JettsPapa

You may be right, but I wouldn't let that have much effect on substrate choices. I suspect very few tanks really need more surfaces for the beneficial bacteria.

I had a horned nerite snail show up in my 40 gallon tank some months ago (and it is definitely a nerite snail, unless there are other snails that look just like them). There are other nerite snails in the tank, but they look nothing like the new one. I have no explanation for how it got there.

Pea puffers are death on bladder and rams horn snails, but I don't know how well they'd do with your other fish. I have two of them in a 40 gallon breeder tank with pearl gouramis, tetras, and corys with no issues.

Nine currently, along with three tubs outside, so if I count them it's twelve. And I have everything to set up one more, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

All of my tanks are at least moderately planted, and none of them have special high dollar substrate. They have either pool filter sand or Black Diamond sandblasting sand, depending on which color I wanted. Plants grow just fine, with or without root tabs. The last two I set up, and probably all of them moving forward, have an inch or so of dry cow manure on the bottom, and then 2" of sand on top to hold it down. That seems to be working well (and I have cows, so the manure was free).

I can't make any promises, but I'd suggest at least five, and try to not get more than two of those males. I know it can be difficult to sex them when they're young.

Congratulations from me also, and I'm glad everything went well.

You may ignore this advice if you wish, but when buying intake sponges from ACO I buy one size smaller than recommended, then tear the hole a little larger so it fits the intake tube. The recommended sizes seem very large to me compared to the size of the filter.

I've only kept angelfish as singles, but it's my understanding (from many sources) that with multiples bioload isn't the issue, it's behavior. If two of them pair up they will likely terrorize the other(s). I'd suggest just one. If you want a group as a centerpiece instead of a single fish I can't recommend pearl gouramis highly enough. I have eleven of them in a 40 gallon breeder and am very happy with them. Rainbowfish would be another option. I have ten turquoise rainbows in my 65 gallon tank and like them very much also.

Several people have mentioned Aquabid. I've been to that site a number of times but never used it. I went there earlier today and found a listing I'm very interested in, so I registered. I'm waiting for the confirmation email with my password before I can proceed. In the meantime I have a question I'm hoping someone can answer. I can't find anything about shipping costs on this particular listing, though I've seen it on others. Will that information be available if I choose "Buy it now", or do I need to ask the seller first?

Welcome to the forum. I wish I could help, but finding a fish that will eat fry but not shrimp is a tall order. Hopefully someone else will have some ideas.

You're not wrong. I saw one of his videos where he said he'd never seen one work long-term. I've also seen him say that most fish can handle one stressor, but not two, which could explain the health issues going on here. If the fish are already stressed because of the other bettas it makes them more susceptible to disease and parasites.

I doubt if there's enough difference between the two to matter. I occasionally feed vegetables to my shrimp. I just boil them for a few minutes so they'll sink, but it's probably not necessary. Just as a heads-up, some otos will eat vegetables and commercial fish food, and some won't. You could experiment with various vegetable varieties to see if they seem to prefer one or the other. Also, while corys are bottom feeders, they do best with protein as a significant portion of their diet. So while they will likely eat the vegetables it shouldn't be their primary diet (not algae wafers either).

There isn't a hard and fast answer. Typically similar appearing fish of different species won't shoal together, so the ideal situation would be to return them or get more cardinals. However, if that's not easily doable I wouldn't judge you for leaving everything as-is. It's not the end of the world.

I'm glad you like it. I'm a little surprised to get that deep color. The tank has a plain vanilla inexpensive LED light and no injected CO2.

Here's another one of my tanks with mostly crypts. There's some crypt pontederiifolia on the left, toward the back, some crypt wendtii, and I'm not sure what else.

Yes, you can, but after a generation or two you will have a big percentage of brown and/or very nearly clear shrimp. That percentage will increase over time.

For some reason back when I had an 8-track player in my truck and it was raining I would listen to Chicago's Hot Streets album.

At least one LFS in Houston sells ACO merchandise, so I assume other stores do also. Have you looked around locally, or asked one or two if they would consider handling it?

I would too, but I'm not aware of a convenient place to buy RO water. Maybe some day. Same here. Yes, everything I've seen and read about them says that most of them need soft water and relatively low pH (<7.0).

I agree. It will need a good amount of rinsing, but that's not a big deal.

In all likelihood caridina shrimp would be the best for your tank, though as stated above knowing your hardness would be helpful. If you don't have a kit to test for gH and kH, there's a simple test you can do for general hardness that's free. The next time you take a shower, after you've rinsed the soap off, rub the palm of one hand down the length of the opposite forearm with just a little bit of pressure. If it slides easily, like it was still soapy, you have soft water. If the movement is jerky you have hard water.

I'd also suggest trying blue dreams. I have a couple of nice colonies going. When I first started out with them I had taken some to a store to sell and mentioned to the guy evaluating them that I had culled some for being too dark. He looked at me funny. Apparently, with blue shrimp "too dark" isn't a thing. By the way, if you do try them I'd definitely recommend a light colored substrate. They just about disappear on dark ones. I'm glad it's not just me. I started a colony of them, but it seems like every generation gets worse. I finally added a few of my best colored solid reds just to see what will happen. In the meantime I've quit trying to sell any. I don't have the same problem with my blue, red, and yellow colonies.

I'm a big fan of the small nets marketed for catching shrimp. The net portion is generally fairly stiff, so it doesn't collapse around the fish (like this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087614NSC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1). By the way, someone posted about this set a while ago: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0948ZMFBD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I ordered a set, since the price was right, but I'm not a fan. The net part is too soft. I like the small nets that hold their shape.

Like you, I also don't like pickles on a hamburger, and always order them that way. On the occasions where I get them anyway I open up the hamburger, remove the slices of pickle, and eat them alone, then eat the hamburger. I don't dislike pickles, but the taste tends to overwhelm all the other flavors. I feel the same way about yellow mustard. I don't really dislike it, but if it's on a hamburger it's all I can taste.