headshitter editionDiscuss anything aquarium related here, including tanks, bowls, inhabitants, bettas, 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.phpArticles 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: >>4893264
first for aquascaping
if petsmart didnt want us shoplifting betta fish why do they put them in pocket sized containers?
>>4901826>shelling out for ADA glass box but not bothering to clean pipeswhy
>>4901826>shelling out for ADAwhy
>>4901834those glass lily pipes get dirty very fast. I stick to stainless steel.
hi i bought three rosy red minnows from petco. im keeping them in a 5 gallon tank. the water parameters as per test strips check out. i plan to take a vial to petsmart to get a more accurate test. the ph is a little low, 6.5. i plan to add a cuttlebone tomorrow. one of the minnows is stuck at the top. when they try to swim downward they just float back up it looks like they're really struggling. i think it's a positive buoyancy disorder i.e swim bladder. is there anything i should do. im planning to give them a few days. or should i take action right now?
>>4901934https://streamable.com/6tmmbbheres a video.
>>4901934im not a fish doctor but you should at least isolate it to a still water container so the little guy isnt wasting energy against the current
What's your dream aquarium?
>>4902096one of these in a 50 gallon
>>4902096I wouldn't buy fish from big box chain stores. dose the water with seachem prime, see if he's still acting like that.
>>4902116oops meant for >>4901934but my dream aquarium would probably be the uns 90 shallow. but I can't justify spending $600 for a mere 50 gal. I might diy a slightly worse version for myself one day.
>>4901934>buys feeder fish from big box store>put into too small box with too small of school>probably didn't cycle it first>they dieA tale as old as time
>>4902241he died :/ my other fish aren't doing so good i think they'll die as well. i thought minnows were suitable for a 5gal tank. what fish should i introduce once my tank is cycled. will my mystery snail be ok.
*BRAAAAAP*
>>4902096An indoor swimming pool with two guppies.
the hydra, 2 days after dosing fenbendazole. they're retracting into themselves and slowly dying off. I only found 2 on my glass today. a second dose may not be necessary, but I'll do it anyway if the snails remain unaffected.
>>4902363>"immortal">dies to off the shelf medsPathetic super power
>>4901826one lonely otocinclus, when they are a schooling fish.keksus maximus, aquascapers are the worst
>>4902408>lives in schools of hundreds in the wild>"make sure you get at least six"
>>4902410the per cent difference between 0 friends and 5 friends is infinity% fyi. so yeah, get 6
what do I feed freshwater mussels and clams? is ground up fish food okay?
i need a new tank so bad. all my grow out fish have overgrown my growout tank but my roommate screwed me and threw out my 100gal when i was away for a week. moving was rough and now i have nowhere to put a larger tank. i dont want to have to surrender my bigger buddies but i feel bad for them being cramped in the 30 gal :(
>>4902417Well yes, 6 is better than 0, I more was meaning the minimum should probably be 10+ or even 15+ depending on size of the tank. Basically ensure there's always another one in its line of sight.
>>4902435they will live until you can get a larger tank
>had another dream about aquariums
brand new tank and i've already got an algae problem. what do i do to get rid of this shit? i'm not about to throw away $50 worth of cabomba
what's the saddest set up you've ever seen /aqg/?
>>4902673How's anyone supposed to help you with one blurry picture and no information retard.
>>4902706i tried getting better pics of the algae but it's just too fine of a substance to get picked up on camera. it's really fucking annoying. i planned to buy fish yesterday but woke up to this instead.
>>4902350thick, long, hanging poop is a sign of a bad diet or some issues with digestionwhat are you feeding to her?
>>4902729not answer you want to hear, but its not unusual to have issues with algae during the first monthssince there is no other information to take into account, i would say that algae growth with get much worse before it gets better.how many hours of light are you running?is it cycled? if so - how you got the process going? have you been using snake-oil-level "bacteria starters"?anyways, algae grows due to imbalance of nutrients and light - so you either have too much light, or too many nutrients in the water that your plants cant absorb fast enoughagain, algae growth is very common in the first months ( in my personal experience ) - if your setup is well planned, the algae will go away eventually
>>4902744the tank gets a pinch of tropical flakes per day, a whole shrimp per week, and occasional fruit and veggie treats like a banana slice, watermelon bits, and spinach. this is between 8 platies.i assume the reason they are like that is from using extra food to distract them while fishing out some fry earlier. their poopies are normal sized today, but if you have some platy feeding wisdom to share im all ears
>>4902750i run a 12 hour light cycle on the tank. it's using a light on a stand that's about 1.5ft above the aquarium. i haven't used any bacteria starters. i used treated RO water and that's about it. it could've been started by some algae spores that were attached to some red root floaters i bought a while back. but when i say this is a new tank, i mean it's not even a week old.
>>4902673Amano shrimp and nerite snails. Add 1 of the latter per 3 gallons of volume, and season with former to taste.
>>4902850You should have posted a full tank pic, if that's all the plants you have in there then it's way too much light unless your lamp is a piece of shit. Algae will turn up in RO water exposed to the air you can't stop it. Another issue is low nutrients, you want more plants and more ferts. If you're using an inert substrate (looks like youre using just gravel?) and no ferts algae will opportunistically take advantage of what little is available while plants suffer as it will consume nutrients from the adjustment melt.
>>4902850>12 hour light cyclewell, here is the most obvious issuemine is lit up for 7 hours and its enough for my plantsalso, if your hornwort has roots - add a fertilizer pill to each root/planti dont use any fertilizers, even though i have many plants, but thats because of fish poop and uneaten foodyour plants need some nutrients to grow, so either add root-tabs or add some food flakes every dayeither way, you need to cycle your aquarium, so you need a source of ammoniayour plants will consume ammonia, nitrites and nitrates to growgrowing plants will outcompete algae ( if all goes well )
>>4902675>15 gallon cube>1,000 red platties>1 molly>1 sad Betta>some neon tetras and some loaches, idk>one fern (lol, lmao even)
>>4901827Just wait out in the dumpster for that one.>>4902101What's holding you back? That's not an exceptionally difficult thing to do (they're not that hard to get online). You could probably even do it in a smaller tank, but you'd have to manually dose stuff to feed it.>>4902947lmao I wonder whose tank that is....
>>4902647>Mfw the blue lapis congo tetras I bought individually packed in matchbox car sized boxes at a country general store in my dream are not actually real
>>4902850don't dose any liquid fertilizer yet, it could feed the algae. a root tab won't hurt but your tank needs to mature first. the best thing you can do is grab some filter gunk out of a healthy aquarium's filter and put it in yours. or maybe a small pond filter. other than that, best thing to do is nothing. wait for it to clear up, like 2-3 weeks, then add more plants and some little fish.
>>4901817Saltwater fish are the damned souls of God's Flood. Forever floating in leviathans wrath, waiting to be consumed on judgement day.I am borderline autistic in my knowledge of freshwater fish and aquaria, but Im too afraid to learn about saltwater. Borderline heretical to even know their care requirements, much less keep them.
>>4903070if you have a good lfs to buy salt water from I can't imagine it's that difficult. especially if your autistic about it. it's just more expensive question for saltwater anons: can you smell the salt in the air of your aquarium room and do you love it?
>>4903097It's a lot like freshwater. If your system is in good health, you're not going to smell it unless it is a literal gallery a la Joey Mullen or unless you put your face right up to the water. Weird thing was when I used to keep a FOWLR and kept it REALLY clean, the system actually smelled kind of soapy, not briney.>>4903070If you only want fish, it's really not hard, just more expensive like the guy above mentioned. It's when you add corals to the mix that things go crazy. Most of the fish don't give a shit about most parameters. They will take a very wide range of parameters such that you only have to check one parameter more than freshwater: salinity. dKH, Ca, Mg, trace elements... they're not going to care.
whoa hey I got video of my apisto laying eggs, right into the mouth of the male. I don't think that's right. what the hell. isn't she supposed to lay them on the flat rock I put in her cave, and fan them with her tail? shortly after she started fighting with the male and spazzing out in the corner, so maybe she was upset about it. damn I hope she figures it out.
>>4903097>>4903119I don't think it'd be that much harder or more expensive than a high tech tank, and that is not the point of my post.Saltwater fish(especially corals, unlike plants who eat the light gifted by god, they must eat flesh, literal abominations} are genuinely demonic. I used to go to a lfs, and I knew the owner pretty well. He got some saltwater tanks, and I told him he should get rid of them because of their evil nature. He kinda laughed awkwardly thinking I was joking, but I never went back in.
>>4901826>looks like this for 1 day and then it turns into an ugly jungle againlmao cuckquascapers make me laugh
>>4903097>>4903070There are some fish - like the mandarin fish he posted - that are genuinely near impossible to keep in an aquarium. The difference between freshwater and salt water (besides the salt and universal parameters) is the microfauna. There's so much shit in and around the sand in the oceans, much of which is undescribed by science, that is part of the ecosystem but impossible to keep in an aquarium. Things that live off trace amounts of straight poisons, which are a key part of the diet for some other fish, etc.You can get away with faking freshwater with a tank 1/1e6 size of the real thing. Add another three or four orders of magnitude to the bottom and there are things you'll simply never replicate in micro.
ok new build, since no reptiles yet and its a paludarium lets post here
>>4903267gonna put fish in it?
>>4903282I'll move my Caridina multidentata there I think I'll be too small for fish
>>4903097>if your autistic about itESL detected, comment discarded>>4903141>Saltwater fish(especially coralsCorals are not fish>corals, unlike plants who eat the light gifted by god, they must eat fleshYou're probably thinking of anemones, most corals get their nutrients from "the light gifted by God" as well. The Dutch manlet from MJ Aquascaping on YouTube recently had a saltwater build with soft corals, it's worth a watch (but he uses expensive shit, I could do something like that for about $200).
>>4903267
how does algaecide work? where does all the dead algae that's stuck to the plants go? also if anyone has a snail-safe algae solution I'd like to hear. i went lights out for a week and the shit is still here.
Hey guys gotta ask since I'm not sure if its the gravel or not on my poor little guys head but is this ich on my loach? when I had tetras it was way more obvious on them since I didn't have white substrate and swam in the middle not the bottom. I know for context the little thing was covered last night head to tail but only has some on head now.I just assumed he's been digging around like a silly noodle.
>>4903284>scientific name for amano shrimpGet a load of this fag
>>4903314I will get cancer from all this silicone
>>4903350who exactly is going to live in it?im confused by the thick layer of gravel on the right side
>just got a new sponge filterI can just rinse and squeeze the old sponge out into the tank right? or should I just straight up leave it in? don't wanna destroy my cycle.
>>4903379let both run for a few weeks, and when the new one gets some of that "brownish color" - take the old one out>squeeze the old sponge out into the tankthat sounds both dangerous and grossi doubt any serious fishkeepers suggest such a practicetheoretically, you could gradually squeeze the old one on top of the new one, so it soaks up as much of the brown juice as possible ( outside of your aquarium - in a bucket or some such )the aquarium wisdom says that bacteria need to attach itself to a surface - but i wouldnt risk believing that bacteria will simply "jump" over on a factory made sponge in 10 secondstldr --> leave both sponges in your aquariums for a few weeks ( or more )
>>4903379Anon here >>4903388 wrote a better answer while I was waiting on the 900 second timer. Anyway yes just run both same time for a while. Squeezing would just release a bunch of dirt and stuff. Your beneficial bacteria is on and stuck on to the sponge material. It's unlikely much of it comes off at all when squeezing.
>>4903318>how does algaecide work?not very well. you're better off doing frequent water changes. you have to get the nitrates out of there.
>hydra outbreak 1 month ago>ramshorn and bladder outbreak 2 weeks ago>hydra numbers dwindlingsnails are so based
>>4901817what fish can I comfortably keep in a 4 liter mason jar?
>>4903473none. get some shrimp or snails if you must. why not spend 20$ and get 5x the volume?
>>4903365>gravelthis is just a false bottom, it's filtration sponge not gravel. it's basically just there to hold the real bottom layer up above the water level (the part on the left will be filled with water)I can post more pictures tomorrowfor now I am planning on amano shrimp that I already have and will be moved from my aquarium, and mourning geckos (in the future when plants get established properly). oh and clithon snails I guess if you count them, I also have to move them from my tank.
>>4903522>mourning geckos, amano shrimp, plantsnice man. are you putting a mist maker in there? I hope you post a pic in a few months to see how it turns out.I just scored this piece for 25$ off an auction. going to shove it in a 29gal with some slate. it's very wallowed out from time in the swamps of louisiana, the left side is completely hollow. I'll post it in a week or 2, after I get more stuff to set it up.
>>4903141Oh, you're retarded. I see. Don't bother replying.
>>4903287>You're probably thinking of anemonesAnemones get the majority of their energy from light as well. I haven't fed my RBTA in my tank in four years and I have to get rid of some every year (mine don't split often, but each one gets fucking huge). They very rarely get fed actual food because my clownfish are too greedy and I'm not a heavy feeder (so the chance they capture free floating stray food is very low).
Anyone else keeping tanganyikan cichlids rn? Curious to see if anyone else has the same flavor of autism.
>>4903598Literally every fish boomer.
hello. i have a bucket of water i'm using for water changes. i put api tap water conditioner in to remove chlorine. should i put api quick start in as well? also, should i test the water in the bucket before i do the water change?
>>4901817>pic related seriously,how is this not a huge evolutionary disadvantage for the snail??
ramshorns are so funny like why did you need to eat so much you passed out on the food for 4 hours you stupid idiot lmao
>>4903639welcome anona picture of your aquarium and some more information would be optimalif your aquarium is cycled and well established, just add water conditioneri have never used any starters and never will - its a waste of moneywhy do you need a "starter" in a cycled aquarium? if its not cycled - why are you changing water?if your aquarium isnt cycled, and you already have fish inside - you are going to have a bad time
>>4903639bacteria starters are all kinda snake oil. they may work if they're fresh, but you'll get same results (maybe quicker) by ghost feeding fish flakes. you only need to dechlorinate the water. test your tap water once, then test your tank once a week to see how it changes.
>>4901817>years ago>dedicated shrimp rancher>my 30gal shrimp tank is perfectly maintained>it's beautiful>even with minimal circulation, I can see the moss pearling>my shrimp herd grows by the day>decide to add a few crypt plants to the tank>sit them in a 1gal holding tank for a couple days>finally add them to my tank>they died>all the shrimp died in the span of three days>take apart the aquarium>sell all my aquarium shit>keep a 5gal Walstad tank next to the window now with a tiny pump for circulation and forget about itI think I want to turn it into a mini ecosystem with scuds and other microfauna, and then add a few micro predators. Sparkling gouramis might not do well in a 5 gal, and scarlet badis also might need more space. Should I do like chili rasboras or something?
>>4903833were the crypts pretty big? kind of sounds like a nitrogen cycle crash. standard 5 gallon sucks for fish, one of those shallow 6gal tanks would be better if weight is your concern. it's closer to the profile of a standard 10gal.
>>4903921>were the crypts pretty big? kind of sounds like a nitrogen cycle crash.Yeah, they were huge crypts that were growing at a lfs. I thought maybe it introduced some kind of parasite or disease to the tank, but maybe you're right.>5 gallon sucks for fish, one of those shallow 6gal tanks would be better if weight is your concernWeight isn't as much of a concern as scale. I just want to keep it to one tank and set up a real ecosystem that requires minimal maintenance. I actually still have a 7.5gal that I used for my betta for years, but the bow-front kind of bothers me. Might just turn it around, but I have such a well-established substrate in the 5gal, I just really like how I did the substrate and I'd hate to rip the plants out.I'm getting some freshwater isopods, have a scud culture in a jar, and I might get some wild-type caridina shrimp. Maybe I'll just look for a shallow 10gal before I stock any predators?
>>4903951any nano fish will be fine in a 5 gal while they're still young and tiny. get them and move them when they get too big, you'll have plenty of time to set something else up.
i create life. my power rivals that of God himself.
>i started with a small loan of six platties>and i've built... an empire of platties>billions and billions of them>swimming in their own shit, in that 15 gallon cube>it was a nice tank, a beautiful tank; great tank!>and i'll tell you, joe... i've been attacked everywhere>and they were relentless, joe!>but it wasn't always like that>they used to give advice, even if they were being mean>but once i showed that i am keeping up with the maintenance>once they saw that i'm doing water changes, and my nitrate levels are low...>it's like they thought i'm somehow better than them>and the way they attacked me... joe, it was a tremendous, targeted type of behavior>you've never seen that in your life, joe
>>4903992>15 gallon platty cube full of delicious mulmI really like how the cube looks. You could probably make this work with guppies, too.
>GLA GRO Cartridge CO2 kitThe cartridge that came with it just ran out can I just get one of the fluval replacements from petco or do I need to get some specific shit
>>4904230Sounds like a question for Google/bing/chatgpt
The fucks sent me spring water!I order water in 5 gal jugs in lieu of either a RODI filter or hauling a couple dozen 1 gallon jugs every few weeks. But the delivery company sent me fucking spring water, which is both cheaper than and most definitely not purified water.This is the second issue in the last six weeks. I'm not really saving any money over buying at the grocery and this is annoying, so I think I'm done with the delivery option.
>>4904023Very nice, I like the cube tanks as well and am easing my wife into one for her desk.New saulosi setup I wanted to show off as well.
>>4904328Cubes are garbage for anything but livebearers and shrimp. Every other common fish would prefer trading the height for width or length.
>>4904303Are you fucking door dashing water jugs? Lmaoing at ur life.
>>4904336I like angels in a cube, faggot.
>>4904337No? I'm ordering from crystalrock via costco's water service, which is specifically a water delivery service. It's $7 for a 5 gallon jug of purified water, which is marginally cheaper than buying it from the cheapest grocery store near me. I get 15 gallons delivered every two weeks to my front door, for about $31 after tax and delivery fee, which is still roughly what the cheapest nearby store has ($1.99/gallon) without needing to deal with getting it to my front door, or half-filling my recycling bin with the dozen gallon jugs each time. I did the math on RODI filters and I need roughly 300 gallons (assuming good filter life, which my 350tds tap wouldn't give) before I break even on installing one of the slower 6 step filtration units, so I went this route because an extra $50/year to not deal with that was worth it to me. But three deliveries ago one of the jugs had a leak, and now this one is the wrong order. So I guess I'm just going to take 5 extra trips from the car every couple grocery errands, not worth paying for convenience if the convenience isn't there.
>my freshwater fish are always shitting>i've never seen my saltwater fish take a shiti'm starting to think saltwater fish do not poop, any other anons wanna offer empirical evidence?
i wanna make money doing this, how realistic is that?where i live the only fish store for 80 km is a petsmart, one thaf is chronically lacking stock of most fish except the sort that are mass bred and sold as toys for kids to kill: goldfish, bettas, glofish, a few live-bearers. anything more interesting is nonexistent. id have mystery snails by now if they weren't bought up immediately. local listings are pretty boring as well, mostly shrimp and extra inbred petsmart livebearers.its all making me consider buying some "exotic" stuff off the internet to breed and sell in this aquatics desert. maybe honey gourami and platies that arent the tacky mickey mouse ones.
>>4904390>i'm starting to think saltwater fish do not poop, any other anons wanna offer empirical evidence?If you have tangs, they probably have the most visible fish poop as they sometimes do a big burst which disperses quite quickly. That's why you rarely see saltwater fish poop. It's lower volume (but more concentrated) than freshwater but will also dissolve very quickly.>>4904425Look on craigslist, facebook groups, and local clubs to see what the market it like. If you have an active community there, it's likely there are already a lot of sellers. That is really your competition, not petsmart/petco. But is also has its advantages as if there is an active community out there buying/selling, that also means you can advertise easily. So if you find something to breed that is in demand but not done by anyone else, you could make money.But the time, effort, and resources required make the reward pretty low. Don't go into it with dreams of supporting yourself with it.
>>4904473test
>neutral pH>0ppm ammonia>.25ppm nitrite>80ppm nitrate>5 gallon tankbros is my shit gonna get fried?
>>4904425Our Supreme Fishlord - Cory McElroy, made a series of videos dedicated to earning moneys on fish.Watch them all if you are serious about breeding and selling.In short, its like with buying stock - you need to diversify. Get some high quality livebearers, some unusually colored mystery snails and easy plants --> breed them all in one aquarium.Also, you will probably not make any money, taking into account food, water, electricity and some other expenses, unless you can sell to a wide base of customers, both local fish shops and individuals.Lastly, The Puffer Whisperer warns us about saturation of local market, so you need to plan ahead and expand the variety of your fish, plants and other water critters.
I know how to make money in this hobby but I'm not telling :)
>>4904618filtration may be lacking, but most likely going to be fine. 80ppm nitrate is the danger zone. the time it takes to get there is your new water change schedule. though you shouldn't let it get past 40ppm.
how can I stop my tank from evaporating so much without putting a lid on it? tired of having to top this thing off every 2 days. im running a humidifier but it doesnt seem to be helping.
>>4904669>Get an induction range>Get an army-sized pot for cooking soup>Fill up the pot with water>Put the pot on the largest induction element, set on the highest setting>Top off the water every 10 minsSimple as
>>4904618>>4904665did a 40% water change a couple hours ago, just tested and nitrates still came back blood red. everyone in the tank seems fine so I guess I'll just do another water change tomorrow, maybe 50-60%
>>4904760sounds like the tank is still new. you running aquasoil?
>>4904665>>4904618>focuses on the nitrateNigga the nitrite is what may get you. Measurable but low is enough to burn fish gills, though depending on just how long it goes, probably won't kill anything.Your nitrates may not be that high, did you shake the bottles and the tube between each stage for 60+ seconds? It actually matters for the test.If you want to figure out where you sit between 80 and the next level, you can fill the tube half with tank water and half with tap. Assuming your tap doesn't have nitrates.
>look in my coldwater tank>see thisit's a good day for skrimping around, bros!
>>4904829it's a good day for skrimping indeed. I just got some crystal reds in the mail. there's finally some movement in this tank.
new cory eggsi have moved about a half inside the "breeding net", and these are sitting on the glassmy prediction - there will be about 15-20 fry, and around 10 of those will be of good size and healthspecial fry food drops, that i bought some time ago, dont work well in mesh boxes - maybe i will dose on some tiny plate placed inside the boxotherwise they will have to live on dry food and whatever they can harvest from frozen food-mixi had them reproduce before, without any assistance from my side, so i guess there are various micro organisms living in my aquarium - its a 6 year old setupneed to keep them in the box for at least 3-4 weeks, otherwise my garras will eat them
>>4904801You sound like reddit. I'm not "focusing" on the nitrate I'm just not retarded. Trace nitrite will turn into nitrate and the ammonia reading was zero. In case you weren't aware, the cycle actually takes time to progress and process these chemicals. So yeah when every parameter is normal except the nitrate being way high, that's the one I'm gonna ask about. End your life.
could i put pretty much any terrestrial plant in my aquarium with a dirt substrate as long as the leaves are above water?
>>4905062in general, no. it depends on the plant obviously, but most of them would drown. you can only achieve this hydroponically.
>>4905092am I wrong? it's my understanding that around 100ppm is when it's harmful, but because of the nature of the api test kit it's safer to use 80ppm as the gauge. it's hard to tell the difference between red and slightly darker red.
>>4905247Many fish, especially common hobby fish, will be fine at 200+ for short periods. Test kits are notoriously shit as well, even the liquid ones, especially for nitrate (they can't actually test for nitrate, they have to first convert it to nitrite with a reaction which isn't perfect then test for that. It's even worse if nitrite is already present). Testing is generally pointless. What are you going to do after a bad test? Change water. So why don't you change water anyway if you think there's a problem?
>>4905330>>4904618>Testing is generally pointlessWhile the other points make sense, saying that testing is pointless is rather dumbSo what is someone new to the hobby is supposed to use as a reference point?You establish a baseline with regular testing in the first months, and use the data for comparison to the new results if something seems to be off.My take on the issue is firstly low aquarium volume - hard to have stable parameters in 5 gallon. Trace nitrites can come from the tap water if there was a water-change. Rinsing a filter or messing around with substrate in such a low volume can disturb the bacteria population. If there are not enough plants in aquarium, it can further complicate the issue with balance/cycling capabilities.Ammonia and nitrites should not be readable on test - but i guess there can be some reading errors close to 0.You want nitrates close to or under 25 ppm - its a common knowledge. Some fish will tolerate a much higher value - its not the point though. You can probably survive living in house smeared in shit, but why would you want to try?Test tap water - insure that nitrites/nitrates dont come from there.Also, a picture would be nice.
>>4905366The point is most off the shelf test kits don't give accurate or consistent enough readings to give you a reference point in the first place. The answer is always to keep lots of plants with your fish if you can and look at how healthy they and the fish are and then decide if you need to do something. It's funny how we accept that these companies are trying to rip people off with all kinds of bullshit to put in their tanks but their test kits are super duper accurate and a good use of your money.
ok finally some progress. it's really hard to figure out what's happening in this picture, next time I'll record a video that orbits the whole things to better show the layout >>4903550>are you putting a mist maker in there?nope but I'm building an automatic misting system using a raspberry pi I had laying around, I just got all the components so maybe I'll solder everything together tomorrow
>>4904665>filtration may be lackingUnrelated anon, but related:How much filtration is too much filtration? My tank is 'overstocked' and I'm currently running: Interpet CF3 ( 700l/hr / 30g tank) (customized for increased filtration), Intepret CF1 ( 320l/hr / 10g tank) (customized for increased filtration),Aquael Mini+ (260l/hr / 10g tank),All in a 50l (11g) tank... don't worry it's not permanent the plan is to phase out the CF1 and mini+ in a few weeks once the CF3 has established itself. AqAdvisor seems to think it's fine:>You have plenty of aquarium filtration capacity.>Your aquarium filtration capacity for above selected species is 248%.>Recommended water change schedule: 31% per week.>Your aquarium stocking level is 112%.
>>4903992
My cherry shrimp have experienced a massive die off in my tank.It is a 60L (16 gal) tank with 10 Neon Tetras and a swarm of cherry shrimp. I tested for nitrites and ammonia and it was all fine (still scooped all the shrimp corpses). My theory is that the tank was too crowded and with low flow the water ran out of oxygen. All the remaining shrimp and neons where at the surface of the tank too but I didn't know if it was due to toxic bottom water or oxygen.How do you avoid shrimp overpopulation? I must have had over 100 shrimp easily in there. I have never sold shrimp before and culling them seems like a pain.
ok time to stop obsessing about this, now a day or two of silicone drying. this leaves me with the lid/lights and the hardscape mostly done.moving on to the automation bit
Why is fishkeeping so cozy, and why are other dumbass hobbies way more popular?
>>4904669The only things I can think of off the top of my head have limited feasibility, which are reduce temperature and reduce surface agitation.Why are you so against a lid?
Honey gourami experiment over. Back in April I bought two probable females. Both active and healthy three months my community tank with tetras and cherry barbs. No bullying or nipping going on. Then one gets lethargic, hangs out at the bottom, swims to the surface likes its drunk and floats down to the bottom again. I euthanized it. Other one doing great for another 6 months and then now that one got the same symptoms, again had to euthanize. Zero issue with any other fish in that tank.I have no idea what that was. Any ideas?
>>4905916Idk, most are probably not interested in fish.Normals probably think fish are really hard to keep still.
>>4906093Gourami Iridovirus maybe. Super common. Uncurable. Always fatal. Dormant six months to a year then it kills rapidly. Did you notice anything wrong with their skin?
>>4906137Not that anon, but I had something similar happen: honey gourami lives nice and well for 11 months, then one day just starts behaving weird, the next day he's laying on his side at the bottom, the third day I have to euthanize him.Didn't know that virus is dormant for so long.
>>49058252 out of 4 relays in the module I used are sticking. since I won't risk something staying on and flooding my room I have to use a different relay module. to use a different module I need to partially redo the circuit. I have to say I'm a bit mad rn. I ordered 2 different modules with different relays and we will see if they work better. as far as I can tell its not my fault because smacking the whole thing unsticks the relays and then they work fine for a couple of cycles. this kinda rules out some voltages being wrong for example. at least I think so.
is it only /aqg/, or is 4chun generally speaking going down the shitter?i took a good break from /aqg/ when it was nothing but platy-related spam, and now its slow as fuck - where are all the fishkeepers?..post your dream fish anons, or something else fish-relatedhere is my dream fish - The King of the Aquarium
>>4906299I want to keep discus too but I'll have to buy a whole house first to have space for the tank.
>>4906137I thought that was specific to dwarf gouramis. Or they are much more commonly susceptible to it anyway. I don't know. I did attempt to research this and all I found were several people describing the exact same symptoms on various forums throughout the years and getting nothing but guesses about what it is. It may very well be a type of iridovirus if not the exact same version as the notorious dwarf gourami one. A lot of the symptoms are the same. Neither of my fish had any skin issues or color changes.
>>4906299I have no idea, idk where to go to for fish talk. Most active community I've found is the Aquarium Co-Op forums, but they kind of suck.
>>4906370Ukaps now that they've finished their hostile takeover
Would would people recommend over dwarf gouarmi for a smaller community tank that's not going to rape small tetra and shrimp then.
>>4906374The trickier part of your criteria is shrimp. There are things that usually do fine with small tetra and rasbora etc. but will go after shrimp. Over the years I have fallen out with the "centerpiece fish" idea. It doesn't really do anything for me and there are potential complications almost always. I think it would be funny to do a tank of smol schooling species and then some big chunky amano shrimp as the largest thing in there.
>>4906377Yeah I know but I lived somewhere before where they were a banned import and now I want to give them a go. I was going to keep the tank fairly basic bitch, just shrimp, snails, a dozen of a smaller tetra and then honey gourami x2 but this isn't the first time I've heard of people having issues with them. Maybe I'll just get a second school of a micro rasbora or something.
>betta fish>diamond eyeanyone that's had a betta get diamond eye that can speak on what their behavior was like as the blindness progressed? my boy is losing a little more of his sight each day and I think it's stressing him out. I prepared for this when I got him but I never stopped to think how it would change him otherwise.
>can't overfeed because of hydra and pest snails>need to make sure my mystery snail gets foodwhat's a snigga to do?
Anon that went sewer fishing for guppies here, after being embarrassed I asked a guy that could get me from a nearby body of water some plants after my mum told me they look like the ones in my aquarium, two buckets of this type of plant I don't know the name but it similar enough to the one I have in my aquarium, someone knows the name? Sadly seems there are only plants but I'll wait in case something hatch or in parasites lurk.
>>4906421you could set up a quarantine tank for your mystery snail while you dose fenbendazole in your main tank.>>4906426hey sewerfish anon that looks like anacharis elodea. a good plant for tanks with no co2. nice find. look up how to peroxide or bleach dip, to sanitize it. it's one little squirt of peroxide to one gallon of water, too much will burn the plant. also, try looking in that ditch again after a good hard rainstorm. little fish can get washed out into places like that.
>>4906434I dont want the pest snails to die either tho i kinda like them
>>4906468it didn't hurt mine at all. supposedly it only hurts apple and nerite snails. I think most people use way too much, since the proper dose is infinitesimally small, and end up frying every invertebrate in their tank. you'll need a microgram scale.
A few months back I posted that my corys learned how to compete with the mid water fish on every feeding day (instead of only on sinking food specific days). One of them learned that if it swims near the surface directly opposite the outflow of my HOB filter, it can catch flakes that get pushed against the glass there from the current. Then all five other corys learned this trick over the course of about a month. Now it's not like they're not well fed to being with. They are not doing this out of necessity. I feed them a variety of cory specific stuff and add it to the tank in such a way that it dives straight to the substrate with little chance for the tetras and barbs to snipe it. They are fat happy corys. They are doing this for fun and greed. In any case, the point of this post is the noise they make now. They come to the surface at this spot throughout the day to check for food. When they are flapping their mouths at the surface like this it makes a very audible sound. Smacking kind of noise.
>>4906487Mystery snails are apple snails tho
>>4906507Fish basically won’t stop eating until they’re stuffed like a teddy bear, if there’s an opportunity for food in the tank they’re going to get it.
>>4906269>this kinda rules out some voltages being wrong for example. at least I think so.Not necessarily. If your voltage is a bit on the low side but not completely dead, the relay may be unstable. Smacking it in this case would just give it a little push. You could always just check with a multimeter.
>>4906531>just give it a little pushyeah but that would work just for one activation I think, in my case in manages to unstick it for a couple movements and then eventually it seizes again for some reasonI'll investigate more, right now as far as I can see all relays are getting ~5V as they are supposed to, its possible its just bad chinese components
Any tips for raising an alligator gar?
>>4906583not really, a 50l tank should be enough
>>4901841I'd specifically rotate the tank to avoid having the logo at the front because it's embarassing
>>4906624Honestly for most damsels, that tank size is not at all overkill. One of those two should be more peaceful than the other though.Have a Starcki and it was an asshole in a 50G. When I upgraded it was suddenly fine though.
>>49062994chan is heavily limited by its archaic file attatchment system, lack of support for sound and Mp4 files, inconvenient anti spam measures, low text limit for posts, laughable file size limit, overbearing janitors bent on squashing any controversy or chaotic exchanges on their boards, etc.If they ran 4chan off of a vchan engine, I think posts quality, community morale, and dedication to boards would skyrocket. I personally dont bother posting images of my fish anymore because they never interest people enough to get replies, and videos are too much work to film, compress, and convert to something 4chan allows to be uploaded.I think admins of this site are like boomers in politics. Old, out of touch, set in their ways, and willing to let everything burn around them if it means they don't have to admit to being wrong about something.
>>4906685Yet here you are.
>>4906685>I think admins of this site are like boomers in politics. Old, out of touch, set in their ways, and willing to let everything burn around them if it means they don't have to admit to being wrong about something.The reason 4chan is the way it is today is due entirely to financials. m00t couldn't afford the bandwidth for bigger videos, file sizes, etc. 4chan has always skirted on the edge of bankruptcy. That has not changed with the new owners. This site does not draw in the best ad revenue as few brands want to associate with it, and those that do are not going to shell out the big bucks. Conversely, 4chan kept growing for years and years. Even now, with bandwidth being so much cheaper, the site is so huge that it's still an issue even with an early 2000's file size limit. And remember, 4chan was not bought out to be a charity. Unlike m00t, who never envisioned getting rich off of 4chan (he got rich off of google, lmao), the new owners did plan to profit at least a little bit. Every seemingly small change to quality you see is a huge drain on very limited funds for them. It has nothing to do with being set in their ways or out of touch. They use the same internet that we do. They know the file sizes suck ass on this site. It was never about being "wrong" about something. Janitors are pretty shit though. However you get what you pay for.
>>4906685>inconvenient anti spam measuresI give up like half the time when I have relevant and actually useful content to post because the captcha pisses me off
any reason i cant make an indoor minnow pond out of one of these
>>4906780Oxygen level would be lower than usual because it's deep for the volume, but otherwise no.
>>4906780There is something better. Pic related is called a preformed pond liner. You can order these from any big box hardware store or probably even wally world. They come in several sizes, most common is something roughly around 4'x2' but I'm pretty sure you can go quite a bit smaller. These are often used by /herp/ people to keep larger turtles and semi-aquatic snakes.
>tiger lotus in my tankI have 2, I think 1 of them self propagated? I just found a third bulb near one of them and freaked out cause i thought it somehow detached but it didn't. there's nothing sprouting from it but it's an individual full-sized bulb. dafuq?
>>4901817White wizard snails are best
>>4906780>>4906794Half barrels can also make cool mini ponds, though indoor you'd better fit them with a layer of pond liner for safety.
>>4906809They are, but I haven't been able to keep mine alive for super long. I had one that buried itself, put out a bunch of babies, then died. And the babies made it to about half size then also died.
>>4906832Okay i just got 2 for a 10 gallons guppy tank. Its blasting sand substrate. I want the snails to keep the bottom churned up so waste doesnt sit on top
>>4906877Malaysian Trumpet Snails are your best bet for that. I keep them in all my tanks and they thrive
>>4906905ok let's do thisgimping my photos because they are too large adds such an annoying step to posting my progress reeee also fuck captcha
accidental >> in the last oneok I have a script for photos but now the captcha is getting me madthe plan is to go top to bottom so water last
time to fiddle around trying to make smaller webms because file uploads are stuck in 2010 and whoever owns this mongolian fish weaving forum now hates people trying to post content for free. oh and bots must have an easier time solving captchas now than I doIMAGE RESOLUTION IS TOO LARGE FUCK ARE YOU INSANEnow doing the water, fuck this I'm posting this because I already wasted my time to make it and then I'm giving up, use your imagination. enjoy this low quality shit webm
>>4906983Looks nice. But that's not enough water for pretty much any fish you can name. Maybe a single guppy. Snails or shrimp would probably be OK, once it settles.
>>4906990as per my last email only my amano shrimp will move there, other than that I'll prob put mourning geckos in therenow we have to wait 2 months, I'll post the water bit when it clears. also the moss has seen better days
>>4906905>Malaysian TrumpetI dont want them to take over. It took me months to finally make it a snail free tank, free of ramshorn snails before i added the white wizards
>>4907039More active burrowers that white wizards would be Hercules and Devil Spike (faunas ater) snails. Two big snails do a lot less work than many small snails, and several big snails do better work than two big snails.
>>4907006its looking awesome! good job anon!
solo pea puffer in a 6g good idea or nah?i'm seeing a surprising amount of conflicting ideas about this, some say they're completely fine alone but others say they're should be in groups because they shoal in nature
>>4907135that usually means a fish can live alone but need conspecifics to display their most interesting behaviours or colours. why not go bigger anyway?
>>4907157I'm trying to find use for this 6g that i already have lying around so just looking for ideasAnd after a brief search there seems to be a good amount of people doing solo pea puffer in a nano tank and i do admit it looks really cute even though it might not be an ideal living condition for themGuess i could always comes back to the ol betta when it comes down to it, not a lot of options for a sub 10gal unsurprisingly
>>4907162froge
>>4907165love me some herp but those things legit gives me the heebie jeebies
>>4907162Best option for 5 gal is 10 or so of the really small rasbora or tetra and maybe some snails. Just make sure it's well planted.
>>4907162>>4907174This, them tiny rasbora are nice. The green kubo ones are really pretty. 5 or 6 of those, maybe some shrimp, planted real nice. Be a neat tank.Hell, throw a mystery snail in as your "centerpiece" if that's your jam.
>>4907176Another good option are CPDs, they're a bit bigger so you should stick to 6 but they're very active and interesting. Plus they look great.
>>4907178>CPDsI have 16 in my 30gTheyre based
>>490725512 harle quin rasboras16 pearl celestial danios1 starlight pleco1 blue gourami30gallon
Say, I was thinking about upgrading to a 150-200 gallon tank, are there any notable reef-safe weird looking fish that I could get? I'd love to get a box fish but they need 250 and I can only have soft coral with them so they're a no go
>>4907291pipefish?
>>4907296I thought those guys could only really be with sea horses?
>>4903550here we go. this is the rough draft. I'm going to tie down live sphagnum moss to the top of the wood, with the outflow running through it, hoping it drops the PH a fair bit. I want to do a some micro rasboras.
>>4907296>>4907306Pipefish and seahorses tend to need low flow tanks, which isn't very conducive to healthy reefs.>>4907291Frogfish are sort reef friendly. They don't touch coral but they'll eat all your other small fish and shrimp, lmao.
>>4907255Jesus that is GREEN. Good shit.I finally got my goddamn green water issue fixed just to discover the water sprite I planted had taken over everything else. The frogbit also went from like 3 little pads to covering the surface in no seconds flat. Dumb question, but do underwater plants flower? The swords are putting out what look like flower stalks. Pic related is when I first planted it with everything.
>>4907463This is now.
>>4907463Fast growing floaters will do that, I have to pull guppy grass, anacharis, and hornwort out regularly from all my tanks.Underwater plants will flower, but most of them do so over the water line - but I've seen both buce and Anubias flower underwater.
>>4907464My fuckin post got ate. I was trying to say the Cabomba mostly melted and I've been pulling it out as it browns, but quite a few shoots have greened up considerably in the back. The water sprite is spreading like AIDS, though. The anubias on the driftwood has gotten bigger as well, so they must like being shaded. The ghost shrimp are happy so I'm just gonna let it do it's thing and see what happens.
>>4907255Those are porkchop raspboras.
>>4907489The smaller ones are CPDs i have 15 of each
>>4907489I think they're harlequins, not espei
Anyone ever use the plantedtank forum? Why is the admin there such a raging cunt? Any time I see him he's power tripping someone, banning someone and making a big scene about it, etc. You can't even mention certain websites like 2hraquarist or he will ban you on the spot lol
>only LFS in town has been unable to get ottos in stock since april>ask him every couple weeks and he says the supplier cancels every time he tries ordering>only have 3 lonely bros in the tankwhat do? I feel bad for these guys, at one point I had 10 adults and like 30+ fry
>>4907608you're literally on the internet right now just order some?
>>4907606No, nobody uses forums. Because >the admin there is such a raging cuntis a forum feature, not a bug. If someone wants to moderate something its because they want power. The only good moderators are the kinds of people who would say no to the job. Volunteer moderations selects for powertrippers.
>be rentoid>300ish litres of carefully curated aquatic water>lease is up>didn't even keep the box for the 40galkill me
>>4907646>No, nobody uses forums>post on literally any random aquarist forum>get a half dozen replies or more within a day>post on shitty ass 4chan>lucky to get 1 reply and its condescending and soaked in teenage angstmhm mhm>is a forum featureyes i am so glad to be here on an imageboard where moderators never ever power trip or hand out bans on a whim
>>4907628i'm not paying $100 shipping for $40 worth of fish>>4907688so build a rig out of scrap wood, will take you 30 minutes and less $20 possibly free. people do it all the time shipping heavy shit. source: used to manage a ups warehouse
>>4907712>go to fish keeping forum to talk about fish, fish keepers reply >go to Mongolian basket weaving forum to talk about fish, no one repliesUnbelievable
>>4907713Aquahuna had otos when I last checked, and has flat $16 shipping
I think I'm retarded but at this point I'm committed. I'm putting duckweed in a tank today.
>>4907845Giant duckweed is slightly better than the OG, if you're worried about it being unremovableIt's mostly a positive, just have to cull every week or two. You can spread it on top of house plants or in a garden if you don't want to just throw it away, duckweed and its compatriots make fine green mulch.
I have a 5 gallon cube with some kind of wild hairgrass, water weed, and a sword, alongwith some emersed wandering jew. I'll be adding a small spong filter and potentially mini heater.I understand the square shape is ass for fish, but are there any that wouldn't mind and make use of the vertical space as well? I was thinking like 5 white clouds or ember tetras, possibly green neons. Id love a honey or sparkling gourami but feel theyd probably prefer a different arrangement too much. No matter what Im tossing cherries in there, and Im open to it being shrimp only
>spontaneous desire to do a copper themed tank>remember that copper is poisonous to fish
>>4907881Tetras and minnows don't really take advantage of the vertical space, they'll stick around the middle of the water column regardless. They also tend to be jumpy as fuck with less than a dozen or so in the school. White Clouds would do fine - if it's wet they're generally going to survive - but not be very interesting or active. Livebearers, shrimp, or bettas would use the whole space. Sparkling Gourami - one male and two females ideally - would be fine too.
>>4907889You really think 3 sparklings would fit a 5 gallon?
>>4907896If it's well planted and filtered, sure. They're smaller than female guppies and much smaller than bettas. Square-cube law applies to bioload.
>>4907903My #1 concern is swimming space, not filtration
>I have this tiny vase, can what can I put in itWhy is this such a common topic? 20gals are still pretty small, small and light enough to go on sturdy furniture and massively increase the variety of things you can keep
>>4907980some people don't view fish as pets they view them as decorations. if they think a flower vase can house a fish it will be prettier to them and therefore worth it despite the quality of life for the animal inside.
committing to a gold white cloud minnow tank (20gal)suggestions for other species that work well with them?
>>4908037Zebra danios, flagfish, swordtails or platys, hillstream loaches, garras.I'm assuming you're doing unheated and significant flow.
I give up. Nature has won. Im bleach nuking the tank and going back to plastic plants.> Hundreds of pest snails. Feeding less does nothing.>Thousands of copepods stuck to the glass.>Algea farm even with 6hr light cycle and low brightness.>Some new parasite to add to the zoo if I want to get more plants in the future.
>>4908136You could do blackwater. Either the pure blackwater biotope or the pseudo blackwater. Pseudo blackwater does not involve dropping the ph, instead you just tint the water with some combination of almond leaves and rooibos tea. You will never have algae in that case. Plastic plants not needed. Frobit, red root floaters, duckweed, water lettuce whatever. Drastically reduce the need for water changes down to near zero. If your problem was just excess snails, you could simply add some assassins. They are remarkably effective at pruning the population.
Fresh eggs are on the way!
unpopular opinion: i think glow danios are neat, im just not paying 10$ a pop for schooling fish
>>4908136>Hundreds of pest snails. Feeding less does nothing>Algea farm even with 6hr light cycle and low brightnessthats really odd... can you somehow measure brightness? there might be a phone app of some sorts for thatfood+light would be my first focus when dealing with snails ( and i had thousands of them myself, literally thousands ) snails cant live off drinking your aquariums water - they need to eat something, and they lay eggs when there is an abundance of food, so if you take the food away they will die off or at least stop reproducing rapidly are your plants dying?.. maybe snails are eating the dead plants, and if your plants are not growing, it leaves nutrients for the algae to grow even in low light conditions can you post a picture?also, algae grows on plastic plants very well - you might be able to avoid snails, but you will still have to deal with algae
>>4908183i don't mind the blue and orange variants, they look alright even if you're going for a natural setupthe rest just hurt my eyes
what are the little saltwater dudes that get a mouthful of sand and spit it somewhere else? i think i want a tank with like 50 of those, live rock, sand, and nothing else. I just wanna see what they do to it all.
>>4908211goby i think?
>betta ate a crab cuisine pelleti dont think this should be a problem but can anyone enlighten me?
>>4908215It's fine, there's no commercial fish food that will harm a betta. Fish can't choke from eating. Feed a mixed diet, leaning toward 50%+ protein, and your betta is golden.
>>4908136Lmao get rektd nerd, my bladder population is completely under control. 2 assassin snails, guppies that eat the eggs.
>>4908136actual skill issue. stop just "feeding less" and actually target feed your fish. clean up any uneaten food after them. put a blanched cucumber in the tank and pull it out once it's covered in pest snails. repeat daily. there's no evil magic working against you it's simple biology. they cannot produce more than you facilitate. if the algae is that bad go lights out for two weeks. you aren't cursed, you're doing things wrong.
>drop the water level a bit>stick on some music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3sJlr0kw8I)>grab planting tweezers>sit down for 30-60 minutes and manually remove snailsit's that easy, follow up with veg bait method when you get bored.
>>4908241LADIES AND GENTLEMENSTARTYOURENGINES
>>4908241>sit down for 30-60 minutes and manually remove snails.. not only you will get rid of snails, but it will make for a great conversation topic with coworkers during a lunch break, as well as an extra spicy line on your tinder profile
>>4908250>talking to coworkers about hobbies>tinder profileWhat website am I on again
>>4908252NTA but I talk about my fishkeeping with others cause it's one of the few "normal" things I do. In a sea of degeneracy it's nice to openly discuss something that isn't immediately frowned upon by others.
>>4908265Seconding this - it's sure easier to not look like a fag talking about fishkeeping than vidya or tg
>>4908136You will cherish those snails and you will enjoy them!Or just get a Betta, or a few assassin snails - they'll be devoured pretty quick.
>>4908176gorys!
>impulsively buy a small 5g and the whole setup over the weekend>had a great time setting it up>the thing's not even cycled or stocked yet and i already felt like doing it againoh no i'm gonna become one of those guys with racks of nano tanks aren't i
idk why everyone always says betta fish eat snails. I've had like 50 and never once have I seen one strike at a snail or even look like it considered one to be food.
>>4908309Yeah, because you're gonna need a tank per fish you want. Please consider upsizing.
>>4908309felt myself physically recoil reading this post.
>>4908309Take the 5g back and get a 40 breeder, with enough filtration you can put most fish in there.
>>4908325why do people always call them "breeder" tanks? it's a fucking 40 gallon. there's no need to say it's a breeder it literally adds nothing.
>>4908345The breeder is different dimensions though right? "Breeders" are normally deeper and shorter than the normal one.
>>4908348"breeder" is default. if it doesn't say tall, long, shallow, cube, etc. it's just a breeder. but it's one of those things that people just add on to their descriptions to sound like they know what they're talking about. It's a fucking 40 gallon tank.
>>4908354You're just autistic, for some reason it's just convention to call them breeders and its been that way for as long as I can remember. Its one word to conform you're not talking about any other dimension with the same volume I don't see why you'd be triggered like this.
>>4908354>>4908348There isn't a standard 40 Gallon tank dimension, there's Breeder and Long that are (or have been) both popular.
>>4908366it's like calling an ATM the ATM machine.
>>4908136>NOOOOOOOOOOOOO THERES NATURE IN MY AQUARIUM NOOOOOOOOOO
>>4908366first we must call standard tanks "breeders", next? death camps.
>>4908399Death camps, you say? For... Platys?
>>4908345but think of all the platies you can breed in there! i knew a guy who had over 200 in a 15 gal (cube, too!), imagine the numbers you could have with 40 gal
>>4908309It's a trap, bro. Don't do it. Really focus on a really specific environment instead. Specialize for like one weirdo little species that's a challenge.
>be me, 29>tough life, broke, lonely, depressed, hopeless, etc>watch youtube videos about fishkeeping for years to chill out>left work early on a friday this summer and bought a betta on a whim>life suddenly has meaning>decide i will die for this fish before i even get him in the car>spent the next several months giving him the best home possible>high tech setup despite my budget>realize im starving myself to give him a better life>quit my low paying career for a higher paying job doing something i dont want to do>now motivating myself to move into a nicer house so i can give him a bigger, better tank>every single day i wake up with the only objective of being getting him a better home>technically it's improving my own life too>tfw this fish saved my lifepicrel. i love him.
>>4908345>>4908348>>4908354>>4908366>>4908367You're all children and autistic. Here is the history behind the nomenclature:There is no and has never been any authoritative body that decides dimensions and nomenclature among tanks. It is purely up to each individual manufacturer and their marketing department. However, it was found through market research that most consumers liked skinny ass tanks over something like a cube because it gave them more viewing area, even though it is of course absolute shit for fish. Some customers, both retail and commercial, wanted something with more depth though, and these customers were often small time breeders, as they cared more about capacity than visual field, hence the breeder nomenclature coming about.Most of the people here, when typing about """standard""" aquarium sizes go off of Aqueon, simply because Petco sells them super cheap so they ended up being the most popular brand. But, the second most popular brand (in America) is Top Fin as that is the partner brand of Petsmart, and their 20G high is 24" x 13" x 16" vs 24.25" x 12.5" x 16.75" of Aqueon, so even something seemingly so ubiquitous isn't actually uniform across even just two brands. Aqueon doesn't actually have a standard or long 40G (anymore; they used to), but other brands do, and there exists 40G standard, long, AND high (Marineland), as well as breeder, among the various brands, although I know of no single brand that advertises all four, and one brand's "standard" may be another brand's high, or long, or who the fuck knows, because, again, there is no actual standard across manufacturers.
>>4908488Correct. In colloquial terms the breeder is most often meant to refer to a tank that is slightly shorter in height and slightly long in the back to front dimension. The 'breeder' dimension is so popular, however, that is essentially the standard now. When I think 40g breeder I assume something in the neighborhood of 36x18x16. Around that.
>>4908457nice
Say, how hard is it to build your own salt water tank? some people say it'll be a similar price but it'll be cool to make my own tank
>>4908544>some people say it'll be a similar price No, this is far from the truthMaybe if you're in Asia where the stocking would be significantly cheaper but as far as i know all the initial tech setup, maintenance it's a lot more expensiveBut then again this is coming from someone that only looked it up every now and then and never actually kept one so maybe other reefbros can give a better breakdown, but from what i know saltwater is not a hobby where you can skimp out on things unlike freshwater
can tropical fish be bred for cold tolerance? im not expecting to turn guppies into minnows, but surely i can make a strain with their preferred temperature range bumped down a few degrees C from normal
So i just put some fish food in my new tank that's set up to cycle. Do i add in the liquid bacteria now or wait a day or two? It's not like the fish food instantly turns into ammonia for the bacteria to feed off on, right? So if I add it now, am I just wasting the bac? There's also the possibility that the bac doesn't even work as marketed, as some people say. But let's assume it does, so when should I put it in? My intention isn't to instantly cycle the tank, but to hopefully speed up the process and I don't have liquid ammonia so I'm using fish food. The last time I did this, it took 2 months (without bottle bacteria supplement)
>>4908488Thanks, ChatLGBT, but I'm not reading all that
>>4908544>how hard is itAbout as hard as building a freshwater tank>same priceNot really, mostly because if you want to keep corals, the lights are more expensive. Although some corals can grow like weeds even with a cheaper (around $150) light: xenias, GSPs, some acroporas. But don't buy the corals from a shop, find some dude on Facebook marketplace or something like that - you need to dip them anyway, so why not get them for cheap?
>>4908544i never had a saltwater aquarium myself, because i dont want to deal with water preparation - and i bet its the main reason for the "difficulty level"as to price - this hobby is as expensive as you want it to be, although saltwater adds an extra expense on top of everything else
>>4908584>Do i add in the liquid bacteria now or wait a day or two?Now is fine.
>>4908584>when should I dose the snake oilIt literally doesn't matter, dose both times. You can't overdose on bacteria supplement even assuming it does work, which is contested.A better way to introduce the culture to get multiplying is via live plants (or a whole-ass filter) from another tank.
>>4908584this anon is right --> >>4908713also, ive been cycling aquariums by adding fish food flakes / "ghost feeding" and it works every time
you could go put your entire net worth on black and you'd have a 50% chance of being able to retire and own a fish store. never give up.
Hi guys, I want to get started into aquariums with a 38 litter tank thhat I've. The problem is that my tap water has a pps of over 600, a PH of 8 and very high in minerals/calcium, etc.Do you guys recommend me to use tap water? With those water conditions i don't know if it any fish would be happy
>>4908781if you're buying the fish locally, they're more than likely in the same water unless the store is running a full RO system. fish are relatively adaptable pH-wise, it's more about maintaining a consistent pH that they're acclimated to from the beginning. obviously not the case for all species but a point worth noting. long-term your best option would be to just invest in your own RO system. i would go to a credible LFS as close to your location as possible and ask if their fish are on tap or RO water. if they're on tap you should be fine to get fish from that store. oh you can also try collecting rain water if it rains consistently in your area, but that's a whole topic on its own.
>>4908781it's fine. that tank would be good for some live bearers, mollies platies guppies ect. all the fish that /aqg/ elitists love to hate. my water is luckily very soft, which is great for plants.>>4908584I like to use aquarium plant fertilizer as a starter, because it has phosphates, which apparently speeds up the cycle a bit. but it's not necessary, I'm pretty sure there's phosphates in the fish food already. some people put yeast and sugar in their aquarium, which I find hilarious. there is a yeast cycle going on in all tanks. but you don't have to add it, it'll grab it out of the air.
>>4908411>but think of all the platies you can breed in there! i knew a guy who had over 200 in a 15 gal (cube, too!)
>>4907312jungle tank. I'm going to have little bushel of hygrophila growing out the top and hydrocotyle coming out of the sides. I wonder how many hundreds of platies I can fit in this bad boy...
>Tfw it's cold outAlso, what's with the 15 minute cooldown?
>>4908781>pps of over 600What's pps? Peepees? Parts per sexytime?If it's the dissolved solids, then floating plants will absorb them and as you remove floating plants (because they will grow like crazy) the dissolved solids disappear.>PH of 8The PH goes down if you don't do water changes. And you won't need to do water changes if you have floating plants.
>>4901817My pet fighter fish seems to be dying.>Haven't seen it eating anything in days>Lays down all the time at the floor>Breathes heavily through gills>Now skin is becoming whiter and palerAnyone here with experience keeping these fishes? Anything I can do to save it? It's almost 1.5 years old by now but google tells me it can live up to 3-5 years. For now I've changed it to a bucket and bathed it in methylene blue for half an hour.
>>4908980Lots of bettas die quickly sadly. They are smashed and slammed genetically weak fish that are handled in bad conditions in the industry.
>>4908980I saw your other thread. Your maintenance routine and the age of the tank would make it likely that your tank is healthy (as well as the other fish seemingly not being affected), so I would lean towards >>4909001. If you're interested in getting another betta, look into online breeders. It's more pricey but you can get a higher quality fish.You can also try a salt bath to see if he's constipated (unlikely), but it does help with other minor things. About 5 grams of epsom salt per 4 liters for 5-30 minutes.
>>4907006>I'll post the water bit when it clearsI can't take a picture that looks similar to what you actually see with your eyes, the reflections in the glass are runing itbut I think I kinda achieved the result of murky water in the forest that I was going for. maybe its too murky even but the water should clear more, there is a ton of tanins in it right now
>>4909006Thanks for the help. I've prepared the salt solution. I'm kind of semi quitting bettas if this dies. I've gotten too attached to this fish because of how it used to jump around like a puppy whenever I came. If it won't survive, I'll just buy a bunch of mindless shoaling fishes.
anyone here keeps dwarf puffer? is it true that some of them can get so picky that they'll only eat live wriggling worms?I wouldn't mind if they can take frozen but i don't have experience with keeping live feed at all, i can buy them from the lfs but how would you go about maintaining it and such? can i buy a bunch to keep for a week or even a month?
>>4909029I sympathize with your hesitation to do more high personality fish. For me it just hurts more when they die. For your mindless shoaling fish, try out cherry barbs if you have ~20g tank available. They are sort of schooling but kind of neurotic in funny ways. I have six of them in my community tank and I think if I were to do another I would probably go all cherry barbs and corys.
>>4909065All barbs are top tier fish. Odessa and Tiger barbs also have "school personality" in a way that things like danios or tetras don't.
>>4909112barbs are based
>>4909127Man, I want a tank just for cherry barbs. Mainly females, 2 males, and one long finned male as my centerpiece.That with a whole forest of lily pads going up and pothos roots going down.I think it'd look nice.
>>4906583I've seen that fish in some very toxic waterholes, they're pretty hardy. I'd love one in a brackish water biotope with a red mangroveare mangroves the only trees that can be kept in aquariums? it's the only one I can think of.
>guppy mother of 3/4 of the guppies died>aquarium looks clouded and it's raining today >flush her down the toilet What you guys do with your dead fish? burry them?
>>4909257i put them in tiny terracotta pots and then bury it upside down
>>4909257if i've euthanized them myself, i flush them down the toilet since i know they're dead.but if a small fish dies randomly then i probably won't even notice; there are too many plants to notice, and the snails+shrimp clean everything up over night.
>>4909180>are mangroves the only trees that can be kept in aquariums? it's the only one I can think of.No. There are lots of plants, including trees, that can be kept in aquariums that most people would think impossible. For instance I currently have succulents being kept in my 20G, which seems impossible given they like more arid environments and autists will screech about root rot all day, but I have had exactly zero losses with them and they've been in there for a year. Interestingly, they have been growing quite well up top but the root structure is very shallow, which I suppose makes sense since they no longer have to go deep to get water.Likewise I did have a bonsai phase and I did do a tree in an aquarium once, but the issue is once it's in the aquarium, there is absolutely nothing keeping it bonsai so it quickly overgrew everything. Unfortunately I lost those pics long ago (this was circa 2014, I do have the succulents currently though so I may try to snap a couple pics later). You can 100% use a jade succulent which can be shaped to be tree-like (it is one of the succulents I currently have in my tank).
>>4909180>>4909410Oh BTW, you don't need to keep mangroves in brackish water. It can be in fully saltwater or full freshwater. They actually grow best in full freshwater (I have a reef tank as well, which I used to grow mangroves in my sump, but my two rabbits found a way in there and devoured them, lmao).
>>4909410Root rot is fixed by microfauna. I've never had any problem with succulents in moist soil when I've added springtails to the soil, for instance.
>>4909417my madagascar palm tree kicked the bucket because of root rot even though there were springtails in the soil.i guess i was just too big of a dumbass even for those tiny critters.
>>4902096A gigantic pond with no fish
small time ebay dealers are the best for aquarium plants. I ordered what I thought was 10 stems for $10, this guy sent me 10 bunches of stems. there's almost a hundred here. I'm going to throw most of it away, but still, what a nice gesture
>>4909257Let the ecosystem in your tank take of it.
>>4909463Yes but you should always bury it under the substrate manually or you're risking an ammonia spike unless something eats it right away.This is one of the benefits of having a thicker substrate layer.If you want to avoid all risk you can just bury it in a garden or houseplant but thats removing nutrients from the system that could be used by it instead.
>>4903598yes i have seven Neolamprologus multifasciatus in a 20 Long.
I have a 30 gallon what wattage should the heater I get be?
I came home today and discovered fry! my boy did it, but sadly he wont be around for them. I hadn't seen him in a while and today I found him dried up on the floor. I think she chased him right out of the tank as soon as they hatched. here she is choking down a meal worm, I think she'll be a good mom.
>>4909257I bury them.
>>4909475Depends on desired water temperature and the room temperature the tank will be in. Probably somewhere around 100w is going to be a good starting point.
she's been gathering the fry in her mouth and spitting them out in the cave when they stray too far. it's very adorable. hard to get good video of.
Oh. Apparently I had a trumpet snail in my tank. It must have come in on a plant some months ago. Assassin got it yesterday and I found the shell just now. >>4909520That's really funny
>>4909257>What you guys do with your dead fish? burry them?If it was a natural causes I let the shrimp feed on them for a few hours then bury them under the olive tree.If they die due to illness I slingshot them over the wall for my neighbors cat. I hate cats.
>>4909522at first I thought she was eating them. I'm sorta new to this, not sure what should be happening. do I really need to hatch brine shrimp for their survival? I've not really observed her chewing and spitting out food for them to eat, but they do swim around her mouth and gills and they seem to get some food particles. I also see them grazing on aglae here and there.
>>4909520Yeah I found my male Cacatuoides dead 2 days after the 2 females laid eggs. Very suspicious.
>>4909588>>4909530Rearing the two clutches I was using "First Bites" from Hikari at first, then slowly added in BBS until they were big enough to eat them, then microworms, white worms, tiny pellets and flakes etc.Any smaller than first bites is specialist culturing.
>>4909180fuck me that looks absolutely beautifuli've always dreamed of having a tank this style, just sort of a wide, shallow kiddie-pool size tank that looks like you just ripped a piece of a lake
>>4909257>What you guys do with your dead fish? burry them?Fresh: I tend to bury if the shrimp don't get to it fast enough.Salt: the inverts are so fast about it that I rarely even see a body.
