bug bites are good if they can get them down. The ones I use end up being spit out if too big. The micro pellets would be the right size. But I find they can sink really fast. If wcmm are like rasboras, once they hit the bottom they won’t get them. Maybe feed just a couple of pellets at a time to keep them at the surface

What kind of pellets? and more food equals more nutrients in your water. Which leads to more algae

@oogabooga I think that’s key. If you can find them locally,they’ll do fine. The important bit is to get them growing in your water. Believe me,it’s a pain to have to constantly adjust your tank water. If you’re not forced to, by all means don’t.

Actually every day is better, but just a tiny bit. I mean really tiny. I have a harlequin tank instead of wcmm and they really don’t take much at all. I find myself doing too much also. So possibly the smallest amount you can grab would be about right. That would also keep the algae down.

That is a brilliant photo. It is extreme, but gets the point across very nicely

You have room for the moment, but unless you have all male endlers, the tank will fill in with them very nicely. To test your stocking, use aqadvisor.com

Okay, so theoretically you’re still cycled. You change a lot of water, if you weren’t cycled I’d expect the nitrates to be zero. Okay. That’s good. Maybe @tetra has got the right idea. But what bothers me about that is you’re getting 0 ammonia at the tap

Each of their 3main fins has a rather large spike in it. I’m not sure if you’ve felt those before. It’s what makes it a bit hazardous on them to be netted. They can stick in the net. The main purpose of them is defense. Sometimes keepers get unlucky and get stabbed by them and get a dose of the Cory venom. Which most people don’t realize corys make either. Sometimes if mishandled in shipping they will also release the venom and it can actually kill the corys in the bag. Which is what happened with my skunks. As far as I can tell.

Thank goodness I haven’t been stung yet. But my first batch of skunks traveled home with me for a couple of hours. Got them settled in the tank and before leaving them alone for the night, I thought I’d do a small amount of maintenance. Every part of my arm that went into the tank broke out in severe hives. Very first time I learned about Cory venom.🤣

Yeah, I did exactly that. It’s still there, only this time it looks like dead grass. 🤣 I must have to get it from a more reliable source. Now Java moss I can grow fine. Had a huge wendelove in a 10g. Right up to the point hair algae took it over.🤣

I vote for platys. Very common and usually frowned upon. But always a bit goofy and interesting in a “balanced “ tank