Planted Tank Care and Aquarium Problem Fixes

The pygmy corydoras (Corydoras pygmaeus) is the tiniest, most charming cory catfish you can keep. At about an inch long it is peaceful, active, and perfect for nano tanks, and unlike most cories it spends a lot of its time hovering in midwater like a little underwater hummingbird instead of just sitting on the bottom. Keep a group of at least 8 to 10, give them fine sand rather than sharp gravel, which damages their … Read more about Pygmy Corydoras Care: Size, Tank Mates, and Breeding

The honey gourami (Trichogaster chuna) is one of the best beginner centerpiece fish you can buy. It is small, peaceful, hardy, and a soft golden color, a single one is happy in a 10 gallon, it eats almost anything, and it gets along with most calm community fish. The one thing to sort out before you buy is the name game. Honey gouramis are constantly confused with dwarf gouramis and with thick-lipped gouramis sold as … Read more about Honey Gourami Care: Size, Tank Mates, Breeding, and the Sunset Gourami Confusion

Quick answer: The best algae eater fish for most freshwater tanks are the otocinclus, the bristlenose pleco, and the true Siamese algae eater. For small tanks, shrimp and snails like Amano shrimp and nerite snails often do the job better than any fish. No algae eater keeps a tank clean on its own, though. Each one eats only certain kinds of algae, none of them fixes the cause, and two popular “cleaner” fish, the Chinese … Read more about Algae Eater Fish: An Honest Guide to the Best Species for Your Tank

Quick answer: A nerite snail that hasn’t moved for a day or two is almost always fine. Nerites graze mostly at night and can sit in one spot for several days, and new snails often stay still for up to a week while they settle in. Check four things before you worry: is it still gripping the surface, is the trapdoor shut, is it upright, and does it smell? A snail that’s stuck on tight … Read more about Nerite Snail Not Moving: Dead, Sleeping, or Stuck Upside Down?