JettsPapa

Is this the ammonia spike you're concerned with, or did I miss a post with a higher value? If this is it, I wouldn't worry about it. It's such a small amount that it's not likely to cause any problems, and in any case, is within the margin of error of the test.

Can you reach over the tank? If yes, you can tape a piece of black poster board to the back (cut to size of course). That's what I've done with quite a few of my tanks.

In my experience anacharis is going to do what it wants to do. If you want a well behaved stem plant I'd encourage you to try something different.

I'd add another five red phantom tetras and call it quits on fish, and that's assuming the guppies are all male. If one or more is a female you will likely be overrun with fish sooner than you think. The best way to combat algae is to reduce light (no more than six hours per day, at least until you have it under control), add more live plants, and keep them healthy with the proper amount of fertilizer. Regular water changes seem to help also. I have never kept baby tears, but I believe it struggles without high light and CO2. I could be wrong about that. I'm a big fan of crypts, especially for people relatively new to planted aquariums. While there may be an initial adjustment period (which is true for many plants), they are hardy, undemanding, and come in a wide variety of colors and sizes. There is even some variation in leaf shape between species. You may already know this, but all neocaridina shrimp will throw off color and/or clear and brown shrimp in succeeding generations, and this gets more prevalent if the off color shrimp aren't removed from the gene pool. This process is accelerated when you mix colors at the start. You may get some interesting colors and patterns in the first generation or two, it won't take long until almost all of them are clear or brown. With that being said, there's nothing wrong with mixing colors, but I wanted to point that out in case it matters to you.

You're right that fish should be fine in a bag for two days, if they're properly packed. I'd suggest telling whoever helps you at the store that they will be in the bag several days. They should be willing to put fewer in each bag, or use a larger bag or bags than they would otherwise. After you get them I'd recommend keeping them in the dark, and minimize movement as much as practical.

I'm a little puzzled by the highlighted portion of your post. Corys spend most of their time at or near the bottom of the tank, so I'm not at all sure how you think they will benefit from floating plants.

Not yet, but maybe it will be as the plants grow. I don't consider a tank heavily planted until at least half the volume is full of plants.

I have two 5.5 gallon tanks with no mechanical filtration or air movement. They're doing just fine, but they are heavily planted (and I do mean heavily).

Like @TOtrees, I started keeping fish when I was in my late 50's, and I'll be 63 in about two weeks. I currently have nine tanks and three tubs outside at home and one tank on my desk at work. I know beyond a doubt that I don't want more than that, at least while I'm working. If my tanks and work aren't enough, I take care off all the maintenance on the 22 acres my wife and I live on, with the exception of the yard work at the other two houses. I am making a little money with my tanks, but only enough for a little spending money. I have a well built storage building behind my house (about 12' x 14' if I remember correctly) that is mostly filled with junk that should probably be thrown away. I have toyed with the idea of cleaning it out and making it a fish room when I retire in four years, but we'll see.

My first piece of advice would be to make sure you have a market before you get too far along. Many stores will only give store credit instead of cash. You can't go buy groceries or pay your electricity bill with fish store credit. The second piece of advice would be to bring the plants in ready to sell, so all the store has to do it put them on the shelf or in the tank. Have bacopa cuttings in bundles of at least 5 stems, with a plant weight at the bottom. Have the Java moss in clear containers (I like the 5 ounce clear food-safe containers you can get at the grocery store), with a printed label. The regulations regarding whether or not you need to register as a business will vary from one location to another, but I doubt that you would need to. Taxes are another issue. If you're using Paypal for payment they will send the info to the IRS, so be sure you track expenses along with sales for when you file your income tax.

I have several 10 and 20 gallon tanks with 1" of mixed dirt and dry cow manure (I have cattle, so I collected it myself instead of buying it) capped with 2" of either pool filter sand or Black Diamond sandblasting sand. As you might imagine, the cow manure caused gasses to bubble up for months, but the fish and invertebrates didn't seem to mind. Plants are doing very well in it, and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again for display tanks. The only drawback is that when I remove plants to sell invariably some of the soil winds up on top. It doesn't cloud the water, so that's not an issue, so while I don't really mind, some people probably wouldn't like the way it looks.

But make very sure you want duckweed before getting some. It's much more difficult to get rid of than it is to acquire.

Mine turns brown before it drops needles, so if you keep cutting off and discarding the parts with brown needles there shouldn't be an issue.

I do believe that one is a male.

I think that's a female also, but I'm not 100% sure. I know it can be difficult, but can you post a picture looking at the shrimp more from the side and less from the top?

All those are females.

Are you sure you have both sexes? The males are smaller, and usually have less color, so it's not difficult to buy all females.

Or sell some to me. I have a 40 gallon breeder tank with ten or so, and I'd love to add at least that many more.

This reinforces my belief that many fish don't need the narrow range of temperatures that many people struggle to maintain.

This is a wild guess (and so I get notified of replies), but maybe a killifish of some kind?

Is it one of the chain pet stores, or a locally owned individual store? I'm asking because I've struggled keeping commercially raised guppies alive longer than a few weeks, and I've seen numerous reports on this and other forums of other people with similar experience. Hopefully this one will be okay, but I always encourage people to buy guppies from hobby breeders, or from locally owned stores that buy from hobby breeders.

Aquarium Co-op is only one of Aquahuna's customers, so I don't see why they shouldn't sell plants also.

That is not the issue. Baby shrimp will not die with nitrates at 15 ppm (or even considerably higher).

Don't believe everything you read. Using Easy Green according to the directions shouldn't be a problem, and I strongly suspect the shrimp and snail deaths weren't related to the fertilizer or the nitrate levels.

I just wanted to point out that algae wafers really aren't very good for corys. They need more protein.