Office Space

[Retired Viking]

Absolutely fine. Normal shape but you can still see the strip of white scar tissue. She is the bossiest of the tetras and also swims the fastest - probably all the training from swimming without a tail

That is good to hear, I wanted to add to my shoal of embers but ended up buying 22 neon tetra at 11 for 10 USD. Ember are hard to find around here most LFS do not carry them.

 

[seangee]

Arghhh - I've melted my water sprite. I could try to blame the heat as the tank is now in the ich safe zone as far as temp is concerned, but I suspect its my fault due to an over zealous dosage in rinsing them in an H2O2 solution to try to make sure there was no cyano lurking. Not been in a position to enjoy this tank this week because the room temp has now gone over 31 so for the work day I have been retreating to the bedroom where the aircon is. Aircon unit for the fish room study arriving tomorrow. Quite a lot of melted leaves on the swords, but that is most likely the last of the emersed leaves coming off.

Oh well - off to go and net out the water sprite and try to source some more. I did stick a single leaf into another tank 2 weeks ago. It has turned into a small plant but I don't have the patience to wait for that to spread.

 

[seangee]

Bah. Easier said than done. It was completely disintegrated and much of it caught in the hygrophila forest. I did get a lot out but I will be picking at it for weeks to come. Besides being a waste of time netting is impractical because as the net hits the water it fills with at least a dozen inquisitive ember tetras and chilli rasboras.

I did manage to find and order some water sprite. Have ordered two pots of c.thalicroides and one each of c.cornuta and c.fein. I originally started with a single pot of c.thalicroides so hoepfully it catches up soon.

 

[seangee]

New floating plants arrived late yesterday. They were in surprisingly good nick considering the weather. Floating in the tank now. They cover a little less area than the ones I killed - but I did buy four times as many and will start pulling them apart when I do my next WC on Sunday.

I have deferred today's water change because I also added a bit more colour to the tank this morning. No wait - I added a bit more monochrome , specifically 15 corydoras pygmaeus and 6 otocinclus macrospilus. I was a little concerned about having them shipped in the heat but they arrived in perfect condition.

The cories are tiny, no bigger than the ember tetra (which have grown since I got them), but appear in perfect health and very active. Lights are still off but they are all swimming together. By all I mean the corys, tetras and chilli rasboras. It seems a much more dynamic tank and is now even more effective at distracting me from work . I had planned to get 20 but at the last minute remembered how much I enjoy watching the otos and since the lights are off for most of the work day I will have plenty of opportunities. I was pleasantly surprised at how healthy and well fed they look. They are now the biggest fish in the tank and already hard at work polishing the glass and leaves. Perhaps I ought to rename the tank to nano kingdom

That's it for stocking up, we are done now

 

[seangee]

Two of the otos


The corys won't sit still long enough for me to take a pic in near total darkness - so here is a little sparkle to brighten the day

 

[PheonixKingZ]

That sparkle is beautiful.

 

[seangee]

And some cories. Better find the charger for the SLR as I am going to need higher shutter speeds. Don't want to use a flash so its the only way I'll get a decent shot unless they calm down

 

[seangee]

At least someone is calm

 

[seangee]

Got a new charger for the camera - random pics from this afternoon. Will have to do better on the cories

 

[AilyNC]

This tank looks great for the size space I have. Is it big enough for brittlenose Plecos? I'm pretty much only getting a bigger tank to keep them

 

[seangee]

This tank looks great for the size space I have. Is it big enough for brittlenose Plecos? I'm pretty much only getting a bigger tank to keep them

Ancistrus sp. ‘3’ – Common Bristlenose Catfish, Antennenwels (DE) (Ancistrus sp. 3) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Yes this tank would work for one or a pair - probably not for 2 males. Warning: they are likely to dig up your plants and re-arrange your tank furniture if they don't like it. They are peaceful though. Mine is actually longer than the stated size (about 17cm). Its also a longer commitment than most dogs - I've had this little chap since 2004

 

[AilyNC]

Ancistrus sp. ‘3’ – Common Bristlenose Catfish, Antennenwels (DE) (Ancistrus sp. 3) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Yes this tank would work for one or a pair - probably not for 2 males. Warning: they are likely to dig up your plants and re-arrange your tank furniture if they don't like it. They are peaceful though. Mine is actually longer than the stated size (about 17cm). Its also a longer commitment than most dogs - I've had this little chap since 2004

I'm pretty sure mine are female. Currently 2.4 & 2.7 inches long. Ah this is brilliant. I really don't want to lose these guys so was trying to figure out some set up to keep them. But limited space for tanks (such is family life!). Can you just come over, set my tank up and stock it?! your tank is great!

 

[seangee]

Slowly getting there.

• Added two dinky heaters in the corners coupled to an inkbird controller today. Still have the A/C running darn sarf but bucket tested the heaters to confirm calibration - lets not mention the W word yet but right now they are still surplus to requirements
• Last traces of cyano are gone - I think that battle is over
• Fuzzy growth on the left most bit of wood has disappeared
• 4 of the 5 swords are looking really sorry for themselves. Won't give up on them yet but I will only need one and the one in the back is looking promising
• The otos mean I will spend less time cleaning the glass . I definitely lucked out with those. Not only are they healthy and plump - but they already know exactly what to do with algae wafers.

Still to do:

• Wait for the plants to grow
• Tidy up the cable for the Inkbird temp probe
• Figure out what to do with the ugly surface skimmer on the left. Originally added to help out with the cyano, but its actually pretty effective. I have it on a timer now and it comes on for half an hour every evening. Might be useful later as a fry catcher if I can keep the chilies out of it . I have some heteranthera zosterifolia (spider grass) arriving tomorrow so if it stays I may use that as a curtain to hide it. Shouldn't be too long before the hygrophila on the right hides the filter.

Edit: If anyone is wondering what happened to little stumpy she is on the left side immediately below the outlet from the skimmer. The only way I can tell her apart now is the little white band of scar tissue at the base of her tail.

 

[seangee]

Water change done, temperature probe hidden.
I almost took out the skimmer but will leave it for another week. The top sponge (there is one more in the pic that is hidden by the water sprite) was pretty clean. Think it a combination of I am learning how much (or how little) to feed all these tiny fish; and the addition of the cories means there is very little chance of any food being left over. So after next weekend we will be down to a single sponge.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Yes this tank would work for one or a pair - probably not for 2 males. Warning: they are likely to dig up your plants and re-arrange your tank furniture if they don't like it. They are peaceful though. Mine is actually longer than the stated size (about 17cm). Its also a longer commitment than most dogs - I've had this little chap since 2004

Wow! A 6 year old pleco? That’s impressive.

I do agree on the digging in the sand, he has made himself several pockets in my sand where he lays...