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You are fine to drip in from your bowl.

You will lose all BB on the gravel you take out but there should be enough in your filter that feeding lightly and a few extra water changes will keep the tank stable until BB repopulates new substrate. There are lots of YouTube videos just type in what you want. Here is one.

Live bearer fry are the King Kongs of the fry world. They come out eating like pigs and grow crazy fast. I’m glad your roommate talked you into being able to get an up close view of the process. WARNING… hand raising fry is so rewarding it’s highly addictive.

How do you hold the hills in place? Mine flatten out fast every time I try.

The panduro are amazing. I love the sand hill.

If you are asking if this is how ACO ships contact customer service.

Is this the one?

Your RR plan is great with the exception of the media. I do not keep ramshorns but I did keep bladder snails. There were always baby snails and eggs in my media. If you can borrow media from another running tank that would be great. RR on everything you will have no BB to transfer. I have in the past just dumped boiling water on substrate in a bucket and let it sit until it’s cool and rinse. That eliminates the need for wait time.

I’ve seen this happen in my tanks. I chalk it up to overbreeding and no genetic diversity. When I notice a decline in breeding I swap shrimp gla round to different tanks. It usually picks back up. Every now and again I’ll pick up a handful from others to help.

Mine are in my face beggars 🐷 all day. If they don’t warm up maybe add just a few more. Nice tank.

Aqua Huna and Dans Fish are forum approved vendors.

If there is one there is more. You can use a melamine pad or cloth to squish on the glass and wipe thoroughly. fenbendazole and no planaria work if you have no snails. If there are snails no chemical method is safe. There are glass planaria traps but you never get all of them and the traps only work if the planaria are hungry or it’s baited with something like raw shrimp it may attract them.

Edit the photo by cropping even a touch then add file

Picture is to fuzzy for me to tell. Not all planarians have triangle heads.

My tank is 300 gh my tap is so high it goes to far over sny chsrt to test I mix in some RO to make it habitable. they spawn fine but like you I do lots of water changes and vacuum. Higher gh/kh makes bacterial soup. It’s definitely doable armed with the knowledge of how clean the water needs to be.

Sounds typical. Mine do not create flow. The water flows out but with no speed or pressure. You really do not want speed and pressure. The longer the water is in contact with the bulb the better. Also check the intake sponge and area. Mine used to clog really fast.

I have very different experience with rams. Mine don’t bother any other other fish. However rams prefer soft water lower ph. Guppies need hard water and higher ph. The fins are gone likely due to post-mortem predation. What is you gh and ph. Cause of death may have been new fish, failure to adapt to your water or depending on the source guppies have been so over bred they are incredibly weak anymore. They are notoriously hard to keep alive these days.

@beastie definitely give Heterandria Formosa a go. No lid needed. They do not breed out of control. Just enough to always have a few babies about. I adore these little dainty, friendly fish.

Cut out a piece of black plastic craft sheet or aquarium background secure in place with masking or scotch tape. Cover the large side where the pot is against the side glass. Once you suspect there are eggs you can peek.

Your stock is way to heavy to keep the tank low enough on the bacterial load for GBR in my opinion. I have only a pair in a 20 long. what is already in the tank? If this is a new tank then no to GBR. They need a tank very well seasoned. They are crazy sensitive to any water quality issues. If the rams pair they will defend against intruders near eggs. Loaches are catfish and have no sense of being warned away. Rams also get to be a decent size. In a 20 high there is not enough floor space for 3. In a 20 long there is not enough floor space for 3 if 2 pair. I would consider maybe putting 1 group of 8 small schooling fish with my adult rams. Although well established planted tanks can handle much more than Aqadvisor says it’s a good starting point. Put I. Your desired stocking and see what it says. If it were me I would do the 20 minus the rams. Once your larger tank is set up and well seasoned revisit the Ram idea. Things happen. If I had a nickle for every tank I started intending to upgrade that upgrades for one reason or another of life’s happenings delayed I would be rich. I also have 12 luminatus in a 20 high. I would not put another schooling fish with them. I do have Aspidora spilotus with them as bottom dwellers. That works well.

@macdaddy36 I’m reconsidering my answer. I’m having a hard time getting my wiggler luminatus to go free swimming. I talked to my friend who to me is “the rainbow guy”. He says he has little survival of fry below 80. 80 is his sweet spot for the fry. I think you should try the luminatus. Because they do t live long the heat may not impact them as much. I just moved my luminatus egg hatchery to my GBR tank.

I don’t know but I’m curious. I have started working with the albino yellow metal lace guppies and wondered the same thing.

Both luminatus and harlequins have an upper range of 80. Both can handle 80. All fish that live their entire life at the upper end of their temp range may live shorter lives. This could mean a day less a month less or a year less. It’s really unclear just how much it shortens lifespan. Fish are cold blooded. Their metabolism is dictated by their temperature. As long as you are not over their temperature range by a lot it’s not something I would worry about. Just something I would take note of in case I saw issues. If I saw issues I would consider consistently high temps as a possible stressor

80 is the top end of the luminatus range. They are not long lived fish and running them hot may shorten their life. Im sure it can be done but may be hard on the luminatus. I keep those at 75. If it’s a combo you have have your heart set on try it. I’ve seen folks make some incredible combos work well for years Example shubunkins and GBR. As long as you are aware of the challenges and watch for issues having a plan B if it goes sideways I say try. My original GBR were a surprise gift. They were with CPD who definitely do not like warm temps. It was hard on the CPD but I made it work for awhile.

Your situation is unique. I know the hardness affects them a lot. The 8.0 ph may be a touch high. But in the soft water it may or may not affect them. Try it. Keep them warm and large weekly water changes even with low nitrates. Keep the substrate clean. And avoid fertilizer until you know if you kids can handle your water. Then if you really feel you need to use fertilizer try tiny amounts. Good luck let us know how you make out.