Yoshi

I did EXACTLY the same thing when I got my first five gallon aquarium. Jumped right in, and soooo many of us who are just starting out do it! So I know what you're dealing with! I completely agree with what everyone has said here regarding water changes. Another reason to keep up with your water changes is that bacterial bloom. While it's unsightly it also sucks up a lot of oxygen. By doing those regular incremental water changes you'll help re-oxygenate your water.

Almost sounds like the setup for a joke, doesn't it? I'm continuing my planning for my 55 gallon tank setup. I'll be getting it up on its stand this weekend. A quick rundown of the plan so far - it will be a relatively heavily planted tank. 55 gallons as I mentioned. At this point I'm planning on a good handful of snails, 12 panda Cories, 12-16 cardinal tetras, 12-16 cherry barbs, and 2-3 honey gouramis. I'm planning on running two medium ACO sponge filters in both back corners. I'm debating about running co2 for the plants. I've read about the incompatibility of co2 diffusers and sponge filters which makes sense. Would running one of the sponge filters on an AOC power head work for co2? Would a power head be good with the fish I'm planning? At this point I'm not totally sold on doing a co2 setup (mostly because it's kind of intimidating, and the initial cost), but I'm also working to figure out what my options are.

I thought about an angel at one point! But I've read mixed reviews regarding compatibility. Would I end up with an overfed angel fish and an otherwise empty tank?

I appreciate the input so far! After thinking some more and doing a bit more reading here's a revised list, and of course feedback is very much appreciated! Panda Cories (12) Nerite Snails (10) Mystery Snails (5) Cardinal Tetras (12) Cherry Barbs (12) Honey Gourami (3) I've given up on the shrimp thought, but maybe a dedicated shrimp take is possible down the road (if I can find space for it!). AqAdvisor puts this at fully loaded. Could I do more?

I like the color of the neos a lot, but I take the point. I was thinking of adding some shrimp caves to give them more places to hide. They were also the first things I was going to add to the tank to get them well established. Do you think that would make a difference? I'm not sure what my favorite is tbh! 😄 I listed them more in the oder of the areas they would occupy in the tank from the bottom up. Do you have any suggestions other than more pandas? (Which I'll totally load up on!)

Any suggestions? 🙂

As I continue to plan for my 55 gallon community tank I've put together a tentative list of tank mates and I'd like to get peoples input! After doing some reading in the forum and other places here's what I've come up with so far: Neocaridina shrimp (10) Panda Cory catfish (6) Nerite snails (5) Cardinal Tetras (6-10) Cherry Barbs (6-10) Guppies - Male (3) I'm keeping male guppies mostly because I don't want to deal with a guppy population explosion and I don't have an easy way to offload them. It will be a fairly heavily planted tank with some rock and driftwood hardscape. Black substrate and black background. Am I at the limit in terms of what the tank can handle in terms of livestock? I love the look of honey gouramis, but I'm worried that I can't add too much more. I'm also going back and forth about whether I need some kind of centerpiece fish. A single angelfish sounded pretty at first, but would I end up with a fat angelfish in an otherwise empty tank?

This may be a tempest in a teapot, but I wanted to ask the community for some feedback. I have a black racer nerite snail that I added to my 5gallon aquarium about 5 week ago. The aquarium has a single betta and 5 live plants. My slight concern is that it doesn't appear he's eating, at least not what I put in the tank. Snello, algae wafer, steamed zucchini, he won't touch it. But he seems active and healthy. He hides mostly during the day, comes out at night and crawls around the tank. I put in a wondershell on a semi regular basis to bump up the calcium in the water and haven't noticed any degradation of his shell. I don't have any noticeable algae in the tank, so I'm wondering where he's getting his nutrition from. Could he be getting enough just from any micro algae present in the tank that I can't see and some plant detritus?

Omg I love your setup! That's eon of the things I know I'm going to struggle with is hardscaping mine. I just don't have that "artistic" gene. I may steal some ideas from yours!

I appreciate the comments and advice so far! I guess my two main concerns are that I want something soft enough for the corys which would lead me toward a finer sand, but I also plan on having a pretty heavily planted tank so I'll need something that doesn't compact as much and allows for root development and water flow into the substrate, which would move me more towards gravel. Like most things I suppose it's about trying to find a balance.

That looks awesome!!

Hello All! Relatively new to the hobby. I have a 5gallon tank with five plants, a betta, and a nerite snail and managed to have relatively smooth sailing for almost a year. I'm starting to plan for a 55gallon aquarium. I've always loved the look of black substrate and I was hoping to get some advice on what people suggest. I'm planning on having a pretty heavily planted tank and at this point thinking about shrimp, cory catfish, and some snails for bottom dwellers.