30g Journal: 30g scape update WITH PICS 8/18/12 (!56k)

[mizu-chan]

I'm am really in love with that Bamboo Shrimp you have. It's so cool, plus the pics are great
And your Cories are so small and cute. I went everywhere looking for these guys, but I think I'm going to order some off aqua-bid or something.

All of your inhabitants are so nice. (:

[chase127]

Originally Posted by mizu-chan

I'm am really in love with that Bamboo Shrimp you have. It's so cool, plus the pics are great
And your Cories are so small and cute. I went everywhere looking for these guys, but I think I'm going to order some off aqua-bid or something.

All of your inhabitants are so nice. (:

www.boxlotfish.com has some for pretty cheap(55 cents each i think??). idk how much shipping to texas is but its $7 for floridians they also have a bunch of other cool fish too.

[Karackle]

Yeah i'm totally in love with the bamboo shrimp, he's really interesting to watch, i love it!!! And he's so cute too! I'm actually rather in love with all of the fish in the tank as well. The cories are adorable and so full of life, they zoom all over the tank, SO much more active in the 30g than in their ~3g QT tank! And I love the sparkling gourami, I'm so glad he's out and about more. He's a gorgeous little critter, i haven't gotten a picture that does him justice yet, i'll keep trying! Thanks for the compliments!

*edit* I'd be careful with boxlotfish.com, lauraleellbp didn't have much luck with the corydoras hastatus she ordered from them, they sent her habrosus not hastatus and they all died within 24h i think (she wrote about it in her 90g journal) so I'd be careful with them. She got more Otos than she ordered and most of them were healthy though so i guess that place is a toss up. But yeah it took me a while to find these guys, found them labeled as Hastatus at one of my LPS that i don't usually go to because it's a bit farther away. I discovered they were actually Corydoras pygmaeus, but I was happy either way, they're still teeny tiny cories! heehee

[chase127]

i never knew how that order of hers turned out. i think i zoned off in the middle of her thread... :P

so are what miracle plants are you gona put in here that survive less than 1WPG LOL? you do so much with stock fixtures!

[Karackle]

hahaha well thanks, i appreciate that, it's a lot of luck i think! Everything I grow in my 20g is grown in less than 1wpg! I do plan on getting more light for this tank as soon as I can though because the ends are quite dark. For the moment though, the right side of the tank gets some supplemental sunlight (very indirectly) from the window it's next to, and the left side is getting light from the spiral CF in a desk lamp I set up for the Betta QT tank so we'll see what happens! So far the Wisteria behind the large rock has already grown, the moss actually already seems to be branching out slightly, and the cabomba, anubias, "filligree frill" and crypt species are looking good, not melting yet, and a bit of root growth from the stems. Sow we'll see what happens!

[Karackle]

Chris127 - sorry, i missed your post earlier about adding a predator. Someone else (in this thread) suggested getting Rams too. My water might be too basic for them, and I'm not sure how i'll be in terms of Bio-load once I get everyone I want in there though? However, GBRs are quite beautiful fish, so maybe. But i'm not sure how the gouramies would get along with them?

[Karackle]

Quick update: everyone seems to be doing well still, the gourami is out and about a lot more, sometimes he even plays in the bubble wall! Shrimpy-do continues to wander around doin' his thing too

Some pictures for your enjoyment (or mine?....either way )

Cories:

Can you find the cory?


he's hiding


under the rock ledge:


And I finally got a decent picture of Mr. Gourami:

[Karackle]

Almost forgot new FTS (i don't think much has changed but it's harder to tell when you stare at it every day :-P)

[mizu-chan]

Great update! Tank is looking really nice. Moss seems to be thickening really nicely on your DW.
I think I love this journal so much because you always update with nice pictures, and something new almost every other day.

[Karackle]

Mizu-Chan: Thanks! Yeah, I'm actually really happy with how the moss is growing in, i think it helped that I pulled loose moss off of the DW in my 20g, so it was already starting to do it's growing thing! The Cabomba and wisteria have also grown a couple inches, both are hard to see in these pictures, espeically the Wisteria which is hiding behind the rock, so i'm happy about that as well :-P

And thanks for the compliment on the journal Mizu-chan! I'm a bit excited about this tank if you couldn't tell! It's the first one i've really thought a lot about in advance, first one with more than just aquarium gravel as the substrate and all of that good stuff! And i'm a little bit obsessed with the fauna in the tank the gourami is gorgeous and cute, the cories are adorable and the shrimp is just really frickin cool!!! So i'm a little camera happy with this journal

[Karackle]

Ok, I've been looking at my tank and aside from needing more plants (and not knowing what all of those will be) I think I need more hardscape and ideas for plants. There are three specific areas that look quite empty to me, i've made a picture showing where i think I need more stuff and I would love any input on what I should put there and/or rearrange. I just received some more plants specifically:
"Hygrophila polysperma 'Rosanervig' - few stems
Hygrophila difformis wisteria - couple stems
Asian Ambulia - bunch of these
Java moss (I think) - clump (about the size of a golf ball)"
from the trading forward thread so I have those I can add to the tank as well.

ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!! thanks!

[Nicholas89]

I would take all of your branching pieces of wood and bundle them together so they look like they are coming from the same structure. (Tie them together, silicon, something)

I would then probably move the branching bundle directly to the left of the large rock, towards the back. Then fill in some of the area with smaller rocks, preferably more lack rock (or whatever that large one is).

Then stick all of the crypts from the left side of the tank around the rocks and wood structure, towards the front of it.

Then take all of your stem plants and plant them in and around the back of the wood, and move your sword from the center to the right corner, behind the large rock, but more towards the front of it then in the center.

Now it's 1/3rd aquascaped.

Hope that may have helped.

[Karackle]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll definitely keep them in mind when I rescape!

Please keep the suggestions coming!

THANKS!

[lauraleellbp]

You ever read through the blog at www.aquatic-eden.com? Some really nice scaping tips in that one.

[Karackle]

No I've never seen that, thanks I'll definitely take a look at it!