Torrey

I repurpose betta (and plant) cups by drilling a hole and inserting sponge (like Dean uses sponge) to make zebra danio fry holders. I can suspend 5 cups in a 10 gallon tank, to "corral" the fry until they no longer look like swimming eyelashes, 10 - 20 fry per cup. This makes water changes after every meal infinitely much easier (I am still manual😅), and reduces the amount of energy fry have to expend to locate food, uses less food/wastes less food, and maintains better water parameters. The cups semi float, so move up and down with the water changes. As fry get too big for the cups, they are released into the 10 gallon for stage 2 growing out. They are already acclimated to the water.

@Odd Duck I am not laughing at your struggle, your writing is phenomenal! Maybe you need a single goldfish to shuttle from tank to tank as a wolffia eater / clean up crew? The wolffia is fabulous to throw in the blender to make frozen treats for plant eating fish, shrimp, and bottom feeders. Throw in a few frozen vegetables and a little gelatin for it to hold form, and your fish will love you.

@GoGreen here's a link to the plant. It's one of my favorites for unheated tanks, and is the world's smallest flower *and* the smallest fruit. https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/botany/item/what-is-the-smallest-flower-in-the-world/

@Daniel so cool you are doing this. How is it coming along? It's interesting how many people in the hobby are unaware of the similarities between Dr Diana Walstad's Treatise, and your book by Innes. I wish I still had my 1800's German book on aquarium keeping, I think you would appreciate it. Thank you for the fabulous links!

I have posted elsewhere about my 'special' betta. He came home shortly after my son passed mislabeled as a crown tail, with such a severe fin and tail rot the LFS employee asked if I could take him and possibly save his life... or at least make his passing humane. I don't have pictures of when he first came home, [edit: spouse just found picture and I added] I do have pictures of earlier this year when he (once again) ripped up his fins to go to the hospital tank... and promptly knocked himself unconscious by swimming into the substrate (he apparently does this for entertainment?) I have a second picture of him this morning, back in his regular tank, flaring for his picture. He's a pretty boi! Knocked out cold, I honestly thought he'd committed hari kari until he swam up into my hand. Here he is today, back in his tank. Bubble wrap on the back and sides of the tank provides insulation and helps maintain more stable temps (in case the 2° temp fluctuations at night contribute to his odd behaviors). Obviously, he grew out finnage that is *not* a CT, lol.

@Odd Duck, at least you have made me aware of potential color variations. I'll be selective about my tanks, and look for potential keepers before moving my assassin snail. Look forward to future communication with @Guppysnail once future plans become present reality. 🐡

I have my first male betta (when I bred bettas I used a friend's male show boi) and I have decided that he might be possessed. I did the full qurantine, including parasites when I got him. He's not just a fin nipper, he's a solidly committed digger and burier. His first tank was a UG filter, and somehow he got *under* the filter. So new tank build, and he loved it! Especially burying himself in the gravel👀 which would rip up his fins. So I tried sand... which he not only buried himself in, but also would eat😳 At this point, asked friend who is a specialty vet for feedback, and the final [unofficial] response was "possibly brain damaged?" He's about 3 years old now, and I suspect that genetics just weren't ideal. Or, he's too smart for me. At any rate, he loves to keep me on my toes. He will periodically play hide and seek, and has apparently learned that nipping his own tail will get him a few weeks in the "fish hotel" [qt] where he can hide in his silicone anemones. I tried making his permanent aquarium closer to QT aquarium, in hopes of preventing the fin nipping, and he promptly swam into the bottom hard enough to stun himself. He will swim into my hand so I don't have to net him, and has a unique personality. We just try to enjoy every day we have with him and I don't think I will get another betta, lol.

@Clovis I have [almost] resolved my algae war in pretty much all my planted tanks by using Dr Diana Walstad's siesta method. Plants grow better... algae does not. I still have algae on the back (I encourage it to help control nitrates) but it's now staying off my plants and hardscape. I do have to clean the front glass once a week, but that's also where the light comes in, so...🤷‍♂️ It took almost 6 weeks to notice significant improvement, but combined with the other recommendations here, should make long term fish keeping easier. Good luck!

@GameCzar my spouse has finally acclimated to the need for ziploc bags in the car, and to always be on the lookout for safe places to pull over near waterways, lol! Self-collected plants are the best.

@Odd Duck I tend to wait a couple of weeks, even for snails, in new dirted set ups. I go ahead and feed the tank, starting low and increasing the food amount each day to grow the bb culture. I just don't add fauna until I see flora growth, if that makes sense? [Nice to see someone else who uses osmocote! I thought I was a holdover from the dinosaurs or something, based on a response I got in a livestream, lol]

@Guppysnail and @Odd Duck I love the descriptions/ looks of your snails. Once Cory implements the trading platform, I'm interested in trading if you would be. Most people hate the 'pest' snails... meanwhile, ever since I watched Cory's livestream on snails I have enjoyed my aquariums more, maintenance has been less stressful, and my plants are SO MUCH HEALTHIER. Would love some pretty ones for when my 4' show tank is ready in my dining room. Yellow would definitely stand out against black substrate!

@benchilton congratulations! My fry are 8 weeks old now, and heading off to new homes soon😥 It's bittersweet, I love watching them before bed every night. Your littlest baby stuck to the glass is [ideally] feeding on biofilm on the glass. That's the benefit of a seasoned aquarium for fry. In my experience, the more biofilm available at that stage, the higher the success rate of the fry. So happy for you! [Pardon the dirty tank, fry require twice daily cleaning. I want the auto change system now, lol]

@Streetwise thank you! Looking forward to the first Nerm talk on bettas, can't wait to see the footage from Peru (so I am probably almost as excited as the Peru team), and looking forward to future Nerm / CARE trading abilities. Hoping to see everyone choosing to leave IRL induced "scarcity mindset" outside of the forum, so Cory can start to enjoy hanging out in here again. Y'all have done some hard work building the store, this platform, and the YouTube channel. I understand that current events are driving a lot of intense emotional reactions, and a lot of folx are struggling with the concept that 'change begins with me'. So, TL/DR thanks for all the hard work, thanks to the entire Co-Op crew for modeling 'making the world a better place, one fish keeper at a time', and thanks for all the patience with people passing their own traumas / fears through to other people. Y'all rock!

@Joe L. many vets will advocate no dechlorinator as the salt that dechlorinates can be really harsh on their lungs. I have a "mini-pond" with phytoremediation plants and snails to dechlorinate water for the pond in my ornate ornata's pond in its enclosure. The ~10 gallon turtle pond is also the grow out tank for feeder guppies for my LFS (essentially my guppy culls)... so it has to be dechlorinated for the fish. I have a UG filter, and a Tetra turtle waterfall that I took out the carbon filters and packed it with hydroballs. Ammonia and nitrites stay non-existent, nitrates takes a month to get over 100, and then turtle pond water goes to phytoremediation pond, and phytoremediation pond water fills up the turtle pond. No white residue on the turtle shell from dechlorinator, no shell rot, no more lung issues, and the guppies are thriving. Of course, only the fast, smart guppies survive. 😎

Personally, my favorite algea eater / melted leave / leftover food clean up crew is the much maligned pest snail. It has taken 18 months of lowering the heat 1° every month or so, to adapt guppies and zebra danios to no heater. They are breeding in 68° - 70° water. My bettas are the only ones who still get heat (and danio fry) because the b. splendens are more susceptible to bloat, fungal and bacterial infections at lower temps. They typically live to about 5 years old, however the male I have right now is.... unique. He **really** likes to bury himself😅 He gave himself what looked like a fish concussion just before the last livestream, and nobody can figure out what his issue is... beyond dain bramaged🤷‍♂️ He's 3, do betta get dementia? At any rate, he can't live in a tank under 80°, or he nips his tail off and aggressively tries to bury himself.

@benchilton I have been breeding zebra danio (even smaller than leopard danio fry). My best success has been to keep fry in betta cups that I used Dean's panty hose trick on the bottom, and float in a 10 gallon tank. Otherwise they seem to expend more energy swimming and looking for food, than they actually can eat. Once they stop looking like eyelashes with a pair of eyes, and you can actually see their bellies, they are ready for bigger foods like BBS. Here's my steps for successful hatch and survival of fry: 1. Only the bare glass bottom of the spawning tank needs to be cleaned. A healthy biofilm on the glass sides will greatly improve fry survival. 2. Maintain a tank of green water at all times. Less problematic (and way less stinky) than infusoria. 3. Maintain a colony of detritus worms, which are easier to keep going than vinegar eels. 4. Freshly hatched fry will first attach to sides of the tank and feed on the biofilm. (This is why a healthy amount of biofilm in an established tank is critical to success) 5. Once they start free swimming, move them into cups (I catch them in a cup and pour in) to minimize wasted food/ overfeeding risks 6. First week of food needs to be micron sized. Boiled egg yolk/Aquarium Co-op fry food / high quality flakes / Bug Bites in a blender with boiled water (I freeze leftovers on a piece of parchment paper in drop form) or green water and feed a drop or two per cup (need the water in the cup to get cloudy) every few hours first week. 7. 50% water changes 2x a day for the first week. 8. By the end of the first week, they are generally ready for free swimming in the tank (I use a 10 gallon) and can start BBS, microworms, etc, in addition to the green water (or the rest of the frozen drops above). Feed at least 4x a day. 9. By the 3rd week, you can offer fry food, or finely crushed flake food. They should eat until you see nice, full bellies, at least 4x a day. 10. I run 2 large aquarium Co-op sponge filters, and do at least 2 water changes each day because if you are feeding enough for sufficient growth, they foul the water rapidly! Next batch will be easier, and then you will establish your own rythm.

I am sorry you are struggling, I just wanted to say thank you for your fabulous writing. I needed a lift me up, and the belly laugh did the trick! I have an ornate ornata turtle with her own private pond (complete with guppies) and I have found any plants that I throw in there she decimates. I literally can't grow duckweed fast enough to keep her happy, too bad you are not a neighbor! The most reliable fish for eating plants has consistently been goldfish. Before the turtle, I played musical tanks and moved goldfish from one tank to another (same way I moved goats from one field to another instead of mowing the lawn😅). Currently, I control snails with a similar approach: I have a single assassin snail who controls the snail population in my 13 tanks😬

New Tanks!!!! Today I picked up my new 4' tank, and 2 new 10 gallons for fry...except one 10 gallon is now being used as an emergency hospital tank because my betta is.... unique. Have ~30 zebra danio fry almost ready for my lfs, might be keeping a dozen if they stay nano sized and replace my older breeders. 90 minutes of hands in the water separated out almost 100 guppies into breeding stock and "move on" stock... examined 2 month old danios for the healthiest and smallest (potential) breeders, and rescaped a 5 gallon tank. Thank you for the challenge, Cory! My fish (minus my unique betta) have never been happier!

Thank you so much for agreeing to present!!! Any recommendations on best mouth breeders for cooler environments/ community tanks? After raising Crowntails for quite some time, I am ready to try a different species and move away from some of the inbreeding issues beginning to plague b. splendens. Thank you again! (Thank you Zenzo for setting this up, and Cory for bringing us CARE)

AThank you Cory!!! I'm loving the C.A.R.E. requirements, and grateful for a space to read/engage/communicate with fellow aquarists who understand the intention behind respect. Now to learn how to navigate a new platform 😅 My fish are approving all the co-op videos, I just have to learn how to attach files. >.<