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

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.

Still working on it...

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.

2 Gallon Hexagon

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.