What are you doing to your tank today?

I'm sure you are already familiar with this initiative: Biotope Aquarium – Everything about the biotope aquaria and underwater ecosystems
If not, it is worth a visit (go to Contest in the main menu for plenty of biotope inspiration).

My favorite, not that it matters, is 2019's winner (Chodelka river, Poland). It reminds me of the part of the Rhine river, were I live. So tempting to build one myself.
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I often watch their videos on youtube. Even the hour long ones. And also visit their site regularly. One of their contest tanks was the inspiration for my latest build with all the driftwood.
Great resource. Complete with parameters and stocking.
 

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I’ve sat very still and watched a mother shrimp gently shimmy out babies, she’s deep in a plant but I can see her shimmy and a couple of seconds later there’s another baby ! She still has more eggs but apparently the kids need feeding , who knew !? What a wonderful experience though, shrimp are amazing ! In the first picture you can just see mum in the plant and the baby on the filter box to the right. Some size comparisons to an amano! 6541DDDF-B5B0-465E-B424-9BA242D4EDE7.jpeg3BD143BB-7A72-4179-8D98-57CA3C5A420A.jpeg911A6F40-8FE9-41CC-A9FE-BB7FC5D9CB18.jpegF5632A78-0558-4150-A04C-145918A15BD5.jpeg
 

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I just finished adding fish to three tanks :D
The semi-local LFS I went to had a LOT to choose from. I got otocinclus, false julii, habrosus, and more cardinals.
And I almost left with some A Agassizii... but I'm going to wait to see if that online store got in any checkerboards with their last order. They are closed until the 4th.

And even better, the guy helping me said he bred the agassizii and he should have some dicrossus in three months :)
Where has this place been? Or is it just that I am looking at different fish now? They had a lot more variety than what my usual LFS gets in. Pristellas, too. And Black Tetra. Just a lot more to choose from.
 
I just finished adding fish to three tanks :D
The semi-local LFS I went to had a LOT to choose from. I got otocinclus, false julii, habrosus, and more cardinals.
And I almost left with some A Agassizii... but I'm going to wait to see if that online store got in any checkerboards with their last order. They are closed until the 4th.

And even better, the guy helping me said he bred the agassizii and he should have some dicrossus in three months :)
Where has this place been? Or is it just that I am looking at different fish now? They had a lot more variety than what my usual LFS gets in. Pristellas, too. And Black Tetra. Just a lot more to choose from.
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Hmm... Pennsylvania isn't that far away... lol!

I slept in today. Whoops. Gonna get some food in me and try and make it out to my not-so-local store and pick up some scaping supplies for the 47. Might also get some frozen food while I'm there.

bcsay720 I like that tank! It's well done. If I had room for all the other tanks I wanted with clear water, I'd be all over a tank like that ;)

I got Nanaue his morning feeding (the chunk gets two!), and noticed that the betta has made his first bubble nest. Cool!

https://flic.kr/p/2mUAh3H
 
Hmm... Pennsylvania isn't that far away... lol!
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Well, one thing they didn't have were Discus. So the closer LFS has them beat there.
And I don't have a tank that large anyway. Well, maybe the 38 if it wasn't scaped the way it is. But I'd like a little more room anyway.
 
The baby angels got almost 5 weeks in quarantine. I moved them all to the 55. The one large gold and the small gold will stay there while the other babies will go to the 150 tall after they have gotten larger in about a month. There is one rather large ivory angel in there now.

After the quarantine 44 pent was cleared of the angels we added a new male sail fin molly and 6 gold zebra loaches. The molly will end up in the 150 tall with 3 of the zebras and the other zebras will go to the 55. I plan on more of the zebras but Petco only had 6. Was told more are on the way.
 

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Well, one thing they didn't have were Discus. So the closer LFS has them beat there.
And I don't have a tank that large anyway. Well, maybe the 38 if it wasn't scaped the way it is. But I'd like a little more room anyway.
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Believe it or not, I've never seen good, high-quality discus in a store here. I've seen some 1" fry and some (honestly ugly) overpriced pairs that were mixed-morph, but never what I'd compare to high-quality fish I've seen online. I'd like to keep and breed them, but I've got a feeling I'd get bored of them kinda quickly, honestly. They don't have the same appeal to me that other fish do - I'd keep a tank of angels or severums first.
 
Believe it or not, I've never seen good, high-quality discus in a store here. I've seen some 1" fry and some (honestly ugly) overpriced pairs that were mixed-morph, but never what I'd compare to high-quality fish I've seen online. I'd like to keep and breed them, but I've got a feeling I'd get bored of them kinda quickly, honestly. They don't have the same appeal to me that other fish do - I'd keep a tank of angels or severums first.
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The fish I've seen in person are 3-4" and always labeled "assorted". Some look nice, but some you can tell are washed out and who knows what they would look like colored up in the correct habitat. But the price is what you see them at many places online, 89 bucks.

Personally, I am not interested in breeding them, but I'd at least like to know what I can expect them to look like.
But that is a ways off anyway.
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Just took a pic of the Platy fry.
The first ones are getting to be about 1/2" long. There's one of the newer ones in the pic, too. Yellow colored.

Platy fry.jpg
 
Only took 2 trips to Petco today for me to remember to get the gang valve i wanted. The 2nd trip they had 15g tanks on clearance, almost bought them all! Did get some decor i wanted, the lady pricematched to the website, so instead of 7.99 each, fot for 3.99 each, then knocked off half that price with my petco rewards so got $50+ worth of stuff for $11!! Also made it to the LFS for a couple more rabbit snails.
 
I was going to take another short video of my Rio Negro tank. But the new Corys are doing what Corys will do. That was actually the whole idea. It got to where I could not even clean the glass without stirring up the bottom from the sponge moving up and down. No matter how slowly. I needed some of that sediment/decomposing leaf litter stirred up and filtered. But I was surprised how it went from clear to like it looked a week ago before the floss was added.
Maybe tomorrow. With the slow flow of the water it won't be clear-ish any time soon. And it was lights out anyway.
 

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Decided to go to the store for some scaping supplies and uh... I did some damage to my bank account and their in-stock items list. Oops.

I returned with:
Whoops.
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Will admit i was tempted hard on a really pretty sailfin pleco i saw...but i gots nowhere to put it, so i was responsible and left it.
 
Will admit i was tempted hard on a really pretty sailfin pleco i saw...but i gots nowhere to put it, so i was responsible and left it.
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That's how I ended up with the Sailfin that's in with Nanaue, basically. They worked out together, though.

These are the first gold nuggets I've seen locally, so I didn't want to pass it up.
 
That's how I ended up with the Sailfin that's in with Nanaue, basically. They worked out together, though.

These are the first gold nuggets I've seen locally, so I didn't want to pass it up.
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That would have been a tougher assignment, admittedly!
 
20 lbs Seiryu Stone
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Aw man... you can buy Seiryu locally?
Luckyyy. I think I ordered Seiryu three times to get the pieces I needed for my mtn scape.

I did notice the shop I was at today had mtn stone, which I like. But my tanks have not been leaning to needing that kind of stone anymore.
 
Aw man... you can buy Seiryu locally?
Luckyyy. I think I ordered Seiryu three times to get the pieces I needed for my mtn scape.

I did notice the shop I was at today had mtn stone, which I like. But my tanks have not been leaning to needing that kind of stone anymore.
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To be perfectly honest, I'm not 100% convinced it actually is bonafide Seiryu. I've never seen it in person before. It looks like pictures online pretty closely, but I probably couldn't tell this gray rock with white marbling from that gray rock with white marbling.
 
To be perfectly honest, I'm not 100% convinced it actually is bonafide Seiryu. I've never seen it in person before. It looks like pictures online pretty closely, but I probably couldn't tell this gray rock with white marbling from that gray rock with white marbling.
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Plus there is man-made Seiryu. At least I noticed some sellers describing it that way. Vaguely.
 
Plus there is man-made Seiryu. At least I noticed some sellers describing it that way. Vaguely.
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I mean it's pretty, so as long as it doesn't kill my fish we'll be good. I'm not too concerned with the pedigree of my scaping materials, lol!

I'll post pics once it's in the tank. This store had some slate and river rock the last time I went, but this time they only had lava rock, Seiryu, Red Slate, Lace rock, and Texas Holey rock.
 
Gravel rinsed, background attached. 20g is about ready to start setting up! And, as is my wife's custom EVERY TIME I TOUCH AN AQUARIUM, now i have to wait for 20 hrs of baths before i can do anything.
 
Alright, so I got the 47 scaped to the best of my (limited) ability. I wish I had gotten more rock, but these were all the big pieces they had. Maybe more negative space in this tank is better. I moved the 12 Tiger Barbs and Red-Tail Shark into the 47. Everybody looks fat and happy, so I think they'll do well. So far, they're still stressed, but I'm already seeing some of that really cool schooling activity in the bigger tank.

Here's a quick cell phone video showing the flow in the tank, as well as the basic scape. The gravel I used was still muddy, even after rinsing for over an hour. Still, though, I think it'll look good once it clears and I'm able to get a good light over it and plant it. I'm debating on whether or not I have too much flow - the barbs seem to like it, but the shark is having to fight it a little bit more.

https://imgur.com/4jTcZk1

I got the Electric Blue Acara and Gold Nugget Pleco into QT, and have the Killis floating in the tank as well. I figured they'd QT okay together for two weeks. After that, the Killis will be joining my remaining female, since I think I got a male/female pair from the store.

The Peppermint Shrimp and Orchid Dottyback are in my pest tank, since Dottybacks are known to be incredibly mean and Peppermint Shrimp are known to pester and sometimes eat coral and anemones. When I was scrubbing the glass, I noticed how many bristleworms I'm seeing in this tank - I almost touched one! Their sting hurts, too. I got to be careful in this tank from now on. I'll take some pics once they're settled in.

Oh, and if any of you freshie folks ever get into saltwater, let me know your reaction when you go to put a saltwater shrimp into a net and you realize that they can walk UP THE NET! These ain't no Neocaridinia, y'all.

Here's a video of some bristle worms hanging around a Nerite shell. It looks like there are two... but you can see five in the video if you look back at the rocks. I've found some in this tank that are going on 4-5" long!

https://imgur.com/mCIgozj
 
Calypso is a jerk and biting his tail. This weekend I have to figure out some things to keep him entertained I guess. :cool: Even if it means putting some deco in that I dont like.......lol
 

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The Dottyback is choosing to be difficult, even when offered some live baby brine, so no pics yet. He is eating, though, so that's a good sign. He's just a little thin, but not emaciated.

The shrimp didn't make it. I took the pic below, and was actually writing this, essentially saying that it seemed stunned from the move - which might be fairly normal. But, I looked over, and it was laying on it's back, breathing hard. It only lasted another couple minutes. I watched it stop moving :( guess I just paid $10 for what'll end up being a puffer snack.

https://imgur.com/QbnX0IJ

Also, look at this thing! I fed some BBS to the tank and this one popped out from under the rock. It knows.

https://imgur.com/HBG7qxA

And I decided to give the barbs some BBS too. I turned all the pumps off and let them go at it.

 
Great minds think alike!

Those are some beautiful Badis! I've never seen any locally, or I'd 100% have a few.
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I have a female and 2 males. They are pretty cool little fish if you can get them. They need live food though, which you are used to...lol They love the black worms, I need to figure out how to grow them. Our lfs has not had any recently.
 
I have a female and 2 males. They are pretty cool little fish if you can get them. They need live food though, which you are used to...lol They love the black worms, I need to figure out how to grow them. Our lfs has not had any recently.
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Cool! I thought I had read that some people had weaned them onto frozen bloodworms and frozen mysis/brine, but I could be wrong. Are they a species where a reverse trio (1F/2M) is common, or is that just what you ended up with? Regardless, very cool little guys. Remind me of teeny tiny cichlids or something.

I've only ever run across one store that had blackworms in stock, and they went out of business. Really unfortunate, since all my fish loved them at the time. Don't you need chilled water in order to cultivate them at a decent rate? I had seen people setting up small tanks at room temp and having limited success, but thought they'd do better in the low 60's.

Dangit... I just walked over to my QT tank and found one of the Golden Wonder Killis dead. This may not have been the most successful LFS trip.
 
They will eat bloodworms and brine shrimp sometimes?. I know the female pretty much eats anything. One of the males is pickier than the other. There are ramshorns I think they are hunting also because there are very few small ones ever.
 
Yeah, that's what my fish look like, too.
Like they aren't sure if food just drifted by or not.
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Lol, my dwarf puffer has to consider whether or not he wants to eat each individual brine shrimp. It takes him forever to polish off his portion whenever I feed. He'd starve in a group of pea puffers.

They will eat bloodworms and brine shrimp sometimes?. I know the female pretty much eats anything. One of the males is pickier than the other. There are ramshorns I think they are hunting also because there are very few small ones ever.
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Ah, gotcha. Good to know!
 
The Badis miss out on some food. They sit and look and look at it and a Chili will come and snatch it away. It hilarious. Im like eat it!!!!!!! Quit looking at it! lol
 

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Most likely tomorrow. Bubbles.
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Just so you know, every hour I have to wait, my expectations go up. This "totally real" tank you set up today is gonna have to meet a high bar.

Can you believe this guy? "Bubbles"? Yeah, right.
 
Just so you know, every hour I have to wait, my expectations go up. This "totally real" tank you set up today is gonna have to meet a high bar.

Can you believe this guy? "Bubbles"? Yeah, right.
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Well see, my blind butt can't even tell right now if i like it or not yet lol
 
I'm making RO/DI water.

My blackwater is clearing up some. I can only filter it so much, otherwise the pump will pump the water out more quickly than what is coming in and going through the filters. So even though it's daylight and I get reflections, I thought I would take a couple videos.


 
I'm making RO/DI water.

My blackwater is clearing up some. I can only filter it so much, otherwise the pump will pump the water out more quickly than what is coming in and going through the filters. So even though it's daylight and I get reflections, I thought I would take a couple videos.


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Looking good! I love the Rummynose. I can't find them here (I've never even seen one in person), so they're on the bucket list.

Are those some kind of pencilfish in that first tank?
 
Looking good! I love the Rummynose. I can't find them here (I've never even seen one in person), so they're on the bucket list.

Are those some kind of pencilfish in that first tank?
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Thanks. Rummynose my LFS has. They keep them in with the Discus and always have a good group.

Yes, Nannostomus Eques (diptail, hockeystick...).
I'm hoping my online source got more in with their last order. I need to bolster the group back up, but these three seem to get along well.
 
Thanks. Rummynose my LFS has. They keep them in with the Discus and always have a good group.

Yes, Nannostomus Eques (diptail, hockeystick...).
I'm hoping my online source got more in with their last order. I need to bolster the group back up, but these three seem to get along well.
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Lucky! Which online source do you use, if you're willing to share that information?

I tried to feed the Gold Nugget Pleco some boiled peas overnight, but no dice. I don't know if he just doesn't recognize it as food, or if he straight-up didn't like it. I'll try some shrimp tonight - maybe he'll take meats better first. From what I've read, they're omnivorous, so who knows.
 
Which online source do you use
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I've used three trying to get these tanks together, but my favorite by far is Aqua-Imports.
 

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I've used three trying to get these tanks together, but my favorite by far is Aqua-Imports.
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I've looked at them a few times. Good to know their reputation is accurate!

Here's a couple of feeding videos. I feed the pest pico some BBS, and got some footage of the dottyback. The flow is turned off in the tank, so everything you're seeing moving is moving of it's own accord. Turns out everything likes BBS.


And here's some footage of the barbs eating some BBS, now that the tank is cleared.


I decided to rush filming all this and ended up with some out of focus of footage - oops. To be fair, it looked fine on the tiny camera LCD. I didn't even notice until I went to edit it *facepalm*
 
Got water changes done on the betta tanks. The mystery snail scampered off somewhere after i found him earlier, so no smell test needed. Must be battling with Boss HOGG again. They forever feuding over cave spots.

Edit: guess i did forget that i cleaned the outside glass on the betta tanks and cleaned the filters i didn't get last week. So all sponge filters should be pretty much tip-top again.
 
The Otocinclus are doing their job nicely. Hopefully some of my plants recover. Some of that algae can't be siphoned off.

They got all the green off of the sidewall.
Pics of the inside and outside
IMG_0793.jpg

IMG_0794.jpg

Keep working boys
IMG_0796.jpg
 
Hoping to get the water change done for this week on the platy tank. Then i should mostly just have several nights to watch and feed this week. Not sure if i am feeling that smart or if i am just feeling to lazy to do it. Probably full on breakfast!
 
Water change and keeping an eye on what looks like a white spot on the betta's face but could possibly be just something that he got into in the tank that will fall off when he finally decides to move around a bit :rolleyes:
 
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