[Help with suggestions for plants for a newbie]

italia val grows pretty well in the right condition; crypts can be nice - wenditti are the most common and some have nice colouring but there are many more interesting crypts of various difficulties to grow. I'm not a fan of amazon swords but there are a lot of other sword plants - however they can be hit or miss with difficulty of growing. I would not get lillies - over time they can become quite annoying - though initially they are wonderful.

Here is my italia val aquarium that is several years old:

Pardon for the mess i need to replant the anubia - the other plant in the mess is hornworth which is intentional as my fishes like the shading. The cardinals stay in the shade while the keri prefer the sun light 😉

 

[[LF] - Seattle - Someone with FX6 experience to clean Filter - $100]

I just cleaned my fx6 today; always a pia but 30 minutes is about right to rinse all the sponges. I wouldn't use those cartridge in hob filters; they are a waste of money - just use the sponge that comes with them and if still concern you can put a bit of floss above them.

[Type of Pleco]

My first guess is a female alibino (since it has red eyes) bn pleco. females have no bristles; male have well a lot.

[What did you get done today?]

On 2/25/2023 at 12:16 PM, Odd Duck said:

Not really something I did vs. something I witnessed for the first time.  I lifted the lid on my angel tank to feed and an Amano shrimp was hanging out on top of the red root floaters!  There are plenty of plants and my twisty wood “roots”, ceramic caves, rock crevices, etc, where it could hide.  And it just kind of stood/half laid there, grabbing at the unknown bits like they do.  It’s a well grown shrimp and I don’t think it would need to hide from the angels much.  But on top of the floaters?  Really?  😆 😂 🤣 

 

My baby pleco(s) do that - probably because there is a little algae up there and the larger fishes can snack on em.... while they are up there.

[Dutch/ plant farm 75 gallon (and other projects)]

Well i certainly will not be buying a bag of monterey sand as someone took the last bag 😉

 

 

[1 Angel fish turned aggressive]

On 2/22/2023 at 9:47 PM, Rewcolee1 said:

Thanks for the input and I thought this may be the case as I’ve read a little here and there. Over the years I’ve never had a group of 4, only 2 at any given time. I guess we will see how it plays out. My plants are growing and maybe I’ll rearrange a little and that my help.

The behavior depends heavily on sexs as well as individual fishes. I find females tend to be far more aggressive than males with male aggression more subtle and about pecking order but females can be quite mean and they have a forever memory of who they dislike. 

[What's your best algae eaters ?]

I have to say while I adore otos; sae and more so an army of panda gara are superior at eating algae (esp bba which oto won't touch). I find oto are more likely to eat biofilm than actual algae. An army of mystery snails can do a pretty good job (esp when they keep doubling their numbers every few hours); like oto i find bn eat a lot of biofilm and only so so algae. The only problem i have with panda gara are (a) hard or impossible to breed at home (b) fight like cat and dogs now and then (c) are rather aggressive eaters and can annoy more passive fishes.

[Whole tank died at once except snails]

On 2/23/2023 at 8:07 PM, Colu said:

I have kept bristlenose in soft and hard water over last twenty years and not had any problems bristlenose have been captive breed  over a long period of time and are tolerant of a wide range of water parameters I don't think the water hardness changing over the period of a week would kill all the fish  @anewbie

you can and most do but it isn't healthy. There has been some research that calcium builds up in their organs and shorten their life-span. How much - well that depends on a lot of factors. So for folks that keep fishes only 2 to 5 years and then 'dispose' of them it probably doesn't matter; but if you want to keep them for very long or 'optimize' their health soft water is better.

[Whole tank died at once except snails]

Fishes are more sensitive to rapid change in water hardness than ph; i sort of skimmed the thread but i couldn't tell how quickly the water changed; my guess is pretty fast and that is what killed the fishes. Also there is a bit of a contradiciton the guppies love hard water but that isn't great for the pleco and a 10g is too small for an adult bn though for a child it will be ok for a while but really should be in a larger aquarium.

 

Anyway my guess is the fishes couldn't handle the rapid change in wter chemistry and what should have happened is they should have been slowly acclimated. Probably put in a pail over night (with heater and sponge filter) while the tank was made harder and then very slowly adjusted their water in the pail via drip or similar (as in 4 or 5 hours for water that different).

[What did you get done today?]

On 2/22/2023 at 2:55 PM, Theplatymaster said:

i

because how can you change my opinion?

This is a point i would like to address; it would be a problem if presented sufficient information ones opinion could not be changed; but i suppose there are still those few who insist the earth is flat and if you walk far enough you will fall off and that is just the way it is - you can't hold discussion with certain people who have inflexible view of things. 

[What did you get done today?]

On 2/22/2023 at 2:38 PM, Theplatymaster said:

i am taking it the wrong way, you dont understand what im saying.

I said "in my opinion"

what my opinion is cannot be mistaken, its MY opinion.

But dont take this personally, you are ignoring a vital word, and its bothering me.

if i said "platies are the best fish"

you could disagree

but you really cant disagree with what my opinion is.

(im not trying to sound angry, im just standing my point, based on yours) (please dont flag)

Well lots of people have opinions. Some thing the earth is a square; other think the earth is the center of the Universe; still more think there are fishes on the moon - and all i can do is say all these people are mistaken. However they are all entitled to their opinions.

[Dutch/ plant farm 75 gallon (and other projects)]

On 2/21/2023 at 12:43 PM, gjcarew said:

A mix of Caribsea Peace River gravel, aquasoil, and Monterey sand

Curious is monterey sand a product or did you go to Monterey and collect some sand 😉

[What did you get done today?]

On 2/21/2023 at 6:29 PM, Theplatymaster said:

i can rant about this, but in my opinion platies are the BEST aquarium fish there is.

Please don't take this wrong but sadly you are mistaken.

[PLECO caves]

In the DIY cave; just take some slate or driftwood with a good shape and slant them on each other. I had one set of fish simply dig a hole under a large rock (I keep my substrate between 2 and 3 inches deep). I'm not into pots and pans any longer and prefer to just use rock and wood.

[Miller's Journal]

I found spiralis loves light and in good condition will spread like wild fire - but it takes a while to get really established. I have several and the ones with the most light have gotten over 18 inches high and lots of new ones sprouting all the time.

[What did you get done today?]

On 2/18/2023 at 7:19 PM, PineSong said:

I only see 2 pictures? Tank looks great by the way!

I put spaces between the pictures to make it obvious; you can compare the edited post to the one you quoted. Basically the first picture is the light; the 2nd/3rd are comparative. If you look at the substrate you can see the difference in tone induced by the light - the new light is fairly neutral and the plant 3.0 wasn't.

[Ivanacara adoketa]

They can be very aggressive towards each other until a pair forms; but they are pair forming and therefore not aggressive towards each other during breeding cycle with both parents helping to care for the kids. Not sure if they form pair for life or just until things no longer work. They can be extremely aggressive towards other fishes even when not breeding so probably not the best fish to keep with 'dithers' or tank mates. hard water is bad for their long term health

[What did you get done today?]

Testing a new light - first 2 pictures - new light - 3rd plant 3.0:

 

 

 

 

You can see the difference in tone by looking at the substrate. Btw aquariumcoop stopped selling plant 3.0...

 

[Snails in my ACO heater died, their shells interfered with heat.]

I'd like to know how snails are getting into the heater in the first place ?

[URGENT! guppies died right after waterchange]

On 2/15/2023 at 5:08 PM, evonner said:

Nothing drastically changed except pH but it comes from from tap at 7.2 and after wc 7.4 then in a week is 8.2 but they are used to this. I have one left, he keep free floating like hhis dead then swing then acts dead. He is in quartenine with salt and two air stones. I don't know what else to do. All parameters are within normal at all points

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't forget the dechlorinator. 

don't be obnoxious if you want help.

 

It is almost certainly NOT co2 shock; if the flow was sufficiently low it could be ammonia poisoning. But you said all the parameters were fine (everyone seems to say this when their fish die). Did you test ammonia; did you test nitrite; did you check the temp? If everything was 'fine' then they wouldn't have died so somehting was obviously off.

[Take a vote on these tetras.]

On 2/15/2023 at 7:00 PM, Theplatymaster said:

@anewbie  cichlids.have the wrong behaviors and sizes then what im looking for.

Don't be so sure.... Neolamprologus multifasciatus are pretty small. You could keep a whole colony in a 20 high; though they do have some special requirements.

[Take a vote on these tetras.]

On 2/15/2023 at 6:32 PM, Theplatymaster said:

Ill throw Red Neon Blue Eyes into the ring.

You asked about tetra; i threw in some rasbora; now we are talking rainbow fishes.... we could move to cichild and gourami next 😉

 

[Take a vote on these tetras.]

On 2/15/2023 at 4:17 PM, Theplatymaster said:

@anewbie tank is a 20high, moderately planted.

also if you could expand the list, what would you add?

In a 20 high i would go with a smaller tetra like glow light or ember; or a small rasbora like cdp (there are a gazillion different species that work). cherry barbs are nice - but i think i would skip them in a 20 high. A bit depends on your target temp - most tetra/rasbora prefer soft water. ember tetra/glow light tetra can handle warm water (78-82) better than many of the rasbora. I'd just pick the ones that you like the most but stick with 10-12 of the smaller species. You can get as many as 15 i guess. 

-

black neon are fairly large and 20 high won't give them as much swimming area.... so i would skip them.

[GH 2,300 ppm?]

While a lot of locations have rock-hard well water there is soft well water - it all depends on the source et all. 

[Take a vote on these tetras.]

none - list is too small 😉 but black neon aren't bad and i guess lemon and glow light are ok - not a fan of x-ray tetra - but of course if you are asking which to buy that depends on your tank size et all.