40 breeder practice scape with nano fish

[knee]

On 2/17/2023 at 10:34 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

from the homewrecker or?

Yep it’s with her. This will be the 4th spawn of the alpha male. There’s only one female he hasn’t spawned with 😂😂

Theres not much eggs so I’m assuming this clutch won’t survive as well 

[knee]

Swordtails got picked up today but they left me a gift. I think this baby is from the marigold twinbar pair.
 

im keeping him/her. 

[knee]

Plants on the side have overgrown and are starting to cover some plants in front. 

Trimmed the Hygrophila Corymbosa, Myrio Aquaticum, Rotala Wallichii and Pogostemon Stellatus. Moved the Ludwigia Arcuata next to the Ludwigia Palustris

Also did a 50% water change with 50/50 RO/tap. 

The alpha male paired up with a different female again and they were spawning as I was doing a water change. They didn’t care if I was putting my hands in the tank.

Male has spawned with 3 out of the 5 females I have. Not sure if he wants to try them all out before choosing a partner 😝

 

Edited February 20, 2023 by knee

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/20/2023 at 11:36 AM, knee said:

Plants on the side have overgrown and are starting to cover some plants in front.

That's just PSO being PSO. 😂

Do yo have PSO in the back center as well?  I see what looks like erectus, but next to that is more octopus?

[knee]

On 2/20/2023 at 7:33 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

That's just PSO being PSO. 😂

Do yo have PSO in the back center as well?  I see what looks like erectus, but next to that is more octopus?

That's the rotala wallichii. I've been trying to find erectus local but no luck 😥

The one next to the Octopus is Ludwigia Peruensis

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/21/2023 at 10:50 AM, knee said:

That's the rotala wallichii.

Oh.... I like that one better than erectus.  It'll be nice when it's all reddened.

The one in front of that looks like / reminds me of Octopus. Hopefully that makes sense, if not I can find my arrow drawing devices.  😂

The ludwigia is really nice too.  Stems are just fun, interesting, and so much variation.  I really dig all the different leaf shapes and textures.

[knee]

On 2/21/2023 at 1:31 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Oh wait that's the Ludwigia Arcuata my bad. I thought you were talking about the plant behind it. Behind is the rotala 🙂 

[knee]

Did a water change again today. I started using easy green last week and I could tell that my plants prefer it right away compared to another brand I was using. The Pogo Stellatus reached the surface again and I just trimmed last week. 

 

The weeping moss on the right side has grown a hair algae farm. I can let the plants take care of it by letting them grow more to cover it or I can remove it manually. Will probably be lazy and just let the plants do their thing. It also became a spawning ground for my dither fish.

 

I planned to remove all the Alternanthera in my tank cause they’re not doing too well. Only managed to remove the right side cause the pair have wrigglers. They’ll probably start free swimming tomorrow 

My red tiger lotus also likes easy green and has gone from having 3 to 7 or 8 leavesp😁

 

The Cory habrosus like this spot

Not in the 40 breeder but the Myrio from my shrimp tank has been growing a bunch too  

Edited February 27, 2023 by knee

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/26/2023 at 6:03 PM, knee said:

That's beautiful...  Only grows emersed or?

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/26/2023 at 6:03 PM, knee said:

Did a water change again today. I started using easy green last week and I could tell that my plants prefer it right away compared to another brand I was using.

I'm going to guess it starts with an S.  That's interesting!  I wonder why.

[knee]

On 2/26/2023 at 8:44 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

That's beautiful...  Only grows emersed or?

They’re the same ones on the left back side of the 40 breeder. The ones next to the hygrophila. This just grew out of the tank and I let it get wild 😂

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/26/2023 at 11:26 PM, knee said:

The ones next to the hygrophila. This just grew out of the tank and I let it get wild 😂

That's awesome. Something I wish to accomplish one day is a crazy planted tank that does that with wood for things to climb and latch onto. Rock wall or something for moss to climb up, cork wall, something.

[knee]

Free swimming bologna rams 

 

The whole family (this is dads third or fourth wife 😂😂)

[knee]

So the clutch didn’t survive AGAIN. When I got home there was 1 fry left and I was gonna try to catch it but it disappeared. Hopefully it escaped towards the back. The alpha male is not a good dad. He leaves them once the fry are free swimming 🥲

On other things going on in this tank, I have not seen my pygmy cory ever since the plants in the back became really lush and thick. I’d only see one or two pop out during feeding time and I’m 99% sure they’re breeding because these little ones would go to the front all the time 

 

For comparison this is what my adults look like 

The adults look plump compared to the little skinny ones and I haven’t added any new fish (except one female betta) to this tank for 2 months.

 

Some pic of my plants showing new growth 

Anubias Coffeefolia(from ACO) with one new leaf 

 

Anubias minima dragon claw also with new leaves 

Buce (don’t know the exact type - got it from petco) with new leaves as well 

Lobelia Cardinalis growing quickly 

 

Myrio Aquaticum leaves turning orange on the surface 

 

Proserpinaca Palustris(left) and Rotala Wallichii(right) also showing some orange/red 

 

Dwarf sag creeping 🤭 

 

Crypt Tropica (from ACO) growing new leaves as well 

 

Also wanted to add this algae. Not sure what kind but I love this one. Wouldn’t mind if it grew on all of my hardscape. Kinda reminds me of the Marimo moss ball 

Edited March 1, 2023 by knee

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/28/2023 at 6:50 PM, knee said:

Anubias minima dragon claw also with new leaves 

That's awesome!

On 2/28/2023 at 6:50 PM, knee said:

Also wanted to add this algae. Not sure what kind but I love this one. Wouldn’t mind if it grew on all of my hardscape. Kinda reminds me of the Marimo moss ball 

I assume lava rock?

Very good photos. Always high quality work.

[knee]

I’ve decided to consolidate both of my journals to make it easier for me to update. This will be the last tank update I post for this thread. 

Full tank shot as of today  I edited these photos with the native photo editor on iPhone and with Lightroom. Trying to decide which is better but not seeing much difference.

 

iPhone: 

 

Lightroom:

 

I also have a security camera on my tank incase anything happens. Took a screenshot shot earlier at work 😂

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/6/2023 at 6:29 PM, knee said:

Full tank shot as of today  I edited these photos with the native photo editor on iPhone and with Lightroom. Trying to decide which is better but not seeing much difference.

Lightroom has a bit better contrast and saturation. Bit better balanced.

The way the light is gives it that haze affect, the Lightroom fixes that stuff a little bit.

[knee]

On 3/6/2023 at 6:44 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Lightroom has a bit better contrast and saturation. Bit better balanced.

The way the light is gives it that haze affect, the Lightroom fixes that stuff a little bit.

I was hoping you’d choose the iPhone photo 😂

You're right about the glare tho, Lightroom is able to handle it better without ruining other parts of the photo.  

[gjcarew]

On 3/6/2023 at 6:50 PM, knee said:

I was hoping you’d choose the iPhone photo 😂

You're right about the glare tho, Lightroom is able to handle it better without ruining other parts of the photo.  

That's a matter of light bleed. If you put some kind of shade on your light your pictures will turn out way better regardless of camera. 

[knee]

On 3/7/2023 at 10:16 AM, gjcarew said:

That's a matter of light bleed. If you put some kind of shade on your light your pictures will turn out way better regardless of camera. 

Got it. I just bought the shades that came with the light 😎

Hoping to get better photos without the glare.

 

My other light doesn't have shades made for it tho. Are there any alternatives or DIY?

[gjcarew]

On 3/7/2023 at 10:42 AM, knee said:

Got it. I just bought the shades that came with the light 😎

Hoping to get better photos without the glare.

 

My other light doesn't have shades made for it tho. Are there any alternatives or DIY?

Whenever I take "official" photos I just put something across the tank. Recently it's been a sleeping pad but anything that blocks the light will do. I've used large cardboard boxes and even a 2 x 8 piece of wood, since it's just for the pictures.

Notice how the photo above has much better saturation and contrast because the light bleed is being stopped. I don't believe either of these were edited. All I ended up doing was adjusting the white balance and black point.

[Mmiller2001]

Wow, big difference.

[knee]

On 3/7/2023 at 10:58 AM, gjcarew said:

Notice how the photo above has much better saturation and contrast because the light bleed is being stopped. I don't believe either of these were edited. All I ended up doing was adjusting the white balance and black point.

I can definitely see the difference. I always have to adjust way more just to get the glare out.

Thank you for the suggestion! I'll try it out later when the lights turn on 📸

[EricksonAquatics]

I know this is terrible to post on this thread after a YEAR, but I just had to say @kneeyour tanks are absolutely stunning. Tell me your secrets to such incredible plants!!😂

And your Rams are also the most colorful and amazing I’ve ever seen. Whenever I think of Rams I just think of Germans but the Bolivians are for sure a new bucket list fish for me. If I ever get a bigger tank, that’s for sure the first cichlid I’m going to try!

Hoping to set up a 20L before too long, but I assume with other community fish that would be too cramped for even a pair of them? 🙂

[knee]

On 3/1/2024 at 5:35 PM, EricksonAquatics said:

I know this is terrible to post on this thread after a YEAR, but I just had to say @kneeyour tanks are absolutely stunning. Tell me your secrets to such incredible plants!!😂

And your Rams are also the most colorful and amazing I’ve ever seen. Whenever I think of Rams I just think of Germans but the Bolivians are for sure a new bucket list fish for me. If I ever get a bigger tank, that’s for sure the first cichlid I’m going to try!

Hoping to set up a 20L before too long, but I assume with other community fish that would be too cramped for even a pair of them? 🙂

Thanks! No secrets here but one thing I would advice is get a light that you can dim so that if algae issues appear you can easily reduce the light. Also patience and tons of research 😁
 

A pair will do fine in a 20 long but like other fish, they’d appreciate the extra space if provided. I’m currently keeping 5 pairs (not breeding pairs just 5m 5f) in my 40 breeder which I’m planning to move to my 60 breeder. Just don’t have time and still waiting on the stand to be built but I’m hoping I can move them soon.