AnimalNerd98

Dang, that is pretty sweet. What did you end up keeping and not keeping? Ahh, don’t you just love the self-replicating purchases? 😝 What kind of fish were in there? Which box store? Just for reference… 😉 Wow! What has happened to that tank and the fish since then? I actually check market place every day for deals like this 😂

I second @nabokovfan87’s suggestions. I would stay away from EG for at least two weeks before dosing it. You should also probably lower the light cycle to 6 hours (if they are the only plants in the tank). Root tabs can’t really hurt, but I remember Cory talking about how he actually buries the plants in their pots in the substrate (not for things like Anubias or Java fern). He lets them kind of acclimate and send out runners, adding root tabs and taking the plant out of the pot when it has a more robust root system.

How big is the tank and how warm is it being kept? In terms of South American fish, most adult fish will go after guppy fry (if they can fit them in their mouths). I thought of either Apistos or Ram cichlids. For electric blue rams, they need to be kept on the warmer side as opposed to Bolivian rams. If you want to go with fish from other places, you can consider bettas, gouramis, even an African dwarf frog. In the long run though, you might want to just keep males and/or selling off babies as feeders to your LFS for some store credit.

German Shepherd, Damien, we got him when I was a freshman in high school. Golden Retriever/Poodle Mix, Duke, our landlord’s dog (but he likes my wife the most because she spoils him the most). Border Collie?, Kobe, our landlord’s dog that he has recently adopted. Duke and Damien are old good bois. Damien is turning 10 this year and Duke is 12. Hopefully we can spend at least another couple years with our old bois. Kobe has more untapped energy than a kilo of Uranium.

What is the best deal you have ever gotten in the hobby? It can be tanks, equipment, plants, or livestock.

You could go for a bookshelf tank. They are long and narrow, I have a 8 gallon one that I bought off a hobbyist. Mine kind of looks like this, BUT they can be expensive. I would post a pic, but it is currently undergoing an algae outbreak and looks atrocious. In mine, I have pygmy corydoras, chili rasboras, and a Scarlet badis. https://www.aquatop.com/high-clarity-bookshelf-style-aquarium-65-gallons-67x236x94.html I got mine for $40, but it has scratches and dings. I just wanted to try this specific type of tank out. However, if you're looking for a tank that perfectly fits the space you have, your aesthetic, and can comfortably house the animals you want, I'd say saving up for the tank can be worth it! You could also look on your local used objects ad websites.

There are plenty of options, but first I would definitely suggest adding more cories until you have a school of 6 or more. What kind of cories do you have? If you have aeneus cories, you could have a mixed school of the albino and bronze colored ones. In terms of bottom dwellers, you could also add kuhli loaches, hillstream loaches, a bristlenose pleco, or an African dwarf frog. If you’re into them, explore the world of snails and shrimp. Nerite snails are great algae eaters. Pond snails, ramshorn snails, and Malaysian trumpet snails will fill up the aquarium and act as your clean-up crew. Rabbit snails and apple snails aren’t great algae eaters, but they come in a wide variety of colors and shapes. For shrimp, you can look at Amano shrimp, ghost shrimp, Neocaridinia shrimp, and even bamboo shrimp (but this last one will require a bit more special care). You could also consider other schooling or shoaling fishes. Neon tetras are always a crowd pleaser. Ember tetras, black neon tetras, chili rasboras, kubotai rasboras, and rummy nose tetras come to mind. Do some Googling and see what colors you’d like to add to the aquarium. Besides tetras and rasboras, you can also look at some of the smaller species of rainbow fish like furcata rainbows and signifier rainbow fish. Guppies and other livebearers will quickly fill up a tank and bring in a lot of color. There is a huge number of combinations. There are so many critters I didn’t mention, but these are just supposed to give you some ideas and let you do your own research to see what you like. If you have any questions about specific animals, just make another comment or post. Happy fish keeping 🙂

After letting it float, you might also get some roots coming off on the stem and you can cut and replant those to have a bushier looking bundle of plants ✌🏻

Hey Glenn, when you say you didn't make any changes to ferts, do you mean that you haven't changed the dosing? That may be the problem. You may need to increase dosing to meet the new plant volume/growth you have in the tank. When the plant first started out, it may have needed say 10 units of nutrients. The level in the tank was kept around 40 units with regular dosing. The plant grew 5 times as much, so it needed 50 units of nutrients, but there was only 40 units available in the tank. Compound this problem over weeks and weeks and it could have led to the plant dying off.

You could let your pennywort float for a couple weeks or even a month to allow it to acclimate to your tank and get some good growth on it. Alternatively, you could grow out the plant in something like a vase or something until it is a bit bigger and more robust. Do you have any other tanks that you could move either the plant or snail into temporarily?

I keep MTS, pond snails, ramshorn snails, and rabbit snails all in the same tank. I haven't regretted it 🙂 They will compete for food but that's about it. I used MTS to churn my sand substrates in the past, but they are hard to get rid of, but by the time you want to get rid of your MTS, you might as well just buy new substrate and set-up a new tank 😛

How big is your tank? What are the parameters in terms of nitrogenous wastes (ammonia, nitrates, nitrites)? As long as those values don’t get too high, you might not even need to have someone change water depending on the amount of live plants you have. I think unplugging the hob was a good idea but you might not need anything else 👍🏻 Wishing you a speedy recovery 😊

so sorry to hear that this happened to you 😞 I have lost fish to ich in the past as well, not a great feeling. 1) Yes, you should do some water changes to remove the medication. 25-50% twice a week for two weeks should be good. 2) Yes, you should also change the water on the snail tank. I haven’t heard of snails getting infected with ich, but it is possible for them to carry it around in one of the parasite’s life stages. 3) Yes, I think you should quarantine and get some new neons. 4) To be honest, there is always a risk of there being a disease in your tank as long as there are fish (hosts). We might not see it because the fish’s immune systems and slime coats are strong enough to hold it off, but the moment something becomes suboptimal and stresses out our fish, there is a chance for a disease to rear its ugly head. What I’ve done in the past to make sure all diseases are killed in a tank and substrate is to completely drain it down and let it dry out for a couple weeks. Technically, the parasites should also die out without a host after letting a fish less tank run for a couple weeks. Do whatever you think is practical for you.

“When adding it to your substrate, we recommend starting with 1 pound of crushed coral per 10 gallons of water. The lower your pH is, the faster it dissolves, so you may need to replace the crushed coral every 6 to 12 months to keep remineralizing your water.” https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh I literally just sprinkle it in ✌🏻

I just cutout black Bristol board paper from Dollar Tree to size. I just secure it on the back with some pieces of tape. This way, if you ever need to take it down or sell it, it is super easy to remove or replace. I think I learned it from @Irene but I can’t remember the specific video.

I remember listening to one of the old co-op videos that fish really go for the canned green beans with salt. Ever since then, I have fed them to my fish and haven’t seen any adverse results. Green beans are popular with my platies, hillstream loaches, Borneo sucker loaches, Pygmy corydoras, MTS, ramshorn snails, rabbit snails, Amano shrimp, and Neo shrimp. I also feed zucchini slices, peeled and frozen, before plopping them in the tank. I always like to have foods that I can just freeze and pop in the tank whenever I notice that my veggies have run out. I also feed blanched mulberry leaves to my shrimp and the other fish seem to pick at it. As a general rule of thumb, most veggies need to be prepared in some way for the fish to eat them. You can either blanch, boil, or freeze them (freezing causes the cells to pop). Feel free to experiment, as long as you are not feeding anything known to be poisonous. During one of the club talks, Barbie Fiorentino mentioned how she is famous (or infamous) for plopping “human foods” in her Pleco tanks.

I have never kept more than one pea puffer at a time but they can be real menaces. I tried putting one in my heavily planted 20 gallon and I saw it peck whatever caught it’s attention. I had Pygmy corys with mine and it would go after their dorsal fins and tails. I’m not saying that it can’t be done, it certainly can, but don’t be too disappointed if it doesn’t work out. It all depends on the temperaments of the pea puffers you get. For me, I would probably keep a species only tank and perhaps try breeding them, but it’s your fish and your tanks, good luck 🙂 Also, I think your corys will probably be happier in a bigger school of probably six or more.

Thanks! Those are my invert enclosures 🙂 A friend found it while hiking and gave it to me. She thought it might be a fox kit skull but we’re not 100% sure Yes, exactly! When people ask what pets I have I say “cold blooded ones.” When more plants have grown in, I’ll post current pics.

Thanks! Sadly, this female passed a couple months ago but I now have two other vinegaroons 🙂 Thank you! These were all old set ups, I will post my new ones after the plants have grown in a bit more 😛

I think polka dot plants are just the cutest. What kind of frogs do you have? I have White’s Tree frogs and Asian painted frogs.

Haha, I know that feeling, but there’s nothing to be embarrassed about! We all start from somewhere and you are off to a great start 🙂

I have been looking for a place to start a journal of my previous tanks and rack set-ups. This was taken in July 2021. Tanks I had in August 2021

It definitely could work, but it is try at your own risk. If you have a particularly aggressive betta or crayfish, they could end up killing the other. That said, bettas could also harass and or kill other bottom dwellers depending on their temperament. If you like larger crustaceans, you could also consider full grown Amano shrimp. I have had both kuhli loaches and Pygmy cories with bettas (male and female). By the way, kuhli loaches will leave your nerites alone. I have never seen them go after any snail in particular. You could also consider an African dwarf frog or a couple of them. They just kind of hang out and most bettas that I have had leave them alone (even the more aggressive ones). They also eat the same things so it works out! I once had a betta that treated an ADF like his best friend. They always hung out together and when the frog would float to the top and do their splaying thing, my betta would gently nudge him so that he could spin in the water.

As I understand it, a substrate becomes anaerobic when there is little to no oxygen present in the substrate. This allows for the colonization of anaerobic bacteria who can convert nitrate into nitrogen gas (denitrifying process). There is a whole side of the hobby dedicated to utilizing anaerobic bacteria for biological filtration. This can be accomplished by having deep substrate beds (several inches thick) and/or using substrate that can compact very well (very small grains of sand). To prevent most of the substrate from becoming anaerobic (anaerobic pockets can possibly form), you can use larger grains for the substrate like gravel or Eco complete. You can also keep relatively shallow layers of substrate (only a couple inches thick). You can also introduce fish or inverts that churn the substrate. Kuhli loaches and Malaysian trumpet snails will burrow in substrate while Geophagus will take gulps of substrate and filter it out of their gill plates. You can also just churn it up yourself by gravel vacuuming, but if you have a planted tank, you don’t want to disturb the substrate too much.

Hey Kyle! Welcome to the forum. Whereabouts are you from in Canada? I’m from Toronto! I’m digging your tanks 🙂