Kirsten

Wow...I gotta say, you raise a good point! Maybe I should stick to a 10-20g for the killies, or even smaller for short term breeding/hatching. I can still put a 30g on the buffet table later for something else.

Oh man. I've been keeping fish as an adult for less than a year but I can already tell you stories. Had a giant orange female platy (which may have been a female swordtail, she was at least 2.5" long) dubbed "Bad B****" from the Nicki Minaj song, and she ruled the roost. She'd lurk in the background, didn't much care for any surface food, but sinking wafers were HERS, all of them, and she'd rush, mouth open, at any other fish coming near any wafers she could see. She grew more reclusive and ate less until she finally succumbed to her meanness a couple months ago. RIP, Bad B****.

So, now I've done it. Don Carlo the betta is dead of something, long live Don Carlo, and in his sponge-filter-only 10g with soft, neutral water that's quickly being taken over by duckweed and jungle val, I was planning on adding a breeding pair or trio of Aphyosemion australe (Golden Lyretail killifish). My first killis and they sound and look amazing. But I couldn't find reasonably priced fish domestically, so I opted for some eggs from Thailand. Of course, in the time it'll take to ship them from Thailand, I changed my mind and decided on CPDs and cherry shrimp (which are settling in perfectly and I love them. I think I'm way more of a danio person than a betta person). But! Those eggs are still on their way. So! New plan: a 30 or 40 gallon on this big old antique buffet table from my MIL that I've never enjoyed, but which is sturdy as all get-out and is sort of wasted on two 10g tanks right now (the Don Carlo tank and the quarantine tank, enjoying some ambient light from the south-facing glass door). It can fit up to a 40L , but I think I'll probably go with a 40 breeder for versatility or a 30 if I must. So, after I drop in some Black Diamond for substrate and lots of cover plants, what should I do with this killi tank? I know I could easily add tetras, rasbora, cories, or even a couple rams, but I'd like to keep it somewhat geographically appropriate to West Africa. Should I just stick with these killis for now? There's a local selling kribs on craigslist and I'd love to help him out, but the colors wouldn't really mesh with the orange killies. Something dark, maybe? Black, marbled, or blue would pop well with the orange killies. Something more bottom-dwelling would be great. I'd love some shrimp and/or nerite snails for clean-up and algae, but I'm afraid that the soft, slightly acidic water parameters will be too unpleasant for them. I should add that, while I can sell fish, slowly, I'd really rather not, and my local pet stores are really not great places for fish. So I'd be keeping fry in with the adults. Slow, replacement-level breeding is exactly what I'm looking for, so I don't mind moderate egg- and fry-eaters, as long as they'll leave the adults alone. What would you do?

I love this! Such a great use of two unfairly maligned plants: hornwort and jungle val. I say, if it keeps the fish happy, it keeps me happy. And these fish are so happy! Also don't think I've seen too many limia. Nice to see them in action. Thank you for sharing!

"Doing it" is right, I think! Gouramis can be very hard to sex from external features. I wonder if there's a bubble nest in some dark corner you're not able to see or under a leaf or something. If not, I wonder if they're just young and trying a few dry runs, for lack of a better term.

All my fish, which range from small adults to very small (but not microscopic) livebearer fry love the co-op's Easy Fry and Fish Food. It's basically high-quality dry food ground up into a coarse powder in a convenient "ketchup bottle" dispenser. My only complaint is that it's a little hard to control the portions. One "puff" can be a tiny pinch or a big ol clump depending on the humidity. But everyone loves it, and the price is good!

Yikes! A terrible reminder that tetras are related to pirahnas, I suppose. The only thing I can think of is space, but if if a 40 isn't enough space for 30 tetras, I'll eat my hat. I'm glad you stayed up and witnessed the crimes with your own eyes, though, because it would be terrible to blame yourself and get discouraged before even starting. Maybe the tank was so lush and nice that they got all excited and territorial? Hope you're able to add some other fish and erase this bad experience.

I'm so sorry you're experiencing this. I'm not too familiar with ricefish, so I can't tell you what the issue is for certain, but I agree that it sounds like some chronic issues they came with, probably not TB and probably not to do with any negligence on your part. Your keen observation, quick actions and thorough record keeping make you a stellar aquarist. Sometimes some fish just fail to thrive. 10 ppm nitrates are quite low, and nothing to be ashamed of. Most planted tank keepers let theirs get to 40-50ppm before changing the water. My only advice, if the ricefish don't make it, is to try an even easier livebearer who's happy with hard water like endlers, guppies, platies or swordtails. You deserve a win after all your hard work.

Yup, as long as there are sufficient nutrients, light, and water, it will keep reproducing! You can keep it going as long as you like. I have a couple swords or sagittaria that sent out plants on runners and the fry loved hiding and playing around the roots. They're all grown now, wherever their roots found the substrate, and have slowed down on the runners for a bit, but I like their densely packed, natural jungle sort of look (and it's still nursery to so many platy fry!) Contrast to the jungle val that is quickly taking over the 10g. I swear it sends out a new runner every week!

Honestly, I think you can cut it off whenever you like. If there are roots, it can find nutrients.

Thoughts and prayers out to you youngins! I'm in my late 30's, no kids, just got my driver's license a few years ago, just paid off my student loans, have a reasonable mortgage, work several freelance jobs on top of my 9-5, and I still think to myself "thank god I don't have any homework and I can drive to petsmart whenever I want." I'm not gonna lie, your 20's will be rough, especially these days. Pay off your credit cards in full every month, remove any overdraft protection on your checking accounts, and be prepared to move around a lot. But your 30's, they can be really good. It's easy to dump a lot of money into fish tanks, especially with no one telling you no. But learning how to keep fish happy on a budget now will give you skills you can use for a lifetime!

If it's any consolation, I live in New England and once had an important package mailed from a coworker who lived just a few miles away (she couldn't make it in by the project deadline) get rerouted to Hawaii for some reason! I was just praying it wasn't heading out to Asia or Australia or something and have it delayed even further. Luckily it stayed in the country and came back around a week later. No explanation for why it took that route. Maybe the barcode got smudged or something? Hope you get your plants soon! Temps are mild right now so it'll hopefully be okay.

Wow! I'm jealous. My tanks are also full of plants and look like an overstocked nightmare, but I also get fungus problems and some fish stress. So I guess I'm stuck doing weekly water changes til the plants really take over.

I hear gouramis and rainbow fish may also be good for population control if you have a larger tank. General rule is that big fish eat little fish, so any sufficiently large fish that fits in the tank and likes your water will probably work. There are some critters like puffers and crayfish that are dedicated, relentless hunters that would be happy to eat everything that fits in their mouths, but that's sort of the nuclear option.

The struggle is real! I see guides saying swordtails are good baby eaters but I haven't seen that yet. Crossing my fingers this angelfish I got will do the trick. He's not much bigger than silver dollar size and he's already chasing those fry. We're cheering him on lol

I think they'll be fine in a 40. I have one in a 36 which is a touch small, but since it's a relatively tall tank, I think I'll be okay. It's important to remember they can get something like 8" tall, and making sure there's enough vertical space for them to swim freely. I tried to harden up my water as much as I could for my livebearers, but I naturally have pretty soft water, so the KH never gets above low normal and the GH is only slightly elevated. And since I don't want these livebearers to breed as much as they have been, I'm calming down on the additives and just doing straight water changes for awhile. Angel seems happy so far!

Mmm, so I would move at least 2 tanks on Fish Moving Day: Shellie tank and Everything Else tank. Goldfish pond is totally separate, in my opinion, to be moved whenever you're moving other outdoor stuff. Otherwise I think you got this.

I would do a hybrid of @Streetwise and @Daniel: Get a lot of 5 gallon buckets with lids. Hopefully your fish all enjoy similar conditions or can survive them for a day or two. Siphon top-water from your tank(s) into the buckets. Place fish and any epiphytes/floating plants in buckets of good tank water. Empty out one tank until there's just enough water to leave the substrate wet (but if it's just 30 minutes, and you can seal it up well with plastic wrap, you can probably drain it drip-dry). Get a friend to help you lift the still very heavy aquarium. Move it and all the fish in one trip. Refill the tank with bucket water and new (conditioned) tap water and all the fish. Then drain the other tanks and move them however fast you'd like without breaking them, keeping any filters, substrate and rooted plants wet as you do so. The water will probably be a mess for a few days and you might lose a sensitive fish or plant, but the majority will probably make it through. If you have a moving van or a way to move all the tanks at once, all the better.

This isn't the first time I've seen the 3-cone rack and I gotta say it looks so good. Like I could hang it on a wall near the fish tanks and people would just think it's an unusual art piece. Did you buy it like that or make it?

yup, I'll say they're pretty safe either way if the parents are well-fed and there's plenty of plant cover, but the shrimp tank's safer (as long as you remember to feed them). Welcome to the world of endlers! If you have a male and a female, there'll be plenty more where that came from.

Scarlet temple is a stem plant, so a little different from java fern, which feeds entirely from the water column. Unlike epiphytes like java fern or anubias which send out horizontal rhizomes, a stem plant like this grows vertically, the bottom parts often rotting off while the upper parts send out roots and find a new home. So I wouldn't recommend trying to glue it to anything. Most likely it'll just rot away, leaving an ugly clump glued to the wood. My best success from stem plants comes from weighing down a small bunch with a lead plant weight, then let it hover at the top of the substrate. If it wants to put down roots, it can, but it can still feed from the water column along its length.

Ahhh! I'm sorry, I've never seen nor heard of such a thing and I'd be freaking out as much as you probably are right now if I saw that on one of my fish. I didn't want to respond in order to keep this in the unanswered topics in case someone had some experience with this, but couldn't wait any longer. No idea other than isolate in a QT (maybe with a friend or two), ramp up the salt to 1 tbsp / 2 gal and pray it goes down. Though, actually, the mollies might like some salt, too, so dose the whole tank unless it's huge or you have sensitive plants/inverts. How freaky!

Honestly they look pretty good to me! Some plants like water sprite can be a little finicky. Honestly I think I've bought 4 now from various sources and I have yet to have one live and thrive. And stem plants in general can be hit-or-miss. Keep up with the ferts (don't forget the easy green for the stem plants!), good lighting, don't go overboard on the water changes unless you really have to for the sake of your fish, and I think you'll be pleased in the long run.