Anjum

I did suspect that might've been the case, and probably was a factor. Before I had an overpopulation, I had a betta, 5 rasboras & 2 SAE in one tank. Any of them could've been eating the egg clutches.

Another snail breeding question.. Do ramshorn snails need to be a certain size or age to reproduce? Now that I've added Corydoras (love them 🥰), and figuring they're juvenile since they're so little, I'm feeding more food, and more food that can stay in the tank a while for them to graze. And this will inevitably feed the snails too. I'm thinking I'll take out the largest snails & put them in a tank I can feed more sparingly. And as new ones grow up, remove them before they can reproduce. Just need to know at what point it's best to do this.

I've been quite impressed w/ water wisteria. I got a few different kind of stem plants to try a while back & the wisteria is by far doing the best. Mine is mostly planted in substrate & the tank that's doing the best is the oldest & has lots of mulm. So I do think it likes being planted. I like that it stays kinda bushy, where as the bacopa & ludwigia grow straight up & only the top part of the plant looks good. This summer has been a duckweed explosion. I've fished so much out of my tanks & it just keeps coming. I'm up to 3 buckets outside of duckweed. Makes me want to get goldfish 😅

This thread is gold 🤣 When I read the title, I thought surely you're referencing Malaysian Trumpet Snails. But no, you're referencing the affliction common to us all 😁

@TuckerAtStonedAquatics what do you provide or feed to help keep shell quality strong?

@TeeJay That should work great!

Ahh that could very well be it. Mine is just a few feet away from an east facing window & it gets a bit of direct sunlight in the mornings.

Yay I'm glad you got them!!! I was going to encourage it 😁

@TuckerAtStonedAquatics very interesting! Someone else posted about getting color morph Ramshorns that turned out to just have unhealthy shells, and upon their shells becoming stronger, the shells are returning to the normal brown color. I have a population of Ramshorns that started as brown, but more recently the offspring are appearing bluish. Do you think this is a true color morph or a sign of an unhealthy shell? It's not the best pic, I can try & get better pics later if need be.

@dasaltemelosguy that room is GOALS! I have a "shed" that's actually finished out like a tiny home, fully plumbed & wired, but it's not currently hooked up to power/water. But hopefully we will be doing that project before the end of the year & when we do I'm lighting that B up like a christmas tree & it's gonna be my tropical plant/aquarium room. And that's the vision I've had for it, as far as lots of plants grown emerged from the tanks. I want it to be a legit jungle inside. I haven't grown Lucky Bamboo before. Did you root it directly into the substrate initially, such that it was fully submerged at first? @TeeJay do you have pics of the plants you're struggling with? Maybe could help diagnose what the issue is. Pothos in particular, I know to be one of the hardiest, easiest plants to grow. I broke a 12"-18" piece off my main plant last summer & stuck it in a tank. I'm not a big gravel vac'er & this tank has tons of mulm. When the roots reached the substrate, it went gangbusters. Future Jungle Shed

I've seen something similar in my ramshorns, some having a bluish color to the shells. And I wondered if it's a color variation or a shell health issue (I suspected it might be). Too bad cuz it is pretty!

Oh good, cuz I just bought a Scarlet Temple 😅 And I've been having issues in my 29g, water wisteria is yellowing & all of the Java fern is looking rough. There was no nitrate last time I tested, figured it's just that & I need to get regular about dosing Easy Green. But I've also been trying to make sure I keep my KH up because I almost crashed a tank earlier this year. Guess I need to break out the master test kit & figure out exactly where my pH is at. A plant database would be helpful, listing any species specific nutrient & parameter needs (like how Java fern needs extra Potassium? Or Phosphorus? I can't remember). I would assume like terrestrial plants, the great majority prefer somewhat acidic conditions & very few prefer or tolerate alkaline. I wonder this too. I would assume that in an aquarium setting, since the substrate is saturated with the water, the pH is roughly the same. But I don't know that for fact. And following the same logic, nutrients from the water would be available in the root zone. But we know that's not 100% the case, as that's why root feeders need nutrient rich substrate or root tabs. So maybe there's not a lot of mixing of open water column parameters & substrate parameters???? Down the rabbit hole indeed! It would appear all of this would be moot if we were using EDDHA iron, as it's unaffected by pH. But maybe there's a reason that won't work in an aquarium?

Well shoot, I did not know that. At what pH is the EDTA uptake inhibited?

Hmmm now you all have me thinking about the Corydoras breeding! As @TheSwissAquarist mentioned, they're supposed to be one of the easiest to breed.... That wasn't one of my goals, but hey I'd take it! Though, IDK how many fry could really survive with a school of Rasboras about. They are savvy micro-predators. I fed them live mosquito larva for the 1st time a few weeks ago & they only lasted a few seconds in the tank! But hey, with lots of plants & the cave system under the wood pieces, maybe I'd get a few??

I like the mixed substrate look, I think it looks most natural. I just broke down my 5 gal tank that had all substrate pulled from my creek - a mix of sand, small gravel & larger rocks. I'll have to see what I can get for pics when I get home. I'm going to pull more substrate from the creek, so if nothing else I can show you that.

Oh good, they're going for the "food dish"!

Do you recommend a 1:2 mix then or did they seem to prefer the softer texture?

You are correct, I do like mixed substrate. I have some ideas... I'll update as I go. Probably time I started a journal for the 29... For now I put a small saucer in the tank like guppysnail suggested. They still seem to prefer to "hunt" food, but at least I know there'll always be something easy for them to get to. I'll check out the repashy threads, thx for pointing me in that direction!

@nabokovfan87 I did get some video, not the best but it'll give you an idea. Thx for the subatrate recs, I think my LFS has caribsea. That ada gravel is gorgeous too! And thx for weighing in on the repashy - I was particularly interested in the bottom scratcher so that's great to hear they like it! @Guppysnail thx for the feeding ideas! I do remember seeing your suction cup method, I'll try that for sure. @TeeJay thx for your ideas too! Frozen blood worms & repashy will be my staple foods for now. I need to get some java moss going. I know it's good to have for shrimp also which will be my next project.

I really wanted to go tank to tank, but it was just too busy. I might change my work schedule in the fall, then I'd have a weekday off. It'd be neat to meet some of you all! Maybe when they do the opening of the expansion.

Count me in for the Corydoras fan club 😁 I picked up a 6 pack of Corydoras paleatus at the Co-Op yesterday for my 29g. They are so fun, but hard to get pictures of! Now, I know conventional wisdom says to keep them on sand, but I figured my substrate is fine as it's a lot of smooth river stones. However I'm already seeing a problem where sinking food invariably settles down into crevices too low for them to get to. So, I'll be doing a bit of a rescape & adding some sand to the top. I'll probably pull some from my creek, but I'd also appreciate suggestions for a commercially available sand that's smooth enough for them. I'm going to pick up some repashy and would welcome suggestions for the best repashy for Corydoras, considering they'll get a little of the higher protein foods I feed the other fish. After watching a bunch of videos last night showing different ways to prepare it, I had the bright idea to coat some of the medium stones in repashy & feed it that way. Also, I didn't QT, and I accept full responsibility for my actions. I figure it's a low-risk venture as there's nothing rare or expensive in this tank.

I forgot to mention the other stuff I got! I got a plant substrate, Activ-Flora. I've been wanting to play with one of these substrates, figured it would be perfect for the new 20L in this window. This will be my higher light tank. And I got some new plants, Anubias nana petite, Anubias coffeefolia, Cryptocoryne wendtii & Scarlet temple. The Anubias will go to my lower light 29. And there's a new piece of driftwood in there that will end up in my 10 for shrimp down the road.

Summer/weekends are rough around here as far as traffic is concerned. As it were, I had to sit in an extra 20 min of traffic on the way home. I kept checking on the little guys! Thankfully they were fine.

I'm loving the Corydoras already! They're so fun! And their coloring is more interesting than I even anticipated. They kinda have a greenish sheen. That Betta was so gorgeous 😭 and you know they're young, so it'll probably just get even better. Murphy is a LOAF 🍞 🤣

Maybe, or maybe he was just laying low because the store was so busy. I looked at the Murphy cam a little while ago, around closing or a little later & he was swimming all over. I didn't ask about the expansion, they were super busy, I didn't want to be a pain. I was already asking a lot of questions lol. The staff was all very attentive & helpful though! Can't wait for the expansion to be done, I'll make a special trip just for that! We're quite lucky here in the Seattle vicinity, there's a few good ones. Rents are crazy though, so the stores have to do a lot with not much square footage. The co-op is laid out amazingly well for how small it is though.