KaitieG

Well, three going on 4 years later, here's my update: I found a local breeder of angelfish who breeds and keeps them in hard water. I got three. Two paired off, so they're in the 95 and the one they bullied is in a separate tank. No baby guppies survive, but the adults do (unlike in an Oscar tank) and I have a separate breeding tank to replenish the guppy population. You know, have an issue...add a tank 😁. Angelfish have been super healthy and a fun addition.

It looks to me like you have a great start here. I think it will start growing in and look better and better. When your Val starts growing and spreading across the back it will really fill in. I've not grown baby tears, since I try to stick to the "super easy" plant selections. I would try adding a background of some type...black, blue, one of the foliage designs. Even if you do the black garbage bag background trick as a quick and easy option, it will really make your plants and fish stand out better and make your filter virtually disappear. It'll make a huge difference in the look with minimal $ and time investment. If you have both male and female guppies, those will fill in for you too 🙂 You'll have so many you won't know what to do with all of them...ask me how I know 😉

I've had this same issue with my 110 and know exactly what you're talking about. At first it didn't happen for me and then got worse and worse over time. More mulm and gunk shooting out of the filter after I would turn it on from cleaning it. Super frustrating when I'd just changed the water and cleaned the tank. I'd rinse the sponges and other media and the media basket, so it wasn't coming from there. I figured it out last week. The answer is that yes, you have to clean out the reservoir on the filter itself. Not necessarily every time you rinse the media, but periodically. There is a shocking amount of mulm and gunk that builds up in the housing of the filter itself. At least I was shocked! It's a pain to take the whole filter off the tank, and I think the turkey baster idea would accomplish a lot of the same thing so long as you do it pretty regularly. A turkey baster wouldn't have handled mine! It could at least extend the time between the unhooking the whole filter thing. But cleaning the filter box itself out didn't turn out to be that bad of a job once I knew to do it.

I think you can keep one solo. I got 3 for my 95 gallon, knowing there could be issues but hoping it was a big enough tank to manage it. 2 Females and 1 male. Hoped they'd make a trio, but no luck. Two paired up and then bullied the third one, not letting her out of one corner of the aquarium. Moved her into her own community tank and the pair is in the 95 gallon. All three do fine...going on 3 years now. They are definitely territorial when they lay eggs, but then they eat them themselves, so go figure.

I had the Habrosus in a 20 gal but looks like they can go smaller than that and that a 10 would be ok. They're the same size as pygmies.

I had Corydoras Habrosus with my WCCM and they were super fun, if you're looking for a bottom dweller to add to the mix.

I've successfully kept amano and cherry shrimp in my super hard water that runs 1/2 through a softener. 1/2 because the hot water, like yours, is all softened to try to avoid ruining our water heater. We don't soften the cold water that goes to our kitchen sink, and I usually fill from there. That said, I didn't ever add EXTRA salt, so can't speak to that one. Just that I haven't had an issue with the partially softened water thing. I did have trouble getting shrimp started a couple of times. Had the best luck when I found a local hobbyist on Craigslist. Did learn that you cannot put an angelfish with them if you want ANY to survive for more than 1 day...with moss, a shrimp cave, wood, rocks, all the hiding places. Angelfish was a lot deadlier than the water softener. 😒

I make mine in a bowl and cut it into chunks or into a little cup and then cover with plastic wrap and scoop it out with a spoon to feed.

All of my ammonia test strips are pre-light greenish yellow before they ever come out of the bottle. They aren't a nice fresh yellow, even before I use them. I have been figuring that if they don't change, I'm still pretty good. It's yellow-er than the lowest ammonia reading color on the bottle label, but they're also greener than the yellow 0 ammonia on the back of the bottle. But overall, I'd say having it read at 0 is good 🙂

I've had success in two of my 5 tanks, ever. I was successful with dwarf water lettuce to the point that it took over the whole top of a 95 gallon and my 10 gallon, but then I cleared out about half of it, and the rest just slowly died over the next couple months after that. I also had duckweed take over the 95 at one point. Cleaned out most of it and the rest died off. I don't get it. Frogbit, red root floaters, water spangles, etc. have all died.

Sounds like maybe YOU would also benefit from an RO system...you and your fish. In which case, go for it!! Here are my experiences with the hard water thing: I have extremely hard water. PH 8.0-8.2, off the charts GH and KH on the test strips. I've had REALLY good luck with most fish from local breeders...even found a guy who breeds angelfish in rock hard water, and those have done great. But I've also had good luck with **most** of the softer water species I've tried. Please note, these are only my PERSONAL experiences... FISH Guppies have done well, I have had between 50 and 300 at any given time...but ones I started with didn't live very long once they moved here (despite being from a very reputable breeder). All of the offspring have done very, very well. I think they adapt over a generation or two. Molllies and Swordtails have done fairly well. Not as well as guppies. Could just be me. Habrosus Corys and various Aneus Corys have done extremely well (breed and occasionally survive even in my community tanks!) Bristlenose Plecos have done great (same as Corys...breeding and healthy) Bettas seem to live a year or two in my water. Neons did fine and I didn't loose any until I did a major tank overhaul and move, and then I had some disease issues pop up. White clouds did well. Ember tetras have done well. Glass Catfish are too new to have a longevity report, but no issues with acclimating, and they're really marginal. Snails do great. Angelfish from local hard water breeder...awesome! Neocardina shrimp did great when I got them from a local person. PLANTS Valisinaria 10/10 Anubias 10/10 Java Fern 5/10 Pogostemmon Stelatus Octopus (8/10) Crypts (8/10) Red Flame Sword (10/10) Dwarf Sag (10/10) Floating Plants...I have the HARDEST time with these. Either overrun or all gone. All this to say, I think it's a good idea to try to work with what you have unless you have a very specific fish that is known to be touchy and needs very specific conditions. My local fish stores use RO water too, mostly because they have it and they also do salt water. They say they have few issues with people transitioning fish into the almost all hardwater setups around here.

I purchased several giant sailfin mollies from an LFS a week ago. They're in QT right now with guppies and corydoras. Have treated with ParaCleanse. I've never had issues with fungus/ich before, so usually just watch for those before treating in QT but always do parasites with livebearers. The white male molly started periodically swimming vertically last night and I see that there are some raised white dots along fins and body. Also now has fluffy looking growth near/in mouth with a red spot in mouth. He is eating when I feed (sparingly), but definitely not looking great. Hard to get a picture that's even halfway decent with the white on white. Everybody else in the tank looks good so far. Parameters are stable, and I have extremely hard water (like the color is off the charts on the coop strips hard), so I was hoping I'd avoid some of the issues with mollies transitioning from brackish water. Thoughts/suggestions?

My first fish died...didn't do much (any) research beforehand and listened to the pet store. Whoops! Then I felt SO bad...started to research and research and research. Now we have 5 tanks, healthy fish, and it's turned into a great hobby. Don't beat yourself up! This is a great place to start learning!

My fish in my 95 gallon are noticeably more active in the lower levels of the tank since adding a large airstone. No detrimental effects on plants.

I can also attest to the ability of glass covers to keep cats out of fish tanks. I've gone to glass on all of mine. On my 95 gallon, I wanted to put my HOB filter on the SIDE of the aquarium instead of in back, so I had a piece of glass cut for that side to give room. HOB filters work just fine with the glass tops with the plastic to use for cutouts so long as you actually hang them on the back. It's a lot more convenient to feed and clean with the commercial hinged lids than with the solid piece of glass, but they definitely both keep out cats.