Butterfly Hillstream Loach Care - Magnificent

Aquarium hillstream loach Care is easy as long as you have some algae in your tank. Adequate flow is also important. Feed algae wafers if you can’t grow algae.

Additional fish tank madness:
If this is a new tank, don’t change the water. Just get a sponge or filter cartridge from an established tank and add it to this tank. In the past we could ask the local pet store to wring out a sponge into an empty fish bag and you add that to the tank to seed the nitrifying bacteria. You will have almost an instant cycle.

Doesn't look cycled. Add prime as you want the nitrite and ammonia in there to culture more bacteria to make them into nitrate. Prime will bind to those compounds and make them non toxic to your fish but still consumable by plants and bacteria. When it was fresh, I got rid of my co2 after my friend killed my fish when looking after them, she unplugged the air pump because she couldn’t sleep (face palm).

Reef tanks is what we do at work there is definately no high tech fresh tanks as advanced as these. Small tanks are nice but never really see them set up nicely for long term (3yrs+). Im talking about acro tanks with apex controllers etc. It can be done. It just takes a good amount of maintenance and work. High tech is more expensive but takes less time weekly. I spend 30 minutes a week and do no water changes. I have done both. I yearned for high tech the whole time doing low. If you watch YouTube videos of the top guys doing it how in the world could you be content with just anubias and Java ferns?? Jump in and learn as you go. Even experienced scapers struggle with each tank because each tank present it's own set of issues. It's all part of the fun.

I prefer to relax next to a thriving aquarium. I do maintenance but I prefer to just sit back and space out watching the fish swim around. I've got a Raspberry Pi hooked up to my tank, temp sensor and camera currently. Working on PH and solenoid for CO2, etc. Want to get rid of all the timers and control everything in Python. Is that high tech enough for you?

I'm thinking of doing this for my tank, did you write your own scripts or found them already written? Skye Blue Traverse i started one for the arduino with dosing and it took hours to get things working and some things just did not want to work with others but maybe on the PI it would be easier i never did finish my project. Skye Blue Traverse i started one for the arduino with dosing and it took hours to get things working and some things just did not want to work with others but maybe on the PI it would be easier i never did finish my project.

I've used filter sand, black sand, and Flourite. Chemistry-wise, I found no obvious difference between them. Looks-wise, I settled on the filter sand as my favorite. The color can vary from light to dark, and the last batch I got was the color of medium-dark beach sand. Ada aquasoil, hands down. They have a few kinds. I have used the Amazonia and the Africana. Both work great. I do really love the black substrate but that is just my opinion.

If I were you, I’d save yourself the hassle and go straight with ADA aquasoil. There is none better in my experience. If your going medium or low tech you could get the Africana so you don’t have to wait for the ammonia to leech out. I have left many of plants alone for months on end with only topping water off. Although the water looks bad and is not ideal for the plants, they sure do grow well. Hope this helps.

I have been able to save money on canister filters and lighting but I do not ever regret going high end on substrates. ADA aquasoil. My 75 gallon. It has been set up just over a year and my plants love it. biofilm. It'll eventually go away on it's own. Not sure how long it takes. But a lot of fish and invertebrates will eat it. My ramshorn snails had mine completely cleared of it in a couple of days.

Eh a week, maybe a month? Just depends on the piece of wood. The spider wood I usually use takes like 2-3 weeks but it can depend on the individual piece.

This type of buildup is totally normal and harmless. I believe it’s caused by a type of bacterial that feeds off the detritus coating the wood or something like that. Once it eats everything it disappears. Some fish even like to eat the film.

Thanks for the info all! I wasn't sure if I should start introducing fish until it is gone. I have a couple cherry red shrimp in there, but only because I they are a completely out of control in another tank. They don't seem to be interested in it. I scrub it off and siphon it out with a water change. While it will go away naturally, i am impatient and it looks terrible so I always speed things along. It’s been said a few times above so sorry for the repeat lol. It’s just biofilm. Can take a few weeks to disappear but isn’t harmful. Most fish will snack on it so not to worry.