True enough.

That's the paradox of the so-called "natural" aquarium. We want the good stuff without the bad -- when, in fact, the bad stuff is just as much a part of nature as anything else.

Well said.

I've often thought about importing fish-specific "soil" -- that is, river-bottom sediment -- from the exact locale of the fish. Logistically it's probably impossible, but from a theoretical standpoint it would work wonders for the specific species. Giving them what evolution worked on ...

Taking a page from the old-school method of the aquarium hobby (when all fish were caught in the local stream and aquariums were constructed by the hobbyist), I've decided to pluck some sunken wood from the local river and put it in my fishtank, rather than buy said wood from the LFS.

Now, of ...

Thanks for all your feedback. Much appreciated.

I do have 5 clown loaches, so the grouping is taken care of, but the bala shark is all by its lonesome.

The dwarf cichlids consist of one apisto borelli, and one apisto caucatoides. The apisto c. has established his dominance a while back, so there ...

I have a 50 g. planted tank, and have slowly, and with much relish, been stocking it. And of course I'm now wondering if I've overstocked. Here's the roster:

2 5" common plecos
6 1" cardinal tetras
4 2" danios
1 8" geophagus
2 3" dwarf cichlids
1 3" green severum
1 4" bala shark
3 2" kuhli loaches ...