Shay's Tank... 15g Bowfront...

[ICEEGRL]

Shay kept wanting her own tank, so we got her one for her 4th birth day. That was last December. Here is how it has gone.
This was how she set it up to begin with...


She went through all of my old stuff and picked what she wanted and where she wanted it. All I did was help clean it and set in the things that she couldn't get put where she wanted them. Then I handled the filling (she tends to spill a lot!) She did insist on a cup so she could help though.

She kept it like this for a while, but the water kept turning green. She didn't like that so she decided to swap tanks with me and take my new 10g. Here is how she started it out...


This tank went through several stages. This is where she discovered plants...

 

[ICEEGRL]

It started out with some very small water sprite planted here and there one the bottom. They were so small that it looked kind of like little tufts of grass. It was kind of cute. Then in a very short period of time this is what it turned into...


View attachment 45659

 

[ICEEGRL]

It didn't take long for me to realize that she was better than me with plants. Hers grew 10 times faster than mine! We were constantly cutting them just so the fish could swim!

I finally found some lights for her 15g that didn't make the water go green. The ones that it came with were for salt water...
With that fixed she decided to get her tank back. It has gone through a few changes too.

 

[ICEEGRL]

I don't have pics of how she first set it up, but I do have her re do pics when we got the plants from llj.
She picked what she wanted and where she wanted them. She put in what she could, and I helped her with the rest.
Here is her tank now (4 angles)


View attachment 45662



View attachment 45664

She has a little green algae growing on the filter and the top light (the blue one), but that will be resolved soon I hope.
What do you think of what she has done with it?

 

[kewskills]

wow thats pretty good work for a youngster, well ideas anyway

 

[Dave Spencer]

Excellent stuff.

I hope your daughter fully appreciates how much her tanks have improved in such a short time. The Wisteria tank looks great. Sometimes a single species tank can work really well.

P.S. What`s it like having your ass kicked by a 4 year old, Amanda?

Dave.

 

[ICEEGRL]

yea... that is why this journal didn't go up when mine did.
I have now come to terms with it. It may be a good thing. I can get her to help me on mine.

 

[lljdma06]

Shay's tank looks really good. The A. reineckii survived the trip well from the pictures you've shown.

llj

 

[Miss Wiggle]

awww bless her, tank looks really good

 

[ICEEGRL]

Everything made the trip pretty well. The only thing that has really not bounced back well is the hm. I have a few small pieces that I am trying to get to grow, but I don't know if it is going to work. We lost some of most of the different kinds, but most of it bounced back pretty well. I guess we will really know in a few weeks what is going to survive by what is gorwing and what has melted. Alot of the stems have shed their leaves and some have started to sprout a few new ones, but some are still almost bare. I am waiting to see what they are going to do. Her tank always does better than mine though. She has better light and she don't mess with it like I do mine. She just cleans her glass and goes on. (she loves the magnet glass cleaner I got her, because she can do it without help.)

 

[Themuleous]

Glad you hear you got her started with planted tanks early, had I started at 4 I might actually be able to maintain a planted with no algae by now (I'm 26 now ). I hope she keeps it up

Sam

 

[Dave Pauls]

It started out with some very small water sprite planted here and there one the bottom. They were so small that it looked kind of like little tufts of grass. It was kind of cute. Then in a very short period of time this is what it turned into...
View attachment 45658

This one looks GREAT! ha ha. and she is only 4? oh man.... like Sam said... I wish I started when i was 4. I STARTED with fish when I was 26....

 

[john starkey]

Hi amanda shes one talented little lady, but you should take a crumb of credit you did fill the tank with water for her seriously just imagine what she will be doing when shes corin castles age regards john

 

[ICEEGRL]

I am kind of proud of her. She doesn't even realize that it is supposed to be hard. It just comes natural to her.

She is having an issue right now though. There was an overfeeding issue, and she found a snail tonight. She loved it until I told her that it might eat her plants. Then she got really upset. Now we will be spending several hours hunting and removing snails in the morning. She won't leave me alone until she thinks her plants are safe again. I almost never got her into bed. She wanted to do it tonight.
She wants to use the had a snail now. I am afraid that it will hurt the corys though. Also it says that it is for use only in hard water, and our water is soft.
Would it be ok? She is really freaking out. 4 year olds have no patients. She wants it fixed like yesterday. She has guppies and corys in the tank. Will it hurt them?

Thanks everyone!

 

[ICEEGRL]

Here is how her tank looks now. The jelly fish filled with water and fell. I have to fix that when we do the water change. It does that alot. Here are the pics...View attachment 46147[attachment
6148D535018.JPG]View attachment 46149I have been picking out the snails. I haven't found very many so far. They aren't sliming the tank with eggs yet. I hope we have caught it in time to get them stopped. I know better though.The hc died, but the rest of the plants seem to be doing fairly well for her.