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Flintstones
- Thread starter J@mes
- Start date
day 21
Earlier this week I addded Tropica root tabs & a 1-2 Grow! Pot of Salvinia that’s now circling with the frogbit.
Today 11 red bee shrimps arrived & I acclimated them using the drip method, learned something new as last time I floated the bag & spooned water in gradually. Also added some catappa bark & a Dennerle Java fern which I’ve glued to a flint. The stripy shrimp are quite a contrast to the Yamato, just a few millimetres in length & much more active whilst exploring their new environment.
Some bits of the São Paulo which I thought was DOA has been revived by placing the best bits on soaked tissue in jam jars on the window sill & has now been transferred to a little pot immersed in the tank. There are a couple of shoots showing progress in the soil too.
Earlier this week I addded Tropica root tabs & a 1-2 Grow! Pot of Salvinia that’s now circling with the frogbit.
Today 11 red bee shrimps arrived & I acclimated them using the drip method, learned something new as last time I floated the bag & spooned water in gradually. Also added some catappa bark & a Dennerle Java fern which I’ve glued to a flint. The stripy shrimp are quite a contrast to the Yamato, just a few millimetres in length & much more active whilst exploring their new environment.
Some bits of the São Paulo which I thought was DOA has been revived by placing the best bits on soaked tissue in jam jars on the window sill & has now been transferred to a little pot immersed in the tank. There are a couple of shoots showing progress in the soil too.
1 month
I'm having some algae issues. Not sure which type it is. It seems to like the carpeting plants & there's some stringy slime on the rocks and wood. So I've upped the co2 a little and added another java fern and am dosing liquid carbon. The black spots that were spreading across the leaves of the stem plants have gone and the rotala is growing at a good rate. There's loads of Alder along the river by me so I've put some cones in which the shrimp like. I've managed to dunk the light several times (again) & a ball got thrown in which made quite a splash, luckily it didn't do any worse. I really don't want to put the lid back on, the aquarium is so much more enjoyable without it.
I'm having some algae issues. Not sure which type it is. It seems to like the carpeting plants & there's some stringy slime on the rocks and wood. So I've upped the co2 a little and added another java fern and am dosing liquid carbon. The black spots that were spreading across the leaves of the stem plants have gone and the rotala is growing at a good rate. There's loads of Alder along the river by me so I've put some cones in which the shrimp like. I've managed to dunk the light several times (again) & a ball got thrown in which made quite a splash, luckily it didn't do any worse. I really don't want to put the lid back on, the aquarium is so much more enjoyable without it.
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Edvet
Member
Cant enlarge pics
Cant enlarge pics
I used the forum upload but I’ll need to find a different way... sorry! I’ll stick to Tapatalk
Harry H
Member
Tank is filling up nicely! 
tam
Member
- Joined
- 5 May 2011
- Messages
- 1,469
It's normal for new wood to get slimely goo, it will go in time and not cause any issues. I think you'd be okay with Otos now if your shrimp are fine, but I would turn your CO2 down when you put them in and then gradually turn it up again so they can get used to it.
Otos are awesome and Hardy fishes once acclimated, good luck!
Your water level is very high btw!
Good job on the scape
6 weeks
Lots going on in the last 2 weeks. I added 10 Crystal Red Bee shrimp, unfortunately one didn’t make it & was hauled out the next day. The rest settled in very quickly.
The floating plants took over the surface & the flow was sweeping them under, they piled up in a corner. I had to throw half them out, less than 2 weeks later & they’d covered most the surface again.
There’s a SSSI near me, The Basingstoke Canal, where I collected some autumn leaves. Oak, beech and alder. All the inhabitants of the tank seem to enjoy them.
I’ve been visiting a few local shops eyeing the stock. Endler Guppies are great little fish, colourful, active and small enough for my 2’ tank. I now have 6 males. Sadly 1 fellas acrobatics (and my preference for brimming the tank) meant he met his demise on the floor one night. The others are always very active and constantly playing in the flow at the front of the tank.
The Amano shrimp make sure to throw loads of soil over the decor sand every time I tidy it up. I upped the temperature from 22 to 24 degrees and there’s a noticeable increase in their activity. I’m considering swapping the light sand for dark and stopping playing their game. A group of 10 black Crystal Bee shrimp have joined the community. The red ones have already gotten quite fat & make the black ones look tiny.
Also added an air pump, running at night oxygenating the water, 1st night it was positioned directly under the dropchecker & it turned blue for the 1st time since installation.
My Pogostemon quadrifolius has grown in really nicely. The Water sprite however has not, it condition looks bad & as much as I don’t want to I think I’ll have to cut it back.
I’ve recently added 6 Celestial Pearl Danios which seem good tank mates for the guppies, size and colour are similar but the danios mostly prefer the low flow area, they circle the foliage, interact with each other and the guppies playfully darting about or swooping here & there.
I’ve noticed some interesting behaviour where one of the Danios sort of vibrates in front of another, usually when they’re hidden away amongst the planting.
The Guppy in the photo below was found in a row of tanks in the LFS with the Siamese fighting fish, very silly but also a real character.
There’s a load of tiny snails that have come from somewhere & I’ve added a pair of red nerite snails.
The CO2 out the aquario diffuser makes the water cloudy with bubbles (as seen in some of these photos) which makes looking at the tank rubbish so I invested in an inline diffuser which is so much better, particularly as I view the tank from the corner where the hose and aquario were. To improve flow I reduced the filter media and added some Purigen.
My other concern is feeding the Otos, there just isn’t enough algae & they don’t explore the tank, missing out on the back which is covered in the stuff. I tried vegges in the tank without success (as far as I can tell nothing touches them) so I’m going to try making up an agar & spirulina feed which I saw on UKAPS hopefully they’ll go for that.
Lots going on in the last 2 weeks. I added 10 Crystal Red Bee shrimp, unfortunately one didn’t make it & was hauled out the next day. The rest settled in very quickly.
The floating plants took over the surface & the flow was sweeping them under, they piled up in a corner. I had to throw half them out, less than 2 weeks later & they’d covered most the surface again.
There’s a SSSI near me, The Basingstoke Canal, where I collected some autumn leaves. Oak, beech and alder. All the inhabitants of the tank seem to enjoy them.
I’ve been visiting a few local shops eyeing the stock. Endler Guppies are great little fish, colourful, active and small enough for my 2’ tank. I now have 6 males. Sadly 1 fellas acrobatics (and my preference for brimming the tank) meant he met his demise on the floor one night. The others are always very active and constantly playing in the flow at the front of the tank.
The Amano shrimp make sure to throw loads of soil over the decor sand every time I tidy it up. I upped the temperature from 22 to 24 degrees and there’s a noticeable increase in their activity. I’m considering swapping the light sand for dark and stopping playing their game. A group of 10 black Crystal Bee shrimp have joined the community. The red ones have already gotten quite fat & make the black ones look tiny.
Also added an air pump, running at night oxygenating the water, 1st night it was positioned directly under the dropchecker & it turned blue for the 1st time since installation.
My Pogostemon quadrifolius has grown in really nicely. The Water sprite however has not, it condition looks bad & as much as I don’t want to I think I’ll have to cut it back.
I’ve recently added 6 Celestial Pearl Danios which seem good tank mates for the guppies, size and colour are similar but the danios mostly prefer the low flow area, they circle the foliage, interact with each other and the guppies playfully darting about or swooping here & there.
I’ve noticed some interesting behaviour where one of the Danios sort of vibrates in front of another, usually when they’re hidden away amongst the planting.
The Guppy in the photo below was found in a row of tanks in the LFS with the Siamese fighting fish, very silly but also a real character.
There’s a load of tiny snails that have come from somewhere & I’ve added a pair of red nerite snails.
The CO2 out the aquario diffuser makes the water cloudy with bubbles (as seen in some of these photos) which makes looking at the tank rubbish so I invested in an inline diffuser which is so much better, particularly as I view the tank from the corner where the hose and aquario were. To improve flow I reduced the filter media and added some Purigen.
My other concern is feeding the Otos, there just isn’t enough algae & they don’t explore the tank, missing out on the back which is covered in the stuff. I tried vegges in the tank without success (as far as I can tell nothing touches them) so I’m going to try making up an agar & spirulina feed which I saw on UKAPS hopefully they’ll go for that.
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tam
Member
- Joined
- 5 May 2011
- Messages
- 1,469
It's really coming on - well done! The otos will enjoy the decomposing autumn leaves as well. Usually take a week for them to reach to the consistency they like (build up some biofilm). How long are you leaving the veggies in? Again, they prefer them after they've had a day or so to soften.
7 weeks
Enjoying my planted aquarium very much, 1st trim of a stem plant this week. Chopped the Pogostemon in half and replanted the cuttings. Since I binned 90% of the frogbit and salvinia it had grown across the waters surface & top leaves had gone a lovely shade of crimson. Hopefully the Rotala will fill in and colour up. I decided to remove the Water Sprite as most of it was patchy brown, it had grown some roots but it got squeezed out by other faster growing plants.
I bought 6 more Celestial Pearl Danios (12 total) but one turned out to be a Glowlight. I decided to add 3 more to keep it company.
2 Guppies died, 1 jumped out & the 2nd got stuck in the inlet. LFS replaced them when I mentioned it whilst buying the Glowlights.
Enjoying my planted aquarium very much, 1st trim of a stem plant this week. Chopped the Pogostemon in half and replanted the cuttings. Since I binned 90% of the frogbit and salvinia it had grown across the waters surface & top leaves had gone a lovely shade of crimson. Hopefully the Rotala will fill in and colour up. I decided to remove the Water Sprite as most of it was patchy brown, it had grown some roots but it got squeezed out by other faster growing plants.
I bought 6 more Celestial Pearl Danios (12 total) but one turned out to be a Glowlight. I decided to add 3 more to keep it company.
2 Guppies died, 1 jumped out & the 2nd got stuck in the inlet. LFS replaced them when I mentioned it whilst buying the Glowlights.
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12 weeks
Feels like the tanks been running longer. Every 2nd week I swap the glassware over & change some of the sand & gravel. I broke the drop checker whilst cleaning it, the CO2 setup is fine so I’m not in a hurry to replace it. The air stone has been turned off (so noisy!) twinstar nano is back in & I’ve positioned it near the inlet/outlet for the benefit of the filter bacteria & tank circulation.
No idea where they came from but snails have bred prolifically & they’re the quickest snails I’ve ever seen. They get stuck in the inlet, on the floating plants & everywhere possible. They don’t appear to be devastating the flora so that’s something I suppose.
As I have mentioned before there was a random fish in with half a dozen celestial pearl danios I bought. I (my other half) thought it was a glowlight, so we got 3 but I realised it is microrasbora erythromicron. If I’d got it right 1st time I would have more of them as they’re much better tank mates than the glowlights which are aggressive fish compared to the endlers, Danios & otos
Last week I hacked the pogostemon right back, it’s a real weed. Still suffering the BBA but it’s not rampant. Some of the little stripy shrimp are berried but even if they are successful I doubt anything will survive the fish which are relentless in their pursuit of food.
Feels like the tanks been running longer. Every 2nd week I swap the glassware over & change some of the sand & gravel. I broke the drop checker whilst cleaning it, the CO2 setup is fine so I’m not in a hurry to replace it. The air stone has been turned off (so noisy!) twinstar nano is back in & I’ve positioned it near the inlet/outlet for the benefit of the filter bacteria & tank circulation.
No idea where they came from but snails have bred prolifically & they’re the quickest snails I’ve ever seen. They get stuck in the inlet, on the floating plants & everywhere possible. They don’t appear to be devastating the flora so that’s something I suppose.
As I have mentioned before there was a random fish in with half a dozen celestial pearl danios I bought. I (my other half) thought it was a glowlight, so we got 3 but I realised it is microrasbora erythromicron. If I’d got it right 1st time I would have more of them as they’re much better tank mates than the glowlights which are aggressive fish compared to the endlers, Danios & otos
Last week I hacked the pogostemon right back, it’s a real weed. Still suffering the BBA but it’s not rampant. Some of the little stripy shrimp are berried but even if they are successful I doubt anything will survive the fish which are relentless in their pursuit of food.
I siphon it all, poop, cuttings, algae sand and gravel at the same time & replace with new. The gravel & sand come in 20kg bags for £5 each from Homebase. Shout out to @Marc Davis for that tip
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