Another Nano Tank For A Betta

[tunagirll]

I have a rather old Canon digital camera; nothing special. I was frustrated with my pics so I did some reading on how to take a decent photo of aquaria and voila immediate improvement
 
1. Take photos 90 degrees to the glass not at an angle
2. Ideally put the lens right up against the glass
3. Use flash
4. Be patient waiting for fish to come into frame
 
I'm also using manual focus but I think newer cameras probably don't need that. And I'm fiddling with other settings, experimenting

 

[tunagirll]

Nige got a new tank mate - Chip. He's a striped kuhli loach. I'm going to add a few more once my LFS gets some more in next week.
 

 

[TekFish]

Yay kuhlis!

Tek oot.

 

[tunagirll]

I told my friend today that if Nigel was a person, he'd be a psychopath

What a bad attitude towards his housemates! He's put another tear in his tail and his fin squabbling. He's losing interest though, and Chip is too big and too smart (and too fast!) to be overly concerned. I am sure he will be happier with a couple of mates though. Fortunately there are plenty of hiding spots in this tank - the driftwood, plants and large clasts all provide some nice cover.
 
It's really interesting watching Nige prowl his tank, peeking in nook and crannies, turning sideways and nearly upside down to squeeze through plants to get to spots he wants to go!
 
I've just discovered that the Windelov fern is making babies, so next water change I will pull the driftwood out and trim the pups off to make more fernies

I'll take some pics of them.

 

[tunagirll]

I picked up a couple more Kuhli loaches to pal up with Chip, and they've settled in beautifully. They really like to lounge under the driftwood where there is shade from the tank light, and snack on their shrimp pellet

Nigel has learnt to live with his new buddies, although he continues to look highly offended. One of them cruised past him and then draped over him - should have seen how offended he was! hehe
 
Other things Nigel finds offensive, inspects and bristles at:
 
Gravel
White bits of sand
Shrimp pellets in the wrong location
Suspicious looking plants
 
Pretty funny actually!
 
I was squinting through the glass wondering why it was looking a bit cloudy before I realised the glass was due for a clean - will do that later this week and take a photo. My Blyxa is showing some yellowed ends, not sure why. Everything else looks happy.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Hehe, he is so cute!
 
Do you ever find him eating the shrimp pellets?

 

[Shelster]

Tunagirll I feel a video coming on

 

[tunagirll]

I will, but need to do a good glass clean frst!

 

[tunagirll]

Small update - I'll do a better update with pics once I'm on leave mid-month

Nigel is doing really well! He's gettling along famously with his little Kuhli homies who are looking rather fat and sleek. They love exploring their tank and spend most of their day drifting through the plants and watching one another. His tail damage has grown out as well as the bottom fin damage and he's looking rather fit and fabulous
 
I ran out of Flourish Excel a couple of weeks ago and cut down the lighting hours to around 6 a day to control the algae explosion. We currently have hair algae, some green algae on the glass and leaves. We also have pest snails and those little white clear limpet looking things on the glass, but they haven't overpopulated (yet).
 
The US Fissidens (moss) is growing nicely, the Blyxa keeps pupping and I've had to give the Red Rotala a heavy cut as it's looking very ragged and melty - possibly because the tank temp is borderline on what it likes at 27 degrees. The tank is creating plenty of mulm and both the Blyxa and Crypt look very happy in their gravel.
 
Currently doing a 20% water change every two weeks and these are the readings before each change:
 
pH: 7.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20
 
Feeding the plants 1/4 cap of Flourish Trace twice a week, plus weekly about 20 drops of Iron supplement (+0.1ppm) and 3mL of plant food. They're growing nicely. I was giving them 1/4 cap of Flourish Excel daily as well before I ran out.
 
Went to the shop last week to buy more Flourish Excel and in a fit of impulsiveness decided to invest in a small CO2 kit. Yes, Nigel is getting all the mod cons

I picked up the Fluval 88 which is a very nice looking kit indeed and I'm currently reading about how to operate it safely so my little mate doesn't get gassed!
 
Sadly on installation the needle appeared to not be seated properly and I was unable to close off the regulator, so off to the shop I went the next day. By fortune (my fortune, not his!) the rep was there. We had a great time chatting about the life of a rep (I'm a rep too) and we made a few jokes about how the staff don't know how to take my politeness with a problem. The guys in the shop had a crack at loosening up the knob on the regulator but although some reasonable success was achieved, we all decided it was going to have to go back to Fluval. I'm going back in tomorrow to pick up my replacement

 
I'll get some pics and hopefuly the next instalment will be 'noob attempts to use CO2 properly' and not 'idiot gasses her beloved betta to death'.

 

[tunagirll]

Nigel's a little bloated this morning so he's quarantined with some pea and he'll be fasted this week. Hopefully will get some photos soon - my camera died!
 
Ducked down to the fish shop yesterday to pick up my CO2 replacement and spent a lovely hour chatting with everyone. I had my water sample tested and we shared tank photos. The staff are extremely knowledgeable so it was a pleasure to chat. Their youngest recruit just finished Year 12 and so I had a great time terrorising him with uni grade Chemistry
 
Hopefully the CO2 injection will revive my red rotala and perk up the US fissidens. I also picked up some flame moss which is hard to get here and it's now growing in some coffee jars on the windowsill

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Thats great about the CO2! Hopefully it will work as planned!
 
Sounds like a good LFS, wish mine was as good!

 

[tunagirll]

Well hello there... one of these mosses is not like the other. The hair algae slowly on its way out thanks to Captain Hydrogen Peroxide.
 

 
And a gratuitous snap or two of Nigel. My camera woes continue so sadly no CO2 shots.... yet.

 

[tunagirll]

With my old faithful well and truly dead, I've had to resort to my better half's not quite so helpful camera. So apologies for the poorer quality photos!
 
I had a problem with Nigel stealing the loaches' food, leading to him getting pretty bloated, and some unhappy loaches. I tried making the pellets smaller, but that just encouraged Nigel to have a stab at eating the whole bloody thing! Well nobody said he wasn't ambitious

 
Still, I'd hate to have a dead Nigel, so I've cobbled together a little pellet haven for Chip, Dale and Alvin out of a little container I had lying around. A few moments to snip in some entranceways and a pebble to hold it secure, and we were done. The boys took less than a minute to sniff the pellet out. It's a small space, but we all know Kuhlis love small spaces

 
Nigel isn't invited to the housewarming. Poor Nige.
 

 
om nom nom nom
 

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Good to hear you solved the problem of him stealing their food! Good little shelter too!

 

[tunagirll]

Unexpected consequence of the hut: Nigel squeezed in through one of the openings and nearly drowned after being stuck inside He's recovering as we speak.