HenryC

After my fluval 406 canister broke, I'm done with canisters lol. I've switched my entire fish room to full sponge filters, and they work great but I'm a real fan of crystal clear water. As more and more tanks get added to my collection, I become more and more lazy when it comes to filter maintenance, so I'm brainstorming some ideas. What has worked for you? I just need something easy to operate in order to use polyfilter for that pristine water clearness! I was thinking of saving some money and putting a downsized hang on back for each tank (since they're not the main filtration source). Also, Shark internal filters seem to do the trick too, I got one and it works fantastic, clogs up really fast but I guess that's good cause it's doing its job!

The rams are beautiful, sadly I have no luck with them cause my water is extremely hard, and I don't want to get into RO systems and mixing water and such hehe. I do have Bolivians though! More resistant for sure.

Stunner! What fish?

I'm blow away! How come I just discovered these? 😮 Does anyone keep these? Now I NEED a longear sunfish tank! Any recommendations on size and number of fish? These colors are unreal! How come sunfish are not mentioned more in the hobby? It's like looking at a high end discus! Are they pricey? Any seller you guys recommend? Tankmates? They should be more popular with a color like these right? So what's the catch haha, are they illegal? Super hard to keep? Mega pricey? I must have them!

Has anyone had this problem with a fluval canister? I got my 406 canister for some time now, but a few months ago it started to do this horrible rattling sound, as if the impeller is hitting something, or is stuck, and then it stops cause the impeller cover falls off. It always happens after a water change, it is so bothersome that I've considering just thworing it to the trash and just buying an internal filter or even a hang on back. I just need it for mech filtration since I got multiple sponge filters. I even bought a new impeller, ceramic shaft, gasket and impeller cover but it still has this problem. I also make sure to expel all air and clean the impeller thoroughly before plugging it but this problem always comes up. It's always the same: Plug in - > work for 3 seconds - > CRAAAACACARCRCRC - > stops cause impeller cover comes off - > Open it to put impeller cover back up then rinse and repeat lol I'm on my wits end lol, now I know why Cory hates canisters. I've sent multiple e-mails to fluval but they #trippin and haven't got a reply. I'd be happy to have just sponge filters but I like my water to be clear so I need mech fitlration. Any suggestions?

https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/private/rainwater-collection.html#:~:text=Germs and other contaminants are found in rainwater.&text=Rainwater can carry bacteria%2C parasites,been linked to disease outbreaks. According to the CDC it can also drag down pollutants suspended in the air. Wouldn't risk it tbh.

I'm dying to get a fritz aquatics shirt, the kind that every ambassador has, they're so cool and colorful, but I haven;'t had any luck locating one. I contacted Fritz 3 times but they haven't answered so far. Does anyone know if there any way I can get/buy one without being an ambassador? I just like fritz and I love the shirt design.

Been using multiple nicrew lights for the past 3 years and no problems so far. I got them in my 40g, 20g, 10g, 45g, 75g and 100g. A nice pro is that the newer models are dimmable, and for an extra $10 you can buy a programmable timer that connects straight to it. The intensity is nuts, so pwoerful that I have a plant "hospital tank" (a 20g long) where I have one that's at full power, and I use it to bring back any plant from the brink of death lol. The intensity on this 75g african tank is only 25%. I like to pump it up to 100% when visitors are coming, it looks stunning. 30% or so intensity in this planted 40g My 20g plant hospital tank lol. Intensity here is at 100% 30% on the 100g As Cory said, you might be unlucky and get a bad one that will die in months, but my experience after 3 years and 6 lights of different sizes has been exceptional with Nicrew.

Temp: 72F Hardness: 350PPM GH Alkalinity: 230PPM pH: 7.6 So I adopted 6 little golfish that are in extreme bad shape. A 14 year old kid said he did not want them anymore in my local fish group, and nobody wanted them so I felt bad for the fish. Now I have 6 little guys. Placed them in a quarantine 20long tank, and one day after putting them there, along with dosing pure malachite green, I see the tank CRAWLING with these guys: They're kind cool/fascinating, but sadly a pest. I'm guessing the malachite green made them detach from the goldfish? Anyways, I've been keeping the lights off because for some reason, when I turn them on, some of the goldfish start to dart around really bad, and one of them even seems to want to jump out of the tank (got a lid). I dosed more malachite green today, since they also seem to have fin rot. Poor guys were in extreme bad shape, but luckily not a single one has passed. What should I use for em? Med trio? How about salt, would salt be enough to completely eradicate these lice? Woudl it be better a highly concentrated salt bath, or dosing the aquarium itself?

I got cories, oscar, angelfish, tetras, bettas, gouramis and several american cichldis in the same water as you and got zero problems!

Probably so you can see the size? Compared to a human hand. It might be difficult to picture the size with just a number or a photo inside in the water,

Thanks! Always very helpful, @Fish Folk 👌🙂

Just wanted to share this little clip of my african cichlid, since I'm so excited. They have started to breed! I noticed this one was very shy and didn't eat at all, so I placed it by itself on a 20g long and when I examined it closer, I saw tiny fry squirming inside the mouth, that's when I remembered that some africans are mouthbrooders! You can see the little fellas thru his skin, they even move a bit! Can you spot the little eyes? I've seen Rick from Co-op's video shake them off to drop out the fry in order to avoid stressing the mom too much right? Any way to tell when the fry is ready to do that? I've noticed this cichlid is a bit stressed so I'd like her to regain strenght and eat as soon as possible.

Hi guys, so I recently purchased a baby flowerhorn, he's tiny, barely an inch I believe, currently have it in a 20g long grow out tank, will pass him to a 40gal later on and finally to a 75g for a forever home. Does anyone have any flowerhorns or are experienced in raising them? I want mine to be as healthy an vibrant as possible, and a safe, healthy grow rate (none of that raise temp. to accelerate growth, etc.). Currently have it in 7.6pH, very hard water and at 79F. I plan on feeding him xtreme cichlid pee-wee and then when he gets bigger big fella pellets.

I've seen my parrots poop out green stool with my very own eyes, and also nibble at plants so I know for certain that at least mine eat plants sometimes! And this is with me feeding them generously 3 times a day (juveniles), so they're not eating out of hunger lol. I've seen mine nibble on: Vallisneria, Hygrophila Corymbosa, duckweed and frogbit

You should be absolutely fine. I've moved (multiple times) just a mature sponge filter to a new tank with brand new ceramic media in the main filter and never had problems.

I had my oscar since little too, and now he's about 10 inches. He does have some high energy moments sometimes, swimming from edge to edge very fast and going up and down, but have never seen him attack a fish, my boy (or girl?) is very peaceful. Perhaps something about the dojos awakened something in him? after all, they got a worm shape, probably he started to see them like prey? For some reason, sometimes cichlids single out a single other fish and leave the rest alone. My vieja would only target the jack dempsey and harass him, and my blood parrot would sometimes harass a severum. The green terror also targeted the vieja more than everyone, so there's that! Perhaps your oscar reaaaaally doesn't like the dojos?

I used Prodibio Biodigest, 2 ampoules for a 100g tank with an oscar. It worked great! Never had ammonia/nitrite problems.

Hi guys, it's getting bigger and kinda cloudy, should I be worried? Any suggestions?

Green terrors get about 8" and have enormous personality as well, here's mine playing pekaboo with me: He's like a puppy!

You do have to wash the filter, but it's more of a rinse than a wash, and you use the water you took out of your water change and just swish and squeeze around the sponge and the bio rings to get rid of excess waste. When it gets too clogged the flow decreases, the motor has to work harder and it can also become a nitrate source (decaying stuff stuck on the media). I swish mine around every 2-3 weeks, it really depends on your bio load. Some fish like my mollies clog the filter up much faster than my tetras. I'd say start with every other water change and adjust accordingly. If done in the water of your water change, you shouldn't throw off the cycle at all. The problems arise when people that are just beginning in the hobby believe you have to leave the filters sparkling clean, washing it with tap water (which sometimes has lots of chlorine). I've read cases where people even use dishwasher soap, and can't really blame them, it's just intuitive that you should leave the filter clean right? A half-cleaned filter that still has some fish poop and debri is counter-intuitive for newer people, after all, we don't half clean our dishes, house or clothing right? But with fish, you ahve to leave a little "dirt" on your filter!

I love duckweed, all my tanks that have it seem to be super stable. I've found that a nice roof of duckweed lets me have lights for very, very long periods of time, and in full power, without developing algae at all. They do seem to keep nitrates down as well. Not to mention some fish love to be under the shade of it, like my paradise gourami, and my severums like to munch on them lol! But, I'm wondering, is it bad to have a full cover of duckweed? Will that negagtively impact gas exchange or other parameters?, my 20gal tank is by far my most stable tank of them all, is overstocked with mollies, 6 rasboras, a baby featherfin catfish, tons of snails and 4 ember tetras, yet nitrates are always low, and have near zero algae, which I attribute to the thick duckweed roof. Thanks!

Yes, I'm keeping a close eye. The other 3 angelfish of the same size are completely fine, as well as a baby jack dempsey, a redhead tapajos and a big oscar. But I will monitor closely and have salt ready.

Thanks. Unfortunately the fishie passed away today 😞 I kept the water pristine, nitrates below 10. Was doing water change every other day, and treating with malachite green, but it didn't work at the end. I was about to do the salt treatment when I noticed he had passed away today. Here are more pics of the problem, just in case anyone can indentify for sure. I'm so sorry I could not save him u_u. He was very big and beautiful.

Dr. Richmond Loh, the fish doctor in youtube! His videos and knowledge is amazing, I'm sure he would be a fantastic guest.