I keep asking my boyfriend to clean his fish tank. It bothers me to see it in this state. He has micro shrimp, snails, and 1 tetra fish (the others died.) He insists his tank doesn’t need cleaned and that it’s healthy. I don’t have any background with aquariums but this doesn’t seem right. Is he right? Is this a healthy tank?

So I got 2 Bolivian rams today. We thought I got a male and a female. But now that they’re in my tank and coloring up, I think I got 2 males.

Pics 1-3 is one of them.
Pic 4 is both with the first one at the back
Pic 5-7 is the other one.

My LFS will take one back if they both end up being male. But they could still be too young to sex properly.

Any thoughts?

Recently set up, I feel like this my best tank yet. How yall feel about it

We came back from a week vacation and one of the nerite snails has these two feathery things attached to its shell. Is this a parasite or just algae? How should I treat it?

The title says it all, I just wanna know if it is enough

I have three fish tanks. They all have very similar stocking, plants, filters, and heaters. I also do the same maintenance on all of them. However, one of my tanks smells bad. The only difference is the tank that smells bad has a sand substrate while the others have fluorite red. Also, they all have normal water levels.

What could cause this?

Hey everyone,
First photo is natural light, second is with flash.
Just looking for some opinions on how my fishless cycle is progressing and whether there’s anything else I should be doing.
Tank setup:
Brand-new 4x2x2 ft aquarium (approximately 450L / 120 US gallons)
Brand-new Fluval FX6 with Seachem Matrix and biological media
Two sponge filters running
New Mopani driftwood
Black sand substrate
Temperature maintained at 26°C (79°F)
No fish currently in the tank
Cycling process:
I started cycling on 13 October, so I’m currently around 9 days in.
Initially dosed Fritz Fishless Fuel to introduce ammonia.
Started dosing Seachem Stability for the recommended 7-day course.
Took an established sponge filter from my existing aquarium, squeezed some of the contents into the new tank, and placed the established sponge filter in the new tank near the FX6 intake.
I’ve also purchased two 976mL bottles of FritzZyme 7, which are arriving today and I’ll be introducing that as well at around 1.5L for the whole tank.
Everything in this aquarium is brand new, including the tank, FX6 and Mopani wood, so there’s very little established biological filtration apart from what I’ve introduced.
Today’s water parameters (photos attached):
pH: Approximately 6.0–6.4
Ammonia: Approximately 2–4 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Temperature: 26°C / 79°F
My tap water has relatively low buffering capacity, and the new Mopani may also be contributing to the acidic pH.
So far, I’m not seeing any detectable nitrites or nitrates, although it’s still early days.
I’m not in a massive rush to introduce fish. The plan was originally to allow around 4–6 weeks for the tank to establish before transferring my Severums and Geophagus from their existing aquarium.
A few questions:
Does this seem like fairly normal progress for day 9 of a completely new setup?
Has anyone successfully cycled an aquarium at a pH around 6.0–6.4? Did you find the process noticeably slower?
Has anyone had good results using FritzZyme 7 to speed up a fishless cycle?
Given the established sponge filter I’ve introduced, would you expect to start seeing ammonia decrease or nitrites appear relatively soon?
Would you change anything about my current approach, or simply give it more time?
I’m happy to be patient and let the cycle establish properly. Just interested in hearing other people’s experiences, particularly with cycling at a lower pH.

The lower PH suits my cichlids going in, so the softer water isn’t an issue for me, but the PH generally sits closer to PH of 7, but the mopani wood is what I believe is bringing it down.

I do also have another bottle of fishless fuel (ammonia) if I should add more before adding more beneficial bacteria today?

I have been trying to deal with this algae infestation for months now and its such a pain because its stuck to nearly every plant. Theres some amano shrimp and an octocat or two in there but they don't seem to be able to make a dent in it. I cut the lighting so theres a decent portion of the afternoon that the light is off and the tank gets relatively little natural light. Any suggestions on what to do would be awesome!

Hello i’m wondering if my cycle is done i have been cycling for almost maybe 4 weeks but im just see 0.25 ammonia but the rest have zero its pretty heavily planted i also have mint in there but i haven’t seen any changes to nitrite and nitrate before the mint my temp it regularly 67-69F my ph is around 7.2-7.6 i’m running a small sponge nano filter please help thank you

I just Aquascaped a new tank last night. I currently have an established 5 gallon tank but wanted a 10 gallon. I put a few plants from the old tank in the new one, as well as using old tank water with bacteria squeezed from the old filter sponge into the new filter. My nitrites and ammonia is zero and my nitrates are .5. The only issue is I don’t have any kh and a ph of 6.0 Would it be a really bad idea to move my betta? The old tank is terrible looking. It has an aphid infestation I can’t get rid of and a bad algae bloom. How can I get the kh up fast also?

5 gallon tank, with some neocardinia shrimp and a few loaches

All plants are real except the bamboo, and of course, the goofy cherry blossom tree.

***edit! I took the loach fish back because I was advised the tank was too small.

I am a new aquarium owner, I own an approx. 50 litres tank and I have these fish that eat algae off the aquarium walls and keep it clean. I think they are Hillstream Loaches or some similar species. Problem is that even two of them eat the algae at a higher rate than it can regrow and 4 of them have died due to this (it was always two at a time in the tank) as the fish shop owner told me. What should I do? Should I plant aquatic plants? and which ones?

https://orderframe.itch.io/medagaku

Hi! I made a small game about medaka fish genetics and I thought maybe you'd enjoy it here!

If you have medakas irl I'd love to see them too in this post if gaming is not your thing hehe

Start with a humble little breeding basin and build your school with different genetics. The game is pretty small and fast paced but you can make tons of different combinations with all the possibilities!

Collect different kinds of medaka with unique genetic lines across body types, fin shapes, eyes, and scale sheens!

Discover and develop genetic lines as your school grows, utilizing environmental conditions like the Traditional Black Lacquer Basin for rare mutations.

Complete breeder awards and work toward filling your Genetics Codex.

Find special strains: rare and special discoveries for dedicated players.

Idle progression: your basin keeps developing while you're away, with offline progress catching up automatically, but needing to use an autofeeder to keep your fish full and breeding.

Build your school. Discover new genetics. Get them all!

How many different medaka traits can you discover?

Processing img ke37beikauwh1...

I want to preface this by saying the pet store I have been buying from was giving me completely incorrect information and I did not know that this tank wouldn't fit my fish's needs. It's on me for not trusting my gut. I did research but the worker told me I was wrong.

I have 4 adult platys in my tank. One of them, not sure which, jst had two babies. They are all female so it shouldn't happen much more since they haven't been around males for some months now. 6 total platys.

I have one oto. I know they are social fish and need groups but the pet store worker told me they don't need friends and I believed her. So far it is doing great and seems happy + healthy as long as I can tell, but I feel like it would do better with more.

I also have one cory. I previously had 3, but two passed away likely due to someone intentionally sabotaging my tank. (It's a long story, but the tank is clean now.) I know corys are also social fish. They are recommended in groups of six but even just six corys ALONE have a minimum of 20gal and I don't want to overstock the tank.

I also have a couple cherry shrimp if that makes any difference.

Do I buy more corys? Do I buy more otos? I don't want my tank to be overstocked and I REALLY don't want to have to give up any of my fish because I don't trust anyone to take care of them. Since I live in a house owned by my mom (Not with her but in her house- long story again) I can't upgrade. I begged and begged her but she won't let me have more than 20gal. I have an old 5gal at the house somewhere that I could probably get away with using but I don't think any of these fish can live in that small of a tank.

I also finally got some photos of my tank, which are attatched but for some reason will only partially upload. I know my filter is running too low but I turned it down because I'm terrified it will suck up the baby fish.