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I went away for six weeks last year and my fish were fine with an Eheim fish feeder. I did get a family member to pop in after about 4 weeks to change a couple of buckets of water and gravel vac the substrate. When I got back the tank looked a bit of a mess as the plants were suffering from a...

Sounds like it's definitely the gravel. If it's the one I can see online, the reviews suggest others have had the same problem. The store probably has a centralised filter so the total volume is huge relative to the amount of gravel. With 3 fish your tank sounds like it might be quite small so...

Quick update one month on. The corys still seem to actively avoid the sand. Only twice have I seen them nose in it and on both occasions they seemed to choke and flashed against the substrate for a minute or two afterwards. When I first introduced the sand my denisoni barbs did the same thing...

Good point, the sand is yellow play sand and the gravel slightly lighter than 'standard' gravel but the sand is certainly lighter. However, the whole tank is fairly shady as I have lots of vallis trailing over the surface (there is enough room for them to reach the surface and gulp air if they...

Thanks for the responses. I'm absolutely going to leave the sand in place until they are fully settled/mature as I mentioned before, because I know 2 weeks isn't long. Yes, the tank is heavily planted so the sandy part is more exposed, however, they aren't hiding in the plants, they are all over...

I recently bought 10 (false) julii corys, the first time I've had corys for over a decade. Back in the day I didn't know any better so previously I've only kept groups of 4 and only ever with gravel substrate. This time I did it properly, bought a larger group and converted about 20% of the...

Many years ago I had a few in a community tank. At about 4" they got their own tank after they started eating my zebras, so they likely will eat smaller tank mates eventually.

I'm a bit confused as the dosage instructions on the bottle say to dose weekly. That's a big difference to the 12 months you have subsequently been quoted. Any idea why the massive discrepancy?

You won't find stranger lyrics....

There used to be a group of half a dozen corys in my local shop's display tank. Apparently they belonged to the manager who claimed that he had had them in his home tank for 34 years. Unfortunately I can't remember the exact species but I recall that they did look rather ancient!

Females are likely to be fuller bellied but it's not always easy to tell male from female. You can be sure you'll have a mixture in a group that size.

Definitely cardinals

Yes, bigger fish like that are likely to live to at least 20 if cared for well. Even small fish can randomly live to extreme ages occasionally. My record used to be a solitary silver hatchet which I had for 17 years, but I think that's been beaten recently. Last month my last remaining red...

It's strange how this issue was somewhat selective. I work in a chain where each branch runs identical Windows 10 computers (we were all upgraded 3yrs ago), yet about half got the blue screen and half suffered no issues. They are all left in standby overnight. Even more strange is that most...

Cat Woman

Food can definitely be the cause. I've seen a film develop immediately around flakes dropped into the water from time to time but usually it disapates fairly quickly. Last year though I had a persistent film which also accumulated in my floating plants. I never find paper towels particularly...

Same experience as Colin. I use TNC Lite as it's good value and lacks nitrate. My tap water is already around 30ppm. The trouble is it's lite on the other nutrients too, compared to the standard formula, so I add the full weekly dose every 3 days. Most of my plants are fast growing so they need...

My experience is that no matter how many angels you start with, you end up with just one due to aggression and bullying. So, despite the fact that we think of them as social fish, keeping singly is an acceptable option. Yes, neons are chunky but I kept one with harlequins which are bigger and...

My fish all freak out at the slightest movement outside the tank when the lights are off. I thought this was normal as I've experienced this for nearly 50 years! I always assumed it was due to the reflection thing - it makes changing light tubes a challenge! I had another weird experience last...

I can't resist a rant on this one. Years ago I had a Sony Video camera and it was rubbish. After 3 years I had not one minute of footage as despite being returned for repair several times it still failed to work. Sometimes it came back worse than ever and other times it seemed to work, only to...

Kaity's Cichlids. She has two awesome African tanks which are a worth a look at. She also visits shows and shops and makes videos on those. A straightforward channel which is always interesting to watch.

I also had one of those old razor blade ones which I finally had to replace last year. My fear was always that I would be unable to find traditional razor blades to replace when needed, but they seem to still be available. Here in the UK there are plenty of razor blade type stainless steel...

I've tried that too! My fish love peas and the oldest fish I ever had was a silver hatchet which lived for 17 years who loved his spinach!

I used that stuff too when I had a mild but persistent issue. It cleared it up but also killed most of my plants too. The tank was stuffed with beautiful jungle vallis which grew fantastically well for years. One dose of that stain remover and it melted completely within 10 days.

Wind

Loser

Aponogeton crispus?

Nice tanks Byron! For 40 years I had very little success with plants then, in 2015, I set up a home made sugar/yeast CO2 system and since then my plants have grown very well. Having often read that CO2 isn't necessary I've experimented by reducing the amount from time to time, and on every...

I actually though Glo angels were a thing so I googled it and there are plenty of pictures! I wouldn't have any modified fish in my tanks, except perhaps albinos and colour morphs, which do occur in nature. The general consensus seems to be that glofish can lead perfectly normal lives, unlike...

Loved Windows 7 but took the free upgrade to Windows 10 when it was offered. It was HORRIBLE and not fit for purpose so within the month trial, I rolled back. It didn't work. My computer crashed and had to go to the shop for repair. It was never the same after that and eventually I was forced to...

I have another light in the room which I can put a timer on. If I'm going to be out when the tank lights go off I set the room lamp to come on just before.

I used to have hundreds of Malayan snails. I tried everything, removing dozens each day but made no difference. Eventually I added a few small botia, not specifically to get rid of the snails, but soon they were no longer a major problem so I stopped trying to resolve it. Probably a year later I...

Until last year I hadn't used IAL's, but having heard great things I thought I would give them a go. I purchased online from a well known, reputable retailer and added 4 to a 55 gallon tank. pH fell slightly from about 7.3 to 7.1 over the course of a few weeks, but the water didn't colour up at...

Red Scissortail. Great looking fish when well coloured and full size (7 inches). I'm down to my last one, must be 15 years old at least. Haven't seen any more since I bought them all that time ago.

Neon Dwarf Rainbow fish, also known as Praecox Rainbowfish I believe.

The tank was a 48 inch X 12 X 15. I used lots of UG's in those days so I don't recall the actual construction of that particular one. Seems others have had similar experiences though!

I dismantled a tank with an UG once and found 4 clown loaches that I'd 'lost' about a year earlier living there. They hadn't grown much but they were otherwise healthy so I assume they must've been coming out after dark to feed on snails. They lived for years after I retrieved them though never...

Yes, if nobody is available to look after him properly by feeding and maintaining the tank then re-home him.

I use auto feeders when I go on holiday, though until recently I hadn't found one that was particularly reliable. I had previously come home to find the feeder clogged due to moisture or, on one occasion, stuck in position so feeding had ceased a week before I got home. However, last year I...

Also, she says the box was in a cardboard-only dumpster. Why would she go dumpster diving in something that would only have cardboard in it?