H.K.Luterman Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 (edited) I liked the idea of having a space to just babble about my tanks. I do have an Instagram, but I always felt like I need to post glamour shots to that, and not more mundane things. So here it is, a place to talk about how duck weed is taking over my house (seriously I find it on our doorknobs). I guess I'll start off by introducing my favorite fish, and therefore my favorite tank. Pooka is a synodontis eupterus who has an incredibly sweet temperament. She's hand tame, and often follows my hand around while I work on the tank. She's currently in a 40 breeder, and I MAY put her in the 75 eventually, but honestly I'm worried to put her in with my bichirs; Dragon (who I will introduce in another post), once took a bite out of a catfish like it was an apple. She seems to have enough room for now, and really isn't that active - her swimming style is doing calm moseys around the tank between long upside down naps. I once drew her as a Pookamon Pokemon. Edited May 19, 2021 by H.K.Luterman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post H.K.Luterman Posted July 15, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 15, 2020 Ok, it won't let me edit my post, but here is a link to the video since I can't figure out how to embed it. Hand feeding Pooka And here is my art of her. 16 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 1 hour ago, H.K.Luterman said: Ok, it won't let me edit my post, but here is a link to the video since I can't figure out how to embed it. Hand feeding Pooka And here is my art of her. Cool art! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted July 15, 2020 Author Share Posted July 15, 2020 6 minutes ago, Randy said: Cool art! Thanks! I doodle silly images of my fish now and then, so I'm sure this thread will be peppered with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 (edited) Time for some weekly maintenance. Let's take a looksee at some tanks... Here's my five gallon betta tank with Mister Mojo the plakat (he used to be white/platinum but turned grey and red X3 ). His tank is on a much more "when I feel like it" sort of water change schedule, since the nitrates never go past 5. The 29 guppy tank is also on the same kind of schedule, though it does get water changes more often when there's a baby explosion. I tend to just trim the hornwort, remove duckweed and pull out hair algae at the most. The 75 gets weekly 25% changes, even though it's lightly stocked - I like keeping the nitrates under 40. I also trim plants and try to scrape algae. Edited July 19, 2020 by H.K.Luterman forgot the pic of the 75! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 (edited) And I accidentally hit Submit Reply early. I'm so good at this. ANYWAYS. And then there's the 40, which is always in a state of limia bonanza. Every week I change about a third of the water, remove duckweed and trim plants. Pooka always comes up to say hi. And she checks my hand often to see if I have anything for her, often swimming in the way as I pull off old leaves from the amazon swords. Here's my method: a good ol' bucket on wheels and a hose. I run the hose out the back door to remove water, and then use a pond pump to move clean water from the bucket into the tank. Doesn't take too much time. I also do a lil gravel vac with the end of the hose, just to get excess mulm out. I don't run pristine tanks, but I do like to tidy just a bit; at least the spots you can see. That's it for now. Got the 75 to work on. Edited July 19, 2020 by H.K.Luterman typo! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 1 hour ago, H.K.Luterman said: Time for some weekly maintenance. Let's take a looksee at some tanks... Here's my five gallon betta tank with Mister Mojo the plakat (he used to be white/platinum but turned grey and red X3 ). His tank is on a much more "when I feel like it" sort of water change schedule, since the nitrates never go past 5. The 29 guppy tank is also on the same kind of schedule, though it does get water changes more often when there's a baby explosion. I tend to just trim the hornwort, remove duckweed and pull out hair algae at the most. The 75 gets weekly 25% changes, even though it's lightly stocked - I like keeping the nitrates under 40. I also trim plants and try to scrape algae. I love, love, love the way Jungle val gets long and wavy like that! Beautiful layout! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 Same! I'm trying to encourage it to spread across the back left half of the tank. It's slowly filling in. And thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted July 20, 2020 Author Share Posted July 20, 2020 I feel like I'm being watched. 4 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 She's beautiful. I'd love to have her in my 75. The video shows a lot of other fish in the tank so she must do well in a community setting. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted July 20, 2020 Author Share Posted July 20, 2020 10 minutes ago, Robin said: She's beautiful. I'd love to have her in my 75. The video shows a lot of other fish in the tank so she must do well in a community setting. Featherfin catfish are listed as "semi aggressive." From my reading on her species, she'd eat any little fish she might happen to come across that can fit in her mouth, but also they seem to dislike sharing their territory with other bottom dwelling catfish. So she wouldn't be a good fit for a breeding for profit tank (as she'd probably snack on too many babies), a nano fish tank, or a tank with other catfish. But if you want a weird kind of centerpiece fish that has an amazing personality, I highly recommend them. It did take her about 6 months to start coming out of her shell, so she took a bit of time to become the personable little wet pet she is now. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted July 20, 2020 Author Share Posted July 20, 2020 (edited) Trying to figure out how to embed a video... <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AQf2llSxlUQ" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> Edit: Hmmm nope. Edited July 20, 2020 by H.K.Luterman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted July 20, 2020 Author Share Posted July 20, 2020 Whoa ok. Figured it out. LOL. X3 6 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shkote Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 What a beautiful Squeaker! 😍 Also love the Limia nigrofasciata! By far my favorite Limia. I could watch this tank all day. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted July 21, 2020 Author Share Posted July 21, 2020 17 minutes ago, Lynze said: What a beautiful Squeaker! 😍 Also love the Limia nigrofasciata! By far my favorite Limia. I could watch this tank all day. Oh yeah I love my humpback limia. I want to make a tank dedicated to just them but it'll have to be sometime in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted July 22, 2020 Author Share Posted July 22, 2020 Felt like doing some work on the guppy tank last night. Had some hair algae in the hornwort, and a good collection of mulm going on in the front. Also lots of snail eggs and some algae on the glass. I've been slowly removing platy fry from this tank as well, since I used to have my blue platties in this tank. I managed to remove all but one this time. Tchotchke the "king betta" was giving me the stink eye from his hammock. Aaaaand here's the "after" pic. Little bit tidier. After the water cleared a bit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted July 27, 2020 Author Share Posted July 27, 2020 I was busy all weekend, so I let weekly maintenance hang until today. Tested the nitrates in both the 40 and the 75 and was pleased to find them sitting at 20. So I just did a plant trim and removed enough water for the house plants. Here's recent videos I took before I trimmed back the lily, and everyone was out and about (there should be two in the Instagram post). The male senegal bichir's name is Dragon, and I once drew a picture of him. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 Hi! It's been a while. But I come with a simple observation. Check out the difference between how the hornwort grows between these two tanks. In the guppy tank, it's all dense and reminds me of a feather boa. In the 40 breeder it grows how I've come to expect it to grow. I don't know, I just thought it was neat. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nataku Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 That is a neat difference. My hornwort grows more like yours does in the 40 breeder. Perhaps the lighting is much stronger in one tank vs another, and thats what causes the different growth pattern? Pooka is much cubbier than my syno. Then again, my syno isn't anywhere near as friendly. If it was, I'd hand feed them a lot more. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted October 6, 2020 Author Share Posted October 6, 2020 Took some pics this morning. The little guy above was born in the 29 gal tank. I have since moved all the platies to the 40, but could never catch him. Turns out, as he's grown, his spine has shown more and more of an S curve, so I would have removed him anyways from the breeding pool. He can just stay with the guppies. Trying to get pics of the limias, but of course, Pooka came out and hogged the camera. Dragon came out to see what I was doing when I came to check out the 75. And caught a pic of my old betta, Mojo, having a nap. He used to be white with platinum fins, but then he got red all over him, and now he looks like his paint is wearing off and you can see grey primer underneath. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted November 5, 2020 Author Share Posted November 5, 2020 (edited) Went out to Petco yesterday to pick up some things, and discovered they had just got in that morning a bunch of baby bichirs. Baby bichirs are a weakness of mine, and I didn't have an albino senegal yet.... so I caved. X3 Set her up in my quarantine bin. The pics in there are foggy because of the plastic. She/he's eating tiny slivers of vitamin soaked tilapia like a champ and seems settled in. Now to grow out so they can join the others in the 75. Edit: removing a double posted pic. Edited November 5, 2020 by H.K.Luterman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nataku Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 Lovely close ups of Pooka and Dragon! Really clear shots. Love it. Wish mine would come pose for the camera. The baby bichir is such a cutie! I hope they grow up nice and healthy. Do you plan to eventually put her in the same tank as Dragon, or is she destined for a different tank? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted November 5, 2020 Author Share Posted November 5, 2020 The baby will be joining the other two in the 75, when its big enough to not be a Dragon snack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted November 9, 2020 Author Share Posted November 9, 2020 Dragon 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted November 28, 2020 Author Share Posted November 28, 2020 Little albino baby is doing well and growing. Water changes make Pooka itchy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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