Today's a new day.

[Seisage]

I'm trying my best, but I wasn't daydreaming. I understand your advice.

There's nothing inherently wrong with daydreaming. I do plenty of it myself, and it can be a very good thing. It only becomes a hindrance when you prioritize planning new things rather than the projects you already have.

Trying your best is all you need to do. That's all anyone can do. Thank you for listening to me and everyone else here on this thread. I, for one, am here to help if you ever need it, and I think a lot of other people on the forum are too

 

[elephantnose3334]

Today's Monday. Putting the needs of my fish first. Woke up at 9am, fed the fish and getting some advice from TFF members. Sometimes, I need help from the hobby and I understand that people might criticise me. The family's assembling new floorboards for the living room, which may take all day or tomorrow to complete. Focus and patience is all I need for my hobby.

 

[elephantnose3334]

I will write a journal once the 10 litre tank is ready to be built. Went to Vebas and priced the stuff out. For example, Lilaeopsis brasiliensis cost $8.50 per plant and a Leptochilus pteropus 'Windelov' on a rock also cost $8.50. Shrimp pellets cost $11.95 and 10 root tabs cost $22.95. Taxiphyllum barbieri cost $6.50. The Fluval 10W heater for 10L aquaria cost $44.95. That is some of the items that will be used for the project. The total cost (excluding the shrimp) is $157.25.

 

[elephantnose3334]

Hi everyone,

It's almost 5pm and thank you everyone, especially @AdoraBelle Dearheart, @Colin_T, @Essjay and @GaryE for your advice you gave to me earlier. I will feed the tetras for the second time in about an hour's time. I can understand that there are things I can work from in the hobby. That includes my first try at live plants. Did some research on them and did other stuff relating to them. I try my very hardest to maintain my fish and now shrimp. I will cycle the 10L for a month before adding a few Australian chameleon shrimp. I never kept shrimp before, but I'll try my best to keep them properly. I keep fish, but haven't kept shrimp yet. They stay small and are delicate little animals.

 

[Colin_T]

Lilaeopsis doesn't do well in most aquariums. it is a marsh plant that likes wet feet but dry leaves. I you use CO2 and loads of light and fertiliser, you can sometimes grow it in an aquarium.

 

[Colin_T]

AQUARIUM PLANTS 1.01

TURNING LIGHTS ON AND OFF
Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.

Try to have the lights on at the same time each day. Use a timer if possible.

If the light unit is programmable, have it on a low setting for the first 30-60 minutes and increase the brightness over time. Do the opposite in the evening and gradually reduce the light for the last 30-60 minutes before lights out.

If you don't have live plants in the tank, you only need the light on for a few hours in the evening. You might turn them on at 4 or 5pm and off at 9pm.

If you do have live plants in the tank, you can have the lights on for 8-16 hours a day but the fish and plants need 8 hours of darkness to rest. Most people with live plants in their aquarium will have the lights on for 8-12 hours a day.


--------------------

LIGHTING TIMES
Most aquarium plants like a bit of light and if you only have the light on for a couple of hours a day, they struggle. If the light doesn't have a high enough wattage they also struggle. Try having the tank lights on for 10-12 hours a day.

If you get lots of green algae then reduce the light by an hour a day and monitor the algae over the next 2 weeks.
If you don't get any green algae on the glass then increase the lighting period by an hour and monitor it for a couple of weeks.
If you get a small amount of green algae then the lighting time is about right.

Some plants will close their leaves up when they have had sufficient light. Ambulia, Hygrophilas and a few others close their top set of leaves first, then the next set and so on down the stem. When you see this happening, wait an hour after the first few sets of leaves have closed up against the stem and then turn lights off.

Plant lights should have equal amount of red and blue light and a bit less green light.


--------------------

TWO LIGHT UNITS
If you have two light units on the tank, put them on timers and have one come on first, then an hour later the second one can come on. It will be less stressful for the fish.

In the evening, turn the first light off and wait an hour, then have the second light go out.

If the lights have a low, medium and high intensity setting, have them on low in the morning, then increase it to medium after a couple of hours, and then high for the main part of the day. In the evening, reverse this and have the medium setting for a few hours, then low. Then turn the lights off.


--------------------

LIST OF PLANTS TO TRY
Some good plants to try include Ambulia, Hygrophila polysperma, H. ruba/ rubra, Elodia (during summer, but don't buy it in winter because it falls apart), Hydrilla, common Amazon sword plant, narrow or twisted/ spiral Vallis, Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).

The Water Sprite normally floats on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate. The other plants should be planted in the gravel.

Ambulia, H. polysperma, Elodia/ Hydrilla and Vallis are tall plants that do well along the back. Rotala macranda is a medium/ tallish red plant that usually does well.

H. ruba/ rubra is a medium height plant that looks good on the sides of the tank.

Cryptocorynes are small/ medium plants that are taller than pygmy chain swords but shorter than H. rubra. They also come in a range of colours, mostly different shades of green, brown or purplish red. Crypts are not the easiest plant to grow but can do well if they are healthy to begin with and are not disturbed after planting in the tank.

Most Amazon sword plants can get pretty big and are usually kept in the middle of the tank as a show piece. There is an Ozelot sword plant that has brown spots on green leaves, and a red ruffle sword plant (name may vary depending on where you live) with deep red leaves.

There is a pygmy chain sword plant that is small and does well in the front of the tank.


--------------------

GROWING PLANTS IN POTS
We use to grow some plants (usually swords, crypts, Aponogetons and water lilies) in 1 or 2 litre plastic icecream containers. You put an inch of gravel in the bottom of the container, then spread a thin layer of granulated garden fertiliser over the gravel. Put a 1/4inch (6mm) thick layer of red/ orange clay over the fertiliser. Dry the clay first and crush it into a powder. Then cover that with more gravel.

You put the plants in the gravel and as they grow, their roots hit the clay and fertiliser and they take off and go nuts. The clay stops the fertiliser leaching into the water.

You can smear silicon on the outside of the buckets and stick gravel or sand to them so it is less conspicuous. Or you can let algae grow on them and the containers turn green.

--------------------

We did plants in pots for a couple of reasons.
1) I was working in an aquaculture facility and we grew and sold live plants to shops. Some of the shops wanted advanced plants in pots so we did that.

2) Plants like sword plants love nutrients and have big root systems so they needed more gravel and big pots. When given ideal conditions these plants would produce lots of runners with new plants on and we got more plants to sell.

3) Most of the tanks only had a thin layer of substrate that was nowhere near thick enough for plants to grow in so having them in pots allowed us to grow plants in tanks with minimal gravel in the tank.


--------------------

TRUE AQUATIC VS MARSH/ TERRESTRIAL PLANTS
Lots of plants are sold as aquarium plants and most are marsh plants that do really well when their roots are in water and the rest of the plant is above water. Some marsh plants will do well underwater too.

Hair grass is not a true aquatic plant, neither is Anubias. Reeds and rushes are not aquatic plants and will die if their leaves are kept underwater.

Some common marsh plants include Amazon sword plants, Cryptocorynes, Hygrophila sp, Rotala sp, Ludwigia sp, Bacopa sp. These plant do reasonably well underwater.

True aquatic plants include Ambulia, Cabomba, Hornwort, Elodia, Hydrilla and Vallis.

The main difference between marsh plants and true aquatic plants is the stem. True aquatics have a soft flexible stem with air bubbles in it. These bubbles help the plant float and remain buoyant in the water column.

Marsh plants have a rigid stem and these plants can remain standing upright when removed from water. Whereas true aquatic plants will fall over/ collapse when removed from water.


--------------------

IRON BASED PLANT FERTILISER
If you add an iron based aquarium plant fertiliser, it will help most aquarium plants do well. An iron based fertiliser is not just iron, it contains other nutrients as well, but the main ingredient is iron. The liquid iron based aquarium plant fertilisers tend to be better than the tablet forms, although you can push the tablets under the roots of plants and that works well.

You use an iron (Fe) test kit to monitor iron levels and keep them at 1mg/l (1ppm).

I used Sera Florena liquid plant fertiliser but there are other brands too.


--------------------

CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2)
There is no point adding carbon dioxide (CO2) until you have the lights and nutrients worked out. Even then you don't need CO2 unless the tank is completely full of fast growing true aquatic plants and only has a few small fish in or no fish in it.

There are no natural waterways anywhere around the world that have supplemental CO2 added to them to make aquatic plants grow. People add CO2 to aquariums to help some marsh/ terrestrial plants grow underwater. These plants should not be grown in aquariums and the fact they need to add CO2 (as well as huge amounts of fertiliser and light) just to keep them alive is a clear indication they shouldn't be kept underwater.

In an average aquarium, there is a constant source of carbon dioxide produced all day and night by the fish, and the bacteria in the gravel and filter. More CO2 gets into the aquarium from the air mixing with the water. And plants release small amounts of CO2 when resting. There is no real need to add CO2, either in a gas or liquid form to an aquarium unless it is devoid of fish. There is plenty of CO2 in the water in most aquariums.

Liquid CO2 boosters often contain Glutaraldehyde, which is a disinfectant used to clean and sterilise medical equipment. It is highly toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms and people have wiped out tanks by adding too much of it. These products should not be used for aquariums.

For aquarium plants to use supplemental CO2, they need lots of light and lots of nutrients. Unless they have the light and nutrients, they won't use a lot of CO2, so there's no point adding extra. To check if your plants are getting lots of light, see if any of them produce streams of tiny little bubbles from their leaves. This is called pearling and is the plant photosynthesising and producing tiny bubbles of oxygen. Algae also does this when given bright light and nutrients.


--------------------

PLANT SUBSTRATE
Some pet shops sell aquatic plant substrates that are meant to improve plant growth. Most don't do anything except add a lot of ammonia to the water and eventually turn into a brown mud on the bottom. Since the majority of aquatic plants take in the nutrients they need via their leaves, having a plant substrate is not going to help much. There are exceptions to this and laterite (red clay) can sometimes be added to the gravel to increase the iron level for the plants taking in nutrients via their roots. But for most plant tanks, all you need is gravel on the bottom of the tank.

Most aquatic plants need at least 2 inches of substrate to grow in and some need 3-4 inches.

 

[elephantnose3334]

AQUARIUM PLANTS 1.01

TURNING LIGHTS ON AND OFF
Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.

Try to have the lights on at the same time each day. Use a timer if possible.

If the light unit is programmable, have it on a low setting for the first 30-60 minutes and increase the brightness over time. Do the opposite in the evening and gradually reduce the light for the last 30-60 minutes before lights out.

If you don't have live plants in the tank, you only need the light on for a few hours in the evening. You might turn them on at 4 or 5pm and off at 9pm.

If you do have live plants in the tank, you can have the lights on for 8-16 hours a day but the fish and plants need 8 hours of darkness to rest. Most people with live plants in their aquarium will have the lights on for 8-12 hours a day.


--------------------

LIGHTING TIMES
Most aquarium plants like a bit of light and if you only have the light on for a couple of hours a day, they struggle. If the light doesn't have a high enough wattage they also struggle. Try having the tank lights on for 10-12 hours a day.

If you get lots of green algae then reduce the light by an hour a day and monitor the algae over the next 2 weeks.
If you don't get any green algae on the glass then increase the lighting period by an hour and monitor it for a couple of weeks.
If you get a small amount of green algae then the lighting time is about right.

Some plants will close their leaves up when they have had sufficient light. Ambulia, Hygrophilas and a few others close their top set of leaves first, then the next set and so on down the stem. When you see this happening, wait an hour after the first few sets of leaves have closed up against the stem and then turn lights off.

Plant lights should have equal amount of red and blue light and a bit less green light.


--------------------

TWO LIGHT UNITS
If you have two light units on the tank, put them on timers and have one come on first, then an hour later the second one can come on. It will be less stressful for the fish.

In the evening, turn the first light off and wait an hour, then have the second light go out.

If the lights have a low, medium and high intensity setting, have them on low in the morning, then increase it to medium after a couple of hours, and then high for the main part of the day. In the evening, reverse this and have the medium setting for a few hours, then low. Then turn the lights off.


--------------------

LIST OF PLANTS TO TRY
Some good plants to try include Ambulia, Hygrophila polysperma, H. ruba/ rubra, Elodia (during summer, but don't buy it in winter because it falls apart), Hydrilla, common Amazon sword plant, narrow or twisted/ spiral Vallis, Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).

The Water Sprite normally floats on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate. The other plants should be planted in the gravel.

Ambulia, H. polysperma, Elodia/ Hydrilla and Vallis are tall plants that do well along the back. Rotala macranda is a medium/ tallish red plant that usually does well.

H. ruba/ rubra is a medium height plant that looks good on the sides of the tank.

Cryptocorynes are small/ medium plants that are taller than pygmy chain swords but shorter than H. rubra. They also come in a range of colours, mostly different shades of green, brown or purplish red. Crypts are not the easiest plant to grow but can do well if they are healthy to begin with and are not disturbed after planting in the tank.

Most Amazon sword plants can get pretty big and are usually kept in the middle of the tank as a show piece. There is an Ozelot sword plant that has brown spots on green leaves, and a red ruffle sword plant (name may vary depending on where you live) with deep red leaves.

There is a pygmy chain sword plant that is small and does well in the front of the tank.


--------------------

GROWING PLANTS IN POTS
We use to grow some plants (usually swords, crypts, Aponogetons and water lilies) in 1 or 2 litre plastic icecream containers. You put an inch of gravel in the bottom of the container, then spread a thin layer of granulated garden fertiliser over the gravel. Put a 1/4inch (6mm) thick layer of red/ orange clay over the fertiliser. Dry the clay first and crush it into a powder. Then cover that with more gravel.

You put the plants in the gravel and as they grow, their roots hit the clay and fertiliser and they take off and go nuts. The clay stops the fertiliser leaching into the water.

You can smear silicon on the outside of the buckets and stick gravel or sand to them so it is less conspicuous. Or you can let algae grow on them and the containers turn green.

--------------------

We did plants in pots for a couple of reasons.
1) I was working in an aquaculture facility and we grew and sold live plants to shops. Some of the shops wanted advanced plants in pots so we did that.

2) Plants like sword plants love nutrients and have big root systems so they needed more gravel and big pots. When given ideal conditions these plants would produce lots of runners with new plants on and we got more plants to sell.

3) Most of the tanks only had a thin layer of substrate that was nowhere near thick enough for plants to grow in so having them in pots allowed us to grow plants in tanks with minimal gravel in the tank.


--------------------

TRUE AQUATIC VS MARSH/ TERRESTRIAL PLANTS
Lots of plants are sold as aquarium plants and most are marsh plants that do really well when their roots are in water and the rest of the plant is above water. Some marsh plants will do well underwater too.

Hair grass is not a true aquatic plant, neither is Anubias. Reeds and rushes are not aquatic plants and will die if their leaves are kept underwater.

Some common marsh plants include Amazon sword plants, Cryptocorynes, Hygrophila sp, Rotala sp, Ludwigia sp, Bacopa sp. These plant do reasonably well underwater.

True aquatic plants include Ambulia, Cabomba, Hornwort, Elodia, Hydrilla and Vallis.

The main difference between marsh plants and true aquatic plants is the stem. True aquatics have a soft flexible stem with air bubbles in it. These bubbles help the plant float and remain buoyant in the water column.

Marsh plants have a rigid stem and these plants can remain standing upright when removed from water. Whereas true aquatic plants will fall over/ collapse when removed from water.


--------------------

IRON BASED PLANT FERTILISER
If you add an iron based aquarium plant fertiliser, it will help most aquarium plants do well. An iron based fertiliser is not just iron, it contains other nutrients as well, but the main ingredient is iron. The liquid iron based aquarium plant fertilisers tend to be better than the tablet forms, although you can push the tablets under the roots of plants and that works well.

You use an iron (Fe) test kit to monitor iron levels and keep them at 1mg/l (1ppm).

I used Sera Florena liquid plant fertiliser but there are other brands too.


--------------------

CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2)
There is no point adding carbon dioxide (CO2) until you have the lights and nutrients worked out. Even then you don't need CO2 unless the tank is completely full of fast growing true aquatic plants and only has a few small fish in or no fish in it.

There are no natural waterways anywhere around the world that have supplemental CO2 added to them to make aquatic plants grow. People add CO2 to aquariums to help some marsh/ terrestrial plants grow underwater. These plants should not be grown in aquariums and the fact they need to add CO2 (as well as huge amounts of fertiliser and light) just to keep them alive is a clear indication they shouldn't be kept underwater.

In an average aquarium, there is a constant source of carbon dioxide produced all day and night by the fish, and the bacteria in the gravel and filter. More CO2 gets into the aquarium from the air mixing with the water. And plants release small amounts of CO2 when resting. There is no real need to add CO2, either in a gas or liquid form to an aquarium unless it is devoid of fish. There is plenty of CO2 in the water in most aquariums.

Liquid CO2 boosters often contain Glutaraldehyde, which is a disinfectant used to clean and sterilise medical equipment. It is highly toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms and people have wiped out tanks by adding too much of it. These products should not be used for aquariums.

For aquarium plants to use supplemental CO2, they need lots of light and lots of nutrients. Unless they have the light and nutrients, they won't use a lot of CO2, so there's no point adding extra. To check if your plants are getting lots of light, see if any of them produce streams of tiny little bubbles from their leaves. This is called pearling and is the plant photosynthesising and producing tiny bubbles of oxygen. Algae also does this when given bright light and nutrients.


--------------------

PLANT SUBSTRATE
Some pet shops sell aquatic plant substrates that are meant to improve plant growth. Most don't do anything except add a lot of ammonia to the water and eventually turn into a brown mud on the bottom. Since the majority of aquatic plants take in the nutrients they need via their leaves, having a plant substrate is not going to help much. There are exceptions to this and laterite (red clay) can sometimes be added to the gravel to increase the iron level for the plants taking in nutrients via their roots. But for most plant tanks, all you need is gravel on the bottom of the tank.

Most aquatic plants need at least 2 inches of substrate to grow in and some need 3-4 inches.

I agree with the article Colin. Thanks for the good advice. Since it's a 10L aquarium, I'm doing small plants. Here is the vision of the aquascape below. And it's a fishless aquarium.

Lilaeopsis doesn't do well in most aquariums. it is a marsh plant that likes wet feet but dry leaves. I you use CO2 and loads of light and fertiliser, you can sometimes grow it in an aquarium.

Oh, the team at Vebas did not tell me that when discussing this plant. I thought it was a fully aquatic plant.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I will write a journal once the 10 litre tank is ready to be built. Went to Vebas and priced the stuff out. For example, Lilaeopsis brasiliensis cost $8.50 per plant and a Leptochilus pteropus 'Windelov' on a rock also cost $8.50. Shrimp pellets cost $11.95 and 10 root tabs cost $22.95. Taxiphyllum barbieri cost $6.50. The Fluval 10W heater for 10L aquaria cost $44.95. That is some of the items that will be used for the project. The total cost (excluding the shrimp) is $157.25.

Planted aquariums are great. I'd be happy to chat planted tanking for beginners another time, but first... tank maintenance lessons!

I know you said that your dad is busy today, but what tank maintenance job would you be able to do without him? Could you clean the inner glass using a magnet/clean unused sponge/cloth and freshly washed arms and hands?

Can you gravel vac a small area of the gravel?

Remember that planted tanks require maintenance too. Plants grow, need trimming shaping, sometimes moving if they're not thriving, have their own needs, and some require liquid or root ferts, which is more ongoing expense. It gets even more expensive and maintenance heavy if you go the high light and CO2 route.

Remember the advice here. Focus on the basics first, before getting swept away in new plans.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Or you could watch those videos I linked a couple of times, then we could answer any questions you have about those/tank cleaning/water changing?

 

[elephantnose3334]

Or you could watch those videos I linked a couple of times, then we could answer any questions you have about those/tank cleaning/water changing?

Planted aquariums are great. I'd be happy to chat planted tanking for beginners another time, but first... tank maintenance lessons!

I know you said that your dad is busy today, but what tank maintenance job would you be able to do without him? Could you clean the inner glass using a magnet/clean unused sponge/cloth and freshly washed arms and hands?

Can you gravel vac a small area of the gravel?

Remember that planted tanks require maintenance too. Plants grow, need trimming shaping, sometimes moving if they're not thriving, have their own needs, and some require liquid or root ferts, which is more ongoing expense. It gets even more expensive and maintenance heavy if you go the high light and CO2 route.

Remember the advice here. Focus on the basics first, before getting swept away in new plans.

I'm learning on how to do the things you mentioned. I watched the video Colin linked earlier and is helpful. I can gravel vac on a 40L aquarium, but need a smaller gravel vac for the 10L. I can try to clean the glass and scrape algae off, but I never done algae scraping before.

The forum is a helpful place to learn how to do planted aquaria.

 

[elephantnose3334]

Currently following @Colin_T 's advice on plants. The problem is the substrate is a bit short (3cm high slope on right side) because of the small tank (10 litre) size. I now understand the difference between marsh plants and aquatic plants. I am doing research on the plants I picked and their care. I could enter it on a TOTM after it is completed and cycled. I am improving everyday by getting good advice and taking action for the wellbeing of fish and shrimp. I have the sponge of the left side of the tank instead of the middle so the shrimp will not get into the filtration holes. Research is the best medicine.

People like you and me try to be good aquarists and are prone to making mistakes. That's why I improve in the hobby. Mistakes happen and we improve over them.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Currently following @Colin_T 's advice on plants. The problem is the substrate is a bit short (3cm high slope on right side) because of the small tank (10 litre) size. I now understand the difference between marsh plants and aquatic plants. I am doing research on the plants I picked and their care.

That's great! 3cm depth is normal and fine, and will work for most plants.

I could enter it on a TOTM after it is completed and cycled.

You absolutely can, but you also don't need to wait until it's completed! Tanks are constantly evolving anyway, they're never "finished", if you know what I mean? And people are more than welcome to enter tanks even if it's a build in progress and you haven't got to where you want it yet. We've even had an empty tank with decor, a stunning daphnia colony bottle, and a lovely planted container only containing snails entered before! Right, @Fishmanic ?

You'd be more than welcome to enter any of your current tanks or builds in progress, explaining your plans, when they're the right size tank for that month, and you should! It's just for fun, a social forum thing, a great way to learn, interact on the forum, and share your aquariums and plans. It's not a hardcore competition, so if you enter without worrying about whether you'll win or not, because even if you don't win, there's always next time! I've entered loads of times just for fun, even knowing there was no way I'd win, just because there hadn't been many entries, and it encourages others to join in too.

So I entered many times just for fun, worked on one tank to get it looking as good as possible, took several photos until I found one I liked, and it was a nice surprise when I did win once! Then you get a banner under your name. You can also enter the fish of the month and pet of the month contests if you have other animals.

I am improving everyday by getting good advice and taking action for the wellbeing of fish and shrimp. I have the sponge of the left side of the tank instead of the middle so the shrimp will not get into the filtration holes. Research is the best medicine.

It absolutely is! There's a lot of misinformation on the internet too, so always worth checking the source. For precise and accurate info on most any species of fish, Seriously Fish has profiles on most any species of fish you're likely to come across in the hobby, and it's written by scientists and experts in the hobby, so you can rely on the information there, compared to random blogs or pages when you do a random Google search. You can look up any species you want, or have, and see what requirements they have, and can check if they'll be suitable for your current set ups, or if they'd need a larger tank, or different temp range, or wouldn't mix well with your current fish, info like that.

Like, what fish do you have at the moment? As an example to show you, here's some profiles for some species of fish I keep. I searched "Seriously Fish bronze corydora" since that's the common name you see in the shops. It brings up this profile, which also gives you the species Latin name, since some species have different or shared common names, but the latin name is specific to each species and sub-type.

Bronze Corydoras are common in the hobby, as is an albino mutation; albino Corydoras may be albino versions of Corydoras aeneus (bronze cories), or they may be albino Corydoras paleatus (peppered Corydoras), or even albino versions of Corydoras sterbai! All three species are common in the hobby and available in most stores, but have some slightly different requirements. By looking them up on Seriously Fish, I was able to learn I could keep my Bronze and Sterbai Corydoras together, since they both tolerate harder water and are in my range for GH, but peppered cories (Corydoras paleatus) need a cooler temp than the others do, so I don't currently have that species.

Corydoras aeneus – Bronze Cory (Corydoras schultzei, Corydoras venezuelanus) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras paleatus (Pepper Cory) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras paleatus (Pepper Cory) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

So this is just an example of how important it is to have reliable info on species, especially before buying them, if possible! By reading the profile you learn the latin name, where they originate from and the habitats they need - especially important when you're setting up a tank or you're into biotopes. You also learn how large the fish can get at adult size (some fish sold in stores like bala sharks, common plecos and many loaches can get absolutely massive and need monster sized tanks or ponds once they get to adult size, and people buy them as cute babies, without realising how huge they will get, then either stunt the fish by keeping it in too small a tank, wind up with incompatible fish that fight and kill each other, or have a hard time rehoming them).

The Seriously Fish profile will also tell you what maintenance they need, what water conditions ranges they can live in, like the temperature range, pH, and water hardness. What diet they need, typical behaviour and compatibility (i.e: if they're a social fish that needs a group of the same species, or show aggression to tank mates and do or don't suit community tanks, etc), and even how to breed that species. So it's a really valuable and reliable resource, worth bookmarking!

I am improving everyday by getting good advice and taking action for the wellbeing of fish and shrimp

You are! We all are. We're all still learning and adapting as we learn more, and there's so much to learn in this hobby, and things do go wrong occasionally in this hobby. It's inevitable, and you're never alone there. No matter how long someone has been in the hobby, how hard they try, how experienced and knowledgeable they are, things still do go wrong now and then. Equipment can fail, tanks can fail, we're only human and make mistakes, or we follow advice that turned out to be wrong, but we were doing the best we could at the time, with what we know.

No one expects you to be perfect, I promise. We like to help, it's what the forum is for! So don't be afraid to admit to mistakes or ask for advice. Some places like some groups on Facebook or Reddit can have members who are harsh on beginners or people who make mistakes, and then drive people out of the hobby, but that isn't the culture here.

Here we want to help people, share and learn from each other, and help each other out so we all do better in our hobby, and can share our passion for the various areas of fishkeeping. If anyone is mean or breaks the rules, the mods are great here, just report the comment and let the mods handle it, but don't let it get to you. Take the advice that you find helpful and works for you, and leave the rest. We also all have good and bad days, and tone is hard to read by text. I know I've been too harsh on others at times when going through a rough time personally, then apologised and fortunately been forgiven when it's happened. We're all only human! But in general, most people here are lovely and helpful, want to help where they can, and people who break rules are handled well by the mods.

Wet Web Media is another really great, reliable source of info I often recommend checking out and bookmarking. Also written by known experts in the hobby, they can give advice if you write in, and it's always worth doing a search on their site if you're having a problem, since you can read their answers to previous questions about the same thing, and learn a lot that way. I've spend many hours reading advice there when I had an illness in my tanks, if I had a sick fish, things like that. I also emailed them and sent photos when I thought my otocinclus was carrying eggs, and got some lovely, helpful and quick responses from one of the experts there, Neal Monks.

So those two sites, and here of course, are places I recommend for learning more! Can also use the search feature here to find previous posts and threads on any topic or problem, or make your own thread if you want more personal or specific advice, or want to make a journal thread if you want to do a build/journal thread about a specific tank you own. Those are great fun, and people can be really helpful and supportive!

People like you and me try to be good aquarists and are prone to making mistakes. That's why I improve in the hobby. Mistakes happen and we improve over them.

Exactly! We all make mistakes. I guarantee, there isn't a fish keeper in the hobby who hasn't made a mistake at some point. There's so much to learn in this hobby, and the learning curve at the beginning is steep, with a lot of misinformation online and from fish store employees even, so no one expects perfection, any mistake you make, you won't be the first one to make it, and others will want to help, as we are trying to here! You've already said the most important thing, and you're absolutely right. The important thing is how you work to learn from mistakes, and improve from there! That's the key, and it's why you can succeed in and enjoy this hobby, and participate and benefit from this forum, I hadn't been participating in threads much recently, I tend to dip in and out depending on how busy real life is, but here's a belated welcome to the forum from me anyway!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I'm learning on how to do the things you mentioned. I watched the video Colin linked earlier and is helpful. I can gravel vac on a 40L aquarium, but need a smaller gravel vac for the 10L.

Is the gravel vac a typical one with a bell type shape on the end that goes into the gravel, like this?

If so, the end piece is easily removed from the actual hosing, then you can use the smaller hose in the same way to clean a smaller tank, or to clean around plants without disturbing their roots.

The only downside to that is you need to suck the other end of the hose to start the syphon and it's a knack to do that without getting a mouthful of not so tasty tank water...

You can get these gravel vacs in a variety of sizes, I have a small and slim one for my small tanks/fry tanks, but have also used just airline hosing or a turkey baster to clean small containers like fry containers.

The trick to start a syphon is that the end in the fishtank must be higher than the other end in order to start the syphon. Usually easy if the tank is on a stand or cabinet, bucket on the floor, put one end of hose into the tank, other above the bucket, suck until water begins to flow down the hose and is pretty far along, then remove that end from your mouth and stick it in the bucket before it reaches your mouth!

I can try to clean the glass and scrape algae off, but I never done algae scraping before.

The forum is a helpful place to learn how to do planted aquaria.

 

[Essjay]

The only downside to that is you need to suck the other end of the hose to start the syphon

Or take the tubing to the sink, hold it in a U shape with the open ends at the top and run water into the tube till it's full. Carry the tubing to the tank still in it's U shape then put a thumb over each end. Put one end in the tank and the other in the becket and let go with your thumbs.

 

[Seisage]

Or take the tubing to the sink, hold it in a U shape with the open ends at the top and run water into the tube till it's full. Carry the tubing to the tank still in it's U shape then put a thumb over each end. Put one end in the tank and the other in the becket and let go with your thumbs.

I usually start siphons by mouth if I don't have a siphon pump, but this is a very good method too and useful if you're worried about getting tank water in your mouth. I've definitely gotten a mouthful of sea urchin spines before, when cleaning out leftovers from a sea star's meal. Not very tasty

If your tank is deep enough, you can also do the U-shape method within the tank itself and just fill the hose with tank water, although most small tanks are too shallow for this. The most important things are having the hose completely full (no air pockets) and holding your thumbs over the ends of the hose tightly until one end is in the tank and the other over a bucket. This method is trickier to get the hang of, but can be worth it for sanitary reasons.