My tanks: 11 Oct 215

I'M BACK! Since it's been over a year, lots of changes have happened with my tanks. Fish have come and gone. I'll try to remember to say what happened to all of my projects, but if I don't mention one feel free to remind me!

The biggest change that happened is I moved to Georgia for graduate school. This means I had to leave my pond back in Virginia. It is in good hands, tho. My mother still resides in the house and has been taking care of it and keeping me updated. I periodically return especially around the holidays, so photo updates will still come in for the pond.

Even before I moved to Georgia, all of my betta fish died, and I did not replace them with more. Betta are beautiful, but they are so fragile. Fall of 2013 the two betta in my divided tank died after contracting what I believe was lymphocystis from the pet store.  They were both plakats and very beautiful, but I think if I return to betta fish it will be the wild Betta spp. I do plan to keep up my betta care sheet and quick reference page as betta are very popular fish in the hobby.

While my betta did not make the trip with me to Georgia, my goldfish did. However, due to the stresses of grad school, I was unable to give them the care they needed. One succumbed to bad water quality before I realized what had happened. I gave away the other. Unfortunately Mr. Waddles, my rescue, died before I moved, most likely due to issues with his tank before he arrived at my house. I don't see myself returning to goldfish keeping any time soon, but I will continue to update my goldfish care sheet because they are such an misunderstood fish. The more misinformation I can correct, the better.

Last but not least (I do still have ONE tank) is the 29 gallon community. I still have my adorable loaches. They happily made the trip with me to Georgia. A few cardinal tetra did, too. An accident with dechlorinator was their end. Let this be a lesson to everyone: always add dechlor before you add water back into the tank.

Current state of the 29 gallon. Plants are mostly low-light. Filter is a Finnex P-360

However, you may notice there are still little tetra swimming around in the 29 gallon. Recently I got a different species of tetra to fill the upper spaces of the tank. I opted for glowlight tetra (Hemigrammus erythrozonus) due to their hardy nature. They are commonly recommended for beginners due to their forgiving nature, and I've always thought they were pretty. So I wanted to try them out. I received 10 of them and have already been smitten by them. They are surprisingly easier to photograph than my cardinals were. It probably also helps that I got a new camera, too.

Glowlight tetra (Hemigrammus erythrozonus)

And a shot of my loaches because I love them too much not to include them! ^-^

So those are all the changes that have occurred since my unplanned hiatus. I do not expect to be setting up any more tanks until I finish grad school, have a career, and a house. So future updates will be few and far between. 

Back again!

Hello everyone!

Thank you for holding on this long, but my unexpected hiatus is over. I'll be doing some updates on the blog in the coming weeks to prepare for a new theme (sort of). Links need to be updated and whatnot. I also need to update you all on my fish tanks! LOTS of changes happened there. I've also started grad school working towards an environmental education degree, so some of that may slip in with regards to fish.

so YAY I'm back :D

EDIT: I've also changed the url to fishgirlwrites! My old url will still be there to prevent any broken links!

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

Removing the Water

This week I worked on a special project. It's unique from my other tanks because it doesn't involve water! Well it does, but this project isn't submerged! I made a moss terrarium from a Nature's Pure Glass 1 gal cube. I originally intended this for an aquatic project, but had to abandon that because it's positioning made water changes difficult. So I removed the water from the setup.

Because I know very little about terrestrial plants I searched around the internet for a tutorial (and some general guidance) on making a moss terrarium. This was my favorite that I found and the one I've generally been following. First I had to clean out the old cube because I'd kinda just let the water sit in it. I cleaned it with vinegar in an attempt to get most of the hard water stains off the sides.

I gathered all of my materials on the front porch. Then came the fun part, collecting the moss. You can buy it online, but since I have a lovely backyard I wanted to venture out and see just what moss was growing in the ravine. My pond does have a bit of moss on the rocks, but since it has taken about seven years to develop I didn't want to destroy that aesthetic. I grabbed an old backpack, some large freezer ziplock bags, and small trowel and went collecting. While I was out there I also dug up some rocks for this project. If you don't have a backyard like I do, you can go to a local park and head off the trail. But while you are out there make sure you are aware of your surroundings; carry a phone or go with someone else.

Moss in my backyard. I harvested this after I took the picture.

 When I returned with my moss I stated putting the substrate in the cube. First I added a layer of black sand in the bottom to give some added drainage and moisture storage. The room where this is sitting has a fan going all the time, and I'm afraid it might cause too much evaporation. I want to be able to "store" water in the bottom, too. Next, I added a layer of peat moss soil. Moss enjoys growing attached to things and in acidic soil. Since I didn't want moss on my rocks, I opted for the peat moss soil. It only comes in massive bags around here, so I'll be making a few more terrariums later this year. I tried doing some hardscape with the rocks, but most of what I brought back was too big. Finally, I moistened this with some nutrient-rich goldfish water.

Hardscape and peat moss soil

Now I added the moss. I'm not the greatest at making 'scapes, so I have a feeling I will be re-arranging it a few times before I'm totally satisfied. I tried to mimic an iwagumi but I'm pretty sure I failed. Either way, I brought my moss inside and am happy to have it sitting on my desk.

This begins my summer adventure into terrariums. I've never done too well with house plants before because you have to water them so much. I'm hoping that by adding the sand reservoir it will counterbalance my forgetfulness with watering them. If all goes well with this terrarium I'd like to try my hand at making another one with the leftover materials.

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

....

My Tanks: 15 Feb Update

Wow. It's been a long time since an update, and I have a lot to tell. There will be a lot of pictures.

Community Tank

The biggest changes have been in the 29 gal community. It is almost completely stocked. In the beginning of January I ordered my Farlowella acus from Invertibrates by Msjinkzd. Since I knew it might still be a while before there was some color and movement in the tank I also ordered a handful of red cherry shrimp (Neocaridina heteropoda var. red) to add some movement and color. Everyone arrived safe and in great health; I highly recommend buying from this seller! I know I will be a repeat customer. Just take a look at what she sent me! 

Farlowella acus on his first week in the tank. He's cleaned up that algae now.

From the side. The seller did an excellent job of making sure he was eating
before selling him. Comes off his wood when the algae wafers go down.

One of my female RCS just a few days after introduction. She is now berried.

The crypts that I added back in December have really taken off. Both plants have very little melting, and I see lots of new leaves. The tiger lily did not make it. It showed good growth for a few weeks and then the leaves just withered away and never came back. I noticed a problem with the flow behind the smaller piece of driftwood, and had to move the wood and the dwarf sag and pygmy chain sword that was behind it. The sword never recovered and my other sword that was in the tank died off, too. The dwarf sag is slowly recovering, but I don't think it will ever do well there. So I'm looking to put some more crypts on the right side later this year.

In the beginning of February I ordered kuhli loaches (Pangio oblonga) and a trio of honey gourami (Trichogaster chuna) from The Wet Spot in Oregon. Everyone came through quarantine without a hitch so they were put in the main tank a week after they arrived. In fact, they actually spawned twice in the QT to give you an indication of the health of the fish when they arrived. The Wet Spot is another seller I highly recommend.

Full tank shot. You can see the male just to the left of the wood.

One of the females defending her position.

My male gourami trying to romance one of the females.

I believe this is one of the new loaches. It's rare that I get
a picture of them at all, so a butt shot will have to do!

Other tanks

Not too much has changed in my betta and goldfish tanks. I removed the fake floating plants in the goldfish tank since the live plants have grown large enough to fight the current from the filters. It took the goldfish a little bit to get used to, but they're adjusted now.

In the betta tanks I've replaced the home-made sponge filters with Hydro II sponge filters. I noticed some algae issues a few months back and decided I needed a bit more flow. The Hydro II's have give that to me but still keep the flow low enough for the bettas. It's a win-win!

And I did a bit of decorating both tanks for Valentine's Day!

Goldfish tank! Pardon the algae on the back wall.

Hearts on the betta tank! They flared at them for a few minutes.

My last bit of news is a plan to set up a new tank! The plants in my second betta tank just never did well. So I'm breaking down that setup, finding new homes for the bettas and setting up a dedicated red cherry shrimp tank! Those little shrimps were just supposed to be a placeholder until I could get some movement in the tank, but I've fallen in love with them. I have seen the female RCS holding eggs in the community, but I've never seen the babies. I'm pretty sure the fish are eating them. So instead of fighting nature I'm going to dedicate a tank to my shrimps!

My Tanks: 13 Dec Update

A lot has happened since my last tank update. Basically something has changed in every single tank. Most of the changes have been for the better. This will probably be my last tank update of the year as I'll have to wait until after Christmas to add any more fish because we will be leaving on vacation. I don't like to have fish in QT while I'm away.

I bought a new goldfish buddy for my remaining ryukin. She went through a 3 week QT just fine, and they are now swimming together in the large 55 gal. I've seen the breeding tubercules on the ryukin, but I don't see them on the new redcap oranda. And I've seen the ryukin nudging the oranda's vent. I've come to the conclusion that the new goldfish is a girl. I'd really rather have all males to avoid the breeding issue, but it's done and over with. Plus, my new oranda is just precious and outgoing as ever! How could I not love her?

My newest goldfish, a redcap oranda named Burbbles

Burbbles and Magikarp playing together. It's so hard to get them both in focus.

My 29 gal community has undergone the most changes. I added a new large piece of driftwood that I ordered from Aquariumplants.com as well as about 2 more species of plants. I've added green tiger lotus (Nymphaea lotus)  and Cryptocoryne undulata. I ordered them from PetsWarehouse.com, and I can't say I'm too pleased with the packaging. The plants weren't protected very well; there was no padding and the plants were just in plastic bags. The box was visibly crumbled, and some of the plants look damaged. It remains to be seen if they will recover.

Anyway, this complete the aquascape and hardscape. I'm going to let these plants establish for about a month before I begin stocking the fish. I still haven't decided on a final stocking plan, but I do know I will have a tetra species, a gourami species, and a twig catfish (Farlowella spp).

The crypts are small and hardly visible,
but the lotus is that large reddish leaf in the center.

Since I have written you, I've lost one of my bettas, Knucker. He was my oldest and had the worst health due to inbreeding.  During his last months I noticed he lost control of swim bladder and could not maintain neutral buoyancy, a problem common in double-tail bettas. While not a double-tail himself, I believe he carried the genes as I saw a lot of bad hallmarks of the double-tail like scoop head, a huge dorsal, and massive fins. I placed him in a breeder box in the 29 gal. I returned from a Thanksgiving vacation to find him dead, but I take heart in knowing that I gave him the best care and he probably wouldn't have gotten the same if another person had picked him up from the shelf.

Goodbye, Knucker. The picture on the left is from when I first bought him.

The last major change I made was for the plants. I've noticed rather stalled growth in many of my plants. I dose weekly with micronutrients using Seachem Comprehensive, but I still didn't get good growth. After a little research I figured out it is because my water is so soft. I started adding Seachem Equilibrium to raise the GH up to about 6 in each of my softwater tanks. I use it to raise the GH to around 10 in my goldfish tank as they are hardwater fishes. As of right now I haven't seen a large increase in plant health, but I didn't expect it so soon as I've only been using Equilibrium for two weeks now.

My tanks: 22 Oct Update

So while it has been a few months since my last update not much has changed in my tanks except with the goldfish.

I completely redid the aquascape. I removed the gravel once and for all and replaced it with aragonite sand to aid me in hardening the water. I figured out my light is too dim for most plants to grow in the substrate, so I opted for fake plants. I think they look realistic, and I like the cover they give to the fish.

If you can spot him, he's in the bottom right corner!

The fake plants I have are Marineland jumbo bamboo which is floating while the live floating plants--which the goldfish seem to leave alone--fill in, the Marineland A-size multipack that includes red ludwigia, rotala, and moneywort (but I only used to two tallest plants in the center and right), and the  Aqueon Begonia plastic plant 16" on the left. My live plants (most of which are floating and out of view) are hornwort, water sprite, and anarcharis. I also have that one little marimo ball on to bottom, too.

Unfortunately, right after I completed the re-'scape, I lost my two oldest goldfish within a week of each other. They had been with me for six years. I'm not positive on what caused either of their demises, but I am keeping a close eye on my remaining goldfish.

Seaking on left, Goldeen on right. Together in life and together in death.

I also know I owe you guys some up close pictures of my newest (well relatively) goldfish. I'm fairly certain he is male as I've seen some breeding stars on his pectorals, but only time will tell. He's still pretty small. No bigger than 3 inches on body!

Here he is sitting next to his "mirror buddy." Since goldfish enjoy company,
this will be his best friend until I can find another goldfish
and put him through a QT process.

He's still a little shy!

Here is a pretty good image to give you a size comparison.
He's grown a lot since I brought him home.

While it hasn't been getting that cold at night and the leaves haven't changed that much, I went ahead and put the net over my pond. It's been decent weather, and I wanted to make sure it was done right. There have been a few years where I was putting the net out when it was rainy, cold, and almost dark. Plus, I catch more leave if I put the net up before the they all start coming down.

It's still warm enough that the koi are happily swimming around under the net.

And everyone got new lights. I noticed I needed new lights because I began to see an abundance of brown algae growing on the walls as well as some of the lower plants. Bulbs don't last more than a year, and the deeper the tank, the more often they have to be replaced. I probably could have gotten another few months from my betta tank bulbs, but I like doing them all at once. You might not notice a difference, but the plants do! 

Visitors to the pond

Not only does my pond give my family and me great joy, but a number of wildlife get nourishment from it, too. I've seen deer dart away as I approach and have observed birds bathing and drinking from the waterfall. I've  been lucky enough to have my camera handy now and then to capture these visitors. Some, I have seen many times, and others were just fleeting glimpses.

This leopard frog (Lithobates spp) or at least his relatives have been at my pond for years. On rainy summer nights we can hear them croaking to each other. I've seen them in the upper stream and the main pond. The smaller ones tend to stay above the waterfall. 

Dragonflies are another common sight at my pond. They are a welcome guest as they are ravenous predators of mosquitoes. Very rarely do I see them stop like this. They are usually zooming around and thus I don't often get a chance to ID them. This little beauty is a member of the Libellula genus. Species is really difficult to determine without a closer examination, but I wasn't about to disturb this little guy. 

The eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) was a pleasant surprise when I went out one morning to feed the koi. Unlike the frogs and dragonflies, this guy sat still for a while and even let me walk back in the house to grab my camera. Turtles are much less common at my pond, but I do see some from time to time. This was actually my second of the year. 

I also have juvenile salamanders that call my pond home. They live in the upper pools as any in the main pond would quickly get eaten. I have never seen the adults that obviously lay the eggs year after year (I have different sizes of juvenile), but come they must because I see the results. 

I'm happy that my pond also serves as a hub for local wildlife. It gives me a chance to observe them up close and it adds to the natural feel of the pond. I wanted the most natural-looking pond I could build, and I got just that. I couldn't be happier. 

What I would do differently with my pond

Not often in life do you get a chance to do things over. Hopefully, in 20 or so years, I will get a chance to build another pond. The construction and maintenance of my pond has taught me many things. Some lessons were learned the hard way, and others have just been slow realizations.

What I will repeat

Understocking 

My pond is roughly 4000 US gal and only has 6 koi in it. There are a lot of different stocking ideas, but even by the most conservative levels, my pond is understocked. As a result of this, I have never dealt with disease. The next time I have a pond, it will most certainly have no more than one koi per 500 gallons.

Canopy cover 

I built my pond on the edge of a forest. Granted, this did make the actual construction a bit of a hassle, but the end result is a wonderful canopy of leaves that cover my pond. Despite the temperatures commonly soaring above 90F at my house, the water never got warmer than 80F. The canopy also shields my pond from herons. I live less than a mile from a river and have never had problems with them. The only problem the canopy does bring is in winter, I must have my pond covered with a leaf net or it gets really clogged. This is a small price to pay for everything the shade does.

What I will change

Contacting a professional 

I started to dig my pond on my own. I planned my pond on my own with rather little knowledge of how these things really work. While digging, we realized that bringing in a professional water feature constructor would be a much better idea. I believe that’s one of the reasons my pond looks like water garden instead of a hole in the ground. Next time, I will bring in a contractor from the start.

Bog system 

I originally designed the pond to be aesthetically pleasing. I wanted it to look like a natural stream with the water flowing in from a waterfall and then out down another channel. It really does have that appearance. But this has also caused some problems for me. The idea behind the bog system is to have it be water storage area. It’s supposed to hold an extra 300 gallons of water and make sure the pump is always submerged. It also provides a shallow bog area to grow plants like rushes, cattails, and others. The main purpose of these plants is to be a nutrient sponge. However, these plants need full sun which my bog doesn’t get. My bog is also not large enough to have a lot of these plants. Next time, I will build a larger bog much closer to the pond and shorten the stream or completely forgo it.   

Changes to the upper stream 

I really like the setup I have with the large waterfall, but I think with the next pond I want to elongate the upper stream and make the first pool much larger. This will also give me more landscaping options, and I would like to put a path and a bridge over the upper stream. A larger pond will also allow more salamanders and frogs to live in my pond. These animals eat insect larvae and are also an indicator of water quality.

More plants 

Right now I only have about 3 species of pond plants. I would like to add more, but there just isn’t the room or the sunlight. More plants will make the water cleaner and out-compete with the algae. Plus, I love the look of floating plants. The way I have the body of the pond set up now, floating plants just don’t work well. And I would also love some lilies, but again not enough sun. I would like to plan my pond so that some parts will get enough sun for lilies. This will also mean having a larger surface area. 

My Tanks: 22 July update

So almost a month later, a lot has changed with my tanks. But all of the changes have been for the good.

The amazon sword has done well in the goldfish tank. I'm thinking about adding a root tab to boost it's growth; I would really like two huge swords in that tank. The hornwort has also taken off. It's really helped bring down the nitrate level in the tank. I will certainly need help with that when I add the newest goldfish to the tank.

The biggest change is the betta tanks. I ordered a double-decker stand and stacked them. Basically I can fit two tanks in the space that one would normally take, and run both filters from one air pump. I highly recommend this for anyone who is having trouble finding places for more tanks. I got the stand from Drsfosterandsmith.com for a very reasonable price. They come in sizes up to 55 gallons and are of a rather sturdy make. Industrial strength shelves also work if the tanks aren't going to be on display such as what you would find in someone's fish room.

So the other day I went into Petco looking for something (can't remember what), and I made the mistake of looking at the bettas. I saw this beauty a halfmoon king betta being sold as a plakat halfmoon. Kings usually sell for $25 around here, but I got this beauty for only $14 because he was miss-marked. His name is Lapis, but my mother likes to call him Captain America because of his patriotic colors. He is currently in the 29 gallon.

The changes to my 29 gal community were the most challenging ones. Removing the gravel and then adding the sand was a pain in the rear (and back and head and knees). The sand just didn't want to work with me. I used Estes Ultra Reef, and it looks great (it's also really soft so it won't hurt the kuhlies). I don't care what anyone says, it should be at least rinsed before going into the tank. At the very least it gets rid of a lot of air bubbles (which was my main problem). I've also added pygmy chain sword (Helanthium tenellum), dwarf sagittaria (Sagittaria subulata), and Rotala indica that I bought from Aquariumplants.com (very pleased with their service and quality of the plants and packaging). This is the first step in making this my first fully planted community.

My baby goldfish is still in QT mostly because I want him to grow more before I add him to the main tank. He's gotten bigger, but still not big enough for me to feel comfortable with him in the big goldies.