Dria

Haha, I did! My index finger is basically 1 inch at the first knuckle which is pretty handy to know actually. Next time I have to measure a snail I'll be able to figure it out! So thank you for that. And now I know I have a blue ramshorn so if I want more of them I can get the same color. He's a pretty great little cleaner. I'm kind of bummed he hasn't decided to spawn for me. Maybe he's not all the way mature yet.

Hehe! I was curious so I got out my cloth measuring tape and he is actually a very normal 3/4" and apparently I have no idea how big things are.

It does seem to have lighter lines in a couple of spots. I thought it was just a growth problem? I had some hardness issues a few weeks ago and several of my snails had some trouble. I went to go look up the Marisa snail and I think I'm okay. I see the kind of lines you're talking about and it doesn't have those these are more like growth rings perpendicular to the swirl rather than laterally along with it. I think what you're seeing along the same axis of swirl is just shine off the shell. It is pretty large though, I would say more than 3/4 across but I'm bad at measuring by sight that way. ETA Mine looks a lot like these guys: https://goodlifeaquatics.com/products/blue-ramshorn-snails

Oh I didn't realize they came this dark! I've only seen the pink/translucent ones. Nice. I was thinking about getting a few but I guess there's no need now!

Anyone have thoughts on what this friendo might be? When it was very small I thought it was a ramshorn, but they don't come this dark do they? Came in on a plant and has grown to oh, I don't know about an inch and a half so far. Doesn't seem to be capable of reproducing on its own, at least I haven't seen any more. Doesn't seem to bother anything or anyone.

Scuttlebutt on Reddit says the Petco 50% off sale starts on 3/3.

When I had 8 CPDs they hid more than they came out. When I got 4 more all of a sudden they were out and about all over the place, so if you think your tank can handle it, it might be worth getting a few more to see if that helps. You could also try getting some small, less shy fish that don't need friends. Like a couple of Endler's or something. I also added a few of those to my setup and now the CPDs aren't just out more but they are also at the top of the tank way more often than they were before (which was basically never).

Went to the ACO store yesterday to pick up one of their lace plants and saw some cute Endler's that I decided to come home with as well! So we're basically stocked at this point (assuming an influx of baby Endler's) until I get the 29 in a few months. I'm already making plans for that, but I'm super happy with where the tank is right now.

Mine really love the Xtreme shrimp sticks and will even fight over them. I have a nano banquet block in there right now and while they ate some of it the first day in there, they haven't touched it that I've seen since. I might take it out of there tomorrow if I still don't see anyone on it. They really like to snack on the mix I have for the fish (a few different foods in a pepper grinder) when it gets caught on the floating plants sometimes.

A really good question! I have seen one with two temp probes but I think that is more designed for redundancy than two tanks?

Yeah, I know some people keep their house in the 70s just fine but my household isn't one. We sit around 67 generally and neither of us are comfortable much above 70. And while I think most of my tank inhabitants would be okay at 67, I doubt they would be particularly comfortable either.

Inkbird is definitely one of my next purchases. Thank you for the tips!

Oh yeah, I was planning on a glass top.

So I was watching Cory's livestream from last weekend and he talked for a while (unsurprisingly) about heaters. I had been planning on getting the ACO 100W for my tank upgrade later this year to a 29gallon, but since that won't be possible anymore I was doing some looking around at the various options. I've enjoyed my 50W and had no problem with it at all. One of the things he mentioned was about keeping the heater as small as possible for the size of the tank because less wattage means a lower failure rate no matter whose heater you're using. So, with that in mind, how small do we think I can go on a 29G? Most of the tables I've looked at say 100W for that size, but I think I probably don't need that much. I'm keeping my temp only about 5 degrees above my room temp which is pretty close so could I even get away with 50W? 75? Any anyone have heaters they particularly like that they want to recommend? Glass is an absolute no, I've had really bad experiences with them.

Can I ask an unrelated question? Have you found it difficult to keep that sandy area from getting mixed with gravel? It looks like it's behaving. Did you do anything special to keep it over there? I was toying with the idea of doing something like that so I could have a place for some cories to play but I wasn't sure how annoying it be to maintain?