nabokovfan87

Even using a 29G.... are you able to use the bigger trashcan on wheels for wastewater so you're not lifting buckets? As an aside, that might really, really help to refill or drain tanks and relieve some mechanical strains for you. If you can handle something like that, or use a python, then maybe that tank makes sense. Depth and hand use, reach issues, I totally understand that. I think if you can work well in a 20L then having a "bigger tank" just gives you more room. To your point, a 40B might not be the best choice, but maybe the better choice would be the new 60B size. It's the same dimensions as a 75G, but not as tall. Second to that would be something the size of a 55G, but not as tall. I think that's a 30L but I'd have to check the sheet. Those are a pain to find locally for me and I can't imagine it's any easier for anyone else. I recommend something like that because while it might seem daunting at first, it's actually a lot easier to maintain. Parameters are much more stable, it's got more room for you to reach and give yourself distance to clean things. Using something like a "large size" python siphon as opposed to the medium is the only real difference. The extension tube is a few inches longer to give you the reach. Your actual work doesn't much change, just a bigger rug to go over so to speak. I am understanding of your situation, I just wanted to clarify / mention that. I spend about 3-4x the amount of time and effort working on my 29G tank when I do maintenance compared to the bigger ones because it is so difficult to get into tight spaces. With the bigger tank, yeah plants might be more prevalent, but that can be avoided as you see fit. You spend more time waiting for the pump / siphon to drain, but the actual labor is a lot less time. Hopefully that makes sense and slightly easier. Maybe others can comment and share their experiences as well 🙂 . Yep, exactly. A betta only tank is so easy. Literally hand scoop or move the fish to a specimen container, do your thing, and then you can gently put the fish back. Any work you do is very low stress, it's the fish equivalent of a zen garden with your own little dragon. Obviously there's no need to remove the fish and I love Pecktec's method of using a gallon jug for water changes. He sticks the siphon hose in the handle to hold it from popping and it works very well.

The one reason, I think for so many of us, to be intrigued into saltwater is for clownfish and some corals. Beautiful fish. Very jealous!

Correct. And yes, no flow control when you have an intake filter. I do like that it can be used internally or externally of a tank and the flow control does work really nicely.

When I was getting back into the hobby I would watch Cory's Vlogs and that was extremely inspiring for me. I knew I didn't have any sort of a local shop, so breeding and selling wasn't (and probably still isn't) an option. I had "rescue fish" from the two bedrooms down the hallway that were betta tanks that I started to fix, get regularly cleaned, and then that turned into a single "family" tank in the main living room. The non-betta fish went into that tank and the kids got to pick a fish to add into the tank now that they had a little bit better size tank to work with. Then it was a situation of how I wanted to have a tank for myself, a 29G tank in my room with corydoras. That turned into a 55/29G and that turned into a few too many tanks (not much, but just too many) for me to specifically care for without help or someone reliable to support the efforts of maintenance when need be. A lot of those nano / smaller tanks made their way into my 55G, which then became my own tank in my room next to the 29G and was a place where I could sit and relax during the midnight hours. I would watch the tank for a little while during the night with the blue lights on and just see their behavior. There was a variety of setups for one fish, or a variety of tanks setup because of a specific difference in parameters. I get the feeling much like yourself, seeing someone with a "fish room" with an auto change system, maintenance on the press of a button would be nice, but it really isn't something that fits the situation or setup. Maybe it does and that would slightly alter the advice here. I would always limit myself to 1-2 rows on a rack and nothing bigger. At most, I would have 4-8 tanks on a rack with one main display tank. That rack would have tanks that aren't setup, but are specifically in place for "if something happens" and I need a place to put a fish. I would have the rack with some method to drain / fill. If I didn't have that setup, then I would have 2 tanks on the rack, and nothing more. In terms of what I can "handle" no matter the size, it's 3 tanks on my own. If tanks are in the same place, like a rack, that really does help. In your situation, it reminds me of wanting to have certain things to enjoy. I wanted to have a tank for a specific fish or something I was interested in. The nice thing though was that when I was ready (or when it made sense) everything I had chosen could be put into the 75G and become part of the community. The fish in hand could all handle those same parameters. Once I made that adjustment, I was a lot more happier with my setups. Instead of tetras and bettas, I ended up with barbs, rasboras, plecos, corydoras, and river type of species. Whatever you end up deciding down, I would suggest that adjustment in what you keep to give yourself that option. If you have 5+ nano tanks or 5+ tanks under 20G, maybe it makes sense to replace a lot of those with a community setup. Maybe 1-2 40B instead of a selection of other size tanks at smaller sizes (if possible). Livebearers in general can be rewarding, but very difficult if things get out of hand. Similar to snails in my view. You're going to have fry, and it's just something that leads to having all of these fish on hand. I think re-homing those is going to alleviate a lot of load. Really cool fish, and I can relate to what you're plan is. It's not a fish that we have a lot of experts with, but it is something a lot of people have a pretty negative experience with. If you do keep one, I would suggest the 15G and I would stick that tank in a place where you alone can appreciate just that fish. Low bioload, but something where it's not a tank you mind using a bucket and spending time on maintenance when you do have to do that. I am not a fan of community betta projects because it tends to have either the rest of the community or the betta pushing towards a disease and it's usually a question of when, not if. ACO recently dropped an article about rainbows and 2 of those fish I really, seriously want to have around. They are a very unique body (the small rainbows) and I really like the coloration and patterning. In terms of the hobby, it's a group of fish I think we all should keep eventually. Given that you do have some already, that's awesome. It's a great start to a community tank if that's a path you can go down, mentioned above. As for the puffers, they can be a very fun fish, but my experience was very frustrating. Difficult to keep, they need a specific scape, and are probably better as a solo fish. I would lean towards a planted tank of something with big leaves, swim throughs, etc. I think that your desk setup can work, but eventually you're going to wish that tank was elsewhere and not around the electronics. If you're talking about in the room with the desk (in terms of what Zenzo has) that's one thing, but on the desk, I would suggest moving it or having just a plant tank in that situation. Maybe plants + Shrimp if anything I wouldn't try to breed anything in there just because it's difficult to have a beautiful tank and have it dedicated to breeding. That's my preference, but I understand that it could be a fulfilling tank. In my head, I imagine 2-3 white clouds and not much else. Heck, maybe just a rock, some beautiful moss from Odd_Duck and then an amazing little slice of nature. I really love the look of white clouds and would lean toward that in a small tank. Again, not a breeding tank, but just a beautiful place to spend some time staring. I would love to suggest a few species if that could nudge you in the right direction at all. If you have the ability to sell them there are a few species that can be rewarding, fruitful, and fun. I love @Ken Burke's Corydoras and he has a really nice selection in terms of pattern. I do think he might have some available, but I will let you two discuss that elsewhere. That species is always being purchased and is pretty popular, but again, I really appreciate the ones he has and they've been doing awesome with amazing colors. second choice for me would be corydoras concolor. They are a unique, almost never found elsewhere type of corydoras. If you want something that makes sense to sell for profit, they do, and I LOVE my black corydoras, but these ones might be my next purchase. And just a warning, don't be fooled by the pictures online. A lot of "black corydoras" do not have great photos online. This one in particular on planet catfish looks washed out or newly added. They are very similar to the ones I keep but the tail portion (body and fin) has that deep red/orange coloration when they are in full colors. third, I would track down something like corydoras duplicareus. Similar to pandas, but they are just a beautiful pattern. There is a few that have a similar look, but it goes back to being a species that you could do well with and there would be some demand for if you decide to go that route. If you're specifically looking for a "community" type of corydoras then I would lean towards the false julii. It's one of those species you have to literally spend a year or two growing up to really, fully appreciate how beautiful their pattern can be. Really fun to have that aspect to a tank. They often get overlooked because of that, unfortunately.

Totally understandable, hopefully you're recovering now, feeling a bit better! TJ is having a lot of issues with his overpopulating of snails. Hopefully cutting some of those back helps with your upkeep too!

I know this is going to sound like a non-answer, but this is probably the best way to express it. I feel that weight of the decision you're going through. I'm a day behind on my maintenance, going to go ahead and get that done now. I'll think on it. Try to assembly my thoughts. How many other tanks are you currently running? Are you happy with those tanks?

I run a Sicce syncra nano pumphead (I also have an aquatop one, older model) that has a spraybar output. Since you're into the DIY stuff I would recommend getting one that is slightly bigger than you thing, modding it with a spraybar. You're not going to get any better circulation than that. If you want to run it short end, you're going to be modding that manually. If you want to run it long end, I used the spraybar kit from the Fluval X07 series of canisters ($15-25 kit) and then cut that down to what I needed. In terms of fitment, it's going to never fit just right, but hopefully you can put things together to get the barb or tubing you need for things to transition to the right size. Second to that.... get your pump, and then run a Marina HOB breeder box. Mod it how you want, off you go. Entirely up to you as far as how you want to run things or what would work. I run my tanks at 8-10x the GPH.

I think @Cinnebuns @Chick-In-Of-TheSea and @TeeJay all have some and can chime in here on what they do, what has been successful.

Totally understand. I have had that happen watching some videos for other reasons 😞

Yep, even just a trim off a stem. Anything works. Something not rigid would be my choice. I think a lot of people use screen door mesh. Sounds perfect 🙂

The ones I have from @Minanora are similar. The bottom fin tail ray is definitely pronounced.

I believe the fish have a filter. Need to verify.

Hello @Kiera welcome to the forums! I do not know, but I do think the standard response will be that it has not been tested and so we can't verify it will work. On their website this is the sheet for that product and unfortunately we don't know what is in it. Based on that, I would hesitate to use it during the trio application. This doesn't mean you can't use it, but what you would want to do is to use the normal QT Trio soak method, then go ahead and give the tank a few good water changes, run carbon, let the fish rest for at least a few days. Then go ahead and use the other medication. Based on what is on the bottle itself for the oxy product, I believe Ich-X will cover a lot of what the med treats, but not everything. So the "fungal / cotton" issues is what you'd use Ich-X for sometimes.

2 gallon is perfectly fine. Heck, use a milk jug if that helps. The key being to use air, to have a lit or some form of keeping the water from spilling, to have some form of making the sure the bucket doesn't tip (someone holds it or use a bunch or towels maybe?), and then you just need to keep the water level on the bucket at about 40% or lower. Secondly, because it's shrimp, it does help them with stress to have something to hold onto. Mesh or screen door material or something should work, but I believe other people might have techniques they use for shrimp shipping. 100%, an ice chest with the shrimp works too! They have the small 1-2 gallon ones with lids. You can try to "seal it" a little better with plastic wrap too, just don't been too excessive with it because you want some air flow as well. People shipping fish have had issues with boxes and foam taped too tightly also.

On the photo above. the bottom one looks like pineconing. I don't think I've seen anything like that in a corydoras, but I assume it's something that's possible. @Odd Duck @Colu What do you think? Epsom or regular aquarium salt here? I believe regular salt can help with some things but make internal bloating worse sometimes?

They were like this, on a table, with 50+ cups of JUST moss balls. They were mostly dead and mostly very bad looking.

The barbs won't be at the bottom of the tank. They will stick to the top half of the water column. Barbs usually only go down there when hiding or sleeping. Looking at the tank setup you have a lot of open space. There's some, but not a ton of swim-throughs or things that break sight. There is a big island of tall plants in the middle, but I do see some slight risk if you're talking about an aggressive type of fish. Ultimately, this just means to make sure you have enough, add more hardscape, or be sure to add a few species to diffuse aggression and encourage schooling behavior. Not mine, but here is a video showing a scape of a pretty good size tank that does have barbs with a similar type of "open scape" issue. This one has slightly more swim-throughs but you can see how active some barbs will be. having the sight breaks can be important. Here is a good example, of a species very similar to what you're looking at in terms of barbs. You can also see that as there is other fish in the tank, the barbs stick together and show off that schooling behavior.

Next time I go, I grab a photo. They sell moss balls. They also sell them via fluval brand and in the tanks. They also have both in the Betta section. Every store is different and orders different things. Locally, mine has moss balls. I've kept and know what it actually is. It's the real thing. Small and medium ones is the ones that I saw. It's the actual, correct thing.

Plants might work. Especially something carpeting. Lots of patience, maybe someone here has experience in setting a trap for them. I would imagine they can easily get into a 2L bottle as opposed to any of the other species. Agreed. I tend to not feed sinking wafers to corydoras. Totally works and it's absolutely fine, but I tend to not for a smaller pellet or something like vibrabites, repashy, or frozen foods. Just something that is slightly easier for them to chew and eat. Yeah, they do that. 😞 Maybe try something like a Sobe/Powerade/vitamin water bottle or one of the larger spice bottles that has a slightly larger opening. I think there's just a ton of competition going on. We're also talking about a 55G tank here as opposed to something like a 40B or 75G that has a slightly bigger footprint to spread things out for the snails and corydoras. That just means a lot of feeding is going on. I think the solution might be having a few types of food, something specific to allow corydoras an easier time to eat that is also not as easy for the snails and others to go after. As mentioned, spread out the location of things or just the timing of things. Flagfish might eat a floating food or semi-floating food a bit easier, as an example. I don't know that for certain, but potentially something to test. Finally, I think feeding dishes might help get the snails and corydoras a little easier time eating and give you a good way to just capture them. Here's a fun video. Might be helpful!

Which species of corydoras? (Just curious!) Rummy nose, depending on size I think will be fine. The species you're talking are barbs and can be a bit intimidating for other fish. As long as the scape is good for them, it should be sufficient and a great community tank. I generally prefer Odessa over the rosy barbs, but even something like melon barbs might be slightly smaller with similar behavior and compatibility. I think, depending on what type of a setup you're looking at, having both the rosy and the Odessa is a route to go. They will compete with one another as opposed to competing with the tetras. Same thing, if you add another set of tetras as well it would diffuse the aggression if you opt for one species of barb. They will likely try to push back both groups from their own species as they swim around the tank.

Pretty epic. What CO2 kit are you using, looks really nice!

I want to say it was an 8-12 gallon hex like that. They sold me the tank and 3 bala sharks. So crappy, but that was something that happened to me and I had no idea. Needless to say, adding more didn't help and I came home one day to a nice tank, the next it was "well he's definitely a shark". I really do enjoy the tank you have, nicely done. That microsword / carpet it pretty epic. 🙂

FIRST, welcome to the forums 🙂 Usually my method is.... A. remove all the hardscape B. Remove the plants C. Drain the tank a little (or just remove the fish if it's easy. -----> Filters and lights and all that set aside, any sponges I use are for mechanical, not biological, so they just hang out with the rocks or whatever after being cleaned -----> Plants, ceramic media, and fish go into a bucket. Fish get an airstone, plants get one if there's a bonus one available. E. Drain the tank as much as possible, remove the substrate into a bucket F. Take the old tank out to wherever and hose it out / clean it. Clean the lid, clean the lights, etc. G. Get the new stand in place (or just new tank) and then go ahead and verify the stand is level, then the tank is level. H. Add in substrate, water. Add in hardscape, get filtration running. Then I plant everything. I don't usually plant a tank when it's not full of water because it always moves around when I fill it up. Then let it run, then add back in the fish. 🙂 I believe what Miller is getting at is that some aquasoils will leech ammonia. You'd want to put a scoop of substrate into a specimen container, bowl, bucket, or something so that you can run a test. Let it soak for 24 hours and then see if it leeches anything. There is also likely some recommendations Mmiller can make if you're trying to find out which one. He has some pretty epic, beautiful tanks! Secondly, if you plant to cap it, then you just want to make sure you have a thick enough cap. I often had issues and it eventually mixed together on me in certain parts of the tank.

Nicely done. Really does show how well a good algae eater can do!

100%. I don't know what is "best" for them at this size. It might be perfect, I just looked at it and saw some gaps. I imagine a species only setup they will do what they do with a lot less fuss! I have also heard of people hiding things in the rocks to help the fry even if the larger fish get in there.