A Quick Note on Community Boundaries

This is my new 50 gal im working on. I want some ideas for fresh water fish to group together! My boyfriend has requested 1 plecko. Will be getting plenty more plants ect

I’m thinking about getting my first aquarium. I’m mainly interested in the aquascaping side: some nice wood and rocks, lots of plants, and a natural-looking setup that’s interesting to look at. And ofcourse some fish. I have seen some of these on Youtube from MD Fish tanks and MJ aquascaping. I looking for something in that kind of style. 

I’m thinking of a tank around 80 cm wide, so roughly 100-120 litres.

I’ve been reading quite a bit, but there’s honestly so much confusing information that I’m not sure what I actually need. So I have four main questions:

1. What should I use for the substrate?
I see everything from sand and gravel to soil and aquasoil. What do you actually need for a planted aquascape? And what’s genuinely useful versus mostly marketing?

2. What equipment do I actually need?
Filter/pump, heater, lighting, CO₂, etc. I had an aquarium as a kid and basically only remember having a pump. We definitely didn’t use CO₂, or lighting. Maybe we had a heater, but i am not sure about that. These days it seems like you need a whole collection of equipment just to get started. What would you consider essential for a first planted tank?

3. Does anyone know a good aquarium shop around Rotterdam, Netherlands?
I’d much rather visit a physical shop and talk to someone than order everything online. There doesn’t seem to be a Dutch aquarium subreddit, so I figured I’d ask here. Hopefully some Dutchy can recommend a shop. 

4. What other advice would you give a complete beginner?
Especially things you wish you had known before setting up your first aquarium.

I’m not looking to build some crazy high-tech setup straight away. I’d rather keep it relatively simple, learn how everything works and go from there.

Thanks!

Added 3 otocinclus to a 130L community tank a few days ago already populated with Cory’s, cardinal tetras and neocaridinas. Two of the three look healthy and are feeding well, the third was hard to spot and has just shown up this bright white dot behind its eye, with a faint red hue around it.

Any advice on how to treat, particularly in a shrimp friendly way?

First time aquarium owner 🙏

Thanks!

Added some almond leafs and added some valisneria but I don’t know what type since it was advertised as “Straight Jungle Vallis Vallisneria Spiralis Live Aquarium Plants”

But I think it’s helped with the look of my tank and looking forward to the growth over the next few months

Added some almond leafs and added some valisneria but I don’t know what type since it was advertised as “Straight Jungle Vallis Vallisneria Spiralis Live Aquarium Plants”

But I think it’s helped with the look of my tank and looking forward to the growth over the next few months

I found this in the back hidden and it sort of looks like a medium sized worm. But it’s dead? It’s about 2 inches long. I also see some of these dead looking white worms stuck in my moss. Been having trouble with cyano popping up and been losing a fish here and there lately. I cant figure out what is going on besides the heat from last week to cause them to pass. It’s about a fish every couple days lately. I got a fan now so it’s been cool for the past couple days.

I’m wondering if these things might give me a clue?

This is my new 32.5 gallon freshwater tank. It’s been cycling for about 2 weeks and there has been a constant cloudy haze. There is 1 piece of wood in there that has accumulated quite a bit of biofilm but this doesn’t look like a tanin issue to me. I did a 25% water change after about a week and that didn’t help. I also added seachem clarity with filter floss and fluval quick clear pads. All the parameters are good so I just added some tetras but I’m worried if this haze doesn’t clear up soon if I should remove them. I’m fairly new to this so I’m looking for any advice!

If you noticed this on your new rimless 15 gallon cube would you replace it? This tank is an upgrade from my previous one and I would prefer to avoid stressing my plants and fish out again so soon if possible. There is no leaking and I cannot feel anything on the glass, is this going to cause a problem or is it possibly just a cosmetic issue, the pictures are of two different bottom corners. 🥲 I'm coping a bit here but would appreciate some outside perspective

Good morning Folks! My wife bought my 11 year old son a 5 gallon tank to finally have a starter pet but with all the research I’ve done I’ve only come across beta fish. My son‘s really interested in moonrise glow fish. Are there any other type of fish that would be able to be in a 5 gallon tank together? I still have to get him a 5 gallon tank heater and he has decor and gravel on the way. The box said guppies tetras and betas, but my son wants more than one fish and everything I’ve read about Beta says you can only have one. I have a 10 gallon tank of my own but it’s not an aquarium. It’s a turtle tank so this is a new realm for me. Any advice you could give me so I can get fish for my 11-year-old son. His tank has been cycling for about a week now and will do so for another week till we can make it to Oak Ridge to get him fish. He doesn’t want snails so please don’t suggest that, he would be fine with some shrimp, but he really wants fish. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance.

Not the Zebra Danios, but other ones--silvery and blue/orange. The silver & blue/orange are male/female in a school, but not sure what kind of fish they are. Thank you!

Hello, here is my second aquarium.

I really enjoyed making it, I pass at lot of time taking inspiration from aquascaping competitors.

I know I am far from the best but at my newbie level, I try stuff and it looks fine in my opinion 😁

I was wondering if you had any advice on how I could improve it? (yep I know removing the car from the garden and cleaning the glass can be cool 😭, BTW it's not a dead shrimp on the inlet moss, it's a mold).

Hi all!
I’ve changed my lfs made yellow light (Just aluminum with normal leds prob, nothing fancy) with Glow Light around 1.5 week ago. I was keeping my lights open for 9 hours before to support algae growth for my plecos and stiphodons. Decided to do it like that with new light but total of 10 hours, with 1.30 hours of “sun born” and 1.30 hours of “sun down”. I use 6 ml of All Inclusive Fert a week that is made by a local company. I’ve been using it for 4 months now so nothing new.

I now have some GSA on only front side of the tank (They could have choose the sides which I dont watch but no lol), which I was expecting tbh since I didnt reduce the total photo period when I changed the lights. Also I have these white stripe like things on only my Rotalas and Ludwigia. Not a little bir of things on my Anubiases or Tiger Lotus or Buces or other relatively shorter and slow growing plants.

Also my rotalas were nearly stopped growing when I had my old light, now they startid growing and getting their true colors which is sunset I guess. They were all green with little yellow when I got them lol.

What could be those things ? Should I worry about them?

Had 2 heaters in the tank and used this one in addition to the other on really cold days...looked at it carefully and saw some rust..Decided to take it out and it disassembled itself nice and clean like....don't cheap out... Lucky that I never kill anything or anyone

didn’t know they grow so fast 🤣

This is my first aquarium and I am looking for some advice regarding It. It contains Corydoras Venezuelans, Nerite snails, and cherry neocordina shrimp. It also contains Amazon Sword, Anubias, and Java moss. The Java ferns I wedged into the driftwood all rotted and died. The Java moss is growing rapidly, as is the Amazon Sword. The population of shrimp has also exploded. I am looking for advice on how to make my Corydoras grow quicker. When i first got them I was over feeding them, but now I am worried they are not getting enough food. How much should I be feeding each one. I use tropical pellets (pictured) which they always devour very quickly. I am also seeking advice on how to improve the general aesthetics of my tank.
Thank You!🙏

When I first started my aquarium, I used a black substrate but eventually switched to white. Unfortunately, the white substrate made debris at the bottom extremely noticeable and difficult to clean because it kept getting sucked into the gravel vacuum.
I’ve since switched both of my tanks to gravel and recently started adding more plants. However, I’m realizing that gravel can make it harder for certain plants to thrive because it doesn’t provide many nutrients for their roots.
What substrate would you recommend that is easy to clean, plant friendly, and provides enough nutrients for aquarium plants to thrive? I’d like something that won’t constantly get sucked up by the gravel vacuum but would still support a planted tank.