Guppysnail Aquarium Journal

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Guppysnailit was a joy catching up with your holidays. Your plecos are an inspiration. Hopefully the new tanks will help me achieve some better results. Plantwise you’re on a roll! Thanks for pushing yourself and us in kind! 

[Guppysnail]

@Beardedbillygoat1975Thanks. Saturday I take the plecos to the buyer. I tracked all my numbers mortalities causes helpful things etc. Wednesday evening while hubby is working I will post all my info and everything I learned about them and what I would do differently and why. I’m so crazy excited to set up the panda tank it’s not funny. My Pygmy have not displayed breeding so I’m hoping it’s not the guppy hormones causing my pandas to spawn like crazy or I will be disappointed. My crazy thought on that is to use 50% fresh water and 50% guppy tank water at water changes if they won’t spawn on their own 🤣 

[Guppysnail]

Tank updates…oh my 🤣

I’m having issues getting photos on here right now my internet is crazy slow so I’ll drop them all at the end sorry. three weeks with nothing but water changes and sponge squeezes. I did fold stem plants in half and cut because they covered way to much of the surface but I just jammed them into other tanks. Most tanks will get redone when I move the pandas next Sunday so I was pretty sloppy about what tank and where I dropped them. I just need them to stay alive another week. The APL and APU are a dream. The tiger lotus is amazing. I bought a few more of each they all came with no leaves but are already doing well. They sent me a thank you banana plant for being a repeat customer.  Banana plant 😝. I was never attracted to them they are weird looking to me. If it lives which it looks worse for the wear in my care I’ll drop it behind a fern in the Pygmy tank 🤣

My 2 inch pots were a fail. They kept falling over and spilling gravel. I obvious ly got tired of picking it up.  I’ll fix that messy gravel with the redo. The 3 inch pots are perfect. The flat terra cotta liners were a success at making Java bushes but EPIC FAIL with anubias. Because I could not rotate the flat of the leaves away from the light once glued in they are covered in algae. I need to fix that. They also collected way to much missed food.  
I moved all the pennywort to the pleco baby/soon to be panda Cory tank. I’ll use that as floating shade for them. I also placed(actually sloppy dropped 🤣) all the anubias from the 29 in there.  The rotala Vietnam is going gang busters. 
I had a pothos leaf grow submerged then the parent emerged leaves died so I put a plant weight on it and we will see if it survives. 
 
The AR is doing great at all the different depths but is different each. The lowest turned pale pink and started growing leggy like stem plants. I don’t like it. It stayed darker and bushier higher up. The CPD are using the AR cups which are still way up high to spawn in 😲 talk about sneaking into the bushes 🤣
When I came home Tuesday from taking 150 guppies to the LFS there were oh another 75 new fry in the community guppies are so thoughtful and giving 🤣. 

My CPD I hatched for the Pygmy tank I have been trying to hand feed since they are always at my hand when I work in the tank. Several have brushed against me. This group has zero fear of my or the gravel vac. They peck at debris going up the vac the way the guppies do 🤪They have never been with the parents and know me=food. They are getting braver but only 1 one time pecked. I was surprised it was the littlest boy who was the brave one 🥰. 
HAPPY ADVENTURES…TRY SOMETHING NEW
 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@GuppysnailDoes having a feeding spot work with your ancistrus? 
Beautiful pics! Those guppies get even more beautiful! Great husbandry equals 🔥fish!

[Torrey]

Oh wow!!!

Is that scarlet temple or AR that has the fuscia color? It's gorgeous!

I wish I lived closer, I love your guppies. Your males look similar to my friend I got my blues from, but your females have more blue coloration than mine.

Your plants are definitely thriving!

[Guppysnail]

On 1/6/2022 at 9:56 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

@GuppysnailDoes having a feeding spot work with your ancistrus? 
Beautiful pics! Those guppies get even more beautiful! Great husbandry equals 🔥fish!

Absolutely. In mom n dads tank they each have a dish. Angel has a dish in the guppy community. The 2 10 g with fry each have a feeding dish. Mom n dad wait in their dish for food because there is no food anywhere in the tank but there. The snails and shrimp eat there as well. Angel has learned where her food dish is and comes right over when I feed her. She does not beg yet but she is in with guppies and panda Cory. The pandas hav learned to raid her dish for mummies. The 2 10s the fry have learned. The 20 l guppy sorority grow out with 12 BN juveniles have all learned where the food dish is even though guppiy fry food is everywhere. The actual 20l BN grow out I don’t use them i line the entire front with food. There are just to many and even at early juvenile stage they get competitive of food and side shoulder one another away so I spread it out in front  then make sure everyone has a spot to eat on the food if not I add more all veggies cut longways and repashy on a stick. 

[Guppysnail]

@Beardedbillygoat1975 my internet is fussy tonight so it took a minute to get these on here 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Strong believer that most fish can learn to eat from a fish dish! 

(snails and other creatures as well!)

[scott the fishman]

On 1/6/2022 at 7:12 PM, Guppysnail said:

@Beardedbillygoat1975 my internet is fussy tonight so it took a minute to get these on here 

such lovely aquariums! so clean. 

[Guppysnail]

On 1/6/2022 at 10:04 PM, Torrey said:

Oh wow!!!

Is that scarlet temple or AR that has the fuscia color? It's gorgeous!

I wish I lived closer, I love your guppies. Your males look similar to my friend I got my blues from, but your females have more blue coloration than mine.

Your plants are definitely thriving!

That is AR rosenervig. Scarlet temple did not thrive for me. The ar has grown so much I have it in all my tanks now. 

[Guppysnail]

I’m envious of folks who can plan out where they put their plants instead of shoving them wherever they find rzoom that the plant likes to grow. I’m not one of them. All these new plants seem to not be fussy the way the “easy ones” always end up being for me. So I’m going to post my thoughts on here and maybe some folks will have some suggestions. I’m good growing plants terrible at making them aquascaped into not looking like chaos. ALL POINTERS AND SUGGESTIONS ARE MORE THAN WELCOME PLEASE 😁
 

MOM N DADS 40B

I’m thinking to make this look more clean lined. Maybe use the broad leaf ludwiga across the back wall with the swords on either side. Mid ground on each side an APL (the long skinny aponogeton) then front each side the tiger lotus with the AR cup on each side with the Java fern liner bush tucked where I is at. The anubias in this tank all bloom and are the only ones that bloom for me so they stay where they are. I’m thinking of moving the pennywort and Chinese ivy on the back wall out because it makes every Blend together and look messy. The very center in back I’m way up in the air on. I have narrow leaf ludwiga but I’m thinking the APU (broad leaf aponogeton) would look better as a focal point??? Or is that just too much tall plants?

Then there is this complete hot mess. The 29 guppy tank. 🙄 🤣 it’s where I’ve been shoving all the plants I had to cut in half due to overgrowth from mom n dads tank  But that I can’t picture until the pots are out and new spiderwood is in  and pandas moved 

 

umm excuse me please…I would like to share your yummies please and thank you 🥰

HAPPY ADVENTURES…TRY SOMETHING NEW (and help me aquascape🤣)

 

[FrozenFins]

Some great looking plants!

I have some aponongeten as well, and I read that they dont do the best during the winter months and sometimes will melt back completley, but comes back stronger then ever in the spring.

I'm starting to notice that a little in my aponongeten. Ive been giving it lots of easy root tabs and it doesn't seem to be helping. Have you been noticing the same thing with yours?

[Guppysnail]

On 1/7/2022 at 7:39 PM, James Black said:

Some great looking plants!

I have some aponongeten as well, and I read that they dont do the best during the winter months and sometimes will melt back completley, but comes back stronger then ever in the spring.

I'm starting to notice that a little in my aponongeten. Ive been giving it lots of easy root tabs and it doesn't seem to be helping. Have you been noticing the same thing with yours?

I just got 4 last month that are going gangbusters and a few more last week that one popped out and gre 4 inches. So I’m much to new to them and embarrassingly I never research plants 🤣 I liked the look of @PineSong so bought some and threw them in. What I read about plants never works for me and.I end up killing them. Now I throw a bunch in and what grows stays what doesn’t gets binned. 

[PineSong]

On 1/7/2022 at 7:39 PM, James Black said:

I'm starting to notice that a little in my aponongeten. Ive been giving it lots of easy root tabs and it doesn't seem to be helping. Have you been noticing the same thing with yours?

I've only had mine for a few months, so I'm no expert.I have read that cutting off the flower stalk before the plant can flower will prevent it from going dormant and dying back to the bulb. I have cut off the flower stalk every time I've seen it, but it's only a matter of time before I miss one and the plant flowers. My understanding is that after flowering, it dies back to the bulb and rests before growing leaves again.

[Levi_Aquatics]

Do you use any c02? Those plants look so lush! What kind of lights and ferts do you use? Sorry if you have already said this in your journal and I overlooked it. 

[Guppysnail]

On 1/7/2022 at 8:03 PM, Levi_Aquatics said:

Do you use any c02? Those plants look so lush! What kind of lights and ferts do you use? Sorry if you have already said this in your journal and I overlooked it. 

I do not use fertilizer or co2 at all. Once every month or two if I notice holes in leaves I use 1/4 dose seachem potassium and if I think about it in guppy tank I toss in a wondershell.  I also use cheap Amazon purchased hygger plant lights but only turn on the white light. The blue and red are connected and blue grows hair algae right away so I just don’t use it.   Most of my plants are not even planted just set in a cup with a plant weight or set in a cup with a weight on top of gravel. I make all my plants feed on what they can get from the water column. 

[Levi_Aquatics]

@Guppysnail They look great! I am slightly envious lol. 

[Guppysnail]

On 1/7/2022 at 8:45 PM, Levi_Aquatics said:

@Guppysnail They look great! I am slightly envious lol. 

Frequent large water changes is my secret. If my nitrates raise to 40 they start looking sad.over 40 they start declining very rapidly. 

Oh and I hate mulm if it collect my plants die quick frequent vac

[Levi_Aquatics]

On 1/7/2022 at 8:51 PM, Guppysnail said:

Frequent large water changes is my secret. If my nitrates raise to 40 they start looking sad.over 40 they start declining very rapidly. 

Oh and I hate mulm if it collect my plants die quick frequent vac

Thank you! My nitrates sometimes get a bit out of control and my Java moss gets mulm on it sometimes. I’ll have to try those tips. 

[Torrey]

On 1/7/2022 at 6:51 PM, Guppysnail said:

Frequent large water changes is my secret. If my nitrates raise to 40 they start looking sad.over 40 they start declining very rapidly. 

Oh and I hate mulm if it collect my plants die quick frequent vac

Here I am, and my plants thrive with mulm, especially in my sand capped tanks. @Levi_Aquatics you are not the only one envious of the beautiful plants!

@Guppysnail, what looks do you like? It helps to identify a picture or image, or even sketch the dimensions of the tank and then color to identify what plants have to stay in a specific place so you have a template, and then color a rough draft.

Or, you can take a picture of each plant, and use an app like Canva to play with the positions until you create an image you like.

Personally, I am old fashioned and like graph paper so I can draft to scale.

[Guppysnail]

On 1/7/2022 at 10:51 PM, Torrey said:

Here I am, and my plants thrive with mulm, especially in my sand capped tanks. @Levi_Aquatics you are not the only one envious of the beautiful plants!

@Guppysnail, what looks do you like? It helps to identify a picture or image, or even sketch the dimensions of the tank and then color to identify what plants have to stay in a specific place so you have a template, and then color a rough draft.

Or, you can take a picture of each plant, and use an app like Canva to play with the positions until you create an image you like.

Personally, I am old fashioned and like graph paper so I can draft to scale.

I like a clean line look for this tank. Others I like a bushy jungle look. On this one the plants are so amazing each in and of themselves I want each to stand out but still want lots of them. I will check out the canva ap. I have zero sketch ability. 

[Atitagain]

I hope I understand you correctly in what you are asking about in terms of aquascaping. This is just my opinion as a onlooker, your plants are top notch amongst what I’ve seen on this forum and in general you consistently have amazingly beautiful plants. Your vast knowledge and capabilities to communicate and help others is such a wonderful gift. Your guppies, BN, and CPD as well as fish knowledge in general, tips, tricks, hacks, diy, and ect… I feel honored to have your ear as a fellow nerm.

Im not just trying to flatter you there’s a reason why I say all this. IMO you are absolutely 100% a plant first aquarist. Everything else is important to you but right up front it’s plants that drive your hobby. All of your tanks are beautiful they have such a wide variety of plants. Your fish, shrimp, snails all thrive.  Ok here’s the big but….but all of your tanks are designed to grow out plants.

 
this is all me assuming: you dont like biotope, themed, structured, ie rules. This is why your unsure what plants should go with each other. I can’t comment at all on the plant list you gave I see things different. Generally I have a concept: Amazon river, rocky terrain, a certain driftwood to build around ect… Then sometimes its close to instant sometimes it takes days. But in my mind is a fuzzy picture of concept then it’s like a slideshow placing pieces of material/ equipment I have then what I need maybe do research on sword plants mentally place them in my picture. Always evolving until I get a little smile. Sometimes I do very rough drawings sometimes there a lil more detailed. 
Ok my point, I think you should do a tank that is all rules very structured but is absolutely plant based I suggest Dutch Style. Don’t have to win awards or nothing, or do any style your interested in. Something that will force or at least suggest what goes next to what. Learn what the rules are then when your ready you will have a idea to go by when making your own rules .

I suggest experimenting as well. In a 20 use bigger pots in back smaller in front. In a 40 try a fading effect and use big pot in front small in back. Use false horizons think of a straight line nothing can be placed above, or a curved line. A focal point and every thing must point to it. Set rules rather there a style you must follow or you say to yourself only dark green plants in here except this big pot or AR. Setting rules will answer a lot of questions of what goes where or next to what.

and if your like me this is where you change everything.🤪

 

[Guppysnail]

On 1/7/2022 at 11:25 PM, Atitagain said:

I hope I understand you correctly in what you are asking about in terms of aquascaping. This is just my opinion as a onlooker, your plants are top notch amongst what I’ve seen on this forum and in general you consistently have amazingly beautiful plants. Your vast knowledge and capabilities to communicate and help others is such a wonderful gift. Your guppies, BN, and CPD as well as fish knowledge in general, tips, tricks, hacks, diy, and ect… I feel honored to have your ear as a fellow nerm.

Im not just trying to flatter you there’s a reason why I say all this. IMO you are absolutely 100% a plant first aquarist. Everything else is important to you but right up front it’s plants that drive your hobby. All of your tanks are beautiful they have such a wide variety of plants. Your fish, shrimp, snails all thrive.  Ok here’s the big but….but all of your tanks are designed to grow out plants.

 
this is all me assuming: you dont like biotope, themed, structured, ie rules. This is why your unsure what plants should go with each other. I can’t comment at all on the plant list you gave I see things different. Generally I have a concept: Amazon river, rocky terrain, a certain driftwood to build around ect… Then sometimes its close to instant sometimes it takes days. But in my mind is a fuzzy picture of concept then it’s like a slideshow placing pieces of material/ equipment I have then what I need maybe do research on sword plants mentally place them in my picture. Always evolving until I get a little smile. Sometimes I do very rough drawings sometimes there a lil more detailed. 
Ok my point, I think you should do a tank that is all rules very structured but is absolutely plant based I suggest Dutch Style. Don’t have to win awards or nothing, or do any style your interested in. Something that will force or at least suggest what goes next to what. Learn what the rules are then when your ready you will have a idea to go by when making your own rules .

I suggest experimenting as well. In a 20 use bigger pots in back smaller in front. In a 40 try a fading effect and use big pot in front small in back. Use false horizons think of a straight line nothing can be placed above, or a curved line. A focal point and every thing must point to it. Set rules rather there a style you must follow or you say to yourself only dark green plants in here except this big pot or AR. Setting rules will answer a lot of questions of what goes where or next to what.

and if your like me this is where you change everything.🤪

 

Thank you for the compliments I’m blushing to my ears. And Thank you I really needed this. I never thought about it this way. Most of my tanks look very similar and that is what I’m trying to get away from. You hit the nail on the head I place plants where and in what tanks they grow best.( it doesn’t help that I can’t hear to throw out the overgrowth so it gets jammed in other tanks 🙄) I actually have no idea what the different styles are or what the rules are. Do you have any helpful links I can use to learn?  My fish are placed in tanks the same way so I never thought about a regional Biotope theme. I’m not even sure where most of my plants originate from. I I would like the grapevine log to be the focal point and not the terra cotta pots. in this tank because it is where mom n dad spend their time. I have the two tiny swords tied to it and the Java fern stuck between the branches. Do you think it would help highlight the log to move those or make it more obscure?  I really wanted my terra cotta to get algae covered so it’s not so in your face but my lights for that tank are just not strong enough. In the shorter 20 longs it’s working but not this one. Moving plants to where they look right versus where they grow right is a whole new adventure. Your insight has made me excited for this adventure thank you again. 

[Odd Duck]

@Guppysnail I think @Atitagain has hit it right on the head!  I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure out what I could recommend when you do such an amazing job growing plants with such an unconventional style/technique.

I’ve been thinking what can I possibly say that will fit with your growing style?  I think the Dutch style would be perfect!  I don’t know the formal rules or even where to look since I’ve never searched for the rules.  But in general when I see pics of tanks, Dutch style always has large clumps of plants that grow in blocks of color.  It seems it would be easy for you to do tighter groups of plants - a combination of larger suction cupped groups and pots would work to give the effect while still maintaining the bare bottom that soothes your soul.

Just shift your different types of suction cupped plants into tighter groups - all of one type together, then another group of all the next type together, a group of pots all with the same type together, etc.  You could even put a pot of the same type in front of, or beside, a suction cupped group to give the group more oomph and visual depth.

You’ll want to clump them in such a way that you get color and texture contrasts, different levels of plants with low growing plants in front (or at least kept trimmed short), medium height, then tallest in back, sort of a layered effect.  You’ll also want to have a limited number of plant species in any given tank for a fairly simple appearance.

I don’t know if there is a limit to the number of species of plants recommended, but I usually see 7-9 or so species per tank but I think it likely depends on the size of the tank.  I think it’s probably more about the overall impression of a calm, quiet, balanced look with sometimes subtle, sometimes strong contrasts between clumps.  The contrast can be color, texture, or both and is usually emphasized by height of the plants to enhance the contrasts.

I think designing a Dutch-ish style around your driftwood would be a great start!  Google is your friend if you want to dive into the particulars on designing a Dutch style tank.  I’m sure there’s going to be tutorials, but if you just search for “Dutch style aquarium” in “Images” I’m sure you’ll find absolute loads of pictures.  I can’t wait to see what you do with it!

[Guppysnail]

On 1/8/2022 at 9:18 AM, Odd Duck said:

@Guppysnail I think @Atitagain has hit it right on the head!  I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure out what I could recommend when you do such an amazing job growing plants with such an unconventional style/technique.

I’ve been thinking what can I possibly say that will fit with your growing style?  I think the Dutch style would be perfect!  I don’t know the formal rules or even where to look since I’ve never searched for the rules.  But in general when I see pics of tanks, Dutch style always has large clumps of plants that grow in blocks of color.  It seems it would be easy for you to do tighter groups of plants - a combination of larger suction cupped groups and pots would work to give the effect while still maintaining the bare bottom that soothes your soul.

Just shift your different types of suction cupped plants into tighter groups - all of one type together, then another group of all the next type together, a group of pots all with the same type together, etc.  You could even put a pot of the same type in front of, or beside, a suction cupped group to give the group more oomph and visual depth.

You’ll want to clump them in such a way that you get color and texture contrasts, different levels of plants with low growing plants in front (or at least kept trimmed short), medium height, then tallest in back, sort of a layered effect.  You’ll also want to have a limited number of plant species in any given tank for a fairly simple appearance.

I don’t know if there is a limit to the number of species of plants recommended, but I usually see 7-9 or so species per tank but I think it likely depends on the size of the tank.  I think it’s probably more about the overall impression of a calm, quiet, balanced look with sometimes subtle, sometimes strong contrasts between clumps.  The contrast can be color, texture, or both and is usually emphasized by height of the plants to enhance the contrasts.

I think designing a Dutch-ish style around your driftwood would be a great start!  Google is your friend if you want to dive into the particulars on designing a Dutch style tank.  I’m sure there’s going to be tutorials, but if you just search for “Dutch style aquarium” in “Images” I’m sure you’ll find absolute loads of pictures.  I can’t wait to see what you do with it!

I think limiting the number of types is going to be a great start thank you that is very helpful. I thought about grouping but every time I see those beautiful Dutch scapes I think it would look awesome if it was balanced sort of mirror reflection. Something about things not being symmetrical looks disjointed to me but maybe if I approach it with the rule of three grouping and just do different plants on either side in odd numbers it will appeal to my eye. …hmm. 
you guys are so awesome! You have helped me to look outside my box and unstick me from my roadblock of how to make it different. I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate it.