Brandy

I do know a live quirky group that is local to Seattle if that were a thing that was wanted. Not quite 100 people (more like 15-20), but they have a lot of style, lol. https://www.facebook.com/thefremontphilharmonic/ (their real site appears to be down) More of a goofy swing/vaudeville vibe than orchestral.

Ironically, those are almost exactly my my water parameters at the tap. I may need to invest in a few banana plants, lol. Not being anywhere near the US SE, I will probably rely on ACO for my source!

Wow! Thanks!! I am so excited for the mystery items!

I suspect you are referring to what I think is a snail siphon--the protrusion just behind the antennae of the snail in the bottom right that is out of his shell. A siphon is a common structure on many mollusks which directs water across gills. In some it also aids in locomotion--jetting action in some shellfish and octopods. Honestly, I didn't know Ramshorn snails had those, but now I am going to be looking hard at mine trying to spot them!

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@Mr. Ed's Aquatics I think I might put her in the display tank first actually and leave the happy couple in the QT a bit longer. Let her fully scope out all the hidey holes and blind corners. Let her have the home court advantage.

Update: Contrary to all my stress and most of the proffered advice, I decided to do nothing. I watched closely, and saw that there were no torn fins or injuries occurring. In the meantime my plants continued to grow. My tank is now so packed with plants that there are times when I can't find ANY rams. I see the rummy nose school, and maybe an otocinclus, but that is about it. The khuli loaches are invisible and the rams put in brief appearances, but can also disappear. Not bad for 29g. The little female has recovered her color and her moxy. She frequently challenges the other female for dominance, and only retreats if the male backs up his girlfriend, and then only momentarily. Nobody is being hurt, and everybody is fat and sassy. A sudden darting "attack" is foiled by dodging amongst the leaves, and the pursuer loses interest in less than 3 fish body lengths. The rams are gorgeous and I am very glad I stuck it out--I am also glad I had ready options in case things suddenly went south. Thanks all for the emotional support!

Mine is in Eco-complete (fine gravel sized). I do not use root tabs and I do not gravel vac...so the fish waste is my root tab. The tank is so heavily planted there is virtually no bare substrate to vac. I suspect it will do well, though you may need to boost it with a bit of root tabs if the gravel is squeaky clean. I seem to remember seeing Cory planting it in pool sand which is coarse grade sand. Here is a pic of a wayward val runner I pulled out last night and tossed into my guppy grow out tank. You can see the size of gravel clinging to the roots.

Well, I have been going nuts here, thinking I also seemed to have really high phosphate in all my tanks--and +3ppm in my Seattle tap water?! I need to get some distilled water and test the test kit, I see. I am exceedingly suspicious, though the expiration date is 3/2023. Still. Question: What is the upper "safe" limit for phosphate? For fish? For plants? If I balance the other nutrients (increasing the N and K and trace) wouldn't my plants solve the problem, assuming it exists?

If you can get a Vallisneria that already has some runners and is locally grown to you (check craigslist in the US) you will probably have the best luck. It seems the stuff will adapt to many conditions, but takes a while to adapt. So if shipped from another water type it may have too much to deal with.

"Most aquatic plants don't spread by seeds" means these are most likely terrestrial plants packaged as if they were not. A "dry start" would work--you could get the same effect by planting lawn seed in damp tank substrate. They will sprout, but then when you fill the tank with water they will react as your lawn would if you built a pond on top of it. They will die. This is what I have heard too. There are plants that will grow in both submerged and emergent forms, but I would really be suspicious of their honesty. This is a case of "if it sounds too good to be true it probably is." On the other hand, if you have $2.65 and some time to kill and you just can't resist, at least document your efforts for future questions! 🙂

I have always been suspicious of seeds. I figure you don't know what you are really getting, how to start them, and with prices like that I strongly suspect growing these plants is more challenging than a chia pet. I could be completely wrong of course. But I think you are better off with something a little more tried and true if you are kinda new to plants.

could you add loaches? Is the tank overstocked? I think if you could get some loaches and then trap the daylights out of them that would probably get it down to below her notice very fast.

I have tried red cherry shrimp with rams. I don't know if they are still in there to be honest. I put in just a few and they hid very effectively in the plants. I thought they had all been eaten but now and then I see one, after weeks of not seeing them. I do also have ottos in the tank. The ottos are doing great. The amanos I also tried. they were not my favorite shrimp. Mostly they camped on the filter intake sponge and were largely worthless as scavengers or algae eaters. I may have just gotten the laziest amanos on the planet or something, I don't know.

I am all LEDs, why do you prefer the fluorescent lights? I used to have them, but leds are cheap and bright now. You could even consider using an indoor outdoor LED flood light in this application since the hood would provide a structure to attach to?