April0617

I totally expected varying opinions, I like to hear them all 😊 He's mostly a breeder, and only just very recently opened up a small store front, I haven't seen the store yet, but I've seen his fish room and it was beautiful, everything running tank by tank and everybody very healthy. I assume that's where these guys have been quarantining. I think I'll definitely do at least a couple weeks and see where they are at. I don't have anything fancy, but I love my hillies and would hate for anybody in my tank to get sick.

The place I'm getting them from has quarantined them, they'll be coming to me this week😊

Thank you!

Yes, already established with Cory cats and my hillstream loaches, so I definitely want to separate them for a bit, at least😊

I just ordered a group of kubotai rasboras from a great fish store in my state. He takes great care of his fish and is insanely knowledgeable. He has already quarantined these guys for a month. Do you think I should do anther full thirty days when they get here? They were wild caught.

Thank you!

I already ordered Ich X, but I just want some more opinions before treating. The first 2 pictures are the fish I noticed 2 days ago, yesterday I noticed another corydoras with a more "normal" looking ick type spot (3rd pic). I have eight of these guys, 6 hillstream loaches, one gold Gourami, and five endlers. Nobody has any spots except the two corys, the corys have no spots anywhere other than that one location (roughly the same location for both corys, just one has more of a growth vs a spot), and no more spots then they did when I first noticed. Which is making me wonder if it's really ich. I should add that nothing new has come into this tank in the last month. Ph is 8, hardness 300, kh is 300, nitrate 20, nitrite 0, ammonia 0. Temp is 75ish

Anybody have experience with this who'd be able to give me some advice? Google has given me some pretty good info and I think that I'd be able to tell the difference between male and female adults, but the ones I have are young, they are just hitting about an inch now, so I'm wondering how early I should be able to tell. I definitely have some that look more male or more female, but I don't know if that's just because some are a little bigger/more mature. Any estimate on what size they need to be before I can make an educated guess? I currently have six and would ideally like to bring that number down to three.

Not at all! I was actually going to make a post about the same thing! Bottom Scratcher repashy was what I got! Hoping for good results🤞

I don't have advice, just sympathy. I have a pig of a Gourami doing the same thing. After lights out, first thing in the morning before the sun comes up, doesn't seem to matter... She's ALWAYS watching. Trying repashy tonight to see if that works better. Otherwise, I may have to try building some sort of Cory fort that she can't get under 🤷

Seems like my brown diatoms are starting to slow down, but now I have this... Looks like it's mostly on the older leaves of the micro sword, but I'm also seeing a little on my baby tears, the older parts that were grown out of water. What is it and what should I do? (Please and thank you😁)

That's what my hesitation was, I don't mind dealing with the eggs, but I want my loaches to be as happy and healthy as they can be. Thanks!

It was suggested to me to get a nerite snail or two for clean up crew. I know nothing about snails. My question is, if I'm planning to add hillstream Loaches in the near future, are they going to compete for food? I know that the Loaches will eat the bio film on the surfaces of the tank, not so much the algae, but if the snails are eating the algae, will they also be eating up the bio film? I plan on feeding them other food, too, of course, but just curious. I want everybody to be happy and foraging to their little hearts content.

Thank you both, and what a gorgeous tank😍

Lightly stocked was referring to the fish, I wasn't sure if that was something that would be helpful when people have answers😊 These plants are new, one order 2 weeks ago and one order just received this week, so I am brand new to plants! Too early to really say if they are happy. This is also a new tank for me, and this is the first week with plants in it, my first fertilizer dosing. It's 46 Gallons, so I did 4 squirts of Easy Green to start

Newbie to live plants and I'm trying to wrap my head around water changes, nitrate levels, and fertilizing. Prior to live plants, I'd do water changes to keep my nitrates under 20. I looked over Co-Op's water change info, and I know that nitrates should be around 40 in a planted tank. So, if my nitrates are under 20 right now, should I add fertilizer more than once per week in order to get it up to 40 right away? I'm very lightly stocked, currently, and looks like I will be for a while.

Just filled the new tank!! The woman at the LFS talked me into sand for the new substrate (because I'm hoping to add some hillstream loaches in a couple months🥰), so things are a bit cloudy. I moved about 75% of my substrate along with my fake plants and rocks. I'm letting the filter run and getting the tank up to temp, will check parameters in a couple hours, but I'm guessing I should hold off on moving fish and live plants anyway until the cloudiness from the sand is cleared up?

As soon as I get it! I swore to myself I wasnt going to upgrade for a couple years, but...🤷

I posted a question on a Facebook group about cycling a new tank with an established filter and the answers got me thinking... I have about 6 non fancy male guppies and a juvenile gold gourami. I'm currently running an oversized HOB filter that came with my 40 gal tank, running for years, from the previous owner, and a double sponge filter that should be good to run on it's own now. If I transfer most of my current plants/decor, most of my current substrate which is very thick, and moved the HOB to a new 55 gal for cycling purposes would I be good to go pretty quickly? I could also transfer water from old to new. I don't NEED to rush, more just curious as to how much of a difference it would make, also I don't want to accidentally crash my old tank by moving too much out needlessly in my excitement for moving day😁

Awesome! Thank you and thank you!! I'm super excited😊

Hi Folks! My plants came a few days early (thanks Cory!!😁). These are my first live plants so forgive my ignorance. I'd planned to do my weekly water change today, and I typically add prime, can I still do that and then add the plants right after?