[Starting Over...]

On 1/31/2023 at 9:16 AM, Ohad said:

. . . Try to find a cycled media, even for just the plants. 

Would you mind explaining that part?  How do plants benefit from cycled media?

[Clean up crew advice (what do you use)?]

On 1/30/2023 at 2:28 PM, 1HawksFan70 said:

Clean up some of the waste on the sand, and algae off the glass 

I'd suggest nerite snails for cleaning the glass (with the caveat that I don't know anything about African cichlids, but I assume nerites would be okay with them).

[Clean up crew advice (what do you use)?]

Specifically what do you want this clean-up crew to do?

[Tank Balancing Question]

On 1/30/2023 at 1:38 PM, Elyse Douglas said:

I am currently in the process of trying to balance my 75 gallon aquarium. The ludwigia broadleaf looks a little yellow but I'm terrible at judging what deficiency plants might have.

When I read that I remembered what my sister, who used to own a tree nursery, would say when people asked why their terrestrial plant leaves were turning yellow.  She'd say "It's probably either not enough water, too much water, not enough fertilizer, or too much fertilizer."

At least in your case we can rule out the first two.

[Hello from Pasadena, TX]

Welcome.  I get down to Houston occasionally to check out some fish stores, but they're on the opposite side of Houston from you.

[Bolivian ram got a taste for neos]

On 1/29/2023 at 8:07 PM, TOtrees said:

. . . but I am surprised at how his color has changed in the past 48 hours, which is when I’ve noticed this hunting behaviour change. This is the first and only Bolivian ram I’ve owned, but I’ve never seen a picture of one with quite so much orange or red color. I assume it’s from his new diet. 

You're probably correct about the color change coming from diet, though I'm surprised it changed that quickly.  It's a saltwater fish, but when black drum reach a certain size their diet changes from shrimp and small fish to mostly crabs, and their color goes from grayish black to gold.

[Will it come back?]

On 1/27/2023 at 7:00 PM, JGlidden said:

Besides the Val, lily, Anubias, what is that sprite or wisteria? The floaters roots wrapped around the lily, if you look at top of picture 😆

Water sprite rooted at the bottom right, begging the vals.

I'm pretty sure that's water wisteria floating in the top right corner of the picture.

[Yellow Shrimp on a Cottonwood Leaf]

I took this picture yesterday evening about three hours after I had put the leaf in the tank.  I knew shrimp liked cottonwood leaves, but I didn't realize they liked them this much.  It's hard to tell from the photo, but it's still floating just barely under the surface.

I've recently learned that fallen cottonwood leaves will break down quickly, and release a surprising amount of tannins.  I like keeping the yellow shrimp tank dark since it really makes their color pop.  It almost looks like they're glowing.

[Cold hardy aquariuk plants]

Guppy grass would probably work too.  It may stop growing and now look good when it gets cold, but I believe it will come back when the weather gets warmer.

[Starting Over...]

On 1/27/2023 at 7:15 AM, jwcarlson said:

. . .  Just how much, um... bull... stuff does it take to do a 10 gallon tank? 😄

Might have to go collect some this spring.  Or, just dig up some dirt from the chicken run in the backyard.

It doesn't take much to put an inch deep in a 10 gallon tank.  I have cows, so I get mine from the barn where they spend a fair amount of time.  It of course has some dirt mixed with it.  I don't use fresh.

I'd be careful with chicken manure.  It's "hotter" than cow manure and may burn the plants.  Maybe mix it with a good quality potting soil?

[What music are you listening to these days?]

On 1/19/2023 at 1:00 PM, JettsPapa said:

I like Brian Burns, Charlie Robison, and Wayne Hancock also (though Wayne Hancock may be too much old-school for some people).

And then there's Ray Wylie Hubbard, who's still going strong.

Edit:  Chris Knight is another good one.

 

Here's another good Chris Knight song (I like songs that tell stories).

 

[How Much Filtration Do Plants Add?]

On 1/25/2023 at 7:16 PM, FLFishChik said:

I’m curious as to roughly how much filtration plants actually add. . . 

They add enough that I don't have any mechanical filtration or water movement in the 5.5 gallon tank on my desk at work.  The only thing that consumes electricity is the light.  The water is crystal clear, and I removed around 70 shrimp from it a few days ago, and there are probably that many left.

It doesn't have any fish in it right now, but it's had guppies and endlers in it in the past.

[Easiest setup for beginner? Live plants or no live plants?]

On 1/26/2023 at 9:41 PM, memorywrangler said:

A friend of mine is thinking of getting his first aquarium. Probably a 20 gallon.  He wants it to be very low maintenance.  
 

The biggest first decision seems to be whether to get live plants or not:   live plans means a more expensive light and the additional cost of the plants, but it also means fewer water changes  and potentially having to deal with algae problems.  
 

So which is easier for a beginner in the long run plants, or no plants?

• I agree with the other replies that there are many commonly available aquarium plants that don't require expensive lights.  I have the inexpensive Aquaneat LED lights on most of my tanks.
• You mentioned algae problems with live plants.  I'm not clear on whether you meant algae would be more of a problem with live plants or less, but it's definitely less.  Live plants consume nutrients that would otherwise go to algae.

[Starting Over...]

On 1/27/2023 at 6:02 AM, JoeQ said:

I'm not really starting over, sorry about the click baity title! 🤣 In this thread I'm more intrested in hearing;  knowing what you know now, what planted tank advice would you give to yourself if you had to start over with absolutely NO knowledge. I'll save my thoughts for later in the thread so I don't sway anyone's advice. 

I would start all my tanks with a layer of at least 1" of dry cow manure topped with 2" of sand.  The first one I set up that way was a standard 20 gallon, and plants are doing amazing in it.  I have since broken down and re-done three 10-gallon tanks this way, and am planning on doing it with the fourth fairly soon.  Eventually I'll probably do the 20 long.  I haven't gotten brave enough to do it with the 40 breeder or the 65, and probably won't unless other circumstances warrant breaking them down anyway.

[Will it come back?]

On 1/25/2023 at 9:09 PM, Katherine said:

Are you sure that's water sprite? The growth pattern looks very different from what I've seen on mine.

That's because it's water wisteria, not water sprite.

[Berried red rili]

On 1/26/2023 at 3:50 AM, Remi de Groot said:

Congrats! Berried shrimps are always exciting.

If it's your first berried shrimp just know that the baby's are really, really small.
So it may take a while after they got born before you actually see them in the tank.

Don't be sad if the shrimp has no eggs anymore but you don't see any baby's. They will show up later.
Just be sure you are very carefull if you do any water change. (I mostly skip it a week if i know eggs just hatched).

Keep us updated!

. . . especially if there are fish in the tank.  I frequently see shrimp so small that I have to look closely to make sure they really are shrimp in my shirmp-only tanks.  In tanks with fish I don't see them until they're at least half grown.

[Guppies all Died]

On 1/25/2023 at 1:01 PM, jwcarlson said:

I believe that shade for GH is basically off scale high.

I suspect you're right.

On 1/25/2023 at 1:01 PM, jwcarlson said:

What do you call that pH, JettsPapa?

In the past when I tested my water with the liquid test kit it always showed up as 8.2, so I'm going with that.  I haven't used that one in quite a while, and now just use the strips to see if I need to add fertilizer (with my plant load even heavily stocked tanks frequently test at zero nitrates, and rarely over 20 ppm).

[Guppies all Died]

On 1/25/2023 at 12:31 PM, Alexis22 said:

Ok so I dosed the tank yesterday with paracleanse. Following the instructions for use. When I removed my charcoal filter it had some brownish banding on top. I swished it in some old water and the water turned light brown. Is this just food decaying? Or algae? I feed with super color flakes. 
 

Also this is my water sample today. Is my water too hard? I know guppies like harder water but what amount. Last I’m seeing zero nitrates is that bad? I expected to see some nitrites or nitrates 

• I have multiple tanks with guppies, and your pH and KH look very similar to mine, but I don't know what's going on with your GH since that color doesn't look like any of the options on the chart.
• As far as I know zero nitrates is only a potential problem if you have plants.

[What music are you listening to these days?]

On 1/19/2023 at 1:00 PM, JettsPapa said:

I like Brian Burns, Charlie Robison, and Wayne Hancock also (though Wayne Hancock may be too much old-school for some people).

And then there's Ray Wylie Hubbard, who's still going strong.

Edit:  Chris Knight is another good one.

 

I mentioned Brian Burns above.  Here's one of my favorites of his.

 

[Neocaridina Shrimp Breeding]

On 1/24/2023 at 8:38 AM, billango said:

Just curious, do you run an airstone in that? 

I do not.

[Neocaridina Shrimp Breeding]

You asked how many.  The answer is "a lot."  I took somewhere around 70 out of the 5.5 gallon no filter tank on my desk at work yesterday.  Looking at the activity this morning I can't really see a difference.

This tank started out with all blue shrimp.  I keep colors separate in my tanks at home, but this tank has black substrate, and the blue shrimp were difficult to see, so I added a handful of red ones.  They turned brown pretty quick.  I have since added a few yellow shrimp.  I suspect subsequent generations will still be brown.

[What music are you listening to these days?]

This song just popped up on Pandora.  Over the last 40+ years I've owned the Eagles Greatest Hits Album 1971-1975 in 8-track, cassette, LP, and CD.  I think I still have the LP and CD somewhere.

 

[Livestock and plant prices]

On 1/23/2023 at 11:50 AM, Lennie said:

Can pearl gouramis do well alone or in groups of 2-3? Looking for stocking options for my new 33g! Thinking of dwarf cichlids, angels or gouramis other than honey 🙂 

I wouldn't try a single, or just a pair.  You could probably get by with three if you have a single male and two females, but larger groups are better (I have eleven of them in a 40 gallon breeder tank).

[Hair algae??]

On 1/23/2023 at 11:24 AM, J. Holmes said:

I do not have jungle Val…. I don’t think 😬. Just Val that I bought from Coop a year ago 

Maybe I should have clarified.  Mine is corkscrew val.  I doubt the different varieties are affected differently by Excel, but I could be wrong.

[Livestock and plant prices]

On 1/23/2023 at 11:32 AM, Lennie said:

I feel like it is more or less valid for most fish. I've witnessed my rummy noses being nippy, but more out of curiosity and they stop the behavior very fast. Like when I introduced my honey gourami to the tank, they tried to be nippy with the feelers, but not chasing or bullying. They be like, what is that worm-like thingy.Hmm, let me check 😄 It ended very soon tho.

Barbs just have a bad rep in general. Maybe thats why :'). I have never kept barbs, maybe due to the negative impression they have on them. Tiger barbs are on my list, if I ever keep a big tank for sure!

You may be right.  Serpae tetras seem to have a worse reputation for that than most tetras, but I have a group of them in a tank with eleven pearl gouramis and have never noticed them interacting at all.  I suspect that reputation has come from people putting them in too small groups.  I've never had less than eight together.

I wanted tiger barbs until I saw a group of mature ones in a display tank at a store.  To me those didn't look as attractive as when they're juveniles, but it's very likely other people wouldn't feel the same way.