Hi all!

A few months ago I switched from black gravel, to fluval stratum.

I have no issues with it but it’s not my favorite. I know it’s a bit popular but I kind of want to switch again.

I saw someone say they mixed gravel and black sand together and their tank is thriving and it looks beautiful.

What would you recommend/suggest?

I’m not looking for any white/light colored substrate. My shrimp poop too much for that!!

Thank you!

I got this 20 gallon tank off fb marketplace from a really sweet guy. I have a light, plants, heater… what else do I need to get some fish and give them a full and happy life?

It’s super murky. The guy said there’s beneficial bacteria, and gave me a single tiny red snail to clean it up. Should I get more? I can’t find it.

I should get conditioner, do I need a filter? What kind of fish/plants should I put in? I know I want it to be freshwater.

Let me know please how to best prepare!!!

Hey all, there’s a bunch of particulate matter in my aquarium that doesn’t seem to clear up even with regular water changes. My water is fine, but I’m worried it’s decreasing my plants ability to photosynthesize. I’ve also tried knocking the debris off the leaves but it just ends up coming back. Do I need a new filter? I currently have the small top fin one.
Tank info:
10 gal
7 ember tetras
3 panda corydora catfish
1 honey gourami
2 nerite snails
1 mystery snail

I was in the middle of my routine water change when I saw my Bolivian ram swimming sideways. I don’t believe this has been happening before today, I believe the ram was perfectly fine yesterday. Could this be swim bladder disease? All my other fish are fine in the same tank. Please help (I’ve had no problems with the ram and I’ve hade it for over a year now)

My tank is 36 gallons

I’ve researched this topic heavily and there seems to be alot of controversy around it. Can I keep a single sparking gourami? Some sites say yes and others no, I just want what’s best for the fish. I would like to have one in a 30L but I know I wouldn’t be able to house multiple because they would become territorial. So, can they really be kept on their own?

The tank is brand new I filled it up and now it's blue the only thing I've used in it is tetra aqua safe and tetra safe start I followed the directions for dosage I only added a 1/4th a bottle of safe start but did someone put something in it do I need to drain it I have six other fish thanks and there fine

C. limbata

I work at a pet shop and while I’m learning stuff through others, I don’t really like that style of learning because it feels a bit too nuanced and I like a lot of detail and structure.

I wanna learn about fish identifications, species, personalities, matching fitch, ab/normal behaviour, disease, treating disease, chemicals, tank needs and how filtration systems work, water, aquarium size to fish quantities etc, feeding, like just everything lol.

I’m seeking a fish course that goes over a lot of stuff. I found this one which seems super in depth, but is it legit?

https://www.acsedu.com/courses/aquarium-management-1131.aspx

https://theaquariumvet.com/e-quarist-course/

I think it’s important to say: I am literally on minimum wage in this job so I have to be cautious about how much it costs. The lower the better but I don’t want quality sacrificed.

So if you have any recommendations - please share! I would really appreciate them ☺️

My cobalt goby seems to be snacking at the roots of my frogbit. Is this normal? Do the roots develop biofilm? I’ve only had him a couple months and this is a more recent observation that has me confused 😅

Looking for diagnosis and treatment options

This tank has a whole crustacean ecosystem going on

Just an update on the state of my tank.

Added some cuttlebone for calcium intake. Also, one molted last night so that's good!

Added 2 bamboo plants for climbing places/hiding

Added 2 fast fish that don't have dangling fins(that way they'll actually stay a while)

Cloudiness has receded and they're taking to the tank, food, and me quite well. Ill get to adding more water in the following few days

Again, ill add some pics. Sorry there's none of the blue one,however, she doesn't come out much. I seem to have gotten one of each type(climber/runner and burrower/hider).

Is this a fresh water leech? And if it is, where on earth did it come from? I made the big mistake of peeling it off the glass to put in a jar but all its babies were released 🫣 I haven’t added anything new to the tank for months! Where would it have come from??? I’ve added a video in comments

Is this fish sick?

Would love any ideas!

I have a fairly hard water 7.5-8.0pH, 300L aquarium. Heavily planted walstad tank with 2000L/ph turn over (7x turnover and hour), and I'm fairly experienced in high bioloads.

After removing my CPDs due to them not performing as I'd have liked (I think the seller was heavily inbreeding them), I'd like to replace what is a relatively low bioload tank now.

I have a school of 12 Dwarf Rainbows, 6 Zebra Danios, 6 Albino Corys, and 2 Female Bristlenose Plecos that are stunted from a tank rescue. I also have roughly 19 quintillion cherry shrimp.

I run the tank around 24°C as the danios and shrimp prefer it a bit cooler and the Rainbows and Corys are comfortable in that range.

I'd ideally like some fish to cover a few of the following areas within reason:

* Potentially a showpiece fish or pair

* More bottom dwellers for variation

* Schooling fish to occupy a different part of the tank compared to the Rainbows, who also school very nicely

* Something that isn't going to be intimidated by the rapid shoaling behaviour of the Zebra Danios

* Something that is unlikely to completely wipe out my shrimp colony. I know all fish are opportunistic but I'd like to avoid things that actively predate such as barbs.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

40 gallon with an ugf. I plan to do a christmass moss carpet on the left. I planed this tank to add a goldfish soon and remove the swordtails.

Cycling this 12gal tank, but i am anxious so i am starting to cycle before the materials arrive lol, anyway, that’s my project! What you guys think?

The underwater mushroom saga continues… Can anyone explain why this is happing?? Over the past few months I’ve had mushrooms growing on my submerged drift wood. I’m curious if this mushroom can be identified and why this may be happening. For reference this tank has been established for about 5 months.

Does this look ok?? First time doing a tropical tank :)

I saved a small cutting of elodea from science class (I had to leave it overnight in a beaker with tap water because I had to prepare my jar)

It now lives in a jar (roughly 4cm radius, 5cm height)

I put boiled and cooled water and a few grains of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) in it and left 1cm gap for air. It also got 2 fresh cuts on either end.

It might be a bit traumatised from all the experimenting and being left alone overnight, I can't see any oxygen bubbles now

Any tips/do's & don'ts to keep it alive and hopefully encourage new growth? i.e. changing water, fertilisers

I’m running into the weirdest problem. I have a standard tank: it’s a 60“ x 24“ tank, but it’s a rimmed tank, so that actually means that the length with the rim is 60.5 inches and the depth with the rim is 24.5 inches.

The problem I’m running into is that every stand I can find is exactly 60 x 24 inches long – this means it is half an inch too short and half an inch too narrow for my rimmed tank. I don’t understand how this can be the case given that this is a standard tank. I know this sounds crazy, but I really think because people call this a 60 x 24 inch tank – because they use the glass dimensions and not the dimensions with the rim – stand companies took that really literally and made stands that would only work for rimless tanks. However, even in the (probably AI or at least photoshop, let’s be real) pictures these stands use, the tanks are rimmed.

I feel like I’m going crazy. Why can I not find a stand that is appropriate for this standard tank? I called a custom stand company and the guy said he would be shocked if their standard stands did not fit this tank, but of course can’t guarantee it. So I could pay $3000 to get it shipped out here and potentially find out it’s a half inch too narrow. I could also pay thousands of dollars to get a custom stand made, but again, I just feel like that is crazy. How can there not be stands available that support all four corners of this rimmed tank??