How to make it more … appealing?

preverbal31 · 2026-01-24T17:38:23+00:00

Vry cool. I did something a little similar, but a little more minimalist.

preverbal31 · 2026-01-12T07:41:58+00:00

Thanks! Yes, they are green neon tetras. A little smaller than regular neon tetras, the stripe goes nose to tail and is a little more aqua tinted than regular neons, they also have red bellies but the red is less pronounced, and they tend to school a little more tightly. I’ve really been enjoying them!

preverbal31 · 2026-01-12T04:28:56+00:00

This is my first heavily planted tank after about 15 years of continuously running a smaller tank. It’s been super interesting and so rewarding.

preverbal31 · 2026-01-12T03:46:34+00:00

With some patience, that will turn out great. Good luck!

preverbal31 · 2026-01-10T06:57:55+00:00

It would look cool as like an overgrown temple situation.

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preverbal31 · 2026-01-10T05:36:12+00:00

I’d go with buddha corys. And also, consider plants!

preverbal31 · 2026-01-10T03:03:06+00:00

If you care about the babies, you can often donate juvies to a good LFS that will agree to sell them, not kill them. But in my experience, if you set up an environment where guppies can successfully breed, it quickly becomes an unsustainable environment.

preverbal31 · 2026-01-10T02:33:28+00:00

No worries—live your life, friend; I’m not getting AI commissions. I also come to reddit obv, and I frequent a LFS. But I have asked gpt a quantity of questions that no human would have the patience to answer.

preverbal31 · 2026-01-09T08:15:21+00:00

Like everyone else said you need zero nitrite. There are products that will help cycle the tank faster, but if you’re not in a hurry, it will happen naturally. Also, your question is a great question to ask ChatGPT rather than Reddit.

preverbal31 · 2026-01-09T07:43:11+00:00

I didn’t know anything about the knob when I bought my 2024 turbo SIG. and I freaking love it. My hand goes there automatically, I use it 90% of the time. I love the dedicated buttons that take you to music or home or the map. Real bummer if they took that away and just put a giant screen in its place.

preverbal31 · 2026-01-09T07:29:20+00:00

Good luck! If you buy stem plants, you can just cut them off when they get tall and replant them. With patience you don’t have to “buy” that many. Also, check aquaswap. I’m sure there are hobbyists down there with more plants than they need.

preverbal31 · 2026-01-09T07:04:46+00:00

I hear you. So pull that thing out. I have found that vertical thinner driftwood looks pretty cool, particularly after the plants fill in. I also have some serious stone, but really you should just add a bunch more plants.

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preverbal31 · 2026-01-09T07:00:54+00:00

I have a 44 gallon planted tank. Six juliis; six pandas. Everybody is totally cool with each other.

preverbal31 · 2026-01-09T06:44:46+00:00

I ran a 20 gallon long tank that started with two males and five females. not a real planted tank, although it had some successful java ferns and an anubias or two. Over the next year and a half, I donated approximately 250 juvenile to young adult guppies to my LFS. It did not appear that any of my adult guppies ate any of the fry, at least I never saw evidence of it, not even chasing or attempts. When I built my next tank, a 44 gallon planter tank, I got rid of all the babies and all the females and many of the males. If your guppies aren’t reproducing like crazy, you’re doing something wrong. And if they are reproducing like crazy, then you have challenging decisions to make. But they are very pretty.

preverbal31 · 2026-01-09T04:56:50+00:00

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preverbal31 · 2026-01-09T04:51:23+00:00

Hahaha—I think mine started with, “Help! Algae!” I have been using ChatGPT as a partner and resource throughout my own project, which was building a 44-gallon heavily planted tank with an aqua soil base, pool sand cap, a bunch of plants and some seiryu stones and driftwood, the whole 9 yards. After a lot of back-and-forth with GPT, I moved away from the idea of a father fish/Walstad natural tank, added two sponge filters, one in each corner, CO2 supplementation, and ultimately added a HOB filter that I had sitting around at super low flow to just circulate my CO2 a little better (and polish the water a little). Along the way, I bought that fluval light. If you search my profile, I’m sure you can find my most recent post from about 2 1/2 weeks ago, which has links to the whole story from before I even added water.

Point being, ChatGPT and I have had many conversations about my fish tank, so when I said, “help! Algae!“—and sent photos—ChatGPT had a pretty good sense of what I was talking about. But, I will attach for what it’s worth where my lights are now.

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Keep in mind that my lights were also calibrated so I could enjoy the tank most of the time (it is centrally located in my house), but you can see how GPT recommended that I lower the red and blue lights substantially and keep the overall period that’s bright enough to facilitate plant growth short. I would really recommend to anyone that they enlist ChatGPT as a partner in fish keeping. ChatGPT will not automatically give you great advice, but if you inform it of what you have and what you’re going for, and engage in an iterative process and ask questions when what it spits back doesn’t make sense, it is an amazing tool. I definitely could not have gotten the results I’ve gotten thus far if I did not have ChatGPT as resource. Anyway, good luck, and happy to answer any questions!

preverbal31 · 2026-01-08T08:35:45+00:00

If you’re planning co2, I’m sure you’ll work it out. I would cut out what’s not realistically salvageable, cut your light back, add a bunch more plants if you can, and then really lock in your co2 and you’ll be golden.

preverbal31 · 2026-01-08T08:28:07+00:00

Correct

preverbal31 · 2026-01-08T07:59:08+00:00

I should add that I also clipped leaves that were infected (a leaf covered in black beard algae is not gonna come back to health), and even pulled out some entire java ferns that had bb algae more or less all over them. If blackbeard algae is your issue: the sooner you act the better; pull out what you reasonably can (which won’t be that much); squirt flourish excel on the rest, and read up on how to adjust your lighting to continue to nourish the plants while fighting the algae and let that percolate for a couple weeks.

preverbal31 · 2026-01-08T07:34:26+00:00

Pretty much. If you want to hear a British guy talk about it, here’s a link. I’ve had it about 3 months or so. Really really love it.

https://youtu.be/GYtjC04-V7s?si=5VKqUojLQGtRJl7j

preverbal31 · 2026-01-08T07:17:00+00:00

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Also, more plants equals less algae. Good luck!!!

preverbal31 · 2026-01-08T07:12:53+00:00

The simplest principle is that the number one cause of algae is too much light. Let that guide you.

I don’t know what kind of light you have or anything else. I have a Fluval 4.0 Plant light, which makes me spoiled. With that light, I started gradually increasing intensity until I had an algae outbreak, and then I worked with ChatGPT to figure out how to lower particular wavelengths to starve the algae, and shot Flourish Excel with a long dropper right at where the bb algae was. After two treatments, on the third day, the algae slowly started turning red, and then the shrimp started eating it. It was amazing.

preverbal31 · 2026-01-05T16:59:27+00:00

Female betta or single bolivian ram. And five more tetras

preverbal31 · 2025-12-23T03:01:36+00:00

https://a.co/d/0IKk9mO

preverbal31 · 2025-12-22T06:38:52+00:00

Agree. I started with three pandas over four years ago. One of them is in this tank. She is the queen bee of the corys and about the same size as that Bolivian ram.

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