Emily in Everett

I found and extracted two minuscule baby Reticulated Hillstream Loaches from the sump of my 90-gallon tank. Standing on my head in the cupboard to try to catch these zippy 5-mm-long suckers while elbow deep in fish poop and sump detritus while my kids held the flashlights was…um…a challenge. There’s a third one in the intake chamber of my main tank that looks impossible to extract—it may turn into an experiment on whether the intake box makes a good grow-out tank! My 3 hillstream loach adults must include a m and f! I’m assuming most of the fry or eggs turned into munchies for the other tank denizens…or got accidentally tossed in previous sump cleaning… I’ve never raised any fry before-this should be interesting!

I finally found the ditherfish school to my 90-gallon archerfish project! (the archers are currently lurking about in a grow-out tank). I've been looking for the right species...something with goldilocks-perfect size (not edible-small like little danios or eventual tank-busters like roseline barbs etc.). A bit of pizazz or color for visual interest but not so fancy it would distract or clash visually from the archers. I liked diamond or congo tetras but wanted a SE Asia counterpart for the archers. Barbs are regional but I didn't like the bold looks of some red/yellow/stripy options. Aquarium co-op dollar bin to the rescue! I visited yesterday and they had a school of "Pearlscale Barb" (Pethia stoliczkana) that I'd never heard of before. Supposedly they stay fairly small and are fairly peaceful (vs. tiger barb). They have rather lovely red markings on the males' fins and have just the right amount of subtle shine. I brought all 20 home. At 1$ each who could resist! So far I love them! They are busy busy (I'll have to watch who joins them so the other fish don't get outcompeted for food) but look great in this tank moving about as a school. And as they are settling in they are starting to show some unexpected color near their tails- sunny yellow and an irridescent green sheen with hints of pink. So pretty! Next step once the water adjusts to these guys: bring in the archerfish and see if everyone gets along!

I finally got water in the new (used) 90 gallon. Got the filter started using some yukky sponges from my other 90 gallon cube’s sump. Go go bacteria! Setting this tank up for my clouded archerfish currently growing up in a smaller tank. I had the manzanita branches in a perfect configuration until they started to float. Lol! next up Is pondering how to install some sort of “fern wall” hanging on the back wall’s above-water section. I was looking into getting a 3D rock background but am currently thinking I like the clean look of fish and wood against the black background, it adds more visual depth I think… can’t wait to get it cycled and planted so we can start seeing the archers do what they do best!

Following here. I'm setting up an archerfish tank also...5 of them currently growing out in a smaller tank...but having trouble finding a fish to pair with them that they don't try to eat even if it's almost as long as they are.

Puzzling over wild irregularities in results when pH testing. See photo below. I took 4 vials from the same place in the same tank. Left two vials got 3 drops from the left bottle. Right two vials got 3 drops from the right bottle. Shook both bottles first. My two questions: 1. What the heck is my pH??? 6.0 per yellow vial? 6.4 per a 7-in-1 aquarium test strip? 6.8 to 7.0 per the green vials? 7.6 per the blue vial? 2. Why so much variation??? I've completely lost faith in all these methods...

I watched my new school of clouded archerfish. A LOT. They are fascinating fish. Shy. Sneaky. Curious about me. Jumpy...they seem as bad as a sneaky cat waiting to bolt outside the second you open the door. And instantly on the hunt as soon as we put a moth in the tank's airspace below the lid. That moth didn't stand a chance. They are currently in a temporary tank while I design, set up and cycle their ultimate paludarium home. I'm very intimidated but excited to set up my dream tank for them!! In the meantime, feeding them will be interesting. They won't even touch food once it's floated more than a few inches from the surface. But I tried some "snufflers" (a large algae eater etc." to clean up the fallen food below and those normally active fish just hid all day...the archers must give off some serious predator vibes!!

All good ideas, I've considered the double thermometer option. My frustration with the reviews is it seems like EVERY possible model has at least one person who's experienced a traumatic fish-cooking incident with it.

Good to know. On the subject of such heaters, what would be a good, moderately priced replacement model? I'm reluctant to replace with the same kind, since it only lasted a year before this potential malfunctioning.....

Has anyone experienced a slowly failing aquarium heater? (vs. abrupt complete failure)? I have an Eheim 250watt submerged heater in the 30 gallon sump for a 90 gallon freshwater tank. For the last year it has reliably kept waters at 79-82 degrees (exactly where I want it to keep my community tank of tapajos and clown loaches happy and ich-free). The main heater has to be set at 85 degrees to achieve this; it's on some of the time but not always, at this setting. During the last week my tank's temp has suddenly shot up to 86 degrees. At first I thought this might be due to our heat spell and a warmer house (Though this has not occurred on previous much longer heat spells). But I checked the heater and it's still on and heating even at this temperature, and the sump chamber's water felt very hot. So I tried shifting the heater's setting down in 3-5 degree increments. It did eventually turn off, but not until I cranked it down to a 70-degree setting. Has anyone had an issue like this? I've had a heater fail before (stuck on on, cooked 50 gallons of fish, very traumatizing childhood experience!), but not intermittent behavior.... Any suggestions would be welcome!

Issue: planted 5 gal tank with betta and african frogs. Betta's fins have suddenly started to degrade, suggesting fin rot (no obvious discoloration of edges but tissue between the rays is "melting back". We've had this with previous bettas and medication has stopped the melt and fins grew back. But those were betta-only tanks without frogs. Question: what are medications I could use for the betta that would not be poisonous to frogs? I could of course move to a quarantine tank but it's already a small tank and would prefer to limit stress on fish if there's any way to maintain it in the current environment.

Issue: planted tank with betta and african frogs. Betta's fins have suddenly started to degrade, suggesting fin rot (no obvious discoloration of edges but tissue between the rays is "melting back". We've had this with previous bettas and medication has stopped the melt and fins grew back. But those were betta-only tanks without frogs. Question: what are medications I could use for the betta that would not be poisonous to frogs?

I know our local pH can be a bit low but I'm puzzled. I've got a 5 gal, 15 gal and 90 gal. Non-reactive substrates, regular water changes, plants, and supplemented with fertilizer and Equilibrium. The 2 small tanks stay fairly steadily at 6.6-6.8 PH but lately the big tank has been steadily dropping, to like 6.4 or sometimes even lower (hard to tell as the strips and drops don't always agree). I've noticed lately a general stress on the plants and a few fish "flashing" on the substrate, though this may be unrelated. On test trips alkalinity tests lowish but not totally low, and hardness is midrange to slightly high. I have a bag of coral gravel in the filter to try to change things but since I added it a few weeks ago the pH has gotten even lower. Differences between my big tank and the smaller ones: more plants, more wood, more fish (it's fully stocked). Same water change regime/percentages, same water used, same proportions of fertilizer/Equilibrium. Any ideas on what is happening, and how/if I should fix it?

I suppose the overeating option might be possible. The previous betta got occasional brine shimp, and the issues started around the same time we tried offering him some brine shrimp and may have put too many pieces in the water.

We had a betta inexplicably die today. Looking for possible reasons as I don't want it to happen again! Purchased a male crowntail betta from Aquarium Coop about 4 weeks ago, along with 2 aquatic frogs. Frogs and betta placed in established, planted 5 gallon tank. We had a previous Betta live there happily for 2 years until he suffered from swim bladder issues. We've changed no parameters or routines for the new betta/frogs except to add bloodworms to the daily food to make the frogs happy, and set the temp to 78 instead of 82. Betta seemed normal for 3 weeks. During last week betta has been hiding/sitting still a lot which was unusual. Today seen hanging upside down letting the gentle filter flow suck him up to the filter inlet. If rousted he swam fine but kept wanting to end up upside down lodged in plants, breathing hard. 2 hrs later he was floating on top dead. No signs of parasites, bloating, ich, pokey scales, or anything. Looks perfectly healthy. All I can figure is: Parasite it (or the frogs) came with? Ate too many bloodworms? (though there was no sign of overeating nor did we observe it, and the frogs did a good job of limiting the betta's access to the worms once they floated to the tank bottom) Somehow got physically hurt? RFD (random fish death) that I just must accept. Could there be any other likely causes? Tank parameters at time of death and at all times in previous 2 years: filtration (gentle flow), regular small doses of Flourish fertilizer liquid and equilibrium powder to keep the plants happy. 30-40% water changes and gravel vacuuming every 1-2 weeks. PH 6.6-6.8, Nitrates usually 5ish, never above 10, nitrites always 0, hardness: softish, kh lowish. Bettas have been fed Aqueon betta pellets; frogs get frozen bloodworms of which the latest betta also gets a few before the frogs chase him off. I'm fairly experienced at keeping tanks healthy, with some really stable 15 and 90 gallon tanks and I've gone through the new tank owner routine with all the nitrite/fungus/ich etc. lessons that come with that. Heat has been 78 for this betta/frog combo; it was 82 for the previous 2-year-betta. Any ideas?

It's definitely Amazon sword. I have java fern too which for the most part has suffered only minor munch-marks. I have both Siamese algae eaters and reticulated algae eaters. I also just caught the clown loach troupe (the juveniles not the big ones) ripping one Amazon sword leaf to shreds (despite having access to freshly blanched zucchini just a few feet away). So they are some of the culprits. Though I still am interested in MarkM's observation that the algae eaters may also be culprits. My tank has become very clean thanks to their help but now I'm wondering if it's too clean....who knew that could be a thing. 🙂

Do algae eaters (specifically mid-sized reticulated or Siamese algae eaters) munch on plants as well as algae? I put two brand new Amazon sword plants into my big tank which currently has val, java fern, and a few other plants but has never had Amazon sword before. Residents are red-head tapajos, clown loaches, pearl gourami, hillstream loach, and several roughly 3-inch algae eaters that outgrew my smaller tanks. In 12 hours the beautiful amazon sword looked like this (see photo) on 3 of its 10 leaves (the other leaves were left alone). Could this be the work of algae eaters? I thought they just grazed on algae on top of plants but it looks like someone's been taking chunks out of this. Normally the tapajos and loaches have left the plants alone (except for uprooting them during digging).

I have a 90-gallon tank with 30 gallon sump. I usually have to top off the sump once every 5-7 days to keep up with the evaporation. But over the last month I'm now having to top it off every 2-3 days - like with a 5 gallon bucket! Like I come back from a 2-day weekend and the filter sponges are exposed to the air! The only differences I can see are the colder drier weather (though the humidity in our house hasn't changed much according to our weather meter); and the sudden explosion of Amazon frogbit (I introduced a few leaves a few months ago; took a while to get going; but now it covers 2/3 of the surface and would cover 100% if I didn't do a weekly culling). I'm curious if a solid cover of surface plants would change the rate of evaporation in a tank. Any ideas?

Fairly new to aquarium keeping (2 years in....5 gallon, 15g, and 90g). Always learning! I let a black beard algae infestation get out of control in the 15 gallon. I was hoping tinkering with EasyCarbon and light changes would help...nope!) So I introduced 3 juvenile reticulated algae eaters a couple weeks ago and watched to see what would happen. LESSON 1: I should have added them months ago! Those busy fish have cleaned almost every speck of BBA (except for the biggest tufts); the tank is glowing bright green again and the plant growth has taken off. It's amazing! LESSON 2: In a Fluval Flex 15, three algae eaters + BBA infestation = a totally clogged sump intake and filter sponge! The slots leading to the first back chamber were choked with tufts, and the sponge was so covered in mats of BBA that almost no water could pass through. I came back from a weekend away to find the pump chamber almost dry...1 more inch and the pump would have been running dry! So I cleaned it all out. 5 days later I had to do it again! LESSON 3: if you put a large algae wafer in the tank to give the algae eaters a treat, they will gorge themselves so severely they can barely swim. After two days of fasting they are back to normal, but I'm not going to do that again! I'm a bit worried how it'll work when they outgrow this tank and get moved to the 90 gallon...the residents there get regular large algae wafers..... Anyways, just wanted to share my experience!

So I'm trying for the relatively impossible...a pretty planted tank with eartheaters. My setup: 90 gal with 30 gal sump. Sand substrate. 3 kinds of java fern (rooted to wood), 2 kinds of vallisneria (wide leaf and narrow leaf) rooted against the back wall and protected by rocks, and octopus plant, scarlet temple, and water sprite semi-protected with circles of rock or Aquarium coop planters. My inhabitants: clown loaches (two are over 5"), redhead tapajos (one is 4" long now), pearl gouramis, danios and hatchetfish. They are regularly fed blanched vegetables to supplement their diet. My problem: the larger fish are, as expected, uprooting some plants during foraging. My weekly routine includes replanting the plants that have floated to the top. However, there is also serious munching going on (I think it's the tapajos, I caught one in the act of methodically tugging at java ferns and severing the floating roots). All the lighter weight plants are getting stripped of side branches up to 1 foot up from the sand, leaving silly looking poof balls of foliage on top of a bare stalk. Even the java ferns are being deleafed, one frond at a time. The val seems to be surviving the grazing, as long as I keep rebuilding the rock protection around their roots. My questions: I thought java fern was supposed to be fish-proof. Are there other aquatic plants I should try? Or other tactics I could try to better protect the plants?

Both good suggestions I could try, thank you - though isolating the danios for each feeding seems a bit laborious over time! I do manage to get the larger pieces (krill and large pellets) to the big guys - though their favorite seems to be thawed brine shrimp which the danios gobble.

I have a community 90-gallon tank with clown loaches (1 large 6" and several small 3"), young geophagus tapajos, some pearl gouramis, and a school of leopard danios. All the other larger fish are doing great, and the danios look absolutely fabulous darting around the top half of the tank around the larger fish. BUT it seems impossible to avoid overfeeding them when trying to get food to the larger denizens of the deep. The danios dash to the bottom and gorge themselves on any food I provide (pellets, blanched veggies, bug bites, freeze dried krill, brine shrimp or krill thawed from frozen) until they are so grotesquely bloated they can barely swim well. I'm worried about bloat issues, and also now have two danios that have abruptly gone from overfed to emaciated in the last few weeks. I've stopped feeding surface food (flakes, dried bloodworms, etc.) entirely, to avoid overfeeding them. But it doesn't seem to matter because they'll race to wherever the food is. If in a danio-only tank I'd just feed them more sparsely, but I can't do that without starving the big guys. Am I trying to run an impossible community (e.g., should I remove the danios to a tank of their own and replace with larger fish on top?). Or are there tricks I don't know about that would help me manage their self harm through gluttony?