laritheloud

Definitely breeding. My diamond tetras do this... pretty much every other day. They are prolific breeders and have doubled their numbers even in a community tank. Diamond tetras are so beautiful and so much fun. When they get to be fully grown and grow their school (via breeding LOL), they really are such a stunner in a planted tank. They were my first fish when I got started with planted tanks, and they're so special to me for that reason. I love them dearly.

It could be a melanotaenia parva that got mixed in with the praecox. They develop reddish coloration on the back end as they grow.

RIGHT? I thought I stepped on a cat poo or something (not unheard of, sometimes cats accidentally drag it around) and instead... The location was just a shocker to me. How the heck did he jump out the slim gap in the back then make it around to the front? I'm definitely bummed out but we covered the gaps that were left in the top and hopefully it won't happen again. We still have a pair and I love them, hoping to keep them and get a second pair to round out the group.

Woke up to find one of my butterfly cichlids was a jumper. I have no idea what happened, because we have a glass top over most of the tank and he was on the front side rug when I found him. He somehow jumped out the back and flopped to the front. I feel bad for the little guy, but the rest are fine and we're now closing up the gaps in the top to prevent it from happening again. I'll be getting a second pair once these guys are out of quarantine to add to the group.

I hope so. You deserve more happy moments in the months and years ahead. It feels like so much has changed in such a short amount of time. You're also a fantastic, caring person that I'm sure your students look up to, and no one deserves an easy spring more than you. Thank you for being there for your kids (our feathery and scaly ones, too) and working for their health and happiness. Hope that ADF frog project goes well! (and give those chickens some scratches for the good egg-laying. I'm getting my little flock started in a little less than a month...)

I did not realize you lost both Mom Fish and Dad Fish. My heart hurts for you. Glad to hear you have other projects and beautiful chickens to occupy you, and I'm so sorry for your losses. SIP little ones...

"Cats are usually picky" except Percy. No thoughts, head empty on this one (except for want of food). I swear he's a dog in a cat's fluffy body. He even drools like one when he cuddles me. My other two cats act like proper felines and are much fussier about what they eat.

Fungus on African Dwarf Frogs is not like fish fungus. Fungus on frogs is likely to be chytrid, which is deadly to the frog. I don't think this is chytrid, and I wouldn't use fish treatments on a frog before researching what is safe for the amphibian. They are incredibly sensitive creatures. @EmJay I don't know for sure what that is, but the area looks like the post axillary gland area in a male frog. Is it swollen/does it look inflamed, or is it just a clump of shed skin? I haven't seen this in a frog before and I hope someone else with more experience can help you. Maybe this image can help you pinpoint the location, because it does appear that the 'white spots' can stick out a bit -- not as much as in your photo, but this is a start. I'm also going to tag @Patrick_G because I know he keeps ADFs!

I have three cats. One of them, when he was still a very young adult, even ate a chocolate brownie (homemade) and ended up at the vet ER for careful observation. He doesn't jump on my tanks and he's now 10 years old and a happy kitty, doesn't chew my other houseplants. I've decided to just go for the pothos. Got a marble queen and I'm going to decorate my 55 gallon with some cuttings.. 🙂 @Odd Duck my Percy would be That Cat that ingested chocolate, lmao. Sweet and cuddly as can be but not smart about what he puts in his mouth. He actually ate a piece of flooring in the bathroom (old house, loose flooring, only because we put his food bowl in the bathroom and he dropped food on the floor) and had to get emergency surgery for a bowel obstruction. We no longer feed him in a separate room and just make sure he doesn't go for our old man kitty's food when he inhales his dinner.

No, this is 100% a female! Females have a dark band on the anal fin that can have a blue sheen. They don't become solid black up to the throat/over the face like males. The dark band can darken and lighten very quickly just like with males, it just won't climb up to her face. This is even more pronounced and confusing on wild-type honey gouramis, which why these guys can be challenging to sex.

Poison dart frogs and arboreal/terrestrial frogs have been on my list <i>for-ever</i>, but I don't know when I'll get around to actually owning one because now is not the right time. I wouldn't dive right into that without thoroughly researching care requirements and humidity, so I think you're on the right track going for ADFs, African Clawed Frogs, or Dwarf Suriname Toads instead (I'd also add fire-bellied toads to the list as they are semiaquatic and extremely adorable). I kept both ADFs and Clawed Frogs as a kid. ADFs are a bit pickier eaters, African Clawed Frogs eat literally anything they get their hands on. The latter grow to be quite big 'blobs' and if you want something that'll arrest attention, I'd consider a clawed frog and get the little guy a 20 gallon long (grow-a-frog sites have them available to raise from tadpoles). Definitely have a stock of bloodworms, blackworms, and other frozen feeders to offer the frogs, and make the lid setup as escape-proof as possible. Snails were not an issue with frogs. Shrimp might be, but frogs also move and feed slowly and cannot see well; shrimp are much quicker. I hope your student loves her frog(s). They're goofy little creatures and the buzzing singing from the males is so fun!

Looks like eggs to me. @Hobbit can give you more information about breeding. My honeys still haven't managed to wrap any of ladies, and I've never seen eggs (though I've seen pathetic attempts at a bubble nest that lasts maybe an hour or two).

They are so neat looking! I don’t have a full lid on the tank and they are aggressive with males so I’m not sure they are a fit. Here’s a pic of my latest tetra baby in the community, I always find it so adorable when I spot another one! This little guy has been swimming around for a couple of weeks and it’s brave enough to hang out with the other fish.

This is my favorite philosophy. I tried a huge mishmash of plants across my tanks, took out the ones that failed, and replaced them with things I liked better and knew would grow nicely. Most of my tanks are still evolving as I adjust and tweak and pull out unhealthy-looking plants! I absolutely love seeing your progress and your plant growth is stunning. Glad to see you here and sharing your work with us.

Pompom crabs would work if they settle and survive their molt all right. I got only one "successful" molt (I say "successful" because the crab lost both of his front pincers and his pompoms with his molt and I could not fathom why that happened) out of my pompom crabs before, one day, they mysteriously disappeared. Didn't find them outside the tank, never found them buried anywhere inside the tank. There was a firm lid on top. If you try them I hope you have better luck than me. I really loved our little guys and I was sad they didn't work out. I couldn't justify trying them again when they disappeared without a trace only a month after purchase.

The only time I got a really pungent stink from my tank was when I removed a half-rotted aponogeton bulb (that ... was strangely not buried in the substrate at all, so I have no idea what happened). THAT thing stank. I was worried I was gassing all my fish but they were fine, lol.

This is extremely helpful and I appreciate your experience with goodeids. I was reading up on Select Aquatics about them and didn't realize they had a little aggressive streak. I knew they weren't quite as prolific breeders as platies which I was okay with; not so okay with the aggression amongst themselves! Thank you very much. I'll look into a wild strain of platy or metallic livebearer. I love liberty mollies but I'm nervous that my water isn't 'liquid rock' enough for them... plus, they seem to be pretty difficult to source! Least Killifish I'm saving for a 10 gallon tank.

To be fair, Colu, I also only have one female in my group of six. It miiiiight be a bit of a long shot to get my elegans to breed, though I've heard it's favorable to have more males than females in a group of cories. I do feed daphnia and higher-protein foods several times a week and change 30% of the water weekly, temp in the tank is set to 77-78 degrees with my Inkbird and I usually change it with 75/76 degree water. Maybe someday they'll give it a go!

TONS of moss in that tank right now so I have that covered. I've been hoping my corydoras elegans might spawn in my 29 gallon tank but no dice yet. Meanwhile, the Diamond Tetras keep multiplying 🤣

I did not @Patrick_G! My LFS carries Anomalochromis Thomasi! I actually walked through my thoughts about my tank with one of the staff and we narrowed it down to the African Butterfly Cichlids, Rainbow Cichlids, and EBAs. I still might add just one EBA or a Rainbow cichlid, but I really enjoy these little guys so far. Small and mild, but not shy.

To which I say: Why not both panda cories and livebearers? 🤣 might be ambitious. I do love my catfish, though. Thank you, friend!

This is honestly at the top of my list. What beautiful strains!!!

I'm in the planning stages of my first 'colony'/beeding project setup in a 20 gallon long once my 55 gallon is rounded out, but I'm not sure where I want to start. Initially I was thinking a friendly and rewarding livebearer like platies, limias, or goodeids, but I also really like the idea of picking up a pair of Pelvicachromis Taeniatus Nigerian Red or Moliwe (species of Kribensis) and letting them parent their babies. My water has been alkaline (dKH 10 to 12) and pretty soft on the GH front, and I add some minerals with wondershells to dGH 6. I don't really want to mess with with parameters more than that. The only thing I've bred so far are my diamond tetras, and it's been a total accident the whole time. They happen to be super prolific, though, and they've doubled their numbers from 6 to 12 and counting in a community tank. I'm impressed that fry keep surviving. What are some interesting breeding projects or single-species 'oddball fish' setups for a 20 long? Please don't recommend puffers, I don't feel like they're a fit for me. I think I have a couple of LFSs that will take my overflow in exchange for pay or credit, but I am one of those that likes to hold on to a thriving colony for as long as I can handle the water changes. 🤣

https://streamable.com/ou95ny These guys are so wonderful! I might get one more to bump up the group to 4 and top it all off with a young EBA. They are acting very healthy, eating well, and settling nicely. Seeing no problems between them and the extra female thicklip gourami I picked up (her name is Miss Butternut), who will help add some more femininity to my accidentally male-dominated group!

I have kuhli loaches and opted not to use salt after reading the available information. I was too nervous to try it. If you haven't already, I would definitely raise the temperature to 82/84, somewhere around there; kuhlis are good at tolerating higher temps. I hope others will be able to chime in about ich treatment. Good luck, I hope it clears relatively quickly!