Llj's 10g Journal...

[lljdma06]

My Barclaya longifolia in my 10g has sprouted what I believe is a flower stalk. Yeah! I purchased this plant precisely for its beautiful flowers. My lotus bulb has also sprouted quite a few new leaves. The lotus bulb had absolutely nothing when I planted it. I thought it was a dud. Hopefully the lotus will get a chance to flower when it's moved to Miami.

Sorry for the lousy photo, it's hard to photograph the flower stalk. It's the roundish thing in the bottom of the photo.

And here's a picture of the lotus.

 

[lljdma06]

I have some pictures for today. Did some serious pruning in the 10g and changed the layout quite a bit. As others have said, there was barely any room for the fish! I needed to thin out my anubias. I also removed the lotus and the creeping jenny, which I'll update for you in the 15g thread. On a tragic note, no more cherry shrimp, bad gourami!

Some pictures.

Full shot, front:

Close-up of Barclaya longifolia:

Full shot, angle:

As always, comments and suggestions are always appreciated.

lljdma06

 

[Qays]

GREAT tank!!

What are the dimentions?

 

[lljdma06]

GREAT tank!!

What are the dimentions?

It is only a standard 10g: 20"x10"x12"

 

[Themuleous]

Looking good, I must say I think I prefer your other thank, but this still looks good

Sam

 

[lljdma06]

Of course, I'll take a picture of the barclaya for you! I've been waiting forever for that thing to bloom! That's why I purchased it in the first place!

Warmest,

llj

 

[Luke_e]

You're tank looks so natural, i love the tall bright green plant on the left.

 

[lljdma06]

You're tank looks so natural, i love the tall bright green plant on the left.

Thank you for your compliment. This tank is going through an awkward phase at the moment. I think I removed too much plant mass and now, I'm seeing the beginnings of hair algae. Not happy with this tank at the moment, but it was my fault for being a little over-zealous with the scizzors.

Will probably invest in some cheap algae busters for this tank. Mad at self now.

On a positive note, the barclaya blossom is near the surface and I will be opening the tank top to allow the blossom to pass the water line. Hopefully it will blossom instead of just swelling with seeds, but that is a possibility. None of my fish are labled as jumpers, but I'm just going to have to risk it. The potential oportunity is fantastic. If I get a blossom, expect a detailed Barclaya longifolia profile in the plant index in the next week or so!

 

[Themuleous]

Oh looking forward to seeing it flower

 

[lljdma06]

Sad update.

Like the 15g, I had to sell my stock back to the LFS. Got 60% for them. I sold back 2 sparklers, 1 espei rasbora, 7 hengeli rasbora, 3 bridget rasboras. I only have Samson, the tyrannical, shrimp-killing, blind sparkling gouramis. He's cruising around and will get a nice small tank when I move back to Miami. I completely forgot, I have to upload Barclaya pictures, it blossomed and looks really cool.

The layout for this tank will not be preserved. The anubias will go into a very nice 20g high, low-tech setup with crypts and hardy stem plants with a sand/laterite layered substrate. The barclaya will be joined by another lotus in the 36g. I'll probably set it up the 10g eventually, but it's plans are up in the air and not a big priority, as it's not as pretty as some of my other tanks.

I'll post the barclaya pictures ASAP and some final tank shots, before this thread will be retired. I won't close it, but it won't be a priority anymore.

 

[simonbrown403]

Hi there i haven't looked at your journals for a while, you must of gone mad with a machete and hacked it all out

Looking good so far, i hope your plant flowers for you, its pretty to see.

Whats your plan?

 

[lljdma06]

Time for pictures! It took forever and a day, but the barclaya blossomed. Very cool. It opened above the water, but if the tank is deep enough, it'll often flower underwater.

Full plant shot

Emerging flower stalk

Breaking the surface

Full bloom

Bloom submerged

Final full tank shot

A touch of humor, my brief experience with cherry shrimps. Notice the sparkling gourami? Shrimp lasted all of a few days. Bad sparkling gouramis. Notice the hair algae?

I learned a lot with this tank, how to run things with small systems. Made some CO2 mistakes and didn't always make the right plant choices, but what can you do? The plants are healthy and the hair algae is under control, only had to bin the h. difformis, which was replaced with rotala.

 

[Themuleous]

All good things much come to an end and this has been a 'good thing' Glad to have been able to see this one through for the last few months. Looking forward to your next journal, Ill be doing my low-tech tank in the next few months so will be looking to you for some good advice on the laterite and sand/gravel

Sam

 

[lljdma06]

All good things must come to an end. Yesterday, I took down the 10g. All of its plants and the one tyrannical sparkling gourami, Samson, are crammed into my 15g.

I did manage to take a few pictures with my new digital camera, just to say goodbye. No full tank shots, as the plants were trimmed down considerably for the move.

Here's a full shot from the tank in what I thought was it's prime. I don't know why I like the picture, something about the hygro and the curve of the E. najas. Anyhoo.

Tank at its most Junglely.

Most memorable moments in the tank's life,

The flowering of the Barclaya longifolia.

The evil Tyrannical Sparkling gourami stalking Cherry Shrimp. Think JAWS...

New photos now. Final pictures with Macromode.

Pearling Lotus leaf

Malaysian Trumpet snail. I think.

Egeria najas leaves, close-up.

Pearling Rotala rotundifolia. One of my favorite plants, really got pink for me.

Close-up of pearling leaf.

Time to say goodbye. This tank didn't give me much trouble until the end, when a big pruning gave me hair algae. Don't reduce your plant mass too much at a time was the lesson I learned from that incident. When I treated it like the jungle it wanted to be, it was a wonderful, algae-free tank that was easy to care for. The tank will be converted to a hospital/quaranteen tank in Miami, but the anubias and crypts will have a home in the low-tech 20g. The barclaya will join the lotus in the 36g which is partly open-top for flowers. Thanks for reading, sorry for the length. I'll keep it open for comments and questions.

llj

 

[Themuleous]

Good bye old friend, its been a fun journey. I must say thats the freekiest snail ive ever seen! Looks like some sort of elk/moose type creature!