Corbidorbidoodle

Don't you think it'd be cool to have an integrated PAR meter? We've got computer monitors at work with color calibration that automatically pops out of the bezel. Then you could know exactly what your tank is getting via an app. Obviously I'm not the first to think of it. Why isn't it a thing?

Yeah, that's definitely what I saw. Reminds me of Sr Prom. (not really, I was reading Lord of the Rings in highschool) Thanks for the video! Looking forward to some baby yellows!

I have a couple of questions about culling shrimp colonies. When and which ones? How long do you wait to start culling? Like, when there's a couple generations, or when there are hundreds in the tank? Do you take out the bad ones and let the colony continue on? Or do you take out just the best ones and restart the colony? I've got one colony of reds in a 20gal with some green neons and some brand new clown kilis. There are a few shrimps in there that're a little clearish. I was thinking about grabbing the not-so-red ones and adding them to one of my community tanks. Or would it be better to just get, like, 10 really great shrimps and start a new colony in a breading tank. And let's say I'm starting a new colony of blues. Should I take out any that I don't like as soon as I see them? Or should I wait until the tank is crawling with shrimp and then take out the best 50% or something? Thanks!

I was just being coy. Maybe that's what they do in the actual process of breeding. The female at the top of the pic was the one I thought was being eaten, and the male involved is on the ground in the lower left of the pic. But I can't find any info about shrimps actually doing the nasty. Just info about how to get them to breed and what to do with the babies. When they were doing whatever they were doing, it was one sort of limp shrimp that'd flail about occasionally, and then the other shrimp climbing all over it. I'm pretty sure the limp shrimp was a female. It looked dead to me, but that's probably because she had just molted, so she was just floppy. The other shrimp was most likely a male, so they were probably making babies. Ew. (jk)

I was watching some of my yellow cherry shrimp doing the weirdest thing. There were two sort of floating around fighting. One was pretty much taking a beating, so I thought it was dead and the other one was eating it. Then another joined in, and I was just figuring circle of life. Then they broke it up and the "dead" one swam up to a leaf and started eating. Now, maybe I sound like a kindergartner, cuz maybe they weren't "fighting", but I didn't think that's how cherry shrimps went about that activity. Lemme know if I'm wrong, please. Oh, I didn't get a picture of the fighting or whatever, but here's a pic of some of the shrimp involved.

I'm just realizing how different "white" can be from light to light. I moved some lackluster gold rams to a new tank and they look incredible! Same with some cherry barbs. They went from kind of reddish to blazing crimson. Has anyone documented the color shift of various brands or lines of lights? It'd be cool to have a resource for lighting color if you're building a tank around a certain color feature fish. Like, this light is really great for blues or that light really brings out oranges.

I've only had them for a few days. I've been a little worried about taking the lid off at all. But ya gotta feed them and maintain the tank, so what're you gonna do? I would imagine they're busy hiding while I've got my hands in there anyway. But for the lid. I bought a sheet of polycarbonate greenhouse paneling and I've been cutting lids from that. I get all my tanks second hand, so they often don't have lids.

Excellent. And that makes sense. This tank has a ACO sponge filter (powered by the ACO air pump). Just a tiny hole for the air hose and a hole for the heater cord.

I got some clown Kilis and they're super cute and I love'em. They're in a 20 with a new perfectly cut polycarbonate lid. I've read about what jumpers they are, and I'm not worried about them getting out, but the water lettuce has those big ol leaves. Do you think the Kilis are likely to jump up, bounce off the lid, and then land on one of the leaves and get stuck there? Like, I'm sure anything COULD happen, but is it common? Is this setup less than ideal?

Nitrate - 10 Nitrite - 1 GH - 300+ KH - 120 PH - 6.8 Chlorine - 0 Temp - 77f I've got a couple of Gold Rams in this 36gal with a few other things. Cherry barbs, a Power Blue Dwarf Gourami, a few Sumo Loaches. Just moved the rams in there a few days ago. I noticed this thing growing on the left side of one of the rams. It looks like a blackhead, sort of. It's pencil eraser colored, slightly raised, about 1-2mm diameter. I'll attach pics, of course. It looks subtler in the photos than it does in real life. In that last pic with the fish swimming away, you can see it right behind it's pectoral fin. I saw this once on a Diamond Tetra that I had just bought with several others. I returned it to the store though, so I never sought to find out what it was. Would love some help if anyone is familiar with this. What should I do about it?

I can also say it's been fine in my shrimp tanks

My experience with water sprite is that pretty much any time I move it to a new tank, most of the existing growth dies away and a bunch of new plants grow from the old plant. Then they grow like crazy. If the water column can support it anyway.

I have a heavily planted 20 gallon with various things, incl some crypt, and a few different kinds of Amazon swords. One of the swords is the kind with a smattering of red, but mostly it's green. There's two plants growing on separate sides, but they're both from one original plant. Anyways, I was using ACO easy tabs. I saw the tank needed some more nutrients, so I added some DIY Osmocote Plus tabs. The two swords are slowly melting. Not like from the outer leaves first, but all of them are slowly turning yellow, then clear ish brownish, then dissolving. I also started dosing some potassium about the same time. I got the expected melt from the crypts. Just a little, and they're growing back bright green now, instead of the bronze they were before. But does that sound right for different tabs? I mean I guess it makes sense. When you change water parameters, you get weird stuff sometimes, right? I'll attach a couple pics. I couldn't really get the melting to show, but I circled the crypts with the new green growth, and circled the swords I'm referring to, but they're kinda small in the pic.

I've got a school of glow light tetras, and a few of them are getting pretty bloated. I thought maybe they were just getting ready to lay some eggs, but they're just getting chunkier and chunkier. What do you guys think? Nitrate 25 Nitrite 0 Hardness 300+ Kh 40 pH 6.4 Clorine 0 Temperature 75

Once, in some video, I saw a crazy lookin' pleco. It was probably at least 1.5 feet, regular pleco brown, and had gobs of these porcupin-type spikes coming out of it's gills. Not like a bristlenose. This thing haunts my dreams. Even though it's nightmare fuel, I need closure. What the heck is this thing? I can't find it with my random google attempts. Help appreciated.

I second a temporary water polishing filter. That's what I do. It's just a small internal filter, shaped kinda like a pint glass. I put a handful of pillow stuffing in there, and then the next day, when the water is clear, I remove the whole thing.

Oh, yeah. Java ferns. That's good. I'm too stingy to give away anubias or buce. But I'm positively dripping with java fernlets.

I'm putting together a little 10 gallon for my nephew. I'm just doing hand-me-down plastic decor and horrifying, Skittles gravel at his request ( I didn't tell him that I think it's ugly, cuz he likes it). But live plants work so well in a tank, I'd like to add a few. I was thinking just some floaters, like a duckweed and redroot to eat up extra nitrates and stuff, and make the tank a little easier to take care of. I don't want him to have to dose ferts. Just want to help make it easy. What other ultra low maintenance water column feeding plants do you think would be good? Maybe some water sprite, or water wisteria? Or should I just stick to the handful of floaters that he can scoop out when they get overgrown. The stocking for now is just going to be 4 or 5 male guppies, and one or two powder blue gouramis.

Thanks for the replies. I went with some corkscrew val and a few different swords. Loving the rems. They're so pretty.

I have a 36ish gallon with a school of diamond tetras and 2 Bolivian Rams. They do great. They like to try to intimate each other occasionally, but sometimes they're friends and hang out together.

I'm all about Bolivian rams these days. They're super pretty and really fun to watch.

Prime Time Aquatics loves his. (Fishtuber) I saw someone hack theirs by drilling some extra holes in the bottom of the removable basket. They were having the same problem as you.

I can't speak to the coral, I'm just learning about kH. But the new box is sa-weet. You should leave it in front of the desk and have a walk-around.

I just set up a tank for some Golden Rams. They like that toasty water. What're some easy, low tech plants that'll be fine in warner water? Do I need certain plant, or are most aquarium plants fine at that temperature?

Yeah, good point, sorry. Either fortified substrate OR root tabs. And there are definitely some plants that're easier than others.