Anjum's Aquariums

[Anjum]

I have bugs in my tank! And I'm ecstatic! 

A few short months ago, I would've been horrified at this discovery. But today I'm elated!

This is my longest running tank. I started it March 2021. I moved it & changed filtration April 2022. 

I moved all fish & sole ramshorn snail out of this tank a couple weeks ago (early June 2022). 2 weeks later, it's a total algae fest. So 2 days ago I moved 3 medium sized ramshorns in. I need to do a WC & adjust the temps & then I'll be moving 3 male guppies & a SAE into it (& more snails). 

So IDK how long these "bugs" have been noticeable?? I only took a closer look this morning because of the snails. There are tiny oval bugs that look like a speck of dust, but they move with purpose, so I immediately realized they're alive! Then I noticed all the flatworms on the glass. Too small to see head shape, so I'm not sure if they're planaria or rhabdocoela or something else. I need to get that microscope already!

I had hoped to make this a shrimp tank, but back-burnered that idea for the time being (I'm afraid of rushing shrimp; I want to give myself the best chance of success). I'll need to make a positive id on the flatworms before I do that. 

Now, what I'm uncertain about, and we may never know, is where did all these little guys come from? Many of my plants came from my SIL's tanks (and that's where I gladly accepted the snails from). But my tap water also comes straight out of a creek (we don't drink it!). Yep you read that right. We keep it old school here 🤣 Seriously though, the original home here, and the water system likely, were built in the 1920's (our best estimate). My husbands grandfather bought it in the mid 1960's & expanded the home, but never updated the water system. (My profile pic is the culvert just below the intake in the creek for the water line). The intake just has a piece of (I think) window screen over it, and the line to the kitchen sink has no further filtration. You'll legit see sediment in the water from the kitchen sink. So these very well could be coming straight out of the tap & I've just never noticed them before because the fish eat them. 🤷‍♀️

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by Anjum
Duplicate photo

[Root]

I purchased some moss for my snail breeder box a while back that came with those guys. I was super nervous about them at first, but they never bothered my plants, fish, or shrimp. They wandered on the glass for a few weeks and slowly started to disappear. You can see them in my pictures there had to be 1000s of them. I was kind of hoping they would stick around. I always enjoy observing new things in my little ecosystem. 

Edited June 18, 2022 by Paul R
Left out word 🙃

[Anjum]

@Paul R they're probably still there, just in smaller numbers. I had no idea they were in my tank before, but once I took the fish out they must have multiplied! 

[Anjum]

Got the guppy bros & their homey, the bold SAE moved into the 10G! The bold SAE used to live in this tank but he had to go live with the guppies in their 5G when he wouldn't quit terrorizing the timid SAE. Since the timid SAE & the rasboras moved into the 29G, this tank was open. I'm already loving the vibe, but we'll see how they feel about living on the kitchen table. Time will tell.  

[Anjum]

I've decided to change this thread into a journal for all my tanks. May be a bit hard to follow, but hey, that's my life 😅

I'll start with an update on the 10g bowfront: still same inhabitants, but soon they'll be moving to a 20g long & this 10 will become a shrimp tank! 

There's an east facing window a few feet from this tank. Early in the morning the sun hits it briefly & it's glorious! 

And it has an amazing pothos growing out of it 

[Anjum]

Update on the 29g that I recently added Corydoras to: they're all doing great! I got some repashy bottom scratcher & they're loving it. I also added some sand & rescaped it bit:

I found the sand I think @nabokovfan87 was suggesting, just in a different color, "Peace River" - CaribSea Super Naturals. I love it! 

[Anjum]

Here's the 20 long. I had originally planned to set this up at work, but we've decided to do some renovating there & I didn't want a tank in the way. So here it is, just started it a couple weeks ago. This is a fairly bright east facing window, and as we can see we're already getting plenty of algae growth. But soon enough all my houseplants will move back indoors & will block much of the window. Plus, I want this to be a tank for my higher light plants & excess snails. 

[nabokovfan87]

Looks beautiful. I really love the 21:9 proportions on a tank.

[Anjum]

On 8/31/2022 at 11:50 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Looks beautiful. I really love the 21:9 proportions on a tank.

Y'know what, so do I! I'm generally of the mind that more (tank volume) is better, so why not get the taller tank with the same footprint? But aesthetically speaking, there's some really neat things you can do with a low tank. Plus it's better for getting light down to the substrate for plants with higher light requirements. I think I'll really enjoy this tank. Only took like 4 months for me to get water in it 😅

[Simply Fin]

On 8/31/2022 at 10:41 AM, Anjum said:

Here's the 20 long. I had originally planned to set this up at work, but we've decided to do some renovating there & I didn't want a tank in the way. So here it is, just started it a couple weeks ago. This is a fairly bright east facing window, and as we can see we're already getting plenty of algae growth. But soon enough all my houseplants will move back indoors & will block much of the window. Plus, I want this to be a tank for my higher light plants & excess snails. 

 

Very impressive, love the big tank and the aquascape. Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

[Anjum]

More Corydoras eggs this morning!!! I noticed the 1st 3 on Sat 9/17. This morning I sat at the tank a while & thought maybe I was seeing some mating/spawning behavior. It was definitely "different" behavior, enough to make me go "is that it?!" 😅 And sure enough, when I looked at the tank again a couple hours later, 4 more eggs!!! Now, I fully expect them to be gone when I get home; the eggs on Sat disappeared pretty quickly. I'm going to work on getting more plant cover in that tank, but also going to look into removing the eggs & letting them hatch somewhere safe. So exciting!!! 

 

 

[Guppysnail]

All beautiful.  Sunlit tanks are my favorite.  It just adds something spectacular.  In their journal towards the end @Its Hutch shows how they hatch cory eggs in a bowl. I’m excited to try that method. It looks so crazy easy vs a breeder box or floating box. 

[Its Hutch]

Paleatus Corydoras were my first successful corydoras to breed, hatch, and raise. I've learned a lot since then. My eggs never survive in the tank so I always have to remove if I want to have babies. 

[Anjum]

Thanks @Guppysnail & @Its Hutch ! I'm so excited they're already spawning, but I'm trying not to get ahead of myself. I mean, they're very young, who knows if the eggs are even fertile?? I'm just going to keep letting them do their thing while I do research. I want to be prepared for the whole process before I start trying in earnest to actually hatch & raise fry. But I will! I'll check out Hutch's journal, thx! 

[Anjum]

Time to update my journal! 

A week ago, I moved the 3 guppies & 1 SAE from the 10 to the 20L. It's growing in nicely. I'll have to get better pics soon in proper lighting. I'm hoping to get to the Co-Op soon & get Medaka for this tank.

 

And now that the 10 is empty... I will begin prepping it for SHRIMP!!! Finally, I will get my shrimpies. Blue neocaradinas. I'll probably get these from the Co-op too, so can't plan my trip until I know this tank is ready for them. My main concern right now is this tank might have planaria. I'm going to get one of those cell phone microscopes so I can try & positively ID what's in there. I can remove as many of the snails as possible & treat the tank w/ No Planaria if need be. 

 

[Anjum]

Forgot to include a recent pic of the 29. It needs a trim. 

[Anjum]

Prompted by a post elsewhere, and spouses who do not condone turning one's home into a "fish room", I thought I should add the preliminary plans for my Epic Jungle Shed! ( @Minanora 😁 )

I have this 12'x16' shed/mini home. I used to basically live out of it, at another property, before I was married. It's built on skids to be "portable" (but it takes a big truck, 2 pilot cars & a couple thousand $$ to move it). I had it delivered initially, unfinished, and my husband (then boyfriend) & I finished it (mostly). It's extremely well insulated & is fully wired & plumbed. When we were going to be married & I moved in with him, I had it moved to our current location. It's just been used for storage for the last 2 years, and hasn't been hooked up to power or water (but we ran an extension cord to it so I could run a small oil heater). He's planning on trenching over the electrical very soon, and hopefully hooking up water too. But electrical is the big thing I'll need to get it going. 

I have a vision of putting in some high-powered lights to grow tropical plants & setting up as many tanks as I can handle, only one or two at a time, so as not to get ahead of myself. I.am.so.EXCITED! 

I don't have many pics of the inside, I'll add those as we get it ready. But this is a bookshelf my hubs custom built in the shed (no books on it now, this is from when I was living in it).

[Anjum]

OMG I HAVE A BABY CORY!!!! 

I can't even believe this right now. Somewhere in this jungle mess, there's a baby Cory, maybe 3-4mm big. This is the 10g half cylinder kitchen table tank. It's been sitting here without fish, just snails for a while now. I intend to put shrimp in it, but haven't figured out what to do with it in preparation yet. A few weeks ago, I found 2 Cory eggs on the glass in their 29g. Since they always seem to eat them pretty quickly after they lay them, I figured what the heck, and I pulled them & threw them in here. 100% didn't expect anything to come of it. 

My husband & I were sitting here chatting just now & he goes "there's a little fish in there". I'm like no way, you're seeing things. But he was insistent. I looked for a while in the spot he said he saw it & didn't see anything. But then, I caught a glimpse! 100% a baby Cory. 

I can't believe it's survived. I had the temp turned down to like 72° and I've put zero food in there since I moved the old fish out. 

It's gonna be heck trying to get a pic. The tank is a jungle labyrinth & it had moved to the center behind a piece of driftwood. But I'm over the moon!!! 

 

Edited October 21, 2022 by Anjum

[Anjum]

Blurry but there it is!!! 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

CONGRATS @Anjum! This is always exciting!!🥳

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/21/2022 at 5:56 AM, Anjum said:

Blurry but there it is!!! 

So cute!

[Anjum]

We're finally getting a change in the weather, from dry to rain. And they spawned again the other day but the eggs were gone by the time I got home from work (I can see residue on the glass where the eggs were). I fed bloodworms last night & I will again tonight. And I'll do a cold water change. Hopefully I can get some eggs tomorrow since I'll be home. I want the little baby to have friends! 

[TheSwissAquarist]

Ever thought of throwing some Java moss in?

[Anjum]

On 10/22/2022 at 11:16 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Ever thought of throwing some Java moss in?

Yes! I definitely will be adding Java moss. I have a small piece I got as a hitchhiker on another plant. But next time I go to the co-op, I'll be getting more. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/23/2022 at 5:06 PM, Anjum said:

Yes! I definitely will be adding Java moss. I have a small piece I got as a hitchhiker on another plant. But next time I go to the co-op, I'll be getting more. 

I caught some free which the shop employee put in a shrimp bag because she couldn’t find some plastic netting. It was right behind her! I now have a massive clump.