xXInkedPhoenixX

@anewbie I've been buying from a seller that grows the plants out of water, and I think it's kind of fun to see how the plant changes and morphs into something almost entirely different. Specifically for me lately Bacopa Caroliniana or even more of a change Red Needle Leaf.

I recently learned from another forum member that Amazon Sword is also Pickerel Weed. If you image search it- it does indeed grow out of the water. I'm not positive our versions would look like this or not eventually but it would be cool if it did (purple flower). Also, in the image search I did you can see a version of Amazon that looks like what we see in @ParaVagans tank!

Yes sounds like you should have enough activity in your tank to satisfy you for a while. Plus you'll need to see how Gippy eventually settlles in. He might be shy now but that's because the environment is new, hopefully he'll gain more confidence and won't let the tetras pick on him and vice versa. Keep an eye out for bullying just in case, but my hope for you is that all will be well.

I think we don't give animals enough credit. Maybe it's more simplistic but I think fish can easily recognize same from not. Just like some of us can recognize a different year of car just because of the slight redesign in a tail light from one year to the next. In fact I think animals are better at it, because they know when there's a sick fish amongst them even before we do sometimes. I guess I prefer to have a sense of wonder about nature instead of trying to put a scientific bent on it- but that's just me. A more mechanical mind definitely wonders what it is that makes them tick. I think schooling is a facinating thing especially from an evolutionary/safety standpoint- and it's amazing the difference from fish to fish. I watch my 10 Harlequin Rasboras- pretty much ALWAYS in some formation or another- even facing the same direction- ALWAYS together. Then I look in the tank next to them with my Black Neons- they group up when I come near but then disperse and do their own things otherwise.

As to his fins, keep Gippy's stress to a minimum, you might consider turning the light off if he seems stressed. Keep an eye on him and the water clean- that's the most important thing if his fins need to heal.

No more fish! For a while anyway. That means you too Hubby!!

Hi, congrats on Gippy. As before I would just do Stability for the 1st 7 days, any time I add fish it's been my habit. No, you can keep Prime as a way to treat the water for a water change OR in emergency situations if you have another ammonia or nitrie spike. At some point you won't have to rely on chemicals at all to maintain your tank- we are just avoiding you having to deal with a disaster again. I keep the chemicals on hand so that if there is an emergency it can be handled without panic.

I agree with @laritheloud I've worked with the general public all my working life- while I say yes, keep that version of it for the ones that don't have the glazed over look otherwise--- have a dumbed down version. Who cares if they think it's the fish poop that causes ammonia we all know that peeing in a pool isn't good for anybody. It's just the simplest terms. I love Cory's video with the M&M's that explains the Cycle- it's definitely the best and the one I link for most people trying to understand it. Everybody understands M&Ms 🙂

My first ones were a little stubborn too, even after squeezing- they had too light a base for the install is my guess. New airline was stiff enough for me to use a couple of strategically placed suction holders to keep it down. now they will stay even if the airline suction cup comes unstuck!

Just wondering in case of accidental breeding (cause that's all I do) what some other options are! 🙂

That part (keeping it going indefinitely) is understandable but I should have been more specific- how long do you keep fry in there? I don't imagine you grow them out in it for long?

Is this about a gallon? Realistically how many and for how long can a container like this be utilized?

BEAUTIFUL FISH!! Holy we have too many baby fish Batman it is!!! Lets get an above ground pool! 🙂

Hi, I'm not a goldfish keeper but I DO have some Subwassertang. I thought maybe goldfish would eat it as they are known to eat the more delicate plants. Per some sources on the internet- indeed they do. Higher temps can keep it from growing so that might put a damper on you having it in a pond with a "predator" as they may eat it all before it could replenish unlike other fast growing pond plants. I keep mine now in my betta tank and I've had it for a few months, it has not grown much more than when I first got it- and it is hotter than it apparently would like it to be (pushing 79 degrees right now in that tank, apparently Subwasstertang prefers 60-74). Hope some of this helps. I love my Subwassertang, it's a very neat plant.

@TheCzarista heheh I love it. Nothing wrong with that. And while I do love Boris and Bela, I'm also a fan of Boris and Natasha 🙂

@CT_ totallly am! One of my most favorite cartoons! 😄 @Guppysnail if that's the case I should have made my peace with bladder snails a long time ago!!! 🙂

@CT_ maybe dead fish go where all the missing socks go.

In the library, yes.

@CT_ see it can happen. Neons are small but I have a hard time believing that if it's in there I haven't found it. I have black substrate in most of the tank and the plants aren't fully grown. There are not that many places to hide and I've been around the whole tank today. Being a 20 gallon tall there isnt much floor space.

I'm wondering if @laritheloud is right about breeding aggression as IF it is true that they are picking each other off then them doing this periodically could make sense as they are not always in breeding mode I'd imagine.

@tonyjuliano could be disease as it always can so I'm watching them but have so far at least seen no evidence, physical or behavioral (at least when the lights are on). I concede you will not always find physical or behavioral evidence of either but they've never given me reason to believe there is an illness in the tank and they all eat well. Parameters are good and stable since I got them now nearly 3 months ago. After the first few weeks of the four deaths nothing happened since until today. I liquid test weekly just because I happen to enjoy it. ph 7, 0 and 0 on ammonia and nitrite and 20 nitrates. Water is hard but it always is here. They are in a 20 gallon that sits side by side with my original 20 gallon and there are not concerns with that tank at all. My tanks are unheated but right now that tank is over 77 degrees. I run air driven sponge and media filters so an HOB is out of the running for being a cuprit in deaths. I also have a 10 gallon grow out tank with more than 60 Oto babies and there have been no issues there either or in my 3 gallon betta tank that while inhabitant is new has been running for over 8 months (just logically ruling out water issues). I suppose the only difference between this particular tank and the others is the bladder snails that exist in it- but I'm not aware of any disease that they could transmit and the only bad effect could be dead snail decay that causes ammonia, of which there isn't any. As to neon source, the other forum member is in the midwest. I am on the west coast- while it's ENTIRELY possible even then we got fish from the same source I got my from a LFS he got his also from a LFS but they were special ordered so they were basically shipped and then he retrieved them from the store before they hit a tank.

@tonyjuliano I'm open to this possibiity, but I have my doubts- that's part of the reason to post here- to keep an open mind and see if there is another idea. When I first got this fish I actually got it because another forum member @Krakens_tanks was excitedly talking about his incoming black neons. He, too, had the same problem when he got his and they were in much higher numbers. So us both suspecting they were doing it at night, HE watched them do it. He advised us that he turned off his lights and sat quietly observing his tank when the aggression started. He in the end was down to only very few of a very large group in the end. I saw the intended victim(s) hiding prior to darkness and every time it came out from hiding it was promptly chased back to the corner it came from. It was always the smaller ones of the group. But no, other than that and some rather aggressive chasing and maybe even nip or 2 if they were slow enough on the tail I saw nothing outright. And funnily enough no wounds prior to the lights coming on in the morning. I also don't see any on any of them now. What other things do you think it may be? ...and I am still baffled by 2 missing bodies.

LOL 🙂 Well @sudofish if the Nerites ARE suspects in this plot they are only recently in on it as this originally occured when the Murder Fish were the ONLY ones in the tank. I am not going to rule out that they may at the very least be accomplices. I had a betta that seemed perfectly peaceful around 4 ghost shrimp for several weeks until they too, quietly disappeared with no evidence (the shrimp of course not the betta)....

Otos aren't plant eaters, as evidenced by my 14-17 or so and the 60+ babies in another tank- plants go untouched- unless it's plant rot-which they may or may not pick at but my experience has been pretty much no on that spectrum. I can't speak to the SAE though!

@TheCzarista so you know their sex?