Schwack

I think @CT_ is right to be cautious of blindly accepting the findingson AquariumScience. The internet is full of nonsense. The thing that sways me most is that the author isn't trying to sell anything. Nor are they really trying to push people away from Seachem products. If they were pushing their own dechlorinator, or another company's, I'd be extremely skeptical of their findings. The gist of their research seems to be that Prime works well for its intended purpose but doesn't live up to the marketing speak. If I recall correctly, the most product pushing they do is toward another Seachem product: Safe. Mostly because it's shelf stable and goes further per bottle.

I think this: https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/5-5-3-2-prime-and-safe/ is a pretty good article on Prime and the claims made by Seachem. The "detoxifying" claims always sounded like marketing speak to me, and I don't rely on Prime for that purpose. Are you certain your municipality uses chloramine? My understanding, limited as it is, tells me that chloramine isn't volatile enough to off gas, even with agitation. I'm surprised you'd see such a dramatic effect from .5ppm ammonia. Could there have been something else going on during that water change? I've heard of people periodically seeing much more chlorine in their water than normal, probably the result of maintenance by their water supplier. Did you get a chance to check the water that went in during your die off? My provider also uses chloramines and I just go straight in with a Python. Don't think I've ever had an issue immediately following a water change. https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/5-5-3-2-4-prime-safe-and-chloramine/ Might be a useful article to read through.

I tried to net him on the first night, but if you've ever tried to snag a SAP you probably know how crafty they are when a net is in the water. Unlike basically every other fish I've owned, their first instinct seems to be to shoot straight down and burrow around in the substrate to get by the net. Fortunately, the stuff in their tank is nice and soft so no harm done, but I didn't want to press the issue until I was sure it wouldn't resolve on its own. Next day I came down in the morning and the shell had been expelled! Little river pigs are back to begging for food every time I stand up. Gave them a piece of frozen shrimp this evening... little hogs ripped it right out of the tweezers. Gonna need a few days of fasting after tonight! https://i.imgur.com/xf10iSV.mp4 I wish my phone did a better job picking things up in the weird lighting, but it's good enough for a silly video of fat fish.

I had one hooked up to a pre-set heater because it was still working, but it's probably not something I'd do if I had a choice. Basically, with the Inkbirds, you set the heater's temperature controller for higher than you actually want the tank temperature while setting the temperature controller to the temp you actually want. That way it's guaranteed to kick on whenever the Inkbird supplies it power. With the preset you have to be a bit creative about the temperature settings on the controller and be OK with some variance. Sometimes the preset heater temp controllers aren't super precise and won't kick on until things drop several degrees. Not that the fish should mind such an occurrence, but it's something to keep in mind. Between removing the temperature controller from the water and the alarm for high/low temp, it's hard to beat the Inkbird in my opinion. I typically go with the ITC-308S. It comes with a detachable, water-proof temperature probe and high/low alarms. It isn't wifi capable, which is a bummer, but I can count the number of times I've wanted to adjust my tank temperature remotely on one hand (0).

It really seems like the best option for heaters these days is a cheap, adjustable heater attached to an Inkbird. Removing the temperature controller from the tank takes that failure point away and going cheap on the heater means you can just swap em as they fail. Feels so wasteful and pointless. Bulk Reef Supply offers a setup like I mentioned, but it's pretty pricey. Their heating element alone will set you back $65 and they charge roughly double what Amazon does for the Inkbird. So far, I've had good luck with Jager's hooked up to external temperature controllers. The only failure I've experienced was caught by the Inkbird off cheapy Aqueon preset.

Well, this certainly isn't something I had considered when keeping Amazon puffers. Apparently, one of my little dummies tried to chomp on a bladder snail that was a bit too big for their mouth. At the moment, they don't seem too upset about the whole situation... still begging for food like they do every time I come near the tank, but obviously leaving a snail stuck in their mouth is going to become a problem eventually. If I had to guess, it's been in their mouth for a few hours. It wasn't there when I checked them in the morning, I only noticed it as I was walking past about an hour ago. Anyone else had something like this happen? How long should I wait before trying to help? Should I bother with sedation or just go for a small container and some tweezers? I'm a bit nervous about hurting the little guy, but the alternative is worse. I've attached a few pictures of the little goofball.

If peas are off the table, I think you're sort of out of options with puffers. Amazon puffers are small, but also prefer to be in a group and need lots of space to move. If it was possible to bump up to a 10 gallon you'd have more options, but puffers in general are going to want a larger space than 5 gallons.

Definitely! I'm terrified of having to trim their tiny teeth. I've watched a few video on it and it looks... unpleasant. I'll update whenever I manage to get a crab leg. I think they'll go for that. Mine won't even sniff freeze dried krill. They want frozen or nothing, but they go like absolute hogs when I put it in the tank. Watching them play tug of war with a chunk of krill is a lot of fun. My pearl gourami have even gotten in on the krill action, but they don't seem to care for it.

I've been terrified of this ever since I picked up my Amazon puffers. None of mine have teeth growing out of control... yet, but I'm nervous that it's only a matter of time. I tried getting them on manila clams, but they were only interested if I pulled the meat off the shell for them. Leaving a halfshell in there for them to scrape clean didn't go well. I'm planning to try some crab legs next, or maybe some large shrimp? What variety of Repashy have people had success with? I've had very little luck with any of my fish and the community blend, so I'm a bit hesitant to pick up another $16 bottle of food I won't be able to feed out.

Your water sounds pretty close to mine, and my Bettas have been rock solid. I've never actually seen pH shock in person, and I suspect it's hard to be sure when you do see it. Generally, I'd look for erratic behavior or lethargy. Either of those would indicate a problem to me. That said, some bettas are more energetic than others and some are lazy. I have one that spends significant amounts of time just lying on the substrate. Once you have the fish and get to know its usual behavior it's easier to diagnose a problem. Just control the parameters you can and try to source your fish from water similar to your tap if you're extra paranoid.

Harm them in what way? Bettas are pretty tolerant fish, there's a reason they're a favorite for people just getting started in the hobby. Assuming you keep things warm and the water free of ammonia/nitrite, you're almost certainly going to have a pretty happy betta. edit to add: I've kept several bettas in very high GH water with no issues or obvious distress. I can't imagine you'll have any trouble.

Mine started doing this several months ago. I bought them as adults, and they were a bit timid but slowly warmed up and would come out to greet me etc. Then, without anything happening, they started spazzing out every time I'd 'startle' them. Same sort of thing, they'd swim toward the back or into the substrate. I added some dither fish, which changed nothing, I replanted a bit to give them more cover, same story. It got to the point where I considered rehoming them and then it just... stopped. These days they're still pretty timid, but they'll come out whenever I open the lid or get down to their level and look into the tank. No idea what caused it or what solved it, but you aren't the first person to experience this behavior!

Typically, legacy mode is only turned on for the setup. With my router it's a 10 minute window for setting up devices which only support 2.4GHz and then the 5GHz radio turns back on.

I started running purigen in my common area tank. The driftwood in there throws off an insane amount of tannins and I was constantly getting pestered about my 'dirty' water. With purigen it's crystal clear, but it's not something I'd typically run, especially not in a brand new setup.

You may need to put your router into legacy mode. Lots of 2.4GHz devices get confused by modern routers when both antenna are on. I've always been able to solve the problem by temporarily disabling the 5 GHz radio, but I can't speak to the Inkbird specifically.