Fishumentary™

Mar 01

Work In Progress� Fall Foliage

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

Feb 28

Work In Progress… Update

40 Gallon (Grass) No Comments »

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.

Feb 25

Work In Progress

40 Gallon (Grass) No Comments »

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.

Jan 23

The First Trim

40 Gallon (Grass) No Comments »

It’s been a little over 3 weeks and the 40 gallon is ready for its first trim. The Ludwigia narrow leaf and Ludwigia needle leaf have both reached the surface. The needle leaf has taken on a beautiful orange color to contrasts nicely with the Rotala sp. green and the Heteranthera zosterifolia.

I made the difficult decision to get rid of the “Cuba.” It simply wasn’t growing the way I had hoped and would end up causing problems down the road. In its place I planted some of the longer trimmings of Ludwigia narrow and needle leaf.

To my surprise the Rotala magenta is doing very well. This is the first time I’ve used it in a tank with less than 3 wpg. I think the shallowness of the tank makes up for the less intense lighting.

The photo above was taken after the trim and removal of the Ludwigia Inclinata.

I moved both pairs of Gold-Orange Flash Cockatoos to a tank in the basement. I think they would have been fine in this tank but I think they’ll be more comfortable in a species tank and away from the swarm of Rasboras and Black neons. I was going to try and move the 2 pairs of Apistogramma Borellii as well but one of the pairs has spawned in one of the Blyxa japonica “patches.” The female is aggressively guarding the small pink eggs and darts at anyone who comes too close. I’m going to wait and see what happens with the eggs for a few more days before I decide whether or not to move them.