What Did You do With Your Tank Today?

[Betta keeper]

Work out alright???





Cute and fun to make one!

Yeah, Planted Bowl that size not too good for a Betta, poor thing if it were to contain a Betta, as someone might do from the craft recommendations. Walmart has a nice 3G container which is around $10-12 like a round old fashioned canister. Like this shape

I've been eyeing the type jar which has a stand, looks like a Mason jar and you keep lemonade or ice tea in to serve. For a planted "bowl" for shrimp.




If that Gourami doesn't get yellow, you got a Opaline Gourami.

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Watched the Cherry shrimp in their planted bowl chasing each other around in circles like a race track...must be mating time.

Here is a fun (older) thread about planted bowls with lots of nice pics
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f24/planted-bowls-256693.html

Yesterday, tried to buy someones Cardinal School of about 50 but they were already sold.

Thanks for showing me this So many great jars there. I actually considered doing the 5gallons water container idea.....quick water changes as you just open the spout and pour as much as you want to change lol.

I keep my guy in the 29community most of the time though so another tank would just encourage me to get another Betta [emoji23]

 

[Autumnsky]

Took a few pics

Bucephalandra Flowering Possibly Theia Blue according to N & T

Little CPO after eating, before he was perched in the "tree" waiting for prey to come by. Fed him a pellet and this is after he ate I guess. He seems more content.

Last night I found that the local ranch store has a 700+G round metal horse trough/livestock water tub for about $260. For a "pond" set up that would be fantastic, basically the same price as for a 300G. Not too sure I have the right spot for it - 11' across.

Considering 2 different styles of tanks, would only pick one though, just thinking so far. Which would replace a few other ones. One is a SW and one a FW.

 

[TMaier]

Flower is lovely! I have never heard of a SW pond?

 

[Betta keeper]

7am water change

Betta is lethargic on the bottom of the tank after aenorabic pocket was disturbed during last nights changes, shooting ammonia to .50 overnight

I'm hoping he perks up after a few 25% changes throughout the day

Matt joined in to "help"

 

[Barliman]

I bet you can feel the Amano picking away at your tasty human flesh.

You know, I have sometimes thought I've heard a tiny voice saying "Someday, air-breather. Someday..."

 

[TMaier]

You know, I have sometimes thought I've heard a tiny voice saying "Someday, air-breather. Someday..."

Hahaha. That is the stuff of nightmares. Or B Movies genius plot line.

 

[nirbhao]

Went to the fish nerd place with the intent to special order a small school of pseudomugil furcatus. The owner said, "You know me, right? I usually have a good selection, right? I have things you can't find anywhere else, right?" He hadn't had any when we were there last week, but he did today!

Got six of those beautiful buggers and three more kuhli loaches to round out our shoal.

We also got black worms for the puffers, who colored up very brightly slurping them up like spaghetti.

I don't have a light on the QT, so it might be a bit before I can get good pictures.

All of the guppy fry are in QT. Fish nerd place guy said no more store credit for them, so I'm not going to bother growing them out anymore.

 

[Fresh2o]

Love the furcatas. Very colorful and active. Here's a pic (credit Google) in case anyone is not familiar with them:

 

[nirbhao]

Thanks, Fresh. They really are very pretty. I can't wait to see them under the nice light.

 

[Autumnsky]

Nirbhao, what a nice addition to the tank, sounds like a fun day at the fish nerd store, except the guppy fry part with no more credits, but it was nice to get what you could for the others.

TMaier - Not a SW pond for me but I have heard about breeders with "swimming pools", for SW fish, specifically one for Clown fish breeding, it was in a house for sale my daughter toured.

A Cichlid guy nearby I talked with had a some circumference size 4' or 5' ( a while back and can't recall exactly) swimming pool ( like you set up in the back yard) set up in his family's basement with smaller pools for other grow outs. I think he was paying for some schooling that way.

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If I get around to it this evening might get some online shopping done for a few staples and maybe register for the Aquatic Gardener's Association Convention, sometime this week anyway.

And possibly test the ADA Amazonia Light Aquasoil for ammonia.

The Buce flower by the end of the night was just the spadix center nub and a bit of spathe looking like a collar around the bottom, so I am glad I was able to get the pic of the thing intact! Maybe see another one coming can't tell yet whether it is a new stem or new flower bud, I love this plant, water plant growing flowers, Yipee!!!

There are many reports of the varieties of Buces having flowers, but I still feel it's a special treat getting to see them in my tank!

One other plant report/status is the Marselia it is still alive in the fast flowing center of the Edge where the water in out flowing, and in the planted bowl 0 movement, the 12G Edge where it moved to the back corner getting some movement (floating) but alive!!! It is so pretty. I will get pic later.

Fish are doing well, no deaths from the new fish last week.

 

[Fresh2o]

Removed a bunch of guppy grass from the shrimp tank. Much better view

Guppy grass sitting in a bucket for now.

Also trimmed the HC carpet in the Planted tank (no pics). Still have not received the seiryu stones yet (storm delay).

 

[Barliman]

Went to the fish nerd place with the intent to special order a small school of pseudomugil furcatus.

Furcatas are really pretty. I've wanted to get those or threadfin rainbows, myself.

 

[nirbhao]

Furcatas are really pretty. I've wanted to get those or threadfin rainbows, myself.

I'm already loving them.

 

[TMaier]

Water testing day. 4 tanks. I could probably do it with my eyes closed now. No big surprises but a few points of interest....
KH is running 3-4 which is a bit low. But PH and GH are fine? What to do???

New Baby Biorb 0 Ammonia and Nitrite, 20 Nitrates. Using aged plants and rock instantly cycled.

Biorb has had a 90%+ water change to remove the meds last week. But the PH has shot up to 8 or 8.2 and it usually runs about 7.2-7.4??? That's a head scratcher since the tap is usually 7.4?

Just tested it. 8.2. Never trust your tap....

Nursery is good at the moment.

But if the tap goes any higher I might have to consider adding more DI to more tanks. Not sure how the shrimp will handle a high ph?

 

[Betta keeper]

Adding prime, bacterial supplement to all tanks to convert ammonia

Found out my tap is running at .50ammonia

No wonder my harlequins drop like flies after water changes

I'm down to four now..... and another looking rough

I don't think I will get more


Seriously considering retiring the 29, and using the 38......with store bought water for water changes


See what the city says

 

[Nancella]

I did a 25% water change and cleared out the filter pump. Then I admire the Molly fry and wondered what color they will be [emoji57]

 

[Alan79]

I have some ongoing treatments for white spot. Unfortunately i've had three harlequin rasboras die. One bleeding heart tetra looks like it may not survive. It's the only one with visible spots now, but they showed up after the rest seemed to clear up. It's tail looks to be losing some small chunks by the week and he's getting bullied quite badly, so i may euthenase it and hope the issue is mostly over. It's a bit of a conundrum really. I'd empty the tank, but i know that a lot of my plants would just die off, by leaving water in the tank and just running it with ferts i'd still have ick issues because i've got too many snails to entirely remove from the tank, i assume the parasite will just use them as a host in the absence of fish. I guess i'll just keep treating as i have been and hope the issue is resolved soon. It's a bit of a downer.

I have been running an ongoing experiment with some wild caught shrimp. The initial batch of shrimp i caught died when i started adding treated tap water, so I've been doing water changes and top ups with water i gather from the river where i caught them. I only have 4 shrimp in the second lot i caught (i killed around 10 in my first attempt so i wanted to go small scale this time round) but they're thriving. I initially kept them in a black bucket and they became a bit blueish in colour, when i set them up in their own tank they cleared right back up. I'll add a black background this week and hope they decide to become a little darker again. I prefer them to be blue than clear. The little guys have become accustomed to me now, the largest of the four comes to the front of the tank when i pick up the food container now so they're seemingly not too stressed. I thought one had died this morning but upon inspection someone had moulted and it was just an empty shell that i was seeing.

All my other tanks are going well. I have 7 running right now. I want to close up three smaller tanks, upgrade my community to a larger tank and rehome my two Comets and the fantail that somebody asked me to look after three years ago before moving away and leaving me to care for. I also have a BN pleco in it's own tank that i want to shut down. My issue is that i've tried to rehome the fish but the people have inappropriate tanks to house them. I'm not overly sentimental about my fish, but i still don't want to send them to a worse home than i'm giving them because i like other fish better. The Goldfish are the main issue for me. I'm probably more about the plants than fish and any plant i put in with goldfish just become salad.

Among my other side projects, i have been gathering every interesting bit of driftwood i've come across whenever i walk somewhere for about two years, some of them i haven't had the room to soak till recently. I finally have a spare tank thats big enough to get the process started so i have this tank full of driftwood right now with nothing else. I had a plumber come to fix a leaking tap this week. I left them alone with the tap for five minutes in the laundry where the new (used) tank was being leak tested. I return and see them inspecting the tank very closely, and they asked in a puzzled manner what i have in the tank. I told them it was just driftwood soaking, they said pity it's a good sized tank, it should have fish in it. This sparked a conversation about their fish, and allowed me to show off my tanks to another hobbyist. I've struggled for the three or so years i've had planted tanks in an effort to get a groundcover plant to establish. First thing they complimented in my community tank was the healthy hairgrass carpet that i got to take about 2-3 months ago. I imagine that i know what actors feel like when they win an oscar now haha. For some reason it's an added kick when a fellow hobbyist admires your tanks. We don't have an aquarium club or anything where i live but i think it would be nice to have. Maybe i should try getting one started. I don't really want to commit a lot of time to it though.

 

[Autumnsky]

Spent nearly an hour at a far away, not so local lfs after I had to be in that place for work meeting.

Fun assortment of things both SW and FW. They have a 2200G SW aquarium and it has some gigantic fish with 2 different kinds of sharks (2 in tank).

The plants were not any I wanted considering the auction is coming in 2 weeks. I bought 3 Seriyu stones so now I have the 5 stones which would be recommended for the Iwagumi (yes there can be more or less than 5).

I am considering getting a cardboard box like vegetable cans come in from the grocery store and filling it with some play sand to work on mock ups for the tank layout.

Liked a few Mopani wood pieces they had but didn't need any thick pieces like that for the Iwagumi inspired scape. Their Spiderwoods were too much $$.

Still considering some different ideas for the SW tank. I didn't like their price for Live Rock and they had huge pieces and I have a 12G tank already with a very large rock in there.

Have seen some nice light fixture builds for DIY lighting. Maybe a couple 38 PAR bulbs set up with a stylish piece of metal to hang down from and an adjustable cord for getting the right height/light penetration. You know in my spare time. lol: )

But I think I can get a very good result with those lights, and a reasonable price.

I have never been one to overlight a tank so I could grow a field of algae and then try to figure out how to get rid of it. (I end up with enough issues to deal with!)

Obviously the right amount of light is needed for different kinds of coral to grow well and be beautiful. So far I have been underlighted lately, and before my other SW tank had barely enough to grow but not enough to flourish and get the rich colors.

Back to FW.

I would like to move some more fish around. The Glass Catfish seem healthy and happy no signs of illness. Maybe move them this week to be with their friends in the 72G. Move the Trio - Mexican Rio Otapa Swordtails, I think they need a new home.

Move the Odessa Barbs or take them to auction.

Maybe the GlowLight Tetras to the smaller tank. There are too many kinds of the same shape fish in the 72G.

Feel like the rethinking of the stocking plan for the 72G is coming together. I love lots of fish but they do not necessarily look pleasant skitter scattering in every direction.

Looking for a more cohesive, peaceful shoaling effect.

Anyhow bought fish food kinds I was running low on.

Need to think about this a little more...going to go do some more planning /stocking scenarios. Ugh!

 

[nirbhao]

Mockups FTW!

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I spent about two hours this morning trimming and repositioning plants. I got a ball of just....moss....a couple of months ago. One of the types of moss is doing really well, but pieces of it were taking hold where I didn't want moss. It's like spiky... It looks like tiny, green barbed wire.

We're trying to sort out a female betta who's too cool for the community out of earshot of the six year-old. The spouse says, "We already have three tanks!"

But one of them is the quarantine, and hopefully, once we add the new fish to the community, we can take it down for a long time. He's not buying it. There's a vindictive part of me that thinks that, if that 10 gallon is going to count as an active tank, we may as well treat it like one. Lay down some substrate and move the silk flowers. Bam. Betta tank.

 

[Autumnsky]

Hahaha, Alan, 2 novels in a row, your post and mine!

I was told Ich will not use snails as a host.

Congrats on the shrimp doing well, they will like to coordinate their color with their surroundings.

Maybe you and another hobbyist can commit to host every other month and it will be a light hearted meet up to talk and swap stories, pics, fish and plants. Like at a park or community center room.

Let's see a pic of the tank with the DHG carpet!!!