Andrew Puhr

It's pretty tricky. I know a lot of the time I would have to pick up hardscape hang it over the net in the water. Once the rock was taken out of the water the pleco would let go and fall into the net. Otherwise I know people have done zucchini in the evening wait a bit and then grab them with a net when they are munching on the food. Might work for catching some. In my experience its really hard to catch without disrupting your tank unless you are really fast.

I tried sharing this to a separate aquatic reptile forum but never got a response. I currently have my axolotls sharing a divided 60 breeder. I did it initially due to size difference. The smaller one is definitely now out of the accidentally getting eaten territory but not sure if it is safe to remove the divider yet or if its better to wait a few more months.

That's my concern. Obviously don't want to create a blood bath and I am hoping the large tank will help with that and create an overall active tank. My other option would be to keep the Convicts where they are and maybe get another similar sized Oscar and have them together in the 120 and look for a compatible dither fish.

I have a 4ish month old Tiger Oscar. He is probably about 4-5 inches in size. I also have a group of convicts that I have had for about a year. They are both currently in separate 40 gallon breeders. I want to transfer them to my 4 foot 120 gallon tank. I have read online of a bunch of different people having success keeping them together and recommend them as tankmates. I figure the 4' by 2' footprint gives them plenty of space to spread out. I was going to add a lot of rockwork and decorations to allow sight breaks and hiding places but just want to have success. I have other tanks in the fish room so if I do this and chaos ensues I can separate them easily. Looking for feedback or advice on successful transitioning. If I should add the Oscar first or convicts first, etc.

I was thinking about this last night after watching some of the 1 Million Subscriber live stream. How did everyone find Aquarium Co-Op in their fishkeeping journey? For me it was summer of 2018. I had never kept fish before but once my soon-to-be wife and I moved together she brought a Betta in a Bowl. I never really liked the bowl so I suggested an upgrade so we went to PetSmart and got one of those 2 gallon top fin hex tanks for the Betta. The Betta wasn't doing so well with the transition and eventually passed. We thought to replace it with a couple of fish so I think we got a black moly, and red platy, and a common pleco. (I know). Definitely was dealing with new tank and cycling so was doing regular water changes and trying chemicals nothing really working. I am researching and trying to figure out how to save the fish. Ended up finding the Aquarium Co-Op podcast on my podcast player, searched for the different topics and enjoyed the content and it helped a lot. Patience was definitely key to setting up a new aquarium. That 2 gallon quickly became a 10 gallon and I put a heater and an aqua clear 20 and everything became a lot easier. Then in December of that year the tank popped a seam and 10 gallons of water ended up all over my bedroom floor. Thankfully I caught it early enough and all the fish survived. I had a tank cycling in my unfinished basement that we mainly used for storage and over the next 5 years the basement because a fish room where I know have 13 tanks of various fish and other aquatic creatures and it all started with a betta in a bowl. I also eventually found out that the podcast was a YouTube channel and through guests on the show it lead to Steenfott Aquatics, KG Tropicals which lead to Dan's fish and PrimeTIme Aquatics. It's been quite a process but its a great hobby to be a part of.

I had a Fluval Spec V on my desk at my old job. One thing I would recommend is figuring out easy ways to do water changes. I did the bucket method and did it at the end of the day every other week. Also would recommend planning ahead for when you are going to be on vacation. I had a co-worker who I showed what to feed and how often so when I was gone it was taken care of. Also hopefully you have your employer's okay it wasn't an issue with my old job but when I tried to bring it to my next job it was shut down due to liability concerns for leaks. Beyond that they are great to have and was probably my favorite tank since I saw it for 8 hours a day while working. Enjoy!

That sounds really good already. I like the variety and think they would play well together for the most part. I personally wouldn't add any more but you could always build out with more danios or white clouds for larger schools.

I was doing some reorganizing in my basement fish room and I found some Repashy community plus. Unopened. Expired in 03/2023. I probably should throw it out but its been sealed and in the cold, storage part of my basement. Just curious if anyone has experience with using expired Repashy and if I am better safe than sorry. Rather not waste it if its still worth using.

Hi there. I have a linear piston pump running an air loop in my fish room. I am planning to add additional air valves to my loop to feed a few more tanks. My question was should I take my system offline to drill the new valves or keep it running? If I take it offline I figure the fish would be fine for an hour or so while I make my updates but want it to go smoothly.

I am not sure how accurate this is but I think they both have adapted colors to blend in more with their environment. Freshwater from rivers and lakes blend in with those earth tones and then you have saltwater fish blending in with the colorful corals in reef environments. I think both are to help conceal them more from predators but I don't know of more scientific reasons.

What I have done is siliconed a thick piece of glass over the hole. You will want to clean everything around the hole thoroughly first. Once clean generously coat the piece of glass with silicone and then squish it down over the hole. You will want to piece of glass big enough to have a lot of coverage over the hole size. What has worked for me is a 4 x 4 piece of glass for a 1" bulkhead. Once the glass is in place I would put a weight on top to keep it flat. I would then put a little silicone on the other size of the hole to smooth it out for extra coverage. might be overkill but I like it. Also smear some silicone around the square of glass so no sharp edges.

Am i using too much baking soda? I shool a little bit of baking soda into my hatchery and tested using the co-op test strips at right around 8 but I have noticed issues since I used baking soda. Its coating the inside of my hatchery and my brine shrimp eggs are no longer floating to the top so i don't know if the baking soda affected the bouyancy of water and everything is just staying where it is. This is after 36 hours. Pictures below are after air has been off for 8 or 9 minutes one with light on and one with light off. I need to use vinegar to remove the white coating off my hatchery, heater, thermometer, tubing, etc. i can't harvest the brine which are hatching because the eggs arent separating to the surface.

I have definitely been the most afraid of keeping this guy than any other fish I have kept. I am feeding him live baby brine 3x a day. He started smaller than a grain of rice and now he is probably almost tripled in size. I have a juvenile and an adult as well they are a lot of fun to have.

I have fry currently but none are as unique as my axolotl fry I have right now! He is a wild morph.

Thanks for the advice @Guppysnail. I didn't really check my water parameters out of the tap and I think you are right I should add some baking soda to boost up my PH closer to 8.0. That might be my missing piece. Will definitely try that next.