Uproar's 8g Cube Journal (Faux Blackwater)

[Uproar]

Hi everyone. I've tried journaling in general several times but failed to be consistent. This time I'm doing a fish tank journal, so hopefully it being my hobby will keep me consistent, lol.

Anyway. August 2023. My cousin gifted my little sister a 1 litre fishbowl with a guppy pair. Really beautiful pair. Female was a grey belly with mosaic tail, and the male was a dragon head. The male died in September 2023 and mom asked me to get another one, so I got a leopard guppy. 

Mom and sister flew away for vacation for 2 weeks in November 2023. Initially, I wanted to give a gift to my sister to make up for skipping many festivals and occasions. So I started planning out a bigger tank. With a very tight budget that was my entire savings, I decided to go with a 8g cube. I got it with fluorescent gravel as substrate and an internal filter. That was it for the beginning.

I cleaned it, added water, dechlorinated it and immediately put my fishes in. I didn't know about cycling until 2 days later. I started a fish-in cycle from then. Here's a pic from that day. Yes you're also seeing an Albino Corydora because I was told to get it for bottom clean-up.

Spoiler

 

2 days later, I DIY'd a lid using sunboard, old CPU fan and a 3W blue spotlight laying from a festival decor.

Spoiler

 

A week later, I thought my tank looks like the horrible fluorescent gravel overstocked glofish tanks. I decided to remove all gravel and switched to white sand. I also got an Anubias trimming, and a good bracket light for a full spectrum lighting. (At this point I had studied a decent bit about PAR and aquarium lighting) 

Spoiler

 

A couple of days after, I was told on many Discord communities that keeping the albino cory alone is a bad idea and the tank is also too small for him. So I exchanged it for 2 cherry shrimps. 

What happens next is actually kind of funny. I add my shrimp and one of them immediately disappears. I spend hours trying to find it but I can't. The next day, I see this.

Spoiler

 

I asked around, experts confirmed my suspicion that the guppy had consumed a cherry shrimp and passed away the next day because of being unable to digest it. I quickly removed the other single shrimp remaining in my tank and gave it back to my local fish store.

To replace the leopard guppy, I got this beautiful double swordtail guppy. I also wanted to maintain a 2f:1m ratio so I got another female guppy.

Spoiler

 

At this point my tank was finally how I planned it to be. Although, this female was very pregnant and I had to do something about it.

I quickly got a 20 litre water bottle from a grocery store and cut it in half. I also bought some chicken screen and zip ties and put together this. The female guppy somehow passed through the net the next day so I had to make it double layered to make the holes harder to pass, since both layers were offset and would cause the holes to be unaligned and smaller.

Spoiler

Meanwhile, the tank got 2 nerite snails. I wish I knew about their bioload before getting TWO of them, haha. Enjoy a pic of them eating a slice of blanched cucumber.

Spoiler

 

I decided to get two plants for better nitrate processing.

Spoiler

 

Here's the weird part. A week after the leopard guppy died from presumably eating the cherry shrimp...... A CHERRY SHRIMP SHOWS UP IN THE TANK! I had already given away the other so there were supposed to be none! So the guppy did not die of eating a shrimp, because he never ate one! I immediately gave this shrimp back to the LFS.

Fastforward to 10th December 2023. The grey female guppy (oldest one in the tank) passed away from Nitrite poisoning. I forgot to mention, I've been doing the cycle without a test kit because I can't afford one and it's too overpriced here. Worry not, it's coming in the next month or two before I get my next tank!

By now, the pregnant fancy female had given birth at noon! I assume there to be around 25-30 fry. I got an air pump, tubing, air stone, T joint, knobs, and a sponge filter. Aimed to sell these fry so I wanted them to grow real healthy!

Spoiler

 

Here are two pictures from 12th of December. The guppies look blurry, but this is the last time you'll see them....

Spoiler

 

Edited January 11 by Uproar
Title

[JE47]

I am very excited to follow you journey. Those plants look wonderful! Plants for me is equally as fun as getting a new fish.😀

[Uproar]

On 12/15/2023 at 3:46 AM, JE47 said:

I am very excited to follow you journey. Those plants look wonderful! Plants for me is equally as fun as getting a new fish.😀

Thank you! Unfortunately my plants aren't doing too well at the moment. I don't use fertilizer. When doing water changes, I use tapwater + a tiny bit of borewell water just for the nutrients. The plants have been surviving on this but as of recent the brown algae has started competing them for nutrients and evidently the plants look very dull. It's hard to rub it off manually from cabomba leaves too. Just going to reduce light hours and see how it goes. 

[Uproar]

Hi again!

Update from last night: 

After the grey female died, I was left with just a pair of guppies and I didn't want to buy more because nano fishes aren't as hardy as they're said to be. Especially guppies.
Hence, I took both my guppies to the LFS, traded them in for a discount on a Betta!!!!!!

I now have a red delta betta who is named Santa. Why? Because red, has a nice looking beard, joined my tank in December.

Here's a pic of Santa. I was initially nervous if he'd get along with my nerites. He examined them for a while and then left them alone. Santa got a mosquito baby as a treat!

Spoiler

 

[Uproar]

I did some more research and asked around a few experts. Turns out I have a halfmoon and not a delta! Lol

I had a hard time trying to figure out the 'delta' shape in the caudial fin but I wasn't able to - now I know why! Anyway, really happy about this beautiful boy. 

[Uproar]

I forgot to show the filter modification I did to reduce flow. My internal filter's air outlet also throws out water at a decent rate and it was good current for my guppies. Had to modify it for the betta though. I took a piece of PVC, used my soldering iron to make a hole and tightly pushed it into the filter output.

Spoiler

 

 

I also rotated the spray bar so it hits the glass instead of pushing the water around. It's a 1 feet cube so it was causing a slight tornado of sorts.

Bonus: Nerite taking a shower 🤣

Spoiler

 

Here's a random pic of Santa chilling in a pot.

Spoiler

 

Edited December 27, 2023 by Uproar

[Uproar]

Today I added tannins to my tank to make it false bw. I know it'll be golden for my Betta. Looks super cool too. I also added a sheet of paper inside my bracket light to reduce the brightness. 

My android camera doesn't do justice to the tank. It's not as bright irl and the water looks perfect.

Spoiler

 

 

[Schuyler]

On 12/27/2023 at 2:37 PM, Uproar said:

My android camera doesn't do justice to the tank. It's not as bright irl and the water looks perfect.

You may be doing this already but here is a tip for getting the best picture: take it at night, turn off all other lights in the room, and crank up the light on the tank to fill power.

That's what I do when I want a full tank shot.

How did you add tannins?

[Uproar]

On 12/30/2023 at 8:33 PM, Schuyler said:

You may be doing this already but here is a tip for getting the best picture: take it at night, turn off all other lights in the room, and crank up the light on the tank to fill power.

That's what I do when I want a full tank shot.

How did you add tannins?

Thank you! I used tea. A couple days later I discovered we have a huge almond tree in my complex. Unfortunately it's winter so it's got new green leaves. I took some and left them to dry. Will be using them the next time I want to add tannins.