Jungle Fan

Shrimp aren't picky eaters in my experience, they'll eat just about anything they can find, from Repashy, to pellets, to special shrimp food. I like to supplement them with an all in one with the Dennerle Complete that also includes calcium.

From the looks of that one I'd say you did the right thing by removing it. When I read mold/fungus on driftwood I thought biofilm, but this is fungus not biofilm I would have removed that piece as well.

@Gideyondon't necessarily give up on your dream because of looking at the upper end of prices, many LFSs like the one I frequent do give discounts on larger volume sales, or have different pricing for small, medium, and large size fish, they are also more willing to special order if they have a guaranteed sale as long as the customer is willing to commit. I noticed that there can be more than a $10 difference between small and large Roseline sharks which is another name the Dennison barbs Puntius denisonii go by.

Even though I am still relatively new on it I have thoroughly enjoyed the forum because over the years I have kept many different tanks, with different requirements, and used different approaches, and while my tanks in the past have been satisfying to me in different degrees very few would I consider failures; this forum is a place that acknowledges that many streets can lead to the same place of happiness in our hobby. While I currently use CO2 I haven't always, and I still had presentable tanks. While I kept Amano style tanks with lots of rules for design, and a discus tank at another time and was very much into strict biotope set ups, I still love the looks of beautiful Japanese style aquascapes and discus but prefer my jungle tank now. Our hobby has so many different avenues to enjoy, and while i no longer travel down some of those avenues I still love the looks, the process, and the results, and I love to cheer for those exploring them. There is no one road to get to "the perfect tank" we all have different tastes, different circumstances, different amount of time we can invest, or different means; not just from each other but during our lifetime journey in this hobby, and to be able to share this journey with others who enjoy this hobby as well as we do, without personal attacks, and without marginalization, to be able to share, or ask without worry about being judged I consider a gift from our host and sponsor, and I am grateful for that. I enjoy learning about different aspects of the hobby, some I may never explore, but then there are those bits of info that I end up incorporating into "my own style". The absolute fun in this hobby is just like creation itself in its absolute diversity, I never get bored, I always keep learning and I love to see what others have learnt and compare notes without being shut down and stomped on, and I cheer for every personal success. Thank you Aquarium Co-Op, and thank you Cory for making this possible!

@StreetwiseI'm a Streetwise fan too, I love your tanks and the well balanced concept behind them.

@AquaAggie just like @ColuI employ a varied crew of algae grazers of Otocinclus, Nerite snails, military helmet snails, the occasional hitchhiker bladder snail, Amano shrimp, and Blue Velvet shrimp. I do 50% water changes every week. Every two weeks I rinse the canister filter sponges in used tank water before adding them back into the canister. My tank has substrate that acts as a huge organic filter with a porous under layer and light top that invites bacteria to colonize, and it is chock full of plants to uptake nutrients and out-compete algae. I add CO2, root tabs, and liquid ferts. All that aside my tank is far from being algae free, especially so since the water district I reside in switches back and forth between five different wells, two of which have known phosphate problems. I don't believe there is such a thing as an algae free tank. I keep a close watch on my water parameters, but life happens, and as disciplined as I'd like to be sometimes I do the water change without testing to see what changes the district has made. I try to at least check every two to four weeks so I don't get surprised. Some of my Anubias also have GSA, especially some closer to the surface and the light. Anubias and Bucephalandra, and Java fern are low light plants and have a tendency to attract GSA when they get too much light, the key is not to let the algae get to be overwhelming. Even If you have the most perfect water parameters in the world you will likely get to see GSA at some point, I don't stress over a bit of algae as long as the general appearance is not affected. That said I don't give algae a chance to get out of hand, and I am also not shy about pruning leaves back aggressively, or getting rid of damaged leaves to encourage new growth. In previous tanks I have sometimes cut Anubias back until only one, or two leaves were left. New leaves always grew back, not very fast mind you but over time I got a stronger, healthier, better looking plant. In my years I have seen all kinds of different methods and explanations for getting rid of algae but out of all my main takeaway has been weekly water changes, water quality test kits, as many plants as possible, sufficient lighting, don't get tanks that are so deep that light loses too much intensity by the time it reaches the bottom, a good assistant cleaner crew, supply sufficient fertilizer, and most of all keep an eye on things and don't let up in maintenance. Never forget algae is a natural thing it is just using what's available. Algae is part of nature's original filtration system and it is good at what it does, we tend to prefer plants for our optics so we need to see to it that our plants get all they need to get to the nutrients before algae can, and don't let a bit of algae stress you if it is still under control, the hobby is more rewarding, and relaxing to you if you don't. I hope this helps.

It produces small amounts of hydrogen peroxide through electrolysis which is supposed to help reduce algae spores and germs, as I said I'm not sure how effective they really are but the Soechting Oxydator which achieved a similar reaction by means of 6% hydrogen peroxide and a catalysator used to work to help keep algae down as long as you didn't stop maintenance completely. @DanielNot so sure if I'd trust it with hair algae, haven't seen any though, again it was a gift from my wife, so it will remain running, and now unobtrusively to the eye 😉.

From what I understand they are sponsored and owned by Landry's chain of Aquarium Restaurants just like the Downtown Aquarium in Denver, of which I was a founding member when it was still called Ocean Journey before it was sold to ensure its survival. If it is anything like the Downtown Denver Aquarium it is well worth it. The one in Denver replicates two rivers, one a Jungle River, complete with giant Arapaimas, Tigers, and Archer fish, and the other the Colorado river from the Rockies to the Pacific, otters, flashflood, and all. There is also a ray petting basin that is a major attraction for the kids. $25 per person seems to be the going rate these days for aquariums, and I usually consider it not just admission but a donation to the upkeep of the animals, and facilities.

ORD again today, but thanks and 😄 never thought that I might have an Anubias with attitude.

I use the drip acclimator and a specimen box for highly sensitive species, and for shrimp, everyone else gets floated in the tank for about 45 - 60 minutes in the bag just to acclimate temperature, I place a bucket in front of the tank, a large net on the rim of the bucket, open the bag, and drain it into the net, and from there they go into the tank. Has worked well for me for years. The only time I've ever lost new arrivals was if they had been damaged in transport, or if they had taken too long to arrive at my LFS in the winter and were stressed more than usual.

So I must be getting lazy, lately it seems all the pictures I take of my tank are done with the Android. The fourth bloom of the Anubias in 9 months.

So I've got mine on my CO2 cylinder box inside the stand which keeps the cylinders from being able to fall over. Also got assorted other aquarium related stickers on it.

So when I got my 75 gallon tank my wife had asked a friend if there is some gadget he'd recommend for her as a gift to me and he mentioned this Twinstar Yotta + electrolysis sterilizer, it seems to work somewhat, how effective it actually is I really don't know but it was a gift from my wife and it certainly isn't doing any harm, some of my fish actually love to swim through the bubbles. It sort of reminds me of the old Soechting Oxydator I used to use years ago that definitely had an impact in improving fish health and reducing algae. The one thing that bugged me since I placed it in the tank was its white color, especially the cable that showed up in every full panorama photo of the tank. While browsing the Aquarium Co-Op site I came across the black airline tubing. Great, so I can finally replace the blue tubing that still shows up somewhat white.Then I had an idea: I sliced some of the black tubing lengthwise all the way the length of the white cable inside the tank and used it as a sleeve for the white cable, bingo no more white cable showing up in pictures. Thank you Aquarium Co-Op! One product, two applications, it doesn't get any better than that!

Another one.

Sometimes I play around a bit and turn photos into graphics. I called this one Cardinal Fireworks.

Not an Anubias afzelli, but Anubias nana of mine flowering for the fourth time in 9 months. The picture is just a quick cell shot from last evening and it's hard to bring out the details with it because the white flower reflects the bright light but you can tell the flower.

I think you made the right decision, back then when I first encountered the perpetual red dust after endless rinsing through a prospecting qualifier sieve I ended up capping it as well because I kept cories and plecos in the tank. With all the plants, driftwood, the Fluval light ,and some Easy Green you ought to have the tropic jungle at home in no time. Looking forward to see it all unfold. New tanks are exciting.

An inline device in your canister filter outflow pipe that would work as a heater while also constantly giving you all your water values, including fertilizer nutrient levels that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg. And another one: A Neocaridina safe surface skimmer that will suck up debris and biofilm but not shrimp. I'm not complaining about the daily maintenance cleaning the skimmer but if I wouldn't have to find anywhere from three to five of the little rascals alive but trapped in there every day it sure would make me happy.

There really is no one favorite Anubias as I generally plant three types in succession of size in my tanks which are Anubias nana petite, Anubias nana, and Anubias afzelli. However in regards to which do I believe has the nicest looking leaves I prefer Anubias afzelli hands down. It also blends in well with Microsorum pteropus Java fern. It helps make stumps appear more naturally overgrown with epiphytes and yet not look chaotic.

Just remembered that what I had collected back then was actually Bacopa caroliniana and to add something on the subject of plant collecting always check the endangered and invasive species list, and identify what it is you might be collecting because it could be that it isn't legal to collect in your state.

For an illustration of the progression from Anubias nana petite, to Anubias nana, and then Java fern, and Anubias afzelli look at the stump on the left in my 75 gallon tank, other than that it won't be much help because all I've got in here that comes close are Mikrogeophagus altispinosa Bolivian Rams and they love to hide in the many caves and in the plants.

I always remove my plants from the pot, and the rock wool because growers tend to not just use copious amounts of fertilizer to soak the rock wool with, but many times also with pesticides, especially those that come from plant farms in Asia. I remove every last bit of the rock wool with a plastic fork in a basin with water treated with Seachem Prime. Then I give the plant a quick rinse under the tap, trim back the long fine portion of the roots to encourage better anchoring and new growth and plant it in the substrate with tweezers placing one or two root tabs around it. As long as the planter is open on the bottom it will work but Amazon swords Echinodorus bleheri can get huge and can get stuck in planters.

I would protect the sword plants with rocks, or roots rather than use a planter. Swords are root feeders with very large roots once they get established, especially because you will want to add root tabs because they need that extra iron and potassium. You could also add some crypts in between driftwood, and cover the driftwood with epiphyte plants going from small to large as you progress upwards like Anubias nana petite, followed by Anubias nana, Bucephalandras, Java Fern, and Anubias afzelli. That way you would have your plants either mounted on rocks, or wood, or protected by rocks, or wood and you can leave the area around the rocks and wood for your Geophagus, and Cories to dig around at their hearts content. If you are planning for an open tank then you could also add some floating plants like Amazon frogbit, and Red Root floaters, which will help keep the nutrient levels in the water down, especially if you feed fresh, or frozen foods. I hope this helps. By the way, that stump looks awesome!

Welcome to the forum! Have you tried some Amazon swords? I have seen some very large Amazon sword plants in tanks with Geophagus that seemed to be thriving. Sometimes it helps to place some big river rock that can stick out of the substrate around the roots to create sort of a protective barrier, or, if you arrange several pieces of driftwood you can have the plant emerge out of strategically created holes which will keep it protected from digging.

@egruttumabsolutely can be done. When I was younger I used to go snorkeling in Texas, Florida, and South Carolina rivers to collect plants for my tanks, and look for fossils like Megalodon shark teeth. You can get all kinds of nice aquatic plants that way from Ludwigia, to Bacopa caroliniana, just make sure you check for gators first in any such locality. On one such occasion I also found out that Bullsharks can, and do swim up rivers sometime. I set an unofficial record for fastest departure from the water that day.