Aquatic Delight

First post of the year...and of the decade

2010-01-11T22:13:00.000-08:00

What better time to update this thing than after the holidays. I hope everyone had their fill of delicious food and well, family. Nothing much has changed although I have made an effort to do some extra maintenance and refine my pruning and arrangement* techniques. I decided to put some slate with java moss as foreground cover although much of it has died. It's probably adjusting to the lower light conditions since it used to be attached to the branches closer to the light. I also added some more Rotala rotundifolia to the left mid-section. It doesn't seem to grow as tall or as red as in my 2 gallon hexagon. It's more likely due to lower light and less Potassium concentrations. It didn't turn as vibrant in my 2 gallon hex until I increased the KCl dosage. You might also notice some new inhabitants. Some time ago I decided to trade in some of my surplus of Endlers (Poecilia wingei) for store credit at my lfs. With it I got 6 neon tetras (Paracheirodon innesi) and some filter media. And then with an old Petco gift card I got two more otocinclus and thanks to a loophole I got a third one for free. So after the mass die-off the population has finally rebounded. I have 6 neon tetras (Paracheirodon innesi), 3 red wag swordtails and 8 of their babies (Xiphophorus hellerii), 4 otocinclus (Otocinclus sp.), 5 baby tiger endlers (Poecilia wingei), and the booming red cherry shrimp (Neocaridina heteropoda) population. When I first got the neon tetras I took extra precautions to ensure that all of them survived. This is the fourth time I have tried keeping them and the first time to be successful. It has been weeks and so far they are doing great. I will end up trading my baby swordtails for more neon tetras once they reach the 1" mark. The baby endlers will go in with their mom once they are big enough that she won't be able to feast on them.

10 gallon tank, frontal view

My 6 gallon tank is probably the one that has been through more changes. One day an idea came to mind and the end result was exactly how I pictured it. I used the same two branches that were originally erect in addition to two more branches that I had stored away. I also thinned out the Vallisneria sp. and added some Hygrophila difformis. Anyway, I really like it. I was thinking about maybe relocating this design into my 10 gallon tank, but I decided against it since that would mean lots of changes.

6 gallon tank, frontal view

This tank, the 2 gallon hex is nothing special. I just let the plants grow like crazy and then prune them down and use the clippings for my other tanks. I'm not liking the Echinodorus tenellus taking over the bottom part of the tank, they are too big and the root systems are overwhelming the other plants. I will put the lot of them into my ten gallon where they will have more room to grow.

2 gallon hex, "side" view

I have never shown this tank primarily because I never thought much about it. It's 2 gallons and currently houses a lonely female tiger endler and numerous baby red ramshorn snails (Planorbis sp. "rubrum"). It only gets ambient light, the light shown was the lamp I borrowed from the 2 gallon hex. I just added those rocks yesterday, the java moss tree originally was set down across the sand as a "trunk". It doesn't have a heater because it's down on the floor where the carpet keeps it nice and cozy and no filter since there's no significant bioload. I do try and keep up with maintenance though. It's fairly low maintenance more or less.

2 gallon, frontal view

Thanks for reading. Have a great day.

*I don't consider myself much of an aquascaper so from now on I will refrain from using the term "aquascape". My tanks are planted tanks, nothing out of the ordinary.

Oh No!

2009-11-21T12:41:00.000-08:00

I wish I had a pictorial update, but that will have to wait until I get new batteries for my camera. The potassium deficiency has finally been taken care of, my plants' leaves no longer die! Everything hasn't gone as expected though. This morning when I was about to feed my fish I noticed a white milky film on the surface of the 10 gallon, I at first thought the filter stopped working. I looked at the flow and no it wasn't that. As I was looking at the flow I noticed a couple of dead tetras floating belly-up right next to the heater. I looked around for the rest. None of them were swimming about so I was expecting the worst and sure enough I found the rest of the tetras between the plants. I knew for a fact that it wasn't the water because I always keep it in top shape and it couldn't go bad over night. The only other culprit could be the temperature. I checked the thermometer and it was at 92ºF! In total 11 fish died: 4 glowlights; 5 black neons; 1 otocinclus; and 1 baby swordtail. That's pretty much the whole population. The only survivors were the two adult swordtails, one of their babies, an otocinclus and the lot of red cherry shrimp. I still don't know if I will go buy more tetras especially when I have no money. I certainly don't want to add guppies which is the only fish I have an excess of. Maybe this will be the perfect time to give neon tetras a fourth chance. Or maybe not, they are always prone to die within the week even if I drip acclimate them. How about trading in some guppies for store credit and get some tetras with that? Plausible.

I seriously don't know what went wrong. The heater isn't faulty, the temperature went back down to its normal range of 78ºF after adjusting it. I'm thinking that I unexpectedly turned the knob last night when I was fiddling with the lights resulting in inadvertently making fish soup. I will miss my fish.

An Update: At Last

2009-10-27T15:05:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weeks I sort of neglected my tanks out of frustration for not getting some things in order. It all started when the strip light's ballast on my 10 gallon decided to die unexpectedly, from then on the plants suffered miserably. And it wasn't until last week that I took some action and rectify some of the problems. I got a replacement strip light from Aqueon, but even after this I wasn't satisfied with the amount of light I was getting. Since I enjoy DIY projects I decided to convert the non-working strip light from a fluorescent pin-base to a CFL screw-in. I'm not an electrician but it was easier than I thought. Now I have two 20 watt spiral CFLs plus a 14 watt fluorescent, giving me a total of 5.4WPG! I also was dealing with a potassium deficiency, I got some KCl from the supermarket which I'm certain will patch up this problem. I also did some small rearrangements, like putting the Hygrophila difformis behind the driftwood, inspired by one of Oliver Knott's creations.

My 2 gallon hexagon was also going downhill, I started getting some hair algae and the Hygrophila difformis was becoming a nuisance. Hydrogen peroxide took care of the algae and I fed all of the Hygrophila difformis to my baby turtle. As you can probably already tell I like to take the easy route. Anyway, I leave you with the results.

10 Gallon, frontal view

10 Gallon, corner view

10 Gallon, side view

Neocaridina heteropoda, male

Hemigrammus erythrozonus

Xiphophorus hellerii, male red wag

Otocinclus vittatus

2 Gallon Hex at night

2 Gallon Hex during the day

2 Gallon Hex in the afternoon,

Eh

2009-09-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

I think it's official, I'm done with forums. A while back I had the misfortune to sign up in a fish forum only to find myself reprimanded for my techniques even after my own research reaffirmed me that I had done nothing wrong. I had enough with the self-righteous, pompous baboons that lurk here and there ready to criticize anything that doesn't float their boat. Just because they have been in the hobby for some decades somehow gives them the right to push people around as if they were just not worth their time.

I start a new thread ask for advice or suggestions and I only get a few replies with hundreds of others who do nothing else but skip it altogether. Of course, I appreciate the effort of those who reply, but I don't think I'm alone in that it's usually best when you get more than one viewpoint. I find it incredible that not that many know how to answer my questions. Are my questions so complicated that they surpass the knowledge of even the most experienced fishkeeper? To me that is impossible to even imagine. It's frustrating in that when novices post something everyone is right behind them answering their every question, when one could simply do the research on their own and find the same information given as advice by others. Especially when one could simply look up older posts where the questions are exactly the same! I could understand it if they didn't have the resources, but in the computer age individual research has been simplified significantly. Look at the internet, it's condensed with articles and easy-to-follow instructions, even whole books can be read on the subject. My case, I only reserve posting for when I have a question for whose answer I can find nowhere, for when my efforts have been so futile that I have to look in every single page that mentions something similar. I read so much and try to get my fill on everything I can find and then deduce on what I should do next, in a rare case will I come across something that stumps me and it's at this point that I start posting. Is it the knowledge that I just gained that is working against me, in other words, is there something I know that others don't? Perfect example, someone posted a picture of a very fat sunset platy everyone else had said that it was a "balloon molly"...I however said that it was a "sunset platy"..."balloon molly" was beyond me, the fish clearly had clear (see-through) caudal and dorsal fins and was somewhat transparent altogether whereas mollies are usually solid in color. And of course it was orange and red in color, a color morph that is otherwise rare or entirely absent in mollies. The original poster posted a new, sharper picture, and you can guess who was right all along. Another memorable post was about low tech, non-filtered, planted tanks. One guy kept insisting that "manufactured" filters were essential, mainly because of the biological processes and chemical filtration needed for a balanced tank life. I explained to him that a well balanced, fully planted tank could take care of that all by itself without any need for a box of plastic, he would have none of that and even went so far as to say that "filterless, low-tech tanks ought to be an abomination." At that point I so desperately wished Diana Walstad was there to back me up. And of course lest we not forget the advice given by others. Someone said that cardinal tetras were an artificially-bred variety of the neon tetra. I couldn't help it, I had to laugh. Not all posts have ended in a bad way. Many of them were quite pleasant and highly informative, but I just can't deal with it anymore. Fishkeeping is already frustrating as it is, no need to add more trouble to my plate. I'm thankful for those who helped me. There is one exception to this rule however. None of this matters since I doubt anyone will care to read it.

Still working on it...

2009-08-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

Nothing frustrates me more than having my 10 gallon tank in a suspended state and at the same time feeling a little helpless. It seems like I'm always working on improving something but then I don't like it and put it off altogether. About a week ago I increased the CO2 for this tank and the plants started growing exponentially, I got more growth in a week than the last four weeks combined. I did some trimming and added a few more plants. I was excited and couldn't wait for the little bushes in the foreground to grow a little more. Well the next day I woke up to discover that the strip light at the front didn't work anymore. I was very disappointed because I didn't have it for more than four months. I have contacted Aqueon and am still waiting for them to take action. Now I have moved the back strip light to the front where the more demanding plants are at. I'm now crossing my fingers hoping that my plants will make it. The Hygrophila difformis to the left has grown into a nice little bush, I also added a few more to make it look a little more compact. I might have to move it to the back. I also added a bit more Hygrophila polysperma to the lower right and I got a new Hygrophila sp. which I believe is willow leaf hygro but not sure about the species. Once I get everything a little more filled in and get new plants, I'll start transforming it into something resembling a Dutch aquascape or at least be inspired by one. Here are some tank shots:

10 Gallon: Suspended state before CO2 increase

10 Gallon: After CO2 increase and before trimming

10 Gallon: After trim and after front strip light goes out

6 Gallon: Suspended state

6 Gallon: After a little growth

And here are some random pictures, everybody loves pictures:

Hygrophila sp. "unknown" (willow leaf?)

Hygrophila difformis

Hygrophila polysperma

Planorbis corneus, "rubrum"

Melanoides tuberculatus,

Neocaridina heteropoda, female & Planorbis corneus, "rubrum"

Neocaridina heteropoda, male

Neocaridina heteropoda, female

Neocaridina heteropoda, female

Trachemy scripta elegans, baby turtle I got from my mom for Christmas.

New stock at Petco

2009-08-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to my local Petco after not going there for several months. I was expecting the same old fish but to my surprise that wasn't the case. They had some rarities that you usually don't see in specialty shops, seasonal shipment perhaps? They had rams, three varieties! Gold rams, German Blues, and Bolivians! I wanted to take some home, but I didn't want to take the risk of them dying on me. They also had some pretty cool tetras, I forgot most of their names the coolest was probably the lemon tetra. They had halbeaks too, they were about an 1" long and only $1.99. These were tempting too but I figured that they would be difficult to keep considering that they probably need live food and might be a bit aggressive. I probably won't dive into them unless I find out what species they are. They are a very silvery color, like the type of silver seen on Hemigrammus rodwayi. There were many other fish which I don't seem to remember, I might go back next week to get myself some skunk cories and lemon tetras. Yesterday though I settled for a pair of red wag swordtails. I had been wanting some for a long time. I'm not an impulse buyer but if I were, I probably would've bought every new fish that I saw.

Another thing I noticed about this particular Petco is that they seem to be getting involved with planted tanks. They have always sold plants, even though lacking variety, they do have rarities from time to time. I got my Rotala rotundifolia, Ludwigia repens, Hygrophila difformis, and Microsorum pteropus from them. The first two I couldn't find anywhere else which tells you something about big box chain stores, they aren't always bad. Best of all bunch plants are just $2.99 no matter how rare they might be.

They now sell about 6 different types of substrates especially made for planted tanks along with some fertilizers and simple CO2 systems. It wasn't really impressive although I do hope it gets better with time.

As for my tanks, nothing too exciting happening. I did find some wild Hydrocotyle though, finally! I put some in my ten gallon and waiting for it to take off. I'm sure it will thrive.

Cumulative Update

2009-07-21T15:03:00.001-07:00

My tanks are doing great I couldn't be happier. From the very start I've had little problems growing plants, but now I seem to be getting better. My ten gallon, I thought, would be unable to provide the necessary environment for most plants, it has two 14 watt AquaGlo bulbs and DIY CO2. With these in mind I couldn't help but feel a bit pessimistic. About a month ago I added some Rotala rotundifolia, it didn't grow or do anything at all so I took it out. I also added some Hygrophila difformis which I thought would not thrive. Now it seems to be growing slowly. The Ludwigia repens used to grow exponentially inches by the week before I decided to rescape it. It doesn't seem to do much now. When I refilled one of the DIY CO2 bottles I noticed some pearling on some of my plants, specifically the java fern and the dwarf lily. This is good news because I've never had any pearling in this tank before and that means I must be doing something right. Below you can see slight changes in my ten gallon, the dwarf lily grew lots of leaves, which I had to cut off and the Hygrophila difformis is making a great attempt to reach the surface. The vals also put out a lot of runners which I decided to use in my 6 gallon.

Microsorum pteropus pearling

Nymphaea sp. 'rubra' pearling

I've never shown this tank before, it's my 6 gallon endler tank. Not too sure what to make of it, I tried this island layout don't know if it goes well or not. The rock to the left seems out of place, I might take it out. I used to have some cherry shrimp in there but none of the babies were surviving so I put them in their own 2 gallon tank. Currently I only have some Vallisneria, java fern, Hygrophila polysperma, Ludwigia repens, and anubias. Hopefully the back gets full of vals so that I can cover the filter.

And finally, my 2 gallon hexagon. This is my miracle tank, I can grow just about anything in it. It has a 15 watt CFL bulb plus some sunlight when the sun is lower in the sky, more than enough light in my opinion. The other day I was thinking about how long into the photoperiod the plants would start to pearl. Amazingly they started pearling within the minute I turned on the lights! It also has some DIY CO2 which definitely helps everything grow faster. Here you can see the three stages it has been through within one month, the last picture shows how I'm running out of room to put all the clippings. This is my "cultivator" tank so I don't have to worry about where to put the plants, I can just plant them in my ten gallon.

Planorbis corneus/rubrum

Thanks for reading.

Some pictures of my inverts

2009-07-12T17:10:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated this thing in a while. The other day I was taking some macro shots of some of my inverts and this is what came out. I'm surprised my "cheap" Kodak EasyShare is capable of taking some nice quality shots. As an amateur photographer, any camera is a good camera, if you know how to use it.

Melanoides tuberculatus

Neocaridina heteropoda

Neocaridina heteropoda

2 Gallon Hexagon

2009-06-19T14:00:00.000-07:00

I cleaned up my hexagon tank just a bit. The bulb was changed from an incandescent to a compact fluorescent spiral. It's warm white 2700K, the plants love it, I see them pearling after a few hours into the photoperiod.

I got rid of the floating anacharis and put it in my fancy guppy breeding tank. I also trimmed the hygrophila difformis since it's starting to put out leaves in the submersed form, I originally got it with emersed foliage. The guppies get to have more space to swim in. The inhabitants are MTS snails and wildtype "feeder" guppies. I like these little guys, I hate how people overlook them and use them as feeders instead. They are really neat fish and inexpensive too. The colony in that tank seems to have its own population control, it never gets too crowded. They only have a couple of fry at a time, never over 5, and they occasionally eat their young. Also, by the time the surviving fry grow to adulthood, the older worn females fade away. The males seem to live a little longer than the females, but the same thing happens to them.

Over the one year that his tank has been set up, I have seen many color variations. Different colors and patterns pop up every few weeks. At the moment there seems to be a lot of males with a peacock eye on the upper part at the base of the tail. If you have an empty tank, give these guys a chance. I'm sure you'll fall for them just like I did a few years back. It's fun to watch a colony change over time and best of all you can also learn a little about genetics. You can sometimes even predict to precision what traits will show up next. Here's the tank:

Hygrophila difformis

Hygrophila difformia and duckweed. Also shown is my DIY CO2 diffuser.

Poecilia reticulata, male

Poecilia reticulata, male

Poecilia reticulata, male

Poecilia reticulata, males. Notice the males with the "peacock eye" on the upper left.

Thanks for reading.

10 Gallon Rescape

2009-06-10T15:39:00.000-07:00

I had been thinking about changing a few things in my ten gallon for quite some time. Yesterday I decided to once and for all do something about it. The number one thing I had to take care of was to net out all the guppy juveniles I had in there, I realized that I didn't appreciate them as much as I used to. So they'll be going into their own tank and maybe in doing so my admiration for them won't diminish. I also trimmed all the dying leaves on the java fern which increased open space dramatically. I took out all the plants and the driftwood, sloped the gravel, and added some Vallisneria. It was very hard trying to get everything how I wanted it, the two main pieces of wood and the branches had to be tied together to make sure that they wouldn't move. Planting was probably the most difficult, considering that you can barely get both of your hands in the tank while making sure not to move anything already in place. I struggled trying to get the dwarf lily between the driftwood, the opening there is like 2" at most. After removing most of the plants, this is what was revealed:

I quite liked this, maybe if it was refined somehow it would make a great layout. Not for now though. Anyway, these are the pictures so far.

Before:

After:

Fauna: 7 Hemigrammus erythrozonus, 5 Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi, 2 Otocinclus vittatus, and hundreds of Malaysian Trumpet snails

Flora: Ludwigia repens, Microsorum pteropus (2 varieties?), Vallisneria sp.?, Nymphaea sp. 'rubra', Taxiphyllum barbieri

I'm feeling a bit uneasy about the Ludwigia to the left, I might have to trim it shorter to give that area a more filled, bushy finish. And perhaps even add a few Rotala rotundifolia.
It looks much bigger in my opinion, less fish and more open space and the Vallisneria in the back gives the illusion that it is taller. I'm happy.
Shortly after finishing I noticed some courtship behavior amongst the Glowlight tetras. I've seen them do their dances before, but I'm yet to see any eggs. I'm thinking that what triggered it this time was the shade provided by the vals.

Hemigrammus erythrozonus

Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi

Ludwigia repens

This is a work in progress, it might/will change as it grows. I'm open to suggestions so if you have something to say go ahead. Currently, I'm not sure whether to trim down the ludwigia to make it into a nice bushy foreground. I'm also still undecided whether I should add a bolivian ram as a centerpiece fish. I've had these fish in this tank before and they did quite well. I should give them a try. Thanks for reading and thank you Karen for the vals.

Slight Improvement

2009-05-22T17:08:00.000-07:00

I've been struggling with keeping my tanks as natural as possible. It has been a while since I deliberately used cheesy decorations or colored gravel in any of my tanks. This one though was meant to be temporary so I didn't really care what color gravel it would have. It has been a year since I set it up and I just fell in love with it so I decided to change the blue gravel for good. It is a 2 gallon hexagon tank that I use as a "cultivator" tank, meaning I use it to grow out and cultivate plants that I want to propagate rapidly. It is near a west-facing window and it gets some direct sunlight during autumn and winter which allows for a faster growth rate.

Before:

Blue gravel + black stones = one ugly combination

After:

Black sand makes a better medium in my opinion.

Malaysian Trumpet snails investigating the new baby java fern

This tank is oddly shaped so aquascaping is definitely a challenge. The flora includes: Taxiphyllum barbieri, Microsorum pteropus, Rotala rotundifolia v.'marsh', Hygrophila polysperma v. 'sunset',Ludwigia repens, Egeria densa, Echinodorus tenellus, & Hygrophila difformis. Fauna includes: Poecilia reticulata v. 'wiltype' (feeders), & Melanoides tuberculatus.

What triggered the change:

These are my friend's tanks, she recommended that I try black sand which is said to improve plant growth due to its high iron content. She doesn't fertilize her tanks which is sort of amazing considering that her plants look extremely healthy.

I noticed a big picture quality difference even though all these pictures were taken with the same camera. Anyway, I hope you liked it.

New blog

2009-05-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

This is my blog, I'm fairly new to aquascaping but not to fishkeeping. I've kept fish ever since I was 4, now I'm 19. You do the math. I like it because it keeps me occupied and I like nature in general. I'm also hoping that one day I'll make a career out of it. I'm aiming for ichthyology.

At the moment I have a 10 gallon tank with some black neon and glowlight tetras and a bunch of baby guppies that I will get rid of as soon as possible. I also have a six gallon tank which is basically a endler and RCS sanctuary. Plus several smaller tanks.

For the moment I only have these images. I will get some of my tanks as soon as the aquascapes improve a little bit. I hope that with this new thing I will learn a little bit more and be guided in the right direction. As time progresses I will add more stuff and hopefully I'll get some feedback.

Hemigrammus erythrozonus

Hemigrammus erythrozonus

Betta Splendens-King of his 5 gallon bowl