Is My Tank Cycling? Noob To The Hobby - I've Also Read The "re

Big waterchange done roll on tomorrow!

I also picked up some crystalwort. Was originally going to tie it to my wood but it looks kinda cool bobbing around on the surface.

The fish are gonna love it i think!


I also got it for a good price. They had these little branded cups for £6 and it all looked sorry for itself. They also had a huge ball of it floating about their plant tank and it was all lush and green. The manager of the lfs ripped off a piece bigger than my fist (and far bigger than the pots and i got it for £3

I find anubias of all types to be easy to grow and although slow growing, they will thrive and gradually grow even in modest lighting and minimal or no ferts. I bought a tree like manzinita wood piece (attached with a screw to a small piec of flagstone to keep it upright)  and attached several anubias,plants with thin fishing line.  Over several months they grew nicely to give the look of a tree on the manzanita wood.  The fish like to swim between the branches.
 
A nice looking small cory is the julii cory if your lfs stocks them.

 
 

 

 
I had one tank at first 3 years ago, and now have 3 tanks....but I know i can stop..I know I can, I know I can....
 
my stocking in the 3 tanks is listed in my signature

Cool tanks i love my two anubias nanas. Tbh i love all my plants xD i just need some fishies swimming around them. 12 hours time ill be acclimating them

I have them! 8 little cherries. No more than 1cm long each. Was impossible to sex them in the store. They all looked the same. Theyve been in the tank 3 hours now some are really colouring up! I think i have 1 or 2 males max. They all look stunning though some have blushed cheeks almost was worried at first (definitely going to be a hypochondriac with my fish) but research just said they can have very translucent skin over their gills.

Some are also quite dark in colour. And they just seem so happy. At first they were obviously stressed - hiding at the bottom but now they come and say hello to me when i go up to the tank theres two (one looks potentially male. Not much of a stripe to him) who keep going round in circles chasing each other - no bullying or nipping and they take it in turns chasing.


Im so happy ive got some pictures in my phone but im busy working at the mo. Will upload them at the end of the week very difficult to photograph though. All very active!

Ok so I've got a few pictures. Sorry for the potato quality! also, the tank isn't it's cleanest Bits of algae and the like. I haven't managed to get all 8. They move so much!
 
I've managed to get 1 of the current boss of the tank. He (or she) is a darker colour than the others and has this amazing dorsal fin with a mixture of bright orange and his dark colour. The picture doesn't quite do him (or her) justice.
 
It's a pity the colours haven't come out properly I'm also still waiting for more floating plants!
 
This one is always the first to say hello when I walk up to the tank! I can't sex these at the moment as they're so young, but this one is definitely the palest of all of them, and has a very well defined lateral stripe

 
Not the greatest of quality, but this shows the metallic stripe off well! These fish are amazing to look at. Over the course of their first week in this tank their colours have really become much more vibrant. This one also shows part of my Ozelot sword which is really starting to get some majestic leaves.

 
 
And here is the boss, with part of one of my bacopas in the background. These bacopas are incredible. I got them a couple of weeks ago and they didn't even go halfway up the water column. Both plants have shooted more stems, and are also nearly at the top. The fish love swimming about these and my sword.

 
Nice to see this set up and up and running with some lovely cherry barbs
 
A few more plants wont go amiss
I find plants can be hit or miss in different tanks, so it will be a bit trial and error until you find what plants will grow best.
If you are after some floating plants, fish do appreciate this to offer some shelter and shade, then i can recommend water lettuce or silvania natans, these do grow pretty well in most tank.
I'd avoid duck weed, can take over the entire water surface and is annoying to try and remove if you no longer water these (been there, done that, never again!)
 
Though must mention Riccia fluitans (cyrstalwort, can be tricky to grow in some tank, seems they favour softer water tbh) but be sure to tie them to wood or rock otherwise it will simply fall apart if left to float for too long.

Yes i mnow i need to up the planta. Thats my main priority now, im just being rather picky about it!

Ill get my crystalwort tied down then... Haha! Its currently bobbing about.

I can tell the fish like the shade, as whilst the lights are on they will spend more time beneath plants like my ozelot sword, so if i plan on getting cories i need to keep the cherry barbs up the water column.

Ch4rlie said:

 
Nice to see this set up and up and running with some lovely cherry barbs

 
A few more plants wont go amiss

I find plants can be hit or miss in different tanks, so it will be a bit trial and error until you find what plants will grow best.
If you are after some floating plants, fish do appreciate this to offer some shelter and shade, then i can recommend water lettuce or silvania natans, these do grow pretty well in most tank.
I'd avoid duck weed, can take over the entire water surface and is annoying to try and remove if you no longer water these (been there, done that, never again!)
 
Though must mention Riccia fluitans (cyrstalwort, can be tricky to grow in some tank, seems they favour softer water tbh) but be sure to tie them to wood or rock otherwise it will simply fall apart if left to float for too long.

Click to expand...

A couple of silvania natans tubs are now included in my LFS next delivery out of all their options the guys said id probably get the best out of that one. I thought id go in not knowing what id want just to see what is said haha

Ch4rlie said:

 
Nice to see this set up and up and running with some lovely cherry barbs

 
A few more plants wont go amiss

I find plants can be hit or miss in different tanks, so it will be a bit trial and error until you find what plants will grow best.
If you are after some floating plants, fish do appreciate this to offer some shelter and shade, then i can recommend water lettuce or silvania natans, these do grow pretty well in most tank.
I'd avoid duck weed, can take over the entire water surface and is annoying to try and remove if you no longer water these (been there, done that, never again!)
 
Though must mention Riccia fluitans (cyrstalwort, can be tricky to grow in some tank, seems they favour softer water tbh) but be sure to tie them to wood or rock otherwise it will simply fall apart if left to float for too long.

Click to expand...

So i added some silvania and some amazon frogbit. Its amazing. The fish seem to love them! Plus the fish now use all of the tank when the lights are on.


I also bought this big dark green plant with leaves that are 30cm long... Planted it to obscure the filter current a little

The males have also stopped pestering the female. Will be interesting to see if that lasts.

Im slowly learning what stressed cherry barbs are like!!!

Salvinia natans is a very lovely plant, considering its small size.  This is strictly speaking a fern, and the plant consists of three leaves (fronds technically) and no roots; the upper two leaves float and the third is submerged and dissected and functions as a root.  The plant remains floating due to air pockets within the leaves.  Vegetative reproduction in long "stems" is fairly rapid once the plant is established.  Spores are produced by the submerged leaf.  I recently managed to find this plant; years ago I had a slightly larger species, S. molesta (often considered S. auriculata in the literature but most botanists think the common aquarium plant is S. molesta) which was indeed a beauty, with its silvery green leaves.
 
Fish will always be more "relaxed" under a canopy of floating plants.  This replicates their natural habitats, which for most species never see direct sunlight but is constant deep shade.
 
Byron.

Well these tubs didnt look huge but contained lots... About a third of my surface is covered now. Very beautiful little leaves.

The other plant is an aponogeton crispus i think. Another one of my LFS unlabelled specimens... Its pretty huge...

marnold00 said:

Well these tubs didnt look huge but contained lots... About a third of my surface is covered now. Very beautiful little leaves.

The other plant is an aponogeton crispus i think. Another one of my LFS unlabelled specimens... Its pretty huge...

Click to expand...

 
Aponogeton have a tuber.  You plant this and roots grow out.  Most Aponogeton will need a rest period; the leaves die off and after a couple months new leaves grow.  This happens every year, maybe twice (I lose track with mine).  They will benefit a lot from a substrate tab like Flourish Tabs, just one close to the tuber in the substrate.  Replace it every 2-3 months.

Byron said:

Well these tubs didnt look huge but contained lots... About a third of my surface is covered now. Very beautiful little leaves.

The other plant is an aponogeton crispus i think. Another one of my LFS unlabelled specimens... Its pretty huge...

Click to expand...

 
Aponogeton have a tuber.  You plant this and roots grow out.  Most Aponogeton will need a rest period; the leaves die off and after a couple months new leaves grow.  This happens every year, maybe twice (I lose track with mine).  They will benefit a lot from a substrate tab like Flourish Tabs, just one close to the tuber in the substrate.  Replace it every 2-3 months.

Click to expand...

Replace the tab every 2-3 months? At first i read that as replace the plant haha! Ive ordered the tabs

It really is a beautiful plant. Its leaves are so impressive. The fish love it too

Ch4rlie said:

 
Nice to see this set up and up and running with some lovely cherry barbs

 
A few more plants wont go amiss

I find plants can be hit or miss in different tanks, so it will be a bit trial and error until you find what plants will grow best.
If you are after some floating plants, fish do appreciate this to offer some shelter and shade, then i can recommend water lettuce or silvania natans, these do grow pretty well in most tank.
I'd avoid duck weed, can take over the entire water surface and is annoying to try and remove if you no longer water these (been there, done that, never again!)
 
Though must mention Riccia fluitans (cyrstalwort, can be tricky to grow in some tank, seems they favour softer water tbh) but be sure to tie them to wood or rock otherwise it will simply fall apart if left to float for too long.

Click to expand...

Dude i read somewhere that floating plants are nitrate sinks.... But seriously didnt expect them to be this good! This is the first time ive had a reading of 0 nitrates

I'm still rubbish at photography but they're getting bigger! Typical for them to be posing away from the new floating plants but you can just about see some of the roots of them
 

 
My big bacopa on the left needs a good prune I know and the twisty grass plants aren't doing very well really if anybody can think of a good one to grow at the back instead of that then do please say or maybe suggest how to rescue them