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I keep many small aquariums in my apartment, mostly Walstad-style, with organic soil from a local composting spot. I enjoy running really stable ecosystems. These photos don't show much of the fish and shrimp. I also keep some outdoor tubs here in Vermont. Cheers, Jason

Hey C.A.R.E. Forum friends! Posting this, first of all, to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone here for being part of this forum! So many great posts and conversations so far from everyone and we're so happy to have you all here. Secondly, we will be regularly rewarding thoughtful posters and contributors with a care package (hence the name, get it?) of fun and useful stuff from Aquarium Co-Op. The first care package was sent to the following forum members as they were top contributors thus far in the forum: @Daniel @Bill Smith @MickS77 Congratulations to each of you! Other members, if you haven't yet checked out their content, please do!! In the future, we will be choosing winners based on other metrics as well, not simply number of posts - thoughtful and informative posts which will benefit the greater 🐟 community to name an example of what I'll be looking out for. Can't wait to see more great topics and conversations in the coming weeks. Feel free to reach out to me any time. - Lizzie

Aquariums hold many more living things than fish. What is in your tank? I caught this grass shrimp last week in a ditch while collecting banana plants.

I’ve been keeping fish off and on nearly 30 years (hence the name Atitagain) never had more than 2 tanks until now. Now that I’ve done some actual research and learned some important facts about aquariums, like what the nitrogen cycle is and that I need to do more maintenance than topping off the water when it gets low. I finally figured out why I couldn’t keep fish alive except Oscars that always seemed to get to big for the 29 and 55G tanks I would keep them in. After about a five year gap between tanks my wife bought me a 60G tank for Christmas in 2019. I had been watching a lot of YouTube videos about fish keeping for around 3 months before x-mas and she thought it would be a good idea to hook me up.Little did she know what it would start. African cichlids was what I always was interested in and after mixing mbuna and peacocks I soon talked her into another tank. Another 60G to flank each side of ourTV. Got interested in breeding ACs and it was almost like a tidal wave: 4-20G, 2-10G, 2-55G, a 75G then someone gave me a 29G. I was so hooked, had tanks all over the house and wanted more. Finally got a Linear Piston Air Pump and took over the living room. We moved to a new house about 3 months ago and I got a fish room 😃and a 125G. Never thought I’d be able to accomplish anything close to this. The joy and amazement I feel is overwhelming sometimes. This hobby has brought so much peace to my life.

Alrighty then. Watch your step. Ridiculous nermhole to follow. Got a lovely batch of Notropis chrosomus this week. Very pleased! Getting obsessed. Started nerming . . . _____________________________________________________________________ Google search: > Notropis chrosomus >> Wikipedia “Rainbow shiner” > References >>> http://www.fishbase.org/summary/2848 > Jordan 1877 >>>> Wikipedia “David Starr Jordan” > References >>>>> (1877) “Contributions to North American Ichthyology” >>>>>> Search: notropis chrosomus > Hydrophlox chrosomus _____________________________________________________________________ So, just to explain here: A Google search has landed me on a fascinating book part-authored by the founding president of Stanford University, who was a passionate ichthyologist. This book "Contributions..." dates from 1877. Here, I observe that "chrosomus" (Latin: "colored body") only occurs in relation the prefix "Hydrophlox" but never "Notropis." Fishbase entry had indicated that "Notropis" was a misnomer. _____________________________________________________________________ Google search: > Hydrophlox chrosomus >> Science Direct > Abstract: “Phylogenetic relationships of the North American cyprinid subgenus Hydrophlox” (Cashner, June, 2011) >> nanfa.org > “The Chrome Minnow of North America: Keeping and Spawning the Rainbow Shiner ” (Katula, Jan-Mar 2016) _____________________________________________________________________ Now, the article above by Katula is wonderful. NANFA (North American Native Fish Association) makes archived articles free to read here. These are really fascinating studies, for anyone interested in native North American species. It confirms what I had inferred before that "Notropis chrosomus" used to be called "Hydrophlox chrosomus" -- and may well have had other names as well between 1877 and 2011. Plus the Katula article is a treasure trove of useful information! But wait for it . . . _____________________________________________________________________ > Wikipedia “Notropis” > Scientific Classification / Synonyms > Hydrophlox, Jordan, 1878 >> Related: Notropis rubricroceus (appearing on the Wikipedia webpage for "Notropis" >>> Wikipedia “Saffron Shiner” _____________________________________________________________________ And here, fellow nerms, is my exciting find of the day. These North American fish are unbelievably gorgeous, and should be selectively bred and sold more in the US hobby -- as also should Rainbow Shiners. > YouTube: Saffron Shiners on a River Chub Mound And then there's this . . . which brings up a lot of questions. If the fish below are Rainbow shiners, they are definitely a totally different color morph than the forms commonly sold. Or else, the fish below are mislabeled -- and are actually Saffron shiners (seen above). Except the same video poster also posted _other_ footage of Saffron shiners. I think there really are two color forms of Rainbow shiners: Type A (powder blue on males) and Type B (males are a lot more red) This other footage below (of Saffron Shiners spawning) shows markedly _yellow_ finnage rather than the power blue. And more Saffron Shiners . . . look at this: And then this: And there's this ex situ (fishtank) footage: Ah the life of a nerm during COVID. All too fun not to share . . . these fish are crazy interesting!

I just recently upgraded my standard 10 gallon to a 20 wide, with a hillstream manifold. The hillstream manifold doesn't quite work how I'd like (I need to find a better way to spread out the output force, and I'm not entirely sure the entire input of the flow through the powerhead is coming through the intake sponges). I used a hand-drill on the area of the PVC pipe the sponges cover to get a greater intake across the whole body of the sponge, rather than just at the tip. There still is quite a bit of swirling action rather than full on directional flow, but it was still a fun project to build my own streamflow manifold. I'd definitely get a smaller powerhead than the aquaclear 50 I have running it now. I also have aquaclear 30 HoB for that extra touch of filtration (and for helping deal with fines better than the sponges) I have white cloud mountain minnows (and they have been sucessfully breeding, as you can see by the distincly blue striped jeuvenile) I also have 2 species of hillstream loach. I think the reticulated one is a pseudogastromyzon cheni (or myersi). I only have one of those, the other one I purchased at the same time didn't make it. It was a bad shipment from a LFS I go to in Houston, and the other dozen loaches didn't make it overnight. I got there the next day, and the one that is still alive is kind of the ruler of the tank. He definitely is dominant over the other loaches despite being slightly smaller. The other hillstream loaches I have, I have some of the Beaufortia kweichowensis I purchased from aquahuna. I suspect there might be multiple species, as one of them definitely prefers resting on the substrate, and the others prefer the vertical glass when they are hiding, but from what I can tell looking around the internet, the hillstream loaches aren't as well studied as we might like. The substrate is pea gravel from Lowes, and the larger rocks are either collected locally in East Texas (the orange sandstone), or I gathered them on a previous trip to Colorado (pretty much everything else). I'm currently treating the tank with seachem flourish to handle the staghorn/black beard algae, along with playing around a bit with my lighting. Still, the fish seem more active in the 20 gallon, so overall I'd call it a success. It is a pleasure to sit down and watch at the end of the day.

What does everyone use as a substrate for outdoor mini ponds? Gravel, sand, dirt? I am planning on getting a 100 gallon tub from a big box store to use as a tub. I'll be planting and adding some fish to it to enjoy outside. I am thinking gravel as a base with some areas with larger pebbles / stones for egg scattering fishes. I would like 1 or 2 water lilies and maybe an iris and some floatering plants. I have water wisteria and pogostemon octopus in my current tanks, so some trimmings from those may end up out there, and may get some crypts to plant in the lower light areas, depends on how everything else fills in. Thanks!

In this topic we will try to track and record with precision the breeding of the Rhinogobius species! Fotos are very accepted!!

I'm trying my best to research the differences between these two species. But it seems like the main highlight when discussing care is their native origin. Would anyone be able to explain or point me to a more thorough source? Thanks!

Aquarium automation and monitoring is very popular in reef aquariums, but less common in freshwater. While I run very low-drama organic soil tanks, I got an Apex system because technology is my jam. There are not a lot of resources for using the Apex in freshwater, so I wanted to make a thread. There are two main versions, the Apex and Apex EL. The system is modular, so you can add features later. Is it worth it to get the full Apex vs the cheaper EL model? They both come with an eight-outlet power strip (in North America), and you can add more. The control units are slightly different in port choices. The Apex EL has Ethernet, Aux Power, IO, Temp, pH, 2 x Aquabus. The full Apex also has four channels of 0-10V DC dimming/power control, salinity, and ORP, but with a catch. You cannot calibrate ORP for freshwater unless you add the PM2 module! All the 0-10V DC control stuff was more powerful than I would need for my tanks, and I don't need salinity, so I picked the Apex EL. While I had grand plans about controlling lights, wave-makers, etc., I found value in the following ways. 1. Insurance: The power strip is connected to my UPS, with the Aux Power connected to non-UPS power. It can notify me when the power goes out, and I can choose what to power during the downtime of UPS battery power. I also purchased a leak detection kit, so water on the floor will trigger an alert and relevant programming. 2. Feed Mode and Filter Control: Via the web interface or app, I have four feed modes to turn off power to various outlets for different time periods on every tank plugged into the power strip. This could be actual feeding, or it could be more time to clean sponges or filters. I also tested some programming to provide alternating water flow in one tank by running one internal filter on one schedule, and another filter on a different schedule. 3. Probe Monitoring and Control: Currently, I just monitor pH and temperature in one tank, and I have simple code to limit heaters to a specific range. I like seeing how pH and temperature change with my lighting schedule in my organic soil tanks. In the future, I might use pH to control a solenoid for a CO2 regulator. There are tons of other things you can do with monitoring, water control, and dosing, but I'm not working at that scale. Is anyone else here using the Apex, or other systems for monitoring and aquarium control? Please share! Cheers, Jason

Hi guys I've been browsing through this forum for a few months now and gotten a lot of inspirations and insight from other members of this community. Just looking through some of my old photos, I was pleased to see the progression of my tank and wanted to share my journey with this tank and possibly update this post as I have some bigger plans in my layout in the near future. To keep the introduction short, around this time last year I got back into taking care of fish after a 10 year break and Ive been extremely delighted to see much more plants and fish that are easily available now. I'm guessing the tank I have is marketed as a 65 gallon tank although I'm not too sure since I found it in the place I was renting a few years back. The dimensions are 36 inches long, 29.5 inches tall with a depth of 15 inches. I kinda hate how tall it is but free is free, hopefully along the way with any ideas or help from others I can show how I work around its height. I keep a pond outside I started last summer with koi and I threw guppies in there as a fun side project. I started this tank sometime late September as temperatures were getting too cold for the guppies and was only meant to be as a holding place till spring begins to warm up. To me, a bare tank kinda looks like an empty canvas with endless opportunities and if you can guess, I got a little carried away. September 25th, 2020: This is the earliest picture I have that has a record of date November 14th, 2020 December 10th, 2020 December 14th, 2020 January 12th, 2021 When summer begins to roll around and I get to throw these guys back outside I plan to do some big changes, time permitting. I really do welcome suggestions from anybody, I get a lot of joy tweaking and making adjustments to this tank and look forward to seeing how this tank evolves.

I thought I would do a little journal of my journey with my very first 55 gallon tank. Even when I was big into fish tanks as a kid in the early 70s, I never had a tank larger than 20 gallons, so this is pretty exciting for me. I just came back to the hobby a couple of months ago and dove in headfirst. I have two 20 gallons, two 45 talls, a ten and the 55 gallon tank. Only one of them currently have fish; I have some guppies and cherry shrimp in one of the 20s. Although one of the 45s has finished cycling and will probably have more guppies next week. I'll focus on the 55 gallon though since I have not done anything with it yet, other than make a few decisions. Here is the tank currently: //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/20200918_103659.jpg.2f661240beba402d3c31a8e47e5841a2.jpg Cables and such will be hidden. I have some material coming today to cover the top 2x4s with, then I'll make it a little prettier. I decided to do the plasti-dip for a black background and I am doing the twin wall polycarbonate for the lid. Most of my supplies for the tank are coming via UPS today, I bet our UPS guy is going to be surprised when I hug him... Filtration: I am going a little overboard with filtration for now, with the two large spongefilters from the Co-Op and a marineland 350 HoB. For air flow, I just grabbed one of the Aquatop Breza 100s from the Co-op and a battery backed up one from KG Topicals. Heater: I bought two of the 300 watt Eheim Jager's heaters and the JBJ true temp controller @Daniel recommended on another thread. I'm only going to put one of them in the tank for now, I just want one for back up. Substrate: Going with just Eco-complete. Plants: I already have a bunch of plants waiting in one of the other tanks. So far I have: Vallisneria Christmas moss Java Fern and Water Sprite. I want to also get some type of carpeting plant too, but haven't quite decided what yet. Hardscape: I'm going to walk down to the bay tomorrow morning and look for some interesting hardscape stuff. If I can't find anything I like over the next few weeks, I'll grab some of the usual suspects online. Fish: Probably will change, but I'm currently looking at 6-8 Boesemans Rainbowfish, 6-8 Rasboras, but haven't decided on which one, and 5-6 dwarf corys as well as some type of shrimp. {EDIT} For some reason it won't put the pic where I want it, instead it just displays the path and puts the image at the bottom of the post... //content.invisioncic.com/b300999/monthly_2020_09/20200918_103659.jpg.2f661240beba402d3c31a8e47e5841a2.jpg

I was scooping out duckweed from my greenwater/sparkling gourami aquarium this week and I noticed every scoop had multiple sparkling gourami fry in it. This one was hunting a cyclops.

In case your a member of the aquarium co-op youtube channel, they have recentley uploaded their peru fish unboxing video. If your a member of the youtube channel heres the link: Defentley some real cool fish in this unboxing!

I am a newbie attempting a 5 gallon planted tank for my high school science classroom! I thought it would be fun to keep track of the progress...because I know there will be ups and downs. And, if this works out, I've got big dreams for a planted 20 gallon long with a corydora fleet...so, we shall see! 🤗 The set-up includes: 5 gallon Marina LED Aquarium kit (came with the S10 filter, a lid with an LED light, some cycle bacteria, water conditioner, tropical flake food, and a cute lil' blue fish net) Unknown driftwood pieces Fluval Stratum (the 4.4 lb bag was perfect!) Plants from the Co-Op (Golden Anubias, Nana Petite Anubias, Wendelov Java fern, Coffeefolia Anubias, and Red Melon Sword) 25-watt Marina Submersible Heater Velimax Static Cling Total Blackout Window film (for the back glass) I'm also using: Seachem Prime Water Conditioner Easy Green Fertilizer from the Co-Op API Master Test kit 24 hour mechanical outlet timer Digital thermometer Aquaclear Foam and Biomax inserts - slowly transitioning my filter over to become a HOT ROD y'all! 🚙 I am currently working on cycling the tank...and I've attached my data and doings so far! ] The water at school has a pH of 6.8 out of the tap, and for some reason my tank keeps creeping acidic...maybe it's the driftwood? Anyway...SUPER pumped that the ammonia is on the way down and my nana petite's little baby leaves are unfurling and looking great! I do have some dusty black stuff on the golden anubias and the java fern...I think it's substrate dust? Or, maybe black algae? I originally super-glued my java fern...but it's breaking free! So, I'll probably pull that out and see if I can tie it to the driftwood with some thread tomorrow. Any suggestions/thoughts/ideas are welcomed!! Hope this was slightly interesting! 😅

Just did this short 2 minute clip using Open Shot Video Editor. What is your quick and easy (or advanced) editor?

Hey everyone, just got back into the fish tank hobby after a few years, I used to have a 37gal saltwater tank that my father helped me run when I was about 12 and now I'm getting back into the hobby by myself. I'm an avid fisherman so I usually can collect wild samples for my tank and after just moving down to Florida I have access to so many new and cool species. Right now I've a 20 gallon long tank and a 10 gallon tank in my kitchen. Just wanted to share my tank and see everyone's opinions, this is the first tank I've actually put plants and wood in a fish tank and I think it turned out quite well.

What's up with this guy? See video below. I've had the corys for 6 months. This is my daughter's tank, so admittedly I don't pay as much attention to these fish, but I noticed one of them spinning yesterday, but I watched only briefly and thought it was just excited. Today, the swimming pattern is a lot crazier and obviously something is wrong. PH 8 Nitrates 20 Hardness 6 dGH Nitrite 0 Ammonia 0 KH 7 dKH Temperature 75F Tank is over a year old, no other fish showing symptoms.

Hello All. I am new to the forum, have watched Cory's videos for years and just found the forum. Had a question, I was excited to find a fish I had never seen before at my LFS about a month ago, Lake Inle Danios (Inlecypris auropurpurea). I purchased a group of six and they have been filling out nicely as they were fairly skinny. See attached picture, apologize for it being a bit blurry, they are the most active fish I have ever had, never stop moving! Searching the internet I don't see a lot of info on this species. Wondering if anyone has bred them? I am assuming (hoping) they are not too difficult and breed similarly to other Danio species. Would love to get a small school of them for my large tank.

I'm attempting to make the most helpful/commonly asked question videos we have done easy to access. I have located this video playlist towards the bottom of the main forum page. If you find any particularly helpful videos you want to link often, let me know and I'll put it there so that we can a library that's easy to grab from and post in threads to help people. We have to start the video, click the title, to open a new page to grab the url to share in a thread unless someone finds an easier/faster way.

We prepared a series of video journal entries for our Fish Club to submit for BAP - breeding Koi Angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare). If you're new to breeding angelfish, and want to watch a process that has worked for someone, these videos may be helpful. Let us know if you're successful raising up Angelfish this way!

Found MORE Xenotoca Doadrioi fry this evening. In the spirit of Mr. Ray, “Oooo!!! Gather ‘round explorers! Look at the umbilical-cord-like trophotaenia on these Goodeids!!!”

Well I have been working for a few minutes to try and figure out how to upload a video here and then just gave up and copy and pasted the URL and that did it! Oh well.... Anyway, here is my aquarium today! After starting 4 months ago, very poorly, my aquarium has come along quite nicely. I have Guppies, Julie Catfish, Neon Tetras, Ember Tetras, Snails, 1 cherry Shrimp, Platty's, A Common Pleco, lots of plants, and everyone seems to be doing ok. I can't believe where I started with all fake plants to where I am now. We really enjoy our tanks and appreciate all the help I have gotten.

Finally got around to taking some pictures and videos of my aquarium to share with others instead of enjoying it all to myself. Thought this would be a good one to upload. Hope you guys enjoy.