Corbidorbidoodle

He seems to be eating just fine. I saw a lot of stuff on the interwebs about dislocated jaws and such. But this seems more like a genetic issue probably. I'm going to take him back to the pet store and swap them out for a better looking mail today at some point. They're really neat looking fish. I've been wanting them for a long time, and found some of the LFS for 8 bucks. They look kind of plain Jane right now. Could be they were cheaper cuz they're a plain silver variety. I'm hoping they color up to the yellow and pink that I've seen.

I bought some Threadfins from my LFS today. When I got them in to my tank, I noticed one of them has a weird mouth thing. I've seen him eat and he seems fine, but have any of you seen this before? It kinda looks like his bottom lip is sticking out or something. It's real hard to get a photo, but I'll attach what I can.

I have some Harlequin Rasboras in a 44 tall, 80-82 deg. Nitrate less than 10 Nitrite 0 Gh 300 Kh 40 -80 Ph 6.8 No chlorine I just noticed a few of them have a little white spot on their mouths

I actually use the Ista passive CO2 kits on several tanks when needed. I feel it's a marked improvement. Certainly not like injection, but better than nothing.

I've done several tanks with the $8 bag of Quickrete pool filter sand from Lowe's. I really like that stuff. It looks really nice and seems to be fairly water permeable. You gotta rinse it out a lot, but that's not a big deal. Either do before in a bucket, or just do several water changes once it's set up. I have had some trouble growing some plants, but I'm not sure if it's the sand or something else. I'm experimenting with pea gravel now to see if it's any better. But it certainly didn't kill any plants. And the livestock have no problem with it at all. Here it is in a 6.5 gal beta tank...

Part of what I thought might be happening is the sand eventually gets dirty and clogged up and then even the root tabs can't get to the roots. Thought I'd try more pea gravel to see if it allows for transportation better. And I'm using pool filter sand, not, like, play sand. But I love trying different stuff, so we'll see how it goes.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I may just stick with the 55. I'll def check out a 75 though if I feel like I've got the room.

Thanks for the tips, everybody. I guess it really comes down to learning. Ugh. I've got a pretty good handle on epiphytes, it's things like S. Repens or Scarlet Temple that're giving me trouble. I can grow Lotus and Amazon Swords and Water Wisteria all day, but my Bocopa is leggy and 60% leafless, and my Scarlet Temple just doesn't die and get's covered in algae. I usually just kinda try stuff, and if it works, great, if it doesn't, I try something else. So I'm trying to get a little more intentional about what I'm doing so it's less of a money filled shotgun approach.

Thanks for all the great suggestions, everybody. So many exciting options to try!

Excellent! I'll give it a shot.

I've been struggling to grow plants that the internet says should grow fine for me. I really prefer the look of sand. I use mostly pool filter sand. I watch a lot of people like MD fish tanks grow great plants in sand. But he uses lots of expensive fortified substrate underneath it. I'm super cheap though, so I never buy that stuff. But, I saw Corey talk about gravel being way better for plants in a video the other day. And finally it clicked where my stuff isn't growing. I thought people said sand was bad cuz of the roots couldn't grow in it. But I think I've realized gravels better cuz the nutrients can find its way to the roots. What are your experiences with internet substrate? Do you guys find your plants grow a lot better and gravel? Is anybody growing great plants in inert sand? I have a few things to go gangbusters on sand, like Val. But a lot of stuff struggles unless there's a root tab right underneath it.

You're getting really good results. I should double check my measurements and setup to make sure everything is working properly.

When you first mix up the elements, do you get all the way up to 40 psi? I find it only gets to about 30. Should it get all the way up to the green area or max optimal whatever? How low do you let it get before you have to refill?

So I've been toying with the idea of trying to do some breading. I'm really looking for passive, mild breeding though. I just can't see hand picking eggs off mops and stuff at this point. It seems quite a lot of fish will drop eggs on the ground and then eat them. If I wanted the tank to be a little more display friendly and a little less sterile, could I prepare the tank in such a way as to protect some or most of the eggs without my intervention? I was thinking if I used somewhat large gravel, or even small river rock, maybe with bits of java moss mixed in, than that'd work pretty much like putting the parents in a basket and letting the eggs and fry fall through. Has anybody done this? Would it work okay? Doesn't have to be perfect, but thought it might have better survival rate than sand. Thanks!

I got this guy with a bunch of other stuff at a thrift shop a while back. People online seem to like it okay. But they say they're getting 4-6 weeks of CO2 at 4+ BPS. I'm only getting 2.5-4 weeks at ~1 BPS. What has your experience been? Am I doing something wrong? Do you think it's broken or leaking? Thanks, y'all.

I have a couple clumps of Christmas moss glue to rocks in a tank with blue neos. It's gotten a bit algae infested. Is this something I can cure with gluteuraldehyde or hydrogen peroxide? Is it safe to use either of those in a 5 gallon tank with the neos? I could take it out, and put it in a tank with less nutrients. Or I could put it in a bowl and block it out for a while or something. But what will kill algae that doesn't kill Christmas moss?

I have a 55 gallon long set up in my dining room. It fits perfectly in the spot it's in, but I'd like to upgrade to something bigger if possible. It wouldn't have to be the exact same size, but are there bigger tanks that would take up roughly the same amount of floor space?

These are fabulous suggestions. Ultimately, this will be at decoration, not so much a scientific display, so it's okay to fudge a little bit. It doesn't have to be perfect. I'm just finding that as I really appreciate a particular kind of fish, I want to properly build a tank around it. Rather than just shotgunning a bunch of cool things in there.

I've never done a proper snapshot-of-nature type biotope tank. (I'm not even sure I'm using that word correctly) I'm really in to Diamond Tetras currently and would like to build a tank around them. I'm pretty sure I can handle decorations, layout, and plants. But I can't find much info regarding what fish might live with them. Do you all have any suggestions? I keep googling variations of "Fish" and "Lake Valencia", but mostly I can only find sport fishing info.

Yeah, a few fish can become a lot real quick. I have this one main guppy tank, and it's not like mutt guppies are hard to get hold of, so I hardly had a line of people to take them off my hands. But I picked up a few African Dwarf Frogs to live with them, and now I have the perfect amount of survival. I've got enough to keep the colony going, and extras for seasoning tanks and giving to friends. But yeah, it's gotta be fun. I'm hoping to do something like good looking species tank that has a surplus. If it's not fun it's just work, and I hardly need a part time job that costs me money. Gotta remain an enjoyable hobby.

Oooh, I forgot about Mollies. The Creamsicle and Platinum Lyretail/Sailfiin ones are my favorite. I tried Kribs once, but got all males. Might try them again. The Forktail Rainbows are real neat. I've only ever seen them a couple times. That'd be a fun one to try. I've got gallons of Java Moss, Hornwort, Pearlweed, Dwarf Water Lettuce, Water Sprite, and Pogo Octopus. I can definitely get a tank pretty full with any of those. I kinda forgot about Anglefish too. That'd be loads of fun. The babies are precious!

Hey, y'all. I'm one of those guys that'll pick up pretty much any tank he sees at a thrift store or free on CL. Currently I have several unoccupied tanks that I'm seasoning with hand-fulls of guppies. A 60, two 55 longs, two 40 breeders, a very tall 43, three 20 longs, two 20s, and a smattering of 3-10 gallon weirdos. I've got solid colonies of Red, Yellow, and Blue Neos in some of the 20s. I'm going to start separating grades into different smaller tanks as needed. So I'm mostly looking for ideas in the bigger tanks. I'm looking for ideas, maybe slightly more advanced than guppies. (I have SO MANY guppies) They're swell, but does the world need 6 more tanks filled with guppies? What I'd really like is fish that'll breed like guppies and shrimp though. They don't have to be quite so prolific, but easy-ish, ya know. Like, I'm not currently in a position to be hand-collecting eggs off of spawning mops, bottle feeding fry and rocking them each to sleep each night. But I'll put in a little work. And I don't mind setting up tanks for specific fish's needs. The perfect storm would be if I could sell some of the babies for something besides feeders. Like, obviously I'm not trying to be a pro breeder, but maybe they can help my hobby not be a total money pit. Some of my favorite fish right now are CPDs, Diamond Tetras, pretty much any Rams, Clown Killis, Kuhli Loaches, and that kind of thing. I've had CPDs breed, but the babies starved cuz I wasn't expecting them. My Diamond Tetras are breeding, but they've got some Bolivians, Corys, and a Flag Fish in there with them, so not many babies survive. I've had my two Gold Rams pair off and try to breed, but they're both boys, so once they dug a pit and cleaned off a rock, the relationship kinda dissolved. But whatcha think? Any great ideas for me? Thanks, everybody!

I have this crazy guppy thank with a bajillion guppies. The oldest female quit having babies though. You know how they're just always preggers, this one seems totally healthy, but just not pregnant anymore.

I know it's not a dwarf water lettuce thread, but I was struggling with mine until I got a new light. I went from something generic/budget to a Finnex Stingray 2 and the DWL loved it. Also surface flow needs to be minimal. But also, the stocking sounds okay to me as well. I regularly have well over the recommended "1 inch of fish per gallon", but I'm still a novice and probably have just had good luck. But also lots and lots of plants.

In my 55, I recently moved my diffuser back toward my canister filter intake. I was kinda wondering the same thing, if the CO2 would be bad for the filter bacteria. Seems to be fine. I'm only at about 1bps for that big tank, and I think there's so much more O2 that the CO2 doesn't bother the bacteria. First time trying it though. And it's only been a couple weeks.