So, there's not much happening right now with the plants to report, they are (hopefully) settling into their new places, in the new substrate, and will start putting out new shoots soon. I figure in another week or two, I should be able to see some progress one way or the other.
Moving right along, I have added fertilizers to the mix. First, I bought some empty gelatin capsules and some osmocote from the local hardware store. Total cost $9 - this was $4 including shipping for the capsules (300) and $5 for the osmocote (2 lbs). I'm not sure how many capsules I'll be able to make, but I've already made close to 50 and haven't really used much more than about 10-15% of the osmocote. Given that I could buy 5 capsules for $1.20, I'd say that what I've already made has paid for itself, not including the shipping costs involved.
The osmocote capsules are an alternative to root tabs. They claim to last 3-4 months in a garden. In a sand substrate, they seem to last longer, I believe because there is less water movement in the sand than there is through soil. As a result, I used a lot more of them at a time than I would regular root tabs. The osmocote is a slow release fertilizer 'ball' that allows water to slowly leach into it (by osmosis - hence the name) and to carry out the other nutrients through the outer membrane. It takes a little while after all the nutrients are depleted for the membrane itself to fully dissolve. The gelatin capsules dissolve much faster than that and are there merely for 'delivery' purposes. Each of the amazon swords got 2 osmocote capsules, and each crypt also received an osmocote capsule. A few others were placed around the other stem plants, just in case they are looking for a bit of a boost.
I also have started fertilizing the water column as well. I will be giving a weekly dose of Flourish to boost the trace minerals, and another powder of the macro ferts. The light was a bit too focused on the middle of the tank, and the back of the tank seemed a bit darker than I had anticipated (the tank in about 12 inches wide, but the light really doesn't reach everywhere from the LEDs. So, I added my old fluorescent light back, with an updated bulb. I bought the Floramax light (which is stronger in the reds) for the plants. Its not as bright as the old daylight bulb that I had been using (which was old and needed to be replaced anyway), and I would not recommend the floramax as a lone bulb, as its just a bit dim for my taste, but as a second bulb, it works very well and doesn't seem to add a ton of excess light. The fish seem to be unaffected by its presence.
Now for the big news...
NEW FISH!
So, after having a long time of soul searching and trying to figure out what would make my wife most happy with the tank (being that it is currently in the living room) I decided to forego any 'biotope' type of tank, and just go for a tank with an assortment of colors, sizes and temperaments.
NEW FISH: First, a PAIR of pearl gouramis. A lot of places sell the pearls too small to be sexed, and so this can be a difficult thing to accomplish. I found a store about 45 minutes south of me that sold pearls - full grown. Lovely specimens. I had about 12-15 different gouramis to choose from. I got the most colorful of the males and a similarly sized female. They are together most of the time. They tend to hide back a bit behind the large log, but they do venture out from time to time to take in the sights of the tank. I think as the plants grow in more, and they become more used to the rest of their tankmates, they will be more active and visible. For now though, I am keeping a close eye on them.
Next, the neons didn't make it. So, that left me with a bit of a quandry... what to do? Go for more neons or more in a different direction. I moved in a different direction.
Livebearers! Yup. Back to my roots as a fishkeeper. I've added to my two male platys, a red mickey mouse platy. +1 from the wife on that one as we are big Disney people.
Next, my favorite livebearers are, and will probably always be... mollies. So, I went with one male black molly (schenops) and one male silver lyretail (latipinna or velifera - not sure which they are actually). Then I added a male dalmation molly and creamsicle molly. The silver molly was so busy getting after the dalmation that I feared it was actually a female, and so I bought 4 females (2 silvers and 2 dalmations). So, fry are in my future... but that's where the pearl and other mollies come in.
And finally 4 male fancy guppies. 1 blue tuxedo, and a few others... red and red/yellow, etc.
So, the current stock is:
1 BN pleco
2 pearl gourami
8 mollies
4 guppies
3 platys
1 bolivian ram
*1 cherry barb
*1 HY511 (candy cane) tetra
And that will pretty much finish my stocking, though I think that I will be adding a group of orange laser cories, once I get those details worked out - and then that WILL finish my stock for this tank. It has the most important factor for my wife to be happy with it though... Colors and movement.
The barb and HY511 tetra will be heading to my school tank once school goes back in session.
Beginning by eaglesfan54, on Flickr
hardscape by eaglesfan54, on Flickr
planted by eaglesfan54, on Flickr
filled and lit by eaglesfan54, on Flickr
filled again by eaglesfan54, on Flickr
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