At the GWAPA meeting this weekend, I purchased some Red Flame Ozelot Sword plants. They’re just plantlets now, but I hope to eventually replace the Blyxa aubertii that’s currently making up the background with these new sword plants. I pulled out a pound of Ludwigia x lacustrus that was cluttering up most of the center of the tank. In all, everything is going pretty well with my 75G at this time.

Believe it or not, but this piece of African bogwood used to be completely covered by black brush algae (BBA). I got my act in order, and have been routinely dosing the tank for the past few months, cranked up the CO2, and added some extra Amano Shrimp and Zebra Nerite Snails. As a result, I’ve literally witnessed a daily receding of this BBA as the algae crew have fed.

What’s very interesting is that I still feed the catfish in this tank veggie wafers, but I guess either the catfish aren’t sharing, or the shrimp/snails prefer the BBA. I honestly believe that it’s the zebra nerites that are doing more BBA eating than anything else in the tank. I had never previously realized that zebra nerites had such an affection for BBA, but I’m quite pleased that the latest crew seem to enjoy it.

As I mentioned, I regularly feed algae wafers to the catfish in this tank. While the shrimp and nerites don’t seem to go after these provisions, the Malaysian Trumpet Snails cluster around the wafers. Today I watched one MTS slither over the back of a Red Lizard Catfish who was also yearn for some veggie goodness.

The take away is that in my tanks, algae is inevitable. I’m going to get lazy on my dosing, CO2 is going to run out, or I’ll let a filter go slightly too long between cleanings. It’s good to know that when this happens, I’ll get some help from Amano Shrimp and Zebra Nerite Snails to keep things looking decent. My laziness is their gain!

I was a good aquarium keeper this weekend, and did my weekly water changes, trimmed several plants, replanted others, and generally spent some time tank-watching. While, I wouldn’t equate my fish room to an ADA gallery, I’m slowing getting most of the tanks to a point where they’re generally pleasing to me.

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The 75G (my angelfish tank) is really looking wonderful. The bits of black-brush algae that had crept up on the hardscape are receding little-by-little every week thanks to more consistent dosing, water changes, and feeding. It probably doesn’t hurt that I added a few extra Amano shrimp and zebra nerites either. The angelfish are majestic, and are truly beautiful fish to watch. No fins get injured, but the seven large angels take and cede territory regularly throughout the day. Of course, when it’s feeding time, all seven crowd the front glass.

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The recently rescaped 33G cube is in a mixed state right now. I think the fresh Aquasoil and tannins from the wood have made the tank pretty acidic. Some of the more delicately leaved plants like Didiplis diandre and HC have melted a little bit due to this. On the other hand, Rotala sp. ‘Yao Yai‘ has grown well, but I know the nitrate levels in the tank are elevated since it’s bright green without a tinge of red. None of the fish seem any worse for wear, but I’ve pulled out the test kits a couple times to monitor, and will do extra water changes if need be.

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The other recently rescaped tank, my 50G has been growing well. I didn’t replace as much Aquasoil in this aquarium, so I don’t seem to have the same problems as in the 33G aquarium. All of the stem plants have grown in size. Unfortunately, the Blyxa japonica seems to be dominating the scape a little too much. I’m going to pull some of it out once the Ranalisma rostrata grows in, as it’ll provide a similar look without as much height.

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Truth be told, one of the tanks I’ve gotten the most pleasure out of lately has been the jungle of my 40G farm tank. It has a little bit of thread algae in it, but the plants are looking stunning. I’ve been diligent about my trimming to keep any one plant from shading out the rest. I also recently (within the past six weeks) moved all ferns/anubias/etc to the left side of the tank, leaving the right side solely for stem and other desirable plants. In addition, I’ve been feeding the Pseudocrenilabrus nicholsi blackworms, which has made the dominant male absolutely stunning. He patrols the tank all day long, trying to court females into depressions in the substrate or thick bushes of stem plants. There’s enough hiding places for the other fish to hide if they get tired of his aggressive behavior, however, so everyone’s happy.

I finally blocked out about 12 hours this weekend to properly rescape my 33G rimless cube and my 50G aquariums. Both had become Blyxa farms, and could no longer be repaired without totally breaking them down. Therefore, I decided to try to put together two Nature Aquarium style aquascapes for our local club’s annual aquascaping contest.

33G - One Day after Rescape

For the 33G cube, I pretty much followed ADA’s formula for aquascaping: slope the substrate, place the hardscape, plant Anubias along the edges of the substrate, wrap moss around the the hardscape, plant everything else, and fill tank with water. What you can’t see are Hemianthus glomeratus, Didiplis diandre, and Ludwigia arcuata, which I hope will grow into nice bushes just over the top of the Malaysian driftwood.

50G - Immediately after rescape

The 50G uses Malaysian driftwood as well, but I couldn’t bring myself to throw away two full buckets for of Blyxa, so I decided to reuse them in this scape. Unfortunately, I haven’t received the Ranalisma rostrata in the mail yet, but that will be my foreground plant here. I took photos during my rescape process, so let’s go through it.

I always try to do some preliminary hardscaping outside of the tank before I start. This allows me to quickly realize if I have enough hardscape materials, the right pieces, and pre-plan what types of plants I’ll need to pull from other tanks.

This substrate was previously ADA Aquasoil Amazonia on top of a mixture of 50/50 sand and worm castings with 100% pool sand in the foreground. I scrapped out all of the sand foreground, and while I was at it, decided to remove the top layer of Aquasoil, as well.

I recapped the base level with fresh ADA Aquasoil to help get my aquascape off to a fresh start. All of the muck that was removed is going outside to my pond for this year’s potted pond plants.

Next, it was time to place the hardscape. Since I had previously designed the hardscape outside of the aquarium, I simply transplanted the driftwood from my floor to the tank. I still spent about 20 minutes adjusting the angles and placement of the pieces. I finished the process by working in a little bit of extra Aquasoil throughout the hardscape to better integrate the wood into the landscape.

Next, I planted the aquascape. The midground is mostly made up of Blyxa japonica, with a background of Blyxa aubertii on the left hand side. I also added several stems from my farm tank, namely: Hygrophila pinnatifida, Rotala macrandra ‘narrow’, Syngonanthus sp. ‘Madiera’, Didiplis diandre, and  Hygrophila odora. Finally, I softened the hardscape with Fissidens moss.

It’s hard to see the difference in this picture, compared to the one above it, but I added a few moss-wrapped pieces of wood around the perimeter of the foreground. I like adding these little touches to make the environment a little bit more natural looking.

Lastly, I filled the tank with water. I will post updates as the water clears, and after I plant the foreground. Initial feedback welcome!

On Saturday, Judi hosted GWAPA’s February 2012 meeting on Amano-style/Nature Aquarium Style aquascaping. I gave the presentation, and had a pretty decent turn-out of 20-25 folks show up, including several new members. We had a lot going on at this meeting, as members picked up fish/inverts from a group buy from MsJinkzd.com, Cavan Allen debuted our first “plant of the month” talk with a 5-10 minute introduction to Eriocaulon compressum, and we announced the rules for GWAPA’s member-only aquascaping contest.

Judi's 2.5G Aquarium

This year, GWAPA members voted to require all submissions to our contest be in the Nature Aquarium Style, excluding Iwagumi. Last year, we had a fun contest with similar requirements for Dutch aquascapes. You can see last year’s winning tank online at GWAPA’s website.

Judi's Other 2.5G Aquarium

Judi has an assortment of tanks scattered through-out her house, which made going from room-to-room a lot of fun. In the kitchen, she has two 2.5G aquariums side-by-side with very nice nano-scapes going on.

Judi's Aquascape with Cryptocoryne nurii

In the dining room, she had a 30G (I think) aquarium with some of the nicest looking Cryptocoryne nurii I have ever seen. At first glance, I thought it was a batch of C. wendtii, but the leaf pattern on C. nurii is unmistakable. The foreground is Eleocharis sp. ‘Belem’, with lots of Anubias, Hygrophila pinnatifida, and a few other stems throughout. Overall, it was a great way to spend a chilly and windy February afternoon.