10 Best Coldwater Fish That Don’t Need a HeaterMost freshwater pet fish require an aquarium heater because they’re used to tropical temperatures, but did you know there’s a whole class of coldwater fish that are perfectly fine at room temperature? Goldfish are the most well-known coldwater fish in the aquarium hobby, so in this article, we’re going to cover 10 more cool species that can live without a heater. 1. Sunset Variatus Platy We have a special place in our hearts for livebearers (or fish that bear live young) because of how readil...
Top 5 Centerpiece Fish for Your Small to Medium Sized Community AquariumCreating your own ‘school of fish’ in a medium-sized or small fish tank is a fun and rewarding experience. It’s made even more fun by introducing a showpiece fish to serve as your aquatic pride and joy. A centerpiece fish draws attention, stands out through either color or size, and also gets along with the other swimmers in the community tank. Which one should you get, though? It’s a tricky question to answer since we don’t want a larger fish to gobble up the others! What to Look for in a Ce...
Java Fern (Microsorum pteropus) an Easy Aquatic Plant.Java Fern is one of the world’s most widely used plants in planted aquariums. It slow growth, unique leaf structure, and reproduction method makes it an aquarium smash hit. Java Fern tolerates most lighting conditions and many environments – from soft acidic water to alkaline conditions, and even brackish tanks! It is also easy to find in most local fish stores; but if not, there is always some available on our website. Java fern Now if you've found this article, you're obviously loo...
How to Get Rid of Blue-Green Algae in AquariumsDo you have a mysterious, blue-green slime taking over your aquarium? Or is there a strange smell coming from your fish tank and you can’t find the source? You might be dealing with an outbreak of blue-green algae. In this article, we discuss the causes of blue-green algae and how to get rid of it once and for all. What is Blue-Green Algae? Blue-green algae (BGA) is not actually an algae but rather a cyanobacteria – a very diverse and resilient group of bacteria that uses photosynthesis like ...
10 Best Tank Mates for Your GoldfishGoldfish are beautiful, much-beloved creatures in the fish keeping hobby, but sometimes it can be nice to add a little variety to their aquariums. After many years of owning goldfish, we’ve compiled a list of our top tips and recommendations for keeping goldfish tank mates (including a few that you may have never considered before). What Kind of Fish Can You Keep With Goldfish? If you’ve ever seen a cool fish and wondered if it would go well with your goldfish, here are some general guideline...
Kuhli Loaches: The Perfect Bottom Feeder for any Tank!This week at the Aquarium Co-Op retail store in Edmonds, we received some really awesome fish! We received a new batch of Kuhli Loach, Female Powder Blue Gourami, Assorted Kribensis, and lastly a handful of Red Eye Monk Tetra! This week we brought back a fan favorite, Jungle Vallisneria, some beautiful Tiger Lotus, and last but not least some nicely grown Moneywort! For this week's tank tip I wanted to highlight the benefits of using a pre-filter sponge in your aquarium!
Sparkling Gouramis: The Ideal Centerpiece for Your Nano Tank!This week at the Aquarium Co-Op retail store in Edmonds, we received some beautiful new fish! We received some incredible Sparkling Gourami, Roseline Sharks, Pristella Tetra, and some beautiful Super Red Koi Angelfish bred by Dean! This week we have an awesome plant selection such as Anubias Nana Petite on Lava Rock, Ozelot Sword, Ludwigia Repens, and a personal favorite Crypt. Lutea! For this week's tank tip I wanted to highlight a tool used to help properly clean your aquarium ...
Hoplo Catfish: A Unique Catfish for your Aquarium!This week at the Aquarium Co-op retail store in Edmonds, we received some fun new fish! Some of the highlights are Hoplo Catfish, Paleatus Corydoras, an assortment of Rainbowfish, and finally some Roseline Sharks! This week we received some beautifully grown Red Melon Sword, Crypt. Tropica, and last but not least Java Fern! For this week's Tank Tip I wanted to highlight one of our favorite Catfish foods. From Corydoras, to Hoplo Catfish Xtreme Bottom Waffers are a great and nutriti...
Eques Pencilfish: A Fun and Unique Schooling Fish!This week at the Aquarium Co-Op retail store in Edmonds, we received some fun and unique fish! Starting off with Eques Pencilfish, Albino Cherry Barbs, Gold Pristella Tetra, and even some Gardneri Killifish Pairs! For this week's plant delivery I am excited to highlight Baby Tears, Pearl Weed, and some incredible Crinum Calamistratum! For this week's tank tip, I wanted to highlight how to optimize and clean your Aquarium Co-Op Easy Flow Sponge Filter!
How to Treat Livebearer DiseaseLivebearer disease is a catch-all term used to describe many disorders that commonly affect livebearers (or fish that bear live young). These different ailments can include the shimmies, wasting disease, body fungus, and more. The first step is to properly diagnose your fish and then treat for their specific type of livebearer disease. Why Are So Many Diseases Called “Livebearer Disease”? Livebearers are frequently raised in hard water or brackish environments (see this article for more detai...
Fish From Cory are in the Retail Store This Week + 2nd STORE SALE! 🆕This week is an exciting week for the Aquarium Co-Op Retail Store! In addition to our usual deliveries, we received some rare livebearers from Cory including Trout Goodeids, Limia Perugie, Redtail Goodeids (Xenotaca Eiseni), Yellow Knife Livebearers (Alfaro Cultratus), and Nezze Swordtails (Xiphophorus Nezahualcoyotl)! We also received some great looking batches of Reticulated Hillstream Loaches, German Blue Rams, and Eques Pencilfish as well. We still have lots of extra full plants t...
How does beneficial bacteria stay alive in a bottle?Bacteria starter products like Fritz Zyme 7 contain live, nitrifying bacteria to help kick off your aquarium cycle and grow your biological filtration. This beneficial bacteria helps to consume toxic ammonia waste (produce by your fish) and convert it into nitrate, which is much safer for fish. According to the Fritz Aquatics website, "Unlike some heterotrophic bacteria, which can survive in a long-term spore state, only true nitrifying bacteria can cycle an aquarium. True nitrifying bac...
Is the Easy Plant LED light programmable with a phone app?In our experience, aquarium light apps for smartphones are often poorly designed, unreliable, or are not supported in the long run. Given the expensive development cost it would take to make a well-designed app that works flawlessly all the time, we decided that it was better for us to focus on achieving our goal of creating the best possible light that lasts a long time while still remaining affordable. Therefore, we recommend using an electrical outlet timer to schedule when the Easy Plant ...
How many fish can I put in a 5-gallon tank?One of the most common but hardest questions we get is “How many fish can you put in a 5-gallon aquarium? What about a 20-gallon tank? 55 gallons?” As you may guess, there is an infinite number of possible fish combinations for each tank size that we could recommend. To simplify things, read this article that discusses the three factors that will most impact your fish stocking levels, as well as our general guidelines for introducing the right number of fish to your aquarium.
Why does the hardness (or GH) look fuchsia on the Multi-Test Strips?On the Aquarium Co-Op Multi-Test Strips, the hardness (or GH) reading ranges from 0 ppm (blue) to 300 ppm (purple). If you get a hardness color of fuchsia, magenta, or reddish-purple, then it means that your GH reading is above 300 ppm (or 17 degrees). The multi-test strip is still working properly, but your water is very hard and the GH level is outside the bounds of the test.
Is the Easy Plant LED light dimmable? Is the blue Moonlight mode dimmable?Yes, we designed the Aquarium Co-Op Easy Plant LED to be dimmable so that you may adjust it to the perfect level for your aquarium. Single press the up or down arrow to select from 10 settings — 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70% 80%, 90%, and 100% brightness. Both the white Daylight mode and blue Moonlight mode are dimmable and can be separately customized.
10 Best Coldwater Fish That Don’t Need a Heater
Most freshwater pet fish require an aquarium heater because they’re used to tropical temperatures, but did you know there’s a whole class of coldwater fish that are perfectly fine at room temperature? Goldfish are the most well-known coldwater fish in the aquarium hobby, so in this article, we’re going to cover 10 more cool species that can live without a heater. 1. Sunset Variatus Platy We have a special place in our hearts for livebearers (or fish that bear live young) because of how readil...
Top 5 Centerpiece Fish for Your Small to Medium Sized Community Aquarium
Creating your own ‘school of fish’ in a medium-sized or small fish tank is a fun and rewarding experience. It’s made even more fun by introducing a showpiece fish to serve as your aquatic pride and joy. A centerpiece fish draws attention, stands out through either color or size, and also gets along with the other swimmers in the community tank. Which one should you get, though? It’s a tricky question to answer since we don’t want a larger fish to gobble up the others! What to Look for in a Ce...
Java Fern (Microsorum pteropus) an Easy Aquatic Plant.
Java Fern is one of the world’s most widely used plants in planted aquariums. It slow growth, unique leaf structure, and reproduction method makes it an aquarium smash hit. Java Fern tolerates most lighting conditions and many environments – from soft acidic water to alkaline conditions, and even brackish tanks! It is also easy to find in most local fish stores; but if not, there is always some available on our website. Java fern Now if you've found this article, you're obviously loo...
How to Get Rid of Blue-Green Algae in Aquariums
Do you have a mysterious, blue-green slime taking over your aquarium? Or is there a strange smell coming from your fish tank and you can’t find the source? You might be dealing with an outbreak of blue-green algae. In this article, we discuss the causes of blue-green algae and how to get rid of it once and for all. What is Blue-Green Algae? Blue-green algae (BGA) is not actually an algae but rather a cyanobacteria – a very diverse and resilient group of bacteria that uses photosynthesis like ...
10 Best Tank Mates for Your Goldfish
Goldfish are beautiful, much-beloved creatures in the fish keeping hobby, but sometimes it can be nice to add a little variety to their aquariums. After many years of owning goldfish, we’ve compiled a list of our top tips and recommendations for keeping goldfish tank mates (including a few that you may have never considered before). What Kind of Fish Can You Keep With Goldfish? If you’ve ever seen a cool fish and wondered if it would go well with your goldfish, here are some general guideline...
Kuhli Loaches: The Perfect Bottom Feeder for any Tank!
This week at the Aquarium Co-Op retail store in Edmonds, we received some really awesome fish! We received a new batch of Kuhli Loach, Female Powder Blue Gourami, Assorted Kribensis, and lastly a handful of Red Eye Monk Tetra! This week we brought back a fan favorite, Jungle Vallisneria, some beautiful Tiger Lotus, and last but not least some nicely grown Moneywort! For this week's tank tip I wanted to highlight the benefits of using a pre-filter sponge in your aquarium!
Sparkling Gouramis: The Ideal Centerpiece for Your Nano Tank!
This week at the Aquarium Co-Op retail store in Edmonds, we received some beautiful new fish! We received some incredible Sparkling Gourami, Roseline Sharks, Pristella Tetra, and some beautiful Super Red Koi Angelfish bred by Dean! This week we have an awesome plant selection such as Anubias Nana Petite on Lava Rock, Ozelot Sword, Ludwigia Repens, and a personal favorite Crypt. Lutea! For this week's tank tip I wanted to highlight a tool used to help properly clean your aquarium ...
Hoplo Catfish: A Unique Catfish for your Aquarium!
This week at the Aquarium Co-op retail store in Edmonds, we received some fun new fish! Some of the highlights are Hoplo Catfish, Paleatus Corydoras, an assortment of Rainbowfish, and finally some Roseline Sharks! This week we received some beautifully grown Red Melon Sword, Crypt. Tropica, and last but not least Java Fern! For this week's Tank Tip I wanted to highlight one of our favorite Catfish foods. From Corydoras, to Hoplo Catfish Xtreme Bottom Waffers are a great and nutriti...
Eques Pencilfish: A Fun and Unique Schooling Fish!
This week at the Aquarium Co-Op retail store in Edmonds, we received some fun and unique fish! Starting off with Eques Pencilfish, Albino Cherry Barbs, Gold Pristella Tetra, and even some Gardneri Killifish Pairs! For this week's plant delivery I am excited to highlight Baby Tears, Pearl Weed, and some incredible Crinum Calamistratum! For this week's tank tip, I wanted to highlight how to optimize and clean your Aquarium Co-Op Easy Flow Sponge Filter!
How to Treat Livebearer Disease
Livebearer disease is a catch-all term used to describe many disorders that commonly affect livebearers (or fish that bear live young). These different ailments can include the shimmies, wasting disease, body fungus, and more. The first step is to properly diagnose your fish and then treat for their specific type of livebearer disease. Why Are So Many Diseases Called “Livebearer Disease”? Livebearers are frequently raised in hard water or brackish environments (see this article for more detai...
Fish From Cory are in the Retail Store This Week + 2nd STORE SALE! 🆕
This week is an exciting week for the Aquarium Co-Op Retail Store! In addition to our usual deliveries, we received some rare livebearers from Cory including Trout Goodeids, Limia Perugie, Redtail Goodeids (Xenotaca Eiseni), Yellow Knife Livebearers (Alfaro Cultratus), and Nezze Swordtails (Xiphophorus Nezahualcoyotl)! We also received some great looking batches of Reticulated Hillstream Loaches, German Blue Rams, and Eques Pencilfish as well. We still have lots of extra full plants t...
