General Discussion

[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/440985386697752577/1008546104838729799/aquarium_club.png[/img] [i][font=Trebuchet MS][size=7][color=#873E3E]w[/color][color=#8B413F]e[/color][color=#8F4441]l[/color][color=#934743]c[/color][color=#974A44]o[/color][color=#9B4D46]m[/color][color=#9F5048]e[/color] [color=#A8564B]t[/color][color=#AC594D]o[/color] [color=#B45F50]t[/color][color=#B86252]h[/color][color=#BC6554]e[/color] [color=#C56B57]a[/color][color=#C96E59]q[/color][color=#CD715B]u[/color][color=#D1745D]a[/color][color=#D5775E]r[/color][color=#D97A60]i[/color][color=#DD7D62]u[/color][color=#E28063]m[/color] [color=#EA8667]c[/color][color=#EE8969]l[/color][color=#F28C6A]u[/color][color=#F68F6C]b[/color][color=#FA926E]![/color][/size][/font][/i] this is a little forum hub for any other fellow aquatic critter owners! (people who purely do plant-only aquascapes are perfectly welcome too!) feel free to share pet pictures, talk about future tank plans, get inspiration and feedback on layout ideas; if it revolves around the aquarium hobby, it fits here! [sub]club founder and graphics: @nevercanth[/center][/sub]

being that this is a hub dedicated to a hobby that involves caring for living creatures, there are a few hard rules i'd like to put down before any conversations start:

- if you have health questions about your animals, please don't post pictures about the injury or potential illness that's of concern! sick or hurt fish are sad and hard to look at, and this makes other people sad. additionally, images of animal suffering aren't allowed on FR, even if it's in a context of seeking help. if you post something you think is ok but it turns out depicts a sick animal, please take down any images after being informed. preferably, you should research the potential issue and get opinions from more reputable sources than the forum of a dragon petsite. don't use this place to get a diagnosis on something going wrong, please.

- some people end up keeping aquatic animals in less-than-ideal conditions without realizing because of genuinely not knowing what environment is good for their pets, usually due to common misconceptions about fish being 'easy' pets or myths about goldfish and bettas being able to live happily in your typical fishbowls. (they cannot.) please don't jump to attacking others or accusatory language if someone posts a pic of an animal in a too-small tank. be considerate in educating people that are new to the hobby! most people who care enough about their pets to talk and share about them are likely caring and passionate, but just don't know what may be of concern. don't be rude, don't address others assuming they're posting to troll in bad faith. this goes both ways; please don't blow up on someone if they point out that your animal needs a different tank or a filter/heater or a piece of decor removed, whoever pointed such a thing out would only do so if they think it'd improve your pet's wellbeing and happiness. also, again, it's a forum rule to be courteous to other players.

- these rules above may be rewritten and new rules may be instated to stay within the guidelines of the FR forum, as well as if a moderator speaks up and requests such. the same principle of rules being added as needed goes for if any bad situation occurs in the thread. (which i should hope will not happen!)

[center][i][font=Trebuchet MS][size=7][color=#873E3E]m[/color][color=#8C4240]e[/color][color=#914642]m[/color][color=#974A44]b[/color][color=#9C4E47]e[/color][color=#A25249]r[/color][color=#A7564B]l[/color][color=#AD5A4D]i[/color][color=#B25E50]s[/color][color=#B86252]t[/color] [color=#C36A56]a[/color][color=#C86E59]n[/color][color=#CD725B]d[/color] [color=#D87A60]b[/color][color=#DE7E62]a[/color][color=#E38264]d[/color][color=#E98666]g[/color][color=#EE8A69]e[/color][color=#F48E6B]s[/color][color=#F9926D]~[/color][/size][/font][/i][/center] woohoo, badges! feel free to use one, or use all of them. [columns][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/667293286398033920/1008592276953505892/axo_badge.png[/img][nextcol][center][color=#8C4240][b]axolotl![/b][/color] [code][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/gend/3161356/1#post_3161356][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/667293286398033920/1008592276953505892/axo_badge.png[/img][/url][/code][/center][/columns] [columns][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/667293286398033920/1008592277519740978/betta_badge.png[/img][nextcol][center][color=#B86252][b]betta![/b][/color] [code][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/gend/3161356/1#post_3161356][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/667293286398033920/1008592277519740978/betta_badge.png[/img][/url][/code][/center][/columns] [columns][img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/667293286398033920/1008592277951758396/shrimp_badge.png[/img][nextcol][center][color=#D87A60][b]shrimp![/b][/color] [code][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/gend/3161356/1#post_3161356][img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/667293286398033920/1008592277951758396/shrimp_badge.png[/img][/url][/code][/center][/columns] [columns][img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/667293286398033920/1008592278291492874/snail_badge.png[/img][nextcol][center][color=#F48E6B][b]snail![/b][/color] [code][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/gend/3161356/1#post_3161356][img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/667293286398033920/1008592278291492874/snail_badge.png[/img][/url][/code][/center][/columns] [center]also, ping to let me know if you want to be put on the memberlist! ^^ i just figure it's fun to have a neat wall of names. [quote="club members!"]@nevercanth[/quote][/center]

[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/255260389825183745/1008539703961731083/shrimpy_sparkle.png[/img] [i][size=5][font=Trebuchet MS][color=#873E3E]s[/color][color=#8E4340]a[/color][color=#954843]y[/color] [color=#A35249]h[/color][color=#AA574C]i[/color] [color=#B86252]t[/color][color=#BF6755]o[/color] [color=#CD715B]c[/color][color=#D4765E]h[/color][color=#DB7C61]e[/color][color=#E28164]r[/color][color=#E98667]r[/color][color=#F08B6A]y[/color][color=#F7906D]![/color][/font][/size][/i] he's the club mascot! :)[/center]

soooo i started this thread/hub to find any other fellow aquarists on FR! do you have any aquariums running? i'd love to know all about what's in them, feel free to share!

right now i have a 5 gallon aquarium with gravel substrate, and i have a couple of shrimp in it! specifically i wanted to have all ghost shrimp, but the petco employee gave me a single ghost shrimp, 2 amano shrimp, and 2 low grade neocaridina shrimp lol. the amanos thankfully don't squabble, and my ghost shrimp isn't too much of a bully, but she does need to be given her food first so she won't yoink shrimp pellets away from the others.
i keep the tank heated at 78F with one of those preset heaters and my filter is one of those internal hob filters, with a diy sponge pre-filter stuck on the intake to make sure no shrimps end up crawling inside. i also recently switched from tap water to remineralized distilled water! my shrimps seem really happy using the saltyshrimp kh+/gh+ to remineralize. they're so happy in fact that i currently have some newly-hatched neocaridina babies. i'm really pleased and proud with how it's going right now, this hobby has just been really fulfilling for me ^^

I got a planted 10 gal. with my dearest betta Dagur. He's a wonderfully smart fish who often investigates any new thing I put into his tank!

I recently added some amazon swords, he seems to be enjoying them. The oldest plants in there are my anubias and java fern (that's not surprising). The substrate is a mix of gravel and fluval stratum! I have a spare 5 gal. (He used to be in there) that I am planning to use for something. Until I find a use for it, it'll be occasionally used as a quarantine tank.

Lots of tanks here...two 30-gallon tropical tanks, one has all my old fish in it--5-6 year old diamond tetras (except their baby who showed up about a month ago) and green cory cat; the other tank has the newer fish, the two clown plecos, tiger barbs, and snail. Trying to convert the first tank into something with more plants but it's slow going.

The small quarantine tank is also used to grow up plant cuttings and is home to another snail.

The rest of my tanks are, officially, dedicated to bettas but since I don't currently have any spawns going, they're temporarily being used for other purposes. Well I still have one that houses the only pair of bettas I have right now, both HMs, Tlaloc the turquoise butterfly and Xochiquetzal who is a multi-color. There's a bunch of other small grow-out tanks and jars sitting idle right now. Two 5-gallon spawning tanks, right now they each have a snail and are just growing the floating plants for the betta fry (frogbit and duckweed, the frogbit is winning the battle).
My 10-gallon grow-out tank had my old betta gal Big Chonk who was about 3 years old? She was one I bred back in 2019, unfortunately she passed away earlier this year. Her tank is now growing java moss, duckweed out the yinyang, and I'm trying to get a ghost shrimp colony going but it's proving more difficult than I'd like. I don't usually do well with shrimp and I'm trying to work on that.

And that's all I've got currently! I'd like to refresh the tetra stock in the first tank, and get some more barbs and maybe some danios for the second, and once I get back from vacation I'll probably try to spawn the bettas again.

@RocketshipDown
oooooo fluval stratum! :0 i've only had inert substrates in my tanks, how is it to work with? I hear it buffers the pH and hardness a lot, has it been noticeable for you? and Dagur is such a cute name, too! i'm curious, what color(s) is he? it's been a few years since i've had a betta, and i feel like new color pattern trends crop up so quickly that i'm out of the loop, hah.
the 5 gallon could make for a good shrimp tank if you're into having invertebrates! or maybe have a lot of plants in there to try and grow them out for Dagur's tank? however it's used, it's nice that your lil guy got a house upgrade, a 10 gallon betta tank is my goal for when i can move out and get a new aquarium. :>


@Dinogrrl so many tanks... i'll admit i'm a bit envious! i've no experience with breeding fish, let alone bettas, so it's fascinating hearing about the number of tanks needed for them! i'm assuming the small tanks and jars are for holding them until sale for when they get old enough to get aggressive with their siblings? Tlaloc and Xochiquetzal sound gorgeous, i bet their children will be beautiful. :] Big Chonk sounds like she was a lovely gal too, 3 years is a nice long life for a betta.
when it comes to having ghost shrimp colonies, i know their newly-hatched babies need to be, well, babied a lot more than neocaridina shrimplets. they apparently are 'lower shrimp' so their babies are more helpless larvae than self-sufficient minimes of the parents, so they don't move around and find food well like neo babies. (also ghost shrimp are as infanticidal as momma guppies get with their fry, so that might be making it difficult as well.) i know they benefit from lots of algae and biofilm growth, which i'm guessing the duckweed is inhibiting by sucking up all the nutrients that would otherwise be leftover by the java moss for algae to use...? i know my neo babies seem to be doing well with adding bacter ae food to the tank and giving them driftwood to pick off of, but my ghost gal never had her eggs hatch (she dropped and then ate them) so i don't feel qualified to say for sure what to do to help the colony along.

i wish the best of luck with the stocking, betta breeding, and the ghost shrimp colony progress!