anewbie

dwarf gourami are notorious for being aggressive/bullies. You should only get one. I'd look for someone other than the employee you chatted to at your store for advice - see if they will take the other two back. Having said there is a chance it might work out if you give them a few weeks but you should not be shocked if the aggression increases.

Photos are likely upside down because you are holding the phone upside down - you can use any image editor to rotate the image before uploading. Not sure what windows default editor is - i use linux.

-- Around 86-87. After a week a few started to die so i cooled it down and the rest were ok. i keep them around 75-77 (75ish winter 77ish summer) as that is the temp of the condo. I looked up their native river but couldn't get an exact temp range - planetcatish has them 72-79 which is usually pretty reliable. Mine mostly stay in the back in the shade but sometimes come up front to eat - when i had kribs who nested in the front they stayed just outside their cave since they kept all the other fishes aways 😉

Btw a couple of fishes you could consider are otto and an interesting pleco. Otto are best in large groups - i recommend 8 to 15 in a 40. Not sure what type of bn you had but the lemon blue-eye are inexpensive and pleasing. Also the females tend to stay pretty small. I personally like L204. This one tends to eat a bit of wood but is pleasing to the eye and in the right environment not overly shy.

I wonder where you obtained that temp range - i've always gone with 71-78 as the 'official' range with a preference for 75-76. I know they didn't do well when i heated the water to treat some other fishes with ick.

For short tanks a turkey blaster is useful for moving frys or sucking up excess food on bare glass/plastic bottoms.

I know several discus keepers who do 50% water change daily; i do 50% water change twice a week on my 29; but on my 5 gallon tank with shrimp i do a 15% water change once every 6 weeks or so.

A few comments. First a 40 is borderline suitable for an angel - the issue is the height is only 16 inches - 13 or 14 after you add substrate and leave a little room from the top of the rim. An adult male angel can easily get to 8 inches high (females seem to be a bit smaller). Of course in a smaller tank they might 'runt' which isn't the best thing but at least size won't be an issue. - Generally my angels leave bottom fishes alone as long as they aren't breeding (guarding eggs). For this reason you really don't want to get a second angel - if you have a female and get another female it might work out fine but you don't want a pair and if you have a male you really dont' want to put another male in the tank given the tank height. - I'm not sure what temp you keep the tank but i presume it is around 77-79 range given the angel. pygmy prefer it a little colder. I'd go with a warm water species of cory - perhaps sterbai - only problem with sterbai is they tend on the shy side of things but still you could get 6 to 8. Conversely you could go with a less shy cory. The only reliable unshy cory I can think of is not suitable for warmer waters. - Rummy are fine but you might consider a slightly larger tetra like black neon or lemon - an adult angel can eat cardinals or rummy if motivated. Typically if you raise the tetra with the angel they won't eat them unless they get hungry. black neon adults are a bit larger as are lemon.

I had a 20 long that was 4" off the floor and it was a royal pia. I had to use an active pump to do water changes which in itself was a pia. Also it was a pia to work above the tank since the tank above it was about 12 inches - it was such a pia i upgraded it to a 40 and put the 40 at 30 inches high - though being lazy i waited 9 months before the upgrade. - Of course the reason to do it is space savings esp if you are going to try to fit 3 tanks in a column - so that is the trade off - I would recommend at least 8 inches off the floor and at least 18 inches between tanks but if you have an active pump you can go as low as you want and the gap between the tanks - well that is dictated by trade off of easy of working with the tank vs number of tanks per column. - Oh one other thing to consider is bending over - of course if the top tank is too high you will need a ladder so there is that to consider.

First for a tank that is 21 inch deep and a relatively low powered light i'm not sure why you are running it at 40%. I'm not even sure from the description you gave what problem you are trying to solve but I will make a few comments: First i don't think you should use nitrate level to determine your level of dosing - the fertilizer has instruction on how much to dose per gallon and that is what i would follow. Generally nitrate level can be quite misleading for many reasons. Also for the api mater test kit shaking of bottle 2 is critical - as well as the mixed solution (after you add the drops to the test tube for bottle 2) and is a frequent cause of mis reading - when you said api master i presume you are using the liquid tests. - None of the plants you are trying to grow 'cept for maybe the pygmy sword are particularly sensitive but the crypts and swords will start pretty slow in a low tech tank - the pygmy is likely going to struggle with that low light. - The Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus can be a nice plant but I would place it along the back edge. - I think you are putting in way too many root tabs - i've used sachem and more recently nilog - but i never put in anywhere to that many tabs. - One area of contradiction is when people get algae they start reducing light - but that usually increases the algae growth because the plants have a more difficult time. You should not expect 'fast' growth in a low tech tank - and should be patient and happy with slow steady growth. - If your nitrate level gets too high (I consider above 20 high but many people consider 40 and even 80 as fine) the best solution is to use water changes to control it. On my 29 which is massively over populated with swordtails and guppies I do 2 50% water changes a week - the plants grow well in that tank and the guppies keep it clear of algae so it does ok for a low tech tank. -

Well - you will have to take one of the female out after a pair forms as the other two will harass it to death. Until then i'm not sure if you should wait a bit of just pick one yourself. - The fact that the male isn't showing a lot of interest might suggest he is not sexually mature (assuming it is an actual male).

This is not unusual. It is best to introduce all of them at one time but still even in that case there can be some bullying. If you are lucky after a week or so things might settle down but there are not guarantee. Even if you buy them at the same time they will at some point bully a bit as they establish a pecking order or pair up and they might drive a particularly small or weak member out of the group. They are after all cichlid. Anyway i would keep an eye on it and see what happens but just be aware it might take a week or two for things to settle down if they do...

I have a group of 10 otto in my 40B and even among this group they have a different preference for diet. When i put zuc in the tank there are 3 or 4 that will immediately jump on it but the others seem to ignore it and will stick to plants or glass in the same proximity. For a while i had one that would swim upside down at the top and suck in flakes when i fed the other fishes - after a while it stopped doing that little trick and perhaps it was just extra hungry but it was still kind of amusing. In my 120 i have a group of some number - at least 7 - for about 8 months i thought most had died because i would only see 1 or 2 but recently (last 4 or 6 weeks a bunch of them - 7 (which is how i know have at least 7) have been collecting in one corner during water changes. - Anyway after i move i tend to put 20 or 25 in a 180 and at least 5 sae in a 450 (ok ok sae are totally different but still a very amusing fish in a group).

Not sure it is a parasite problem but they are not healthy if they are not eating. I think with parasite they will eat but waste away. Unfortunately there just isn't enough information to provide any sort of accurate diagnosis. Could be a problem with temp or water condition as well as an issue with the fish themselves. Do you know if they were tank raised or wild caught. Most rams are tank raised which should make them adaptable within limits however extremely hard water or water that is too cold is going to put an immediate damper on them.

You might try measuring kh in case carbonates are being added. The numbers i gave you is what a fellow who breeds rams for 10ish years told me - but you can try your tap and see what happens. Once they form a pair they are eager breeders. One thing from various forums and personal experience is rams seem to live longer in warmish (82) soft water.

If the TDS is 300 ppm it will be difficult. You want around 80 but 120 is possible. I've bred rams in my 'tap' water the tds is around 120 gh 7 kh 3 and ph 7.1.

Did water changes on my various tanks - not sure what to do with this mess:

Shouldn't you defrost it before putting it in the tank ?

One negative of Rephashy i find is that after you mix it - it has a short shelf life (2-3 weeks) in the refridge. Is there an easy way to increase the shelf life so a larger amount can be mixed at one time ?

What light do you use on these plants and are they sensitive to shading by taller plants ?

The Corydoras bilineatus "San Juan" look more interesting if you can find them.

depends on the canister filter (model). Most are gravity fed for input but a few have active pumps. For the eheim pro 4 - check the instructions - for the classic they have to be below the tank (on the floor). I'm not sure of your cocern with regards to hoses as they come with plenty - at least the clasic (I have a 2217) does. -- Checked the online manual and couldn't find anything definitive - one user reported it working fine but i'd email eheim to be sure. - To be clearer they all have active pumps - the pump pushes the water back into the tank - but at least some models indicate that putting the filter level to the tank puts more strain on the motor - at least that is what they claim.

They don't eat other sword plants ... so yes they eat them just like they don't eat sword plants in general. - In case my answer was confusing - none of my 12 bn have ever eaten any of my sword plants including micro swords.

My bn will go for it but the clown loaches devour the stuff. Not sure my otos care for it - my l204 also nip at it but the yoyo and clowns are the big eaters... well i have one tiny female bn who lives off the stuff. Amazed she laid eggs she is so small but whatever.

I have around 25 in my 120 - i'm mixed - they just sit there and look pretty - to be honest now that i'm up to 8 or 9 angels they ahve gotten a bit more skittish - when i had only 3 angels they were less shy. After i move they will be put in the ram tank and i'll find a larger tetra for the angel tank - maybe lemon or black neon. - Anyway i think people like them because they sit there an look pretty - not too many fishes with such a brilliant reflective blue/red in the freshwater world - lots in the salt water world but then all my plants would die: