xXInkedPhoenixX

@Daniel are we also implying that this might go for ALL neon species ? I just got 14 Bllack Neons and lost 1 so far, didn't look at all ill. They seem to be behaving normally

i agree with @SWilson, maybe try again with the neons. Sadly fish loss does happen- if they were sick maybe try another source? Then once they're settled in and the tank takes the load you could consider something else! It is really nice to have a group of schoolers!

I use airline suction cups, cut a small bit of airline, put it in the line holder of the suction cup and tie the Anubias with a bit of thread- this works best if you're putting your Anubias against a back wall of an aquarium or behind decorations- and it's easy to move or take them out if needed. I personally didn't want to attach mine to wood so that was my alternative. I never see my suction cups and it's easy for me to rearrange if needed without thinking about how to place a piece of wood.

Haha! Looks awesome! I went back to the store and got 8 more today myself!

Hahah I love it "shrimpment". I just got 4 cherry shrimp for my 20 gallon community. I wasn't sure how well they'd do, so I didn't wan't to get to many. I'm told though if they do fine I'll soon have many shrimp. 😮

I've had 16 jobs.I guess though I had ideas I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up, my chosen profession didn't afford me a living so I had to find another option. I am now in a career that I've had since 2009- and in that career I've moved to the same capacity in a different place. I'm not doing anything related to my college degree. There are things I would have done differently had I a second chance but nothing that I hold regrets for. One thing in one of my many jobs I worked my boss shared an office with an old Colonel, I will never ever forget what he said, "NOBODY EVER DIED WISHING THEY SPENT MORE TIME AT WORK". While some jobs can be rewarding, fulfilling, thrilling, satisfying, or whatever- it's really what we do outside of work that matters most, the people we love and care about, our friends, family, and the things we are able to experience. I have had more meaningful experiences contemplating my navel at home than being at work- and trust me, I have an interesting job- that makes me decent money- but it's hard, and it's stressful a lot of the times. I fight tooth and nail for every bit of time I can get away from work, and will keep doing that.

Nice tank, beautiful shrimp! How many do you have, do you think?

@CalmedByFish just wash ur hands/arms good and make sure all the soap residue is off. I've never hurt my fish by sticking my hands in, in fact there have been a couple of times I've saved them for doing it.

...this one in my other tank was also labeled Anubias Congensis, sorry I took this pic for the baby Oto not for the plant.

that looks like mine, that was labeled Congensis. I think your tank looks nice.

...this one was sold to me as a Barteria

What about a Congensis? At least that's what I was told mine is and it looks "swordy" to me.

Hi. Well, if this is just a supplemental filter and you plan on keeping the HOB which you say manages the tank fine on its own- then I say get what you want. One thing to consider with sponge filters is the more gallons they're good for the bigger they're going to be and more intrusive in your tank. Since you don't neeeed a filter to work the whole 29 gallons you could go with one suited for a 20 gallon for example and it won't be huge. I've attached a pic to show you size differences at least with one brand. Others may be different.

This is just another way that I've found- I have been taking care of almost 40 baby Otocinclus for the last month in varying stages- I have some in a small breeder, and now the vast majority in a 10 gallon grow out. Siphoning is amazing but it makes me nervous around babies. So I found that "vacumming" with a Liquid dropper like a very small turkey baster is an AMAZING tool. I can easily vacuum up old food around all the translucent babies in the little breeder- and today, though it's just a little more time consuming I cleaned up the bare floor of the 10 gallon. Squeeze the dropper head put it in the tank or breeder and just go around slowly letting up on the squeeze ball- I dump it in a cup so I can easily tell if any wayward babies are in it (thankfully that has not happened so far). I buy very small ones but I bet there are bigger ones or even that turkey baster you never use, that could also help with fine detailing/controlled vacumming!

Some people also use salt to cure Ich, also garlic infused foods, but because I don't have any experience with those I cannot speak to it.

I'm so sorry, your fish looks so very miserable. I have battled Ich twice but not with a betta, not uncommon for fin rot to follow Ich/Ich treatments. Are you still treating with Super Ick? This is what I had to do: I used Super Ick myself, I asked them (api) if during treatment I could do a daily water change (as I was having issues with ammonia during treatment because I also used heat- raised the tank up to 85 degrees, which speeds up the life cycle of Ich making the treatment faster however it also speeds up decay and causes ammonia, at least in my tank)- they said yes-- so I changed water- then I'd redose. IF you are still treating him, keep going but I'd say do water changes. Clean water is very important to help with healing and for the fin rot. Hopefully once you clear up the Ich you can keep making sure his water is pristine and the flow in the tank isn't too much for him. Though you'll probably want to run a bubbler during Ich treatment. You may need to look into treating him with something like Maracyn (do the research!!) as he's likely gotten the fin rot as a secondary infection because of Ich if it wasn't just being bullied prior to being pulled from the 75 gallon. Definitely check out Aquarium Co-Op's video with Irene on fin rot it's a good one I really hope you can help your Betta friend pull through, and I hope others have some good suggestions to share.

I use plastic plants to supplement my live plants and give some extra color. Now I realize I'm much stronger than a fish, and I keep Harlequins myself, but I don't buy fake plants that are super stiff or have wire armatures and I test them pretty good with my hands- silk and silicone plants are pretty soft too if you want a fake plant still. I am often dismayed by some of the things pet stores sell as safe to put in aquariums. I think any decoration can be a hazard unexpectedly (as evidenced by @Hobbit 's story), and a sick and scared animal can do just about anything they wouldn't normally do because they are sick and/or scared. It's easy for me to say don't feel bad, but you were trying to do what was right by the poor thing and give it a place to hide/play in.

@Krakens_tanks I'm with you in one way. I went low tech because there are so few things that could go wrong. For example: I have no heater that will either break and my fish would freeze and die, or overheat and kill my fish, or electricute them all. Is this rare? ABSOLUTELY. Could it happen? YES. That's just an example of all the things I overthink, the less moving parts something has, the less there is to break. I have a 54 year old car in my garage that runs better than most people's early 2000's vehicles. Why? No tech. I prefer it. Why it takes all kinds.

@Alexa I would agree, I'd add, if you read/watch a lot of stuff for internet research on ANYTHING the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

@Hobbit Otos are stupid cute. I don't care what anyone says.

Oh and @Cory while I agree with @Krakens_tanks maybe a video on this subject would be good- though I'm sure there's one similar- however I heard MANY times when visiting a couple LFS, "you need a heater"- which is something I remember you talking about in your video. Wish I knew what employees said that to me, I'd like to tell them all my fish are alive and happy and I'm breeding Otos. So there. 😜

I'm ridiculously methodical. I had kept fish before but nothing bigger than a 10 gallon. You could call me a pandemic fish keeper but I've never been quarantined as my job is considered "essential" and so other than not going out as often my life didn't change much but for I was home a lot more on my days off. I did HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS, (reading and watching videos) of research, but no matter how much research you do, you're never prepared for EVERYTHING (like my Otos breeding- I certainly wasn't prepared for that). For the most part I think I did things right. I had a fishy first aid kit ready and a quarantine tank. I picked my fish by the parameters and tank size I was going to get. I got live plants and drifwood. I battled (and won) against Ich twice in 2 different tanks (original and quarantine tanks). There are a couple of things I would have changed. I went low tech so I would have: Not gotten a tank "kit". I should have done some more research on filtration and come to MY end conclusion that sponge filtration is the way to go- but I don't totally regret it becausee now I do have a back up HOB in case I do need double filtration in the future (as they say always have a back up plan). However I do have a hood I don't need. In my original tank I would have put more planting substrate. Not that it can't be changed but it would be a giant pain. There's probably more little things but those are the major ones. Now I'm on 20 gallon tank 2, waiting on my brand new fish to become acclimated to temp before I put them in (thanks @Krakens_tanks there's 6 Black Neons waiting for release). It's been really fun. Maybe I kinda wish I would have done all this sooner? oh and totally @Emika_B, don't chase the parameters, but I won't stop regularly testing- I actually enjoy doing that.

@CT_ I hope she does take at least a little bit of a break! But now that she has 30+ out of the house she may start up full blast again. I have 5 new, I've tried to catch 2 others, they may still be in the tank somewhere but I always expect to lose a few to my Harlequins when they're really small. They don't lay that many eggs, and I don't know how many of them are.

Today I switched the filter from my new tank that was taken from my original tank 21 days ago and put it in the grow out. I then put the large breeder box with the 30 some odd Otos in it- into their new grow out tank but I haven't emptied the breeder yet- going to keep an eye on them for a while then I will release the hounds so to speak later in the afternoon. I then removed the smaller breeder I had in my new tank (which should get new residents later today) and put it back in with the parent tank until they grow enough to put in the grow out with the others. (yes I didn't paint the back of my grow out, since it's on my kitchen counter I wanted a 360 view, but I did paint the bottom) There will soon be more babies. I've not seen it anywhere on the internet about them, but it appears my mother Otocinclus is watching over her eggs- it isn't typical behavior for her to be where she is as most of my Otos hang out by the sponge filter the majority of the day. I have spotted where at least she has been putting her eggs. If the Mystery snails would eat them she's put them in a perfect spot as this Sword plant is protected by a drift twig canopy they can't easily navigate.

Looks amazing!