SheWhoConquers

Do you think adding a second finnex will be enough to get the intensity needed? Or just replace current light w/ Fluval 3.0?

No. I am certain I have very few if any stems from my original set. Almost all have been propogated from new growth in that tank.

I have a 36g bowfront aquarium equipped w/ CO2 and and a 30in Finnex Planted+ ALC light. I just need some advice on whether my problems are related to lighting. I'm getting fast growth but my plants are not growing bushy but rather spindly. I am hesitant to put more plants in because I am not sure what I am doing wrong. As you can see the long spindly plant behind the Ludwigia is supposed to be Elodea and it barely has leaves. Even the Ludwigia is sparse just a bit. Cabomba is growing long and spindly too. I even have monte carlo and dwarf hair grass, unpictured, that is growing, but slower than I feel it should. Basically in everyone's best estimate, do you think its a lighting issue? I understand this is a tall tank and strong lighting is necessary. Also if you agree its lighting do you think the Fluval plant 3.0 would give me the par needed in this tall tank?

So weird you bought the same spray bar I just was looking at on Etsy today 😄 I love that center sculpture, so unique. I almost wish it was covered in the same moss as the little hut on the right. The flow on the spray bar was gentle? I don't know why I had visions of excess surface agitation.

I have my own biases regarding Amazon's business, so I can understand some of those reviews although I did not buy my flex from Amazon. However, based on the build quality of my tank, I am hard pressed to believe that this tank is prone to chipping or cracking more than any other tank. If you saw the Flex up close I think you'd agree, the tank was built pretty solid. And as far as having to do mods on an expensive tank...yeah it does suck, but that's going to be the case with ANY tank you get because it's impossible to get a one size fits all tank. Even in this one thread everybody modified their tank differently and I believe we all ended up at the same place. A nice tank with happy healthy fish. Honestly I feel like the Flex is a luxury item. It's not necessary or required, but for me I needed something that was clean (free of all unsightly equipment), quiet and not cheap looking in my bedroom. And this tank works for me.

I have the fluval flex 9. I never used stock filter, upgraded that to a sicce silent, just had to cut tubing to make it fit. I did have to buy small marina intake sponges to baffle the outputs since there is a betta in there. All I did was cut a slot in the side and slide it on. I have read that plenty of people thought the feeding hole was too big, but I haven't had a jumper in the year I have the tank and mine has never been blocked. I run a nano sponge filter in the third chamber for emergency use. I did have to use my warranty to replace the lights shortly after I got the tank, but my new lights are fine and are sufficient for anubis and jungle val.

I would keep it. Looks good to me. Your tank is progressing nicely too.

Strange that you say this after I had my first fish related "nightmare". I woke up in a panic calling out to my dog who somehow I had worked in my head was the result of rushing water under my bed. I thought he had something to do with breaking an aquarium. I had to apologize repeatedly and tell him to go back to sleep because I was crazy and that had nothing to do with him.

I just got three gold neon gobies today and I already love them. I am praying they all get through QT intact, because they may have just beat my orange venezuelan cories as my new favorites.

I swear I thought I watched and read enough species profiles on shrimp, where I thought I knew enough about them. But I feel like I must have missed the behavior section, because somehow I got the impression that shrimp were delicate and fragile 😄 I never kept shrimp before and just bought three Amano shrimp to help with the algae in my tank--they are doing an awesome job by the way--but these guys have personalities that I just didn't equate with shrimp! I thought my neon tetras were buttholes, since they spend half their waking hours annoying each other, but these Amanos are no joke. I have only had them for a bit, over a month, and I went from thinking they were dead to seeing them enough to determine these guys are not gonna be ornamental like my snails. My amanos are quite a bit aggressive! I was initially amazed at how they marched right into a feeding frenzy to get food and sometimes would perch on top preventing access. They always seem to be the first to the food too, and not at all skittish about my presence. I even watched one pick up a wafer that you could not have told me he had the ability to lift, and run away with it leaving everyone else foodless 😂 They also do some swim battling between each other which is quite entertaining and are awesome little acrobats that love swinging from my jungle val. These are some bold little guys, and if I would have known this beforehand, I would have gotten them awhile back.

No aggression that I can see towards this one particular neon, I mean that isn't warranted. There is a scuffle when #8 attempts a clearing of the area. Also in general all my tetras seem to randomly "swim-fight", for lack of a better term, with each other. I also tested to make sure they all come out to eat, because that I wasn't sure about, and all 8 are present for feeding.

I am certain it's not a cardinal. I tried to upload the best I could get. But with a QT tank directly in front couldn't get the glare off.

Currently I have 8 neon tetra in a tank and I have this obsessive habit of counting my fish. I don't have tons of tanks so it's easy to do 😂 But in this tetra tank I repeatedly kept counting 7 schooling every single time. Eventually enough days counting 7 I would eventually inspect the tank to ensure I still had 8 fish. Well, after far too many times doing this, I eventually decided that I needed to find out why? Maybe #8 is sickly or being bullied. Although sickly would be odd because months is a long time to be sick. I discovered after many tank stalking sessions #8 is not bullied and sits quietly in the dark under the rocks and doesn't venture out much and when they do, it is to chase the other fish away. It seems the little bugger has made a home and he like solitary living 😆 I didn't know schooling fish could be territorial in the same way something like an Apisto, Cichlid, or Betta could! I also find his behavior strange, because if #8 is alpha he rearranged the pecking order because he was a late addition to the tank. And I know you're wondering how I can tell the neons apart 😂 They all look the same. But in this case, I can, based on slight coloration differences between the old and new additions. My older fish are much more brightly colored. Has anyone experienced similar behavior in schooling fish?

I'm currently quarantining 7 cories in about an 8 gallon storage with a sponge filter, guppy grass, gravel and pvc which some bags have bags of media stuffed inside. This is my first time not going bare bottom, but I really felt like bare bottom washes out my fish in QT. And I honestly wouldn't care if they immediately color up within a week of being added to their permanent tank. But this has not been the case for me, the process is much longer than I would like. Have I quarantined every single thing before adding to a tank? No, but because I am currently setting up a tank with fish in it I don't want to end up replacing. I am taking my time and doing it right 😌

Hah! Yeah I know...it's a risk. At this point I'm wondering if I should just go "create" my own water as much work as it feels that I must do to keep the fish and plants I want with tap water.