greetings from NC

[Phill D]

Hey guys, a new fan of the co-op here. I actually just got my aquarium out of storage a little over a month ago after about 10 years in stasis (did a lot of moving around the country where it wouldn't have made sense to keep fish that i have to continually pack up and move). Since then i've been doing a lot of reading and watching a lot of videos to get back into it. Been intermittently binge watching some of the longer RFT videos too, not gon lie. Only been a month and already ordered from the co-op twice. 

 

My primary interest is in nano tanks and planted tanks. I also, almost always, keep a betta if anything. Although i don't have one currently. At the moment i have a 5g hex thats about 5 weeks old with 3 otos, 2 panda cory's, 1 black kuhli loach and a ghost shrimp. The pandas and the kuhli were impulse buys because they were the last ones left at petsmart (2 weeks prior they had whole group) but honestly i just felt bad and figured that at least if they don't have a shoal, if i take them they'll be able to eat. The tank also has water wisteria, bacopa caroliniana, mini dwarf hair grass, hornwort, and cholla wood. This is actually the first week of livestock after i let the tank sit with plants for 4 weeks. So they're in the middle of their med trio dose right now (first i let them eat for 2 or 3 days because my understanding is to fast them for 4-5 days during the dosing). They all seem to be doing well, except the ghost shrimp (they started out as 5 but now he's the sole survivor skrimp. I didn't know beforehand they come from brackish water). I was largely concerned about the otos having no appetite but they decimated all the visible soft green algae in the tank within a day. Now i have to figure out what else they'll eat or if they'll start to accept algae wafers (tossed a few in over the weekend but didnt witness them go for it), although they are still picking at, what i assume is biofilm, on the cholla wood and plants. 

 

Also have a 1g bowl with mini dwarf hair grass i plan to turn into a shrimp bowl but i haven't gotten any shrimp for that yet. And just bought a 10g aqueon kit on sale so after that is planted and allowed to sit for a few weeks i'm going to move the pandas and kuhli into the bigger tank and give them some bros to shoal with. Then put a betta in the 5g with the 3 otos. Although i am definitely jonesin' for some pygmy corys too. The plan for both tanks is to be fairly densely planted, a bit forest-like in rear with some carpeting plants up front as well as a few trimmed stem plants up front and corners. 

 

tl;dr i like derpy fish

[Rikostan]

Welcome Phil! Sounds like you really hit the ground running since coming back.

I'd love to see some pics of the tanks when you get a chance.

Enjoy the forum!

[Phill D]

4 minutes ago, Rikostan said:

Welcome Phil! Sounds like you really hit the ground running since coming back.

I'd love to see some pics of the tanks when you get a chance.

Enjoy the forum!

Yessir. I've always liked planted tanks but back when i was a teenager and then later in my 20s i didn't really know how to find good information for my situations. Especially as i didn't really know anyone (online or off) that was also in the hobby. But now with the current state of the interwebs it's almost always easy to find something close to what you're looking for, especially on youtube. The problem then becomes trying to weed out the good info from the bad and trying to discern what's the most accurate or reliable. 

[devind0446]

Hey @Phill D! I'm pretty new on the forum too but I'm from NC as well.