laritheloud

Oh I'm so glad!!! Isn't it such a relief to know that your fish isn't sick, just chunky? 😆 I revised my feeding practices after my thicklip gourami struggled here and there and she's been doing much better. It'll probably take some trial and error, but at least it's something you can control!

Lord Orange and his ladies are here and going into quarantine!!! https://streamable.com/vcrkdl

You have 1.5 ppm ammonia? In any case, your snail might not come back from this. Whenever I had one odd snail behaving like this, they would always pass shortly after. Have you noticed any whitish discharge from the snail's foot?

Hopefully that's all it is. If the platy is otherwise trying to do its normal thing and still interested in eating (my gourami kinda looked like it was huffing and chuffing when she was swimming down, then would just let herself float back up), and you don't see any pineconing, it could be just that. Good luck!

My gourami has done this before. Try fasting for a couple of days to see if the fish is constipated or if the platy overate. You can also try a 10 to 15 minute Epsom Salt bath (1 tablespoon in 2 gallons). Observe for any other concerning signs. When it happened to my fish, not feeding for only 1 day would solve the issue. She's just a little piggy and I have to be careful about offering too much food.

I'm cycling my quarantine tank and got this issue today. Coop test strips said 5 ppm nitrite. API's test said 0.25 ppm. I'm trusting my API kit as being more accurate; I'm pretty sure my tank is nearly cycled, as it hit zero yesterday morning before I re-dosed ammonia.

I keep my new fish in quarantine for about a month to accommodate 2 rounds of anti-parasite meds. I do not treat with maracyn or other antibiotics unless I see signs of a bacterial infection. If all is well after the rounds of parasite meds, they head on over to the display.

Yep, Dwarf Gouramis do have a lot of iridovirus. I hear they're a very sad fish to keep, and among the most aggressive of gouramis contrary to their 'reputation' as a community fish. I don't blame you for wanting to keep away from them. As for other gouramis, as long as you keep a large enough group (4 or 5), the only time they will be aggressive to other fish is when a male is guarding a bubble nest. Squabbling is usually kept within the group, and if you ever do decide to look into something like gold gouramis, three-spot gouramis, etc. they might nip a little at one another as they work out who's Top Fish. Gouramis can get mean when they're guarding! But breeding behavior always changes everything. If you're open to them at all, Pearl Gouramis are on the peaceful end of the spectrum, and so are Thicklips (which are similar to Honey Gouramis in temperament, just a little more outgoing). Thicklips are some of my favorites for their fun personalities, they're hardy and peaceful to other fish to the tank and not susceptible to DGIV, and they get about 3 to 4 inches in size. If you can find a wild-type coloration they can be super beautiful, but it is more common to see the Sunset Thicklip Gourami in stores. Have you looked at keyhole cichlids as an option? They're very peaceful and mild-mannered cichlids, and don't get excessively large.

Thanks for the tag! I see no reason why gouramis wouldn't work as a centerpiece fish for your tank, provided the school of Columbian Tetras is large enough to keep them happy -- 8 should be enough. For gouramis, you can go for any of the medium to larger species, but to minimize problems get a group of 4 or 5, ideally with only one male. That said, if you can't sex them in the store, a decent-sized group will keep gourami squabbling within the group (they're not schooling fish, but they are social and love to be around their own kind/develop an hierarchy), and you have a spacious enough tank to accommodate them. I don't think you'll have any problems with any gourami species you choose -- any variation of the three-spot, moonlight gouramis, or pearl gouramis (except for kissing gouramis, which tend to be on the more obnoxious side of aggressive). They like to go all over the tank, but you'll see them hanging near the top when they want to go up for air. You could also try Angelfish for a mid-water cichlid. With a 75, you can also try your hand at other cichlids... There's a very huge variety of cichlids you could choose from that could work with your current stocking, though most of them will hang around the bottom.

That's a lot of larger gourami for a 20 gallon long. Do you have any plans to move them to a larger tank as they grow? Aside from that, low KH could be part of it and it's worth a try.

I have heard this as well, but whenever I bought purigen I had snow everywhere no matter what I did! I don't use Purigen ever now. I'll use Carbon occasionally if I want to clear meds.

I'm gonna update a little bit on my single ramshorn, too. I have NOT witnessed him eating any shrimp. They're too fast for him anyway. He absolutely does eat hornwort. Which I don't care about, because it grows fast enough to not matter.

Everyone else has covered the cycling issues, but I'd like to offer a stocking opinion, if you're open. I think maybe you're overcrowding the mid-water schooling fish, and you might want to consider more bottom and top dwellers. I'd bump up the school of pygmy corydoras to 6 to 8 when you get around to it, and then choose Kuhli Loaches *OR* hillstream loaches to go along with them. Nerites are fine. I'm not sure I'd do cardinals, rummynoses, and harlequins. maybe choose a max of 2 schoolers and add a centerpiece, or 1 schooler and a pair of eye-catching fish. I just worry that the schooling fish will feel a bit too crowded with those numbers in a 29 gallon.

Trimming and removing plants. It makes me nervous! Also just general maintenance while trying to be gentle to my plants. Cleaning the canister filter and hoses is never fun, but at least I always take a shower afterwards... EDIT to add: I have to agree with trying to catch a dang fish out of a heavily planted tank. I'm so bad at it.

A few small updates, no pics today: The rainbowfish have settled in. Some of them had a bit of 'white lip' going on, which I knew was exceptionally common in all rainbowfish species. I let them sit for about 10 days before I decided to run them through a course of Kanaplex in food. Rested them for another week, now I'm doing some mild parasite treatment just in case. All of them have colored up and regrown their store-nipped fins. Still a little bit of white lip but I'm not concerned about it, as they're all eating and none are getting worse. Likely it's from their frequent sparring. 🙂 I'm doing about 30 to 50% water changes weekly, but nitrates are basically undetectable even with fertilizer. I removed one of the five wood pieces to make some more swimming space in the middle. Since I'm adjusting my plan to have thicklips as my gourami in the tank, I'm hoping to add in some peaceful community-oriented cichlids as my centerpiece. I've been busy researching what would work and feel more comfortable removing a little wood and adding a cave just in case. My new quarantine tank is at the end of cycling so I should be able to round out a harem for my pushy thicklip gourami this week. They'll go through about 3 to 4 weeks of quarantine before I add them to the tank. Thinking I'll go for a pleco after the gouramis.

I wait 2 to 4 weeks. Example, I'm working on stocking my 55 gallon, started with half of a school. Waited two weeks, finished off the school and brought their numbers to 12. I gave them antibiotics in food for a bit of mouth rot, and now I'm treating for parasites just in case. I'm getting the next batch of fish this week and putting them in my quarantine tank, where they'll live for the next 3 to 4 weeks before I add them in with my schoolers. 🙂 My general policy is to move one batch of fish to the main tank, clean the quarantine, then add the next round of fish to the quarantine tank while the display settles. By the time a small batch is finished with quarantine enough time has passed to add them to the display.

I have corydoras elegans and they are not that pink in person. I think the picture has been manipulated and it was taken in bad lighting, with the brightness and contrast cranked up. Corydoras elegans have a range of appearances. Some have a pinkish base And some have more of an ochre base, with a bit more gray/black to them, like this: Mine look more like the latter. Either way, great corydoras species and one of the more petite varieties. I love ours.

So the snails I have in my four tanks so far are: Mystery Snails Nerite Snails and Thorny Nerite Snails Golden Rabbit Snails Japanese Trapdoor Snails Colombian Giant Ramshorn Snail Bladder Snails Ramshorn Snails Malaysian Trumpet Snails My favorite snail by far is the Colombian Giant Ramshorn, followed by my rabbit snails and mysteries (but I do love them all). I'm going to say this with a caveat: It is not always legal to purchase the Giant Ramshorn online, and you must source them locally if you find them at all. I also can't recommend you get more than one, as they're voracious eaters, will nibble on plants (though he doesn't nibble enough to make a dent in mine), and slurp bladder snails out of their shells. They are extremely cool, though, and just as graceful as Mystery Snails. Rabbit Snails are pricier and a bit clumsier. as they move around the tank they might jostle some plants that aren't well-rooted. They like to nibble on my salvinia, and they do a great job trimming/eating dying leaves off of my plants. As a bonus, they have some of the cutest snail faces ever. Mystery Snails are just as fun to watch as giant ramshorns, but in my tanks I haven't gotten one that's lived very long yet. The original 3 I bought lived for only 3 months. I have two more (ivory and black) that I'm hoping will last longer, because they're adorable and fun little critters. Nerites are invaluable as algae clean-up, so if you want something to eat algae, they're great. I hope you love your snail keeping! I think they add so much to the character of any community tank.

I personally would not get a crayfish if you are concerned about it going after your existing fish.

Looks eggy to me. Female tetras can get impressively plump when they're carrying eggs. Hopefully that's all it is!

Thank you. I'm really sad about it and just wish there could have been more to do for him. Poor little guy 😞

Thank you for letting me know. I decided to euthanize the fish, since he was not showing any signs of improvement and I did not want him to slowly starve or suffocate to death. I'm feeling awful about it but my understanding is there's no real treatment for this. It's definitely possible he was already older when I got him. I'll be prepared the next time I see this and separate them.

@Brandon p no clue. I bought him via a random scoop of male endlers off Aquabid. He was already a full grown adult when I received him.

FWIW I was thinking of a similar community (a pearl gourami community) for my 55 gallon. I changed plans since then because my Thicklip Gourami is no longer getting along with my male honey gourami, so instead of pearls I'm doing a group of thicklips. Because of that trade-off, I'll be going for slightly larger cichlids -- maybe Blue Acaras or even a blood parrot. As far as I know, Keyholes are extremely peaceful and shy and should do very well with your pearl gouramis. They were at the top of my list for a cichlid possibility, and I think you can find a group of them on AquaBid if you're comfortable ordering online. They also get along just fine with corydoras, especially the rams. Just make sure there's hidey-holes and caves for your cichlids to enjoy and claim as their home territory.

I'm seeing that it's an issue that can happen sometimes with guppies, and no one seems to know where it comes from or if there's any treatment. Most seem to agree that there isn't one, and it will fix itself quickly or it won't and they'll inevitably die. I figure since Endlers are kind of the same species, it's the same deal. I'm looking at the remaining endlers closely and they look fine for now. I'd always planned to keep this a bachelor endler tank with invertebrates and let them live out their lives happily for as long as that'll be, and once they're gone I'd try something else. Thanks for your insight!