[Is this some type of algae?]

Riccia fluitans/crystalwort. If you can keep them tied down on a rock, they make a beautiful green puff ball. It's difficult to do as they have no roots and like to float up.

[Summer tubing recommendations - new ideas for stocking?]

This is my first time tubbing and I want to leave the tubs out for winter. I plan to do the easy Medaka ricefish, white cloud minnows and cherry shrimps combo. All can survive down to temperatures where a layer of ice can form on the surface, according to Cory.

[How is it possible that my snail tank has consistently produced no ammonia in weeks?]

Diana Walstad says vast majority of aquatic plants have preference to uptake nitrogen from ammonia over nitrate. So, plants would remove some of the ammonia directly from the nitrogen cycle. Whether plants have preference of nitrite over nitrate is not so conclusive.

[Honest feedback]

I would suggest some background plants. Vallisneria is a good beginner's plant and will fill the back quite quickly.

At the front, I like to use easy foreground plants like dwarf sag, micro sword or dwarf chain sword. Like vallisneria, they propagate through runners.

[Rice fish don't like my mop.]

I find eggs attached to all sorts of plants, even occasionally on the small roots of salvinia and on Amazon sword leaf.

The fry like to stay near the surface, so the water lettuce should offer good protection and they are very easy for you to spot. I feed mine Hikari First Bites and seem to work well because the food stays on the surface where the fry hang out. Flakes crushed into tiny bits should work too.

[Rice fish don't like my mop.]

The eggs are attached to a sticky thread and the fish rubs against plants to attached the eggs. Sometimes, they do not stick too well and drop to the substrate.

Do you have a clump of moss or floating plants with long roots (water lettuce or amazon frogbit) you can throw into the tank?

My fish have been spawning almost nonstop for the last two months. I just leave the eggs in the tank now and scoop up any fries I find.

[Rice Fish and Temperature Tolerance]

I plan to set up a tub in a few weeks time for my ricefish, and leave them out to overwinter. It can reach just below freezing here but I don't think it's any colder than most parts of Japan.

[Ideal plants for bare bottom tank]

You can float water sprite, water wisteria and guppy grass too. They are fast growers so are good for sucking up the nitrogen. They will also offer fry protection near the surface. (Same as hornwort)

[I want to play with co2. Suggestions.]

@Jungle Fan Beautiful tank. Those lights 😳

[Flowering Amazon Frogbit]

1 hour ago, Daniel said:

Amazon frogbit is monoecious

That's unfortunate. I've had the frogbit for just over 6 months now. It might take another 6 months to get another flower, and hope it's the opposite sex. I'll just enjoy this brief moment of excitement, if and when the flower opens.

[Flowering Amazon Frogbit]

18 minutes ago, Kalita said:

Cool! Hope it opens up some!

Me too. I have a paint brush at the ready to help pollenate it.

[Flowering Amazon Frogbit]

One of my Amazon frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum) produced a flower bud today. I did not know it can do that.

[Surface agitation in low tech planted aquariums]

4 hours ago, Mmiller2001 said:

Low tech tanks will have about 3 to 4ppm CO². And these ppm are mostly consistent. The truth, high tech tanks absolutely want excellent surface agitation. High gass exchange is vital in maintaining stable CO² levels. This is an easy read article about CO² and Gass exchange.

https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/choosing-co2-why/how-to-push-the-limits-of-co2-safely

Spooky, I was just reading that article before coming onto the forum. It's a really interesting site. There is another article which suggests natural environments supporting abundant plant growth typically have 10-40ppm CO2.

https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/choosing-co2-why/why-inject-co2

That would explain why some plants need CO2 injection.

[Plant ID and care tips]

13 hours ago, Daniel said:

Lilaeopsis brasiliensis also known as microsword. Medium to strong light, not sure about fertilization as I have only seen it in the wild while collecting plants.

I have these. It uses fertiliser mainly from the water but nutrients in the substrate wouldn't do any harm.

I paid around $7 dollars for mine. I wish I could collect from the wild 🤣

[Mixing Different Colored Shrimps]

I've seen locally of sales of mixed coloured cherry (neocaridinas) shrimps for a "skittles" tanks. I was wondering what colour offsprings you may get. Would a yellow shrimp and a blue shrimp, for example, have a chance of producing a green one, like mixing paint? Or would it be more likely to get yellow or green, and even brown, reverting back to the wild type?

 

[2 weeks old planted aquarium - plants dying]

52 minutes ago, BaRanchik said:

So should I just get a random fertilizer at my LFS and shove it into the substrate?

Also, I will lower the temp to around 25C, I'm just afraid that if I ever add a Betta there it will be too low of a temp.

A liquid fertiliser that you squirt into the water. You have baked dirt in your substrate so you don't root tabs yet.

Bettas are listed as OK in range 24-27C. You can lower the temperature for now to get the plants growing well, then increase the temp when you add the betta, if you want. With lower temperature, you will also have more dissolved gases in the water, so more CO2 for your plants.

[2 weeks old planted aquarium - plants dying]

You will need to add fertiliser. Most of your plants are mainly water column feeders, except the hairgrass and probably the red plant. Your dwarf water lettuce, especially, will appreciate it.

I would lower the temperature. 27C can on the high side for some plants.

You need patience also. It may take a little bit of time for your plants to adjust to your water. Two weeks is a short time to expect really good growth unless you are running a high tech tank. Your water lettuce should do well though, once you add fertiliser.

[What is this plant??]

Looks like rotala rotundifolia

[plant ID?]

I agree with @MAC and @Colu. Water lettuce has furry leaves and frogbit has waxy smooth leaves.

[Good Aquarium Plants Book]

50 minutes ago, Daniel said:

learn how to read Dutch

you need to learn to read Deutsch 😉

[20 Gallon Journal - My First Fish Tank]

I think you have the Java fern and crypt the wrong way round in the last two photos. The small plant on the wood looks like a crypt and the plant in the substrate with long leaves, some of which are brown, looks like a Java fern.

[Share your macro photos!]

Medaka eggs and fry

 

 

 

[Biotope Aquarium Project]

44 minutes ago, Colu said:

Heiko bleher

He is listed as one of their experts

[Biotope Aquarium Project]

I was researching on setting up my next tank as a biotope tank (in reality, it will be likely be just a pea puffer tank with plants from Indian subcontinent) and came across this interesting website:

https://biotopeaquariumproject.com

There are some great pictures of biotopes and biotope aquariums. Most of the information seems to be in the paid membership area however. I also noticed that Aquarium Coop is one of the sponsors.

[Mystery Plants]

Small leaf on left is giant duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza), bigger leaf on right is Amazon frogbit.