Chris

I kind of agree - at least in the picture they do look a lot like females. My favorite guppies have always been strains closest to wild guppies. They just seem to have less issues. Once you get huge tails, long fins, and thin beduncles (spelling?), I start getting disinterested due to health issues. Nobody sells feeder guppies here anymore, but if they did, I would probably have a strain of mutt feeders. I don't have any guppies to share, unfortunately! I used to have some Limia Nigrofasciata that were pretty plain, though, and they've probably been one of my favorite livebearers to date.

The Thai Micro Crabs stay under 1/2" and filter feed, for the most part. Super cool, but terrible in big tanks since they get lost so easy. Great for picos like this one. The Pom-Pom Crabs (the freshwater species, not the saltwater one - there are two!) also filter feed, but get more like 2" across. Very cool, but less attractive to look at for a lot of people. They're just kind of brown, rather than the cool pattern that the TMCs get.

Perhaps a colony of Thai Micro Crabs or a couple Pom Pom Crabs would be a good choice? Mine never tried to escape, although your tank is far more open than mine was. If you're set on a fish, maybe a small group of male Heterandria Formosa, Male Endlers, or a reverse trio of Clown Killies would be good... with a lid. I don't see most of those fish staying in the tank long without one - same for shrimp, unfortunately.

Excuse the quickly-taken phone pics - tonight was more of a "get things done" kind of night, rather than a "make them look pretty with a DSLR" kind of night. Here's the 55 I've had sitting in my closet for like 6 months - after my Mantis Shrimp died, I didn't really have a reason to set it up back up. All the fish that lived with her died as well, so I was kinda just meh about it. But, I decided to throw it back together for my Marine Betta and Long-Fin Mocha Clownfish. All this rock in here right now is dead and dry - I've got a few pounds of live rock I'm going to throw in tomorrow, once I can get an accurate salt reading on the tank. If things go to plan, I should be stable, cycled, and ready to start adding fish 1-2 at a time this time next week. This is the 47 gallon Eheim tank I've had for a year and never set up. I've posted about it several times, but I've always been afraid of setting it up without a proper stand, since it's rimless. I figure a level floor with a carpet and rug underneath of it would work well enough, don't you? Leak testing right now. I ordered some lid clips from Amazon that should be here Monday, and I'll probably go to Lowe's tomorrow for a piece of eggcrate to serve as a lid. And here are the little guys I picked out to go in the 47. This is their QT. 12 Tiger Barbs, all around 12", and a 2" Red-Tailed Shark. I figure I might add 6-10 more Tiger Barbs once these guys are all settled into the tank, and then maybe another small group of boisterous schooling fish - either some large tetras or maybe another school of barbs. Or, maybe I'll just go all in on Tiger Barbs and see about adding in a group of bottom dwellers or something. The tank will be a stream/river tank, with a relatively high amount of flow, smooth pea gravel, and either some slate rock or some rounded river stones, depending on what the LFS has. I also did a water change on the Mystery Snail and Shrimp tank - still no eggs from the mysteries, though. I'm beginning to think I ended up with all one sex. Here's the Betta tank. You can see some pretty good growth out of the Ludwigia and the Crypt on the right - the Crypt on the left is brand-new, rescued from my brackish tank, and the piece of Jungle Val hasn't really taken off yet. The Scarlet Temple was just something I threw in here out of curiosity, since I've never tried it under low-light. And, of course, an obligatory puffer pic.

Someone's gotta have some new pics of their puffers by now!

Honestly, for me it's depended on my situation at the time. Sometimes I have the room and time to keep a couple QT's set up and running, and sometimes I need the space or those tanks for something else. I always keep several pieces of cycled sponges in different tanks to make sure that I always have some media ready when/if I decide I'm ready to get fish. I've been known to occasionally impulse-buy fish with no QT set up, and for me to just come home and spend an hour or two setting the tank up and getting it to temp. Fish are usually okay in bags for a few hours, so I've never worried too much about it unless the fish were bagged noticeably poorly, in which case I just re-bag them myself and carry on my way. I don't recommend that method of doing things, and I do my best not to do it often - but it does work when done correctly. As far as antibiotic's killing beneficial bacteria, I've truly never experienced that. I've actually had a couple debates on other forums over it, and at one point had someone on a saltwater forum dedicated to fish disease chime in. This person is kind of the go-to in a lot of saltwater communities when it comes to disease ID and treatment: In the end, I failed to find out anything particularly concrete. It was all anecdotal evidence and personal experiences - no actual studies. But, FWIW, I've dosed Erythromycin (Maracyn is the same thing, I believe) and Kanamycin without any noticeable ammonia/nitrite spikes in my freshwater and saltwater QT's.

Hey guys, I've got a 47 gallon Eheim Rimless tank that I've had in my closet for about a year, and I'm finally ready to set it up for some new fish I just put into quarantine. However, I'm planning on moving in the next few months, and would probably end up putting this tank on a double rack in my new home - something that wouldn't make sense to build here in my teeny tiny apartment. So, I figured I'd set it up in the floor, for now. I've always heard that for rimless tanks you want to ensure that the surface the tank is on is completely smooth and that you also usually want to sit the tank on a layer of Neoprene to make sure the weight is 100% evenly distributed. Is all that really necessary, or is it another false claim that's been circulated around on the internet without ever really being fact-checked? Would I be okay to simply set the tank up on a rug that I laid down on my carpet (after making sure there's nothing underneath the carpet to break the tank), or would I need to pick up some plywood and neoprene and go that route? Any advice is appreciated.

Messed around with my betta tank today - removed the rock that was holding the driftwood down (it sinks now!), added in a struggling Crypt from my brackish tank, and removed the filter floss since it really wasn't gathering anything. I also did a roughly 40% water change, for giggles. Kind of insane how much happier this guy seems now, after me having him for a couple weeks or so. He looked healthy in the cup, but now he's actively flaring at his reflection and jumping up out of the water at my finger, if I tap on the lid. Bettas are sassy!

FWIW, lots of marine hobbyist use sea water from a mile or so offshore in non-polluted areas for their tanks. It's said to be way better than artificial seawater, although I'm firmly landlocked here in KY and will likely never get to test it. I'm unsure how bad ocean pollution was in the late 1800's and early 1900's, but I think it's possible they could have pumped water straight from shoreline and used that into tanks. Later on, they may have had issues, depending on pollution in that particular area.

Sounds like you've certainly bred more guppies than me, but aren't there certain strains of guppies/livebearers that have modified gonopodiums that makes it difficult/impossible for a male of that strain to mate? I can tell if the gonopodiums on your males are abnormal, but I know I've read about that particular issue somewhere.

If I'm being honest, I've yet to really get a handle on them myself! Their care requirements aren't as well documented as most coral, and it seems that some of them simply don't thrive in the average aquarium. But, as a rule, you treat them much like freshwater plants. You have two overarching groups of macroalgae, and three different colors (that matter for the hobbyist): You have calcified and non-calcified algae, and some that fall somewhere between the two. Calcified algae are rigid, and tend to be less edible for herbivorous animals. However, they require calcium (among other things) to grow, and can quickly deplete a tank of minerals without dosing. The Cactus Caulerpa I posted is semi-calcifed - it's somewhat rigid, but it's not stiff, per se. An algae like Caulerpa Prolifera is almost completely non-calcified, and feels similar to a blade of grass. The three color groups are brown, green, and red. Brown species tend to live very near or at the surface of the water, like Sargassum. These species receive tons of direct sunlight and usually very heavy flow, and as such, most people don't have good success with keeping most of them in tanks. I've tried Sargassum twice, and it slowly died off both times. Something like a Blue Scroll Algae is brown with blue iridescence in the right lighting, and is much more attainable for the home hobbyist. Green species tend to live in the first 20 meters or so of ocean depth and are usually used to relatively intense sunlight - but nowhere near what brown species receive. These are probably the most common ones you'll see - they're usually some of the easiest ones to grow, and are great at absorbing nitrogen in the case of most non-calcified species. Red species tend to live somewhere below 5 meters or so, and are used to lower levels of sunlight and even nearly complete shade. These are very popular ornamental species, like Gracilaria Hayi, Dragon's Breath, or Galaxaura. Some are completely non-calcified, but IME, most of the red species available in the aquarium trade are at least semi-calcified. These also require high levels of iron (like red plants in freshwater tanks), but tend to be slower-growing. Macros have really only been popular as ornamentations for the past few years in niche groups, but they're growing in popularity, I think. Macro tanks can be a great change from your regular reef tanks. Here's a 10 gallon macro tank I had in March of 2020 - you can see several species of red macroalgae as well as some Sargassum on the right. Plus, some second (and third!) generation saltwater guppies.

Long time no see! This tank has been kinda hanging out on autopilot while I house-hunt, so not much has really changed. I definitely have more cyano and hair algae than I did a month ago, and way more aiptasia, but that's to be expected. I really just need to scrape the glass and do a water change, and I think the tank will be in tip-top shape. The macros mostly died - the Cactus Caulerpa made it, but that's it. I'm not sure what happened with the others - they all melted away over time. The palys have done fine, though. I've re-thought my decision to stock the tank with a mantis shrimp, but want to stick with a pest theme. A Gaudy Clown Crab is currently top of the list for ideas!

That probably would work better - the stalks seemed to hold up better in the water. I may try cauliflower next. I certainly won't eat it!

Panda Corys are super nice. Probably my favorite of the common species. My flowerhorn has quite the personality - he'll follow my hand around the glass and will jump and splash for food. He's also very easily startled - it's kind of funny to see a 5" chonker of a fish dart away at the slightest sound. But my puffers probably have to win it, for the sheer variety of personalities between individuals. My current Green Spotted Puffer is a food machine. Not scared of anything, constantly hunting, and just generally bringing chaos to whatever part of the tank it chooses to float over to. Meanwhile, my Figure 8 Puffer is super timid and sweet - he's more likely to slowly approach food, study it, and take a small bite before thoughtfully considering the flavors and textures, before finally taking a second bite. My dwarf puffer is 1" of fury - I've never seen such an attitude.

My music tastes are... unique, lol.

I love the tank, but man... Those are some sexy crypts! By far my favorite plant.

I tried boiling some broccoli florets to feed the fish today - here's the opinions I got from my tanks: The Flowerhorn didn't like it. He was super stoked at first, but spit it out pretty quickly. He likes peas, though. The pleco in the tank likes it, so no clean up was necessary. The Cherry Shrimp and Mystery Snails like it! But they'll eat anything, and the broccoli is pretty messy... The Betta from the pics above likes it a lot, actually. I threw a chunk in there for the nerites, but he's eaten a bunch of it. He likes peas too! The Otocinclus in the Pea Puffer tank dig it! So... a success, I think! Super, super messy though. Maybe I just boiled it too long, but it fell apart pretty quickly in the tanks.

I think it's more prevalent in Kois, but I've definitely had bettas change drastically. The Platinum Bettas you see at big box stores often turn darker over time and end up kinda pinkish with some dark gray mottling almost in some cases. Brightly-colored reds tend to fade to a less brilliant shade due to age, I've noticed. But I have no clue which genetic line tends to have more issues with it.

As far as I know, it's essentially random to the naked eye. IME, darker bettas tend to change color less often, but I've still had it happen - so it may be that a darker blue may stay blue. In my pea brain, I imagine it has something to do with the darker pigments overpowering other factors, but I have absolutely no evidence to back that up.

I'd imagine simply getting some fine mesh/netting from a craft store and tying it to the filter intake would be enough to keep the majority of the babies safe. Just gotta make sure it's really fine, and you'll have to check it for clogging/replace it fairly often. You may be able to just shove a sponge behind the wall against the intake, but I'm not sure how secure that'd be, and it'd still clog eventually. Alternatively, you may be able to replace the water pump with an airlift tube - get some hard plastic tubing, an airstone, and replace the flexible tube and pump it comes with with that. You can look at the Co-op's mini pond build for a tutorial of how to make an airlift tube, but you'll have to come up with your materials and measurements yourself. You wouldn't have to worry about the 90 degree elbow at the bottom or the connector - a simple piece of PVC with an airstone drilled through the bottom should be sufficient. You could even save the bendable tube that the tank comes with and use that to connect the hard tube to the filter output instead of worrying about bending the tubing or using an elbow on top. I

I second the shrimp tank idea - you may have to get creative with a way to keep the babies out of the back chamber (to save them from the pump), but they make great little shrimp tanks. Three male endlers or male least killies would likely do well - it's on the smaller side, but definitely doable with the right maintenance schedule and some live plants. A more unique idea may be a trio of Clown Killis, 1 male and 2 females. Again, on the slightly smaller side, but not so hard if you're willing to put the maintenance behind it. Last idea - a Dwarf Mexican Crayfish. People swear that they need larger tanks, but I've kept them in standard 2.5 gallons before with no water quality problems, even with a relaxed water change schedule. They'll kinda tear up your plants, but they make very interesting critters to have on a desk or something. Since it's a vertical tank, I might recommend getting a piece of spiderwood or something similar for it to climb over - they'll climb and hang off of decor sometimes.

I put together a 5 gallon betta tank last night. I'm moving within the next few months, but had the itch to start something new... hence, a (second) desktop tank! With a particularly sassy male veiltail. I added two nerites for clean-up, a couple of nice-looking ramshorns for the visuals, and a handful of cherry shrimp to see if this guy is shrimp-safe. So far, so good. Also, here's an obligatory flowerhorn pic. He's practically yelling to be showered in affection. And food. Mainly food.

Everything looks good. I generally recommend against betta sororities - it's not that they can't work, it's that they often don't for reasons that are completely out of the aquarist's control. An aggressive female (or, worse, several aggressive females) can end up wrecking the group. I had a group of 6 that did well for over a year until one day the alpha killed the other five, with no changes made to the tank that I know of. I'd just have a plan B in place to separate the bettas out if you need to!

I just caught the male golden wonder killi with a balloon belly molly in its' mouth... somehow. If anything, I'd expect him to go after the gobies, not the mollies. Crazy fish. I was feeding some frozen food to the tanks, so I dumped out the food that was in the cup I had thawed it in and scooped him up. I don't think he swallowed the molly (he doesn't have a MASSIVE bulge in his stomach), but I'd be surprised if it lives. I haven't found it yet. So... New killifish tank, anyone? I should mention that he's been pretty aggressive to the female in the tank - just a few scrapes and nipped fins, but I've noticed that he's most certainly the most aggressive fish in the tank. Is this common behavior from these guys, or did I just pick out a particularly ornery male?

I know they're not what you wanted, but they're still cool platies, nonetheless!