Minanora Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 Wow. This is amazing. Awesome update! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 Looks fantastic! Can’t wait to watch it develop! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 Wow, you've been busy! Congrats on the move, I've always liked Olympia. The lowboy looks like tons of fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eatyourpeas Posted November 8, 2022 Share Posted November 8, 2022 Wonderful adaption of a frag tank! It is looking great! Keep the Shiruba as an emergency carbon filter should you ever need it. Welcome to Olympia! 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted November 8, 2022 Author Share Posted November 8, 2022 On 11/7/2022 at 5:21 PM, eatyourpeas said: Wonderful adaption of a frag tank! It is looking great! Keep the Shiruba as an emergency carbon filter should you ever need it. Welcome to Olympia! 🙂 Thank you! Also these frag tanks have become exceedingly rare. I bought the tank and stand from a frag breeder in Bellevue after stopping at 8 other aquarium/reptile stores. On 11/7/2022 at 3:31 PM, Patrick_G said: Wow, you've been busy! Congrats on the move, I've always liked Olympia. The lowboy looks like tons of fun. On 11/7/2022 at 5:21 PM, eatyourpeas said:Welcome to Olympia! 🙂 My SO and I love Olympia so far we have been waiting the last 2 years for an opportunity to move down. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eatyourpeas Posted November 8, 2022 Share Posted November 8, 2022 How is the powerhead working out in this tank with the extra volume? Also, I love the little scarlet seahorse! 🙃 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted November 8, 2022 Author Share Posted November 8, 2022 On 11/8/2022 at 8:27 AM, eatyourpeas said: How is the powerhead working out in this tank with the extra volume? Also, I love the little scarlet seahorse! 🙃 That powerhead is having issues. I’m thinking about sending it back to Hygger and just using the ACO one. Now that my white clouds have matured into stronger swimmers they really enjoy playing in the current. It will get sand stuck in its fan blade and become useless. Also even in this tank 40% power constant stream is far too powerful for my fish. I found that doing wave function is better at creating good water movement. And creates a break for the white clouds to escape the current if they need to. The scarlet seahorse was a gift from my grandmother ☺️. She bought a set of her own (which I also have now) and whenever I went to her house I couldn’t stop staring at them in her aquarium. I believe they are from a local artist in Silverlake. But that was about 20 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eatyourpeas Posted November 8, 2022 Share Posted November 8, 2022 On 11/8/2022 at 8:44 AM, Biotope Biologist said: That powerhead is having issues. I’m thinking about sending it back to Hygger and just using the ACO one. Now that my white clouds have matured into stronger swimmers they really enjoy playing in the current. It will get sand stuck in its fan blade and become useless. Also even in this tank 40% power constant stream is far too powerful for my fish. I found that doing wave function is better at creating good water movement. And creates a break for the white clouds to escape the current if they need to. The scarlet seahorse was a gift from my grandmother ☺️. She bought a set of her own (which I also have now) and whenever I went to her house I couldn’t stop staring at them in her aquarium. I believe they are from a local artist in Silverlake. But that was about 20 years ago. I am very happy with the ACO powerhead. I have one in the SW tank, and another in the WCMM 6 gal. tank. I aim that one at the sponge back wall and it dampens the strength enough for the minnows to enjoy. Grandmas are the best! 😀 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyGenusCaps Posted November 9, 2022 Share Posted November 9, 2022 Well, I am glad to see you haven't fallen off the face of the Earth, @Biotope Biologist! Although, Olympia might be close. 😜 In all seriousness, congrats on the move! And well done on that tank! If you don't see the gobies, they might be sparse enough to breed in the tank, colony style. That would be cool! It' looks really good. It does! I'm looking forward to seeing the continued success of this setup. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted November 12, 2022 Author Share Posted November 12, 2022 Sump pieces arrived and siliconed them in and spent yesterday and today doing flow rate tests and leak tests. This is quite possibly the most basic refugium setup, but it works. The middle chamber will be where the snails and scuds breed. Hoping the amazon frogbit joins the land of the living again. The snails ate their roots to the nub. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted November 12, 2022 Author Share Posted November 12, 2022 (edited) Oh yeah and I bought orange fin hill trout! Took some pics of the sun on the tank. Now that I don’t live in a ravine I get some really nice shimmer. I have to say I think this might be some of my best work yet. Now I wait for the plant island to grow in. Edited November 12, 2022 by Biotope Biologist 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyGenusCaps Posted November 13, 2022 Share Posted November 13, 2022 That's just fantastic! Pure and simple. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted November 15, 2022 Author Share Posted November 15, 2022 I failed to get pics of it, but I have exciting news! The gobies have started displaying breeding behavior. The male and female got on a rock and started, best I can describe it, yawning at eachother. The male turned vibrant red on his gill covers. They did a little dance and disappeared into the males cave. Now they each take turns guarding the entrance. Seems about 12 hour shifts. I don’t want to jinx it, but I do also have 2 more females coming to bolster the harem. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted November 20, 2022 Author Share Posted November 20, 2022 Females gobies are in the display tank. They arrived healthy and ready to eat from tongs. That is if the trout don’t get to it first…. The other gobies have been a bit less shy since their inclusion and I catch them all hanging out in this corner at around dusk. Not sure what they discuss. I hope they aren’t plotting a coup. 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted December 1, 2022 Author Share Posted December 1, 2022 Update time! The plants are coming in very nicely and my nitrates have plummeted to barely registered on the test strips. I was worried that the water willow was not going to make it but I have 14-16 leaflets popping out of the ground. The gobies have all moved to a nocturnal schedule. So I have changed my feedings as such. They have become aggressive eaters launching themselves at the trout to get their share of food. It’s quite entertaining. I always see all of them hanging out in this corner before lights on. And by time I come back they are all hiding. 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyGenusCaps Posted December 2, 2022 Share Posted December 2, 2022 It looks great! A nice little rainbow in the tank in the first photo too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted December 12, 2022 Author Share Posted December 12, 2022 (edited) Sitting down to peacefully enjoy my lunch this afternoon. Make eye contact with my fish. This was a mistake. They are stalking me. If there wasn’t water between us they’d be in my lap trying to take a bite… Edited December 12, 2022 by Biotope Biologist 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyGenusCaps Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 On 12/12/2022 at 3:37 PM, Biotope Biologist said: They are stalking me. Or worship? Aren't you the godhead bringer of food?! 😜 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 Orange fin Hill trout are stunning great addition 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted December 13, 2022 Author Share Posted December 13, 2022 On 12/12/2022 at 5:00 PM, Colu said: Orange fin Hill trout are stunning great addition They are absolute nuts! So much energy especially around feeding time. But I really enjoy them and the gobies have learned if they flare at them, the trout will back off. The LFS down here in Oly had an amazing fish room! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 (edited) On 12/13/2022 at 1:07 AM, Biotope Biologist said: They are absolute nuts! So much energy especially around feeding time. But I really enjoy them and the gobies have learned if they flare at them, the trout will back off. The LFS down here in Oly had an amazing fish room! I looked in my book by Heiko bleher INDIAN ORNAMENAL FISHES lots of beautiful species of barillus love the blue spotted hill trout barillus bakeri though I would add a couple more pictures barillus sp 1 and barillus canarensis just stunning Edited December 13, 2022 by Colu Typo 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted December 29, 2022 Author Share Posted December 29, 2022 Bought some neocardinia shrimp to live out their lives in the refugium. I am hoping that they and the ramshorn snails will provide me a steady population of food and tank cleaners. Cannot for the life of me get my hands on gammarus or acellus aquaticus. As the lab supply I got them from last is having quality control issues. Maybe the shrimp can take care of this rampant cyanobacteria 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyGenusCaps Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 That looks awesome, and I live the fuge idea! On 12/29/2022 at 12:39 PM, Biotope Biologist said: Cannot for the life of me get my hands on gammarus I'll DM you. I got a guy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted January 14, 2023 Author Share Posted January 14, 2023 (edited) Its been 2 weeks! time for an update: The smallest female either got in a scrape or damaged her pectoral fins while burrowing. At first it was not a big deal but than the tips started getting stringy instead of healing, so I bought some API fin cure. Was really the ONLY medication I could buy that wouldn’t hurt the inverts. It did stain my water a tea color, but no noticeable plant or vert damage observed. Her fins look much better and she is healing rather quickly. I know I should keep a hospital tank, but in an apartment that just isn’t feasible and they are very social so best not to stress her. Speaking of social, as they age I am starting to think this female might actually be a male. It’s the only one that the male hasn’t displayed for and as it grows so to does its 2nd dorsal ray. I only ever get to see it when it yawns and stretches in the early morning. Plant growth has slowed but some of the water willow leaves have aged to dark green and the snake grass is producing new shoots. The white sedge is a bit slow as far as grasses grow, but coming in none the less. Edited January 14, 2023 by Biotope Biologist 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted February 8, 2023 Author Share Posted February 8, 2023 (edited) Not much going on in the tank but here are some pics of the puppy dogs begging for food as soon as I turn lights on: And the feeding frenzy! Pardon youtube for hacking the quality to bits. Looks like it was filmed on a Nokia. Edited February 8, 2023 by Biotope Biologist 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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