Calvin

I recently added a pair of Borelli Opals. Lovely little fish with a bit of personality. This is the only half decent picture I've caught of him so far, he's still quite camera shy! 🙈

My remaining 3 zebras play with each other, of course it could be breeding behaviour but I like to think they are playing tag 😆 they also try and play with the platys but they are not interested in the slightest. The zebras do play in the filter flow though, blow right across the tank and come back for another go 😆

Was going to say the same about the swordtails. They can be quite nippy towards other fish, one I had in particular was called Satan for a good reason 😆

@Sal He is a lovely fish! 👌🏻

That's nice. This is the look I'm hoping for when my Java grows in on my wood. Finally I've got to see how it might look 👍🏻

I left mine for a week over Christmas, they were fine and I noticed a dramatic decrease of my tiny snails when I got back 👌🏻

This might be helpful. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/mulm

I do this myself occasionally with some plants. However I don't plant the pots I just do it to get some root growth established enough that I can plant them into the place i want. I've done it with Java fern a few times. The roots have attached to some of the gravel so it's instantly weighed down enough to make it sink. Apologies that is a terrible picture! 🙈 I took this cutting the other night, it's not looking to hot but thought I would give it a go. I see it's been uprooted slightly, need to go fix that! 🙂

Thanks mate I hope so! We will see if the vision in my head becomes reality 😆

I had no idea you could store dried food in the fridge. I always end up with tubs half full because they have expired and I don't manage to finish them so they usually end up in the bin! Game changer! 👌🏻😄

Just coming up to two weeks since I first posted. It's good to be able to keep a diary of sorts to follow the tank progress 🙂 Not much seems to have changed in my eyes. Couple of little changes with plant positioning but I've just left it to do is own thing. I've also started dosing daily rather than weekly. I've not 100% convinced myself with the plants and scape I've chosen but I'm going to let them grow in and then look to replace them if I don't like the look. The Val is looking good and shooting out quite a few runners so I'm pleased with that. The java is not looking it's best in places, possibly too much light, this is making me rethink that I actually have medium light rather that low. 🤔 It's obviously done well over the years as I never bought this much to begin with I know that! The water wisteria is growing but not as fast as I expected however it is filling out at the back. I think this will eventually get changed down the line somewhere. Still waiting for the dwarf sag to do...something! Can take a while to establish and then take off from what I've read so I'm hopeful, it's still alive at least. Anubias is doing ok.. I have some new leaves growing so that's encouraging! The few pieces of Elodea I left in got caught up in the sponge filter so I've left it there as I see some fish like to have a nibble at it, if it stays there and grows out I'll leave it, I hope it might attach to the sponge filter and cover up the corner a bit more and it could be useful for any fry that might arrive one day.

I recently watched a video from George Farmer who was talking about this. He made a good point (for me anyway) that dosing daily gives the plants the best chance of getting a bit of what they need every day. When dosing weekly, some plants may need or take more in the first few days of dosing therefore the rest of the plants are starving basically until the next weekly dose because the more demanding plants have used it all. At least that's what I got from it, he can explain it alot better than me. I'll see if I can find a link to the video if you would like a better expert explanation 😄 I've decided to go down the daily dosing route and see how it goes, no results yet I only started 3 days ago, I've already got quick growth on a new anubias leaf but I can't be certain this is related. Of course everyone's tanks are different and what might work for one won't for another, trial and error I guess 🤷🏻‍♂️

This is very interesting! I like learning about life in the past and combining it with fishkeeping is fascinating to me. Can't wait to see how it evolves. Now I'm off to browse the files I never knew existed 😉

Personally I think that looks a bit too strong. My danios like playing in the flow of my sponge filter but they can also go across the other side of the tank if they need a rest, the calm side is where they tend to sleep.

Hi, it should be instantly cycled if your transferring everything over. Just make sure to keep the filter media in particular wet so it doesn't start to die off 👍🏻 Enjoy your upgrade! Exciting times 😁

Chrome here too. It changes the top of the page to dark but not the rest of it.

No problem Thanks! Added to my ever growing list of plants 👍🏻

I've only even seen them once and was not in a position to buy then, never seen them since 🙄😄

Ohh a bonsai! Are you planning on moss? This is from a previous setup I had but I still love this bit of wood with the cave entrance. Planted up properly I think it would look great 👌🏻

Thats a nicely shaped piece of wood you have there. i rarely come across pieces like that unfortunately! Weeping moss could be nice growing down over the front of it 😃

What about blue platys? Some of them can be very striking!

Very nice 👍🏻 What is the name of that plant?

An angelfish probably would but guppy's can get nippy and would probably be constantly going for his long fins. Apistos are a good choice though 👍🏻

Trust me to pick a plant that can grow as big as a dog 😆 Apart from that bad example alot of plants can be and trimmed and thinned when you get the required height, so it's best to treat it as a guide I suppose! As you said It depends on tank conditions and setup, in my (limited) experience some will take off and not stop growing, others just don't want to 🙂

Set up a quarantine tank.