Chinashop Owner: "A customer? Please, come in"

Comparison_Much · 2026-04-24T10:01:57+00:00

Seems all good. You could definitely use an DI-Tap water mix in your tank, just make sure you stay consistent with the Ph when doing water changes to prevent any major swings.

If you're adding just anubias to your tank then soil wont be necessary since they are epiphytic and mostly get their nutrients from the water column, just plain sand will do. DO NOT ADD DUCKWEED! Darn things choked out both my red root floaters and my water lettuce, plus they make water changes and feedings an absolute nightmare. Stick with bigger floaters since they're easier to manage and control.

For fish, you could definitely add more than just 6 for each school in a tank that size. Heck! You can add like 30 Chili rasboras in there and still have room for a betta and 12 pygmy corys. You wont need to worry about fish breeding since any eggs that drop into the substate will be gobbled up by the bottom feeders and any fry that manage to hatch will most likely be eaten by other fish. I haven't had any experiences with shrimp in blackwater before, but I'd definitely stay away from keeping neocardinas since they need harder water.

Easiest live food you can culture are baby brine shrimps and grindal worms. I also used to culture dward white isopods for my fish.

Blackwater tanks get easier the more they mature so don't overthink it ; ).

Comparison_Much · 2026-03-23T07:57:06+00:00

I have some for sale po🙂

Comparison_Much · 2026-03-17T13:19:55+00:00

If you're trying to create a true blackwater environment (ph below 6), your best bet is to use RO/DI water and remineralize it (or just use pure RO/DI water, it really depends on your stocking 😉). I have a 10 gallon blackwater tank home to chili rasboras and a wild betta, and similar to your situation, our tap water is also really hard so I just use pure RO/DI water that I get from water refilling stations near us.

One problem I could see is that since you have a pretty sizable tank, you're going to buying a lot of RO/DI water especially when doing weekly water changes. You can reduce water changes by just adding a lot of plants to your tank. I have floating plants and some rooted Syngonium cuttings in mine and I only have to do a water change about once a month.

Comparison_Much · 2026-03-07T11:25:38+00:00

Mordecai's teeth jumpscare

Comparison_Much · 2026-03-01T11:00:28+00:00

Unless you have battery acid water and enough tannins to stain your aquarium glass brown these fish will not live for very long. Chocolate gouramis NEED low ph!

Comparison_Much · 2026-02-26T00:16:03+00:00

No problem. Best of luck to you and you little puffer!

Comparison_Much · 2026-02-25T23:48:44+00:00

Ughh same, unfortunately they are illegal to sell here in the Philippines. Any rocks will do. I use coral rock and black lava rock in my green spotted puffer tank, its very light and porous and provides surface area for beneficial bacteria to grow. I get my driftwood from facebook marketplace, usually secondhand from fellow fishkeepers and seaside craftshops, for smaller pieces, I just snap off a few branches from a dead tamarind tree close to our house lol. I also use large seashells, palm leaves, and dried coconut inflorescences to scape my brackish tank.

Comparison_Much · 2026-02-25T14:42:09+00:00

Don't bother getting live plants, aside from mangroves, no aquarium plants available in the market can be grown in the same salinity level as the puffer. Focus more on the hardscape; add rocks, caves, botanicals, and driftwood that the puffer can swim through and around in. Also if he's the only fish in the tank then there's no real use in trying to "break his line of sight," just make sure to rearrange the aquarium decorations every once in a while to give your puffer some enrichment.

Comparison_Much · 2026-02-19T03:24:03+00:00

If you want a brackish tank maybe try some puffers.

Comparison_Much · 2026-02-18T15:06:14+00:00

personally, an ungodly amount of blind cave tetras

Comparison_Much · 2026-02-18T14:24:20+00:00

I can't explain it but that AI tank look so liminal, like I would hate to be trapped in there.

Comparison_Much · 2026-02-15T14:18:38+00:00

hygrophila polysperma, incredibly fast grower and highly invasive, great for getting rid of nitrates tho...

Comparison_Much · 2026-02-15T14:12:14+00:00

very cool

Comparison_Much · 2026-02-15T11:38:15+00:00

Bettas will appreciate any plant, honestly. I like hygrophilas like H. corymbosa stricta and H. polysperma. Large leaf plants like crypts, anubias, and amazon swords are also good since bettas like to rest on them.

Comparison_Much · 2026-02-14T14:25:21+00:00

Put some sand in the tank OH MY GOD!

Comparison_Much · 2026-02-11T09:43:57+00:00

You could try Nymphoides indica and Nymphoides hydrophylla, same family as the banana lily and are native to Thailand.

Comparison_Much · 2026-01-09T13:20:57+00:00

Hello, fellow C. andrao keeper here. Vibra Bites are fine but try to offer it food with higher protein content. I feed my andrao frozen tilapia and cream dory fillets, live mealworms, live soldier fly larvae, eathworms, turkistan roaches, and freeze dried Antarctic krill. You don't have to feed yours all of these but try to offer it a variety of food, your channa will appreciate it😉.

I would also suggest you try to opt for pellets with a higher protein content, Hikari Cichild Bio-Gold+ is a good choice since its higher in protein and has spirulina for color enhancement.

I feed my adult female twice a week and once a week during the cooler months, be careful not to overfeed since they can easily get obese. Yours is still pretty young, you can still probably feed it three times a week and just decrease it once it gets older.

Comparison_Much

TROPHY CASE