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Hi there! My name is Rachel, and I have recently taken on the title of "Fish Mom"! I currently have 6 adorable Guppies in a variety of colors, 2 cool Blue Mystery Snails, and a very entertaining African Dwarf Frog! Look out for updates every couple of days, and feel free to give me advice or make suggestions to make my tank more comfortable for all the inhabitants in it! ❤️

Fishkeeping, a hobby I once enjoyed as a child and young adult that gave way to adulting, being a father and well...life. Now that my only child has grown, graduated university and started her adult life, I have found more time(AND MONEY) on my hands. Saving, of course, is always a thing for later in life, but what about my mad money?(Yes, I am lucky enough to have some in this crazy economical world we are living in believe it or not!) Well, during COVID I got into watching A LOT of YouTube to kill the time as I was at the end of my 23 year career as a chef in New Orleans, back home on the Gulf Coast of Alabama and doing nothing but walking beach line collecting driftwood(reselling). One of the channels I got into was Cory and Dean on Aquarium Co Op, amongst a couple other channels I adore like MD Fish Tanks & Dan's Fish. In watching these Youtubers I learned a lot with the interest of getting back into it once I had the time and money. Fast forward 3 years and a complete 180 in my career choices as I joined the United States Postal Service, needless to say I have worked and saved a ton. I decided besides a couple vacations I have wanted to take, I would begin fishkeeping again. My first tank purchase was a Lifegard 10g Rimless, of course my plan was to go planted and have a nice tank to enjoy. Here's the breakdown so far of what is in the tank... Substrate: Fluval Stratum(in 4 small media bags...regretting this as its hard AF to plant into...think they aren't the right bags) with top layer light aquarium sand and small pebble mix. Feature pieces: Dragon Stone and Lava Rock purchased raw, cleaned heavily before adding. Plants(so far...): Alternanthera Reineckii "Variegated", Bacopa caroliniana 'Yellow flame', Dwarf Chain Sword (Echinodorus tenellus), Valisnaria Spiralis Italian and Java Moss. (ON WAY to still be planted): Hornwart Coontail for the top of my tanks(for the holding tank(s) for fry) and Rotala Rotundifolia "Red" Hardy Aquarium Plant. Filter: Fluval Aquaclear 30 with Ammonia Reduction and Crushed Coral(some crushed coral in substrate) plus a sponge filter I am seeding for holding tank for pregnant ladies. Lighting: Fluval Aquasky with personalized settings based on my sleep schedule lol Livestock: (Currently)3x Albino Yellow King Cobra Guppies(2 females/1 male...both females pregnant currently est 7 days gestation), 10 fire red neocaridinas & 5 purple mystery snails. (On way) 3x Blue Dragon Guppies(2 females, 1 male...thinking I might get some cool hybrids from the two types until I separate them in a few weeks to their own tank), 10 more Blue Dream shrimp & 4x Gold Laser Corys(unsexed & very young...holding them for another tank later on). Results so far have been pH drop, thanks to advice in here I realized even though my tap water runs a pH of 7.4ish the Fluval Stratum substrate dropped pH to 6.6 range...added crushed coral and wonder shell to help with that, minerals needed for livestock. As so surprise since the tank is cycling, I have had daily spikes in ammonia but not much really at all in nitrites/nitrates. I have combatted this by doing daily water changes of 20% which keeps it minimal at best. Anyways, hope you all enjoy my progress. Will update as I go along! 🙂 P.S. Sorry for photo quality on guppies...they are nonstop little buggers lol. If you have any advice or suggestions, feel free to drop em! I am documenting this on video some as well to put on YouTube eventually, although I am nervous lol. Thanks!! Check this out to help me which my parameters, any help would be appreciated!>> Low pH in new planted tank

When I said hello in the welcome area, I was told you all like pictures. I am currently a lifetime hobbyist and have kept aquariums in my home, both salt and freshwater, most of my life. My grandfather was super big into gathering driftwood off the banks of our brackish watered bays and off the beaches along the Emerald Coast here in Alabama. Over COVID, I started watching a lot of hobby Youtube channels and came across Cory/Dean at Aquarium Co Op, along with several others including MD Tanks/Dan's Fish(Your Friendly Fishmonger lol)/Keeping Fish Simple/Foisy Aquatics/Sydney's Angels(recently)/Kaity's Cichlids and especially my Shrimp Idol, Mark over across the pond. Lately, I have turned my hobby into planted tanks but also beginning to keep/breed shrimp. Once I am moved into my new home, I will photograph and blog my journey of the fish room setup. One of the ways I have made side money over the last couple years to collect everything I need for my venture has been walking the beaches/bays and finding choice pieces of driftwood. The prime pieces usually exit the bay and blow up on our south shores, those include crape myrtle pieces everyone loves so much. Will start with 3 big pieces pre treatment so you all can have some pics. I'll drop more each week when I gather. The one pictured by itself is so unique and cool looking. Excited to see what it will turn out like after I treat it. @Fish Folk here ya go! 😁

@quirkylemon103 has asked how to use the blog feature of this forum. So, I thought I would create a how to guide. Step 1. Go to the blogs section of this forum Step 2. Click 'Create a new blog' then give your new blog a title, add tags, and finally add some initial content. Step 3. Now that you have a blog on the forum, add fresh content.