Scapexghost

Livebearer fry are big rnough yo eat crushed up flake day one. Its pretty rare for them to day during childbirth, more common for them to die a few days aftef but still rare. Feeding once a day is fine.

Those parameters are probably good. Cherry shrimp are very adaptable and those parameters are pretty close to neutral. Cherry shrimp arent an acidic species like a lot of other shrimp.

I would leave the algae. Algae is good for a tank. If it is an eyesore i would pick up an algae eater, like a bristlenose pleco or a nerite snail.

I think every fish keeper reaches the point where their tastes change from plainted gravel to more natural colored substrates. It coincides with a change in mentality from keeping a fish tank to maintaining an ecosystem. While panted gravel looks nice when its first added to the tank, once it gets covered in biofilm, algae, and mulm it looks disgusting. So, this was the motivation for all of my substrate changes. My first substrate change was in my 29. This tank suffered several ich outbreaks, and only had a few fish left, so i had good reason to change the ugly white and blue gravel. This was a total nightmare. First i tried to syphon the gravel out, which basically ruined my garden hose. So i had to remove most of the gravel by hand. I replaced the gravel with a mix of aztec bronze and river pebbles. Im pretty happy with this, it meshes well with the dragon stone and the valisneria im trying to grow. The next tank i changed the gravel in was my 20. This time i was more prepared for, i bought a pink plastic toy shovel from the dollar store. It had a flat blade, and was perfect for the job. I highly recommend one of these for removing gravel. I replaced the gravel with nutmeg gravel. This gravel im less happy with, and i would like to change it to a darker brown gravel. The last time i changed gravel in a fish tank was my 10. This is my oldest tank and the paint on the gravel had started to chip. I replaced it with sand. I never had any fish deaths or other long term issues changing substrate. I keep the fish in a 5 gallon bucket with tank water, the hardscape, and an airstone. I add the fish, tank water, and the hardscape back when i finish.

On a hobbiest level, inbreeding isn't a major concern. Remove individuals with genetic defects, such as bent spines, and you'll have no issue.

What i did when starting my shrimp tank was get a dirty sponge from an established tank and squeeze it out into the new tank. All the gunk and mulm from the sponge is what you want in a shrimp tank. I probably had this tank running a few weeks before adding the shrimp but that had more to do with me needing time to procure a light, lid, hardscape and plants. During this time i put some plant clippings into the tank to help fuel the organic processes in the tank. This worked well for me but these were cherry shrimp not cardinals. As much as I want them I have no experience with them, so they could be a whole different beast.

It depends on the dimensions. If its reasonably long itll be ok but i wouldn't try them if its a cube.

At least in livebearers, fry don't seem anymore vunerable to nitrate than their parents.

Imagine trying to keep two fish tanks where every variable was the exact same except nitrate levels for 10 years. Such a thing would be impossible. Even if you could the results would be far from conclusive. Maybe fish have high tolerances to nitrate at lower temps or pH. Even if someone devoted their life to this issue they wouldn't find a complete answer. Everything on the internet on this subject is pure conjecture. All i could find was that inorganic nitrate is better for treating heart disease, not sure if that is relevant though.

What does your reference have over the co-ops article? Both are just someone's opinion based on anecdotal evidence. No one is willing to put in the time and the money to conduct a study to determine how nitrate effects every aquarium fish species. It would take years just to determine a single species' tolerance. In the end, you have to make your own judgement as to how you want to run your tanks.

The normal tap water is the control not the independant variable. The independant variable is the amount of vitamin and the dependant variable is the gH.

I understand the science behind cation exchange and how it plays into agriculture but I don't quite understand how it plays into aquariums. More accurately, I don't understand how important it is. Some people make it seem like one of the most important aspects of a planted tank while others don't mention it at all. I don't recall cory ever mention it, he probably has in some live stream but he certainly doesn't put much emphasis in it. I assume it's because Cory doesn't want to overwhelm people and scare them away from planted tanks. Cory also endorses inert gravel substrates, which have no CEC, so I assume he doesn't see CEC as important. So, can anyone give me a quick run down on CEC? How it plays into aquatic plants, if i should care about it, how to improve it, etc.

I would love to make a strain of fish. I have a black molly with little blue speckles and i wonder if i could breed til i have full blue mollies. David clapsaddle's article of blue mollies is what got me interested in selectively breeding fish in the first place. Of course, clapsaddle never did get full blue mollies, so if he couldn't, what hope do I have? Still, mollies were the first fish i kept and the first i bred, so creating a new strain would be a great way for me to give back to the hobby.

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There aren't tons of studies being done on these things, so those answers are going to be based on personal experience and anecdotal evidence. That doesn't mean they're wrong, and it would be nearly impossible to prove any of them wrong. Research is useful but at the end of the day you have to try things for yourself and form your own conclusions.

Niether is particularly difficult. If you are interested in a sand tank, you should try it, and formulate your own opinion on it. This hobby is all about trying things. Anything that has a reasonable chance of working should be tried if it interests you. Sand is hard to beat aesthetically so it's worth the minor annoyances that come with it.

Id move both algae eaters to the 29. The algae eater id do in a 10 is a nerite snail. Theyre slow workers but after a week or so youll never see algae in that 10 again. You could do ottos, but nerites are much easier.

As long as you have a passion, a love, for fishkeeping, as long as you get joy from fishkeeping, you should keep fish. Unfortunately, even if you didn't buy those bettas, they probably wouldve died anyway. Either in the cup at the store or in a flower vase or whatever the next costumer wouldve put them in. Not buying a fish isnt sparing it. If you did the best that you could to keep that fish happy and healthy, you shouldve feel guilty. That fact that you feel guilty shows that you are the kind of person who should be keeping fish. You care about these animals and you want to give them a good life. We've all killed fish. Cory once said that the people who know the most about fish are the ones who have killed the most fish. There are some things that cant be taught through videos, articles, and forum posts alone. Experience is key. Someday you'll be a great fishkeeper, you'll be keeping fish alive and happy for years and bring dozens or hundreds of baby fish into the world. You're impact will be net positive as long as you stick with it long enough.

No, this is quite unusual behavier for a guppy.

Internet speed and storage space were what I looked for when buying my new phone. It has that for a reasonable price. The only issue I have with it is the size. It is too big. I struggle to use it with one hand. And i have big hands too. I couldnt imagine a petite woman or younger teenage trying to use this thing. Is this phone designed for basketball players? Its so tall that movies have black bars on the sides, so there isnt even a benefit to the extra screen.

45° angle is ideal, since the temperature senser will not be directly above the heating element. The lower in the aquarium the heater is the better, since heat rises. That said, it doesn't matter too much as long as you have decent flow.

Your probably fine, but if you have any chemical filtration like carbon, that could help.

I would wait at least 2 weeks from the last sign of symptoms. Better to be safe than sorry.

This was before i started qting fish. I just got lucky in that they didn't have anything. Later i added some rummynose tetra to the tank which had ich. After that i started qting fish.

I cycled with a pair of wagtail platies when i first got my 29. Despite a lot of setbacks the survived everythibg including a few wave of ich. Still have them now, even got some babies from them. They should do good as long as you have hard water. If they are already stressed by low water hardness, the may be more succeptible to ammonia and nitrite poisoning.