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A Pygmy Party! My 10 Gallon Office Tank Journal


flyingcow
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On 10/23/2022 at 2:56 PM, flyingcow said:

Very well! I think I had the flow on the filter set a little high for these guys. One of them would glass surf all day, and it looked like they were working against it. Once I turned it down, all 8 came out in front and took a nap. They all seem much happier now. Apologies for the very dirty glass. Need to do some touch up cleaning this afternoon.

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The Wee Fry Guy is still doing ok. I'm gonna go to the LFS to find some smaller food today. 

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I introduced them frozen brine shrimp today. They have now been laying on top of it and nibbling for an hour. Food coma is clearly setting in!

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Yeah, I've been having problems with stems in general. But I now have a Ludwiga Repens in my other tank that doesn't seem to be dying, and in my quarantine tank, I have one Scarlet Temple stem and one Bacopa Caroliniana stem that are showing a teeny bit of new growth! So it seems like whatever deficiency was going on, I'm climbing out of the hole with good doses of fertilizer. 

If you're feeding flake food, save a couple of bucks and powder a bit of it to feed the stowaway. 

As for the dirty glass, you ain't seen nothing yet!!

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On 10/23/2022 at 5:56 AM, flyingcow said:

Yeah, I've been having problems with stems in general. But I now have a Ludwiga Repens in my other tank that doesn't seem to be dying, and in my quarantine tank, I have one Scarlet Temple stem and one Bacopa Caroliniana stem that are showing a teeny bit of new growth! So it seems like whatever deficiency was going on, I'm climbing out of the hole with good doses of fertilizer. 

I've had good luck with ludwigia & bacopa too. In general, my stems don't do great until I plant them & they're getting nutrition from the roots. I don't think I keep my ferts high enough in the water column. 

 

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On 10/23/2022 at 5:11 PM, Anjum said:

I've had good luck with ludwigia & bacopa too. In general, my stems don't do great until I plant them & they're getting nutrition from the roots. I don't think I keep my ferts high enough in the water column. 

 

I love bacopa… until it gets very tall, stops growing and gets algified.

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  • 2 weeks later...

That's awesome. It's so fun to see what behaviors fish have to try to stay alive.

In my tank, I have an oto that has claimed the drop checker as his home and he lays on it, balanced, all day now because he feels protected. Algae always grows on those things, it all works out like a shark with a ramora.

Looking forward to seeing more, very cool tank!

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On 11/3/2022 at 7:32 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

That's awesome. It's so fun to see what behaviors fish have to try to stay alive.

In my tank, I have an oto that has claimed the drop checker as his home and he lays on it, balanced, all day now because he feels protected. Algae always grows on those things, it all works out like a shark with a ramora.

Looking forward to seeing more, very cool tank!

My marble angel pair guard the filter box in my 65 gal, until the big ol' discus chases them off.

Edited by TheSwissAquarist
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I just picked up 3 of these little guys last week. I have them in my well planted 6 gallon with some cherry shrimp and a mystery snail. I’m thinking of getting 3 more to try and get them to school. They do hang around the upper half of the tank and among the leaves quite a bit

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Well, yesterday was a relatively uneventful cleaning day on the big tank, but today, the Pygmy Party joined in the fun! The tank didn't need a water change per my NO3 test, but it was just getting gross! Some of my old leaves were covered in schmutz, My driftwood fuzz started making an encore appearance, and what appears to be

DSCF3105.jpg.bea1c2965700a065968cb8fd6d510646.jpg

Yeah, you know this leaf got clipped.

DSCF3108.jpg.5ba53a643cd7488a3819dfbb9e8bd0cd.jpg

Fuzz Everlasting.

Cyanobacteria has basically invaded my Java Moss. I reduced light several weeks ago, and algae growth really slowed down (well... stopped), but this past week, the cyano really boomed. I was gonna get some Fritz Slime Out, but my LFS didn't have any, so you know what? We're gonna do some freakin SCIENCE! In looking at the Reverse Respiration thread, there doesn't seem to be any information on its effect on Cyanobacteria. So I hope to at least get a rough data point. Since it's a 12 hour thing, I'm gonna wait until this evening to get it in seltzer, and we will see what pops up in the morning. 

DSCF3123.jpg.2acb993b5ed7e76157febd23f3a2d2de.jpg

ew.

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SCIENCE!

And I gotta give a shoutout to ACO's customer service here. I'm having a bit of an Anubias problem, and I reached out to them, and Candi was in touch with me in literally an hour. I had a Nana Petite, a Gold Coin, and a Nangi in this tank. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed the Nana Petite had completely rotted out with all but the tiniest bit of rhizome gone. The Gold Coin near it started following suit. Additonally, I had a Coffeefolia that I put in my quarantine/grow out tank since it came in looking very rough. At this point I was very worried I was dealing with Anubias rot and got in touch with ACO. Candi pointed out that one other possible cause of rhizome rot was using too much super glue. She still offered to replace them. I looked at the white mess on my driftwood and realized this was probably my doing and declined a replacement. I put what was left of the Nana Petite rhizome into a glass, and lo and behold, it split into two tiny rhizomes and started growing and sprouting roots! The Gold Coin seems to be recovering now that I have whats left of its rhizome less entrenched in glue. ACO quickly replaced the Coffeefolia since that one died before it ever made it out of its mineral wool. So thanks Candi! You all are awesome!!!

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Still two good leaves!

And of course, the little dudes say hi. Fry Gal is doing great as well.

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Shh, I'm hiding!DSCF3111.jpg.3b501126de5944ca75ecd6aeef56af36.jpg

Stop pointing that thing in my face!

I'll post results of my RR attempts here and on that thread! TTFN!

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On 11/6/2022 at 3:10 PM, Minanora said:

Ord. Very pretty tanks. It'll be interesting to see how the RR works on the cyanobacteria.

Your signature says "brewer" ...  Like, home brewing? If so, details please! I have 7 kegs on tap in my garage.

Started as a homebrewer. stumbled into it professionally in the weirdest way possible. Worked as a R&D brewer for 8 years also doing some distilled spirits work. Now I'm a consultant engineer who works mostly in brewing and beverage! I haven't home brewed in a long time since I got really spoiled by adequate temperature control in the research brewery. It would cost me a LOT of money to get that at home!

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On 11/6/2022 at 12:13 PM, flyingcow said:

Started as a homebrewer. stumbled into it professionally in the weirdest way possible. Worked as a R&D brewer for 8 years also doing some distilled spirits work. Now I'm a consultant engineer who works mostly in brewing and beverage! I haven't home brewed in a long time since I got really spoiled by adequate temperature control in the research brewery. It would cost me a LOT of money to get that at home!

That's super cool. What are your favorite styles? We brew with an automated system, pico z series machines. They folded but we still use the hardware. It's fantastic. We ferment in ss brewtech conical fermenters and sometimes the bag fermenters. We use ink bird controllers and ferment in a fridge and upright freezer. Depending on the time of year we brew more of certain styles. My husband loves IPA styles and clean lagers. I'm a fan of big stouts and big IPAs

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On 11/6/2022 at 11:40 AM, flyingcow said:

possible cause of rhizome rot was using too much super glue.

I've had Anubias rot from too much glue. I removed them from the rock/glue & they look to be recovering. They're not kidding when they say a TINY amount of glue 😅 

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On 11/6/2022 at 6:16 PM, Minanora said:

That's super cool. What are your favorite styles? We brew with an automated system, pico z series machines. They folded but we still use the hardware. It's fantastic. We ferment in ss brewtech conical fermenters and sometimes the bag fermenters. We use ink bird controllers and ferment in a fridge and upright freezer. Depending on the time of year we brew more of certain styles. My husband loves IPA styles and clean lagers. I'm a fan of big stouts and big IPAs

While I love a good New England IPA (I used to live 3 miles from the Alchemist) a good German Helles or Dunkel will make my day! I didn't know Pico went under! We had one in the research lab. It was a great unit, but absolutely awful to keep clean. The SS brewtech stuff is about as good as it gets for lab scale work. I love them!

On 11/6/2022 at 6:26 PM, Anjum said:

I've had Anubias rot from too much glue. I removed them from the rock/glue & they look to be recovering. They're not kidding when they say a TINY amount of glue 😅 

yeah, I had like a half inch dollop... apparently I may have sniffed some of it before I laid down that bead!

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On 11/6/2022 at 8:40 PM, flyingcow said:

Well, yesterday was a relatively uneventful cleaning day on the big tank, but today, the Pygmy Party joined in the fun! The tank didn't need a water change per my NO3 test, but it was just getting gross! Some of my old leaves were covered in schmutz, My driftwood fuzz started making an encore appearance, and what appears to be

DSCF3105.jpg.bea1c2965700a065968cb8fd6d510646.jpg

Yeah, you know this leaf got clipped.

DSCF3108.jpg.5ba53a643cd7488a3819dfbb9e8bd0cd.jpg

Fuzz Everlasting.

Cyanobacteria has basically invaded my Java Moss. I reduced light several weeks ago, and algae growth really slowed down (well... stopped), but this past week, the cyano really boomed. I was gonna get some Fritz Slime Out, but my LFS didn't have any, so you know what? We're gonna do some freakin SCIENCE! In looking at the Reverse Respiration thread, there doesn't seem to be any information on its effect on Cyanobacteria. So I hope to at least get a rough data point. Since it's a 12 hour thing, I'm gonna wait until this evening to get it in seltzer, and we will see what pops up in the morning. 

DSCF3123.jpg.2acb993b5ed7e76157febd23f3a2d2de.jpg

ew.

DSCF3124.jpg.5c3c62548f35d319e0dad14628912e1c.jpg

SCIENCE!

And I gotta give a shoutout to ACO's customer service here. I'm having a bit of an Anubias problem, and I reached out to them, and Candi was in touch with me in literally an hour. I had a Nana Petite, a Gold Coin, and a Nangi in this tank. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed the Nana Petite had completely rotted out with all but the tiniest bit of rhizome gone. The Gold Coin near it started following suit. Additonally, I had a Coffeefolia that I put in my quarantine/grow out tank since it came in looking very rough. At this point I was very worried I was dealing with Anubias rot and got in touch with ACO. Candi pointed out that one other possible cause of rhizome rot was using too much super glue. She still offered to replace them. I looked at the white mess on my driftwood and realized this was probably my doing and declined a replacement. I put what was left of the Nana Petite rhizome into a glass, and lo and behold, it split into two tiny rhizomes and started growing and sprouting roots! The Gold Coin seems to be recovering now that I have whats left of its rhizome less entrenched in glue. ACO quickly replaced the Coffeefolia since that one died before it ever made it out of its mineral wool. So thanks Candi! You all are awesome!!!

DSCF3107.jpg.b1237a6cd97af43b9986edb1d4441936.jpg

Still two good leaves!

And of course, the little dudes say hi. Fry Gal is doing great as well.

DSCF3113.jpg.61acc3e79694b8a4a2b2bb479f8b6883.jpg

Shh, I'm hiding!DSCF3111.jpg.3b501126de5944ca75ecd6aeef56af36.jpg

Stop pointing that thing in my face!

I'll post results of my RR attempts here and on that thread! TTFN!

I agree,  @Candi s very kind when it comes to answering questions; I've asked her a gazillion time when the ACO is gonna ship to mainland Europe.

 

On 11/7/2022 at 12:26 AM, Anjum said:

I've had Anubias rot from too much glue. I removed them from the rock/glue & they look to be recovering. They're not kidding when they say a TINY amount of glue 😅 

I use rubber bands!

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