New Beginnings

[minnnt]

Nice fish Biulu! Prefer the Angels though

 

[FishFanatic04]

No it was for the Repens. Must have been an unreliable site because I have just read about the plant being found in Mexico as well as N. America.

 

[Biulu]

Nice fish Biulu! Prefer the Angels though

Hahaha, I was happy to be able to take pictures without the angels! They are so nosy, mediasick or greedy that they show up in front of your lens the whole time...

 

[Biulu]

Ok, so I took out the ceratopteris and fed the angels a portion of zucchini instead .

I bought some blyxa japonica as it was the only plant that fits my biotope, but I do not plan on letting it stay for a long time as I consider it looks too much like the balansae which is just in front of it.

I have decided that I will use part of the space to put in some caves for the gobies. I got myself another male and another 2 females as I read that these fish show an interesting group behaviour.

Anybody has ideas about natural looking caves? I was thinking about cholla wood; I have not seen it here though but I would be able to get it in Mexico. That would be after summer though...

 

[Biulu]

Today my angels spawned! A few weeks ago there was my female checking out a possible mate but apparently he didn't fulfil her requirements as nothing happened. Last week I noticed that a much smaller male was flirting with my female almost double his size. I didn't expect anything from this as I considered him to be too small. However, today I noticed they were laying eggs on a cryptocoryne leaf! So, apparently size doesn't matter .

He is very active chasing the other 2 angels away and seems to be doing a good job. They are in my community tank so I do not expect much from it, but what should I do regarding the lights? Keep them on or off to help the brood?

I won't be sad when the eggs don't survive; the most important thing is that now I have a mated pair!

Here is a picture of the new pair and their eggs.

 

[KkAaNnEe]

Amazing

 

[FishFanatic04]

Oh thats so great!!! Do you plan to try and raise some later on then?

 

[Biulu]

Oh thats so great!!! Do you plan to try and raise some later on then?

Yes, I do. I want to replace my 20 gallon long with a tank of the same footprint but higher (around 29 gallon) for that purpose. I have had other funding priorities sofar though and as the angels didn't pair up, it was not very pressing. Now it is time to look for one though.

 

[Biulu]

As was to be expected, the eggs were gone the following morning. I had noticed that after a few hours of avid protection from both parents, they became more slack. In the evening the male was even relegated towards the back of the tank by madam! I thought it might have been due to the eggs not being fertile, but an experienced angelfish breeder told me that amber coloured eggs are fertile. And only a few eggs had fungus.

But guess what? The larger male was making moves on her again! So it looks I now have a menage a trois I am not sure whether he is successful though, plus that madam seems to be very picky.

Regarding the plants: I will be getting some limnophila for the right back. I had bought some myriophyllum from a fellow hobbyist but he told me that he heard from 2 other people that it all melted due to the shipping so he offered me crypts and limnophila sessifolia instead. All the better for me as limnophila needs less light and definitively no CO2!

I have decided to start all over again fertilisation wise. I will do a big water change tomorrow and then will half my dosing. I hope in this way that my plants will recover and not get anymore CO2 deficit related holes in their leaves.

I do not mind to add liquid carbon temporary to remedy an algae issue but I do not want to dose forever, so I have to look at other alternatives.

If somebody else has a better advice than halving the fertilisation, I'll gladly hear it!

 

[Steve H.]

Ok, so I took out the ceratopteris and fed the angels a portion of zucchini instead .

I bought some blyxa japonica as it was the only plant that fits my biotope, but I do not plan on letting it stay for a long time as I consider it looks too much like the balansae which is just in front of it.

I have decided that I will use part of the space to put in some caves for the gobies. I got myself another male and another 2 females as I read that these fish show an interesting group behaviour.

Anybody has ideas about natural looking caves? I was thinking about cholla wood; I have not seen it here though but I would be able to get it in Mexico. That would be after summer though...

Hi Biulu...I saw someone here selling the cholla wood in the classified section. But, I don't think it's Asian.

 

[Biulu]

Thanks Steve! No, cholla wood comes from the deserts of Mexico and the former Mexican part of the US. But I don't think I will be able to make a trip to Asia just to get some hollow wood for goby caves!

 

[Biulu]

Finally working on getting this tank back on track. I am doing a 70% water change as we speak, cleaning the glass, trimming the rotala (to make it bushier according to the experts here), and adjusting the hair net.

I had a while ago a betta getting stuck in the hairnet I used to cover the pellia, and I was able to avoid a disaster. A few days ago though, this hairnet trapped a SAE and it was killed by other fish that ate out its eyes etc. I do need to decide now what to do with the hairnet. I will take the wood out of the tank and see whether the pellia attached properly or not.

As I got holes in my plants' leaves I am doing this big waterchange in order to start a different dosing regime. I have decided to half the fertilisation (taking into account that I also have a nutrient rich substrate and many root feeders) to avoid CO2 lack again.

My flow is ok, and I get only diatoms and a few spots of green algae on the side the tank is exposed to natural light.

Will let you show pics of the results later in the evening.

 

[FishFanatic04]

Oh man, Sorry about the lost fish. I think the hairnet is a hazard. I don't see pictures either you tease

 

[Biulu]

Tut, tut FF, not so impatient! I said in the evening...

So here we go:

First 2 pictures where you can see the CO2 deficiency caused holes in (young leaves):

Personally I found it most obvious in the aponogeton. Another thing I found was that the rotala was still growing, but the leaves on the tips became smaller and smaller. At first you think it is because they still need to grow, but after some time it becomes clear there is something that is wrong.

So, as I said before, I did a large water change. I had also not dosed for a week, so this and the large water change should allow me to make a fresh start.


I also did a large pruning of the rotala. Made a beginner's mistake though; I took out the water first and then wanted to prune. As all the stems are hanging over and lying over eachother, this was clearly impossible, so I needed to fill back up till 3/4 first before I could prune. I hope this will promote the bushy growth as the experts on here promised!

So, this is as how the tank stands as of tonight. One of the blyxa bushes has started growing, but as I said this plant is not a stayer. I am waiting for limnophila sessiflora to come in (should arrive any day now) to fill the gap in the back right. I also have a new tiger lotus, which just uprooted as I see in this picture so I have to put it back.

This afternoon I also got myself a replacement for the java fern. This type is neater I find in terms of leaf shape, the one I have now is too plump in my eyes. I have not yet had time to replace it though.

And if you are wondering what the white things in the picture are: it are these

I am experimenting with different tubing for my gobies. Once I know which type they like best, I will disguise them by glueing gravel onto the tube and then plant a java fern on top of it. I have a very nice small variety of java fern which I have not yet used in this tank that would be a perfect fit for the size of these tubes.

As always, comments and suggestions welcome!

 

[Biulu]

See below