Yeah, that is fairly unusual for brochis, IME. My 12 sit at the front of the glass and watch me whenever I'm around. They especially like having the TV on, and all of 'em will line up in a row. Definately not shy.

The Thing that Lurks and Yearns for Brains just depopulated my 90 gallon of Duckweed.

You know all those people that complain about how hard it is to eradicate duckweed? Thing did it in ONE NIGHT.

Today two of my common plecs have learned to eat from the Surface.

I dose my tanks with freeze dried bloodworms every 3 days or so. They're the favorite food of most of my fish. . . including, appearantly, my common plecos. It is just a bit weird to watch Inappropriately Frightened or The Thing ...

I add a little neutral regulator to the buckets, and let it sit for a while that way. I also have much more aggressive batches of duckweed pulling all the phosphate out of the water.

Actually I typed 6.8 but ended up with a smiley. They're fine at 6.8.

Our local water comes out at 7.6, which is too alkaline for most of the fish we want.

He's had his tank for. . . 3 months or so now? Hrrm. A list of all the various problems. . .

First off, it is a 40breeder, with an aquaclear 70 filter. He mostly runs it double sponges or double biofilter.

The tank is fully planted, with a good 4" of bio-substrate. It is planted with Anubais Nana ...

A friend of mine is having a terrible time getting his 40breeder set up, and it brought me to thinking about the various tips and tricks of setting up a low-hassle tank.

As I've mentioned previously, all my major tanks are planted, with the exception of my 20long (Which has an absolutely HUGE ball ...

SL. And my biggies tend to have longer noses.

The biggest ones in the tank are 3"

Most of the ones in the photo are 2-2.5"

The tank is designed specifically to show off the colors of the fish within. It's a rainbow/cory tank, after all. . . My emerald green rainbows went down to sniff my emerald green cories the second they went in. Was cute. . .

Same way with my brochis, honestly. Well, my paelatus are also gregarious, but are in another tank. (And I have over 10 of 'em too. . .) In the future I'll definately be keeping a minimum of 10 of each species of cory.

I have pictures of the Brochis in the tank here: http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=26968
http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt47/Cryogaijin/igortheinseminator.jpg
This is the dominant male of my Praecox rainbows in the tank. Note the broken lower jaw. Doesn't seem to stop him ...

My brochis like to sit in a line at the front of my tank and watch TV.
http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt47/Cryogaijin/Brochis.jpg
Here they're watching the movie Lesbian Vampire Hunters.
http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt47/Cryogaijin/shinybrochis.jpg
Silly fish.
http://i596.photobucket ...

My 90 gallon, at least, cycled long ago. Spikes are quite unlikely at this point. Well developed plants, and well developed biofilters. I've checked the readings with two seperate tests, of two seperate companies, and neither gives me readings on any of the nitrogenous waste. But my plants are ...

Two of my tanks are currently reading 0/0/0 with ph 7. No Ammonia, no nitrite, no nitrates. The Ph isn't a surprise, since I use a buffer on my water-replacements. (My tap water is 7.6. Not good for my poor cories.)

All my tanks are planted to some degree. My most lightly planted tank has java ...

I have 3 serious tanks. . . 2 55s and a 90. (I'm planning 2 180s in 18-24 months time.)

Each of these tanks has a common pleco, all about 5-6". And each has some cories. The plecos seem to be fat and happy (I've had to rename "Inappropriately frightened" to "(no longer) Inappropriately Frightened ...

I've recently tested out a couple home-made foods on my tanks. So far it has been limited to "clean" portions of what I'd been eating at the time. Both Salmon and Turkey have caused serious feeding frenzies in both my main tanks. (watching a betta eat a string of turkey as long as its own body, like ...

No access to snow this time of year. For that matter, no access to night. (Curse you Daystar!!) I could soften the water and lower the temperature though. The males are at least 6 months old. . . as that is how long I've had most of this batch of cories.

Grats Frank. I need to get some of mine to spawn. . . they're getting QUITE bloated looking.

Though perhaps that was just the salmon I fed them for dinner. . .

I have some rather bulbous females, both Paelatus and Aenus cories. I'd like to encourage them to spawn, and hopefully collect the eggs. Any advice?

I've seen a couple mishapen giants. . . that is one thing I like about the one I just picked up. He's perfectly shaped, with a good coloration. I'm fairly sure it is a male, given that it doesn't exhibit any of the roundness of my females.

Gawd I wish I could find a good pickup game of soccer on this side of the pond. (The pond I'm referring to would be the Arctic Ocean)

Was a FIFA certed ref for a number of years, and I'd love to get back into it.

Straight ammonia with a hose. Keep in mind, Ammonia is the active ingredient for windex, and your biofilter will detoxify it, so it is really the only tank-safe cleaning solution.

Definately likes the big tank. It was kinda sulking in the LFS tank, and perked right up once I got it home.

10 others in the tank, including a couple that are 2.5" long. (I really like the Paelatus personality, so if I see one or two in a tank by themselves I tend to buy 'em to put in my shoal. Usually the loners are bigger.) I've found that the Paelatus cories get along swimmingly with the Striata ...

TL and SL meaning. . . ?

I'm not counting the tail fin.

I only lived in the seattle area for 20 years myself. . . and am about 1200 miles from the nearest interstate.

I'd love to get a chance to check out the Seattle area's fish stores these days. I have to make due with the stores up here. . .

Thought it might break the upper limit for size for the species, but no. . . exact same. He'll have fun in my 55 gallon blue tank.

You mean off I-90, right? Last I checked I-5 didn't come close.

Carbon is only good for removing chems from the water. Beit phosphates, ammonia/nitrite/nitrate, or medicine. If your tank is healthy and well balanced, it won't need a carbon filter.

I like HOB filters, due to the ease of maintainance. The HOB filters with the most recommendations are the ...