What did you get done today?

[bettatester]

On 6/30/2021 at 10:18 PM, Steve A said:

I was out and about today and when I got home these were in the back of my truck  😁

 

I feel this. Yesterday I got lost on my way back home and somehow found myself at the fish store. 🙃

[bettatester]

Got my lame looking, oddly shaped 3 gallon upgraded to a nice, normal 10, haha. Needs more plants, but I think it is coming along nicely. 

[gogomarigo]

All of my medaka friends survived the heat!⠀
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Here they are at feeding time😊⠀
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You can also see the new growth on my red tiger lotus!⠀
 

[Fragilenanotank]

As a long time lurker, the thing I did today is:

I made my first journal on the forum about my fish closet!

This closet has been my secret to keeping my dream fish for over a year!

Inside there is a live foods culture system that makes keeping different organisms simple and clean; Plus an endler tank that has more plants on the outside of it than under the water.

I hope you join me as I explore how to best use this tight space, and share some knowledge that will make us all better aquarists. No matter the salinity.

[Huck]

Yesterday really, but I did a larger than usual water change and really cleaned the front glass on my main display tank. Then, I took the time to really deep clean the lid which had some gunk built up on it. 

 

Monday, I am going to come back here and declare myself duckweed free, because I have decided to completely pull all the duckweed out of my 4 tanks that have it. 

[Patrick_G]

Started to set up a basic 15 gal guppy tub today. I robbed some water lettuce and Pogostemon Octopus from indoor tanks then added a cycled sponge filter and a big piece of cycled coarse sponge. As an afterthought  I decided to throw in the contents of my month old snail vases. Tomorrow I’ll add a few guppies and monitor parameters. Wish me luck! 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Patrick_G

[Griznatch]

Good luck!

 

So far my guppies are doing good, in spite of mother nature trying to boil or fry everything outside..

 

And.. on a what did I get done today note... scraped a ton of algae out of the birdbath/fountain part of the goldfish pond

Edited July 4, 2021 by Griznatch

[Patrick_G]

On 7/3/2021 at 5:01 PM, Griznatch said:

Good luck!

 

So far my guppies are doing good, in spite of mother nature trying to boil or fry everything outside..

I’ve never done tropicals outside so this is going to be fun! 

[Odd Duck]

On 7/3/2021 at 9:23 AM, Huck said:

Yesterday really, but I did a larger than usual water change and really cleaned the front glass on my main display tank. Then, I took the time to really deep clean the lid which had some gunk built up on it. 

 

Monday, I am going to come back here and declare myself duckweed free, because I have decided to completely pull all the duckweed out of my 4 tanks that have it. 

Get back to me in a month after weekly duckweed removal and declare again.

I swear I’ve gotten it all every week, then up it pops.  I topped off tanks last week instead of water changing and this week my 46 G bow had about 5 times as much duckweed.  It’s still only a little bit, but aggravating none the less.

 

As for what I accomplished today besides swearing at duckweed:

Water changes in 16 of 19 tanks, the rest will happen tomorrow along with some impeller replacement that’s overdue.

Set up a new 10 gallon in my bank of tanks, planted it with the Echinodorus vesuvius that wasn’t impressing me in the 100 G tank - it just wasn’t getting tall enough where it was, but it was happy enough to be sending runners all over the place.  Put 1 in my new 2 G, it should be tall enough in there and a nice scale for this tiny tank.  Anybody need some E. vesuvius?  I’ve got plenty, now.

Moved a trio of ‘not actually’ Crypt. wendtii ‘Green Gecko’ that appear to be an Aponogeton, probably ulvaceus, to where the E. vesuvius and an Echinodorus cordifolius ‘Marble Queen’ were located in the 100G.

Moved the ‘Marble Queen’ to a 10 G because it wasn’t impressing me with its size, either.

Reglued an Anubias hastifolia down to its rock.  Why this one, out of 5 I glued to lava rocks over 4 weeks ago, has decided it wanted to come loose, I don’t know.  But it’s stuck again after more swearing while scooping out duckweed.

Replanted the silly Lagenandra meeboldii ‘Red’ that the snails keep dislodging because they’re only a couple weeks out of their tissue cup.

Added another layer of sand to the 10 G where the ‘Marble Queen’ was planted after discovering how shallow my substrate was while trying to bury the mass of roots from what was a fairly well established sword.  🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

Added more sand and filled in on top of where I pulled out the Aponogeton (not Crypt. ‘Green Gecko’).  The *actual* Green Geckos should fill in nicely.

And finally, pulled all of the Amazon frogbit and as much Wolffia as possible out of 3 of my 10G tanks.  I *thought* duckweed was bad.  It ain’t got NOTHIN’ on Wolffia!  I can’t even guess at when I got the Wolffia but I first noticed it at least 4 weeks after I put some juvenile pea puffers into a 10 G quarantine/grow out tank.  Then it appeared in another quarantine tank, then in a shrimp tank.  Still confined to only the bank of tanks so far.

This may end up in a burn it with fire 🔥 🔥 🔥 situation.  We shall see.  I have learned that Wolffia doesn’t float as well as duckweed.  It will sink down and swirl around, taunting you, as you try to sweep it up with the net.  This might get interesting and will likely have some swearing happen during the process.  If I can clear it all within a month, I’ll be beside myself with happiness.  🙄

I am very open to suggestions for what might eat the Wolffia that would be compatible in a neo shrimp breeding tank.

[anewbie]

So my 5 gallon tank needed some tender loving care. The substrate was a bad choice and i realize it would need replacement (and this is why not to use ultra fine substrate or at least this ultra fine substrate); this substrate was extremely toxic killing shrimp, snails and all but one of the neon tetra. The ember seem more hardy. Anyway i tossed most of the floaters including a giant water lettuce and a few of the mystery snails (really hate these things  - given away more than a 100 of them the past 6 months but they seem endless and i'm getting tired of mailing them). Anyway with all the headache the boca had an extremely large clean root system (much larger than i expected of a stem plant); sadly the pinto anubia had mostly rotted but a small piece might recover. The golden anubia was dong well and had developed a root system 4 times the size of the plant (most of my anubia don't develop strong root systems). The dwarf sag had actually been growing but i hate that plant still i kept a few pieces.  Sadly the 3 sword plants all had black roots and were pretty much rotting so 2 of them got tossed but one might recover. Oh well gotta run can't be late.

 

Here is the before picture

Here is the after picture

Here are my banana plant roots (they were over 12 inches long but turning black). 

 

This new substrate is fairly fine but so far in my 29 has proven to be porous and not develop pockets of anaerobic bacteria that leach back into the tank killing everything. This is mostly a test and we will run this tank for 9 to 11 months and see how it does.

 

Sadly i had a hard stop as i had to meet someone so i will let it sit for a week or so then clean up the landscape.

 

[gogomarigo]

I think I might be having my first batch of sparkling gourami babies soon!⠀
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I recently put in this hide (more for the kuhli loaches but it seems they prefer the hobbit house). I noticed a week ago that one of the gouramis was fond of the lower right tube in particular but today, I noticed that there appeared to be little “hairs” at the top of that tube!⠀
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It was hard for me to see using a flashlight or taking a photo with flash cause of the glare and angle but I think I see a bubble nest! Usually babies are “face-up” into the bubbles at first too so I’m guessing what I’m seeing in the silhouettes is their little tails. In the lower photo you can see how protective the adult male is, despite them usually being shy. They won’t even let the female get close after the eggs have been put in the nest!⠀
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I’ll likely just let nature take its course this time around. I’ve got too much going on to set up a separate breeder tank. I’m just glad this means the gouramis feel happy and safe😊⠀

[Hobbit]

On 6/29/2021 at 1:19 PM, Theresa W said:

I use cotton kitchen string instead because I feel weird about putting superglue in my aquariums.

Thanks Theresa! I will keep an eye out for anyone getting stuck. I was trying to use cotton embroidery thread at first, but it disintegrated before the moss could take hold. Superglued was definitely a second choice. The fishing line is plan C. 😆 I think part of the problem is the plecos munch the wood underneath the moss so it doesn’t have time to really root. Then again, the moss wouldn’t stick before I had plecos either. 😝 The plastic netting could be the way to go! Or I might just give up. The moss looks terrible there anyway. 😂

[TheDukeAnumber1]

Had some fun feeding today.

 

[anewbie]

Did a minor update to the 5. Fixed the banana plant leaf after the picture but since I have some new plants to add to this tank later in the week i'll provide a new picture then for now here is what we have. The dwarf sag actually grows fairly well in this tank and i threw most of it away but kept a little. I've decided I dislike dwarf sag so not sure how long the stuff in there will last. I should move a couple of echinodorus parviflorus over from my 40 and I think i will when the other plants arrive. So this is what we have today (which is an improvement from the picture above) but won't be as nice as the next picture:

 

[Streetwise]

I am watching Batman Begins, and the Bat chirp is almost the same as the Chipmunk chirp that I noticed before.

[Daedalus]

Today I learned green water is totally off the charts

[Ken]

I caught shrimp for my regular LFS delivery. People have asked several times on here how to catch shrimp, this is the best I've come up with so far.

A jam jar and some shrimp food. Dump them in a net to cull and sort. Too little or berried they go back in the tank, just right go in the bucket that goes to the LFS. 

[Torrey]

New Tanks!!!!

 

Today I picked up my new 4' tank, and 2 new 10 gallons for fry...except one 10 gallon is now being used as an emergency hospital tank because my betta is.... unique.

Have ~30 zebra danio fry almost ready for my lfs, might be keeping a dozen if they stay nano sized and replace my older breeders.

90 minutes of hands in the water separated out almost 100 guppies into breeding stock and "move on" stock... examined 2 month old danios for the healthiest and smallest (potential) breeders, and rescaped a 5 gallon tank.

Thank you for the challenge, Cory!

 

My fish (minus my unique betta) have never been happier!

[Torrey]

On 7/3/2021 at 7:41 PM, Odd Duck said:

Get back to me in a month after weekly duckweed removal and declare again.

I swear I’ve gotten it all every week, then up it pops.  I topped off tanks last week instead of water changing and this week my 46 G bow had about 5 times as much duckweed.  It’s still only a little bit, but aggravating none the less.

 

As for what I accomplished today besides swearing at duckweed:

Water changes in 16 of 19 tanks, the rest will happen tomorrow along with some impeller replacement that’s overdue.

Set up a new 10 gallon in my bank of tanks, planted it with the Echinodorus vesuvius that wasn’t impressing me in the 100 G tank - it just wasn’t getting tall enough where it was, but it was happy enough to be sending runners all over the place.  Put 1 in my new 2 G, it should be tall enough in there and a nice scale for this tiny tank.  Anybody need some E. vesuvius?  I’ve got plenty, now.

Moved a trio of ‘not actually’ Crypt. wendtii ‘Green Gecko’ that appear to be an Aponogeton, probably ulvaceus, to where the E. vesuvius and an Echinodorus cordifolius ‘Marble Queen’ were located in the 100G.

Moved the ‘Marble Queen’ to a 10 G because it wasn’t impressing me with its size, either.

Reglued an Anubias hastifolia down to its rock.  Why this one, out of 5 I glued to lava rocks over 4 weeks ago, has decided it wanted to come loose, I don’t know.  But it’s stuck again after more swearing while scooping out duckweed.

Replanted the silly Lagenandra meeboldii ‘Red’ that the snails keep dislodging because they’re only a couple weeks out of their tissue cup.

Added another layer of sand to the 10 G where the ‘Marble Queen’ was planted after discovering how shallow my substrate was while trying to bury the mass of roots from what was a fairly well established sword.  🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

Added more sand and filled in on top of where I pulled out the Aponogeton (not Crypt. ‘Green Gecko’).  The *actual* Green Geckos should fill in nicely.

And finally, pulled all of the Amazon frogbit and as much Wolffia as possible out of 3 of my 10G tanks.  I *thought* duckweed was bad.  It ain’t got NOTHIN’ on Wolffia!  I can’t even guess at when I got the Wolffia but I first noticed it at least 4 weeks after I put some juvenile pea puffers into a 10 G quarantine/grow out tank.  Then it appeared in another quarantine tank, then in a shrimp tank.  Still confined to only the bank of tanks so far.

This may end up in a burn it with fire 🔥 🔥 🔥 situation.  We shall see.  I have learned that Wolffia doesn’t float as well as duckweed.  It will sink down and swirl around, taunting you, as you try to sweep it up with the net.  This might get interesting and will likely have some swearing happen during the process.  If I can clear it all within a month, I’ll be beside myself with happiness.  🙄

I am very open to suggestions for what might eat the Wolffia that would be compatible in a neo shrimp breeding tank.

I am sorry you are struggling, I just wanted to say thank you for your fabulous writing. 

 

I needed a lift me up, and the belly laugh did the trick!

 

I have an ornate ornata turtle with her own private pond (complete with guppies) and I have found any plants that I throw in there she decimates.

I literally can't grow duckweed fast enough to keep her happy, too bad you are not a neighbor!

 

The most reliable fish for eating plants has consistently been goldfish. Before the turtle, I played musical tanks and moved goldfish from one tank to another (same way I moved goats from one field to another instead of mowing the lawn😅).

 

Currently, I control snails with a similar approach: I have a single assassin snail who controls the snail population in my 13 tanks😬

[Phantom240]

Changed my CO2 diffuser out from a piece of dookie fluval "pollen glass" diffuser to a nice new aquario neo diffuser. World of difference. 

[Odd Duck]

@Torrey  Glad I could entertain, at least.  😆

Looking at the Wolffia infested tanks today, they aren’t as scary as I thought they would be.  I’ll have to keep an eagle eye out for the tiny little green specks, but at least I have a smidgin of hope now that I don’t think I’ll be spending the rest of my life scooping out green specks the size of a grain of table salt.

[anewbie]

Picked up a few new plants for the 5 gallon. Red plants are always a bit of a cross your fingers when using inert substrate and low-tech so we will have to keep an eye on these. If they don't take we will revert to green plants. The banana plant is responding rather quickly as it has generated 3 new leaves (very small at this point) since my last update. Guess it prefers the clean substrate to the poisonous stuff that was in there before.

 

Btw there is a reason why the fishes are on the left side in this picture as they normally prefer the right side. Every morning i feed them on the left side so as i walk into the room they collect on the right side for food and then they will go back to the left side 😉

 

 

Edited July 9, 2021 by anewbie

[Fish Folk]

Bought 4x more bags of black activ-flora substrate for 7x total for my son’s 75 gal set up. 
 

Not cheap. Better be awesome sauce! 

 

[Fish Folk]

Got some Osmocote Plus to sparingly mix with 75 gal substrate for major planted tank.

[gogomarigo]

My red tiger lotus finally has a leaf that reached the surface! I think being outside in the sunshine really helped. Now it will start to send out a different type of leaf that will become a lily pad. I’m not sure if it’ll be able to create lotus flowers before the cold weather hits but if not this season, then hopefully next!

Most people know tiger lotuses for their speckled green leaves but the undersides of the leaves are actually a vibrant purple.

The fish are youhiki medaka rice fish from the Co-op. I also have some miyukis from the Co-op too. And the red tiger lotus is from the Co-op!