lauren

Well, I was almost sure I didn't have ich, but turned the temperature up just in case, everything seemed well. Until today when all hell broke loose, ich on my swordtails, kuhlis, and one of my gouramis. This is my 55 gallon btw.

I turned up the temp again, and treated the tank which is now a lovely color greenish blue.

The temperature should be reaching about 82 by the end of today if all goes as planned.

I currently have a nice chunk of hornwort in my tank which has been growing considerably in the past week. Is this ich treatment going to wipe it out? Its a pretty sturdy plant so i'm hoping it'll make it through :/

I got my bristlenose pleco today, and i foolishly skipped quarantine. This was a bad idea. He looks as though he has dry skin (lol not that he has skin but thats what it looks like) and it looks like someone crushed up salt and sprinkled it on his fins.

I'm including a picture of this pleco so you can get a general idea of what his fins look like (keep in mind this is not mine as my camera sucks)

http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1366&bih=66...

He has been sucking the algae right off the sides and ornaments in the tank and is fairly active but I don't feel comfortable with the way he looks.

My temperature has been maintained at 78 degrees and while admiring (and fearing) my new addition, I turned it up 2 degrees. Keep in mind this is a 55 gallon tank so its going to take a while to reach 80.

I don't want to use any medications as im holding albino cory catfish in this tank at the moment and i don't want to harm them in any way. I would prefer to just rid this the non- chemical way with a temperature increase.

At what temperature should i keep the tank at, and for how long?

Any advice is appreciated, and this is the first and last time i don't quarantine.

Even a small piece at my local privately owned fish store, is 20 dollars.

What is that all about?

I wanted to add some to my tank but 20 dollars for a small piece would be ridiculous since itd be unnoticeable in my tank, the larger ones ran $75 - 125

Well, I asked a question yesterday about serpaes and their temperament, mine seemed to be doing great with everyone in my tank. (i've had five four about 2 weeks and added 4 more to finish up the school this week)

It is 55 gallons, 9 serpaes, pearl and honey gourami (get along fine), 5 kuhli loaches..

I DID have a school of 6 neon tetras, I'm now down to 4.

I read about the serpaes being aggressive but mine didnt seem to have a problem, until i noticed i only had 4 neons, all with nipped tails. After a half an hour of trying to scoop them out, i succeeded and rehomed them to my 10 gallon (temporary) with my dwarf gouami and glofish.

They're currently hiding in the massive amount of plants I have in my ten gallon, poor little guys.

My question is, is it possible the serpaes ate two of my neons? I've checked every plant, every rock, every aerator for a body, even checked to see if they somehow got into my filter, but I have found absolutely NOTHING.

Did the school of serpaes have a midnight snack last night or what??

I do plan on getting more fish (not neons) for this tank so would i be better off giving them back to my fish store?? I love them but I don't want more missing fish on my hands.

I currently have 9 of them in my 55 gallon, moderately planted tank. I've been reading that they get aggressive with other fish.. but I haven't seen any of this behavior. They just like to swim back and fourth in and out of the plants and tend to leave everyone else alone.. Has anyone had a problem with them?

I'm not planning on doing this anytime soon but on the off chance i wanted to convert my 55 gallon freshwater tropical tank to a saltwater tank, how would i go about doing it? At this point the tank has a sand bottom, would that need to be changed if i converted or could i keep it?

sorry in advance this is going to be long!

I went to petsmart today to buy some frozen blood worms, and a few neon tetras and i saw the newest addition to the petsmart fish section (harlequin rasboras). I've never had any kind of rasbora before but as far as i've seen they're similar in a way to tetras, schooling fish and varied diets, community fish but before i buy some for my community i'd like to ask people who have had experience with them how well they would do in my tank.

It is a 55 gallon. My water parameters are right where they should be with a ph of 7.0, 110 gallon filter, two aerators (Because i just love them). andd for fish i have

5 kuhli loaches, 5 red minor tetras, 5 neon tetras, 1 pearl gourami, 1 honey sunset gourami, and 3 koi swordtails (NOT actual koi BTW for those who are thinking of yelling at me, they only have the same coloring!) 2female 1male, im thinking of moving them into a different tank not sure if i wan't the live-bearers in there any longer. (i also have one male platy as my last female died this week after giving birth :/, who is going to be going to my mother as she has a lot of female friends for him)

How would these fish get along with the ones i currently have?

My pearl gourami is fully grown 6" but not a nipper he doesn't bother with any fish, even swims with my neons (not behind) they like to surround him actually! lol :)

I also should mention this tank is well planted - very school friendly.

I don't have a saltwater tank, and i don't plan on getting any anemones.

but i do have a few questions about them -

What are these classified under? Are they cnidarians like jellyfish? If so do they sting like jellyfish?

Do they have male/female genders? & how do they reproduce?

How do you feed them/ get them to thrive in a home aquarium?

I know its a lot of questions.. but i find them interesting and realized i had no idea anything about them lol thanks for any input on the subject :)

I'm NOT interested in getting one, i only have freshwater tanks , and i'd probably not have the heart to take him from his habitat and stick him in a tank anyway - however

has anyone here, or anyone you know ever successfully kept one? I have only heard tragic stories about them, its a shame because they're beautiful.

Currently, in my well established 55 gallon community tank i have

5 striped kuhli loaches for my bottom dwelling fish, a pearl gourami (full grown 6") , a rescued honey sunset gourami (about 2"), and a school of 6 red minor tetras. I love my red minors, and was thinking perhaps i might want to add some more of those or maybe some different schooling fish? I like the color/interesting fins of the minors.

I have a 110 gallon filter, a volcano aerator, and another aerator( a bright pink coral ) haha i couldn't resist! My tank is heavily planted with plastic and silk plants with a few caves here and there for hiding places. The tank stays in the range of 74-76 degrees Fahrenheit, with all water parameters right where they should be.

What would you guys suggest for/ add to this tank for interesting schooling fish?

All input is appreciated thank you :)

In all my tanks i currently have all plastic/silk plants.

I would like to start putting some live plants into one of my ten gallons, which has a sand bottom, and if all goes well put some into my 55.

What are some good plants for beginners that are easy to take care of, do i need to put in that fertilizer crap i've heard some good/bad things about it, how much light do live plants need?

Any input is appreciated thanks:)

5/6 fish tanks i have and am operating have no problems with algae whatsoever, and one is in front of my picture window! I have one 10 gallon in my room which houses my powder blue dwarf gourami (harvey) and 5 glofish. Don't bother coming at me with your overstocked blah blah blah.. I have a 30 gallon filter on it and an aerator for extra oxygen and every fish is healthy as a horse. Now, the issue. Even with the filtration aeration and weekly water changes of 25-50% there is SO much green algae. Before I change the water I scrub it off with a new soft-bristle toothbrush, once i do this the water is disgustingly murky, so i continue my water change. No matter how many times i scrub, change, vacuum etc. It multiplies every single time. My ph, and nitrates are exactly where they should be with amonia and nitrites at 0 , this is with my freshwater master test kit (the tank has been fully cycled for about 6 months now) and to be extra sure i even brought a water sample to my local fish store and had them test everything- everything was NORMAL. I do NOT overfeed my fish i feed them every other day with a small pinch of flakes mixed with brine shrimp.

my question is, I do not want to put an algae eater in here. They will grow too big, and my tank is not suited for one. What can i do? Would shrimp help? Any input is appreciated thank you!

Just wondering, if i should go about feeding my pearl gourami some brine shrimp will the other fish in my tank also eat it? It is a 55 gallon tank, moderately planted, 3x swordtails 2x platies and a school of bloodfin tetras (along with my pearl). I also have a breeder net currently in the tank because my platy had 3 fry, two of which died and one is still kicking.. I would also like to give him some brine shrimp as I know its good for them.. Anyway as always any input is appreciated :)

I have a 55 gallon community tank with a fairly new group of swordtails. In the middle of my tank i have a Volcano decoration which i turned into a bubbler (aerator) for extra current. The tubing is showing because i have yet to finish planting the tank, and every so often the swordtails will swim up to the tubing and "kiss" at it for quite a few minutes.. I'm wondering if its algae that isn't visible me? I'm not particularly worried, intrigued if anything, because I have had swords before and have never seen this behavior. Any input would be appreciated :)