My Tanks: 18 May Update

The times between my updates keep stretching out because my tanks are going through fewer and fewer changes. Once every couple of months is more than enough to cover everything. That said, I only have a few things to report this week.

My comminuty tank got some new residents in the form of Amano shrimp (Caridina multidentata). The gourami did pick off a few, but the remaining three are hard at work keeping down the algae. I have a bit of staghorn algae in the tank, and they have been very diligent in eating it. Amano shrimp are much larger than cherry shrimp and do just fine with the fish.

My new amano shrimp.

I have also added a new plant: Hygrophilia sp tiger. It is another stem plant, but it is one of the few low-light stem plants. It's in a temporary position right now, but during the summer I'm going to put a canister on the community tank. Then the hygro can be moved to where I want it. Thanks to the sharp eye of a friend, I've also realized I have a fourth species of crypt in my tank. He pointed out that I have a C. pontederiifolia as well as the C. spiralis, C. undulata, and C. wendtii. I'm guessing it came as an extra with my last order of crypts from Aquariumplants.com.

You can see the C. pontederiifolia to the right of the rock in the center.
The hygro is in the back left. And there is a bonus amano.

The shrimp tank underwent the most changes. Because my starting population was so low, I ordered 10 sakura red shrimp from HomelessAquatics.com. They arrive in good condition and acclimated well, but I had a mass die-off like 4 days after they went into the tank. I attribute it to first-time shrimping mistakes which could have been anything from not feeding enough, feeding too much, an immature tank, pH too high. I wasn't really sure, but either way only about 3 of the original 10 are still alive. I was about to give up on shrimps when a female became berried, but she died shortly after that. I put her body in a net over the filter in an attempt to hatch her eggs like I'd read online. And it actually worked! I was able to hatch about five eggs.

As for cosmetic changes in the tank, I have also made some large ones. I added two large pieces of driftwood as well as some X-mas moss and java moss. I removed the bacopa because I just didn't like the look of it. I also added some floating plants such as frogbit and dwarf water lettuce. I currently have one berried female and a few saddled ones.

Current state of the shrimp tank. I also added a feeding dish to the tank.

There aren't nearly as many updates as I would like with the pond because we've had a very cold spring. We even had a frost earlier this week. The plants are just flowering now. I added some water hyacinth to the pond, but it's not in top shape due to the cold weather.

Yellow iris and the koi

Stout blue-eyed grass

Up close on the iris and koi

The other major change in my fish tanks is a new goldfish!!! Mid April I bought a ranchu from DandyOrandas.com, and I'm in love with this little girl! She's slightly larger than my ryukin and oranda, but they are catching up fast. I have named her Ponyo, but my mother calls her Marlyn because she has a black dot on her check. She took to hand feeding extremely well, and fits in with the group perfectly. I am so happy to have her!!

Look at that cute face!!!

Like three peas in a pod.

The last and rather small (right now) change in the goldfish tank was the addition of six apple snails. A friend had too many in his tank and was giving away babies. I plopped them in while distracting the goldfish, but Ponyo was too quick and completely ate one, spitting out the operculum. So the apple snails are in a breeder box getting daily feedings so they grow large enough not to be goldfish food. 

My new snails with a cameo from Burbbles.

There will be something special in the next update! :3

My tanks: 6 April Update

With spring comes a lot of new things including lots of updates! The weather is finally warming up here, and I'm gearing up for some outdoor summer projects that I will fill you in on later.

First off, the pond is open for 2013! Earlier this week we took the net off the pond. I spent a few hours cleaning out a lot of the algae that built up over the winter and clearing out any debris that made it through the net. The koi were out to greet me and the water is almost warm enough to start feeding them. I start them out with Cheerios at 55F (13C) and move them to wheat germ when the temp hits 65F (18C).

Freshly uncovered and cleaned of most algae

The koi just hanging out in the sunshine.

The next major change is a new tank! I removed the red cherry shrimp from my community and set up a tank dedicated to breeding them. My gourami were making it next to impossible to breed them, so I just removed the shrimp. I moved over the remaining adults and later that week found four juveniles hiding in the moss. Thus far the female has released one clutch of eggs and is holding a second. Because the founding population is so small, I'm going to order more red cherries. Too much inbreeding produces shrimp that are far to weak. The plants are mostly stems with some anubias. The plant list: Bacopa carolinia, dwarf sagittaria (Sagittaria subulata), Myriophyllum mattogrossense, Rotala rotundifolia, Anubias spp, riccia, Subwassertang, and java moss.

Full tank shot

Two males and juvvie eating sinking wafers.

There have also been large changed in my community tank. I've finally added the cardinal tetra. I bought 12 from msjinxkd.com. They came in excellent condition and have been flourishing ever since. They are as gorgeous as they are in pictures, and I'm completely in love. The shoal has been dubbed "The Shinies" and my family remarked that they almost look like they are glowing.

My new cardinal tetra; I apologize for the dark picture.

The other major change in my community has been an addition of more crypts. The dwarf sagittaria (Sagittaria subulata) and dwarf chain sword (Echinodorus tenellus) I had in there was just languishing. I don't know if it was the light or the tannins or just what, but they never grew for me. So I removed what was still alive and placed it in the shrimp tank. I replanted that side of the tank with green wendtii (Cryptocoryne wendtii var green) and red wendtii crypts (Cryptocoryne wendtii var red) and C. spiralis from AquariumPlants.com. I've had minimal melt with them and even see new growth. I'm very pleased with them. You can see them on the right side of the tank.

Full tank shot; the bettas are still in the breeder boxes.

The first of my summer projects I have begun are my snail bowls. Since my goldfish are growing larger and more apt to eat the smaller snails, I need to grow out my snails before I introduce them into that tank. I have set up two old betta bowls as snail bowls. One has hornwort and the other has anarcharis clippings from my betta tank, and both have a layer of duckweed. Because my water is so soft I have crushed coral substrate to maintain a steady pH and enough water hardness for the plants and snail shells. They get weekly water changes with the waste water being used to water the terrestrial plants in the terrarium window.

Right bowl - hornwort; left bowl - anarcharis

Ramshorn snails in the anarcharis bowl

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