Chris

Played some peek-a-boo with my mantis shrimp. Peek-a-boo... I SEE YOU!

Currently: Omega One Freshwater Flakes Omega One Saltwater Flakes Omega One Saltwater Mini Pellets Omega One Veggie Kelp Pellets Omega One Frozen Bloodworms (Flat Pack) Omega One Frozen Whole Mysis (Cubes) San Francisco Bay Frozen Whole Plankton San Francisco Bay Frozen Emerald Entree San Francisco Bay Frozen Spirulina Brine Shrimp San Francisco Bay Frozen Carnivore Cuisine Repashy Grub Pie Ocean Nutrition Clams on the Half Shell Meijer Whole Frozen Brown Gulf Shrimp I'll usually have some different types of frozen fish and live earthworms/mealworms/waxworms to feed, too, but I'm out of all those at the moment.

Siphoned out poop and excess food in the bottom of my QT tank: Black Neon Tetra: Neon Tetra: Green Cory: Fed my Green Spotted Puffer some snails - and he's still hungry! And my female Clarkii Clownfish was being really aggressive, so I thought I'd distract her with the camera for a few minutes:

He is! He's a very docile little guy!

Here's a quick and dirty video as the tank is right now. The only plants that have made are the Java Fern, one Anubias, and Jungle Val. I tested the water and I had been running at around 1.007 for a full month... I think I can attribute that to the plant death. Oops.

Hey guys, I work as a jeweler in a metal-free facility, and would love to be able to rep my favorite store at work. That said, I don't want to order a $40 hoodie only to have it be unusable at work. Does anyone know how much metal is actually on the hoodie? I assume the zipper is metal, correct? Do the tassels have any metal in them? Does anyone know if the Co-Op offers a metal-free option? Thanks!

I'm pulling the plug on the Pothos - I had read that it could do well with some salt in the water, but that's not been my experience. Maybe it was because I got Golden Pothos and not the regular species. It's doing well in my 5 gallon pea puffer tank. Some of the other plants are struggling too. The Anacharis is growing (very slowly), but the old growth is getting covered in hair algae pretty quickly. The Crypts are doing fairly well - growing new leaves, with only a small amount of hair algae overtaking old ones. The Java Fern isn't growing, but I keep on seeing baby ferns floating around the tank, so I assume that's probably a stress response? The El Nino fern (Bolbitis) is developing brown spots and doesn't seem to be growing. Same for ALL of the Anubias, except for one random Anubias Nana that's clinging to life. The Flame Sword actually seems to be growing, but it's hard to tell how much with it being at the back of the tank. The Jungle Val is beginning to die back, which is especially strange since it's supposed to be extremely salt tolerant. I dose Easy Green, Easy Iron, and Easy Carbon every 2 days at 3 pumps. I add root tabs monthly under the rooted plants. Nitrates stay high in this tank (always above 20 - usually around 40 by water change day) and there's obviously plenty of minerals, with all the salt in the water. I use a 30" Stingray, which is admittedly pretty low light (especially when the water is tannined), but I'd still expect more growth. I guess some of these plants aren't as salt tolerant as people advertised, or perhaps it depends on the specimen? I'm especially surprised that the Anubias and Java Fern aren't doing better. I've always heard that they're stupid tolerant of salt. TL;DR - Brackish Planted Tanks are hard. But, on the bright side, the fish are thriving! I'll have to get my DSLR out here soon and take some new pics. With the exception of the single BBG and the Limia I lost (which turned out to be the male), everyone looks fat and happy. The Balloon Mollies keep on catching my attention, especially - I think this is the ideal environment for a Velifera Molly, personally. They look great! I keep on expecting to see a ton of fry, but I think I have too many predatory fish in the tank for any to survive without me intervening. The HOB doesn't help, either.

Unfortunately, I lost the smaller of the two female Limia last night. The other two are in good health, and other than the BBG that I lost this is the tank's first death. The parameters all check out - no ammonia, no nitrites, and nitrates well under 40. SG is 1.003. They are all ammonia burned, and this was the least outgoing of the three. Perhaps it was just in poor shape when I got it? I see no physical injury. In other news, all of the female ghost shrimp in the tank are now berried. I bred ghosties in a tank not much different than this (other than the fish and power filter), so I think it's safe to say the fish will have some live food here soon! I also saw a total of 9 BBGs out this morning, the most I've seen out at one time so far. Some of them are just 1/2" long, so it's hard to say how many I have. At least 9!

Thanks! This particular sword is a flame sword, which I haven't found any direct references to in brackish tanks. But, normal Amazon Swords are listed as being pretty salt tolerant, and they're closely related. I've had it in here for a few weeks and haven't seen any degradation, but not a lot of growth, either. Jungle Val, from what I hear, actually photosynthesizes using carbonate hardness, meaning that it loves hard water (and salt).

I figured it was a long shot posting on a freshwater forum anyway - but I thought I'd give it a try.

Yesterday I fed two small pieces of raw table shrimp. He took them well, and was able to generate a little suction and eat almost normally. It was a BIG improvement! Today, I was feeding the angelfish in the tank a piece of the same shrimp, and the lion ended up getting the larger piece of shrimp! I didn't even have to offer it to him on a spike - he ate it out of the water column. Hopefully he continues to improve.

It looks good! If it were my tank, I'd grab a few Crypts to put in the foreground. I love them!

That'd be an awesome tank! I'd love to try a mangrove, but I've heard that they're extremely hard to move around. As in, once it's rooted, it won't survive very well in other water conditions.

I'm sure for many, many species of plants that's true. But people keep salt-tolerant plants (anubias, java fern and java moss being the most popular examples) in brackish aquaria fairly often. This is a slightly brackish tank, too (something I failed to mention) - the SG never rises above 1.005. Any higher, and you'd be absolutely correct. I think Chaeto only survives down to around 1.009 or so. All that said, information on the subject is pretty limited. It's all anecdotal, as far as I can tell. There are some scientific papers written on it, but they're all on plants that you don't see in the aquarium trade. This is a fairly helpful website for basic brackish research: https://thebrackishtank.tumblr.com/post/107155036207/planting-the-brackish-aquarium-2-1 He also has a page where he lists macroalgae that can do well in lower salinities.

Thanks! My mom has some Bacopa growing in her 29 gallon, so I may have to steal some. I'm not sure which species it is - I think she bought it at Petsmart in a tissue culture, so it's whatever species they sell. I'll have to look into it!

Hello! I set up a 36 gallon bowfront for a Figure 8 Puffer around 3 months ago. Initially, I planned on just doing the puffer, but found that the tank was far too similar to my Green Spotted Puffer tank. I put in a small female guppy to see how he'd react to her, and he paid no attention, even when she was stealing his food. So, I decided that a lightly-brackish planted community tank was the way to go. I chose a coarse sand for the puffer, since they like to blow the substrate around while looking for food. I went with black to highlight the green on the puffer’s back, and the green/black combo with the plants is always nice too. I used two pieces of Mopani to “scape” the tank - I stuck them in there in a position I found pleasing and called it quits. I’ve never been much of a scaper, lol. Once I found that the guppy did well with the puffer, I added a male and a second female. Then, a week or two later, I added a trio of platies. The tank was still freshwater, as I figured I’d just acclimate the whole tank to low-end brackish once it was stocked to make it easier on everyone. At this point, I noticed that the puffer had come down with a little bit of ich, and one of the platies had some spots as well. So, I went ahead and began increasing the salinity of the tank, and that took care of the ich after around 8 days. After the ich was taken care of, I introduced a trio of balloon mollies as well as around 8 ghost shrimp. I expected the shrimp to be hunted down in a few days, but the puffer doesn’t really hunt them. He ate one when I dumped them into the tank, but I think he figured out they’re hard to catch, and I keep him well-fed enough that he doesn’t have a chance to get hungry enough to try too hard. The shrimp still give him a wide berth, but spend plenty of time out in the open. They make great additions to the tank. Then, I added 4 black racer nerites, since I was getting some pretty intense diatoms on the glass. Nerites are one of the few snails that I know of that’ll do well in brackish and have a small enough foot that they can protect it while they’re stuck to something. One of the snails didn’t make the acclimation, unfortunately, but the other three have done well. The puffer pays a lot of attention to them, but I haven’t seen him pester them too much. A few days after that, I added in some Limia Nigrofasciata, the Humpback Limia. They’re roughly as brackish-tolerant as platies, and I was surprised to find them at my LFS. They’re a common Limia, but definitely still pretty rare in your average LFS, I’d say. I ordered 8 bumbebee gobies at my LFS that same day, and picked them up last Thursday. They ordered 12 and had 11 make it, so I took home all 11. I've since lost 1, that I know of. I probably went heavy on stocking, but with how I tend to maintenance my tanks, I think it'll be okay. I’ve got a pretty wide variety of plants, including: Crypt Wendtii Crypt Wendtii Red Crypt Tropica Flame Sword Jungle Vallisneria Marimo Moss Anubias Nana Anubias Golden El Nino Fern Java Fern Windelov Golden Pothos (growing out of the top of the tank) Everything except for the Pothos is doing well so far, although I may get rid of the Anacharis. I like the plant, but it’s just so hard to keep planted! It’s almost more trouble than it’s worth. I’m always looking for more brackish-tolerant plants, too, so if anyone has suggestions, hit me up! I especially love Crypts, but am finding them to be incredibly slow growing under brackish conditions. All the plants are growing slower than they do in freshwater, but the Crypts are especially slow - I did start with small plants, but still. The tank is filtered by an Aquarium Co-Op sponge filter and an Aquaclear 50, but I plan to remove the HOB once the tank is more established with a few more plants. Don’t need the HOB sucking up babies! I just have a generic Top Fin heater in the tank right now - I’d like to get a nice Fluval or Aqueon heater, once I can find the models I want in stock. For lighting, I’m using a 30” Finnex Stingray, and plan to stick with that light. I love it! It’s perfect for that low-medium light range in this tank. Maintenance in this tank consists of weekly 50% water changes, and the occasional glass scraping. Frequent re-plantings of the Anacharis have been a requirement, too, and I need to whip out the super glue and attach some Anubias to the driftwood more permanently - I’ve just been lazy. I have some sponge and cuttlebone in the HOB, but haven’t been running any chemical/physical media. I may add some carbon to help with the tannins, but I’m undecided. I don’t especially hate the tannined look, but I’m not necessarily a fan, either. So far, this tank is just fun for me. I love seeing how organisms react in situations we may not necessarily expect them to be in - plants and the common livebearers in salty water, for example. I bred some guppies in full saltwater, and had a blast with that. I just kinda play with this tank, and of course love the Figure 8 Puffer, the reason the tank even exists. This one is actually fairly brave, even compared to my larger GSP who tends to flip out if I approach the tank too quickly. I do a lot of saltwater tanks, and have several breeding projects going that tend to be a bit higher pressure, in a way. Plus, I work at a pet store, so I’m around tanks 24/7. Having a tank I can just enjoy is a nice change of pace!

Here's a few salty pics! Azure Damsel https://imgur.com/8FrFqp3https://imgur.com/8FrFqp3https://imgur.com/8FrFhttps://imgur.com/8FrFqp3 Conch: Urchin: Long-Finned Mocha Clownfish: Japanese Swallow Angelfish:

Glass tanks are usually supported on the corners - I absolutely would not trust the setup you've shown a picture of for any size tank.

I've got a pea puffer and three otos in a standard 5.5. They do very well. Nitrates tend to run a bit higher than I like (40-60) even with weekly water changes and lots of plants, but I blame my plant selection for that. No fast-growers in here, lol. Eating some BBS:

Female Limia: Bumblebee Goby chilling upside down on a submersed Pothos leaf: Balloon Molly being photogenic: Platies being nice and orange: Fancy Guppy showing off: Figure 8 Puffer checking out my camera:

I've found that the biggest advantage with the DSLR so far has been the ability to manually focus. I haven't turned auto focus on since the first day I had the camera, and don't think I will. Even for videos, I think I can provide a better experience with manual in most cases, once I get the hang of it.

Smart! Great pics, too. I have a Moto G7, which is a great phone with a "meh" camera. It does fine for quick family pics and even grabbing a quick picture for a forum, but even with manual settings tweaked perfectly for the scenario, most pictures just turn out underwhelming. For me, as often as I tried (and failed) to get decent pics with my phone, the cost is justified.

Agreed with above. There's actually a video a smaller Youtuber did on making a DIY gravel vac in the same style as the Fluval, if you're interested.

Been playing around with the camera some more tonight, and I also picked up some new Bumblebee Gobies, a Japanese Swallow Angel, and a Green Chromis. Here's a couple pics of the Green Chromis, who's residing in my 20 gallon mantis shrimp tank: The Angel: A BBG in the bag: Here's a video of the Green Chromis, Three-Stripe Damsel, and Peacock Mantis hanging out: And, finally, a video of the BBGs (and others) eating some assorted frozen meaty items. I apologize for the focusing issues - I didn't notice how bad they were till after the fact! I had a lot of fun making these!

Thanks! Never be sorry for being passionate about something! It's how I am with aquariums - I drove my poor parents up the wall with all kinds of fish stuff. It's always fun sharing something so dear to you when you don't get the chance to in everyday life! I checked out your portfolio, and they're all great! My favorite is actually the shot of the earthworm, believe it or not. I love how clearly the end of the worm is in focus, and how it evenly trails more out of focus as you go down the worm's body. I spent a good 10 minutes admiring a worm! Lol. I'm definitely bad for having dirty glass! I'll have to step up my game. I can see how a lens shade would be nice, with all the extra light a manual flash creates. I'll look into it!