For sure, it also doesn't help the case that the lighting in my fishroom is not at all great for taking pictures/videos. But the differences between the colors still shows through well which is what I am shooting for showing people. And yeah, I also like the tan color the most.

Yes. Since I know for sure there are no pesticides sprayed in particular areas around my house, they are safe for me to collect. I usually collect 3-4 big garbage bags full each fall and use them throughout the year.

That's what I have been doing. This is their 3rd time being together with about a week break between. He just started right in from the get go. This is about 34 seconds after him going into the tank, which is about how long it took me to grab a camera and start recording. Funny thing is, this time he has calmed down much more than previous times after being in the tank with her for a day so maybe I can actually keep them together someday in the future...

@@mbroome oh, ok.. I knew they are a High-Energy fish so then probably they have got only one gear so to speak.. My friend kept several Aphanius and those were similar..He kept a pair sometimes, then in a tank almost full of Moss , or at least 75% full of it.. (he did weekly waterchanges, we have soft water here btw, pH 8.3, kH 4 ) Perhaps the only way is to get some more of them.. like 10-15 or so, but for such rare fish, that is often not possible.. and it may not help anyway???

I actually don't keep corys on black sand. This was really a test to show how much the color actually changes their look. If I could find a consistent supply of super cheap pool filter sand that was just a little bit more tan, I would go that way. The caribsea sands I have tried just have not been worth it to me vs their cost so I still stick with the plain pool filter sand. I'm also running the same test with hephaestus and I think they will be more obvious than the cw111.

Oh, I might be able to find a random single blue or pink piece of gravel!

I'm on team pool filter sand myself. They are going back to it tomorrow when I get some time.

I can grow some plants through winter. With just passive heating, it doesn't really get below the mid/low 40s throughout the winter except for a very rare really cold snap for maybe a few days of the season. Because of that, I'm also able to keep things like aphanius mento, rhadinocentrus ornatus and a few different natives out there all year round.

@@mbroome Thats amazing.

Yeah, it's crushed coral to leach out calcium into the tank. By water is naturally lower ph, soft and very little tds so I have to add things back for live bearers like goodeids.

It's a 100 mesh screen so it works out around 150 micros. That gives it a decent water flow, not clogging up while still preventing the majority of things from getting through. Now, it won't 100% stop something super tiny like instantly just hatched baby brine. But it will catch them at their typical harvesting size.