There's always learning involved

[SarahBeth]

Well I had gotten two pleco's. They were beautiful. But two full size common (maybe sailfin) was too much for my 65 gallon tank. Not only were they pooping up a **** storm but what I learned is that they will fight when full grown. So I rehomed them. After telling a few people no I found a guy with a 600 gallon tank that wanted them.

So now the search for the right pleco. I think I have found it. Lemon Blue Eyed Bristlenose. Just one. If I need more tank cleaners I'll get more shrimp.

Now the fun. We did a water change a few days before going on vacation. Everything was good. But the kids over fed them and the tank looked like a nuclear holocaust hit and the ammonia alert turned color. So I just spent over an hour vacuuming and I took out the plastic plants to rinse all the left over food off of them. I'm gonna let it run for a couple hours and then do a water change and filter change. My daughter is gonna have the fish girl order the pleco when they do their ordering Thursday. But I will water test Wednesday just to make sure things are all good.

Next I'm gonna get more real plants and chuck the plastic ones. For those of you with shrimp what plants are good for fry to hide in? I'm not trying to breed them so a separate tank is not an option but they do it all on their own and I'd like to give them a place to hide.

 

[Naughts]

Fine leaved plants are good for baby (cherry?) shrimp.
moss - any including marimo
water sprite or similar
floating plants with roots.

 

[SarahBeth]

Currently I have ghost shrimp.

 

[Tacocat]

Well I had gotten two pleco's. They were beautiful. But two full size common (maybe sailfin) was too much for my 65 gallon tank. Not only were they pooping up a **** storm but what I learned is that they will fight when full grown. So I rehomed them. After telling a few people no I found a guy with a 600 gallon tank that wanted them.

So now the search for the right pleco. I think I have found it. Lemon Blue Eyed Bristlenose. Just one. If I need more tank cleaners I'll get more shrimp.

Now the fun. We did a water change a few days before going on vacation. Everything was good. But the kids over fed them and the tank looked like a nuclear holocaust hit and the ammonia alert turned color. So I just spent over an hour vacuuming and I took out the plastic plants to rinse all the left over food off of them. I'm gonna let it run for a couple hours and then do a water change and filter change. My daughter is gonna have the fish girl order the pleco when they do their ordering Thursday. But I will water test Wednesday just to make sure things are all good.

Next I'm gonna get more real plants and chuck the plastic ones. For those of you with shrimp what plants are good for fry to hide in? I'm not trying to breed them so a separate tank is not an option but they do it all on their own and I'd like to give them a place to hide.

What fish do you have in your tank? You mention a 65 gal with currently only shrimp that is mentioned and a potential pleco. Are there other fish in the tank? You should take them into consideration when you redo the plants.

Also why are you changing the filter?

 

[Corypower]

I find Java fern a very good plant

 

[SarahBeth]

Good news. The tank is back to good parameters including ammonia. I had the store my daughter works at hold the plecos I ordered but they unfortunately died at the store.