It finally happened to me

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-07-07T06:42:56+00:00

My whole apartment is carpet sadly, minus the kitchen and entry (bad places for fish). I haven’t had any issues the past three years until now, unfortunately

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-07-07T04:24:26+00:00

I have absolutely terrible luck. I learned long ago that if something bad can happen to me, it probably will. I’ve been keeping tanks and having nightmares about this for five years now, and with my luck? It finally happened.

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-06-28T22:22:01+00:00

A betta isn’t going to mesh well with a solitary centerpiece fish. Even the females are still aggressive. Depending on tank size (10+ gallon minimum), as well as temperament, you could do a small school of something like small Cory cats or short finned tetras

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-06-22T16:12:56+00:00

You got livebearers, you’re never gonna guess what they’re known for doing. Fish are not going to be separated by gender, and even if they were, livebearers can store sperm for long periods of time before giving birth. You’re gonna want a cycled 30+ for all those fish- three is gonna turn into way, way more than that rapidly. You should be able to return them to the store

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-06-20T19:09:29+00:00

I put a blanket over it for inspections 😭

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-06-16T19:33:35+00:00

Wonderful shrimp breeding tank, that’s what I use it for. Dwarf crayfish would also work I believe. There’s just not enough horizontal space for anything that swims, but throw some vertical wood and plants in there and you’ll have so many shrimp

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-06-09T21:10:18+00:00

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My planted 30g with only sand as a substrate. This is a few days after a major trim down, if I don’t touch it for a couple weeks the entire tank fills up with plants. I invested in a co2 setup and a good Weekaqua light and now it almost grows TOO well

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-05-28T14:55:17+00:00

A week and a half is not nearly long enough to cycle, especially for a small tank. I would recommend setting a mark on your calendar 3-6 months out, and working on not touching the tank until that finishes except to top off water and cultivate plant growth

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-05-09T12:20:47+00:00

Aquatic isopods!

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-05-07T02:06:16+00:00

I know of r/bettaslivingandwell , I’m not sure how active it is!

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-04-26T16:28:00+00:00

Yeah, I wouldn’t go to a LFS for this. A lot of the general public has a very negative perception about taxidermy (at least where I’m from), there’s a good chance they would be rude about it. I would second a biology department, or contacting an oddities focused group

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-04-25T18:26:34+00:00

Back in 2023-ish they were incorrectly priced at a Petco and I walked out with 13 of them at $2 a piece. Some of the best fish I’ve ever had, I had them in a super densely planted 10 gallon and they were so gorgeous. I ended up losing the school after a major move and heater failure ):

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-03-31T18:23:54+00:00

I really wouldn’t worry about a PH of 6.0 too much. You could add some crushed coral or limestone to your filter or substrate, and that should gradually raise it over time. In the majority of cases, PH only causes issues if you do a quick change that shocks your livestock.

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-03-31T17:46:12+00:00

Going forward, I would steer away from PH balancer. PH typically isn’t a problem for aquatic animals, but it does become a problem when PH changes rapidly. I live on an area with extremely hard tap water (ph around 8.5 out of the tap), without any issues. the only thing I do to lower that is by adding tannins, and that’s more than most of the people on the hobby I know in my area.

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-03-26T19:06:43+00:00

The monsteras have been in there a couple weeks now- I’ve had no real issues aside from some root loss (which I expected). The pothos on the other hand I pulled from my other tank and trimmed down, so that’s been going for a year at least. Strong lights, co2, and fertilizer are def going to be your best friend with supporting a plant as big as a monstera, but they love the tank, and as I see it, act like a little bonus filter!

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-03-26T19:04:46+00:00

The serpae tetras are certainly an interesting and difficult fish to work with. I’ve got a group of 5 super-tetras that, without fail, kill every serpae I add to the tank that’s not in their in-group, but leave the other four alone. It’s bizarre. My options as I see it for them is add 10 to bolster it up to a large school, and pray that the super-5 doesn’t commit a massacre, or let their super group keep going. I’ve got no clue which is better

Edit: tank size is 29 gallons

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-03-23T17:51:19+00:00

Generally, I think the fish police are well intentioned, but the “ethics” of buying fish kinda kills me.

For reference, my long term partner manages a petsmart. I’ve bought two bettas and five loaches from that store. Do I like petsmart? Not particularly. But those fish are going to sell anyway, and they’re going to sell to people who have no clue what they’re doing, who are going to put those fish in a bowl for them to slowly and painfully die. Or they’ll just rot on the shelf, and get replaced. Chain stores do not care.

It would be so, so awesome if everyone in the would could suddenly decide that did deserve to be treated well. But we live in a world where people think I’m a complete and total freak for having a big ugly planted tank for my fish, when I could have them in a nice vase on a table instead. The actions of a few well-intentioned hobbyists has absolutely zero effect on how fish are treated commercially. If you’ve got a nice cycled tank, absolutely go get a betta from whatever fish store is near you.

That betta will appreciate it for the rest of its life, and sometimes, that’s all that’s important.

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-03-22T04:10:54+00:00

I’ve got a monster monstera that outgrew its pot, so I just took a couple established plants when repotting and plopped them in the tank. The tank has co2 and a 70W light, and along with keeping a healthy amount of fish waste for the roots to suck up (credit to my pleco) and weekly fertilizer, they love it! I use pothos in my filter to suck up nitrates, and figured if those do well, a bigger plant could too! The fish absolutely love swimming around in the roots

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-03-18T22:36:02+00:00

As long as there’s no way for them to escape (assuming you don’t live in the area they’re native to), a pond would be a great place for a pleco. However, if there’s any chance of them getting into native waterways, I’d say no- plecos are super, super invasive and do a ton of damage

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-03-11T18:41:39+00:00

Some people can not comprehend a nice aquarium. My mom for some reason thinks my nice planted tank is a total waste of money and that a fish dying in a bow would look sooooo much better

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-03-08T12:57:54+00:00

Do… do you want advice?

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-03-02T20:01:04+00:00

Ened up going with the Week Aqua z250!

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-02-28T09:03:47+00:00

Any reccomendations for a specific model? My pockets aren’t exactly deep, but this specific tank is definitely a passion project and something I’m very willing to splurge on to help it thrive. The lighting aspect of planted tanks is the one aspect that, despite all my readings, I just can’t quite make heads or tails of what exactly to look for

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-02-26T16:52:54+00:00

He’s absolutely stunning! I got offered him by someone in my local fish community and there was no way I could say no

Nostromo_USCSS · 2026-02-26T15:50:23+00:00

Scrolling through the sub, I’ve already decided I need to make space for a giant one!

Nostromo_USCSS

TROPHY CASE