Underwater Wonderland

So, for the last three weeks I have not been able to devote the several hours neccessary for me to clean my tank. As it is still very new it does have a variety of algae, the most prevalent being orangey diatoms and white, whispy thread algae. It’s really not too bad for three weeks growth, but it begs the question: should I get some algae eating fish? [...]

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I guess three weeks was enough time to be able to see some regrowth of fins. I would say they are all looking a lot better, although not as regrown as I would expect. I think that they were probably dealing with a little finrot that was instigated by the constant re-injuring of the fins by lil’ missy who is still living by herself. I think I might wait until her fins are completely completely healed and then trade her, as she is definitely the responsible party. [...]

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I’ve got the big bossy danio on her own in the ten gallon tank now. She’s really pretty, gold with black stripes, very healthy, etc., but she is too aggressive I think. I’m watching to see if the tails and fins of the others grow back for “proof” it was mostly her. I’m not sure what will happen then. [...]

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Well, this is it. I’ve added the new fish. I just could stand to see them in quarantine any longer. Everyone else has been looking very healthy, no other diseases, although in reality I should have waited another week. [...]

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Well, the ick treatment worked. About 4 neons had it and then the two danios, but for about 5 days everyone seems pretty healthy. Given the lifecycle of ick I think that they are in the clear, at least for that. [...]

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Well, my new fish are doing splendid except they have ick. Not too surprising really, but I’m glad they are quarantined. I’m trying to cure it by raising the water temp to 86 degrees, adding a bunch of salt, and waiting it out rather than using meds. I have that too but I would rather avoid it if I can. [...]

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Well, I don’t know what happened, but the quart jar I was keeping the danio fry in sank in the 10 gallon where I’m quarantining the new danios and neons. I can’t find him and I think he became fish food. I’m really bummed. [...]

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Yesterday I worked all day to get the 29 gallon ready for fish, even though it had not completely cycled yet. I hope I’m not making a mistake about that… Anyway, I had to clean the green spot algae that had started on the glass, move some plants so that it looked more balanced and even, prune the new growth, and do a massive water change. This took most of the day. [...]

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This is what my 10 gallon looks like today with all of the extra plants in it. They will be moved over to the new tank when the fish from 10g are moved. [...]

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Cycling is something you have to do to a new tank in order to establish a biological filter capable of eating up your fishes’ waste. Every tank, no matter what the manner of filtration, needs this community of bacteria, and usually adding a few fish themselves will generate enough waste to build this community. Fishless cycling, on the other hand, is a method by which the biological filter is built up by adding the chemical ammonia to the water instead of fish (which is much easier on the fish). [...]

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Well, this is it! It looks pretty nice and the water smells really goodsweet like fresh creek water. The trouble now is keeping them thriving. You can see in front all the Aponotagon bulbs Ive dropped in the water, as well as the jar where the danio fry is making its residence until it gets big enough to survive with the others and not get eaten! [...]

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My plant order arrived from Florida right when they said it would (mailed Wednesday, arrived Saturday). Unfortunately many of what I ordered, including the Java Moss, were not in stock so my order was much smaller than I initially planned. Fortunately this doesn’t matter much as there is so much in the way of stem plants… [...]

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I found a baby fish in my 29 gallon tank today! It was such a surreal moment, as I couldn’t figure out where it came from. [...]

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I got the substrate for my tank today. It took some phone calls here and there all over town, but I finally found what I was looking for: the ingredients for an inexpensive but effective medium to grow plants in the 29 gallon tank. I have been doing research on various methods for months, and I finally settled on a fired-clay material called Turface, or Profile, or Soil Master, or Shultz Aquatic Plant Soil, or Shultz Soil Conditioner, name brands for essentially the same material. [...]

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A friend came over to watch the kidlets so that I could take some stuff to the second hand store (it is so difficult to deal with boxes, etc., while juggling little kids). Well, it just happened to be on the way to the LFS, so I hopped at the opportunity to stop and look at fish without being encumbered. After looking at what stock they had and being reasonably disgusted with the state of their tanks, I asked if they ever got in kuhli loaches, which I had never seen there. I had read on the forums that loaches eat snails, and as I have an ongoing snail problem I knew I would have to have some for my 29 gallon. [...]

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You can see how my plants have dissapeared, except for the crypt, which is quite big. [...]

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There were a couple of baby snails in the plant I brought home; two pond snails and what looks like a Malaysian trumpet snail. They were still pretty small when I first found them weeks after I had bought the plant, but they didn’t stay that way. And they started to make babies. [...]

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I want a bigger tank, so I scrimped, begged, and saved. [...]

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I really want to be able to keep plants in my tank. The Aponotagon bulbs I got from Walmart have been doing great, but I recently purchased my first “real” plant from the LFS, a crypt, which after about 2 weeks is looking a little sickly. And I have a recurring problem with the brownish green diatom growth that seems to take over my tank on a weekly basis. I still have a lot to learn, apparently. [...]

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