Kirsten

Not that I know of, since they're so hard to sex and are often wild-caught. But that would be an awesome business idea!

I'm so sorry you have that experience! For what it's worth, I haven't experienced that level of disinterest. I mean, I understand that I have a lot of hobbies that I explore on my own, but my friends and family are happy to hear what I'm up to in general terms. Something more like: Them: What are you up to this weekend? Me: Super excited to build a new LED fixture for my fish tank. Still need to buy some hardware for it though. Them: That's cool. Hey, I need to go to the hardware store this weekend, too, want to go together? Not that they don't care about me or my hobbies, or don't want to hear about it at all, they just don't have the same level of interest in the details, and that's fine, because I'm not necessarily interested in all the details of their projects, either. Hoping you can find friends who are happy you're happy and will at least make you feel encouraged.

I mean, that's a great looking tank right there. I might even call it heavily planted! 😄 Hard to think of what's missing here, but I do know that hornwort can soak up nutrients like crazy. And since it's relatively inexpensive and easy to find, you wouldn't feel as bad using it and then discarding it once your issue is settled if you don't like the look of it. Me, I throw mine into my QT to keep fish comfy and help the tank stay cycled.

So wild. LOL saw that about Muddy Water. I know he's a great blues singer, but can he really fix a leaking aquarium?

I don't know for sure. Typical advice is to do a water change to remove nitrates, but if there are nitrates in your water, welp! Some more plants could help suck some of those up in the long term, but maybe some RO or distilled water in the meantime?

I don't know about you but now I want to know how to heat my aquarium with an oil stove

Wild! Have you tested your tap water? I'm just concerned about that pH and the nitrate level.

whoo! That's pretty extreme! Wouldn't hurt to test again just to be sure, but yeah looks like you need a water change sooner rather than later.

I'll second a calendar, but for me it's a literal wall calendar! One of the only things I use it for other than looking pretty on a wall. Some of the other things I'm surprisingly using a lot: Random, cheap old clear plastic containers like gladware, etc. Surprisingly useful for scooping up small fish, small amounts of water, mixing concentrated formulas. Peacock feathers, which I bought for entertaining the cat, but which serve double duty for helping out an upended nerite snail or freeing a platy that somehow got stuck between a sword plant and some java moss.

I agree with this. Two to four male endlers at most if you go that route.

LOL still learning this lesson, as my destroyed nails from constantly diving into the tanks to fuss with a plant, filter, rock, snail, whatever can attest!

Wow that is quite a bit of algae! Yes, I'd call that hair algae. I have a little in one of my tanks and my strategy is to: 1) scoop out whatever I can and stick it in the QT for my new fish to ponder/nibble at. 2) Reduce feeding to 1/day and use a light hand. 3) If it comes back, reduce the lighting to 8 hrs/day until plants establish themselves more and suck up the nutrients before algae can. And I think that strategy would work here, too. Not too many critters will eat hair algae specifically. Even my neo shrimp seem disinterested. I think the best strategy is to cut way back on the nutrients after removing the bulk of it, then ramping back up when it's gone and the plants are taking care of themselves.

I don't think I've ever seen a fish at the local animal shelters, but I am starting to see a few more "complete tank, fish included" sales on craigslist recently, but more often due to people moving and not feeling like they can take the fish with them. Sadly, I think people fall out of fish keeping more when their single betta or goldfish dies, they're heartbroken, frustrated, their kids are crying, they want to erase the memory and recoup some of the money they've spent on it. Yes, I'll buy your 5 or 10 gallon tank, filter, heater, water conditioner, fish food, net, and gravel siphon for $50. I'll be there today after work! Also, sadly, I think people may stop short of their goals, especially for big marine tanks with sumps and corals and whatnot, when they lose their jobs due to the pandemic and have to look at their budgets. So I'll see a lot of monstrous marine tank equipment for sale for hundreds or thousands of dollars. Good luck, bro! Too rich for my blood.

I hear that! Yeah, I'd tell myself to also buy a couple extra, just in case, and to strongly consider fish that are regularly available locally so that you have a source for more if the worst should happen and a place to sell/give fish to if the best should happen.

Just offered that as another option if shrimp or snails aren't available for you.

Good question! Yeah, I'd hang them up outside in that case, maybe under and overhang somewhere? Or cover them with a piece of tarp or wood or plastic?

Hahah, I feel like I've turned so many corners since starting back in the hobby last summer, I'm something like a heptadecagon by now. My advice to myself 6 months ago: 1) Visit the aquarium co-op website, watch the videos, join the forum, buy easy green and root tabs. 2) Sponge pre-filters on everything in the tank that sucks. Glue them on if you have to. 3) Feed less.

I'd go one further and say you should try to get only males. Females may have already bred at the fish store.

Depends on what you can find. I'd recommend ramshorn snails, malaysian trumpet snails, or pond snails, which you probably won't find for sale in a store but you can probably find some cheap on ebay.

Endler's Livebearers are a type of fish and they eat most anything. You can just feed a touch more betta food, especially if it's flakes, and they'll gobble it up.

Hi! I don't know the answer to your most recent question, but as someone keeping a betta in a 10 gallon, I have a couple pieces of advice: 1. Ghost shrimp are fine and are extremely cheap because they're basically considered feeder shrimp and often don't have a very long life span. I got like 6 for my betta tank and they disappeared within a week. May have been the betta hunting them or they got sucked up into my submersible pump or they just straight up died. Anyway, don't get too attached. 2. A more reliable source for cleaning up after a betta would be ramshorn snails or another small "pest" snail that can reproduce to the level of food in the tank. Probably won't find them at petsmart, though you can find them on ebay and such for cheap. The betta probably won't bother them, and there'll be enough that you won't have to worry about it. 3. If you have algae problems, you can get a nerite snail, which the betta will also leave alone, and which can't reproduce in fresh water. They definitely focus more on algae, though, and not fallen fish food. 4. Mystery snails are more pets in their own right, get pretty big, and (I've heard) can get their eyestalks nipped by aggressive fish like bettas. Probably not the best cleaner for your situation, but if that's the only snail they have, it's better than nothing. 5. Amano shrimp, like nerites, can't reproduce in fresh water and are a bit hardier than ghost shrimp. They're clear/camouflaged so the betta probably won't notice it. You can get a couple if you find them, but they're probably a lot more expensive than ghost shrimp (I see them go for about $4 or $5 instead of $0.99 for ghosts) 6. Cherry shrimp are smaller than ghost shrimp and amanos and will probably survive a betta, but the odds are a little lower since they're red and that's what bettas see and get mad at. Plus, they can be more expensive since people like designer colors and breed them specially for it. 7. For 5 gallons, you might be able to fit a few male endlers, who will eat fish food, algae, you name it, and will probably be too quick for even an aggressive betta.

OMG that is such a good idea! I have a bit of a slug problem in my garden, so if I could entice some toads and birds and other critters who like to eat molluscs to my yard, that could be super beneficial.

Such a cute name! With plenty of nooks and crannies to explore and snails to hunt, he shouldn't get bored. Puffers are cute but they are active, dedicated hunters. Any fish fry or small shrimp you put in there will probably get eaten or at least attacked. People sometimes keep some dwarf puffers in a community tank, but only in very large tanks with plenty of space for each puffer to claim and very quick fish that won't eat or get eaten by the puffer. They're mostly recommended to be in species-only tanks, though.

Varies a lot. I basically scoop out a small handful (I'm guessing 10 to 20) of small ramshorns from my livebearer tank once or twice a week, whenever I see some close to the surface, and toss them in the puffer tank. Ziggy the puffer will slowly hunt them down over the course of the next few days. But usually a couple remain as he's getting lazy and picky. But I don't think I needed to feed him at all for at least the first few weeks I had him. I had enough trumpet snails established that he was able to pick off the unwary ones whenever he felt hungry. I could probably go without feeding him indefinitely, but I had too many snails in other tanks, so I figured I'd give the trumpet snails a chance to rebound.

Yup, another 5 gallon single pea puffer here and I think he's doing great! Ditto on the many nooks and crannies, plants and driftwood and crevices to inspect. Ditto on starting a snail colony or two in the tank for at least a few weeks before introducing it to give them a head start. I recommend malaysian trumpet snails and ramshorns for being able to reproduce asexually. Also ditto on the frozen bloodworms as an occasional treat, slicing off about a quarter of a cube and plopping it in frozen for him to hunt as it thaws and the worms drift down. One thing I will add is that make sure the tank is accessible and frequently seen close-up. They're really small and so much fun to watch, not to mention very intelligent and like to look at you and see what's going on outside their tank. So it's good to be able to get some facetime in every day. I think online guides are good to point out that they do enjoy being in small groups in a big, big species-only tank, but it's not necessary for their health and happiness.