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.

Hello everyone. I recently started hatching brine about a week ago. Still trying to get the bugs worked out and figure out what's causing my poor hatch rates. Purchased everything from aquarium co-op. Ziss Hatchery, Co-Op Eggs, usb air pump, etc. Used instant ocean sea salt that I had for a while. The Co-Op eggs I had from early 2022. I hadn't opened the tin and they were still sealed in the bag and kept in the fridge. I did my first batch following the co-op instructions exactly. 2 tbs of marine salt, 1 tsp of eggs, maintain temperature of 76-82 degrees. Had a decent enough hatch maybe 50-60%. Next batch tried increasing the salinity with 3.5 tbs based on a video I saw from Prime Time Aquatics since we are in the same area and same water. Still about the same hatch. I started utilizing a hydrometer to determine salinity to make sure I am matching what they need and not having too much or too little salt. Was trying around 1.02 salinity, tried utilizing an incandescent lamp but had it too close and ended up cooking the brine. Current test is I am using an LED lamp for light, an internal heater to maintain the temperature around 28C (82F), salinity right around 1.02, 1 tsp brine, still using the USB air pump, switched from the marine salt to the Fritz A+ Salt. Currently at hour 15 and waiting to see where I am at when I hit 24 hours. I feel like I got into the weeds with trying to get everything perfect and it could just be that my eggs are too hold to have a good hatch so I ordered a new tin of eggs from the Co-Op to try again depending on the results of today's hatch. Tap Water Parameters: 0 - Nitrates 0 - Nitrites 300 - GH 60 - KH 7.0-7.2 - PH 0 - Chlorine Is there anything else I am missing or should try? Feeling a bit discouraged retrying every 24 hours or so.

I am hatching Baby Brine to use for my baby axolotls and livebearers and wanted to see if its possible or risky to add some Vitachem to the brine shrimp hatchery while they eggs are hatching as a way to enhance or gut load the brine shrimp or if that would have adverse affects on the hatch or survival of the shrimp.

I purchased a used Jehmco pump that came with pieces of 3/4 pipe with air valves already drilled in. I will need to purchase new PVC to do my air loop. I just wanted to know if I am better going with 3/4 or 1" PVC for the loop. The pump is the same size as the Co-Op one and I know they said you can do 3/4 or 1 but I am not sure why one is better than the other. I plan to have around 12 - 15 drops in my fish room and the run will be around a 15' long x 8' wide for the loop. If I use the 3/4 I can use some of the pieces I got with the pump but if 1" is better I can just remove the valves and add them to the 1" without much issue.

@nabokovfan87 thanks for your feedback. I know when I had to move my two 75 gallons those definitely needed to be completely drained with substrate removed. This one with the shrimplets and the fry I was concerned of losing them. what I might try doing is remove the hardscape and all the guppies I can. Leave the shrimp and just drain it as low as possible without removing the substrate. If I don't remove the plants they should just lay flat on top of the gravel keeping everyone safe and sound for the short move and refill. Then I would just repeat it for the return.

I am extending my dado cut wooden 40 breeder rack of 4 units to 6 units to do this I need to remove all 4 of my aquariums off the rack to replace the horizontal pieces. 3 of my tanks are either sand substrate or unplanted so removing the livestock and substrate isn't too big of a deal. The problematic tank is my guppy/shrimp tank that is heavily planted and has fry from both that I don't want to disrupt. I was thinking if I drain the tank down to about 1 inch above substrate and quickly moved it off the rack and onto my temporary cinderblock stand where I will refill with the same water and then once the rack is finished repeat the process to put it back. In the attached picture its the one lit up. I am sure people have moved breeding tanks before and I am just looking for any ideas to do this without creating too much chaos.

I have a 75 gallon aquarium of adult Chindongo Saulosi all around the same size (3.5 - 4 inches). I have juveniles in a separate grow out tank. They are currently about 1.5 inches. Is it safe to introduce them into the 75 or should I wait until they are a bit larger? I was planning to redecorate the tank with cichlid caves and additional rock work to provide more hides but I didn't want to spend the time to grow them out if they will be killed right away

I am planning on setting up a cinderblock stand to hold four 75 gallon tanks. I currently have a dual cinderblock stand for 2 of them and was thinking of reusing the wood 4 pieces (2 x 8 x 5') instead of 2 pieces (2 x 8 x 10') for the lower row. I just wanted to see if that was going to be a problem. I am leaning towards no as long as the cut is centered on the middle cinderblock set but I am sure it would be stronger as one whole 10 foot piece.

I second everything that everyone has said. 90% of my tanks are used. I have resealed a few of them but some tanks will have an inspection tag from when they were made so if the tank is less than 10 years old and the silicone looks to be in good shape I won't reseal. I am less concerned because all my fish tanks are in my basement on a concrete floor. I have had a 55 gallon bust a seal and empty itself and thankfully I was there when it happened so I rescued all the fish. Just do a thorough inspection and then water test it in a safe place like your driveway or deck before bringing it inside.

I have moved my fish and axolotls into different tanks that were occupied by each other without any issues so I don't think you will have any problems!

I am looking to reduce energy consumption in my unfinished basement fish room. I know there are various videos out there but I have some ideas and I am just looking for feedback. Total Aquariums: 2 - 30 Gallon Tanks, 3 - 40 Breeders, 2 - 75 Gallon Tanks, 1 - 80 Gallon Turtle Tank All tanks are set-up with hang on back filters, heaters, some have sponge filters, and the turtle tank has a sump. All tanks have either glass or greenhouse plastic. I was thinking of ways to reduce costs would be: 1) Convert all non-turtle tanks to sponge filters and then just increase my water change schedule to keep nitrates down. 2) Make sure lids are tight with no major gaps to limit heat loss 3) Change lighting schedule for non-planted tanks I thought about heating the room but its a large space and I don't really wanting to build a room to heat within the unfinished basement. Any other thoughts?