Anjum

I looked into them a while ago & the calibration process turned me off to it for my current situation; it wouldn't really save me any work on just a couple tanks. But I can see how it would be beneficial for someone with a lot of tanks. Calibrate once & then go test everything.

He looks like he's wearing an Anubias leaf for a hat! 🥰

May 2023 be a very celebratory year for Aquarium Co-op! 🥳

Live foods would be the best. I'm also trying to move towards a more complete ecosystem which includes live foods. I admit though, I'm still trying to get over the yuck factor of culturing black worms 🤮😅

Learning about the shelf life of prepared foods caused me to switch to primarily repashy & frozen foods. I also figure detritivores (snails, shrimp) could probably eat food a little past it's prime without issue. The take away message I got from that video regarding testing was that while we should test, we should also observe our tanks regularly. If something is off that we don't have a test for, hopefully we'll notice & can take action.

@Flumpweesel the Flumps are precious! I watched nearly the whole episode before I realized I'm a 44 year old woman sitting at the kitchen table on a Saturday morning drinking coffee & watching British cartoons from the 70's 😂 This forum is something else.

Maybe the new store expansion will be the 10 year celebration!

Believe me, that's how 95% of people are already "saying" it in their head 🤣 I had a video meeting with someone the other day & we went through the exact scenario above. Anne-jum it is 🤷

I just got caught up on the live stream from Sunday last night. Someone asked if a certain fish would eat baby shrimp. Cory said everything eats baby shrimp. Baby shrimp are the tacos of the fish world. I laughed out loud 😂😂😂

I'm currently running a HOB & a sponge on all 3 tanks. All are somewhat of a "display" tank, at least in that they're placed where they'll be seen regularly. I tried running just a sponge on the 10g for a time, but I wasn't a fan of the floaters. A sponge alone doesn't do a tremendous amount for mechanical filtration. All my tanks are heavily planted so gravel vac isn't a viable option. However I do find a sponge to be valuable since I'd be running an air stone anyways, so why not have the extra biological filtration & the option to pull the sponge if I need to kick start another tank.

Exciting! I love the bookshelf tank. I think the white betta w/ the white guppies would be gorgeous, but you're right, either betta would look good. Just depends how everyone gets along. I look forward to watching the process!

I always say, if my parents had to name me something weird (really it's just foreign), at least they did me the solid of spelling it like it sounds: Anjum: On-jum 😅 But really, that only works if you hear it first then see it spelled. When (American) people see it spelled first, they automatically want to say "Anne-jum". I've even had people continue to say "Anne-jum" even after being corrected once or twice. Then I just let it go, Anne-jum it is 🤣

I have 5 harlequin rasboras. They started in a 10 gal w/ a betta & 2 SAE (WAY overstocked). The betta declined in health & I moved him into his own 5 gal. Then I got a 29 & moved the rasboras into it w/ one SAE. Then I added 6 Corydoras paleatus. The rasboras are completely peaceful. Too peaceful for my former betta & for the current SAE in with them. If another fish wants the food, the rasboras stay away & don't eat. Their 29 is heavily planted & they mostly stick to the open space for swimming. They never go towards the bottom of the tank; mostly stay in the middle, will dart up to the top if there's food up there. Their schooling/shoaling style is to slowly swim around, loosely shoaled. They're not a fast swimmer unless there's food involved. I fed some live mosquito larva over the summer & they eliminated them quickly. I was surprised how good their hunting skills were considering they don't get live food. I'm currently planning on moving the SAE out when I have somewhere to put it (or rehome it). I think the rasboras would be very happy with just the corydoras & maybe one peaceful centerpiece fish (honey gourami?). HTH!

Can't help you with the poop but when I told my husband I was thinking about getting a gourami, that was his reply, "a Gorlomi?" 😂 He's a movie nerd, not a fish nerd. I am not a movie nerd, but little bits rub off on me. It's from Inglorious Basterds, yes?

Nice haul! S&G repashy might be the next one I try.

Look see what I found.. she's got a video for each color of shrimp

Not to derail this thread, but this is the 2nd time I've read this in recent days & I was previously unaware. So the beneficial bacteria need a certain amount of carbonate hardness in the water to proliferate? Likewise, they won't grow in too acidic an environment? What's the ideal pH range?

Will you be having any fish in with the shrimp? I don't have shrimp (yet), but my research has led me to believe that for Neos, really anything goes. I'd think with orange shrimp, you'd have a lot of options as far as substrate color goes. Anything from a med/dark brown to black should work well. I'd also be interested to hear from others more experienced, as I'm still collecting data in my brain for all things shrimp related.

Awesome!! Were there eggs in there you never saw or were you expecting/hoping the frogs were breeding??

Best of luck with fry!!!

Fwiw, I got a crypt wendetii from the co-op. I separated one pot into 6 plants, put a root tab under each one. I had a total of ONE leaf die back. A couple months later, I had one more leaf start to die back, so I gave each one another root tab. They're each about the size of the original plant now. I am a crypt convert! I'll be getting some different types next time I get to the co-op.

I love Ikebana! What a neat concept for an aquascape. I look forward to watching the progress. Your 20L is gorgeous too! I love the natural look.

Exciting!!! Can't wait to watch it all unfold.

that would totally be me 🤣

oh no! Were the fish shipped or from a store?