46g Weekly Photo Journal

I'm redoing the scape since my hornwort just decided it was done existing nicely anymore in my 46. Doing fine in my betta's tank and fine in my 20, but heck some of these stems in my 46 have been with us since we started dabbling into plants.

Anywho, tore all of that out and decided to rescape it again. The new scape will be relying on a lot of the plants growing into their place, rather than being added already nice and pretty.

I'm going to start from the very beginning, when we first upgraded to the 46. The entire misadventure of filling a tank with sand not properly rinsed.

Heck yes lots of fun.
(Also note I have since killed those water hyacinth on top. They did have lighting for plants, in our living room fixture). I have learned that as soon as a plant is exposed to open air, I will inadvertently kill it. Ive killed off every little bit of duck weed without any effort of even trying to remove it.


Moving on.

That took awhile to clear out. Once it cleared, that brought us to this... minimalist look. Too boring. I didnt yet put up the black background.

Started off with the hornwort and water wisteria transferred from the original 10 gallon I had before this. My hornwort was so bright and green and clean. Sigh.

Then I started getting into more plants. A nice java fern and some moneywort (I bought it thinking it was bacopa). And I learned hard that moneywort needs root tabs. (It was also by now my hyacinth died)


Still. It felt too open. So get more driftwood. And more hornwort. Still so nice and bright and fluffy.0


I liked that set up, but still, it lacked something to me. I thought to change it up again


I move around my hardscape and its a refreshing change. Add some new items. Attempt some potamogeton but it didnt end up taking to this tank.

Then of course, my hornwort decides to go all wonky. Leaves continuously dusty, new growth is short and crunchy. I got ghost shrimp to help, but they could only keep the dust off for a week before it came back full force.



So I rip it out, consider other plant options, and decide to rescape yet again.



I scratch all that.

By now I have red ludwigia, a sword, a crypt, vals, and java fern babies.

This is my current stage

Now I need to wait on my plants to grow into their spaces for my very confused fish



So every week I will post an update photo showing where ive had plants grow or die
Its still cloudy now in the tank from escaping.

Next post tomorrow ill introduce the inhabitants as I'm falling asleep on my phone lol

 

Alright. So the inhabitants of this tank.

I orginally moved 1 dwarf gourami, 6 loaches, and 3 cories from the 10 gallon to it. You could see why we upgraded.

Now it is home to;
9 corydoras (trilineatus, paleatus, and weitzmani)
6 loaches (kuhlI and java)
1 dwarf gourami
3 platies (1 adult and 2 fry, one fry is going to a coworker)
1 farlowella twig catfish
9 zebra danios
Various snails
Ghost shrimp


Heavily stocked, if not over, but run on 3 filters with daily 10% water changes, weekly 25%.

And they all have names!
Peppered cories are Habanero, Jalapeno, and Ghost
Trilineatus are Trip, Chopper, and Freckles
WeitzmanI are Xinyi, Miyu, and Kevin
Kuhlis are Udon, Ramen, and Soba
Javas are Wonton, Lo Mein, and Wormfish
Dwarf gourami is Red
Platies are Rocket and Crafty (the one for my coworker is not named)
Twig cat is Twigbranch (any warriors novel fans will understand)
Zebra danios are collectively called the Vultures, except the biggest female named Big Jo



My next post will feature my inverts

 

These first two photos are of a colony of bryozoa, a filter feeding crustacean that builds a mineral shell and lives inside. It pokes out this feathery crown to filter out algae, cyanobacteria, and other particles from the water. Despite boiling my driftwood, it survived apparently and has made my tank home. They are harmless to fish and humans, will often actually be a snack to some fish (my platy fry go for them lol) because theyre harmless ive decided they could stay as theyre kinda neat.
This guy is my trapdoor snail. He started off super tiny, the size of a small piece of gravel. He was a plant hitchhiker off of wild hornwort. He is about the size of a dime now, but I don't often see him. I believe he buries in the sand. I see him once every couple of months lol only when I rescape really. He was transferred over from my 10g

Then my ramshorns. I adore these guys. I got some red and golds and a brown leopard or two. Every baby I end up with though has been eaten by my shrimp, except one I rescued and am now housing in another tank lol



These guys are a native snail ive collected. They prefer rocks over sand or driftwood. They are elimia snails. Theyre cute and remind me of cows with their blunt faces lol


Then my ghost shrimp... I got 4 but who knows if ill get surviving babies. Theyre adorable but they eat my snails. I don't mind them eating the bladder snails, but they have a strong preference to my baby ramshorns lol


and of course bladder snails. Got many of them, but I welcome the weird ones. Like this pretty white and gold one. It has bred with regular black ones which resulted in some bluish grey looking ones which are kinda cool. Many unfortunate ones become food for my fish and snails, some purposely because they multiply fast lol



and last to this post, my husband didnt like the location of one of the branches, so I moved it. Also water is clearing up.

 

Unsure why my previous photos aren't showing, probably a forum glitch.

Anywho. My tank went on a cloudy streak for a bit, probably due to medications since I'm treating for skin flukes.

My grassy plant has grown to a nice 3 feet long. Still going too. My java fern's leaves broke off the roots, so I saved what baby plants I could and had to toss the original. Sad day.




The height of this grass is impressive



Tried my hand at making some handmade gel food. It was a hit, I think. Used mealworms, zucchini, spinach, garlic, and broccoli.

 

Added in an anubias and moved some stuff around.
Still battling flukes, my medicine came in the mail 2 days ago. No fish lost but its up and down with the severity of these parasites. Can't lie, I'm getting frustrated with it. But itll take time. Just gotta keep doing a day at a time. No lost fish is a good sign.




Still waiting on those plants in the back to make a nice tall wall. I feel like I'm still missing something though.

 

 

My Noodle Grass has started making its curtain in the back of the tank. As it spreads, I may work it so it spreads across the other side too.

Pardon the kid's tv show reflection lol

 

For kicks, this is what I started with originally. Two 10 gallon tanks

 

Moved around some of my tall grass. Its a bit stirred up but weekly photos are here.

 

This tank is really coming together! Gotta love light filtering.

 

My anarcharis has boomed this week, as has my grass. I'm seeing results using the liquid ferts. My sword plant has done really well too, which I'm happy about. My crypt was only 3 leaves when I bought it. Ive counted over 11 now.

Fed them shrimp and the shrimp went nuts for it



She's checking out the menu... I mean tank



Got our 10th danio today, a small golden leopard long fin girl... can you find her blur in the school?





Also got an agassiziI cory who was mixed up in the trilineatus at petsmart... took her home and shes made herself comfy with the rest of the mixed group. Chances of finding more are next to nil. But she is a cutie. Name is still being decided. She is almost as big as our big girl peppered cory! This is a pretty big fish, for a cory.







Also added in another java loach, named him Pad Thai. Tomorrow or the day after my order of 3 kuhlI loaches should arrive with our new heater. Names of those loaches have been decided--Somen, Gnocchi, and Linguini.




Counting the new additions coming, that finalizes the stocking at:

10 zebra danios
10 mixed cories (trilineatus, paleatus, weitzmani, and agassizii)
10 loaches (4 java, 6 kuhli)
1 dwarf gourami
3 platies (all boys)
1 farlowella vittata twig catfish
Ghost shrimp
Snails


Plants:

Anubias (Lanceolata)
Amazon sword (Echinodorus bleheri)
Anarcharis
Elodea Canadensis
Java fern
Water wisteria
Red ludwigia
Unknown native grass

 

View attachment 635263
My anarcharis has boomed this week, as has my grass. I'm seeing results using the liquid ferts. My sword plant has done really well too, which I'm happy about. My crypt was only 3 leaves when I bought it. Ive counted over 11 now.

Fed them shrimp and the shrimp went nuts for it
View attachment 635264

She's checking out the menu... I mean tank
View attachment 635268

Got our 10th danio today, a small golden leopard long fin girl... can you find her blur in the school?
View attachment 635269
View attachment 635270

Also got an agassiziI cory who was mixed up in the trilineatus at petsmart... took her home and shes made herself comfy with the rest of the mixed group. Chances of finding more are next to nil. But she is a cutie. Name is still being decided. She is almost as big as our big girl peppered cory! This is a pretty big fish, for a cory.
View attachment 635276
View attachment 635285
View attachment 635289

Also added in another java loach, named him Pad Thai. Tomorrow or the day after my order of 3 kuhlI loaches should arrive with our new heater. Names of those loaches have been decided--Somen, Gnocchi, and Linguini.
View attachment 635280


Counting the new additions coming, that finalizes the stocking at:

10 zebra danios
10 mixed cories (trilineatus, paleatus, weitzmani, and agassizii)
10 loaches (4 java, 6 kuhli)
1 dwarf gourami
3 platies (all boys)
1 farlowella vittata twig catfish
Ghost shrimp
Snails


Plants:

Anubias (Lanceolata)
Amazon sword (Echinodorus bleheri)
Anarcharis
Elodea Canadensis
Java fern
Water wisteria
Red ludwigia
Unknown native grass

Looking better and better and it already looked great
That's a really cool looking Cory, was it sold at the same price as the Tri's?

 

Looking better and better and it already looked great
That's a really cool looking Cory, was it sold at the same price as the Tri's?

Yes because petsmart didnt know what it was and it was in the same tank as the "juliis". Same thing happened with my first weitzmani, was in the "juliis" at petsmart. They thought a panda escaped so marked it as a panda lol

Shes adorable and not very skittish at all. Hangs with the trilineatus and the weitzmanI also like to follow her. Very active, readily eats anything too.



Shes a very pretty little fish.

 

Yes because petsmart didnt know what it was and it was in the same tank as the "juliis". Same thing happened with my first weitzmani, was in the "juliis" at petsmart. They thought a panda escaped so marked it as a panda lol

Shes adorable and not very skittish at all. Hangs with the trilineatus and the weitzmanI also like to follow her. Very active, readily eats anything too.
View attachment 635305

Shes a very pretty little fish.
View attachment 635307

Wow, what a bargain! I sometimes hear of these kind of mislables, usually with Ammano being sold as ghost for £1, I wish I could find them lol. The more rare corys seem to go for anywhere between 15-30 in my area, great find.

 

Wow, what a bargain! I sometimes hear of these kind of mislables, usually with Ammano being sold as ghost for £1, I wish I could find them lol. The more rare corys seem to go for anywhere between 15-30 in my area, great find.

The one pet store I found that sells the weitzmanI (I found them and bought the 2 they had for friends for my first) doesn't even sell these ones. And petsmart has the standard "julii", panda, bronze, peppered, emerald, and albino bronze. My two sole online sources do not stock it either. So id be at the mercy of ever finding another accidentally and pray its not one of the nearly identical ones lol

Best time to go... the day they get new shipments in lol.

I could order some fancy "new panda" cories from my online source if I was crazy, at $45 a piece. (About 30 your currency roughly)


As much as I find those pretty, my wallet couldnt take that beating lol

 

The one pet store I found that sells the weitzmanI (I found them and bought the 2 they had for friends for my first) doesn't even sell these ones. And petsmart has the standard "julii", panda, bronze, peppered, emerald, and albino bronze. My two sole online sources do not stock it either. So id be at the mercy of ever finding another accidentally and pray its not one of the nearly identical ones lol

Best time to go... the day they get new shipments in lol.

I could order some fancy "new panda" cories from my online source if I was crazy, at $45 a piece. (About 30 your currency roughly)
Corydoras New Panda (CW051) - $45.00

As much as I find those pretty, my wallet couldnt take that beating lol

Wow, they are pretty but I totally agree. My newest lfs had a huge verity of Corys, I can't wait to get back.

 

Wow, they are pretty but I totally agree. My newest lfs had a huge verity of Corys, I can't wait to get back.

That online store has the most variety for cories of my options, if you browse the catfish section.
But my petsmarts options I listed before. The other has assorted cories, which luckily had a couple weitzmani. Also some bandit cories

 

The tank this week is going to have a bit of a different look... I'm gutting a lot of it for some drastic maintenance on my next days off. The substrate needs some work to say the least. Gotta do some serious clean up to kill an algae problem.

 

I spent way too long on this. Added some river rock substrate on top of the sand in some areas that needed additional layering.
Moved some plants around.
Moved driftwood around.
Swapped out a filter (traded my additional topfin20 for my Aquaclear50 that was on my 20g)
Cleaned out my sponge filter.
Added some new polyfiber into all 3 filters.



Pardon my bucket, that's what I use to siphon the old water into.

Some photos of the crew...

 

Forgot to post this shot last night, I loved the angle and way it turned out. Shame the water was still a bit cloudy from the sand getting sorted out, but it made for a pretty neat angle.




And my cories are having a blast exploring all the new layout with new caves and more obstacles. Yeah mine are a mixed school and they all school together. They like to break the rules.



My crypt plant ended up making a new runner that fell off when I moved it, so I planted that one too. Now I got two crypts. Awesome plants, I may get more eventually because they're so hardy... if only my cories would stop uprooting the new leafling lol

 

Water has finally cleared up.

 

Got a new leaf on my anubias this week

I also added a couple more danios.
Current stock:
1 dwarf gourami
1 farlowella vittata
10 corydoras
10 loaches
11 zebra danios
3 platies
3 ghost shrimp
Assorted small snails




The rock formation in the center is proving to be the new hang out for everyone. The loaches all live within the caves and canyons and the cories love exploring the rocks on top.



One of the new loaches... been seeing them lots more with the bigger group.



Red, my dwarf gourami. He is the caretaker of our plants lol





Can you find the farlowella?



Impatiently waiting for plants to fill in... lol

 

Look like someone will have fun digging in that fine substrate. Your tank is beautiful, I’d like to see when plants grow later on if you’d like to share some updates

 

Some photos of the fish from today...

All 11 of my danios in 1 photo. Very hard to photograph these guys. I have 8 girls and 3 boys. Porkiest danios ever I swear.



I love the markings on this loach. Unlike most kuhlis, the markings are more marbled than banded and the belly is solid brown, not white like most. Watching as this tiny guy grows, could he a young myersi.



Twigbranch is still always in his favourite spot, hiding in plain sight.



XinyI the weitzmanI cory. Looking nice and sharp. Her fin rot from the store has healed beautifully.



Whiskered friends lol




Ill be taking some tank photos later.

 

Your tank looks awesome MissNoodle!

 

Beautiful photos as always! This thread is such an pleasure (guilty one for my own lacky of pretty pics?) :3

That last one, haha "Hey, I'm sleeping over here! Get your pectoral out of my face!" I could swear that java looks like he's pouting.

Interesting pattern on that kuhli! Pretty sure it is a semicincta though, they are known to have a huge variety in pattern and if anything, his bands are smaller in coloured volume than on the typical one, so I doubt it is a young myersi. Some semicinctas have no pinkish bellies.
Could be a regional variety though, too bad kuhlI are not collected with any specific location data.

 

Your fish are beautiful, I especially love your Dwarf GouramI

 

Your tank looks awesome MissNoodle!

Thank you

Beautiful photos as always! This thread is such an pleasure (guilty one for my own lacky of pretty pics?) :3

That last one, haha "Hey, I'm sleeping over here! Get your pectoral out of my face!" I could swear that java looks like he's pouting.

Interesting pattern on that kuhli! Pretty sure it is a semicincta though, they are known to have a huge variety in pattern and if anything, his bands are smaller in coloured volume than on the typical one, so I doubt it is a young myersi. Some semicinctas have no pinkish bellies.
Could be a regional variety though, too bad kuhlI are not collected with any specific location data.

I don't know if the online seller could tell me. Couldn't hurt to ask though.

I ordered all of mine from the same seller. 5 out of the 6 have the typical half bands that do not extend around the body. This one, the bands totally wrap the body--which is a myersI trait. This tiny one is also barely over 1". Very very small. So small that my smallest zebra danio tries to chase him thinking hes food.

Photo of him (right) with one of the others from the same order (left)



Blurry underside photo, showing the solid colour


Apparently loaches online states juvenile myersI are easily confused with other banded species. But still the only species where the bands wrap around the body
Pangio myersI — Loaches Online

Its a very unique fish, but I can't agree or disagree on species until it grows more. All 3 of the loaches I got this round were under 2"

 

Got a new leaf on my anubias this week

I also added a couple more danios.
Current stock:
1 dwarf gourami
1 farlowella vittata
10 corydoras
10 loaches
11 zebra danios
3 platies
3 ghost shrimp
Assorted small snails

View attachment 639130

The rock formation in the center is proving to be the new hang out for everyone. The loaches all live within the caves and canyons and the cories love exploring the rocks on top.
View attachment 639132

One of the new loaches... been seeing them lots more with the bigger group.
View attachment 639131

Red, my dwarf gourami. He is the caretaker of our plants lolView attachment 639133View attachment 639134
View attachment 639137

Can you find the farlowella?
View attachment 639136

Impatiently waiting for plants to fill in... lol

Natural and stunning, love how you decorated.

 

Alrighty, so I trimmed some wisteria and tried floating it to help with a nitrate issue (tap water has nitrates) but my filter keeps pushing it far out of light's range. So I anchored it into tangled bits on my driftwood. Now it can't drift away.

As a result, the bottom looks a bit bare...

I also moved my anarcharis over to the left rear corner because it needs something there.
I'm thinking of picking up some more plants, but I'm hesitant because the store brought hydra last time... lol

Well, new photo for this week.



And the video.

Crafty, bullying a ramshorn



Rocket, displaying ro Crafty. So funny to watch the 3 boys settle their hierarchy.



Btw, this was Crafty when he was tiny. He is about 5 months old now.



And Twigbranch, hiding on his stick.

 

I'm considering removing my large branch of driftwood in favour of more smaller ones or thinner branches running vertically.

Mostly because I'm noticing a lot of tiny foamy bubbles up top of this tank that I don't notice in my other tanks and I wonder if this large driftwood is the cause (it was hard to boil, I had to pour boiling water over it and fill the bathtub with boiling water due to its size).

Thoughts?

 

Is it possibly the Gourami?
I think it would be hard to create the same type of verticality with thinner branches which I think is important but in the end it's up to you

 

Is it possibly the Gourami?
I think it would be hard to create the same type of verticality with thinner branches which I think is important but in the end it's up to you

No its not him. He actually does not spend much time up top. Hes usually at the bottom in the plants or under rocks. He comes out front and follows the cories around.

It accumulates around the edges of the tank, on the floating ends of my grass, on anything that floats or touches the water. No matter how much water I change, it is back the next day.

 

No its not him. He actually does not spend much time up top. Hes usually at the bottom in the plants or under rocks. He comes out front and follows the cories around.

It accumulates around the edges of the tank, on the floating ends of my grass, on anything that floats or touches the water. No matter how much water I change, it is back the next day.

Sounds weird, can you get a picture?

 

Sounds weird, can you get a picture?

I will in about 2.5 hours as I'm at work.

 

And heres a photo of it. A little late, sorry. Did some water top ups after feeding everyone.




I may also scrap the grass... I love the look but its yellowing constantly. Its demanding too many root tabs (stays green for maybe 2 weeks before it yellows and needs more again)

 

may give you an idea.
I remember when I had a buildup of bubbles in my aquarium, I washed them away with my hand, came back to find my Gourami rebuilding his nest, I apologized immediately. Come to think of it I don't think he's actually forgiven me it's been over a year and he still avoids me

 

may give you an idea.

Bingo on #2. Seems that's my culprit. I run 2 Aquaclear 50s plus an air powered DIY sponge filter. Usually my outtake is level or below the water, but evaporation is fast as I have no lid for this tank.

Well at least its harmless.

Either way I *still* may consider changing out the large driftwood piece. My farlowella prefers the spindly sticks so he never uses it. I think maybe my inhabitants may benefit from some different idea. Maybe a thinner piece.

Ill take a very very cold trip to the river and see if there's anything good washed up. Until I find something, itll stay.

 

Bingo on #2. Seems that's my culprit. I run 2 Aquaclear 50s plus an air powered DIY sponge filter. Usually my outtake is level or below the water, but evaporation is fast as I have no lid for this tank.

Well at least its harmless.

Either way I *still* may consider changing out the large driftwood piece. My farlowella prefers the spindly sticks so he never uses it. I think maybe my inhabitants may benefit from some different idea. Maybe a thinner piece.

Ill take a very very cold trip to the river and see if there's anything good washed up. Until I find something, itll stay.

I look forward to seeing the result

 

Tomorrow I plan on tearing out all of the tall grass. As awesome as it was, its yellowing and melting. Many places on the bottom and all the tops. Trimming the tops off make it worse.

Ill miss it but I'm going to try out some other plants.

I know I want another sword plant and maybe more crypts because those do very well in my water.