xXInkedPhoenixX

See? Not in the cards for me and shrimp!

@Chick-In-Of-TheSeaWell, it's in there for the benefit of the resident snails. So.....

Well I have calcium covered with food as well as Wondershell, but I'll be changing water as normal so they'll survive or they will not! I did try keeping them once in their own tank but they all died. I think I'm just not a shrimp person. It would be cool but I'm not going to hold my breath.

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea very possible. Keeper that traded with me had several kinds and asked which I wanted I said "surprise me" and told him that it wasn't likely they'd survive. 😱 It's not that I don't put in the effort. I'm not sure what I do wrong.

Well. I traded my Flex9 for a bunch of plants and 10 shrimp. TBH I don't even know what kind of shrimp they are and sadly in the end it may not matter as with my history with shrimp they won't be with me long. I've never been good at keeping them. I've killed plenty in my time as a shrimp keeper. So I released 5 in the Parent Tank and 5 into the Medieval and we'll see who survives! (or not) The photos above are from when I released them Monday- and I've only seen 1 since then. I know in the 20 gallon they could hide easily. The Medieval is where I saw 1. I was sitting in my chair after lights off time. My Singapura, Epic was on my lap but alerted and jumped suddenly on the counter. I figured out why. The Hillstream Loach, Kirby was on the glass doing their spastic movements. Epic batted at the glass a couple of times but quickly figured out the object was on the wrong side and promptly lost interest....

For me it's hard to say. I'll tag @Colu?

There are a couple of things that could be happening. With the recent change you could have what Cory refers to as "stress Ich". You could also have something called epistylis. Either way I don't think the heat is going to help you. If it's the latter it makes the illness worse. If it's the former it could be causing more stress hence not helping the situation. If you could post a picture of your fish that might help us figure out what they have. Epistylis is a bacterial infection therefore would not be treatable with Ich X, and heat only exacerbates the problem. I've never figured out what Cory means by "stress ich" meaning I don't know what the technical name is for the illness is he describes. Heat in treating Ich only helps your medication (be it salt or something like Ich X) work FASTER. It speeds up the life cycle of Ich and allows the meds to attack the parasite when it's at it's most vunerable, and the only time that is- is when it's free floating before it attached to a fish/host. When it's on your fish or in the substrate as eggs they are protected. Using heat in treating Ich is not necessary. It's a step I've done before but I've stopped the practice as it usually causes my fish more stress and risks other illnesses and loss of oxygen in the tank (though you can add air stones). There are many other reasons I personally choose not to use heat as part of this treatment plan (unhappy plants, more bacterial growth, etc). Sometimes it takes longer to treat that way (no heat) but I feel like the fish are better off. This is a personal preference, but again it is not absolutely necessary in treating the illness. Ich is usually fairly easy to diagnose but I chose not to take the risk that it's something else and exacerbate it by using heat. My hunch is that if it's not gotten any better either you are in the middle of the life cycles of the Ich and it will be another 3-7 days before it's gone. Or it's something else.

Yes, I do understand why the law is the way the law is but most honest people, in this case in particular, are only trying to pass on an heirloom/piece of musical history that in the end is destroyed (because nobody in my family was able to care for it or had space) because dishonest people make "art". The laws for many just because of a few is what frustrates me personally.

It is so neat to only have 5 tanks now. It's weird you wouldn't think it would make so much of a difference but it does- maybe it's just because the Flex really frustrated me. I could potentially move down to 4 tanks. Invictus could theoretically go into the Medieval Tank BUT I don't think he's a community tank candidate. Plus if something in the Medieval negatively effected Valere I don't want to expose the most vunerable of my rescues to whatever it could be. So he's staying in the Dragon tank. Plus, I like the Dragon Tank, here it was this morning- my tiny piece of AR (front right) is still hanging on and actually doing "ok" for a low tech tank! I sometimes catch Invictus flaring in the direction of the Accidental Tank (still can't decide what to change it's name to so probably just keeping it). I think he sees the activity though they are not in direct view of each other though they are on the same counter. The edges make a V shape. He also flares at me at times. This leads me to believe he's probably best on his own. I don't need him getting stressed and sick. The Accidental Tank is doing well with its new Endler male residents. One of them seems to be a constant target but he has figured out the Betta tunnels and I find him in there occassionally taking a break from the fray. He seems in good shape though (no damage). Serket is the gentle resident of the tank. Just goes with the flow. She is such a sweet Betta. When lights were out last night I went over by the tank where my water dispenser is and was filling a bottle, she came out of one of the 2 Betta tunnels I have in there for her to say hello. There are times I wish I could hug fish. Here was the Accidental Tank this morning, with Serket front and center: Up this morning and the lights were already on in my tanks. As mentioned the Angry Man is testing the new 20" ACO light on a manual timer. Boy does this light REALLY bring out the greens in this tank. You can compare it with more darkness and blue light on the right with my older light. I like them both if I'm frank but I think I'll really like playing with the percentage on the ACO lights when I get my timer strip next week. Speaking of Parent Tank. All the things I hear about Corys being water pigs is true....all 7 (can you spot them all?) were in the food dishes this morning: Clearly they are starving. Lastly the Medieval without its Monarch is doing fine. I'm half tempted to buy a few more Embers though. They are so pretty and a lot less shy than in the past when they were in the Flex. Now in the mornings they actually recognize me as a food source and come forward to the feeding area. I'm hoping to get better/braver behavior out of them if I did do that. I do really love this tank:

Tell me more. What do you like most? I went on the website and I'm seeing 1/4lb as the smallest size on some flakes? Am I looking in the wrong place?

That's crazy, but totally believable that it is so heavy. Our predesessors really did want quality products as they didn't just give things up all the time like we do. Our family had a grand piano that ended up just getting trashed because sadly the real ivory keys could not be sold/transferred/donated per CA state law. Ridiculous IMO since the piano was in existence long, long before any of the animal trade issues were a "thing". Don't get me wrong I'm an animal lover but don't see the point nor honor in throwing it away. Very sad. I'm glad you've found a way to give it a deserving life.

Wow! What a cool idea! Can't wait to see the tank in it!

Frequently see one of the 2 babies I've spotted. This morning we have a healthy poop going.

I got my shipment from ACO of two 20" lights for my 20 gallons. As Cory mentioned 24" works best for lots of applications including my tanks but since I've had such a problem lights causing hair algae- I decided to go with the smaller lights. I also think they'll work better for nano tanks and I'm more of a nano tank keeper for now. If I end up with a 180 gallon as Intrepid Partner plans, I won't have a need for any of these type lights. I also don't have wifi so the casa timer option not happening. I got a power strip that has two sides to it- one side is on a manual timer the other is "always on". Unfortunately I got that yesterday from Amazon and the one they sent me is broken. So I had to send it back. I did however set up one light- for the Angry Man, on a spare single outlet timer to test it for a while. There is a very big difference between the light I was using and this new ACO light. Very happy with it so far. I do also like my choice to go with a smaller light. I'll get pictures later, didn't even think of it at the time. It will also be nice to set up a "siesta" time for the tanks, something I couldn't do with my other lights. That will also help with my previous lighting issues. Anyway. Julii Corycats seem to be doing well in the Parent Tank. They've definitely found the food bowl:

I like that idea. I usually call groups by a group name and the Platinums have been called Spirits thus far. Ember Tetras the Flames, and now the Kuhlis are the Dragons. So I guess the Spirits are the spirits of the White Knights since it's a ruin. 🙃 And thanks.

Personal experience, my 10 Harlequins are with 10 Black Neons. They all hang out. Neons are funny, they split up and go do their own thing but the Harlequins are always together, will be interesting what you observe with the two types so keep that updated!

for at least 5 minutes...until said plant makes @Mmiller2001 mad then out the door it goes! 🙃

Fry are so hard to get pics of, I commend your efforts sir! Nice pics!

Hillstreams are amazing. I 🥰

Well first sad thing first. This weekend my little rescue Betta, Valere, formerly known as White passed away unexpectedly. I did notice a decline and started medicating but I think it may have been an internal failure. He was buried in one of my Bonsai pots. The Medieval Tank no longer has it's Monarch, rest in peace little buddy. You will be missed. We have to keep moving don't we? I've decided NOT to replace Valere in the Medieval tank. I still had 4 Platinum Guppies in QT waiting to join the other 4. So I decided after removing Valere and doing my weekly maintenance they would be added. Now there are 8 Platinum Guppies, 5 Embers and 3 Kuhli loaches we're going to leave the tank as is. Here is a short video of the new Guppies release: https://photos.app.goo.gl/mUhcR3wgbN5dAbRS8 They were pretty cute staying 4 and 4 for a minute, now of course I can't tell them apart. Then I went about removing the last of the QT fish. I had 4 Julii Corycats in QT in the Flex. They got put in my ACO catch cup to acclimate while I did Parent Tank maintenance. Here they are waiting: Right before the release, hope they are happy here! Here is the video of their release though nothing super eventful: https://photos.app.goo.gl/bML47V55vqRqthNA8 One of the Juliis later in the day found the Repashy dish: Another big event was the offical break down of the Flex9. It got drained, cleaned and removed from its spot and I'm now down to 5 tanks! Yay! I'll be selling the Flex to a local keeper eventually. Bye Flex! The desk is now free again! Lastly Punk and Industry in the Angry Man seem to be doing better. She hangs out very near him and I haven't caught him chasing her off though I'm sure it still happens occasionally. He was also starting to rub up against stuff occassionally as well. I've been watching, thinking it's stress as he isn't showing any physical signs of illness and the water is good. I haven't observed that behavior in a bit more than a week so I think we're past it. I love her mottled coloring as compared with his stripes.

I wouldn't be mad either. Gillian is beautiful!

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea that's very sweet of you to say, I've never gotten that one and Labyrinth is one of my all time favorite movies. Intrepid Partner believes me to be Hilary Swank's Doppelganger he sent me this picture he cobbled together once to compare.

@xXInkedPhoenixX signing on here. Been some great years hanging out with my fish friends on the forum. I don't know anyone here IRL but I feel like I know a little about some of the regulars. I think we often speak through our tanks. I have too many tanks and and love all of my fish too much to be able to post them all, and they're on my journal anyway. I also have two cats, a Burmese named Quantum and a Singapura named Epic that pepper my life with mischevious antics and irreplaceable companionship. Just like you all! Happy anniversary CARE Forum!

I ended up ordering two 20 inch lights for my 20 gallon tall tanks (one of my 3year old light bars is failing, possibly because I put a dimmer switch on it). I was originally going to get 24" lights but thought the 20" should be sufficient as my tanks get plenty of light from what I have now and I'm guessing the ACO lights will be even better. I don't have wifi though so I can't do what @Cory does with wifi timers. I'm also limited in plugs being in an old home and rely on manual timers when the lights don't have them equipped (have both, the current lights I'm replacing have their own built in). If you use manual timers you know how much space they take up so my dilemna was how do I fit 2 manual timers in an already loaded power strip?? So for those of us with this problem, here is my current solution: https://a.co/d/fDdAvhV

Wonderful tanks @TishWish! Welcome to the forum!