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Nano Walstad tank startup

The little guy is doing well but the daily zucchini nearly blocked the filter to a point I've never had before.. It was full of slime inside and it never gets like that so I blame the juice from the zucchini.

Anyways, a picture of the development of the oto fry. He looks like a miniature version of the parents and even now has a solid black line on the side and not zig-zag one but can't take a proper picture with all that scum on the glass which he actually eats eagerly.

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Thanks Edvet. It's a cute little fish.
I am now in two minds when to introduce more solid food like an algae wafer. I've got plec pellets that contain Fish and Fish Derivatives, Derivatives of Vegetable Origin, Algae, Oils and Fats, Minerals, Molluscs and Crustaceans.
I wonder if that would be ok..... It's a soft type of pellet by New Era. The problem is it seems I am having very happy snails now the most and I don't want to pollute the tank as it's very easy do it by accident with no fish to eat the food fast. Plus I have no idea if it won't do harm as his little belly may not be able to digest it. I've no idea...

I tried blanched spinach as well and blanched peas but the otto fry had zero interest in them. It's only interested in polishing the glass and the zucchini. The algae growth is at halt now and I see clear patches which is a concern although it will take a while for this size otto to eat all that had build up.
 
You could try to culture some algae, smooth pebbles or cobbles in a clear tub of old tank water on a south facing windowsill may work, in my early fish keeping days pre ukaps I had plenty of algae covered cobble stones from a goldfish tank I'd move 1 a week over to my tropical tank and the ottos would polish them clean over night.
 
Thanks Edvert, Tim and Greenfinger2. I'll try your suggestions.
I actually tried the algae wafers on the adult ottos. I even hung it on a suction cup and besides the shrimp no one else got interested so I don't see how this little one would be either.

It's funny that after supposedly catching all the shrimp from the otto fry tank when I was about to empty it, I can now count at least 17 baby/juvenile shrimp I had missed and which were probably going to be accidentally killed. They must have been too small for me to see then and now have grown a bit.

I am now noticing the otto fry spends more time on the glass itself the last few days and not so much on the zucchini as he used to. I wonder if that's a change in diet requirements. Another thing I noticed is that no matter where I place the zucchini he'll find it almost immediately but prefers to hang around the side that receives the most flow, not sure whether it's because of the flow but I see no other reason.

Apart from that, the new female otto I purchased to replace the one that died is doing well. However, I haven't seen these two spawn since the first "T" position upon introduction of the female on the first day. I think that was just a way for them to say hello :). I've been having problems since with the temperatures rising too high because of the hot weather so I did daily partial water changes for a while with cold water as the tank is next to the window and gets way too warm too fast. As a result my TDS has shot to 300ppm as in the tap water. That may have an effect on spawning, I am not sure. I hope not.

On another hand the extra sunshine and the increased photoperiod to 8hrs have not resulted in any algae blooms at all in the adult otto tank. I am not sure whether to be happy or unhappy over it as I was hoping for some green otocinclus edible algae.
 
Thanks greenfinger2.

The question is when it would be safe to move him to another tank. The tank to which all the shrimp from this tank went has grown diatoms because of the sudden increase of bioload and will be very much suitable as it only has khuli loaches and no other competitors for algae or veg, or predators but it does have a bigger version of the filter with the killer back frame. The otto is too small to get caught behind it though...I think. But I am not sure how he'll take to the move and it's probably too early. If it were any other fry I wouldn't be afraid. I've moved cory fry with no issues. But I know nothing about otto fry. If I lose him, I'll have a 100% loss :)

My poor plants are still in a bucket to which I move the light every night so they are still very much intact but from what I can see they've become kind of tangled looking competing for light in there and will have funny shapes when I take them out.[DOUBLEPOST=1402825852][/DOUBLEPOST]And a clearer video

 
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I did a massive trim on the adult otto tank. Basically I cut all the ludwiga down to nearly the bottom to free some space as it really was tangled all over like a proper jungle. The sword plant is also throwing runners like crazy, I've removed about 10 already. Plants grow very fast in this tank, especially now the with the sunshine. I discovered my anubias has grown huge beneath all the jungle of ludwiga. It shoots new leaves constantly and one day it will overtake the tank if I don't cut it. It's taking up about 1/3rd of the planting area.

And I stirred up some detritus worms. Yay :) They are tiny and swimming in the water column now. I didn't know I had them as I normally don't have any strange creatures at all besides seed shrimp. The worms look like a really nice snack for tiny fish or fry. Which is an idea as I won't keep the two ottos in this tank forever, way too small for their active behaviour. I'd love some micro middle swimmers in there one day.
Anyway, I suppose I must be overfeeding a tad bit too :)
And the two adult ottos have gone bananas now, maybe they like the space or I upset them too much.

And, I have more plants in the holding bucket now than I can put in the otto fry tank once I change the substrate so it will be really, really densely planted. Though I haven't decided what and how I want it scaped.

The little one at 23 days from yesterday.
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So when you think you've caught all shrimp from a tank and you are ready to take it down, there could be at least 50 more shrimplets!! I just took about 47 juveniles out that have now grown up to be perfectly visible and there are more!!
I had to take them out as they've become breeding age and I don't want any more tiny shrimplets being born in the tank.
I did notice I hadn't caught them all, I even counted around 17 at some stage but 50 :eek: Where the hell were they hiding in an empty tank :crazy:
 
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