anewbie

My understanding is diatoms feed on silicon and you are using ro water; so you have control over the silicon level.

The two i like are pinto (or if i can't find pinto then golden) nana (really quite lovely) and afzelii. There is also a gold coin (not to be confused with golden nana) which i don't love but it some folks love it.

I'd watch your fishes very carefully; whenever i approach 1.0 they start gasping.

I think they most of the Laetacara spieces get around 3 inches for males - less for females. Laetacara thayeri might be closer to 5 inch - it is not visually as attractive and less common. Depending on taste araguaiae have a bit more colour but males are probably around 3-3.5 inch. Oddly enough thayeri is sometime called false keyholes. Also araguaiae don't do that great in a group - better as a pair.

Water parameters? Water parameters make a difference between easy to breed and hard to breed; softer water is always a winner with sa fishes.

Yea I'm going to put keyhole in my 40B when i move it to the new ~120 (18hx30wx72); also going to put in a few p. leopoldi... but i don't want to comment on them yet as i haven't own them. Another interesting fish to consider are Laetacara (pick your favorite species though curviceps, dorsigera and araguaiae are most common); they are a little smaller than keyhole and a little more colourful but can't comment on how their behavior differ - they are pair forming.

Couple of comments: panda gara will eat bba - they are a bit on the aggressive side when they eat (they don't attack other fishes but they will push them away in their eagerness to get food) You might double check but off hand i think keyhole cichild like being in a group; also they mate for life.... so ...

Decades? Depends on size and type. Mine hasn't made a dent; neither have my larger L204 - but they L204 did devour a large piece of Cholla Wood which was kind of sad because he loved hiding in it until he ate through it. I think that only took about 18 months.

The ones i have doesn't appear to eat plants; they do require wood. I do have something eating my Blyxa novo; but i think it is either the whiptail or young bn.

Likely too young to sex; even if they are old enough a more detail picture would be required. This link can help you sex them and you can read others experience on breeding them: https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=2178

I picked up my L204 from petco for around $20 just before the pandemic: Since the pandemic our local petco has not been so great....

Yep I agree; just noting an interesting experience - one i doubt would work with any other species of cory or likely to be easily repeated.

They are some what similar to some species of apistogramma; but they are more territorial and 'stronger' fishes; they are peaceful outside their territory but a 29 is fairly small with regards to floor space so depending on how you scape the aquarium their territorial might be 1/4 to 1/2 the bottom of the 29. Also they love to dig - give them deep soft sand and a rock or piece of driftwood they will gladly dig a little nest under it.

Kribs are vicious monsters; so anything that stays away from them will work - i.e, most mid level/surface fishes - tetra, rasbora, guppies (if your water is hard enough), barbs, rainbows, .... there are many options (not sure any of them are found in the same habitat of kribs). I did manage to get a school of pygmy cory to co-habit with kribs - i think i lost 2 but after the kribs 'learned' they were harmless they allow them to swim with their frys - once this happen - the pygmy would literally follow the kribs around the aquarium - using them as 'body guards'; really was quite amusing. - My one hate for kribs was that they were extremely proficient breeders ensuring their frys got lots of food. The first few times this is a lot of fun - but after a relatively short period of time you will find yourself overwhelmed with trying to catch them - much like bn pleco (i have a spawning pair in my 40B that have become a real problem).

They can take over the tank but unlike duckweed they are easy to get rid of - i routinely throw away a large amount during my weekly water change; but since they are a larger plant i could easily remove them from the aquarium. The headache with duckweed is that it is very difficult to remove 100% of it - esp from a larger aquarium - though a good surface current will really dampen it (as well as most floaters).

Noticed one of my 'dwarf' lilies showing off its 'dwarf'ness (this is nearly a foot in diameter): I waited till one of the adults serape swam into the image so you could get a feel for scale: The species is Nymphaea stellata; so just remember that next time you order a dwarf lily for your 5 gallon aquarium 😉

For myself the 55 is a horrible aquarium; it is too tall; and not wide enough. I like the 40B; 65; and 75 depending on needs. If you have tall fishes (angels for example) you want at least 18 inch height; taller depending on species. 18 inch is a good target for min. width for larger (> 29) aquariums. This of course is a matter of personal taste as lots of people love 55.

Just feeding the frys bbs; the head in the foreground is daddy and mom is with the frys. If you look closely you see the orange belly of the frys cause they are stuffed with bbs. They are around 20 days old so i'll have to do this another 2 or 3 weeks - 3 times a day.... i doubt i'll post pictures every time i feed them 😉

The fellow breeding them is extremely knowledgeable - hongsloi is one of those quasi-pair forming species and so the m/f aggression is lower for a time once they accept each other - though they can break up and some individual males end up being far more aggressive (macs are another such species). I suspect he kept them in a larger aquarium and placed them in the 7 to breed them. This is a bit different than your configuration. i strongly suspect he is using the 7 to 'breed' them but they are not in their full time - in addition his aquarium has a lot of length so the separation area is much larger. You are welcome to try a pair of hongsloi in your aquarium but i would not recommend it - also upon purchase you need to make sure you have a pair as the tank is not large enough for normal courtship and bonding. They are not a small fish so you will need to do large frequent water changes. There is more to size than length. They are not super active but mine did use the full 29. alenquers and fire red are equally aggressive.

Who is suggesting hongsloi is ok? I certainly never suggested them and explicitly said the aquarium is too small for them. At this point I think i've said everything i can say and I'm just repeating myself... and believe me i have made a lot of mistakes and i have seen other very experience fish keeper run into the same issue. While different individual have different aggression level don't underestimate the aggression and fishes know how to kill other fishes. You won't necessarily see rip fins or other obvious damage; you don't kill a fish by nipping at it.

That's what I said way near the top - well i didn't give the dimension but noted the size between 10/15. The problem is aggression level between m/f so the floor space is the problem - i named one species that will work (i have mine in a 10) and the only other species i would consider are borelli but that is pushing it. The problem is enough space to handle aggression between m/f - they need to be able to escape from each other or one will die.

sounds like generally brass breaks down but it isn't over night - as to how fast it breaks down - depends on the quality of the component and i have no way to judge that. I have to use a pressure regulator and those seem to be lead free brass so i'm stuck there i think.

Yes of course it depends on a lot of factor but generally speaking they will not like her very much and depending on individual aggression level she might be able to escape or she might not but either way she will be stressed and live a shorten life. So i will rephrase it is a combination that in general doesn't work out well.

Hum. Not sure about brass leaching; i suppose i could look for a polyp nip to barb fitting. In the aquarium with this reactor a trace of copper won't harm anything it isn't blackwater or shrimp and any snails that happen to get into the aquarium will quickly be eaten by the loaches. My gut feeling is given the size of the aquarium (550 gallons) and the limited exposure to the brass fitting it is likely ok but i'll look for polyp fittings.

Rams are pair forming; once a pair forms the other two will gang up and likely kill the third.