KaitieG

I'm a little unclear about your corydora question--are you loooking at 3 pygmy corys and 3 Kulhli loaches? Or are you looking at 3 each of the tiny varieties of corys (3 pygmy, 3 habrosus, 3 hastatus, etc.)? In a 12 gallon with those dimensions, I think you'd be good anywhere in the range of a total combined population of 10-15 pygmy corys and Kuhlis. They do have very small bioloads in general. Both fish tend to like somewhat larger groups, so I'd probably look at getting at least 6 of each.

I have 2 Hyggers and 2 Nicrews. They've both lasted well (3+ years on the Nicrews...a little over a year so far on the Hyggers but no issues) for me. The Hyggers seem to be slightly better built, but I have the opposite issue as @Guppysnail and have never had an algae issue with my Nicrew tanks and have tons of algae right now in the Hygger tank. Go figure 🙂 ...FWIW, I don't think it's the light. I've had that the same the whole time, but I must have an issue with nutrients or circulation or something. If I were buying again today, I'd buy another Hygger.

I will try to look into that. I started dosing potassium, but maybe there is a phosphate issue. Never ever seen it in any of the other tanks though. The one I'm having issues with is my big 95 gal display.

Mine is hair and black beard algae on the plants I think. I've had issues with nitrates in tap water varying at different times too so I've been testing those and it's been steady at about 5ppm. Really getting my Val and hydrophila worse than anything else. Been trying to figure out Ilif it could be external lighting but can't see that hitting anywhere. Will let you know if I figure anything out. My next trial will be more frequent water changes even if nitrates are in check.

I have a similar situation going on in a year-old tank. No cloudy water but similar algae situation on the plants. I've been working on trying to keep it under control by trimming affected areas and limiting lighting, but I haven't seen any changes. Super weird because nothing changed in the tank--same lighting schedule, same stocking, same filter, same food, etc. but this popped up about 5 months ago and I'm really struggling. Haven't found the answers yet (I do have nerites, and they don't seem to eat the algae off the plants) but I feel your pain!

Probably not helpful, but I saw several leaves turning that color on one of my pothos vines last week. Couldn't figure out what was going on...until I realized I had knocked the root end out of the tank at the last water change, and turns out it doesn't grow very well in the air compared to in fish water!

Just had to post here because no one else in my family is quite as excited as I am! I just discovered that the local pet store has started a REALLY nice fish section. The owner's husband has come in on the business, and fish are one of his things. It's small--about 20-25 tanks, but they're really nice and clean, they quarantine their fish, told a customer with a cichlid tank that the (very cool looking) farlowella catfish needs a mellow tank and would not be okay with their cichlid setup, and had a nice selection of typical livebearers with some really unusual oddballs mixed in. Also got a high five for explaining to my son that the new fish (because, yes, we had to get some new fish, of course) would go into QT when they got home. Prior to this, the nearerst decent LFS/LPS with fish was 3 hours away! My husband says discovering this is the worst news of the month...but he's mostly joking...I'm pretty sure 😉

I also have the marineland portrait on my desk. It takes up so little space and looks super clean and nice. I also have CRAZY hard water, and I haven't had issues with deposits yet, but I've only had it since Christmas. One thing I particularly like about the tank is that the lid really holds water in well--I have very little evaporation loss from that tank in particular.

So, I know this is controversial, but I think for fairly low nitrite readings when you're trying to reestablish a cycle, a product like Prime can really be beneficial. It claims to "detoxify" ammonia and nitrites, but it doesn't remove them, so your bacteria keep eating. Some people disagree on whether or not this "detoxification" is possible, but I've had good success with it in combination with water changes. I use it when I see any nitirite/ammonia readings because I have high Ph (which makes ammonia more toxic). The way I look at it is that things have already been disrupted from the moving around and are trying to recover. Water changes tend to move stuff around and create a certain amount of disruption too. So, if I can even extend them to every other day or so and if Prime can help keep the fish safe and if things don't go totally out of control, I'm giving everything a more stable environment to recover in by reducing the number of water changes (disruptions) as the tank establishes itself. Totally unscientific, just my personal thought process and experience in seeing that water changes tend to make cycles take longer. If this were me (and others likely have other plans of action that they'd take!), here's what I would do: Make sure I'm not cleaning filters/glass/decorations, etc to try to leave things as stable as possible for bacteria to get a foothold Dose with FritZyme 7 or something similar to try to get a jumpstart Dose with Prime every 24 hours If ammonia or nitrites climb above about 1 ppm each, do a partial water change but be really careful when I'm adding the water so that I move around gravel/plants/etc as little as possible Feed very sparingly (maybe even just every other day or so) If I had another tank, or a friend with a healthy tank, I'd squeeze the nasty filter water out into my new tank and leave a sponge or some media near my new filter (I've had good luck instant cycling with this method).

I agree with @lefty o, no need to medicate when you see no issues. I think one time when I might consider preventative medicating is with parasite-prone fish. I know any fish can have parasite issues, but there are some (like livebearers for example) that are known to be particularly problematic. I still probably wouldn't treat if I saw NO issues, but if I see slightly skinny fish or possibly questionable poo or anything like that I'll treat pretty readily.

I think you can feed lightly without any worries during the Quarantine trio. I have done it before with fry--I don't think it's a good idea to not feed fry at all for a week (you probably won't have any left if you wait that long!). You just want to avoid ammonia/nitrite spikes if the meds reduce your beneficial bacteria counts, and want to help the fish pass any parasites by not overfeeding. So from my experience, I'd say if you have fry, go ahead and feed (lightly) and monitor your water parameters closely. It shouldn't affect the potency of the meds at all (unless you have issues and have to water change...then that's another good topic to post and get opinions on if it happens--I don't have experience there yet!).

Ha same here! Figured I'd make my 10 gallon into my fry grow out and QT tank. Corys came out of QT and a few days later, we have cory fry. Moved pregnant koi swordtail in, got a gagillion swordtail fry (or so) and discovered that they take FOREVER to grow out. Had a random guppy in there for a while and had guppy fry born at same time as the swordtail fry. Moved out the males after they colored up and the female (who's as old as the swordtail fry that are still too small for the angelfish in the big community tank) popped out babies already. Gave up with waiting to not have fry, bought a QT tote instead. Wonder what that will turn into!

I have trouble with PH tests too--mine is VERY similar to yours and I have the same issues with it coming out of the tap just above 7 and turning to 8.0-8.2 ish over the course of a day or so, depending on the tank. Have yet to find a test that's easy to read when it comes to colors in that range! I have also found the coop strips to be accurate and fast, but I preferred the nitrate test on the tetra strips I used to use because there was more variation in the pink tones throughout the nitrate range. Switching between those two brands I'm always like "Oh, almost no nitrates...wait a minute..." because the color for 50 on the coop strips is like 10 on the tetra strips. Just takes some getting used to. I rarely use my API kit anymore because the strips are just so much faster.

My store had API kit just like I have at home 🙂

You might want to have a good plan for providing food--we had a couple at one point and they were the most frustrating animals I've EVER kept. I know other people have good success and have fun with them, and I was really excited when we got them, but they ended up driving me bonkers. Mine would NOT eat anything other than live food, and it had to be right in front of its face. Tried all sorts of different non-live options with no luck. Baby guppies worked but are pretty cute for feeding to a frog. Mosquito larvae (seasonal) and blackworms (expensive) worked too. They didn't eat snails in my tank (didn't even seem to notice them.) I'm sure other have better experiences to share!

I bought 3 angels from a breeder as adults, all different colors--pinoy, blue, platinum. The platinum one got picked on starting about day 3 and the other two just woud not let up on it. Had it herded down into one corner all the time. I switched around some tanks and moved the platinum into a smaller tank with a few guppies, and it's done SO much better. It's filled out, explores around with no one to pick on it and started laying eggs. The other two lay eggs every couple of weeks and get very territorial when they have eggs in the big community tank, but I woudn't call them particularly agressive now that the other fish is gone. They just rush at the other community type fish to keep them away from the eggs. Never seen them bite one or do any damage...just scare them away. I knew this was a possibility with getting 3 fish, but it's all worked out okay now that I have them split up.

I accidentally bought an emerald dwarf rasbora from them--it came mixed into my order of embers. Turns out as juveniles they look identical. He's done well with his ember tank mates 🙂 I didn't lose any of the embers (or the rasbora), and I don't have totally ideal water conditions for the embers, so I was especially pleased with their adaptability and robustness. As others have mentioned, they tend to ship small fish. Overall, I think aquahuna does a good job shipping for a reasonable rate and packs things well. I'd definintely buy most fish from them again, but their parameters are quite a bit different than mine, so if I can get things locally (esp. from a club or breeder) I do.

I had 3 angelfish in my 95 gallon community tank, and one of them was bullied by the other two. She now lives alone (in another community tank) and is much less stressed--lays eggs and generally just hangs out and explores around in the plants. The other two are doing great together in the big tank. I think it's fine to keep just one--if you get more than one you might want to have a backup plan in case they end up not liking each other.

I've had cories with 350+Gh water that have bred and lived for 4+ years at this point. I think overall they're quite adaptable to hardness.

My first tank was one of the infamous 1.5 gallon betta setups. It DID have a filter. It did NOT have a heater or plants and was cycled cycled. It led to a dead betta but also to a lot of research to find out everything I did wrong (and which I should have done before buying the fish in the first place). My newest tank is ironically a 5 gallon eventual betta tank (right now it has a trio of "extra" male guppies). It has LOTS of plants and has been well cycled before adding anything. Live and learn I guess.

My Seachem Tidal is super quiet. So are my Tetra Whisper IQs on my smaller tanks (but NOT the regular Tetra filters. Those things are obnoxious!) The big thing that seems to make them quiet in my experience is when there is a submerged motor. It also means that they self prime which is handy after water changes or if the power goes out.

I still laugh at myself when I see wondershells. I have crazy super hard water, and I'd never heard of them 'till a stash came with my 95 gallon. I read the package (and alllllllllllll those things it's supposed to do 😋) and thought "this has to be a gimmick!" So, I let my daughter paint them as a craft project. 🤣

Easy Iron 😃

I'll give it a try!

The light intensity varies throughout the day--it's on a sunrise/sunset program. It's probably on a total of almost 12 hours. It is on close to 100% for about 5 hours and is much dimmer on either side of that period. The tank has been set up for almost exactly a year with the same lighting, but I can mess around with it. It has the standard program and that isn't something I can change, but I could go to just an on/off timer.