>>4920410
Can you propagate an amazon sword by just cutting it in half through the rhizome/bulb?

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15 minute timer just to get fucked by orientation memes.

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I do not care for bettas

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>canister filter comes in mail
>shattered tubes
>shattered locking mechanism
>christmas is coming so shipping times are going to be worse

My retarded honey gouramis (3 in a planted 30 gal) are fighting each other. Any ideas on stopping them from doing this?

>>4920462
Very pretty shrimp and pearlweed (?)

>>4920456
>>4920462
Damn. That's really pretty! What plant is that? What's the care like? That's exactly what I envision for a sparse carpeting plant. Tell me everything about it.

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Stocking ideas? 50 gal, more plants coming soon. Doing a nice long cycle to get a good carpet

>>4920735
corydoras, pleco, odessa barbs, cherry barbs, and a pair of gouramis as a centerpiece

>>4920739
This is literally the answer everyone here gives for every tank, minus the pleco.

>>4920717
Yeah, they're gonna die in less than a year because of the virus that affects dwarf gouramis.
Can't be fighting when they're dead.

>>4920735
A Betta
>>4920758
>minus the pleco
Based. Plecos are hideous.

>>4920758
Not him but I'd recommend a shoal of pea piffers.

They are very active, cute, great eaters, and with 55 gallons they will shoal and you can possibly have some other fish with them like kuhli loaches

>>4920735
Rummynose Tetras, Bosmani Rainbowfish, American flagfish, and Panda Garras. 36/8/12/8.

And one colorful small pleco of your choice.

>>4920735
Shrimp
Nothing but shrimp

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>>4920718
>>4920732
Glossostigma.

Fill voids in rock with miracle gro organic ground soil, put glosso in. Disturb a bunch of soil so a thin layer collects on the substrate. Plant a couple loose sprigs of glosso in substrate, give good lighting, wait 6 months.

>>4920735
Like I said in the last thread; consider a pair of Kribensis cichlids since there are so many caves.
To also answer your question from last thread; their temperament is a lot like German Ram cichlids, similar level of care, too.

my betta is in a constant fight with his own reflection how can i stop this

>>4920758
What kinds of fish are you into? There are so many to reccomend. Odessas are just popular with a few posters.

Also cories are too fucking expensive to convince me to try them whenever I see them. Anything that isn't a standard green is over 10 dollars garunteed. Thats steep for a schooling fish that isn't even that big or colorful. And of course the ones with any slight coloration are made into luxury fish that breeders pyramid skeem. There is this one I like that is the yellowish one with goldens spots all over, but they are always sold at really expensive prices even though they are bred by literally everyone.

Are we living in a cory bubble? Were they always this expensively priced? They just don't seem worth the money.

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>>4920735
Looking for some cycling advice. This morning, water was opaque, like watered down milk. I'm smart enough to realize this was a bacterial bloom, and assumed it meant the cycle was going quickly. I'm testing levels everyday, as usual, but today (literally the second day of cycling) ammonia has gone down by 1.5 ppm, but nitrite didn't go up. This is yesterdays testing results, and I'll post todays in a follow up right after. Is it possible for ammonia to go down without nitrite going up? I was under the assumption that nitrite was a byproduct of ammonia metabolism.

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>>4920824

>>4920824
>>4920825
Ammonia (or nitrite) can be absorbed slowly by plants, any organic hardscape, and some substrates. From the first addition of ammonia to nitrites getting got will usually take 2-3 weeks. Don't bother testing every day, just keep ghost feeding, test weekly, and wait until you see nitrates and zero ammonia/nitrites.

>>4920834
Should I add more ammonia? There's a fair amount of wood in there and quite a lot of plants. Substrate is sand capped UNS aquasoil

>>4920824
it's not uncommon to have 0 nitrites with a lot of plants. just wait until the ammonia goes down to 0, then slowly start adding fish.
also, why are your fingers so long and thin?

>>4920839
Im a little russian woman dying of malnutrition

>>4920835
Yeah keep adding ammonia (or feed heavier), you'll need a steady supply.

The plants are almost certainly where it's going for now. Get yourself to 2-3ppm and try to keep it there, that's one reason to frequently test: checking if time to add more ammonia.

Or just eyeball it and add a lot. Worst case of overadding (within reason), your bacteria colonies shrink when you add fish. Worst case if you don't add enough is the cycle never establishes itself and you end up with a fish-in cycle when you stock.

>>4920852
What ammonia do you recommend? LFS gave me it in little pee cups, so I don't know exactly what brand they've used.

>>4920845
Based

>>4920853
Dr. Timm's is easy to get, but any ammonium chloride works. I personally add a bunch of pest snails then ghost feed roughly double what I'd feed the fully stocked tank, and let the ammonia come from that. You don't need to water change unless the ph drops to low 6s (6.2 is probably where I'd pull the trigger), the process doesn't actually slow down meaningfully until you're below 6.0.

>>4920855
How would you recommend I raise pH? My water seems to be a bit more acidic (like... 6.6, it dropped to 6.4-6.2 over the course of the last day) than normal, and I have pH up, but I don't really want to add anything that might harm my fish.

>>4920873
Crushed coral or marine salt

>>4920873
Your pH will drop as you cycle, then eventually bounce back to its equilibrium. If the end result is at least 6.6 you shouldn't have problems with most fish except maybe livebearers, and you can use wonder shells or cuttlebone to help them out anyways.

That said, water changes with Seachem Equilibrium (to raise KH for stability, mostly) or if you have to, using one of those pH adjusters (in the new water, don't just yeet it into your tank) are both fine. Crushed coral in the filter or on top of substrate will also raise it a bit.

For now, just keep the cycling going and don't fuck with the tank much. Things take time to settle into a steady state, especially with aquasoil (even capped).

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>>4920764
>Plecos are hideous
not as hideous as you mom
also, stop bullying plecos

>>4920762
how many gouramis have you raised?

>>4921095
Just one brah it died the same day i put it in my tank dunno what happened i think it was defective

>Buy alien betta from local expo
>Dorsal and caudal fins torn, but fish looks and acts healthy
>Dose StressGuard daily to help with healing
>Fast forward a week
>Dorsal fin is starting to close up, but the gap in tail fin is slowly widening
I think it might have an infection in just the tail. Gonna do daily water changes + 30 minute acriflavine baths in addition to the StressGuard and see what happens

>>4921240
stop using so many fucking medications and he'll be fine. regular water changes, almond leaves, warmer water, lower light.

>>4921095
none. i don't raise gouramis. i bought one from the lfs, it kicked the bucket after 11 months or so, did some research and turns out a lot of the dwarf gouramis have this crap with an incubation period of 8-12 months.
switched back to bettas, couldn't be happier.

>>4920717
are they mixed sex? how long have you had them? how is your tank laid out? you will get real answers if you give more info

>>4921292
Mixed sex in a 30 gal, heavily planted with some spiderwood in an arch and dotted with epiphytes. Ive had the fish for a few months now, maybe 3 or 4? I believe one is a female, but I can't exactly tell. All three fight, they have distinct territories, and one (who has a beard, I guess he's horny and male) stays in the middle, near the top of the water, blowing bubble nests

>>4920430
Overstocked

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>>4920764
>talking shit about Plecos

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What's the opinion on this stocking idea? My concerns are over the Hillstream needing cooler conditions and if seachem fluorite sand woukd be ok for corys and Khuli loaches.

>>4921397
you may need to separate the horny male or add more sight blockers near the surface. gouramis NEED access to atmospheric oxygen, and your male might see the females as trespassers when they surface to breathe

>>4921527
>not letting those bitches breathe in his aquarium
based male gourami

>>4921527
They come up for air, he just chases them around the bottom

>>4921609
Yeah, and he's telling you that's bad. Imagine if every time you wanted to check your mail, some hoodrat pops out of nowhere and threatens to punch you. Yes, you could just run to your mailbox and back, but that doesn't solve the issue.

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Hatchet fish are cool, add a nice upper layer to my nano tank

>>4921789
I've been a big proponent of hatchet fish in /aq/ for years now, but they're not too popular here. Also, they're extremely hard to get in the US at the moment. Seems like every LFS and online retailer are out of stock of nearly every species.

>>4921789
aren't those for brackish water? i saw a video from the manlet king on youtube, i think he had some of those.

>mystery snail starts parachuting down to the substrate
>lands on my betta, they start sinking together
>betta lands on a neo shrimp, snail still on top of him
pure comedy

I know pests snails are just that, pests, but I have a small colony of ramshorns that sprang from two invaders i got at separate times and the eldest that started the bloodline passed a few days ago. his shell is dissolving in the grass carpet, kinda sad to see. not sure why everyone hates these guys so much they're pretty neat.

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>>4921817
NTA but I've always heard they really need soft water. And live feed, and still are very sensitive, but I've never tried them.

For top dwellers, for me, it's clown killifish.

>>4921826
Buy him a lil plastic gravestone and place it where his shell lies

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>>4921826
Ramshorns are greet fun. Harden up that water with some crushed coral and they’ll do better.

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>>4921817
No have them in same tank as my tetras and my Cory's.
All are doing well and thriving

>>4920785
Cool! Thanks! Maybe I'll get a small tank going in the library. Be a nice Christmas gift to myself.

>>4921789
they are really cool anon! i wish i could find some for my aquarium...
sadly, as another anon wrote, they are not available where i live neither ( northern europe )
they used to have several different subspecies of hatchet-fish for sale back in the days, but for years they closest alternative is african butterfly fish, but they are predatory and much bigger

8 Tiger barbs on a 10 gallon?

>>4922165
Do you like mini piranhas? That's how you get mini piranhas.

From bioload perspective, super heavy planting and a good size filter, yeah you probably could. But you'll need to change water very frequently and if the filter clogs up much, you're fucked.

Just up size to a 20 and get more of them.

>>4922165
I have 3 pea puffers and 3 kuhlis in a 10 and that feels like a lot. So 8 of a fish that's even bigger would just be a bad idea.

And like other anon said 8 fish shitting in a small tank will mean you'll need heavy maintenance

Have officially had the uaru for a week now. Hasn't seemed to touch fish food but ate my struggling african ferns and mowed my jungle val so he's definitely eating. I tossed some pepper pieces in today and he liked that I think.

>>4922165
Never kept one but aren't they like super active and range about 3 inches? just 4 sounds like pushing it let alone 8

Can I have 2 honey gouramis, 12 chili rasboras, and a dozen or so red rilli shrimp in a 15 gallon fluval flex or is that too much? I wanted neon tetras too but I don't want to overdo it? I guess I can do like 6 chilis but I thought the more the better since they're a schooling fish. Wanted a snail too but not sure what kind. It will have tons of plants. Hell I almost want to get 6 pea puffers instead if I can't have that many chilis after all, but I don't know if they'll harass the shrimp, and the shrimp are a must-have for me. Just looking for ideas as I'm somewhat new to the hobby

>>4922282
If you're new to the hobby don't get pea puffers, they eat live food only and if you're new i doubt you want to deal with that and obviously by extension they'll demolish shrimps as well
Though they can eat frozen i've heard cases where they straight up won't even try to eat unless they're moving

>>4922283
Darn that's a bit disappointing as I was really enamored with them and their unique personalities, but if they are high maintenance then I'll pick something else. Are there any similar fish I could keep that you think I'd like?

I have experience keeping and breeding axolotls for a few years now, got a separate aquarium for them, but they are pretty hardy so I feel like they're probably easier to take care of than a lot of fish

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>>4922283
>>4922294
I've had my pea puffers for well over a year and they've never had live, only frozen brine shrimp and frozen blood worms.

I have never tried putting them with shrimp cause they will likely beat the shit out of them, but with the kuhli loaches they've never even touched them.

>>4922282
The footprint is a bit small for two Gouramis, you may end up with violence. They might also decide to kill the shrimp. If they don't you'll end up with a lot more than a dozen shrimp, but they're essentially free stocking-wise. You'd be fine on bioload, just stuff the area behind the matten filter with good media (not the ceramic stuff that claims near-infinite surface area, it clogs instantly).

You could double the chilis without meaningfully changing the bioload, those things are fucking tiny. A planted flex 15 with like 30 of them and a bunch of blue shrimp would be kino.

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I finally got my light... I don't even have the aquarium fully stocked and I started to want a paludarium with vampire crabs because my local store has them but it seems they fucking suck ass as pets so I'll check for something else, this hobby is really a rabbit hole.
Also it fucking sucks that everything that isn't a nano fish will just eat shrimp, I suppose I'll only keep nano fish and bottom feeders.

>>4922344
Who told you they suck ass? You should do only a small amount of water and mostly terrarium, but they're more entertaining than most fish, and I say that as someone with three aquariums.

>>4922352
I'm quite clumsy so I might screw it up and the price is high in my country.
They will eat their young and they take too long to grow, I suppose I'll try something cheaper and less risky.

>>4922165
I forgot to say that it's heavily planted with a good filtration system. There are like 20 plants in there. Currently have 4 of the little fuckers there and planning to add 4 more.

>>4922294
They're not really high maintenance per-se, pretty hardy actually but i figured if you have minimal experience and you happen to get picky puffers prepping worms regularly would be a real hassle compared to sprinkling pellets
But if you do have experience with that sort of thing then there's no problem, shrimps are still a no-go though, they're still highly predatory

>>4922317
Yeah i feed mine frozen as well, occasional live if i happen to stop by the lfs, just pointing out cases i've heard with them
I've even heard they can be trained to take those Hikari vibra bites that's shaped like worm but i never tried it

>>4922165
IMO, you could get away with it with heavy bio filtration. Don't get a hang on back filter, get a canister filter. Or if it's one of those 10 gallon tanks with those sumps in the back, then just stuff em with porous foam. But I don't think you could put any other fish in there. It'll be just the barbs.

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Does anybody have any more info on this betta other than that it's a female halfmoon?

>>4922810
last seen a few days ago with a possible accomplice on the 4800 block of Harlem and western
suspect armed and may be dangerous
wanted dead or alive

I'm listening to the police scanners and will keep you updated

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>>4922165
29g minimum

>>4922856
needs more plants

>>4922856
Man, I love barbs. All of em. I'll never keep any, but I would if I kept a larger tank.

>>4922858
I agree. It's nice otherwise. Needs a bunch of pothos roots hanging down like vines, I think. Leaves, vines, big trunk, tigers. Jungle tank.

>>4922860
Oh hell. Nevermind. Just saw the top. It's started already, lol. Be a badass set-up once it matures I bet.

>>4920410
My neocaridina shrimp colony stagnated after like two generations and stopped breeding. Why does this happen; how do you start it up again?

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smartest redditor

>>4923098
that reminds me i need to drop by fish shop today to see about some amanos.

>>4922810
She only dates african cichlids

>>4923098
>his soul left his body
>came here to say this
>ding ding ding! that's the right answer
redditors truly are the plecos of the internet

>>4923098
Every aquarium/fish related leddit board is full of retarded people making post like this, or posting a picture of a fish dying of ammonia burns and going "Whats wrong with my fish! Everything was fine yesterday!"

>>4923237
It's a slower way to get the top AI-generated "article" from Google answering the same question.

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>>4923098
Speaking of magic shrimp, someone knows why this specific ghost shrimp is different from the others? born in my aquarium (assumption), started as a little bit brown and then started to look more blue.
The other ghost shrimp look like ghost shrimp, I can't tell neocaridina from ghost shrimp besides the transparency so maybe this guy came with the others?

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have you done your weekly waterchange anons?
dont be lazy! your fish will thank you by being healthy

>>4923589
I appreciate your robust clump of taiwan lily on the right side there. Also I only do a quarterly (every three months) 25% change in my planted. The plants seem to appreciate it due to... I dunno, some mineral content the fresh water replenishes I guess. There is always a growth spurt in the week or two after.

>>4923589
Latent genetics. Somewhere in the line, there was probably some blue shrimp. The genes for it persisted, albeit, hidden below more dominant, wild type genes, and has suddenly had a chance to reappear, as two heterozygous parents reproduced and this one managed to get both blue genes.

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>>4920410
>no AC in summer
>37C
>living room is an old room with shit tier insulation
>aquarium at 28C
how long can they last like that? I there are a few corys and some guppies

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>>4923793
>>4923624
>smartest browns

>>4923589
That's a neo. Ghost shrimp are pretty distinguishable from their prominent long front limbs, longer rostrum, and big ol' hump back.

So today I learned prazipro goes bad. Added some to my guppy tank because one of them had a weird looking white lip thing. Yadda yadda yadda, the oldest four males all died.

But I've got two males and a female juve left, so it goes. This colony was down to one female at one point, it's a bit of a horrorshow

>>4923804
I was wondering how he got in but now I remember that when I bought the ghost shrimp I also bought susswassertang, so huh mystery solved.
I wanted to buy the red but it seems I'll need to buy only blue neocaridina now so they don't lose their color.

>>4923896
Also someone knows why my susswassertang is kind of dead? I was told it would never leave my aquarium but it went from a fist to small pieces all over the tank.

>>4923799
They're tropical fish. Don't see why they'd be bothered by 82 fahrenheit water. Speeds up their metabolism, shortening their lifespan longterm, but that's about it.
>>4923804
I've had success with neocaridina but every time I've tried ghost shrimp, they all die out within days. Do they need some kind of specific conditions?

>>4923936
Many of the species sold as "ghost shrimp" are naturally brackish and don't do well in true freshwater for long. Almost all of them are wild caught en masse as feeders so treated poorly along the way.

My experience has been similar. Some have survived a couple months, but I've never gotten any babies out of them, even though I've seen eggs several times. I stopped trying to get a population to establish.

There was a guy on here who put 1000 into a roughly 30 gallon tank and they all died out in a few months.

>>4923941
That's dumb. I guess I'll have to get snow type neocaridina for a similar effect.

>>4923611
that looks horrible, i'd rather avoid weekly water changes just so my aquarium doesn't end up looking like that.

>>4923941
Aghhhhh I was wondering if the corydoras or the snail ate the eggs so ghost shrimp are a dead end, I bought them because they didn't have any other type of shrimp.

>>4920735
For a planted tank like this you can’t go wrong with Rainbowfish. I really like the kali tawa because they don’t get as big as most rainbowfish so you can stock more of them. The mairasi is another great medium sized rainbowfish. If you don’t plan on breeding you could get all males and the blue and orange would sort of contrast with each other. Some would consider them dwarf but only the females stay small at about 2 1/2” - 3”. The dominant males get close to 4”. You could also add 8-9 tetra. I like the black tetra because they are hardy but the blue tetra is more active. The males will duke it out non-stop and chase each other from one side of the tank to the other. For the bottom I would get a corydora and a couple nice mystery snails.

>>4923984
post your superior aquarium setup anon

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I bought a Torch coral recently, where should I put it on the rock work? (please bare with the algae i'm in the 'dirty phase' of this tank)

>>4915389
>>4915368
Thanks, I dosed medicine and he recovered. He fucking ate an otto though. Damn, he's finally big enough to want to eat his tank mates...

Speaking of taiwan lily, I have additional findings regarding how well it grows when attached to wood or rock like an epiphyte. I thought that the root structure would not attach itself to things in the way that anubias does. There is zero information about this online that I have been able to find. I tracked down one youtube video of someone successfully growing the plant attached to a piece of wood. I knew it could grow like this but epiphyte attachment remained a mystery.

Mystery solved. Taiwan lily (nymphoides hydrophylla) CAN self attach to wood. But not rock. Only wood. I learned this while doing a tank rearrange this evening. I went to move the rock I had a plant attached to that happened to be leaning against a log. Lifted, roots firmly attached to the wood. Not lightly attached, I mean java moss level of glued on. So conclusion is this plant has got to be one of the easiest plants to use in an aquarium.
Planted? Yes
Attached to wood? Yes
Attached to rock? Yes it will grow like that
Floating? Yes but growth rate is much slower and it doesn't like surface agitation (same as dedicated floaters)

>>4924351
Whenever I see an aquarium like that I think of those guys you see on forums, with their soft corals and >20ppm nitrates.
I'm like, yeah, your corals are bright and popping, but how do you avoid algae?
Do they have a hungry tang eating everything 24/7?

>>4924655
>I'm like, yeah, your corals are bright and popping, but how do you avoid algae?
I mean I have a Tuxedo urchin the top rock used to look alot worse before I got him I'd imagine when he gets bigger most of the algae will handle itself and this is the early phase I might just have to return him if he does too good of a job

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>>4920410
How in the fuck do i get rid of this? My tank is covered in it. Considering breaking the entire thing down

I think algae is cute.

My local store will get assassin snails, christmas miracles do happen in the third world no matter how small they are.

My female clownfish has most likely killed the male. He's in pretty bad shape, I think it's terminal. They were together for over a year but she just went berserk on him in christmas eve.

>>4923611
>waterchange


you mean top ups right?

>>4923611
>weekly
More like bi-monthly. Only top-ups + ferts once a week.

>>4924728
Clean it up the best you can and then lower your phosphates by ensuring you're not over feeding your tank. You could also add a refugium to eat the excess nutrients. I believe hermit crabs and some snails will eat it as well.

>>4920824
Nitrite will convert quickly to nitrate and be unnoticeable until there is enough nitrite bacteria built up on the surfaces of your fish tank. At that point you will be able to see it go up slightly and then back down to zero. When both ammonia and nitrite are zero you will have done your first mini cycle. Now you just need to add a fish or two and everything will balance out. Then after a few more weeks you should be ready to add most of the remaining fish you have planned, especially if they are still babies.

The main thing is to add fish slowly once you're down to zero ammonia and to stay on top of your water changes.

My apple snails have finally begun producing their second in-house generation. None of them grew to breeding size until I separated out a few and added them to a different aquarium where they could eat more, but now that I've done that, they've already laid two clutches. Can't wait for millions of snails

>>4924787
Ok fuck me it's expensive I can only afford 2, Santa ain't cheap fucking bitch.

>>4924964
That's gay for you. If you were in the US I'd send you a half dozen for free, I have a population in my main tank that has become quite large, large enough they've wiped out their food source re-seeds (to the tune of a couple hundred ramshorns) a few times.

Late merry Christmas, niggas. For Christmas I got an odessa barb with dropsy and roughly 55 snails in the mail.

Hope yours was middling to above average. Except if you're Flanders.

The female clownfish killed the male (rip) and is now looking for him all over the aquarium. These hos are crazy.

>betta getting chonky
>fast for two days
>wake up to him hunting snails and shrimps today
>he's never done that before
god dammit this fat fuck

>>4925010
Mine have been fighting on and off for months since I got them. The first night I had them they slept together and never again after that. I named them Creamsicle and Push-Pop. :p

>>4924387
Yeah bichirs like to eat things. A lot

>>4925087
Looks good, anon. But add some root tabs for that Amazon sword, it's melting away.

>>4925087
That's a lot of Plecos.

>>4925182
The sword isn't melting. The plecos munch on it.

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ASSASSIN SNAILS KITA

>>4925543
>3-4 tetras
Anon, pls...

>>4925551
plecos usually only eat dying plants, same as with snails
since you have bristlenose plecos, and not some exotic L-types, im pretty sure its a case of element deficiency in plants, while the plecos are simply not letting the already dying plants go to waste

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And they're in now. I left them next to the snails but they went the other way.

Thinking of setting up an aquarium again now I have money and am not depressed (I even managed to keep my plants alive so far for several years)

Wanted to pick up a Dennerle 70L tank, use my existing 206 (getting new pipes and glass lilly set) and am going to basically plant the fuck out of it. How long can I run it just with plants + co2 + ferts etc? I don't want to rush in with fish till I know I can keep on top of it for a good few months.

In terms of stocking, I (eventually) want a L134, but starting off with shrimp and maybe some cories. I'm basically pay-pigging my way in with the setup, to try and make it easier to maintain.

>>4925575
>I left them next to the snails but they went the other way.
Right so bear in mind that their name doesn't just come from that fact they eat other snails. It's also how they do it. They have left a graveyard of well over a hundred empty shells in my tank and I have never actually seen them set to work when the lights were on. They spend most days burrowed or hidden. I assume they come out to hunt at night. It may take a few weeks before you start to see empty shells.

>>4925586
When I came out of the shower they were doing it, funny little guys, my mom hates them.

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>>4925582
One thing that really ticks me off about YouTubers is that they setup these elaborate tanks using many hundreds of dollars of plants and then tell everyone they don't need as many plants or even good lighting or Co2.

Oui! I just frew it in der mate and it wook welly goode.

>>4925607
I'm getting good lighting and co2, unlike most I'm not too retarded to know what plants actually need to survive. I just want something as low tech as possible so that a week or two of no maintenance doesn't destroy it. If I can get good lights, co2 and plants it gets rid of a good amount of the other shitty jobs i need to do.

>>4925562
it's all they had at my lfs
getting more and better substrate shortly dw :)

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Speaking of co2, could this work? I'm kind of poor so I was wondering if by adding co2 pills inside plastic bottles and a little hose to the top of the bottle connected to the aquarium would work.

>>4925631
just pump car exaust directly into the tank

oooooooOOOOooOOooooOo

>>4925675
Stay in school.

>>4925561
woah weird i bought an assassin snail today too. although im not dumb enough to have gotten two.

Rate my plan, please
>35L glass fishbowl
>no filter, no tech except a grow light
>no hardscape
>hornwort
>süßwassertang
>duckweed
>shrimp (neocardinia)
>snails (nerite, ramshorn, trumpet)
>copepods
Tell me why this won't work

>>4925841
On and also what should I use for substrate? Aquasoil with sand on top or what?

>>4925841
>>4925843
it's going to work, why wouldn't it? probably the hornwort will die since there aren't enough nutrients in the water column (the duckweed is going to take care of it all) but otherwise it's all good.
as for substrate, you can just use sand since you don't really have root feeders, nor do you have fish; shrimp have a very low bioload. and sand is much cheaper than aquasoil.

captcha: n8nsps - does that mean "nein SPS"? no SPS corals for me?

>>4925841
The only things that can go wrong is getting low on oxygen in the summer and having the shrimp genocide the copepods.

bros i need help diagnosing my mystery snail
>had him 6 months, not sure exact age
>everything going fine for the most part during this
>even some damage his shell had from the LFS was healing
>fast forward to two weeks ago
>overnight his shell deteriorated dramatically
>immediately go to LFS and buy wondershells
>cut my CO2 to neutralize pH
>hand feeding him every day since
>doesn't seem to be getting better
>actually has a small hole in his shell now
>spiral keeps getting shittier and shittier
He just keeps going to the surface for hours. He's super lethargic. If I had to guess he's on the brink of death but when he does decide to move around he seems just fine until going back to the water surface. And no, it's not my water quality.

>>4925609
>How long can I run it just with plants + co2 + ferts etc? I don't want to rush in with fish till I know I can keep on top of it for a good few months.

Sorry, I had to rant yesterday for some reason. You should be fine running co2 and ferts for as long as you want. You probably won't need it after a few months and then you can use it sparingly once everything is grown in. If you add the corys once your ammonia levels come down your whole system will stabilize a lot faster. Then you should be able to add shrimp or whatever else you want a few weeks after that without much or any die off. Don't beat yourself up though if something dies because that is unfortunately part of this hobby. Even if you do everything right there is a percentage of fish that die off naturally in the wild and instead you're being sold those fish. That's another rant for another day.

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>>4920410
so how often should I clean / do water changes on an aquarium that holds 42 liters but that only has 4 fucking guppies in it?
also only plastic plant decorations, room temp 28C, it has a basic water cascade filter.

The tank has been used for years, but most fish died and now I'm waiting for the remaining ones to also die, but I don't want them to die because the water is fucked.

>>4925897
They only live for about 2 years. You could take a piece of eggshell that is a fair bit larger than the hole itself and glue it down using gel super glue. You can't use the liquid superglue because it will seep through the shell and kill your snail. Maybe that will allow his shell underneath to heal and regrow? If nothing else it should help him out a bit.

>>4925903
Your tank is on the warmer side for a tropical setup. Guppies are ok in 28c temperature water but it's at their higher end. What are the types of fish you lost so far? It could be that your temp was just too warm for them and you will need to keep fish that do better within the temperature range you have.

>>4925858
>hornwort
>low on oxygen
lol. lmao, even

>>4925907
yeah 28C is like the max when there's a heat wave, in winter the heater keeps them at 23C
I have no way to cool down the aquarium so I just disconnect the led lights and kept it without a lid.
And, guppies, swordtails, corys, I think there was some gold fishe too. I mean the aquarium is not mine, I just help with water changes/ cleaning because the owner is disabled.
It has been going for years, these corys must be like 10 years old already kek, fucking immortal these ones

>>4925905
>2 years
mystery snails can live upwards of 5 years if properly cared for.

how can i encourage my blue dream neos to breed?

>>4925948
Better parameters, water quality, and food. There's no one magic bullet.

>>4925961
my parameters are fine, and they have plenty to eat. i just know some species can be conditioned to breed so i wasn't sure if I could do more. i want infinite blue dream babies.

>>4925915
At night plants intake oxygen. Warm water in the dark, with lots of critters, with nothing breaking the surface regularly could run feasibly run low on oxygen.

>>4925935
The average lifespan is a few years in an aquarium.

>>4925907
I see, there is nothing wrong with a small weekly water change. You probably don't need to do water changes that often but you will have to periodically clean the glass and keep it a weekly task I find is easier then waiting until things look bad.


As for why you may be losing fish you might consider these questions: Do you condition the water to remove chlorine when you do water changes? How about matching the temperature of the water from the tap with that of the tanks water? Do you have enough water flow and is it enough to break the surface to aide in gas exchange?

>>4925846
>>4925858
I'm asking what sounds like an easy question because this is my first ever tank (excluding the guppy/tetra gas chamber I had at 12)

>>4925966
I found blue dreams to be more reluctant to breed compared to normal cherries, so you're probably doing fine. You could attempt to give them something meaty sometimes, like frozen foods (brine or mysis or stuff like that). I've heard anecdotally it helps, but I've never tested it myself.

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Am I stupid?
So this lady sold me this huge reverse osmosis thingy to get my water leveled but all that thing did was lower chlorine levels while driving the PH up to fucking 10.
The hardness is still way above 400ppm. I thought that was the point of the stupid thing.

>>4926025
i just dropped a frozen brine shrimp cube in will update if success

>>4926064
>Am I stupid
Yes.

>>4926121
explain to me why I'm stupid

>>4926064
A reverse osmosis filter is not going to be very helpful for fish. If your water is supplied by a local municipality and not a well in your backyard then you're probably fine drinking it and using it for fresh water fish. You could always test it to see what minerals are in it. If your goal is to make your own salt water for a marine aquarium then you'll want an RO-DI water filter that adds a deionization carbon chamber to remove minerals from your water. To use such a filter for fresh water fish you will need to add minerals back into the water when you do water changes since your fish will still need them. There are other things you will need as well so I do not advise going the RO-DI route unless you're pumping water from a well in your yard.

>>4925902
thanks doll, I just left my old tanks to ruin because I couldn't mentally look after them, and I want to try again now that I have looked after a few plants without any issues for a few years. Hoping that having a nice tank, with everything setup properly (i.e. lid and real lights) will make it a bit easier to keep on top of things this time

>>4926222
I wouldn't say well water but swiss tapwater is the lowest quality water can be without being straight up poison. I don't think there is a harder water in the world and the shit is filled with algae.

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>>4926064
>I thought that was the point of the stupid thing.
That is the point. Your filter isn't working at all. Ask the lady how long it's been since she's had the thing serviced. The carbon block filters are probably all saturated with gunk.
>>4926222
This guy is correct. If your filter worked, you'd probably want to remineralize unless you're doing something really specific like breeding neon tetras or of course saltwater mixes. It's not a bad idea to RO/RODI + remineralize if your source is shit, but it is costly in both time and money.

>>4926064
You probably need to replace some of the filter components. Even RO without the DI steps should have lower than 25ppm of anything beyond h2o. But the various filter components only work for a couple hundred gallons, +/- depending on starting water, and then need to be replaced.

>>4926330
What ya mean she had the thing serviced? I bought the stupid thing. It's mine. It has never seen the light before.
>>4926342
Yeah, I'm not buying another 60dollar filter system. It apparently just doesn't work.

>>4924670
>urchin
how big is your tank, dude? you have a clownfish, a royal gramma, a cardinal fish AND an urchin in there?
it looks pretty tiny in that picture.

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>>4926441
thanks for the laugh, anon. this is the funniest convo i've had on this hungarian goat-fucking forum.

>>4926441
>60 dollars is too much for his fish
>buys a 20 dollar passu because he can't solve the captcha

>>4926457
I don't like fish, except on my plate.

>>4926469
then why are you in /aqg/ bud

>>4926471
There is more than fish under water. I like plants and shrimps or crabs..

>>4926441
So to the original question, yes, you are stupid. You wasted your money on something you didn't understand and won't bother to make work.

>>4926525
I actually got the thing gifted but like.. nobody needs a life story about how I got my hands on it.
Thought might as well use it instead of throwing it away. I had no idea what it's for or does.. just says it removes metals and bacteria and shit.

>>4926526
In your original post, you say the lady sold it to you.
So you are stupid, and a liar?

>>4926552
I always talk like that. Instead of going..
>well I did that and this and then that person I know did that and so now this is how I got this and yada yada
I just say
>I bought it
Cause that information is completely irrelevant and a waste of time.

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>>4926553
Well no one here knows what the FUCK you're trying to achieve by "leveling" your water with a RO system. So maybe elaborate instead of backtracking.

>>4926556
I don't know either, man. That's why I'm asking. I dunno what that shit is doing.. I just assumed it's for water hardness but it didn't do shit and then anons said the thing must be broken.

>>4925841
>fishbowl
>no fish
blasphemy

>>4926441
>What ya mean she had the thing serviced? I bought the stupid thing. It's mine. It has never seen the light before.
>>4926342
My mistake, to me it sounded like you bought a used system from some lady (as generally people buy things new from a store, not an individual). But if it's brand new, and assuming it isn't faulty, then there could be some issue with your installation. Perhaps the system didn't come with everything needed, perhaps your water pressure is too low (unlikely as you'd probably notice that). Generally RO/DI filters are rated at pretty high pressure but they'll work okay at lower ones (a lot are rated around 80 PSI, which you're unlikely to get in a residential setting, but I've ran them as low as 40PSI without a booster without much issue).
Another thing: are you sure you are using it correctly? There should be three tubes. One input tube, one waste tube, one RO tube. The waste tube is going to have high hardness as that's the waste water. Are you sure you're not using the wrong output tube?
>>4926441
>Yeah, I'm not buying another 60dollar filter system. It apparently just doesn't work.
>$60
That is the cheapest RO system I've ever heard of, lmao. But if it's just RO and no DI, then I can see it. What brand+model do you have?

>>4926608
I used this thing https://www.arka-biotech.de/en/products/arka-myaqua-190-380
Water pressure is exactly as needed, 3 bar.. it was complete, all 3 filter blocks.. took ages to fill the tank.. water tasted really funny too..
and I did the 1hour cleaning run that it required to get the filters going.

>>4926612
Assuming all the tubes are correctly connected, it's pretty hard to mistake the waste water vs the RO output, but double check to make sure you're measuring water out of (7) and not (8). One thing a lot of people don't realize when considering RO or RODI filters is that you produce more waste water than filtered water. The advertised ratio is three to four times more waste water than filtered water for this unit (which is not unusual).

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>>4926618
I see what you are saying.. I think I understand..
I'll have to check the thing tomorrow, I'm too tired for this today. And quite too drunk, kek.
But you were a great help, thanks, anon.
.. what I have in mind is the tiny shitty valve used for cleaning the thing which I might have fucked up..

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>>4926618
Like, as it says here.. In used 7 as an outlet for the tank. So I did that correctly.

>>4926621
Yeah, definitely wait until tomorrow lol. If that valve is messed up, what might be happening is just all water is going through the output instead of separating waste water from output water. Not sure as I'm not entirely familiar with that particular RO unit. Anyway, good luck.

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>>4926628
Thanks anon! Sleep well!

>>4926622
why would you skip the carbon filter ?

Is it true shrimp will escape from their tank? I want some but I really don't want to deal with that.

>>4926643
Yup. Lids help. It's not that big a deal. It only happens occasionally.

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>>4926643

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>>4926643
I have never had one escape, nor have I seen them try. I have both neos and caradinas, haven't seen or found any outside their tanks thankfully.

>>4926661
What breed are those

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>>4926675
It's a low grade crystal red shrimp. These are a caradina shrimp, so they need very soft, low ph water. If you are starting out your shrimp tank, something like picrel is definitely easier, cheaper and more available. It's a neocaradina, commonly called a cherry shrimp, they are pretty easy to keep, although drip acclimating them is recommended because large swings in temperature or ph will cause them to molt and probably fail the molt and die.

>>4926682
I really wanna try shrimp, but they are a huge investment to buy local. Never did a mail delivery, either. Tried with a plant once. Never again. Maybe I'll just catch some crawdads and pretend.

Questions for Florida Flagfish keepers:

How bad of idea is it to make a 10 gallon habitat? Should one go? 1 male and 2 females? None?

20 gallon?

Love how these little guys look, but I know nothing about them. About to start searching.

>>4926749
Nope, nevermind. Too much trouble to worry about. They're neat, but not for me.

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>>4926745
Personally, I'd buy them local even if the price is too damn high. If they are local, there is a good chance they use the same tap water that you do at home, so the shrimp are already half acclimated to your water.
You could see if any local FB pages or marketplace have any hobbyists willing to part with some for cheap. Search for aquarium plants on marketplace because I don't think they allow animal sales.
They don't need a large tank either, shallow or long tanks under 20gal are perfect, all you need is a light, sponge filter and air pump.
You don't even need substrate just throw some indian almond leaves in and call it a day.
Don't let your dreams stay memes fren.

>>4926745
How much are shrimp where you're from? They're around $5 a pop near me

I think my plants came with snail eggs..
There is this tiny little snail, as tiny as a grain of sand, running around the glass. Looking at google pics, it looks like a bladder snail but I can't really tell.

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>>4926749
>>4926760
20 is good for two trios, assuming heavily planted.

They're a bit sensitive - I think there may be some adjusted to brackish water that don't thrive in fresh - but once they're settled they're very hardy. They absolutely need some algae (or fresh/blanched veggies) to survive, though they'll eat whatever fish food you provide.

When the water gets warm (say over 75F) they can get nippy with other fish in their tank. I've seen them harass corys until the latter's fins were stumps.

>>4926767
>>4926773
$10 US each for basic cherrys. So what, $100 for a 10 gallon, just for me to quite possibly fuck up somehow. I'm just too stingy to make a bet that big, me not having any experience especially.

>>4926839
Yep that's how everyone gets snails. Most often it's already a hatched snail you just didn't see on the plant. Less common for it to be eggs. You will know if it was just one individual or at least two within a few weeks. If you see many moar snail, it was more than one and they are now populating your tank.

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>>4926869
U think he'll survive? I only put the tank together like.. 2 days ago.. I'm still just feeding it liquid bacteria to get the thing going. It shouldn't be safe for animals yet..
I kinda wanted to get snails so I'm happy he's there.

>>4926872
>U think he'll survive?
Most likely yes

>>4926869
Damn you, anon. You sent me on a goose chase for snails.. I just had to check if there are others and I found a 2nd snail sitting on one of the plants. It has a few nibbles in the leaves so the Anubias barteri must have brought the snails.
Now I can't stop trying to find more snails.
>>4926879
excellent

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do snail antennae grow back? my new betta thought it was a worm and now one of my big pond snails has a bent and badly broken antenna

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>>4926898
google says yes

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>>4926898
consider acquiring a net "breeding box" similar to the one in the picture - its nice to have if you suddenly need to separate and inhabitant, without a need to establish something temporary, like a bucket and such
it will not work with infectious diseases for obvious reasons, but damaged fish fins, damaged snail-houses and such, will heal better if you can separate the weakened creature
snails are generally speaking very hardy, but if you dont want to take any chances - isolation is your best bet

>>4926868
That's ridiculous, just buy online for $30 for 10+. Even if it takes two or three tries for them to really "take" you're way ahead.

>>4926064
There is definitely something in the process that just adds a bunch of minerals to get it to 10
Empty out that canister and it should be fine

>>4926955
I might. Hell, if I get them to settle-in good and start breeding, I'll undercut the midwest shrimp monopoly. Bring cheap shrimp to the masses.

So let's say I wanted some pearlweed bushes, right. Not a carpet, just a couple of sight breaks, and extra plants are cool. Think just sticking some in the gravel (tank has no soil) would achieve that?

10 gallon tank, betta is the only fish. Couple of fist-sized mini anubias and a pothos cutting up top is my current situation. Been running a little over 3 years.

Try it? Or wait the betta out and redo everything when it croaks? I really like my betta and don't want to ruin a stable thing.

Any anons have any recommended books to get into keeping an aquarium? So much info to learn, not sure where to start.

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>>4927145
https://aquariumscience.org/ I found this site exceedingly useful when I started out. it's very straight forward, no non-sense blogs written by a boomer chemist. he tells you what useless bullshit you don't need and what common products are a scam.

>>4927073
adding a lot of plants at once can throw off the nitrogen cycle. a few pots of micranthemum glomeratus, commonly called pearlweed wouldn't hurt a 10 gallon. but it does prefer nutrient substrate. you could put a 2 or 3 root tabs underneath before planting and be fine for a while. there is another micranthemum umbrosum, sometimes called giant baby tears, that's similar. it does much better in plain gravel, or even grafted onto wood, and does better without co2 than glomeratus.

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>>4927193
That guy is ghetto af..
>put cow shit in a sock and hang it in your aquarium
I'm pretty sure there are better ways of cycling a new aquarium

>>4927200
Very cool info! Thanks for it, anon. If I ever get as good with aquatic plants as I am terrestrial, I'll make it, lol

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>>4927193
How can I keep the good feng shui in and the bad one out? Like do I need to be asian to make something like the one in the top left? Anything I touch turns to shit nothing I ever do goes right.

>>4927398
Tight poofs of moss like that require careful pruning. So yes you'd be in there frequently with the scissors to keep that look going.

>>4927236
let a wagu steak rot in there

>>4927193
>>4927236
>Add about one-eighth teaspoon of dry fish food and one level teaspoon of human urine per 20 gallons of water per day to an aquarium with no fish in it.
Does this really work?

>>4927416
Damn man.. you are running some fancy aquarium.
>>4927420
No it does not.. everyone with some brains knows that excrements are highly toxic and have nothing to do with water.. they turn any water into toxic waste

>>4927420
Probably but so would either of them independently. You need a source of ammonia, as long as it doesn't come along with anything else dangerous, doesn't matter where it comes from.

>>4927193
He's... Interesting. Some of his work is really top notch - relative value of biofiltration media for example - and some of it is terrible - his opinion on planted and shrimp tanks. Unfortunately it's all provided with the same level of confidence, so hard to recommend to newbies. Better than many resources, but really all one needs in this hobby is:
>any fishless cycling guide
>seriouslyfish.com
>the understanding that you overfiltration doesn't exist
>patience
>willingness to learn
>minimum of $200

>>4927423
If you are healthy, human urine is perfectly safe (in very small doses). It's used in composting, urea becomes ammonia very quickly in water, and it's as close to sterile as makes no difference.

I wouldn't do it because fish food works just as well, but unlike faeces, urine is safe and easy to up-cycle.

>>4927425
I mean.. I just.. would never. It's horribly dangerous.

>>4927426
In what way is it horribly dangerous?

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>>4927428
Just think about the most dangerous things humanity ever had to deal with.. always related to excrement.. the pest, worm infections, diseases..
You should never use any of that in a place you try to keep living being.

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My one plantsu decided to "close" all it's leafs at the top in a matter of hours. The tank is only like 3.4 days old.. Why do they do that?

>>4926643
yeah lol. had a filter shrimp crawl up the gap in the lid i have for a hang on back and managed to crawl ~10 feet across the room before dying. found him probably a month or more later, he was bone dry.

>>4927443
I think that watersprite and maybe something else does that when water conditions change. Double check me, but I'm nearly positive of it.

I think it's ok. Keep an eye on it and your water conditions and let it settle and cycle. Some plants don't like being moved and'll do funky shit. Java ferns melt back sometimes because a loach farted and shook the tank too hard, seems like.

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>>4920410
My favourite neocaradina, the snowball shrimp. Total scud death, glory to the master race.

>>4927430
i mean, composted manure is a bit different from straight excrement. but I did read a forum post from a guy who cycled a 100 gallon with a dog turd.

>>4927424
i can agree with that. his stuff about filtration helped me tremendously.

>>4927420
>one-eighth teaspoon of dry fish food
this is the correct way
ive been doing it for almost 30 years and it simply works
i guess it takes longer time ( 5-8 weeks ), compared to some other fency methods
always used the fish food method, so im judging by timing provided by other fishkeepers here
but its a safe, cheap, easy and booletproof way for cycling your aquarium
also, please dont use "human urine" - its disgustig

>>4927430
And none of those things get passed in urine, except for bacteria if you have a UTI.

Obviously don't use human shit, you can't even use that for composting without a super long time.

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I fucking love this tank at the New England Aquarium. It's like a giant home tank - both fish and plants are all ones you can find for home, except maybe the bonyfish

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I stupidly tried to have gravel and sand areas, and of course they get mixed up and look like shit. Has anyone had success in re-aquascaping a tank while things are still living in there? I want to replace all the substrate with sand. My best idea is to get a piece of acrylic so I can partition the tank in half, and replace half the substrate, wait a while for things to stabilize, then replace the other half.
I can't just relocate the inhabitants somewhere else because it's full of shrimp and snails, and I'd never catch them all to transfer them.

>>4927539
>please dont use "human urine"
what about horse urine? we are on /an/, after all

>>4927657
i've modified the aquascape, but i've never replaced the substrate like that while the tank was full.
why not just add more sand to cover up all the gravel? or just leave it like this, SerpaDesign does it all the time, with tiny pebbles from the gravel next to larger rocks "to give the illusion of scale".

>>4927674
>why not just add more sand to cover up all the gravel?
The substrate would end up super deep, and also I bet the gravel would end up rising to the top of the sand due to the "brazil nut effect".
I wonder if I can just relocate the fish while I dig up and replace the substrate, the shrimp and snails would presumably be less distressed by all the activity.

>>4927657
I know it's your tank, and what you think matters more, does.

But I think it looks nice as is.

>>4927657
as this anon wrote >>4927692 it looks good as is
i have never actually done it myself, but if i absolutely had to:
i would take out all the decorations
scoop out whatever i can using a cut in half 0,5L plastic bottle
siphon the rest using a thick hose
it would greatly disturb whatever balance you have in your aquarium - not worth it imo

>>4927692
>>4927700
It just troubles me that sand would probably be better for the cories in there. They seem to like digging around in the sand, and the gravel gets in the way. I lost a cory recently, and the possibility is nagging at me that they could get infected from the gravel parts of the tank. The gravel is smooth so shouldn't abrade/cut them or anything, but I don't gravel vac, so presumably mulm builds up in it.

>>4927657
The key to splitting them is to throw some rocks or wood in between. Doesn't have to be a complete wall, but like 40%+ blocked will prevent much from shifting over.

>>4927702
It wasn't the smooth gravel that caused the problem. If it was a cory you only recently introduced, may have been changes in hardness/ph from what it was used to, novel pathogens, or self-poisoning in transit. If it's one you've had a while, likely bacterial infection, but also sometimes fish just fucking die for no apparent reason, particularly heavily bred ones like panda corys.

They do dig around more in sand but they do fine on any substrate. Corys having injuries from gravel is a myth, what causes barbel damage and etc are having too much bacterial exposure, which comes from overly dirty top layer of the substrate, which often occurs with large gravel (i.e. pea gravel) for various reasons.

A mixture of sand + gravel is fine for any fish. Make sure you have burrowing snails to keep the top layer fairly clear of mulm, if you have bottom feeders like corys.

how often do assassin snails eat? i cant tell if im gaslighting myself or not but my pest population seems to have dropped dramatically over just a few days. i only have one assassin though.

>>4927715
As often as they're given a contract.

How do I deal with the water surface looking all dusty and nasty? I don't wanna scoop that stuff off every few days..

>>4927755
The cause is excess nutrients/waste causing a bacterial bloom. You can technically get a surface skimmer to "solve" it but it's better to treat the underlying solution.

>>4927758
Well the tank is only 5 days old. Would that stuff go away with time? I'm currently seeing extreme cl2 levels from my water tests which google tells me is normal cause I used tap water.

>>4927715
The pest snails have gone into hiding more.

>>4927635
The mix of the different sized fish is nice.

>>4927766
The African bonyfish is fucking huge (like 30" long, +/-), and then they've got bichirs, ropefish, elephant fish, and Congo tetras.

The plants I've noted are dwarf tiger lily, aponogeton sp., crinum calamistratum, Java fern, Java moss, and various swords.

If I had to guess, tank is about 5000 gal? But that's a really rough estimate. 12ft long x 6ft tall x unknown depth, I'd guess it's 6-10ft deep.

It's a great aquarium, for anyone visiting Boston, though stupid expensive if you're not a member. The central tank is ~200k gallons and has a 90+ y/o green sea turtle and a pair of 40+ y/o loggerheads.

>>4927775
*African Bonytongue, sorry.

It also has butterfly fish, which are pretty cool but you have to look for them, they stay right at the top. We got to that particular tank today right as they were feeding them (bloodworms from the look of it), hence the debris in the water. The Bonytongue was taking golfball sized gulps of the gravel then spitting it back out.

>>4927775
>It's a great aquarium, for anyone visiting Boston
well now i have to go visit, since i have to go to boston (aka america's butthole) regularly.
at least it gives me something to look forward to next time i'm in that God-forsaken podunk. i'll probably spend the whole day at the aquarium, to avoid the people, lol.

>>4927781
Isn't that the truth - Boston is a shit hole other than the museums and theaters, and the north side/Cambridge-Somerville are a bigger buglamp for freaks than Salem (of Witch Trial fame) in October.

I live in the suburbs and fucking hate the city. It's somehow better than the left coast cities and NYC but it's still insufferable, cramped, dirty, and stupid expensive.

>>4927761
Oh yeah, in that case, just chill for like 4-6 weeks, lmao. It may very well balance itself out.

>>4927785
actually i think nyc is better than boston, by far. for one, i never got stuck on the subway because one of the trains caught fire. and sure it stinks, but so do areas of boston, and at least in nyc you have that variety of good/cheap food, while in boston the food is horrendous.
actually thinking about it, i can't find any positives about boston... huh...

>>4927781
>>4927785
>>4927792
>all this Boston hate
I lived there for a few years. I'd have to agree for the most part. The winters were also unbearable.

>>4927715
It seems to be something like once every one or two days but it could be less. It's certainly not more. One pest snail is a big meal for a single assassin. This is very hard to gauge though.
>>4927755
>>4927761
Yeah don't worry about that right now. If after you're cycled and ready for fish you're still getting biofilm on the surface, the simplest way is to add an air stone. This will break up the film and prevent it from forming again. A skimmer is overkill you don't need that.

Man, i got a new expensive tryhard tier light and now my tank looks 50% more like those shown off on pro aquascapes.
Everything has that artificial colorful sheen to it. Ive almost reached peak dishonesty.

>>4927867
why is good quality lighting and aqua scaping dishonest?

>>4927797
What, you don't like being below freezing for 6 months of the year?

The main upsides are the 6 weeks of summer are beautiful - most days are highs in the mid 70s - and high salaries.

>>4927871
Because theres a sliding scale of dishonesty in the hobby.
0 being a natural body of water untouched by man, + N being the amount of bullshit conducted towards keeping aquatic flora and fauna.
Obviously even just keeping a biotope dirted no-water changes tank is already a little dishonest compared to 0. But it goes up as you get towards aquascaping.
Good lighting makes fish more colorful than they'd readily appear on a bright summer day in a river. Plants that are typically green but only color up red if you blast them with a shit ton of rgb lumens. Having to add co2 because we're tricking plants to get closer to the energy they'd need if they were out of water. Its pretty dishonest compared to some guy keeping a glass box of water.

>>4927885
so are cherry shrimp all liars too because they aren't red in the rivers they come from?

>>4927891
To some degree, yes.
A more relatable distaste with the artificial is something like glowfish. Ive taken the dark road of aquascaping cause it looks nice, but I would not venture towards garish glowfish, even though they're only another notch on that scale of misrepresenting nature.

>>4927839
>>4927786
I hope it goes away soon. It's really thick.. I watched one of the snails get trapped in it cause she's too small to penetrate it.

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>>4927885
>Having to add co2 because we're tricking plants to get closer to the energy they'd need if they were out of water
While the rest of the post is pretty true, this one isn't. The natural CO2 levels in natural bodies of freshwater are absurdly high compared to our tanks without CO2 injection.
There's a bunch of reasons for this but I think the two big ones is that:
1) Lakes and rivers have a constant source of particulate organic carbon and dissolved organic carbon from the soil, which is why a brand new dirted tank in the first few weeks/months has tremendous growth. But renewing that source in an aquarium is most often not nearly as effective.
2) Depth of both water and soil. Most people never think about depth. Even in places in the wild that are considered "shallow," this can be several feet deep, and almost no planted tanks are that deep, with of course incredibly deep soil and sometimes even underground waterways. CO2 concentration (or rather, capacity) goes up as depth increases in a large body of water, and there is an ecosystem in natural bodies of water to actually saturate it. And even if you did get a deep tank, now you're suddenly stuck with the issue of not getting the PAR you'd need without some serious fucking lighting, which the sun does not have an issue of doing in the wild but our dinky lights do.
In our tanks, low tech setups tend to hover around 2-3 ppm CO2. In the wild, the worldwide range is 0-14ppm according to one study (that's been endlessly regurgitated), with Dennis Wong over at the 2hr aquarist coming to an average of 10ppm worldwide I believe. At spring headwaters, it can be as high as 40-50ppm.
Here's a pic from from the book Aquarium Plants (2003).

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The snail is walking upside down on the thick biofilm on the water surface.
She seems to love that shit

>>4927952
It might be an australian snail of sorts

>>4927954
u are so stupid.. but I kek'd so u win

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>>4927885
Oh yeah, I pulled this ludwigia out of a nearby body of water, planted it in my tank and blasted it with light.
16 hours a day! Look at that whorish red it's turned to!
It was all innocent, sitting there in the nature, and I just yanked it out and pimped it out with color - I made it feel so dirty! I hope it feels the lies and the deceit!

>>4927926
Imagine writing that whole thing instead of just saying "the frogs are farting in the water". Fewer words, you know.

>>4927883
>>4927797
>>4927792
>>4927785
>>4927781
Why is everyone talking about Boston? This is the aquarium general, not the rat general.
But on a serious note, I'll add my own "fuck that shithole" to the pile; Boston really deserves the hate.

>>4927957
:3

i did dirted substrate and its constantly brapping from under a rock. hardly need the bubbler anymore.

>>4928027
The bubbles are either CO2, which is great, or H2S, which is not great (but honestly not THAT big a deal). If your tank is heavily planted, I wouldn't even bother with an aerator. Too much aeration off-gasses CO2 faster.

>>4927967
>literally nothing to do with what was typed
Imagine trying this hard to be funny.

How many neocaridina shrimp could fit in a well planted 30 gallon long?

>>4928145
many

>>4928044
>was typed
>actually Ctrl+c Ctrl+v from ChatGPT
imagine trying this hard to sniff your own farts

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Why is Buce so cheap in the US and EU?
Here in Australia, any of the ones that are even slightly uncommon are like $50aud minimum.
Yet i can see in your guys shops they're practically giving away all the species you want for $15 tops.
We're right next door to Indonesia too, shit doesnt make sense.

>>4928218
it's me. i set the price. i make it expensive. no, i will not lower the price. i hate australia.

>>4928145
cherry shrimp has negligible bio load. You can add 50 and let them breed like wild in there. It'll be fine. There is no reason to start with 50 unless you're impatient though. 10 or 20 is more than enough to get a breeding colony started.

I never realized snails are nonstop shitting.. I've been watching the 3 tiny bladder snails for 15minutes and it's just nonstop bombardment. My filter pump is completely covered.. even the plants are covered.

>>4928297
Yeah, that's why those trumpet snails are so useful. They dig, and when they do, that poo and stuff gets plowed under. Those two with good substrate will make your plants happy.

>>4928218
Maybe because of strict regulation? you guys had that whole thing where frogs decimated your crops or something and australia is an especially biodiverse continent

>>4928323
Yea it is probably that and the lack of demand to drive a large scale local producer. I still find it weird since it feels like other shit is obviously imported here like in-vitro cultures, but i suppose those are easier with bio-security.

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>>4928323

>>4920410
What's a good filter for a 29 gallon? I was thinking sponge filter would still work but I'm also considering a canister filter since it's less of a pain in the ass. Don't want to risk a hang on back since creatures will climb out.

>>4928317
Well I hardly had a choice in what snails I'm getting. The snails chose me.. I'll just have to clean surfaces with a brush from time to time. They are probably still really good for the plants.

>>4928486
Canister filters are the best if you want to get actual good filtration and flow without going full retard on a sump.
The only real downside is the fear that they'll leak. Other than that, you barely ever have to clean them compared to sponges and hang-on backs.
Ive found that a cheap basic sunsun does the job (just dont bother on the UV lamp varieties). The more expensive Fluvals, Eheims and Oase have added convenience but I dont feel they really perform much better.

>>4928514
Yeah, hitchhikers are a many splendored thing... Lol. Nearly impossible to NOT get some sort of snail with planted aquaria. If you're just starting out, a handful (~5) of Malaysian trumpet snails can help. Can usually get them cheap/free.

>>4928639
I've gotta give those a hard pass. I don't find snails with long shells very cool. They look weird. I like em round and bubbly with cool colors and long antenna

Water hyacinth yes or no?

>>4928809
Is your aquarium 100+ gallons? Does it have 3-4" of air above the water? If yes in both cases, yes. Otherwise, no.

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Fishe

>>4928816
What do I do with the one I have? Keep it in a bucket?

>>4929004
Yeah probably. Or let it die.

In other news, ordered some new fish and the fucking usps is going to add at least 3 days to the original delivery time. Odds on they're all dead, 6.5 days in transit is a fucking long time.

Fuck the government and the usps in particular.

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>>4928486
consider Eheim Classic 2213 / Eheim Classic 250 ( same product with different naming )
its very reliable, easy to setup, easy to clean
sunsun filters, as the other anon suggested, is a well known brand these days - and its been around for a while now, so they must be pretty reliable too ( i never had one, so cant say anything about it )
oase filters might be the highest rated canister filters right now, and i would try one myself, if i wasnt old and stubborn
all-in-all external filters are great, and 100L/25gal is a limit where a sponge filter is no longer enough imo
lastly, you want a 400 liters per hour pump if you go with an external filter, regardless of brand, but dont buy a complete random no-name from amazon

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>knock snail back into water
>dry
>foot and head tears off
>shell falls back into water

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>>4929074
Anon wtf

>water lettuce has 2 new grows
Billions must try.

>>4930023
>>4930023
>>4930023
>>4930023