Here’s an updated photo of my 2.5G. As you can see, the Crassula helmsii is really starting to take off — maybe too much so. The downoi is looking good, and I’ve removed the Blyxa japonica from the back right. I’m debating whether or not it needs something back there or not. Let me know what you think! 🙂
Here’s an updated shot of the 2.5G aquascape I’m working on for the GWAPA contest. The foreground is finally starting to fill in a little bit, and I like the squirrelly look of it, but I’m not that impressed by the Blyxa japonica in the back right. It looks too contrived I think. I may just opt to pull it out entirely, but any other suggestions would be appreciated.
I recently spent a long weekend at the beach, and when I returned home, two of the Jewel Cichlids that I had collected while in Florida had paired up, spawned, and were now rearing a some cloud of fry. Before I left, two of the four fish were obviously pairing up. They started showing magnificent coloration, guarded a cave under a large manzanita root, and were making life hell for the other two Jewels in the 20G high that they were in.
I spent the better part of 3 evenings before I left attempting to fish out the two other Jewel cichlids. I successfully netted one of them, and he now occupies a tank by himself. The other one was far too quick for me, but unfortunately, not quick enough for the pair, as when I returned, they had sealed the loner’s fate. Having the tank to themselves, the male and female take turns guarding their fry. But they still have no qualms leaving their babies when I feed them black worms, as they nearly jump from the water to snatch the worms.
It’s nearly impossible to count how many fry are present, but extrapolating from what I was able to count, I’d estimate that I have 100-150. If even half of that number survive, I’m going to be flooding the market with some very pretty Jewel Cichlids at CCA meetings later this year. So far, I’ve been relatively satisfied with their interactions with plants in the tank. A few sprigs of Blyxa japonica have been uprooted, but those were right next to their spawning site. Otherwise, they haven’t caused too much damage.
GWAPA’s aquascaping contest is currently underway after we handed out the equipment at our May meeting. So, what did I do? I went straight home, filled my tank with aquasoil, popped in some new bulbs into my old fixture, and setup the aquascape below.
Obviously, this is a mound style of aquascape, using the downoi and blyxa japonica to highlight the rocks. In the middle is anubias barterii nana var. ‘petite’ with crassula helmsii in the foreground. I have a little bit of ranalisma rostrata in the back right to transition to a better height from the blyxa japonica. I’m still deciding how much I like this scape, but I hope to have it grow in with enough time to take a picture and try another scape before the October deadline. Hopefully that’s allowed. 😉
 RIP apistogramma viejit |
As posted a couple days ago, I rescaped my 20G high tank with some fresh Amazonia aquasoil and manzanita wood. I’ve rescaped a number of tanks in the past with aquasoil, and I’ll usually add the soil, plant and scape the tank, fill with water, allow to cycle for a few hours, and then add in the fish. Most times, the filters are preexisting, or some of the plants/hardscape come from other tanks, so the biological filter should be largely pre-established. I’ve never had any problems with fish loss using this method.
Now I’ve read and heard about other folks experiences about how new aquasoil temporarily causes the pH to crash. Since my methods above have always worked, I’ve never paid them much heed. True, the pH does drop, but never to an extreme degree that the fish couldn’t adjust to. So, with this 20G setup, I followed my same methodologies. I removed the apistogramma viejitas that were in there, placed them in a bucket with airstone, and proceeded with the change. A few hours after setup, I moved the apistogramma back into the tank. I was actually hoping that the pH would drop down a fair amount and induce spawning since I haven’t been able to get them to breed at a 6.5 CO2 induced pH. They seemed happy enough that night. Morning came, and they were still swimming around, not looking distressed. Then, I get home from work, and one is on the floor, and the other is upside-down in the tank. What changed?
Well, I’m not sure. This is the first tank I’ve setup with fresh wood in a long time. Is it possible that the tannins from the new manzanita dropped the pH further in conjunction with the aquasoil-induced drop? I don’t know. In any case, I think I’ll let my fish spend an extra day or two in an aerated/filtered bucket next time I redo a tank with aquasoil. Rest in peace apistogramma viejita.
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!)
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