Pizzafan

One of my CPDs has this massive ball on its underbelly. It seems to be swimming and eating fine, but it has been like this for a couple weeks and honestly looks painful! I haven’t seen this before, is it just super filled with eggs and not dropping them or does this suggest some disease?

Not great quality and I have too much algae but I think you can see them ok!

Hi all- I have a group of 15 CPD fry after inadvertently breeding my cpd adults (took them out of the tank for another reason and a few weeks later the babies were visibly swimming around and not getting eaten). It’s been about 1.5-2 months and they are about 1/4 the size of the adults, but they have no color at all. How long does it usually take them to start showing the usual cpd colors? Anyone with experience?

Hi all, I have a species tank of CPDs - one of which I noticed has pretty bad dropsy. But all the other ones seem fine. No ammonia or nitrites, trace nitrates (<10pm) in a heavily planted tank. Treating my tank with aquarium salt and kanamycin (doubt he’ll come back) - but I’m surprised everybody else is totally fine. Has anybody seen this before and have ideas what can cause it?

I landed on stocking my new 5g with a small group of CPDs, but I don’t think I was prepared for how timid they are. I have tried to feed them crushed flakes as well as nano pellets. For the most part these things slowly sink and get completely missed by them. any tips from those of you who keep them?

Thanks! I will leave him where he is now then! I don’t think I need another cichlid like fish, this was just thinking it may work for the fish I already have. In no rush to fill this- will figure it out!

Hi all- I have this new 5 gallon tank as a centerpiece in our apartment walkway. Trying to decide what to do with it. One option I am considering is to put a single Apistogramma panduro that I have in my 20 gal long community tank - it is striking in its colors and I think would look great. He also gets outcompeted for food in the community tank and it might be good to move him. any thoughts? Has anyone kept Apistos in 5 g tanks and is it ok for them?

Thanks all! It has indeed cleared up after 3 days of running a filter with those crummy carbon pads that come with them (they will be thrown out now). Now the question is - what to put in here? Choosing between these options 1. a dwarf puffer (not sure I’m up for only frozen foods though) 2. A single apisto (can you do this in a 5g?) 3. Maybe betta 4. chili Rasboras thoughts or other ideas??

I’ve read about these problems but now am actually experiencing them with this new 5.5 gallon. I cleaned this stuff pretty well, but still have a haziness in the tank that’s been there for 2 days. Any tips? Should I just be more patient or will this never settle?

I’ve been getting a fair amount of green algae growing on my tank walls. Was wondering if fish eat this after it is scraped off, or should I be gravel vaccing it out after scraping it? I have bottom feeders (Kuhli loaches, Molly, Bolivian ram) - do they eat that stuff?

And plenty of black beard algae to go with them 😄

Apistogramma Pandura. Super cool coloring- right when added to my 20g long 🙂

My “kid’s” Bolivian ram agrees with Bolivian ram suggestion!

all the education in the world didn’t stop me from making the same aquarium rookie mistakes as everyone else lol!

Thanks! - think I will forgo this for the moment. I am in fact a chemist- I know this stuff isn’t really CO2 but they claim to help plants grow, maybe more because they kill algae though. Just invested in a better light than my 6W light from aqueon lighting my 20 g long, so hopefully that helps too. My tank has been running over a year, certainly no issues on the fish end. The plants are just clearly surviving and not thriving. Nitrates consistently around 20-30ppm just from the food and fish with biweekly water changes

Anybody here use these CO2 liquids? My plants are doing just ok but clearly are lacking- not looking to up my tech on the tank, but wondering if these actually help? Thanks!

Tank looks awesome! Ready to go!

Yes it is super white and cloudy and May coat everything with white crud. It will clear up!

Ha, well like I said, I feed pellets to my bottom feeders and they commandeer that food on a daily basis. So not sure what more I could feed them 😄

I got amanos to take care of my hair algae issue… which is now 95% gone. But they incessantly eat my plants! Especially larger leaves that have massive holes now- any advice? I already feed my bottom feeders daily (which the amano shrimp steal about 70% of that food too!) Not to mention: they also scratch the paint off my aquarium plastic decorations!!! I assume this is ok since they are aquarium safe? But it’s a bit concerning

Lol, well I said I think it’s hit or miss… either way, probably depends on the bulb you get and your local water conditions. I don’t do anything to encourage growth other than a) slightly overstock fish (aka natural fertilizer) and b) add API leafzone once a week (when I remember) To be fair, I haven’t succeeded at all easy plants. People say bacopa Caroliniana is supposed to be stupid easy and easily take over- not the case for me. It all melted, then was left with a few good leaves that never grew much more. Hornwort is doing OK in my tank and growing (after shedding a bunch of leaves in the first few weeks), but far from being the takeover plant I feared as well

Aside from the mentioned Java fern, I found that water lily is extremely easy to grow and gets large with little care. Plus it sends lily pads to the top. You can buy bulbs at petco for cheap — it seems totally hit or miss if they bloom, but If they do, they will look great. I also don’t dose fertilizer or use root tabs (had a bad experience with them leaching into my water column). Nor do I have fancy lights

I think it’s also a hobby that draws people who experienced it as kids… I know it did for me. Had fish when I was ten that I of course overstocked and gave ich regularly. Got back into it last year in my 30s wanting to do it right! My wife never had that experience so doesn’t quite get it (but I will say, is more tolerant than I’d expect!)

Lol… jerks!

My amanos are like vultures for sinking foods I drop for my Kuhli loaches and Bolivian ram- they will take foods that are equal to them in weight and perch on a leaf somewhere so the others can’t get to it. anybody else have this problem, and ideas to keep them away?