/AQ/-Aquarium General

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If I'm doing 50% water changes from dosing EI ferts is it ok to use room temperature tap water? I am working with a 50 gal tank and only have a few 5 gallon buckets, so keeping 25 gallons of cold tap water and letting it heat up to tank temperature would be difficult.

>>2058300
Never had a problem doing that before. It won't be a problem.

How old, typically, are the rainbow sharks you pick up at pet stores? Just got my first shark yesterday, and he's probably less than an inch and a half long. How long does it normally take for them to reach their full size?

>>2058313
Adding to this, he seems to be cuddling up to my kuhli loaches. He follows them around the tank and just sits on them or next to them, or hides with them under driftwood. They don't seem to mind, but is this normal behavior? Will he become less friendly (if that's what he's doing now) as he ages?

>>2058297

This picture reminds me of the look I received from a group of old farmers when when I walked in to a bar in a tiny little town well away from the main highway. "Is there a gas station anywhere around here?" I said. They looked at me like I was from outer space. The town had no gas station. I had taken a wrong turn and entered the twilight zone.

I keep thinking about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. Would aquarists in that area have known their water was fucked ahead of everyone else?

Sometimes I worry that there might be toxic crap in my tap water. But my fish are alive, so they're either the hardiest fuckers around or my water isn't laden with heavy metals. Right?

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>>2058277
It's Fluval shrimp stratum. More like soil than gravel.

>>2058410
Thanks m8

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Alright, /AQ/... I think I'm ready.

Red pill me on shrimp tanks!

>>2058466
There are only two outcomes: resounding success, or catastrophic failure. You have no control over which outcome you'll get. Only the shrimp can decide.

>>2058466
>Red pill me on shrimp tanks!
Racemixing neocardina davidi is degenerate.

But no, really, what do you need to know. What are you starting with? Have you ever had a tank at all?

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>>2058469
I've owned many aquariums, have successfully raised MANY species of fish, and I love the hobby through & through...
However I have never understood the rhyme or reason behind shrimp tanks that aren't just for food.
The way I see them, it's like decorating an anthill. Maybe I'm just ignorant.

>>2058466
Easiest option? Only buy high quality berried females. It's how I start all of my shrimp colonies, cuts a good three months out of the colonization of the tank. Make sure the tank is thoroughly cycled. Usually I'll setup a tank, let it run empty for a week, then add a ghost shrimp or two, let that sit for 3 weeks, then toss the ghost shrimps to my saltwater fish, and throw some berried females in the prepared shrimp tank.

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>>2058475
My shrimp tank. Colony of around 100 RCS (most are still young adults, without full coloration, not breeding stock yet), a colony of thousands of pond snails, an oto, and a dwarf puffer, who happily keeps the snails and shirmplets in check.

>>2058475
>The way I see them, it's like decorating an anthill.
I don't feel like that's an unfair analogy. Comes down to if that's interesting to you or not.

>>2058475
Crustaceans are cool. Cooler than fish in my opinion.
>it's like decorating an anthill
Ants are also neat.

>>2058440
You're welcome? Idk which for but ok lol

>>2058497
Shrimps and crabs are the fedora lords of the aquarium world.

>>2058466
sponge filters and airstones will be your friend

>>2058514
People who shit on other people's opinions are the fedora lords of any world

>>2058514
That title belongs to saltwater keepers

>>2058518
Hahahahahahah you're getting mad over an opinion and on 4chan of all places which means nothing. Don't shit the thread up already anon.

>>2058395
their water isn't fucked.
it's slightly more caustic than the water they were using before.

all drinking water is caustic to some degree though, even pure water is caustic. Aquarists don't measure that directly. So they may or may not have noticed a change in pH, but that's about it.

>>2058395
Also of course the sort of aquarists that regularly test things like pH and hardness usually don't use water from the tap in their tanks.

>>2058530
I would consider brain damage from lead water fucked.

>>2058532
Yes they do unless they're keeping certain fish.

>>2058530
>their water isn't fucked.
Huh? The water coming out of people's taps has dangerous levels of lead and heavy metals in it such that it's not even really safe for them to bathe in it. The lead is not in the source water per se, but the lead pipes that the water is corroding. But either way if you turn on the tap, you get metallic water.

>>2058519
Why bring reefers into this? I wanted a super diverse aquarium, so I went saltwater. I have 70 'known' species in my 30gallon tank. Show me a freshwater 30gal that has that much diversity of life.

>>2058317
if anything he'll become slightly more aggressive with age.
the reason hes schooling with the khulis is because they're all loaches and he doesn't have any other rainbow sharks to school with

>>2058502
Sorry, realized afterward that it wasn't apparent, but >>2058239 and >>2057480 are both my tanks.

>>2058475
lots of shrimp are really colorful and interesting. im personally more fond of fish and perfectly happy with a few ghost shrimp in my community tank for the variety

>>2058544
Rainbow sharks are more like barbs or carp. They aren't closely related to loaches at all.

>>2058549
barbs, carp and loaches are all in the same family

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I just found my weatherloach all dried up and crusty under the tank stand, he's jumped out before but this time I didn't find him until too late.

Why did he keep jumping out of the tank? The hole is about 1 inch wide and is for the filter wires.

>>2058556
That's strange. No experience with that fish though. There could be stray voltage.

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>>2058556
Sorry to hear that, mang.

>>2058541
>70 fish in a 30 gallon

>>2058552
I'm not aware of any loaches in the Cyprinidae family. They're all in the same Order, but that's not exactly "closely related."

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>>2058521

>>2058541
If you get to count coral species, do I get to count plant species?

>>2058562
If you read again, you'll notice he said 70 "species."

>>2058559
>>2058560
Its bizarre but my tank is where fish go to die. My first weatherloach and a bunch of other fish of all sizes just vanished one by one, and that second weatherloach always liked jumping out of the tank.

Most of the time I would find him dried up but he would start wiggling as soon as I picked him up. But this time it was too late.

>>2058568
Maybe you should put a piece of tape over that little opening...

>>2058556
>Why did he keep jumping out of the tank?
Because that's what they do.
Read the care sheets next time.

>>2058573
I actually did towards the end of his life but that little bastard still wiggled through, the holes were at a weird angle so it made getting a reliable seal difficult.

>>2058574
>Read the care sheets next time.
What do you mean by this? His packaging consisted of a watertight bag covered with a brown paper cover, no such literature was provided at time of purchase.

>>2058574
really? I wanted a few loaches but I like uncovered tanks better. any loaches that aren't jumpers?

>>2058579
All the info you need is on Google.
This site is pretty good: http://www.loaches.com/

>>2058583
They're all jumpers, even kuhlis.

>>2058566
Less than half of that is coral. The rest is made up of fish (only two species), and many many different types of crabs, snails, sponges, worms, all sorts of things. Many things I don't even know how to describe well enough to figure out what species it is.

>>2058584
>In England, a permit is required to sell or keep "Weather Loaches"

Interesting, this must be why my local pets at home shop stopped stocking them.

>>2058589
Fair enough. Saltwater still doesn't have much appeal to me. It sounds like a high maintenance alternative to a stamp collection when people describe it like that.
There are three things that could maybe convince me to do saltwater one day: pulsing xenia, featherdusters, and longspine urchins. Though I don't know if the urchin and the xenia could be together.

>>2058541
It doesn't matter if you have "70" diverse species. I think what he's referring to is that salt water guys talk down onto anyone who does freshwater.

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>>2058590
if you're looking for an alternative you can try to order cobitis taenia.
They look like small weather loaches and prefer cold water.

>>2058596
I'm pretty sure the rivers are full of those around here. I caught some once and tried bringing them home, but they all started dying once inside of their own tank so I flushed them down the toilet to try and give them one last chance.

>>2058594
They definitely can, I literally have all of those in my tank lol, although the urchin is probably going to have to go. He keeps picking up my corals and carrying around the tank
>>2058595
I do saltwater and freshwater both. Did freshwater 15 years, then I got my first reef. Still have freshwater tanks. Never would talk down to a freshwater hobbyist. different strokes for different folks, I just like them both.

>>2058562
implying fish

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>>2058600
>give me all the strokes

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>>2058297
Can somebody fix my fish? So they had just gotten over the ich and I changed too much of the water and at th same time I introduced a new gourami into the tank.next day they look like this. They don't really seem very scared of her. Help! There are three guppies showing pale spots and raised scales. Looks like they're getting pruny

>>2058635
learn to quarantine new fish for starters. the fish were likely weakened by the ich which allowed a secondary bacterial or fungal infection to set in. try to identify which it is and medicate accordingly, if you can, remove the fish from the tank to medicate as some medications may harm your plants/ beneficial bacteria

>>2058475
Maybe you could get a predatory fish and stock the tank with tons of cheap shrimp. Then see who lives. It's like an anthill being harassed...by...an ant-killing bug. I guess.

>>2058641
The temperature has been set at 86 degree for over a week. Could that be the cause?

>>2058645
>86 degrees
nah man, that should be fine. just remember to add breading, cycle your oil often, and turn off the heat once they separate easily with a fork

>>2058650
Mm delicious. Not even sure what you were trying to say

going to be making a tank out of a 275 galon ibc tote, held beat juice so its technically food grade and shouldnt have anything harmful for fishes in it , for a filter im going to use a 5 gallon buckett filled with sponges to use as a mechanical filter to help pull all the shit out of the water, , tihnking im going to seal the top so water coming out of the bucket is pressurized aswell . pump should be more than enough with a max output of 1500 gph at 0 ft elevation , , should i try to run 2 275 gallon ibc totes and two pressurized filters off the same pump? also looking for easy ways to keep tanks cool, and or warm, for warmpth spraypainting the tote black should be enough but how to keep it cool? reflect sunlight away? also looking for any other ideas etc

>>2058651
turn your heat the fuck down you're roasting your fish

>>2058645
86 can cause fugal and bacterial infections, tone it down to like 77 slowly

>>2058655
that temp is optimal for treating ich, be nice to noobs, you were one too once if you aren't currently

>>2058664
no its not, and this is not your personal hugbox

>>2058666
nor is it fucking /b
whys it so hard to have manners when telling someone they're doing shit wrong

>>2058666
because I wanted to make a joke. there's an aquarium subreddit you might like if that's a problem
also,
>checked

>>2058674
>>2058670
replied to wrong post

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What are your guys favorite schooling fish?

>>2058677
holy shit what is that. do want

I started cycling a new tank yesterday, I used roughly 75% new water 25% water from another tank, squeezed filter media from an established tank, dosed with prime. How long should that take to cycle?

>>2058684
Shouldn't dose with prime. That defeats the purpose of a cycle, which is to get good bacteria to eat all your ammonia. You just neutralized all your ammonia. Add a bit of fish food to the tank, and let it sit for a week

>>2058677
>>2058678
pseudomugil gertrudae i think

>>2058677
harlequin rasbora, a big school of ten or more looks really nice
plus theyre like $2 each so its easy to get lots

>>2058613
kek

>>2058678
Spotted blue eye

>>2058297
Fuck I should stop lurking these threads, it makes me want to go out and buy a fish tank....

>>2058677
White Cloud Minnows, don't see them talked about all too much however generally.

>>2058687
>>2058684
I'm sorry not prime on this one, I actually used the marineland aquarium conditioner which is for chlorine and chloramine

>>2058666
nice trips, satan

>>2058677
I know it's plain, but I've just always loved zebra danios. So cheap, and a school of 20+ is quite fun, and full of energy. They just play 'tag' all day long. Really just territorial behavior having to do with mating... but I call it tag

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I had a Betta splendens that attacked my RCS, but he's gone now.
I'm looking for another Asian top-dwelling fish. I'm not looking for a schooling fish, but either a pairing, small harem or solitary fish type fish, that won't attack my RCS. I've been thinking of Betta imbellis, since they're apparently smaller and more peaceful than splendens, or a honey gourami, but I'm not sure how big their mouths are.

>>2058702
try sparkling gouramis or honey gouramis, a male and two females looks great and they behave very interestingly

>>2058702
I've heard dwarf gourami are usually quite peaceful they were my second choice behind a betta

>>2058695
Oh, well as long as it wasn't neutralizing your ammonia than your chillin. I'd still give it a week regardless. Not much beneficial bacteria is held in the water column, but adding some material from an old filter certainly helps. I always err on the side of caution with cycling tanks. Sure, you can just wait a day a throw fish in and it'll all be good, but I've done that before and the fish broke out in Ich (obviously due to uncycled stress), which is just not a fun way to start off your new tank, y'know?

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>>2058677

is native guy here?

>>2058707
I've never seen any good movement from them. Their a cool oddball, but my schools always swim in one corner of the tank all the time.

>10 gallon heavily planted
>5 emerald cory
>2 ADF
>1 betta
do I have room for anything else? I want more top feeding fish but I don't know what I can get. I want a schooling fish but I dont think I have the room

>>2058714
also want more interesting/colorful fish for the plebs who look at my tank and bitch about no interesting fish other than the betta

>>2058705
Yea I figured it would be a relatively quick cycle but why not ask anyways. Fish should be a week anyways because I have a nice end of year bonus check coming my way.

>>2058703
>>2058704
Alright, my LFS has sparkling gouramis in stock, but I think they're a bit /too/ small. I'm looking for a centrepiece fish mainly. I'll probably go with honeys, especially if I can find a wild-type.

>>2058703
>try sparkling gouramis

don't. they are notorious for hunting shrimp

Honeys might be better but with all anabantoids and shrimp it's always a gamble. You could do a small harem of 1M to 2-3F. I just love my Honeys, too bad they're extremely shy

>>2058707
I hate these guys. They're barely visible and during feeding time they just slither around on the surface like a bunch of goofballs while the food sinks below them

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Would khulis do ok in pea gravel? Most say no but I have seen a few say yes

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>>2058677

>>2058741
3mm is fine

>>2058742
have any of you ever bred these? theyre native to where i live and i tried it once, got spawning behavior but no eggs

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>>2058677

>>2058747
Did you provide them with vegetable matter to build a nest?

>>2058714
10 gallons is way too small for the emerald corys. They're active fish and need more room to swim. Mine are in a 55 and they race up and down every inch of that tank.

As far as room for other fish, that depends on filtration and water changes. A small school of ember tetras would work.

>>2058765
Tell that to the anon who has corys in a 5 gallon

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Thinking about getting one of those 200 gallon rubbermaid cattle troughs for a saltwater pond in my basement. Simple filtration of live rock. I just want to grow some big triggers and angels. I want to feed them often. Anybody got any experience with anything similar.

>>2058764
yes, and they built one

>>2058773
With all the rock you'd need, there wouldn't be any room for large fish... Unless you are planning to do a fuckton of water changes to compensate?
I could see it working long term with a second trough plumbed in full of rock/media and macros.

>>2058765
you know most species of fish will swim of the entire tank regardless of size. I got 1000 gallons and those goldfish go crazy in there but still I think like 30 gallons is reasonable for your average person keeping a goldfish

>>2058784
Yes I was thinking about just pumping up to the live rock in another tub and gravity return to the cattle trough. But my knowledge of saltwater filtration is very dated.

>>2058478
Puffer Anon! How is your elephant ears doing? Also, how do you keep your puffer from eating ALL of your shrimps?

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Just wanted to say thanks again to the anon who gave me coral advice. Webm related is my coral, and as you can see it's fully extended and pretty happy in its new spot and flow.

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Top tier aquarium music incoming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8OlDPqYBLw

>>2058707
Where the fuck are their internal organs? Do they just not exist?

>>2058802
Are your clown fish trying to nest in it? It seems to me like they were checking it out as possible real estate in that webm.

Either way, adorbs/10. I jelly.

>>2058811
>Are your clown fish trying to nest in it?
I'm not sure. I think it's a bit small for them to nest in properly, but I did have a different pair of clowns that nested in coral that wasn't even stinging coral so maybe. Clownfish aren't exactly smart. Who knows?

And yeah, I think it's pretty qt.

>>2058821
Have you ever had a clown fish change sex on you?

>>2058834
Nah because I always get them in pairs anyway.

>>2058765
they seemed a little stressed when I got them, but when the driftwood was finished and put in they immediately changed temperament and now they zip all over the place too. hopefully I can get them a bigger tank going if I start another in the summer.

have you had tetras?

>>2058802
Thats so cool

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I just got my daughter an aquarium, so that means all the care falls on me so tell me, how do I go about not being a fucking fish murderer.

>Fluval Spec V 5 gallon
>Bio Rocks and Carbon Filter
>Bought a 25W heater set to 72 (no thermostat)
>PH balance, conditioner, cycle bacteria added
>used bottled spring water to fill it

I have 5 glofish, a fake plant and a little castle, I leave the blue led moonlight on over night. I have it next to a window with the shades drawn during the day.

This is basically all I know which I learned in a crash course over a week, I feed them a little bit twice a day and am getting a live plant this weekend for them. The last batch all died off in a week but I wasn't doing a quarter of the stuff I'm doing now.

This time I'm invested and interested in these fragile little assholes. What do I need to know that is absolutely crucial /a/.

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What can I put in a five gallon?

>>2058875
1 goldfish needs a minimum of 30 gallons preferbly 50. you ought to get rid of them and buy some tiny tetras like neons or embers

>>2058875
PH balance isn't worth using, your tank -probably- isn't actually cycled since most cycling products are scams, and the tank is too small.

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>>2058875
The first step is getting rid of the goldfish.
They'll outrgrow your tank in less than one year, and produce massive amounts of waste.

>>2058877
The ideal would be a shrimp colony.
You can also use killifish and rasboras.

>>2058881

I've heard a lot of differing opinions on this, roughly an inch of fish per gallon of water, I would've preferred smaller fish. Maybe a few tetras a shrimp and a snail but so far the tank seems to be treating them well until it's not I guess.

>>2058883

I only learned about cycling after, I bought some bacteria drops and added it a day after I got the fish. I'm really in the dark and learning as I go. And I know I'm pushing the limit on the tanks capacity but I just have to make do. I might go get some water from my neighbors tank and add it to mine

>>2058886

I have glofish, black fin tetras, I read about how literally shitty goldfish can be so we avoided them.

>>2058881
>>2058886

He said Glofish, not goldfish.

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>>2058896
oops

>>2058892
an inch of fish per gallon is fine when your fish dont get a foot long

>>2058898

It's ok I appreciate any help I can get from anyone, we got this for my daughter but I'm starting to become personally invested in these guy, I don't want to fail them but getting it started is going to he the difficult part

>>2058896
>>2058898
oops x2

If I had to pick a topic it would be, do I need a live plant, can I leave my moonlight leds on overnight, and do I feed twice a day, and will my fish be ok till the bacteria gets going or should I do some water changes and check the pH incessantly

>>2058875

The main thing you need to understand is the nitrogen cycle. Fish produce toxic ammonia as waste. Some kinds of aerobic bacteria eat the ammonia and convert it to nitrite. Nitrite is also toxic. But other kinds of anerobic bacteria eat the nitrite and convert it to nitrate, which isn't that toxic.

Both populations of bacteria will mostly be living in the filter media. Some will be in the water but barely enough to matter. The filter media is always going to be the main home to the friendly bacteria.

PH balance liquid is probably unnecessary unless you have extremely basic or extremely acidic water. Since you're using spring water, the pH is most likely (but not absolutely certainly 7.0, which is fine for black tetras.

Black tetras can survive from a pH of 6.0 to 7.5. That's a very wide range. I doubt you need the pH balance liquid at all. You generally want to avoid adding chemicals to the water unless you really need to.

There's no real benefit to using bottled spring water over tap water unless there's something wrong with your tap water. If you have regular tap water you can just add the dechlorinator to it and that will neutralize any chlorine/chloramine that's in the tap water. The best water conditioner is Prime because it's inexpensive and neutralizes chlorine and chloramine. It also binds the ammonia and nitrite into a non-toxic form that the bacteria can still eat, so it's particularly useful during cycling. Be warned though that it also decreases the oxygen in the water, so you mustn't overuse it.

You should probably go ahead and buy this thing.

http://www.aquacave.com/seachem-ammonia-alert-sensor.html

It'll tell you if there's ammonia in the tank. You just stick it onto the tank wall with the suction cup.

Your ammonia readings need to be 0 at all times.

>>2058915

Thank you I appreciate that, right now I have one of them pointed up kind of treading water in the corner, the rest are 'asleep' right now, I'm doing a big petco run this weekend, should I ditch the fake plant and get a real one, and is it stressful to rearrange the tank too much with then in it. I'll pick something up to check for amonia too.

>>2058911

I wouldn't worry nearly as much about pH right now as much as I'd worry about ammonia and nitrite.

As long as your pH isn't wildly swinging around and it's somewhere between 6.0 and 7.5, your fish won't die from pH related causes.

Black tetras can tolerate a wide range of pH as long as the changes aren't swinging wildly all the time.

>>2058923

How long would it take for ammonia to build up to toxic levels? Will the bacteria start multiplying enough in a few days?

>>2058922

I personally wouldn't get a real plant right now because it's just one more thing to worry about. The fake plant probably isn't doing harm (although if you ever notice the color is coming off then obviously you need to remove it--it shouldn't do that).

Also I don't know what your lighting set up is. Most aquarium plants like a lot of bright light and the ones that don't are in my opinion kind of ugly (like java fern--but that's just my opinion; a lot of people like java fern).

Whether you get a real plant or not probably won't make much difference. I wouldn't do it until your tank is cycled, but you could. Like I said it probably won't make much difference.

>I'll pick something up to check for amonia too.

Don't bother with those ammonia testing strips. They suck.

Either get the stick-on monitor from Seachem, or one of those little reagent and test tube kits. Both are decent options.

The reagent is poisonous, so don't let it somehow get in the tank water and if it gets on your skin somehow, wash it off right away.

>>2058932

Any ammonia at all is toxic, so if your test shows anything above 0 you need to do something about it.

I'd recommend a partial water change (20-40%) and conditioning the water with Prime. Here's some info about how to use Prime to detoxify ammonia and dechlorinate the water.

http://www.seachem.com/support/forums/showthread.php?t=4156

Make sure the water you put into the tank is about the same temperature as the water in the tank. And if you already have a pH of 7.5 in the tank and are doing a water change bigger than 20%, I suppose it'd be good to make sure the new water is close to that pH too.

What's your tap water's pH by the way?

>>2058948

Also, as far as how long it will take the filter media to develop a sufficient quantity of good bacteria--it's really hard to say, to be honest. It may take a while, or it might happen pretty fast, especially if you added the bacterial supplement. Pretty much, the best thing I could say is that it'll happen when it happens. Sorry I can't give you a better time frame.

>>2058951
>Sorry I can't give you a better time frame.
4-6 weeks, bacterial supplements don't speed up the cycle.

>>2058936
>5 gallons
You'll need a minimum of 10 but preferably 15 or 20 gallons because these guys like to swim.

>No thermostat
You need one. You can get a floating thermometer for like 2.99 on amazon.
These Tetra tend to get ich when the water is cooler. (Though thankfully they can recover pretty easily. If you run into this problem I recommend having some Kordon Ich Attack on hand. It's worked for me before.)

>>2058915
>seachem ammonia alert sensor
This is pretty inaccurate from the reviews I read. It is best to stick with the API Liquid test tubes. This way you can track nitrite and nirate as well.

The good news about this is that your Tetra Glofish (Which are just altered Whiteskirt Tetra) are really hardy. They will survive almost anything after setting up the environment properly. Just get a bigger tank, cycle it right and you'll be fine.

>>2058903
>10 inch fish in 10 gallon
No. More like 5 gallons per inch is more suitable. Gallons matter but I believe dimensions matter just as much. A 13 inch fish in a 55 gallon tank is going to be stressed trying to turn around.

>>2059050
he was exaggerating. nobody here is dumb enough to put a pike in a 10 gallon
[spoiler]I hope[/spoiler]

>>2058666
Technically 87 is optimal, but it's apparent you don't actually know what's going on.

>>2058687
All accounts I've read say that bacteria is still able to eat ammonia while it's neutralized by Prime or similar.

>>2058806
They're all jammed into that tiny silver pouch right behind/under their heads.

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Is there anything I can put in a five gallon that will chill with a betta?

also where is the best place to get nice looking bettas that are also healthy?

>>2058875
Would you consider getting a 20 gallon for the Glofish and a betta for the Fluval tank? The absolute smallest tank anyone will recommend for skirt tetras is a 10 gallon, and most will say 20. The only low maintenance fish appropriate for a 5 gallon tank is a betta.

Also, the light that comes with that tank isn't strong enough for anything besides crypts, java fern, and the like.

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>>2058890
How many shrimp per gallon is acceptable?

>>2058892
Don't add water from another tank. The beneficial bacteria is not in the water itself. And if your friend's tank is contaminated with any dormant diseases, then your fish will get sick due to having a weak immune system from all the stress they are currently experiencing.

What you want to do is take the sponge out of your filter, bring it over there, have them take their sponge out, gently squeeze it out onto your sponge, then you put your sponge in a bag/bucket of water and drive back home as fast as possible and put the sponge back into your filter before some of the bacteria start to die off due to lack of oxygen.

If you don't have a sponge in your filter that's fine, just go to walmart, buy a cleaning sponge, bring it home, cut the scrubby pad off, rinse it out very thoroughly in plain tap water/bottled water, then cram it into the intake of your filter. It's best to have that tube filled anyways, any fish that swim too close can get sucked into it then die. Don't be afraid to butcher the sponge until it fits, either, but try to avoid cutting it so small it will get sucked all the way in and you won't be able to remove it when it gets clogged up.

Also, it's important to do regular water changes, and every other water change take the sponge out, gently squeeze all of the goop off while it's submerged in the water you just removed from the tank, then put it back.

This keeps the sponge clean while not harming the beneficial bacteria.

>>2059086
>Is there anything I can put in a five gallon that will chill with a betta?
Nerite snail, Amano/ghost shrimp, maybe cherry shrimp. I've heard people go back and forth on dwarf frogs. You could do micro crabs, but there's no telling if the betta will pick on them.

>also where is the best place to get nice looking bettas that are also healthy?
Local breeders or online. LFS will vary.

>>2059090
17

can i keep an oscar in a 10 gallon?

>>2059098
Fuck no

>>2059099
the pet shop clerk told me i could as long as i do enuff water change every month

>>2059098
Absolutely not

Okay so a friend has a 10g turtle tank and he wants to put fish in it. Would the turtle eat whatever he puts in it?

>>2059101
The clerk is retarded

>>2059102
>>2059104
how you know? he is some1 who works at fish
store for a living so he knows what is talking about. i really want tiger oscar!!! so cool. i have a beta fish in their so you think they will fite?

>>2059105
Obvious troll is obvious.

>>2059107
im not trolling i have a beta fish his name is momo he is half fin moon

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>>2059107
>>2059108

>>2059111
You took that off another site, and that picture is at least 3 years old.
Next time you want to troll be less obvious and dont forget reverse image searching exists.
2/10

>>2059112
okay i lied about the picture
but i really have a beta fish in a 10 gallon
and want to get a tiger oscar
RAWRRRRRR i want a fish tiger!!!!

>>2059113
Oscars won't do well in a ten gallon tank.
Instead you should get a school of bala sharks.

>>2059120
Don't forgery the plecos.

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I love my roommate's stupid kitschy tank.

>>2059123
It honestly isn't all that bad. That screaming head bubbler is silly, but it isn't as dumb as those diver figurines or treasure chests.

>>2059128
>giving a fuck what your mom thinks
What are you, a gay beta male?

>>2059129
my beta fish is not gay he is a fighting fish sharks are too dangeros my mom said recommend something else mayb

>>2058714
Endless live bearers, top dwelling, tiny, won't fuck with anyone else, gorgeous. They are guppies without being trash teir fish baisically.

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>>2059126
Not him but one day I want to get an actual battleship model and use it. I love battleships, and I feel like the tackiness can be avoided if the piece is of sufficient quality.

>>2059135
That's about as tacky as it gets. Terracotta can be okay, but anything that looks silly isn't. A battleship surrounded by guppies is as silly as it gets. Just break a pot and decorate with the shards in a way that looks like someone accidentally dropped a pot into the local stream instead.

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Hey guys it's the guy with the 30 gal cycling fully planted tank. I've been leaving it to cycle with used media for 3 weeks now so I introduced my shrimp, as well as added more plants. I also now have actuall lights. How is it looking? How much longer do you reckon I should wait before adding more fish, and if I do should I add ember tetras, endlers live bearers or something else first? Also I read up on neons ind found that most in Melbourne are from the same stock (read inbred as fuck) what is a good replacement that won't fuck with my RCS?

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>>2059137
I also got a pretty sick betta for the tank that did have the shrimp in it.

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>>2059136
Fight me IRL faggot.

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>>2059136
>wrecked battleships don't exist in the real ocean

>>2059140
Enormous guppies don't, though.

>>2059137
You're getting there, anon. Do you have some rocks or wood set aside for the tank? And what kind of lights are those?

The tank should be good for five or so fish now. The Endlers should go first, since they're the hardiest. Cardinal tetras make a good sub for neons. They're slightly bigger, more colorful, and hardier.

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>>2058677

meme fish

>>2059147
As wierd as it sounds I don't want cardinals, I'm getting them in a mother tank later and I have this wierd thing of "this fish can only live in this tank" (I have mild OCD). They are just clip on LED's my very helpful LFS use them for their plant tanks and have been running the same ones for around 2 years so they seem to be pretty good quality. I'm looking for some driftwood ATM because buying wood seems dumb to me, I'll probably just chop a limb off my lemon tree, peel it, then boil it.

>>2059153
What about black neon tetra, silvertip tetra, brilliant rasbora, espei rasbora (>>2058752), or golden pencilfish?

Wood normally has to dry for years before it's considered safe for aquariums. Otherwise you run the risk of growing mold or rotting and fouling the water. If you want to gather your own hardscape, rocks are a safer bet. Just stay away from anything that seems "chalky."

>>2059158
Nah I need a much lower PH so I guess I'll just buy some wood in that case, I put a peat bag in the filter today to bring the PH down. As you mentioned I like black neons but aren't they a bit bigger? If so how are harlequin rasbora?

Fuck!! Someone broke into my apartment and broke my only two tanks! I have a canister filter arriving today that filters 500gph. I have a spare 55 gallon tank and my filter is broke! All I had was 1 4 inch green terror, 1 delhezi bichir, and 1 African knife fish. Is there an emergency way I can put them in the tanks? They are in buckets but I'm googling away but want opinions here because I'm at work and my girlfriend is at home freaking it because they don't like the 50 gallon totes using my cycled 20 gallon filter for now. They're all hardy ass fish. Could I put the filter pads in the cansiter and let it run for a bit before putting them in and do daily water changes?

Silly me posted in the old thread...
I've recently come into possession of 1500 spare dollars. Should I get a nano tank and a betta?

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>>2059095

>>2059120
I understand that I'm probably being trolled, but bala sharks also grow pretty huge and are very active...

>>2058802
No problem anon :) Glad to see it happy.

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>>2058797
It's doing great :) just put out a new leaf a few days ago. Another one is already starting at the base.

>>2059175
Wow really sorry anon. That's honestly one of my biggest fears, is someone will rob me and be a total douche and break my tanks. Like, take whatever the fuck you want, i have insurance for that shit, but don't break my goddamn tanks.

>>2059175
And yes, the method you described should work fine. Just make sure you definitely do large daily water changes for at least the first week

>>2058821
Hopefully they don't try to host your hammer. The hammers are pretty much always unappreciative of it, and worst case scenario the hammer tries to eat the clown, probably wouldn't be able to though. No real way to discourage it either

>>2058797
Forgot to answer your other question, I don't do anything :). I've had this puffer for a month now, and literally never fed the puffer once. He just munchs snails all day :). When I selected my puffer at the fish store I observed the tank for a good 20 minutes, and pick the puffer that had the best coloration, and was getting bossed around by the other puffers (being submissive), so i picked him. All fish have their own personality, and he's just very gentle, and doesn't massacre my shrimp.

>>2059086
I've had luck in my 5 gallon with RCS and a small school of chili rasboras. The only issue I've had is one of the big female RCS likes to chase the betta.

>>2059255
Smack it on the nose with a water proof newspaper and say no

Bit the bullet and ordered some fish online. Worse comes to worse the will replace them or refund. Should be here 10:30 am with an unboxing.

>>2059266
how do you get fish online? everywhere I look the prices are ridiculous. I cant be dropping 60 bucks every time I want to add an individual fish

>>2059175
did the guy steal a lot of shit? how was it damage? your gf might just be crazy and hate fish anon. not the first horror story
>>2059195
>1500 spare dollars
>nano and a betta
build an 80 gallon planted and buy enough shit that it can run on its own. get a betta harem.

>>2059280
It was 60 bucks all together for 3 fish. 20 dollars for shipping

>>2059288
which site? looking for one that's more friendly to smaller quantities/prices

>>2059286
It was a nignog he tried to steal my ps4. My girlfriend loves my fish. She hand feeds the green terror and African knife fish but afraid of the ugly ol Bichir. He knocked into them both not sure if on purpose. But damage was minimal with everything else.

>>2059289
Petsolutions.com they had things I haven't seen in my area in a long time.

Looking for a reliable place to get a Mantis Shrimp, not the peacock (too big for the Fuge i have) N.Wennerae preferably

summoning native guy

>>2059265
hehehe. I have actually seen a clown get punished before. At the shop I go to, there's this platinum clown that has a whole 60 gallon tank basically to himself and some yellow tangs (usually, its a shop so stocking cycles) and it's super aggressive. Even if your hand is just above the tank, it's jumped out of the water to bite people before. So the girl that works there stuck her hand in the tank, and when the fish came charging she netted him and held him out of water for a few seconds. It worked, for about a minute.

>>2059307
I decided on trying a few exotics in the brook now to see what happens

>>2058556
They freak out when air pressure changes, and as loaches, they like crawling into/up stuff.

>>2059326
what?

>>2059326
what exotics? Whats your lowest temp?

>>2059333
pretty sure this anon is trying to pretend to be me to upset some people, unless he is doing the exact same thing as me

>>2059340
Go away impasta.

>>2059340
ah, makes sense. anywho, hows the project going?

>>2059353
good. just added some koi.

>>2059352
Okay post a picture of the pond then most recent progress
>>2059353
Pretty alright i be been doing two days digging for 2+ hours then a day off to rest, wash my clothes and not kill my muscles
Making some decent progress
Changed my mind on what fishes I'm going to put in it but am looking for input, I think k yellow perch are the perfect size and would work well as well as some bullheads , white catfish, it channel catfish (all small)
I can always release fishes if they get too big since I'm doing local native fishes
No I am not doing exotics I would have to lay for those

>>2059355
Because koi thrive in 8 inches of water and freezing temperatures right? Since I'm not nearly done bef

So I've had fish for nearly two years now, and I had no concept of a GFCI outlet until this past week. I actually believed that I was protected by using a power strip with a surge protector (along with drip loops), which doesn't seem to be true at all. I used to always wonder, "what would happen if a light fixture fell into the water?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EcVU_cQ-5o

I have these types of outlets in my kitchen and bathrooms, and now I know why. Basically to save your life/health in the instance that you e.g. drop a hair dryer in the bathtub, or whatever the fuck.

Maybe I'm the only tard who had no concept of these. I feel like resources relating to this hobby don't make a big enough deal out of this, especially for newcomers. There's so many tutorials on setting up a tank, how many of them really mention safety precautions?

Online aquarium-related stores could probably move a lot of GFCI adapters just by advertising "PROTECT YOURSELF FROM POTENTIALLY FATAL ELECTROCUTION", or suggesting them as add-ons whenever one is purchasing lights, heaters, filters, etc. I don't think chains like PetSmart even sell GFCI outlets or adapters at all.

tl;dr; if you don't have one, get one. Or more. Just a PSA to everyone who doesn't know no good.

>>2059359
Actually they can you retard

>>2059356
Yea that's probably a good plan. Could tire yourself out really fast if your just go balls to the wall on it. Do know what kind of wildlife you have around you? Like, are blue herons going to eat your fish? In my area Blue herons and racoons eat peoples koi all the time.

>>2059385
I'm thinking about red terrors only if they don't escape lol

>>2059386
This guy is relentless...

>>2059385
Racoons etc will try to get at them , il throw in some cover (rocks etc) for them to hide in, to try to help with racoons, we definatley have herons but there all too busy eating the fish from the hatchery I work at to come bother with my little pond ,
I may throw out some live catch traps for the racoons etc to try to keep the population minimal

Il have to play it by ear, if predation is getting too bad I may have to drain it and dig deeper its not that big of a deal

>>2059393
Nice! can't wait to see this project continue.

How inaccurate are the test strips? Are they okay to use to get a general feel for how my parameters are looking when I don't have time for a full liquid test?

>>2059413
no good

>>2059211
I'm glad someone got the reference.

>>2059160
Black neons are about the same size as cardinals with a slightly deeper body. Harlequins are about the same, but Espeis are smaller and more brightly colored.

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>>2059409
Glad someone else is excited, it won't be pretty but il have some fishes
Most recent picture I posted on /out/

>>2059435
Alright sounds good, I'm only really getting tiny stuff (endlers, ember tetras and celestial pearl danio's) so I'll probably get some espie, is it true that green neons are smaller than the regular kind? Because if they are I'll get those, no where near as inbred as the true ones.

>>2059454
Great to see a picture finally. So that brook going up to the right is the only way for the fish to get out?

>>2059457
They could in theory go up the rain water outflow (into the storm drains) during very high water if they jumped up a small lip they could go up the Brook inflow though it's rarley more than 3 inches of water and I'm going to make it drop a few inches into the pond to prevent easy swimming, the Brook outflow (not marked) goes off to the upper right corner but once again is rarley more than a few inches of water (unless rain) and I may gate that off depends on how I feel once everything is dug out , even if they were to get a quarter mile downstream they would simply end up at a small pond anyways , I'm not too worried about escape
I also don't see why he fish would want to leave a deep pool with food and water, I know they probably will but I doubt alot of them will

>>2059463
Yea that's true. I mean especially if your only doing natives its no big deal at all

>>2059467
Exactly the reason why I'm doing that , so what if a few yellow perch or catfish make it to a pond that already has yellow perch and catfish in it

>>2059137
you really ought to put a black background on it

>>2059158
if there is a lake nearby and you find some wood underwater that isn't soft, boil it thoroughly and it ought to be fine.

>>2059160
i have ten harlequins in my 75, some of my favorite fish desu

>>2059137
Looks like a salad, put some hardscape in it.
Driftwood and rocks would improve it a lot.

>>2059175
when you put them in the new tank, treat it like a fish in cycle, because thats what it is

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Hello, I'm new to this board but I need some help setting up my aquarium. I recently purchased a Marineland Heartland 60 gallon Aquarium / stand combo for $240. I bought a Marineland penguin 350b filter however, the filter doesn't fit because the cover for the filter touches the button to my lights connected to my hood. I'm currently in the market for a canister filter but I don't know what's good and what's bad, I also don't want to break bank and my budget is around $200. Could you guys help me out!?

>>2059383
not if it freezes solid

>>2059463
just put some mesh/wire mesh across the brook
problem solved

>>2059487
marineland makes excellent filters, i use a 350(i think) on my 75. its been running two years with monthly or bi monthly cleaning no problem
i had shitty fluval ones before that and they broke from water pressure all the time

>>2059111
>>2059112
I don't care where the fuck that picture came from. I hope the owner of that tank broke a hip while in the bathtub and learned the hard way what it's like to be forced to live in their own shit and piss as they die a slow, horribly agonizing, death.

>>2059474
Yeah I am don't worry

>>2059481
Yeah I'm gonna get some driftwood on Saturday when I grab the first lot of fish

>>2059141
Aren't guppies perfectly capable of living long healthy lives in saltwater tanks because they evolved in brackish waters that connect directly to the sea?

So yeah, enormous guppies don't exist in the ocean, but plain ordinary guppies probably do.

>>2059250
I freaking love the look of those pink floating plants, but I am hella OCD and the fact that the roots make the plants "hang down" instead of making the plants "grow up" seriously fucks with my head.

Are there any plants of a similar color (or anything besides green) that I can plant into substrate or attach to rock/wood that is super hardy, low light, and won't mysteriously die on me?

>>2059513
maybe cryptocoryne wendtii

>>2059356
You should get a small but tall pot, place it somewhere in the center of the pond, and either stack it on some rocks/cinder blocks, or make sure it's tall enough that half of it is always sticking out of the water. Then fill with gravel until the gravel is just above the water line. Fill with dirt, and plant a large bushy plant with lots of foliage. Maybe cram a ton of ferns or whatnot in it as well. Anything, really, that provides shade and a bit of cover from predators so the fish have somewhere to run to and hide rather than swimming in circles like a chicken with it's head cut off as they slowly bake to death in the sun or get picked off by predators.

Anywho, I really hope it all works out well for you, anon. Best of luck!

So I euthanized my betta yesterday. Time to get a new betta! An exciting but anxious time.

This time I really want to put other stuff in my 10gal with the betta to make the tank more interesting. What should I try? My old betta would attack anything so I'm hoping the new one will be more chill.

Tank is lightly planted but provides some decent hiding places, have some rocks, and gonna get a big piece of petrified wood to add more variance/hiding spots.

>>2059524
il plant some ferns on the edge of it, overhanging the water, i also MIGHT onsider elephant grass but it grows like a motherfuker and i hate it with all of my being, good cover though

>>2059518
>cryptocoryne wendtii
Thanks!

>>2059508
Adult guppies raised in freshwater die in saltwater. Young guppies raised in brackish water can live in saltwater.
They're still nowhere near the size of a battleship.

>>2059536
these plants often melt and appear to die when you first add them. if this happens just give them a while they'll probably come back eventually. what do you have for substrate also as they are heavy root feeders

>>2059531
That would work too. Maybe get some large flat rocks, and place them around the edge of the pond in a row so they overhang a little bit? All I can think of is slate, though. And unless you have some just randomly laying around in the woods nearby then it might be a bit expensive.

>>2059537
That's bullshit, they would only die if you took them straight out of freshwater and threw them directly into a saltwater tank.

What you do is quarantine them in their own tank, then very gradually increase the salinity of the water until it is identical with the saltwater tank you own.

>>2059539
I am currently unemployed, so I don't have my own tank. Instead I browse /aq/ and dream of the fishtank I will own when I can finally afford it.

I'm the anon that occasionally mentions how I dream of creating an old world forest themed aquarium. Going to go full walstad method.

>>2059487
I've had a sunsun hw304b for a long while. 525gph and a built in UV light. Paid 75 for it and came with carbon, ceramic rings, and bio balls. Though everyone here will shit on you if you don't buy name brand.

>>2059540
i have rocks and can find slate, il probably make some Huts out of a few bricks and a flat rock over the top of it so they have little caves etc to chill in, so is there a consensus won what fish will be best ? yellow perch? would be propper size, i want to keep most everything under 12-15 inches and they all need to get along more or less

>>2059467
I'm doing plecos though to keep it clean

>>2059549
oh i also recommended phoenix moss to you. any other plants you need to know about?

>>2059551
get some pumkinseed sunfish in there as well for a little color. if you've got yellow perch you likely also have them

>>2059556
yeah can definatley do that aswell, il try some sort of catfish as well, not sure on channel, white, or bullhead

>>2059559
channel will be the most visible, especially if you get some albinos but make sure theyre actually native to your area because they cause serious problems in some places as invasive species

>>2059560
i dont believe they are native but they are a fish that the state likes and decided to stock in a decent amount of ponds and lakes around here

>>2059554
Oh that was you? Cool man, how are you doing?

I once saw a pic posted of some sort of carpeting plant that looks identical to the clovers that would grow all over the place back up in Washington, where I grew up. You wouldn't happen to know the name, or of any similar kind of carpeting plant, would you?

Basically anything that would cover a largish portion of the substrate but not stand out like a sore thumb in contrast with the rest of the plants.

>>2059544
Young guppies have a special gland that lets them control salinity when they're young, because they're in the mothers "womb", which is salty. They lose this ability when they mature in freshwater. Keeping them in salty water from a young age lets them keep the ability to lower their salinity.
An adult freshwater guppy thrown into saltwater, even if it's gradual, will die of dehydration.

>>2059563
id say youre fine then, especially if you take precautions to keep them from escaping

>>2059568
maybe Brazilian pennywort
or some other variety

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>>2059571
of course i have yet to make webms of our channel catfish stocking

>>2059529
fuckin respond niggers

>>2059487
I'm happy with my Eheim canister, although it's the only one I've owned. Quiet, straightforward.

>>2059588
>not mourning for at least a week
Your tank is haunted bro. I hope you conduct a purification ritual on it.

>>2059595
i just purified like 2 pounds of nerite snail shit from deep within the substrate, does that count?

fucking love my nerites, but they are literal shit machines.

also after my aquaclear 20 failed, it now appears the motor has started working again. that's really sketchy. i don't wanna leave electrical shit plugged in that has acted up...hagen sells replacement parts for anything on their products, but it's currently out of stock.

>>2059572
It was definitely a pennywort, I think the exact species I remember seeing is dwarf pennywort. Thank you once again!

Does anyone have experience with upside down catfish (Synodontis nigriventris)? Aqadvisor says they're too aggressive to be with Endlers and flame tetras, but everything else I've read on them says they're rather peaceful.

>>2059529
I still dont get how betta temperaments work. I've heard some horror stories but I got one and after like 1 day of nipping my corys and RCS he got bored. now he swims up to the corys like he wants attention but they're too busy being dumb to care. I'd say as long as you avoid labyrinthine fish and others that look like bettas, and are faster than it, you should be fine.
>captcha is pick out the fish
>it's all just cooked fish

>>2059588
>white cloud mountain minnows
>gold cloud mountain minnows
>khuli loaches
>cory catfish
>tetras
>ghost shrimp
>amano shrimp

I dunno man, just google small fast fish who aren't fin nippers and don't resemble bettas too much. Or any peaceful bottom dwelling aquatic species.

>>2059413
>How inaccurate are the test strips?
Very, but

>Are they okay to use to get a general feel for how my parameters are looking when I don't have time for a full liquid test?
Yes. For freshwater, anyway. Unless you're keeping discus or rams or something, a general feel is good enough (pink = okay, purple = bad). And considering that any level of ammonia or nitrite is bad, the strips will at least tell you that it's there, even if they're no good at telling you how much is there.
My main aversion to them is price. Those stupid strips cost $1-2 apiece versus $8-10 for a liquid test that's good for 100 tests (or $30 for a kit).

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>>2059513
I'm the anon with the plants you mentioned. I also have a red water lily that i absolutely love. Has such a deep red color to it, but can get pink in lower light

>>2058841
>have you had tetras?
Yeah, I've had ember tetras for a while. They're not overly active unless you have a decent flow, in my experience. They add a nice little splash of color and will school very tightly, plus they're tiny so you don't have to worry about adding much bioload to the tank.

>>2059648
I haven't bothered trimming my dwarf red lily, so now it has stems that are 3+ feet long and lily pads the size of my hand. "Dwarf" my ass.

>>2059599
It was probably just a problem with the impeller, not an electrical problem. My Aquaclear filter gets stuck sometimes when I turn it off for water changes. Just jiggle the impeller when it stops.

>>2059671
Hahhahaha i know right? That's why i left the 'dwarf' part out of it. In my experience they get fuckhuge, beautiful, but gigantic. Back in the day i had one in my 55g Planted community that must've gotten to the size of a soccerball, making it the biggest plant in my tank (save for some kliener and osprey swords). And it was like the only one with dwarf in the name too..

>>2059611
Here. If you get true upside down catfish you will be fine. Mine have never attacked any of my fish.

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Are these test any good?

>>2059759
that looks like its from the 1980s. i have a test kit like that for general parameters that i never use because using test strips is 10x more convenient and accurate enough for general parameters.

for gh and kh i do have a lab style test kit because you can't measure those accurately without using test tubes etc

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Hey /aq/ friend of mine is crazy about their goldfish and its looking like this

My manager at petsmart seems to think its velvet? but I have no clue to be honest.
Shes ordered some formalin and its getting shipped overnight and we have him isolated in a tank we treated with some stress coat+ and aquarium salt. What are his chances of survival?

>>2059778
Forgot to mention that we had it isolated because we thought it had finrot and were treating that, but overnight it went from looking fine besides the pale parts of its back fin to pic related

>>2059614
I think that a lot of stories posted come from owners who bought betta imbellis and didn't realize it isn't a splendens because most fish stores just slap "betta" on it, if they even put a name tag of any sort on at all.

And of course a lot of the cheap ones sold in teeny tiny cups are mixed breeds anyways, so the more calm ones probably have just enough of imbellis in them to chill them out.

I'm a betta noob, and I'm not ashamed to admit my ignorance of those fish and say that I personally can't differentiate between an imbellis and any kind of splendens with shorter fins.

>>2059648
Beautiful, very beautiful, being a lily, does that mean that if I give it enough room and light it will eventually send up a vine and produce a flower on the surface?

How far deep should a lily be in the water?

>>2059086
An oto

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Just planted my tank guys

I've been tearing my hair out trying to find a way to light a 55 gallon tank in a way that can support plants. I only have low-mid light plants but even so I can't find any fixture that gives me the wattage I need, when I finally find one that isn't LED. Can anyone recommend a light fixture? I can take care of bulbs.

>>2059815
4 foot work lamps?

>>2059648
>>2059671
Have your lilies ever needed to be wintered, or go dormant? I'm considering one for my 40 gallon, but I don't want to have to deal with that shit.

>>2059807
Pretty nice, they'll look great once they get adjusted to their new home and grow a bit.

>>2059755
Okay, thanks for the input. Just thought I'd double check.

>>2059807
That is some kickass driftwood, friend.

If I wanted to completely remodel my current tank, how would I go about temporarily holding the 50+ rcs living in it? Is it safe to net out shrimps? This is my first time keeping them and I've decided my tank is ugly as fuck

>>2059844
Never done any special care with it. Just be mindful of the fact that they make massive root systems, and you really do not want to disrupt that at all (that means vacuuming) otherwise you'll stunt their growth significantly

Okay so I want to make my meme tank into a planted tank but I have an issue I can't find or to stupid to find an answer to my question. I have a few albino meme corrys and I want to know if they do find in like soil. At the moment I have them with a half sand half gravle

>>2059850
Thanks, I'm still not sure how I feel about the piece on the far left, it all looks better in person at least.

>>2059852
You can net out the RCS and leave them in a heated bucket for a few days; give them a catappa leaf or some plants to cling on and nibble a little. Mine survived a move in the fall in a completely unheated 3g bucket with zero deaths

Just be careful slowly reintroducing them back in the tank and make sure the parameters are as stable as possible

>>2059845
Thanks, I've got red rubin swords, rotala, micro swords, dwarf hairgrass, crypt wendtii, and what was labeled crypt undulating but I suspect it's just green crypt

>>2059855
I'm guessing it would also stunt it if I planted it in a pot to help contain it?

>>2059799
I've had ones in a 21 inch deep tank never send out lily pads, but sometimes when I keep them in a tank less then 8 inches deep they will do it. Great plants either way. Everyone should have one, since they can thrive under very low light, but really blow up and show great colors at stupid high light

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My CPOs finally showed up!

>>2059862
As long as you give it large enough of a pot (I'd say a 4.5 standard pot) it will be fine and grow to a great size, especially if you fill that pot with good soil, add the dwarf lily bulb, and then cap the pot with a half inch of fine sand. You'll have fantastic growth. (You'll also have to cap the bottom of the pot)

>>2059856
As long as there is nothing in the soil that could hurt them. Figure out a way to sift the soil beforehand so there are no sharp pieces of wood or rocks or shit like that.

>>2059872
i loved mine so much. more personality than any other aquarium creature i've ever kept

>>2059872
Noice.

>>2059815
Wattage really doesn't matter. I've got a 48 inch T8 shop light on my 55 growing 2 amazon swords, an ozelot sword, 3 types of crypts, java fern, dwarf red lily, rotala rotundifolia, and pygmy chain sword. The bulbs are standard Home Depot 6500 or 6700K bulbs. For low light, that's more than adequate.

>>2059906
Wattage DOES matter, but I'm sure that lighting that you have is sufficient for those plants. It's a silly new thing that people claim that wattage doesn't matter. It's a combination of wattage and efficient use of the energy applied. basically it goes Led>Metal Halide>flourescents>incandescents. The more efficient the light, and the more watts applied equals how many lumens of light are given off, which is what is necessary for growth.

Excuse me in advance, that's probably pretty poorly written. I'm pretty drunk.

>>2059914
Well, the thing is that PAR matters, and with two otherwise identical bulbs of different wattages in identical reflectors, the higher wattage one will give off more PAR, but there's no way to tell just from the wattage how much PAR you're going to get at what areas in the tank.
Increasing watts for lighting is like increasing liters in a car. It'll probably have some effect, but maybe not as much as you wanted, or the right kind.

Also, metal halides are still more efficient than LEDs at this time afaik.

>>2059759
i just nostalgiaed

>>2059921
PAR matters ofcourse, because by definition that is all that matters to a plant. But PAR and lumens go side by side as long as we're talking about the right spectrums. We're both right, were just thinking about it from two different sides of the equation. As for the Metal Halide Vs LED argument, I personally thought the same thing, that nothing could beat my 150w MH over my reef, but then I switched to a 165w LED, and all of my corals reacted amazingly, except for a few that were bleached from the sheer power. The reality is that the LED that I have is marketed as a 165w LED, but in reality they really only take up 55w of energy at any time, basically they are never able to use they're full potential, in order to give them a much longer life. Even at almost a third of the power of my metal halide, and some of my corals bleach out and need to be relocated deeper in the tank. I'd say that means it's much more efficient per watt, in my own experience, ofcourse.

>>2058714
mosquito fish

>>2059931
They'd fuck up the betta and probably the frog.

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>>2059926
Okay, so will this light work? It's the light I was given with the tank.

>>2059956
Side note- the website says this light is 30 watts but produces 2000 lumens.

>>2059488
Not him, but if that is a problem he could just break up the ice so they have air.

>>2059956
I have the same light. It will grow low light plants just fine. You can even dim it if the lights are too strong.

>>2058297

I have water wisteria, anubias, and dwarf hair grass in my 20 gallon but it barely seems like they get enough light.

Also, I want to add a carpeting plant. Are mosses generally low light? Or what would be a good carpet plant for this light?

>>2059960
Meant for
>>2059959

>>2059960
The current satellite plus is adequate for a 20 gallon. Are you dosing any ferts? Mosses are low light but a better carpet would be Micranthemum tweediei 'Monte Carlo'.

Also, someone make a new thread.

>>2059965
The 20 gallon is using a pair of Floramax 18' bulbs.
I add iron as recommended to the tank daily. I've been adding carbon every other day (both ferts part of the Flourish series) but I ran out and don't live near anyplace that sells it, so I'm waiting for it in the mail.

This is a 55 gallon I haven't set up yet.

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FUCKING DUCKWEED EVERYWHERE

I FUCKING HATE THIS SHIT IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO GET RID OF IT

IT'S TANGLED IN MY WATER LETTUCE AND WATER SPRITE AND CLOGGING UP MY SHRIMP GUARD FILTER INTAKES

GOD FUCKING DAMMMITTTTTTT

>>2059807
that dwarf hair grass is doomed without c02

A pleco would usually move if it were being bitten, right? I don't know if my shark is nipping him or nudging him, but the pleco doesn't budge.

>>2060065
>>2060080
>>2060094
There's been a new thread for hours

>>2059956
That Should be fine. And plus you can add another light later on down the road if you feel you need more. Their pretty inexpensive lights

>>2060101
When you make a new thread you should link it in the previous one asap.

>>2060039
>>2060039
>>2060039

New Thread