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I'm really surprised that they felt secure enough to mate, they feel far more secure in a shoal of 6+ THis may also be why you're not seeing them so much.

Assuming that the fish isn't ill, it looks to me like it's trying to hide. Add more plants.

Personally, I think the best way to deal with algae is to stop what's caused it to appear in the first place. There's obviously something causing it, so put that right, don't buy more livestock.

Agree with Colin. They'll be fine. Automatic feeders have a nasty habit of going wrong, dumping all the food in at once, causing a lot of rotten food, which then causes an ammonia spike.

To expand on my previous answer a bit, if you do wish to keep the fry, then think again. Platys give birth to upwards of 30 (and most often MANY more than that) every 4-6 weeks. Even when they're not sharing a tank with a male, they can store sperm packets to generate further fry drops for...

Hi Matt, I'm not going to bother looking at the photos, yes your females are gravid. They are in the same tank as a male, and they breed like rabbits. Let nature take its course, let the fish eat the fry, and you might not be overcrowded in 6 months time.

The ol' memory cells are still just about functioning. Hope you're well, Chad.

Back in the days when I was a mod, we didn't delete accounts, the reason being that it would make nonsense of threads you had contributed to. However, that was in the days before GDPR, and you now have a right to have websites "forget" you. I would suspect that moderators do not have the...

pH is a little high, really, but you are quite right, a stable pH is far better than trying to artificially control it, with consequent fluctuations.

I joined 11 years ago, went inactive for about 3 or 4 years

Fair point.

Your biggest indicator of an ammonia spike is fish dying, tbf. You don't have an ammonia kit, none of the strip tests have them on, AFAIA. Most LFS will have a chemical test kit for ammonia, as do Amazon.

I think you've probably added too many fish at once, into too small a tank. Rule of thumb is to increase the bioload by no more than 30%, and you've pretty much doubled it and I suspect caused an ammonia spike. I'd be interested to know an ammonia figure, as that would prove or disprove my...

Doesn't sound like water quality issues, though you've got quite a lot of fish in a 10gallon tank there - I don't see why it would just be the guppies that are going, and not the other species.

No nitrate? I would expect to see a reading for nitrate. How long has the tank been set up, and how did you cycle it?

Female platies are able to store sperm packets from males, and use them to keep reproducing for around 6 months.

Nitrate and nitrite are fine. We don't know about ammonia, you don't currently have an ammonia test.

That will be the reason why all your fish died - ammonia poisoning. Yes, your LFS will test for you, make sure they tell you the actual number, not "yeah, that's fine" - anything other than 0ppm is NOT fine. You can also buy your own chemical test kits. I use Salifert, the individual tests for...

Any platy that has shared water with a male at any point in the last 6 months is going to be gravid. Platies reproduce using the "quantity, not quality" method. Trying to save them will lead to you being overrun with platies very quickly. Each female that you have will drop 30 or so fry every...

I would suggest you don't get any more fish until you can be sure that you have no ammonia in your water. The really, really important thing to answer now is how you cycled your tank. If you could advise exactly how you did this, we'll be abel to advise more fully.

Oh, OK, sorry, I assumed that you hadn't researched, as you wanted to know how long it would get. My bad. :)

Interestingly, it's the API ammonia test that's hard to read, insofar as under artificial light, a 0ppm result looks like a 0.25ppm. Salifert certainly do work for freshwater too. In fairness, I've never had an ammonia or nitrite reading of anything other than 0ppm since I started using them...

They like to choose their own partners, which is why you would ordinarily get a group together. If they fancy each other, they'll pair up. If one thinks the other is ugly, they won't.

It does look like a BN, but it's really difficult to tell the sex as it'll still be relatively immature, and not developed the bristles. I would say a 16gal tank is still a little on the small side for a BN but not drastically so. For future reference, it's always a good idea to research...

LOL, just replied in the snails thread. Salifert chemical tests are my recommendation.

Fair nuff. Whenever I've checked online, the API has pH but not NH3. I would personally recommend you get the Salifert test, they are sold individually, and the three main ones NH3, NO2, NO3 will set you back probs around $25-30 all told. Many people on here recommend the API Master test kit...

Hi Keels, I'd love to know what your water stats (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate levels) actually are, rather than "fine". If you have taken a water sample to be tested at an LFS, their idea of "fine" is often vastly different to mine (ie 0 for ammonia and nitrite, approx 20-40 nitrate). A straight...

And there's the issue. We all thought that when you posted 0,0,30, that you meant ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. You don't. The API strips don't even have an ammonia test. among them. I would say that the most likely cause of death of the snails is ammonia poisoning. I see that others have...

How old is the tank and filter? How long ago did the snails die?

Agree with Essjay. The tank is really only suitable for shrimp.

If there were any other options, they wouldn't be original, because they'd have been suggested ages ago.

I see what you did there. Not sure the American contingent will though.

Just as an aside, if your shrimp keep reproducing, you don't have amano shrimp. Amano shrimplets need salt to survive. In the wild, they spawn in freshwater, and the eggs are washed downstream to the estuary, where they hatch. As they mature, the shrimplets work their way back up the river to...

The thing with any forum is that you've also got to take a view on the experience of the respondent, and consequentially the reliability of their advice. Some while ago, Aqadvisor was listed in the swear filter of the forum, so that we weren't inadvertently signposting people to it, that's how...

The bacteria in the filter are remarkably hardy. Even without an ammonia source, they will go dormant for quite some time, even if the media has dried out. If the media has stayed wet, then they will spring back to life quite quickly. However, if you've put untreated tap water in there, then...

Can I also just ad that Aqadvisor is extremely unreliable with its advice. Never, but never, rely on it.

I'm not sure that those fish are compatible with a bearded dragon.....;) Welcome to the Forum!

I agree with Essjay. THe API ammonia test is notorious for giving a false reading of 0.25ppm, especially under artificial lighting.

@Tykey If you didn't, please do.

It has to be pure ammonia. Many household bottled ammonia products have perfumes and surfactants in them, so you can't use these. Search Amazon for Dr Tim's Ammonia Chloride. If you were local to me, I have a bottle you could have. The ammonia should be fine with your plants - I'm sure I've...