Frosty's 10 Gallon Setup
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Well, its been a couple weeks. I pulled out all the HM in my tank because it was mysteriously turning white and developing holes in its leaves, with lots of dead leaves under the new growth. I had trimmed it several times, but eventually got tired of it and pulled it out. I stuck my stargrass trimmings in the center midground and hopefully that will grow in somewhat bushy.
Then, I had a little battle with hair algae, which I've described in another recent post. I pulled out a lot of corkscrew val (this stuff grows like crazy) and had to pull my ludwigia repens and bleach dip it.
I made a trip to a LFS that has $2.99 bunch plants (Buy 3 get one free), and got ludwigia natans, wisteria, red necaea, and rotala rotifundia. I figured the necaea would die, but it that was my free pick.
Surprisingly, the necaea is growing, but not surprisingly, the new growth is green/pink and not the shocking red that it was when I bought it. I just stuck it on the side of the tank anyhow, and it's blocking my stargrass. Not sure I'm keeping it.
Also, I want to give props to Charpark, who RAOKed me 20+- endler fry. I'm really excited for these guys to grow up and color up. I'm feeding them hikari guppy food, hikari flake food, and frozen brine shrimp right now. I should really get some brine shrimp eggs and a microworm culture or something.
Below are a pic of the tank, of the new green necaea growth, and my rubin sword's growth. It's incredible how magenta the new leaves are on that plant.
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Then, I had a little battle with hair algae, which I've described in another recent post. I pulled out a lot of corkscrew val (this stuff grows like crazy) and had to pull my ludwigia repens and bleach dip it.
I made a trip to a LFS that has $2.99 bunch plants (Buy 3 get one free), and got ludwigia natans, wisteria, red necaea, and rotala rotifundia. I figured the necaea would die, but it that was my free pick.
Surprisingly, the necaea is growing, but not surprisingly, the new growth is green/pink and not the shocking red that it was when I bought it. I just stuck it on the side of the tank anyhow, and it's blocking my stargrass. Not sure I'm keeping it.Also, I want to give props to Charpark, who RAOKed me 20+- endler fry. I'm really excited for these guys to grow up and color up. I'm feeding them hikari guppy food, hikari flake food, and frozen brine shrimp right now. I should really get some brine shrimp eggs and a microworm culture or something.
Below are a pic of the tank, of the new green necaea growth, and my rubin sword's growth. It's incredible how magenta the new leaves are on that plant.
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Frosty's 10 Gallon Setup (Updated 5.14.08)
Well its been almost two weeks. I'm really struggling with the stargrass -- it keeps turning black. It does GREAT as long as I dont touch it. But if I trim it, prune it, replant it, whatever... it gets grey/black sploches on it that don't go away. It does grow fast, and I love how much it branches, but does anyone know of a similar plant that won't discolor when its unhappy?
Anywho, my rotala rotifundiola is really taking off, and I love it. I also won my war on hair algae, I think thanks to Excel overdosing and my new HUGE japonica shrimp. I'll post more pics soon, and I'll try to get some endlers shots (one male has color already, the rest of the fry are too small). Here's shot with some rotala, ludwigia, and vals.
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Well its been almost two weeks. I'm really struggling with the stargrass -- it keeps turning black. It does GREAT as long as I dont touch it. But if I trim it, prune it, replant it, whatever... it gets grey/black sploches on it that don't go away. It does grow fast, and I love how much it branches, but does anyone know of a similar plant that won't discolor when its unhappy?
Anywho, my rotala rotifundiola is really taking off, and I love it. I also won my war on hair algae, I think thanks to Excel overdosing and my new HUGE japonica shrimp. I'll post more pics soon, and I'll try to get some endlers shots (one male has color already, the rest of the fry are too small). Here's shot with some rotala, ludwigia, and vals.
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Wow Frosty you sure know how to make those reds pop out.
I love it
I love it
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Thanks, Orlando, but I can only take credit for the rubin sword and the rotala. The red Nesaea is turning green under my light. I'm actually supposed to mail that red plant out to someone who's been looking for it. 40 watts even under a 10 gallon just isnt enough for Nesaea.Wow Frosty you sure know how to make those reds pop out.
I love it
That pink rotala though, is turning out to be one of my favorite plants.
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looking great. I had the same issue with stargrass, it would branch out and grow bushy but the growth was 2 fast. If i didnt trim the bush the center/lower part of the plant would turn pale, and if i did trim it, some leaves would turn pale/black. I switched out this delicate plant for other bushy stem plants.
I also had the red nesea in my tank for a while and it didnt really grow as i expected. Im sure you will get a nice trade for some other interesting plants on the SNS.
I also had the red nesea in my tank for a while and it didnt really grow as i expected. Im sure you will get a nice trade for some other interesting plants on the SNS.
Hey Frosty, just noticed your post...great set-up! Hope you're enjoying the Endlers, looks like you've got a great home for them. Looking forward to seeing them color up quite a bit. Perhaps someone can confirm their class or whatever when they mature.
I'm sure you've got enough, but please let me know if you need more fry or plants later on. My Endlers are still at it and trying to take over the tank.
This goes for anyone in the NYC area as well looking for some free fry. It's great having a local community for trading and raoks, and only possible thanks to the TPT forums!
Hope you're enjoying the Endlers, looks like you've got a great home for them. Looking forward to seeing them color up quite a bit. Perhaps someone can confirm their class or whatever when they mature. I'm sure you've got enough, but please let me know if you need more fry or plants later on. My Endlers are still at it and trying to take over the tank.
This goes for anyone in the NYC area as well looking for some free fry. It's great having a local community for trading and raoks, and only possible thanks to the TPT forums!
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Charpark - Thank you again for the ROAK fry. I tried to catch the big male to put him in a tic-tac box to take a picture of him. I learned that trick on endlersr.us ... unfortunately, the little guy took to cover in the plants and there's no way getting any tiny fish out of that plant cover... I'll post of a pic of him once he's fully grown but he looks P class endler to me... but I'm no expert by any means. We'll see when they're grown -- I'll post a pic for the endler experts to look at.
NstyN8 - Good eye! It's actually what's left of my Ludwigia repens. I went through a terrible hair algae attack and I bleach-dipped the repens and cut off the entire bottom half. Whatever was left, I stuck into the front right, which is where I originally had a large bush of HM (it was turning pale and getting holes in it, so I tossed it). When the repens grows out, I'll either move it to replace the stargrass that I'm tiring of, or I'll give it away. But yea, I was wondering if anyone would notice that I used a background plant as a foreground plant :thumbsup:
NstyN8 - Good eye! It's actually what's left of my Ludwigia repens. I went through a terrible hair algae attack and I bleach-dipped the repens and cut off the entire bottom half. Whatever was left, I stuck into the front right, which is where I originally had a large bush of HM (it was turning pale and getting holes in it, so I tossed it). When the repens grows out, I'll either move it to replace the stargrass that I'm tiring of, or I'll give it away. But yea, I was wondering if anyone would notice that I used a background plant as a foreground plant :thumbsup:
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Mini update:
My red ramshorn snails have developed a taste for blyxa. They're meticulously stripping every new young leaf from the plants. Its so frustrating having to choose between a plant you really like and an animal you really like!
This is a perfect opportunity to start a new tank! I've been wanting to start a 5 gallon shrimp tank. But should I move the blyxa to a new tank, or all my ramshorns to a new tank? (There are about 30 snails at this point, most are really TINY but they are baby red rams) Probably going to have to move the snails, since I wouldnt be dosing the shrimp tank or going high light. Now to convince my significant other that I need a second tank... this is the hard part.
My red ramshorn snails have developed a taste for blyxa. They're meticulously stripping every new young leaf from the plants. Its so frustrating having to choose between a plant you really like and an animal you really like!
This is a perfect opportunity to start a new tank!
I've been wanting to start a 5 gallon shrimp tank. But should I move the blyxa to a new tank, or all my ramshorns to a new tank? (There are about 30 snails at this point, most are really TINY but they are baby red rams) Probably going to have to move the snails, since I wouldnt be dosing the shrimp tank or going high light. Now to convince my significant other that I need a second tank... this is the hard part.
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Wow! That's awesome! The second pic doesn't look like it was taken with flash. My amano would never do that...
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It was the first pic that was taken with flash.
That female amano is fearless. She takes food right out of my hand. I've had her climb all over my hand when I've put it in to do tank maintenance. My endlers peck my hand all over too when I'm trying to move plants around. Its impossible to get anything done.
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Whoops .
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Well, all my blyxa is dead. I thought the ramshorns were eating it cause they were starving, but they were apparently eating it cause it was dying.
I trimmed my rotala rotifundiola. I love this beautiful pink plant. But, its getting quite a number of holes in it. I've seen this happen to someone else, and it was apparently a CO2 issue. I badly want pressurized CO2. Oy.
The amano lost all her eggs. She carried them for over a week. They all turned yellow, as shown in the pics below. The endlers are feisty and learned that they could pec the eggs off her. One male endler followed the amano relentlessly, and would turn upside down to swim underneath her and pick an egg off, or at least attempt to. It was a constant chase. Occasionally, he'd peck her back, and she wouldnt even move. Of course, she's bigger than this endler will EVER grow. She knows who's boss.
On a completely different note, Seasons 1 through 3 of Lost is amazing, and Season 4 sucks. Im very disappointed.
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I trimmed my rotala rotifundiola. I love this beautiful pink plant. But, its getting quite a number of holes in it. I've seen this happen to someone else, and it was apparently a CO2 issue. I badly want pressurized CO2. Oy.
The amano lost all her eggs. She carried them for over a week. They all turned yellow, as shown in the pics below. The endlers are feisty and learned that they could pec the eggs off her. One male endler followed the amano relentlessly, and would turn upside down to swim underneath her and pick an egg off, or at least attempt to. It was a constant chase. Occasionally, he'd peck her back, and she wouldnt even move. Of course, she's bigger than this endler will EVER grow. She knows who's boss.
On a completely different note, Seasons 1 through 3 of Lost is amazing, and Season 4 sucks. Im very disappointed.
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And a pic of the baby ramshorns during feeding time. I keep pieces of pre-sliced zucchini frozen so I can just pop up out, click it, and drop it in the tank. The otos, shrimp, snails, and endlers all love it. The couple pond snails I have in the tank arent as attracted to it, though, for anyone looking for a way to get rid of pond snails. But if its ramshorns you're looking to collect, zucchini is the way to go.
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Here's an updated full tank shot. Looking back since I first got the rotala rotifundiola, I'm shocked at how it tripled in size over the last 2 months. More than tripled in size! I just trimmed back the wisteria down to almost nothing. Also, I took this picture a few days ago, and this morning I pulled out what HC I had growing, and spread out the new E. tennellus I purchased. There's two new runners since I put it in the tank last weekend. I also pulled out the struggling/dying stargrass in the back left. I'll let the vals fill in that corner.
I should mention, I switched to pressurized paintball CO2, and I have constant pearling now. I lovvvvvve it. I'm using the red sea paintball system. Not the cheapest, but definitely the easiest. My endlers have started reproducing. I'll probably have a population explosion within a month. Oh, and if anyone local wants some free baby red ramshorn snails, please let me know. I have too many.
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I should mention, I switched to pressurized paintball CO2, and I have constant pearling now. I lovvvvvve it. I'm using the red sea paintball system. Not the cheapest, but definitely the easiest. My endlers have started reproducing. I'll probably have a population explosion within a month. Oh, and if anyone local wants some free baby red ramshorn snails, please let me know. I have too many.
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