CalmedByFish

@Wildflowergraham I know it's not a direct answer, but I think they're beautiful! The bright yellow is a cheerful color, and the long-ish fins are nice. If the red spots are boo-boos, I hope you can get them healed up. If it turns out to only be color, I kinda think it adds interest.

Pothos are great about growing in ambient light. Mine have 2 sources of glow: the actual aquarium lights (millimeters from the glass tops of the tanks, not high), and 2 small windows with closed miniblinds. I think it's every few days that I notice the vines have more leaves, and/or the leaves are larger. Ambient light is also how I grow my pothos that are planted in dirt. I think it'd be a pretty unique circumstance that would cause them to need their own light - particularly if you let them dangle down the glass so they're getting some of the aquarium's light. Or they could run along the top of the tank, parallel to the light. That gives a solid glow. Editing to add: The way you have your vines laying beside the tank lights is almost identical to how (most) of mine are positioned. Works great. I'd venture to say the black lights above aren't needed. Not that it's wrong to have them - just easier to not. I'm all about the easy.

The more I look at your scape, the more I like it. It's my impression that those of us who are not trying to follow the unspoken rules of making a tank look "right" are generally doing it for fun. We end up with cartoon decorations, and helter-skelter planting. But your uniqueness is so appealing to me. As if each small section is a separate world, yet the worlds are cohesive. I don't pay much attention to aesthetics, so I don't have good vocab to explain, but I really like it. It's both intriguing and peaceful.

Keeping the trash pandas out might turn out to be expensive. I'd suggest figuring that out before buying plants, just so you don't run out of money. I've heard they prefer to attach their eggs to the dangly roots of floating plants. I doubt duckweed roots are big enough, but maybe giant duckweed would. I'm not familiar with giant. Or you could use a "mop" - not the floor kind, the kind intended for eggs to attach to.

I don't remember what forum it was on, but I saw somebody use one to house live worms, so the worms would stay easy for the fish to find.

I like your scape. That front, right corner looks like its own cute little tank.

That picture looks an awful lot like something that would. not. get. off. my. thumb. It felt like it was hanging on with a tiny spot of very strong suction, though it didn't leave a mark. That was a couple days ago, and I hadn't seen that kind of worm in my tank prior. Any chance I got "bit" by a leech?

Great info! Thank you!

Mine's not so bad - pH 7.8, GH 15 (using equilibrium). Successful plants I have that weren't mentioned in your original post are vallisneria, dwarf sag, and duckweed. (The dwarf sag took months to start growing though.) Edit: Oh! And 2 kinds of anubias!

This is really helpful. Thank you! I brought the 19 down to 15, so now the tanks are GH 13 and 15. I also asked the current owner what GH these ones are used to, to make sure I don't need to adjust further. @CT_, if you happen to be referring to the guy I'll just call Rob, I actually emailed them once about a personal matter I thought we might connect on. SUCH sweet people!

I'm getting my first-ever shrimp this weekend! 🙂 They're juvenile neocaridina. I'll be dividing them into 2 tanks, in case 1 tank has a problem I can't detect. I've got all my ducks in a row, with 1 exception. I don't understand how concerned I should be about GH. Currently, 1 tank has GH 13, and the other is GH 19. Good? Bad? Why?

When you do, tell us about it please! Living vicariously here. 🙂 And not to be totally off topic, but I noticed your signature, and I suddenly wonder if the livebearers were eavesdropping on this: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." 🤣

How did they not go with "Aquaman" instead?! 😂

I don't know anything about treating swim bladders. I hope someone else can help. But I can offer the encouragement of telling you you're right. There's no such thing as "just" a life. It's good of you to care about the experience she's having. You've got your heart on the right track, and that will guide your decisions well. Since it's the wee hours of the morning (where I am), and I don't know if anyone can jump on to help soon, I suggest googling some info on clove oil. Not saying to use it - just saying it might be good to go ahead and have that knowledge as an option. Peace to you and your fishy.

If I remember right, back during the Texas Freeze, Goliad Farms had just a couple survivors from some species. Maybe the ability to survive is present but rare within a species - like how a small percentage of humans could survive lower temps than most. Though that doesn't easily answer the question of how, which would be interesting.

I've been wondering about this too. For that matter, if it is dug into the ground, what happens when a hurricane floods the yard? Fish "beached" in the grass? I'm hoping to do a stock tank that's large enough, so heavy enough, to not get turned over by a hurricane. Perhaps with some kind of heavy-duty screen that can be anchored on top to keep fish from being flooded over the edge, or whooshed out by waves.

In case this helps someone: I had tiny detritus worms ride in on plants, and have been careful to keep them alive in my tanks. I'm guessing that's similar to having vinegar eels to feed the fish, but without having to do the culturing work. You just make sure a little fish food falls to the tank floor, and you're good. They're constant fresh tiny worms for the fish to eat - definitely small enough for fry. So easy.

I'd say to find videos of the different colors of medaka, taken from above the surface of the water. That will help you see what they'll actually look like from above, and maybe you'll recognize a color you prefer, or just don't prefer. Maybe you can even find views of the color(s) you like taken in tubs/ponds with dark bottoms and light bottoms, to see what looks better to you.

Baffling. If you look around the edges of the lid, is there even one little hole or slot that she could possibly have aimed herself through?

Glad I'm not the only one!

I hope somebody can give you an answer that works well. For what it's worth, I can give some encouraging perspective. I've tried about 13 species of plants, and only 6 have stayed healthy enough to grow. Of those 6, I only truly enjoy 4. But hey! I've got 4 species of plants I enjoy! If this doesn't work out, just keep trying 1 each of a wide variety. You will find enjoyment that's not hard to keep.

Fresh comments make the post look new, but it was actually almost 3 months ago. I have solidly over 50 endlers now. They're doing great, and so is the angel. Thanks though.

When I was looking to buy endlers online, I had a hard time finding females. That makes me think your extras would be in demand. There's conversation elsewhere on the forum about how to (possibly) cause the females to produce a higher ratio of male fry, which might be of benefit to you. It looks likely to be possible. I'm currently trying it.

If you know the coloring of the 4 grandparents, you might be able to make some good guesses about dominant and recessive color genes.

Almost speechless here. I'm with @DSH OUTDOORS. Totally need an update.