r/freshwateraquarium

I have absolutely zero idea why he does this. He has plenty of tank space, and is in good health. Water parameters are delightful. I feed him sinking wafers, but after about a year he stopped eating those and elected for the floating food I have for the rest of the fish in the tank. He will invert himself and suck (or in this case just vibe) at the surface of the water. What?????? I’ve been fish keeping for ages; am I missing something or is he just unapologetically quirky?

+ normal pleco behavior pics

I topped off the water in my 10 gallon tank earlier today bc it had gotten a bit low. I currently have a HOB filter as well as a sponge filter. The HOB filter is older.

I guess I didn’t realize it hadn’t been running today? I just went to check my tank with a flashlight lol (doesn’t everyone peek into their tanks at 1am to see what’s goin on?) and I turned the knob on the HOB filter to increase pressure since no water was coming out - and suddenly all this nastiness started shooting out the filter into the water and yeah 🫠🫠🫠🫠🥲🥲🥲 what should I do? Just leave it? Do a water change? It’s 1:10am lol ahhh.

My betta (as you can see) is literally like “WTF”

(excuse the cloudiness there’s lots of tannins and i just stirred up all the java moss) hi so i’m new to fishkeeping but i got this topfin 10gal for my 17th and i need some advice on the tank in general and also my betta because he is in lowkey rough shape
so i layered fluval stratum + black aquarium sand, added 1 large amazon sword + 1 large anubias + 3x anubias nana + lots of rocks and shrimp hides and big leaves and so so mso much java moss with some other like water sprite i think and red root floaters. i also have 3 pieces of cholla wood and pieces of cuttlefish and shrimp calcium rocks tucked in the substrate. it ran for 6 weeks with conditoner and starter, then finally i put in like 20 shrimp, waited 4 more weeks and then just picked up this betta today. I had a childhood betta who somehow survived tap water in a bowl for like 5 years and he was like insanely huge but I know most of the time that isnt the case and surviving ≠ thriving. anyway i just really feel like i need to avenge my childhood fish. also just in general with my tank size being a medium planted 10gal is there any other fish i could add here that would be really cool?

okay so on the topic of the betta
that is my pink opal male half moon betta that petco surrendered to me after i came back 3 days in a row so ntm on me supporting chain stores

i think he’s about 6 months, i know he’s in rough shape but i just really want to be able to help him. i bought that like liquid anti stress / water conditioner stuff for bettas and that’ll be here in a couple days but in the meantime is there anything i can do?
ALSO does anyone see anything concerning about him? I tried to get the best quality photos, i don’t know very much about bettas but im doing my best to learn right now.

Tank stats as of 2 hours ago:
PH: 7.5
Temp: around 78-80fahrenheit (digital thermometer will be here friday 😔)
Nitrate levels are good
Ammonia levels are safe
No other spikes

also wondering if i should put duckweed in my 10gal and just remove some weekly to dry and use as shrimp food?? Is that actually a reliable method!?

Its been a HOT minute since I kept fish, but in a nutshell my local fish store was out of my turtles food back in the winter and they talked me into trying their feeder guppies as a temporary meal. I know they breed their own fancy show guppies and the feeder ones are just the ones that didnt make the cut so I figured it wouldn't hurt. My turtle could care less for the fish, they quite literally eat out of her mouth durring food time.

I got this big gal in with the guppies and shes obviously not a guppy, but I genuinely can't tell the difference between a platy and a swordtail. My turtle just got a tank upgrade so I want to get this gal some friends since shes the only one of her kind in an army of guppies and I know they like having a group.

Hi all, saw some fish stress yesterday in my 20gal long and woke this morning realizing I’m missing lots of my rasboras :( tested my water and it’s sitting at 8.2-8.4 and the only recent changes were I added some new/different root tabs and did a large water change (~50%) but that was almost 2 weeks ago. I do have a rock scape, and this tank was setup 2/25 of this year. I have two other tanks going strong for almost 2 years now, use the same RO water, and remineralizers etc. the only change was the root tabs (ThriveTabs) but I used them in my 40 gal as well with no problems? Very disappointed as I stay on top of water testing but got lax since everything had been stable for so long :’( Really at a loss as for what could be causing the pH imbalance as the tank has a lid, the stone was from Petsmart and made for aquariums but is it possible that it’s leaching this far down the road? It just hasn’t been a slow pH creep, it’s stayed 7.4-7.8 and now it’s purple af. Thanks in advance

I have this 20 long. With a hob filter and a sponge filter

I am gonna setup this 10 gallon for a shrimp tank but I'm a little questionable of the stand it's 3/4 inch solid piece under the 3/4 inch white boards. Seems very flat but the wooden box is a little thinner. I'm probably over thinking the placement. ANYWAYS.

main question is can I take the sponge filter out my 20 gallon and just have small hob filter so I can put the sponge filter in the 10 gallon to start it before I get shrimp?

Iv had this loach for a little over a year. He is super awesome and definitely has a personality. I dont want him feeling like a dog locked in a cage. This aqurium is 29 gallons and he is roughly 6" long. Iv been thinking about re-homeing him. Id hate to see him go but i dont want him to be cramped neither. Do yall think my tank is to small for him?

Does anyone know what this fish is? I don’t recall what it was from purchase and I’m racking my brain.

About 3ish weeks ago I got 2 amano shrimp for my 10g betta tank for cleanup crew. I also have 2 nerite snails that are doing great, just not dealing with the algae as hoped. (Mostly this is on the plants so it makes sense that they can’t really get to it as easily) The issue here is that after first getting them, I have only seen them once.

My betta is really chill and doesn’t flare at anything and gets along well with the snails. He did chase the shrimp on the first day but i had just put them in and the shrimp were way faster so I felt like they would be ok.

I’m worried about the shrimp and while I have read that they can hide for a good while, I’m just not sure what to do now. Should I wait a bit longer? Bite the bullet and get more shrimp or snails? Or something else.

Any advice or stories you have to share would be greatly appreciated.

Attached is a pic of the tank and a pic of Monet staring at one of the snails.

10gal tank, 4 dwarf honey gouramis, 3 corydoras, 3 otocats, 2 amano shrimp. Water change and filter change every 2 weeks. Plant light is on 40% for 6h a day.

Hi there, I’m newbie in the aquarium hobby and please help me determine the ph value? It looks like between 7.0 and 7.2?

The story is like this. I added shrimps to my tank with ph around 6.4 to 6.6. The lfs employee told me to add baking soda to raise the ph around 7. I have cardinal tetras and otocinclus in the tank and 7 is a nice number for everyone. I asked AI and learn that adding crush coral is better and safer way to raise ph level. AI suggested 50 grams of coral given to my 40 gallon tank and test water in 5th day’s mark. Obviously I couldn’t wait. What you see in picture is ph level after 16 hours since coral added. Hopefully my fish and shrimps handle the not-sudden-but-still-quite-fast-rising-ph-level ok.

Thank you for any advice!

Ive never owned fish before this, so it was kind of challenging clearing up a big algae bloom and finding fish that are peaceful with eachother. But it seems like all 9 of my swimmers are happy and healthy! Customers complimenting, or simply just looking at them brings me much so much joy.

I’m doing a full revamp of my 10 gallon tank, adding in new substrate, etc. the only inhabitants of the tank for the past few months have been too mysteries nails, but one sadly passed away a few weeks ago, so it’s just been the one. I just found this little guy. I’ve never seen him before, and I haven’t introduced any new plants in a hot minute. What kind of snail is he?? What should I do with him? The tank is going to be for a betta fish in about a month when I take it to college. Any advice?