starsman20

This was one of the first aquariums I put together and I did not get enough substrate in it. I want to add at least an inch to the top (of black) so that the plants will stay planted and there is better contrast for the critters. There is only water sprite and 1 anubias in there now but I want to add a few more different plants. The problem for me is this is a fully functioning cherry shrimp colony. There are tons of little shrimp all over and I am concerned that if I just dump a bunch of new substrate in that I will kill off a decent amount of them. Should this be a concern at all? If I go slow will they just move out of the way? Or since they seem to reproduce like crazy does it even matter? Am I being overly concerned? Thanks.

A few week ago I found one of my mystery snails on the carpet. Thought it was dead but I put in it a smaller tank to see what happened. Over the next 2 days it laid 2 clutches of eggs which I am incubating. Fast forward 2 weeks and there is another clutch of eggs on the tank. Since I know it could not have bread again I am wondering if these eggs could be fertile or not. Do mystery snails hold sperm like guppies do?

Here is a better picture. When I put her in QT her top and tail fins were scrunched up. Now they have expanded back out. She is acting like she was before. She is a crown tail so the spikes on her fins are normal. I do not see anything that I would consider fin rot although with the crown tail it could be hard to tell.

My community betta was sitting on th bottom with her fins clamped a few weeks ago so I put her in QT and treated with maracyn and paracleanse. Fins are all out and she is swimming all over but I've noticed this black marks kind of in between her scales on the back half of her body. Almost looks like dirt. Any ideas what this could be?

Green hair algae that grew into the filter outflow. Its twisted up like a rope. Easy removal. Wish it would always do that.

When I swapped my HOB for a canister on the 36BF (Mostly due to noise) it left a gap in the cover. There are 10 mystery snails in there that I hatched from another tank. A few days ago I found one on the floor in front of the tank (the opening is on the back) that I just about stepped on. I thought for sure it was dead but i dropped it in the 10 that is full of shrimp. 2 days later there were 2 clutches of eggs on the lib that I am now trying to hatch out. If I had stepped on the poor girl she would be gone and I wouldn't have all these eggs. My guess is she crawled out looking for a place to lay eggs and fell off although how she got from the back to the front I have no idea. At any rate watch where you step if you have big snails that can crawl out. I am going to fill the hole as well to keep the other 9 inside. Can;t wait for the eggs to hatch. This will be my first set of second generation.

Update time Probably against my better judgement I've added fish with just a few days in qt. They all came from the same place and All seem to be good. The bristlenose pleco is munching away on all the surfaces. I have added 5 swordtails. Asked for 1 male and 4 female. Turns out there was a tiny sword on one of the ones we thought was female. It didn't take 2 hours for the males to start fighting so now my 36bf has a male swordtail as well. There were black fin tetras in the same tank and those were on my list so I picked up 8 of them. I moved a few mystery snails over as well. 2 of the unknown bulbs are duds i think. The third turns out to be what looks like an onion. I will probably just pitch it. I have a "Windelov" Java Fern to add from my coop delivery yesterday. There was some montecarlo in the shipment as well but that is going in the shrimp tank I am setting up for my office. The four little sword looking plants came from the 36bf. I don't remember what they were called but it shot off a runner with 6 little plants so I put them in the new tank. The dwarf hairgrass came from the lfs. I am hoping it will fill in the front right corner. i also moved one of the crypts out of the planter. The only fish I will add will be 10 to 12 corys in about a month because, after all, is it really a community tank without cories? I am really happy with the way this is coming together. I really like the look of the black sand and the black background plus it was a lot easier than printing the background like I have done before.

Went to the lfs to get fish. They only had 1 on my entire list. Albino bristlenose pleco. Here it is in qt.

I have these on every line on every tank. Sounds like this is just a clean as I go issue

I tried without topa. My pack of dogs shed enough I was getting hair in my open tanks. 🐕🐕🐕

I get quite of bit of algea on my covers where the bubbles from the sponge filter splash a little water on them. Has anyone come up with an easy way to prevent this??

Used a rubber band. Will this work?

I have always used ro water but I have 9 tanks now and its getting a bit cumbersome. I know I can probably switch over to tap gradually during water changes. When I mix tap in currently i put it in a gallon jug with prime. If i go straight to the tank I will not do that. When do I add the dechlorinator when going tap to tank? Before the refill or after? And I am assuming it takes a lot more as well.

Getting some new fish today and I'm out of (or misplaced) maracyn for qt. Can I use tbe api em in it's place?

My first mystery snail and the mama of the 50 or so I have now died today. She was just a bit over a year old.

I approach freshwater (I would suspect I am in the minority here) from exactly this position, as a reefkeeper. I do so for a couple of reasons. When I first seriously got into fish, I was on horrible well water (so awful that we did not drink it), but I did have access to softened and RO water, and I learned fishkeeping in (and a few plants) water that was partially mixed with our well water, and a few additives. After having kept fresh and then saltwater fish like that for years (20 or more), it just felt natural to me to continue doing so. It is second nature to me now, but I do not feel I am 'chasing the water chemistry'. I mix every water change. Ro and tap.

My rasboras surf in the filter outflow all the time

100% with you on this

One of the main things that helps is patience. it just takes time to cycle. It's definitely worth it.

Mine does that regularly. Its a wierd looking long flower thingy. Pretty sure that is the scientific name for it.

There is an egg stuck between her bottom fins. Looks lime she is trying to rub it off but no success. Is this unusual?

My trilineas cories are layning eggs. I am having a hard time catching them to put in the breeder and every time an egg is dropped one of the other fish is right there to eat it. Questions how long until they may breed again? Is there any easy way to catch them ? Tank is 36g bow front that is deep with lots of plants.

One of the hardest parts of this "hobby" (some might call it a lifestyle) is learning patience. Cycling tanks takes time. There are lot of good suggestions on shortening it but it still takes time. There are a few ways to do it; I personally do not do fish in cycling, I just put some unscented ammonia liquid in daily (the amount depends on the tank size) and monitor for nitrite after a few days. I'll usually dump in some filter media from an existing tank and some stability. Test for Nitrites only until they show up (I have not figured out how they size the test kits 8 drops for ammonia, 5 for nitrite, 10 for nitrate. The bottles should be sized better but that is another discussion) 2 days later test for nitrates as well. As soon as the nitrites go to 0 large water change and start adding fish.

Even my LFS has this problem. I was looking for a a bottom fish for the 36bowfront last year and he suggested a clown loach. They get a foot long. That tank is not near big enough for it.

I think the only requirement for breeding guppies is 1 male and 1 female:)