Unless I grow it myself, fresh is out of the question. No suppliers I trust here 🙄 I haven't been inside an lfs since covid-19 hit, although I tried once but the one I use is in the middle of where the rioting takes places in Minneapolis and it was closed, so no frozen in a while, either. Aqua Pharm Foods are dessicated, not baked, so no heat damage to the nutrients. I have raised several generations of gouramis on it and the lfs raves about how nice they are when I bring them in. I traded them 46 last time almost 1 for 1 for otos, ancistrus, and rummy nosed tetras. So, Omega One? I can probably get that on Amazon. Thanks.

That is exactly what I have. I use 50/50 culligan/ RO water but they are similar enough that I wouldn't hesitate to use straight culligan water in a pinch.

They are darling, aren't they? Randy ADORES them. He hates giving them up later, too. He was really put out when I gave Kathleen his favorite one ;-)

Spawn #6 is in the tank and I am seriously giving consideration to just busting it up. Hans Peter is too dilligent in his duties as protector. Meanwhile, the first spawn is starting to look like gouramis!

Yeah! Now I have FOUR spawns in the tank. Fortunately, I have a store that will take them. I need to see if I can get a pic with the different sizes all in the same frame.

LOVE the drain on the right. Brilliant! I have some that hatched after 48 hours now with a mixture of eggs that never sank and empty shells up top. I went to a box store and they don't carry eggs; the LFS is closed Monday and Tuesday (and then is only open 12-6!) The will get a tasty snack today, maybe more tomorrow? Glad I had access to golden pearls at least. I also don't see as many fry in the tank now. They are 2 weeks old (first spawn). Wonder if someone else is snacking. . . .

and in the open area on top! sooooo tiny!

Only one female and the "eggs" were swimming. Poor pic, I guess. They are all free swimming now. And Hans Peter and Celeste were dancing again yesterday. I scooped out some and put them in a different tank. What can I put in the main that will eat them but be nice to everyone else? Guppies, I guess, but I would have to remove Hans Peter for a while.

odd thing is they came out of the same tank at the lfs, go figure. and I thought otos were touchy!

I wish I was there for the Bowl Show today! Gouramis are pest free, rummies and otos are in quarantine. Lost most of the rummies in 2 days. Otos are going strong. So much hit and miss. I miss the good ol' days of hearty, healthy fish from known sources.

Yes, the house water is run through a salt-based softener. You mean I could have been doing this all along? Yay!! Something broke in my favor for a change. Thank you!!!! Oh, do you ship fish? I am afraid of the fish around here!

Thanks, Frank! Actually, the water is milky tan, then goes to milky orange, nearly red, then settles out. Since I am only moving about 30 gallons at a time, I don't think I will have to clean filters that often, either. The house filter gets changed once a year and the water that comes through it has no sediment. My new water barrel has a sump so anything that gets that far can be drained from it, then I can top off with the RO. I am trying to get away from using a pump; running back and forth between rooms is getting really old. The barrel will be above the waterline of the tank so I can use gravity. I could siphon the bottom if the stuff doesn't find its way to the sump. Maybe I can find SOME luck in this process. I am almost regretting trying to set up a tank at this point.

I get that. They don't understand how hard we work for their welfare. I have a separate 20l that will serve as quarantine where I am growing out 3 possible "meadows" to move to the main tank. Japanese hair grass is doing well (aka, isn't dead yet), same with the micro swords and crypt parva. I don't get why my parrotsfeather is so blaise, though. Not that Hans Peter didn't destroy that as soon as I planted some in the main tank. But yes, being pest free is very nice. How to stay that way without you all is something else. I miss Frank's fish! Maybe I should just drive back there and get fish.

The snakes came in alongside the pipe from the well. That is now blocked and they are staying outside now.

Final report - the levamisole did an excellent job with no detriment to anything else in the tank. I moved the fish to a glass bottom quarantine so I could vacuum up the bugs they passed (cathether syringe is a god-send) while I continued to nuke the tank without possible hosts. After 4 weeks, I was able to return the fish to the main tank and continued to treat both water and their food for 2 weeks. No sign of the pests. Will let it go for another month before I bring home more fish, who as always, will go into quarantine. They will be treated just in case since it doesn't harm anyone. I have NEVER had this kind of trouble setting up a tank. Now if I could get Hans Peter to quit pulling up my dwarf chain swords to build his nest. Oh, and no sign of snails, either. Maybe I got them. Probably not, but I can be happy lying to myself for now. :-)

Levamisole is only noticeable to the worms. The only reason to even do a water change is to vacuum out the dead stuff. The fish are doing fine in quarantine, eating, swimming, running up when they see me looking in. They are in a blackout tank, so only the top is clear. Maybe I will wait for the loaches to get rid of the snails. They obviously are not causing havoc if I can't find them. Might leave the "hard stuff" for quarantine.

That is exactly what I bought! The closest store to us, and it is in the next town, is Tractor Supply! Dping another run of RO water right now. Will be draining the main tank and hitting it with that tonight. Hope I can take out those snails. Haven't seen one since the two I found a week or so ago until today when I found one in my farm tank. How do you get snails in a tank with water that is 50% well and 50% RO well water and all TC plants? Nothing shared between tanks, either and all nets and tools are soaked overnight in KMnO4. Can't wait until everything is stable enough for loaches. Loaches and copper are a bad combo, so in the event they should end up with it (I have never had it before, but then, I have never had these darn worms, either), what do you recommend? I haven't had ich since right after I joined the club and heat and salt took care of that. It was right after the pet expo and a couple of us took home some of the red tail rasboras which were already infected. I lost 1. The other person just dumped them into her tank. Ouch. Thanks, Frank, for all of your help over the years. I miss you!

Contact them. If you don't hear back, either Frank or I can get you the contact info. If you lived nearby and were looking for the stuff I got, I would give you some.

It is really pretty nice out here. It will be 66 tomorrow, in fact. They have been sunning themselves on the front steps for a week now. I have enough levamisole to treat my tank for the next two years. I am going to check after the next two blackouts and see what I am looking at for a snail population. These were two, good sized ones I killed the other day. Grrrrr.

@linus_cello Ah!!! But we do have a floor drain - very handy when I forget to shut off the RO unit.