Isaac M

@Fish Folk well going based off some quick research of their natural habitat I just did and my experience, if I wanted to colony breed them, I would put them in a tank similar to my 40 gallon except with crypts that are spaced out a little wider given their size. I would get a school of 10 (5 minimum) in a 40 breeder or 75 gallon for larger schools, some rock work, driftwood optional, pool filter sand substrate or similar, lots of crypts or other plants that can be dense yet they can swim between and on, along with indian almond leaf litter, and a canopy of floating plants and/ or riparian plants to provide shade and foliage to forage(mine will spawn on the roots of pothos and under lilly leaves). And most importantly, various high protein foods that can stay in the aquarium for a long time for grazing. Live blackworms, frozen tubifex works, frozen blood worms, repashy, xtreme sinking wafers are all great foods.

I apologize, that was a picture from back when I bought them. It is tough for me to get a picture due to all the shade but here is a small video, there are some in there that I did not record that definitely have a lot of gold or jewels as you called it on top. Thank you for taking the time though to show me what to look for in terms of their coloration!

@Fish Folk I see, mine I would guess are less than a year old still, I got them in August and they were small as shown in this picture: I guess I will just wait and see haha

I have not done this before but I do not see any issue with it unless you want to heavily stock it. And the more plants the better of course! I am a big fan of using riparian plants as well so I think those would be really beneficial for this type of setup.

Fish Food - Xtreme krill flake or nano pellets or sinking wafers Shot Glass - I use it to defrost frozen foods Coarse Filter Sponge - I cut it and also use it as an algae scrubber for glass aquariums Meds - Just in case Airline Connectors (airstones included)

Beautiful @Fish Folk, I have a school in my 55 gallon but they have yet to color up, they have grown a lot bigger though than when I got them a few months ago. How long does it take for them to show their color?

Alright so I think I figured out who has been laying the eggs in the 40 gallon corydoras aquarium, the pygmy corys! Be warned however, I was able to capture some proof that is rated R: If you look closely at the video, you can see she is carrying an egg. I took a screenshot of another video I have showing the egg: This was one of my goals when first purchasing the pygmy corydoras, to get them to spawn so I am very happy I was able to achieve my goal. The cool thing is that I have multiple pairs spawning. Here is an egg that was laid by a different pair: I guess those sinking wafers really do work 😂

Hi @jwcarlson, I do not want to change the focus of the thread so I will not say much but 1 pump of easy green will give you a little over 3ppm of nitrates in 10 gallons of water. That may be tough to see on a test strip though. If your tank is heavily planted, more easy green may be required to keep up with the demands of the plants. You can send me a personal message on here if you would like to continue discussing this. Hope that helps!

Hello, as mentioned above, you can simply add a full pump of easy green to the aquarium. A full pump of easy green in 5 gallons of water will provide a 6ppm rise in nitrates which is perfectly safe and could actually even be low depending on how many fast growing plants you may have in the aquarium.

Yes salvinia will work as long as it grows successfully in that aquarium. 9 ember tetras should do great in a 40 breeder with that stocking list, I would make these changes. I would just say keep in mind that floating plants will cover the surface and block out some light from the plants below so just keep an eye out to see if your plants are getting enough light.

@Shazza oh man that looks awesome! Haha you did great! You can always purchase a black extension cord to help conceal it a little better. If you grow some plants out the top of the tank, that will help hide it as well. I see what you mean about the color of the light, you can see it in the background color, it looks much more blue rather than black in the first photo when compared to the new photo. Spot lights rather than lights that are a full strip across the tank will usually produce a shimmer in the aquarium too if you have water flow on the water surface which makes it look even more natural.

Hello @tzahroxi, I am not sure how many ember tetras you are moving over but they do not add much bioload. I would move them, especially if they are stressed with the betta. You will just need to make sure you can keep up the water quality. I noticed that most of the plants you mentioned feed from the roots (lillies, swords, crypts) or are slow growing (anubias). I would suggest adding in some faster growing stem plants, floating plants and/ or riparian plants(something as simple as pothos can do wonders) to help you keep the nitrates lower so you can either do smaller and/or less water changes while keeping up the same water quality.

Here are the same sinking wafers from the little video I posted yesterday: They are still holding their shape and have yet to turn to mush. Even better, you can see the big ol belly on the pygmy cory. There are nice full bellies all around. With corydoras I find that nice full bellies typically lead to them spawning. My tanks are not heated so they are on the colder side (69-70 degrees during the day) but even then I still find cory eggs if I look close enough. Another little video of the cory eques just because I love the way they look 😂 Here is one of the mutt guppies from my 10 gallon, the picture does not do him justice as I had trouble with the focus. His color looks very muted in the picture unfortunately but here he is!

I agree with @Guppysnail, female corydoras are usually larger and more plump than the males. This becomes even more apparent when you view them from above.

Given that you are now adding mangroves into your fishroom, do you think plants grown in a riparian setting are underutilized in the aquarium hobby as a form of nutrient export? Would the aquarium co-op ever think of making their own riparium planter?

I do not think there is any issues with leaving them in their pots, in fact, the aquarium co-op easy planters are designed to keep the plants in their pots.

Oh my did I just get approval from the legendary @Fish Folk, thank you very much! Haha I have found that corydoras seem to thrive a lot better in aquariums dedicated to just them. The tanks I have them in with other community fish just do not seem to have as much fun. In this aquarium, they play, they swim freely, they eat all day without having to fight for food, they breed, baby corydoras raise up on their own, I love it and they seem to love it too haha Here is a video I took of the Sterbai Corydoras while I was working at my desk: And here is one of my favorite videos of my school of pygmy corydoras in that same aquarium playing in the water flow:

I do not have the powerhead connected to my sponge filter because it simply does not fit in my aquarium(too much stuff in the way and it can be quite tall) but I do have the powerhead with a prefilter sponge around the intake in my 40 breeder. Here is a little video of it: It does cause quite a bit of water flow directly in front of it (first foot to foot and a half or so I would say) but my corydoras love it. You cam see the leaves sway and the corys playing in the flow as I have it pointing towards the front glass panel. I would probably shy away from it in a 20 long though unless you have fish in there that like a high flow environment. I would do 2 of the small sponge filters in a 20 long, one at each corner.

Corydoras Eques They are eating Xtreme Sinking Wafers. What I love about this food over other wafers I have tried before is that they retain their shape for a long time. They do not fall apart within a few hours, I see it as repashy without needing to use a microwave or a container. The shrimp and corydoras in this aquarium can be found at all times of the day eating which is exactly what I wanted.

Thank you and honestly, I do not even have the full base anymore, it is simply resting against the aquarium and wall as such: You can always simply tape the pipe to the aquarium or stand to provide side to side support along with the base. For front to back support, it will lean onto the aquarium at the top and push against the wall at the bottom. As for tools, all you need is ratcheting pvc cutters like these.

Hello @BettaQueen124, welcome to the forum! We are glad to have you! I have had 3 different 20 gallon longs in my time. One was a school of rummynose tetras, another was a school of harlequin rasboras and another was a school of corydoras(sterbai and peppered) with red cherry shrimp. I loved them all. But endlers, guppies, neon tetras, smaller danios, ember tetras, dwarf neon rainbowfish, white cloud mountain minnows, cherry barbs and more could be kept in a 20g long.

@Shazza I love corydoras too, I have a whole aquarium dedicated to them haha and I actually have a floodlight over that aquarium. What I did was make a stand out of pvc pipe but it could easily be made out of wood or even steel pipe. I used clear zip ties to tie the floodlight to the pvc pipe stand. Here is a picture of the stand: It is hardly even visible once the plants have grown in too. I would gladly help you with the design if you would like. About the anubias, they typically can only grow in one direction, the direction of their rhizome which is up in your case. Usually plants also grow more compact with a strong light. With anubias, it will usually grow green spot algae on its leaves if the light is too strong. I find it very rare that anubias gets too little light, especially when it is not being shaded like in your case. Here is a picture of some hygro I let grow out with the purple flower I mentioned:

I was interested in keeping poison dart frogs and/ or some form of reptile as a kid. However, I was not allowed to have any reptiles. That still did not stop me from going to the pet store and looking at them though. Then one day a local pet store opened up and the owner gave the people in line to his grand opening a 10 gallon aquarium kit. And well, the rest is history haha

Update on the 55 Gallon: This aquarium is still doing well also. The rainbow shiners are starting to develop some color and have gotten way larger. The red lizard whiptail cats have fattened up and still look interesting as ever. The riparium planters I purchased with suction cups are starting to fall and slide down so I will likely be replacing them with my own diy planters. The peace lillies have grown in very well though. Update on the 10 Gallon: 10 Gallon is slowly maturing. It gets a bit of algae growth due to the light of the reef tank next to it but that was expected. I also added 3 male guppies to the aquarium. I will attempt to get some close ups next week. Update on the 5 Gallon: The tree needs a good trimming as the moss spreads everywhere. Some changes have been made to the aquarium, mainly, the addition of Pumpkin the pea puffer. My girlfriend loved these little guys at the LFS so I bought one and surprised her with him on her favorite holiday, Halloween. Hence the name and aquarium decor, pumpkin haha he is a shy little guy and I struggle to get him to eat but he is doing better now. I am honestly surprised though that he does not eat his shrimp tankmates haha

Update on the 40 Breeder: Still doing well, plants have grown wild and out of control. I will be doing some trimming of the plants of all my aquariums soon. Fish and shrimp are all still doing well. I even find some cory eggs every now and then. These seem kind of small though compared to the sterbai eggs I am used to so I wonder if they are pygmy cory eggs? Either way, this is still my favorite and most easy aquarium to care for.