Biotope Biologist

There is a guy on ebay that sells acrylic prefab sump stuff that I bought mine from for a 20H. Great stuff! Very responsive too Anyway for a fluidized bed my understanding is it can be any size as long as it’s properly moving. Preferably water flow would be circular. They design fluidized media in a way too that you can have it as dense or as loose as you desire without it losing rotation. Most fluidized beds I have seen are cylindrical to allow for curved edges for the water and media to have the most efficient rotation. I think too you want a very good polishing screen prior to the bed, and debris can really gunk up and reduce efficiency of the media. Thats all I got, never built one only worked with them professionally. Good luck!

Hydrophilus triangularis (giant diving beetle)most likely. There are quite a few species in the US, but triangularis is ubiquitous and the most commonly seen. Do be careful, they bite, and they bite rather hard. Their larvae are what are commonly referred to as water tigers and can make fun pets.

I am not sure tbh. I’ve seen adult ramshorn snails and shrimp walk right over them rather carelessly. The hydra recoil into their tubes, which might indicate some immunity towards the stinging cells? There is quite an elaborate interaction in the marine world between hydra and predators/prey but I admit my knowledge is lacking in the FW side. I wonder to if hydra on the FW side can capture free floating algae and instead of eat them, imprison them in their tube and parasitize their photosynthesis as they do in the marine world.

Hi welcome! These tanks take a few months to fully stabilize. Having that much decay requires a rather robust bacteria population. The only thing I might suggest is adding a population of invertebrates to help maintain the tank. Copepods, ostracods, worms, and even isopods (the aquatic ones) would help. There are a few members here with long standing walstad tanks that might have more insight

Yeah not needed to have alternate light cycles. I really like the refugium style for FW. I keep plants that are good at removing more than nitrates and nitrite. Duckweed, frogbit, water lettuce are very good at removing pollutants that make it through most tap treatments even. Granted you won’t have to worry about that if you purchase your water from the store. Also makes a good grow out for live foods away from hungry eyes and fry grow out area! Although my dang gobies don’t eat the cherry shrimp so… that was a waste of 6 months 😅

I have a hydra population that waxes and wanes pretty aggressively. They take over the entire tank then disappear in a month or two. Never seen them harm shrimplets. Definitely seen the adults harm the hydra! But hydra typically feed on smaller things, hydra vulgaris can get quite large and eventually possibly eat freshly hatched shrimplets

They should settle down although rummynose can be a bit delicate towards being bullied so watch for signs of stress and watch them at feeding time. danios are voracious eaters and can hog food. Separate if need be, but my advice is to observe more first

Yes to both! Haha and no worries this industry feeds off the inexperienced. Which is sad because a better business model would be to inform the buyer and have them be successful and coming back for years. ACO follows the latter model hence this forum, so you’re in the right place just keep asking your questions

Looking good all around!

I would remove those nitrate scrubber pads first. Second can you take a photo of the filter compartments? I would like to see what media you have for the bacteria to seed. Second I would not add the medication to the water until you have dropped the nitrates and nitrite. No need to stress the system more than it is. Third as @jwcarlson said test the tap, your nitrates/nitrites could be coming from there. It sounds like the cycle crashed and the bacteria you have couldn’t keep up with the high waste that 5 goldfish and 2 pleco produce.

They are fairly new to science so little is known about them period. But knowing their ecology one would find that they have similar requirements to stiphodon gobies. Diet consists of macro algae and invertebrates found in creeks and rivers in the foothills. They likely need very well kept and stable water parameters and a higher dissolved oxygen content in the water. Mature tanks that have been established for over a year are also necessary most likely for both stable water parameters and algae to mature and take hold

I’ve always felt Ctenopoma were fun fish. They are quite timid at first but I have noticed they recognize their food handler and come out more when you’re present. I believe Leopard Ctenopoma can be had at most chain petstores still… Or you could always do a puffer colony there are quite a few midsize species at LFS now as people have been breeding pao puffers and a few others

Most likely a flatworm, although it truly looks like a piece of detritus to me 😅 maybe that’s the point

The reason is that 5 gallons of water is a small amount of water. Water changes will swing the parameters wildly as there just isnt a high enough volume to buffer said changes. I am trying to be as succinct as possible. I don’t recommend anything under 10 gallons for keeping fish for that reason as most fish produce waste quickly enough to change water parameters overnight. Smaller fish species such as rasbora and some killifish don’t produce nearly as much waste. The other thing that can also help buffer is plants. They will pull nitrate and nitrite out of the water. I would say your best bet is buy a 10-20 gallon tank on sale, they are cheap this time of year, and build that out for the fish. You will have a much easier time with your current stock. Then you would also be able to increase your danio stock to 6 as they are a schooling fish and will be stressed as a pair

I can’t recommend a good one because I despise my pump. Its a 175 gph pump from amazon and it is just not consistent at all and I had to modify it extensively to quiet it and keep my shrimplets and ramshorn snail babies from getting unalived…. It was cheap tho For my setup I bought this 50g lowboy from a frag wholesaler so it already had the return and drain holes cut in the side of the glass. I bought the bulkheads from BRS and decided to use the loctite fan sprayer with adjustable arm. I really like it, but my setup is a creek biotope so I needed good turnover and a decent current. I have heard that this setup works well for some plants that like flow. My drain is as bare bones as it gets. Just a 90 degree elbow off the bulkhead into a 1” diameter(?) hosing. The hosing has a control valve with a spout that dumps into a filter sock. Compartment 1 has my bacteria media just a bunch of bags of ceramic rings. The shrimp keep these free of grime. Compartment 2 is my refugium and I use frogbit, duckweed, and cabomba to both feed the shrimp and snails and filter the water. Compartment 3 is pump housing.

Yeah the tuna blue works. I can’t remember if that one allows you to configure the ratio of RGB intensity, but if it does I would adjust the blues down, plants mainly use the white/red. Kessils also have great resale value so if you don’t need the tuna blue in the future you could also quick sell it and buy the sun variant with no extra cost. I will show off my even more bare bones style sump. I set it up as you would a refugium and I got the acrylic dividers from a guy on ebay! My 1st package was stolen, and the seller was very gracious and quick to give me a 2nd set even before ebays insurance kicked back. I don’t use an overflow instead opting for the tank itself to be overflow. In case of pump failure it drains down and if the drain tankside clogs, the pump would run dry before it flooded the main tank. Also I have a more drab rhinogoby species, but I still love them:

They can burrow. And they tend to be fairly shy. I would wait to see. You would find bodies if something to that effect happened Watch the tank at night as well they tend to be most active in the early morning or late at night

I don’t love the Fluval plant line. ACO light is great but I think it is not offered on the website at this time? Otherwise take a look at the kessil line if growing more exotic plants. They are pricey, but they look the most natural and have great plant growth specs You’re right sumps are less popular in the freshwater world, but I have always preferred them. They make great fry grow-out areas and they increase the volume of water held. I have used canisters and HOB but I am lazy when it comes to maintaining filters and sump is so easy to clean. Otherwise with HOB and canisters you will get tons of opinions but I really don’t think you can go wrong with whatever you choose. Just make sure you like the design and go from there. Heaters you can’t go wrong whatever you like! If you have a sump you don’t have to see it just saying 😋 Lid: I like open air for good gas exchange and I use clear mesh from BRS (bulk reef supply) comes in a kit or you can make your own. I made my own as I grow emergent plants. Also has maximum light penetration whereas acrylic and glass you will lose some light efficiency from reflection. For heavy planted I would use some sort of aquasoil. They are all very good I prefer ADA or UNS. Setup the areas to be planted with the soil and cap with sand you prefer. You can use landscape cloth to keep the sand from mixing with the soil, unless you have digging species like gobies or loaches. It is more cost effective to figure out the main areas with deep rooting plants and build the soil up there then use the white sand to scape the rest of the tank where plants are scarce or rhizome or carpeting plants are. Rocks/wood: unless you want a specific aesthetic just get some from native areas to you. Boil for safety. It’s free. Otherwise landscaping yards sometimes sell “sample” rocks in 50lb lots. That is your second cheapest option. Buying from an aquarium store is generally for more exotic stones or wood pieces like seiryu stone or spider wood. Fish species: Usually those coming from the marine world like cichlids. There are SO MANY species and special breeds, but they are all colorful and personable. Gobies are becoming more popular, while they need mature tanks, they boast similar color to their marine counterparts. Here are a few photos. Lastly I like barbs for heavy planted tanks, I think they are under appreciated fish and equally flashy especially with a green background: Black Ram Cichlid: Rhinogobius rubromaculatus: Gold barb- Barbodes semifasciolatus:

They are relatively new to the hobby the larger danio species. And unlike other danio they do need the higher water quality and dissolved oxygen to be healthy. While I wouldn’t consider any danio species aggressive they are extremely rambunctious and high energy. So that also limits their compatibility to tanks with barbs, larger tetra, and larger gobies that aren’t so timid at feeding time. Good luck in your search!

I’ve seen older aquarium stores with stands on casters. Those look fancy and def have the load capacity so I say go for it.

Calling all cichlid experts! @Guppysnail @anewbie @Fish Folk This area is my achilles heal. My guess is some sort of Apisto fry?

Bengal danios are extremely uncommon in the trade. Giant danio are common as they are sold at most chain petstore Devario aequipinnatus vs Devario devario occasionally I have seen misidentified Devario being sold as giant danio, but rarely have I seen other Devario species (properly labeled). If you aren’t looking for those specific ones, might I recommend the Barilius genus? Otherwise called hill-trout. They are not trout and becoming very popular as creek/river biotopes have gained traction in the last few years. My Orange-fin hill trout- old photo because they are very hard for me to take photos of

Well depends on your LPS situation if you have any herp specializing shop they will definitely have it. Or if any pet store sells poison dart frogs near you, jungle springtails go hand in hand. You can order them online but it’s not worth shipping costs imo. Sometimes specialty plant shops will have them too, especially those who have expensive exotic plants that are rather fussy about their soil quality

Have you thought about adding semi-aquatic or jungle springtails? They will help keep the upper segment free of mold and clean the leaf litter. Looks great!

It’s a cypriniform that was incredibly popular in the 90’s early 2000’s as a pond mate for koi. AFAIK they share much in common in growth rate, diet, and temperament to koi and goldfish. Although they fell out of favor as they tend to occupy the deeper bottom segment of ponds and quickly become ‘shy’ rarely seen fish. I have never kept any personally so all accounts are from other’s experiences and not my own.