J. Holmes

My sweet little pink crypt is STRUGGLING. Had this since December. It started to grow quickly, but hasn’t progressed past this. I give it a root tab once every two weeks. I have CO2 as well. Lights on on for 4 hours in the morning and then another four hours in the afternoon. Any suggestions for how to help it grow?

Yes…I can’t put in flag fish. I got two different batches of mollies (2 different places!) and both got livebearer disease and didn’t make it. The platties made it through quarantine so I’m hoping they may help.

Great news! How big of a water change did you do before adding snails back

Alright friends, Hydra has become a major issue in my tank. It’s ALL over my substrate. I’ve got platties and endlers in the tank to try and eat them. I’ve starved the tank for a week several times to try and starve the hydra. None of it has helped. I’ve been giving TINY feedings to try and avoid any excess food. I’m not sure what else to try. I wouldn’t care about them too much if I didn’t have hillstream loaches. They touch the substrate and immediately jump off to the glass. I don’t think they’re eating well bc they can’t get to their food or search the substrate for food. What can I do about these annoying things?

From what I’ve researched, it is about keeping stable water. Having good filtration (under water filtration) and fresh water (frequent water changes). I’m not experienced enough to have PERFECTLY stable water so I wouldn’t want to risk that yet. Ive read they need a good cleaning/water changing weekly routine or multiple water changes per week.

Thank you! 🙂

Agreed! That’s what I’ve been seeing while trying to research them. I’m not ready for that! Lol

Ok friends, I went to my local fish shop to pick up some Bolivian Rams… they were out 😩. The people there recommend I get Gold Head Rams. Said they were great beginner cichlids, super hardy, and easy to care for (like the Bolivian). Is this true? I didn’t get any because I haven’t researched this fish at all. I can’t find much information on them. The information I have found said they are like a German Blue ram, so more difficult to care for. I also can’t find the same picture for these fish, so I’m struggling to identify. They were yellow with blue highlights when light hit them. Below are pictures. background info: 1. I’m new to the hobby. This will be my first time caring for rams. Tank has housed fish over a year. 2. 20 gallon long community tank. 10 neon tetras, 5 female endlers/1 male. What do you all think? Trust them or still search for my Bolivian Ram?

When I researched this plant, my idea was that it could stay a bit more “bush” like. Like the first picture below. Currently it is very leggy and isn’t filling out. Like image 2. How can I work with it to be more bush like and less long legged? image 1. image 2:

Thank you so much! Would that amount be ok with the endlers and tetras? I don’t want to overstock… super nervous/ excited about keeping them!

I’m trying to learn about cichlids… wanting to transform my 20 long into a community tank with either a single cichlid or 2. Looking to start with a Bolivian Ram as a way to learn. In the tank will be 10 neon tetras. And 5 endler livebearers (mostly female). Below is my tank. My main concern is that I do not have sand (this was my betta tank-ready to move to the “old man” tank). If I just sprinkle a thin layer of sand on top, will this be ok for the Ram? Thanks so much. ps… is this even a good tank set up for Rams?

I do not have jungle Val…. I don’t think 😬. Just Val that I bought from Coop a year ago

Did you just put it in the tank, remove the plant completely or just spot treat? It’s kinda in patches in mine and then has completely engulfed one plant. Buts it got very shallow roots and I’m not sure it could handle being pulled out and replanted.

Definitely staghorn! I was reading where people use injectable CO2 and spot treat. Anyone had success with that? I’ll take a break on fertilizer and do a short fast with the fish as well.

So… I get this algae off and on. It generally stays on the tips of my Val and doesn’t spread. But now it’s attacking my plants. It’s this strange brown hairy algae. I’ve also go green dust algae collecting on my tiger lotus, so I know something is out of whack. I’m just not sure how to figure out how. I’ve got 3 zebra Nerites, 3 horned Nerites, 6 Amanos, and 2 Ottos. No one seems to get rid of this stuff. water: 29 gallon temp: 77 lights: 8 hours. 4 in morning. Break. 4 in the evening. CO2: just added a month ago. Indicator turned green last week. Ferts: root tabs and easy green,iron, Potassium once a month: water changes: every two weeks. levels: Nitrates: 20 PH: 6.8 (lower than wanted. Working on it) nitrites: 0

Thanks so much! Another thing I’ve been reading is that Rams like a sandy substrate bc they like to sift through it. I have Eco-Complete for my plants. Is this too rough for them?

I’ve been reading up on the ram and apistogramma borelli. Both stay low to the ground and like caves. How would they get along with my hillstream who loves the rock caves and ground feeds as well? Also, how many would I keep? Male and female? Just male for centerpiece?

Schools are pretty basic sizes: 1 Otto (others crawled in the filter and didn’t make it 🤦🏻‍♀️), 8 celestial pearl danios, 8 endlers, 10 tetras, 3 Nerites, a loach. I forgot to mention my sailfin plates: 5 of those. They’re currently in quarantine and about to be introduced. I’ve just added CO2 to my tank to increase plant production. My plants are mostly root feeders. I do have 2 anubias and two TINY ferns (struggled with those). Thinking of adding more ferns. Carpeting Monte Carlo is starting to work after CO2.

So I would LOVE Rams… but I’m VERY new to fish keeping and can’t devote a lot of time to tank upkeep. When I was reading about Rams, I saw where they required a lot of water changes: 3 times a week. This true?

Ottos, Nerites, Endler livebearer, neon tetras, danios, and hillstream loach. Thanks for the temp info. I was reading where the angels like 80 and that would be a bit too high for the danios. I have the tank at about 76 right now

Ottos, Nerites, Endler livebearer, neon tetras, danios (they’ll have to move), and hillstream loach.

Hi Everyone, I’m thinking of getting a centerpiece fish for this tank. I’ve been educating myself on angelfish, and I’m not sure if this is a good setup for them. I know I’ll need to move my danios bc of temp requirements for angels. This tank is 29 gallons, but I’m not sure if it’s too “decorated” for angels. Thoughts? thanks so much!

Gotcha… yea I’ve tried multiple different locations for these guys. They’re just rude! What are the more “peaceful” type of tetra? I would love that blue in my tank with my betta boys

I’ve heard that as well. I got a school of 8 for both tanks. They are both just extremely aggressive from the beginning.