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.

Some pictures of my inverts

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

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

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

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

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

Hemigrammus erythrozonus

Betta Splendens-King of his 5 gallon bowl