mynameisnobody

I use duckweed in any aquarium that doesn’t have a canister or hob. It’s the easiest way to a balanced tank without worrying about plant care. I’m in the hobby for the fish, not the plants so I welcome duckweed wherever I can. Plus my wakin goldfish eat a ton of it, so it’s a win win.

Personally, I’m slowly replacing all my lights with the aquarium coop lights. As water resistant as you can get, warranty you can’t beat, and is covered by my homeowners insurance if anything goes very wrong. They are a bit more expensive, but like anything else, you get what you pay for.

Every Severum I’ve known or owned has shown a love of eating plants and a hatred of seeing plants thrive. They love decimating plants, it’s just sort of what they do. It’s a real shame too because they are quite docile for cichlid standards.

@Tdog I’m in Florida and I’ve kept shrimp outdoors for years. On the nights that go into the 40’s, I toss a 100 watt heater in the 110 gallon totes and all is well with the world. If there were any deaths from the cold, I didn’t notice it. According to LRB, Neo’s can go down to the 30’s and up into the 90’s albeit not for a long period of time. I would definitely suggest going ahead with said project.

Asian Arowanna

@Beccabee123 it depends on how high the iron is in the water. Iron test kit is the only way to truly know for sure.

@Beccabee123 If I were in your shoes, I would stop taking advice from any place telling you to use RO water for your first beginner tank. I’d immediately start watching aquarium coop videos. There is a ton of information there and there are also essentials you will need. I would shop on the aquarium coop site. Whatever they don’t carry, then I’d shop around for. You can usually find great deals on Amazon/eBay/ or even chewy. This hobby is as complicated as you want it to be and unfortunately they got you started in a very complicated direction. The fish you have will do fine with tap water with a bit of water conditioner added. Good luck to you

@Twood Geophagus Pyrocephalus would work but 8 is too many for a 55. Once they start breeding behaviors, it’ll get cramped really fast. I have a group of 9 in a 180 gallon and they still test each other from time to time. Great fish though

@Galabar They don’t make anything the way they used to. Spills over into literally everything.

And here is a 2 week update. He has really colored up and his personality is incredible. He’s a super fun fish. The growth is quite remarkable in such a short period.

@JChristophersAdventures there’s a zillion ways to do the same thing. I absolutely would never focus of removing mulm because it would ruin the system or hurt the fish. It just doesn’t do any of that. Depending who you ask, it may be unsightly, but that’s the extent of the negatives. If anything, Cory has also mentioned to pull mulm from an established tank and toss it in a newer one to speed things along.

I’ve heard Cory on numerous streams talking about the benefits of mulm. I’d argue that mulm is much less detrimental than sanitized.

I believe it may be a little too small to sex. You’ll have to wait until you can see a vent tube. Typically the males will be infertile.

I’ve never kept the tetras, but I can tell you silver dollars will eat any plant in the aquarium. They will decimate all of it, it’s just what they do.

I 100% would not use that.

Fine point tweezers

Floating frozen water bottles could help but at that temp, it wouldn’t be frozen very long so you’ll be switching out water bottles very often.

Agreed with @Colu. These guys are shy until they are not.

My horror story is the 400 gallon I want is $5000. Pure terror. The end.

What is the stocking?

Thank you, he is 3” currently, so probably around 4-6 months old or so. He was born in Thailand and I hand picked him so hopefully he becomes a behemoth. With a high quality diet, impeccable water, and some interaction with its human, he should grow out to his full potential. PS his name is Saul.

VIP King Kamfa flowerhorn day 1. He isn’t very colored up just yet, but he’s got a great attitude. Will grow him out in his own 75. I’m pretty stoked on this acquisition.

It should be called the “it’ll definitely clog airstone”

Agreed, it all depends on what you’re keeping.

I have a school of rainbow shiners and they move around a lot and fast. Personally I wouldn’t keep them in anything less than a 36” tank.