Rando place where xXInkedPhoenixX posts about stuff....occasionally...

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Checked on my inhabitants as I do every morning. This morning in the Accidental Tank, Nerites Sergeant and Little Red were again hanging out with each other. This time on the coconut house: 

As per usual Sergeant is getting a good snail waxing. Their roommate Serious Black is in the other divided portion of the Accidental Tank with the Guppies as it needed a good algae cleaning. I tried to commission Little Red for it but they weren't making a dent so Little Red was put back with Sergeant. No pic of Serious today though- they were unseen, probably napping somewhere in the tank. 

Meanwhile Punk is still ruling the Angry Man Tank: 

The floaters in the Dragon House with Invictus the rescue Betta are doing really well. Especially the Salvinia Minima that was already there prior to adding the Dwarf Water Lettuce- there was only a few of those that I had pulled from the CPD tank I decommissioned. I lowered the output on the airpump for the sponge filter so there is a lot less aggitation and I've been putting Easy Green in the Dragon House (and the Medieval Tank, though prior I've not been using ferts I figured why not try in a couple of tanks as I already had the Easy Green on hand). This made the Salvinia explode. The Dwarf Water Lettuce has seemed to have adjusted to my water since its shipment and the initial die-off has stopped. Hopefully I'll get more of those going. I just love the way their feathered roots grow: 

[Theplatymaster]

On 2/20/2023 at 11:12 AM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Meanwhile Punk is still ruling the Angry Man Tank: 

which looks tougher, Punk or the angry man?

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Over the last week I noticed on my local fish/aquarium club swap forum a post for a 5 gallon tank with a bunch of accessories for a very reasonable price. I'd been keeping my subconcious mind on the lookout because my Mum had mentioned that Zaggi, formerly known as Purple the rescue Betta has been quite the bully since moving into her 5 gallon tank. This is unfortunate because I've had to take on Mum's Guppies since they were getting bullied and Zaggi is SUCH a food pig that she's a bit fatter than I'd like her to be. This also makes it very difficult for Mum to feed her ADF and she has expressed a desire to get another frog since one of her pair passed. I texted Mum a screenshot and asked her if she might be interested in the tank. She said yes. She's doing me a favor soon so I got the tank for her as a gift. I had the clean the tank up a bit when I got it but overall it was a good value. The tank came with a cute cube hide. I cut her several pieces of my Bacopa Caroliniana and retrieved some piece of Java, a spare Anubias and gave her a few Red Root Floaters. I also bought her 2 pieces of Lucky Bamboo. I also scooped out 20-30 of my MONSTER Bladder Snails from the Angry Man Tank. Sent her home with one of my spare sponge filters (came with air pump) and some substrate (though the tank had that too), vinyl to back the tank, rocks and some other things and last night she texted me a picture of her new tank. Who she plans to put in it I don't know, probably Zaggi. Otherwise her remaining 2 Neons and ADF will go in. I have a feeling it's the Betta's new home since she put the plastic Betta leaves in the tank. This is what she came up with: 

Edited February 20, 2023 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[TheSwissAquarist]

Just playing catch-up. Nice tank!

 Also, how have you bred your black neons? 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@TheSwissAquarist, like anything I do when it comes to fish multiplying I have not done any of it on purpose. Yes, my Black Neons made about 6-8 surviving babies. Don't ask me how! Other than feeding the tank well, having an unheated tank and doing weekly water changes (maybe along with lots of places for eggs to be scattered safely from fish eating them (Subwassertang mostly) - I have no idea why/how they did it. 

Edited February 20, 2023 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[TheSwissAquarist]

Thanks!
What size is the group? 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

On 2/20/2023 at 9:43 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

size is the group

I had 10 in my original group. Couple more now.

[Colu]

Just caught up great journal 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 1/7/2023 at 11:33 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

And I wonder why @Guppysnail got rid of her guppies…🤣

She tried to but after she got back home she found more in her tank LOL!

@Guppysnail

Edited February 21, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 2/20/2023 at 12:36 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

like anything I do when it comes to fish multiplying I have not done any of it on purpose. Yes, my Black Neons made about 6-8 surviving babies. Don't ask me how!

I have a theory that they scattered their eggs into the marbles because @Fish Folk uses larger pebbles for a similar purpose.

[Odd Duck]

On 2/19/2023 at 7:31 AM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Coming soon to a Medieval Tank near you....

 

YES!!!  💃🏻 🎉 💃🏻 😃  It’s perfect!

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 2/19/2023 at 8:31 AM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Coming soon to a Medieval Tank near you....

 

I love that he’s in the arch!

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Mum has been busy with her new tank arrangement. Tonight she texted me a picture of the tank I built for her last Mother's day. After building the other new tank (and I can announce that Zaggi formerly known as Purple was indeed put in that tank today) she wanted to clean up her older tank. It needed it frankly. She also had a bladder snail colony die off (or get eaten) so she put my gigantor bladder snails (seriously they are monsters) in that tank to help clean it up. You can see some in the picture here along to top of the tank, keep in mind this is only a 5 gallon tank for perspective:

I had given my nephew my 4 gallon Aquatop when I replaced it with a 7 and gave him a few things- he gave my Mum the coconut hut you see which Mum says the single ADF LOVES. So this is all good stuff. I'm definitely going to get her a smaller sponge filter, she lost a part for that one anyway one day while cleaning. The previously terrorized Neons (only 2 survivors from Nephews decommissioned tank as a fish tank, now snail only tank) are much happier as well without Zaggi in the tank. Mum does say however that Zaggi seems a little less happy for not having anyone to chase. I'm sure she'll get over it. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I like the tree. 🌳 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

On 2/22/2023 at 8:23 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

like the tree.

Yes that's a decent piece of spiderwood with a 2 prong fork at the top so we just stick the single piece into the substrate and the prongs hold the wood up and also holds Guppygrass and apparently now Anubias. 

[Theplatymaster]

On 2/21/2023 at 10:55 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Mum does say however that Zaggi seems a little less happy for not having anyone to chase. I'm sure she'll get over it. 

have you considered some sort of excersize mirror? just a mirror the betta can flare at for a few minutes everyday, oh wait, zaggi is a female betta...

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Scale on the sword(s) I got for the Medieval Tank wasn't really working for me (too big). Intrepid partner and I discused motifications to remedy this. Today intrepid partner did a sword modification. I am not yet sure if scale will work in the tank or not but I will in the coming days. If not other modifications will be done (I have 6 of these things)- but we are off to a good start: 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

For the past couple of months the Flex9 aka Fish Mountain has been frustrating me. I'd given it more attention lately because I've been trying to catch out all the Ember Tetras to add to the Medieval tank - caught four but one of the five was eluding me. Because I was spending so much time looking at the tank trying to catch the last fish and hating the way the Flex was looking- knowing the mild bacterial bloom I couldn't get rid of was more than likely because the pump in the back of my only all in one tank needed changing - not to mention some of the mulm build up I couldn't get to that was stirred up beause I was in there constantly. It was time. 

So this is what Fish Mountain kind of looked like before (picture the plants on the right grown all the way to the top and the Anubias to the left that has grown exponentially). I hadn't taken a before picture or a recent pic because it was ugly to me. 

So I caught everyone out and tore it down! I thought I'd have the hardest time with Kirby the Hillstream but they ended up being the easiest and scariest - I pulled "fish mountain" the sculpture in the middle and not knowing Kirby came out with it. Thankfully I KNOW Kirby is VERY camoflauged on this sculpture so I looked and there they were! Using my finger I plopped them in the QT tank with the others. Whew!

I emptied the tank of all the water AND substrate. Cleaned out the back sponges and etc, changed out the pump to a new one I had on standby, changed the ACO nano sponge to a Hygger Nano (I prefer that it is attached to the wall of the tank and off the floor) so that when power goes out there's still a battery backed sponge filter going. I put in planting substrate and black sand capped it. I thought I'd put some stem plants in but in the end I only put one. Everything else was glued Java Fern and Anubias (including the large Anubias formerly from the left, now right). Pics of this tank are impossible since it's curved but here we are: Front (you can see Kirby attached to front bottom right glass):

Left side, and actually the side of the tank I see most from a chair nearby: 

All of the fish, including little Serket seem to be much happier with this set up now- because there is less substrate and the plants are now under control they have much more room to move about the cabin so to speak. 

I also moved my terrarium back onto my fish desk with the Hiro platform light. 

Edited March 20, 2023 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Morning feeding today and I just always seem to notice that Sergeant and Little Red are almost ALWAYS together in the Accidental Tank. Here's Little Red as usual following his friend around: 

In Dragon House with Invictus the floating plants are really taking off. I'm taking rather large scoops of Salvinia Minima out every week, so much that I've filled the top of the Angry Man tank with it as well. I decided to do this to try and reduce a bit of hair algae in there. 

I'm most happy about the Dwarf Water Lettuce a floater I've wanted for a while but couldn't get locally so I bought some online. Didn't think it would do well since the Red Root Floaters have pretty much all died - but they're doing well and I really like the effect they're having on the Dragon Tank. Invictus however may not like them quite as much as I do because the floaters are covering the top of the tank he has less space to come up for air. So I put a tall feeder ring in. I find him hanging out there often and of course this is where I end up feeding him: 

Meanwhile the Flex/Fish Mountain is much better since its remodel. With Serket, BFG the Nerite, Kirby the Hillstream and 5 male Endlers (Drogon, Torchlight, Phoenix, Flare and NEL) it's a very active tank, moreso now there are less visual breaks since I removed all the stem plants. I'm checking on them daily to make sure there's no detrimental harassment is going on. I've seen Serket very briefly chase or follow another fish but never anything outright aggressive, it's more Endler on Endler violence I look for as they are very obnoxious to each other. Anyway, much happier with this tank now.

Then there's little Punk in the Angry Man tank. Just pluggin along and doing things...

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Maintenance day. Today I removed a whole lot of Salvinia Minima from the Angry Man. In the only couple of weeks it's been there it took over the top. Someone on my local forum put up a plea for floating plants and I offered up - so they got what I scooped off the top of the tank and they wanted a little Dwarf Water Lettuce - I gave them some of that as well. Made 10 bucks. Not getting rich but I'd rather that than toss it! Top looks good though, the snails and fish seem to appreciate it: 

I have one really fat Black Neon. Babies in my future? Maybe! (kind of center of the above pic). I can't mention the Angry Man Tank without a gratuitous picture(s) of Punk: 

After I went and did that transaction I went over to the LFS. I was going to get a new fish for the Medival Tank. Have not had good luck here folks. Lost ALL of my Grass Guppies. I suspect either an infection nobody else got (doubtful) or maybe even soft water - which for my area is UNUSUAL however I tested the tank and it tested soft soooooo. Anyway, all I had left was the lone white Platinum Guppy, the 5 Ember Tetras I pulled from the flex and Valere the Betta. 

My aim at the LFS was a new type of fish and maybe I'd move the Lone Guppy to the Flex - but as luck (or un-luck) would have it- they had Platinum Guppies!! 

I got 6. CAN YOU BELIEVE ONE ***ALREADY*** DIED?! Ugh. This was 30 minutes into QT. I'll spare you the picture. So Med Trio went into the tank (well, I was out of Maracyn so I used Kanaplex - not quite the true med trio but it serves a similar purpose). If they all die like my original batch I'm done with Guppies, I'm telling you. I was half tempted to buy Kubotai Rasboras (cause they had those too). That may still happen at this rate. *Palm to Face!* Anyway, the 5 are alive: 

Since we're talking the future of the Medieval Tank. I have a small bacterial bloom or particle storm in the tank right now. Prior to it happening - I had to pull nearly all of the Salvinia Minima as it was weirdly dying off (thinking the light is actually too bright). I've also had to reattach Java moss with thread to the tree as the Nerites have run roughshod over it. It's ok though still looks decent (no pics right now due to cloudy water). I also have a green hair algae outbreak but that's been ongoing since the beginning. I'm going to be doing some reverse respiration on some of the plants. I manually pulled as much as I could today. I also bought new clip on lights today online. It's too difficult to work with the light that sits on the tank anyway and like I said I think it might be the culprit with some algae and plant issues. Even if not it will be nice to have the light out of the way in order to work with the tank. 

Lone White Guppy seems to be ok though: 

The 5 Embers just hang in the dark corner by the Arch most of the time, look a formation of a 5 point star!: 

Valere still the king of the Medieval Tank. - and yes the sword is still in the works....

Koianu has a baby Otocinclus friend somewhere in his side of the tank. I saw it earlier in the week. Hopefully it's escaping any wrath he might have. He's a good boy but the way he's flared at the other side of the tank makes me think he might not like roommates. 

The Flex aka Fish Mountain still doing good. Intrepid Partner has said before that this is the least favorite tank of theirs - and I get it - it's not a peaceful tank. It's action packed so you can't really SEE the tiny furious fish who are CONSTANTLY on the move. So much so you can never get a great pic. Except for Serket the GloBetta or Kirby the Hillstream when they show up. Nearly every picture I take is a blur o fish!

Then of course we have Dragon House and Invictus the Crowntail. He's doing SO good. Today I spent a good 45 minutes plucking every single Salvinia Minima I could find so that I only had Dwarf Water Lettuce and a few Red Root Floaters left in the tank. Thankfully his tank is small so it wasn't that hard. I decided the Minima grew too fast for this tank, and I'd like more light for the AR plant in the front right corner (red plant, more light!!). Invictus seems so much happier! He was strutting his stuff all around the tank this afternoon. 

Edited March 25, 2023 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[Miska]

Punk is my fave. He is soooo handsome and punky!

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Kudos to @Guppysnail for the recommendation of KatsAquatics food for Nerites! I've never been able to get mine to eat ANYTHING. So I ordered the "3-1 Limited Edition Calcium" food from Amazon:

...and here is Curlycue my oldest Nerite mowing down the white colored wafer (just at the edge of her shell, she is almost done it was about as wide and long as she is). Invictus is carefully monitoring the situation.... 

[Guppysnail]

Credit goes to @JoeQ who recommended it to me and sent me samples. I’m glad you are also having a good experience with this. 

[JoeQ]

On 3/26/2023 at 3:19 PM, Guppysnail said:

Credit goes to @JoeQ who recommended it to me and sent me samples. I’m glad you are also having a good experience with this. 

Thanks for the credit! Anymore success stories and I'm going to request royalties!! Or at the very least free product! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Well awesome @JoeQ! Thanks for the recommendation!