Kurt Brutting

@Nanci B algae is a continuous battle. Some form of algae will always be there. The name of the game is how to reduce as much of it as possible. Light, nutrients, stocking, clean up crew, plant load, filtration all play a part in a well balanced aquarium. Myself I like low tech setups with snails and shrimp and floating plants to help reduce algae. Then I play with my lighting and nutrients to dial it in even more. What is your light schedule and what nutrients are you using? What substrate and stocking do you have? Pictures would help.

What is your lighting, red root floaters like high lighting. Also I watched an interesting video from Dustin’s Fish Tanks on YouTube about red root floaters and nitrates.

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea I have mine in a 40 breeder, but you can keep a nice size group in a 15 gallon. A 20 gallon you could get a lot. I purchased mine from Dansfish online and they arrived super healthy.

@Chick-In-Of-TheSeait is Psuedomugil Luminatus Red Neon Blue Eye Rainbow Fish. They are super fun!

Some Home Made Babies Growing up

I don’t have my Clown Loaches anymore, but sometimes I’d swear they were dead! Being upside down in the tank not moving just to wake them up and they’d go swimming off. God, I miss my Clown Loaches! My 2nd most annoying thing is not directly fish related, but my cat likes to drink out of the top of my open lid 40 breeder. She will stick her arms deep in the tank and lick the water off her arms while propped up on the rim. She drips water everywhere and she will toss floating plants onto the floor!

@nabokovfan87 a Flash Pleco breeding project would be really cool! Good choice!

I really really really want ~ Red Nothobranchius Korthausae Killi Fish Homaloptera Orthogoniata Saddled Back Loach Pyrrhulina Spilota Four Spot Tetra

I grow out the top pothos, spider plants, and lucky bamboo and I float Pearl Weed. I swear by floating Pearl Weed, I rarely get algae in aquariums I float Pearl Weed (unless it’s a new setup)!

I really like Aquarium Co Op’s test strips. Since I started using around 2 years ago I have not used anything else. In my opinion if you keep them dry they are super reliable.

My light schedules are between 8 and 9 hours, but that wouldn’t hurt your plants especially a Fluval is a good plant light. Just be careful with the root tabs they could leach into your water column and start throwing things off. I don’t have Amazon swords but I do have crypts and Val and I dose my root tabs every couple months, but I know swords are heavy root feeders. Maybe try a little extra potassium.

How old is the setup? New aquariums need time to settle in. What is your light schedule? So far your setup doesn’t look to bad, your on the right track. Do you dose any extra potassium? Sometimes that helps with pin holes in leaves. I dose Easy Green and Seachem Postassium in all my tanks and I have similar water parameters as you. How often are you dosing root tabs?

I have 20 or more Luminatus in a 40 breeder and I love these fish! They are so much fun, I am currently setting up a 20 long for the Gertrudae Aru VI. As for the Luminatus I have probably 3 females for every male but it’s not exact. There is very very little aggression (if any), the males just dance with each other. For breeding spawning mops are the way to go. I also have Pearl Weed floating and a lot of fry have made it to adult hood. The Pseudomugils are definitely worth the purchase!

Black Venezuelan, Bandit, and Panda Cory’s are all pretty awesome!

I use to breed gargoyle geckos which was super fun. I use to be all reptiles now I am all fish. My wife is all chickens and ducks. So I am into chickens and ducks by default, but they are really really cool. Fresh eggs from the back yard is the best! Non-animal related I like playing chess, reading/writing, and exercising.

I use sand and sprinkle stones and gravel around hard scape. It gives it a nice natural look. Cory’s and Loaches will enjoy the sand.

I gotcha, that’s a good idea. I love eels and oddball fish. Dansfish online store sometimes sells Dwarf Red Tail Eels very similar species to yours and he keeps them together and they get along great, no aggression. Good luck and definitely keep me posted on if you get another and the outcome. Maybe one day I’ll give them a shot myself.

I believe they are social animals and like to be in groups. I would definitely research it but a lot of those kinds of eels like each other’s companies.

Smell is the best indicator if your snail is dead. I swore I had dead snails before and the next day they were on the move again looking for food.

There are so many beautiful rare Killie fish.

Saddle Back Loaches & Rope Fish

Stable parameters are key. I know some breeders who keep pretty acidic fish in pretty alkaline water. As long as your not having major parameter shifts you should be good to go. Seasoned aquariums come with time and parameters stay in place. Set it up and just give it time to balance and then season and slowly add fish over time.

@LennieI love your black shrimp! Very Nice !

I love Val, it’s the best! well done!