Katherine's Planted Tank Journal

[Katherine]

Here is our blue guy. I'm not sure what that line on the new growth is from. It's almost like a dent, but is continuing as he grows.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Hi @Katherine! Hope you are well. The new shell on the blue guy is very pretty. It’s amazing what some good nutrition can do for them, isn’t it?  I adopted a few snails also vs. hatching. I don’t have open tanks right now for rearing snails, and I haven’t had the time to commit to baby snail care. Two of my new ones are purple; the other is blue. I lost all my originals to old age, except one magenta named Romeo who is, um, well, still pretty frisky… lol.

I like the hill streams. Don’t they “blink” also, like cories do?

[Katherine]

On 12/5/2023 at 7:13 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I like the hill streams. Don’t they “blink” also, like cories do?

They do! 

[Katherine]

On 12/5/2023 at 3:24 PM, Katherine said:

Here is our blue guy. I'm not sure what that line on the new growth is from. It's almost like a dent, but is continuing as he grows.

He has a name now! Bluey.

I say he, but I actually don't know yet for either of the new mystery snails. I've yet to witness breeding behavior and haven't gotten eggs yet.

Edited December 8, 2023 by Katherine

[Katherine]

Water change day, which means I got to add my new uplift tubes. And flake food is a fantastic way to test the new flow pattern, btw. 😂

[Katherine]

I cannot get over how cool the hillstream loaches are.

[Guppysnail]

How exciting!  I love my little hillstreams. They have each (4) claimed a flat slate and know about when feeding is. They each sit in their stone waiting for me to sprinkle fry food on their stone. 🥰

[Katherine]

Penny

Bluey

The red onion nerite, hiding in the shadows.

Hillstream loach, munching on the guppy pellets. Now that I've got the ez flow kits installed I have food falling all over the tank.

There is a lot less algae on this fake rock stack than before I got the hillstreams. And when the water is lowered for a water change you can see where they've been eating it on the walls too. That's not readily visible when it's filled up though.

And with additional sinking food going in for the mystery snails and hillstream loaches I can already tell I'll need to start doing some 'pest' snail culling again soonish. It was nice not to need to do that during the several months we had no mystery snails.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I have a bladder snail that hitchhiked into my shrimp tank on a plant, and it’s been in there like 2 months and has yet to create any friends. I guess that’s lucky.

On 12/12/2023 at 8:30 PM, Katherine said:

I'll need to start doing some 'pest' snail culling

 

[Katherine]

On 12/12/2023 at 7:56 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I guess that’s lucky.

Definitely. I like them a lot more when they're not eating all the food I meant to feed someone else.

[Katherine]

And the hillstream loaches also like hikari crab cuisine.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

This little carpet you got goin on looks great!

 

[Katherine]

No photo, but one of the smaller black racers nerites is out and about right now.

I like to note that here so I can come check how long it's been since I saw one when I start wondering if they're still alive. They spend so much time in the gravel.

[Katherine]

My view from the couch.

I saw The Big Snail and both other black racers cruising around on the gravel today.

I need to replant that floating val in the back right. Lol.

I'm also thinking I might move the sponges to the back corners now that I've got the ez flow kits. I'm not sure I've got enough air line to make that happen though, so it might need to wait a bit until I can order some.

And I'm not happy with the chunk of anubias closest to the sponge filter. It's not actually attached to anything and it's curved oddly. I think I want to cut off roughly half of it and toss that older growth, it's not nearly as nice as the newer growth. I don't know what I want to attach it to though.

Edited December 16, 2023 by Katherine

[Lennie]

Lovely tank. Penny is my fav!

I think you should consider having a black background tho. Imo, It  would make the tank look much better creating a complete look with the black frames and hiding sponge filter and cables

Curling leaves might indicate a deficiency maybe?

[Katherine]

On 12/16/2023 at 4:51 PM, Lennie said:

Lovely tank. Penny is my fav!

I think you should consider having a black background tho. Imo, It  would make the tank look much better creating a complete look with the black frames and hiding sponge filter and cables

Curling leaves might indicate a deficiency maybe?

Is there an easy way to add a background without moving it? I only have access to the back from the top and one side. The left side is against a wall.

The plants have very likely had various deficiencies at different times in the last year. I've had several illnesses and injuries and keeping up with ferts has not always been my top priority. 

Edited December 16, 2023 by Katherine

[Lennie]

On 12/17/2023 at 2:17 AM, Katherine said:

Is there an easy way to add a background without moving it?

I have black railroad board on this tank. Maybe it may work for you too, even though your tank is bigger?

[Katherine]

On 12/16/2023 at 4:51 PM, Lennie said:

Curling leaves might indicate a deficiency maybe?

I just realized maybe you mean the curling I mentioned in reference to the anubias I'm wanting to cut down and move. 

That is actually a 'turn', I guess, in the rhizome because which part of the plant faces up has not been consistent throughout it's life. It started out attached to one of my fake logs which later on got an end put on top of another log, so it rotated about 45 degrees.

[Katherine]

I've been watching one of the hillstream loaches repeatedly try to rest on a crypt wendtii leaf. It fits, but it seems to be a little 'bouncier' than the fish would like.

They're also done a fantastic job of cleaning the algae off my anubias. The anubias leaves don't move nearly as much when they rest on them.

How many of these guys would be reasonable in a 75g if I wanted to get a few more? At this point I've seen them eat enough of my commercial foods that I'm not super worried about that being an issue.

[Katherine]

Some lights off photos this morning.

Penny, sleeping.

My prettiest guppy male. This is by far the best guppy photo I've been able to get.

Stella or Fudge.

Hillstream loaches. (Might be the same loach? Idk. I didn't take them at the same time.)

Horned nerite. These guys are about twice the size they were when I bought them last January, but still teeny tiny. I have ramshorns bigger than them. (With bonus female guppy.)

[Katherine]

Terrible photo, since I zoomed in from the couch to avoid spooking the loach.

Bluey and a hillstream loach sharing some crab cuisine.

[Katherine]

Sharing algae wafers. This hillstream loach seems to be a little confused about where the food is.

[Katherine]

I've had this red onion nerite for about a year and I've never seen it on the glass before. I did not recognize it from across the room and had to go check who it was.

[Katherine]

Not a great photo, but we have baby guppies! We've spotted 3 at a time, I'm not sure if more than that have avoided becoming lunch or not.