Anjum

First time I've even peeked into this sub forum, but here I am! Just found 3 Cory eggs in my tank yesterday. They quickly disappeared, but now I'll do the crash course on Cory breeding. Love the way you use the shrimp! Now I'm even more motivated to convert my 10g to a shrimp tank!

I get it. I've found, more than how a fish looks, how they act & interact in the tank is more important to my enjoyment of them. So you have some decisions to make. Firstly, I think it's fine to try & adjust the parameters, add a fry predator, and give it some time. The mollies might just need some time to settle down. The tank might reach a point of equilibrium that you enjoy. But if it doesn't? Or if you're already there, there's nothing wrong with rehoming or taking them to your LFS. I'm speaking as much to myself here, I'm going through it with a SAE, maybe both, that need to go. I simply don't have the tank space for the one. The other, I could try to keep, but it's just not the fish I thought it was going to be. My bad, I didn't do enough research. I feel terrible though because I got them, I committed to them. Live & learn. Hopefully they can go on to a better tank & someone who can appreciate them.

There's a market for everything, it's the internet 😅 But I get it, it's a whole 'nother thing to do.

You could totally sell that as a print!

I just caught up with this thread & learned about TeeJay's other hobby! I was thinking to start that thread... I've got one good ghost story I can tell from my time working in restaurants & one that was in a very old building with a checkered past... But anywho, tank is looking great TeeJay! Congrats on all the new additions.

That was fast!

I think Oct 1st gives everyone plenty of time. I'm sitting at my 29gal now & realizing I'll only be able to get decent pics in the evening. My living room has tons of windows & there's way too much glare during the day.

Man must be something in the air! My Corys laid a couple eggs yesterday too. I figured they were too young still!

Who am I kidding? I'm already down the rabbit hole 😂 I could always set up another 5 gal for hatching... These Corys were comfortable & outgoing from day 1 (superb quality from ACO!). They get repashy & freeze dried daphnia in the morning & a little repashy & frozen bloodworms in the evening. I'll be picking up more variety of frozen next time I go to the LFS. I'd be thrilled! This 29 could use a few more & I have a 20L up & running with no inhabitants yet. Lots of room 🤗

Will play for chocolate! 😂 I'll post in a bit, let's see what photos we get from the morning feeding frenzy.

If those who submitted photos were willing to share how they get good photos, I'd be very interested. I have yet to figure that out. But heck, I'd be happy just to look at pretty photos regardless.

Anubias is amazing! Glad you got them both back in your care 🙂

It's my goal with my tanks to work towards a state of equilibrium that emulates nature as closely as possible. But since they're in glass boxes in my house, they require some nurturing from me to get there. It doesn't happen overnight, so it's a process of watching, waiting, testing & tweaking. Over time, hopefully less & less of that nurturing will be needed as nature takes over. Beautiful tank Fish Folk ☺️

So 2 things: boil to remove tannins and/or boil to help it sink. If you want to keep the tannins, don't need to boil. It might sink right away on its own. But if it doesn't, you can just let it float until it soaks up enough water to sink. But if you want it to happen faster, you can boil it. You can save that tannin-rich water too to add back to the tank if you want more tannins. ETA: I've never boiled it, just a quick rinse to get rid of dust & put it in the tank.

Aaaaand the eggs have already disappeared. I assume any of the tank inhabitants could've eaten them.. Rasboras, SAE, or the Corys themselves. I'm so surprised they'd be spawning already though! Now I gotta decide if I want to go down that rabbit hole...

Is it possible my Corydoras paleatus could be spawning already?? I've only had them a few weeks & the biggest ones aren't even 2". I can see another egg? on the glass a few inches away but it's behind plants & I can't get a good pic.

Love that whole room! *Goals* for when I set up my jungle shed. Tank is going to be stunning when it all grows in! But question, is that a spike strip on the top of the tank & windowsill??? I'm guessing you have a pesky cat 😅

the baby Mbu! 😭😭😭

Nice! Reminds me.. Cory recently mentioned some of the upcoming speakers for the members only channel, and I thought maybe this is the time to pony up the 5 bucks! I need to do that still...

As per the rule you quoted, I'm guessing it's not allowed (not 100% sure though). I want to say, I've heard ACO say they don't want to encourage plant sale/trade as they sell plants as a major part of their business. That said, as you get to know aquarium peeps IRL, they'll often readily share extras. I got pogostemon from my SIL, and with it my starter colony of ramshorn snails 😅 We didn't see any on the plants but she warned me they were more than likely there.

Would they contain a lot of salt? Should they be soaked in freshwater for a period of time?

As you've found, your mollies want somewhat different parameters. But if they seem to be doing ok, then it's not much to worry about. You could add crushed coral, either to your substrate or to your filter media, to add some KH (buffer). And that will probably raise your pH somewhat, which will be more stable for all inhabitants in your tank (particularly the shrimp & snails). I think if you have sufficient buffer, you can add some catappa leaves for their tannins. In general, botanicals will slowly lower pH, but keeping stable KH in the water will keep it from crashing.

My tanks are shown in my journal thread, linked in my signature down below 😊 I'll be updating more soon, change is in the air...

Welcome! Beautiful tanks! I became more interested in the hobby because of the planted tank aspect, being an avid gardener (indoor & out) myself. Good to see more local members! (I'm in Snohomish County).

I've only had success with it planted