Fishumentaryâ„¢

I started planting in the 40 gallon yesterday. The plants I’m working with at the moment all came out of the 55 gallon thank. The colors seen in the plants remind of the turning leaves in the fall. I’m not sure if the plants will retain their intense colors in this tank because the amount of light (2.4 wpg) is significantly lower the 55 gallon (4.72 wpg).

Closeup of Ludwigia Narrow Leaf

Current plants: Rotala Magenta, Ludwigia narrow leaf, Rotala Indica

Yesterday I performed a much needed trim on the Rotala Indica in the 55 gallon tank. I decided to leave everything else alone in hopes that it will catch up. I did trim some of the Rotala Magenta that had reached the surface and planted the tops toward the front of the tank. The photo above was taken after the trim.

It’s day 3 of the 40 gallon redesign project and all the existing plants and rocks have been removed. Below are a few photos taken throughout the process.

All of the “blocks” of Java Moss have been removed at this point. Most of it was transfered to the 2 designated shrimp tanks in the basement.

All of the Glosso and Dwarf Hair Grass have been removed in this photo. I had completely forgotten about all of the rock work in the original layout. I may try and use some of the rocks in the new design.

A blank canvas. I siphoned as much of the decayed plant matter left behind by the Java Moss and added a half bag of Eco Complete that I had left over from another tank.

Tomorrow the planting begins. I also placed an order for several new plants but they are not scheduled to ship until next week. The CO2 cylindered for this tank is scheduled for delivery this Friday.

I was hoping to wait until the 40 gallon had been cleared out to trim the Rotala Indica in the 10 gallon tank but it was growing much too fast. It was getting to the point where it was cutting off the light needed by the Blyxa. I trimmed it all to the height of the Nesaea Pedicellata in hopes that it can start catching up.

I made a decision to redo the 40 gallon “grass” tank a few months ago, I just didn’t know what I wanted to do with it, nor did I know how to handle the hundreds of Red Cherry shrimp that inhabited the 6 inch thick mass of Java Moss.

Well… I finally have a plan. Now that the breeding setup in the basement is complete, I have a 20 gallon (long) tank and a 5 gallon tank setup specifically for breeding and raising Red Cherries.

The first step is to get all of the moss, or at least as much as I can, into the new breeding tanks. Because of the density of the moss “hill” this is actually not as difficult as I thought. I can actually use a pair of scissors and cut “blocks” off moss, almost like pieces of sod, and then simply lift them into the transfer container. I’ve managed to remove about 1/2 of the moss (photo below) which actually took up most the available room in the 20 gallon tank.

Normally I would just throw out any of the moss I didn’t want since it grows back so fast but in this case their are dozens and dozens of small Red Cherries in each of the blocks I remove. I need to come up with some way to draw most of them out of the moss so it can be disposed of without significant loss of life.