20 Gallon Build: Moor Babies Movin' On Up!

[Mr. Limpet]

It's graduation day tomorrow, from nearly 6 weeks in a 4g fry tank to a 20g tank in my daughters room and she's so excited . I wonder if I can get her to be more involved and actually want to do some of the upkeep as she watches them grow from her bed? Probably not lol.

Got the tank cleaned (bleach solution) and flushed a 1/2 dozen times, my $5 stand got a good dusting/cleaning and heavy coat of Liquid Gold and it really shines now .

Got a really good deal on some black/blue aquarium background, so I tried the SeaView sealer for the first time and it came out pretty good. We'll see just how good it looks tomorrow evening when the tank is filled and the fishies are checking out their new home. The SeaView worked as advertized, but 1 bottle at $4.99 barely got this 20g done so it is an expensive proposition. I think I'll look for an alternative when I'm ready to put a background on our 37g & 29g.

My standard substrate of peat moss with a Laterite coating on it and 2" of PFS as a cap worked great once again. Gonna let it set overnight and settle and tomorrow the decco and plants go in and since it's going to be an instant cycled tank the young ones get to spread their fins by tomorrow evening.

My daughter wanted to get a pic of me doing the plate trick as I filled up the bottom 1/2 of the tank, so I told her I'd make sure it was in my first post .

EDIT: This is the 2nd part of my original fry thread - http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...y-are-these-eggs-on-the-moss-ball-145754.html

 

[Jason7894561230]

Awesome! Will definitly be following

 

[daileene]

ohhhhh so sool...me too. I can't wait to see the step by step of this thread...your daughter is so fortunate.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Awesome! Will definitly be following

ohhhhh so sool...me too. I can't wait to see the step by step of this thread...your daughter is so fortunate.

It's pretty exciting to see them growing up and my daughter is getting into the aquascaping of it, which is a good start .

 

[daileene]

it is so nice to know that our kids likes to participate in things that are very worthwhile...and a parent that sets a good example.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

So one of the first green things to go into this tank is a rock covered and netted with Java Moss. For some reason hair nets must be outlawed in my county, because I couldn't find them anywhere lol, so I opted for some bird netting that actually worked out really well. I was able to justify the high price figuring I'll need it on my garden beds this summer .

Here's the simple, yet effective process and we'll see how it does.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

it is so nice to know that our kids likes to participate in things that are very worthwhile...and a parent that sets a good example.

Thanks Dailene!

She's a big animal lover and at one time wanted to be a veterinarian, so who knows.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Update: Decco and movin' in:

Sand didn't need much settling, decco and some plants in (1st pic) and then some more to complete the plants going into soil, along with filter & heater in place (pic 2). My daughter did a great job directing me in placement, she picked out the bridge and allowed me to add the slate lol.

Fry going thru proper water and temp acclimation (pics 3 & 4) for intro to tank. There's as many different ways to acclimate fish as there are people that actually do it. I prefer the time tested drip system (1-2g per/for an hour) from an elevated reservoir (ie gallon jug) thru an airline hose into a tub (covered with net to avoid fry spilling over edge, again lol). Then tub is floated in tank for 20 mins and sunk for stress free introduction to their new home.

Fry in tank and happy (it seems) given the way they're enthusiastically exploring their new home (pics 5 & 6). Hornwort & floating wisteria (something like that) allowed to circulate around tank so fry have something to hide in whenever they need/want to and the inevitable (Marimo) moss ball I like to have in every tank (brackish adaptable too ).

 

[librarygirl]

Wow awesome! Congrats! Thanks for the photos!

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Update:

One of the frys passed today, sad to see but natural selection is best IMO. Down to 14 left lol, about 10 or 12 more than I want though.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Tank Update:

The rest of the fry are doing really good and a couple have doubled in size since going into the big tank. Even saw one swim thru the bridge which will excite my daughter to no end when she hears about it .

My biggest concern is that they don't produce enough waste to keep the filter seeded with bacteria, but the parameters look really good so far (ammo 0ppm, no2 0ppm, no3 5-10ppm, pH 7.8).

 

[Mr. Limpet]

I want to post pics of the fry growing like weeds in my backyard, but until the app is working again I can't post from the website on my phone . The band of 14 are doing good and for some reason one looks more like a comet than a fantail. Not sure how since my Moors are as Moorish as can be and the Panda Fantail is, well a fantail lol. Wait and see I guess.

 

[Bovbov]

Whats in the bag???

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Whats in the bag???

It's gravel to aid in seeding the tank with bacteria. Didn't really need it since this was an instant cycle setup/xfer, but it never hurts.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

OK, I think the little guy with SBD is an alien or something. I thought I lost him a couple weeks ago, but some how I was missing seeing him in the tank and even though he still has the problem, he's still alive and has double in size (at least). I tried to get him to eat some peas by dipping a small tub in, collecting him and some tank water all at once and crushing up a few peas and literally bathing him in pea matter. Gonna do the same tomorrow (if I can find him) and see if it helps any.

Can SBD, go away and then come back? I may have to call Ripley's Believe It or Not! lol.

 

[Jason7894561230]

Any updates?

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Any updates?

They keep grown like weeds. A couple are still pretty small, but there's one that's getting huge and it's really cool seeing them this size and what they'll look like in a few months. With the app down, I can't post pics .

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Updated pic of one monster fry lol. They're doing well and even the SBD fry keeps growing.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

First big PWC for the little guys and I'm gonna get my daughter involved in it and see if I can't get a little help servicing all these tanks . I'll edit this post and give a synopsis of the event .

PWC done, rescape to add plants and a good part of it done by my daughter . She got a little bored when I was sorting out plants, but had fun using the long planting tweezers to pluck a few snails out and put them in the GSP tank .

 

[daileene]

cool....i can't wait to see the hardwork you and your daughter put in the tank in a picture....pretty soon i hope...