Flumpweesel

Thought you'd been quiet of late sorry about the plumbing crisis. Sometimes our homes can really test us.

Good luck with the fin rot, it can be quite a journey I got a goldfish through with super clean water (treating without antibiotics in my case ).

Float to get the temp balanced then plop and drop.

I'll also add here that there are issues with topping up rather than water changing, when water in tanks evaporates it's only the H20 that evaporates it leaves behind any minerals, salts and stuff and that can be an issue if you already have quite hard water.

First well done on what's sounds like a great start in fish keeping. Obviously what you are currently doing works. I figure out my water changes by testing and only change (while gravel vaccing) when the test show nitrate gets higher than I like I aim to stay between 20 and 40ppm to keep the plants happy as well as the fish. This is roughly every 2 months for my tanks, tight lid mean they don't really need topping up in between but I occasionally steal water for the house plants. I would suggest you adopt a similar process test your water at least weekly and change when the tests tell you to. If you want to reduce the number of water changes you do. The main reason we condition water however is to remove chlorine which will not be removed by your filter. It can be gassed off but you really have to know what your dealing with to rely on that. Chlorine will harm your fish so to my mind never worth the risk of not adding a dechlorinator. The sad truth at the moment is that there is a lot of bad advice on line it may just be short sighted (they may use well water) but without knowing the chemical make up of the water source why take a risk.

Snails do find a balance if you are having a population explosion it suggests you are over feeding your tank or have a ton of algae for them . Having a look at these might be useful in the long term for a healthier tank that requires a little less intervention. Also hungry snails are easier to trap with the bait box style traps. I don't control my pest snails I'm sure my fish pick at some but the population has found an acceptable balance. They are mainly active at night and I keep them for algae control my shrimp tank has the most but even that balanced after a few months. I would only get the loaches if they are fish you like and want to have in your tank. I think assassin snails can just become another snail population in the tank unless the initial population is already in check.

I can't see a problem with it, some people prefer to add tannins by brewing rather than having leaves in the tanks.

Yes I was but sadly I was away when he passed so will always wonder if I could have prevented it. I'll not go into the grim details of how I found things. I do keep a date list of when I get fish so I can monitor if they are hitting a reasonable life spans. With all pets we just do our best to give them a life they enjoy and that we do what is needed to ease or (when necessary)end any suffering. It always hurts to lose a pet but I was brought up to know that the sadness is the price of all the love. I had so many pets growing up and part of the deal for getting first puppy is that I had to be there for every vet visit from check up the last visit she was never to face it without me. I was 5 when I got her and 24 when my dad called me to come round as she needed to see the vet so I could make the final decision for her.

I read high flow as high O2 because I assume that the oxygen rich stream water is rather than the current is what they need. They are adapted to keep still in the flow but a lack of it probably makes things easier as long as the water suits them. If you run air stones you will probably be fine.

Is it the same wonder shell since March? if so and it's really not dissolving then yes it looks like you have done that test right. If everyone seems happy in the water I wouldn't worry too much. But let's see what the experts say

You might struggle with the breeding for profit in a communty set up. When my corys spawn there are queues of fish waiting to eat their eggs, admittedly my stock is different (tetra, barb, rasbora and SAE's), but it is a surprise if any eggs remain in my tank by morning, I get small population increases so this suits me, you might have to collect your mops sooner to get good clutch sizes.

I bet your white clouds will eat the Betta pellets. And if you crush then do they sink so will the corys. I crush hikari cichlid gold for everyone and I have some sinking pellets (hikari and king British) for the larger corys. The pgymys in my tank tend to focus on the crushed food. I've just run out of tetra crisps that my mollies love. Darn and bug bites there is a big food shop looming. I randomly feed BBS and frozen blood worm

Those baby black angels are adorable. Thanks for posting this @rockfisher I'm impressed and surprised on how well the blasting sand did. It also proves you can get great results from cheaper substrates. Thank Brandon for sharing his results and congratulate him on yet more breeding successes.

Just been reminded of "lost boys" another fun horror.

Excuse the algae. The residents seem to be planning something.

Must have been something about today, I had a net in my hand as well but this was for a cory who was just resting on its side against a spawning mop. It got a ride awakening with a torch in the face

Another day another castle, this is Clitheroe castle (Norman), their war memorial and the hills beyond.

I won a goldfish at village fair and it was my pet until 2018 approx 28 years. When he died I didn't deal with tank very well I threw the contents of my nano tank in and kinda left the survivors to themselves, I fed it and water changed it but I didn't like being around it as I really missed my goldfish. But the tank is kinda built into the centre of my living room so it was easier to tick it over than remove it. Then I had to work from home I don't like working from home so I needed noise around me and started using you tube this (mainly Cory) helped me literally turn the lights back on and start looking at the tank again. I currently have a 10 year old population of pygmy corys that have maintained their numbers without assistance from me and my peppered corys are also tank grown that started in with my goldfish. I don't think I'll ever love another fish like I did that goldfish we had been through a lot together and it had a huge personality. So I make it about 32 years with fish. Growing up before that we had a tank in the garden we could use to try and keep things in but other than some shrimp we found nothing much lasted in that

Are you going to reinstate a pond? Sounds like you had a cool eco system going out there. I'm guessing your wonky lizards are newts they are a really good sign in pond as a rule.

Big tip when working keep your phone time to minimum on the shop floor, look for things to do instead.😉 Impress these people.

Your the perfect demographic to persuade kids they'll think your cool and want impress you. Some older people might be trickier.

That's easy the bad, they are controlled by marketing you are constantly being profiled to be sold things. And if they are popular let pop up the price. Things used to have fixed value and the internet wasn't just a great big advert. I kinda hate the way this has all rolled out it was inevitable but we are just paying to be manipulated online. I shall step off this soap box now but come the revolution ...

Wow. And nice move with the sword tails.

Redefining how we see the world a bit at a time

Good luck with your first day. First thing to do with customers is smile and listen, if they ask questions great but don't expect them all to want a chat. Most people like to talk about there own tank but use the same ethos as this site everyone keeps fish their way and it might not be your way but that doesn't make them wrong. Sometimes you'll think so but unless your boss says otherwise you'll probably have to keep quiet. I'm sure they'll give you some guidelines. Remember you can't help people who don't want help and madness lies in trying. You can make a massive difference to the new owners and curious though so focus on the good you can do there. And I hope your netting skills are solid when you have to get that guppy just there that someones 3 year old has just fixated on.