Caryl

I think it is more that you have to be careful what type of food you put in the auto dispensers. Flake can get damp and clump together and block the feeder. If you have someone clearing the letterbox or feeding other animals, get a pill container that divides into single days and put the right amount in each section with intructions to feed the fish from the right compartment on the right day. Hide all other fish food.

The cory didn't seem stressed but those loaches do. Are the water parameters OK for them?

Some corys will hover more than others for some reason. Yours looks fine to me. I have 2 loaches and one spends a lot more time closer to the surface than the other one does. You might find it is just settling in and behaviour might change over time.

I started with luncheon as I got my worms from Alanmin4304 and that was what he had been feeding them but they are now chowing down on southern grain McKenzie bread :roll: . They can plough through half a thick crust in 3 days or less. I think I might need to split mine too as I think I now may have too many in the box.

Without something buffering it, the pH will just swing wildly if you add stuff like pH Up or Down and this will be worse for the fish than a steady but high pH. Leave it as the fish seem OK. Driftwood will drop the pH a bit, as will a bag of natural peat tucked behind a rock or in a filter.

Pinching filter media from an established tank is an excellent way to help the bacteria. As to photography, as much light in the tank as possible, turn the room lights off, use a tripod or sit the camera on something solid.

It's always exciting to see your first fry. Hopefully you will find more tonight. Not to worry if you don't though as you don't want to be over-run with them.

I don't think it really matters. You have goldfish and wcmm in there so keep posting under coldwater if you want.

No, it is sub tropical. To me, coldwater is below at least 18C if not 16C

Do you not have any live plants in your tank burbler?

I always held it against the white bit.

My leopardfish always seemd happiest at the lower temps

My Africans happily lived and bred in 7 - 7.2pH

I have always held the test tube against the white background.

I have 3 books here that state, for leopardfish... 16 - 20C 18 - 24C and 25C :roll:

Snail eggs. Got live plants in there? They will have come in on them. Not apple snail eggs.

Hi and welcome.

Easy to test if it is the gravel. Put some in water and test daily.

It also depends on what fish (and size) you keep

I know some people get the black polythene (from farm supply stores) that farmers use for their dams.

I agree with Ian and wonder if there is something decomposing under the filter plate.

I have bred fish over the years but never tried breeding nets :lol:

She is using fish - goldfish.

Nice driftwood. If I may make a suggestion, I would move the left (as you look at it) end of the driftwood back a bit (if you can) and/or swing the right end a little more to the front so it is on a bit of an angle. Make the tank look a little deeper.

When you buy a test kit you use a sample of half the little test tubes provided so you only need a small amount to take to the lfs. Got any old film canisters? Half fill one of them and it will be plenty. What sort of gravel do you have? When we first started fish keeping we chose a lovely deep reddish aquarium gravel from the garden centre (don't have any lfs here). Our pH kept going up to 8.0 and we couldn't work out why. Turned out the gravel was meant for Afrikan set-ups and was designed to raise the pH! The shop assistants had no idea :roll: A high pH is better than one that is going up and down like yours is as a result of all the water changes.