Cinnebuns

Yes you can! All guppies are the same species just different strains. A strain is similar to a breed in dogs. So it would be like crossing dog breeds.

I'm extremely lucky. I have "the bad" LFS which is like a 2 min drive away and "the good" LFS which is 10 min drive away aaaaaand petsmart is 20 min drive away. I know people in large cities with only big box stores as an option and even then it's 30 min away. I'm extremely lucky.

I 2nd this.

I also posted this on the Facebook group. I'll be real, I stole the "local-ish" from a comment @Candi made cause I thought it was a great description haha. I am very lucky to have 2 local fish stores within a 10 minute drive of me. Both however are very small so I occasionally enjoy driving an extra distance to check out a larger store in a larger city. On Friday I decided to drive over an hour to visit one. I didn't realize until I got there that it was an ACO retailer store. The store was Pure Fish Works in Hastings, MN. Both of the gentlemen there was very fun to talk to and were a great help. After I got a fish, a snail and a plant I decided to look at the ACO stuff. I haven't yet tried the freeze dried brine shrimp so I grabbed some to give it a try! After I bought all my stuff the owner asked if I needed a bag to carry my stuff. I thought maybe it would be a simple plastic bag but I got this nice ACO bag instead. Idk if this is the policy of this specific store or if that's something ACO encourages but I found it very cool!! Less plastic bags out in the environment and now I have a nice bag to use in the future!

If you are interested and aren't already overwhelmed by too much info, I realized it might be helpful to let you know the cory and gourami species that would work in there. Here's some you can look into when you want to: Cories: - Pygmy - most popular and common - Habrosus, also called "salt and pepper" - 2nd most popular and common - Panda - largest of the ones I'll suggest so have to limit numbers more. Gourami: - Honey gourami - very peaceful and a nice yellow color. Some come with some orange on it. You could have 2 in here. - Dwarf gourami - semi-aggressive. These can be different personalities from fish to fish. They come in different color morphs including: flame, neon and powdered blue. - Sparkling gourami - small and extremely peaceful. They can be a little shy. They are very pretty. You could keep a trio. - Chocolate gourami - more rare and harder to find. I would do 1 or 2. - Licorice gourami - this one the beauty can sneak up on you. They can look plain usually but when the male colors up they are absolutely stunning. More rare and harder to find. I would do a trio.

Most likely the tank is not cycled and therefore ammonia is present. You need to do a fish-in cycle to keep the fish alive. They are currently being exposed to toxins. I will link an article. The first half explains the nitrogen cycle. This concept is extremely important and the center of fish keeping. I encourage you to seek out other articles and YouTube videos explaining it to see it explained in a variety of ways until you fully understand it. The second half is a step by step guide on doing a fish in cycle. https://fishlab.com/fish-in-cycle/ I would also like to address two other things. First one is easy. I would raise the water line. I don't want to throw too much information at you at once so I will explain it pretty simply. Basically it will help two things. First is that it is giving the fish more space to live in. Second, and probably more importantly, it allows the filter to work best. There are some species that benefit more from a low water line but you don't have any of those. You should try to keep the water line just below the filter outflow to maximize its effectiveness. Second thing to address is stocking. No issues with the 6 glo tetras or otos. The cories need a group of 6 or more. Bronze cories specifically get kind of large to have 6 in that size tank. Both gourami are morphs of a three-spot gourami. Three-spot gourami get far too large for a 12 gallon tank. To put this into perspective, I once had a gold gourami in my 29 gallon tank for 1 hour before I realized my mistake and took it back. I don't want you to feel bad about ANYTHING. I always hope people don't take stuff like this the wrong way. You don't know what you don't know and unfortunately pet stores rarely give you compete and accurate information. You are asking the right questions and doing A LOT right. You can 100% fix this and learn in the mean time! For now, I suggest either looking to get a larger tank, or rehoming the cories and gourami and start planning for different fish. There are other different cory and gourami species that would work perfectly in there! I wouldn't suggest adding them right away but give the tank some time to cycle.

Agreed. This looks a lot like possible ammonia problems. How long has the tank been set up total and before fish were put in? What are your current parameters? If you don't know what that means that's fine. Just let me know.

Happy birthday! Mine was 2 weeks ago. I bought 16 cherry barbs and 12 paleatus cories from my birthday money. I've been talking about and planning this tank with the help of @nabokovfan87 for over a year now and it's finally come together!

I agree with only shrimp, to a point. Ramshorn snails are another option as well. Other pest snails could work too but imo ramshorn are the only interesting pest snail.

At first I was thinning of an angelfish but they need a higher temp. Then I thought a pearl gourami or 2 or 3 but again I'm pretty sure warmer temps. Anything I think if seems to want warmer temps.

Oh, I also want to add something else. Don't listen to those bot articles that tell you to isolate or move her when she's about to have fry. That causes far more issues than it saves. Do this instead: - Provide hiding places, especially near the top. If you don't have any floating plants you can buy fake floating plants or use a floating spawning mop. - Turn the lights down when she starts going into labor. This will lower her stress. - Try to avoid watching her. She needs to feel that she and her babies are safe. A large predator watching her won't help her feel safe. - If needed, remove any male or other fish that is harassing her a lot. Some amount of bugging her is fine but if it goes on too long it will stress her too much. - Provide places for the fry to hide. This can be all over the tank and can come in many forms like decor and plants, either live or fake. The main idea is to reduce her stress as much as possible with as little intervention from us as possible. It's a natural process that doesn't need much messing around except for how the tank is set up. If a female guppy gets too stressed while giving birth she can abort them and reabsorb them or hold them in even until she dies.

They can get WAY fatter than that!! Almost all female guppies are almost always pregnant so it's a good bet she's pregnant. She doesn't look like she's ready to drop soon though. Before they drop, their gravid spot will get very dark and large. On an unrelated matter, she gills appear red. I would check ammonia in the tank.

Yes they poop A LOT. That is why it's suggested to have a 5 gallon for just 1 mystery snail. It's not about the space but the bioload. I used to breed mystery snails. Even as babies they pooped so much that at one point I was having to water change and gravel vac 1-2x a day. It's also why they are often suggested to use for cycling a tank.

I breed panda cories. I use a 15 as a growout for juveniles. I currently have over 50 in it but they are all tiny right now and won't be in there when they are full sized. I do think a 15 is a great size for 6-8 adults though. I do not think a 10 is an adequate size but a 15 has the same foot print as a 20 high and therefore works great!!

I have both butterfly and reticulated hillstream loaches. They can look pretty similar. Butterfly are bigger and have spots whereas reticulated has swirls or stripes. Neither butterfly or reticulated are aggressive. Even when multiple males of the same species are together their scuffles rarely get very aggressive with each other. It's more likely the fact that plecos are nocturnal than anything. This is worded better than I said it lol. I typed mine before reading other responses. I will caution this though. Although plecos are not by nature aggressive, they have been known to attack and even kill fish by sucking off their slime coat if they are not fed properly. As they age they become more carnivorous. Many people don't understand this and don't feed them enough protein. This causes them to try to get protein from other fish.

Females can lay infertile eggs as well.

Oh I have TONS and they keep laying more and more eggs. Lol. The adults have been extra extra lately. I want them to grow a little more first but I will probably be posting them within the next month.

They will not reproduce in freshwater. They will lay eggs. Occasionally the eggs may even hatch, but the larvae cannot survive in freshwater. I'm guessing the conflicting info is either due to this, or bot articles. There are bot articles out there claiming you can breed them in freshwater. Also, nerites are a great choice for algae. Mystery snails will graze on algae a little but have a diet that requires eating other things so nerites are best for the job. I tend to prefer keeping both in a tank because the mystery snails do a good job of cleaning out other stuff like extra food and dead plant matter.

I think ember tetras are beautiful but I like to warn people that they don't move around a lot. They kinda hover. That's fine for most people and is a benefit in smaller tanks but I personally enjoy movement in my fish so if the person is the same as me they may not enjoy it.

You could easily fit 2 trios, so 6. They are pretty small and can be a little shy.

While some do school tighter than others keep in mind that no fish in the hobby is going to school like you see in videos. They only do that when new to a tank or frightened. A lot of times the videos you see of a massive rummy nose tetra school or something they set those videos up. Pearl are too big yes. I've tried it. My favorite BY FAR is thick-lipped (often called red honey) but you could also do honey, dwarf, sparkling, or any of the smaller ones. Thick-lipped would he the largest one.

If you allow the shrimp population to explode enough, you could keep the shrimp and add fish both. Yes you will have some shrimp eaten but they will populate fast enough to keep up. I enjoy hillstream loaches as an oddball. Foe schooling fish there's TONS AND TONS of options so I'll answer it with questions instead. This will help narrow down what fish you would be happy with. 1. How much color do you want? 2. What specific colors appeal to you? 3. How much activity do you like in the fish? This is one I realized is very important to me personally and I think many people don't consider. Do you want a highly active fish or a chill one? 4. How important is "personality" for you? These questions can also help narrow down a centerpiece fish but there are fewer options here. I tend to love gourami personally but there are other options like a betta or a ram. A betta would take some more steps to accomplish.

It's super easy. I just did it last night.

This reminds me of something. I have an ultimate dream that I will never accomplish. I want to have a hobby farm with all kinds of animals, mostly pet-type animals but some farm animals as well. I'd like to hire all kinds of doctors and therapist and such to work with kids and adults with disabilities along with the animals. It can be useful with both mental and physical issues. I myself have many physical and mental health issues so there are too many barriers to ever make this possible. I have made the decision however to get a TINY piece of it and be happy with that. My plan is to eventually train an animal to be a therapy animal and take it to nursing homes and schools and such to help. I know dogs are most common for this but it can be any species. I had planned to train the cat I got 3 years ago for this but she ended up not having the right personality. I don't think any aquatic animals are right for this because transporting issues. I also don't want to get a small tank just for the visit and perpetuate the idea that small tanks are good ideas. I'm hoping someday though to find an animal to fit this. I bring this up because maybe you can find a way to get a small piece of your goal! It might be tougher here because it seems like maybe the size is what's desirable and the issue both. It's still something to think about.

Everyone talks about their dream fish but what about bucketlist stuff? It doesn't necessarily have to be species you want to keep although it can include this but this list could include DOING anything in the hobby. What's your aquarium bucket list? Here's some of mine off the top of my head: - breed hillstream loaches - have a breeding colony of CPO crayfish - create my own guppy strain - get better with plants - create an amazing aquascape - breed white clouds - breed multiple species of cories - learn more about genetics in general and specific to some species - keep a puffer of some sort