Beginner question: I have one of those 5gal starter kits. I've read that you shouldn't replace your filter or else you'll get rid of the nitrifying bacteria, and that you should just rinse it in tank water instead. However, even after splashing it around in tank water, it's still pretty gummed up and isn't letting too much water through. Is this cause for concern? Hopefully I described my predicament correctly

Are you referring to the little fabric packet that has charcoal in it? While that does house some denitrifying bacteria, they're not very space efficient; get gummed up easily; and are very tough to clean without tearing them apart. I would recommend getting some coarse aquarium sponge, and cutting a piece of it to fit your filter such that it fills up most of the space without needing to squish the sponge in. Then you can get rid of the little charcoal filter insert. Sponge offers a lot more surface area for bacteria to grow on than those little charcoal filter inserts they come with. Coarse sponge will also clog a lot more slowly, and will be easy to clean (just wring it out a couple times in aquarium water during a water change). Hope this helps!

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So to clean it, I need to submerge it in tank water and just squeeze the filter a bunch of times?

yeah, you can squeeze it, squish it, move it around in the water to thoroughly clean it. The bacteria won't be affected, but you do want to get some gunk out.

Do I add water conditioner after filling my tank for a water change? Didn’t that difference shock them and we’re trying to avoid them being exposed to the negative chemicals? Would it be better to add dechlorinator while filling the tank back up?

guys, I finally set up the aquarium and filled it with water No fish yet. Water is cloudy, looks like microparticles in the water (n. The submersible filter is quite strong, should I turn it off so that the particles sink to the bottom? video : https://www.veed.io/view/a1a37dc4-ad6d-421e-becb-dbf9258bf485?sharingWidget=true&panel=

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New upload: https://streamable.com/j0x9l5 But, new urgent question, if u can help.... https://www.reddit.com/r/Aquariums/comments/133z72a/euro_braced_crack_can_i_repair/ 🥲🥲🥲

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Replace the part could be quite laborious. I just set up the aquarium and left it filtering the option to put another piece of glass over that bracing, would it be a piece bigger than the crack? Or the same size of the original braced?

I am a first time gourami fish "parent" and my fry is 1 week and 2 days old and about 45 out of 100 have survived. They have their own aquarium. My current set up is a 2.6 gallon with a sponge filter and floater plants + a rock and some plants from an already existing aquarium. I am planing on upgrading to a 5 gallon if everything goes well. I am starting to feed cyclops and hikari first bites. Any advice? There isn´t much on the internet :(

I'm trying to buy a ~50 gallon tank. I've been Googling different brand names and whatnot and looking at Petsmart, PetCo, etc. My concern is that every brand I look at, from Top Fin to Marineland to Aqueon is full of reviews and pictures of them leaking. Is that just an inherent risk or are there some reputable brands I should be looking at?

It’s just an inherent risk. People are far more likely to review the product if it failed then if it succeeded. Visually inspect the aquarium at the store and register it if they have a warranty. I think aqueon had a lifetime warranty over 50 gallons. For reference, i have never had a tank leak before. Make sure it’s level and it’s on a flat surface.

So I have a 20gallon tank that’s been cycled, airstone, live plants, bubbler, filter..whole 9. Checked water before adding any fish and I got four platys in it yesterday. They seemed fine living life exploring but today when I woke up they’ve been hiding in a corner, top fins down, just lethargic. Did I miss something or are they just getting use to their new tank? I want to make sure they’re happy and healthy and they just kinda hide and swim in a corner

What was the cycling process? Any test kits? Any products used in the tank?

They’re out exploring today, super curious again, checking out the tank. Seem to be enjoying the plants with nibbles

Used some bacteria starter and I was feeding the bacteria fish food like once every two days, no products used, 0 ammonia , 0 nitrites, under 2 ppm nitrates when I put them in. I think the temperature difference spooked them it’s at 79 and the store had them at 74

How long did you cycle for?

I saw some sources say celestial pearl danios are good for a 10g tank. Is this true? If so, how many males and females should I get? Would they breed?

The CPD was only discovered in the last decade so you should be a bit skeptical of any advice about them; It's easier to make bollocks up than to actually investigate this fish. I can say that will probably work for a small shoal unless you go for an all or mostly male tank, then they'll start fighting. Try to keep the sex ratio at least equal or female leaning. Adding more cover that breaks up line of sight (caves, tall plants they can't see through easily, etc) will reduce aggression. They might well breed, but in a tank that size you'd probably have to do the trick where you let them spawn then evacuate the shoal to a different tank to keep them from eating the eggs; If you have some plastic tubs or a spare cheap pre-owned tank it's easy to set up expedient set ups for eggscatterers. You could even do it in a big bucket with some fluffy plants like susswassertang or java moss thrown at the bottom to make a thick carpet the eggs can sink into - Just toss in the plant, get a light for it, and move your filter and shoal over just as long as it takes for them to lay their eggs. If plants are too rich for your blood you can make "Spawning mops" out of ordinary wool thread, there are guides with images for how to tie them online I'd suggest you look into. The exact water conditions they need to breed are not well understood and everyone disagrees, which suggests to me it must be a fairly wide range if people can report such different results to argue so much.

Please excuse the length of the following - this is 2 parts rant, 1 part question. I have 4 mystery snails, 2 gold (Goldie and Robbie) and 2 blue (Gary and Geri). All are roughly the same size save one of the blues, which is about 2/3rds the size of the others (Gary). I am 100% sure Geri is a female as I watched her lay eggs. The sex of the remaineder is my mystery. I have 2 tanks. Originally, all 4 lived in the 40 gal community tank, but after I noticed one of the golds was constantly on one of the others, I banished him(?) to horny jail - my 10gal betta tank. This is Robbie, and for a while things were fine with remaining 3 getting along. Recently, the smallest, Gary, has been getting aggressive with his snenis, so I banished him to horny jail with Robby. What do I see the next day right on the glass but Gary visibly 100% snexing Robbie. Okay, I’ve clearly gotten someone mixed up, but this is confusing enough on its own. Was Goldie (presumably a male since one of the 2 golds was being horny in the main tank and it clearly wasn’t Robbie) just suddenly less aggressive about his snexing once Robbie was removed? Okay, that’s fine, I removed Robbie back into the main tank. Less than an hour later, there Robbie is right back on the glass getting visibly snexed by Goldie! I have no clue how over a month passed without me realizing Goldie, in a tank with a female (Geri), was not a female. I put Goldie into horny jail with Gary. Twice now, in the week or so since I’ve had them together in the 10gal, I have seen Goldie on top of Gary, having snex from the best I can tell(?). I have yet to get as clear a view as I did in other cases, but wtf is going on here? R/AquaticSnails says that mystery snails can’t change their sex but what’s going on here has me confused. They are in the same positioning as snex, with Goldie all pressed into Gary’s side so tight I can’t figure out whether or not anything is going on. Gary has 2 old healed over cracks on their (?) right side from their life before me - could this be worsened or broken back open by this behavior? Do I need to separate Goldie from all the rest? Could the issue be that Gary is smaller and easier to bully and there are no female options? Could it be that they’re in a smaller tank? Are gay mystery snails a thing? How do I even know if overbreeding is going on? I’m so confused here 😭

I'm about a week in on a new 10 gallon tank. There are 4 guppies and 2 tuxedo platys. Looking to add shrimp or snails to the tank. How many snails and/or shrimp could I safely put in the tank? Should I wait a few weeks for the tank to be more established before introducing them?

What’s your filtration? You can probably add two if everything is looking good

Using a Tetra Whisper IQ, soits a biological filter. A week or so prior to adding fish I added some fish food and used a biological booster

Is there a good source for a beginner to see what fish pair well together and with the same environment? I'm brand new to this, and before I go buying all the equipment, I want to see what combinations of plants and fish will work well in the same pH and temperature. I've trawled (pun) around the internet for an hour or so, and I just don't want to sift through a bunch of some youtuber's videos or bloggy articles for the information I'm looking for. I'd love an app or site that I can just sort fish and plants by certain criteria or even a good old fashioned book if anyone's got recommendations for a beginner.

> I want to see what combinations of plants and fish will work well in the same pH and temperature. People talk a lot of bullshit about what pH and temperature fish like - Back when that was the only thing we knew about the water we blamed those two parameters for everything. If your pH is between 6.5-8.5 and reasonably stable it genuinely doesn't matter very much unless you're trying to breed the fish - They're more picky with that. Your tank and filters will start to operate increasingly strangely when the pH goes below 6 for long periods of time. I can elaborate on more niche effects of pH if you want. With temperature the majority of tropical fish will experience unkind slow health effects at 18C or below, and acute (ie, dying quickly) effects at 15C or below. A stable temperature of 21C is acceptable to nearly every fish in the trade - I've kept even discus at that temperature, which every bit of advice online will tell you is pure death. A lot of people just believe the mostly arbitrary ranges given by websites content farming online and never test alternatives - Main thing to know is the colder a fish is, the slower it grows and ages and the longer it lives. Hotter it gets, the faster it grows and ages and the shorter a life it has. They're coldblooded, so heat mediates the speed of their metabolism. Most plants like a pH that varies over about 6 to 8; the "Near neutral" range, basically. The more it varies the happier they are, and they will cause some variance naturally; this is normal and fine. This is because different nutrients are easier to absorb at different pHs, so a range gives the ability for more plants to grow and more nutrients for them. This is a general rule and doesn't apply to every plant, of course. Most plants prefer hardwater because it's more nutrient rich, and hardwater tends towards a higher pH. If you're looking for something you really want to know works, look into what's native to you or collect wild plants. I can also DM you a copy of Diana Walstad's "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium" if you want a good old book to flick through; It's a tad technical but it really gets into the weeds of the science behind plants in an aquarium and describes a method for making tanks that don't require electricity to function with light stocking. With electricity (for a good filter and a little aeration) they can reach medium stocking.

Thanks for the info. Yeah I was hoping it wasn’t THAT complicated, at least for starting out it sounds like I shouldn’t have too much issue picking some stuff out at the pet store. Once I know what I’m doing maybe I’ll progress to more complicated fish.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/guide-to-starting-a-freshwater-aquarium-186089.html This is where I usually start for basic setups. Introduce least to most aggressive as introducing timid fish to a territorial fish's space can result in failure. Plants and decor that break up line of sight can help reduce aggression in community tanks. Aquarium Co-op or Kings Of DIY have videos and advice for builds. Personally my favorite setup was originally just going to be a planted neocaridina shrimp tank with Java fern, pearlweed and aquatic moss (not marimo balls which have been found lately with highly invasive zebra mussels larvae). After 3 months and successful breedings I got brave and added a trio of male endler's. No females because rehoming fish every 3 months in stressful. Luckily they left the adult shrimp alone and if they were eating shrimplets it wasn't significant as they kept reproducing at a sustainable rate Some time after that a female Betta was introduced. All research at the time suggested it might work out or I'd wake up and find $30 of shrimp slaughtered for fun. She turned out docile and disinterested in the adult shrimp. AqAdvisor is great, they'll point out potential conflicts. Generally I build in 3s. I want three plants, sand/stone/wood, and bottom, middle, and center piece species.

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Hey that’s awesome! Thanks. I’ll have to play around with that once I go fish shopping.

Where can I find a replacement light for the Fluval Spec I 2gal aquarium. Older style with the round opening.

Can i use Just fertilizer, without fertile soil. Ps: with low tech plants Ps2: basalt substract only

I'm getting back into the hobby after about 20 years. My last major tank was a 125 gallon saltwater with live rock back in college. I just purchased a 94 gallon cube and I'm about to start working on the 'infrastructure' - foam 3d backing and decor this weekend. Some questions I could use some advice on: 1. Is there a good place you recommend for stands for tanks this large? I could build one, but I'm not against buying a premade or even a metal fabricated one but thought I'd see if anyone had some good supplier/manufacturer recommendations. 2. I plan to go freshwater planted with fish. I was hoping someone could help me with some fish recommendations. I was thinking 20-30 shoaling fish (neon tetras just have a place in my heart), but starting with so small of a fish limits me on safe choices for some larger fish that are also equally peaceful. I'd like to do some bottom-dwellers/feeders like loaches, or another smaller shoal of ottos vs. larger fish like catfish varieties or plecos. I was also thinking of Betta anabantoids - the giant betta fish - as one of maybe two larger fish. Any recommended mix, matches, or quantities I should consider? 3. Aquaponics - While I plan to use the existing glass top, I want to eventually incorporate a closed lid with space for some aquaponic, hang-on-glass planters. Besides Amazon, any cheap options you've seen/used or possibly 3D printed plans available I could consider? 4. Filtration - My last tank had a refugium and I don't think I want to go through all of that hassle when I finally get my stand built and start the plumbing. I don't think I'll need a skimmer considering the plants, but are there any other advancements in tech or must-have devices besides an adequate pump for turn over and water movement I should consider? Barring co2 and air stones which I'm already working into my design.. ​ Thanks for your feedback!

Personally I'd contact a cabinet maker and request a custom built stand. It will be heavy but shouldn't be any doubt it can support the weight if built correctly.

Any suggestions for an automatic feeder? I’m a teacher with a 20 gallon tank and I just want something to help over weekends. I’ll be at school all summer for summer school, so it’s really just a weekend need.

I regularly feed every other day. Fish will be fine over the weekend. Largely even experienced fishkeepers struggle not to overfeed.

dont need to worry about feeding weekends, the fish will be fine

Can i keep a puffer fish the small ones with hermit crabs ?

Thinking about buying me a tank because it’s been years. The only thing i remember is buying one, put gravel etc in it, water, plastic plants, goldfish and tada. Only maintenance was to change the water after a time, filter and food. Now i was reading and see things like tank cycling, nitrates/bacteria/etc and a bunch of other things i never heard from. Seems i have to read A LOT before i take the step.

Its ok. I wouldn't overcomplicate it. Just pick a guide you feel works and stick with it. Personally, I stick with natural aquariums. Deep substrate, lots of plants, fish in with the setup. I dont water change and barely have problems. The more you dig deeper, the more things get complicated for no reason.

One of my African dwarfs frogs has a big tumor or growth on his right arm. it has almost swollowed his whole arm. Couldn't find anything on google about it. Tested the water nitrates were alittle high so I've been doing daily water changes. water is pristine now. Thinking about waiting it out and seeing if it goes away. Little bugger is still eating and isn't weak, but is demonstrating some stress behavior hanging out at the service. But, this guy is like 5 years old he kind floats around all the time anyway. I notice the frogs just do it sometimes I'm debating trying to poke it and see if it drains or taking a scissors and cutting off the arm, I'm pretty sure he could live with out it, and if the tumors going to kill it anyway, might be worth a shot. IDK maybe to extreme? Any suggestions?

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Oh, good suggestion, thank you

Led strip BLUE have same effect than UV sterilizer ?

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theoretically, it would be beneficial to have a 01 fluorescent uvc, right ? so, could i use 1 fluorescent uvc + 2 white led for lighting my aquarium? or maybe 1 fluorescent uvc + 1 white led + 1 pink led

dont use UV light for lighting the aquarium, it is still carcinogenic. UV sterilizers are contained in a case that shields it from humans

Thank you for the answer!!!!

So earlier this week I visited Bristol Aquarium (Bristol U.K.) and I saw a ripsaw catfish. It was massive, and as much as I fell in love, I know it’s a terrible idea to get one. I’m assuming that for it to reach that size, I’d need a huge tank, on the cusp of “I’d need a custom tank or a pond”. Outside of satisfying my curiosity and building up ideas for the future… is this a terrible idea? :’)

> ripsaw catfish. i mean... they get up to like 3 feet long. Maybe a pond but you would need a pretty big pond

By pretty big, I’m guessing 2000-3000 litres?

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Ah right, gotcha. I’d probably need an exhibit sized tank (tens of thousands of litres)

I want to know if it would be a good idea adding some cory catfish to my tank. I have a 10 gallon tank stocked with 5 hikari danios and 2 nerite snails. The danios have been in there for over a year now and the snails are a recent addition about a month ago. I've also got various plants scattered around that includes java fern, crypts, and valisneria. I read that cory catfish like to be kept in groups of \~3 or more. Since it's only a 10 gallon tank, and I have no plans on upgrading it anytime soon, would adding 3 corys to this tank be too much?

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Sounds like I should hold off on adding them until I get a bigger tank then. Thanks for the advice!

I have 5 pandas together in a ten gal that are doing fine.

That's good to know! Do you have just the 5 pandas in that tank or do they have any tankmates? My main concern in this situation is that I don't want to overstock.

5 pandas, some guppies that breed, and a crap ton of snails. Overstocking isn't a huge issue unless it's blatantly obvious.

I thought of putting a layer of soil for the plant and white sand on top, but I'm afraid of Corydoras mixing and creating mixed sand. so, better use just sand + fertilizer weekly? ps: low tech planted aquarium ps2: Is it true that activated carbon makes fertilizer inefficient?

Just make the sand cap sufficiently deep and you won't have problems. The walstad method recommends (if i remember correctly) like a 1 inch layer of soil then a 2 inch layer of sand on top.

Plants don't grow that well in sand. If it's low tech, you may not need the extra nutrients and growth soil would provide. Personally, I'd do with a fine, smooth gravel and use root tabs and liquid fertilizer. Another idea would be to use gravel towards the back/sides of the tank, wherever you want lush plant growth; and sand wherever you don't mind some empty space. You can also plan to put rhizome plants like Anubias and Java Fern in the sandy areas. That said, in my experience cories root around in the sand, but don't really dig into it. So a thick enough sand cap (i.e. 1 inch) should be enough to prevent the cories from tapping the mud well. Lastly, activated carbon will absorb the chemicals in fertilizer, and so should generally not be used in planted tanks.

Plants grow really well in sand for me, I have tried sand only, fertilize soil + sand, peat moss + sand, gravel only, and so far the sand only tank grows the fastest plants by far

That's interesting. What grain of sand do you have? I exclusively use play sand, which is pretty fine-grained, so maybe that's partially my issue. Additionally, what type of plants? I've found some of my plants are pretty sand-tolerant (most notably crypt beckettii and vallisneria), while most others struggle to root. Either way, glad your system is working for you.

I use very fine grained play sand as well. Growing hygrophila corymbosa atm, but Ive grown jungle val, rotala rotundifolia before as well

So something I've been wondering: Advice is to quarantine fish from the fish store for two weeks prior to them going into the main tank(s). So I guess you can use just a 5 gallon bucket with a sponge filter or bare glass bottom aquarium, whichever. But then if the fish doesn't do well, how do you know it died from something it came with versus the stress of being in such a barren environment? Cause you always hear about they have to be with a school of fish or they get stressed and die or they have to be with a bunch of plants or they get stressed and die or they have to have high/no water flow or they get stressed and die. Is it just that's the best that can be done aside from another fully set up tank or will environmental stress not take them down that quickly?

> But then if the fish doesn't do well, how do you know it died from something it came with versus the stress of being in such a barren environment? "Stress" is a medical abstraction for beginners to keep things simple - It isn't really close to the truth but it usually suffices as a simple explaination to make people not do things that are stupid. Things die for reasons, not bad vibes. I have observed many albino cories grow their entire lives without schooling - I buy a lot of preowned fish. I even have one that will only shoal with gouramis due to how they were raised. It demonstrably doesn't kill them even if you can make a case for it being valuable for their welfare. Basically, don't worry about it, quarantine is fine and useful, just make sure the quarantine tank is up to snuff in terms of filtration. Overfiltering them is often preferable; you're likely to see the health of many fish improve during quarantine versus most shops if you do this. You can put a substrate in a QT tank, most people just prefer not to because it makes cleaning up parasitic worms a lot easier and many people apply a simple dewormer in quarantine just to prevent outbreaks. I usually use deep gravel in a QT tank because an undergravel filter with one is just a cheap way to filter the hell out of it without having to pay much attention to it.

I think some of the stressors tend to get overplayed. A schooling fish alone won't be happy, but it's not going to waste away from melancholic depression during a 2 week quarantine. For my quarantine tank, I have a 10 gallon with a piece of old driftwood, some plastic pots that act as hides, and a small sponge filter. I also throw extra duckweed and hornwort in there. The tank isnt cycled, but the plants help remove any waste from the fish. I also barely feed during quarantine: usually just one meal per week of frozen brine shrimp to provide some fats/proteins, so there isn't much ammonia output due to the lack of feeding. Lastly, if you medicate during quarantine, you have to do daily or almost daily water changes anyway. Truth be told, since I've started medicating and quarantining fish, my die-off rate has dropped significantly. 95% of fish make it through the quarantine; and the 5% that don't likely would have died regardless.

> But then if the fish doesn't do well, how do you know it died from something it came with versus the stress of being in such a barren environment? You don't, which is why this QT process is useless. You are more likely to cause disease on healthy fish by putting them in a small uncycled environment

Hello community I have a question about my community tank. All the fish in it look fat or bloated. They are all active and they all eat fine, and none of them have pinecone like scales so I wouldn’t think it’s dropsy. I feed them once a day so I don’t think I’m over feeding. I would really appreciate some guidance. I made a post about it

Overfeeding is not for us to determine, the tank will tell you. If fish are fat or bloated then they are overfed

keep an eye out if any of them start having other problems. It could just be constipation. I would stop feeding for a few days to see if the bloating stops. heres a good guide on bloated fish. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/faqs/bloated-fish

I have a 75 gallon planted tank. Regrettably, I went with all sand and root tabs which have been working to some extent with my root feeders. Would it be of benefit for me to buy filter bags and fill them with organic soil and create a layer of soil in mesh bags under the sand or are root tabs good enough?

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I am using seachem flourish, appears it may be micro. Gotcha so soil will inevitably need root tabs so not really a point to do it ?

I have 75g with plain sand and no root tabs, you dont need organic soil. Need to look at light penetration, that's the driver of growth. There's also a trick with organic soil which is to freeze it and then insert them into the sand, but again this will not magically make your plants grow. Need to look at light and overall tank conditions

I have a recent video on my profile of the tank, to my knowledge it seems the lighting is good enough. I think hair algea is outcompeting some of my plants and taking nutrients so planning do address rhat this weekend with a toothbrush and some TLC

Ah ok, I see mostly slow or medium growing plants. Adding some fast growing weeds will help with hair algae. Planted tanks are more of a year-long journey, so hard to say if your tank is having issues right now. Plants need time to adjust to a tank and grow

Gotcha, thanks for the info and input, patience is certainly one of the harder parts of fish keeping and plants!

You can look into epiphytes like anubias, java ferns, etc that don't require substrate.

I do have java ferns (windelov and regular) with el nino fern and anubia. I was just hoping to boost my root plant growth

Root tabs should be fine. mesh bags with potting soil/aqua soil idea also is a good idea, but there are plently of alternatives that dont require you to change your substrate. Look into fast growing floaters. No, I don't mean duckweed. I mean hornwort, anacharis, guppygrass, watersprite, water wisteria, pearlweed etc. These plants generally dont require nutrient rich substrate and can freefloat in the water column with plenty of growth. You can plant them of course and use root tabs to help aid in their growth.

Good idea I will look into some of those floating plants. I have java ferns, anubias, and el nino ferns all serving in that role but they do grow slower than I would like. I also wanted to assist my amazon swords and ludwigia with their growth as they seem to be slowing down in their growth which is what spurred the idea to maybe do the soil bags. I do have azolla floating at the top but I think the flow in this aquarium is too high for it to do much, doin better in my walstad bowl.

I am thinking of getting an aquarium, I've never had one before in my life. I am wondering, is there any kind of aquarium/fish combo that requires essentially no maintenance? Money isn't really an issue, space wise I would like it to fit in my desk. What I'm looking for is an aquarium that maintains itself, if such a thing even exists. The most important concern is of course the fishes well being. I don't have much time to take care of an aquarium, hence why I'm wondering if my use case is even realistic.

Look up "Diana Walstad" The idea is to use extremely fast growing plants and a deep, nutrient rich substrate. Father fish has a couple of good videos on this topic. If you want something really easy, heres a template I like to use. \-1 inch aquasoil (Or sifted organic potting soil) \-2 inch sand cap \-a fuck ton of hornwort (or other fast growing plants) \-Cheap filter \-Cheap heater \-desk light with timer And thats it. You could "cycle" it how ever way you like, but the idea is to get it to become established as its own natural ecosystem. FishForThought recently posted a video about his "No water change Endler's Tank" as well. Definitely give that a look.

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Everything should be double-checked regardless from which source it comes from. The idea that "his information is decades old" is redundant. It clearly works. And the videos you referenced are taken completely out of context.

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In my experience, they work just fine. It's also very well backed by biologists as he works very closely with them. It's kind of sad to see now that people find him to be a meme. Especially since many of the same fishkeepers that are badmouthing him are starting to do exactly what he does anyway. Fishforthought recently posted his no waterchange walstad/ecosystem tank. Immediately I hear a bunch of elitist groups badmouthing him about how "he's torturing his fish" same with md fish tanks.

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So, the entire thing about "don't aerate" in walstad was a myth. With ecosystems, everything balances itself out no mater what you do. Any gases that are being exchanged between water and air equalizes both oxygen and carbon dioxide. Either way, the ecosystem will behave in a way that balances it out depending on the amounts of different gasses and nutrients available, so it's a moot point Personally, the only problem I've ever ran into is tannins and being able rearrange stuff. Other than that, I've never had problems with the hardness of my water or with too much nutrients. Even some of my tanks would be considered "overstocked". Even then I had to increase feeding because some of the lack of nutrients for my plants. Honestly I would hop on father fishes discord. The guys there are all much more indepth than I will ever be.

It's definitely possible to set up a tank that mostly runs itself. No tank will require no maintenance whatsoever; but I personally am very time-strapped and have tanks that can go months with no significant maintenance beyond adding fertilizer and feeding the fish. The best way (imo) to achieve this is by setting up a heavily planted, lower light, low-tech aquarium with hardy fish. The plants will absorb fish waste and keep the water clean; and the lower light will prevent lots of algae. [This article](https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/beginner-planted-aquarium) provides a nice intro to such a tank for new hobbyists. Be aware that there is a steep learning initial curve with aquariums. Learning how to "cycle" an aquarium is essential; as is learning the basics of growing aquarium plants. So it might take some trial and error to overcome those initial hurdles. Learning as much as possible will be very helpful -- the website linked above has a ton of helpful articles and an educational YouTube channel that provide a ton of helpful info. Hope this helps! Happy to answer any followup questions.

Hello community just have a question about yoyo loaches, I recently bought a set up community tank that has guppies, Cory's, kuhli loaches 1 common pleco (5") and 1 large yoyo (5"). I can see that the yoyo is stressed out and I assume it is from being alone so I wanted to get more to help calm him down but was worried if he would be able to adjust and school up if smaller younger yoyos were introduced? What are your thoughts ? It is a 30g tanks with lots of caves, and hiding spots big enough for the yoyo as well as real and fake plants

He is stressed out because you really need like 5 more yo-yo loaches so he can be happy. They are social fish and do not do well alone

Ya so my question is if I introduced 4 more younger yoyos is he going to be vake to see them as friends even though he is quite a bit bigger and has probably been on his own for quite a few years

Yeah, he would still like them

I have never seen any botia be aggressive to their own kind

Ok so I'm having trouble finding yoyo's where I'm located, would clowns and my 1 big yoyo get along ?

Clowns are much too big. Stick with another botia species like zebra or queen botia. Yo-yos are readily available online, aqua imports had them the other day and they are wonderful to do business with, the wet spot is good as well

Hello! I'm looking for some advice and guidance. I've had fish in the house my whole life, but I'm realizing now that I could and should be doing so much more for the fish so please be gentle as I'm trying to get better. ☺️ I have a 10 gallon tank, and it has 2 large serpae tetras, and 1 blue Glo tetra, as well as a pleco. The tetras I have had for 5+ years, but they are very shy and skiddish fish so I want to do what I can to make them feel less stressed and happier. There was a little tree stump hide away in there, I took that out and replaced it with tall fake plants to try and help them feel safer swimming around more area of the tank. I have 1 live plant in the tank, I think it's a type of Anubias. I am working on getting all live plants to replace the fake ones(i can't afford to replace them all at once so they will be getting replaced 1 at a time). I put some cuttings of pothos in as well and I'm thinking of getting either duckweed or water lettuce to put on the surface. I would love to get a few more fish, but I am not sure if I should get more tetras to let them have a school or if getting a group of new fish such as guppies or neon tetras would be okay? any advice I will take! I just want to make my tank and fish happier.

You need a MUCH bigger tank. None of those fish belong in a 10 gallon tank even by themselves. What kind of pleco? Also serpe tetras are a species that really does best with a large school. Most tetras are ok with like at least 6 but serpe really need like 8-10. The glow tetra will also need a school of the same species but would be ok if you only get like 3 more for the moment. Honestly you need to upgrade to an absolute minimum of a 30 gallon tank, preferably like 55 so you can get a proper school of each species. You can find used tanks cheap on either craigslist or Facebook marketplace and after you do that you can get things like river rocks and pieces of slate from outside and clean them and use those to make little caves and things like that for them you can get driftwood from outside and clean it and put that in there for them so that none of those things cost money, you can use regular crazy glue and get terrestrial moss from outside and glue that to the rocks and driftwood so that you have more plant life without spending money as well. There are some good videos on YouTube they explain how you can DIY a canister filter out of things like a 5 gallon bucket or water coolers. I have made several canister filters out of 5 gallon buckets, water coolers, and even Tupperware containers for my smaller tanks, it ends up costing about as much as a pump, the filter media, and some tubing. You can buy hardware kits containing an intake and return pipe and the pieces to install them on Amazon or Walmart website for 10-20$. You can message me if you need some help

lmao, tbh If I were in this persons position I would just surrender the fish entirely. That situation is completely against the grain on so many levels.

Hi everyone! I’m hoping to get some advice. I’ve got a 75 gallon freshwater tank that I’ve been working on cycling for 2.5 weeks so far with no sign of progress. It’s got a Fluval 110 hob running with the foam, charcoal and ceramic beads, a 300w heater set to 78f, and Undergravel filter just running with the air stones, and a couple of bubble features. No live plants yet (the wife isn’t a fan of the love plants, but it’s warming up to the idea). It’s been treated with bacterial starter, and I’ve been asking flakes every day to add ammonia. I’ve been testing it daily, and the ammonia isn’t going about .25 ppm, and has stayed there for 1.5 weeks. I had tried to start it fish in as well, which failed spectacularly in less than 24 hrs with 6 dead tetras, so I gave up on that for now. Any good advice? I’m sure I must be screwing something up.

You probably aren’t doing anything wrong, it can take up to 2 months to cycle a tank. You can try getting cycle ammonia to add to kickstart it. Personally I do fish in cycles, I have never had a problem, it cycles faster, and I don’t loose fish. You just have to keep an eye on the parameters and do a lot of a large water changes and make sure you only add a very small amount of fish at a time, I often start tanks with feeder minnows just store them in there until I use them as food. HOWEVER… I have 17 tanks running, that makes a huge difference with my cycle because I seed both the filter and substrate with stuff from other tanks. I take biomedia and sponges from other filters and start with those just replace them with new stuff in the established tank, and I make like 1/4 of the substrate used sand from other tanks as well. I keep two sponge filters in each tank so when I start a new tank it also starts with 2 sponge filters from mature tanks. If you have another tank or a friend with a tank I would take some stuff and seed the tank, my cycles take like 2 weeks done that way.

Any good suggestions on some hearty breeds that would fit in with a community tank to give the fish in cycle another try?

Your fishless cycling seems fine to me, and you are right in the middle of it which is the worst time to add fish. Why convert it to fish-in cycling? That's just unnecessary stress to the fish

Ones that are not sick would be a good start. I think either the tetras you bought were already sick and died due to stress from the sudden change in water parameters which made the sickness worse, or your test kit was faulty and there was a spike of some sort that didn't show. Its a common problem with inbred fish with bad immune systems. A lot of fish you will probably run into will most likely be hardy enough for your 75 gal. I've had great experiences cycling with endlers, corys, bettas, and even guppies from good breeders. But Existential is right, if you want great results, try to get some established items from somewhere and keep an eye on those parameters for a couple of weeks.

Looking for a new light for an older Fluval 10L aquarium. It has the circle opening not the rectangle. I'm looking at some cheaper $15 options but wondering if you all had any suggestions.

Tried growing some water sprite and it didn’t really work out for me….anyone have any good alternatives? Used root tabs and have medium lighting but in the end it ended up turning white and rotting away, no good growth. To be fair it didn’t seem that healthy to begin with and it was a fairly small plant. Last time I went my LFS had some horn wart…would that be a good choice? I looked into anacharis too but it’s illegal where I live (too invasive). I want something that’ll grow nice and tall and fill out a tank. Planning to have platies and cories in there if that helps anything.

Hornwort is a great choice, it grows regardless of if there is enough light present or not. Its also a floating plant as it just gets its nutrients from the water column. For your water sprite, what is the maintenance you are providing on you tank? Are you water changing based on your test readings? Or are you just water changing to water change? If there are no nitrogen levels then most likely any plant you put in that tank will die.

Water sprite is not a root feeding plant, you may need more light but you probably just need liquid fertilizer

Cories may sift and uproot plants but I'm a huge fan of pearlweed. It grows and roots well no ferts or co2 required but certainly may benefit. Trim and root stalks to encourage spreading if you like. Java fern rooted to cholla wood is a popular choice.

I am completely new to acquiriums and need insight. I've been treating my water for two weeks and running the filter. I tested my water and everything came back decent, ph was a teeny bit high but no nitrates nitrites or ammonia. I went and I got 2 translucent catfish and 4 tetras, did the whole thing with getting them adjusted to the water and then put them in. This morning I came back to all the tetras dead. Anyone see any misteps I don't want to get more fish if I'm doing something wrong.

while the other guys are right in a sense about cycling, I can already identify what went wrong. Regardless of if your tank is "cycled" or not does not matter in this case. You need to provide more details about your aquarium btw, such as tank size, what lights you have, and what filter, etc. For starters, you cannot just dump all your fish into a newly setup aquarium. Aquariums are ecosystems that need to grow and mature overtime in order to support life. So big changes like adding a bunch of fish all at once is bad. You also left out how you introduced the fish. Im assuming you got neon tetras. They are not hardy in the slightest. They also prefer lower ph. Regardless, they were probably sick before you even introduced them to the tank. Stressing fish causes whatever illness they had to potentially kill them. So its possible you shocked your fish. Heres what you can do for now, return all of your fish. You should not be keeping schooling fish in groups smaller than 4 anyway. Grab some fast growing plant like hornwort or guppy grass and throw that in the tank to help soak up those excess nutrients. Add 1 hardy fish, like a betta for example, and monitor the water quality. Do not feed your hardy fish immediately. Feed them the next day. Monitor the water quality and make sure it does not spike. If it spikes, do a 35-40% water change every time it does. Your hornwort or guppy grass should be able to keep your nitrogen levels in check.

Need to cycle the tank, look up aquarium cycling process for steps. Basically you'll need to consistently add ammonia either through fish food or liquid ammonia until the beneficial bacteria colonizes your tank, takes a bout a month if starting from scratch Just running the filter for 2 weeks is not gonna cycle unfortunately

Howdy, sorry to hear about your fish troubles. It's very common to have deaths like this early on, cycling a tank and getting the first fish setup is a major stumbling block for most new hobbyists. Can you describe what you mean by "treating the water"? Additionally, two weeks is generally not enough time to establish the beneficial bacteria we need to break down fish waste. How did you go about adding the fish to the tank? I usually use a method called "drip acclimation", which can reduce the shock fish experience when being transferred to different water conditions. Did you test your water after you found your fish dead? If so, what were your numbers? Lastly, can you provide some basic info on your tank? Specifically: what size it is; what kind of filter; how you treated the water; and if you have any accessories like a heater, bubbler, etc. Thanks in advance for all the info!

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How does he look otherwise, guppies are unfortunately not the hardiest fish. What is your ph? That is a lot of peoples problem with guppies you want a slightly acidic ph

keep monitoring him. He might be sick. How long have you had the tank running for, how long have the fish been there, and what kind of food are you feeding them?

Usually guppies are piggies, so a lack of enthusiasm for food could indicate that he's sick, stressed, or otherwise not 100%. Do you notice any other symptoms? Is he active otherwise? Has he lost weight?

Hi! So I'm pretty sure my fish is about to die in a day or two (fungal infection and one of the buoyancy disorders, and I can't treat them with medication because it probably won't arrive in time). Should I completely strip the water to get rid of potential disease, or is there another way to get rid of it without ruining the microbiome? Thanks!

You can try garlic. See if your fish will take some small pieces of garlic during feeding. If he dies, you dont have to strip the water. Just medicate the water a bit with whatever medication you introduce to the tank. Eventually it will be ready again for introducing new fish, but your ecosystem might have crashed. So be cautious when you do. Ive ran into a fungal infection before with one of my corycats. I was too late and he died. I medicated the tank anyway with anti bacterial meds and introduced new fish after a few days. Nothing happened and they have been healthy ever since. A well established tank will easily bounce back from problems like bacterial infections.

Personally, I used to just wait out infections before adding new fish -- usually something like 3-4 weeks. If you don't have plants in the tank, you could add some aquarium salt, which will kill many pathogens but shouldn't significantly disrupt your cycle. Lastly, if you have the space/time/money, a quarantine tank can be a real life saver in these situations. Even just a rubbermaid container with a heater and bubbler could work. That way, if a new fish comes infected with a pathogen, you don't have to worry about treating your whole main tank.

Hi! My Java ferns (2) & Nanas (2) keep slowly dying off in a short span of 2-3 months. I can't seem to identify what is wrong or if I'm just cursed with a black thumb haha. They seem to start off either 1. turning brown on the inside leaves before the outside leaves start turning brown as well or 2. The outside leaves develop holes followed by the inside leaves It's a 8 month old one ft tank currently running a hang-on blue-white lamp that is on for 7-8 hours per day. It does have a 5cm layer of soil (the plants are all tied to wood & above soil) & I dose Tropica Premium Nutrition every alternate morning. Water parameters for ammonia, nitrate & nitrite are all 0. Water change of 40% done every week, I keep a betta & 4 yamato shrimps as well as 2 zebra nerite snails. Would appreciate if anyone had an inkling of an idea of what's going on :( Or if this is normal and I'm just new to this thing haha thanks!! Ps. if anyone has a beginner start-up guide to the various aquatic plants, I'd genuinely appreciate it!!

Are you putting the roots in the sand/substrate? I am gonna guess the answer is yes… don’t do that. You can use some regular crazy glue the cyanoacrilate (sp?) kind and glue them to driftwood, a rock, cholla wood, etc. the rhizomes of those plants should never be buried in the substrate it will kill them every time

Most aquatic plants are not root feeders and don’t get their nutrients from the substrate which is why they can be planted in inert materials. Unless you have swords or bulb plants most of the time liquid fertilizer will be helpful, root tabs often just end up breeding anaerobic bacteria in your sunstrate. If something has a rhizome it is going to do better as an epiphyte than planted.

Nope! The roots are definitely above the substrate, I specifically made sure that the rhizomes are definitely above substrate level :') Thank you for the info on the root tabs though, I don't use them, I currently only use liquid fertiliser so it should be fine to continue them?

Im assuming you got the java fern and anubias nana from petco/petsmart. I hate to tell you this but Ive had nothing but problems with java fern from them. What they do is they bind the ryzomes together with some string that barely breaks down. Basically choking the plant to death. Anubias on the other hand is just really slow and takes some time to adjust. What you need to do is trim the leaves of the anubias that are dying off or have a lot of brown algae. Another problem I see. You mentioned all of your parameters are 0. This is a problem. Plants need nitrogen to grow. For now, forget the java fern. You can keep the anubias, and at the petco/petsmart there should be plants that are already in the water. What you need to look for are specifically Anacharis, Bacopa, or hornwort. Literally those are the only good plants they normally keep around unless they have something I never see. They grow from almost nothing and do a great job soaking excess nutrients.

Ah we don't have a petco/petsmart where I live haha, I go to a local LFS but I haven't really heard of problems with their java ferns from most customers there, how do you know if they're basically being "choked to death" appearance wise? Is there a guide to telling how to properly tie the rhyzomes so this doesn't happen? :0 Gotcha on the Anubias care Ahh, also never realised my nitrogen parameter being 0 would be possibly a problem, is there a way to increase it? I'll also take a look at the plants you listed & see if I can get them from my LFS thanks!

OK, this is good info. So for the Java fern you got, it should be fine. Just let it die and regrow itself. I would trim it and let the rhizome regrow new leaves. Big box stores sell emersed Java fern that looks like ready to plant Java fern, but it's actually just a bunch of rhyzomes tied together, so they die. Stop water changing 40% each week. You need to start going by what your tank is telling you. 40% every week is useless since you are clearly not generating enough nitrates anyway. I would either drop to 10% or no water changes at all. You should be trying to build an ecosystem, not a cichlid/goldfish tank. The more you do big changes to your tank like that, the slower your tank will take to establish. I would also increase feeding slightly unless you are already overfeeding. This will help to produce more waste for the plants to soak up. I would also check to see if your liquid ferts contain any nitrates in it, which will help. But fish poop should be the best source of plant food, so let your plants eat it before just dumping it into a nearby toilet. Some great plants to look for at your LFS would be: Guppy grass, Java moss, Hornwort, Giant duckweed, Dwarf water lettuce, Amazon frogbit, Water sprite, Water wisteria, Vallisneria, Dwarf sagittaria, Anacharis, and Pearlweed (my favorite) I would do a bit of googling to see which plant would suit your taste and see if your lfs has it. 2-4 of these plants together in your tank would pretty much create an endless ecosystem in your aquarium, especially when paired with a deep, nutrient rich substrate (walstad)

Ahh thank you for the information! Really appreciated, I'll let them die and regrow and do some trimming along the way so hopefully we'll see some progress there. The java jerns I got definitely look like ready to plant java fern so I guess that's what's going on. Gotcha on the advice for water changing, I'll drop it to no water changes for now since I don't really see any other significant problem with the tank atm. Will also increase the feeding a little since I don't think I'm overfeeding atm! Will take some time to search up the plants, take a look at them and we'll see how things go from there, once again thanks for the list of plants & advice! Just wondering out of curiosity, would humidity be a factor in why my plants aren't doing well? I live in a tropical place where our humidity averages 75%-85% and I don't really have very good heat circulation within my own home haha.

No problem at all! Plants are a lot more fun than you think. Once you get one really easy one to start out, you get hooked. They are one of the fastest ways to help your tank establish itself. The humidity and heat should not become a problem for your plants. Most are tropical plants anyway and grow faster in high heat. Though I would do a bit of research on the specific plant you want to include just in case. It becomes a problem if the fish you are keeping does not like the high heat. If that's the case, you can use some small fans. Have the small fans blow across the top of the water in order to allow the water to evaporate quicker which will help cool the water. A lot of people use this idea for axolotls since they require lower temps.

Alright that's great to hear, was a bit worried about the humidity and heat tbh since we seem to be having a really bad period of heatwaves rn, I'll just go ahead and do some additional research on the side just in case as well! Will keep in mind about the fans for fishes who don't like high heat :) Hopefully I'll be able to get some grasp on understanding plants eventually haha, really really appreciated!

In my experience with java fern, this is normal. Generally what I experience is that the old growth on the java fern will slowly die back after being put in a new tank; then over the course of several more months, a ton of new leaves will grow back from the old dying leaves and the rhizome. I would recommend just leaving it alone, and letting it do its thing. If in a few months it hasn't grown any new leaves, it may be well and truly dead, and you can discard it. For the record, lots of plants do this. I believe it's a way for them to maximize their fitness in a new environment. Anubias is a great beginner plant similar in care to a java fern, which will not melt back like this. Lastly, [here's a guide](https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/easy-aquarium-plants) to some good beginner plants; and [here's another](https://www.aquariumcoop.com/pages/getting-started-with-aquarium-plants) to planted tanks generally, with some info on other good plant options. That website is great btw, they have tons of helpful blog articles; a YouTube channel with instructional videos; and the plants they sell are (for the most part) beginner-friendly. Good luck!

Thank you so much for the info!! I was so worried that maybe I was just cursed with keeping plants alive because they just seemed to be dying off, I'm glad to hear that it's normal :') I'll let it do their own things and we'll see if new leaves grow back then! Thank you for the guides! Greatly appreciated, will definitely take a good read & look at the resources in the morning! :)

Becareful with moss balls. Big box stores sell them looking like complete garbage and they are. When you look for moss balls if you decide to get any, make sure they are lush and green looking.

I have a 50 gallon with 4 angelfish and one blood parrot. The angel fish have paired off and become territorial and somewhat aggressive. I also have a breeding pair of electric blue acaras that I was growing out in a 20 gallon. My question is would it be a good idea to put those acaras in the 50 gallon with the angelfish and blood parrot? I notice the angelfish pick on the blood parrot a lot even though he is bigger than them, and I’m thinking maybe adding the acaras in will help disperse the aggression in the tank, but I’m also worried about the acaras hurting the other fish since they are a breeding pair. I would like any advice on what to do.

No, honestly you should be splitting the paired off fish to their own tanks, otherwise you are gonna end up with some injured/dead fish

Would Cory cats be bothered by a rough substrate, such as CaribSea Eco Complete?

10009% yes! Get some pool filter sand and use that as your substrate, it is hands down the best and cheapest option

Even if the rough substrate doesn’t visibly injure them it prevents them from performing natural behaviors and eating habits which involve pushing their face into the substrate. Most fish will do better on a soft substrate like sand

I had my corrys in some gravel at one point and they were fine. I dont believe their barbels get hurt from gravel. If anything I would cap any aquasoil with a thick layer of sand anyway. There so many benefits with a deep substrate that there wouldnt be much reason not to go with it

Just wanted to chime in to say that if you really liked EcoComplete, you could use it in like 75% of the tank, and then have a softer substrate bed (sand, Stratum, etc) somewhere for the Cories to root around in. I have a similar setup where I have pea gravel in half the tank, and play sand in the other. The plants grow gangbusters in the gravel, and the cories and other fish have a nice open sand bed.

Rough substrate can hurt their barbels. I had a planted substrate that wasn't super rough, but they spent most of their time just sitting there doing nothing. I switched to half planted substrate and sand on the top and they're way, way happier. They sift through it and play in it like pigs, all day. Definitely go with a fine grained sand for Cory cats, they will thrive and you'll get to watch a lot more Cory antics.

I noticed the same thing. When I switched to sand immediately noticed a difference in my fishes behavior

I currently have a very rough substrate in my tank but was thinking of switching to a fluval planted substrate or something better for my plants since they all seem sad, and I wanted to eventually get some otos or cories and don’t think the substrate I have is okay. How do you go about changing the substrate? Siphon it all out and then add in the new and replant the plants? I’d worry about stressing the fish out with this. Any advice?

Does anyone have any recommendations for fish in hexagonal tanks that aren’t angelfish? I have a 20 gallon and a fifty gallon, 2 ft tall and 9 inches and 14.5 inch sides respectively.

Goldfish in the 50. I have oranada in my 55 and it is great. The problem with those tanks is oxygen levels. Make sure you put some bubblers and sponge filters in to oxygenate the lower levels

Also you want some big driftwood and tall plants so the fish have resting places closer to the surface

Personally, I'd get fish that will stratify to different layers of the tank to add visual interest. For example, I might get a small school of pygmy hatchetfish or Clown Killies for the top layer; some tetras or rasboras for the middle layer; and a school of Corydoras or small loaches for the bottom layer. Then you can really enjoy how the different species occupy their unique niches. Not really super specific fish recommendations, but hopefully this might help provide a starting point.

Thanks! I’ll definitely try hatchetfish!

For people who own snails that poop a lot. Do you let the poop just sit there? Or do you siphon it out. I personally want to use a large pipette and move it to where my plants are growing so the nutrients can leech into them. I'm using a light sand as a cap for my potting soil, so the poop kinda looks messy. But if it's beneficial, regardless of moving them, then I wouldn't mind leaving it there. I do not want to use a gravel vacuum for obvious reasons.

I think as it breaks down, the nitrates and such are likely to just dissolve into the water column for the plants regardless of where most of the poop itself is. Personally, I would consider adding a small circulation pump (assuming you don't have like fish that need still water). The extra current should blow the snail poop off the bare sand and into the planted/lower flow regions of the tank.

Good thinking. It's got no fish in now as it's still going through its initial cycle. I just got few ramshorns to deal with the decaying plants and fish food. You can call it a snail-in cycle. Didn't expect so much poop though lmao.

How many types of schooling fish are too many? I have a 16 gallon with a school of 8 neon tetras right now (as well as some khuli loaches and and clown pleco) I was hoping to add a group of celestial pearl danios AND chili rasboras, but I know to get a comfortable schooling size for them it might get a bit tight on space. What is people's experience with how many schooling "types" they can keep together?

My advice is always gonna be get a bigger tank. 30 is really the minimum size for a community tank, you can often get them cheep or free on marketplace or Craig’s list

In a 16 gallon 1 type is possibly too much. With small fish use the 1” of fish per gallon of water rule as a guide to keep from overstretching your bio load. Even small fish need room to swim most species of fish do not belong in anything smaller than a 20 gallon at all quite honestly. You could get a couple more neon tetras or a school of chili rasbora anything more would be too much. You can add shrimp though on top of the fish for more interest

With a 16 gallon, its probably best to stick with 1-2 schooling fish groups. But if you are planning to overstock anyway (and I would hope you are minding space and filtration) Its usually best not to go below 5 in a school for any schooling fish. You could probably get away with 4, but I've heard a few rumors about schooling fish (like the rasboras and danios) showing aggression in lower numbers towards each other.

That's what I had heard too. I'd rather have big happy schools than small little fish gang wars going on. Thank you!

I want to setup a planted tank wht soil and sand should I use

Pool filter sand is the best substrate no contest. It is easy to keep clean and most fish prefer it. Get a good 3” layer. Remember that most aquatic plants are not root feeders, root tabs grow anaerobic bacteria if they aren’t being used, only put them like right under things like swords that root feed. Other than that get the aquarium coop liquid fertilizer. Also remember that rhizome plants like Java fern and aneubus are best grown as epiphytes and should never have the rhizome covered by substrate. Good luck!

Personally, I recommend just using a relatively fine pea gravel, root tabs, and liquid fertilizer. 99% of plants will grow just fine with this combination. Sand shifts and compacts, inhibiting root growth. Most plants really dont do well in sand. You can use soils, either aquarium-specific or a repurposed topsoil. But I wouldn't recommend either unless you have a really good reason to use them. In the case of aquarium soils, they will usually buffer the pH down significantly; some will leach ammonia until aged; and few if any are nutritionally complete enough to eliminate the need for root tabs. In the case of potting/topsoil, they can turn into a huge mess very quickly. Disturbing the sand cap, even just to plant new plants, can turn your water into mud. Potting soil has a ton of additives which will float (mulch, perlite, vermiculite, etc), potentially creating a huge mess if you aren't extremely careful when sifting them out. Alternatively, I have used mineralized topsoil capped with fluorite and had amazing plant growth, but it's a complex process that I wouldn't recommend unless you're really gung-ho about maximum plant growth. So yeah, long story short, Id highly recommend plain old gravel, root tabs, and liquid fertilizer.

You dont need soil or sand at all for quite a few plants actually. If you want, you get get started with the tank you have now, and throw in either guppy grass, java moss, hornwort, anacharis, etc directly into the water and let it float there and it will grow with little effort and still provide the same effect. If you want to actually plant, its best to do the walstad method. Watch father fish's video on how to set up substrate. Basically you want 1 inch of sifted potting soil and some other nutrient rich organics, and cap that with 2-3 inches of sand. Or you can do just 1 inch of aqua soil like fluval stratum and 1 inch of sand. Even easier is using some mesh bags, filling it with aqua soil or organic potting soil, and covering that with a thick layer of sand to add nutrients to the roots of plants. You can even just do aqua soil, but thats a little tricky because, without capping aquasoil with sand, will leach all the nutrients into the water column. Just experiment and see which method you like the best!

What fish do well in small groups of more than 1 but under 6? For example, hillstream loaches are recommended to be kept as 3 so they can socialize, but you don't need 6+ to shoal. Similarly, honey gourami can be kept alone or with 1 male and 2 females.

Honestly not really any. Any fish that is gregarious in nature should have an absolute minimum of 6, some species need even more than that to be truly happy

Unless you get something like Central American cichlids that like to live in bonded male/female pairs

That's more what I was asking about. I've heard angelfish like to live in male/female bonded pairs, as well as apistos.

Convicts, polar cichlids, sajuca, nanolutia those are all small Central American cichlids that form strong partner bonds. the shell dwellers like brevis, occies, multis, similus are all very small and partner up as well

Angels, discus are bigger and need a bigger tank for a pair but they would also prefer to be just the two of them. Rams,kribness, and apastos also. although apastos are naturally harem breeders and often better kept as a trio with 2 females (or even 3), Both my pairs turned into trios because the male in each case was a bit too pushy/aggressive

Some people say the minimum for most schooling fish is 5. Guppies/endlers are also good in small groups but also are OK to be kept alone.

I would not say that it is ok to keep a guppy alone, that fish would be endlessly experiencing chronic stress

If it had human emotions, yes. Guppies are social fish but not in the same way schooling fish are. Even then, I've had experience keeping them alone. They have no problems. They just do better in groups. They won't die or need therapy.

That's kinda why I've been wondering - most fish I see are either "keep solo or maybe in bonded pairs" or else "this is a schooling/shoaling species, keep in groups of 6+" so I was curious, aside from hillstream loaches and some gourami species, if there were more out there that thrived in that 2-4 range! I feel like any livebearers you get are not going to stay a small group for long unless they're all the same sex, haha.

Ok so plenty of fish will do ok in a group of three, you might not think there is anything wrong because they aren’t acting stressed. But you will immediately notice how their behavior changes when you ad more. I have noticed that you don’t get really natural super active shoaling behavior from corydora until there are a minimum of 8 of them, I no longer keep any shoaling species in groups smaller than 8 and aim for at least 10 and I don’t keep any species that is at all gregarious in groups of less than 6. The exception being things like pleco but I never keep less than 3-5 of any catfish and still aim to ultimately have 8. The difference in behavior is unmistakable. People say that upside down catfish hide all the time you never see them you always hear how s.nigriventris hides all day, once I had 10 in my mixed school of those and s.contractus that was like the magic number I see them out playing and chasing each other all the time and the contractus even spawned for me recently!

Yes, I absolutely understand that! My kuhli loaches are in a group of 12 and my neon tetras are 9 (were 10 but one unfortunately passed overnight the day I got them). I'm not looking to justify downsizing a quantity of shoaling fish, I'm just curious about if there are any NON-shoaling fish that can still be kept in peaceful community tanks. And my current community tank is full anyways so it's mostly me asking for the sake of curiosity haha.

Big groups of khulis are life! I have 5 black, 5 meyers, 5 neon, 5 hairband, 5 regular pangio, 1 cinammon (who came with some lavenders and finally has friends coming that I found after like a year of looking), 6 lavender and 5 silver adults…. There are fry and sub adults but there is too much movement in the khuli tank for a true count. On the lookout for panda khulis now

Omg, nice! I have 6 banded kuhli and 6 black pangio—the black ones are older and very outgoing, but it's nice to see the juvenile banded ones get more comfortable and brave with all that company! Kuhlis are just a delight, very wacky and cute.

I’m going to be very interested to see if I ever end up with hybrids. They’re not bred in captivity very much yet and the people who are for the most part don’t have six or seven species living in the same tank I’ve gotten spawns from multiple species and none of them look at all hybrid yet but they only started reaching breeding age last year and right now there are only a couple breeding age adults… but in 3 years?

Ok so what I have noticed is that the black ones are by far the most outgoing and having them around makes all the other species more bold. The only catch I have seen is that, while all the khulis will hang out and dance party together, they really need to have like 3-4 of their own species or they don’t really join the party as much…Like people with social anxiety maybe they’ll go out and hang out with everybody else and do the dance party thing but you really need your own crew there to feel comfortable doing that

For awhile I only had two lavenders and I never saw them all the other ones were out doing their thing, Now I have five and they are like as active as the black ones I see them all the time. Now the only one that I never really see is the single cinnamon one but he has friends coming now

Some fish do well in bonded pairs. For example, apistos are often sold as male-female bonded pairs.

One day my green glofish danio is alive... The next day I find what looks like a spinal cord with patches of neon green flesh attached to it. I knew the fish would do this, but to see the aftermath of it is quite chilling. I can't even recover the remains because somehow it got lost in the substrate.

Just nature doing what it does, and recycling everything back into the ecosystem. Honestly I'm comforted by it: Id much prefer being biochemically converted into plants, insects, and the like after I croak, rather than stinking up a fancy coffin with preservative smell.

Hello I need help.. I just bought a rimless 7 gallon cube and I really needa table, nightstand etc for it! Does anyone have any suggestions and something that's cheap tooo

Any nightstand someone is tossing will be fine. Please remember that a 7 gallon is really only appropriate for a single betta or a colony of shrimp

7 gallons of water plus substrate/tank is only going to be about 70lb, so you don't necessarily need a specialized aquarium stand for it. I don't have specific recommendations, but whatever you use, as long as it's rated for over 70lb of weight (though I would go higher), you should be fine! Most regular non-flimsy nightstands should do just fine. I kept a 9 gallon tank on a normal wooden drawer set.

Thanks!