u/AggravatingDiamond24

Going to talk about my experience with these guys in case anybody is ever wondering about getting them.

First thing is PATIENCE
I can’t stress this enough because I wasn’t patient and my original 5 all passed within a week.
I reset the entire tank with new everything including upgraded filter, light, heater, air stone, ink bird, and ATO.
It did cost me a penny but let me tell you now I barely do anything for a total of 14 as of now.

Sulawesi 8.5 is really important and I did do the whole method of using a soda steam to help dissolve it and to be honest it did help but also getting RODI water hot and then mixing takes longer but it’s also doable. I still see little particles on the substrate that haven’t dissolved still after 3 months. Also use a different substrate I have inert sand but I regret it because of how much these guys poop.

Feeding I have snowflake, bacterAE, Indian almond leaf, and mulberry leaf. I did put two little specks of bug bites to see what happens over a day and yeah nothing. These guys stared at it and moved on.

Temp is at 83/84f and man holy cow does my tank evaporate fast. Def need some kind of RO water filter because buying it adds up. Wish I had done it sooner.

Parameters. I was like a freakin scientist making sure my parameters were “perfect”. Freaking hours and hours and hours of research. It was worth it.
Gh 7
Kh 5
TDS 190
PH8.2
Ammonia/nitrite 0
Nitrate >5
Finally after almost 3 weeks of constant testing and adjusting I finally got it right. I’m also weird about stuff like that so I’ll get extremely hyper fixated on “the perfect numbers”.

Lava rock, cholla wood (2 pieces), and ceramic 3 stacked pipes is all I have for hiding. The guys barely come out in the day especially the harlequins. Going to need more of them for them to be active in daytime but I’m still growing them out.

Galaxies were bought from LFS and the harlequins from bright aquarium. Paid 135 for 5 including shipping and received 6 healthy juveniles.

Also tank size I use is a 13.3g shallow from petco and it’s been a good tank so far.

Overall would I recommend these guys?

It depends. If you have a tank that you want to make purely sulawesis, have the resources (they ain’t cheap), equipment, patience of cycling for 2-3 months, looking at the tank and not seeing all of them, and can be patient until your colony grows (unless you can buy 30-40 in one shot) then go for it. They aren’t demanding once you are established. I have only done 2 small water changes like 5-10% in 3 months. I can leave for a 3 day weekend and not be worried (unless worst case scenarios happen). I’ll drop a snowflake in for them and add little bit bacterAE and they’re good to go for the weekend. Either way their diet is almost all biofilm and other little stuff in the tank.

Thank you for enjoying my TED talk.

PLEASE LEAVE QUESTIONS OR ADVICE
I WOULD APPRECIATE IT