Rita

I have a planted 20 gal long which was my first tank. it's now two years old and currently have 1 betta, 8 ember tetras, 8 amino shrimp, 4 nerites, one mystery snail and one rabbit snail. Along the way I tried panda corydoras that didn't work out, and I tried yellow shrimp that didn't work out. I Just bought 6 more ember tetras to add to the tank.

I have the same issue! And I also have hard water! I rarely detach my airline tubing but where I find it becoming slightly annoying is the little bit that holds my air stone to the sponge filter. Also I think because it's such a small pice it gets hard faster... so every couple months I'll get one that won't stay connected and keeps falling off when I put the sponge filter back together after cleaning. It's a quick fix so I'm not very perturbed about it but I found it interesting that others don't have this problem... 🤔

Hello! I have 6 bettas, 2 of which are in community tanks. I feed all my fish a mix of frozen (blood worms, brine shrimp and daphnia) and pellet (pellets are fluval bug bites). I do nothing different for my ember tetras other than crumble up some of the pellets since bug bites are kinda hard and a bit too large for the tiny tetra mouths.

Lining up for roll call! I love pandas!

Sorry @Cory I couldn’t help myself when I saw this meme! Hope all is well and your fish/ fam are hanging in there!

Hey! I forgot to update… I checked on him again that night before lights out and the bubble was gone. My guess is he got a bubble caught in the curly edges of his fins. He must have managed to dislodge it? Still seems a bit odd to me though that this can happen 🤷‍♀️Lol. I’m just happy he’s ok!

I would love corydoras but I tried to put pandas in this tank and they all got columnaris and most died. I have eco complete substrate in this tank so I’m not sure corys are a good fit. (I do have pandas in another tank though and I love them!) I like the idea of galaxy rasboras… thanks for the video! I didn’t realize they can be so busy! I like the idea of green neons too but I never see them at my local fish store 🤔

Hey guys! I’m looking to add some new fish to my community aquarium. I currently have 8 ember tetras and a betta (along with a bunch of amano shrimp and various snails) in a planted 20 gal long. I’m looking to add another small community fish but I’d like some opinions on the most peaceful fish you’ve kept. My ember tetras are the absolute best! They leave my long fin betta alone, no nipping no harassing and they mostly keep to themselves. Anything else similar out there? If all else fails I might just get some more embers since I like them so much! heres a recent pic of the tank

Yeah, it’s too rough for corydoras, it can scratch up their bellies and barbels. I do like it for plant growth but full disclaimer I’ve never used to to swap substrate, only to start new tanks with new plants. As others have mentioned it can be difficult to plant plants in it because sometimes they will just float away. I find that to be true with any gravel though, not only eco complete.

I’m curious as well… I have eco complete in 3 of my tanks and I like it just fine. The only thing I regret is not knowing it’s bad for corydoras as I have some habrosus in one tank with eco complete. But I’ve been slowly adding smooth gravel on top for them so they are less likely to scratch themselves.

Welcome! I've only been in this hobby for 2 years but I'm now 7 tanks deep lol. You'll have good company here among the Nerms! I've known about this forum for a while but have been mostly a lurker... I'm trying to be more active now. Thanks for the pictures, you have an adorable puffer!

Hey guys…. This is a new one for me… it appears my betta has a bubble trapped in his ventral fin… my question is… how the heck?!?! Is it a cyst? Is it actual air? This tank has always had what appear to be tiny tiny bubbles swirling about but I’ve never considered it a problem… maybe it is? 10 gal tank with 1 small sponge filter & air stone, 1 betta, 4 panda corydoras, 5 amano shrimp, 2 nerite snails and 100’s of mini ramshorn snails. temp 78.4 nitrate ~20ppm nitrite 0 pH 7.8 ammonia 0 Coop test strip hardness 150 Coop test strip buffer 80 Coop test strip chlorine 0

I may be proving myself stereotypical... but I absolutely love bettas! I feel as though the big finned guys do best in 5 gal. I have one in a 5 gal, and one each in a 6 gal cube. No other inhabitants other than a nerite snail in each tank. I reserve tank mates for 10 gal or larger.

I'm sure someone will have a much more thurough description on how to do this the best way possible... You could approach this slowly. You have so many beautiful and mature plants in there I would think you'd have to take it a section at a time. Uproot each plant in the section, put them aside in a bucket with tank water, use a cup or scoop to scoop out the substrate then replace with eco complete and re plant plants. The only crappy part about trying to do this in sections is you will end up with mud for water for a while... other option is to try to catch out everything the best you can and swap all at once... and try not to think about any casualties 🥲. I honestly think the latter option is ultimately the easiest.

I wish you the best of luck with a fish in cycle! I did it once unfortunately by accident. I thought having one already cycled sponge filter would be enough to carry the load of a brand new tank set up with eco complete and a bunch of plants which were converting to submerged conditions. It's a lone betta in a 10 gal and for a two week period I was changing 50-75% water daily to keep the ammonia and nitrite down. I'd test again the next day with API master test kit and both were almost to the top of the chart! I still think the only reason my fish didn't die is because it was a betta.... unfortunately they are kept in such crappy contditions at the stores I think he was used to it. I'd love to hear how it goes and how your experience is compared to mine! Also, here's a picture of my trooper who survived my naïveté.

My vote is fungus too; albeit an uneducated opinion. Side note... I think it looks kinda cool lol.

Hello all, I think I know the answer to this question but thought I'd ask anyway! I know during aquarium co op live streams you can gift memberships randomly, but is there a way to gift a month membership to a specific person? I suppose the only way to accomplish something like this now is just a gift card or some sort? Thanks!

Thanks guys, I have a handful of plants besides anubias… Java ferns, cryptocorynes, dwarf aquarium lily, dwarf sagitaria, and a stem plant which I’ve forgotten the name of (maybe rotalla).

Have been dosing since the beginning ALSO I’m a dufus and forgot to mention I dose 5 ml flourish advance twice a week along with the east green.

4 pumps, 2 on Sundays and 2 on Wednesdays

20 gal long, unfortunately I don’t have test strips/kit for Gh and Kh. When I did have them it was high coming out of the tap, but I know that doesn’t tell you much.

Hey guys, any thoughts why all of my anubias in my tank are starting to rot? I noticed my mystery snail munching on the rhizome of one and I started inspecting and low and behold… all of my anubias have some sort of decay. They were all purchased at varying times starting about 2 years ago. ph 8.0 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 20 temp 78 I dose easy green twice weekly, water change ~50% once a month, fluval aqua sky lights are on 11 hours with 1 hour ramp up and 1 hour ramp down. thanks guys!

Sounds like I wouldn’t gain very much doing that from what I have going on now. Thanks Cory!

Hey guys! I was wondering if someone could talk to me about siestas in regards to their aquarium lighting in planted tanks. My questions also being, is it only beneficial for tanks with CO2? Is the purpose for inhibiting algae or for helping plant growth, perhaps both? Is there a certain time during the lighting schedule to do it? Would it be worth doing in lieu of shortening lighting hours to fight algae? Thanks in advance I’m just curious!

I put them around the target plants. I will say I have a dwarf aquarium lily in one tank that I accidentally neglected for about 5 months… I was confused why it was looking anemic and leaves were dying back… then I realized it lacked root tabs! Once I inserted more it bounced back. I now make an effort to put them in every 2 months or so.