When the sleeper wakes...

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

So my Redline Apistogramma have gone off from Tank 1, to make more Redline Apistogramma and I've acquired a Cockatoo male with a brace of females.

EDIT: Bold text added.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Tank 2 now has a resident Panda Garra, Garra Flavatra.
With the shrimp and kuhli loach, I don't need to do any more maintenance! *

• Whilst I accept that any teeny-tiny shrimplets may get eaten, my smallest shrimp, at around 3mm, are ignored by all, including the Dwarf Gourami.
• My kuhli loach remain active during the day. I had been wondering if only some of the group were daytime fish, as not all eight are usually visible at the one time. However, by paying closer attention to the markings, I now know that all eight are happy to browse the tank during daylight hours. The kuhlis do seem to enjoy sifting through the sandy parts of the substrate, but also seem equally at home upon the Aquasoil. One potential issue with the sand is that they do like to swim around the edges of stones, plants and wood, creating little trenches around the aforementioned items and I've had to re-plant my Eleocharis several times. This is a great plant and both kuhli loach and cherry barb seem to enjoy swimming through it, looking for tidbits.
• The chili rasbora continue to act in much the same way as my pygmy corydoras in my other tank...either swimming around in small groups of three of four, or getting together as a swarm and schooling across the tank. These guys rarely shoal together now, apparently being content to be distributed throughout the tank. Given that fish shoal for the sake of security and that they do shoal up when I'm working in the tank, I can only assume that they're relatively secure.
• The copper harlequin, on the other hand, spend most of their time together in a shoal and school often. Gotta say, their metallic copper stripes make for a cool spectacle, when they're on the move.
• The cherry barbs are also non-shoalers and are also distributed relatively evenly throughout the tank. Seems by sheer good fortune, I'm about a third males, to two third females.
• My male Dwarf Gourami continues with his bubble nest and is growing somewhat bolder with my hand in the tank. He's also going to have some female company soon enough.

In anticipation of the female dwarf gourami arriving, I'll be looking for some more Vallisneria-type plants, to plant around the edges of the tank, so that they'll have some more green security..


*Only kidding.

EDIT: Bold text added.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

So there I was, lost in the watery world and gazing into soggy space, when a behemoth clambered up to the top of one of my plants...
'Twas a Wood Shrimp, making a great demonstration of its filter-feeding technique.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Whilst I'm enjoying the activities of the kuhli loach, they're being very good at demonstrating why sand is such a lousy substrate for planting!*
The kuhli are quite happy sifting and poking through the sand, but they do like...and I mean REALLY like, scouring out runs around the bases of rocks and plants. (Obviously, in Nature, that's where all the good food will be hiding and it's more secure than out in the very open).

Curse dat wascally wabbi...kuhli!

*I know some would say that plants live naturally in sandy bottoms, but I'd suggest that those plants are actually rooted in a soil beneath the surface sand.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

And here's a selection of some coloured shrimp...
I know that when these interbreed, they'll revert back to the original brown and I'm okay with that...although one local breeder of these shrimp tells me that that may take several generations to occur and, in the meantime, I'm just as likely to get more colour variations.
Prior to this shrimpy experiemnt, I would've suggested that breeding would not occur, because the fish would eat the very small shrimplets. However, probably due to the planting in the tank, I've already got little ones almost as big as the Chili Rasbora and certainly a lot, lot faster.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Some of the Copper Harlequin;

...And Tyrion tending to his bubbles...

 

[noobfish]

Some of the Copper Harlequin;

View attachment 144209

...And Tyrion tending to his bubbles...

View attachment 144210

Tyrion, cause it's a dwarf gourami

That's too good, love it!!

 

[Myraan]

And you as his father view him as a bastard?

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

And you as his father view him as a bastard?

I'm sorry, but how am I the father of a dwarf gourami?!?

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

This one caught me by surprise...not sure what this shrimp was doing and then I thought I saw a fine worm slide along the rear body!
It turned out to be one of the rear legs, doing a clean-up job. (I might have it on video).

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

The video worked.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

More colour...

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Update on the shrimp situation in Tank 2;
Tyrion and Panda (garra) DO show an interest in the really small shrimplets, as I suspected they should, BUT the little ones seem adept at using what appears to be quantum mechanics, to disappear and to re-appear somewhere else in the tank.

In tank 1, it appears my Cockatoo Apistogramma have had babies. Te smaller of my two females has excavated a hollow, alongside my in-tank filter box and laid her eggs on the side of the box. Both she and the male are guarding the area with gentle persuasion.
Of course, I doubt this happy state of affairs will last, so I suspect I'm going to have to set up my 'spare' tank and find somewhere to put it.
I knew breeding was a possibility, but given the busy and community nature of the tank, I'd assumed that breeding would not so readily occur.

Hey ho and isn't nature wonderful.

Pics to follow.

 

[noobfish]

Update on the shrimp situation in Tank 2;
Tyrion and Panda (garra) DO show an interest in the really small shrimplets, as I suspected they should, BUT the little ones seem adept at using what appears to be quantum mechanics, to disappear and to re-appear somewhere else in the tank.

In tank 1, it appears my Cockatoo Apistogramma have had babies. Te smaller of my two females has excavated a hollow, alongside my in-tank filter box and laid her eggs on the side of the box. Both she and the male are guarding the area with gentle persuasion.
Of course, I doubt this happy state of affairs will last, so I suspect I'm going to have to set up my 'spare' tank and find somewhere to put it.
I knew breeding was a possibility, but given the busy and community nature of the tank, I'd assumed that breeding would not so readily occur.

Hey ho and isn't nature wonderful.

Pics to follow.

Yeah Bruce, just keep bragging on your shrimpy success!! Some of us are still mourning our inability to do so.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

More of Tank No.2, my SE Asia tank.
NOTE that because I knew I was getting a Panda Garra, which enjoys a biofilm and wood shrimp, which like to filter feed algae, I'm maintaining this tank with a deliberately green hint to the water.
I also film post-feeding, so expect some bits floating past.