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.

Cumulative Update

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.

10 Gallon Rescape

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.