Herbivorous Fish and Carnivorous Plants edition.Previous >>4456586Discus anything aquarium related here, including inhabitants, decor, and issues. Before asking questions in this thread, make sure you give us at least some details when asking a question, such as:>Tank size (include dimensions, not just volume) >Unusual Parameters (nitrate, pH, GH, KH) >Any inhabitants + how long you've had them >Age of the tank>Pictures are always helpful Tank Cycling:>www.modestfish.com/how-to-cycle-your-aquarium/Stocking and Water Change Calculator:>www.aqadvisor.com/AqAdvisor.php >www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/EffectiveWaterChange.phpArticles and Care Guides:>www.seriouslyfish.com/knowledge-base/>www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/ >www.theaquariumwiki.com/wiki/ Aquatic Plant Database:>www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/all.php>www.flowgrow.de/db/aquaticplants Saltwater:>brs 5 minute guides >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlUv9SRB_g8>https://reefbuilders.com/reef-tank-setup/>Thread questionWhat're ya buyin'?
is this the real thread?
>>4460280lil late innit?
>>4460280My dick is only half that big. Is it still okay for me to fuck a betta?
What is the cost of your cheapest tank setup, fish included? My one and only tank has ghost shrimp and a couple plants in a 5 gal with heater and light for $50. This is also technically my most expensive tank.
Of course they add the Chagnum floater window that would actually stop fucking limna minor after I already got mine.>>4460301Fish are like feminists, anon, they can't consent, and if you think they have, it's a trick.
>>4460305Got a bunch about the same now, but this is the oldest.>$10 tank>$15 light>$15 lid>$15 dollar heater>$5 pump>$5 for sponge, line, some blasting slag, etcSo $65 10 gallon.Tears and some of shrimp cost money, if they count, rest was pilfered from wherever.
>>4460321Oh wait, like 4 of those dwarf sag did come from a pack of 15 I got for like a buck each.
Dammit, eurofags. Stop having all the good freshwater stuff. This guy is like a neo blue bolt.Just started snowing, appropriately enough.Someone else shit up the shitty thread now.
I got a Zebra Pleco yesterday. Should I execute the 5 adult snails in my tank in order to make him more comfortable? If so how should I go about doing that?
any color you like
>>4460374Um, what? Why would you kill the snails?
>>4460374No? Why the fuck would you?
>>4460374>should iThere's no harm in having them around, and it may even be good because plecos watch other animals to figure if it's safe to come out. Mostly fish but who knows, maybe they're snail voyeurs too. For the same reason it's good if you get some cheap dithers up top, I keep guppies with my BN and he's pretty cozy. >howYou cut a plastic bottle in half, put some snail food inside, wait until they're all feasting, and remove the bottle. There's probably YT tutorials you can look up. If you want to get fancy, there are also commercial cheap snail catchers with little trap doors.
>>4460399>>4460400>>4460405I’m worried they’re gonna eat his food, they’re pest snails but I know they’re not typically harmful so I let them be but now with my pleco I’m worried they’ll leave him without enough, mostly because they have a bunch of babies which is the main problem so if I cut it off at the source the population will go down. I have 2 assassin snails that helped clean up the little ones but they’re still a few. Maybe I’m just overthinking but the pleco wasn’t cheap and I’ve always wanted one so I really wanna make sure he’s happy and healthy.
>>4460410Plecos should easily outcompete snails for food. Toss in algae wafers now and then.
Picked up a used fx4 for cheap but it doesn't come with the intake basket.It does have the intake tube, could I just drill a bunch of holes and stick a prefilter sponge over it?
>>4460410Good of you to think about that, and congrats on your new buddy, but pest snails are usually good because they eat excess food. If there are tons of babies, that means there's more food than your fish can handle. Remove a few by hand as you find them, but don't genocide them. If you want your pleco to be happy, I'd get him lots of hiding places to choose, a varied diet, an airstone, and dim light/floaters to act as a curtain (if the airstone doesn't kill them all).
>planaria
>>4460490oh nononono shrimp chuds cant catch a break
>>4460490Just add like 1 guppyLiterally gone over night not even a problem
>>4460471Need more hides but I got most of that thank you for the advice anon. I’m pretty nervous since he’s so expensive but also because he’s just beautiful and deserves a good life.
>>4460494but my bee shrimp are scared of fish
>>4460374I thought this was a joke at first, but after reading more, I'm gonna go against the grain and say smash them. 20% roll per snail on any wafer drop to become 200 snails.Might as well get rid of the tribbles now while it's easy.
>>4460516To add, this doesn't contradict the other advice of "le pest snails good".There will be more. Just not so many more this way.
>>4460516I find that snails handle themselves eventually. I also had a bloom but I just have a handful snailing around now, even though I overfeed like crazy. They're kind of like duckweed. Yes, it can be annoying, but you can also take out a handful every now and then and remove a solid chunk of nitrates that way. Same deal with snails, remove a couple every week and what you're really doing is taking off some uneaten food that compacted itself and climbed to the top of the tank to be picked off at your leisure.
>>4460528MTS always win out in my tanks, when the dust settles. Quite quickly if there are assassin snails involved, but either way the ramshorns and bladder and pond snails all eventually disappear to be replaced with infinite tiny to medium spirals.
>>4460564I've not encountered MTS in person. Pond snails usually win for me, but my khulis and loaches seem to be way better at obliterating pond snails than ramshorns.Curious to see where the limpets go.
>>4460577Kuhlis and rams*I assume most loaches melt all snails on sight.
>>4460513
This white/clear cherry shrimp in the back has BLEACHED the red one firectly in front of him and the light blue one also circled.Are the offspring likely to just be a mulatto brown? From what I read the colors tend to get stamped out very quickly especially when colors crossbreed
>>4460670depends on the morph. Look at the chart, they will generally tend to revert to the most recent common ancestor. So you can, for example, put rillis and reds together and they won't mutt to a brown shrimp, they mutt to red. I find this isn't 100% accurate though because I have a red rilli line that has thrown multiple orange rillis at me. So they came to the same basic appearance but through a different mutation, which is interesting and I wonder how much of that we see in other color lines. My rillis have been pretty chaotic in general and thrown me a bunch of blues.
>>4460702Did you carefully selectively breed them or did this just come about naturally?
>>4460722nope, total random throws. I don't cull very carefully.
>>4460728Tbh this chart doesn't tell me much because I can't even find a clear/white one. I get the impression that they WILL mutt to brown because the common ancestor looks like it may be the Davidi at the top right
What plants should I go with? I was thinking of keeping to short ones. I have some small slate rocks I'm going to spread around the hardscape but figured that would be better after planting
>>4460731yeah it mostly applies to the stuff that grew out of the red and blue lines, the other lines aren't as well developed. If you cross from different wild type lines they usually end up wild type
>>4460737I think a lot of it comes from crosses that happened to stay hidden.Kinda been thinking about this recently. Assuming these names are right.>get bag of mixed blue culls>blue diamond and topaz start gene fucking the pool with dominant alleles>like no culls, same blue as high grade dreams (frequently sold as ultra dreams)>jellies, velvets, rillies, etc are just gone>shrimp worth more a head than ever with no effortA lot of lines might get tears in the rained outside of tism circles.Or I have no fucking idea, and no one does. Have some other guys random shit that makes me wonder about my blues throwing a few greens.
>>4460756Meant for>>4460702>I find this isn't 100% accurate though because I have a red rilli line that has thrown multiple orange rillis at me. So they came to the same basic appearance but through a different mutationPS redditors feeling ripped off for getting the turquoise that seems to be getting rarer every month.
>>4460759Why would we want to talk about Reddit when we're on 4chan?Wouldn't we just go there?
Is my tank overstock or can I fit more1 Betta, 11 Neon Tetras, 3 Siamese algae eater15g Fluval Flex
>>4460843Use this https://aqadvisor.com
>>4460843>3 saeWouldn't recommend them in a 15 gal, they will eventually get pretty big. If you can replace them with otos or cories or kuhlis or something you can put more stuff in. But understocking is good in its own way.
Why does fish food smell like knob cheese
>>4460883That's what it's made of
>5/7 cherry shrimp pregnant in my 5gal planted tank>no other mates but it's going to get crowded real soon>feel bad killing any undesirable coloreds but it may have to be doneIs culling a better option or should I just get a few medaka to keep the shrimp population down?Pic unrelated
>>4461013You don’t need to kill them, just keep the undesired ones in a different tank. You can sell them or let some fish keep the population in check.
>>4461016I don't have another tank anon :(
>>4461020Buy a vase, fill with water you remove from the other tank, stick a pothos in there. Once the pothos roots, drop any number of shrimp in there and they'll live out their days entirely happy, and probably never need any maintenance besides topping off with dechlorinated tap.
I think I finally got the left side headed where I want. It ain't there yet, though.This is why I'm wary of soil capping. And osmocote pills til way later.What do you guys use for cleaning the glass? White vinegar solution? Don't want to bathe the orange shrimp underneath in windex fumes.>>4460839Their shit hole is particularly relevant, just the topic matter. Don't act like a bitch or I'll make you one.
>>4461038isn't particularly*
>>4460732Dwarf sag is nice and easy and low.Stem plants in general are usually easy, but you'll have to trim frequently if you don't want them reaching for the stars.
>>4461041>>4460732Idk I read "easy". Sorry, projecting, I guess.
>>4460395Plants are looking gorgeous.
>>4461038Bumping the heat up to 74 instead of my usual 73 got these guys to finally explore the whole tank instead of huddling on the right side.Tank probably has a high gradient, as the floor area down there is like 65F.So, now: get to eating shit, decacels.
>>4461038Looks good mane, those red plants are nice and deep in color. Good job on getting everything to look cohesive too. I struggle once I get above 3 different plant types and have to rearrange that shit until I finally say fuck it and try to recreate my first idea
>>4461038Also, to answer your question, I usually just use a damp rag to wipe down the outside glass on my tanks. I've got some glass lids on my 75 that bake water droplets into an almost plaster like substance. I use some diluted white vinegar in a spray bottle, let it sit a minute and then scrub it down with an abrasive pad. Makes very short work of hard water stains
>>4461038I use nerite snails to clean the glass. Seriously, I haven't had to clean any of my tanks in years because the nerites do a good job. There was a month where one tank had no nerites and the front started to "fog" up, so I tossed two new ones in there, within two days it was crystal clear again.Or if you mean the outside, spray the cloth not the glass and windex should be fine. White vinegar on microfiber cloth will also do it, if you're paranoid.
Alright then.>>4461068How are the nerite eggs? Fenbendazole compared to pond snails?>>4461058Thanks man.
On the GMO discussion of the last thread I think I would like to make GMO Malawa shrimp. They seems to be the sturdiest dwarf shrimp, I would try to bring the color genes from cherry shrimp and to boot the genes from coral/jellyfish/etc used on glofish. The ones with poor coloration would be better for the ugly blue light rave aquariums but the ones already with good colors could have it enhanced by the right gene. One with a red gene plus the glowing red gene would look even more red in white light as it absorbs the blue and emit red AND reflect red.
>>4461100And apparently crustaceans already are fluorescent in uv light https://youtu.be/mDDUINNGfE4https://youtu.be/8BrqwCp3uYwAnd there are some bio-luminescent as well.https://youtu.be/wk967yQqHnM
>>4461055Stunning rilli, btw. I can't wait to get more shrimp, think 2 ten gals are ready.
Anyone knows how are these called? I use them to count rotifers but I broke the last good one
Is shrimp breeding actually profitable?
>>4461100Why not bring all the color genes from caridina cantonensis, instead? They show the coolest colors of all shrimp but have stricter mineral needs, live on a smaller margin of ph and are weaker to parameter changes. Just make the ultimate shrimp by mixing malawa, cherry and caridina cantonensis/bee shrimp together.>>4461375Nah. If you do it very well you can sell to local fish stores. The ones around here buy the animals/plants we bring them.
>"your uncle found a tank with 5 of those red things you got left behind">had just gotten some cherry shrimp tell him he should have brought them over I would have taken them>dad comes home with a bucket>8 red things >they're goldfish What do I do? I threw them in the only empty tank I had left. Do I just start digging the pond?
>>4461433Its time for the pond of your dreams, anon. I just came back from a lfs which had a decently sized pond with koi, rams, oscars, blue cichlids and goldfish. It is so cool. The oscars eat the spawn, though.
>>4460756>>4460702So, basically dont mix reds with blues and you will probably be alright? Mixing green with orange or yellow will just default them to red? Thats odd.
>>4461038>shrimp chud>calling others 'bitch'lmfao
>>4461430Because the neocaridina colors are just general pigmentation colors. I assume copying patterns would be harder than "just produce a lot of X"
What the fuck
>>4461375Only until the local market is saturated which will happen with one person breeding them basically. Unless you're making crazy novel shit it's not gong to be worth shipping them. If you want profitability for small animal breeding I think reptiles are the best bet.
>>4461467Damn, right, bitch.
>>4461375The analogy would be growing weed.You're not gonna get rich, but if you enjoy putting in the effort and pimping it for sale, you'll make money.
>>4461499I think that's intestine, bro. Not sure, best guess.
>>4461023Sounds great anon, thank you
>>4460410>I’m worried they’re gonna eat his foodHis food is what you give him. No fish can live off algae alone, especially a Pleco
all of my duckweed died and turned whiteanyone here ever seen that happen before?
>>4461581Do you use plant fertilizer?Happened to my azolla, but it turned brown instead. I'm 80% sure its a mineral deficiency. In my case, with leaf browning, it was probably iron. In yours, it might be shit like magnesium or phosphate.Alternatively, it might be some sort of plant illness. In regular plants, shit like aphids and fungi act like that, but I've never seen that being an issue with floaters.
>>4461581They don't like getting splashed, I've seen them go white when they get too close to the air stone death zone. But if all of them are bone white then it's probably a nutrient issue as the other anon says.
>>4461527>Damn, right, bi-ACK
>TQNot a fucking clue what I'm getting next after buying pic related today. I need to decide what type of tank this will be before I start buying more stuff - which may take time
>>4461508Personally, I go to an auction an hour away that gets people from other states.>>4461796My reds ring all the time and are fine. Get better water.
>>4461508Also, not worth shipping isn't really correct.They're even easier to ship than ricefish. If you've got a bag and a 3x3" box you can do it
So doxycycline in food didn't seem to harm my filter bacteria, but it definitely impacted the heterotrophic bacteria - since I finished feeding it, the water has gotten dingy. Not quite cloudy, but far from crystal clear. Guess it's extra mechanical filtration and water changes while that builds back up...
>>4461581>>4461789Do you have alot of surface agitation? I'm with this anon because duckweed does better for me in slower water flows. I got a bunch for cheap with a plant order, and my HOB filter seemed to slowly decimate all of it. Some found its way into my sponge filter tanks and it's been doing much better. Could be nutrients too, do you got any other plants or pics of your tank?
>discussion on keeping duckweed aliveWhat alternate reality am I in?Moss I can kinda get, despite currently seething how much I have to hunt down today . But duckweed will survive in a damp bottle cap.
>put in dead shrimp>Chad feasts>put in a juvenile>Chad vores him to the cuck dimension>put in an adult>HE PEENCHED MY WIDDLE SNOUT!That made the juice not worth the squeeze? BRAD!Time to get something that hungers, unless I wanna switch off for a sec and toss them in the freezer.
>>4461499I hate to indulge my morbid curiousity, but what was actually going on here? Snagged on something sharp, maybe?
>>4462024Speaking of, I tossed in a bit of chopped shrimp and I swear the guppies had a feeding frenzy. They were ripping at each other for a chance to get a piece of that shrimp. I know what I'm going to use as their weekly treat. Not that it's much of a treat, because their staple is artemia. Fuckers are living like Americans in here, I bet they'll die at two but they'll live like kings until then.
Hillstream time
>>4462160Based. Enjoy. Hopefully yours isn't as much of a bully to everything else in the tank as mine is.
>>4461230No clue. Just plop a drop on a slide like an OG.
>>4461230https://www.ebay.com/itm/324685399184?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ezvV1almS-m&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=ov6iBzcoRI2&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPYGoogle is calling them 'Concave Cavity Well' slides. You might have already found them by now
A few months ago I posted about putting transcriptus into my 20 gallon long and some anon raged and said it'd never work. Idk if that same anon is still here, but I just want to say I put four in an aquarium and there is a pair on one side and two others on the other side. The pair have bred and I have about 8 fry in there now and it has been a few weeks and there has been no aggression. Eat my ass loser :DDDD
>>4462224I’ve seen 50 gallon aquariums with many dozen African cichlids and they end up with no perceivable aggression. But sometimes they fight to the death. You never know, really.
I have a neon tetra with a bump on its lip. Doesn't look like there's any other symptoms but it does look skinny. Is this "neon tetra disease?" Is there anything I can do for it or do I need to put it down?
Why is aq a shrimp general now? Is it because shrimplets are more autistic than fishfags? I don't post my fish here really because they are hard to photograph and 4cuck can't even handle a converted and compacted webm
>>4462302litterbox.catbox.moe
>>4462300No. That's not even one of the symptoms. Ensure good water quality.
>>4462308So what's up with the wart? I can't see much about it online. I think it might be a tad bigger than than it used to be but I can't tell cuz he's so small and fast.I also have a neon in my main tank with a tiny wart (this is a quarantine) but that one doesn't seem to effect it.
>>4461508>>4461375I imagine it depends where you are and what the market is like. There's a shrimp seller here in the DMV (DC, MD, VA) that constantly sells out and he sells like five different types of shrimp. I've seen him post ads and updates to stock for like four years now. Seems like he sells out of blue neos most often (although that could be just that they breed slower than plain cherries). His prices have actually gone UP this year because of demand (but he's still cheaper than any LFS or online store, not even accounting shipping/tax).
>>4462315Original anon that asked, I'm in the DMV area too. Neat.
>>4462300False neon tetra disease in the form of chronic columnaris causing snout chondroma, is my guess.
>>4462394>>4462312Keep watching because who knows, but in my case convalescence never arrived. I could only slow progress.
>>4462302Shit, seems like shrimp and apistogramma are still just the new hotness like they were a decade ago too. Shrimp are just a lower entry fee.
>>4462396>>4462394Is there any treatment? Is it contagious?I'll keep an eye on it, but considering one is in a quarantine tank I'd like to play it safe
get bent fishfuckersthis post brought to you in part by shadow mosura wizard gang
>>4462399>I'm obsessed with rainbows, gobies, natives, and perch shaped fish during the shrimpslop boomIts so over.I would post the jak but I don't wanna get banned again
>>4462315what is behind this shrimp trend as of late?
>aquariums have a shrimp boom>terrariums have an isopod boomcrustacean chads keep winning
>>4462317Different anon. Me too. I'm the guy that has 15 tanks mostly to raise shrimp.Game on!
>>4462443Ironically, it makes boomers seethe. It's nanofish all over again.
>>4462460>Ironically, it makes boomers seethe. It's nanofish all over again.spill the tea sis
>>4462461Huh? That bong shit? I don't speak bad teeth.
>>4462461Ah, looked it up. Gay thing. Closeted boomer, how absolutely shocking. Group showers build character!
>>4462463>>4462465I mean fill me in on how aquarium trends work retard
>>4462469Thing gets popular. Then different thing gets popular.
>>4462478I bet you're fun at parties
>>4462317Nice. I bought Crystal Reds from the guy in Falls Church on Craigslist years ago, it was a great batch. Way more than I paid for and they were only $2/each at the time. Unfortunately I eventually tore that tank down and gave away the shrimp but I'm looking to get back in.>>4462459Are you the guy who sells the blue neos? Cause I've been waiting for you to get shit back in stock, bro.>>4462440I don't know if it's as of late. I feel like all during COVID the scene really exploded and it's kept up ever since. Private sellers are really the only way to get good shrimp locally. None of the LFS have a decent freshwater shrimp selection, let alone pricing, and I have been to practically all of them at this point from as far East as House of Tropicals to as far West as Blue Ribbon Koi and Marine, as far North as Fintastic to as far South as Supreme Reefs, and everything inbetween.Same with saltwater too. There's a TON of new reefers in the area if going by the various facebook groups and clubs are any indication. If anyone is in the DMV area and looking to start a new reef tank, do not buy common things like chaeto or GSP. Lots of people give it away. Lots of frag giveaways in the Northern Virginia Reefs group and lots of cheap second hand stuff as well.
Hi anons.I used to LOVE aquariums when I was a teen, but I was always suffering from a notion >What if I were this fish? Imprisoned in this limited space for my life, and believing this tank is the whole universe. Only if the fish were born in my natural habitat, it could do anything it feels like doing, go anywhere it wants. What a cruel thing am I doing to this helpless creature?I shook it off by thinking it was a merely dumb creature whose cerebral capability didn’t surpass my smartphone’s App and poor creatures could adapt itself to the given environment with no doubt and suffering like a meditating Zen monk.Haven’t you had the same notion as I did?Anyways I stopped having aquariums when an earthquake hit and the water of the tank ruined the floor of my room. Now I’m just happy imagining all fish, snails, eels and turtles are swimming in the vast expanse of Amazon river enjoying their lives and killing each other. Thanks.
>>4462511earthquakes keep me up at night. I "only" have a 29, a 20, a 10 and a 5 on my upper floor, my 40s and 20 long racks are all downstairs.
>>4462160He cute.
>>4462505hmm, I wish ppl were more interested in oddballs
>>4460528I just smash them. Easier. And then I get to laugh when the khulis or corys or whatever shake the half dead ones like a rabid pitbull.So I guess I'm not really removing the excess nutrients or whatever.
>>4462511I follow the notion that a fish can’t be healthy if it is not “happy” so if you can keep the fish in ideal conditions all is good.>>4462515I moved to Japan and I worry about earthquakes as well. I bought a 60 liter (15 gallon) spherical aquarium and I wonder if it would roll over in an Earthquake. Maybe I should put it on a stand with wheels so the whole thing moves sideways in case of tremors? At least there won’t be much spilling if it doesn’t roll over.
NOOOO SHRIMPING.
>>4462527Like what?
>tfw the rocks i put in my 10 i was setting up for caridina shrimp weren't inertafter a few weeks it seems they shook out to ~60ish ppm kH, about 2.5 degrees. Doable or start over? Or just do malawa shrimp or some shit idk. I kind of want a shrimp only tank because its low and slightly inconvenient to feed.
>>4462674also was considering maybe rabbit snails? Just looking for low maintenance inverts i can chuck a pellet to every so often.
I just set up this little 5 gal with some excess rocks and roots that I've never liked the looks of and sat in a drawer. Turned out pretty cool. Very 3d. Shrimp and snails only.I want to try to get some more micro plant species for it.
>>4462505>Private sellers are really the only way to get good shrimp locally. None of the LFS have a decent freshwater shrimp selectionHow to find the good private sellers? Facebook groups?
>>4462674How much is the total kh in degrees? In my case, my water has high PH and low GH with 4° KH. I dont know how the water managed to be alcaline AND soft. I though it was extremely difficult to get such a setup.
>>4462724Honestly it looks deceptively large.
>>4462511It depends on the fish. Some tend to stunt if miskept, but many others are happier because there are no predators, guaranteed shelter and food, no temperature swings, friends for the shoalers, no rivals for the territorial, and a carefully cultivated environment instead of toxic waste out the wazoo like many rivers nowadays. Besides they aren't just swimming around being fishies in their natural environment, nature is just as red in fin and scale. As a general rule I'd say any fish that spawns in the tank is happy as can be, they don't make the investment unless they think their fry have a chance. Of course you'll see stupid shit like bettas in bowls, oscars and commons in 20s, arowanas in 55s etc. but that's people being dumb. Aquarium keeping at its best is basically acting like a conservationist for a small group of animals.
>>4462511If you aren't a complete fucktard, you basically ensure that fish is in the top 0.000001% of quality of life.
>>4462852Sucking myself off here, but I've seen my male blue ram playing with the otocinclus and kuhli loaches. All three together as adults.That shit has gotta be happiness.
>silhouette of a panda that's half gunt patrolling back glass for shrimplets before the light even comes onYou're lucky cory's are a bunch of Pierce Brosnans, ya hog.
>>4462724Like the other guy said, tricksy scale, which is always neat.And I'm a sucker for lava rock, especially at the price.Good use of vertical space since there won't be any fin cucks.
>>4462851The filter is a tiny Aquael 4w and I use them on anything from 5gal to a 25gal community tank (only filter) with no problem, I just adjust the power setting.
so chimplichds started acting up and bulling one of the bigger yellow ones now its laying on a side and not moving much, any real cahnce to save it or off to the choping block?
Setting up a second saltwater tank, waterbox 20, still not sure what I'm gonna use it for so looking for some opinions, grow out/quarantine tank, zoa garden, frag tank or maybe a sources specific tank for like a mantis shrimp or a small puffer or something
>>4462873Sorry, I deleted my post once my spatial awareness kicked in for the day. Not fast enough to not waste your time I guess.
>>4462873>power settingYou don't happen to mean the air tube do you? I don't think mine has a power setting. Adjusting the air tube seems to change the flow, but not linearly.
>>4462929I mean the large button on its front that can strangle the flow so it doesn't get cataclysmic in small tanks
>>4462882it's sushi time
>>4462882You the real nigga with the 20G that was bragging how your cichliggers were being gud bois who dindu nuffin?
>>4462974nah I have 10 in the tank was 11 with the dead one, tank is 130L.
>>4462986>one day, for no reason at all, the tank voted Cichlter into power.
>>4462131Lucky gups! Probably good for their health, and guppies need it.We recently had a pretty heartbreaking deal on here because of petsmart stock.
>>4462883If they're both small, I would just separate by coral type. This both creates two themed tanks instead of having the usual Noah's Ark situation and at the same time lets you fine tune settings suited for SPS in one tank vs. LPS/softies in the other, for instance.You can also separate the fauna too. A softie tank with the mantis shrimp, for instance vs. a normal fish tank with acropora and normal inverts. (Softie tank with the mantis simply because it would be easier to fix or replace and not nearly as stressful if it broke or moved live rock with softies on it vs. an acro colony.)Or maybe one tank with a macro algae + seahorse setup vs. the other with coral + fish.I don't particularly like cube tanks for frag tanks. I prefer lowboys for that, but that's getting into some serious fragging territory.
>>4462728In my particular area, the two dominant facebook groups, Northern Virginia Reefs and Coral Reef Club of Maryland are easy to tell who is well-liked and trusted. You can ask a mod who they suggest for certain purchases. E.g. "Hey I'm looking for acropora, do you have any suggestions on sellers?" I suggest not being super autist direct and being like, "Hey who is shit and who is cool?" You'll likely get only a diplomatic response out of that.I haven't had a really bad interaction with private sellers, however there are a couple I won't be buying from again because I didn't think their frags were great. For instance I was looking specifically for a pink hammer, which is harder than it sounds as the light spectrum greatly influences how coral look. Not only was the one he sold me not pink in my tank, but it clearly had a polyp bailout (three branches, only two polyps). I still took it and nursed it back to health. It's pretty nice and I'm keeping it, but I'd just rather get something I'm good with on day one vs. something so-so.As for craigslist, it's a toss-up and definitely a risk as there is no feedback. My first frag though was from craigslist and it is still one of my favorites and by far my largest coral (standard purple tip, green body hammer). Just keep in mind that you are absolutely not required to go through with any sale. If you show up to a dude's house and you are not liking the look of his stock or his tank, just be polite and walk away. I always approach sellers with, "I'm interested in taking a look at your <whatever," so they have an idea that I am shopping around and not dead set on closing a deal. Do not buy things you are not confident with. Do not be afraid to ask questions about that particular flora or fauna, their tank, or their husbandry. It's a good idea in general even if you are super impressed and ready to buy. You don't want to buy some sulawesi shrimp or acropora and not ask what parameters the dude raised them in.
>>4463084The main tank is a 400L with 100L sump so this one is way smaller. So mantis shrimp do ok with corals? Iv only ever seen them in plain rock tanks before if I could have one in a tank with zoas and morphs that would be pretty good, seahorses would be a pretty cool alternative too hadn't considered them, thanks for the suggestion anon
>>4463098>So mantis shrimp do ok with corals?It's a risk, hence why softie. They will move rocks if they can, and sometimes even break them. They won't attack corals specifically, it's more of collateral damage. So I would be comfortable putting it in a zoa tank because who cares? It's just some zoa, they'll heal and propagate easily enough, unless you have crazy expensive rare zoas. But the most expensive zoas I have are AOI so I'm not particularly concerned were I to keep a mantis.Keep in mind seahorses are kind of high maintenance. I don't really like to keep stuff that require frequent hand feeding. I have trained all my fish to accept both frozen and freeze dried, so I can just automate feeding when I travel.
>>4462615weird shaped and looking fish that don't necessarily have to be super colorful. Anostomids, gobies, fish with the darter body plan, temperate American fish, rhinogobius and relatives, any fish with the perch body plan, climbing perch and ctenopoma, sticklebacks, umbra genus, more loaches, freshwater sculpinsthat's what I have on mind for now
>>4463121I've been looking into mudskippers lately. I'm content with my tanks but if I ever find a cheap 40 long I know what I'm going to do. Brackish + paludarium (estuvarium?) combo is daunting but it should be doable. From what I read they're very personable, and can be long-lived depending on the species. >>4463062Thank you, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I have a pair of rams with them, but they worked out a truce early on. No aggression between the adults, and the rams also handle the overpopulation problem. Fry are not subject to the truce and get nommed in a day or two.
>>4463137my lfs has some, really makes me want brackish
Finally, some pleco caves priced so I don't feel like I'm the one getting raped in a corner.
>>4463121I've been looking into NA fish a lot. Darters seem really cool.
Getting an intense urge to catch and keep a crawdad again. They're so neat.
>>4462772>>4463098What are you keeping in the sump? You do add in shit other than plain media, right?
heyit's a little cold. yesterday I looked at my fish and he was laying on his side. I was like, fuck, did the heater get unplugged? and I plugged in the heater aquarium and he came back and started swimming around. then I came back today and looked inside and he was laying down upside down not moving, so I started to fish him out and he started moving again. so I checked and the aquarium heater got unplugged again. the water's not warm yet, but after 'playing dolly' with him, (taking him in my hand and swimming him around the tank he seems to be better at staying upright, but he has a cataract now and a lot of slime. tell me what you understand about these conditions please. thoughts and prayers too.
>>4463333thoughts are you should stop unplugging your heater
>>4463333Aquarium poltergeist, your LFS should've warned you about them. I bet your heater is secondhand, that's how they travel.Pour some marine salt in a bowl and put it next to your tank, then check hourly to see if the heater is plugged. If the spirit tries to talk to you, do not talk back, it just wants you to open your mouth so that it can enter and possess you. If the salt turns black you're fucked, it means you invited a fucking reef devil into your house, your only way to survive is to go full Obed Marsh and make a contract with it. Otherwise it should go away in 2-3 days.
>>4463333I'm in Norway in a barely heated apartment (I just put on extra clothes) and have never heated my tanks. No problem.
So I doubt that's the issue.
>>4463206>the same thing was $16 at my lfs>>4463230do it, they are fun, just keep alone though, they are also evil>>4463217I fucking love darters
>>4463475Greenside darters look so cool.
Are your fish getting enough vitamin D?
I got three hilstreams from the lfs today and one just up and fucking died for no reason. No wounds, infections, nothing. What the fuck happened and should I ask for my money/credit back?
>>4463521Most fish stores have a guarantee, especially for a (somewhat) expensive fish like a hillstream. I'd absolutely tell them.
>>4463504is your D gettin enough fishe?
>>4462882throw it in the bin
>>4463561what's a bin?
>>4463559ask ur mum xD
>>4463238Bio balls, live rock, big ass skimmer, UV sterilizer, some seachem matrix, what else should I put in there?
>>4463576>>4463238I generally find ceramic media redundant if I have live rock in there. Filter sock/rollermat, macro algae refugium, heater(s), chiller, reactors, dosing pumps, autotesters, auto top off. A lot of it is just somewhere to dump the end of a tube that's not your display.
>>4463576Ive seen all kinds of shit. In one of my LFS, they raise crayfish in the freshwater sump.On saltwater sumps, I see people add it filtering animals like starfish and copepods.
>>4463504Imagine the algae
GODFUCKING DAMNIT I GASSED MY FISH. Like a total rookie jackass I left my co2 reactor valve open way to much while the co2 tank was still charging from being changed and i come home and everything is dead. The diffuser was going off like a jet and the drop checker was piss yellow. I just finished a 75% water change and my tanks still smells like a fucking abbatoir. Maybe one ramshorn snail survived but I’m not sure. Hooray, I’m fucking the hitler of fish. So many amanos, celestial pearl danios, blue dreams neos, panda loaches, rummy noses. All laid waste to such reckless abandon.Good news is that the plants all look fine!
Ugliest fucking shrimp I own why are his eyes white? Is he blind
Farewell my sweet princess or the deep, you deserved a far better fate than suffocating. Like a fool, I made a big change and went to bed then went to work the next day without monitoring the change!
>>4463650He’s gay. That’s a fucking gay ass shrimp.
>>4463633Don't worry, anon!You're not the Hitler of fish because you actually managed to kill them all
>>4463633Shit happens. But that fucking sucks. Coulda been anyone.Chin up, plow forward, etc bro.
>>4463633That sucks. Hate to be that guy, but my first thought was boy I'm glad that's impossible with my ghetto ass DIY CO2.
>>4463650He finna molt.
I've got an old 90gal with a chip in the front glass by the silicone line (found when I was scraping off the old silicone). The chip is about 1/3 the thickness of the glass, and about 1/2in diameter. Should I just toss the whole thing?
>>4463683You can just replace that pane
>>44636264 weeks of algae growth
>>4463719Last pic doesn't count; no Loach King pictured surveying his kill.Still think it's cool. Give him a moss mohawk.
>>4463719It would be nice were it so easy to maintain luscious green surface algae without everything being such a difficult balancing point.
>>4463633>while the co2 tank was still charging from being changed Expand?
>>4463742this is beautiful. i want this!
>nooo you arent supposed to like fancy goldfish>they are genetically smashed and slammed
>>4463851Objectively uglier than many natural fish, but you can like whatever fish you want anon.
>>4463853>but you can like whatever fish you want anonHe asks not if he can, but if he should.
>>4463856"Should" is a term used by the stupid to allow the clever to control them.
>>4463853>Objectivelywrong>>4463856>He asksno i didnt>>4463857>used by the stupidyou should know
Just bought a 15 gallon tank and now I'm stuck figuring out how I want to scape it and what to put in it. This is the best problem to have
Betta is starting to look a little fat.
Behold, the smallest shrimp molt I've ever seen. The green next to it is a small duckweed, for scale
>>4463964Many such cases.
>>4463872yeet a betta in it, bro
>>44587295.555555/?Plants just arrived. Guess today's the day. (Or tomorrow, added some silicone to my Gunplas to prevent floaring and there's still a hint of a vinegar smell so I'll let them cure a bit more)Coincidentally most plants I bought are "Medium/Advanced". I'm sure nothing bad will happen to my first ever aquarium.>>4458748>>4458754>>4458755>>4458775The Principality of Zeon will defend its territory. I'm not worried.
>>4463964It looks like it's telling the snells a story
>>4463988He always pulls them off the side of the tank when they try to climb out. One day I'll manage to record him doing it
>>4463987Don’t forget to add root tabs in the stem plants (specially the rotala) unless you are using aquasoil or have soil immediately underneath. It takes around a month for them to grow roots and they might not make it without it. I lost some rotala last month because of this. Dosing liquid ferts certainly helps, but I’m not sure it’s enough (I’m trying right now with a pink rotala).
>>4463554It worked! And I got two badis in exchange! I think one of them is female too! Lfs guy was obviously not happy though which made me feel bad, but I give him a shit ton of money on an almost daily basis so I think we're good
>>4463670>>4463851careful chuds, you know how much jannies chimp out about jaks, on topic or not
I think this applies here kek
>>4464097I think you belong to Reddit
>>4464107I think you are a soi wojack
>>4463987Yeah the Eriocalum is fucking impossible to get to grow without high tech. You need soft water, low (but not zero) nitrates, plenty of other micronutrients, and consistent high co2 and light.The Montecarlo(s) won't do what you probably want it to without co2 and high light, but will likely survive. Rotala should be fine. Ambulia will likely mog all the rest of the plants in short order. Haven't had marsilea so not sure how those will do.Regardless good luck, and despite what I said above you never know, maybe you'll have perfect tap for the sea urchin looking plants and they'll do great.
>>4464097>>4464107>>4464123I think, therefore I am
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MgYSHt1VJ2gThoughts on this?I think it looks weirdly cool but can't imagine having to go on a space like this every time just to appreciate your boys
>>4464097>grrr stop knowing thingsdie
Crab thinks she's so sneaky. Also almost killed the one survivor of the Guppocaust after it kept trying to see what the crab was doing with a tiny snail (she was eating it), which would have been rough but kinda funny>survive epidemic with roughly 95% fatality rate>eaten by semi-aggressive crab because you won't fucking leave it alone
5 of these guys just showed up outta nowhere. god i hope they don't kill each other
>>4464249what are those balls?
>>4464285>he hasn't figured out the cocoa puffs substrate hackbaka this really is a novice thread
>>4460490>>4460513I had the same problem in my neocaridina tank. Planaria en masse. It took me months to find a solution, which was pretty simple in hindsight. Add corydoras. They won't bother your shrimp, they don't eat anything with a carapace but will absolutely genocide anything worm-like. I have a thriving shrimp colony now together with happy corydoras, who are currently laying eggs.
>>4463787It's actually really easy to attain (for 12 hours).
>>4464285They are gay
how do i tell male and female neocaridina apart?
>>4464311females are bigger and more solid looking with a curvy saddle, more colorful. Males are duller looking and have a straight back and no room for eggs. It can be subtle but its part of why you cant cull on color alone because you end up very heavily female.
>>44639875.6/?>>4464082I'm using volcanic gravel as a base mostly to raise up and add an angle to the hardscape, the rest is all GlasGarten soil, about 3L of it. No need for root tabs so far as I'm aware.>>4464126Eriocalum do seem like a bitch from the videos I saw but I love their stem thingies.I have a RO system for water. Then add shrimp salts (GH only because Caridinas, although I have a KH booster for the pond specifically). As for CO2 I have that "upper crust" DIY baking soda tank and what I think is a slightly overkill light (Chihiros A2 Max) but it was somehow cheaper than lights with half its potency like the Chihiros A2 and on par with the fancier 3x more costly WRGB models so I bought it.In fact I'm bored so here's the schematic(?) of the filter/CO2 system.
>>4464318>females are bigger and more solid looking with a curvy saddle, more colorful
>>4464306>>4464285Can confirm, they're fucking gay. They are aqueon brand "shrimp and plant substrate" and they are only slightly denser than water and entirely impermeable to roots as far as I can tell. Allegedly there are available nutrients but I'm pretty sure that's a lie.Shit sucks. The fluval stratum you see there, but capped by fluorite or sand or gravel is the way to go.
how does anyone find the discipline to keep a "aquascape" going and keep it in its original clean design?i always end up finding yet another cool plant. even if i dont buy one i end up with some and keep adding and adding to the tank until it becomes a rather messy green djungle. i couldnt throw plants away - atleast all of one type. i am always trying to keep everything atleast as one specimen alive. it is hellam i mentally ill - i feel like i am. are you?
>>4464347Nothing wrong with the jungle look, you just have Instagram syndrome. You know that thing where teenagers look at hyper-photoshopped models who spent 8 hours finding the perfect angle for every photo, and think that's how they ought to look in their day-to-day life? Same deal here. The photos you see are from experienced hobbyists or actual professionals just after a trim and rescape that probably took a weekend, not the average tank from the average dude who just likes himself some fishies. Personally I'm happy as long as the fish are happy. If they like the plant cover and don't show any nervous behavior, that's good enough.
First aquarium. 3d printed some covers cause I'm not paying Mr shekelstein on etsy for them.
I just realized, a palundarium weighs way less than a full water aquarium, which means I could definitely get away with one on my desk.So, what crab tank should I do? Thinking a 20 Long with a bunch (so like 8-10) red apple crabs with ~5gal of water with some shrimp and h. formosa or endlers.
>>4464410ok, have fun
>>4464389post bettahe be lookin hella funneh
>>4464433
>>4464448what a funneh boithank you
Is Water Conditioner good at treating ammonia/nitrate?Any recommended ones?
>>4464494No. And prime.
>>4464495Welp, guess I’ll have to water change so very often. Currently trying out a small scale aquaculture, the tank has been maturing for 6 months and only started putting in livestock now.Ammonia and Nitrite levels are low but Nitrate keeps being stable at the all time high of 40+ PPM no matter how many water change I do etc. Livestock deaths always fluctuates between 10-20% too.Thanks anon, I’ll try Prime out.
>>44645046 months is an absurdly long time. What do you have in it? How big?
>>4464508It’s a small scale crab boxes for fattening mudcrabs that I caught on weekends with my mates and family.Its a 700 liter capacity tank, started from 400L and 25 crab boxes first. Now it’s 700L and 50 crab boxes. All the parameters were fine back then but ever since I started housing 50 crabs, Nitrate are on a permanent 40+ PPM while Ammonia&Nitrite are low.Been doing 20% water change every week but it just wouldn’t change. Deaths started jumping from 1-2 crabs when I started to 8-10 crabs now.
but what about under gravel filters?
>>4464519what sort of filtration are you running?
>>4464535an under gravel filter!
>>4464535Each filter boxes contain 50 liters of water.Standard mechanical filter (Cotton filter bag, foam and coarse filter pad) -> Protein Skimmer -> 2 boxes of MBBR filters, fully aerated and tumbling -> 3 Bio Balls boxes -> 2 Boxes Oyster shells / Live Rocks -> UV -> Filter Sump and several growing Mangroves. Also add in some filter bag covering the pipes between boxes. I’d appreciate for tips, anon.This is the first time I ever done saltwater/brackish water. I’m mostly a freshwater aquascape faggot before the crabs comes in.
>>4464547sorry anon I know nothing about crab farming, I was just asking out of curiosity, maybe you've got too many crabs for the set up to handle?
>>4464575Most likely. Yeah, it’s my first time setting up an aquaculture “farm” out of curiosity as well. I’ll buy some of Seachem Prime to test things out, if it still doesn’t work out then I’ll setup more filter boxes to connect and get the water capacity up to 1000 liters.
Right, speaking of Nitrate remover. Can Chaeto survive on 22 PPT Brackish water? Anyone ever kept chaetos before?
>>4460268Is there a difference between "Electric Blue Lobsters" and "Cobalt Blue Lobsters"? Obviously both would be different color morphs of everglades crayfish, but I don't even know if they are. I'm trying to get a breeding population going and I have a male electric blue, and all the fish shops who have them around me insist that the "Electric Blue" are rare while the "Cobalt Blue" they get all the time are not.
>>4464448Haha weird betta!>>4464494I use prime, but their effect is very limited. It reduces ammonia toxicity for a short amount of time (8 hours I think?), so its more of a "oh shit" solution to stop fish from dying while you plan a water change. As for nitrate or nitrites, conditioners dont to anything to them AFAIK.>>4464519Nitrates are residue from the nitrogen cycle. On a closed system, they just keep building up. The only ways to get rid of it is through water changes, plants, algae and some other interaction that happens in ponds and rivers that I dont really understand very well. I've watched a few youtube videos on the topic and people seem to like adding floaters to their systems to help with nitrates, but, with aquaculture, you wont ever manage to make a high yield system without needing to do water changes, eventually.Do note that, depending on the size of your operation, you are legally required to manage the waste, as the nitrates from intensive aquaculture do tend to poison the rivers around the farm and cause some issues on the sewage system. 700l is clearly fine, but it is an important thing to keep in mind if you plan on scaling your business.>>4464547I think the fact that you see plenty of nitrates and little ammonia and nitrite is a proof that your system is working.Speaking of aquaculture, I think these flounder farms are rad af. Apparently their yield is super high for relatively low maintenance.https://youtu.be/y0D1cluPbsQ
>>4464321>I'm using volcanic gravel as a base mostly to raise up and add an angle to the hardscape, the rest is all GlasGarten soil, about 3L of it. No need for root tabs so far as I'm aware.I'm using the same as you, except that I dont remember the name of the soil.>Eriocalum do seem like a bitch from the videos I saw but I love their stem thingies.I have it in my tank and its doing great. The regular eleocharis sp., at least. I've also got parvula and its not doing so well.My tank sump setup is very similar to yours, too, but I've got a lower mid section that overflows into the pump chamber and the intake chamber is full of ceramic rings and sand.
>>446462820% weekly isn’t enough to make a dent on the Nitrate, I’ll try to increase to 30% weekly and see if it changes anything.Also thanks for the video anon, aquaculture is pretty interesting the more I delve into it too!
>>4464288I saw one in my (temporarily) plant storage tank and now I'm all paranoid since planaria (as well as cories) eat shrimplets given the chance.Bout to fenbendazole nuke the two tanks that'll get shrimp in a couple weeks because I don't give a rat's dick about snails. No hydra either which almost cost me my blues that are getting split into colors now.Recessive light blue tank came a bit late. I'll massage it.
>>4464389Bruh, cottage industry is cool. I mean, prolly just some fag printing them himself, so smoke em if you got em, but still.>>4461038Yeeted like 20 franken rillies into the 55. Figures the lighting in that tank makes the blue shrimp look dripped out since it's for the culls.Here's Black Betty reenacting the Lion King in the 20 long that serves mostly to remind I'm under 6 foot, since I can see the bottom only on my tippy toes.
>>4463719>>4463742I love algae covered hardscape. I wonder if future aquarium lighting setups with have spotlights that focus extra lights where you want to facilitate algae growth in the right places.
Just ordered $150 worth of lava rocks and substrate, gonna make an epic hardscape with lots of caves and plants
>>4464712Dope, aquascape first. What do you want to keep in there?
>>4464389they should have thought that light logo through a bit more
>>4464615it's pretty easy to tell apart ones have thunderbolts painted on the side the others don't
>>4464584Nothing removes Nitrate chemically. But if you've got that much space, have you considered putting a raised bed in hydrophobic substrate over part of it? You could grow lettuce, kale, spinach without any effort and it wouldn't take much of them to push your nitrates down to <10ppm
>>4464820I would’ve if I could but I doubt I can do hydroponics with brackish water of 20 PPT.That’s why I’m using mangroves but they are slow at nutrients removal.
>>4464837It's actually doable with leaf veggies but I assume there's a little more setup invovledhttps://www.redalyc.org/journal/4457/445760189004/html/
>>4464547Now you're a faggot with crabs!
>buy snail with colorful shell>only ever see thisWhat's the point?
>>4464855How's that happen? Buy a fucking purple or magenta mystery snail, keep in ph 7+ water, feed them calcium foods now and again. Get two and you may end up with a sneaky egg hatch situation and have literally hundreds of tiny ones.Keep in mind mystery snails will find a way to terminally wedge themselves into any filter intake they can reach. I lost much of that brood to getting stuck in a tiny crevice where my filter meets the media chamber, and killing themselves pulling out of it. I still probably lose one a week and the biggest are quarter-sized now. I may run out one day, but breeding season is coming, maybe I'll just let another clutch hatch.
>>4464861>>4464855Fun fact, if your water is too acidic for snails to thrive, if you keep chucking them in there and leaving the shells, the problem fixes itself.
>>4464862I know where all the calcium is going. Horny fuckers.
>>4464389where do i buy the nygger lamp?
>>4464855>implying the foot isnt the best partget lost, virgin
Anyone have any suggestions for a bottom feeder fish to go with some Bosemani, neon dwarf rainbowfish and a pair of angels? I was thinking Khuli Loaches
>>4464900how about khuli loaches?
>>4464631the nice thing about aquaculture is there is a LOT more actually useful research out there. Hobby aquarium research is a mix between>interested but not profit-motivated academics doing quality but extremely niche studies>third world countries funding "red wine is good for you because if you consume this compound at a level that would require you to be blackout drunk on wine the rest of your life you might live longer" tier studies to promote their native botanicals>snake oil salesmen and quasi-schizo cult leaders promoting either retarded shit that doesnt work or basic shit that everyone has been doing for decades as some kind of revolution>also endlessly self-referential bot article ecosystem full of amazon affiliate linksThere is some actually decent general research out there but finding it, especially finding something in reference to a particular problem you are having is like digging through mud to find gems.
>>4464912I miss forums, The forum I used 20 years ago is gone. I guess the owner died or something and the site was taken down due to lack of payment or something. Anyone recommend any forum? Discord and Reddit sucks for this kind of stuff.
>>4464918literally here and the aquarium coop forum, the only problem is you cant say cichligger there. A lot of fishmoms and kids but at least they have rules against being self appointed fish care police.
>>4464923A forum is good as a repository of information. Here is more like a general chat.
>>4464866>checked and kekedSorry my nygger fren but whytes only
>>4464861>mystery snailsOne of my males just raped all the other ones to death, including the other males. Bit counterproductive all around as far as reproductive strategies fo.
>>4464912>hating on pajeet leavesNGMI. Have a little god damn faith.
>>4464918If you're after planted tank discussion I'd recommend UKAPS. Just don't post like you're on 4chan, it's full of middle aged British men that haven't got a clue what an imageboard is.
>>4464912>like digging through mud to find gemsNot sure how to parse this allegory.
>>4464939>all that mud>no gemsliterally me trying to figure out what is the maximum tolerable kH for *modern* caridina shrimp strains. The plurality of sources indicate that tiger shrimp variants tend to be more kH tolerant than bees/crystals and it looks like the mineral rock in my tank is settling out at about 4.7dkHI kind of want to go with black tigers if I can find them because they look demonic.
Replanted my 90L after neglecting to trim any of the stems after a few months. The new layout is on top. How'd I do, /aqg/?
Is it true that crypts like a bit of moving water? I bought a crypt a few weeks ago and put it in a jar and I think it's starting to melt
>>4464979imo most stem plants do better with a little water movement. but if its just a few weeks that may still be adjustment melt. crypts sometimes take a long time to start dying back. Assuming you're using some kind of nutritive substrate right?
>>4464979My crypts did absolutely amazing in my river flow tank whereas they were very slow growing in my other sort of "standard" tank
>>4464986>Assuming you're using some kind of nutritive substrate right?I kept the in the sponge I got when I bought them
>>4464947Those are really cool.I'm the testing semi luddite with water that comes out the tap looking like seminal fluid, but I really want to try something other than neos one day, so let me know and I'll take a sample. Might be mostly dissolved CO2 from 300 feet down.
>>4464962Background is a huge improvement. Beaut.Similarly, and solipsistically, I'm practically dribbling after seeing my vungle val starting to put out near instant sister plants while it's trying to kill every other plant.What's the livestock?
>>44650119 panda corydoras (+1 fry), 10 sparkling gourami, 10 otocinclus, 4 Kuhli loaches, 20 exclamation mark rasbora, a few hundred cherry shrimp +4 amano shrimp and 5 assassin snails. It sounds like a lot but it never seems crowded and there's a fluval 207 attached which helps keep things in check.
>>4464923>>4464938Thanks I will check those later. And don't worry, as I said, I have been posting on forums way before 4chan.
Are these safe to use in a 10g shrimp tank? The back says it’s got .001% copper and that worries me
>>4465035Copper at that level is perfectly safe. Most invertebrates even have copper based hemocyanin in their blood so SOME copper is necessary for survival. I have all copper pipes plus acidic water which one would think would be a perfect storm scenario but never had a problem with any freshwater inverts.
>>4464962they look the same to me. but where are the fish?
>>4464389is that a flex tank?
Anyone use seachem fluorish excel and would recommend over API CO2 for a low tech aquarium? It’s on sale and wondering if it’s worth switching to
>>4465063yes
>>4465068Any particular reason? It just works better?
>>4465063no
>>4465063maybe
>>4465063i use seachem fluorish excel in my "low tech" flex tank and it hasn't killed any of my fish. in fact my fish are multiplying. these bastard fish are having an orgy in my tank!i've never used co2 because the fish provide co2
>>4465074>fish provide co2yeah not at anywhere near the level most freshwater plants are exposed to in their natural waters though, especially anything that normally grows emergent or is from rivers/streams.co2 still mostly isnt necessary but it can be for achieving certain growth patterns in some plants.
not.enough.fish
>>4465076>the level most freshwater plants are exposed to in their natural watersthrow some numbers at me. what levels are you making up? do you count co2 in parts-per-million or something? where are you getting your data?
>>4465074Thanks anon. I’ll give it a try then. I’ll also breathe on the water a bit just to top up the CO2 while I’m at it
>>4465082vape weed and blow weed bubbles for your stoner fish
>>4465077look at this little cutie. all the rest of my platies are red but this little girl is a sort of pinkish yellow. she looks like candy and i want to eat her!
>>4465077jesus christ...
>>4465057I don't like putting "big" fish in my 90l tank so they're hard to see from that distance. It's nice watching them poke out from behind the plants.
>>4465088>i want to eat her!
>>4465077The bettas' dead, isn't he?
>>4465081Most people that do CO2 dont measure their CO2. Mostly because it adds considerably more complexity to the setup and yields very little benefit. Basically we just do whatever and if it works, it works.If I’m being autistic about anything in my freshwater tank, it’s going to be gh/ph ratio and minerals.>>4465063 Do they have a different composition? I think flourish excel is a single substance, so there’s high chances that they are the same. Also, I wouldn’t rely solely on it to keep your plants alive. Personally, I use it as a complement to my yeast CO2 system and it works great. The hairgrass is expanding a lot.
>>4465077BASED skull looking like the algea/aquatic ghost rider with the java fern
Is there any danger to not quarantining shrimp if I'm gonna add them to a tank with only fish in it?
>>4465187Called my LFS to answer my own question. Apparently ick can transfer from shrimp if they're stored in tanks with fish in them
>>4465077
>>4465146It’s supposed to be a different formulation but who knows without seeing the actual structure. I’ve heard it works better but just wanted an additional opinion
>>4465106Simon is still fighting fit which is really appropriate considering that he's a fighting fish. You can cringe now.
>>4465209Did you name him Simon after the chipmunk?
>>4465299Probably after Alvin Hitler, he seems like the neonazi type
>>4465299>siamese fighting fish>siamese>siamonese>simonese>simonSimon!
>>4465302>he named his fish simon >after alvin>because hitlermeds
>>4465305
>>4464918monsterfishkeepers is good
If shrimp need calcium, can I just put a calcium tablet in there? Is there a DIY way?
>>4464900thing about bottom feeders is that they all basically do the same thing so you can really pick whatever you want. In my experience khulis will spend 90% of their time under cover if there are larger fish in the tank. My tank bottom is a rockfield over sand and they only come out of that network of cracks and crannies to eat. Though it is still fun to look closely and see them crawling through there. Cories are pretty much fearless because nothing really tries to eat an armored catfish more than once.You could try a senegal bichir or ropefish, those are fun. They will eat small fish in their sleep though.Synodontis cats are an option too, as well as hoplos and suckermouth catfish
>>4464843Oh man, that’s a lot of work compared to just adding more mangroves or acclimating chaetos to brackish water anon.I just bought some Chaetos but they’re saltwater variety (Nobody in my area sells Brackish variety.) so I’m going to try and acclimate it to lower salinity.>>4464912Yeah, I had to scour old aquarist forums for slivers of information about aquaculture of my crabs and basically experiment. It’s annoying but pretty fun.
what should I add to my setup?
Anons, I have a 20g tank with shrimp, otos, and some tetras (neons with a few blacks). One of my shrimp has eggs and I'm trying to figure out what to do. My tank has some plants but is not very dense. Should I add more hiding places/moss, set up a smaller side tank for berried shrimp, or give up on having fish and shrimp in the same tank and separate them completely? I don't mind losing a few shrimp because I know my tank can only have so many, but I don't want them to get slaughtered either.I know I'm an idiot for being in this situation. I read a comment saying tetras should be fine but then read more contradicting that after I had already added some. Just trying to figure out what I need to do now.
One of my CPDs went missing and there's no spike in ammonia. The only curlprit are the mystery snails.
>>4465406Fish eat their dead friends too, but it's snails and shrimp that break down the bones.
>>4465414But all fish were doing fine just 4 hours ago. Good water parameters, no ssigns of any complication. And I suspect these snails have also eaten some shrimp I've added on this tank in the past.I dont know, maybe all these fish had sudden deaths, but I'm keeping an eye out on these motherfuckers. If I catch them doing anything funny, I will be having escargot for dinner.
>>4465388water
>>4465482
>>4465530How often do you feed him?
>>4465530your pick of loaches
>>4465530once a day>>4465538kuhli loaches it is then
>>4465546excellent choice.
>>4465305Theodore!
New thread >>4465742
HiCan someone give me some advice ?This is my first "serious" tank , it has 5 mollies, 6 false juli corys and 2 small hillstream loaches . Its a 60 liter with some live plants as you can see , and i want to add some more critters , maybe shrimps and snails and microfish, am i putting to much in there? Its been stable for a couple months
>>4466749Forgot pic
