813aquatics

Paradise fish! Somewhat related to bettas if I recall correctly. It was the second fish I ever kept as a kid and mine lived for what seemed like an eternity. Beautiful little bullies.

Thanks! Hoping to see if anyone has a good place to get them from.

Coolest thing I’ve read on here in awhile. Time to see how the fish like dave brubeck quartet 😂

The rock structure looks great, I did something similar with two overhanging areas and my BN pleco loved hanging upsidedown where the “tunnel” is and would pop out as soon as she saw food arrive. I would recommend maybe adding some more broadleaf plants, both my BNs like to hang out on large verticlal leaves and hang out in the flow. Some BN plecos allegedly really like to munch on Amazon Swords but I’ve never had this issue so just something to keep in mind. If you’re planning on breeding though they probably will require a cave structure that is fully enclosed besides the entrance. One last thing I forgot originally is that your pleco will definitely benefit from a small piece of driftwood included so it can munch on it for necessary nutrients.

I agree with @Dwayne Brownon celestial pearl danios (galaxay rasbora if youre in the UK), gorgeous fish that look like little speckled trout. I see them for around $6.99 usd here. I almost walked out of my LFS with 20 embers yesterday too so another solid choice. They are so tiny and vibrantly colored. For bottom dwelling, maybe a few pgymy corydoras (c. pygmaeus)? A colorful nerite snail may be a cool addition too.

I have used both eco complete and stratum. Eco complete is wayyyyy less messy than statum. Stratum brings your ph down vs EC is inert, so stratum may benefit some shrimp. I had to weigh plants down in stratum but not so much with EC.

Thanks! The largest of the 60 or so I have at the moment are true troopers, survived without assistance in the community tank with neighborhood murderous betta, then survived a roadtrip in a bucket to a new home, and now are king of the grow out tank.

Because who doesn’t love baby fish pics 🙂 (Did some cleaning and the fry wanted to pose for glamour shots)

Hi! I was wondering if anyone here had kept nannostomus eques / brown tail pencilfish and could point me towards a good source for these fish and any care tips you have. I was thinking of keeping 6-10 in a 20gal with a breeding pair of apistos caca. I recently picked up. Thanks for any and all guidance!

What is your tank substrate like? If you can add some fine grain sand beds and decor like driftwood to hide and “nest” under it may encourage them to leave less “natural” shelter. They’re very silly and nimble fish so I’d only be worried about damage from any moving parts. Keep an eye on their slimecoats for any signs of excessive abrasions.

I will likely be at Orlando

This looks like a cool story.

I think it’s just detritus worms and copepods. You specifically mentioned nothing is in the tank so that would make sense, as the only time I’ve ever experienced it in numbers was when I had a plant trimmings 2.5gal with a piece og mopani in it. There were all sorts of little creatures, and I never fed the tank theyd just sustain off decaying plants. My fish will definitetly eat the worms and the copepods will probably go away once you introduce resource competition from fish and such.

We’ve all been there

No idea about the protein skimmer. Looks like they’re embracing the media basket style and structurally it seems pretty identical to the AC50/70. I agree the prefilter sponge by default is a thoughtful addition. I love my AC70 but have a few minor gripes (lid rattle, susceptible to overflow, doesn’t self-prime well) so for me to switch over I’d have to see how it compares.

For me, I think it’s more that carbon media very quickly loses its “effectiveness” and ultimately I’ve run all my tanks long enough without it and have experienced no observable cons. I started raising fish in 98 and back then carbon media was all that was readily available in the retail scene.