Who Gives A Fish Forums

Another thing to consider is the hose diameter. Thicker hoses reduce resistance, so if you're extending, maybe upgrade to a wider diameter. My setup uses 5/8 inch hoses instead of the standard 1/2 inch, and it helps maintain flow.

I'm not the most experienced person here, but I have a hunch that the substrate change might have stirred up some trouble. When you disturbed the substrate, you might have released some residue or even poisonous gases, which could have triggered a mini cycle and caused the stringy algae to appear. I ...

I'm so excited, my Java fern has little ones. Exactly what Burgermuncher and happyone said, they're developing on the leaf undersides.

Morocco, my Veil Tail, is quite the character - red with these lovely purple bits here and there. He's entertaining to watch, but I wouldn't say he's what you'd call "playful". He doesn't flare up unless he's in a bad mood for some reason, yet he always swims up to greet me.

He's quite the predator ...

Unfortunately I'm not much help with cichlids, not my area of expertise. Maybe @Emeflakedsea can offer some advice though.

This LFS is really nice, Aquarium Zen is the name and it's all about planted aquariums.

My other LFS used to keep their Bettas in one-gallon jars and I've seen similar behavior in those.

They're not picking up the cups at all. The movement I'm talking about is when he tries to swim around inside the cup. The display has air tubes going to each cup, similar to what I've seen at my LFS.

I stopped by my LFS to check on that forlorn Betta I'd seen before, hoping to give it a new home. Unfortunately, it had passed away, so I began browsing the other ones. One in particular caught my eye - its behavior was quite unique, and I'm curious if anyone else has observed this. It would rest on ...

I'd suggest easing up on the cleaning and filtering. Let the nitrates build up a bit, around 10ppm but under 20ppm, see if that makes a difference. These plants get their nutrients from the water column, not the substrate.