Biotope Biologist

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.

Appears to be a blood worm. Which is a generic name for midge fly larvae.

If that is a worry I would recommend a silicone desiccant packet. Nowadays most fish foods come with one stuffed at the bottom. I also live in a high humidity environment and I stuff them everywhere to keep moisture out.

They get to about 2 feet, some more than that. Eventually people move them to outdoor ponds. They seem to do fine with water temps above 60 F Common pleco are really not great pets for most people just due to sheer size and waste. If it is in the budget and space you can move up to a 125g tank and they will be comfortable in there.

All over. And once they get more comfortable their school becomes more loose with some exploring on their own. But they seem to school when sleeping or being social

Im going to guess weird color mutation. There is a species called the dipped tail pencilfish with a large black blotch over its tail, but that one is on the wrong side of the lateral line.

1. Yeah 1-1.5” is fairly accurate, they are a more full-bodied fish so they grow taller than wide 2. I have never observed aggressive fin nipping towards other species but they can pick on eachother sometimes. I only see this behavior when they are really stressed out though. But all tetra are capable of this behavior. 3. I believe them to be the only species of the genus to have a large blotch on the upper lateral line near the gill cover. Others have bars or are completely lacking. the species rosacius can have a diffuse blotching but they also tend to have white tipped fins rather than black 4. It appears that the redness of red phantoms is from the locale they were collected from as f0. They appear to retain these colors through the generations. The reddest ones being collected over blackwater habitats. Since almost all sweglesi are captive bred they are denoted with ‘strain names’

I don’t need to base it on any scientific articles because you won’t find any. Not one that studies a system in which there are too many variables to account for. Engineers can control for evaporative loss given several constants in a closed system environment. But fish tanks are not closed systems. They receive several inputs and have several things interacting that cannot be removed as variables. Something in which the equation lacks. Even the chemistry of the water plays an integral role which I believe is why the equation assumes a pH of 7.0 with no dissolved solids. Such fiercely analytical minds can be a cumbrance. If you have further issue with my findings you can DM me, but I would rather not detract from OP’s intent to find useful information on ownership of a shallow body tank.

I am going to tackle this from a biologist’s perspective and also clarify that we don’t actually know why fish jump. In the field at around dawn you can see fish jumping everywhere. In the ocean, streams, estuaries it doesn’t matter. People say they might be escaping predators, responding to stress, or catching bugs out of the air. But I don’t think this explains the behavior and here is why. I have seen full grown sturgeon breach. I have seen sharks like dogfish and salmon sharks breach. Even bottom dwelling fish like halibut. Then when I first had my tank open air no net, I lost shiners, minnow, and even a goby to these nighttime/early morning affairs. I have accidentally startled the trout into jumping, they are skittish. But the gobies and minnow didn’t make sense. Until I saw late at night my gobies playing near the surface of the water and breaching. It is something I can only attribute to play or comfort or a “jump for joy” if you will. It is not something I don’t think is actively being researched. But for now I will not keep open air tanks anymore without some sort of protection. As for the netting the fish are allowed to jump in the open sections of the tank the net is to keep them from breaching close to the edge of the tank where it might be fatal.

They are pretty tolerant of water parameters. The sensitivity I have seen comes from stress from other fish and not being able to hide. I am sure you are aware that it takes a bit of training to get them weened off live foods or frozen live foods. We kept ours in a species only tank with snails and otocinclus.