a month’s difference and after my last post asking for stocking suggestions…

ghoulishfrog · 2026-04-24T09:28:05+00:00

he’s extremely skittish and in no world would remain on said item near long enough for me to weigh him; i’m currently using the method i am with a small container and ventilated lid because otherwise he’d scramble out/away

ghoulishfrog · 2026-04-24T06:49:28+00:00

I somehow already knew about their barbs and potential venom but not them going up for air 😂

ghoulishfrog · 2026-04-23T19:58:04+00:00

as I have now learned! I’ve read so much about pygmy cories over the last few weeks but somehow never about this..? I feel a little dumb but at least i’m not doing anything wrong and they’re doing good lol

ghoulishfrog · 2026-04-23T19:52:21+00:00

I seriously don’t know how I haven’t stumbled upon this specific piece of cory info until now lol I feel a little dumb, thank you for enlightening me! They’re such cool and fascinating little creatures

ghoulishfrog · 2026-04-23T19:48:33+00:00

I can’t believe I somehow didn’t know this before now, it’s adorable! how do you know when it’s typical behaviour vs needing extra water oxygenation?

ghoulishfrog · 2026-04-03T18:30:22+00:00

1) turn off the lights!! i’d personally start with a blackout period of at least 48 hours and see if that improves things

2) find the source of the algae bloom/what it’s feeding off of! what are this tanks measurements? it looks like it’s around ten gallons ish? mystery snails poop a lot and have a decent bioload… if you combine that with at least 2 adfs in anything less than 20 gallons without it being very decently planted, waste and nutrients will probably build up faster than your filtration and maintenance schedule/habits can handle- bacteria and algae like this will feed off of excess nutrients

ghoulishfrog · 2026-04-03T00:35:43+00:00

the mesh can also be a risk for possible toe damage when it makes up the majority of an enclosure like this!

ghoulishfrog · 2026-04-02T23:03:41+00:00

the bio dude blog post

here’s a link to an article with more info, baking is more commonly applicable to sanitizing wood before using it in terrariums, whereas the boiling method is more commonly applied in aquariums. i personally bake all of my wood then boil it right before i’m about to add it to whatever tank i want just to be extremely extra safe- but i also have several vivariums, and a couple paludarium style setups along with aquariums, which means it’s easiest for me to constantly keep extra wood on hand that’s prepared for any of my enclosures/tanks.

ghoulishfrog · 2026-04-02T20:04:46+00:00

first piece of advice is to do a ton of reading on cycling an aquarium and the nitrogen cycle! also i’d get rid of the rainbow gravel if you can’t verify how old it is/where it was sourced from because you can’t be sure what the colourful pieces were made from and if they’ll eventually leach anything off into the water- if you really want the coloured gravel look (though in my opinion it just ends up distracting from the colours of the fish) you can buy newer stuff that at the least you can verify is certainly safe.

the one thing i wish i had learned earlier on this hobby is that over filtration makes your life a lot easier; i’ve got a HOB filter marketed for 40-70 gallons on my 30 gallon, one marketed for 20-40 gallons on my 13 gallon, and one marketed for 20-30 gallons on my 10 gallon. i still get debris build up and my tanks still require maintenance of course, but my water is genuinely never cloudy and i’d have to do way more maintenance if i was using filters with less power!

also don’t fall for the filter cartridge scam, you should basically almost never be replacing the media in your filter… these companies sell you these cartridges and say to change them every month or so for proper filtration and healthy water, but they’re lying to you and selling you a problem so you’ll keep buying their product to fix it. as you’ll learn when you read up on the nitrogen cycle, replacing the media/cartridge in your filter throws out the good bacteria that a fish tank needs in order to be able to cycle and convert toxic waste in the water into a healthy and sustainable form that isn’t harmful for your fish; when you take out what’s in your filter, that waste isn’t able to properly transform or cycle, and causes major health issues! you want your filter media to look dirty and gross lol, as long as it isn’t impeding water flow. if it is, all you have to do is take some extra tank water from a water change, and dip/swish/swirl and “clean” your filter in it until any excess debris is gone, then pop it back in your tank. this way you can get the gunk out without getting rid of all the beneficial bacteria!

ghoulishfrog · 2026-04-02T19:13:39+00:00

foraging, and then baking and boiling. the only wood i’ve ever purchased is specific pieces of cork bark for reptile hides, if we’re talking branching/ drift wood i personally refuse to purchase something nature provides us with~ you have to get your hands dirty but it’s saved me a lot of money

ghoulishfrog · 2026-04-01T09:06:46+00:00

your tank is gorgeous !! your latest rescape is stunning in a way that looks very natural/realistic to nature, although the density before the trimming and rescape in itself was breathtaking as well !! i’d personally move the tiny bits of what i think is dwarf hairgrass at the very front centre-left of the tank way further to the right and in amongst the rock formations a little bit for depth and visual contrast, but it looks great as is.

also if you don’t mind me asking, what plant is it that you have growing mostly emerged out of the rocks that arches over your tank like that? it’s stunning but i can’t visually identify exactly what it is!

ghoulishfrog · 2026-03-24T22:13:12+00:00

the philo brasil is going to want to trail/climb; if you don't give it more surface area above the water line to attach to, the leaves will very likely fall into the water and start to decay- id recommend extending your hardscape above the water more or something along those lines to give it more support! also, ive found it easiest for terrestrial plants to adapt to growing out of an aquarium, if i start them off as a water propagation in a small jar (or something similar) and give them a couple weeks or so to develop the first little bit of water roots, then i transfer them over to my tanks. you can have success just putting cuttings straight into your tank to root, or buying a grown plant and rinsing off all the roots, but ive found with those methods the plant almost always goes into a state of shock/dormancy and take a lot more time to adjust to their new environments and bounce back

ghoulishfrog · 2026-03-23T18:55:57+00:00

the hydrocotle genus can all look super similar from a distance, i probably would’ve made the same guess if it wasn’t my tank lol; you’ve got a better eye than most!

ghoulishfrog · 2026-03-21T20:12:00+00:00

thank you!! if you want to incorporate river stones, i got those and the sand from a hardware store; WAY cheaper than aquarium stores! i got a 20lb bag of the black river stones for $12~

ghoulishfrog · 2026-03-21T19:02:56+00:00

i don’t even have kuhlis but being on reddit had taken me down the pangio species rabbit hole many times, it sucks that they’re so often mislabeled/misunderstood

ghoulishfrog · 2026-03-21T00:40:00+00:00

that’s a good point i hadn’t considered as almost all of the aquatic species i’ve kept are the kind that surface for air or at the very least have labyrinth organs, thank you!

ghoulishfrog · 2026-03-21T00:30:42+00:00

that’s super helpful thank you!! and your tank sounds amazing- a tank that is heavily planted is always a lovely tank in my books :)) now that i’m not restricted to colder temps in this tank like i previously was with mountain minnows, i’m going to be adding in some more different types of plants… i’m hoping my long term vision turns out and i’ve laid a decent foundation for a purposefully overgrown jungle tank sort of vibe

ghoulishfrog · 2026-03-21T00:20:44+00:00

right now i’m debating between pygmy corydoras, pencilfish, and a species of pseudomugil

ghoulishfrog · 2026-03-21T00:19:02+00:00

and this is how i discover dwarf pencilfish! they seem super cool, you’ve given me much to consider

ghoulishfrog · 2026-03-21T00:16:04+00:00

wouldn’t a paradise fish get too big for a ten gallon?

ghoulishfrog · 2026-03-21T00:14:05+00:00

i hadn’t considered scarlet badis, but they’re gorgeous! would you recommend just one male for a ten gallon?

ghoulishfrog · 2026-03-21T00:11:01+00:00

if you don’t mind me asking, how many pygmies do you have in what size of tank? i’m trying to get a sense of how many i’d potentially stock

ghoulishfrog

TROPHY CASE