xXInkedPhoenixX

They are so beautiful! 😍

Hi welcome to the forum, lots of great fish keepers here to share your projects/pictures and get help/advice if you need it. 🙂

I agree with @KaitieG on all of the above. You'd probably lose enough and keep enough with cover. Small floating breeders are invaluable though too if you don't have enough plants and they're great for separating fish when somebody is injured (or pregnant).

What I suspect is possible is that you might have a guppy/endler hybrid as endlers tend to have those irregular irridescent spots that aren't in any sort of pattern and different colors on their tail. I have a few Endlers that have neat colored spots- I don't have any great pics because as you might realize fish like these don't sit still but maybe a picture will help you see this is probably what it is (and you can of course internet search plenty of hybrid pictures) : It's hard to tell in the picture but that particular fish has a spot that is kind of yellow with green flashes near the base of the tail at the body. I have others that have irregular spots. It is what makes them unique. So if you're guppy is a hybrid then yes it's not going to have the pattern like a regular guppy would. We have LOTS of different kinds of fishkeepers here. If you want to see some awesome things with deep (organic) substrate and tannins @Streetwise is a good one to look for in journals he has some incredible tanks. Everything from very low tech (I'm in low tech) all the way up to VERY high tech. Lots of helpful people. You'll get differing opinions but that's because there are so many options in fishkeeping- just go with what works for you the best but do lots of research first THEN decide. It's part of what makes the hobby so much fun. 🙂

@modified lung I'm about 30 from it but I tend to frequent Splash Aquarium.

@modified lung you got it

I haven't, gorgeous little fish!

....now what to do with the two EMPTY tanks.....😂🙃

Oh yes I knew they were preggo, but those girls are PREGGGGO 🙃

Don't give up on that as a possibillity though. 🙂

Holy crap @Odd Duck that's no joke.

Yea @Odd Duck years ago I started the research to go down the saltwater rabbit hole as I wanted a Purple Frilly Frondosa I saw for sale in a LFS (that has sadly closed) the clerk tried to convince me how easy it was but um, from what I read I was not convinced and I certainly didn't want to take my chances and kill such a cool fish. Those fire fish really caught my eye I can't remember ever seeing them before, so very cool- and fish like gobies that "walk" in the water (and like that Frondosa) really really fascinate me. First thought was you when I saw the Pleco in there with all those gorgeous koi couldn't believe that I came across the combo so soon after our back and forth. Huge beautiful tank but didn't get a full pic of it. Plecos just look like sea dragons to me, I love them.

Hi, I'm sorry you have to do this, how sad. Do you have a veterinarian? Most don't see fish but if you have other pets, my vet for my cats has a board you can post on. Maybe Midway Pets has a contact with a fish club that they can refer you to or give your information to. You can try Craigslist but I'm not the biggest fan of that- however you can ask prospective takers what their experience is and I know there are people who look for used aquariums all the time who are major fish people. Some animal shelters too may have referals for you.

OTOCINCLUS VITATTUS & COCAMA: The Accidental Oto Tank So as mentioned before I'm starting to be a believer in this Catappa Leaf so I decided that I will make tea 1x a week and fill up my 7, 1 gallon bottles I use for water changes part way (about 1.5- 2") and fill the rest from the tap for treatment and use that for water changes. After the tea is done I put the used leaves in here and am working on tinting/tanin-ing(ha) the tank to acclimate the rest of the Otos to it. Hopefully too it will be a little bit of a food source for them- another option to graze on. AND when the patient is ready they will have some familiarity with the parameters and presence of the IAL. It's starting to color up nicely. My goal is to NOT be as dark as the QT by any stretch but to definitely have a tint/color change. You can kind of see it in this picture as the ceramic rock hide shouldn't look yelllow/brown as it is black/white and grey, and you can see some of the discarded leaves from my boiling them were put into the tank: The 6 baby Vittatus are 3 months, 8 days old. I feel like they take quite a while to reach 1" which is the requirement for a LFS before they'd buy them. I'll probably have them at least 6 months. The Accidental Nursery is still not ready water parameter wise- they were decent at first but went all wonky on me. It's ok though this breeder box is big enough for now: Prior to adding more leaves I did a deep cleaning this week, squeezing out the sponges on the HOB and cleaning up some hair algae on the plants (the light I have here is pretty high powered and I'd like to change it just haven't gotten around to it -and growing stuff is probably good for the Otos). This gives me the opportunity to watch the Otos while I work. They love their coconut hides, both species hang out on them. Water parameters this week: Temp:77.7 (no heater) pH: 7.6 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 KH: 4/71.6 (went up 1 from last test) GH: 125.3 (same)

Was just about and went through a LFS out of my area to take a peek. Their fresh water section was fairly typical but they had some nice specimens. Nothing I felt compelled to take pics of at the time but saw some pretty nice glass catfish. However @Odd Duck we JUST talked about Koi and Plecos in a pond. How about just a giant tank. He was about 12" from tip to tail end. I love koi, maybe someday.... Then I thought of @Fish Folkwhen I saw a WALL of discus....they had 1 tank of the ones colored like yours but these were all their muted colors and soooo many.....they were offering 10 off per fish if you bought 6 or more. Then I always get stuck in the saltwater section. Someday I'd like to try my hand at it but the stock is a whole lot more expensive and I'm a bit intimidated by it- but there are some VERY cool fish. And one that reminds me of the co-op, a saltwater Murphy friend:

Oh my gosh girl, you said barrel of laughs- some of your girls ARE barrels oh my goodness......

Just a thought too for @Jennifer V and you @Dstarr if you go for my trick and would like a little more flow you could still use a bag or mesh and line a ceramic tealight holder as they usually have holes. 🙂

I KNOW @Odd Duck it's nuts. And when you really think about it, 2 months?! For that amount of damage it seems pretty incredible.

My personal thought is it's closest to the 8.2 in all the pics to me.

@Odd Duck very interesting! I was just curious and yeah, koi are far and away more expensive and something likely someone would protect and not take a chance on. I just was reminded I was fascinated watching Goliad Farms videos from when they had the great TX freeze. They lost almost all of their stock including the common (HUGE) plecos but some did actually make it and I was always happy when he found one that did! ***GLAD YOU ARE FEELING BETTER

Hi, here is my 2 cents. 1.) Yes Otos can be difficult the reason for that is they are mostly wild caught and they go through quite the traumatic process to get to your LFS. Once you can get them past the dodgy period they are nearly bulletproof IME. Wild caught fish come with their own issues no matter what species. As a person who has gotten really good at keeping (and multiplying) them looking back at how I started I'd HIGHLY recommend ALWAYS adding ANY bottom feeder LAST. Most of them seem to do better and have more food available to them when put in an established tank. They will however need to be QT'd so I'd recommend started a QT for them once your tank (if it isn't already) established- start running a small sponge filter in the main tank so you can instantly QT cycle- put something in the tank, like wood and maybe floating plants that you can move into the QT when you are ready (letting it grow some good biofilm and algae) to put in with whatever bottom feeders you plan to put in. My Otos have taken to Hikari Algae wafers and Repashy Super Green, they like Soilent but not as much as the other. ***minimum of 6 of either of your cory or oto choices is better. Yes you could go with less but cory definitely are more active with a larger group and otos are similar though they are shoaling- they have a tiny bioload (I have over 40 in a 10 gallon with no parameter issues). 2.) Bettas are not as easy as some make them out to be (read: the industry). I have had some and despite my best fish keeping efforts cannot for the life of me keep them alive a satisfactory amount of time I have sworn them off. I don't want to discourage you though- just fair warning make sure you have a ***first aid kit**** ready don't buy medicine when your fish get sick it's often too late then- THIS ALONE is the best advice I can give you. If I were to try again I would put them in their own tank, the tank would be a minimum of 80 degrees AND because they they require a higher level of humidity to breathe they would probablly get an extra tight fitting lid maybe even assisted by some plastic wrap over most of the top (leaving some space of course. I would also always have Catappa/Indian Almond leaves in the tank. If you don't believe me about care: just type "sick betta" "dying betta" "injured betta" into the forum search- bettas are far and away the fish people need help with the most. Anyway if you go with a betta, get a floating breeder box so after QT when you plan to introduce the Betta to your tank (LAST, so they are not territorial) you can put them in there and let them and the others acclimate and settle before you release them (the breeder box is also an excellent first aid kit tool). 3.) You don't NEED to stock male/fem guppies. You could go all female or all male. I have a 9 gallon tank that has 4 male guppies and 5 male endlers. While I have to watch them for bullying so far they've done great and it's by far the most fun tank of mine to watch. Your tank is a decent size compared to mine you'd probably have less issue with more room. 4.) If you decide to look into other bottom feeders, I love my Hillstream Loach. They live in the tank with the Guppy/Endler gang- and they are amusing as well I can't swear but they are. 5.) IME Neon species can be shy. In order to bring them out of it you'll need more than 5. If you're worried about bioload I would highly recommend Ember Tetras, they are just a flame orange, not as flashy as Neons can be but mine are less than half an inch- add beautiful color and are a very, very tight school and low bioload. I have 7 with alllll the others in my 9 gallon and they are all doing awesome. This is my favorite part of building a tank....looking at all the possible stock I could get, what would work, what wouldn't do the parameters get along, behaviors, breeding etc. Take it all in, do you research and let us know what you come up with!! *I'll add pictures of my action tank

OTOCINCLUS COCAMA (TIGER): The 2 Gallon QT 61 Days into QT: YOU GUUYYYSSSS....seriously the patient is doing so very well. The water is very very very dark so the only time I can see detail is when they are out of the tank or very close to the sides. Today they moved while I was cleaning and stuck themselves to the side of the tank so I got an opportunity to snap some pictures. Lookie here: SO much better than Day 1: I am so stoked.

They are in your substrate and wherever they can find food. 😊

Well my friend I don't think you have a problem from what I can see and what you've reported to me (I could be wrong but with what I've got so far I don't think so). What it looks like on MY end is that your guppy has coloring on their tail- maybe it wasn't that way before because it was sick and stressed, maybe even too young. If the coloring is flat and kind of shimmery/metallic looking I think that's just your guppy's tail coloring up for you. Now, how old is the tank? I'm a little concerned that it has no nitrates which says to me your tank is really new- or it's just a QT that doesn't have cycled material. You had a fish before so I'm sure you know about a cycle. Since they just got over their illness just watch the parameters really close if this is their permanent tank as you are now in the thick of a fish-in cycle- you don't want them to get sick again- I've done fish-in cycles a fair amount they can be simple if you're diligent.

@Jennifer V yep, it seems to work just fine it probaby just takes longer which is ok to me- though it's not "exposed" it's still wet and will still be effected by acid in the water. I tested that tank today, pH 7.6 (it was in the 6 range before I put coral in which is fine for the CPDs but I was trying to get some kh and gh in there for the snails and stability's sake), so the gh is 161.1 (stable for weeks) and kh tested at 4/71.6 which is about where I like my tanks to float.