xenxes's Aqueon 20L - "Bamboo Jungle" + Otos/CPDs/Pygm, PFR/CBS/OEBT/Cardinal/BluBees

[diwu13]

All the snails from the LFS come laded with algae ?

Leave some small ones as well with the big ones in case they die off. I'd assume those are near the end of their lifetimes.

[xenxes]

Removed blue platys + swordtail, took them back to the LFS, just didn't fit with the theme.

Have the female betta in a quarantine container, she's pretty aggressive, might have to get a separate tank for her, lol

Pic (Day +4)


Added the black bg, will look better when I remove the moss wall... but the sticky side of the contact paper isn't really "black," it's more of a patterned look. Ohwell.

[diwu13]

Looks eerie with the uneven lighting :P. This is probably where Red Riding Hood met the Wolf

[xenxes]

I thought about getting a long light but I kinda like the day/night look (the pic was taken at night). I have lower light plants on the right side. The window area gets maybe 8 hours of indirect and 2 hours of direct light each day. The fish also love to hang out in the darker section.

[diwu13]

I also like the light/dark difference :P. I feel like you should make the dark area floor covered in some moss. Make it look even more eerie! And maybe add a path in the light area :P?

[xenxes]

Lol a path would be neat, there's once underneath the IAL from the front going to the bamboo-shrine. Added an airpump & airstone on the right side to help move the water.

Pics look better w/o flash I think (Day +5):


Night


Day

I do have a bit of moss on the right side too, I should move more to the foreground. Those Hydocotyle Leucocephyala get really big and climb and block everything.


Panda sleeping on a draecaena leaf


Sleeping panda fry


Exploring

[diwu13]

Night looks WAYYYY better ! I still want the right side to look more eerie! Needs like mist or something haha.

Aw.. sleeping fishys! Cute fry as well. Not like my tadpole swarm.

[xenxes]

Lol, *smoosh* your tadpoles and use as shrimp food

[diwu13]

I'd try but those are darn fast! At least their decaying little bodies will fertilize my moss haha.

[xenxes]

Got 2 more "golden" otos today. The single is doing much better with a school.

Counted around 20 panda platy fry that are all coming out of the gravel and becoming more active. I thought there was only 3-4. If they all mature it's going to really overload my tank.

[diwu13]

Aw... ! Good parenting skills haha. Wait until they become a bit larger, then you can start selling them off!

[xenxes]

We'll see, they could still all die off tomorrow :/


Not sure if the otos are eating the zucchini or just resting on it, they love the Topfin Feeder blocks, but not much else. I wish I had more algae.


More panda platy babies popped out: "[f]irst broods are small of about ten offspring. Brood size increases in numbers with each successive brood and to number up to seventy-five to eighty per brood as the female grows larger... Females kept alone, after being bred once, will continue to have successive broods of offspring without having to mate again." Awesome, panda farm! :O


Finally found a RCS, the ones I introduced on day 1 when I had the female betta in the tank are still hiding. The 6 I threw in the other day roam around.


I made a make-shift veggie clip, it's gigantic. The white thing on the IAL is a 3-day feeder block from Petsmart, anyone have any experience with them? White chalk can't be that healthy, and the copper proteinate might mess with the shrimp... but it's an easy and constant food supply

[diwu13]

Make sure there's no metals in that clip! You might be better off just resting a fork on the veggie.

Um... I know the 3-day food supplies aren't great for shrimp. And as you said I expect it can't be too good for ottos as they prefer primarily veggie matter like shrimp. I wouldn't feed that more than once a week.

[xenxes]

The large oto disappeared today

Woke up and found my cat uprooted half of the dracaena and chewed some branches off, including the bundle. Cursed a lot and replanted, noticed the oto was missing. Searched all around the tank, under the IAL and under the filter. Thought I buried it under the circle, uprooted, searched, nothing. Did a 50% wc but still back to muddy waters for a while. Checked the area around the tank, under the couch, no fish.

I doubt the cat could catch a bottom dwelling fish and he hates water. Nothing in the tank is big enough to eat the oto (even if dead). Puzzled.

[xenxes]

Grrr, he got stuck behind the mesh wall. Got in and couldn't get out. Alive but still very thin.