JettsPapa

I have pygmy corys in my 20 long, and the more I add to the group the more adventurous they seem to be. I'd suggest getting at least 4 more and see if that will help.

I don't know anything about that specific fish, but it's not uncommon for fish to not show much color when in stores, but then look much better when you get them home and they get comfortable in the new environment. It's also not uncommon for fish to not show their full colors until they're nearer maturity. I'll agree that finding blue, especially in small fish, is difficult. Black neon tetras are one of my favorites though. The lower band is a very dark blue, and the lighter stripe above it is a kind of fluorescent sky blue when the light hits it just right.

You're welcome, and I'm glad you found the information helpful. There's nothing wrong with putting them in a community tank if you want. I just wanted to let you know that you'll almost certainly have a stronger population and will see them more often if they're in a tank dedicated to them. I have shrimp in my 40 gallon community tank, and often see one or two. I've also added a few to the 65, but I've never seen one in there after releasing them. I expect that between the angelfish and rainbowfish they don't last long.

I'm interested in seeing what others advise, but I would recommend only removing the obviously dying leaves and leave the healthy ones that are just covered with algae. I recently had a bad outbreak of staghorn algae in one of my tanks, and the anubias leaves looked terrible, but as I've gotten the algae under control the snails have gradually cleaned the leaves so that they look good as new.

You asked for suggestions, so here goes: The two most common ornamental shrimp are caridina and neocaridina. The caridinas need lower pH and softer water, and are generally more difficult to keep, and more labor intensive. Neocaridinas are more forgiving, and generally do better in higher pH and harder water than caridinas. Neos are the only ones I have any experience with, and as long as they like your water they're pretty easy to keep. There are many color varieties of each species, and while caridina and neocaridina shrimp won't breed with each other, any of the color varieties within the same species will, and the results will generally be brown or clear after a few generations. For this reason, if you want to maintain a specific color it's best not to mix them. To get the most enjoyment from shrimp, keep them in shrimp only tanks, or shrimp and snails. That way you don't have to worry about predation, and they'll also be more visible if there aren't predators in the tank with them. Even if they are the only things in the tank they will feel more secure with hiding places, especially when molting or when a female is releasing babies. Dense plants are a good option, along with a pile of rocks, sized so that the shrimp can crawl inside. They are more sensitive to changing water parameters than most fish, so most experienced shrimp keepers recommend limiting water changes to around 15%. They need biofilm to graze on, which is why it's usually recommended to let a tank run for several months before adding shrimp. You can do it sooner by adding a sponge filter, plants, substrate, etc from an established tank, but you still aren't likely to have as much success as you will if you're patient and let the tank "season" (I know this from first-hand experience). In addition to the biofilm, they will also benefit from being fed. There are several commercial foods especially for shrimp, but I've also given mine several kinds of fish food, and they've eaten all of them. While there are mixed opinions about it, most people believe they also benefit from blanched vegetables once or twice a week. I've tried several kinds, and mine seem to prefer zucchini and spinach, followed by sweet peppers. I usually feed those late in the evening, and remove any uneaten portion the next morning. By the way, shrimp just LOOOVE freshly crushed snails. Mine will swarm all over one.

Your tank looks great. I'm also dealing with unexpected fry in my shrimp tank, and trying to decide when is the right time to move them. I don't want them to eat my shrimp, but I also don't want them to be eaten when I move them back to the parent tank. I'm thinking I'll probably move them when they're about 3/4" long, but that's not any kind of an authoritative number. I'm sure the size of the fish in the tank they're going to is also a factor, and sparkling gourami are the largest fish in my tank. Regarding your question about the size of newly hatched shrimp, they're so small they're difficult to see. However, they will also mostly stay hidden when they're that small, and even if your fry do pick off a few I doubt if it will be enough to matter.

I've never kept them, but I often see sterbai corys recommended for warm water tanks.

Negotiation is like most things in life. You shouldn't expect to be good at it the first time you try, but you'll get better with practice. In negotiating it's generally a good idea to get the other person to make the first offer, but of course someone has to be first, and sometimes it will be you. I don't know that immediately offering juveniles for the same price would be the best idea, but it's not necessarily a bad one. When they make the first offer, if you don't think it's high enough make a counter offer. They may accept it, make a new offer somewhere between their first one and your asking price, or just say no, my first offer is the best I can do. At that point you will need to make a decision based on what reply you get. If they say they can't go higher than the first offer, and if you aren't willing to accept that, then offering juveniles for that price is certainly one option. One of my more memorable negotiations was some years ago when I had a group of heifers for sale. A guy came and looked at them, and asked how much I wanted for them. After I told him he pointed out one of the best ones and said "I wish they all looked like that one." I replied "Me too, because then the price would be higher." He agreed to pay my asking price after that.

If you're really on a budget, plants are thriving in all my tanks with Beamswork and Aquaneat lights.

I could be wrong, but it's my understanding that snails and shrimp complement each other instead of competing. I have "healthy" populations of bladder, rams horn, and Malaysian Trumpet snails in all my tanks, and the shrimp populations are thriving. By the way, I know you mentioned a reluctance to kill them, but freshly crushed snails are great shrimp food. They'll swarm all over one.

If 50 cents was their first offer, then I don't see anything wrong with asking for more next time. Many people will initially make a low offer but are willing to pay more. It's a pretty standard technique when buying or selling, and there's nothing wrong with it. I was initially offered $1.30 each for some blue shrimp at a store a few days ago, but when I said I thought they were worth $1.50 the guy said okay, and that's what they paid me. If you do decide to do that I'd advise having a plan for what to do if they say no. Either say okay and take the 50 cents, or have a backup plan. I absolutely wouldn't try giving them juveniles instead without at least telling them, but that's probably not what you intended anyway. If they aren't willing to pay more than 50 cents each for adults, and if you aren't willing to sell for that in the future, offer them juveniles as an alternative.

This reminds me of last year when I was so happy that I'd found a 20 gallon long used for $10.00. I got it home and tried to clean it, but got tired of that and called a local store to try to find a new one. Luckily they were running their $1.00 per gallon sale and had one on hand, so I drove the 45 minutes to get it. I took the old one with me, and offered it for free to the young man who had helped me in the store. He was happy to take it and I was happy for him to have it.

It's difficult to give more information without knowing what kind of plants you ordered, but I wanted to mention that the plants we buy are often a group of cuttings bundled or potted together. Those can often be separated into multiple plants instead of planting as-is.

Nice. It's a shame it's only made for rimless tanks. That's the only reason I haven't already ordered one, and I'm still trying to figure out how to make it work with my tanks.

So far it's just been another day, and I'm going to bed soon, just like every other day. I'm old, and I gave up staying awake until midnight years ago (probably decades ago, on second thought).

It's not so much that they're sensitive; the problem is that they're often difficult to keep alive for the first week after bringing them home. After that they seem to be pretty hardy. It's my understanding that most of the ones sold in stores are wild caught, and after being caught they've often gone without food long enough to cause irreparable harm to their digestive systems before reaching the store.

I like your idea of using furniture instead of a purpose built stand. I have a 20 long on a file cabinet, two 5.5's end-to-end at the end of my desk, and a 10 gallon on a small chest of drawers, and my daughter-in-law next door has a 55 on a sideboard. They're all working well. Well-built used furniture can usually be bought inexpensively (Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, etc), but the points to consider when using furniture are: It should be solid wood, not particle board, MDF, or similar products. The top of the furniture should be larger than the footprint of the tank in both directions, but not much larger. Ideally not more than 2" on any side. This assures the tank will be supported on all four corners, but the weight won't be concentrated away from the legs or sides of the furniture, causing it to sag in the middle. The supports for the furniture should be all the way out on or near the corners, and extend all the way up to the top, or at least there should be continuous load-bearing wood from the floor to the top on the corners. In a couple of cases I've cut a piece of 3/4" thick plywood the same size as the top of the furniture, rounded off the top edges (mostly just to make it look better), and painted it black, then put it under the tank to help spread out the weight on the furniture, but it probably wasn't necessary.

As far as I know the only important thing about the water is that it not be too soft, since they need the minerals to build healthy shells. They'll eat just about anything organic, including fish food, dead fish, vegetables boiled for a few minutes, and decaying plant leaves.

There are a number of "rules" for stocking fish, but there are so many factors affecting stocking levels that none of them really work. Bio-load, fish size, compatibility, filtration, and the fish's social needs are just some of them.

I'll agree with the above from @ADMWNDSR83. A school of pygmy corys would be a good option. (I'd probably do at least 8; they're small fish.) I'd keep an eye on the betta and make sure it doesn't harass them, but if it doesn't bother the tetras or snails I'd think it's unlikely that it will bother corys.

Welcome to the forum. I've seen many reports that say hydrogen peroxide is safe to use in tanks, though I haven't tried it myself. Maybe you dosed it too high? In any case, you can eliminate most algae with the proper balance of live plants, light, and nutrients, but that can be very difficult to achieve. I've had decent luck treating staghorn algae with Seachem Excel if you'd like to try that, or if you want something more natural you might give nerite snails or amano shrimp a try. Snails populations will generally level off according to the available food. I have "healthy" populations of Malaysian Trumpet snails, rams horn snails, and bladder snails in all my tanks, and they don't bother me. If they bother you there are several methods for limiting the numbers. A quick Google search should give you some of those options. In any case, I wouldn't leave decaying plant material in the tank just for snail food since it can mess up your water parameters. I have a wide variety of fish, invertebrates, and plants thriving in 8.2 pH water, and I make no attempts to alter it. I'd suggest you do the same. While there are some fish that require specific water conditions, most will have far fewer problems with water parameters slightly outside their "ideal" range than they will with them fluctuating because the fish keeper is chasing those "perfect" conditions. I've never kept apistos, so I'm afraid I can't help with that. A small group of honey gouramis, with females outnumbering males, might be a good alternative.

It sounds like you got your answer, and I agree that I think it will be fine since I have one doing a great job in a 17" tank. I just wanted to add that I took a plant weight, bent it into a S-shaped hook, and hung it on the back of the tank. I then used the little snap ring that comes with the pump to hang it from that hook. That puts the pump out of sight, and above the water line, so there's no danger of water siphoning out through the air line if the power goes out. No need for a check valve.

Congratulations. I'm delivering about $150.00 worth of plants and shrimp to two stores tomorrow, but it's just store credit. I haven't found one that will pay cash.

I like the names your child picked out. My wife brought two kittens home a while ago, and our 3-year-old grandson named them Ghost and Broccoli.

I've had good luck with the AquaClear HOB's.