Rita

When your boyfriend can’t remember that the red kitchen utensils are for fish food… 😂

Here’s a pic from the test strips, this tank has been running for 2 years and I’ve had some of these amano shrimp in there almost as long. I have noticed they look a little darker/ dull when they’re about to molt, but I can’t say I was ever concerned about them. Here’s what my test strip looks like today

I ordered an enjoy nature daily sticker on my last order and it didn’t occur to me till now that aquarium co op will be 10 years old next year! I wonder if there will be a celebration!? 🤔🎉

Hey shrimp folks, I have a question specifically about Caridina shrimp. Can people successfully keep them in high pH hard water? I was reading about caridina shrimp in particular and everything I read says they’re hard to keep, need neutral pH and soft water… but I also came to the realization that amano shrimp are a caridina species and they do beautifully in my water… so what gives? Is the internet being the internet again and over generalizing? here’s a pic of one of my fat and happy amano shrimp

Thank you so much for this extremely detailed break down! What you say makes perfect sense. However I only run a sponge filter and an air stone, so it hasnt been removed during the expel-P treatment. Also this tank is a year old in January so I’m surprised this has happened. I think the gravel could very well be the main culprit.

You guys! I somehow messed up my tank. There’s been a lot going on with this tank lately so it could be any number of things… I added new stock, added new gravel on top of my eco complete, treated with expel-p for a suspected parasite in a fish, so yes. I’m fully aware I brought this in myself… My question is has anyone had nitrites this high and have their fish act completely normal? Because the only reason I tested my tank to start with was to see if my nitrates were high enough for my plants. I saw the pink on the aquarium co op test strips and that prompted me to bust out the master kit. I did a 50% water change yesterday when I discovered this and tested the water again today and everything looks almost the same… so I did another 50% water change today…. Even though my fish look happy as can be. Here’s pics of the tank in question and my test kit results for fun.

I have 7 tanks from 20 gal to 5.5 gal. They all run on sponge filters with 3 aquatop air pumps. I agree with the others, not fantastic for mechanical filtration and if I get lazy with gravel vacuuming mulm does become quite apparent. My 20 gal long has a medium and small sponge filter on each end. I will say that tank often looks to be the tidiest, but it also has the most plants. I have a 14 gal cube that is notorious for mulm an detritus... I think I didn't arrange it very well, as the one sponge filter in that tank is sitting in the corner behind a large piece of wood. Water flow was not great. I ended up adding an additional air stone running very lightly to help circulate water a little better and it seems to be helping. Full disclosure I also added 6 more amano shrimp which may also be helping. TLDR: nothing but sponge filters and I don't mind the mulm if it means I don't have to worry about malfunctioning HOB's that leak water all over my 2nd floor fish room.

Ember tetra fry... not sure how I even managed to spot this little translucent pipsqueak. I'm not trying to breed them but I have a bunch of plants so I get a new fry every few months that finds a way to survive!

Yea! Brad Pitt’s character trying to be Italian 😂

I did one treatment of expel P which appeared to make no difference. The poops look normal and the gourami is gaining weight and acting normal… I’m just not convinced it’s parasites

Of course it is! They'll be in here for about a month while I deworm them! The embers are going in the 20 gal long I posted at the top of this thread and the habrosus are going in this 14 gal cube

I ended up with 6 more embers lol. Also 3 more habrosus corydoras to join the 4 I already have in another tank!

Here's pics of my two oldest tanks... the 20 gal long I've added plants over time and it's filled in pretty nicely.... the 10 gallon has water wisteria that has stole the show so I just let it grow to a jungle then trim back every so often. The 10 gallon also has floating plants to filter some light.

There should have been an option upon set up to pick a region I believe.... but I was under the impression it uses the time on your smart phone since it's only able to connect locally via bluetooth. I've chosen to tackle my lighting by never changing it lol. I have them set to 11 hours with 1 hour ramp up and 1 hour ramp down. Trust me I've had my share of algae cycles... diatom, hair, cyanobacteria, black beard... But I chose to get snails and shrimp to help out while I dial in my ferts and feeding. Two of my tanks are two years old and finally look pretty balanced (except some very very slow growing black beard algae). My younger tanks are still ebbing and flowing with algae... but I feel like I'm a bit more casual about it than most since algae doesn't necessarily mean your tank is unhealthy... it's the growing the wrong plants.

I bought that same plant last year... it grew like gangbusters... grew a 6 foot long flower stock that I eventually cut off. Then the entire plant died off. No clue if it was the flower... or if the plant just goes through cycles almost like a perennial or what.... but a couple months ago it started growing back. If it flowers again I shall cut the flower off as soon as I notice it and see if it makes a difference. Maybe it won't flower and the plant won't die off like last time... We'll have to wait and see! 😃

I'm having the same problem! Thanks for this as I was wondering as well. I suspected there isn't a good option besides cutting a little off the top lol.

So that food coma position you described I've heard called hamburger. LOL just snails being fat and hamburgered. lol

This piece was too big for any pot I had... so I had to put it in a tote in the bathtub... I just used as hot of water as my tap would create and changed the water every day for 2 weeks. I finally got tired of waiting for the tannins to leach and set up the tank... it turned brown still.... but since I was going to cycle it for an additional month I didn't care. It eventually sorted itself out.

So the center stand thing was designed to be either a shelf or a bench. It came with a pad to throw on it so you're not sitting right on the wood but I took it off for the fish. Needless to say I felt comfortable laying on it and I'm quite heavy so I knew it would hold up. So it became a fish stand! The only issue is its a bit low so it makes water changes kinda slow. Otherwise it's been great! Especially since it was given to us!

So I personally don't see fin rot in this picture. The clear tips of the tail usually indicate the fins are growing back. Unfortunately I don't know a lot about eye ailments... but I second the clean water and aquarium salt to see if it helps!

Normal... I also dewormed just because I was confused why he was pooping so much lol. I also had a fair bit of hair algae attached to plants that I not cleaned off and I'm pretty sure this little bugger picked the plants clean.... is it possible he's just literally always eating?

Odd question… but I got my honey gourami about a month ago and I don’t think it has stopped pooping since I’ve put it in my tank. Is that weird? I’ve never had a gourami before and I don’t know if I should be concerned. I know it’s not the same poop just dangling too… The tank is literally covered in his poop just a few days after cleaning. And when I’m watching him as soon as one drops he’s got more right adtrt ps. I named him Gorlomi the Gourami, 10 points for anyone who gets the reference.

Tell me why this picture reminds me of a Christmas tree with its lights on 😂

How exciting! I tried yellow Neos in one of my oldest tanks, but all of them ended up dying... appeared to be a failed shed. I have a bunch of Amano shrimp in a few tanks and they are bullet proof... I can't kill one of those if I tried. I've even stopped drip acclimating them when I get new ones since they just refuse to die. No clue why the two kinds react so differently in my water.

So I got this guy from petsmart and he was only labeled as butterfly male… not really sure what tail type