Flumpweesel

Clean, dry and off the ground should keep them safe, you plan sounds sold to me. I keep all my unused tanks and spare equipment in a wooden shed and no issues so far. We do freeze here not crazy cold but ice and snow are common.

This is leading me to believe Australians are shy😝. Welcome sorry I'm not in your hemisphere either.

Nope that looks like a moss (no expert maybe java moss).

Does your water smell swampy? Could be cyanobacteria not great best to remove when found. You tube will give you all you need to know on it. Doesn't seem hurt fish but can smoother plants.

Have you considered spiking some holes in a clove of garlic and putting it in a container with some dry food. Haven't used it with fish food but have used it what way to flavour other things.

Love your stocking plan. And looks like a great start.

I think the rinse or not to rinse BBS has been discussed a lot on here. Personally I strain and serve I feed bbs about once a week. The tank is large planted and the salt would be minimal so I don't worry about it. I have noticed that these foods do increase the water change frequency if I feed them more often compared to dry goods but I presume that is due to higher protein content

I ordered online plants for the first time this year and I'm going to again local shops have such limited stock it seems the only way to get some variates. They seemed to survive the process fine and stopped me being tempted by fish in the store so it saved me money.

When they figured out how to splash me from their lidded tank I knew who owned who

I struggle to find the tank/life balance at times. I'm seem to have either a tidy house or a tidy tank. When I had the goldfish it was at times hard work but when they waved at me when I came home from work, or splashed me to get my attention the water changes and perpetual decor replacement seemed worth while. The photo is one of the last taken of my goldfish they used to sit watching me in that corner of the tank. You can see the corys have joined them they still turn up in the corner if they think I'm being late with the feeding. I'm not as invested in the new fish I'm hoping that will come with time.

My female killed the male Krib so I never got past the cave guarding stage. So my advice is limited . They never bothered the harlequin rasboras or the pygmy corys. Bigger corys seemed oblivious to their aggression, the apistos (I know not a smart mix) did get chased but that was as far as things went. As said never got to the fry stage so no idea if things would have escalated but I'd have thought any fish that are not in their space should be ok or smart enough to keep clear. And nothing to similar to them. I suppose you need to find fish that can't threaten the fry. So the parents don't read them as a threat. Hopefully someone with a bit more knowledge can help further I've not replaced my male yet as I don't really want to throw another victim to the black widow. Single kribs are pretty easy going (still don't like the apistos though) so you could separate them.

What size tank ?

I use a dose equal to the volume of the tank and add to the tank when filling. Never had any problems but I live in an area with good tap water that I'm happy to drink without filtering and never get that chorine smell at the tap. Good dechlorinator works very quickly.

I'd try distracting the tetra's with floaty food and plunge my hand in to release sinking food closer to the bottom for the corys. Hopefully they'll get a chance to claim some before the tetra's figure out what's happening.

Can't believe no one has said 🌮 But I agree with the others females grow fast and much bigger than the males. If it seems happy then you're doing fine by it.

This is the reason I avoid livebearers they are so lively and fun but far to soon you have to start behaving like Thanos.

I don't worry about water changes stressing fish (I've never kept very nervous fish) but iffy water is a bigger stress than a few mins of chaos and they soon relax when the fresh water comes in. I tend to do a third of the water most changes but if parameters spike I just do as much as I can to get back on track. I thinking of moving to test strips there is to much room for human error in the master test kit which massively diminishes it's accuracy in my opinion.

Well that just seems rude and a bit far for shopping trip fingers crossed there is something good out there for you.

How odd, I picked mine up in store maybe some different options if you have some shops nearby

Nice, massive upgrade from frog spawn ! Hopefully the kids will get to release the fish back at a suitable size. Suggest a web cam for the tank you might be able to watch the hatch then.

Life happens. At least you found them before you smelled them.

Thanks , I keep and eye hope this is just an awkward phase no signs of damage so at least they aren't being to aggressive. Agreed on the sexing they are near identical when I got them. Looking forward to there adult sizes and colours.

Sounds like you've got this figured out. Plants that I find easiest are Anubis and most of the cheap bunches of stem plants . The stem plants make good fillers while the slower plants establish. I'm still learning which plants are happy in my aquarium. Let the wallet decide, my large tank was a fluval all in one set up and it has been fine. Perfect plan to my mind. Slowly helps the cycle keep up with them and gives you time to get to know each type. And as @lefty o says just pick the method of cycling that makes sense to you. Until you try it's impossible to give much advise aside from don't do fish in cycles unless you have to they are far more work and take much longer because you have to protect the fish from spikes. Hope that helps looking forward to seeing this come together

Slightly better picture. They are currently not much more than an inch . They were pretty identical when purchased.

Welcome on board, you must be so frustrated. Please don't give up. I had an issue once trying to just tip that last stage in a cycle get just constantly reading ammonia present, the advice I got back then was to stop trying and let the tank catch up on its own. So I left off the water changes and l after a week (or so it was a long time ago) it did the trick. As you are fishless at the moment I say just do nothing and see what happens. Andi agree with the stocking advice being some fish are just easier than others