laritheloud

Hey, it will harm your cycle, but if it's columnaris and your fish are suffering, that will kill them, too. I'm struggling with a cycle setback after treating my tank with antibiotics, and I'm currently dosing with Prime and doing once-every-48-hours water changes. I haven't seen levels of ammonia climb above 0.5ppm, and nitrites continue to be 0 while nitrates continue to climb. It's a lot of work, but I'm doing my best to keep my fish safe while the beneficial bacteria recover.

Diamond Tetras aren't really fin nippers in my experience, but the key is to keep a large enough group of them. I have 6, but 8 would probably be even better. They have the normal tetra light chasing of one another but there hasn't been any concerning aggression. We definitely have an alpha male that sometimes goes around chasing the other tetras (mostly the females and not the other males), but he doesn't keep them from swimming in his space, and there have been zero problems with feeding. They are totally voracious eaters, though, like all tetras, so they may try to sneak food away from other fish! Aside from that, they leave my corydoras completely alone. Any squabbles are confined within the group/competition and fin displays between the males. 🙂

Gosh, I love Discus. Absolutely gorgeous fish. I don't have a large enough tank for them yet, but I have Big Plans to start a few more tanks alongside my 29 gallon. The only thing holding me back is that we live in an extremely old house (built in 1810), our space is somewhat limited, and I worry about the weight on our very old floors!

This thread sold me on PSO. I have one headed to my door, should be here tomorrow or Thursday depending on the speed of USPS.

Yes, they can. I found at least 4 babies so far and 2 egg clutches. I just leave them alone because I think they're cute. 🤣

All of your tanks are absolutely gorgeous! What are the two 'kissing' fish in the center? (Beautiful tetra and ram, too!)

100% a bladder snail! We had one show up during cycling, too, and it not only lived but it multiplied.

Perfect, thank you!

Worse things could happen? 😂 I wouldn't mind if the tetras ate a few of them as a form of population control, but I'll make sure I have a backup plan. I highly recommend Diamond Tetras, by the way. They sparkle so beautifully when you take them home and feed them well. Really easy to sex out, too, once you know what to look for.

We've been considering a bristlenose. My husband adores catfish. I'm a little worried about overcrowding the tank if I add a bristlenose, too!

I have room for at least 2 honey gourami, so I'd do 2 or 3 (one male and one female, or one male and two females).

This is really exciting to hear! I'll keep myself open to endlers. They're such colorful, fun little fish. My kindergartener would love it so much as an alternative to glofish.

Oh, this is extremely helpful. I absolutely love endlers, they were tops on my list along with chilis and lambchops! They're so bright and fun! Do the endlers overcrowd rapidly? Would the fry end up becoming a snack to the voracious tetras? I do think I'm going to stick with the gouramis in this tank, likely the honeys. My goal is a very peaceful community so the less aggression, the better, especially since I'm still a newcomer to the hobby. I'll probably add them last so I can let my lily and other plants grow out and fill the top end of the tank.

I loved this video! I think it's between the pearl gourami, the female powder blue, and a few cute honeys. I suspect the pearls or the honeys will pop more beside the diamonds, since powder blue is a bit iridescent along the veins of my diamonds. They're really adorable. So much to think about and choose from!

Hello there! I'm still playing around with my stocking plan for my 29 gallon planted aquarium. Right now, I have 6 juvenile diamond tetras, 6 juvenile corydoras elegans, 1 mystery snail, 2 nerite snails, and plenty of bladder snail hitchhikers. 😂 I'll be sitting with these guys for at least another month before I think about going back for more fish. I love how beautiful and sparkly my diamonds are, and I know they're gonna get pretty hefty as they grow up -- about two inches with longer fins on the males. BUT... I'd love to get more color in my tank, as well as a centerpiece! We'll get 5 amano shrimp after our tank matures for awhile, and that's in the plan. As for what else... Maybe a smaller, colorful fish for the top? Lambchop rasboras? Chili rasboras? Livebearers (though I'm afraid they'll overrun the tank with breeding)? Honey gourami (should I get two or three)? I originally thought maybe an apisto or a bolivian ram (not a German Ram, I don't want to raise the temps of my tank to over 78), but I've been second guessing and thinking I'd be better off with a centerpiece that dwells closer to the middle/top layers of the tank. I'm looking for a centerpiece with color and a lot of charming personality. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Two of my bladder snails

It looks like a bladder snail to me. Our OG bladder snail came in with a co-op plant. It has a very coppery shell. Offspring have a paler/more beige and spotted shell than the original. Yes, they do reproduce, and I found two clutches of bladder snail eggs on my water sprite today. No, they're not harmful at all, and I find them really fun to watch because they can move incredibly fast for tiny little snails. I choose to let them live their best snail lives in my tank, and figure when I get the algae completely under control, their numbers will adjust with it.

Honestly, I just got lucky! My LFS tends to have a massive rotating stock of corydoras, and I carefully went around and took a look at all they had and the number they had in stock before settling on one. I really loved the orange laser cories but there was only one or two left, and I knew I wanted a group of at least 6. These little guys were in stock, and I took more than half of what was left in the tank. They were being housed with some equally cute skunk cories. It doesn't hurt to ask if your LFS can special order them. I have never seen them in person before and I found them really sweet, and I liked that they weren't the largest/bulkiest of cories without being a pygmy, too.

Current water parameters: Ammonia 0.25 - 0.5 (it's SO HARD to read the difference between these colors) Nitrite 0 Nitrate around 10 to 20 Still dosing Stability (and Prime as needed). I skipped a water change last night to see how this goes. Ammonia has never ebbed up past 0.25/0.5, I have started feeding once per day. If ammonia ebbs up further tonight I'll change the water again. Fish don't appear to be stressed or struggling, and the fish with the fungus is continuing to heal. The waiting game to make sure my cycle is back and fully functioning is extremely nerve-wracking! This was why I did a fishless cycle! 🤪

YES to all of this, except I was completely new to the hobby when I started cycling my tank and didn't have the advantage of primed filter media. I did use Eco Complete, tons of live plants (about 15 pots to start in my 29 gal, that's grown to about 22 and counting), and Tetra Safe Start Plus. Cycling took about 9 days, which was much quicker than I expected with starting from scratch.

Oh that's a great idea! I have plenty of moss in the main tank and I'm about to add Java Moss. I can let it all grow out for a bit and transfer trimmings into the quarantine tank, set it up in advance. I'm starting an extra sponge filter in my 29 gallon for quick BB transfer when the time comes. Thanks for the ideas, this helps a lot.

Hi there! This is more of a hypothetical question, as I haven't purchased shrimp yet (though I plan to get about 5 amanos for my 29 gallon in the future). I am aware that shrimp tend to prefer well-established tanks and they are sensitive to changes in their environment. Do you quarantine new inverts like shrimp for a month like you do with fish? I'm concerned this might do a little more harm than good since a quarantine tank would be hastily set-up and not 'well-established' like my main tank. I just purchased my first 10 gal quarantine tank this week after a run-in with fish disease, and I'm trying to plan ahead. Thanks!

Some more photos. I think we have mostly males in this bunch and one female.

I have six juvenile corydoras elegans!!! Love these cute little guys!

Is the albino cory a different color from the other three corydoras?