Beginning Aquarium

[Joshwainwright]

Great quality photos!

 

[r.w.girard]

Great quality photos!

Thank you. I will try to keep them coming!

Sadly, around a week after my last post, on of my little otocinclus died. I found him being nibbled on by one of my shrimp. I think it was ammonia so I went out and bought a new ammonia counter: one of the Seachem AmmoniaAlerts. I like it. It doesn't need to be perfect, just need a better idea since these guys are so sensitive.

Anyway, yesterday, I went out and bought a third otocinclus for the tank. Our other two had been hiding all the time and I felt like, even in an almost empty tank, they would feel more comfortable with a third. At least, that is what I read. And it seems to be true although the new one is by far the most active.

We also picked up a new male crowntail betta. Originally, the plan was to get a small school of green neon tetras before I put the betta in but I didn't want to have a tank without fish for as long as it seems it will take to get some. There are none in St. Louis or any of the surrounding cities within a two hour drive, as far as I can tell. If anyone knows of any, let me know!

Anyway, we saved the betta from a tank of fancy guppies - we was flaring left and right. It was fantastic. Now he is in a nice quite tank, which is good. But he looks healthy and is beautiful with a nice long tail. When we first put him in the tank we was flaring constantly, asserting his dominance. Today, he seems quite calm. I will have to get a picture of him when he is in full flare. I have never seen such a full tail!

Anyway, pictures to come later.

 

[r.w.girard]

Also, I think one of my ghost shrimp might be pregnant.

 

[r.w.girard]

So, as I promised, here are the new additions to my tank:

The third otocinclus:

My ghost shrimp carrying its eggs:

And, lastly, our new crowntail betta a little riled by the heater:

Also, just a comment, my plants seem to be doing great: the giant hairgrass, which had been "melting," has stabilized and is starting to grow back; the dwarf sagattaria is already sending out a little new growth; and the narrow leaf chain sword is taking off as with a bunch of new runners. My mosses and ferns are both growing emmersed in a small tank in the window. The star moss is coming along pretty nicely while the fissidens zippelainus has yet to do much.

 

[minnnt]

Your betta looks great! Post some pics of the whole tank, it sounds really great!!

 

[Biulu]

Do you have a (close up) picture of the fissidens zippelainus? have never seen that moss and would be interested in knowing what it looks like.

 

[r.w.girard]

Do you have a (close up) picture of the fissidens zippelainus? have never seen that moss and would be interested in knowing what it looks like.

I have considered including a picture of my emmersed growing tank but have not for one reason: it doesn't look very good. My star moss is starting to grow pretty well, which I am happy about. In a week or two, I think it will be ready to go into the tank.

The fissidens zippelianus is another story altogether. I started it underwater in the tank [unlike the star moss]. Ultimately, it turned brown. I don't know if I will be able to salvage it in the emmersed tank. It was mostly a question of light, I think. I have generally low light. But I don't dose any CO2 so it might have been that as well. I wouldn't know. All I can say for sure is that it is currently a brown mass on a rock. I am convinced that it is starting to become generally more green and it has sent out a few little sprouts, none of which have done particularly well, incidentally. We will give it a little more time to see what happens. If it starts to do anything I will be sure to include a picture.

As for a picture of the whole tank, sure thing. I took down the blue backdrop this morning. I am trying to decide if I prefer it with or without the backdrop. Really I dislike the backdrop but no one likes wires either.

Anyway, I am just waiting on finding a source for green neon tetras and once that is done, the tank will be golden. That or I will be forced to add a [too?] small herd of regular neons or cardinals. I would lean towards cardinals, I think, but they are a little bigger, no? And maybe a holey rock for algae reasons. I understand that they tend to promote algae growth. One can always use more algae in a tank that is well cleaned by its inhabitants, no?

 

[ian]

isn't fissidens zippelianus, actually Willow moss? Its semi aquatic, it can be grown quite successfully in an aquarium with the right nutrients. I may be wrong though! lol. Nice Macro shots BTW!

 

[r.w.girard]

Still no picture, I am sorry. But some good news. The tank seems to be pretty stable as is. The otocinclus have all settled in well, which is great. The betta is doing well - although he seems to love the algae tabs that we supplement for the rest of the creatures living in the tank. Keeps bloating, so I will need to figure out how to deal with that, I suppose.

The decoration of the tank is finally finished as well. I threw away in the fissidens zippelianus because it wasn't coming back at all. So I put my rock with the star moss into the tank about a week about and it seems to be doing great. Since then, the otocinclus have been acting a lot more confident and have been out and about more. It is funny because two of them seem to have paired and spend all of their time together. The third, while by no means a loner, tends to be the most adventurous and is constantly out and about.

Our mother ghost shrimp released its eggs and that was that. No little shrimpies swimming around. Either the filter, either then betta. Regardless, it was exciting to watch them giggle around under her belly.

And lastly, the best news I have to offer: I finally found some reasonably priced green neon tetras on the internet. Once they arrive [it should be towards the end of next week, since they won't ship for a couple of days still], the tank will be completed. So very exciting. I am going to have to be very careful in introducing them to the tank as I don't think the conditions are ideal for them out here [generally hard water, although definitely not liquid rock!]. But I'll have "extra" for the inevitable "margin of error." I am already curing the holding tank for them.

 

[micko]

Your pics are great. I'm nominating your picture of the betta for FOTM.

 

[r.w.girard]

Your pics are great. I'm nominating your picture of the betta for FOTM.

Thank you very much. That is fantastic. He is really a beautiful little guy.

I write today to ask for some advice. I have been developing a certain amount of hard green dot algae on the glass and I was wondering what would be advised. I had about 1.5 Wpg lighting and I have been adding a little fertilizer, Seachem Flourish, every other water change or so. Both nitrates and nitrites are constantly around zero.

But the tank is in a room with southern exposure, although it never receives direct sunlight, and it the algae is mostly growing on the, go figure, southern and eastern sides, although there is some on the back wall as well.

Apart from moving the tank [which I hope is the extreme option], what can be done about it? The snail and the otocinclus don't touch it. The only thing I can think of is manually removing it with a razor blade. But then I am worried that it will just grow back and that it is hindering the growth of algae that the fish will eat. Any ideas?

 

[r.w.girard]

Apart from moving the tank [which I hope is the extreme option], what can be done about it? The snail and the otocinclus don't touch it. The only thing I can think of is manually removing it with a razor blade. But then I am worried that it will just grow back and that it is hindering the growth of algae that the fish will eat. Any ideas?

I've read that it could be a deficiency in phosphates and co2. As I am not running any co2, can anyone confirm that macro supplements of phosphates would help?

 

[r.w.girard]

Finally, here are two picture of the tank, one from each end. A full picture of the tank will have to wait for more obliging lighting.

Enjoy.

 

[r.w.girard]

I noticed the yesterday that one of my ghost shrimp [the largest/a female] was swimming funny. It was a little lopsided and could not go far. It landed in a planted and was moving as though in the throes of death. I truly thought it was on its way out. I pulled in out and put it in a hospital tank [set up for almost a week already, waiting for the arrival of some new fish]. With nothing to distract the eye, it seems that one of two back the legs on one side is bent in the wrong direction at the joint. Thus it is not able to "stand" as it used to, but rather sits. The first day in the hospital tank, she didn't move and I had to check to make sure it had not died. But when fed, it eat heartily. Today, I put in some oak leaves, which are floating on the top, and since then, it has been swimming around and being quite active. I suppose that it would be silly to expect it to fully heal [I have no idea what could have happened!] but its current vivacity gives me hope. I am going to leave her in the tank until the green neon tetras arrive at the end of the week [they finally shipped today!] so that it can clean up after them to help maintain the water quality.

In other news, I have been having a bit of trouble with some algae. As I posted in "BBA and GSA", I found some BBA growing in my dwarf sagittaria [there are some pretty good pictures]. I picked off all of the leaves that had it and cleaned out my filter to increase circulation. It is absolutely amazing how much better it is working! As for the GSA, I took a razor to it and now the tank is as clear as crystal. I had forgotten how clear it has been without it, since it had grown in so slowly. Not sure what I will do to long term to make sure they don't come back ... advice is always welcome!

 

[r.w.girard]

I am finally getting around to posting pictures. But first some news. My large, female ghost shrimp seems to have mended itself quite nicely. A few days in the hospital tank by itself, and then with the green neon tetras did it some good, I would say. Sadly, however, the smallest of my three ghost shrimp has gone missing and has not been seen for almost five days. Its body has yet to be found as well, although I now assume that it is dead and will need to be replaced.

I find that the tank looks best either from the left hand side, looking lengthwise through the tank towards the driftwood, or from below. Attached below is a picture of the latter view.

For those of you, however, who would prefer a more straight-on view of the tank, I have attached the following.

Last Thursday, the 28th of April, my green neon tetras arrived. I had ordered a dozen but when I arrived, I found that 17 had shipped. Three had died in transit. A fourth looked a little dodgy and died the next morning. I drip acclimated them into the quarantine tank with my ghost shrimp and the oak leaves. The first day they did little but hide but with each passing day they became more and more active. Soon they were no longer hiding among the leaves or swimming just above them but darting around from surface to floor. The picture below does not show it as there is little to use for reference, but they are so small, averaging around one half of one inch. But they are super lively and extremely beautiful. Their red is more subdued than regular neon tetras or cardinal tetras but their blue, neon stripe is more vibrant and runs the entire length of their body in a straight line, which makes them look thinner still. This evening I put them into the main tank and after being chased around a bit by the betta, they settled themselves into a school and seemed perfectly comfortable. Alas, there was one that seemed to be more stressed than the others and was hiding by itself. Tomorrow will tell if it is alive. But I do feel that if it is alive tomorrow, it will make no problem.

I will try to get some pictures of the entire tank with its new inhabitants as soon as possible.