nanmer

if you did a group order, the shipping cost could be split up. I am sure there are a few here in Calgary that would go in.

Beautiful fish! How hard is it to get betas from Thailand?

In my planted tank I have zebra danio and leopard danio. They are great as they tend to use most of the middle to upper part of the tank. Often I find them on the bottom looking for uneaten white worms. Under lighting the zebra appear light blue and the leopard glow gold. Both are fun fish as they always are involved in an never ending game of tag. They will be easily intimidated not to eat baby multis. A tall tank will be great for multi's as they can be quite aggressive in the bottom section of the tank. This may make it hard to have rams or apisto. I had two small electric blue cichlid babies that were relegated to live by my stick on sponge filter lol. I would put the multi shells on one side of the tank and see how extensive their territory is. If there is an area of the tank they don't use, then you may be able to get away with rams or apisto. No suggestions for small tank cichlids, let me know if you find some!

I would be interested

Thanks for the info Jason! Now I can be creative ...

I want to plant a cold water tank and would love suggestions as to which plants I can use. It is a fluval chi (thanks again Bettavishvish!), so they are probably just going to be ground cover with one larger plant as a feature. It will receive medium to high lighting as I plan on putting it in an east window. I have one betta, in particular, that is stunning so I would like to make this a nice little show tank! I would like to use a small branch to grow moss on and was wondering if any from my back yard would work? I have a miniature lilac with nice and twisty branches, would this work? I may be able to get my hands on some corkscrew willow, would this work also? I may also use a larger branch for my existing planted tank, I like the look of a branch with puffy moss. It kind of looks like some of the topiary trees that are incessantly groomed in Chinese gardens. I want mine to look like a bunny but dragon would be way cool lol.

I have had problems with snails in my shrimp tank. I simply used a sieve, a two cup measure with handle, and with a small screen at the bottom. I put algae wafers, and a rock, in and pick it up in the morning. The harder part is taking care of the puffers that eat them lol. You will never win over snails, you will simply stop them from taking over. Loaches, and almost anything with a mouth, can and will eat your shrimp. Most snail control will also control your shrimp!

The rare Noideabecause igiveupaphagus?

With patience a tank will properly cycle on it's own and then all is good. Vallisneria is quite right, regular water changes may be a pain but are important. I keep some sensitive species and never had a problem. I have done testing but find the test kits go out of date. A biggie for me is if the fish are not swimming happily and the snails are not snailin, something is wrong. Testing usually confirms this.

Welcome to the site. Lots of great people and a ton of info!

Welcome Doug, Fish are addictive. I started with one tank and now I am afraid to count LOL.

I had to google "paludarium" lol. I think I need one!

great tanks! Now I know where to get some green shrimp when I start my 90 planted lol.

Welcome Barry, I too have had spare time since the kids are older. It is a great time to take up fishing!

Your LFS employee is sadly misinformed. I have literally had thousands of little shrimp and never used even a sprinkle of salt. Keeping a stable environment, plenty of places for young to hide, and quality feed, are some of the most important things.

Welcome to the board. Great group of people, you'll get along swimmingly!

I just put in some Hornwort in my 110 gallon with assorted african and south/central cichlids. They have not touched it. I attached it to the decorations, near the substrate so they can't dig it up. After some research they say Hornwort tastes bad, I am not going to eat some to test the theory!

Congrats! very impressive fish.

It looks like the eggs have hatched. I can't see any babies but mom is guarding the bottom like a tiger. I have gravel on the bottom and I hold out hope that the babies don't get squished. Now that I know I have a breeding pair, I will set up the tank the right way. I have a 50 gallon tank that I plan on making a planted tank, with sand. Of course the stars of the tank will be my festivum!

Looks like zebra loach is really neat! I know that loaches like groups and was planning on getting a few. I shall put on my loach detecting shoes and let you know Blake!

Festivum are my favorite fish. They are so personal and often sit by my head when I read on the sofa. While researching them, I discovered they are quite difficult to breed. I purchased three from Harold and was content to enjoy them. A few days ago I noticed two of them doing "the dance" in the fake plants. I put a partition in the tank, but held out little hope. Two days ago, I noticed eggs on a rock. I did some research and read that often they lay eggs but the females are poor moms and do not tend the eggs. My female has not left them and is very attentive. They are due to hatch soon. I don't want to count my Festivum before they hatch, but everything is looking so good! My only concern is that the eggs are on a fake plant mat that is about 2" deep. I hope that the fry don't get lost in it and the parents give up. Keeping my fingers so crossed they are beginning to hurt!

I am enjoying my first planted tank. It is a 33 gallon, soon to be upgraded to a 50, just not enough room for all the cool fish I want LOL. I tried to remove the snail eggs from the plants, but alas, must have missed quite a few. I purchased some assasin snails and have never seen them again. I really like loaches and would love to add one or two but I need something that does not get too big. Any suggestions?

Welcome to AA!

Welcome, great place to fish!