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Badger's 150g Rio Negro/Orinoco Flooded Rain Forest

I think I need to get some leaf litter into this tank. Hoping to get some biofilm growing soon so I can add some algae eaters (ottos or BNPs, maybe both?) in the next month or so. I think I have some oak leaves around here somewhere...
 
WhistlingBadger said:
Thanks! Yes, they pay for everything, AND they pay me for my time! Ain't bad work if you can get it. :cool:
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I’d love to have a gig like that set up. I’d have no idea how to start though. Mail shot dentists n doctors I suppose. I’d need insurance. Keep it simple, no electric in the tank so sponge filters n temperate fish.
 
ClownLurch said:
I’d love to have a gig like that set up. I’d have no idea how to start though. Mail shot dentists n doctors I suppose. I’d need insurance. Keep it simple, no electric in the tank so sponge filters n temperate fish.
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I just lucked into it. Their tank was a mess and had been for a long time. My daughter overheard the office staff saying they wished they could find someone to just take it over for them, and she started bragging on her old dad. I gave them some advice on how to get a better setup going, and before I left the office that day I had the job!

I think it's easier to get into that sort of thing in a small town. I'm thinking about turning it into a little side business if I ever get around to retiring from teaching. There are a lot of restaurants and offices around here that cry out for a fish tank!
 
Lost a cory. :( Only saw five tonight, out of the original ten. But there could well be others hiding out in the bushes.

Other than that, everything looks great. Fish are noticeably bigger and coloring up, except the diamond tetras. Those things take FOREVER to get pretty, but they're worth the wait. The angel fish are really fun, tame, constantly following my hand around in the tank, curious and/or hungry. Diamonds are almost as fun. The red phantoms are getting a lot less shy, still schooling but out and about in plain sight.

Plants doing well, especially the floaters. Lots of diatoms and gunk growing in the tank, too. Somebody bumped the timer so the tank was getting about 3 extra hours of light a day! I'm going to check with my supplier and try to order a big school of ottos (at least ten; twenty if they aren't too expensive) and a few twig cats.

Good, good, good!
 
Bruce Leyland-Jones said:
Any ideas as to the cause of your 50% loss? :(
(I heard that some could be hiding, so fingers crossed).
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Not sure. The water quality is as close to perfect as I'm ever going to get: Am 0, NO2 0, NO3 <5ppm. Sometimes fish die from the stress of transit, of course. We lost one tetra the first week, but other than that all the other fish are active, beautiful, and growing, just radiating health. I think we lost a couple of the cories early on; I was only seeing eight the second week. It's possible I just have a few very shy ones. I really don't know.
 
WhistlingBadger said:
Not sure. The water quality is as close to perfect as I'm ever going to get: Am 0, NO2 0, NO3 <5ppm. Sometimes fish die from the stress of transit, of course. We lost one tetra the first week, but other than that all the other fish are active, beautiful, and growing, just radiating health. I think we lost a couple of the cories early on; I was only seeing eight the second week. It's possible I just have a few very shy ones. I really don't know.
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Deffo one of the challenges of a well-planted tank and near-identical fish.
Unless you see them all out together, in a group, you hardly ever know what you've got.
As I've said elsewhere, I have tatras that trake it in turns to hide in the centre of an Amazon Sword, and Golden Pencils that take it in turns to hang out by a certain piece of wood.
 
Plant update: Melon swords struggling a bit; I think they haven't established roots yet. Vallisneria seems to have melted away, but for some reason I've never been able to get it to grow worth diddly.

Otherwise everything looks good. The "micro sword" is not micro sword; it's already about 6" tall! But filling in nicely. The floaters are going CRAZY. Almost the entire surface was covered last night, which might be why the swords are struggling. I removed about six big handfulls of frogbit and crystalwort last night, and I removed most of the water sprite because it was going for world domination. Some of the frogbit has roots about 8" long!

Moss isn't doing much yet, but it's not dead. I think my water might be too soft and warm for its taste. Java fern and anubias haven't attached themselves yet, and I wish they'd get a move on. I'm getting tired of having to glue them back on everytime I do a WC.

I really want to add some leaf litter, but I think I'll wait until the tannins calm down. This juniper wood releases a LOT of tannin into the water, boys and girls.
 
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Well, my cheapo amazon 6' LED light finally died, after about four years of really good service. So, I'm in the market. Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to amazon I go...
 
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Oh, forgot to mention, the reinekki wilted when I first planted it and gradually disappeared. I think it must have gotten overheated during shipping.
 
Well, this is off topic, but it's my journal so I guess I'm allowed.

Got out on the first bow hunt of the season out in desert today. Saw one nice buck and snuck up, oh, 60-70 yards away before one of his girlfriends spotted me. It's kind of unfair--mature bucks really aren't supposed to be hanging with does this time of year. Ignorant deer must not have read the book on mule deer behavior.

Walking back to the truck, I spotted two little bucks bedded under a lone juniper. Pulled a sneak on them and got 30 yards away--just a little too far for my primitive bow; needed about another five-ten yards. Had to cross an open space and one of them saw me. He was just barely legal. This year, deer have to have at least three points on at least one side. His buddy was small too; though I didn't get a chance to count his points. Anyway, it would have been nice filling my tag, but I'm OK letting them live to bust me another day. :)

I was hunting one of my old favorite areas that I havent't been to for several years. It was like the Serengeti up there--deer everywhere! It was fun to see so many and to get a couple good stalking opportunities in one morning. Good day! Now a nap and maybe go out somewhere else this evening.
 
Got a good count on the cories today--there are at least eight of them, alive and well! So that's exciting. Might be nine. I know we lost one.

New light fixtures on the way Thursday. I put the old fluorescents back on because they're better than nothing. But just barely.
 
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