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No, she has no white spots, red spots, or any other visible signs of illness other than mentioned above (staying at the top, not eating, clamped fins). That is very unfortunate to hear :( I was really hoping that this was just normal exhaustion from birth.   Do you have any ideas what may have...

So about a month after buying my first platies, one of my females finally popped! None of the fry seem to have survived, but I'm not too worried about that as I know more are on the way and I don't want to become overrun. My concern is that the female who just had the babies is now not doing...

Oooh those boesemani are really pretty!!! And I could still keep some community fish with them too :) They seem pretty expensive for a school, but I will definitely keep them in mind.

So a friend is getting rid of their 55G, and is giving it away for free, so how could I pass that up?? :)   Anyway, before I buy ANYTHING for it I want to make a general decision about what type of fish to get for it.   So far my 29G tropical community tank has been going well, but I'm not sure...

Forgot to mention... my pH is 8.3, the only "chemical" I add to the tank is root tabs, but last ones were added a week ago, and no new additions (live or decoration) have been added since the platies over two weeks ago. Really, the most recent thing is the water change I did yesterday. I did do...

Okay, so I got home from work tonight and one of my corys was sitting up against the glass, fins down, and now has not moved for hours. The other corys in the tank are all doing fine and are acting quite happy and healthy.   29G tank, with bloodfin tetras, platies, ghost shrimp, a snail, and the...

Ha, thanks! I've actually even gotten some better ones since, I'll have to post 'em soon! :)   But yeah, I will keep an eye on them. Although I'm not really sure what I can do for them right now 

Crazy!! You should start a journal on the transformation!!

Update time!!   So I have made some new additions to my tank! I bought 5 young corydoras trilineatus (sold as Julii cory :P) a couple days ago and so far they are doing great! They are definitely skiddish of me (making it hard to get good pictures) but are all swimming and looking healthy and as...

This probably sounds pathetic, but that just sounds like too much work to me lol I would rather just mix in some distilled water from the grocery store... heh heh....    But it doesn't sound like a crazy notion! It sounds like a good idea for those who want to make sure the water is prepped...

The reason I listed those numbers because platies have a larger bio load from what I've read, and the barbs need the group more than the endler's do. As far as level of the tank, all are listed as mid dwellers, but they swim through pretty much the whole tank. Just go to your LFS and watch them...

I think that the cherry barbs, endlers, and platies would be a good mix for your water parameters and tank size. The issue I have with the bottom feeders in your tank is that most of them are schooling and prefer large groups, which you could not fit very comfortably in small tank. Unless you...

Oh okay. Do you know if driftwood, or even peat moss, for that matter would ever even have an effect on my pH since my kH is sooo high? (on the test strip it reads at least 300ppm)

I have a group of male guppies, and they are great! They move through all levels of the tank and decor, hang out together or individually, and play in the bubbler! They are also good for your water parameters. I have a pH of 8.3 and they do great. I would suggest getting all males though so you...

Welcome to the forum!   I've never seen this myself, as I am a newbie to the hobby.... But I will say that from my research I've been doing I've read that fish can develop all sorts of problems from stress from poor water conditions. Hopefully once you get your nitrates down your platy will...

I'm not sure of the cause, but I can tell you I've added root tabs for my tank and never saw the cloudiness, so maybe the carbon or the fertilizers? I know that the water can get cloudy as part of the cycling process, but I believe this is an established tank, correct? Sorry I can't be of more...

Wow, thanks for all of the great info guys!!   Yeah, tannins are supposed to lower the pH, which is partially why I was so adamant about getting driftwood for my tank. However, even though I'm assuming there are still tannins being released as my water is tea colored, the pH stayed the same.   ...

Bloodfin tetra right now. And I plan to add corydoras.   Thanks for the help btw lol But going back to what you said about the gh and kh, you said those are normally close? Do you think that maybe that could be the issue? Maybe something with my water softener is altering it....

I just used a glass cup from the cupboard....:(   I didn't know temp could make a difference though! Should I try and lower my tank temp?   Maybe I should just make a thread about it? See if anyone has had this happen before? I mean, all of my fish so far seem to be doing fine, but I would still...

Yeah I have no idea what is going on with my water. The temp for the water sitting out is slightly cooler (house is kept at about 72 and fish tank is at 74-75F) and yes this is with my new liquid test kit.

So here is a confusing update on my water's pH.... Basically, my water out of my tap is about 7.4, but when it sits out over night it is 8.2, and then my tank water is 8.3.   Does anyone have any info on why this might be? I've looked it up a bit and found that CO2 in my water may be the cause...

Sounds good! Make sure that the corydoras are the same species, as well. For example, even though julii cory and sterba cory look fairly similar, they know the difference lol Sorry if that seems obvious to you... I had wanted to mix corydoras species myself when I first saw them at the LFS    ...

I'm not sure about the TDS... how would I find that?   gh- between 0-25ppm kh- about 300ppm ph- looked pretty evenly between 8.2 and 8.4 from my liquid test   gh and kh are from the test strips though

Ummm... you could try a basic funnel fish trap maybe? Where they swim in but can't figure out how to get out. I saw it on a survival show once.   What do you plan to do with him once caught? Is it a natural pond that he was dumped in? Are you worried about the indigenous species? Just wondering :)

Is it possible to post to much? To ask too many questions? I think I may be there....lol   Anyway! I'm working (very slowly) on stocking my new 29G aquarium. I thought that I had cycled properly...but now I'm wondering if maybe I did not.... But I currently have 6 bloodfin tetra and 3 ghost...

I may be wrong, but I thought I had finished cycling....? I was adding a full dose (I think) of ammonia towards the end and within 24 hours it was almost down to zero (though at that time I was using test strips not the liquid test). Nitrite too. And my hardness is very low, since we have a...

Welcome!   I have the same issue myself. I have hard well water with a very high pH. Just spend this time while your tank is cycling to do research! There are a number of high pH options, especially if you like ciclids!

Welcome to the forum!!    As DiddleBug already mentioned, your cory will need a few buddies :) I would also research your loach and tetra species to see if they need to be in larger groups. Most schooling fish prefer groups of at least 6. You may also need to monitor your angel with the tetras...

Thanks so much for the advice Kieran! This struggle with my pH has been a constant stressor since day one of this hobby. I'll be sure to watch out for odd behavior, though they are new to me, so I hope I will know what I'm looking for...

Yeah I had been doing research for a while and that was why I selected the bloodfins for my tank. I have been having a hard time finding fish (other than ciclids) which are happy in my high pH. If need be I can start mixing in distilled water during water changes... But everything I read says...

o_O Me too!!! I'm a dog trainer and spend a lot of time researching dog behavior and now watching my fish (and shrimp) behavior.

Okay.. so I went to the LFS today and purchased a liquid test kit, 2 more ghost shrimp (I'm loving these guys way more than I expected), and 3 more bloodfin tetras to round out my group to 6. So glad that I did!!! All of the tetras are now being very active and happily swimming about, not hiding...

Okay, thanks for the advice. I'll probably still add just a couple more of the bloodfins tonight and then I'll hold off for a couple of weeks and monitor my water closely. I guess too I'll have to get the liquid testers... it's just so expensive! I haven't been able to find any good deals for...

Thanks for the compliments everyone    No, no liquid tests yet... >_> Just using the test strips. Which I know are not as sensitive, but they show the 3 biggies, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Honestly, I know I probably should have been a little more patient, and invested in the liquid tests...

Thanks!! xD I'm surprised myself... just hoping the plants survive :)   Yeah, I used ammonia, but I didn't go exactly by the guide posted here on TFF. Like I had said, the tank was cycling faster than I had expected, I'm assuming due to the Safe Start I added in the beginning. The ammonia levels...

This thread will be for me to track and share my journey through my first* fish tank!!    I'm actually fairly well into my journey already... as of this post, my tank is cycled, and I've started to add livestock. But the more I do the more I want to look back and remember, so I figured I had...

Miyazaki movies are some of my favorite movies! Castle in the Sky is my favorite, be sure to watch that one from nin's list! :)

Yay, all better! Thanks! 

Hmm well, since tcamos switched me over I am now having this same issue... Not that it is a big one, since daize pointed out the View New Content button! I hadn't noticed that yet.    Anyway, just not sure what could be causing this for us newbies   But figured I would share that scrage is not...

Haha very cool! Before jumping into this hobby I never realized how fascinating fish can be!