reefhugger

I had to google this...what a beautiful and interesting fish.

Oh please do! I'd love to see that. I've had Peppered Corys for several years, and adore them. Lots of personality.

Yeah, me too on the anxiety! Even on line. That's one of many reasons I love this forum. People here are very kind and generous with knowledge. I've always felt welcome. Another thing is the knowledge base of forum members is vast and based on experience and science. 30 gallons is very good size to start with. Its big enough to be nicely stocked with plants and fish, and be forgiving as you stabilize the setup. . Corys do love to be in a herd and they love plants, so I think that's a great fish. I feed mine Repashy gel foods a few times a week and its fun to watch them swarm to it. So Sunshine, welcome.

Welcome to the forum! Both types of Danios are lovely fish, but I think the Glowlight would look amazing with a reddish background. Post pictures when you get some.

Temp: 73 Am: 0 Nitrites: 0 Nitrates: 30 PH: 7.8 GH: 145 KH: 130 One of my platys (Fat Momma) has white patches on her head. It doesn't look like ich to me. Is it some kind of fungus? She's in a big tank with others so I also need advice on whether to isolate and treat only her or the whole tank. I am worried about a whole tank treatment as I have a ton of Hillstream Loaches, including babies. I'm grateful for advice on helping my momma fish.

@HoosierJeff did you settle on a filter? This is an interesting exchange of ideas. I'm curious on your decision.

Very good ideas on aspects I would never have considered. Thank you. I am going to make some changes.

I attached a divertor valve to my shower head and screwed in a hose adapter. I can use hot and cold water to get the temperature just right, flip the valve and use the hose to fill up the tank. I got a fairly lightweight hose and use it only for the fish tanks. It rolls up nicely to put in a closet. I also have a garbage can on wheels I use to syphon the tank water into...then it goes onto my garden beds. I'm an old lady and this whole setup is kind to my back. And it was pretty cheap to assemble.

I do see them available now in some on line aquarium stores, subject to restrictions in certain states. The stores I looked at stated they were strictly quarantined against containing zebra mussels.

Software can help quite a bit with enlarging low resolution photos. Do you have any photographer friends? Lightroom, Photoshop and other similar programs can make enlargements look pretty darn good. There are some free software programs as well, though I've not used them, but they may be worth looking at.

I wasn't familiar with honeycomb wood so I did a bit of googling. Several sites recommended much more boiling and soaking. For example one recommended boiling for 3 hours and soaking in fresh water for a week; another recommended soaking for 2 weeks and doing frequent water changes. From your comment that the wood is 1/4 of the tank (did I read that correctly?) I'm thinking that more processing of the wood will help in stabilizing the effect of the wood on your water parameters. As @Galabar mentioned testing for GH and kH is important, especially KH since that helps buffer ph. Aquarium Co op has some very good information ( https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh) on understanding the relationship of those parameters. To understand one you have to understand the others.

My local water is also hard. I eventually got guppies to thrive after giving up on local big box stores and buying from on line sources. I also have platies, loaches corys and a variety of tetras that do well, but I'm careful to get tank-bred fish from reputable sources. These seem to be better able to thrive in tank conditions.

That is quite beautiful!

I hope you do this! My BFF has dementia and is confined to a nursing home. I have her tiny dog Zack, and take him along to see her most weeks. Reaction to him by the patients is sweet. He loves it as he gets many pets and coos. So many " My dog" stories. Zack loves brightening days for folks. One other thought...locally there is a Special Olympic equestrian team that has volunteers. Maybe check in your area?

Maybe not wasted if it prevents an exploded tank....just saying.

Definitely more often if a new project is underway, then as supplies run out, As I looked over past orders I started laughing as I remembered a video @Cory did on mistakes new aquarium owners make....especially "you're going to buy too much fish food". So true. I just had to try everything. I should have listened.

I agree , pull out the carbon and save it in case you need to remove toxins at some point, and use bio rings instead of plastic.

Such a nice LFS! Just big box stores within reasonable driving distance for me, so I rely on shipping sources. It would be fun to have a knowledgeable source to chat with.

Oh dear. I'm getting Alien vibs from them now.... Oddly...that's pretty much where the convention is held. I think you're on to something. Some of these replies have me worried though. I always though they were nice little fish.....hmmm.

Every so often the Hillstream Loaches have a get together. I wonder what they're talking about.

Wonderful pictures. Agreed those Roseline Sharks are so beautiful. All the best in moving...you certainly have much change ahead of you. Day at a time and you'll get through it just fine.

Welcome to this forum. It is loaded with experienced people who are kind and generous with their time and help. I've made plenty of missteps in this hobby. But find that the learning process is a large part of what makes this so interesting. One of the best sources of clear and sound information on setting up maintaining aquariums are the videos on Aquarium Coop's site. Corey and Irene in particular explain things so clearly. I'd start with the cycling process videos - the basics of keeping water, fish and plants in balance.

I'm curious about something. I've had very good results with crypts, even with pulling them up and moving them to new locations. I got some tissue culture pink ones that didn't even melt much. However in my frustrating battle with algae I recently discovered I've got very high phosphate from the groundwater I use. I wonder if that has influenced the crypt success?

I also use 50 watt heaters. One on a 29 gallon, and use 2 on my larger (50 & 70) gallon tanks.

I've had several orders from Dan's Fish and am well pleased with the shipping method and health of the fish. I'm a long drive from any good lfs so don't mind the shipping cost.