Tony s

You need either an air stone or sponge filter at the other end. And between the air pump and air stone, you need to install a check valve. So that when the power does go out your airline doesn’t turn into a siphon, draining the water from your tank and onto your floor. Neither the air stone or the check valve are expensive at all. And readily available at a big box pet store.

Have you seen hippo dung. It’s only half eaten to start with. And most of the zoos that have hippos also use them for waste management. They get huge

Let’s correct that to say should be used. Let’s add every time.

First thing I see. Your haps and peacocks are going to like very hard water. Probably at least 240 and higher. Now, depending on where you got them, they may not be used to your water yet. If they come from harder water, putting them in softer water can create osmotic shock. The softer water will try to pull the extra minerals from their bodies. If they’re already adjusted, they may be fine. But there may be a limit to how much they can adjust. The African lakes are incredibly hard with high ph and high kh. not to say this is the cause of the current issue. But maybe. You could probably go as low as 76 on the temperature. 74 is the low limit. Your parameters look fine. Maybe another air stone. your dosing of prime is on the low side of directions? Prime can deplete the oxygen if used in too strong of a dose.

Nobody eats poop. Its nutritional value is basically zero. But your corys and shrimp will basically eat any form of leftover organic matter. The kinds that still have nutritional value. as pepere says, the corys playing will stir the substrate. But possibly not Pygmy’s. They swim off the substrate more than on it. Now panda corys will play on the bottom. And everywhere else for that matter. I have 4 types of corys. I’ve never once had them dig at plant roots. They’re far too busy to mess with plant roots.

What kind of cichlids. There is a vast variety. and how new to the tank are they

If they’re healthy and can reproduce. You may have something there. I”m very sure there are all kinds of hybrids out there. Probably everything that can be crossed has already been crossed though. That’s how a lot of the new varieties come into existence. Not to mention corys will do this in the wild as well. But if you’re going to try creating something new, be prepared to humanely put down anything that is suffering or unhealthy. Figure that is part of the pain of breeding new fish. African cichlid breeders have to do this all the time. Figuring that half the haps and peacocks are female and have no color. Something their keepers don’t want. They only want the males. So half of them are routinely put down. And there are a ton of fancy goldfish the same way. not that this was your intention. If it was me, I’d give them a good sized tank with no other corys. And let them live out their lives. Of course adding anything other than corys would be fine. They may be extraordinary fish and live a good long time. Hopefully. But just keep an eye out for health issues and deformities. And put them down only if needed. Otherwise, enjoy them. They look like really cool little fish

i would probably add him now. or just do both tanks actually i would probably do both tanks anyways. just to eliminate the parasite from both

Sounds like you have really good sponges. you really only need to replace them when they start to break down. other than that, just keep using them and cleaning them. It's easiest to take them over to a sink and just use tap water. even on city water. there's not enough chlorine in the water to kill your beneficial bacteria unless you let them soak in it for over an hour. and the running tap water really speeds the cleaning of them.

Ha! no, i did it accidentally. but I do like having them every where🤣

Yeah, so sorry man. I've had tanks go down before and sometimes it's just baffling. and heartbreaking. @Colu would you check over this thread for Mattlikesfish. Apparently i started himdown a rabbit hole. my fault, but it's what i was hearing. He may have a disease issue that I'm unaware of

Yeah. I’m not advocating for neons. Just the opposite. My concern is the ntd. That’s an awfully long list that colu gave you not to do if you really did have it. I myself won’t try them again. Which is a shame. So beautiful. So fragile. the thing with the fry. They need really stable water and places to hide. Something floating like guppy grass or hornwort which is what I use. Lots of tiny spots for them to hide.

You know, I’m doubting if you actually did have ntd. Or if your school just faded out. Did you have it diagnosed by anyone? Ntd does exist and it’s definitely out there, but it’s really not all that common. But neons have become relatively fragile. Especially if you get them from Petsmart or Petco. I can’t keep them alive. I’ve tried twice, and have only 4 out of 20 still alive. They usually die in the first 2 months and are fine for long time if they make it. I’m not saying you don’t have it, and colu’s list of what not to keep in this tank is correct. If you had it. I just think with your unstable water they were going to have a hard time anyway. So chances are actually low that you had it. So you’re probably fine. But staying with just your mollies is good. Lots of babies makes a tank really interesting. But you’ll want your gh to stabilize around 12 for them. Livebearers like hard water, and the corys will be fine in it. Green neons are much hardier if you want to try them. But a livebearer tank will be interesting enough I think. I have a platy only tank. Anything from babies to 2 yr old adults. (It was started 2 yrs ago). One of my favorite tanks

You actually have 2 things going on simultaneously. First, you have brown algae on everything. Which is completely normal for a brand new tank. It feeds on silica in the water. Almost every new tank gets it. Now the brown sludge on the spider wood is also completely normal. It’s a bacterial bloom from the wood. The bacteria are just eating the last little bit of edible material still on the wood itself. It would look like a whitish slime except it’s brown due to the brown algae. cures- brown algae is caused by diatoms in your water. Their shell are made from silicates. When there’s no more silicates, there’s no more algae. Surface feeders like snails, otocinlus, or even very small plecos (depending on tank size and species) will eat it and help remove it tons faster. biofilm on spider wood- yeah, I freaked out about this too. The first time I saw it. Not a big deal. It goes away after it consumes whatever it’s eating is gone. If you scrape it off before that, it just comes back. Maybe a week or two. both of these are common to new tanks and new wood. Neither of them is harmful to your fish in any way

Yeah. That’s what I have. The hatch was over a year ago. Plus loses, plus 35 I gave away. Plus the 40 or so in other tanks. It was a relatively decent size clutch. All my other tanks have at least 2 per tank. I have clutches at least weekly. Sometimes it seems daily. Never had a clutch hatch I didn’t want. Which was once. That was more than enough. Maybe another one in a year or so they’re just so easy to prevent. Big clusters that look like praying mantis cutches. They’re just super easy to control. They pop right off. Or can be scraped off if they don’t come right off. Yeah, I can see problems with a clutch in a 10. Not sure why someone would do that. Unless to swap or sell. And then even though those snails are sort of free, the profit has to be next to nothing. Even for the rare color morphs.

Short answer, yes, you are definitely cycled. Fish produce ammonia, then the two types of bacteria reduce that twice into nitrite then nitrate. Nothing else in the tank actually produces nitrate but the cycling bacteria. The plants keep that low, as well as helping on ammonia and nitrites. But if you’re seeing nitrate at all you’re definitely cycled. And probably well seasoned.

If you’re seeing nitrites, it’s most likely not fully cycled yet. Fertilizers add nitrogen in the form of nitrates. Not nitrites. As nitrites ar still poisonous. When you see them or ammonia, it’s time for a water change. And dechlorination.

For a fully cycled tank. You need 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and some nitrate. If you don’t have any nitrate, it’s either very planted or not cycled at all. there are 3 main strategies for cycling a tank. All are successful. All require some form of living beneficial bacteria to be added. usually fritzyme7, Dr Tim’s, api QuickStart, or seachem stability. then you need a form of ammonia. Either live fish, or ammonium chloride, or fish food that’s rotting in the bottom of the tank creating ammonia. then you add in your bacteria and wait. The ammonia witch is poisonous converts to nitrite. Which is also poisonous. The nitrite in turn converts to nitrates . Which are not as poisonous and the fish can live in. Hence you’re looking for 0ammonia. 0 nitrite, and some amount of nitrates. If you choose to do your cycle with live fish. You need to constantly check your water for ammonia and nitrite. If you see any you need to do a water change. By siphoning out old water and replacing it. Then you need to add a dechlorinator like prime. Because city water has chlorine to kill bacteria in the water. The constant water checks will ease over time as the tank becomes cycled. Then the only thing you should see is nitrate. Nitrates should be kept around 20. The only thing to remove nitrates are plants and water changes. Try these videos

My daughters dance competition last weekend. I listened to everything, literally. All weekend long🤣

Ammonia by itself isn’t going to kill your plants. Ammonia is actually the preferred form of nitrogen for any plant. In or out of the water. Out of the water, in soil, it’s not really stable and converts down to nitrate. Or clings to water in the soil. Ammonia is the number one fertilizer for most field crops. It is actually one of the most dangerous also. Being that it’s very hydroscopic. In the open air it sucks the moisture from everything. If humans are exposed to the vapor it causes burns and sometimes blindness. By pulling the moisture from skin and eyes. But, no. I wouldn’t be concerned about a high level of ammonia while planting your tank.

You know, I’m not actually seeing that. I still have 20+ from my hatch still in the 75g. After having given 35 back to my lfs and putting another 20 in my other tanks. They’re in With breeding angels, a group of Bolivian rams, and a dozen skunk corys. The water parameters are very stable. But the filter is an fx2 which is being broken down and cleaned every 3 to 6 months.

Yeah, I’ve had on the backside of the tank several times. The only successful hatch I’ve had was in my 75 when I let the water stay down on purpose. For a normal tank, just keeping it full usually works fine. It’s not just a matter of drowning. Even if the tip of a clutch touches the water. It will wick up through the clutch and terminate the hatch. As far as ones outside the tank, they don’t stay hydrated enough to hatch. Even mine hanging on the outside of the hob dehydrated

Looks just like my pond snails. My mystery snail babies had rounder tails

And it all comes back to… what is your personal tolerance for algae. Some people want none. I. Personally have a high tolerance for algae. I thought this was a fun interview. Where even Bentley was talking about aquascaping a tank with the dreaded black beard algae. And I know I’ve seen it in one of Cory’s tanks before. To me the rock with the green algae looks prefect. Exactly what I’m after. But take a look at this

Sorry if we come on a little strong 😂. We get excited sometimes. Especially if we think it’s a newbie that really needs help We’re really good at helping If we can get you to stable water. Panda corys would be great. They’re so cute and goofy. Probably 10 would be great in your 20. Then a small topside school would be good.