and then there were two

[Innesfan]

If all three are sparring, they're males. Females don't spar. And that photo is great.

 

[seangee]

If all three are sparring, they're males. Females don't spar. And that photo is great.

That's a really useful insight - and one I have not encountered before, although admittedly most of what I think I know has been gleaned on-line or through personal observation. But it does put it beyond any doubt.
Oh well back to the drawing board. One way or another I'm not putting this small group back into the community. I had forgotton how different their behaviour is when they feel secure so I suspect they will have some friends of their own kind in the very near future.

I also hope my heart can take it . In the big tank you don't notice how completely motionless they are when sleeping. This morning when I turned on the room light all 3 were in the frogbit roots at the front of the tank. It felt like an eternity before I detected any sign of life - and it was too dark to see if the gills were moving.

 

[seangee]

For those who don't know this is from the seriouslyfish.com species description.

Don’t worry if your fish look different when you switch on the aquarium lights after dark or in the morning as like most Nannostomus species it assumes a paler, cryptic colour pattern at night, in this case the dark lateral stripes disappear and two oblique bars are visible posterior to the dorsal-fin.

This diurnal rhythm has been show to occur in blind specimens, suggesting it’s an automatic response that the fish cannot control.

I have never managed to capture this because cameras don't work well in total darkness and I am not willing to trigger a flashgun inside the tank while the fish are sleeping. I saw it this morning, exactly as described, but by the time I crossed the room to get my phone the metamorphosis was already well under way.

 

[seangee]

I'm loving the way this one is evolving. To think its the tank I thought was beyond redemption ...

Its still top of my list for a tear down and restart - but only because after 20+ years of (intentionally) having MTS in every tank I have had I fancy a snail free tank - but for now I'll just enjoy it.

 

[seangee]

Meanwhile at the other end of the room

 

[seangee]

I finally got around to removing the dead sword and anubias leaves which opens up the centre. I decided I need to reduce the lighting a touch because the algae is starting to show (not bothered to clean that ). Then I realised I was about to throw out a load of surplus frogbit from the community so it ended up in here and I left the lights alone.
Not really sure why but frogbit grows much slower in this tank. It could be that this one is re-mineralised so is neutral rather than acidic, or it could just be that the community has far more fish and they get more ammonia/ammonium in there.

I suspect its the acidity because its growing like wildfire in the breeder - but in that tank the roots also grow like crazy, that's most likely because 3 tiny fish don't produce very much ammonium.

 

[seangee]

That crater is getting deeper and she is showing no signs of abandoning it

More annoyingly she has created another in the front left corner and won't tolerate any plants in it. For now I have given up trying to put them back

 

[seangee]

That crater is getting deeper

Ha ha. Today she was responsible for an additional 10 litres in the weekly w/c.
For this tank my standard practice for draining is to drop a mini pump with a hose attached onto the substrate and put the other end out of the window. Since the tank is next to the window I don't actually turn the pump on but it acts as a mesh to stop the cories from swimming up the hose. It aslo keeps the hose a couple of inches off the substrate so I don't have to watch it draining because it can't run dry
Since there is no such thing as too much clean water today I dropped the pump into the crater

 

[seangee]

As you can see the dark side is developing nicely in here.
Slight change in direction. Since they like the shade I am growing them a curtain just to the left of the covered area. More like a vertical blind, so it can get really dark in there. I've also spread the hygrophila out more and will allow it to grow higher. The gap, and crater, in the front left corner is the result of her ladyship's latest endeavours. After 4 or 5 attempts at filling it in and re-installing the plants I have given up for the time being

 

[seangee]

Arghhh - I've already trimmed the roots twice in the last 7 days

 

[MattW]

Arghhh - I've already trimmed the roots twice in the last 7 days
View attachment 368495

That was one of the main reasons I switched to water lettuce. Once a frogbit uprooted my rotala when I pulled it

 

[seangee]

Ha ha - I'm not complaining. This tank first had water added about 6 weeks ago so is likely not cycled in the traditional sense. Even less likely because its acidic and the supplied filter element was only dense floss. It disintegrated last week when I cleaned it so got replaced with regular sponge. The frogbit is my insurance against nitrogen in its different forms.
AFAIK it spreads horizontally when it has sufficient nutrients (nitrogen) and sends its roots down when there are not enough. Certainly as it has spread across the surface the root growth has accelerated. At the same time the rate of growth of the stem plants has slowed, again pointing to lack of nutrients, not a bad thing in a new tank.
In the community tank which is relatively much heavier stocked the roots hardly grow from one week to the next - I also have less frogbit (relatively) in there and the tank is mature.
It also creates a good habitat for the fish that are in this tank - so for an extra few minutes of the week its staying.
And besides I have never had much success with water lettuce

 

[seangee]

Reading my own response has prompted me to increase my macros, I use TNC Lite. Because I change water several times a week I usually dose at every W/C but only for the water I replaced. I have a higher than average plant density and I would like it even higher but have never increased the dosage since I first put in a few stems and leaves. So today I did a 40% change and dosed for the whole tank. I guess it will be a couple of weeks before I know if that made a difference.

 

[seangee]

I suspect the large weekly clearances will re-commence soon

 

[MattW]

I see a potential side hustle I'd be surprised if someone would turn down healthy specimens like that