IanB

Hi All, I am setting up a small outdoor aquaponics setup (two twenty gallon longs will be the aquariums involved). The water from the aquariums will be pumped through grow beds to fertilize plants, then returned to the aquariums. I am (obviously given the small size of the aquariums) not looking at food fish, just fun fish to look at and produce waste. The tanks can be somewhat overstocked in terms of filtration needs, given their connection to the aquaponics beds. The question I have for the community is-- what fish should I stock? Here are my parameters/restrictions: medium hardness, neutral pH water, one medium coop sponge filter and one additional airstone per aquarium (for peak oxygenation on hot days). The biggest issue, imo, is the temperature. The system will be near Charlotte, NC so it can get hot in the summer (90s) so I need fish that can handle that as well as some cool nights. In the fall, the fish will migrate to my pond so they need to be able to handle some cold but it won't freeze as they can get to three feet deep. So far, the only fish I have come up with that could handle these relative extremes are maybe: Ricefish Mosquito Fish Pupfish I am hopeful that the community will come up with some other options. I am leaning to stocking one of the aquariums with ricefish since they are proven to handle these temps in small pot ponds in Japan, but would love to do something different with the other one. I was intrigued by Cory's video at Carl Trochu's outdoor fish room in Miami. Would some livebearers be an option along those lines? Thanks in advance for the help! Ian

Five was my "too many" number as well. I am now down to one and plan to plateau at 2 (one small 9 gallon shallow and one 75g) community tanks. Not having so many tanks eliminated a lot of stress that I did not know I had and allowed me to put time (and money) into the one (soon to be 2) tanks that I do have to make them what I wanted to them to be.

I understand why we all love splashy titles like "Have we been doing aquariums wrong" (and NEED them to get YouTube views, so no judgment here!) but I would reframe the question to-- "are you doing aquariums the right way for you?" So often we push whatever has worked best for us on others. I think the truth tends to be closer to everything has the right use case. Do you need a filter for a heavily planted ten gallon with one betta? Not if you know what you are doing and set it up carefully. Would your overstocked 125g Lake Malawi cichlid tank with no plants struggle without a filter and water changes... probably. Can you run a Walstad-style tank of a pretty decent size without much beyond a light? Sure and that might be your favorite tank ever. If you are someone who loves clear water, a lack of algae, and a clean aquascaped appearance, then a Walstad tank will likely be a disaster as it will never meet your standards for what a "pristine" tank should look like. I think there is great value in livestreams like Cory's that get us thinking about what tank is best for us at whatever moment we are in our life. I don't think, though, that the answer is the same for everyone, or even most people.

Here is a video of the Oliver Knott aquarium that I mentioned: https://www.instagram.com/p/CGRP9zoi8dK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Amanos and Clithon corona (horned nerite) snails are by far the most effective algae eaters in my experience, if you are limited in using things like Siamese Algae Eaters by tank size. Otos if it is more diatom/soft algae. The snails will be most effective on green spot algae and nooks and corners. Amanos are monsters with hair algae. None will work miracles with BBA, in my experience, though amanos and SAE will nibble at it.

A lot of nitrate level can be tied to your approach to fertilization. It will keep nitrates decently high if you use estimative index, sort of medium if you use a quality all-in-one that includes nitrates like Easy Green, and you can keep a healthy and lush tank with very low nitrates (0-10 ppm) if you use an ADA lean fertilization approach (where you only dose micros and potassium). If you are having issues with nitrates being higher than you would like, I would suggest trying a lean approach (only if injecting C02, though!). It will make reds more vibrant on some plants, tends to keep algae levels in check, and there are now somme good lean Fert all-in-ones if you don't want to mess around with the fairly expensive ADA ferts (APT-0 and Tropica Premium come to mind, though I only have experience with the APT). I would encourage you to check out Dennis Wong's 2 HR Aquarist site for more on lean fertilization. It does rely on having enough of a fish load to provide nitrates and is going to work better for green-heavy plants like you see in most ADA style nature aquariums than if you have incredibly demanding high-color plants.

From a filtration perspective, aqadvisor assumes that you do not have a planted/heavily planted tank. If you do, you can generally stock heavier if the issue is water quality/waste. Of course, keep in mind that some fish may behave in ways that also limits stocking.

@Corygave a VERY ROUGH estimate on a recent livestream. I can't remember exactly when he said, but I think it was in 2023? Maybe Christmas 2022? Might be getting his light and regulator timelines mixed up. And he very much emphasized that these were just guesses based on everything going well.

I would definitely go with Bolivian (n GB) rams instead of a betta since it is a tank to store plants. If you run that tank at 80 for a betta you will definitely increase your chances of algae issues.

So, minus the rainbows, this is quite similar to my current setup. I have a 75 g heavily planted with Echinodorus species (various species of swords to the rear behind the hardscape and tenellum/chain sword (I know, technically no longer echinodorus in the foreground). I've left the front third open with decorative sand to keep open swimming space. I have stocked it with 6 Leopoldi Angelfish (significantly smaller than the normal scalare angelfish, though a bit more boisterous), cardinal tetras, diamond tetras, ember tetras, and a par of apistos, and some otos and juvenile siamese algae eaters (the SAE will move to another tank as adults). I had lots of Amano Shrimp but the Leopoldi made them into expensive snacks.

I think that might have been an issue with where you purchased them. There are various different names used for red or gold -appearing Honey Gouramis (Sunset Honey Gourami for example) but I can tell you that you can purchase both red and gold varieties of Trichogaster chuna (also referred to as Colisa chuna in some places) species which is what we know as the Honey Gourami. The thick lipped Gourami is Trichogaster labiosa. The domestic red variety of the thick lipped gourami does look extremely similar to the red variety of Honey Gourami, so is often sold at shops under that name, but they are different species and true red T. chuna are out there. The main difference between chuna and labiosa is that labiosa will get about 75% larger.

I think a cloud of peas is a wonderful idea. It is less $ investment than something like a Schoutedeni puffer which will run you $200 plus and stumped even @Dean’s Fishroomin breeding (if I remember @Cory's livestream correctly; apologies to Dean if not!).

I think there is no "best" canister filter. It depends a ton on what you want it for and why you want a canister. If you want a canister because you don't like the appearance of sponge filters in the aquarium or the noise from running a lot of air, I think a Fluval 207 would be great. They are among the most reliable canister filters, widely available, easy to service, and easy to customize the media loadout. If you want a canister because you don't want to see equipment in your aquarium and you need a heater, I would go with an Oase Biomaster Thermo 250 if you have the budget (or a Filtosmart 200 Thermo if you need to keep costs lower). The Biomaster series, to me, is better designed, much more flexible because it has a prefilter that is easy to clean and uses trays, whereas the Filtosmart just has you dump your media directly into a chamber. If you are going full aquascape (high tech, equipment visible, lily pipes, low-ish temp without a heater), I would look into the F Zone knockoffs of the ADA Superjet filters (or a Superjet 900 if you won the Powerball recently). They are gorgeous stainless steel aquariums with powerful external adjustable pumps. Oh, and if you run a canister with a lily pipe or other outflow that doesn't create significant surface agitation you will want an airstone and/or surface skimmer. If you just want an affordable filter that can handle the fish load, an Aquaclear or Tidal HOB or Coop medium sponge will do the job without an issue, for less money and with less risk of water leakage/spillage and easier servicing than a canister. I personally use canisters because I go pretty full aquascape, but I think generally they aren't needed on smaller (say sub 100 gallon) aquariums unless you need to crank flow or get equipment out of the way for aesthetic purposes.

I know it doesn't sound "different" but one of my favorite all-time aquariums was a bookshelf aquarium (either 9 or 11 g, I don't remember, though 3 feet long), with six Honey Gouramis (and a few snails and Amano Shrimp handling clean up duties). Honeys are often used as a solo centerpiece fish in nano and small aquariums. Oliver Knott, however, did an aquarium with about a dozen honeys and some cobalt neon gobies in maybe a 20 gallon that inspired me to try something similar. In a shoal of a half dozen or so, Honeys are incredibly playful without being aggressive and make fun use of all of the aquarium, meaning even a ten Is plenty of room, as long as your filtration is decent. Like I said, it sounds basic, but was one of the most fun and novel aquariums I have ever had in terms of behavior and appearance.

I second @macdaddy36's recommendation of a Honey Gourami if you are looking for a centerpiece fish. If you are looking for something to inhabit the bottom of the 10 gallon, I truly love Corydoras Habrosus. Unlike other dwarf dories (pygmy and hastatus) that will swim all around the aquarium, they behave much like other corydoras species, with the great activity along the substrate.

I'm actually back in the US now, so able to browse before my order. I was posting in part for future interest and thinking others may have had the same issue. Looking forward to adding some lotuses to my Echinodorus/Leopoldi Angel tank

Can work with rocks, too, though more difficult imo. I miss these shallow tanks (current one is a 75g high tech Amazon basin scape full of Echinodorus species for plants and Leopoldi angels and cardinal tetras as the main fish. Can’t go shallow with the angels…

Ah yeah I was just hoping that somewhere there was a way to toggle to your choice of country site in the way, say, the IKEA site (to choose a non aquarium industry example) allows you to.

Most of my scapes have wood breaking the surface. I’ve never had any issues.

I have— same result, unfortunately.

You could try Golden Pearls. They are most used in saltwater but work great in freshwater as well. They come in a variety of small sizes and are small enough the stay in the water column a lot longer than something like Hikari micro pellets and do not make as much of a mess as easy fry food. Great for the days when you aren’t up to dealing with making/getting live food?

Hi All, I hope this is the right section to post this question in… does anyone know how to (short of using a vpn) access the US version of the website from abroad? I am visiting Canada and was trying to put together an order to arrive when I get back in the US but am unable to see the plants and other items unavailable in Canada. On lots of site there is an option to select which country’s site you want to browse, but I don’t see that with the coop site. I’m excited that Canada now has Coop access though!

And as a side note, that is a beautiful aquarium @Mansoboy . You have really pulled off the Val frame look.

I have six Honey Gouramis in with a couple Apisto mcmasteri in a 12 gallon (90 cm) long and it is going well. Everyone gets along and the Honeys in a group are one of my favorite all-time fish to keep. They have such interesting (and peaceful) behavior in a group. They are very playful and engaging to watch.

I love the CPD idea (full disclosure I have them stocked in my 60f, pictures below) because you could then remove the heater and get an even more streamlined look. They go well with neocaridina shrimp and, as long as it is well planted like yours, you will be able to get a nice colony. EDIT: I should note that they are shy, so if it is in a high foot traffic area of your home you may see them less than you would like...