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I had 2 pairs of Aphanius mento killifish in with 6 small shelldwellers in a 29 g tank. Everything seemed to be okay. I change 1/3 - 1/2 of the water every week, plants look healthy etc. The Aphanius males turned blue, almost overnight. They're beautiful but they chase the females (and each...

I had no idea the gravel was coated with anything! I did rinse it well before using it but never thought there would be anything to rinse off except dust. What is the reason for a coating?

It's standard commercial fish tank gravel with a thick layer of sand. I have very hard water but can that really be the reason? They appeared so quickly, too.

Suddenly some bits of white stuff appeared on the water surface in my aquarium. They look and feel (when I crush them) exactly like Perlite, those white bits they put into houseplant potting soil. They are mostly in the corners or around the glass but there are a few floating freely. Ideas...

I wonder if they could survive with the cichlids and killis.

I am going to start by decreasing the light intensity and hours it's on. I will also decrease the amount of food...painful though it will be ("is everyone getting enough food?"). The tank won't be running out of algae any time soon. Does anything eat that hairy stuff, which seems to come in...

Decrease the intensity of the light or the number of hours it's on. I thought that the plants needed a lot of light.

Thanks for your answers. I love otoclinus cats but have been told that the cichlids will kill them (hard to believe, they look so peaceful, just digging in the sand and peeking out of their shells). Is there a reason not to use more snails? The shellies don't seem to like the pleco around...

I have a lot of algae in my 29 gallon tank. I have 6 shelldwellers, 4 small killifish, 1 pleco and 2 nerite snails. The pleco and snails can't keep up with algae, especially the algae growing on the shells and plants. I scrub the glass every week when I change water and every few days, when I...

I know it's normal behavior for them, but it's new to me. My shelldwellers pick up sands in their mouths and spit it a couple of inches away (that's a long distance for a little fish!). I saw the smallest one, maybe 1/2" long, do it today, with maybe 2 grains of sand. I could watch them for...

Hi, all. Since my last post on December 6th, the snail is still alive. He has been looking a little more active. I saw his siphon once and he waves his antennae (?) around, opens and closes on his own, not just when he is bothered by humans. I saw him eating a cucumber slice and once, a...

I know that I had too much light in the tank, for various reasons (the LFS said that the dwarf water lettuce needed a lot of light) but I have learned my lesson now. How do I get rid of the nasty stuff that is already there? There is the thick, light green fuzzy looking stuff. It scrapes off...

I have a wooden canopy over the tank. There are spaces between the slats of wood; I don't know the brand because I bought the whole setup secondhand. Yesterday, one of the danios disappeared and I looked in the bottom of the tank and couldn't find it; I don't see anything on the floor beside...

That's so interesting - I always though you needed the charcoal stuff. I can see that those ceramic rings don't do anything more than the sponge. Good to know.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/NspvM4DxwD1FQ7Ao7

I bought a few pieces of holey rock and some empty large barnacle shells (some are attached to stones) for my soon-to-be shell dweller tank. After they soaked for a while in plain well water (hard and alkaline), I looked at the rock and there were softer, crumbly bits inside the holes that I...

Hi, all, the snail is still alive but not moving around. I put him onto a slice of cucumber but I didn't see him eating, he was just sitting on it. I knew he was alive because his shell snapped shut when I disturbed him. A couple of pond snails were on the cucumber. Thanks for the advice. I...

Thanks. I don't have any cucumber at home and am snowed in right now but hope to get one tomorrow. I tried to take a picture because his antennae (is that what they are) were sort of curled up. The only thing that changed was that white stuff on the gravel that appeared after I put a slow...

20191202_114040.jpg This is what he looks like today.

I have a tiny planted tank (3.5 gallons) with a betta and a mystery snail. They were both doing really well until I had a disaster a few weeks ago, when the substrate got covered in white stuff that looked like mold and the water was really cloudy. I posted about it here. After a major water...

I would like to use puffers, even those cute little pea puffers, but would they be okay with the shell dwellers? Are assassin snails any easier to pick out than pond snails? Someone ought to start a service where they rent out puffers, the way falconers rent out birds for pigeon abatement.

My 29 gallon tank is cycled and planted, and it looks like one of the plants had a stowaway, because one pond snail became dozens and dozens in a few weeks. I've spent hours reading about how to get rid of them. I tried putting a lettuce leaf into the tank. The next morning, it was still...

I am going to change my small (29g) tank - it's planted and I want to move the plants to one side so that the other side can have all sand for multies. What is the best way to do it? The tank has 5 danios. Should I take them out and put them in a bowl while redecorating? How much of the...

I added Phyllanthus and it spread like crazy. Am I doing something wrong? It's very messy with dead leaves and bunches of roots fall off and float around. I had some tiny water lettuce plants but they are gone now, I guess the Phyllanthus choked them out? I'm going to scoop it all out and...

What is GH? Should I take some water to the LFS for a test? Also - what is drip acclimating? I can't believe I still haven't decided! I really want to use my water without making changes to it. The cichlids are amazing but I really like plants.