Open air prison edition.Discuss anything aquarium related here, including tanks, bowls, inhabitants, bettas, logs, decor, plants, 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 helpfulTank 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.phArticles and Care Guides:>www.seriouslyfish.com/knowledge-base/>www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/>www.aquariumcoop.com/>www.theaquariumwiki.com/wiki/Aquatic Plant Database:>www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/all.php>www.flowgrow.de/db/aquaticplantsPrevious thread: >>4792617 # # # # #
I don't know what to do about all these fucking snails.The thing is, normally idgaf if there are a fuckload of snails in my tank because they clean everything and they can be kinda fun to watch cruising around (especially when they do dumb shit like lay eggs on top of each other or a bunch of small snails ride around on a stack on top of a bigger one, etc), but I guess they've tapped out all of the algae and shit in the tank because they've started eating my plants.Should I just get a couple of assassin snails and let them go apeshit and stuff themselves?
>>4798555>Should I just get a couple of assassin snails and let them go apeshit and stuff themselves?Absolutely. I was lead to believe two assassin snails would be plenty in a 20g planted with a lot of pond and ramshorns. After a couple months of adding them, the assassins are losing the war by a little bit. I still do a cull every few weeks to keep the numbers reasonable. Assassins are putting in work but so are the pest snails with their constant breeding.
>>4798555Embrace the mollusc
When I was a kid I used hang on back filters with those replaceable things, but when I restarted keeping aquariums seriously I've only used those snazzy Hygger sponge filters. Is there any particular reason to use hang on backs, or are there any good hang on backs for big aquariums?
>>4798578>Is there any particular reason to use hang on backs, or are there any good hang on backs for big aquariums?1. You don't have a sponge filter taking up space in the water. 2. HOBs allow extra flexibility on what kind of filtration you want to do. You can do all kind of flosses and pads and bio media and what have you if you wish. Mind you the correct way to use an HOB is some amount of coarse sponge, some fine mechanical filtration and maybe something chemical like purigen if that's your jam. The replacement filter things are a rip off. As for big it depends how big. There is a point where an external filter becomes a much better choice than HOB.
>>4798584What do you mean by an external filter?
>>4798589Canister filter. Sits outside your tank. Connects to it with an inlet and outlet hose.
>>4798584Even though they do take up space, the sponge filters make perfect grazing areas for shrimp
>>4798591At what scale do those make sense, or are there even small canister filters that would make sense for a ten gallon?
>>4798599>10gJust use a sponge filter or a little hob. Don't need a canister filter for that. Canister is really more of something you might consider at 40g and up. You can use them for smaller, and smaller are made for the purpose, but I see no reason why other than aquascaping aesthetics.
Will LFSs buy snails from people who aren't, like, pro breeders? I have several hundred apple snail babies from two snails I bought from one.
>>4798602>Will LFSs buy snails from people who aren't, like, pro breeders?Yes. Just ask. They often do.
>>4798545Ayyyyy that’s my photograph…
>>4798591>fx6i coomed
>>4798545Anyone ever do green neons in a container pond?
>>4798717whats your favorite youve caught?
>>4798782My LFS has had one on the healing bench for about 5 months now.I've started asking if they have FX6's in stock every time I visit to great applause. Usually.>Hey man we're busy, do you need anything or are you just looking around again?
>>4798599Canisters are generally superior biofiltration to internal filters, because the surface area is significantly higher while not impacting your useable volume.The point when they're "worth it" is when you need that much filtration. There's a guy who used to post here who had a 10 or 15g cube with a big ass canister underneath it, because he didn't want to ever do water changes or worry about water quality, and iirc he had a fairly high stocking level.Basically, more filtration = less maintenance & cleaner water, with diminishing returns, so you should match your filtration to your stocking and maintenance needs.
>>4798802>he had a fairly high stocking levelhow high are we talking here? were there 99 red platties in that 15 cube?
>>4798786It’s always a treat to catch the long ear sunfish. I call them the discus of the ozarks. I have yet to catch a male and female on the same trip tho, so I have not dedicated a tank to them yet. But the favorite one I’ve kept was in Florida when I was netting live silversides in an estuary. Accidentally scooped up a teeny fat sleeper goby. He was super easy to care for, tons of personality, and interesting to look at. Unfortunately he jumped when I was moving to Arkansas
CO2 brehs need some helpMy solenoid stopped working; in that it never shut off the bubbles even when turned off - read a few threads where they all pointed to some common issues which just require disassembly and simple cleaning, however my spring/plunger thing is stuck inside (pic related, bottom image where the cotton swab is pointing), whereas in all the videos I watch (top 3 pics) it "pops" out as soon as they remove it from its housing. I tried pliers too but no good.Any of you have any clue as to how to fix this?
pondchads wassup
>>4798802problem is leak risk
>>4798911In Florida myself and Im increasingly drawn to the idea of keeping natives, we have so many amazing ones here- and gobies are in my top 3 for favorite kinds of fish
>>4798948It may have something stuck in it. If that's the case try soaking it in hot water and then going at it with the pliers again. Other scenario is something broke inside. These are guesses, mind you. I have never worked with this kind of component before.
>>4798969newts are up
>>4798969thats not your pond
>>4799007Yes, the deal with canisters is it's not a matter of IF it will leak but WHEN. Fairly common practice is to sit the canister inside a larger bucket/ plastic container with the expectation of this happening at some point.
>>4799014Im probably never going to run a tank where a canister is my only good option
>>4799010well that was easy, little fucker popped up nearly instantly.
>>4799029nice. Heat and oil and sometimes extreme violence is all that is necessary to unstick a stuck part.
>>4799031my entire CO2 cannister was also stuck, I thought the threads were fused or something, nothing I did worked. Until I put it upside down in nearly boiling water (no pressure inside it ofc).I guess I'll pour boiling water on dying shrimp and they'll start working again too. thanks Anon!
>>4799012unfortunately not. I want my pond to look kida like pic rel, big boulders on the edges and a flat bottom filled with pebbles. And of course KOI swimming around.
>>4799034What substrate is that? I've been growing my carnivores in peat moss and it's fucking expensive.
>>4799011I'm getting some this summer, anything you wish you knew? considering breeding them small scale.
>>4799082It's a pond, with platinum medaka and shrimp (also aquatic snails eventually spawned too), the only substrate is in the flower boxes, which are immersed and surrounded by water - I drilled holes all around the pots undernearth the water line and covered it with floating plants to prevent algea, which also aid in absorbing nutrients from the RO water, helping the carnivorous plants. Medaka fish eat mosquito eggs so no problem there, and it's cannister filtered too.The relatively little substrate is about 50% pumice rocks at the bottom (free filtering media, help with pH, also preventing holes from getting clogued) the top 50% is a cheap innert substrate, anything that works with orchids works with these too, honestly it wasn't expensive IIRC. Also the surface was covered with live sphagnum moss to prevent evaporation and because it just looks pretty.Pic related was an early setup, where I didn't cover the whole thing with pond liner. Instead I had the perfurated flower pots inside bigger water-filled pots, but it looked uggo so I changed it.
>>4799082>>4799157and here's the very start
>>4798555Know anyone with a pet turtle?
I have three fancy goldfish and I bought another (black moor) three weeks ago and now my other three fish have fin rot and are bleeding from the inside, did the new fish introduce a disease into the tank?
>>4799213Most likely. Engage prophylactic treatments and up water changes.
I'm currently perusing the hobby and I'm interested in bioactive setups. I am also retarded. If none of this is possible, give it to me straight and you'll probably never see me again.Are bioactive setups possible? My perfect tank would be a bioactive saltwater ecosystem with corals, plants, and at least inverts.What is the minimum required maintenance to sustain live inverts? Can a water pump and light sustain the aquarium?What is the minimum required maintenance if 1 or 2 fish are introduced? Can corals, plants, and inverts be increased to sustain the ecosystem without requiring regular water changes?Related question- can you create a terrarium which includes both reptile(s) and aquatic life, preferably animalia? How large would the tank have to be? Suppose that an arboreal gecko lived in a tank with a substantial portion dedicated to a freshwater "pond" butted up against the glass.>pic semi-related
>>4799297what do you think bioactive means?how are using the word 'sustain' here?you can fairly easily have a paludarium set up with something like mourning geckos
>>4799325>bioactiveI mean a relatively complete ecosystem which requires only feeding, culling, pruning, light, and heat>sustainThe baseline is really the no water-change, minimal filter thing. Feeding and monitoring are inevitable for sustainment>paludariumI think you've got a pretty good idea of what I'm talking about with the mourning gecko paludarium.I just haven't seen anything outlining the basic reqs as far as maintenance of fish or other aquatic life goes. Like can you have a couple tiny fish that don't require a water change? What is required to accommodate this (plants, etc.)?
>>4799341Theres tons of info online regarding stocking levels and suggested filtration, and how bio filtration (which is 95% of the game) worksI think youd like Fishtory on YT, also aquariumscience.orgIts not hard or high maintenance and probably more straightforward for you to just use a sponge filter somewhere in the scape. Have a water volume around 10 gallons, and small lower load fish like ricefish, mountain minnows, feeder guppies, the smaller barbs...Emersed plants suck a ton of nutrients out of the water, so do floating plants.Reptile inhabitants is mostly limited to smaller geckosMain limitation is space - water changes are not hard at lower volumes, using a filter is not hard.
>>4799422>>4799341Also the biggest issue with this is that if reptile urates fall into the water you could easily have a huge ammonia spike since youre likely going to be working with smaller volumes of water.I cant think of another way around this except 'over filtration'. Theres no 'complete ecosystem' of a small gallon amount that can assuredly handle a random dump from a day gecko right into the water. I guess thats when you want incredibly hardy fish or fish you wont be too sad to lose, like feeder guppies. All the fish I mentioned may seem ugly in online pics, but theyre still quite pretty in person
I have obtained cherry barbs. I went fish store to browse. This is of course a bad idea. Going to fish store to look and see what's available without any particular plan. In any case they had cherry barbs, which they often don't, and cherry barbs were on the list of to-get at some point. So. I have cherry barbs. They are slightly smaller than my cherry shrimp at this time and therefore not large enough to be incompatible just yet. I am thinking about putting together a nano tank dedicated just for the shrimp instead of having them in my larger community.
>>47992971. yes in fact bioactivity is basically mandatory in aquatics. research the nitrogen cycle. clarification in >>4799341 makes it a little more specific but you can absolutely manage systems like that, in saltwater context you usually use something like a sump with macroalgae. Corals are significantly more sensitive than anything else and also tend to be expensive so I hesitate to recommend skipping immediately to this. Be prepared to do water changes and some work until you have a balanced system set up. Once you achieve balance is when the tank can potentially run itself depending on stocking.2. Literally zero if we're talking stuff like cherry shrimp (freshwater). You will get better results, particularly with growth and breeding, with focused feeding though.3. Potentially almost zero beyond feeding and minor adjustments but it all depends on the stocking level4. Yes though in my experience, they often end up being more work than just keeping a separate terrestrial and aquatic setup. I haven't heard of anyone doing this in saltwater since the saltwater stuff that would be favorable for this (hermit crabs, mudskippers) tend to be destructive. Most of the work in an aquarium is the setup, IF you get that right, or close enough to right. And on your first tank you probably wont and there will be problems you spend months tweaking. But as long as you're willing to sit down and wait most problems will work themselves out if the system is well designed.
>>4799484Kino choice anon, congratulations.I second the shrimp only tank, but might have a different approach for you to consider that worked for me.Get the nano tank up and running, and when your ready, only pull out your nice shrimp, leave the lower grade ones in with the barbs.You will hopefully end up with a nice grade shrimp tank, and the shrimp living with the barbs will start getting different colorations to hide themselves from the barbs. That's what I have seen from my left over shrimp colony hiding from my angel pair. They become like snails, just going around the tank doing their job, not showing off. It's also easier culling neos in a shrimp only tank, and with the barb tank the culls have a home. It's just convenient, and the shrimplets might end up as a good source of live food too.
>>4799497That's a good idea. I will probably wind up doing that.
>>4799425Urates may be fairly consistent due to regular mist runoffSmall and expendable animals are definitely the plan. Flashy colors are not needed. Part of the question is how large does a tank need to make the ecosystem resilient (or resilient enough to establish equilibrium).My current impression is I have to research and fill each niche in the ecosystem, and then determine relative population ratios.Assembly: dead stuff added, bacteria added, plants added, springtails and isopods added, gecko(s) added, water tested and tweaked for equilibrium, aquatic species/ fish addedI will look into the resources you provided.>>4799491The saltwater aquarium is more for a reef concept and the paludarium is more for a freshwater/terrestrial vibe.This is kind of the impression that I had, I just expected these goals (low maintenance tanks and diverse terrariums) to be more common.I have mostly seen the saltwater reefs with frequent water changes or no vertebrates.I have mostly seen paludariums with 1. fish + terrestrial plants, 2. amphibians/turtles + fish, or 3. reptiles + invertebrates. Reptiles and fish seems appealing from a care and aesthetic perspective, if it's possible, but it might be too much of a balancing act to invest in both the aquatic and terrestrial elements. I like the idea of shrimp. I might settle for that if fish are impossible.
>>4799484post full pic of tank, also theres no way your tank is cycled, your fish are in for a rough time and you may have some deaths
>>4799503the desire for these things is common, the ability to attempt to execute it and even have it succeed are a separate issue
>>4799510>>4799508>>4799503i was a tard and posted before reading that youve added bacteriai hope your system does succeed anon, it would be very neat
>>4799508>theres no way your tank is cycledhuh? This particular tank is eight months old. I'm not bioactive ecosystem anon. Maybe that's where the confusion came from.
>>4798559Right on. Ideally I'd like to get some kind of equilibrium between snails and snail eaters, but I don't want to get too few assassins (and nothing happens) or too many assassins (which would eventually turn into another problem).I guess I could get 3 or 4 to make an immediate impact and then once I get the numbers down regift 2 or maybe even 3 of them in order to get back to normalcy.>>4798562I like 'em (especially ramshorns, they're cool), I just don't want an entire tank filled with them.>>4799210No, maybe I should find someone with a turtle or a pea puffer or something though. I'm leaning toward assassins instead because then they would do the work for me instead of me having to catch, bottle, and transport a fuckload of snails.
> catch a glimpse of the tank as the lighting is starting its transition from daytime to moonlight> the hints of blue looks really neat against the green light from the plants and the cool tinted lighting in the living room> grab phone, take a picture> picture comes out looking nothing like what I saw> lights have become too dim to take another oneFucking figures
>>4799503Check out Dr Plants. Yes, his voice is annoying and he has a hideous nose, but he has:1) a nano reef tank where he doesn't do water changes, just tops off with distilled water. He relies on macro algae and soft corals to get rid of nutrients.2) a paludarium with shrimp, crabs, and geckos. He says that one is also low maintenance.There is another channel, that has some sort of saltwater paludarium, basically sloped the sand to make a beach. It has land hermit crabs and aquatic hermit crabs; although the setup itself is ugly.
>>4799157>anything that works with orchids works with these tooThanks I'll look into it. I'll also probably just put a big pot in the pond and let the venus flytraps grow.
I randomly got into crayfish a week ago and i fell in love, i didn't expect i'd be this interested but it's genuinely fun seeing the guy crawl and digging around on active hoursMakes me wanna try a crab setup but i heard they need landmass and i don't know if i can pull off a paludarium
>>4799603Try a nano reef tank with blue legged hermit crabs.Mine are always hanging out together, I didn't expect them to be such social animals.Picrel at the bottom is my largest crab.
>>4799603If you are not opposed to a terrarium you could also consider Geosesarma land crabs. They only need bathing dishes, not a full paludarium
Hello, I had this brown algae start growing on my rocks recently and Im certain its not dangerous for the fish but I dont like how it looks so I want to get rid of it. I have few ramshorn snails and they wont eat it and no other fish will why is that?
>>4799750Get the toothbrush out and start scrubbing if you're that bothered. Very few things actually consume algae preferentially, if you're feeding other stuff that your snails like then they won't be good at clean up duty. Diatoms like this normally go away over time, how old is your tank?
>>4799754Its about 3 months old. I have it lightly stocked with a single dwarf gourami and 5 assorted plattys
>>4799503one of the reasons that paludariums aren't done more is for them to not be shit you generally need to build a custom enclosure or do significant modifications. All non shit paludarium setups where you will have stock in both the aquatic and terrestrial areas need a hard barrier between the upland terrestrial area with substrate. Usually starting with a tall ExoTerra or something and siliconing in an additional pane to make a small mini-aquarium and then siliconing in a filter box area under the terrestrial portion, or hiding plumbing down there into a sump or canister, but that's kind of dumb in most setups too because unless you're building a full custom enclosure your water area usually wont exceed ~10 gallons. You can run it no filter but that's dangerous in a system with something larger in the terrestrial portion. Plants can remove nitrogenous waste but dont fully deal with DOCs which are usually consumed by heterotrophic bacteria within a filter so you can easily end up with dangerous blooms. A classic combo that would also exist irl is guppies+dart frogs, just make sure you have plenty of sticks and climbables in the water feature to make sure any frogs that fall in can get out, they're poor swimmers. You can also do a more aquatic frog like an african reed frog which minimizes the need for a terrestrial area. Arboreal geckos also work well in this sort of setup, particularly cresteds. All of them can swim (including non-caledonian arboreals like day geckos and tokays) but larger/heavier ones tend to be less good at it.as for low maintenance being a common goal, I think it is to some degree but keep in mind that when you zoom in on nature irl its usually pretty ugly/boring compared to a human arrangement like a garden or scape. Nature's majesty tends to come out at scale. So a small 'natural' system generally looks worse than one that is maintained more meticulously.
>>4799759Bit late for the "diatom" stage but I still wouldn't worry about it. Eventually your snails will help with it.
>>4799080You don't want to have a rocky substrate with koi as they spend a lot of time on the bottom rooting. They can easily bruise themselves badly.
>>4799769>zoom in on nature irl its usually pretty ugly/boring compared to a human arrangement like a garden or scapeYeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
>>4799550The nano reef is a big inspiration. I'll have to rewatch that. I was hoping to introduce a fish, but I'm not sure if that would be prohibitively difficult.Same deal with the paludarium- I really like the idea, but I wonder if fish can be introduced.>>4799769Guppies and some species of small arboreal gecko (maybe not mourning due to population concerns) is the current vision.I am anticipating that this would require a custom tank, but that doesn't seem to be too difficult. You bring up a good point about the structures which elevate the terrestrial portion. I wonder if it would be too tacky to create something like a graded shelf which extends from the back wall- think like an ocean cave. Maintenance would be difficult on an ocean-level light unless it's outside the tank, which I'm not sure is realistic. It seems like there's no way to avoid algae buildup on the light.>>4799805Yes, relatively boring nature is fine- it's the life and ecosystem that I want- seems like a question of logistics and ratios/an/ autists are so much friendlier than the other boards :)Feel free to rip apart my concept sketch ms paint ftw
Are there any snails other than trumpet snails that will turn over substrate?
>>4799936Hercules snails and faunus ater both do, they're both pretty good size though. Assassin snails will also burrow.
You guys are so smart and knowledgeable... Wish I could get into this stuff…
>>4799942You can keep fish in a plastic tub with a sponge filter
>>4799942Hundreds of fish died to bring you this knowledge.You should give it a shot.
How much would it cost to set up a 10 gallon shrimp tank with live plants? Is that a good setup for someone new to aquariums? What are the best resources for learning to do that well? I have cats, so I would need to armor the aquariums, but I've kept them out of a hamster enclosure before, so I'm not too worried about that.
I bought a new fancy goldfish and added him to my tank and now all my fish are dead from fin rot and internal bleeding. I took a water sample to a fish store and the guy said my water quality was good and he said the new fish might have introduced a disease to the tank.
>>4800068>How much would it cost to set up a 10 gallon shrimp tank with live plants?Dirt cheap - just find a used aquarium that holds water on FB marketplace, and a cheap light for the plants.The rocks, sand, and plants - depends where you live, but you should be able to get all that from a hike. Alternatively, make friends with people who have planted tanks, and wait until they do maintenance - free plants!If you have cherry shrimp then you don't need a heater. And shrimp have a very low bioload, so you won't need a filter either.> Is that a good setup for someone new to aquariums?Yup, that's a perfect setup - some of the shrimp from your first generation might die, but once they start having babies in your tank they're pretty much bulletproof.10gal is large enough if you ever decide to add some endlers or some celestial pearl danios (those are small fish that don't need a heater), so it's not just a shrimp tank.>What are the best resources for learning to do that well? Mark's Aquatics on youtube has a playlist for setting up a shrimp tank where he goes by the river to collect rocks, sand, and driftwood. He's annoying as fuck though, he likes to hear himself talk.Father Fish also takes a natural, dirt-cheap approach, but he's too old and fat to go into the "nay-ture" and collect things.If you decide to watch either of those, do it on 2x speed.
>>4799808>I was hoping to introduce a fishyou'd need a larger tank than what Dr Plants has. I'd go with at least a 14gal for a pair of clowns, although if you have some corals or anemones that they start hosting, they're just going to hang out in that one single spot.
>>4800068If you're starting from scratch you're probably looking at about $100 if you buy stuff from shops, there's little things you forget about. Be thrifty and buy second hand where you can though. >Tank>diy lid if it doesn't come with one>sponge filter>water conditioner>substrate for plants (gravel/sand + ferts or soil/compost base+gravel/sand cap)>hardscape (the elites don't want you to know you can take the rocks home from the park for free)>bucket>hose>net>snails (you want snails)>shrimp x10 to startThen as much as you want to spend on plants, you can never have too many plants. As a beginner grab floating plants and fast growing stems. You don't need a heater for shrimp (depending on where you are) but going without one might impact your choice of plants and if you want to add fish later.
>>4800110>there's little things you forget about>forgot lightCheap clip on led will do
>>4800110My answer was better, see >>4800098
>>4800098Can you post tank? You are very quick to recommend no heater no filter to a new shrimp keeper. I'd like to see proof of your expertise, since your so cocky here >>4800137
>>4800097Goldfish are pretty shit. High likelyhood of introducing weird pathogens, just shitting up water quality, or it being super destructive.What was that guy's definition of "good?"
>>4800150Why so butthurt?>no heaterDuh, they're cherry shrimp >no filterThere are plenty of rocks, plants, and wood to offset any need for a filter.>your so cockyLol, ESL doesn't know the difference between "your" and "you're".
>>4800155He said there was no issues with the water
>>4800164what's that other cord? i see the one going to the light, surely that's not a filter or a heater under it lmao
>>4800068To have an extremely low maintenance & pretty one I'd say around $350-Get an aquarium with an internal/back sump $80-120. Getting an equivalent canister filter would cost you more. That way you can easily add 1-2L of filter media (like Neomedia) in a 10gal.-$100 livestock. Price split between shrimp and plants depends on which shrimp kind you want to get (you may pay way more), but overstocking on plants at the start is never a bad idea, especially carpeting ones.-$40 active substrate and good filter media-$60-80 citric acid CO2 setup with solenoid. No CO2 is an easily avoidable nightmare, yeast CO2 is a meme, normal pressurised CO2 is excessive for this size and also in cost.-$30-60 Chihiros light or equivalent. Any brand that packs the most lumens per $As for resources I'd say watch any channels with ADA-like setups for best practices, even if your setup will look nothing alike (just ignore their extremely overpriced gear recommendations) rather than channels like Aquarium co-op who have no idea on how to make a balanced build and are seemingly in a decade long constant struggle of replacing dying flora, removing algea and overstocked fish shit - basically if they didn't touch their aquariums for a month they'd all look opaque brown with dead fish (avoid advice), rather than an overgrown lush jungle (follow advice).ALL of that being said, if you care about a "shrimp setup" way more than a "planted setup with shrimp", then the cost goes from $350 to $80. In that case watch shrimp breeder channels. A shoebox filled with water, maybe active substrate, desk light, ugly ass sponge filter and algea blooms for free shrimp food.
>>4800328Forgot to add: Do a Dark Start method. Basically create your setup, add active substrate and filter media, pump/filter on, keep it absolutely dark by covering the whole thing with multiple black trash bags for ~3 weeks. This will cycle your aquarium and prevent the usual first big algea/bacteria bloom. It boring waiting time but much better than the alternative.After that add your light, plants & shrimp.
>>4800328>CO2 reactor with solenoidI'd be too scared those things would explode, even if realistically the pressure would never get that high. The early plastic shit looked dangerous.
>>4800214It's for a sicce nano pump that keeps the java moss that grows out of the water moist - zoom in over that corner, the ludwigia and the frogbit covers it a bit, but you should still see it.You absolutely don't need one if you don't have stuff growing out of the water.
>>4800099Thanks, anon. I may do this.
>>4800412citric acid tanks like ZRDR's only reach 20psi, same pressure as a typical airbrush tank, which you manually instantly discharge with your naked hands through a small opening every time you turn them off to prevent moisture accumulating inside (the metal "nipple" on the glass attachment in pic related, you operate it like one of those cheap wine carton taps). It's pretty much impossible for these containers to "blow up" at such low pressures, and even if the secutiry valve vented, it does no harm even if you were touching it.Actual CO2 tanks sure, those go crazy high pressures and you may have some phobia about 'em, but not these.
>>4800458I don't see why you'd bother with something like this, you only need to pay a bit more to decent a decent regulator and a years worth of CO2. The reason everyone went for yeast was because it was dirt cheap to start up.
>>4800466The kit is 100 on Ali express, you can buy a set up co2 kit for 140 with everything (dual stage reg, solenoid, even the tubing and a drop checker) and it's 15 for a disposable 600g CO2 canister.
>>4800466On small aquariums the acid/soda recharge is like 4x a year and you do it at home. I guess some people may have trouble finding a spot to change CO2 tanks. I don't think it's the biggest factor either way.More so that ZRDR-like kits come with all you need in 1 package for cheap. At least in my region getting an actual CO2 tank + all the bits and bobs seperately would cost me at least double (just the bits are more expensive already), as they're aimed at the mid-tier market rather than entry-level stuff.
Have two honey gouramis in a heavily-planted 40gallon with lots of peaceful tankmates (corys, white clouds, tetras, loaches).Turns out both gouramis are male and the dominant male is a bully so now one is always patrolling near the top of the water margin and the other is expelled to the bottom to keep company with the corys.It's been this way for 3+ months.Would getting a female help? Worried I mess up and end up with three males...
>>4800477I would leave it alone, 40 gallons is a big space for two honey gouramis. Unless the second one is actually clearly distressed it's not a big deal.
Not sure if the photo will show it well but my Java moss is looking a bit unhealthy, kind of grey/brown rather than green. Could this be nutrient deficiency? This pic also shows a Java fern leaf that's going brown and yellow, although other plants in there (cryprocorynes, anubias, other Java ferns) are doing fine. Just checked levels - 0 ppm ammonia and nitrite, and 5-10 ppm nitrate.
>>4800540Brown patches is usually potassium deficiency.
>>4800546I'm growing a pothos plant out of the top of the tank, I wonder if it's outcompeting the submerged plants for nutrients. The bioload of the tank is probably quite low:- 30 gal- 12 neon tetras- 7 cories- 3 honey gouramis- cherry shrimp and MTS
>>4800581Possibly, if you're seeing good growth on it. Adding general fertilisers is fairly safe, maybe grab a standard liquid one and see how it looks in a few weeks.
>>4800512OK, thanks!Might get a couple more corys then.
>>4800586Fairly safe for shrimp I mean
third month of pea puffers living with shrimp, they still have not figured out that shrimp are food. continue to eat only ramshorn snails.
Has anyone else tried to grow a cuban oregano plant out of their tank. I put a branch of it in my 10 gallon and it sprouted roots in like 3 days.
Anybody know what kind of snail this is? I have nerites and ramshorns in this tank but this looks like neither.>>4800654Grew mint in my old tank for like 4 years. If it is growing roots it’s going to be okay. Keep in mind that the lack of nutrients in the medium is going to make the plants more vulnerable to pests and disease, and the presence of your aquarium is going to rule out the majority of pest control options. A heavy trim(down to a couple of inches or so) is going to be your best option in most cases, and should be done on a yearly basis anyways.
>>4800662bladder
Can fancy goldfish be kept alone or do they get lonely/depressed?
>>4801041I kept a fancy in a 15gallon with snails and shrimp as companions for 3 years, it seemed alright. Not as fun as a betta though, NGL.
>>4801041nah goldfish are okay alone
I didn't know until a few days ago that malachite green is safe for invertebrates despite many people believing otherwise; it's only called "malachite green" because of it's color being similar to the mineral. It has no copper in it.
Got a new 10g that I want to breed some fish in. Would a pair of bristlenose work or is it too small? Should I get substrate or keep it bare bottomed?
>>480130610g is kind of small for bristlenose, i use 20 longs for that usually. depends what kind of breeding you're doing, if you're trying to maximize production (usually a fools errand imo) bare bottom is the way to go for most fish and you just do a lot of manual cleaning.10s are good for livebearers imo. because if you really want to get into livebearer slamming you need 5-6 tanks to properly separate and cull for exactly what you want in your strain. i usually just colony breed them though and pick out the males I don't like and feed them to my goldfish though. also ricefish are a fun 10g project, i ordered eggs direct from nippon last year and it worked pretty good until i went on vacation and my betta decided to fucking kill them all despite getting along with them just fine for 6 months.
Little guppy male finally starting to color up. Also, thinking of 3 kuhli in a 5 gallon plant grow out, too small a tank? If not I'll just shrimp it up, but I have no room for kuhli elsewhere.
>>4801422depends on the dimensions, assuming its a relatively shallow 5g 3 might be OK but I would prefer a singleton. someone might FREAK THE HECK OUT but I'll recommend a single hillstream loach instead. Unless you're specifically infatuated with kuhlis (bad taste desu they're a much gayer and more boringer fish than hillstreams).
>>4801478I just like the kuhli look and I'm actually getting a hillstream for my 20 long. Maybe I'll get a small school of something small or just do shrimp or keep to isolate something. 5 g just slightly limited.
>>4801515yeah multiple fish in a 5 is usually too much, it can work but you're doing the maintenance, the system itself usually cant handle the fish at that volume.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuxLr1nCftcNew tanks for nothin just dropped.
I hate my state government so fucking much. Everything I want to do is illegal and I have to jump through hoops to do anything legally. The laws are so retarded that not even pet stores follow them, and they are not enforced that much at all, except for when someone reports you , and then you are pretty much fucked and made an example out of. Why was I born in the worst state ever for an /aq/tist? Why me?
>>4801748California? I wanna make a native aquarium so bad but it's all fucking illegal, even farm-raised stuff.
>>4801753Other side. I guess commifornia is worse than mine. But mine still sucks ass. I technically can't bring any fish into the state without a permit(they never give those out though) and if I do its a federal crime as well because of the lacey act. (which is funny because literally everyone does it anyways). There is a neglected whitelist of what I can have, half of stuff being sold at my LFS stores are not on that list. No invertabrates are allowed. Stocking even native baitfish into a backyard garden pond without a permit for a specific number and source location of every species is seen as illegal stocking. Etc Etc. Its psychopathic. I love my state but I want to leave it so bad at the same time.
>>4801764That is because floridaman(you) can't be trusted
>>4801777God I wish I lived in florida. Is it rulecucked over there too?
>>4801779They are most likely the reason the lacey act happened...
>>4801783retardbro the lacey act was made forever ago for wild game and has been bloating ever since with extra provisions and ammendments.
>>4801783besides, apart from subjective biosecurity puritanism, are the tropical fish in south florida actually doing much of anything "bad"?
>>4801787Conservatives don't want to accept evolution exists so they attempt to keep species from spreading around.
>>4801785Because of floridaman...>>4801787Floridaman releases lionfish, peacock bass, snakeheads, iguanas, etc into the wild>>4801788Floridaman is the peak evolution and i wont hear anything else...
>>4801788Its not really partisan. Its just big government losers and animal rights losers jerking eachother off with lobby money and pats on the back. Its so irritating how nonnative species are scapegoated as the root of all environmental evil. Its 90% sensationalism. One retarded woman working at petco told me that some of our lakes, in a state with sub zero winters for half the year, has a fucking pleco problem. Its actual retardation dogma.
>>4801799>lionfishhurricane assisted>peacock bassdeliberately stocked by gubment>iguanashurricane assisted>snakeheadsgook food farms hit by hurricanes
>>4801808>t. Floridaman
>>4801810At heart I am. At heart.
>>4801812I knew you did it, floridaman did it!
>>4801817Imagine how fun it would be to go on a fish collecting safari down there
>>4801821It would, snorkeling would be cool until a wels catfish gobbles you due to being dropped in by floridaman
>>4801829skill issue
>>4801804Isn't the plecostomus an amazon fish
>>4801788What a weird thing to say. Stop crying man
>>4801808Sorry about lionfish, pretty sure we helped chase those fuckers into there with how quickly we were killing and eating them
>>4801799>Floridaman releases lionfish, peacock bass, snakeheads, iguanas, etc into the wildBased
>>4801906KYS
>>4801687>Kulhi loaches>They make little wobbling noisesExtremely based.
>>4801921You first
What are good betta fish tankmates? I've got one living with a bunch of cherry shrimp, a bristlenose plecostomus, and misc snails, and he rarely if ever bothers them
>>4801956My female lives with a group of green neon tetras, amano shrimp, and a few panda corys. They've gotten along well for a few years.
>>4801886yes, hence the retardation
>>4801687I love this guy. He does some really fun tanks and seeing the whole process of making the tanks and how natural they look.
>>4801989I like that he actually sticks with the tanks for a long time instead of just filming them for a few weeks and tearing them down. A lot of aquarium youtubers seem to just build stuff to look nice for a few weeks without ever letting them sit long enough to develop.The funy fish noises are just icing on the cake.
>>4801997You are absolutely right. The fact that you can spot his other tanks still in the background and that he uses fish from them for newer projects means these tanks are meant to be there. This is how they work and he made them to last.
>>4801971Mine is a male so I'm pretty sure he's more aggressive than females generally speaking. Would kuhli loaches be good?
>>4802077I've had kuhlis with a male betta before. He completely ignored them other than getting startled when they do their nighttime glass-surfing. Unless he's an exceptionally angry betta, they should be fine.
Blackwater coming in nicely. Hoping to add a pair of Betta miniopinna in a couple of weeks.
I know its all random but are bettas likely to be okay with larger snails? I like the look of those yellow foot rabbit snails
I’ve lost two otocinclus in the past week no clue why I just got home from work last Friday and yesterday and found them dead at the bottom, three things I’ve noticed 1. The two otos that died may have been two I noticed weren’t shoaling with the rest 2.the bladder snail population in my tank has exploded again so another purge is in order3. A massive build up of mulm only five days after I vac’d the gravel and the once clear water is getting a greenish tint Twenty gallon tank, stock as follows>currently seven otos>four ramshorns>one betta >three spotted corys>two panda corys>three red root floaters>hornwort>a shitload of Java fern>one Amazon sword The jungle brand test strips from Walmart are showing deadly amounts of ammonia (also falling apart while I’m testing) but the API strips I bought off amazon are showing safe levels
>>4802212Mine always totally ignored the grown apple snails, but tries to eat tiny snails.
>>4802231Test strips are shit, even the liquid tests aren't particularly accurate. Otos are very sensitive so you probably just disturbed the substrate too much with your vac causing ammonia spike which isn't immediately uptaken by plants weakening the otos.
>>4802212They won't kill, but they'll go for the antenna/eyeballs(yeah, I'm retard). I noticed my old mystery snails would cruise with them tucked in.
>>4802235I'm not so bothered if a ramshorn or whatever gets attacked but if it's a larger snail I'd feel bad.
>>4802234>even the liquid tests aren't particularly accurateI don't know if I agree. I've used API liquid tests for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates and the results align pretty well with what I'd expect from the volume of water replaced.
My betta fish is dying, i'm 5 years in to this hobby and have tons of fish like rainbow fish, gouramis, corydoras and stuff.But my bettas always dies in 3 months even when i do everything perfectly the water is perfect, the temperature and the food is great but they always dies in 3 months.
>>4802253My initial response is that clearly it's not perfect. But the not-asshole in me wants to point out that male long finned bettas are very short lived due to inbreeding, and if your tap water is particularly hard they could have problems adjusting.Add more filtration and duckweed, skill issue.
>>4802254My last three bettas were female ones that I got for less than a dollar each. I'm aiming for the ideal setup, but I'm stuck on what to do. I was hoping for a solution, but the issue of inbreeding is holding me back, and it feels like there's not much I can do about it. >Adding more filtration and duckweed might helpbut I think it's more about improving my skills in managing the tank. It's a 30-liter tank with filtration running at 500 liters per hour, and it's filled with plenty of plants, with no other fish in it.
>>4802261Filter turnover doesn't really matter, beyond bare minimum (> 50% volume/hr), surface area is more important.Slap a sponge filter or three in there, and you should never have a problem. Make sure you've got Malaysian Trumpet Snails for turning over substrate, too.
Got a new 7 gallon tank, will be planting it after a few weeksI'm thinking of keeping cherry shrimp in here but I'm open to other options. Pea puffers maybe? Any suggestions?
I've been putting guppy fry into my betta tank to feed him. If he can't catch it right away, he just ignores it. There's now 2 guppies that have grown to maturity in his 3gallon tank.
>>4802410Pea puffers will absolutely murder cherry shrimp, just FYI, so you'll have to pick one or the other.For smaller tanks like that, I prefer groups of very small fish. You could easily have a group of 10 chili rasboras in there with some shrimp. A small school of galaxy rasboras (or emerald rasboras if you have harder water) would also work. Anchor catfish are a good pick for a bottom dweller as they're tiny and make basically no waste.If you want something more advanced, you could go with a scarlet badis or a few clown gobies. Both species prefer live or frozen food so they can be more tricky to care for. Depending on how heavily you plant, you could have a pair of African dwarf frogs in there with them if you're not plantmaxxing, though you need to understand that they're actually retarded and need to be target-fed.Finally, there's always the tried-and-true betta/dwarf gourami option. They're probably the most interactive fish you'll get at that size.
>>4802410>>4802475You can get lucky on a dice roll, but ultimately if they aren’t fed well enough or they decide randomly that day, they will eat your shrimp. Mine have left alone amano shrimp most of all, but it’s a tense peace.Unrelated.I was cleaning my tank today, when I noticed an odd looking shrimp. Looked closer, and it’s a fucking crayfish. How the hell did you get in here you fuck?! Not sure if it’s a coincidence that one of my longer lived amanos are dead, but who knows. Should I remove him? I don’t really have a safe place for a crayfish, and I’ve only heard they’re murderous…Sorry for the bad picture.
>>4802475Oh no, I meant a pea puffer only tank. Not sure what will fit this scape best. Any ideas?I'll be planting after my dark start. The plants I'm thinking of using areBackground: Crypt balansaeMidground: Repens and crypt parva On the wood: Random anubias and maybe bucephelandra?
>>4802493He’s gone now, I can’t find him. It’s so over.
>>4802493Remove him. That's some sort of larger shrimp/prawn and will systemically genocide the rest of the tank if you don't remove him. The amano was only the first victim.
>>4802534Guess it’s time to hunt him down then, remove rocks and such
>>4798545sup brosflorida boy reporting back after a long hiatus..everything in my tank but the Java fern, rocks, and other plant on the right I forgot the name of came from native Springs.I had some killifish hatch in my tank that I'll try to make a webm of later
>>4802545Good luck, if you don't get at the first grab it'll probably recognize you as a threat and go full ghost mode.t. Had 5 of them come misidentified as some rare African shrimp.
>>4802231>>three red root floaterswill barely do anything for the ammonia spike, get some duckweed like a pro.
>>4802261>for less than a dollar eachfrom petsmart/petco? because those stores are shit and will give you trash; i never buy fish from them.
>>4802410Cherry shrimps and any dwarf rasboras will look great on that set up. A pair of sparkling gouramis are also great but they'll eat all the cherry shrimplets unless the tank is heavily planted.
>>4802410Just plant heavy and let shrimp establish a bit before the puffers and you should be fine. I have 3 in a ten with pygmy cory and cherries and everybody is doing fine Maybe I'm lucky, but outside persistence and little intelligence, a pea puffer doesn't pose much more threat to the shrimp than any other nano fish. Here's some mosquitoe larvae I fed the little guys today.
>>4802590I caught him, luckily, and removed him. I just added a batch of new amanos, I was not playing with his fuckass.
>>4802670In my experience, if you give the puffers plenty of live food and food that they can hunt (like sneakily adding in snails, etc.), they won’t go very hard on your shrimp. As long as the shrimp have places to hide, too. I lost a sadly high number of shrimp when I was trying to get my puffers to switch to frozen food. I since gave that up and have a supply of black worms and snails.
>>4798782>>4798788Which one is better, FX6 or Eheim Professional 3? They cost about the same in my LFS.
Any idea what kind of snail this is? A bunch of them hitchhiked in on some plants I bought locally. They seem to wear their shells sideways
Any fun ideas for a 5 gallon cube that arent pea puffers?I was wondering if a low ph blackwater with neons could work, maybe even have the tank in a state that theyll actually breed in tank successfully
>>4802162Moody.I dig it.Blackwater betta tanks just do something for me.
How obvious are shrimp molts? I've had these lads for a few weeks and it looks like they've gotten bigger but I thought I would've seen some evidence of them going through the process by now.
>>4802914I've only seen cherry shrimp molts like four times and I've had them for months and seen many babies born and grow. They probably just eat them quickly and do it in a seemingly secure location.
>>4802842ramshorn.
>>4802579… is that a phone in there??
>>4802864More gallons.
>>4803047
>>4802914I rarely see cherry shrimp molts in my tanks but my amanos leave huge ones behind.
My girl's got this white lump growing around the edge of her eye. Anyone know what this js and any treatments?
>>4798555I got rid off snails by heating the sand in an oven for an hour or so.
>>4803202>imagine the smell
>>4803056I do hope that’s not a bar of copper
I'm thinking about catching one of these dudes and putting it in a tank. Do wild crabs live in tanks? I just wanna grow a megacrab.
>>4803211it does good in captivity
>>4803049Ive got the cube for free, Im doing something with it - itd be nice to have a desk tank.Im currently thinking sparkling gourami, shrimp cube, green neons, betta, or vampire crabs.
>>4803003>>4802842"Mini ramshorn" actually, they're much smaller and have their shells sideways. There's actually several described species that are very similar other than locality, so idk actual species, but Google mini-ramshorn and you'll find plenty of other people with them. They're harmless as any other pest snail, but don't burrow and seem to hatch out from eggs faster than bladder or ramshorn snails, ime.
>>4803229I think they lay eggs underwater on the class, looks like small translucent patches with little dots.
Tangerine Tiger and Malawa shrimp are massively underrated and should be as commonly seen as neos.
>>4803237Don't the Malawa/Sulaweezy shrimp explode if the parameters aren't perfect?
>asshole gourami on his usual routine bullying a new conspecific half his size>the new conspecific is a t-bar cichlid and is already standing his ground within a week of being introducedGouramis really are the yapping dogs of the aquarium. Like he cant even do anything with his bitch lips, just chases around till shit gets real and all he can do is swim around trying to look big.
>>4803239Different Malawa shrimp. Sulawesi Cardinal Shrimp (Caridina dennerli) do, indeed, fucking die if under 7.6ph or above 400 TDS, and breed like autistic pandas.Mawala shrimp (Caridina pareparensis), picrel, are as bulletproof as neos. Basically any parameters they'll do fine in. Two downsides are they are slightly slower to breed and grow than neos, and haven't been successfully smashed and slammed for colors.
>>4803250>7.6 ph and rock hard waterShit, an animal that's fine with my tap water? I need to get me some of these boys.
>>4803047yea it's a bricked iPhone I found kayaking. told you everything came from our wonderful florida wildernessgonna need help with a fish ID. I'll try to post a better webm
alright so I've settled on killifish but if anyone can provide further ID that would be pretty coolsomething native to Florida
>>4803339>>4803301Look like juvie blue fin kilies
>>4803343nah that ain't it bro. no horizontal stripe, no blue.there is a tinge of red at the back of the dorsal fin. they also should be pretty grown up by now, saw them pop up in the tank a couple months ago.I think Pic related is a female because it doesn't seem do have the same pattern as the others and it also gets bullied relentlessly by the other 3
>>4803366>>4803343>>4803339>>4803301did some more googling...I'm going with rainwater killifish
>>4803366Lucania parvaSame genus as bluefin. Sorry for messing up tho lol
if anyone ever thought about keeping crayfish don't use sponge filterapparently the little fucker likes to nibble on it, i've been wondering why it got blotchy
>>4803368Das it manehow can I get them to propagate
Do these lil niggas actually eat bladder snails?
>>4803579I’ve never seen them do it actively. I’m sure they eat leftovers, but my puffers do most of the work.
>>4803579Kuhlis dont really eat snails, other types of loaches do. Look at their mouths, the snail eating loach mouths are pointier than kuhli loaches
how much cleaning do I need to do if I keep pea puffers? as in, with all the empty snail shells around how often do I need to vacuum it all out? will it affect the water if I don't?
>>4803920>will it affect the water if I don'tYou better not be the 5gal guy.
>>4803204It's ok, it's pure.
I purchased a fourth fancy goldfish for my 80 gallon/300 litre aquarium and he was carrying a disease that infected and killed my three goldfish. Now Pluto, Neptune and Venus are dead :(
>>4804049Sorry to hear, anon.Unfortunately for many, freshwater quarantining is not something typically discussed within the hobby.Mostly, or explicitly, people will ask for ammonia/nitrate levels to establish whther or not a tank is truly cycled and that the filtration media has sufficiently establish bacteria or if larger biomedia or water changes need to be addressed as goldfish are literally shit-machines.Both views are valid, IMO and not mutually exclusive.
>>4803579Never heard of one doing so firsthand.It's like one of those weird myths that people parrot. Kuhli loaches eat bladder snails, all peppermint shrimp/copperband butterfly fish will always eat aiptasia, Marilyn Manson had a pair of ribs removed so he could suck his dick.
>have shrimp and neon 16 gallon tank>filter is clogging every 10 days>it is a small filter so I buy a bigger one>it has a traslucid box so I can check the filter's color>nice>notice a shrimp has gone inside>decide to let it slide, if it came in it can come out>notice even more shrimp inside grazing on the filter>now like 30% of my shrimp population must be inside the filterThey seem happy inside. I don't really know if they can come out on their own. I will provide pictures later in the day and tell me what you think of this.
>>4804042Im the 5 gallon guy, and I dont want pea puffers. Whats your problem?Im probably going to put just shrimp in it. Maybe a sparkling gourami, or chilis
What's the best placement for two powerheads on opposite sides of a 36" long tank? I think one on each side, but how best to circulate with no dead spots? Middle of each small side, one pointing down toward the substrate and one towards the surface?
>>4804193Put a sponge on the intake to prevent them from getting in
How the fuck does featherfoil even survive in the wild wtf>have featherfoil>it grows tall>also have frogbit>it grows long roots that get so long I trim them every few weeks>have to pull the frogbit to give the roots a haircut>whatever light connection the frogbit roots have made to the featherfoil is enough to cause the featherfoil to uproot when I pull the frogbit (gently) upwardsI'm done with this pussy plant.
>>4804365i don't think it matters all that much
>>4804193shrimp like living in filters, free food comes to them. every tank that has a filter box of some kind and no foolproof shrimp excluder will eventually result in a population of shrimp living in the filter. i had a few invade an undergravel filter once and i had morlock shrimp living by nibbling plant roots and biofilms down there.
Anyone wanna send some frozen mysis to NZ.Everyone is out.
>>4804365Depends on everything and depending on the growth rates in your tank, can change on a weekly basis. Shift shit around when you see stagnation and detritus buildup.Chaos baby.
>>4804245Idk man, 5gal is just tiny IMO.Yes, IMO, to each their own.
>>4804076> Marilyn Manson had a pair of ribs removed so he could suck his dick.Thank you for reminding me of that
>>4805076:D
>Overhear lady giving store clerk shit for having 'diseased fish>Mfw shit nigz I better check in on this totally private conversation to the whole store>This if the 5th goldfish I've bought from YOUR STORE that has passed on diseases and problems to my already healthy fish>Bitch rolling with a dozen medium to large shubunkin in her 'whole' 250L tank>Bubble filter>No substrate>Refuses to buy into "the moneypit" of test kits when her tank is fine>Clerk refunds her last 3 purchases, despite no refund policy>Denies sale to said dumb bitch when she tries to buy another 5 shubunkin with refunded money>Denies sale of any livestock>"You are free to spend the refunded money on filters, I would recommend this aquis 1200 with a spray bar and I will throw in a free gravel vac and 3 bags of gravel but please bring in some tank water for us to test and evaluate your current tank water">RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE I WANT TO BUY FISH>Fucking duty manager hiding in the corner watching this all unfold
>>4804944Based undergrounder shrimp
So I have a little 5g for a planted/shrimp tank. Gonna introduce low-tech CO2. I've done it in the past with literally sugar and yeast in a 2L bottle. Last time I did it I just had the CO2 output in front of a powerhead to break up the bubbles and distribute it. I'm about to order a new powerhead, albeit a tiny one. Do the little maxijets allow me to pipe the CO2 line straight into it? How should I do this? I'm gonna have a bubble counter and all that too. Pic related: the way I did it in my old tank.
Are Sunsuns a meme? I saw their huge ass canister going for 150 eurobucks, about a third of what an equivalent name brand filter costs. Their smaller cans cost even less. Will it disintegrate and spill water all over my floor if I get one?
>>4805748>Chinesium anythingAbsolute false economy. The savings isn't just in the plastic, it's in the motor - weak as shit that'll turn into a trickle as soon as a speck of mulm hits it. Just buy an eheim and be done with it. I've got 3 classic 600s running for over 10 years no problems.
>>4805774I currently run a classic 350, but I'm looking to upgrade to a bigger tank and the insanely low price of those filters stuck out to me. I guess some deals are too good to be true.
>>4805798Even best case scenario and they don't crap out on you, they're exceptionally inefficient in wattage vs flow rate compared to better brands. Whatever savings you make now would end up being spent on energy later. Better to buy once, cry once etc.
>>4805137I refuse to believe that people who know what a Shubunkin is can behave like this
>>4805963Shubunkin are upperclass goldfish and as a person of refined tastes, I am also smart enough to not kill them. How dare you imply otherwise.
>>4806015>picjejjin’
>>4805076Can't everyone do that? Like, rib removal? Why? I'm not gettin it.
>>4803579Dude at the local place has some Uber Noodles. They're those yellow/chocolate banded ones like that pic. Shit you not, those fuckers are every bit of 6 inches long and FAT(giggedy). He dumps in RAMSHORNS. They ate em. Never would've believed it. I think he's messing with me. Ain't no damn way those are *just* khulis, right? But yeah, that's the first I've ever seen of em going after snails. Chains and yoyos, they'll eat em all day.
>>4806044My kuhlis eat snails when they can get under their shells and suck em out before they retract. When I see a few too many ramshorns near the front glass I'll crush em for the kuhlis to eat, they come straight for them.As for species, there are a lot of microspecies found across the malenesian islands that have slight differences, but get caught and shipped out as "kuhli loach" all the same. Apparently the vast majority in the trade aren't even true "Pangio kuhlii". So they very well could have a rare species that's larger than most others.
>>4806103Huh, that's neat as hell. I didn't know that. Thanks!
Goldfish love eating duckweed apparently
>>4806037I mean, I guess? Don’t see the point though. Other than to suck your own dick, of course.
>>4805748purely anecdotal, but my sunsun has been fantastic. It's been running on my 75 gallon for about 5 years and I've only broke it down for cleaning maybe 4 times. I've had more trouble from my other Oase 350 on a 15 gallon, which is a much more expensive filter on a much smaller tank. The sunsun is as solid as any other filters I've set up or maintained or witness. I may have got one that was made on a Wednesday, who knows, with any filter your milage may vary. Just make sure they got good customer service for warranties and parts, because every filter needs some kind of maintenance eventually
>>4805872is your energy that expensive? I'd say at most the cost difference in power for cheap vs expensive filters wouldn't be more than a dollar or two a month, given apples to apples specs. If you saved $100 on the filter, then that would take almost a decade to make up the cost with power consumption alone. The discrepancy between sunsun and other filters isn't as wide as you claim it to be.https://youtu.be/K50wcEWOpYY?si=PH12Ed1Odm40rHXO
>>4805020Yea its not a size I would have purchased for myself but as I said, I got it free. Its not worth trying to resell, and theres some things that will do fine in it, so Im gonna use it
>>4806171I thought everyone could do that, is what I meant. I was confused about getting ribs out to do it. Damn, feel a little better about myself now, I guess, lol.
One day we will stop talking about sucking our own dicks
Are Hillstream loaches possible in a low-flow tank?
>>4806758ignore the name, was meant for an off-topic thread
>>4806758absolutely. warm water tanks too. people will karen over them sometimes but I have found they will do fine from the upper 50s to the low 80s. kept them in sponge filter tanks and hillstream ones. Size range from 20 up, probably even as low as a 10 but will need more focused feeding.
>>4805963Just work retail for a month or so and you'll experience levels of entitlement and retardation that you've never previously thought possible. It's honestly a job everyone should do once in their life, if only just to teach them to not be massive jackasses to random cashiers and the like.
>>4806128Goldies will eat anything
>>4806128its why imo every fishroom should have some goldfish. i love turning every pest/weed into a resource. really just like completely changes my relationship with things. Same deal with snails, get some loaches or small puffers and suddenly you no longer have a snail problem, you have free food. duckweed is also great for feeding herbivorous/detrivore insects, i feed it to dubia roaches that i then feed to my lizards.
>>4807276Careful about adding floaters to high humidity terrariums. I have red root floaters flowering and growing in the section that gets direct misting 3 times a day, growing that way since I dumped a handful into the terrarium in March or February. The isopods and springtails fucking murdered the duckweed tho, that stuff fully dessicates in about 5 minutes.
>>4807281i have never had any luck with red root floaters and even all of my frogbit died for some reason, I had it going good for several years and it just all died off. Now I only have duckweed
cherry shrimp tank of 3 years here. just suffered a mass die-off from 60 or so shrimp, down to 12-15 after a month of daily deaths. i assumed my tank needed to cycle again. pulling out botanicals (magnolia leaves) - it smells like rot, or a sulfide stench, but the water smells normal. tests reveal nothing about the condition of the water. males die more often than females. females will successfully molt. they die standing, until they fall. performed a 50% water changes for two days... die offs slowed to 5-3 a day down to 1-2. moderately planted. dosing nilocg. seed shrimp population is booming, as well as ramshorn, so it cannot be copper. any takes? if not, I'll be performing 10% water changes and updating on this. it's likely just a minicycle.
>>4807703Are temperature swings a possibility? Whats the PH and TDS? Old tank syndrome is a possibility too, even if you're getting clean ammonia/nitrate tests, stuff like dissolved solids and old organics might be causing it. Make sure your getting test water down near the substrate for accurate results of their living conditions.Last thing would be checking for a parasite of some kind, but I highly doubt that.
>>4806733seems unlikely>>4806758>>4806759>reveals himselflol
>>4807195I work hospitality which is kinda like retail on roids and yeah it gets pretty bad. Definitely put things into perspective for me
I just set up a couple of jars for some opae ulas, they're not in yet waiting a couple of weeks for algae growth and making sure water stays stable.What would be a better permanent lighting solution for jars? The tops are glass but they obscure a lot of light, light coming from the back would probably be better, that's where the chaeto is anyway
>>4807769Can you replace the tops with something more transparent? You could get an foldable desk lamp and adjust it accordingly.
>>4807779>an*a
>>4803211They actually keep your subtrate clean and poo managed. However - they're called "mudbugs" for a reason and will dig things up to create dens.Also they will, if they can, eat their room mates.
>>4807779I don't think it would be worthwhile replacing the tops, seems like a lot of effort for marginal improvementI do like the folding desk lamp idea though, I will look into that, thanks anon
>>4807703Sometimes some tanks just mysteriously turn into shrimp death hazards with no clear expanation. The cause is usually some sort of bacterial infection or change in water chemistry (tap water bullshit, co2 injection, alkalinity drops) that leads to this scenario. Also worth noting that, in the very long term, shrimp populations tend to collapse due to extreme inbreeding if you don't cycle part of your population between tanks.I have one particular 30g tank that will kill all shrimp I place in it 100% of the time. They get lethargic and die. All other tanks do just fine and the rest of the microfauna does pretty well.
>>4807732pH 7.6, GH 6, KH 8. temperature swings are not possible, it's at room temp. no parasites, i've done external (and sadly internal) pickings through the bodies. OTS seems to be likely.>>4807842finicky creatures. waiting until tomorrow afternoon to see if the 10% WC helped.
Is it possible to keep diving beetles ?
>>4807885Another weird guess, you mentioned they are dying standing up. Could it be an electrical thing from a dodgy connection?I'm taking it as they aren't dying from a failed molt, which is very odd in my opinion.Good luck with the colony though, >picrel ~1 month old blue bolt baby feelsgoodman
>"you don't need a filter or do water changes bro, it's all a seachem fluval conspiracy">"oh yeah you sometimes just get massive die offs after a year, completely random and unavoidable no way to know what happened :("Love this general as always.
>>4803579Do you think I could put 3 of these in a 5 gallon well planted tank?
>>4807896Sure, bugsincyberspace regularly sells them. Or just catch your own
>>4807926>Could it be an electrical thing from a dodgy connection?That seems very unlikely, a shoddy connection coming into contact with water would almost certainly trip a breaker.
>>4806628Did did this guy just admit to sucking or attempted sucking his own dick?...
>>4808031Every single man attempts it at some point. Not that you would know, woman.
Moved the hardscape around in my 120L. Still seems like not enough space for my 4 pearl gouramis. They just keep growing.
>>4807896I’m more interested in diving spiders >>4808036lol
>>4807942Father fish has the blood of millions of fish in his hands.
What will eat half a centimeter scuds but not 2 cm young cherry shrimp. I dont care if they eat babies my shrimp arent breeding anyway but I hate seeing the scuds in the open and it makes me not want to look at my tank
>>4808064Whats in the tank to the right?
>>4807885OTS is just high nitrates. You can test it and find out. If it’s under 100, it’s not OTS. Probably more like 200, but you would have nasty algae problems long before a die-off.Maybe they are fragile to temperatures above 84° (both from metabolic and epidemiological reasons) but there’s not enough data to know for sure.
>>4808148Idk, a betta? Lots of fish around this size tend to ignore fully grown shrimp but will gladly eat fry and smaller invertebrates. There’s still the risk of eating an adult or two but it won’t be a genocide.
>>4808144Father fish is a parody channel that some autists took seriously for some reason
>>4808144>>4808164QRD?
>>4808036Nah nigga u gay af frfr
>>4808150Needs TLC. A lot of hair and blackbeard algae. There's been a few storms lately though so I don't want to mess with it in case the Cories have been breeding. Nothing seems to grow in this tank anymore. hopefully it'll pick up soon.
>>4807978No, stop trying to put loaches in tiny footprints. They use their space. >>4808154No it isn't - nitrates are both easily managed and easily tested for. What is building up are micronutrients and heavy metals, but neither of those are easily measurable or solvable (besides, yknow, changing the water now and again), so people who have never seen it or experienced it repeat "it's high nitrates" as if all pre-internet fish keepers were literal retards.>>4807703Do you have burrowing snails? Sounds like something may have gotten trapped and released - anything dead accessible will get taken care of quickly by the seed shrimp and ramshorns, so I'm assuming it's underground that got disturbed somehow.
>>4808148Scuds are cool lil dudes
>>4807273Seems so. Pellets, flakes, plants, small snails. I've seen mine inhaling and spitting out sand like he's eating small creatures in the substrate, and half of his poops are green from the duckweed
>>4808144What's he got to do with it?
>>4808148Any kind of Cichlid should work.
>>4808148The least killifish in my tank hunted my scuds to extinction, climaxing in heat+surprise filter death-induced low oxygen event that saw all the critters hanging at the surface for about 6 hours while I fixed it.
>>4808148>>4808330 (me)Scratch that, I didn't see that your shrimp were 2cm. Maybe try some pea puffers?
>>4808332Pea puffers will destroy the cherry shrimp
Damn bitch when are you gonna drop your load
What are the best aquarium substrates, accounting for price? I want to set up a twenty gallon after only having ten gallons with rocks and sand. Can you just buy dirt from Lowes and have a good substrate that plants will thrive in and not break the bank?
>>4808528pool filter sand is about the right granule size. Not pseudo gravel, not powder. Rinsing required. If you want to grow stuff then yes you can do organic potting soil with a sand cap. When I say organic potting soil I just mean it's certified plain fucking dirt without fertilizers added.
>>4808530IME pool filter sand or even quartz sand is too fine.Gets displaced by mulm, you can't vac it well and it just starts to look like shit.Something a bit darker/grainier is more ideal, especially if you want anything that feeds via root.
How many hastatus cories can I fit in a 15g (almost) dutch tank? Any other fish recommendations that aren't boring/overused?
>>4808580There's no such thing as a stocking limit or overstocking. That's a BS myth.
>>4808580>hastatus Have you got them yet? Please post pics when you do, I have been hunting for some to buy for too damn long.My vote is ember tetra, maybe a bit basic but no one ever has them fed properly, and under good lighting, they glow orange. Good contrast with a lush green tank too.
>>4808586Haven't bought them yet, but here's a photo of them from the store. I'm thinking of red penguin tetras, a somewhat new and fairly expensive species to the hobby. Anyone have experience with them?
>>4808624That's so cool anon, I'm super jealous.
>>4808633Yeah, their price has gone down from almost $50 for a single fish about 1 year ago to just $6 now. Really a unique Cory that can't be replaced by pygmies either
>>4802242>>4802234With good lab technique, liquid tests are generally okay. Test strips aren't as bad as their rap gives them. There really isn't a super accurate and precise testing option for home aquaria, but for the most part it's not a big deal. Even Mass Spectrometry ICP results can vary significantly for the companies that offer it to the general public. All home aquarist-oriented ICP services don't even provide a confidence interval. Lots of people have done tests with tons of liquid tests, strips, and ICP, and every single article will show you that results vary wildly between brands, testers, and ICP companies (e.g. even two ICP companies will vary greatly from each other, likewise two testers using the same test kits will very likely vary from each other). Even something like Hanna checkers will vary based.Every single article that does some sort of comparison will tell you the same thing: use tests, whatever they are, as gauges for trends, not absolute value. In a planted tank, you're probably not going to notice anything if your tank is 10 ppm Nitrate with API vs. 20 ppm with strips, however if it is 10 one week then 20 the next, then 30 the following with the same kit with the same person measuring, that is something worth monitoring.
>>4808527What shrimp is that ?
>>4808580So fucking many. If you're running a Dutch tank, you presumably have some red plants and can tell I'd nitrates are high if they aren't red, but if you want a number, I'd say (as only stocking, with a double-sponge filter or greater filtration) maybe 40-50 as a limit. Even that is going to be beaten if you have a lot of filtration and ensure high floater density.Stocking limit is the level that your filtration can convert the resulting ammonia into nitrates before the ammonia is even measurable levels. You can fit a couple hundred dwarf platys into a sump-filtered 15g if you wanted, for example. Or a dozen guppies tetras in the same, unfiltered tank.
Right now one of my female betta's gills is puffed out, looks a bit white. Is this some kind of inflammation maybe ick or is she possibly starting to develop a tumor?
new one for yas>>4809027>>4809027>>4809027
