anewbie

I'm not @jwcarlsonbut what will happen is she will be attentive for 4 to 8 weeks depending on a number of factors. At some point she will start ignoring them they will ignore her. She will then spawn again - at that point she will be hyper aggressive towards them; if you have a nice bushy plant near the top (I have floating hornworth mess) they can hide in that or whatever though over time she will kill a few. That is probably when you want to remove them if you wish. Make no mistake kribs are more robust and to a degree the parents are less aggressive towards the off springs of a previous generation than cockatoo so there is a greater chance of more being killed with cockatoo than with kribs. Truth be told not only are kribs better parents (and you really don't have to add any food for the frys like cockatoo); they are true pairs with both male and female working together to guard the frys and territory.

I've done this on a 29 and 10; in both aquariums i used sponge filters - i put the fishes and plants in a 5 gallon pail; with a sponge filter; removed all the water and substrate; put in the substrate - put in conditioned water (i always condition the water before adding - conditioned water for me is tap water with prime added to neutralize cholorine); make sure the temp is correct - re-add the plants and fish - i also leave a little room at the top of the aquarium so i can poor the old water in the pail into the aquarium with the fishes. top off the aquarium if i left too much room at the top. For me i had zero issues all three times - the 29 which is heavily planted took about 2 hours - not sure if others have had issues; the 10 took less than an hour - maybe 30 minutes.

Not helpful but i had one confirmed female hongsloi the same size as a male. The others were significantly smaller. Having said that it is not too difficult to find female hongsloi if you want to buy a few (of course if they aren't local shipping $$$ is a kicker).

As adults the general rule is a pair of borelli would require a min. of 15 gallons and a trio 20 to 30. The issue is (and this is somewhat individual fish dependent) but when the female has eggs/frys she will become hyper aggressive and more than one person has tried a 10 only to discover a dead male in the morning. Your fishes looked like they were a bit young and not yet ready to breed but once they hit breeding age I highly recommend a larger aquarium. Also while the picture wasn't very clear in one of them it almost looked like you had two males.

The only rainbow i've ever kept was Pseudomugil furcatus (forktail blue-eye rainbow); and these did not jump - well one female might have out of 12 in a 40B without a lid. After a year i gave them all away but one male but 3 years later it is still swimming around being forky. Having said that i have no clue about other species.

Yea - the freshwater version; I have the 30 for testing that i picked up around feb 15 - it is more netural and stronger than the plant 3.0 and balances better than my wrgb2. There is a wrgb2 pro that adds white lights but it is a bit pricey and there have been some issues with wrgb 2 blue-tooth controllers failing. Mine haven't failed but it is definitely on the flaky side of things. Also if you like the blade it comes in a variety of lengths - nothing really suitable for 36 inch aquarium (40B) but otherwise quite flexible for those longer aquariums. I've never been a fan of tubes given their short life span - i think you are suppose to replace them around 4 to 6 months. I haven't noticed a big difference in plant growth between the blade and plant 3.0 - and I'm not really sure how i would measure such - also 2 months isn't really long enough - certainly algae hasn't been an issue but it has never been an issue over the past 3+ years in this aquarium. Pictures certainly come out better 😉

I believe it depends heavily on the species; i know some species of plants require acidic water and other harder alkaline water; I've also read that some plants are sensitive to too much nitrate. Not sure if any plants care about the GH being too high; though I suppose it depends on specific species.

Which chihiros; I have the wrgb 2 and overall i hate the balance. So far I'm liking the new blade a *lot* better and it is less expensive.

I think so too and it spread to the sponge filter. However i'm curious what it grows this way as the balls themselves don't seem to do much. Do you know if the balls are artifical (that is if they grow as balls in their native area or if they take a bunch of moss and 'ball it up'; I really love how it grows on the drift wood and I think i'll try to reproduce it in my other aquariums - though in truth this is the only one it has done it to date so there might be more involved.

What GH are they keeping it at? Also not all GH is equal. I.e, i think it depends on the mineral content that composes the GH.

Is there a particular reason you prefer Nymphaea Micrantha over Nymphaea stellata ? After my experience with Nymphaea stellata I'm reluctant to try another lily. Don't get me wrong it was fun at first but over the years it has gotten to be a pia esp in co2 injected environment. I guess i maybe i shouldn't curse it too much since the fishes love the cover but still....

Is it actual leach from the m. moss ball or something else - and I agree it is extremely lovely. I hope it survives when I move. Historically my moss balls break down over time - so if it is grown on the driftwood ....

enough to make me dizzy. do you have all of these in your aquarium; or have you decided some just don't work.

I did the usual water change on my 10 and a little maint (which amounted to thinning the hornworth and replanting the anubia). - There is something interesting that has happened with the drift-wood as it is now completely covered by either moss or algae. the stuff really looks similar to a m. moss ball which is just behind it and i'm wondering if it has 'leached' onto the driftwood - either way i like it. The tank is doing fairly well - been setup for a while - I think over a year (it used to be a 5 and most of the plants were transplanted. The crypts are doing well. It is hard to see in the picture but it has a fair number of fishes in there - the little critters up in the hornworth are a combination of a. pucallpaensis frys and shrimps. The parents are down in the lower area but they decided not to come out for a photo opportunity this time. I used to have a lot of pearl weed; but the snail ate most of it. There is still a bit up in the hornworth near the top and it is regrowing. This is what the aquarium looked like around 5 months ago so you can see there has been quite a bit of change with larger crypts and the pearl-weed.... Fishes have not changed other than more frys.

Having kept guppies for years i'm mixed on them; I think the thing i like best is putting a bunch of different types together and seeing what the frys turn out to be - over the years individuals have been amazingly spectacular others not so much but it is still fun to see all the random patterns that have formed over the years.

Actually it is quite easy to grow a very dense planted aquarium without co2; and the above tank did a great job with texture. You just have to pick the right plants. This is my 29 and while it is not nearly as nice as the above aquarium it has a high density despite removing massive amount of plants each week (again no co2): I do like the idea of adding a couple of coffee anubia to the left but while the angel is in there i need some open area. - The question is what plants you grow and most colourful plants ('cept floaters) do a lot better with co2. also things do tend to grow a lot faster with co2 - this is my 40B: Though nothing extremely difficult to grow is visible in the picture; the density is greater and there are a few lower plants that will pretty much only do well with co2. Unfortunately one of my cat fishes decided to eat them a few weeks ago (had them for 2 years; so it is kind of annoying). I do like co2 in some cases but I think it is over rated in other cases - because in experience people will jump on the co2 band wagon without understanding their object and what is required to achieve them. I will say that type of water you have also makes a big difference on the type of plants you can grow as well as temperature - again a lot depends on the specific type of plant you wish to grow and these are factors that most folks ignore. - Having said all this a simple of rule of thumb - dont' force a plant to grow in your environment if it won't grow - switch to something that likes your conditions (ph, temp, hardness); or do due diligence to figure out that exact requirements required (i personally find that to be too much effort 😉 )

Aquariums come in different standard size and heights; i would avoid 24 inch tall aquariums and if you have shorter arms; limit to 18 - standard heights seem to be 12, 16 (not common but 40B and similar); 18 (20 h, 29, ...), 21 (75 and similar), 24, and taller. - I have a 120 which is 4x4x2 (ft) and the height is annoying - this is a not too old picture (it is over stocked but primary stocking are festums, angels and clown loaches) - they will get a new home in approx 8 weeks with some going in 550 and others in a 450. Anyway for the larger aquariums if you are buying pre-made marineland and aqueon are the major brands. For custom made aquariums my research suggest custom aquariums is the best bang for the buck (i only like glass aquariums). My 120 (below) is a marineland aquarium on a rj enterprise stand. I find the marineland tank to be decent build relative to the smaller aqueon i have (not sure if this is a brand thing or size thing). You should be aware of weight factor and if the location is suitable for the weight as larger aquariums get very heavy very fast. My 120 is powered via canister filters (fx6+eheim 2227); but all future aquariums will either be matten filters or sump - i've decided i hate canister filters. I was going to do my 180s with mattern filters but custom aquarium woudln't warranty them if i modified them (glue in the support to hold the sponge); so i bailed and went with sumps with them - but in the future if i get more 180s i will use matten filters (you can look at swisstropical website for explanation). @Mmiller2001recently got a large aquarium from somewhere but not sure where. Some interesting standard sizes: 125 gallon is 6 feet long and 21 inches high - I can't find a standard aquarium size that is 21 inches or lower and greater than 125 gallon - if you go 24 inches high you can go up to 180 but i strongly recommend you get something 18 or 21 inches high depending on arm length. - If you get a custom aquarium (glass cages, custom aquariums, ....) you can get any size that makes you happy. I'm making my custom aquariums 4 feet deep (front to back) since i like a lot of depth - the 550 is 10 foot long. - The thing is that for a planted aquarium you have to manage the plants so you will want to be able to reach the bottom easily. As for stocking - that is up to you - i prefer smaller fishes - the only fish larger than an angelfish i would consider (personally) is a chocolate cichild but most of my fishes will range from 6 inches to 1 inch - even in a large aquarium - oh one other large fish i will be adding (to the 440) is a group of geo - likely mirabllis if i can find them. If you are ok with acrylic (I'm not); then there are other vendors to consider but do a lot of research - one issue you run into with a bad vendor is they are too thin and will bow over time and eventually fail. - When you price a larger aquarium - you have to consider how you will light it and how you will mount the lights. There are a lot of options from super expensive (ghl 7004/7006) to super cheap (flood lights on amazon - $40 a shot). For my new aquariums I'm using a mixter of ghl (they were extremely expensive) and ai new blade. i like the blade in that it comes in longer lengths for larger aquariums - though i only needed the 4 foot units - you can get 6 and (i think) 8 feet units. It is a new product - i can say from the 30 inch unit i picked up to test on a 29 it is fairly strong and pretty decent balance - but i haven't had it long enough to comment on robustness - i prefer it to wrgb2 and plant 3.0 so if it turns out to be durable as the plant 3.0 i'll be pretty happy with them.

So an item like this one: https://pvcpipesupplies.com/2-x-1-2-bushing-sxt-438-247.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw__ihBhADEiwAXEazJkvk5-nef4RKKM70Osbo3ihE8-S_sbzAkEwpU84FGGwrfV2K45YbdRoCxZ4QAvD_BwE I'm going to run my 550 with the reactor i made for a while but i'll look into changing it with something like this - basically it is a 10 foot aquarium so i could get 8 feet tube and put it on the back of the stand and then send the water into the sump return to be distributed by the returns.

Well it doesn't just sit there (I think); it slowly dissolves into the water. What specific part did you use for the ends to cap the pvc pipe but also had fittings for 3/4 barbs (or whatever you used).

how much did it cost to build and what did you use? When I built my cerges reactor out of a 2 foot water filter - the total cost was around $55 (most of it being the water filter housing); the pia part was double checking everything in the bath-tub for leaks under pressure and adjusting the fittings (i.e, putting lots of plumber tape around them) so they wouldn't leak. If I had to do it again it would take less time but the cost is bounded by the water filter casing which is not cheap. I suppose if i use plain pvc or similar it would be less. - Did you post pictures of parts and assembly your tube - i don't remember seeing them. I know that but in the vertical canister it can't escape anywhere since the outlet is at the bottom. In a horizontal tube it can escape if it can get to the hole at the other end where the water exit - i realize as i wrote it it wasn't well said but as the water rises the gas will be pushed to escape (potentially). While water has higher viscosity; gas also has a viscosity.

I almost never see dwarf cichild lock lip; i see it more frequent with angelfishes and similar. I never seen m/m lock lip but a google search suggest they can to establish territory - more common with africans. One person claims m/m rams will lock lips to establish territories (mine never did; but i only had them a couple of years). With angelfishes that i've kept a number of years the males never really establish territory and it is the female that runs around locking lip with males to (i presume) 'test' them. When she rejects a fish she doesn't lock lip she drives them away or kills them if they insist on staying near.

Isn't it a bit trickier than that; you have to ensure that the co2 doesn't leave the horizontal bar before it dissolves - I have to go back to the uk thread to see how he made it but basically my understanding is a 1 inch diameter pvc tube that is a few feet long - you inject co2 in one end and you hope by the time the water flows out the other it has dissolved - the in and out holes should be closer to the bottom of the tube's diameter in hope that the co2 rises to the top of the tube while it dissolves. The picture he has shows air on the top side of the tube with the water on the bottom but in reality there is nothing that prevents the tube from filling up completely with water and the co2 being forced lower. Did i miss something ? - With the water filter reactor the water is drawn from the bottom and the co2 goes to the top and slowly dissolve so the only way it can enter the bottom is via diffusion. Also with the water filter approach you can visually see what is happening if you use a clear one (i suppose the long horizontal tubing could also be clear so you could ensure the co2 is not escaping out the end prior to dissolving. Now the horizontal has the advantage that there is more area for the water to come in contact with the co2 so more can dissolve into the water faster (in my case the water filter diameter is around 4 inches and we can see this would be significantly less than 4 feet a horizontal solution could provide on a moderate size aquarium). However - and this is more a question - i'm not sure the horizontal would be more efficient if we consider effiiciency the amount of co2 injected into the system to reach a certain saturation level - that is while you can dissolve more co2 in the horizontal design it is not clear to myself naively that given a certain amount of co2 released from the canister into the reactor it can dissolve more of the gas - with the vertical design i presume the xtra co2 just sits at the top of the reactor until it eventually dissolves but is not lost from the system.

A few comments; a reactor (made from filter jar) should be no more likely to clog than the spray bar reactor; it really makes no difference if the reactor is vertical or horizontal (I think) if the length is the same; it might be that by having it horizontal the co2 spread across a greater area to diffuse and that might be the difference. Also the spray bar (co2 or otherwise) is no difference in that it has a pump and is not passive (with the filter jar I have i also have a dedicated pump). Another difference might be how the co2 enters the aquarium (though it is not clear to me why one would be better than the other); i have mine set to enter via the returns which are lower in the water column than your spray bar but there are gaps between each point of entry - which are evenly spread across the back of the aquarium - with the spray bar the return is more evenly spread across the back but is also likely higher (hit the water at a higher level - not sure if that is better or worse - naively i would think this is worse as the co2 would be higher in the water column and escape faster by passing lower plants. - At no point did i mention filter so i think this is something you added to the discussion - i merely the design of your aquarium's filter system gave you a convenient place to put the long tube - for others they would have to place it under the stand or behind the aquarium - for me behind the aquarium would be a bit of an eye store (I'm setting up a 10 footer).

I'm a bit confused why your design is more efficient than a normal reactor; the one i made is 2 feet high; other than perhaps if you have a long aquarium you can increase the length beyond 2 feet - maybe as long as 8 feet. However the negative is that you need a place to put it whether it is behind or in the aquairum. Your particular aquarium has an attached filter with a divider that provides a good location for the long bar; but suppose you had a more traditional aquarium without the dvider (btw the divider has a negative because it takes in tank area away from fishes and plants); and for example a more traditional sump below the aquarium - now where are you going to place the bar - my guess is at the back of the aquarium but now it is more of an eye sore.... or am i missing something ?

Locking lips between m/f is usually a test of male suitability as a partner. You know females don't want some weakly to breed with... some species of apistogramma are very easy to sex but hongsloi are particularly difficult. I had a mature female that nearly everyone thought was a male until she got around to laying eggs and then we knew she was a female.