Aquariums and Fish Keeping

Howdy folks, I’ve recently gotten in to the aquarium life and I got really lucky to live near a really neat aquarium centered store. Though I would like to compare prices to online, but I want to avoid amazon by any means since I just don’t want to support them. What are some online shops you’ve all had good results with? I’m mostly looking for foods and plants for freshwater fish. In a few years after getting comfortable I want to move on to saltwater.

(Unsure if I’m doing it wrong, but I seem to only be able to upload one image. See below for more).

I’m less than one week away from my anniversary with this tank. One whole year, and a whole lot of changes.

Sometimes I miss how fresh and clean it looked in the early-mid stages, especially when the Limnophilia Aromatica was bushy. But I love how it looks now, so colorful and a bit messy.

For any first starting their tank and getting buyers-remorse if it looks odd or ugly to start, just remember that it’s gonna grow and change!

They don’t move like daphnia and I do hatch baby brine shrimp. Did I get some eggs in here somehow? This many?!

So many fry; send help 😅

These are baby brine shrimp I hatched that are being circulated by the current of the filter/bubbles.

The medaka are growing up in a tiny hatching tank because my planted grow-out tank is still cycling. This is just a portion of the fry. I don't think I transferred this many fry over from my indoor pond; I bet a bunch of eggs came attached to the plants that I added in. Not pictured are also a few white cloud mountain minnow and peacock gudgeon fry.

This was while I was rearranging a few things in my indoor pond.

I know I know my underwater indoor pond camera blinked out right as we were going to see more. Does it look like it was moulting? Do you think it survived? A few seconds later I saw a loose bit of shell in the water…

Like the title said I'm building a 55 gallon freshwater tank community, and I've decided to document the journey here. It's my goal to create something fun and to spark good conversations about the hobby.

So tell me your expirences, stories, cristiscism, everything.

I have purchased a used tank that will need some work and will document that as well, but to start here is my current stocking list. Please excuse the quality of the image. I'm open to switching some species out if there are any suggestions. I'm definently set on the Pearl Gouramis though.

I tried a 4 day antibiotic course but forgot to remove the filter. It reduced the spots but I just came back from a 2 day trip and this what she looks like :(

The bumps are cloudy looking and some of them move with the water.

Is it truly that bad of a combo as some forums suggest?

I'm getting back into the hobby and wanted to recreate a tank i kept in college. I'm looking to do a planted 20-30 gallon and I kept a combo of white clouds, zebra danios, and a betta very successfully back then. The fish seemed to be very active, in good health, and had great color. I remember I kept the tank around the 74-76 degree mark. Everyone seemed happy.

I really wanted to replicate that tank at a bigger scale, but my now I'm seeing advice that says it's a bad idea.

Anybody have any thoughts/suggestions?

I'd consider another centerpiece fish instead of the betta if anyone has any suggestions

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/39054119

First successful attempt at breeding gold Lazer Corydoras (CW10). It took me a year for the parents to start spawning and in April I collected the first eggs, 8 in total. Now 2.5 moths later the 2 fry that survived start to show their beautiful colour! And the best thing is, the parents spawned again. I have around 15 eggs with 1 already hatched.

How did they do? Do they need root tabs? Are they fine without ever touching saltwater? Any bright light requirements?

Still not sure how many there are this year but it's at least 6!

UNS 45L low-tech iwagumi, no CO2. Planted with monte carlo and a "moss ball" torn up to decorate the seiryu stone. It was dry-started in January 2025, and has grown in a little bit but not as quickly as I'd like it. Stocked with 7 medaka rice fish, a massive amount of ramshorns, and 5 orange neocaridinas (which are showing cherries now). I have done only 1 water change on it since leaving the dry start, and weirdly has zero algae and is the least demanding tank I have.

The vastly oversized filter you see doesn't have filter media, but instead houses several terrestrial plants including some pothos (marble queen), some ficus variety, and a variegated syngonium. I picked a giant filter (made for 15 gallon setups) in order to create a "sump" to increase the water volume in the overall ecosystem to ensure everything stays stable.

I’ve had this tank for about 9 months now. While it’s been very beautiful, my background has been rough. First it was a simple foggy-glass film. Then I removed that to try to add a white one, which only looked worse.

But finally, I was able to afford a dream item - a lightscreen.

And damn, the difference is insane lol. It may show off the algae more, but it really makes the colors pop.

Origin: Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia Diet: Plants, lettuce, pellets and algae Size: up to 10 cm. Mine are 5-6 cm right now. Lifespan: Up to 5 years! Current age: around 7-8 months considering size, some fresh shells and selling + people breeding them fast for popularity.

I'm still figuring out how I'm going to set up a planted aquarium, after last having goldfish as a kid about 30 years ago. So forgive my naivete!

On that other big social media site, there's the AquaSwap community where I see a bunch of folks local to me in NYC are trading/selling/buying all manner of aquarium stuff (fish, plants, hardscape, more).

So for my friends on Lemmy: do you participate in trade with your local community? Where are they? Are they only on that other website…? Meetups? Mailing lists?

I put an Imagitarium all-in-one inside of an Ikea Rudsta and used silicone to attach cork to make the background.

I no longer remember all the plants I mounted or planted, but I have 5 ruby tetras, 4 sparkling gourami, 1 oto, and some ramshorn snails and cherry shrimp. There is a filter in the front right that pumps water up to a drip feature to keep things watered and filtered so that the only thing I need to do is water top offs and very occasional water changes to keep the tannins under control.

UNS 60L, with monte carlo carpet, red crypts, hydrocotyle, weeping moss, and salvinia minima. Terrestrial plants are some kind of scindapsus, syngonium, pothos, dragon's tongue, and a heartleaf philodendron, some of which is growing in a HOB with filter media removed. No CO2. I haven't done a water change in maybe 4 months now.

Stocked with crystal red shrimp, some orange neocaridina, pygmy cories, and ramshorn snails.

I’ve had it going for about 8 months now. Originally it was going to be only CRS, but unfortunately my KH was repeatedly on the rise. After testing my rocks, my water, etc I came to the conclusion that it’s due to the pea gravel I used in filter bags to prop up the rocks.

So though the CRS population has dwindled, there is still life. I got some RCS instead, which seem to be doing well, as well as 3 Amanos and 12 Pygmy Cory catfish.

Just wanted to share my aquascape :) I am happy to answer questions - I did a good amount of research but keep in mind this is my first tank.

Edit: please ignore the ugly fresh trim on the Rotala, and the horrible background!

I have a HOB filter that is also probably cooling the water down a bit.

Maybe these are just from snail trails and my snails have OCD?

Does anyone have experience with seiryu stone in their aquarium? I'm planning a dieted tank and was thinking about getting some, but I keep reading conflicting information about it with regards to raising the PH. Either it barely raises PH at all or it'll kill your entire tank. What has been your experience?

Hi, I'm pretty sure my corydora has cotton wool disease on its top fin and I'm not really sure what to do. We've had him quarantined for nearly two weeks and are daily treating with PimaFix but it doesn't seem to be helping at all, rather it's growing worse.

The good news is that he seems completely oblivious to it all... he still swims around like normal and scrounges around for food.

Is there anything else I can do?

Edit: I've tested the water and all parameters seem to be fine. No nitrite, nitrate or ammonia and the pH seems average

Late update: after treating the tank with melafix for a couple weeks, his "wool" just fell off and what seems to be his wound seems to have just healed. I don't know if it was just luck or what but he's made a full recovery :)