u/thegreatredneckhope

The cherry on top being “I’ll auto DM you the sources if you comment ‘source’” lmao this is so ridiculously tone deaf

hey y’all. I posted some pics of when I first started up a month or two ago, but I’m thinking I wanna try this again.

here’s the start: I poured petco brand (I believe fluvum) aqua soil and petco brand sand into a petco brand (I believe Topfin or whatever) with their filter provided. I was tripping and hadn’t been in the hobby for a while so I convinced myself I needed a heater which it eventually ended up just auto turning off when the temp of the water was the temp of the room or something? idfk it’s been useless and collecting algae. I am amateur and didn’t think to hardscape and plant rhizomes before filling with water which led to later annoyances.

I added the soil and sand and mixed it around, filled it with spring water and didn’t disturb the substrate successfully, then let it cycle with Robot Topfin Filter with just soil and sand in it for a month. then I acquired wood, rocks, plants. I got cyanoacrolyte glue (I can tell u specifics if you need like brands of u need) and tried with the rhizomes and they wouldn’t stick or would float away with the buoyant wood after being introduced to the water. it made me crash out and then I started the same cycle again.

this went better: I got three diff petco varieties of medium sized anubias, bb Winslow Java, medium Java fern, and some tiny grass that is no gone as you can see. 5 kuhlis which I’m concerned are stressed, 6 ember tetras, 9 harlequin raspboras, and a dwarf gourami. Started with a lot of cherries that got eaten, added a few more and we’re at a steady 3 for a week. I believe one of nerites is dead, but one is kickin. I eventually added some red leaf floaters (we got some still kickin seemingly) and some crypts (one I let free float and it actually is rooting itself which I assume might be good?) I have done two days on three handfuls of Topfin flakes for the fish and a day off. Lights on for like 8 hours a day. three months of cycled water so far and one water change eek I know

tldr: do I let this algae phase happen and drip acclimate some more shrimp and trim dead leaves? just a water change? do I start over and dry start?

I edited this to add more specific details pls help I want advice

tldr; I did my first very intentional aquascape and am looking for feedback and affirmation :))

hey y’all! what do yall think is good and could be approved in my first aquascape? been wanting to try a deliberate and intentional planted aquascape tank for a while and after six months of researching and learning about compatibility, water quality, techniques and stuff, then got a 20 gal tank for Christmas from my boyfriend. I didn’t move in until June, so we waited to set it up. got the substrate and sand mixture, water filled and let it cycle for a month while checking the ammonia and pH to ensure the parameter were all looking good and ready. finally got to get started over the past week and HOLY shit was it a lot of trial and error but we finally have it stocked, so I’m curious how y’all think I did. kinda tried to emulate a Southeast Asia slow stream environment: here’s the stock specs!

got three did varieties of anubias
a crested Java windelov, two Java fern stalks, a portion of saggitaria, and some aquatic moss I just tossed in that’s still finding its space

we currently got five kuhli loaches, nine raspboras, and a gorgeous neon blue dward gourami, with originally 12 cherry shrimp (insanely proud of myself for drip acclimating for the first time because I only lost two in 24 hours [tho the gourami and kuhli may have snagged one or two after the initial arrival acclimation 12 hours after the shrimp]), and two nerite snails (who after 32 hours haven’t moved or come out yet; is that normal?)

hardscape is just some stones I found in local rivers that I boiled and idk about the other two pieces of wood in there, but I know the centerpiece is driftwood’

I kinda wanna add a couple bits of Cryptocoryne undulata and some red root floaters and maybe a small school of three ember tetras! anyway thanks for looking :) any ideas on what I could do and how I did? I’m so excited!

I love this freaking cat. My boyfriend and I adopted her back in December and she was so shy for so long, but we waited and gave her space and helped her acclimate to her space, and now she is the most fun, social, angelic, vocal, playful, and affectionate baby ever omg? She’s 2 years old and weighs about 8 pounds. Tiny lil baby. But omg she drools so much when we are giving her love and pets, she drools so much! Is this normal lol? She’s so awesome but I just wanna make sure that’s totally normal! She is otherwise having healthy bowel movements and eating regularly! Just wanna check! Everyone say hi to Helen