HH Morant

The master titles are similar to my titles - gentleman, scholar and Renaissance man.

Sexing angels is difficult when they are young, and not so easy even as they mature. The gold angel below is a female. I am sure because I have seen her laying eggs. The other one is a male - a pearl-scale platinum. You can tell by the nuchal hump above his eye.

1. Clean both sides of the glass - if not the whole aquarium, just an area where you will be shooting. 2. Turn room lights off to avoid reflections on the aquarium glass. 3. Select a time when your water is clearest - after a water change, before feeding, etc. Generally clear water is achieved by over-filtration of the biological kind, although transitory improvement can be obtained with mechanical filtration if particulates are the problem. 4. Try different camera settings. Sometimes the "portrait" setting on my phone's camera takes better fish pictures. 5. Get a clip-on macro lens if you want close-ups. I have one, but don't use it often. 6. Take a lot of pictures. The best way to get one good picture is to take 20.

Sorry about your Cories. Changing the filter and substrate within a month results in the loss the huge majority of the beneficial bacteria, which can cause an ammonia/nitrite spike. But your water parameters say that did not happen. And at a 6.0 pH, it would take a lot of ammonia to be toxic to fish. The only thing I can think of is the possibility that something toxic was introduced with the new substrate, which might mean more to the cories than to the bettas, since the cories are usually in contact with the substrate. If you keep fish in an aquarium you are going to lose fish, and the reason cannot always be determined. I think that when you get knocked down, you just have to get up and try again.

I would have more faith if he used "affect" and "effect" correctly.

You are right, @Guppysnail, when you say they are tough. Mine don't seem to get sick, and if they get hurt, they heal. I think their immune systems are overdeveloped because they eat whatever rancid tidbits they find on the bottom.

My albino spotted hoplo catfish. They sleep in the PSO. One moved when I turned on the light.

Thanks for the information, @gardenman. If the bottom matten filter works with that many fish and that much feeding, it will really prove the concept.

Thanks for the update. How many fish are in the matten filter 20-gallon tank?

I have not tried Expel P as part of the trio. I think levamisole, like most medications aimed at internal parasites, is most effective in the food. Some (aquariumscience.org) would argue that such medications are not effective at all if they are added to the water column. That would include Paracleanse, which contains metronidazole and praziquantel. I have used Paracleanse, Expel P, metronidazole powder, and praziquantel powder in food in my display tank. I have even used levamisole powder sold as sheep dip. Before the treatments, I had multiple fish deaths from internal parasites. It is hard to say whether the treatments saved any fish, although I had no deaths after the treatments. I saw no negative effects. I don't think it hurts healthy fish to eat medicated food, and all my fish ate it.

I think a lot of paints are safe, but I generally use plasti-dip instead. It is a spray-on plastic coating rather than a paint and it is aquarium-safe. I have only used the black, but it comes in several colors.

Constant flow.

I think the main difference between what I can have in an aquarium and what occurs in the wild is water volume. Aquariums are generally much more heavily stocked than any natural body of water. Because there is so much fish food and fish waste in my aquarium already, I hesitate to put any additional rotting stuff in the tank.

Wow, I never heard of caddisfly larvae until today. I watched a Youtube video which says that the larvae can live for a year, while the caddisflies only live for a couple of weeks. Having watched one YouTube video, I am now an expert. I recommend that you reach into the tank and take them out and flush them down the toilet. Or use a net.

Don't worry. I don't think Fritz Complete really does anything to ammonia. Neither does anything else you can pour into your aquarium. See articles regarding Prime at aquariumscience.org. I know lots of folks believe what is on the label, but I think the chemist who writes the articles at aquariumscience.org is correct. But I think even the manufacturer only claims it detoxifies ammonia temporarily.

If you have fish in the tank and it is cycled, zero nitrates seems unlikely. Sometimes people do the API nitrate test wrong. Sometimes they do not shake Bottle 2 for 30 seconds before using it. The instructions require 10 drops from Bottle 1, then invert the test tube several times to make sure it is well-mixed with the water, then shake Bottle 2 for 30 seconds before putting 10 drops of Bottle 2 in the tube and shaking for 60 seconds.

29 gallons of water is 241.57 pounds at 8.33 pounds per gallon. Add the weight of the aquarium and you are over 250 pounds. Furniture works fine as long as it will hold up that weight and support that constant load over time. Another important factor is the position of the aquarium on the furniture. Placing it near or on top of vertical structural support might be important. Also, you might want to take into account whether the furniture would be significantly weakened by dampness. A granite top is better than a wooden top, for example, because it won't get weaker if it gets wet. I had my second floor reinforced so that I could have a 130 gallon aquarium on the second floor. Not the same issue, but a similar analysis.

I fed soilent green Repashy to plecostomus fry. They loved it even when they were tiny. I don't think it has the same ingredients as the movie.

I have sold fish to an LFS. I recently sold 72 young plecos (for a dollar each). I don't know what their chance of survival is, but it is certainly better than for plecos born in the wild. There was no way I could keep them, and the LFS will give them a shot at finding a decent home. I think selling them through a club is probably better, but finding buyers for hundreds of fish (I currently have 250-300 young angelfish) is difficult unless the club is really huge. Did you name the chicken "Dumpling"?

I think it is a great idea to put the meds in food. That way you can do water changes as required to combat ammonia/nitrites. Regardless of how big your routine water changes are, you have to take into account how much ammonia/nitrite is in the tank. Sometimes it is not enough to remove 50% of the ammonia your fish are breathing. It has been a while since I had an ammonia issue, but I have done 75% water changes in the past to combat ammonia. One 75% water change is equal to two 50% water changes. There are differing opinions about whether Prime or any other water conditioner detoxifies ammonia or nitrites. I do not believe they do. What Seachem describes as "chemically unexpected" is described as "chemically impossible" by others, including the chemist who writes the articles at aquariumscience.org. If I had a choice between pouring some Prime in the water and doing a water change, I would definitely do the water change.

Beautiful tanks! Your EBAs are growing up! Does the discus tank have any filtration other than the two sponge filters?

Wow, that is a lot of surface area for biofiltration compared to the size of the tank. Thanks for doing this experiment and for the updates!

We can always use another Texan! Welcome!

I don't have duckweed, but I know some people want to know what your secret is. How do you kill it?

I have no experience with altering PH. I know the lower the PH the less toxic ammonia is, so it would be a good thing when you are having an ammonia problem. See aquariumscience.org article and chart regarding PH and ammonia. I think water changes are your best weapon against ammonia. I agree with the author at aquariumscience.org that products that purport to "detoxify" ammonia - as well as "bacteria in a bottle" products - do not work. I know there are differences of opinion about these issues and people tend to try everything when their fish are dying. But I think adding bacteria in a bottle rather than doing a water change would be a mistake.