My 60L Cube

My cryptocoryne undulata arrived today to try and fill out the bald spot. Unlucky cause I still got a bald spot



Noodles enjoying water change




The two young males started colouring up very nicely too!




A shrimp molted

The ever so elusive solo oto at night. I rarely see this little guy


Overwhelming joy when I actually do see him.
No thoughts behind his eyes lol.

@CassCats Do you use a special camera of some sorts for your photos? I'm looking for something as my iPhone doesn't do great close ups lol. I used to have a professional camera, but I had it taken. Sorry for bothering you

Jinx_ said:

@CassCats Do you use a special camera of some sorts for your photos? I'm looking for something as my iPhone doesn't do great close ups lol. I used to have a professional camera, but I had it taken. Sorry for bothering you

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Oh, not a bother at all! Very open to pings and messages!

I do have a DSLR Nikon camera, but I do not use it for fish photos (not in a couple years now anyways) because my short lens broke and I've not bothered to replace it just yet. Only working lens I have for it right now is a 500mm fixed telephoto lens that I use for wildlife (particularly birds).

My fish photos are all taken with my phone, a Samsung. Currently using a S22 model. I've not used an iPhone so I couldn't say how the picture quality is, I've stuck with Samsung phones but the newest Google Pixel has a very nice camera too when I was checking it out at the store. Had some features the Samsung lacked, but that's as far as I looked into it since I wasn't buying a new phone any time soon... but I digress.

I did put together a video showing how I take my photos, I will link it here. Perhaps it can help?


Basically, you want to use your focus lock on something unmoving at the same distance you want to take a photo of your fish at, and move the camera towards the fish without removing that focus lock. It can take some patience though, and several tries at a good shot. We do not discuss my constantly full phone storage from taking fish photos though

Oh, iPhone lacks the camera lock option lol. Mine's the 15 gen.

I find it interesting that a simple Samsung takes such breath taking photos ngl. Have you by any chance used older Samsung models? I mean, I'd take the s22, but I bought £150 headphones not too long and I'm unemployed lmfao.

Yeah I used the camera for wildlife as well. It took such amazing photos. I can take similar with my iPhone. It really doesn't take bad pics, but it just so depends on lighting around it and size of the focus object and how close it is. It won't focus at all on moving stuff, it struggled with my betta as it unfocuses soo quickly. It's just frustrating, I just want to take pics of my fish lol.

Jinx_ said:

The ever so elusive solo oto at night. I rarely see this little guy

View attachment 351301
Overwhelming joy when I actually do see him.
No thoughts behind his eyes lol.

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Like, this pic was just pure luck. He usually darts away as I get closer to the tank, and includes lights from my bedroom.

(Oh, he shortly yawned after taking this pic lmfao)

Jinx_ said:

Oh, iPhone lacks the camera lock option lol. Mine's the 15 gen.

I find it interesting that a simple Samsung takes such breath taking photos ngl. Have you by any chance used older Samsung models? I mean, I'd take the s22, but I bought £150 headphones not too long and I'm unemployed lmfao.

Yeah I used the camera for wildlife as well. It took such amazing photos. I can take similar with my iPhone. It really doesn't take bad pics, but it just so depends on lighting around it and size of the focus object and how close it is. It won't focus at all on moving stuff, it struggled with my betta as it unfocuses soo quickly. It's just frustrating, I just want to take pics of my fish lol.

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Oh yeah that would make it difficult if it lacks a focus lock. I hate taking any photos without, because there's an awful delay and often comes out blurry because it didn't focus right where I wanted it to lol

I've used as old as the S20 with decent photo quality.
Believe I took this photo with my old S20

Yeah, not able to lock focus is what holds me back. I like really nice pictures, bothers me the quality of my iPhone lol. I haven't really liked Samsungs, they always got laggy in the end and I had to change them like socks lol. iPhone ended up better working, but camera is just nice for my reptiles really.

Ooh that's a really nice pic! If I haven't bought my super expensive headphones, I might have bought either the S20 or the S22. I might get either of them once I get a job, but for the S20 I found quality 'opened but never used'. Whatever that even means lmfao.

I have a Samsung Watch 4 my mom bought me for my bday, hurts me I can't use it with my iPhone :,). I think a Samsung would help ease the pain.

The two plants arrived today, tank looks so much better already!



But the problem is... That I now have a big bald spot in the corner next to the amazon sword.

Why-

Might get ambulia for the bald spot or heteranthera. Will for sure get more pennywort, and scatter its stalks around the tank.

Nice looking tank! You'd see that otto more if you got him some buddies. How many kuhlis do you have? I miss those.

WhistlingBadger said:

Nice looking tank! You'd see that otto more if you got him some buddies. How many kuhlis do you have? I miss those.

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Thank you! Can't wait for those plants to finally grow in properly
I sadly have hard water, otos like softer acidic water. I really want to give him some buddies tho. I have 6 kuhlis, I see them forage all the time. Sometimes they get the zoomies and swim all around

@CassCats Hiii! Sorry! I found out how to lock focus on iPhone. It's just a little funky when I use it, in the end it blurs the focus a little lol. I'll have to keep trying and see. I also my eye on a German made macro lens clip. Would that help for closer close ups?

I did manage to get a great pic of one of my now bit older males. He was really enjoying the salad. I had to make the camera focus on the leaf to keep the boy in focus as well. This one really turned out great!



And then a less impressive pic of couple of my shrimps going to town on the leaf. This one's a little mortifying, as I like to call it, in a way...

Jinx_ said:

@CassCats Hiii! Sorry! I found out how to lock focus on iPhone. It's just a little funky when I use it, in the end it blurs the focus a little lol. I'll have to keep trying and see. I also my eye on a German made macro lens clip. Would that help for closer close ups?

I did manage to get a great pic of one of my now bit older males. He was really enjoying the salad. I had to make the camera focus on the leaf to keep the boy in focus as well. This one really turned out great!

View attachment 351853

And then a less impressive pic of couple of my shrimps going to town on the leaf. This one's a little mortifying, as I like to call it, in a way...

View attachment 351854

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That's a fantastic guppy shot. I struggle getting guppy and endler photos myself, they don't sit still long enough and their movements aren't as predictable as tetras are.

You can try a macro lens, but it might be a little bit of an added challenge to learn. I use mine mostly for macro views of insects and my pet ants, it's not been overly used for much for my fish outside of viewing things like copepods lol

This is the one I use



You can get an idea of how close the 25x macro is

CassCats said:

That's a fantastic guppy shot. I struggle getting guppy and endler photos myself, they don't sit still long enough and their movements aren't as predictable as tetras are.

You can try a macro lens, but it might be a little bit of an added challenge to learn. I use mine mostly for macro views of insects and my pet ants, it's not been overly used for much for my fish outside of viewing things like copepods lol

This is the one I use
View attachment 351857


You can get an idea of how close the 25x macro is
View attachment 351858

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Thank you! And I totally get you! My guppies are still tiny, so they don't sit still. Tho I still manage well. I got a few more shots today, using my phones focus lock I've discovered:





I thought of getting the macro lense in hope it would allow me to get non blurry closer close ups. My phone doesn't allow me get close ups as it will blur out, and not focus. Unless there's a lense for that? I'm not sure