Katherine's Planted Tank Journal

[Katherine]

I went in and replanted most of my water sprite today. The original plant (right) is staying planted and has all new growth from my tank, none of the original from the LFS. The two on the left keep coming unplanted. The roots have dwindled down to almost nothing and they're losing stems. (All stems from the LFS, no new ones yet.) 

I have a few very small bits that have been floating for a week or so that I'm going to leave as is. Then I've got some bits I decided to leave floating today after I replanted the rest. One is a section of a stem that had some new leaves and roots coming out near the top. The other is a whole stem that fell off the plant on it's own. After replanting I noticed that my center plant has a section growing roots. I'm leaving it for now because I don't feel like getting in the tank again today.

Broccoli is a big hit with the baby mystery snails, as well as with the ramshorns. The adult mystery snails have been ignoring it, as far as I can tell.

 

[Patrick_G]

Another trick for water sprite is to attach a small plant weight to the stem and let it sit on the substrate but not planted in it. 

 

[Katherine]

On 8/6/2022 at 4:58 PM, Patrick_G said:

Another trick for water sprite is to attach a small plant weight to the stem and let it sit on the substrate but not planted in it. 

 

I've thought about that. I don't have any and am debating spending the money on them or not... Do you think I'm likely to have success without them as I get more roots grown in my own tank?

[Patrick_G]

On 8/6/2022 at 3:01 PM, Katherine said:

I've thought about that. I don't have any and am debating spending the money on them or not... Do you think I'm likely to have success without them as I get more roots grown in my own tank?

Honestly, I have bad luck with Sprite, but the plant weight trick has helped. Floating them worked the best, and I think they’re beautiful when they spread out on the surface. 
 

The aquarium co-op plant weights are a good deal, I think they're 1/2 the price as Amazon. I use them all the time time. My substrate is mostly just plant weights! 🤣

[Katherine]

On 8/6/2022 at 5:10 PM, Patrick_G said:

The aquarium co-op plant weights are a good deal, I think they're 1/2 the price as Amazon. I use them all the time time. My substrate is mostly just plant weights! 🤣

Alright, you just pushed me over on ordering. They were 1/3 the price of the ones I found on Amazon! And I've been looking for an excuse to buy some coop heaters. I set up the 75 and bought new heaters for it just a few months before the coop ones were available, and have kind of been kicking myself for it. Lol.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/6/2022 at 5:58 PM, Patrick_G said:

Another trick for water sprite is to attach a small plant weight to the stem and let it sit on the substrate but not planted in it. 

 

I read something on a thread the other day that the “crown” of the water sprite should be above the substrate. Whatever that means. 😐

[Patrick_G]

On 8/6/2022 at 6:49 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I read something on a thread the other day that the “crown” of the water sprite should be above the substrate. Whatever that means. 😐

That makes so much sense. I’ve often buried it and then it died. I think the crown is the node that all the stems grow out of. 

[Katherine]

On 8/6/2022 at 8:49 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I read something on a thread the other day that the “crown” of the water sprite should be above the substrate. Whatever that means. 😐

Yeah, I'm definitely going to need plant weights to make that happen.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

@Katherine plant weights are great for holding veggies down for snails!

[Katherine]

My newest bath of repashy is a hit with the adults! (And all the fish.) 

60% Ipago Repashy

20% Calcium Carbonate powder

20% Topfin Tropical Fish Crumbles (The fish would not eat these on their own.)

And Penny decided broccoli is ok after all.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/7/2022 at 5:19 PM, Katherine said:

 

 

ORD this guy is sooooo cute! 😍😍😍

Edited August 8, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Katherine]

Well, Jayne, that's a silly way to take a nap.

[Katherine]

The danios have been moved out of QT. The tetras are unsure of what to do with this new situation.

[Katherine]

I just noticed somebody went on an algae eating binge last night. The lower ledge here was just as green as the top yesterday evening.

Edited August 17, 2022 by Katherine

[Katherine]

Here's a whole structure shot of the 'rock stack' so I can compare algae levels going forward. Now if whoever was cleaning this would switch their focus to the windows I'd be very happy.

Edited August 17, 2022 by Katherine

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/17/2022 at 4:04 PM, Katherine said:

The danios have been moved out of QT. The tetras are unsure of what to do with this new situation.

Yay!  Also @nabokovfan87 suggested when adding new fish to move around the stuff in the tank so that new territories can be established.

[Katherine]

The algae eating is getting serious. There's also a visible trail through the front glass. Maybe I don't actually need more nerites like I thought I did.

[Katherine]

The danios are absolutely voracious and pretty frequently go raid the snails' food dish. @Guppysnail What are some things I should be looking out for to make sure they're not harassing the snails too much and they they (snails) still get enough to eat? Should I be thinking about moving the mysteries out to their own tank?

I have been feeding the fish pretty heavily at the same time as I put new food in for the snails, and then most of the fish will leave it alone for a while, but if there's snail food left an hour or so later (and there always is) there will be a large group of danios over there having at it.

[Guppysnail]

Tentacles are the only thing I had zebra danio bother. To much like a worm food source. My snails learned to keep them tucked in. I didn’t have any issues until the zebras numbers dropped and they were bored. Then it was pick on snails. Unless you see them at the snails all the time I would not worry. However expect short nipped off tentacles here and there and the snails won’t stretch them after awhile knowing if they do they get nipped. If your snails become inactive or are in their shell a lot more than normal it means the danios are stressing them. 

[Katherine]

I haven't seen them intentionally bothering the snails yet. And so far no big behavior changes, I'll keep an eye out. Thank you!

[Katherine]

I finally caught Penny laying eggs!

[Katherine]

Here's a current full tank photo.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/21/2022 at 9:12 PM, Katherine said:

I finally caught Penny laying eggs!

How awesome!!!!  Great Kodak moment!  What time was she laying them?

[TeeJay]

On 8/6/2022 at 5:51 PM, Katherine said:

I went in and replanted most of my water sprite today. The original plant (right) is staying planted and has all new growth from my tank, none of the original from the LFS. The two on the left keep coming unplanted. The roots have dwindled down to almost nothing and they're losing stems. (All stems from the LFS, no new ones yet.) 

I have a few very small bits that have been floating for a week or so that I'm going to leave as is. Then I've got some bits I decided to leave floating today after I replanted the rest. One is a section of a stem that had some new leaves and roots coming out near the top. The other is a whole stem that fell off the plant on it's own. After replanting I noticed that my center plant has a section growing roots. I'm leaving it for now because I don't feel like getting in the tank again today.

Broccoli is a big hit with the baby mystery snails, as well as with the ramshorns. The adult mystery snails have been ignoring it, as far as I can tell.

 

I've never had any luck with planting my water sprite. So I just float all of it now. I started with 2 of them and now almost the whole top of my 29 is covered with them. I like the way they look up there and they don't hang down to much into the middle of the tank.

[Katherine]

On 8/24/2022 at 6:50 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

How awesome!!!!  Great Kodak moment!  What time was she laying them?

8 pm ish. Tank lights go off at 9. Room lights were on and the sun was still out.

On 8/24/2022 at 7:13 PM, TeeJay said:

I've never had any luck with planting my water sprite. So I just float all of it now. I started with 2 of them and now almost the whole top of my 29 is covered with them. I like the way they look up there and they don't hang down to much into the middle of the tank.

I've got one actually rooted, one being held down with a plant weight, one whole plant floating, and a few bits floating. We'll see how things go.