KittenFishMom

@Theplatymaster Give the NERM a algae wafer for creativity ! (now the is a prize)

@Theplatymaster There is a fine line between research and cheating. We can let this fall into research if you like.

@Theplatymaster We have a WINNER! congratulations !!!!

@Theplatymaster got it, but only 20% of the answer is correct. Another hint, the kuhli loach has too many stripes, it is close.

OK, a hint, it has vertical-ish stripes. but not a lot.

I'm watching a ACO video (I will put the like below) And Cory talks about his 2 favorite substrates. but He doesn't say what they are. One is a sandy one, in Ladybird's tank. The other is a mixed rounded pebble looking one that I would like in my next tank. Does anyone know The names and sources of these substrates? Thanks much

no no no guess again

I got a sticker too!! I don't know why it is always so fun to see which sticker you will get. I just know it is fun !!! I guess it is part of enjoying nature everyday !

@Cinnebuns Remember, you are doing this research out of interest, not to get a PhD. At least not at this point. You do not need to hold your research to all the standards of research at a well funded university. If you have a hunch and you want to see if you can set up a good experiment to see if your hunch holds up, then that is great. If it looks like it holds up, do more replications and see how they go. With temperature, It might be a carefully controlled stable temp from beginning to end that shows the effect. (say one group is 65 for the duration and another group is 80 for the duration.) or it could be that if the temp goes up (or down) by 5 degrees on a specific day and stay there for the remainder of the experiment, you see a result. (say all groups start at 72, and one group drops 5 degrees on the 10th day and stays there, while another group goes up by 5 degrees. or maybe it is on the 15 day, or whatever)) If you are looking at the influence of the sex of other adults in the tank, You might have a bred female with a virgin female compared to a bred female with her male in similar tanks. Or maybe it depends on the presents of a larger population in the same water, so the bred females are in breeder boxes floating in tanks full of females or full of males. I crunched numbers for lots of research studies. it is interesting and exciting. And there is always someone who will say, you need to repeat it holding some other condition steady, because they think that condition could explain the results you are seeing.

Take the impeller out and look to see if the rubber nobs/plugs on of both end of the wire "axle". They keep everything in line. If one of those is missing it will make a lot of noise as it doesn't stay aligned. When I lost one, I found buying a complete "opened box" filter was cheaper than buying just the impeller. You may also have plant fiber or filter media fiber wrapped around the axle that is causing drag. You may need a pin or pointed tweezers to get all the fibers off the axle. You need to slide the impeller to the bottom of the axle to see fibers at the top, and slide it up to see fibers at the bottom. Another way to quiet an HOB is to keep the surface of the water in the tank high. The farther the water level is from the HOB outlet, the more noise the falling water makes as it hits the surface water. The HOB should be level left to right and front to back. I think the top fin has a plate on the bottom of the motor that holds it out, away from the glass. The lid will rattle if is not seated correctly. I tend to leave the lid off and put plant cutting next to the media to root. You can fiddle with the top and the media until everything settles quietly into place. You can find the source of some rattles by touching different parts of the HOB to see what makes the sound get quieter, then adjust that part. (You can slide some media padding between the tank and the filter quiet a loose fit. One more thing... if you have a large intake sponge filter, it can make aligning the impeller and sliding the cross tube all the way down tricky. if it is only part way down, it is noisy. You may need to press on the uptake tube to compress the intake sponge.

I was watching the corys eat the bbs tonight. They stick their nose the pile of bbs and slurp up the hatchlings like it was the thick milkshake, with the mustaches wiggling like crazy. No sign of any bright yellow on the black sand when they finally swim away. In one tank a female landed belly first on a pile and could taste the bbs and got very excited, swimming in tight circles until she found what was left of the pile. No yellow after that tank was done either, but just not as tidy while they were eating the bbs. Now there were a few substrate stones on the black sand, but I think the fish or snails will have them buried by morning. If not, I will pick them up before the next feeding. The betta and neon tetras ate their bbs upstairs in mid-water.

I hatch the bbs and then freeze it in tiny cubes. as the cubes melt, the shrimp sink and the corys like to eat them. Problem is they often land in plants or the neon tetras and betta feed on the before they sink. I decided I needed to make the tiny cubes heavier so they would sink faster. I have found putting one piece of gravel substrate in the cubes make them "sink like a rock." they go straight to the bottom and melt into a little pile that the corys vacuum up with great style and grace. I leave stones out of some for the top and mid swimming fish. Works like a charm and is free !

I found this: will keep looking for other advice: Posted November 11, 2022

If you can get some Indian Almond Leaves (IALs on the forum) they can help a lot of different things. Torrey recommends 1 leaf per gallon of water they release doo stuff for the Betta that turn the water dark. This is normal, and will help the fish in many ways, including feeling hidden from predators and safe. Others know more than I do about fin rot. This is always a good page to have book marked (I'm sure it covers fin rot. I will look for the spot. @Colu is wonderful and may have good advice:

@Cory I like it! I wonder where I could put one in this little lake cottage? We had to remove an unused chimney to get a place for the RO system. Had to take a door and frame out in January, to get an apartment sized stacked set into the furnace room. I know, we could keep used ones seal in a bag in the fridge and take theme home to was in a second washer there 8-)

I found an old salad spinner and gave it a whirl. It wasn't as effective as I had hoped it would be, but I will keep it on hand in case I sprain a wrist of something. I am now keeping my eye out for some small version of a wringer washers wringer. Maybe something that rolls dough out dough out in strips. Maybe something for pasta or puff pastry? Maybe some toy for playdough? Maybe a rolling pin on a drain board? Never know what one will find in a thrift store or a yard sale.

@Mike OmegCan you put something the cory likes to eat in a net with some depth to it? Let him swim in and out several times, until he is rather comfortable with the net, then cover the opening of the net with the hand that is not holding the net.

@Sora I often freeze part of my brine shrimp hatches and add some after all lights are out. As they thaw, they sink. The night feeder goggle them up. I also soak my dry sinking food in a dish of tank water before I feed it after dark, then the fish can eat it before the snails cover it. Kuhli loaches have small mouths, so soft food is easier for them to eat.

@Cinnebuns That is interesting. I wonder if a specific delta in temp at a specific point in development rather than a specific temp at that point might effect the sex? A warm or cold water change at a specific point might have an effect, or might not.

@Biotope BiologistThe "cocoons" the larva were living it were attached to the glass and you could see the larva moving it the cocoon. it kept a steady flow of water moving past it, inside the stationary cocoon. it would half leave the cocoon to reach a branch of Java moss, and the retreat into the cocoon, but the cocoon never moved. Here in central NY you always see spider webs full of these flies near lights., they are much smaller than mosquitoes. I will see if I can get some photos of those adults that have gotten caught in a web. I'm sure there are some in the corners of some windows are the cottage. The larva in the cocoons, had a shiny shimmery surface. They were much to small for my camera to focus on. The Caddis flies I saw on YouTube were dragging their cocoon that the built around over their abdomen.

@nabokovfan87 and @Jennifer V and @bryanisag I have read a good bit about midges. Seems like in general they are harmless, except they clog filters, which would explain why my 2 sponge filters aren't dealing with the cloudiness. I added and HOB with a knee high stocking over the intact filter and added a normal filter and a water polisher. I don't know how much it will help. but I am at my wits end. after adding the HOB, I ruffled and rubbed and pressed everything where I was seeing the midge larva, including the glass and then rubber the sponge filters a bit, but did not take them out of the tank. Hopefully I won't loose my cycle. I am so frustrated with that tank and my QT tank with only 5 little fish that seems to have lost it's cycle, I am about ready to throw in my nets. They have been keeping me from helping my disabled son get his furniture put together and helping him get moved into his apartment. I'm going to help him tomorrow even if all 3 tanks decide to have ammonia spikes. I don't mind hobbies that take a lot of time and problem solving, but when you know you need to figure things out before your pets get sick, or die, it takes a bit of the fun out of it. I'm so glad the forum is here to help. I don't know what I would do without you.

@bryanisag ants? now I don't feel so bad. I use "scrubbing Bubbles" bathroom foam cleaner to battle ants and flying wasps. It is mostly either and kills instantly, much faster than "Raid". It also completely removes the ant's scent trail, so they can not find there way to and from the nest. It wipes clean without rising and the either dissipates very quickly.

Please let me know if you have ever had a midge infestation in any of your tanks, and what you did or what I should do about it. It looks like I have some sort of midge infestation in my shrimp/cory tank. They are very small, about the size of fruit but not as beefy. The water has been cloudy for about a week. When the nitrite square on the test strip is light pink, I do a water change. I am sure I was over feeding powdered fry food earlier, but have cut way back. The 3 adult corys and the shrimp seem to be acting normal, no flashing or hiding. It is hard to tell in the shrimp population of 30 has changed with all the cover in the tank. I added a lot of java moss, I had in a shallow pan for a few months, to the tank for cover for the baby neocaridina shrimp babies and the cory fry. I think the java moss had midge fly eggs in it and they are hatching and eating the java moss. I think the java moss caught the powdered food and slowed the water flow, causing a bacteria bloom. I don't know if the midges have any good or bad effect on the tank. The adults that are emerging from the water are gathering on the tank walls about the water line. I have taken the lid off again this morning in hopes that they will fly out of the tank and get lost in the house. I was seeing tiny cory fry several days ago, but have not seen any in a the last few days. I don't know if they are hiding in the java moss, or if the moss has slowed water movement to the point they they are not doing well. I have 2 sponge filters and an air stone in the 10 gallon half cylinder tank. I moved the air stone to the area I saw the midge larva in the java moss against the glass of the tank to increase water flow in that area. Here are some photos of the adult midge flies. There are more photos in the original post:

@Jennifer V I'll check it out now. @Jennifer V looks promising. I'll do more reading tomorrow. after 2am here, time for bed.

I remember reading the sex in snapping turtles is determined by temperature at certain points during incubations of the eggs. So it might not be as far fetched an idea as it sounds.