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I think a pearl gourami would work with your tetras...although I'm not sure of your tank dimensions, sorry. Gourami mouths are pretty small but an adult with young small tetras is iffy. Maybe allow your tetras to grow a bit before adding the pearl.

I vote NO on both acaras & congo tetras. They both need more room. I have no thoughts on the leaf fish except they seem kind of boring just hanging out near the surface not moving much. You'd be better off thinking about apistos & small tetras...but the leaf fish would likely eat them. Rethink...

We don't eat baby animals (no lamb or veal) at my house so it's beef. My Irish friends would disagree about lamb, they do beef too. You would not want the shepherds eating the stock unless maybe it was mutton. I don't think I've had mutton. To me lamb has a lanolin soapy taste, but I did have...

Cass, I've always just used my fingers. But I may have to work on tweezer technique in my 24 inch tall tank. I can reach most of the substrate but can't see what I'm doing.

OK, I belong to a plant club & you need to up your game with a couple live plants, lol. Try a java fern & an anubias attached to wood or rock with thread or super glue gel. Don't plant either in the substrate, they hate that. My bossiness aside, I have trouble with duckweed too, in 1 tank...

Some of my plant clubbers are planting demons with chopsticks or long tweezers. I was embarrassed when we made wabi kusas at a meet & was told I had the bent tweezers the wrong way around, lol. I'm always learning new things & not afraid to admit it.

I would check out NANFA & state site as Back in the fold said. It's been a long time since I looked there. Some native species are very colorful like some darters, etc. But I have no idea about size or husbandry. There used to be a buy & sell there too. Your local library may have books or...

I made shepherd's pie tonight. Enough "guts" for 2 more dinners with newly made mashed potatoes. It's cooling now, I can't wait much longer!

Well, you can snip of the really tall leaves at the base to keep it lower. Or let it go all the way up & block the light from your other plants...Because once they find the surface that's where all the new leaves will go. Yes, it might flower (or not) & that would be cool, but at the eventual...

Thanks for the circling, Cass! We haven't done that for a while, lol. gwand, don't cut sword leaves in half. If you have to do something, remove the entire leaf down to the crown. Start with the outer leaves...but it's only a stop gap for plants too big for your tank...Move them or trade them...

Your eyes are better than mine even with my glasses, lol. I could go with dwarf sag, but I'm not seeing a crypt or an anubias no matter how hard I look. Maybe in the swords on either end, I tried to enlarge but either I don't know how or it doesn't get bigger. I do like a jungle tank! But you...

As Cass said, you can remove the outer old leaves at the crown (base) to make them less bushy. But they still grow tall! Too tall for a 20 long!! You need either smaller swords or my favorite genus, cryptocorynes. Many forms & colors, many would work in a 20g. I can't tell, what are your...

Well, you can use a large plastic tub as a temporary QT for them for a month or 2. I agree introducing unknown fish can be risky. You have a nice big group now, so I'd be reluctant to add them without some safeguards. What size is your tank? 10 adult yoyos seems like a lot in my 4ft tanks but...

anewbie, your wild discus look great! None of my fish much liked Bug Bites flakes. Maybe they were stale? I won't be buying them again. But I have other pellets with soldier fly larva in them & they are more acceptable to fish I have now. 🤷‍♀️ Hard to say, fish can be picky for any or no...

I don't know what they might be called where you live but I've found a "kerosine" siphon to be effective at removing finer substrate. It has a squeeze bulb , hard & a flexible hose. I think you have too fine of sand if it compacts. Here I use "pool filter sand" but it's also called 20 grit I...

You can try using several Q-tips (cotton swabs on a stick) to clean out your vials. Vinegar might help remove the gunk too. Rinse well & repeat as needed.

My husband does that sometimes with canned chili (egad!). He calls it "Cincinnati style", so you're pretty close to there, geographically, lol. To me tomato sauce & macaroni is goulash, but no beans & not much spiciness. My F-I-L wanted green pepper in goulash. Not my family's version, but I was...

I was sorry I never tried RUGF back in the day, but I still think it's too much bother for (almost?) any tank. I'm not sure having fish crap blown up is better than HOBs or canisters (I prefer 2 filters on most tanks). They both do a better job of sucking up detritus & are vastly easier to...

I see 1 definite male in pic 3 but that's all I'm guessing. Like GaryE said, give them some time. They are not probably full grown yet. But that's good! You want younger fish so they live long & prosper (spock hands).

I'm making a biggish batch of chili for tonight & leftovers for the freezer. I used both kidney & black beans & will make Jiffy corn muffins to go with. Just typing & I'm getting spiitty mouthed, it's past out usual dinner time.

I agree that beef heart isn't the best, high protein but too much fat. I think I made it 1 time but it made a lot for the freezer. It was gross to "trim" & whiz up in a food processor with other stuff. I offered it to my clown loaches a couple times. They tried it but were not crazy about. I...

I like it! That's quite a few kinds of plants in there! Beware stem plants in a small tank, lol. I see lots of trimming in your future. With all those plants & few fish you shouldn't see much if any ammonia or nitrite...or nitrate either. It's almost like "silent cycling" & will be in a week or...

ALL stiphodon species in the market are wild caught AFAIK. They need a pelagic (gradual to full salt water & slowly back to fresh. Like salmon but tiny?) period after hatching. I'm not saying it can't or hasn't been done but don't think you're going to breed them without heroic efforts. A guy in...

I've had a very limited discus experience with a domestic strain. I got them as "2 inch" (a breeder/seller's term for not quite, lol). I got 10 to raise in a 55g for a while. 2 died in a few months freaking out over something & hitting the lid hard. I fed 5-6x/day with no repeated foods. I was...

I have a stiphodon atropurpureus & 1 very similar, both males; & had tiny s. percnopterygionus, 2 pairs. I keep/kept them in a 55g "river-ish" tank, so lots of flow but calm areas too. I think, from what I've only read, that rice fish don't like much flow. I think your tank is too small for most...

I do 2 inches or so of substrate. What I do is make a "trough" with my index finger, stick the stems down in it & backfill with my index or middle finger. Small stones around the base can help especially if you have fish that can dig (catfish, loaches or cichlids). The same technique works for...

I don't remember if it was black silicone tubing that seemed extra flexible to the point it could almost cut off the air flow instead of just bending in a nice gentle curve. We were used the old airline tubing so we didn't get the difference for a while. I probably have some ancient (likely...

I use a mix of hot & cold tap water. By my finger test I can get to within 2 degrees or less of each tank unless I want it hotter or cooler for some reason. Likely to stimulate breeding or simulate seasonal changes. I only have 1 small heated tank these days so I pay more attention to that 1...

I agree with staurogyne for the longer leaved 1. I'm not sure of the other, maybe glosso? In shallow tanks I've kept them both for a while with low tech lighting & ferts; no co2. How tall is you tank? What dimensions? What lighting? Ferts? I agree it's likely diatoms. They eventually go away...

Welcome Cal! What kind of cichlid do you have? What size tank? We love pics if you can post some :)

You have such nice hiding places for them. Even if the tin foils weren't veggie eaters, the spotties would likely feel safer soon. A learning curve!

I'm not sure what "trafficked" means, lol. Bechamel is pretty much how I make stovetop mac & cheese, sometimes browned in the oven. I call it a "white sauce" (butter & flour roux & milk) with cheddar & mac so pretty much the same ;). My husband grew up on boxed mac'n'cheese, eek! I'd never had...

I had no idea mascara barbs could look like that!!

We did UGFs with plants & I wouldn't recommend it. I don't use UGFs anymore. I took my last 1 out more than 20 years ago. There was an amazing amount of debris & roots after running several years (no swords). Yes, the roots clog UGFs especially big swords. Their roots can take up a lot of floor...

At least with dwarf chain loaches the species name is the same, no matter the genus, as are corica (aren't they still nemacheilus? What now?!? nemacheilid is a class I think. So what are is their "official" genus now?). Do we really need to change bronze corys species from aeneus to aenea? It...

Dorsigera are a fish I wanted to keep...when I have the right tank for them. So pretty, as are all laetacara I've seen. There are several nice Aequidens species now. We had A. pulcher back in the day. Just your basic blue acara but they were great! Pretty acara sums them up, beautiful fish...

Pretty boy! No girly pic? That's something I love about apistos, the sexual dimorphorism with some cichlid sass!

It could be a seasonal high after a dry summer or agricultural runoff. It might change. I don't think I'd be happy drinking water with that high of nitrate. Might be time for a tap filter or RO under sink system (more expensive to buy & to run) for you & your fish.

I have 2 ACs on a 20long. I think mine are 30s or 50s. Try just moving them toward the middle at little bit. You know you can adjust the flow by moving the intake, right? Toward the media box for full flow, away to slow it (I think, but I may have that backward). I don't think danios will mind...

Huh, I didn't know that either. Still cool critters!