r/Aquariums • u/AutoModerator • 6d ago
Help/Advice [Auto-Post] Weekly Question Thread! Ask /r/Aquariums anything you want to know about the hobby!
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r/Aquariums • u/Ka0tiK • 9d ago
Announcement Welcome 2025! Feedback Thread and Moderator Applications!
Wow, its been a while since we've done one of these! (Feb 2022). Lets talk a bit about what has happened over the last two years, and some comments and changes on moving forward in the new year. It was just two years ago that we were at around 500,000 members. The sub has expanded drastically over the last two years, now over 1.3 million subscribers at this posting. A lot has changed with the moderation team, and I think some of you have seen the cracks over these last few months especially. I want to thank all those that helped moderate the sub in the 7 years since I've been a part of moderating alongside them. My own personal availability has reduced substantially as well; with family and professional commitments. It's also been a challenging few years with health with some of my family members.
Additionally, with all of this growth does introduce some new challenges for moderation. Moderating a sub of a thousand subs is much different than moderating one of over a million. At scale, it's not possible for any mod team (big or small) to review every post and comment. Unfortunately a lot of the built-in Reddit tools (safety, content, auto mod) are very limited or remove too many legitimate posts and often have to be turned off or dialed down. We really do rely on reports and the upvote/down vote system to make sure we have as great as a sub as we can.
Rules do (and in my opinion, should) evolve over time as the sub grows and encounters new challenges with that growth. AI and other large language model spam is also a concern for diluting not only the sub, but the entire Reddit platform. It will be up to the community on how it accepts the technology. False AI generated images are already starting to ruin some gardening sites/subs, and we will need to work together on tackling it. For now, blatant AI generated content will be removed per rule 5. I will also want to take a fresh look at some other of our rules to see if it still aligns with the community (NSFW rules, YouTube rules, meme/low-effort post rules).
I want to address 3 main items we get reports for:
Addressing misinformation reports/stance: I want to stress that differences in opinion is not "misinformation." Someone who argues a Betta is fine in a 2 gallon tank rather than a 5 gallon is not a valid report. The current team thinks that the upvote/down vote system and pertinent discussion/replies, although it has limited uses and flaws, is best equipped to handle the communities opinion on certain comments on the validity of them as legitimate aquarium keeping. Moderating "wrong" content is difficult, if not impossible to do evenly. There are gray areas of differing opinion that cross over into what some would label as misinformation. Removing content just because moderators don't agree with the practices is not responsible moderation behavior, in my opinion. It's also extremely hard to do at scale and leads to uneven moderation.
NSFW tags on dying/dead/preyed on fish: This particular rule seems to be well divided; and we will use the results of what the community thinks below to keep or change this rule. For those against using these tags for this content, understand that some users are viewing the sub at work, with children nearby, or have trouble with graphic imagery.
Site harassment/abuse: We want to point out that moderators have limited ability outside of removing posts or users from that specific sub. If you encounter situations where a user is harassing you via personal message or following you across different subs/comments, that is not something the mod team can handle sufficiently. Those issues should go directly to the Reddit admin team.
Based on the comments above and in spirit of a feedback thread, I encourage everyone to fill out the poll tab below on your thoughts on rules. Again, we take this feedback seriously and encourage everyone who reads this to vote:
Vote on Rule 2: YouTube/Monetization Blog posts
Splinter Sub Voting - Memes- Low Effort Posts
Other animals in submitted images
Artwork/User generated content
Moderating at scale with a skeleton crew that had very unstable availability has caused some uneven moderation over the last few years. In light of this, we are looking for about 3 or 4 new moderators to help us out. Sub participation and overall availability are preferred. If you are interested please read below:
Choosing the new moderators will be done through modmail where people can send in their applications to join our moderating team. Please use some type of "mod language" in the subject line. For this we would like you to mod mail us with the following information:
What is your experience in fish keeping?
Do you have prior experience modding?
What timezone are you in?
What times are you usually active (include timezone)?
Why should you be a mod? What is your mod style (remove more/less comment/posts, opinion on controversial topics, misinformation, etc)?
Note: Slack (app) is required for mod communication and some of our tooling. Please do not apply if you do not want to use or install this application.
That should do it! Polls will be open for two weeks on the rules above. Thanks for anyone taking the time to apply for the moderator positions. If anyone has any questions I will be answering them in this thread. Civil discourse only, please, with fellow redditors and myself or other mods. Happy New Year!!
r/Aquariums • u/Pindarr • 3h ago
Freshwater Can't work at my desk without being stared at
"Is he gonna feed us again?"
r/Aquariums • u/MsLogophile • 9h ago
Betta I hear we are posting best store betta setups
Natural environment aquatix in Jacksonville (location 2). Next time I go I’ll get a pic of the clear plant betta sorority pond
r/Aquariums • u/Coc0tte • 7h ago
Betta The betta setup at my job
Since we are sharing betta setup, I wanted to share the one from the pet store I work in. The tanks have a constant water change system (which renews the water very slowly) and there's an opaque separation between each cube so that the bettas can't see each other.
r/Aquariums • u/Newpower608 • 12h ago
Help/Advice Is it supposed to do that?
Guess I’m cleaning out the filter
r/Aquariums • u/backyardspace • 13h ago
Full Tank Shot By far the best in store beta treatment I have seen.
r/Aquariums • u/Arcangel100 • 7h ago
Help/Advice Bacteria keeps dying.
galleryBackground info I cycled the empty 23 gallon tank for a month before seeing Nitrates and added fish gradually. 10 Cherry shrimp, 13 neone tetras, one Beta and two Sword tails. I feed the fish twice a day. AMOSIJOY 172GPH Canister Filter, with a floss pad, carbon sponge, ceramic filter rings, and Bio balls.
My problem is that my bacteria seems to die every 2 weeks or so. I see my Nitrates fall to zero, then the ammonia starts to go up slowly. I was told that maybe my filter is doing too good of a job and starving the bacteria. Is that possible? I keep having to add bacteria to the tank and I am wondering if I should just add more fish to creat more waist. I think the ammonia spike caused the beta to get a touch of fin rot, I am currently treating him for it and he is doing well. Adding the Nitrate/Nitrite readings for this tank (left) and a shrimp tank (right)
TLDR: Bacteria dies off (I think it's being starved), should I add more bio load or change the filter to something else. Also, is there something that may be killing the bacteria?
r/Aquariums • u/Pale-Risk9007 • 1d ago
Full Tank Shot Welcome fishie !! Help give me names :) (funny ones)
galleryCutest short body panda oranda I have ever seen !!
r/Aquariums • u/GhostlyWhale • 8h ago
Full Tank Shot After months of algae issues, I'm finally getting everything dialed in
galleryr/Aquariums • u/Fish_HappensIndy • 5h ago
Betta Betta Display! Better treatment for betta fish!
galleryHey this is my store, Fish Happens. I’m really impressed with the displays I have seen! We do not keep bettas in cups here! The wood rack is painted black now to match and I think I’m going to re scape based on the betta displays I have seen today! Thanks for your input! Indianapolis Indiana here ❤️
r/Aquariums • u/Sir_Rene_ • 15h ago
Cichlid Bluey as a baby -> Bluey now. He's always been a handsome boy <3
galleryr/Aquariums • u/Own_Adhesiveness2829 • 4h ago
Freshwater It was a mistake putting my tank in my bedroom
I just get to watch my fish get freaky all day
r/Aquariums • u/FewValuable6562 • 4h ago
Saltwater/Brackish Hand feeding Eel
He is finally eating out of my hands 🙌
r/Aquariums • u/krumbuckl • 16h ago
Full Tank Shot Sharing the passion to the next generation. Today our 4 years old son saw his first own tank after 6 weeks of dark start in full light. He was more than amazed.
Snails are living in it since week 3, today we planted some Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis in the front, next weekend we will plant the mid- and backgroundplants. About a week later fish will come and If everything works out there will be shrimp next month.
r/Aquariums • u/NocturneSapphire • 11h ago
Freshwater Hillstream loach climbing the glass during a water change
r/Aquariums • u/Pindarr • 2h ago
Freshwater Can't work at my desk without being stared at
"Is he gonna feed us again?"
r/Aquariums • u/ArtichokeFree625 • 1h ago
Saltwater/Brackish Feeding my grunting toadfish
one of my favourite fish.
r/Aquariums • u/wishiefishie • 11h ago
Help/Advice Plants to lower nitrate level?
I have a 10 gallon (that is probably overstocked). I have 1 small red honey gourami, 4 different kinds of cory catfish, 2 pygmy cories, 2 nerites (my cleaning crew), 1 assassin snail that I've had for like 4 years and will never die, and 1 rabbit snail. I used to have many of them (except for the gourami) in a 20 gallon and things were perfect, but I had to downsize when I moved. I got the gourami in February of last year.
I syphon and change the water 2x a week and add new purigen or filter media once every 5-6 weeks. I scrub the sides when I see algae, I prune plants, I mean I do everything I can think of. Whenever I test the tank over the past year, everything is fine except for the stupid nitrates. They've never been the darkest red color but somewhere reddish around 40-80. I have a lot of plants, all anubias species but different sizes.
About a year ago I realized the readings could be because of the plants. I had tried different kinds of vallisneria back then, like jungle and americana, for a couple of weeks. They started getting black beard algae (I think) so I ended up getting rid of all infected. Way later I sifted through the sand and found old dead roots from those plants and fertilizer tabs I didn't know were there, buried super deep, so I thought that caused the nitrates reading. But since all of that was fixed months ago, I don't know why the nitrates seem basically the same. Not lethal, but uh not good.
Would adding another anubias plant help lower it? I'm feeding as little as I can. Or do I simply have too many fish?
Thanks in advance💖
r/Aquariums • u/rventuality • 11h ago
Full Tank Shot before vs after
gallery- got this tank and fish for free from a siblings coworker who was getting rid of it, perks of being known as a fish enthusiast
r/Aquariums • u/MasterPancake0000 • 4h ago
Full Tank Shot My 55 gallon 4 months ago vs today
galleryShould I get liquid fertilizer for my plants? Also meet Jerry my new Bristlenose Pleco
r/Aquariums • u/RBarbeiro • 16h ago
Full Tank Shot What you think of my humble aquarium?
r/Aquariums • u/polycrest • 7h ago
Help/Advice What have I got growing here?
Just noticed it today. Growing on the filter intake a a few other hard surfaces. 20 gal Freshwater tank with guppies only and a couple live plants. Thanks.
r/Aquariums • u/Jongy88 • 10h ago
Full Tank Shot July 2023 vs today
galleryMy 42 rimless 42 gallon. A year and a half have sure given it time to fill in. Has a bunch of ember tetras, cherry barbs, otos, and pearl gouramis.
Yes there is some algae, and yes it is overgrown but the fish are happy and the plants are doing great.