xXInkedPhoenixX

......every day my friend. Every. Day. 😄

My Fluval Flex9 is never ending entertainment. I usually check for Kirby the Hillstream Loach every morning and/or evening- typically they perch along the glass, mostly on the front. As a species you can't get much cooler than one you can see "under the hood". I love to watch their little mouth move when scraping along the glass- and see their little heart beat. Guppies and Endlers are just little clowns- here are 2 of my Endlers and 1 Guppy (all males no reproduction in this tank please!). They add so much color, comedy and interest to this tank. Seriously little water dogs...

Hi there! I only use a bucket and 2 different hand start siphons for my tanks (after using several). I use this in my tanks 10 gallons and under: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XVS4KNC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 This one for my 20 gallon tanks: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WPT9QL5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Since neither are expensive I have 5 tanks and each has their own siphon so as to avoid any contamination. Only issue I kinda have with the Nano pump (1st one) is it's not great at vacuuming as it wants to suck all the gravel in- but it's a good quick water changer for small tanks and vacuums my bare bottom tank great. Even squeezing the tube doesn't really help- but I don't vacuum the nanos often- I use a turkey baster or coral feeder when I need to. The 2nd pump for my 20 gallon tanks vacuums great- mostly due to the square attachment having vents on all 4 sides.

Take care friend. Check in when you can.

I've killed it simply by having too much surface agitation.

@AnjumI don't think so but they look a lot alike that's for sure. 🙃

Hope they all make it, because what a cool tank for them to be living in!

@JessicaK well I've never had water sprite myself but i have Guppy Grass and it does better in my low light tank than it does in my high light (better color, grows faster). According to the net watersprite requires low to moderate light so you might be surprised!

Personally I think it looks great, as for coverage you could add a floating or suction cup Betta cave. The plants you added, will likely grow to satisfactory levels and give your 10yo and your fish enough viewing space and coverage. These tanks can be tough because they are low light- the plants you chose should do well, the only thing I would eventually be concerned with is the water sprite blocking light but that's easily mitigated. Adding more plants may just block out light for the plants you do have.

I had my Mum with her tank target feed with aquascaping tweezers. That way she knows for sure her frogs are eating and how much.

Congrats on the Otos!!

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea good question, not really sure if it's an issue or not to be honest, I've picked her up, that area is really solid- my wonder is if she chipped her shell somehow or it's growth. The bladders are stupid healthy looking and other than where you see that whiteness she's a good olive on the other side. My other Nerites don't have shell issues so I'm not sure if it's a water problem and no, I haven't put any cuttle or wondershell yet. One issue I have with the Nerites is they won't eat commercial foods, I drop snail food in for the bladders from time to time.

Since my tanks are pretty much hands off at this point other than the Parent tank that requires daily feeding and a little spot cleaning- I only do small water changes/maintenance one day a week. Though water changes are not absolutely necessary this gives me a chance to check in with all 5 of my tanks, equipment and my favorite part- inhabitants. Punk is doing well in the Angry Man tank- all 10 Black Neons and 10 Harlequins are doing well too, even my little bloated Black Neon girl. I spotted 2 of my 3 horned Nerites (Lock, Shock and Barrel) and had to replant some floaters that were dug up likely by Punk swimming by. He's not a fan of my hands in the tank so he hides most of the time- unlike others' Bolivians here- though he's real up in my face in the morning during feeding if I'm in the tank he apparently has decided I am boss- this leads me to believe that in his past life in the other fish keeper's tank he definitely had been low on the totem- he was in a tank full of other larger cichlids.... On the other side of the coin we have Koianu residing in the Accidental Oto tank. He is rather up in my face but I find that rather typical of Betta fish. I vacuumed the bare floors for him and cleaned out the filter. He seems appreciative though on the bossy side.... Then in the Flex9 "Ember House" I have my 7 Embers, 4 Endlers, 3 Guppies, Hillstream "Kirby" and BFG my biggest Nerite. There is no shyness nor anyone bossy (to me) in this tank. The Endlers and Guppies are constantly following what's going on in and out of the tank I just hear in my head when I work on this tank "whatcha doin, whatcha doin, whatcha doin???"... They all have names in there too, the Guppies I tend to get mixed up a bit because they look very similar but this is my Endler, Drogon- he's the boldest of them all and the pushiest of everyone in the tank the majority of the time- the only one in the tank with this coloring so he's easy to spot.... Lastly today I can't leave without mentioning how lovely my Nerite, Curlyque is in my 4 gallon Aquatop. This is a total jungle tank- the plants are just nuts in here- the guppy grass is super dark green, I even have a piece of AR you can see in this picture that is doing better here than it does in any of my tanks. I often trim the Ludwigia Super Red from this tank to plant in the Angry Man- eventually I'll have enough in that tank to make an impact. Anyway, Curlyque is hard at work here with her bladder snail friends keeping this tank squeaky clean- this tank had some floating plants removed yesterday because ever since I changed the light for this tank it's gone bonkers (in a great way) but even the floaters get a little too crowded. Here's Curlyque with a smattering of her bladder co-horts in the frame and a peek of the CPDs if you can spot them in the back of the tank where they like to hang....

Columnaris is a hard one. I say yes, treat them all (and remove the Nerite) as they may all have been exposed. Maybe our guru @Coluhas a suggestion.

ORD. Sorry about the mold @Hobbit, hope this won't have long term effects on you and husband ☹ Glad to know your fish world is doing well.

Yes indeed

@Roosterih oh they do but they don't hatch is all. Embrace the tank decoration!

@Aptasia welcome to the forum! I can see where tiny tanks are an adjustment! I can see though you are starting to enjoy the appeal of tiny kingdoms. I have 10 CPD as well in a 4 gallon cube and they are wonderful little fish. I also have a Flex9- might I suggest a Hillstream loach or 3? They are fun and interesting fish and if you enjoy antics they will be the clowns of your tank. They enjoy cooler temps like the CPD. I have 1 in my 9 and he's one of my favorite fish.

My suspicion is that they would do fine with salt- they're tough fish- but I can't say for sure- only that Otocinclus seem to do fine with it when they're supposedly a super sensitive fish.

I won't be able to ID since I'm not a pleco keeper but hopefully someone will see the thread. If the rot isn't devastating I would wait a beat and just make sure he has super clean water with no stress, no ammonia and monitor. If you have Indian Almond Leaf make some tea and put that in there! I'd standby to see if anyone here can help diagnose and ID what kind of pleco you have there.

Hi @Hally M.. Do you know what kind of Pleco it is? if not, can you post a picture? Then I have to ask is there a reason you are medicating in QT? Generally if I got a fish from another fish keeper with a healthy tank and fish I wouldn't medicate I'd just observe. Now, I can't speak to Plecos and salt, but I have Otocinclus which usually people recommend no salt- they have done fine with salt treatment. When in doubt start with basic dose and work your way up if you have to. @Odd Duck has a common pleco maybe more insight on salt and the species?

I personally use a lot of floating breeders but those probably aren't great for guppies because of the amount of fry (I have smaller batches). I will say though the average net breeder seems bigger than the Ziss (maybe @Guppysnail can confirm as I've never seen one in person to compare) I'd say it's harder to clean a net breeder and you can't see through them so harder visual.

Oh my! Pea soup!

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea Yea I have a Murder in the neighborhood but they don't come to my patio, only a Hawk does from time to time and I think they've yet to catch one of my birds. I'm rather familiar with Crows as I used to want to keep them so I did a bunch of research to work with rescues on them. I still want to do that someday but it's not appropriate for my situation right now. However, Scrub Jays are in the same bird family and I've seen the same behavior in them. There's been times I've been able to help the Jays when they've "alerted" because of a neighbor cat- and they are good at by default warning the other birds of predators and dangers nearby. One time I heard a bunch of them "alerting" after I heard a boom and their calls went on for some time in my front yard so I went out to find one of their juveniles on the ground flat on his/her face, so I got on gloves, picked them up and put them on a branch (they were able to grip). The alerting soon quieted. My suspicion is that a cat had chased or attempted ot catch one of them and the Jay hit my window and stunned itself- in order to protect the juvenile they alerted to chase off the cat. Any time I hear them calling like that, I go see what's going on. It's nice your cats get to go outside. I harness trained my Burmese but though he took to the harness fine he didn't seem to care about going outside too much. This was when he was young, every now and then he shows a little interest- maybe I should try it again cause he was a kitten when we tried it- he's almost 10. My other cat, he's not interested.

If she is preggo, I'd probably feed her more than once a week for her babies to get more nutrients. It's hard work making babies!