Eric R

I think ph can fluctuate with CO2 as much as 1 ph level between when it's on and off, so it's worth checking it at multiple times throughout the day and night.

Yeah, what Kristen said. You can use the qt instead of the buckets if it's easier.

I've moved a standard aqueon 20 long with substrate and some rocks and plants in it, but with water drained and fish removed, and someone helping. I've moved 10 gallon aqueon aquariums with a couple inches of water and all plants fish and substrate still in it successfully, by myself. All were heavy and a pain. I'd drain your tank and remove the fish, especially since their seem to be some unknowns about it's history. I would skip the qt though (set one up, but you shouldn't need it for moving your tank). I'd get one, two, or three clean 5 gallon buckets for this, and have the new stand assembled. I think you'll be fine leaving the plants and substrate in place. 0) If you age or treat your tap water before adding it to the tank, fill up one of your buckets and age/treat it so that it's ready to add to your tank once your done moving it. I have a well, and I add water to my tank straight from the tap, so I wouldn't personally do this step. If you do do this step, you'll need three buckets, otherwise you only need one or two. 1) Drain the first 5 gallons from your aquarium into a bucket. Add your driftwood or whatever hardscape you want to remove from the tank to this bucket. Also move your fish to the bucket at this time. 2) If using a second bucket, drain the next 5 gallons. If you use one bucket, you'll have to replace 66% of water with new water, if you use two, you'll only need to replace 33% of the water. If you do age or pretreat your water, I'd drain and keep two buckets of tank water. 3) Drain the remainder of your tank water, this goes down the drain (or waters your plants or whatever). 4) Remove the tank, put the new stand in place, put the tank back. 5) If you have two buckets, add the bucket back without any fish in it. Use a colander at the bottom to avoid stirring up your substrate. You can use a pump if you'd like, or if you can get the bucket higher than the tank, you can gravity feed the water in. Or you can pour it. If you're only using one bucket, fill with water from your tap about halfway. 6) Add your hardscape and plants back in, and your fish from the first bucket. 7) Add the water from the first bucket in the same way you did in step 5. 8 ) Lastly, top off the tank with your aged/pretreated new water, or from the tap.

I've been keeping plants and cherry shrimp (and some hitchhiker bladder snails) in the 1 gallon pickle jars you can get from Costco for a while now. I throw in a pellet every other day, quick water change every time I change the water on the other tanks. Each has some anubias nana petite glued to a single rock. I'm growing pothos, spider plants, and inch plant out of them, as well as some other cuttings I'm trying out, like an arrowhead plant and african violet. I like your simple water change and siphon system, though it does add a possible spot for a leak or the glass to fail. Instead of super glue, you could try GE silicone I, which if it's 100% silicone with no mildewcides or fungicides is supposed to be aquarium safe.

I have 5 of these in a south american themed planted 55g community tank, three males and two females. Two of the males have paired off with two of the females, leaving one male as the odd man out. They have staked out territory on different ends of the tank, among the plants and leaf litter. One pair is among a large bunch of java fern on the back of a small log cave, and the other is among a think bunch of crypts near some rock work. No spawns yet, fingers crossed!

@Kirsten you've got some gorgeous purple snails. I have a gold trio I'm trying to breed. Wondering if I can find the same color as yours at my LFS. If not, maybe you'd be willing to ship some offspring to VT, hmm?

I feel like my cycled filter media smells like cilantro. Never noticed duckweed smelling though. Have to smell a bunch next time I scoop out the main tank.

Ah. The other PVAS is close to me, in Vermont, and we have a shared auction coming up. Was wondering if there would be some killies available perhaps. Good luck with your breeding!

Is this the Pioneer Valley or the Potomac Valley PVAS?

Very cool, both in terms of the rack setup, as well as the fish selection. What species of sunfish do you keep, and what have you been feeding them? Also excited that you're breeding badis. What species? I'm interested in black tiger and scarlet but it seems hard to find females.

For what it's worth, I was able to treat with shrimp in the tank with maracyn and salt without problems. Unfortunately the infected fish didn't make it, but the other fish didn't get sick.

My male has pink on his belly. I don't have dither fish in their tank so unfortunately they hide in their caves most of the time, but I can try to get a picture. I'd like to get some pencil fish in there soon.

You could also consider if you end up buying a home with a crawlspace under a bedroom, whether there is easy access underneath for running additional electrical, plumbing, adding joists to strengthen the floor as well as jacks, posts/piers for additional support, etc. I used to live in SoCal, and plenty of the midcentury houses, and even the newer ones, had crawlspaces instead of slab foundations. Here in Vermont, it's mostly basements. @Kat_Rigel where are you looking to buy, if you don't mind me asking?

I think I'll be setting up some tubs this year for the first time. Sounds like you didn't have any issues with predation last year? Did you take any special steps to avoid predators, both large and small?

I'm not a biologist, but I would imagine that it would take a lot more than 10-20 years to adapt most fully marine fish to full freshwater. I don't know the specific biological differences that salinity versus water hardness has on fish, but I imagine that there's a significant biological difference. If you want to keep saltwater fish, setup a saltwater tank. Also, even if certain hardy fish in our aquariums have been adapted to different water conditions than their native environs, they often can still do better when returned to their native parameters, in terms of longer lifespans, more natural behavior, more readily breeding, and being less susceptible to stress and disease. Have you researched fish biology and learned about the evolution of various freshwater and saltwater species, as well as their anatomical differences? Could be a good learning opportunity.

I'm sorry that you were disappointed in the fish you received. I also don't want to pile on criticism, but you mentioned that you paid what you felt was a very low price for the 2 bags of angels. Perhaps that's why these were priced so low, because they weren't of the highest visual quality? I would feel differently if you were sold diseased or unhealthy fish, but hopefully they are healthy, and you can find a good home for them if you don't want them. If you didn't overpay, I don't know that you were conned. Nice laser btw.

Yes, Jericho. You're in Vermont as well, yes? I saw you mention it in a post on plantedtank I think.

I'm working on setting up 2 tanks right now, one a 20L macro/mangrove/coral tank and the other a 20H mixed reef. They will be my first SW tanks.

Going off the first pic it looks male to me, based on body shape. The males can have coloring like that, females are usually brighter. What size and age is it? Adult males are noticably larger than females.

I know, I may have to get some n-class endlers and try it in my neck of the woods. I almost bought two trios last year, but ended up getting some other critters for those tanks. This could be a fun setup to work on though!

Lots of great fish being suggested, but I'm concerned that many of them should have softer water with a lower ph, esp. many of the south american fish being suggested, like apistos.

I'll do this one day. Mangrove saltwater lagoon with corals and macroalgae in an attached greenhouse. Probably homemade tank made of plywood, with glass viewing panes. It would be in roughly a U shape around a raised deck area in the middle, and would have rock formations and sand bars, making the edge of the tank appear irregular and natural. Probably several hundred gallons at least, heated by a solar hot water system on a thermostat with a heat exchanger.

I wouldn't set anything up, I'd maybe rinse and rebag the substrate, depending on what I used. Everything else would basically just be new in box. Plants, fish, and snails would be bagged as needed. Cycling media is easy as cake. Just add extra media on the filter for your main tank, or run an extra filter just for cycling media, and run it for 3-4 weeks before you sell the tank. Bag it the same day, and they can drop it in their filter when they get home, boom instant cycled tank. That's how I setup all my new tanks at home, I just grab already cycled media from an existing tank.

Water softeners replace magnesium and calcium ions in your water with sodium ions. RCS need the calcium in the water for their skeletons. You can get test strips for GH (general hardness) and KH (carbonate hardness) to figure out if your water will be sufficient for cherry shrimp, or whether you'll need to supplement it.

Nano HOB filter $18 - https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/nano-tank-hang-on-back-filter-1 Aqueon 10g aquarium, $10 ($1 per gallon sale) Filter media ($1 per aquarium? The small HOBs don't take much) : https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/fine-poly-pad https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/sponge-pad-coarse Bag of pool filter sand, safe-t-sorb, osmocote pellets, probably ends up being another $1-2 per tank? Or your choice of inexpensive substrate. Light: Nicrew 18" light ($22) https://www.amazon.com/Beamswork-Timer-Aquarium-Freshwwater-Extendable ~$50ish dollars cost for you for a ready to go planted tank, you add the fish, snails, and plants. Sell for $100? I actually have this exact setup and it works great. Could also have a slightly nicer option with a better light (Beamswork?) and a nicer planted tank substrate?