Solstice_Lacer

Yea, I had a couple dwarf lily bulbs that didn't take off and ended up smelling rotten when I took them out. I'm thinking those may have set me back

Thanks. No fish yet, maybe next week. I've been distracted from the tank this past week. Been waiting for nitrites to completely zero out. Hopefully when I check next they have.

I personally love the look of gouramis, and I have seen other people suggest Colombian tetras as tank mates, so it could work. You potentially have room for a pair, trio or small shoal of them if you wanted, depending which species. Edit: @laritheloud knows more about gouramis than me, they might have better insight

I like sea chem flourite black sand, it works for plants (especially with root tabs) but it should be soft on fish. For filtering on both my tanks I use tetra whisper air pumps and sponge filters, both rated for higher gallons than the tanks actually hold. As far as stocking you could check out the website aqadvisor. It tends to give conservative estimates but is a nice resource. I would say the bottom might be slightly crowded, but I don't have personal experience with that combo of fish. Do you like bristlenose as an interesting fish in their own way, or mostly want it for cleanup? As I understand their cleaning capacity is pretty much offset by their relatively high bio load. Meaning the nerite snail would be a more efficient algae eater (even a few nerites if you produce enough algae for them.)

I know they are different species, but I'm wondering how similar or different their care is. I saw one source suggesting red phantoms prefer slightly cooler waters (low 70s). But I've probably seen more info about black phantoms overall, much of it suggesting they are happy in similar ranges. I want fish to thrive, not just survive, so I appreciate any advice.

I "over filter" as well. As long as it doesn't create too much flow for your tank denizens I agree it can't hurt. As for top dwelling centerpiece fish, I'm not sure if "traditional" choices (like angels or gourami) would be compatible with Colombian tetra, given their size/"attitude". You could try a school of similar sized tetras that can hold their own, in a contrasting color, like black skirt tetras maybe.

I think brown pencil fish (Nannostomus eques) are the most common type to exhibit the "hanging near the surface at an angle" behavior. Those are probably the ones I would go for if I can find them. I find them very interesting

With JettsPapa's advice hopefully you have better luck this go round. I've had my neos for a few months now and they have started breeding. Hoping the population starts taking off soon. I have Indian almond leaves in my tank and I think the shrimp graze on them as they break down.

What kind of shrimp are they?

Idk what my lfs has if anything, so probably whatever the most common affordable type is

Anyone keep them? I don't know a ton about pencil fish other than they like to hang out peacefully together looking up at the surface a lot of the time. I watched Cory's video about them saying they need tiny food and appreciate live food. I was thinking they might like hanging out in my tall 25 with some shrimp without harassing them too much. They would be the only fish in that case. My tanks tend to produce micro fauna since they are shrimp only at the moment. I'm not sure how demanding of temperature they are though. I've seen differing numbers

Nice tank, I like the underwater tree stump look. I find hornwort fills out the top of my tanks nicely. It grows quickly for me so it does have to kept under control somewhat. Potential downsides being it might shed, and I've heard it sucks up a lot of calcium. But my shrimp like it. Or you could plant some val on the side/back and let it grow up and over. Either way looking good

Coming along nicely, I've used a lot of the same plants

My shrimp love grazing in their hornwort. Just make sure you get enough calcium in the water. Shrimp need it for molts, and I've heard horn wort uses a lot to grow.

Agree with above, you could split your air to a sponge on one end of the tank and air stone on the other, or just go with a sponge filter. Depends on your air power and preference. Some sponge filters have a place to put an air stone inside the sponge for extra aeration.

Depending how long the tank has been going/# of plants, and how long you've had the shrimp, they may just graze on the biofilm build up and not be too interested in additional food at first. I've heard green beans are usually a hit but I haven't tried them yet. Idk how much nutritional value raw noodle would have but if the breeder has a specific suggestion I suppose you could try it. I'd just try to stick to an organic pasta with no preservatives or weird stuff

I'm going to keep an eye out for kyathit danios as well as gold rings when I finally get fish. Possibly dwarf/spotted danio nigrofaciatus

I knew zebra danio were used in research but I never knew there was a fainting gene 😅 Perhaps our relation to fish is not so distant after all

I agree shrimp and/or snails are fun. A beautiful little aquascape with nano plants and some inverts crawling around

Celestial pearl danios are all the rage, and zebra danios are a staple in the hobby. What lesser known danios should be more popular? I've been looking into gold ring danios lately (danio tinwini).

Some rearranging, finally decided to sink my branch and add some java fern and moss to make a little tree up front. Also saw some tiny shrimplets so hopefully the horde will follow soon. There's several females still holding eggs.

Big Leopard Ramshorn still doing their thing too

Hangin out

Still waiting for babies to pop. Tank seems ok after a couple days without power.

Power went out for a couple days... Everything seems fine. Temp dropped to about 68 but the only thing in my tanks is shrimp and snails and plants and they apparently didn't care. Tiger lotus is taking off. Thinking about getting another one for a planted bowl