xXInkedPhoenixX

I looooove your plecos. I want to squish them (in a good way). 😍

Hi there Ashley. Welcome to the forum. Lots of people love the Fluval light. You should check out this thread to help you with programming and dialing in your needs... Fluval Plant 3.0 Scheduling and Programming

Well they are beautiful! If I did it again, I'd keep the tank at 80-82, make sure I had a tight fitting lid or put some plastic wrap over most of the top for humidity and add Catappa leaves to the tank. Good luck @Karen B.! Hope this time it works out very well for you!

I did finally think of something which isn't a necessary purchase- more of a decor tip. If you like the look of glass pebbles you buy small bags in pet or craft stores for astronomical prices and they don't go very far. Buy fire pit glass marbles that come in lots of pretty colors and they come in big bags. You'd be surprised at how many things you end up using them for.

Considering what you say is "your luck" I'd avoid Bettas too. Have you noticed how many sick/dying betta posts we get on a DAILY basis? I won't keep them anymore myself. I manage to keep everything else alive with no issues- bettas- yea, no thanks.

Presuming you're in better health since you're looking for fish, even still. Hope you are doing well.

You might consider holding back the BB from this tank for a while and see if that helps. If not you can go the way of treatment. I've not tried any, as it seems a bit much IMO. You DO have quite the hydra farm going tho! 🙃

Well that's going to be what's helping farm more. They're not necessarily BAD if they're- free live food especially. They're kinda neat little creatures. However not much eats them and I see they're in a Betta tank. Not sure if they do. I had a small patch forming in a tank. I occasionally feed baby brine from frozen. I stopped that a while. Then I got Guppies. They took care of the rest of them.

No worries, you may have some algae as well. Hydra usually multiply when you try and clean them off the glass which is usually where they start- they are like starfish in that if they lose a limb they grow another. Be careful with recommended treatments as some are very dangerous with tank inhabitants. Often if you feed less or have inhabitants that eat them they will go down in number. They eat from the water column most often it's things like baby brine they grab.

@Beardedbillygoat1975 (or anyone else that can answer this question) the TOUS catch all is for anything not considered a fish tank big OR small? (just trying to figure out where my 1/2 gallon not fish related vessel will go when this goes down)

I have found it easier for me (I only have 6 smaller tanks from 20 gallon down) when I started this hobby to have 1 gallon bottles at the ready for water changes. So since the beginning I've been filling those from tap and treating the water. They stayed out about 24 hours (dunno why, just did it this way made sense for one reason or another- including temperature) before I'd cap them and put them away or use them. Recently I started getting Catappa leaves. I boil one in my stock pot with about 3 gallons of water then I let that sit until it's cool enough to pour bits into each 1 gallon bottle, I get about 2-3 inches of concentrated tea per each bottle then I fill them up with tap and treat them- but they still sit out uncapped for 24hrs. Sounds like a lot of work but this far in it hardly takes up any time.

Hi @Stacy welcome to the forum. Looks like you might have a few things going on. Please tell us about your tank. How many gallons. How long has it been running. If you test your water, tell us your parameters. Also tell us what kind of light you use, how long is it on and temperature of the tank. What are your occupants? I think so far you have a at least of couple issues. It appears you have Hydra on your sponge filter (the white things with little branch like appendages) They are not necessarily an issue and not an algae of course. Sometimes beneficial.

I'd have to caution you. I agree even without having kept one they'd be hard. I admire @Odd Duck's fish keeping skills and as a pea puffer keeper she's even had some issues with aggression. PLUS they come with their own set of diseases since they are wild caught and need to be treated. They are adorable I don't blame you but I'd probably go for something a lot hardier this next time around.

I like Tom Holt. Along that line you might like (if you don't know of him already) A. Lee Martinez. He's American but he's very good at quirk- I highly recommend Monster and Divine Misfortune.

Keep fighting the good fight Lee, you can do it!

I love the little Darters. Besides your discus they are my favorite fish you have!

@Fish Folk ahhh, well while I'm sure it's entirely possible for the manufactured hoods to be capable, just based on my experience with the hood on my Aqueon when I first got it- probably be pretty hard for it to happen (and prone to failure- aka lights going out within a year per some reviews)- but the light was not adequate anyway, so I agree with you at some point when Jen can afford it she should get herself a glass lid and aftermarket light.

@Fish Folk you had a stray current from a hood light? Whoa, lightning in a tank!

Hi @JenTheDroid did you put an airstone inside as the ACO sponge filters are designed to easily do? If not that could help you as the bubbles will be smaller andd not splash quite as much. You can put a limiter on there to turn down the air- however in my experience most hoods with lights inside are designed to withstand the humidity and water splashes in a tank. It's a cleaning issue at times - just as a glass lid is when algae and hard water deposits. Over time the water may effect the life of the product- but as I said many hoods and lights nowadays are made to withstand water exposure. Oh and there is a diy method for splash I saw on here, put a drink cup lid on the airline at the top the bubbles hit that and don't splash as hard. 🙂

Nothing has really come to mind that's a mind blower, but I do have a particular philosophy with material items. BUY THE VERY BEST YOU CAN AFFORD. This sounds counter intuitive on the surface but it really isn't. For example, you go to a store known for cheap products and buy a cheap sauce pan. For the sake of argument lets make that pan $20. This pan is guaranteed not to perform very well for very long, it might at first- but quickly the cost to benefit ratio will become very apparent. After a year maybe 2 at best you buy another 20 or maybe 40 dollar pan. Ok, now you've spent 60 dollars on pans. That one lasts 5 years. Ok maybe you say, I'll get me a 60 dollar pan that lasts 10 years. If you can see where I'm going with this- you can spend 150-200 dollars on a pan THE FIRST TIME that will last your lifetime- could be vintage (I love old cast iron) or maybe brand new- but you'll never have to worry about buying another one- so you won't have the frustration of having to replace said pan, not contribute to our throw-away culture, and bonus- in the long run you end up spending far less money, less frustration (when the item begins to fail and break), time etc on low quality product. (this is not to say people who are just starting out and who are on a very tight budget need to break their banks- hence the best YOU can afford- the used market is great for stuff like this- lots of people here get great stuff for their aquariums with very little money or free even- or maybe you eventually upgrade your entry level products- this is what I had to do) I feel like there are some things like the above scenario in the aquarium world. Of course we have a lot of peripheral stuff like tubing, air pumps, sponges that will need replacement no matter what we do- but we all also know some tricks to keep even those things from being frequently replaced (like cleaning air tubes and sponges- not putting limiters on air pumps-instead putting them above an aquarium for better flow etc). Quality product plays a part of this though- buying cheap doesn't always mean saving money.

Hahaha! Cute! Though at this point I would have named the boy Pigpen and the girl Lucy lol!

I would venture a guess it will be stocked with official @Fish Folk fishies??

I feel you @Bev C, my Otos so far have only taken to eating ENGLISH cucumbers. All other veggies have thus far been rejected! I actually have to make special trips to a grocery store for my fish since my farm produce delivery only has "in season" local farm produce.

@CT_ Yea I'm not great at taking pictures- I enjoy being in the moment- and really- pictures never really do things justice than the in person experience- you can't see anything with a cell phone in your face. Or a camera for that matter (yeah I have a really nice one of those that is lovingly stored). It was really cool of him to give a discount. You're right about him giving a discount (possible overhead savings- it is a very small store and I DID buy them out) but you'd think it'd be from a special order or a very frequent customer. I didn't have a problem at all paying full price- already had it calculated. He'd said he'd had them on order for weeks and it just depends on what the wholesaler gets. I'd think that rare fish or wild caught that are not as common would be a commodity they would not discount. It is a small store though, and I don't know what mark up is on fish like this. They are worth every penny though. I hope that I WILL have babies in the future to sell to him.

That's fantastic! I love my girls, they're so unloved in this hobby. The eggs aren't really THAT hard to scrape off if you really want to. The only time they bother me (a little) is when they're on the front glass, easily removed with a razor scraper I have. Otherwise they fade over time. It's all tank glitter to me. Funny you named her Kirby! My solo Hillstream Loach is Kirby too. Brave Little Toaster? Or just a vacuum fan? 🙃