jvision

Add some live plants and you should be OK.

I use a hose. Siphon into houseplants, then outside or down the drain in winter. Hook the hose up to the tap, dose tank w enough Prime for the ENTIRE TANK VOLUME, and fill it up. Been doing 50% WCs like this for 20 years or so and have had almost no issues. If you're not using Prime, don't do a huge WC after a bit plant trim of filter cleaning; there is often a bit of ammonia released when dechlorinating tap water. The Seachem product keeps the ammonia as a non-harmful form until it can be used by bacteria or plants.

Dwarf cichlid territory is about 2 square feet, so a 30 might be big enough to add the Apisto. Of course, the best thing would be to start another tank or two!

@Sprucegruve - welcome back! We're trying to get the forum active again. I'm down to a couple display tanks and not breeding fish much anymore. I just moved this spring, so we'll see what I decide to set up once I get settled.

Diatoms are common in new setups and will disappear once the system matures. Ottocinclus cats love them, pulling the tank apart all the time is a sure way to having diatoms around longer. Have some patients and the brown will go away and you'll start to see some green get established

If you decide to kill them with "no planaria" be ready for a bunch of WCs, their corpses will start to decompose and could cause an ammonia spike. The slow way to reduce their number is to reduce the amount of food added - their population grows to the amount of food available.

If they're fertilized, you can take them anytime. If this is her first time spawning you may want to leave then with her to help her learn how to brood them. There's a higher chance of a new mom swallowing the eggs, but if you always strip the eggs she'll never learn. But, if your goal is production of fish and profit, then that might be what you need to do.

This is a thread from 2012, so they are probably not active on the site right now. Try sending a PM, maybe it's still linked to the site

Grindal and White worms are good conditioning foods. There are also some amazing prepared foods - I like the Repashy line up. Try just about any live food you can find that's appropriate size for your fish. You'll get to know what you like best

Probably. If you look up infusoria - a common first food for small fry - you'll see that the most common way to culture then is to put leaves in a jar of water. Those tiny critters are exactly what hydra eat. Your best bet would be to create competition for the hydra - small fish that will nibble at the infusoria and maybe pick at the hydra (small gouramis are known hydra predators). The hydra will eventually starve out. Lots of WCs will help, but that'll also remove what you have the almond leaves in there for.

Seems a bit drastic for hydra. You nuked your beneficial bacteria. Hydra are pretty easy to control by starving and\or predation. I've been playing in tanks for a long time and have made loads of mistakes. I just try to share what I've learned along the way. But this is what I know to be true about the hobby: Have fish, have fun!

Feed fewer tiny foods. Spixis snails eat hydra - they used to be quite common, but I haven't seen them around as much

You can use RO water augmented with some tap to keep the pH low. AB tap water is buffered pretty well, so the almond leaves may not be altering the pH a whole lot - might just be realising lots of tannins to change the color of the water. If you're doing 20-50% WCs weekly you should need fine using tap water. BTW, with high Cl content sure to spring runoff, you'll want to use enough dechlorination to treat the full tank volume, or go 2-3x the normal dose.

There are some great Killifish keepers in Calgary - see if you can connect with the Fish Club.

This site used to be THE PLACE to get small live foods as it seems hobbyists are the main source. There are a few online fish stores that sell microworms and such, and I only know if 1 or 2 LFS in Edmonton that regularly have them in. I'm not sure what LFS have in Calgary, best to call around or check a local FB group - did the Calgary Fish Club have a forum?