• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Resurrection (EA900)

Have been quiet for quite a while, mostly as we acquired a pair of the most stunning beautiful kittens a month ago. They're just perfect and I've been spending all my time cuddling and playing with them! As always I'm surrounding myself with the best nature has to offer :) I've also been.... planning a macroalgae bowl 👀 .... more on that another time!

Anyway, FISH TANK.

IMG_9692.jpg


IMG_9814.jpg
IMG_9784.jpg

Since the last update the tank has been pretty hammered by diatoms. They are finally starting to slow down now, though def not gone yet. A lot of things went brown, and at the same time quite a few plants struggled and died, both under and above the water. Above the water, the deaths were due to my arch nemesis APHIDS who slurped down the watercress, Baldellia ranunculoides and Myriophyllum brasiliensis. I haven't replaced them yet, so the top is looking a lil boring compared to last time, need to find something nice and waxy to replace them with. Below the water, the hottonia has almost completely gone, I've only got a few stems left. Interestingly the emergent stems I bought are the surviving ones, and the underwater stems all just melted away. A big shame, as it was cheap and I used it to cover up the bottom. I think it would do better in lowtech with little flow. I collected more starwort and some different ludwigias (and a few other fancy stems some friends gave me) to replace it with on the mounds, and a selection of groundcover plants for the bottom. The starwort is doing fantastically though so that's nice, it's a plant that isn't usually used in an aquarium but I definitely think could be a nice contender - I've never been able to grow rotala well, but this stuff thrives!

So the bottom has filled out really nicely now. As well as hydrocotyle vulgaris and verticilliata (vulgaris is doing the best), I've added a lot of marsilea quadrifolia which was growing long runners across the top of the tank, and it's worked great. I also got some grasses from @Courtneybst tank shutdown to cover the bases of the mounds that were tragically bare. I'm feeling a lot more into it now, the sticklebacks look great amongst it. The mounds aren't quite right yet, but I'm hoping now the growth is healthy I can slowly trim them into the right shapes and proportion. I'm absolutely gagging for a lightscreen background, i think it would really set everything off nicely, gotta design and build that asap!

Mother Nature's latest gift to me is cyanobacteria, to remind me that there is always something new to learn about. 🙃 There's a bottle of cyano-killer coming in the post.

IMG_9801.jpg
IMG_9932.jpg


IMG_9774.jpg


IMG_9725.jpg


IMG_9822.jpg


IMG_9732.jpg


IMG_9884.jpg


IMG_9835.jpg

IMG_9848.jpg

About 3 weeks ago I added a group of 10 sticklebacks to live with Mr Stickle. He wasn't happy at all at first and chased them all around for a week, but then during the heatwave he seemed to give up and now they're all (mostly) friends. It's funny he went from hidden 90% of the time, to out front and center making sure they all knew it was HIS TANK they're living in. 2 of the sticklebacks died, one the day after I got them had to be euthanised cos it had weird white patches on it, and one from the day it was very hot. I have bottles of rainwater in the freezer now for the next hot day. I have 3 males of 9 which is great and means theres not too much agrivation, and 2 of the males have taken up living in the front right and left corners. Mr Stickle is still the most beautiful colourful one, the second male who is his neighbour has gone pearly white. The females are all metallic silver or brown. The fish aren't afraid of me at all, whether I'm watching them from the front and come over quickly, or putting my arms in to do maintenence. They also eat the aphids I plonk in the tank which is great, and they use the whole tank - picking at the bottom and zooming around the rest, often checking the surface for any insects and swimming in the flow of the lily pipe. They only eat live and frozen food, don't like the dry at all but it's not difficult to deal with in summer. The tank so far hasn't dipped below 21 since I got them annoyingly. I'm not sure if they will breed in these conditions, but I wish they would as 9 sticklebacks doesn't quite add the flurry of activity I like to see in a tank! Maybe I should've got 20 rather than 10. They are definitely interesting fish to keep with really interesting behaviour!

However I do find myself really missing schools of tiny fish, shrimps, lil catfishes, all those creatures that add movement. It's a big shame there arne't any tiny native fish to fill the gap, so I'm hoping with the amount of livefood I'm feeding them that they might breed and it's not too late in the season! I still have that 100cm tank in the back of my mind, I'm currently in negotiations about whether I could set it up as a lowtech SA community. Hmm, we'll see!

IMG_9713.jpg


IMG_9766.jpg


IMG_9973.jpg

 

Attachments

  • IMG_9970.jpg
    IMG_9970.jpg
    1,007.9 KB · Views: 90
  • IMG_9800.jpg
    IMG_9800.jpg
    1.9 MB · Views: 99
It looks amazing! I love all the detail in the mix of plants.

Would some other native critters help with the movement you are missing - I'm sure they would pick off some but perhaps snails, asellus? I'm not sure what's bigger but not a threat to fish beetle wise.
 
Looking forward to the bowl Rosie.
Thanks!! I’ve get set it up and I’m so excited, will make a journal for it this week. Sneaky peak… set up yesterday and already gone green from the sun 😂
606CCD4C-E3D0-425F-A9B3-221B9A4DFA4F.jpeg


Love it, absolutely beautiful with such excellent photography.
BUT where are the kitten photos!!
I knew someone would notice I was being lazy not adding a few pics 😂 they’re 12 weeks old, still small but they look quite big in pics! First 2 are them now, third is when we first saw them at 8 weeks. We’re all OBSESSED they’re SO CUTE.
9B2CF865-8A4C-4D08-8B93-7251980D833D.jpeg

1ACB1171-106D-4F75-B5FC-3C1AD71E1C70.jpeg


It looks amazing! I love all the detail in the mix of plants.

Would some other native critters help with the movement you are missing - I'm sure they would pick off some but perhaps snails, asellus? I'm not sure what's bigger but not a threat to fish beetle wise.
Thank you! I think you are right, I need to add some big pond snails and things like that. Maybe we’ll try to catch some smaller beetles and see what happens. If I was keeping the tank for longer and didn’t need to think about where I would rehome them to, I would go a bit weird with the fish choice add white mountain minnows and sewellia or something. I’m quite intrigued to see if the sticklebacks would be fine with other species that don’t have the same niche.
 

Attachments

  • 4DF3BAEC-F70E-48E3-B31D-DD22EDE8F3F4.jpeg
    4DF3BAEC-F70E-48E3-B31D-DD22EDE8F3F4.jpeg
    2.6 MB · Views: 88
Also, if you guys ever thought to yourself “hmm I wonder what the rest of shangman’s house looks like”, you may like this video, where the always lovely @George Farmer came over for lunch and did a little blog showing off my tanks and house a bit.



Is that rock or coral skeleton in there?
The main bit is a coral skeleton my mum collected 40 years ago on holiday in Devon, it’s been knocking about for years with no proper place, so I finally gave it one! There are also 3 small bits of live rock in there from my LFS, you can see on the bottom right and bottom, apparently been in their system for years. Very kindly they gave it to me for free! I guess they know now I’m on the hook for all sorts of lovely things to fill it with. There isn’t much obvious life on it, I think I noticed a single tiny brown zoa on it only.

I’m doing a few weeks dark start to let it cycle, while I work out where to get my macro algae and mangrove propule from. Just bought an AI Prime HD Fresh to go over it too, but the window does A LOT.

View attachment 190845

Maybe I’ve had too much IPA - but I can’t help but see a seated baby Groot right there?
You’re gonna have to do me a drawing, I’m very intrigued! What does everyone else see in the crystal ball??
 
A pair of furry beauties, I can see little paws dipping into tanks & bowls....! They're already practicing their "it wasn't me!" innocent expressions!
The bowl is intriguing, I can't believe it's turned green so fast, eagerly waiting for the new journal! Possibly called Rosie's Crystal Ball? 😄
 
A pair of furry beauties, I can see little paws dipping into tanks & bowls....! They're already practicing their "it wasn't me!" innocent expressions!
The bowl is intriguing, I can't believe it's turned green so fast, eagerly waiting for the new journal! Possibly called Rosie's Crystal Ball? 😄
That’s completely accurate, they will only drink water from my nano tanks so far 😂 luckily I had the forethought to move the rice fish before we got them. They’ve also broken the new leaves off one of the prized philodendrons which NO ONE rose in the house could’ve got away with - their cuteness makes everything ok.

Yes I was quite surprised, but it does get a lot of sun - and more algae = some lovely snails. It’s my witchy mermaid crystal ball! Totally 😂 even more so when I first filled it…

C17ECC36-3BDE-4AB7-84F2-1BE8786BF2F7.jpeg
 
I haven’t posted as much recently, I think because tbh I’ve not been enjoying this tank that much. I like it in theory, I like the idea of it, but irl it’s just not catching me like the old one did. I think it’s because it doesn’t feel like a fascinating community of fish with lots of little interesting things going on, it’s just 8 sticklebacks who haven’t bred lol. The maintenance is too much for how little enjoyment I get out of it. Also half of the plants dropped dead in the heatwave! Fish were fine though.

So I think it’s soon time to give these sticklebacks to someone with a fabulous pond, and get some apistos and other lovely little fish. And maybe some nice unusual ferns.
 
I think your spot on if you stop enjoying a set up it's time for change. Why not set up a planted bowl or just planted tank while you plan your next🙂keeps the mojo going
 
Back
Top