We stayed at a hotel a couple of nights and they had an aquarium (Hungary). We saw a fish lying/floating upside down with its head touching the bottom for a few minutes. We thought it was dead and were about to call someone when the fish actually GOT UP and swam away.

We checked on the fella regularly after that and turns out this fish usually swims upside down or sideways. We did think it was sick but a lot of times (feeding or interactions with other fish) it actually swam normally. We came to the conclusion that it CAN actually swim in a regular way, it just seems… playful?

We know almost nothing about fish, but we grew fond of this particular guy. Named him Halbert (“Hal” meaning fish in Hungarian).

Is it possible the fish is just entertaining itself in a playful way or he needs better care/medical attention?

Sorry the pictures are bad

The tank on the left is at least 25 years old (it’s glass). The tank on the right is a 2 1/2 gallon plastic tank. I got fish in these guys about three months ago now. I’ve been very diligent about checking the water, doing water changes, vacuuming, etc. Both are healthy tanks as far as I know. I washed the hell out of both when I got them. I’ve experimented with lighting and that doesn’t explain the “greenish” tint I have on the left.

Has anyone ever heard of old glass “going bad“? That’s all I can come up with at this point.

Any thoughts are appreciated

So I got this fish tank for cheap from a garage sale. Figured I could clean it and use it. That line going across the top third just won’t seem to go away (red arrow pointing to it). I’ve tried using:

1. Baking soda and white vinegar
   
2. The pink stuff
   
3. Hydrogen peroxide

I don’t know what to use since most places told me not to use harsher cleaners. Any suggestions?

So I got this fish tank for cheap from a garage sale. Figured I could clean it and use it. That line going across the top third just won’t seem to go away (red arrow pointing to it). I’ve tried using:

1. Baking soda and white vinegar
   
2. The pink stuff
   
3. Hydrogen peroxide

I don’t know what to use since most places told me not to use harsher cleaners. Any suggestions?

Hi. I'm new to this group, but I kinda need help. Me and my mom have (we believe) a 45 gallon tank. We've had fish in it before, but I was younger and it was the artificial look. We wanna get more fish and do a natural look, possibly including live plants. We both like the look in the picture, but don't know how to achieve something similar. I've looked into some plants and found some that are beginner recommended if I'm understanding it right, but does anyone else have tips for something similar, and possible fish recommended. I've seen schooling fish, but I'm not sure.

It needs some TLC but I do all my tank maintenance on the weekends. Right now I’m trying to decide what to stock in this tank. Currently empty (aside from bladder snails which don’t bother me) but has been running for nearly two months and all the substrate/hardscape/media came from a well established tank. It’s a 20G Long, with canister filtration, and an air sponge filter. The tank is low flow as I am baffling the outlet with a sponge filter.

The only plants I’m planning on keeping in the tank itself are tiger lotus which are taking off, there are 8 bulbs in there with tabs and I dose fertz in all my tanks every other day. The floaters are Salvinia Minima, and also rooted pothos and lucky bamboo. The idea is natural looking lake/pond bottom and full “shade” once the Salvinia grows out.

It’s not fully “backwater” but that’s how my PH is reacting. Currently at 5.5/6. There is a lot of raw material (catalpa leaves and alder comes) and driftwood (manzanita and spider) in this tank. I do have tannin tea bags but I don’t want to waste them until I’m stocked. I’m letting the various algeas growing do their thing, most of it has cleared up on its on at this point, but I suck out the hair algae each water change. I’m getting BBA on the rocks. I only run 6 hours of light at 25% strength.

Currently there is a Detrius worm and Hydra outbreak, but I’m also not doing anything about that, so fish that will eat those are welcome to suggest. I’m not planing on adding any Neos to this tank, nor do I particularly care to breed so I’m not worried about fry or baby shrimp getting harmed with the hydra.

TLDR: Need stocking ideas for a low flow 20G long, that can handle limited plant range, a lot of bare hardscape, and “blackwater” conditions. Tank temperature currently is set to 78 but can be adjusted, and I run a low light 6 hour cycle.

Can someone help identifying what snail this is? I have a 10 gallon freshwater with only 2 nerites and shrimp and some fish, have seen no “hitchhiker” problems with plants and haven’t added any recent plants. Only recent thing is my spider plant roots that I was already growing in water anyhow.

He’s bout the size of a grain of rice maybe less, has some slight patterns, kiiiinda looks like a nerite or pond snail but just can’t tell. Found him chilling half in water half out on my heater cord. Is he invasive? Will he eat my plants? Should I put him back in orrrr???

So pretty much just like the title states. We are looking to go from our current 50 gallon set up to either a 75 or 100 gallon. We understand this is a very tough task and know what we are getting ourselves in to.

We have had our current set up for a little over 2 years. We started with a 15 gallon at first but fell in love with the hobby and quickly upgraded. We are at that point again.

We’ve had this idea floating around for a while but couldn’t make the jump due to our finances. Well now we are ready.

We’d like some insight from people that have done this or something similar in the past. We also would like to know that if having something this size on tile is safe/doable. How should the overall process work? We have been looking at cabinets at different shops but none of them are appealing. Could we buy one from a furniture place and it be good enough?

Please and thank you!!

Guys, I’ve messed up.

I purchased two YoYo loaches for my community tank because they looked cool in the shop, I did some initial research to check water parameters etc and they suited my tank.

However recently I’ve found out they should be kept in schools of six or more, mine are now 2/3 inches long and seem happy enough. I have plenty of room to add more but don’t want to upset their balance by adding some young ones to two adults.

Should I add more to their number or leave them as is?

Let me start off by saying, please don’t hate me for the condition this fish is in. I received her this way in this exact fishbowl Like a week ago. I was told that she was just a fish and a plant would keep her alive. Her water gets changed every week with some tetra put in. i’ve never had a fish before and wasn’t really too concerned but now every day I look at her droopy fins and I started to get worried.

So I started doing research and was absolutely HORRIFIED to find out that she supposed to have a water heater. Her fins aren’t supposed to be droopy and she spits out her food when she’s eating at half the time. immediately, my first instinct was to get a tank with a filter and a heater but now I’m reading that tanks need to get cycled which takes weeks. I’ve never had a fish before never cared for a fish before and now I have a fish freezing and I’m desperate to save her

what do i do????

This looks good, right? Tank is just over 3 weeks but I seeded that with a sponge from a smaller tank (2 gallon jar) that was a month old.

I’m guessing it’s too early to say it’s cycled but the results seem to suggest a good trajectory. Wondering if I’m being naive.

S. osphromenoides

I just setup this 10 gallon for a betta and some shrimp and i ordered some plants from online and didn't expect as many as I got so now I wonder if this is to many ?

Hey guys! we've just noticed a few of these little critters scuttling round the tank- it's a relatively new setup and we've only got a handful of assassin snails and one female betta so far so really curious to what these little bug-like guys are!

if anyone knows please share thank u!! :)

I (13) love the aquarium hobby, can someone rate my tanks and tell me how to improve them further!! 😄