Brandy

I would argue that puffers are a little more busy in social groups than have been reported, also, though shoaling may be a stretch. I suspect that reports of aggression come from unbalanced groups--I have a little harem of 4 in a 7.5 gallon. I started them in a bigger tank, but after seeing how they behaved I downsized them into a more heavily planted smaller tank. I have one male and 3 females, and it is perfect. I think a harem works really well, but if the ratio were reversed I can imagine a thunderdome. I suspect that people who cannot sex puffers are having the problems. I wouldn't have had such good luck but I am near the co-op and they have been really helpful. They did their best to get me the exact gender ratio I requested, without any guarantee, but I was very lucky and it is perfect. I LOVE the male the most probably because he is more colorful and has a ton of attitude. I also love my betta Piglet though. He is much bolder, in color and behavior. But not as intelligent....He's...pretty.

I would decide this way: If it is in a high traffic place where you don't spend a ton of time being still I would go with the betta. If it is in an area where you can sit and really WATCH, but you won't be backlit, go with the puffers. I dearly wish my puffers were on my desk, these days. I don't see them from across a room, I need time with them on eye level to really appreciate them. A betta lives in my kitchen. I keep his food in a cabinet, and he begs at the front of the tank when I open and close doors. Positive reinforcement for a bold fish can work.

@James Black and @Streetwise, Me too!! Omigosh so annoying!! But so cute....

I would look for some other factor as well. I have never had fish react badly to easygreen, but I have absolutly nearly trashed my tank with flourish excel and dechlorinator trying to kill algae, and I even knew better.

Well...do you ever need to clean algae off the glass? off anything? do you have driftwood in the tank? I think you have enough real estate, easily. I would want to know that you had enough food, and that really depends on your lighting and water and a ton of factors. I would also want to be able to FEED the loaches, but that is mostly my own paranoia. Maybe keep searching for acceptable foods, and give it a try. If they seem to be not getting enough to eat you can move him back to where he is?

That is a piglet. They really just are. The females are chunkier too.

I hatch the brine myself. I have fry to grow so I hatch a lot. But if you just have the one tank, I would do TINY amounts at a time, because it doesn't keep. I would use the little dish hatcher instead of the big hatcher that ACO carries.

Check out @Irene's awesome video clearing this up.

I think the reason people think you sound mad is the intimation the there is something "shady" happening. I will be the first to admit that it can be hard to translate emotion in text format. Once, I ordered some fish online. They did not show up. I notified the seller and they were reshipped. When they arrived, they looked pretty bad. I was dissapointed, and felt the fish in the sale post might have been photoshopped, but I reserved judgement, and kept feeding them. 2 days later I got another package with gorgeous fish. The fish I initially received had been in the mail for over 10 days, and it is a credit to their excellent packing that they survived at all. With time and food they have recovered. Most sellers are not trying to rip anyone off. If you wanted angelfish for breeding then I suppose you might feel frustrated, but given the story as you have related it, I don't think the seller was out to mislead you. Some people do not euthanize animals for not being perfect breeding specimens--they still make excellent pets, as @WhitecloudDynasty points out. I bought an angel from Aquarium Co-op. He was in a big tank with 20-30 other large angels. He had the color I wanted but his fins were a little jenky due to scrapping with his tank mates. With time alone and good food his fins are now long and glorious, and I love how he ended up. I am sure someone will want the angels you have if you decide you don't want them. I am sorry you are frustrated, but I do think we all have different goals for our fish, and you might want to give that seller the benefit of the doubt. I am sure there are bad actors out there, but mostly I have found them to be few and far between.

Ok, so I have never shipped fish, and until this year I have never even considered shipping a live anything in the mail. I find I enjoy breeding them though, sooo...Not trying to make a million, just need to make space and break even on food and shipping costs. For those of you who have or do ship, a few questions... Is it worth it? Cost and failure rate to ROI? What are the most stress free methods? The most cost effective? Are those the same? Packing tips?

So the plan is to go 2 tanks high? will you have an auto water change system or similar? I really like this design, I am all about maximizing space. Moving parts tend to scare me unreasonably though, I am super excited to see how this works.

etsy/ebay or local to you like craigslist.

Mine can't have blood worms because I am so allergic. What I find is that they wont take anything that is not alive. Mine eat snails, live baby brine shrimp, and I assume juvenile neocaridina shrimp. So far they do not seem to eat half grown shrimp or adults. I have tried throwing a scud or two in there but I have yet to see if those colonize or get eaten. Mini ramshorn snails and pond/bladder snails are their favorite, and they will eat snail eggs too.

If you can find a store that does sell them, you can sex them pretty easily yourself. If no one near you sells them, maybe buy in excess a bit, and then sell your males locally as single fish for a 5 gallon. When I am in ACO I have trouble sexing them in the store because my eyes are old and it is not as bright in there as I need, but with a big window or high tank lights I can figure it out. Luckily the store staff has better eyes than me.

I also find that calcium is necessary in my very soft water. But shrimp king is expensive in my area. There are lots of ways to get calcium (and protein) into snails. One option is tums, crushed egg shells, or crushed coral in small amounts sprinkled in the substrate, or a piece of cuttlebone, and any protein filled fish food. I dispose of my unloved fish food brands in the shrimp and snail tanks. Depending on the color of your substrate and your tolerance for visual clutter, one of those things may work for you.

maybe make tank dividers instead?

mine absolutely demolish ramshorns and pest snails. So far leaving a nerite alone.

That is a biofilm new driftwood commonly grows. It will disappear on its own eventually, or you can take it out and rinse it off, or you can just suck it up during water changes. It is harmless.

looks like a molt! Saying they can "hide for a few days" is very misleading. They can be flat out invisible for MONTHS. Shrimp are masters of hiding. Seeing fresh molts is a very good sign.

You could do both. I have heard craigslist is a mess in some areas, but in my area it is extremely reliable. Like very very nice people, great stuff, and few weirdos. In years of use I think I have had one no-show for some furniture once. It sold to someone else a day later.

They grow slowly, and the rhizome may throw out new leaves if it isn't mush. Keep it out of the substrate, free floating or tucked into decor for now, so that you can watch for rot. Be patient, it isn't dead until it is mushy and dead.

You can either make a floating hoop with airline (they sell connectors) or you can just take some fishing line and make a restraining loop that corrals floating plants in a corner by attaching the ends of the line to something outside the tank. even just packing tape the ends to the outsid of the rim.

Oddly, my kid has had the worst luck with Bettas of all things. One got velvet (or came in with it?) One seemed to have some kind of wasting parasite that the med trio didn't touch. One came in with fin rot, stress stripes, and was not eating from the start. Some from LFS, some from Big Box, doesn't seem to matter where they are from. Honestly, I think the kid picks sick fish--they look needy. These fish have heated 10gallon planted tanks and get fed premium food, so they are living the betta high life. I supervised the most recent purchase, so fingers crossed... Tetras were my nemesis for a while, until I found the med trio. If there ever was a fish that needed to be treated...

Huzzah! I even managed to sell duckweed in bulk for goldfish treats! Lucky goldfish living the high life!

Water lettuce! Vallisneria. Duckweed. Water lilies. Java moss. Madagascar lace plant... I also have hornwort in some tanks, and a plant I recently found out was technically a noxious weed in the us... That I will quietly be keeping because it grows like a...(fear not I won't let it escape, nor pass it on) Whatever grows fast for you is the trick. This is why we all need to try a great variety of plant types. When you get winners for your water keeping them alive is not a problem.