jasper5150 Posted June 13, 2023 Share Posted June 13, 2023 Since my 10 gallon garage tank exploded with offspring, the better half agreed to purchase another tank to house the ever expanding population of the Endlers. Did some searching and found this 25 or 29 gallon tank on the Marketplace. She agreed to have it reside on her dresser so I needed to make sure it was of a good size but not overpowering for the amazing strength of Ikea furniture. Since I have been collecting funds from the population explosion of cherry shrimp from the 20 gallon, this gave me the opportunity to do a shopping spree at the Co-op. I purchased a light, air pump, sponge and accessories, heater and substrate. I spent so much I was able to get a free frozen food item! Yay!? I did do an order for plants from the Co-op as well along with some Easy Green a couple weeks later. Prior to that, purchased some plants from a local shop close by. Here is what I have so far: Cryptocoryne Tropica 1 Cryptocoryne Lutea 1 Cryptocoryne Lucens 3 Cryptocoryne Wendtii Red 1 Water Sprite 1 Java Fern 2 Anubias Nana "petite" 2 Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus 1 Vallisneria 2 Micro sword 2 Rotala species 2 dwarf water lettuce and I don't know what it is 1 Also went with 3 bags of Activ-Flora planted aquarium substrate available at Aquarium CO-OP in store. Wish it was for delivery, but I would expect exorbitant delivery charges for it! Here is the progression from start to now in pictures: This is right after planting And this is a week later.... Two weeks after planting... three weeks after planting... 1 month after planting... I'll try and keep this one going. 4 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted June 14, 2023 Share Posted June 14, 2023 Awesome! I was just thinking about doing some Endlers in a 29 gal. with Nanochomis. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasper5150 Posted June 14, 2023 Author Share Posted June 14, 2023 I had to look up what that is. Cichlids on the small side. I would love to see how this goes! Starting to see hair algae. Thinking of getting a few Amano shrimp to help. Any other recommendations? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted June 14, 2023 Share Posted June 14, 2023 On 6/13/2023 at 9:29 PM, jasper5150 said: I had to look up what that is. Cichlids on the small side. I would love to see how this goes! Starting to see hair algae. Thinking of getting a few Amano shrimp to help. Any other recommendations? I like Bristlenose Plecos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasper5150 Posted June 14, 2023 Author Share Posted June 14, 2023 On 6/13/2023 at 7:17 PM, Fish Folk said: I like Bristlenose Plecos. Those were on my mind as well. I do like them since they don’t get too big. How many do you think would be good for this tank? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted June 14, 2023 Share Posted June 14, 2023 On 6/13/2023 at 10:25 PM, jasper5150 said: Those were on my mind as well. I do like them since they don’t get too big. How many do you think would be good for this tank? I think a pair of goldens would be nice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasper5150 Posted June 14, 2023 Author Share Posted June 14, 2023 Oooh! Those would look great among the green 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasper5150 Posted June 17, 2023 Author Share Posted June 17, 2023 Did a small water change, cleaned up the glass and sucked off the substrate today. Plants loved the new water. Pulled out some water lettuce and made a corral for the remainder. Wanted to keep it off the rotala. Want that to grow so I can trim it up and add it elsewhere. some of the fry are starting to show their male and female colors. Going to need to find some new homes soon. added a couple ramshorn snails close to two weeks ago. They are getting huge! Probably see more soon. Bladder snails are still laying eggs everywhere they can. All good. They will keep it nice and tidy. purchased a new lid. The previous one was missing the plastic at the back creating a gap. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasper5150 Posted June 22, 2023 Author Share Posted June 22, 2023 Did a good sized water change and filter squeeze today. Also added more Easy root tabs. Noticed the Val is sending out shoots, yay! Water is a bit cloudy due to the filter maintenance. Hopefully that clears up quickly. The bladder snails are laying eggs all over the place! At least they are not those miniature snails that hang out on the glass all the time. These guys are fast! The ramshorn snails are starting to multiply as well. Don’t mind either of these guys at all. Helping keep the algae situation under control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasper5150 Posted June 29, 2023 Author Share Posted June 29, 2023 Did the weekly glass cleaning, water change, mulm cleanup and filter squeeze. Hair algae is still hanging around. Pulled quite a bit off but the endlers are pecking at it like it’s a buffet. Snails are still multiplying but that’s good. Helping me keep this tank somewhat algae free. Have been thinking of getting a pair of bristlenose plecos soon. I need to transfer all the adults from the garage tank into this tank so I can quarantine the plecos. For the time being, picked up 5 Amano shrimp to help clean up. Being acclimated as I type this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasper5150 Posted September 21, 2023 Author Share Posted September 21, 2023 So, my wish of posting weekly went waaaaay out the window. Access to a computer so my pictures are oriented the correct way is limited. These are photos from today. The endler population is exploding at an exponential rate. I ran a med duo of Ich-X and ParaCleanse for a week since I saw a female with spots. She is all better and the tank is doing amazing!! Sidenote, anyone looking for Enders??? Wanted to poll... Light at the front of the tank??? or at the back of the tank.... This photo gives an idea of what the population is for the Endlers and why I need to reduce the population... Does anyone have any recommendations to help reduce my population without a cannibalistic tankmate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoofyGarra Posted September 21, 2023 Share Posted September 21, 2023 On 9/20/2023 at 9:10 PM, jasper5150 said: Does anyone have any recommendations to help reduce my population without a cannibalistic tankmate? what temperature is the tank? A lower temperature will reduce the metabolism speed of the endlers so they wont give birth and grow as fast. Not quite a population control method, but it will delay a population boom. Maybe try to slowly drop down the temperature of the heater to 72? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasper5150 Posted September 21, 2023 Author Share Posted September 21, 2023 The temp is set at 75. I could drop it to 72 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasper5150 Posted October 4, 2023 Author Share Posted October 4, 2023 After removing a majority of the adults, the tank looks way better. Time to feed and grow the fry. Getting the fish out of here was really not too bad. Removed the ship and placed the medium-sized ACO net near one corner and used my hand to guide the fish towards the net. Took some time but worked out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasper5150 Posted October 6, 2023 Author Share Posted October 6, 2023 They really like the Repashy community food Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwissAquarist Posted November 3, 2023 Share Posted November 3, 2023 Nice tank! You’re probably one of the Co-Ops best customers 😂. I also had an Endler explosion once upon a time…but my tank was filthy! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasper5150 Posted November 3, 2023 Author Share Posted November 3, 2023 I have definitely spent a good amount of money but the products are worth it. I really want to give the new sponge filter upgrade kit a try. Will give this tank a good amount of circulation. I tried a power head but that was way too much for these guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasper5150 Posted November 3, 2023 Author Share Posted November 3, 2023 Had to do a big trim. Most of the plants are having problems with yellowing and pinholes in the leaves. I have upped the dose of Easy Green to 6 pumps a week and have started to supplement with potassium. Pulled out lots of hair algae as well. Let’s see what happens… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasper5150 Posted December 9, 2023 Author Share Posted December 9, 2023 Last week my order of the sponge filter upgrade kit arrived. All I have to say is it has made a world of difference. I also added the 5 salt and pepper Cory’s I picked up a couple months ago which has helped as well. Before installing the upgrade, I did a water change, filter squeeze and removed whatever Mulm I could get to. After installation Today, I did another water change and filter squeeze. The amount of gunk that came out of the sponge was insane! The gunk was even starting to buildup in the center of the sponge With the Cory’s kicking up debris and the flow pushing stuff back towards the filter, this is the cleanest it’s been since it was first set up. I do want to see if I can increase the flow a bit more though. Probably has to do with the air pump at that point. Seeing what @Cory has coming out of his setup probably has to do with the linear air pump rather than the single outlet ACO air pump. I have to say, this is great for tanks larger than 20 gallons. Adding flow which reduces dead zones and helps carry debris towards the filter, it’s a steal at $4.99. Dropped in a couple squares of Repashy Community before I took this shot. and an appearance of an elder cherry shrimp chowing down Curious how much gunk will be in the filter next week? Plan on doing another small water change just so I can see. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasper5150 Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 Has been over a month since installing the new uplift tube. Has taken some tinkering to get it just right. Have noticed there is a sweet spot. Says it in the instructions but be honest, how often are those read when you’re so excited to try new things. The tube needs to just above the water level for maximum flow. Too far above and it just creates low flow down towards the bottom. I have squeezed the filter several times since installing. Each time, so much gunk comes out. It’s amazing. Still having issues with hair algae. Have reduced the lighting to 30% at 7 hours a day. Seems to have helped. Going to cut back on how much food the fish get and see if they will nip more at the algae in between feedings. Will help reduce nutrient load as well. The ferns are not doing so well. The leaves keep dying off and getting pinholes. Started upping the dose of Easy Green and adding a potassium supplement to see if that helps. Stem plants don’t seem to be doing well either. Any ideas? The crypts, Val and pogostemon seem to be doing good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasper5150 Posted March 8 Author Share Posted March 8 After the last post, I turned the light down to 20% because of a hair algae problem. Since doing so, the hair algae is gone. Yes! Downside, pretty much all the stems died. The crypts are good and the pogostemon stellatus has come back and growing really well. Anubias holding steady. Java ferns are doing ok. About a third the size they were when I first bought them. Been having issues with the Easy Flow tube. Have noticed that the air holes get plugged. Have had to use a toothbrush weekly to clean that area. If I don’t, the flow goes to a trickle. The sponge is being powered by a single outlet ACO air pump. Maybe not enough air output? Not sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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