JettsPapa

That looks like a good idea. Do you burn it after using it (I hate duck weed, if you haven't already guessed)?

I forgot about that one. It thrives in one of my tanks, but has struggled in every other one I've tried. In any case, for me it doesn't exactly float.

Water sprite is one of my favorites. You often see it planted, and it's usually sold that way, but in my experience it does better floating (and it looks good floating also). Pearl weed and guppy grass are good choices for providing cover for fry or shrimp. Red root floater is another popular one, but I don't have any experience with it. Hornwort is one of the best at removing nitrates from the water, though all floating plants do well since they have access to unlimited carbon dioxide. Just about any stem plant will do fine floating also, though they generally aren't as attractive floating as rooted.

Hello, I have several tanks with pool filter sand substrate, and wouldn't hesitate to do it again. Most of those are just pool filter sand, but the last one I set up (a standard 20 gallon) I started with 1" of dry cow manure at the bottom, then 1" of potting soil, and then topped it with 2" of pool filter sand. As you might expect, I had bubbles coming up through the sand for weeks, but I had it stocked with guppies almost immediately and it didn't seem to bother them. Eventually they stopped. If you do something similar, be very careful when first adding water (I wasn't careful enough). I've used two different brands, all bought at swimming pool supply stores, so it may be of higher quality than what you find in the big box home improvement stores. I didn't rinse either one. One didn't cloud the water at all, and the other one did just a little bit. It was cleared up by the next day, so wasn't enough that I'd bother with rinsing in the future. I saw some at one of the home improvement stores a few years ago. The label said it had some special additive to make it work better, without giving any details on this additive. The brand name was Clorox, so as you might imagine I gave that a hard pass.

Hello, In the post above you listed nitrates twice. Is the second one supposed to be nitrites? If yes, that could be the problem, but as @nabokovfan87 said above, if some of them are still alive after a week or so they'll probably be okay. While some (maybe most) fish food contains copper, it's in very small amounts, and is unlikely to be enough to hurt shrimp.

Others may disagree, but I think the female dumbo mosaics are more attractive than the males.

Nice guppy. My first thought was dumbo mosaic, but then I noticed the blue on the jaw and belly. Or is that just a reflection?

I like it, and it's good to see someone else using magnolia leaves. As far as which fish to stock first, I'd probably go with whatever nano shoaling fish you decided on (rasbora, tetra, etc), but if they all seem sensitive I'd just let the tank sit for a while. This project has been in the works since April, so what's a few more weeks?

Howdy from a southeast Texas redneck.

I have two rolling office chairs in my fish room/library; one for me and one for guests.

My thoughts exactly.

Hello, It looks like I'm going to be shipping somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 guppies. So far I've never shipped more than three, so I would appreciate any advice from someone who has experience shipping (or receiving) larger quantities. I'm looking at buying some bags around 9" wide, but I don't know if this is about right, and I have no idea how many I should put in each. I'm tentatively planning to use USPS Priority shipping, so time in transit should be around 72 hours, but it could be 24 hours more or less than that.

Sure they do! They just sell it in a pot. Pearl weed forms dense clumps when floating, and is one of the best plants there is for providing hiding places for fry and shrimp.

I think that's the best plan. I see no need to euthanize them if you have an angelfish tank. It's free fish food.

I had a koi angelfish that my wife named Pinto. I had a serpae tetra that was missing an eye that I named Jack (after the one-eyed jack in a deck of cards). I'm a fan of blues music, so if I ever name another fish it will probably be Muddy Waters.

By the way, I haven't been in a few months, but a while ago one of the stores in Houston where I have store credit made a post on their Facebook page that they're now carrying ACO merchandise (my daughter-in-law told me; I still don't have a Facebook account). I plan to check it out next time I go.

I haven't kept them, but from several years of following this and one other forum I've seen many reports that they also struggle to thrive at typical tropical fish temperatures. So people keep them at 78° and then say they're fragile when they don't do well.

I don't know what "temperate" flakes are, but neon tetras can eat flake food. You might need to break up some of the larger pieces.

What eggs? Cherry shrimp females carry the eggs to term and release tiny, but fully formed shrimp.

I toss mine in one of the community fish tanks. A few get eaten, but the rest find hiding places and establish a colony. Do you have another tank you could put them in?

I used to order every couple of months, but recently I've built up quite a bit of store credit at the local stores from bringing in plants, guppies, and shrimp, so I'm getting everything from them instead.

My best guess is it's at least eight inches long, and while I don't claim to be an expert, I believe it's a common pleco. If I'm right it could easily reach twice that, or more. To answer your question about what size tank it would need, probably several hundred gallons.

That happens to mine occasionally in the 65 gallon tank. I cut it off down low and it will sprout new growth. I remove the leafless portion of the part I cut off and toss it, then stick the rest in the substrate to make a new plant.