5 Gallon Tank Gudgie’s Fluval Spec V adventure

Just found your thread. Love the progression on the tank! Keep us updated on the plants

 

Good news! Bubba has definitely not decimated all of the shrimp. I’ve reliably seen three out and about the last couple days. I’m hoping there are more hiding somewhere, but I’ve been able to see these from a quick glance. And thus far Bubba has ignored them, so perhaps he’s closed down the shrimping business. Time will tell (obviously, I do not fully trust him).







Slightly bad news is that I think the last round of plants brought in a bunch of pond snails. They don’t really bother me, but I’ve been slowly picking them out with forceps.

 

I just found this thread. I have really enjoyed watching as this tank evolved. Was sad to read of Riff's passing and then thrilled to read you were able to get one of his brothers. Bubba does sound like the perfect name for him. It is great that he has removed shrimp from his menu.

Thank you for sharing this journey with all of us.

 

Just figured I’d share a few photos of Bubba and the shrimp from today while I take a break from telework.

 

Another overdue update from me. Did some much needed tank maintenance with a major plant cleanup, since I’d really been neglecting the plants the last couple months. Bubba continues to do great though!

All my S. repens ended up dying away; best guess is that it was light related. I hadn’t thinned the Salvinia much so it was blocking a ton of light - I’ve now fixed that. Thankfully, the Monte Carlo continued to grow well!

The stems were a tangled jungle. No more giant baby tears - those slowly faded away. The Rotala and Ludwigia have been so-so, not entirely happy with those. Thankfully, at least the crypt balansae is fantastic, and some of the small crypt wendtii have been slowly filling in.

The Salvinia was spreading like gangbusters - I thinned out at least four cups worth, and probably more like 6-8.

Before:



After:





I still need to find a background plant that I’m happy with for the back left. Mulling over a small sword again, or something similarly bushy that would grow nearly to the top.

 

Bubba looks great and lovely tank!
I cannot grow stem plants for the life of me. Although so far so good in my reset up 29 with eco complete.
It’s not bushy but my Italian vals grow great. In fact, I really need to thin some out of Eddie Betta’s tank.
Where in MD are you? I’ll trade vals for some salvinia if you are interested!
Send me a pm.

 

What about a dwarf lily?

 

What about a dwarf lily?

I know basically nothing about dwarf lilies, but I’ll definitely look into them!

 

Tweaked the tank a bit today and then had a mini photoshoot w/ Bubba.

I pulled out the back left stems and then moved a small sword back to the Spec from my 75 - it's the same sword that this tank started out with. No idea what species of sword, but it's stayed smallish for quite awhile. Worst case, if it starts growing like crazy it'll just get moved again. Also added a couple of crypts that I received from Demeter - fingers crossed that they recovery nicely in the tank!





And then I went to take a couple photos of Bubba, and ended up taking a ton instead. The highlights are attached.



Pretty sure the blue shrimp are long gone - I haven't seen them in a couple months. At some point, I may try some cull shrimp and see how they do; if they do alright, then I'll move on to pricier shrimp. I don't know for sure if Bubba killed the rest (I never witnessed it again), or if they just slowly died off. I'll be curious to see if another set (and/or another color) do better.

 

Wow he is really such a gorgeous boy! Can I have him back? Jk Lol! He will turn one year old in March! I’m surprised you haven’t thought about breeding him.

 

Wow he is really such a gorgeous boy! Can I have him back? Jk Lol! He will turn one year old in March! I’m surprised you haven’t thought about breeding him.

Yeah, he's a stunner! Hmm....I honestly never thought about trying to breed him. I did let my peacock gudgeons breed, but only ended up raising a handful of fry since they were a bit of a pain. But now you have me rethinking things...What would you suggest female-wise - perhaps another galaxy koi? I know I have some of his sisters, but not sure if they're getting a bit old for breeding plus the obvious inbreeding concerns...and whether I have the appropriate setup/space. Though I will have a 5 and 10 gallon available once my new 20 long is up and running...

Edit: Also, just noticed today that two of his sisters seem to be developing small tumors. They're acting fine, but still made me sad to see. Hopefully they'll still have long, happy lives.

Edit 2: philam , oh no, what have you done to me?! I've been searching females on ebay, aquabid, and here "just to see" what females are out there. Assuming I'm allowed to post links, now I'm eyeing these ladies. Not sure if I should actually pursue any though...

• Betta Live Fish - Female Nemo Galaxy - Larger Size - Hight Quality - G3 | eBay
• AquaBid.com - Item # fwbettashmp1612372214 - 10424 FEMALE HMPK KOI GALAXY MUL BY KINGPETALL.COM - Ends: Wed Feb 3 2021 - 11:10:14 AM CDT
• AquaBid.com - Item # fwbettashmp1612201212 - 8378 FEMALE HMPK KOI NEMO BY KINGPETALL.COM - Ends: Mon Feb 1 2021 - 11:40:12 AM CDT
• AquaBid.com - Item # fwbettashmp1612264206 - Koi329 (Female) - KOI Girl 30 By Thanont - Ends: Tue Feb 2 2021 - 05:10:06 AM CDT
• Betta Live Fish - Female Nemo Galaxy HMPK - Full Egg - Hight Quality - BO14 | eBay

 

Well I bought some seiryu stone and spider wood and rescaped the tank. Overall I like it better, though it may still need some tweaking. Figure I’ll give it a couple days and see how I feel then. I do have a bit more seiryu stone if anyone thinks that’s a good idea.
View attachment 729515
View attachment 729516
View attachment 729517
I did cave and buy a Nicrew classic plus light that’ll be here on Saturday. I’ll be curious to see how things look with a brighter light. I’m also leaning towards setting up some DIY CO2 with citric acid/baking soda eventually.

Wow, love this tank set up! The winding branches and blue/green color combination make it look so whimsical.

 

Wow, love this tank set up! The winding branches and blue/green color combination make it look so whimsical.

Thanks! The layout has certainly been evolving a bit as it ages - and as I figure out what plants I can keep alive

 

Well I bought some seiryu stone and spider wood and rescaped the tank. Overall I like it better, though it may still need some tweaking. Figure I’ll give it a couple days and see how I feel then. I do have a bit more seiryu stone if anyone thinks that’s a good idea.
View attachment 729515
View attachment 729516
View attachment 729517
I did cave and buy a Nicrew classic plus light that’ll be here on Saturday. I’ll be curious to see how things look with a brighter light. I’m also leaning towards setting up some DIY CO2 with citric acid/baking soda eventually.

Love the floating plants!!

 

It just hit me that I’ve passed the 6 month mark in this tank - time certainly flies!

I trimmed the Monte Carlo carpet for this first time this weekend - just a slight trim to clean it up a bit. Also moved a bit to the front left to hopefully fill in that area. Sadly, the remaining stem I had of S. repens decided it really doesn’t like this tank.

The crypts have finally been getting bigger. Most of them came from a tissue culture cup, and it’s taken forever for them to start growing (though the largest one in front in the right is from Demeter).

Still not entirely happy with the Rotala stems on the back right. Trying to decide if I should swap it for a different plant or not. No ideas yet - please share if you have thoughts!

 

Did some much needed maintenance on the Spec today. The filter flow had dropped to nearly nothing - turns out there was just a clog in the nozzle, which is now cleared up. Also trimmed back the Monte carlo and a bunch of stems. Today's trim made me realize I need to get a pair of scissors with a sharper bend - the pair I have isn't curved enough to easily trim the carpet.

Also, I finally ran out of CO2 in the last day or so. I must say I'm impressed - that paintball tank lasted me about 8 months! Unfortunately, now I need to figure out where to fill it since Dick's no longer fills them. On the bright side, I have a second (albeit empty) paintball tank. So once I get them both filled, I'll be good for a long while (and have a backup, to avoid the issue of running out).

Hopefully I get some updated pics soon!

 

Had to thin out a jungle yet again this week - here are some before and after shots.
Before:


After:


The monte carlo has been browning a bit, despite trimming. I've starting adding Thrive a couple times a week (I'd been lax for awhile), but I'm wondering if I need to add in some root tabs underneath. Also trying to be better about not letting the Salvinia build up and block so much light.

Bubba is still his beautiful self, as always.

 

I'm sad to report that we lost Bubba while we were out of town until yesterday. Not sure what happened, as generally parameters seem okay and we had someone stopping by to check on our pets. The only thing I can figure is that the temp may have been in the mid 70s instead of 79-80F (was low when I tested it earlier), especially since our house temp was lower while we were gone, so that may have been enough.

I think I'm going to take a break from bettas for now, so trying to decide what to transition this tank to. Suggestions, anyone?

 

I’m so sorry to hear that, he really was gorgeous. Maybe a full on shrimp tank? Or a single pea puffer?
Sip Bubba

 

Oh no. So sorry to hear that. Maybe a shrimp tank?

 

It’s official - a pair of Aphyosemion australe orange killies are coming! Going to pull out all the seiryu stone once I get home from work tonight, since the killies are especially sensitive to water hardness. I’ll have to rescape and reorganize some plants. Just trying to decide if I need to get some other stones, or if I’ll just stick with spider wood and plants this time.

The good news is that all the tank stats look great, other than that the hardness is certainly on the upper edge for killies. Pulling the seiryu should help there. And I may mix in a small amount of DI water to lower it even further.

 

On Monday, I pulled out all of the rock from the aquarium - currently just sitting in a bucket, waiting to be repurposed. I also pulled out the sword and crypt balansae, since they were outgrowing the tank - and man, did they have some big root structures! They’re currently in another bucket with water, as I’m planning to replant those into my 75 and 20 gal tanks later tonight. I also ended up pulling the rotala because I was tired of the constant trims (or the jungle it would become) - plus I didn’t want the killies to use it for spawning.



I slightly shifted the driftwood, rearranged the crypts, and added a handful of dwarf sag from my walstad bowl. It’s possibly that one or two could be small Italian vals, not dwarf sag, since my bowl had both and I’m not good at telling them apart. The tank certainly looks lightly planted right now, but I’m hoping the crypts will fill in nicely - especially now that there’s a lot less root competition. My goal is for it to eventually look much more densely planted; I’d love to have a big bushy Crypt wendtii. In the meantime, I tossed in a couple spawning mops to help fill things in, so hopefully the fish will fell more secure. Plus it’s a bonus if the mops get used for their purpose.


My pair of Aphyosemion australe orange arrived last night, so they’ve also been added to the tank. They’re both beautiful fish whom I got from Frank Cowherd, a local Maryland breeder. The male is especially gorgeous, and seemed to settle in immediately. Such a bright, beautiful orange!






Unfortunately, I’m rather worried about the female. She seems stressed and breathing hard, and has her mouth constantly open. I’m not sure if she injured it, or if it’s just a sign of shipping stress. She’s been staying at the bottom of the tank with little movement. I checked this morning, and her mouth is still open - I haven’t seen her close it. I’m not positive if she had it open while in the shipping bag, but I did notice it open when I had her in a beaker, prior to adding to the tank. Does anyone have any suggestions on something that could help? Otherwise, I’ll just wait and see.

Tank parameters all look good. On the upper end of the killie’s hardness range, but should still be within acceptable levels. I’ll hopefully bring some DI water home from work so I can drop the hardness a little bit further. I do know that my water is harder than the breeder’s was, so perhaps that’s contributing to the female’s distress.
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
< 5 nitrate
pH 7.0
72F
8 dKH
12 dGH

 

On Monday, I pulled out all of the rock from the aquarium - currently just sitting in a bucket, waiting to be repurposed. I also pulled out the sword and crypt balansae, since they were outgrowing the tank - and man, did they have some big root structures! They’re currently in another bucket with water, as I’m planning to replant those into my 75 and 20 gal tanks later tonight. I also ended up pulling the rotala because I was tired of the constant trims (or the jungle it would become) - plus I didn’t want the killies to use it for spawning.

View attachment 824290
I slightly shifted the driftwood, rearranged the crypts, and added a handful of dwarf sag from my walstad bowl. It’s possibly that one or two could be small Italian vals, not dwarf sag, since my bowl had both and I’m not good at telling them apart. The tank certainly looks lightly planted right now, but I’m hoping the crypts will fill in nicely - especially now that there’s a lot less root competition. My goal is for it to eventually look much more densely planted; I’d love to have a big bushy Crypt wendtii. In the meantime, I tossed in a couple spawning mops to help fill things in, so hopefully the fish will fell more secure. Plus it’s a bonus if the mops get used for their purpose.


My pair of Aphyosemion australe orange arrived last night, so they’ve also been added to the tank. They’re both beautiful fish whom I got from Frank Cowherd, a local Maryland breeder. The male is especially gorgeous, and seemed to settle in immediately. Such a bright, beautiful orange!
View attachment 824287 View attachment 824288
View attachment 824285

Unfortunately, I’m rather worried about the female. She seems stressed and breathing hard, and has her mouth constantly open. I’m not sure if she injured it, or if it’s just a sign of shipping stress. She’s been staying at the bottom of the tank with little movement. I checked this morning, and her mouth is still open - I haven’t seen her close it. I’m not positive if she had it open while in the shipping bag, but I did notice it open when I had her in a beaker, prior to adding to the tank. Does anyone have any suggestions on something that could help? Otherwise, I’ll just wait and see.

Tank parameters all look good. On the upper end of the killie’s hardness range, but should still be within acceptable levels. I’ll hopefully bring some DI water home from work so I can drop the hardness a little bit further. I do know that my water is harder than the breeder’s was, so perhaps that’s contributing to the female’s distress.
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
< 5 nitrate
pH 7.0
72F
8 dKH
12 dGH

They are gorgeous. Hope the female comes around.

 

They are gorgeous. Hope the female comes around.

Thanks - I hope the same! If for some reason she doesn't make it, I may try to make the trek via car to buy a replacement instead of shipping another to be safe. I think it'll be about 3 hrs round trip (barring extreme DC traffic), so doable as long as I can find a day/time that works for all involved. But hopefully that won't be necessary.

 

Ended up getting an additional two females and one male, for a total of 3F:2M. The original female ended up doing just fine, so I was clearly worried for nothing. Right now they're all in the Spec V for breeding, but at the least I plan to move the second male and possibly 1-2 females to another aquarium in the long run.





I picked out the first 10 eggs today too! They likely have been spawning all along, but with the holiday craziness this is the first time I checked the mops. The eggs are sitting in a small container with tank water and a bit of methylene blue, and should hopefully hatch in the next 10-14 days or so.