JettsPapa

I just enjoy growing plants, but I think my favorite thing about them is that they make more plants, which I can sell to pay for the hobby (and maybe a little extra). Raising shrimp and fish to sell is fun, but plants pay better.

I ran across an article online this morning that claimed to be the "definitive" list of the top 15 country music artists. It had George Strait at #1, followed by Johnny Cash and George Jones. I couldn't argue with those, but they went sideways after that. I think Hank Williams was at #7. He should definitely have been in the top 5, and I wouldn't have faulted them for putting him at #1. They had a number of them that I thought were questionable, but Waylon Jennings didn't even make the list, which I felt was inexcusable.

My hardness isn't off the charts, but it's pretty high, and my water is 8.2 pH. I'd give the plants more time, especially the vallisneria. I have corkscrew val and it gets around 3' tall in my 65 gallon tank (it reaches the top and then lays over a foot or so). Some of these were mentioned above, but hornwort, Brazilina pennywort, moneyworth, guppy grass, water wisteria, water sprite, pearl weed, and crypts are some plants that have done well for me, crypts especially. Duck weed did well too, until I found and killed all of it (I hope; it's only been a few months since I last saw some).

When my son was single he said he was going to name his son Waylon. Then he got married. His wife had other ideas.

I hadn't thought of adding a layer of leaves. I may try that with my next tank.

I thought it was probably a dwarf gourami, but was hoping it wasn't. They're beautiful fish, and very popular, but because of that popularity commercial breeders haven't been as selective as they should be when choosing breeding stock. Unfortunately they are often plagued with health and behavior issues. When they approach maturity they often become very aggressive to any tank mates (if they live long enough). If you keep it in a tank with other fish I'd suggest keeping a close eye on it and have a backup plan in place if that happens.

That's what the 2" layer of sand is for. If you're careful to not disturb it when adding water it won't be any more soupy than if it didn't have the soil layer. I usually spread a towel out on the sand and pour the water onto it carefully.

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I said it spreads easily, not quickly.

My current favorite plant is Cryptocoryne usteriana. It's hardy, spreads easily, gets to just the right height for my 40 gallon breeder tank, and has textured leaves that are green on top and bronze/red on bottom. What's not to like?

I'm on a CAD forum that has a Fusion 360 section (https://www.cadforum.net/viewforum.php?f=8). That section isn't very active since it's a relatively new forum mostly made up of refugees from the former Solidworks sponsored forum (they switched it to their own home grown "platform"; long story and a sore subject), but you might want to take a look some time.

Cryptcoryne usteriana (my current favorite plant) and moneywort across the back, smaller crypts in the front (including a few red ones), and a couple water sprite floating. 4-5 pea puffers

I've been watching quite a few Father Fish videos lately, and he's made a believer of me. I have a tank I set up in November 2021 with a 1" layer of mixed dirt and dry cow manure (I have cows, so it wasn't hard to get), then a 1" layer of a good quality potting soil, and capped with a 2" thick layer of pool filter sand. I initially planted it with pearl weed, because a LFS said he'd buy it from me, but when I went to sell him some he had decided to grow his own and only gave me store credit for it. I ripped it out and planted crypts. They're doing very well. Edit: Since setting up that 20 gallon tank I've broken down three of my four 10-gallon tanks and re-did them (and the fourth one's turn is coming soon) with deep substrate. I couldn't bring myself to put 4" of substrate in a tank that small so I skipped the potting soil layer on those. Of course they're newer tanks, but the plants are doing well in them also.

I didn't read all the responses, so I apologize if this has already been answered. What kind of gourami is it? It's likely a dwarf gourami, but maybe not (at least I hope not).

What software do you use to make the models? (I use Solidworks at work.)

Anacharis does best for me if I just drop a piece in the tank and let it do what it wants. Sometimes it floats and sometimes it sinks. It will send roots out along the stem, but it won't root from the cut end like stem plants will.

As mentioned above, endlers typically don't predate on fry. With guppies it depends on the variety. Some, like my dumbo mosaics, don't seem to bother them at all. Others, like the albino koi's I had for a while, are relentless fry hunters. I had three females with one male for a good while, and they'd look pregnant, and then not so much, so they were obviously having fry, but I only ever saw one, and I only saw it once. The man who owns the LFS where I got them warned me that would happen, but I had to try anyway. I've always heard that "With some people you can tell them, but others you have to show." I guess we know which group I belong to.

What went wrong with the anubias? They're usually almost bullet-proof (unless you put the rhizome below the top of the substrate; they don't like that).

That sounds like a good plan.

I have either pool filter sand or Black Diamond sandblasting sand in all ten tanks (including the ones with soil as the bottom layer), so that would be my recommendation. Waste stays on top where it's easy to vacuum up (though I leave mine to break down to feed the plants). Others prefer gravel. I don't know of any reason to mix the two unless you want the benefits of sand but want the rocks for aesthetic reasons.

Crypts are one of my favorite plants (I have around a half dozen varieties), and easy to grow, but they are finicky about being transplanted. Mine will go through transplant shock just being moved between my tanks, with the same water, light, temp, etc. If it was me I'd trim the yellow leaves off and plant it where you want now. That way it only has to adapt to new conditions once.

Has the Seachem filter been in the tank the whole 10 months? If yes, you should be able to go ahead and take the sponge filter out. If not, I'd wait until it's been in there for at least a month, and longer would of course be better. Of course monitor the water parameters for a while after removing it, but you probably already knew that.

Here's a link to another discussion where I posted some advice/information for another new shrimp keeper. You might find it of interest.

I've posted this here before on similar threads, but in case anyone who is interested hasn't seen it here it is again. I drilled holes in the side of an acrylic measuring cup. I hang it on the side of my tanks and pour the water in it during water changes to avoid disturbing the substrate.

A year or so ago 360 Aquatic in Houston had a tank of leaf fish for sale. They're pretty cool.

It's typical for plants to melt back when introduced to a new environment, and as far as I know that's just as true for older tanks as new ones. Plants use ammonia as fertilizer, so I don't believe that's a problem for them.