Livebearers are cool! (40 breeder journal)

[FyaNyan]

Hello 🙂

I’ve decided to turn a new leaf in my aquarium adventures. I’ve had multiple tanks for a few years, but felt as if none of them were truly at their best. So for the present, I’m going to downsize to on one tank and really pour some love into it. I want to make a journal of my progress with this tank!

THIS WEEK

I decided to give up my goldfish (for various reasons) and move the stock and plants from my 20 gallon into his 40 breeder. I spent a little extra on new plants and am very happy with the results!

Current stock: 1 BN pleco, 2 cherry barbs (leftovers from a previous batch), 6 guppies, and 2 snails.

The guppies are looking a little ripped up. Not sure when or why that happened, but they seem active and are eating well. One looks a little sickly, but I think he’s looked malformed since I got him. They are in much cleaner conditions now (I had neglected their tank somewhat).

I plan on adding a school of orange or red colored livebearers, leaning toward a small group of swordtails. I had always stayed away from livebearers at the beginning of my time in the hobby because I thought they were boring and too “fake” looking. Now their “fake” colors are exactly why I want them! They are super cool fish, perhaps my favorite.

I’m going to hold off on getting new fish for the time being, address any potential fin rot on the guppies, order some root tabs, and let the plants settle in. I know some of the Amazon swords will die back before growing in for real, but I’m very excited for this project!

Edited September 8 by FyaNyan

[Guppysnail]

Looks great. That is an awesome and interesting piece of wood. 
 

[FyaNyan]

On 9/7/2023 at 8:41 PM, Guppysnail said:

Looks great. That is an awesome and interesting piece of wood. 
 

It’s actually three pieces of spiderwood. I have found if you put the wood upside-down the shapes are more interesting and dynamic.