Recent content by dwencel24

That's a very valid point. Since water has high heat capacity than air, water will tend to have slightly higher temperature than the surrounding. This could be detrimental to the Amanos (or any other shrimps). Another valid point. I was not watching while the Amanos were being catched. But I...

Hi Everyone, Something very interesting happened to me yesterday that I believe worth sharing with everyone. I went to one of the few LFS's in my area and bought 3 Amano shrimps, 5 ember tetras and 2 pygmy cories (three separated bags in total). Before I left the store, I checked them for any...

Hi everyone, I want to consult about my issue regarding the exploding population of my dwarf crayfish. Its been about at least a month now when I bought a crayfish with eggs. Before that I have 2 orange and 1 brown/black crayfishes. The one that I bought is a dark brown dwarf crayfish. Now my...

Hi Everyone, I finally got my 75G tank set - with stand and lighting :cool:. With my new set-up, I also bought new fishes - checkered & cherry barbs and amber & neon tetras (I think I have enough bottom feeders) - and few plants - Magenta Water Hedge, few anubias (small and large), tiger lily...

Thanks everyone. I have taken every comments and suggestions into account. I decided to not purchase the set. It seems really tempting. But there could be some caveat. I do remember the seller telling me that the canister is at least $400 and, as mentioned, no major or minor damage. These seem...

Hi Everyone, Some of you might be aware that I am planning to upgrade my aquarium. I was originally looking for new set up - a tank with stand - from LFS. I was also originally looking for 75G. I decided later to see if I can find good deals in Craigslist because they usually sell aquarium set...

Thanks for the reply. Likely, you had freshwater clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval. Those are invasive species as they propagate fast and run over local species in rivers, lake, etc. On the other hand, I have FW mussel. According to my research, they can try to reproduce in...

Make sure your tank is cycled (which I believed it is). In growing plants, you have to consider CO2 and lighting besides fertilizer. CO2 is essential for plants to grow (does not matter if they are slow or fast growing plants). Your sources of CO2 (your fishes and the atmosphere) may not be...

From many aquarists' experience, eco complete under the sand should work. According to my research long time ago, kuhli loaches tend to be happier in sand substrate. I used to have fine gravel, then I changed to sand. They like excavating sand, which they cannot do with gravel or large piece...

Hi Everyone, I want to share my experience of taking care of freshwater clams. I am a bottom-feeder lover. I want to collect rare and unique freshwater bottoms feeders (that includes invertebrates). Currently, I have kuhli loaches, cory catfishes, dwarf crayfishes (transparent and orange)...

Okay, it seems like that I will go with the glass. By the way, do you recommend buying the stand as well from Petsmart? The material is very weak (compressed fiber wood). I am thinking of buying a furniture. What do you guys think?

Hi everyone, I want to ask everyone's opinion regarding buying a new tank. I am planning to buy a 75 gallon tank. At first, I was shooting for 55G. But after some research, I realized that 75G maybe better. Anyways, all I care is not the depth, but rather the width/length. This aquarium will be...

I guess that I was misinterpreted :(. I never said don't use fertilizer. In fact, I do use it too. Nutrients in fertilizer are also necessary for plants’ photosynthesis. I do know that there are natural fertilizers in nature's flowing waters. The difference is that fertilizer is constantly...

I actually have thought about using root tabs. However, it is very hard to control the dosing with solids. In addition, root tabs are expensive and very saturated, which again can cause leakage/diffusion out from the substrate (waste) – diffusion rate to the water is definitely higher than...

I tended to go to low light setting since the aquarium is not placed in a dark place (to save energy). There's no point in using high lighting in my case since I have kuhli loaches and cory catfishes. In addition, I don't use CO2 because it's not really soluble in water depending on...