Tony s

i did not know that. i assumed it was normal propagation

start a tote up. probably right now. can put everything from the aquarium into the tote, temporarily. substrate, plants, filter, decor, whatever you want to maintain its cycle. treat it exactly like an aquarium, it basically is at this point. that gives you time to figure things out. and much better than ruined floors if you can figure out how high the leak is you could also run low water levels for a while. but it may be too far down to mess with

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwigveuzh9GEAxXuv4kEHZktDusQFnoECA0QAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aquariumcoop.com%2Fblogs%2Ffaqs%2Fhow-to-plant-swords%23%3A~%3Atext%3DSwords%20are%20heavy%20root%20feeders%2Cto%20plant%20live%20aquarium%20plants.&usg=AOvVaw1xE6pZGdW6FIGfSMXcB4DB&opi=89978449 I don’t use root tabs anymore. I have enough mulm in my gravel. But …. See above

That all depends on which cichlid. Some eat everything, like severums. Some are quite happy in planted tanks, most dwarf cichlids, rams and apistos. Some won’t necessarily eat plants, but will redecorate and dig up your aquarium. Oscars. Really depends on the type you want Then you have the africans. They eat and dig. It’s really a species specific thing

You have a happy Java fern. That said, it’s a water column feeder. It does need some nitrates for fertilizer. It’s using up what you have, which is good. But may need more. Your sword is a root feeder and does need root tabs. you have 2 choices. You have room to add fish, or you can fertilize more. Me, I always like to add fish

Probably. I’m not sure I’d count on having live bacteria in it though. No telling how long it’s been on the shelf in a sealed plastic bag. But it’s supposed to be a very good substrate. I just wouldn’t count on it to cycle a tank

mine might look like this, sort of, not really. close? I thought this was the coolest thing I've seen today

I think snail poop is all relative. they don't poop any more or less than anything else relative to body size. comparing a 2" snail to a neon tetra isn't fair to the snail. also substrate and filtration play an important role on whether it's even noticed. sand or other semi porous substrate and you notice immediately. with gravel, it just sinks in and you don't see it. also, I think that how much you feed them is critical to how much mess they make. like fish, the more you feed them, the more they poop. you want less poop, feed less. same with fish and waste. I rarely ever feed them because I leave enough algae for them to be constantly searching for food. gives them exercise, so they can go be goofy. but, yeah, my 75 is cannister driven. it really does have 30+ snails. I keep the nitrates around 40. and my kh around 4-6. water changes only happen when one of these numbers starts to get unbalanced.

And kids will change everything. Trust me. We have helped to raise 29, until we adopted our 8 yr old. She's the easiest one we ever had and is completely amazing. and honestly, I didn't actually notice your rant. I let people have their own opinions. unless it's my daughter. then her opinion is wrong🤣

Oh I understand exactly

We are completely eclectic. I say we because it's my 8 yr old daughter and me that chooses. mamas outta luck. She's on dance team so lots of showtunes, imagine dragons, Sigrid Raab. been teaching her oldies. all this from someone who was 100% country before kids🤣

you may have something else going on. green water by itself is not harmful for fish. unsightly for humans. just floating algae. usually provides oxygen, and food for young fish. you could indeed have a bacterial bloom to go with it. which would drain oxygen. but looks like you have a good air source going.

I had 6 in a 75 as juveniles. 4 koi and 2 marble. ended up with 2 pair. marble/koi, koi/koi. was ok the first 6 months of spawning. they kept all fish from their area. but nothing 2 aggressive. then the female marble switched partners to the male marble. that boy is aggressive, turns sideways and shoots like a rocket across the tank. kept neon rainbows on the bottom. ended pulling out everything but the 2 pairs and corys on the bottom. inadvertently solved that problem. I had 6 skunk corys that hid on me from day 1. I added another 6. they are now everywhere. and corys favorite food.... eggs! don't have any more aggression. but I do need to set up a tank for the marbles. that boy is large and stunning. and needs bred.

i have 6 common and 6 black. they eat and swim together for me. not seeing any difference here. There is a Master Dean story. i forget the fine details. He thought the tank was empty for 6 months or so. no food, only a couple inches of water. regular kuhli was still in there, buried like normal. perfectly happy. most kuhlis are tough as nails. i do like the regular one. just a shade more interesting than the black. otherwise behavior is mostly the same

Fish don’t actually need the light. Plants do. You do when you’re checking on them. Room light is sufficient for a tank with no plants.

Lots of choices there. Could even do 3 in or more in a 55. 2 to one female to male.ratio. Females are as colorful as males which is great. Then tons of choices for schooling and bottom dwellers. Try and play around with aqadvisor.com. They’ll help you with numbers and compatibility. Then research the plant preferences of your fish. I believe they like a lot of floaters to hide in and around.

Maracyn in tank is sufficient with ichex for ich. With higher heat and some aquarium salt. Maracyn 2 in food with lower temperature for epistylis. Honestly never fought with epistylis. 2 different treatments, 2 different directions. Need someone who has fought both to help from here. Got to determine which one Main difference. Ich is uniform sized white dots. Epistylis can be different sized dots. Also occurs on eyes.

Kanaplex won’t work in food. Use Maracyn 2. Same recipe. If you’re going to use kanaplex, either quarantine the fish. Or treat the whole tank. If it’s ich you’re going to need something like ichex. Ich is not bacterial

Several choices depending on lighting and co2 availability. Dwarf sag can be kept trimmed into a carpet like. Both crypts grow low but grow in clumps. Monte Carlo needs higher lighting and likes co2, not required. Pearlweed makes a good carpet with higher light. Hairgrass likes medium to higher lighting and co2 grows carpets better. lots of choices, depending on the look you want. I do the dwarf sag and keep it trimmed to 2 1/2 inches. Still a bit open at the bottom. The crypts are very open at the bottom. And slow…. Just now starting micro sword in 1 tank. Have done Monte Carlo in gravel, it has a hard time holding on there. Ended up being a floater. Which I liked the look of and grew like crazy. To the point of scooping large amounts out with a fishnet. Have not done Pearlweed or hair grass

First thing first. Before substrate. Before plant decisions. What fish do you really really want. Everything comes from that. Hopefully things are easier this time

Don’t think it’s aggression, bn’s are mostly nocturnal. It may be you’re not as active when it is

Yes there is, there can also be frustrating challenges. You have one of those currently. It gets better. I know it’s hard to believe right now, but it will get better. the smell concerns me. Even a ton of mulm doesn’t stink like that. Bacterial infections do. Honestly, I would absolutely hit it with erythromycin. Usually thought of as fish medication. It also works on bacterial growth in the tank. If you’re really getting frustrated, what have you got to lose. Hopefully it works, if it doesn’t, it won’t hurt either

Kh 4 and gh of 6 with ph of 7. If that’s the case you have almost perfect water. I’d only be worried about raising some of the African cichlids that require much higher values. With those numbers, even discus could be attempted John Hudson just put this out a couple of days ago.

Not at all. Mine stay at 7.5 consistently. And there’s the key. The last thing you want to do is be chasing a certain ph. You’re best off using your tap water in most cases. That way it’s always consistent with little fluctuations. Almost all fish will adapt. The thing about ph ranges, most of the guides give you ph ranges in nature. Most aquarium fish are raised by hobbyists or farm raised not in nature. Most of them are raised in whatever water is readily available. Usually much higher than in nature. Figure most of the US is harder water with higher ph. Same with Europe and east Asia where the farms are. Your platys would actually do very well with ph around 8

Big box pet stores have it under e r erythromycin. Bga is a bacteria. Erythromycin kills tank bacteria as well as fish bacteria. For the smell. Most algae doesn’t actually smell bad. Kinda sea weedy. Bga smells foul