Biotope Biologist

I apologize for my absence on this forum and on my journal but I have some exciting news… I spent the last month moving down to olympia and getting settled in down south. I think I went a little overboard on the new digs but here we go: Its a 50 gallon lowboy with an island in the middle. That island contains Whitetop sedge, ‘sheldon shorties’ reed grass, and small leaf water willow. I ordered these plants from a Clemson University nursery and they didn’t enjoy the trip, but I’m seeing new growth. The island also has a ‘Z’ ABS tunnel system underneath it for the gobies. For filtration right now I have to run the old Shiruba, but it’s getting the job done. I am waiting on the sump kit from in2infinity that @OnlyGenusCaps told me about. The first kit got lost in the mail so the next kit will arrive Thursday. I “splurged” and bought a locline setup for the return. The sump is a 20 long from petcos $1/gallon sale. It will have a 10 gallon fill and the rest will be emergency overflow. The sump will house the amphipods and snails I will be breeding for the fish to eat. It will also have a small 50w heater to bump the water temp up in the winter. It’s sitting pretty at 68-69.5 degrees. I did have an early nitrate spike of 25ppm. And it’s holding steady there but once the plants are done being shocked, I expect that number to go down. The turbidity here is higher certain times of year and I do enjoy a more mineral rich water supply so my kH and gH are at great levels for these fish from the tap. I can’t find the gobies. When I said “I never want to see my fish again” I didn’t mean it literally. I just wanted them to have plenty of room to exist…. So this is the final iteration of the creek biotope. I saw someone running something similar in the UK and boy did that tank look smaller on social media. But I’ve committed and I really enjoy this tank’s dimensions. I will likely be adding another group of 10 whiteclouds and some small polka dot rubberlip plecos. I would also like to bolster my male gobies harem but need to do research on the feasibility of that. anyways enjoy!

You’re more likely to encounter trilineatus in the hobby than a true julii. Julii cories are supposed to have fine spots on their head whereas trilineatus have a reticulated pattern. Although I say “supposed to” with heavy quotations as there are some varying accounts of markings that make me suspicious of this actually being accurate. Anyway I have reason to believe you were most likely sold ‘false julii’s’

I believe they only parasitize aquatic insects but I do not encounter them in my line of work so I know very little.

Those are water mites. Likely limnesiidae. I’m not super well versed in limnology so that’s my best educated guess.

Bichir is a french word brought to english I believe, so technically the correct pronunciation is (Bih-Sheer) Anywho tank maintenance with plants doesn’t have to be a snorkel. For this exact reason alot of aquarium people use a telescoping arm like so: and I would almost assuredly get the extra strong algae magnets specifically designed for acrylic. It will cost you a good $200+ but won’t scratch. Also I enjoy the suggestions although personally I’d go South American cichlids. There are more gentle giants such as uaru that would really look good in that type of display. There is also a company that makes fake banyon roots called aquadecor and they make custom orders. Cheers let us know what you decide!

Just got caught up on this tank it is beautiful! Can’t wait to see the fishes in there!

I had a chinese algae eater (6”) and he was rather peaceful. But each fish has a different personality. What I can tell you is my tank had alot of beard algae and the algae eater preferred the green stuff over the beard algae. As stated above a razor is your only chance at getting it off

Males and females can only be put together for breeding purposes. You can divide the 20 gallon with a screen if you don’t want to put a betta with the shrimp. But many members here have bettas with shrimp and shrimplets and from what I can tell have had no issues with predation

According to another german aquarium magazine the males can have their black spots smudged into a “smoky pattern” that may appear all black during courtship but is not a true melanistic strain. The females of this strain are blonde and I believe that exact photo of the female is the one duped in your image. called “smoky mary”

A disaster similar to yours took me out of the hobby for 6 years. It’s hard and I’m sorry for your loss

Detritus worms like black worms like to clump together like that but I can’t see them well enough to I.D either.

Hydra consume up to a 1/3 of their diet as FFA (free floating algae), they are not picky eaters but are a majority predatory.

I had fry and baby snails in with my very robust hydra population and the hydra never touched them. Hydra do have stinging tentacles but if the snails can figure out how to attack them they make quite delicious snacks. I wouldn’t worry too much about them

Looks like hydra although I’m having issues with your video. They don’t cause any issues and for me they went away on their own. I kinda miss them 🥲 They eat some of the smaller animals in the tank like baby daphnia, cyclops, rhabdocoela, etc.

Red mangrove Moneywort Valissneria Florida sedge Brook weed Above is a list of plants I have gathered {research} for brackish tanks. It really depends on how brackish you go. Jungle Val can act like eel grass up to about 1.008 before it starts melting from what I understand. The other plants can go up to mid with no issues but they are for the most part emergent plants, which for a paludarium should be no issue. If you only go to low end brackish (up to 1.005) most of the hardy plants can tolerate salt although they will grow slower and be dwarfs. Once you hit mid-high brackish you can move into macroalgaes such as chaeto and most available Ulva species The main issue isn’t A lack of plant species that have adapted to estuaries, but the lack of popularity and in some places in North America the protection of estuarine species.

When I was a kid I was convinced my kuhli loaches died. I never saw them after the 1st day in my tank. A significant time later I was taking apart the tank with my dad and we pulled the undergravel filter up out of the gravel and out plopped all the kuhlis completely alive and healthy.

I have a 1985 challenger air pump that still runs. It’s been maintenance free other than the replacement of the air check valve every 10 years or so in the airline. It is older than I am by about 10 years… https://www.ebay.com/itm/314157152437?hash=item492539b8b5:g:b2cAAOSwwoxjDujz

No need to excuse a good question! Yes you can hook up a sump to multiple tanks. You will likely want some sort of auto water changer if you do this so you don’t have to run around checking water levels. I don’t think there is a golden rule for it. Surface area is king as far as any filtration system goes which is why I’m willing to have a filter the size of my display tank. If I do decide to get a puffer for this tank, I will need it.

I really liked at the end of the bulk reef supply video they showed that the 1st black baffle can be turned 45 degrees and you can have the filter sock in the corner. This frees up SO much room for the refugium part of it where I intend to grow macro algaes and let the baby shrimp/hermit crabs hangout away from hungry eyes. The gates sound interesting. I’ll have to look into that as my intention is to create “tidal shifts” with varying water level and salinity between 1.008-1.015. (I’m not sure if I can tag that video as they are an online competitor to the coop: “DIY sumps for saltwater”) Seriously wish I found these sooner as those aforementioned glass panels from Home Depot are brittle and I am not patient or tactile- so I buy 4 extra.

Here I was thinking it was the last dragon ball

Not picky at all and marine salt vs. aquarium salt are two completely different animals (chemicals). They don’t tolerate the former very well but do just fine with the latter.

I am doing some research on sumps for my 12 gallon bookcase and stumbled across this: https://www.fijicube.com/products/sump-baffle-kit-10-gallon-fiji-cube Now for the longest time I have just been building my own sumps with the help of a nearby tap plastics or the glass repair panels at Home Depot (they are the perfect width for a 10 gallon or 20 long) These products have me thinking I can be CHEAP and LAZY which is, for me, an ideal world. So with that having been said… -Has anyone used this DIY kit or others like it? -Does it create weird backflow issues or the dreaded dry pump runs? - Any other concerns I may not have thought of?

Monterey bay was a destination for me when I was in college! Thanks for the trip down memory lane I also quite enjoyed visiting the whale watching center. I want to say in Moss Landing? They had tanks in the back with a bunch of grad school projects which was definitely fun. I wish the Seattle aquarium was better…

Bonus pet! Same with the worms ☺️

I should add I now have a better population count: ~100 adults including 10 monster ones ~40 sub adults innumerable babies 1 baby slug 10 earthworms maybe 3” long now