Plant tanks in progress - 20 / 29

[outlaw]

33L "The dresser tank".
This is one of my kids tank setup. For unknown reasons, the Betta's both passed, this opened up the option to use the 33L I had taking up space. She is getting more into the hobby and even wanting to expand to more fish tanks or geckos.
Original:

Now:
Home to 4 blood fin tetra's, 7 neon tetras and 4 puffers. She just added a new filter and light and hopefully can get more plants added.




46 Bow
Only change here is we took the light out. Mac (Axolotl) didn't like it.



My tank.
This tank has gone through many iterations over the years. It was a very nicely stocked tank with a mix of plants and fish, then we moved and it crashed and never fully recovered. The 'original' below is it on it's way back to health.
Original:

Now:
While it seems to be doing pretty well now, it's slowly turning into the grow out tank for the 33L. I have 4 gold tetra's and 1 clown pleco and A LOT of pest snails keeping it spotless. They will now be food for the puffers in the 33L. I added another light to my tank to see if I can get more progress on the Vals and that are still hiding at the bottom. There are also 2 types of moss and duckweed.

 

[BigManAquatics]

I see no problem....carry on!!

 

[outlaw]

It is when you expand past 'beginner' and actually have to start spending real $$$ haha.

I remembered we have some extra 2x4's. Now I need to measure up a stand and see if I have enough for our 75G. It keeps mocking me when I walk into the basement

 

[BigManAquatics]

It is when you expand past 'beginner' and actually have to start spending real $$$ haha.

I remembered we have some extra 2x4's. Now I need to measure up a stand and see if I have enough for our 75G. It keeps mocking me when I walk into the basement

Thats when you learn to spread out your purchases a little at a time...and seriously consider and reconsider just what filter you WANT vs NEED lol....and still spend too much lol

 

[outlaw]

So true!
Our last trip to the fish store was ~$250 for 2x lights, 1x filter, 3x Pea Puffers and conditioner. I left there feeling empty inside lol But it is worth it for the joy of the hobby.

 

[BigManAquatics]

I prefer to spread out the damage....makes it easier to forget how much i spent!!

 

[outlaw]

This will likely happen going forward. It was a much needed upgrade for my daughters tank and hopefully the fish and plants will benefit from them.

Cleaned out some of the guppy grass.

 

[Jacklynn]

I love your tanks - following!

 

[outlaw]

Thanks! My daughter also released two of the larger pea puffers from the breeder box. They follow each other around now and won't leave each others side. The two smaller puffers are going to stay in the breeder box until they get a little bigger. They looked like they weren't getting as much food.

Stupid old phone camera. Some of the larger snails have a cool leopard type pattern. Not sure if these are all still pest snails.


Hitch hiker: headed this way? Great, me too!


Ain't no party like a snail party!

 

[StarGirl]

You have some great looking tanks! It looks like you bought a few hundred snails somewhere!

 

[outlaw]

Thanks. I added the quotes I meant to before . Believe it or not, It started out with 7. Yes, only 7 from my daughters tank. She got the hitch hikers from the plants she bought at a swap last year. Aside from them keeping the tank spotless, I don't think they will grow fast enough to also provide as puffer food.

Heres a little better picture of the pattern.


Speaking of the puffers, they are way faster than I thought and is quite the spectacle watching them eat a snail.

 

[outlaw]

We tried putting a bunch of snails in the breeder box, crushing the shells to make it easier, bloodworms and shrimp. Unfortunately, one of the puffer's that was already struggling, didn't make it.

While at the LFS, my daughter was taking too long to look at Betas and which lead to too much time wandering around. I ended up with 4-cardinals for my tank, 12" plant tweezers, frozen shrimp (primarily for puffers) and root tabs.

We were both successful at feeding our MTS.
- My daughter added another new member; a male beta in a 2.5G.

Name: Pandalion (Panda + Dandelion because of the colors). Bad lighting due to bulb.


- I couldn't pass up two tanks. A co-worker was getting rid of them. 46Gal Bow and 29Gal.





Both of the "new" tanks come with their problems though. The 46 has a broken top brace- center and the ring. I'll have to see if I can do some repair with new plastic and some epoxy. The 29 is very dirty. I'm not sure the last time it was used. The lights on the hood work but don't look like it looking at them.

I had also gotten a bunch of stuff previously from my co-worker- hydor 300W in-line heater, hydor cable heater, Coralife Deluxe light (2x96W bulbs) and an Eheim Pro 2.

The 75Gal all lonely in the corner


Coralife


While looking for the Eheim, I also found my Tetratec PF300. I kinda miss running that but it takes up a lot of space for an HOB

 

[outlaw]

Cleaned up more guppy grass. Looks to be about 2 weeks to need grooming. I need to setup one of the larger tanks.

Before:




After:

 

[86 ssinit]

Ok just seeing this and yes you’ve got mts!! Something I’ve noticed is you’ve got peapuffers with other fish. These guys are usually territorial and aggressive to other fish and each other if the tank isn’t big enough. Should be 1 male to 2 females. 2 males alone will fight.
Not sure of all their needs but they’re not a beginner fish they have certain needs. Also not a popular fish.

 

[outlaw]

Ok just seeing this and yes you’ve got mts!! Something I’ve noticed is you’ve got peapuffers with other fish. These guys are usually territorial and aggressive to other fish and each other if the tank isn’t big enough. Should be 1 male to 2 females. 2 males alone will fight.
Not sure of all their needs but they’re not a beginner fish they have certain needs. Also not a popular fish.

And I don't think it's going away any time soon We are looking at getting the betta a 5gal that should fit length wise on the dresser and swapping the 33L for the 29 but this would require buying another light. I'm not against this but I told my daughter that is going to get really expensive really fast to keep swapping.

My daughter is a fan of the 'odd' fish and aquatic creatures. I do agree, they wouldn't be my first choice and sexing them before purchasing is very difficult since our LFS's only stock and sell them when very young (1/4"-ish). I'll trying checking them tomorrow. While I don't watch them as much as my tank, there is a little fighting over territory where one of the wood pieces makes a bridge/cove. The tank is big enough for them to separate. They were fed frozen bloodworms and live snails. This works out with my tank having been taken over and we also have frozen bloodworms and shrimp. Mine is effectively a grow out tank for the snails which are then moved into the puffer/community tank. Since the Tetra's don't eat the snails, it works out. The tetras are on pellet food which I think the puffers are also finding in the gravel, and some of the algae. I did feed them fresh shrimp the other day. The bloodfin's looked like sharks going after it, it was crazy. I put another small piece over by the puffer bridge and they didn't appear to have an interest in it, only the snails. Also, we are looking at getting a divider for the tank IF we don't swap it out.

While keeping an eye on them, we do have the option to move her tetra's into my tank. Due to the number of snails, I will NOT put the puffers in there.

Sorry for the ramble, hopefully it helps explain what we are doing with them and that she didn't just pick them up without knowing some of their quirks. I make sure she does her research before we buy anything.

 

[86 ssinit]

Yeah I don’t know much about them. Just read up on them a bit because I got curious. As for lighting a cheap good light is the vivagrow 24/7. Found on eBay for under $50 shipped. I have many of these lights and all have been good.

 

[outlaw]

Sorry for the information overload.
But I'm really bad at keeping things updated. I've started working with my LFS to provide some plants that they can't get or keep stocked.

I'm at the point where I'm considering getting the 75g setup and figure out dividers or run 5x 10g tanks so I can keep the plants separated. The separate tanks seem ideal, but substrate and maintenance aren't. The 75g will overlap, I don't think there is any easy way around it.

For the LFS-
-The Taiwan lily is new to me, but I was told the current supplier is about every 6 months. I'm giving them a try.
-Guppy grass has been for about a year now. They were impressed with the quality and how green/healthy they looked. I'm trying to get it going in the 29g snail free.
-Crypt Wendtii should be going soon. I was told the same thing as the guppy. They are very impressed with how good they look. Some of them are quite large too.
-Jungle Vals, unfortunately, while healthy, are much smaller (2-5") than their current supplier provides (~8"+). I'm letting them grow out to try selling, but debating on pulling a bunch to make room for the other stuff.

There's been several changes since the last update.
-The 33L is now home to 'Mac' the axolotl.
-I donated both 10g setups to family starting out.
-The 46 bow has been decommissioned and sitting dry.
-The tetra's were unfortunately killed. I found out my tap has ammonia and the water top-offs were enough to stress/kill them after it was too late.
-This turned the 20g cube tank into a plant grow-out for guppy grass which I have been selling to my LFS.
-I started the 29g to attempt the same thing but snail free.

20g cube
-3x Betta and a ton of Ramshorn snails
-2x Aqueon Planted clip on lights
-Seachem root tabs with generic black gravel
-1x Oase corner filter
-1x 100w heater
-I let my daughter talk me into a small betta sorority. We had two that were a little smaller, one of them unfortunately didn't make the acclimation and the other was getting picked on. She moved to the 29g with two SAE (siamese algae eater), while the other 3 are in the 20.
-There are several plants in this tank now but the guppy grass is by far, the most successful. The vals have stayed stunted and are carpeting the tank. I'm pretty sure they pushed out most/all of the crypt wendtii.
- Guppy Grass
- Crypt Wendtii brown
- Jungle Val
- Frazari Anubias
- Compacta Amazon
- Java Fern
- Taiwan Lily
- Christmas moss (There used to be a large clump attached to the drift wood but I think the guppy grass overtook it.

(Before pulling guppy grass)


(after pulling guppy grass)





Some betta's





29g standard (only half water due to weight. I don't fully trust the cabinet it's on)
-1x Betta, 2x SAE, 2x Nerite snails
-1x Finnex Planted+ light
-Seachem root tabs with sand substrate
-1x Oase corner filter
-1x 100w heater
-I moved a bunch of the crypt wendtii to this tank once I noticed the vals making a comeback. I also have a few plants in here now too.
- Guppy Grass
- Crypt Wendtii brown
- Jungle Val
- Anubias of some variety
- African water fern
- Borneo fern (only semi-aquatic, I bought by mistake, we'll see how long it lasts).
- Taiwan Lily

 

[BettaLoveForever]

Hi!
So I was wondering what gender of bettas you keep.
Thanks!

 

[outlaw]

Hi!
So I was wondering what gender of bettas you keep.
Thanks!

They are all female. I tried to get some side pictures but none of them would sit still for five seconds. These were the best I could get from video I had to take then snip.






The lilies appear to be doing pretty well. Two of three lost 1 leaf. The solo plant, I can easily see has already sprung up a new stem and has what looks like a tiny leaf on it.



The main tank has so much going on, it's difficult to see which stems belong to which plant.




This one is difficult to get a simple picture because the curve of the tank and other large leaves by it.

 

[outlaw]

Went to feed the fish today and noticed the lily in the 29 sprouted the new leaf up pretty far and grew the leaf quite a bit.
from 12/31


Today 1/2


12/31


Today

Sorry, this one is in a bad spot for pictures.
12/31


Today


Today Jan2, It's only been two days!
This corner one has been taking off. I'm still on the fence for getting a few 10g grow out tanks. At a minimum, I think I will have to clear out some of the jungle vals to give these lilies some room to grow.


Since it's a little blurry toward the bottom leaves, that is debris from the fish/food. The leaves look healthy

 

[outlaw]

This corner lily must be liking this spot.

 

[outlaw]

Fell off for a bit. I'm pretty sure I need to start dosing ferts as the guppy grass takes off. The lily that was taking off in the corner is melting but sending out new stems so I'm not overly concerned. It seems this process was normal as it sent leaves up to the surface. The one riding solo in the other tank is doing really well but for some reason, the crypts "reset" themselves and either died off or melted all the leaves. The ones still there look as healthy as the ones that all melted.

Unfortunately, the betta died in the 29g. This was our fault as I think she was over fed. I had fed her dinner and then later the same night, my daughter fed her again. Watching any of them eat, they don't appear to have an "off switch" and will eat as long as you feed. The 2x SAEs are very big and look healthy.

Two new plant additions: (Lobelia) Cardinalis and (Ludwigia) Repens. They are hard to see in the 20g but you should be able to easily pick them out in the 29. The Cardinal can be seen directly behind the lily and the Repens are scattered in a few places.

The semi-aquatic fern is still hanging in there. I was going to discard it but saw what looked like new root growth (some white sections in the root bundle) so we're going to let it ride. Worst case I think is that it dying will feed the other plants. Circle of life and all

A few updated pics


Messing with some cameras. This is the view from the one on the left

 

[BettaLoveForever]

I am sorry. At least you think you know why

 

[outlaw]

Cleared out some guppy grass to the LFS today just in time for a shipment of Hornwort from StarGirl. Thank you! It made the trip in or norther cold temps!

The betta's were instantly curious with the couple pieces I dropped in.

 

[outlaw]

I'm a little behind and I need to get an updated plant list for each tank. All pictures are from 2/7. I started dosing ferts on Sat 2/4. It's mostly an experiment, I guess?, between Seachem and ADA but they aren't the same minerals, so it's not apples to apples.

20Gal
After the latest guppy grass purge. LFS said they would take smaller batches more often to ensure the Taiwan Lilies do well. That was good to hear, and the corner lily is doing really well. It looks like it split mid stem. Along with the seachem root tabs, I started dosing liquid ADA fert: Green Brighty Mineral.




Two of the Betta's. I'll share what I can get of them. They are like toddlers and won't hold still for 30 seconds.

All three, but not a great quality.




29Gal
No big plant changes unless you count the lily spreading like crazy. I thought it would keep the stems short with the lower water level, but that seems to be far from true. The crypts are starting to come back and look very healthy. Along with seachem root tabs, I started dosing liquid seachem flourish and advance.

I tried a panoramic picture.

vs



The lily is doing awesome in here. It has a nice large root base. I did split one off to try propagation.


I had to include the Anubius as it has really taken off too. A lot of new leaves towards the lower end and the leaves are a nice deep green.

Update 2 since I couldn't get all the pictures in.

29Gal. These are today pics.

I even got some of the SAE that are usually pretty elusive. A couple of the cardinals. They were purchased as a single pack at least 25% off because they were dying. Looking good to me. The one in the back has sprouted a bunch of roots too.

You can see the Repens in there too. They aren't going crazy like the lilies or cardinals, but look healthy.




You can see the fern on the left side. No real changes there since puting in.


A lot going on there. Cardinals, Crypts, Guppy grass, Anubius and one of the SAE all in the pic.


A few pictures I got of the SAE's being social with me. Usually, they scatter when I try to take a picture. They hung out and we just looked at each other lol.

Going to do a separate 3rd update for stocking.

20Gal
Fish/Equipment
-3x Betta and a ton of Ramshorn snails
-2x Aqueon Planted clip on lights
-Seachem root tabs with generic black gravel
-Liquid ADA Green Brighty Mineral
-1x Oase corner filter
-1x 100w heater
Plants
- Guppy Grass
- Crypt Wendtii brown
- Jungle Val
- Frazari Anubias
- Compacta Amazon
- Java Fern
- 2x Taiwan Lily
- Cardinal
- Repens


29Gal (only half water due to weight. I don't fully trust the cabinet it's on)
Fish/Equipment
-2x SAE, 2x Nerite snails
-1x Finnex Planted+ light
-Seachem root tabs with LFS sand substrate
-Seachem Advance
-Seachem Flourish
-1x Oase corner filter
-1x 100w heater
Plants
- Guppy Grass
- Crypt Wendtii brown
- Jungle Val
- Anubias of some variety
- African water fern
- Borneo fern (only semi-aquatic, I bought by mistake, we'll see how long it lasts).
- Taiwan Lily
- Cardinal
- Repens

I think that is it for now. Sorry for the overload

 

[outlaw]

The lily in the 29 is loving it. The leaves are huge and it doesn't seem to care how deep the water is. It sends the stems out

 

[outlaw]

Some 29 update shots. The leaves got huge. a few have started sending runners and roots!

Pic dump! I think all the plants here are doing really well and the addition of the liquid ferts is helping a lot. I was even able to get a pic of the SAE with most of the color to show they are healthy. The couple pics in the past looked like they could have been sick.

I'm excited for the lillies sending out roots. The one leaf I separated seems to be doing OK but hasn't done anything as far as getting larger or establishing roots last I checked a week or so ago.

The nerites are still dropping eggs on everything. Of course, they won't hatch because of the conditions though.

The cardinals look to be doing great too. There are a few leaves dying off but they may have been originals. Either way, they have filled out and still have a lot of their color. The cardinals and the repens didn't make it in the 20. The area I cleared for them, the Betta's took over and can be seen laying there at times.

Speaking of the Betta's, they definitely have some personality. It looks like they like to swim through the guppy grass and hornwort "climbing" through it. Also, the larger albino, I think she splashed out of the tank to get my attention lol. I turned around and she was sitting there looking at me with one of the others next to her. So I fed them lol. It was an interesting interaction for sure.

 

[outlaw]

Got a pic from the camera on the 29 with the SAE doing some work

 

[outlaw]

Updates since dosing additional ferts.

This is based ONLY on my observations and no known changes in other maintenance or care. This is my first experience with any ADA product.

Unfortuntely, we lost another betta. The 20 has been dosed every other, to every few days with ADA brighty green since Feb 11. All three betta's in the 20 appear to have reacted negatively to the ADA. One betta looked to have a spot/growth on one of it's fins before dying. Another one looked to have a larger growth (looked like a huge pimple) on her chin. And the other has a weird outline around her mouth. The two remaining appear to be swiming and getting around OK and eating normally. I stopped dosing about a week ago with only doing a top off (no water changes).

In comparison. I feel like my 29 is going crazy using the seachem ferts vs the 20 using the ADA. Maybe it's plant density? As of now though, my first impression is that my tank/s do not like the ADA fertilizer and I will likely not use it anymore. Based on the LFS talking about it, I did not see the results they were making it out to be. I should stop in there to talk to them about it and get their opinion.


On to the positives.
All the plants in the 20 are doing OK but the Lillies definitely struggle. I moved one of the smaller shoots down to the 29 and it is doing really well. A couple of days ago, I added another light (Finnex) to the 20 to help penetrate the hornwort and guppy grass.


For the 29, I would say everything appears to be doing really well, including the SAE which are fairly large, keeping the algae near zero with the nerites as helpers. The crypts are doing really well too. They aren't where they used to be but do look really healthy at least.

A new leaf from one I plucked off the main trunk. It took a little longer than I expected but seemingly appeared overnight.


The cardinals have taken hold and appear really healthy. I'm still only doing seachem ferts, including the root tabs. No c02 on any tank. From what I can tell, this tank is still pest snail free.


You can see the shoot form the 20 hiding on the middle left side. And of course the big trunk. It continues to send new stems out from the main but is also now sending out stems and new leaves from the older floating leaves.




Just took these pictures




I really need to get the plants organized and tops regularly. When I went down there, I'm about 1-2" low from where I normally keep it. I really need to get my area cleaned up so I can get the big tank going and some plant separation.