Aquariums and Fish Keeping

I moved Tina from the big community tank downstairs up to her very own 10 gallon tank. She was being harassed by the big male pearl gourami. So far, she's been exploring her tank and picking off scuds.

I think I'm using that slang term correctly 😅

I think white cloud mountain minnows are underrated. I really like this little things y'all.

Y'all! I have a dang flower in one of my 20 longs. I'm shocked. This tank is running fine. Animals seems healthy but I'm not really doing anything special. This makes me feel like this tank is exactly dialed in though if this plant is so happy it wants to flower! I think it's some sort of Buce but I've bought many randoms from /r/AquaSwap.

Originally posted on my site: https://michaelharley.net/photos/2026/07/27/

Hello. I'm pretty new to keeping plecos and this lil guys in our big community tank. I'm unsure if he's getting enough food. I've read the descriptions on how to tell and it seems to boil down 'is it skinny'. Sold to me as a Super Red Bristlenose Pleco from an individual.

Does my pleco look skinny/under fed? What's your favorite food for you pleco?

The city has asked us to try to conserve water because of drought conditions. My little 20 gallon tanks are whatever but if I do a 50% water change for the 75, well that's like 30 gallons of water.

Am I silly to be thinking about this? Like, I'm not really too worried about the fish. That tank is very solid and has a strong BB community (fx4).

Would you skip for a month or two? Or is 30 gallons a month not that much?

They grow up so fast 🥹

3 weeks old and 1 week old!

I am just a proud papa is all.

It’s a UNS 45U, with an Oase 100 thermo and a Chihiros WRGB Slim. CO2, and aquasoil in a mound under the rocks. There’s an open area behind and under the stacked rock, making a nice little hide.

So far I am liking the poppy pipe style, it’s my first time using it. And slowly I’m getting diatoms and snails, usual early tank stuff.

Lemme know your thoughts :)

Have anyone dealt with this store AquaticMotiv? I placed a plant order with priority shipping and nothing has shipped in a week. No answer to my emails or messages on the website. Are they a rip off?

White cloud minnows and celestial pearl danios and pygmy corys and two flavors of shrimp and all the snails. It's a happy bog, although the danios are screwing way too much.

He's a good baby fishy, I think just needed some alone time.

I moved July2025 and rescaped. My original plans for the tank are pretty different compared to how it ended up now (unsure how to post multiple images, will do in comments or check my past posts). (Equipment and tank stats at the bottom)

My creeping jenny field on the left died mysteriously after I trimmed and replanted them. So that area I’ve let the Monte Carlo and Hydrocotyle Tripartita run a bit wild.

The central “rock face” got slowly covered by Monte Carlo, and after an aggressive trimming of that, I discovered it wasn’t even attached and was almost entirely free floating. So that rock eventually got buried.

The high slope I once had in the back has slowly fallen.

And I’ve added (and lost) many different varieties of plants. Mostly just experimenting and trying things out!

Despite all these slow and sometimes unfortunate changes, I still love looking at it and tending to it.

At some point this year I plan to rescape, with a more focused design and more intentional planning of plants.

Tank Stats Filter: Oase Biomaster 250, set to like 40% flow Light: Chihiros WRGB II (cannot check light level at the moment, I believe it is 70R 60G 45B) Tank: ADA 60p, 60x36x30cm Substrate: Pea gravel bags for height, UNS Contrasoil on top of a mix of old UNS Contrasoil & Eco Complete (lava rock gravel) Water: TDS 120ish after water change. No clue on pH, GH, or KH. CO2: yes. Lime green drop checker.

Plants Carpet: Monte Carlo with Hydrocotyle Tripartita in the front left.

Left: Some Bacopa Carolinia Green, Creeping Jenny, and Java Moss on the rock

Right: Ludwigia Diamond and some other smaller Ludwigia in front, then various Crypt & Anubias. Nothing special. There’s also a buce hiding in there somewhere.

Top: “Red” Root Floaters (I have lost hope of them getting red, and I am still a bit too intimidated by messing up fertilizer to try to limit my nitrates)

Center: Cardamine Lyrata bush, some more Bacopa Carolinia green, one or two surviving stems of Rotala Macandra, some sort of grassy thing (no clue), some Mermaid Weed barely hanging on, and a whole mess of Rotala Indica.

They're about six weeks old now.