[Sub-alpine Creek biotope]

On 3/7/2024 at 1:00 PM, Odd Duck said:

Have you ever had susswassertang?  Looks like the start of that (that’s kind of what suss is, after all).

All looking good!

You might be right it does look like that! I didn’t plant half the plants I have haha so it could really be anything. This duckweed spawned out of nowhere.

[Sub-alpine Creek biotope]

It’s been about a month so here is a review!

 

The nyos Viper is a dream no more sitting there after a water change playing with the ball valve. It’s quiet and best part is the shrimp don’t like the frequency of this pump so they no longer hang out in the pump chamber. And the wiper function on the intake is actually useful it clears duckweed and dead leaves even while it’s on!

 

I also found this clear eggcrate on amazon that locks into eachother and it is so much better then the netting from BRS and best part is this product is made with aquariums in mind so it fits snuggly 2x wide across my 50g breeder. The netting had no structure so it would get waterlogged and grow algae like crazy

Its sunny this morning so I managed to capture the 6 new WCMM added to the school. We are now at 14 total and I am hoping this will lead to more fry in the spring. Don’t mind the debris in the water this was 10 minutes after a WC.

 

 

Also have this wort type thing growing on the log as well as the moss really starting to stretch out 

 

[Help! Worms in my tank]

Sounds like you have rhabdocoela, planaria, and some sort of detritus worms. They are harmless and make good fish fry food or cleanup crew. 
 

I have heard of planaria attacking and killing shrimplets but I’ve never seen it. But my snail population suffered some heavy casualties 

[Terrarium Project Journal]

There are definitely some cool roaches and beetles! 
 

I kept turkish roaches and hissing roach cultures for my bearded dragon. One thing roaches are escape artists you need to make sure everything is secure. 
 

There are also some fun harvestmen “spider” species that have made their way and are super easy to take care of. Despite their rather drunken walk they are pretty good ambush hunters and fun to watch. 

[Tiny brown creatures in my aquarium]

On 3/2/2024 at 12:11 PM, JMC said:

Thanks for the information. I will research seed shrimp more. Would seed shrimp kill a snail?  I assume they’d eat it if it was dead.  Are seed shrimp considered a type of water mite?
 

They are too round in my opinion to be baby scuds (although I wish they were).

Seed shrimp are ostracods they will eat any decaying matter and detritus. They are usually a sign post of a healthy aquarium ecology

[Tiny brown creatures in my aquarium]

I 2nd seed shrimp. Harmless little tank cleaners. Evidence suggests they pass through fish intestines completely unharmed so they will persist 

[Running mini cannister filter and sponge filter. Overkill?]

No not overkill at all the more media the better

[What does your aquarium look like?]

On 2/29/2024 at 4:56 PM, Pepere said:

But that begs the question…. If you actively try to cultivate algae, does it struggle to survive?

I know this a joke… but yes absolutely! 😅

[What does your aquarium look like?]

On 2/29/2024 at 8:16 AM, NOLANANO said:

@Biotope Biologist I am just curious, are there any pics you could share of the look you are going for when complete? Its a very interesting setup.

No not really I am setting up a river/creek biotope and unfortunately it’s still pretty unpopular. Especially the use of algae as the main display plant. In the spring I can post pics of the algae when it’s in full production. Beautiful and it pearlesces(?) a ton.

 

Here is a pic of water willow all grown up. It forms these woody rafts in high flow environments. And I also have white top sedge and some random riparian things I didn’t plant like some sort of violet and a deer fern that really take a while to take hold. It tests my patience sometimes but it’ll be worth it in the end and the gobies really enjoy tunneling into the island

 

edit I found a pic from last summer, still doesn’t do it justice but:

[Weird micro-bugs in fishtank]

Those are seed shrimp really pretty shells when they get bigger.

completely harmless tank cleaner

[What does your aquarium look like?]

Mine really needed to seed and algae takes a good long while to grow. I would say I am still only halfway there after 1.5 years.

 

Emergent plants are really coming in now although I had some die back during these winter months. This tank looks so good in full sunlight! Algae looks brown now but turns vivid red and green. Something that my lights no matter how bright cant seem to reproduce

 

 

Above:

algae algae so much algae:

 

 

 

Gobies are much less camera shy now. Although I have to pay them in food or they get real cranky… divas

[Discus Tank Evolution 2022-2024]

That’s what these forums are all about is evolving as a collective group. I have been in this hobby and profession over a decade and I still learn new things all the time!

 

Beautiful tank btw!

[Native Aquarium Tips]

@Fish Folk has some NANF tanks.

 

I have kept sunfish before mine were pumpkin seed. They lived in a tank of rejects and behaved like any other aquarium fish. I did feed them live insects and fish when they were young but they quickly started taking frozen foods and weirdly hikari algae wafers. They were quite territorial over those haha

[Keeping 1 Tiger Oscar with Convicts]

It greatly depends on the cichlids in question. 
 

I had a male convict raised him from a fry. He was a puppy. Just followed everyone around and liked being social. Very curious. He was in with gourami, sunfish, a goldfish, a BN pleco and a chinese algae eater.
 

cichlids have a ton of personality so the best answer to their compatibility is that it depends. You have 2 tanks if they fight separate them. If they get along great!

[Terrarium Project Journal]

Looks like a red-headed centipede they are pretty ubiquitous in the western United States. Great hunters when I kept them they were pretty prolific spider hunters. I believe they will also eat isopods or tiny crickets. 

[White clouds surprisingly aggressive?]

They do this when they are breeding or displaying for breeding. My WCMM have produced 3 batches of fry for me and I have 2 males. The two males will fight for territory but really they just flare their fins and posture. Then the school will split into two groups and about 3-4 weeks later there are baby WCMM swimming around. 
 

They do like current but you have to train them. When I had them in a 12g the current was too much for them so I bought a tiny hygger wavemaker and turned it all the way down. As they grew older and I grew more confident in their swimming ability I increased the speed. Now they are at max speed and they surf pretty much all day.

[Super blue royal tetra (Inpaichthys kerri) with long finned zebra danio?]

Emperors can hold their own in more rambunctious tanks including bigger tetra characins so the danio aren’t an issue at all just make sure everyone gets enough food

 

Pretty much all danio are very food motivated so slower less aggressive fish can go hungry sometimes 

[Archer fish aggression]

Yeah archerfish need to have a group. There will be some infighting at first but the aggression should go away after awhile. 
 

Especially if you have had 1 and now have 3. I would add a few more roughly the same age and you need good sight breaks in the tank. They are incredibly intelligent fish and social like piranha they will need to establish order amongst the ranks. So to speak

[Does anyone have any idea what this is?]

On 2/16/2024 at 6:45 AM, Bigdog99 said:

Yeah that is weird! What kind of fish of those @Biotope Biologist? If I may ask?

My profile pic? Or are you asking about the rainbowfish that want their picture taken desperately in the foreground of @mynameisnobody’s shots?

[Duckweed eaters!]

My ramshorn snails wrap their bodies around a bunch and parachute down to the bottom of the tank to graze on it, it’s pretty cute!

 

Also the astronauts probably:

[Does anyone have any idea what this is?]

I haven’t seen anything like that before kinda looks like that wood is coming back to life

[Terrarium Project Journal]

Looks like it! We have that species in Washington fun and easy one to culture

[Mango Loaches sounds like a better name]

It looks like a slice of mango that grew fins. 
 

I am mad and I will be writing a strongly worded letter to whomever is in charge of such dealings

[Making a large rock semi-buoyant]

I used great stuff black for my hollow island for my gobies. Great stuff pond and stone is a ripoff. It’s $4 more just because it’s marketed towards aquarists.

 

Great stuff has been used to fill out zoo and aquarium scapes for decades it is non toxic and doesn’t break down in water. It’s hydrophobic as it cures as well.

 

I made a ‘Z’ out of PVC black 3” dia pipe then layed 1 layer of foam over it and started setting the stones. Then once the great stuff cures I use a razor blade to carve it to match the rest of the stone. After a year it’s completely unrecognizable from other stone as algae has taken hold. The whole island weighs about 20#
 

Before:

 

After:

[Black Spot Tetra]

Edit: talking about the shimmery spots? Looks as if those scales are dulling with age? Doesn’t look like ich or any fungal infection.