St_Marcus

I live in Europe where we have access to products of the big brands (and smaller ones), but not to Aquarium Coop products. I wonder what is the best alternative to Easy Green? I know Cory mentioned his pick once in a livestream, but there is no way I am going to be able to find that again. What are your thoughts on alternatives for Easy Green?

Thank you all for your insights. I have definitely let go off the idea of housing a hillstream loach with my puffers. I will consider the suggestions of trying a nerite snail or even triops. For now I am building a small hideout for Neocaridina. If they live, they probably stillwon't even dent the green muck, but they might help clean up after the peapuffers. Thanks all!

Haha, I've read that pea puffers are known for murdering everything that shares a tank with them. However, I've owned another pair of pea puffers before, with which I had thrown in some Neocaridina culls and.. the large ones were just fine. I accidentality murdered the puffers at some point, but those shrimp are still alive in that old tank. So, I guess it also depends on the individuals and the setup. If I don't come up with anything else, and Old Duck doesn't have any ideas, then I will definitely try the shrimp as clean up crew. I bet they would work that muck at least a little bit. Like have said, I believe it's the best and tastiest muck there is. It's only still there because there's nothing in the tank to devour it.

Hi Lennie, Thank you for your feedback! I did not even consider tank size. I hadn't imagined that such a small and passive looking fish would need a 20 gallon. Maybe they get bigger than I thought they would? The container is a small 10 gallon. I still secretly believe could have made it work with a lot of plants and aeration, but your argument on temperature closes the case. I do think however that the green muck I'm describing is large part tasty bio-stuff that is not solely algae. I very shortly considered removing the mesh from the tubes that connect the containers, so the loach could use them to transport himself between tanks. But I quickly let go of that idea, as I don't want the puffers to transport themselves between tanks. If there exists a compact green-muck-loving animal that can live with two pea puffers, I'm open to ideas. I guess I could always try tossing in some big Neocaridina, provide some hiding spaces, and see if they get to keep their appendages.

First of all, I hope this is the right place for this question. Hi, So, I've got these two pea puffers in a plastic container (it's part of a larger experimental setup, that's why it's a plastic container). I got them so they can process my excess snails, which do alright. And also because they're just the most adorable, personable little fish I know. Now, since the puffers eat the snails, I've got nothing to eat the green muck from the glass (actually the plastic). It's this really delicious tender green muck that I know snails would go crazy for. So, I was thinking to myself: "what about a hillstream loach"? They're high on my list of fish I want to try someday, and I bet they would make short work of the green muck. The only thing I wonder, is whether it would get along with the puffers. I think it should be alright. Right? I do have more plastic containers, which house the rice fish I bred last summer. So, I do have backup "tanks". But, those tanks have plenty of snails and therefore no muck. So, placing the loach in one of those containers, kind of defeats the purpose of getting one in the first place. What are your ideas about housing a hillstream loach with pea puffers? Yay or nay? (I am also open to other ideas. Also, I've added two pictures. The first is of the green muck (lower half of the container) and the second is to show off more puffer.)