I’ve been a bit preoccupied with any number of things lately — mowing the yard, preparing the vegetable garden, spending more time taking pictures outdoors in the nice weather — that I haven’t really spent a whole lot of time paying attention to my aquariums. Well, that changed a little bit today when I put together my first scape using the new manzanita wood that I ordered a few weeks back. Below is the first show of the new aquascape. I was so eager to get a shot, that I forgot to fill the tank all the way up.

One of my goals with this aquascape is to provide something that looks nice, without requiring too much upkeep. Lately, stem tanks have been too much for me to keep up with. So, to that avail, my foreground is ranalisma rostrata, background is bylxa japonica (yes I know, it’s technically a stem plant), to the left are some cryptocoryne, and in the middle are some anubias barterii var. nana. Finally, fissidens moss is adorning some of the branches.

Please let me know what your first impressions are…

I had the good fortune of hosting GWAPA’s April meeting this past weekend. Preparing for any aquarium-related meeting is always a challenge because in addition to the usual cleaning and setting up when any folks are coming over, you also want your tanks to look their best. This can sometimes require planning as much as a few months ahead. For example, in my 75G (updated picture below), I replanted the glosso about six weeks before the meeting, anticipating that it would take about that long to fill in.

Then, for the two weeks prior to the actual meeting, you have to time your water changes, and trimming sessions exactly, so that your stems plants will reach their perfect “bushiness” on the meeting date. Combine that with increased glass scraping, and more consistent dosing, and you’re looking at a bit of work. I’m not complaining because I enjoy all of it, and find that my tanks look the best because of my increased effort. The rest of the year is a crap shoot, however!

This month’s meeting had another nice turnout, reaching 15-20 folks. The weather was beautiful outside, which made talking about my raised-brick pond, much more enjoyable. It’s still too cold outside to actually grow many of my aquatic plants, so I had to cheat a little bit by covering the surface of the pond with lots of Phyllanthus fluitans from my 54G tank. I promise that I really do grow plants outdoors later in the year. I went through a brief overview about how I constructed the pond, and what my experiences were last year. After my pond talk, we all went inside for our auction, which was large and lively as always. The manzanita wood that the club purchased was met with very much interest, as were most items in the auction. I came away with a few goodies, namely an Eriocaulon species that I haven’t tried before. I also added another Red Lizard Catfish to my 75G. (Thanks Cristy!)

More pictures and info can be read on GWAPA’s website.

I’ve been fairly busy lately, so besides some regular tank maintenance, I haven’t made any significant changes to my tanks. So, with that in mind, I just wanted to share a few photos I got of my Rummy-nose Tetras. These guys are usually pretty skittish in my tank, such that when I walk into the room, they all scatter into the far corners of the tank. I imagine this might have something to do with the fact that I’ve had my hands in their tank more often recently.

Rummy-nose Tetra – front angled shot at 100mm f/11.

Rummy-nose Tetra – side shot at 100mm f/11.

Take a look at these two photos, one taken today, the other was taken exactly one week ago. There’s no denying how spectacular this ADA Amazonia substrate is. Since I rescaped the tank about a week and a half ago, I have only dosed SeaChem Potassium once. So, the aquasoil, itself, has enough muster to make the Pogostemon stelleta, Rotala macrandra var. ‘green,’ and Limnophilia aromatica all shoot up like crazy, and all are in need of trimming. The baby tears in the lower left-hand corner has shown excellent growth, but it hasn’t started growing horizontally yet, like I’m hoping it will. It is soon time for me to replace some of the bulbs over this tank, so that may assist in that regard. Even though it’s not easy to see hear, the Utricularia graminfolia has started sending out new growth in the foreground, so it’s just a matter of time before it really kicks it into gear and takes off.

All in all, I have no qualms about my decision to soon rescaped my 20G with more fresh Aquasoil…

Taken 03/29/2007

Taken 03/22/2007

I wanted to provide a better picture of the rescaped 40G tank that I redid this past weekend. The specs are below…

Equipment:

Filter: Eheim 2213

CO2: Pressurized, approx. 2-3 bubbles/sec

Substrate: ADA Powersand, Amazonia Aquasoil, with Tourlamine BC additives.

Dosing: None currently, will start dosing SeaChem’s line as needed.

Hardscape: California Pourous Mossy Rock.

Flora:

Front: Utricularia graminfolia, HC, baby tears, Ranalisma rostrata (I’ll decide later which of these to make permanent)

Back: Limnophilia aromatica, Rotala macrandra var. ‘green’, Blyxa japonica, Pogostemon stellatus, Blyxa aubertii

Fauna:

Melanotaenia praecox, Apistogramma panduro, Rummy-nose tetras, Olive Nerite Snails