Biotope Biologist

They don’t contain anything harmful. It’s just glass, ceramic, and heater coils. Good thing you were sitting right there though. The electric discharge is enough to kill most fish.

African arowana now there is something you hear rarely. They will eat all your guppies without a doubt in my mind as adults. If you’re culturing the guppies as a food source you can for sure mix them. I assume anyone keeping one of these knows exactly what they signed up for so I will leave it at that. Good luck!

Its been 2 weeks! time for an update: The smallest female either got in a scrape or damaged her pectoral fins while burrowing. At first it was not a big deal but than the tips started getting stringy instead of healing, so I bought some API fin cure. Was really the ONLY medication I could buy that wouldn’t hurt the inverts. It did stain my water a tea color, but no noticeable plant or vert damage observed. Her fins look much better and she is healing rather quickly. I know I should keep a hospital tank, but in an apartment that just isn’t feasible and they are very social so best not to stress her. Speaking of social, as they age I am starting to think this female might actually be a male. It’s the only one that the male hasn’t displayed for and as it grows so to does its 2nd dorsal ray. I only ever get to see it when it yawns and stretches in the early morning. Plant growth has slowed but some of the water willow leaves have aged to dark green and the snake grass is producing new shoots. The white sedge is a bit slow as far as grasses grow, but coming in none the less.

I like @nabokovfan87 idea. Large rasboras and different barbs species tank. There are some gorgeous ones flooding the market right now. I am glad the “cold water” is getting some love!

Pancrab appears to be a reddit meme regarding a species of crab that looks like a nice stack of pancakes. Which fits the MO of someone who would mess with closed captions. And “farts in face” seems to be a popular gag on youtube. 🤷‍♂️ People on the internet are strange but it’s definitely worth a giggle. I assume this is in protest of youtubes new profanity rules.

$11 is steep for cherry shrimp. They are incredibly popular here on the west coast and many stores have adopted the grading system. I got mine for $1 a piece due to low grade but yes high grade shrimp are between $10-15. I digress I have been in the hobby for awhile now and the lowest I saw CPD in store was $4 a piece and the highest was when they first came to popularity at $12 a piece.

Those are galls. From what I’ve read my botany knowledge is very limited. But they are an immune response that results in growths such as these. Appear to be fairly common in java fern as I see many forum posts on it over on the planted tank forum and uk aquarists. I don’t think it’s well understood or known what causes it in java ferns specifically. Could also be a genetic mutation causing the galls. I assume akin to allergies. But again I know very little of botany. I trust @OnlyGenusCaps will have a better response

Could be a type of synedra algae. They will sometimes connect end to end in long strands, but without a microscope it’s speculative at best. Also congrats on the anubias flower in the background. Not an easy feat!

In an attempt to brief I may have come off as vague. I apologize for that. I still haven’t mastered the whole brevity and clarity thing that has been drilled into my brain. More of a tangent guy with overarching themes that never actually touch. 😋 As for an accurate site other than ACO. I really don’t know. And I admit even with training, scientific articles can be hard to digest… and boring. I have attempted to sit in front of a computer screen and talk to myself about important information for hobbyists. But I’m uncomfortable with the idea. Still have about 5 hours of footage sitting on my comp in need of editing. And maybe thats the issue. I have a great fear of releasing misinformation to the public that I need to get over. It happens. Im sure I’m not alone in this department which is why solid reliable concise info is hard to come by. @dasaltemelosguy and @Guppysnail have done a couple experiments/sleuthing with great findings though! It truly is inspiring!

So when designing experiments for ecology, which this effectively is bacterial ecology, you will never be able to isolate all the variables. And doing so as @MattyM stated means that the population is not ready for increased bioloads and will fail. For instance you say some kids use driftwood and others use different decorations. Well as the driftwood decomposes it too releases building blocks for which bacteria feed. And here is where I say be VERY careful of aquarium science. He likes to input opinion stated as fact. He states in an article wood does not release nitrogen as it decomposes, it’s just cellulose. If that were true, wood would (lol see what I did there) not decompose and be a vital part of soil and aquatic ecology. Wood as it decomposes releases nitrogen phosphorus and a few other “building block” chemicals. It’s so necessary in some soils, plants will literally unalive themselves if mature wood isn’t present in the soil. I’m looking at you huckleberry bushes. Anyway I digress before I write a novel. Ecology has too many variables to isolate and adding macro biology to the micro only complicates it further. So don’t. It is written in many early ecology books that trying to isolate a variable in an ecological system is doomed to fail. I would instead focus on the much more interesting cycle and how it relates to animal health. It is a far more interesting topic anyway and learning ecology in the current climate of the world Id argue is one of the most significant things a child can learn in the classroom. I really appreciate what you’re doing here and would have loved to take this class. I will leave it at that, and invite some others here with science background to weigh in. @OnlyGenusCaps @dasaltemelosguy @modified lung @Odd Duck the aforementioned article from aquariumscience: https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/14-10-wood/ and an article I skimmed about wood ecology on terrestrial organisms but I needed something because I felt what aquariumscience was saying was wholly untrue, but needed proof to ease my mind: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-20377-3

Very soothing voice! Could fall asleep to that video. I love seeing different takes on this style of tank. The shrimp photobomb was a great touch. Was there a pleco in the cave you were trying to film?

Yup freshwater limpets. They do go through population swings in the freshwater aquarium. And they are so tiny they are hard to notice. They are also likely nocturnal. They will max out at about 7mm and although they chew on plants and algae, they do not seem to be harmful to plants.

Like I can do that though… Anyway cichlids have not been observed to change sex. In social fish it does pay to hide your male organs or male traits as dominant males can be very territorial especially in an enclosed environment. In this case what appeared to be an observed female was actually a less dominant male in disguise. As stated above. Usually I would say this is a new topic to science, but cichlid societal hierarchy is well studied.

Oh definitely still do that! You can seed other filtration types if you want with the seeded sponge. I have a sump and I still seed random sponge filters in it, in case I decide on a wild hair to setup a new tank 😋

eh when I worked at a chain pet store I often had beginners come in. The key to longevity for them seems to be let them pick out what they want and if it ends up being a non-beginner friendly fish steer them towards one. I’d recommend a 20 so that neglected water changes don’t become an issue for fish health. As for filtration, heater, substrate wait on that until they pick out the fish. I have had quite a few beginners fall in love with corydoras and make cory only tanks. Gravel is hard on their barbels and a soft sand would be preferred. Just make sure they know picking out the fish doesn’t mean you buy the fish the day of. Often times for beginners the wait and anticipation leads to someone who genuinely appreciates their fish rather than instant gratification getting bored within a month types.

This specimen looks like it might be a hybridized molly/mosquitofish due to it’s deeper body. Many cases of this have been reported in the Western United States. Also welcome to the forum. Cropping the photo slightly fixes the upsidedown photos. It’s a known bug that is being worked on

Fish fry will eat them. Make sure you don’t confuse planaria with rhabdocoela planaria: left rhabdocoela: right

I have had quite a few bettas over the years. All of which ranging in age from several months to 5 years. So this survey will likely turn up with a pretty big range. Several “cheap” betta lines are so inbred and have such low genetic diversity it’s a wonder they made it past fry-hood. I think you might find the ‘premium’ bettas or locally bred ones will live the happy 3+ years. But I’ve only ever had rescues so I can’t speak to that. Maybe one day I’d like to get some other species of betta. I think as long as you give them a good home lifespan is irrelevant

Well orange fin hill trout. They are closer related to minnow and Danio than a true salmonid. But they do act very similar to brooke trout, probably where they derived their common name. That and the side markings are what you see on juvenile salmonids.

That’s definitely a smirk; devil child

I had glowlights ages ago! Imo very under appreciated tetra They are a beautiful rosy pink on the lateral line and mine developed a cinnamon red body. They can be a bit flighty at first but I don’t remember them ever breaching the water. Doesn’t mean they won’t. Also I think the preference for darker substrate is more a suggestion. They do look good in a heavily planted tank with soil, but any substrate will do.

I’d shop craigslist or facebook marketplace for used 500 gallons and not look any smaller. Balas are a BIG commitment because not only do they get large, but they need swimming space to boot. At that size it’s more practical to use acrylic over glass. With a massive weight reduction (keep in mind 500 gallons still ways around 4500 lbs) steel or aluminum for a stand is more practical with a wood overlay.

@Odd Duck thats smart. Definitely the white ones with a not fully formed exoskeleton! Just for ease of cleaning. I know even my beardie had trouble digesting mealworms. Some whole segments would be left in his feces. As for fish I assume it’s fine. I used to train oscars with crickets, a beloved meal for them. They will do ANYTHING for a cricket. So a mealworm would likely be fine. Some fish prefer terrestrial insects over aquatic ones, my trout have definitely nabbed a few flies and spiders that tried to go for a swim.

I should clarify I am not a tech curmudgeon! But there is a difference between “smart tech” and “tech for the sake of tech.” The aquarium hobby is better for things like wifi timers and [cheap] capacitive LED lighting. But when people outside the hobby start giving solutions for problems that never existed, I become grumpy! If this tank promised me that it could automatically adjust the light for the time of day and the surrounding light, switched power in case of a power surge or outtage, and had a roomba shaped like a snail that cleaned excess fish food and algae; Id be over the moon!