Flumpweesel

The children's hospital I attended far too often in my early years had a tropical tank I always liked it best when we could sit by it.

I think my list changes all the time but I always think when I give up on holidays I'd like to keep seahorses or the freshwater equivalent pipefish. I currently have a full community tanks so it's no new fish for me for probably a couple of years but I'm always planning the next set up in there back of my mind.

I use this one because it is one handed I can either measure the amount in my other hand or hold lids open

Looking at the image I would suggest a larger container the biggest cause of fail is the water fouling and it would be nearly impossible to water change in that.

I had a red eared terrapin (that's our name for them) when I was kid lots of fun and a great if slightly grumpy pet. He had a deep tray of water that we kept by the fire and he would climb out and roam about the house . He would also climb up the inside of trouser legs if you sat at a good angle. He also loved getting a salt scrub. I had it about 10 years when a kitten based incident ended his days. He was about 15cm long. As to the rate of dumping them in the UK quite a few ponds have signs up requesting you don't as they are causing havoc. Only see them in lizard shops generally though not in the big chain pet stores and not in most LFS. They are also a lot more expensive then they were when I got Caesar.

Just be aware that assassin snails will breed and if there is a lot of food their population will explode as well. I would do some really good gravel vaccing and radically reduce my feeding light hours they have exploded due to an excess of either fish food or algae. So attending to that will see them go back to acceptable numbers. I think I read somewhere that all snails can turn cannibalistic if the food source dwindles. If you keep your fish a bit hungrier I'm quite sure most will start looking at the snail eggs as snacks to. I had a mini ranshorns population in my shrimp tank at the start but they have now been out competed by the shrimp and I barely see any now.

Not ideal in the tank then, they'll probably hurt you more often than the fish but sharp edges are a stress worth avoiding. They also risk damaging the tank. I have a huge piece of obsidian I won't use for the same reason (frustrating though because it would look cool). I use a lot of beach pebbles in my tanks because all the sharp edges have been dealt with and I have pebbly beach quite close. Keep your eyes peeled when you are out and about. I do quite like those stones if they weren't sharp I'd have said build a low feature with the long one meaning against the bottom one to form a little tunnel/cave feature .

My tank decorating process is throw everything into the tank and slowly shift things about until I find them pleasing. I have some small twisty bits of spider wood that can look great rested against our wedged into rock to create a more interest. I also don't hate artificial plants which made my life much easier when I had my goldfish hooligans. Everything had to survive being headbutted and pulled about by hefty ft long fish. They made the final scale decisions back then.

There are loads of fake aquarium plants available out there with weighted bases. I avoid using artificial plants that are not sold for aquariums because the dye's and finishes may not be water safe. Also you need to make sure that they either don't have metal in the stems or that it is very well sealed.

If he's swimming fine and not being picked on I wouldn't separate. You could consider something anti bacterial I suppose but fins generally heal pretty quickly without intervention.

Can you show us them? Why not just one horizontal and one vertical at the 3/4 and plant them up. I have anubias and Java fern on everything it's not very unusual but it grows well in my water and I'm a firm believer in sticking with what works.

My snails (bladder) lay on the top of leaves. When my corys have used plants both fake and real they haven't seemed to care which side

I think @nabokovfan87could be onto something with the O2. What percentage was the water change? Do you run air in your tank?

There is a certain amount of die back in the first month or so of adding plants depending on how they have been grown this can be dramatic. I wait and see what the new leaves do. I would not expect co2 to be the issue and if it's nutritional co2 will make it worse as the plant as there plant will consume more. Also what are your nitrate levels I keep mine over 20 (much nearer 40 most of the time) if it gets lower I get yellowing and die back. You might need to reduce your water changes a little

I had two in 60 both fish pushing about a ft long. One canister and one internal power filter. Water changes were about 20 percent every 3 to 4 weeks. Given you're going twice as big I'd guess at 5 to 6 fish but while that will look like nothing when they are tiny will soon seem full as they fill out.

How heavy is heavy? What issues are you seeing? How long has it been planted? I don't run CO2 I consider my tanks to be the heavy side of medium planted and I have no issues. I do stick with the easy plants though but I don't really believe CO2 is necessary things might grow faster with it but I'm not in a hurry.

Dogs do like to be part of everything. How cute is Lucy @Odd Duck there is a dog in her happy place.

My mum has that yellow flowered shrub in her garden she grew out from a cutting / split from her neighbour so now the only name we have for it is Ernie (the former neighbour). This year I'm trying to focus more on my garden I've neglected it for the last few years ago time to claw it back. Although it's a tiny paved yard in real terms I'm trying to turn it into a little green oasis

I think you have plenty of population control in there but I thought I'd mention that they are very likely to hide in set up that includes potential predators so your daughter might be very disappointed in the amount she gets to see them.

1) yes 2) probably about 20 within a 30 min drive radius. 3) 3 are a franchise aquarium and fish store. 4 are big box (ish) pet store chain. The rest are independent stores with different specialities two great koi centres great, one Betta importer, one is axolotl and turtle focused. The nearest store to me has stopped stocking fish but is a used tank reseller that is 3mins walk from my door. They next nearest has recently added freshwater to an established marine shop still a little random but immaculately clean. That's a 10 mins walk along a canal if I fancy a trip.

Occasionally white vinegar kitchen roll on the outside, Inside generally a melamine sponge (cut down into thin strips). Same thing as an untreated magic eraser.

I know that feeling I keep looking at blue.

They are generally called and sold under the name sucking loach here. They periodically disappear from shops seen a few more recently but they not commonly stocked round me. I asked one shop owner if they were aggressive and she just answered with she doesn't get many returned.

@Expectorating_Aubergine I wonder if shops and wholesalers are favouring males as they are more showy. Quite a few species of fish seem to have this bias

I think tropical is used to replace freshwater which is irritating but a case of making it easy for beginners I suppose and shelf stackers when they send both this and the marine foods. Not that it is clearer as marine is generally tropical but cold.