Karen B.

Greetings Every single serious aquarist know to do his/her research on a particular species before buying it. But... is it me or you can find pretty much every opinion and it’s opposite? I want to give the best care possible to my fish but I end up so confused. I have hair algea in my 10 gallons and green algea mostly only on my anubias on my 15 and 20 gallons. For some reason, my nerite snail don’t like to go on top of the leaves. My lights are on a timer, 8 hours a day. I dislike the look of algea and would like to get otocinclus - everywhere they recommend a group of 5-6 or else the fish get stressed. I don’t think my tanks are big enough or could support them. Cory is the only one that seems to recommend 2 oto, even only 1 for a small tank. Has anyone experienced only 1 or 2 oto in their tank? @Cory Could you reassure me that I wouldn’t make a mistake to get only 2 otos for each of my tanks? Thank you!

I have a 20 gallons, planted. it’s currently stocked with a honey gourami and 7 false julii corydoras. I will be getting a female honey gourami and probably 5 otocinclus because algeas drive me nuts - I don’t have much but my snails are ignoring my anubias 😖 can I still get a small school of 6-8 fishes or will I be too overstocked? I do 30% WC per week and have s HOB filter as well as a sponge filter. I am looking for something a bit out of the ordinary but still not too hard to find.

Greetings! I have a 20 gallons aquarium. Currently housing 7 false julii cory and 1 honey gourami. I will be adding a female honey gourami and I am looking for a fish to complete the tank. I was thinking about steel blue lyretail kilifish (1m, 4f) and was wondering if you guys had any advice? Would there be agression? Do gourami and killifish work well together? 20 gallons high, planted, HOB aqueon quietflow 20 and a sponge filter, 75f, ph of 7.4. 0/0/20. Kh 3, gh 8.

Following the passing of his 3 guppies tank mates, my honey gourami is now alone with 7 corydoras and has started weird swimming repetitive paterns. He will glass surf, or swim while quickly looking left/right. I think he is stressed/lonely. I do plan on adding 2 females and a small schooling of fish but I am currently battling with a camallanus worms infestation which has made the project impossible for now. Considering he was in contact with the infected guppies... Considering I do also have another aquarium with 4 guppies that were in contact with the infected guppies as well... I do not see sign of infection on my gourami, one guppy might be sick tho. But I consider them all infected and will treat all my tanks regardless as soon as I get my levamisole (in 2-4 days) Can I move my gourami with the 4 guppies in hope to calm him? Thank you very much @Brandy @Schwack @Candi

Thank you again for your detailed answers. As I said, I am french so it’s much easier for me to understand when someone explains like you do! I am really sorry for your loss. Some people think they are just fish but they mean so much more. I made the hard call to humanely euthanize my 3 most affected fish and I am still shedding tears over them. Living in Canada is not fun if you are into aquarium I tell you. After your second dose, you wrote « then WC as normal », do you mean I leave my fish in the dosed water for few days until I would normally do my WC? How long after all these treatments can you be sure you got rid of everything? And that it’s safe to add more fish? My 10 gallons where my guppies are atm is my quarantine tank. So once they are cure and safe, they are going back in my 5 gallons with my shrimps. But I don’t want to put more new fish even in that quarantine tank if there is still a risk!

@Schwack Thank you very much. As for the dosing, if I am not wrong, the levamisole by Select Aquatics comes with a spoon, right? Must you compact the powder? Divide it? Sorry I am french and I was reading the instruction and on some part he says to devide it... was he talking for those that did not have the spoon? Or I have to devide the spoon dose in 2? is hour tank planted? Did you just vacuum the best you could? I am so scared to miss worms and have this nightmare start all over again.

Greetings fellow aquarists. I feel like I am going through some nightmare. I have 4 fish tanks 20 gallons : 7 false julii cory, 3 guppy, 1 honey gourami, 4 nerite snails 15 gallons : 2 clown killifish, 10 chili rasbora, 14 green neon tetra, 4 cherry shrimp, 3 nerite snails 10 gallons : 3 guppies 5 gallons : 3 blue dream shrimps I quarantine all my fish with aquarium coop trio meds. I use the same equipment (nets, syphons, aquascaping tools) with all my tanks The guppies in the 10 gallons used to be 4 and were in the 5 gallons. I noticed one was having white feces. 3 guppies in my 20 gallons were also having white feces. So I decided to move all my guppies together in the 20 gallons to treat them with paracleanse (I live in Canada. Already a miracle I have some meds, so I have to use it carefully, hence regrouping the fishes.) I treated the tank but the 2 groups of guppies were really really not getting along so I ended up putting the 2nd group in my 10 gallons. Forward 4 days, I am pretty sure I am dealing with camallanus worms, at least in the 20 gallons. So far I lost 1 guppy and one cory. I am at loss as to what to do. I do not have access to levamisole at least for few days. One guppy in the 10 gallons died, the others show no sign despite being a few hours in contact with those in the 20 gallons. They swim around, are lively, feces are ok. In the 20 gallons, my honey gourami and my remaining 7 cory seem ok despite flashing on occasion. The gourami feces are ok. Since I used the same tools to clean all my aquariums and moved some of my guppies around, should I consider them all infected nonetheless? I euthanized my 3 guppies that were badly infected in hope to save the others but I feel so bad doing so.... At the same times, it was so painful to see them all lethargic, not swimming anymore.... If I get my hand on the levamisole, is it better to treat all my aquariums as a precaution? Is it safe for shrimps, cory, snails, killifish, tetra and rasbora? I have new shrimps on the way, can I still add them to the tanks treated? It’s said to deep vacuum the substrate to get rid of worms and eggs... must I unroot my plants and empty the tanks of their content? How should I disinfected my equipment used?

Let’s start a thread about funny things our beloved fish, shrimps or snails do.

After months trying to get the fish I want, importing some, quarantine and rescaping so many times, I am pretty happy with the current results. 15 gallons fluval flex (careful if you pick small fish/jumping fish. I keep finding some in the filter compartment despite using their little plastic clips and fill them with sponge. One of my Clown killifish got stuck and died in it.) Current population : 1m, 2f Clown killifish (will add 5 more soon) Around 10-12 Chili Rasboras 14 Green neon tetra (they are not shy, it’s just awesome to watch them) 3 cherry shrimps, 1 yellow shrimps 3 nerite snails.

We all know our One True Love are our fish! What gift did your fish give you today? My Clown Killifish have been doing their love dance all morning. So adorable! And my green neon tetra no longer seem afraid of me. My aquarium is right by my couch and when I sit, they don’t rush to hide. They just swim around carelessly 🥰 (I know I have a lot in my 10 gallons but its my quarantine tank).

Thank you so very very much for all these information and suggestions. That was very helpfull. And your killies 🥰🥰🥰

Greetings! I have Clown killifish (1 male, 3 females) and the male and one female seems to be laying eggs so I was thinking maybe I could try breeding them. They are currently in a 15 gallons but I would move them for a few days in a plastic tub (about 2-3 gallons) because of the population of the 15 (shrimps, snails, etc.) Must I cycle the breeding tub? I plan to add a pre filter sponge that has been in my 15 gallons for a while and some of the substrate + cuts of plants when I am cleaning the tank so I am hoping that could count towards the cycling as well as populating the tub with micro organisms to feed on. A heater and a air stone will complete the setup. I have never bred any fish so is that ok? Any tips or suggestions? Must you absolutely hatch live baby brine or daphnia or can I be ok with fry food like hikari first bite and the north fin one( do not have access to aquarium co op products)? Thanks!

I bought 5 dream blue shrimps for my 5 gallons fluval spec shrimp only tank. I lost 1 right away, then two the following 2 weeks. I am not sure if it’s because the tank was too new despite addidng driftwood, rocks, plants and filter media from other tanks and letting it cycle for 3 weeks. Or could it be temperature related? Every care video I watch about shrimp mention the important of stable temperature but how « stable » must it really be? My aquarium (5 gallons) is in a really cold room so I added an aqueon 100w preset filter but the temperature fluctuates between 73 and 75.5 Basically, is my water temperature considered stable?

My guppies (and my Honey Gourami) get fed twice a day, always with a different variety of food. But once they are done eating, they join the corydoras and eat their food with them. Before the Guppies/Gourami joined that tank, they had perfect fish poop. Short, brown, would fall instantly. Now they are much bigger, longer, and paler. I give them food with garlic guard once a week and fast them on Sunday. Any tips, tricks, comments, suggestions? Is it actually a problem?

Seeing my false juliu corydoras blink. It’s so adorable! 🥰

@CT_ @AquaAggie Thank you for your kind words. I love my aquarium but I am getting a bloom of algae so I needed these nice words! The plants I used : Background, right to left : java fern windelov, Limnophilia sessiflora, Lindernia rotundifolia, Bacopa compact, Bacopa Caroliniana. Front, left to right : Rotala rotundifola, Staurogyne repens, on the chola wood there is anubia barteri var nana and an anubia barteri var nana petite, some marino moss ball, pogostemon helferi, cryptocorine wendii red (I think?) and more rotala rutondifola.

Greetings 10 gallons, planted. No CO2... with algea 😖 It’s currently housing 5 guppies (or piranha judging by their behavior), 5 cherry shrimps and 2 nerite snails. I would like to add 3 oto for algea control and one dwarf gourami (Colisia Lalia) According to Aquadvisor, this would be 121% population... Would my fish still thrive or is it too cramped? Filtration is HOB Aqueon quietflow 10 and the nano aquarium coop sponge filter. I know the gourami might snack on my cherry shrimps but that’s ok. That’s the aquarium. I tried adding salvinia but they all turned browning. Wondering if my light burn them...

My orange dwarf mexicain crayfish passed away today du to a bad molt. I am sad - I had his parents so I raised him since he was a tiny little thing. All the memories I have... I saw him terrorize him siblings until they all died, I saw him try to eat his dad when he passed from old age... 😲 Peaceful, they say... 😬 S.I.P. My little terror.

Greeting! 2 of my nerite snail tip of their shell is white. Is it normal or a sign of a deficiency? 20 gallons high, temp between 76 & 77. 0/0/30 ph : 7.4, kh 4 and gh 8 I put a piece of cuttlebone in the hob filter for calcium purpose.

Light is a Nicrew SkyLed Plus. I leave it on 8 hours a day. I just received a timer that allows me to ramp up/down. Should I do it or full intensity for 8 hours is ok? No CO2 I use Easy green once a week Nitrates are about 20ppm Plants are : Anubias, marino moss ball, crypto wendii red (I think), java fern Windelow, chola wood, pogostemon helferi, Limnophilia sessiflora, bacopa caroliniana, bacopa compact and I completely forgot the name of the one in front left.

Hello! It was you - I tried to DM you but it wouldn’t let me, hehe. Thank you for the answer and thank you for correcting my bad spelling mistakes! 🙂 Have a nice day Karen

Greetings! I have noticed some of my titles are being changed and I was wondering why? Not upset or anything, just curious. As english is not my main langage, if I know what is wrong with them, I can try to improve. Karen

Oh, sorry for the lack of information. It’s a 10 gallons. It has 6 guppies and 1 nerite snails. I don’t know if it’s because my nerite is big but I never see it on plants. Parameters are a bit out of whack - was quarantining my guppy, then timer decided not to work so my light stayed on for 2 nights in a row. I did look at Irene video and thinking about purchasing all the nutrients test kits like her. It’s only a 10 gallons so not sure about Oto... I could get amano shrimps but am afraid my guppies will snack on them...

Yikes, not good news for me... Any idea how to get rid of them?

Do you know what kind exactly so I can find a way to get rid of it? @Cory