Hannah Parker

Nerite snails are amazing algae eaters, as are amano shrimp and they are bigger than neocardinas so they could stand a better chance of not getting eaten. There are plenty of fishkeepers out there that have positive experiences with them, but I have heard many times that as Siamese Algae Eaters get bigger and mature they can prey on other fish. If you have a big enough tank, you could also try a bristlenose pleco! Or, in a mature, algae-covered tank you could try a school of otocinculus. Lots of fun options! 🙂

Hmm, interesting. A picture would help a lot. I know when I lose a fish in my community tank, usually just the skeleton/spine will be left because everyone eats the rest of the body. Are these bone remnants of the fish you lost maybe? Burrowing into java moss seems like something a fish might do when it's about to pass.

Awesome thank you! I think I will definitely stick with the ones with stronger roots. Love the Red Mangrove, they are super cool. On Etsy I found a shop called PothOCarry and they actually make rim attachments specifically for this! They are super cool and I think I will get some eventually. I'm curious if Red Mangroves could fit into their bamboo holders as well...

That's amazing! Thank you so much! Did you DIY something to hold them all in the back of the tank like that, or is that something you can purchase??

Hi Everyone! I am kind of bad at plants and am trying to improve. I've always had live plants in my tanks, and the ones that do best are usually anubias and hornwort. I also have some kind of crypt doing pretty well in my tropical tank. Now that I've started a goldfish tank, I am trying to keep semi-aquatic plants in the top of the tank hanging out to absorb nitrites. I have 1 bamboo stalk and about 6 cuttings of my mom's pothos. I also have a couple of amazon swords, anubias and hornwort in this tank. You can see the tank I'm referring to in a separate thread here. Does anyone have any other suggestion for easy, hardy plants that I can stick in the top of my goldfish tank? I don't use CO2 or fertilizers or anything. Thank you!

Love my platies. Just bought a male and a female hi-fin last night to complete my "school" of 4 females and 2 males. They are so charismatic and personable I've decided the tank doesn't even need a centerpiece fish. You're totally right though, they always get to the food first and eat so much lol.

From the details you are giving, it doesn't sound like you're doing anything obviously wrong. There has to something weird going on. Can you take a picture of your tank? Is it possible you have decor that is leeching toxins?? I know this can happen, but I have no idea if that could be the cause of an ammonia spike but it's worth an ask.

That's what I heard when I inquired about them at my local fish store, so I decided not to buy any. Right now I just have 6 nerite snails in the tank as bottom feeders. One day, when the tank has matured I might try Hillstream Loaches! I was sad to hear that because dojos seem so personable and cute, but not worth risking any aggression.

That's great! I'm sure he would love an upgrade. would you break the 10gal down or stock it with something else? 🙂

So I found out my local Petland actually has an amazing fish selection. I’ve never seen so many high-quality platy variations or such lush plants. All their tanks looked clean and their fish healthy. So I finally paid them a visit last night with the intention of buying something. I got 2 high-fin platies for my tropical community tank, a gorgeous tiger lotus, and my third and final goldfish. They either had babies or real big boys, and their prices on their large goldfish were amazing! I got this guy for $45. I think my memory on my other goldfishes’ sizes was skewed, because I wasn’t expecting this one to be so much bigger!! But they are all getting along swimmingly, and I think I lucked out with the new one also being a female. I believe my smaller calico is as well, with my smallest golden one being a male who chases and courts them both. Here are pictures of the new lady, who my fiancé has dubbed “Bradley”

Poor little guy, it's just going to take time for him to learn I would guess. Having an existing school already helps a ton I'm sure! The above suggestions will help the most I think, but if you feel you have the room, even adding just one more pygmy and making the school bigger would help some as well I think. However many you can/would want to comfortably add would be great if you did!

I have always done betta community tanks and have loved them and got so much joy out of them. However, I've noticed bettas have been/become very sickly very easily. I would buy a betta from keepfishkeeping.com (KG Tropicals) which is where I got my last who was super healthy until an accident happened, they handpick each betta they sell from the breeder they work with. Or I would buy from AquaHuna, who is endorsed by Cory (Aquairum Co-op).

Thank you, me too I miss him. I miss having a betta too, they're my favorite fish. I don't think I will be getting another though, in case a loach accident would happen again.

So it finally happened, my calico goldfish got a ramshorn snail stuck in her throat. We were on a weekend vacation and I noticed as soon as I walked in the door that she has something stuck in her throat. She couldn't eat, but other than that seemed okay. I was so scared of hurting her I ended up chickening out, but my dad was able to hold her and use these angled tweezers to get it out. I don't think she's hurt at all is is eating, swimming and acting normally. Silly goldfish! Hopefully there is no next time, but I have to be prepared to do it myself if there is.

On a happier note, I did do some cable management finally.

I'm no DIY expert, but I'm pretty sure many people use aquarium-safe silicon for decorations and stuff. I know it has to dry and cure for 24-48 hrs after application, but I'd imagine that would do the trick. I think it has to be 100% silicone to be safe for your fish.

I loved having my betta fish as a centerpiece in my community tank with platies and guppies to ensure almost no fry survive. A betta wouldn't be my first recommendation, since they're temperament can be hit or miss, but something predatory like dwarf gouramis, killifish or bolivian/german blue rams would eat up the fry well. Definitely get some bottom feeders in there! Can't beat a school of corydoras.

Super sad news, he passed away last night. He had started pineconing so I gave him a salt bath and then he got worse and began doing the "death roll". Found him deceased this morning. A valuable lesson learned about buying juvenile goldfish, I will have to buy an adult next time when I am ready.

Love my platies, definitely under-ratted. I have sailfin platies, they're very cool!

If you have an adjustable heater I would try to bump the temperature up to 80 as well as the above suggestions. I would also use Seachem Stress Guard as well. Good luck!

Beautiful tank! I love keeping heavily stocked tanks. I do strict weekly water changes, have lots of live plants and extra forms of filtration. You could definitely keep neons in that tank. If you are worried about your parameters, you could do a nano schooling species such as chili rasboras instead. For 10 gallon tanks, I love nano species like your pygmy cories because you can have more fish in the school and get better schooling behavior than you would with a smaller number of bigger-sized fish. Food for thought! But you could totally keep neons in there if that's what you want 🙂 If your gourami is a bit aggressive towards your cories already, it might be better to stick with a nano species as well that can easily get out of it's way in that small of a space. You could end up with issues if your neons are too big to properly get out of your gourami's way.

Does she have any tankmates that could be stressing her out? If not, with the lump update it sounds like she might have an illness of some kind. The hiding, especially when the lights are on, was always how my bettas acted when they were sick. Her chasing that worm and hopefully eating it, and hopefully eating for you in general, is a good sign. I would suggest buying some Indian almond leaves and put a few in the tank, and perhaps even boil some and then treat that water then add it to the tank once it's cooled off. IAL extract has great anti-bacterial properties. I would also pick up and dose some Seachem Stress Guard. It's hard to tell from your description if there is an infection or anything, but it she just has a wound that needs healed hopefully that stuff I mentioned would be enough. If she deteriorates and/or the wound starts to get worse I would consider moving on to actual antibiotics. I would also recommend super clean water to help her heal, you may want to increase the frequency of your water changes. Her behavior is a good indicator something is wrong, hopefully she can heal up and start to feel better 🙂

Those would work GREAT! They look super precise, I would definitely opt for those before a razor blade. Had no idea scissors like that existed! Every catfish owner and LFS should have those on hand.

That makes sense! I didn't know they were that small, that would probably work quite well and not be as risky.