Redo on the 10 gallon

[ricbennett3]

Rebuilding the 10 gallon this weekend. Just got a bunch of new plants:)

I discovered the crypt lucens I bought is too large, so I’m gonna swap it with the crypt parva from my other tank (sorry fat Kuhli). 
 

I’m going to take my time planting this one.

[Dtolb15]

Best of luck buddy!! Its looking great so far!!

[ricbennett3]

Getting the plants settled finally. I’m really curious to see how the Monte Carlo I stuffed into the dragon stone turns out.

[ricbennett3]

Plants in. I think the crypts in the pots will go somewhere else. Plan on letting the pearl weed carpet the back and sides. Stocking with blue rams horns, blue dream shrimp, Pygmy Corys, and white clouds I think🤔

plants cost me about $100 via co-op online ordering, but feels worth it:) I did get a sticker:)

[ricbennett3]

Added ten blue shrimp from my 22 gallon today. Two buried females, so hopefully the colony starts off right. Blue shrimp, blue snails.

[ricbennett3]

Dang. Anubias rot on two out of six of my Anubias. Fortunately, co-op was cool enough to replace them, since they are new. That’s why they continue to get my money. Hoping none of the other Anubias get affected, or infected, I guess.  I removed the yucky ones from the tank and my fingers are crossed. 

[ricbennett3]

Added some Cherry shrimp and. Check Barbs today. The barbs are just using the new set up to quarantine and will be moved to my 22 gallon and live with the Kuhli loaches eventually. This was set up to be a white cloud tank.

[ricbennett3]

Checker barbs sure are pretty. I need more females. I think I’m only got the one

[ricbennett3]

Tank is settling in nicely. I added four more female checker barbs, so now I have five males and five females. I also added three Amano shrimp.

My original plan was to move the checker barbs over to my 22-gallon, but I’m liking them in here. This was a white cloud mountain inspired tank that was going to have white clouds, but we shall see.

I’m also think of adding a group of Pygmy corys down the road, but who knows.

[ricbennett3]

I was hoping the blue ramshorn snails I threw in here would breed true. They, of course, are not, but they do have some neat looking babies.

[ricbennett3]

Growing in pretty well. Pearl weed is going nuts. Monte Carlo is not growing super well, but it was pearling yesterday. Getting some hair algae. Lots several Anubias to rot. Hopefully, won’t lose any more. Crypts are progressing slowly, as they do. Checker barbs continuing to amaze me with their colors. They are each so unique. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/5/2023 at 2:03 PM, ricbennett3 said:

Dragonstone is the best.  I can only imagine.....  Very beautiful pieces of rock and you did really well with the sand adding the fine details.  Wonderful work!  I am excited to see it grow in.

On 4/4/2023 at 7:43 PM, ricbennett3 said:

checker barbs

I dig em.  I was looking at barbs yesterday.  I like the fins on them.

[ricbennett3]

Well, I learned today why using a new set up to quarantine fish is not smart, at least with checker barbs.
 

Today was moving day, and man were they hard to catch in a set up tank.

They are wicked fast and just as clever. I couldn’t even catch one of them. I swear it pulled a Kuhli loach and dove under the substrate. It fine, but will now have to spend the next three weeks living with the new residents before joining his buddies in the 22 gallon adventure because I’m not sure if these Pygmy Cories have any illnesses, and I gave up on him after an hour, and put the Cories in. Hard tank day, fingers crossed all my nature juggling works out.

[ricbennett3]

Everybody love repashi community gel! 

[ricbennett3]

Tank is growing in well. The algae is covering some of the Monte Carlo, which is mildly annoying, but I do like the flat carpet this algae makes. 
 

The shrimp skittles have been fun. Aside from a few random colors, like the white one, most of the “mutts” look like tigers, which is pretty cool.

The whole tank swarms algae wafers:)

[gdachev]

Awesome tank! Love the rocks. Did the barbs eat some of the shrimp or they did not bother at all?

[ricbennett3]

On 7/26/2023 at 4:54 AM, gdachev said:

Awesome tank! Love the rocks. Did the barbs eat some of the shrimp or they did not bother at all?

I believe they do eat a few of the babies, but many still survive. They don’t seem to go after the shrimp constantly, but I do see one of the bigger male barbs harass the Amano shrimp when the Amanos grab a hunk of food and run off with it. The Amanos will grab an entire pellet of algae wafer and try to take off with it. One of the barbs has decided he can steal the food back and chases the Amano. So far, nobody has gotten hurt. The Amanos are quite large.

[ricbennett3]

This is a different tank, though I guess it answers the question of whether the checker bards eat the shrimp. This one was trying. What I don’t know is whether the Barb killed it or found it dead. I have about a hundred blue shrimp in this tank and regularly sell them to a local shop. This is the first time I’ve noticed anything like this. Doesn’t seem to affect the overall population growth.

[ricbennett3]

Between the algae issues, the weird rooted plant problems (likely a poor substrate setup), the checker Barb that continues to outsmart and outmaneuver me, the scratch I added to the front glass, and the aquasoil churn up (thanks Pygmy Cories), this tank has provided many headaches. 
 

I do occasionally dog the look of it though, love the skittles shrimp offspring, and absolutely adore the silly Pygmy Cories (only a monster wouldn’t), so maybe that’s a win🤷🏼‍♂️.

[nabokovfan87]

Really interesting shrimp patterns! Congratulations on the wonderful aquascape.  Have you thought of adding anything to the back back as far as a non-green stem?