Sandy Nook . . .

[Wookii]

New inhabitants acquired from the local MA yesterday - beautiful looking fish.


I’ll try and get some shots of them in the tank later this evening.

Had to have a bit of a trim after two weeks away - these Echinodorus Ozelot Red leaves grow big!

 

[Wookii]

The Chocolate Gourami are settling in very well. I have to say they are a very unusual fish. Most of the fish I have had in the past always appear to be driven almost exclusively by base instinct - food, that’s all they’re mainly interested in. With these Gourami, you can clearly see, as they wiggle their eyes to look at you, there is something more going on behind them they even press their noses to the glass to look out, and then prompt Lou turn their back on me if I try and put a camera in front of my face!

They explore the tank with intelligent purpose, but with such smooth grace it’s captivating! they appear to particularly like grazing amongst the moss, which perhaps doesn’t bode well for any newly hatched shrimplets.

Anyway, excuse the following photo-bomb, I’m hope it’s not too much of a browser-crasher, but it had to be done:















Oh, and I also had to stump up for some more shrimp. Some, hopefully hardier, CBS this time to replace the lost Taiwan Bees.



Edit: OK, presumably the photos are too big, I’ll have to try resizing tomorrow

 

[Wookii]

There - photo-bomb fixed.

 

[Garuf]

They’re a fish if I ever get around to going RO that’s high on my list. I seem to only move to places with liquid rock. 🙄
Great photos too.

 

[Wookii]

They’re a fish if I ever get around to going RO that’s high on my list. I seem to only move to places with liquid rock. 🙄
Great photos too.

Thanks mate, I swear my Chilli's are flourishing better with the much softer water too, their colouration and survival rate seems a lot better than it was in my hard tap water.

 

[Garuf]

Yeah, chillis come from swaps with negligible hardness, that they’re tough enough to survive rock is always surprise to me.

 

[Wookii]

Was just feeding the fish tonight when I spotted this little fella. Now, I’m in my mid-forties, so hopefully the senility hasn’t quite set in yet, but I’m sure I haven’t added a Chilli this small to the tank. So either it’s shrunk in the wash, or it’s been born in the tank . . .

 

[Wookii]

This keeps getting better. Came home from work this afternoon and just spotted another little’un . . . a perfect miniature little Cory this time, smaller than most of the shrimp. Excuse the soft image quality, I just managed to grab a shot before he disappeared into the undergrowth - I’ve no idea how many might be in there!

 

[Kogre]

This is awesome! Is it the first time you've bread Cory's? What type are they?

 

[Wookii]

This is awesome! Is it the first time you've bread Cory's? What type are they?

Yeah, these two are the first baby fish I’ve ever had in a tank, so it’s quite exciting mate. I’ve not intentionally bred any of them, they’ve done it all by themselves. That said the tank is very soft water, and I intentionally add tannins and humic/fulvic acids, plus I feed lots of live food, so I guess conditions are suitable for them to breed.

The Cory’s are Habrosus (Salt and Pepper Cory’s).

 

[Karmicnull]

Welcome to the accidental Cory breeders club! My suspicion is that membership is pretty large.

 

[mort]

When my cories have bred on their own I don't normally see more than a few babies at a time but they do add to the population quickly once they get going.

 

[shangman]

This keeps getting better. Came home from work this afternoon and just spotted another little’un . . . a perfect miniature little Cory this time, smaller than most of the shrimp. Excuse the soft image quality, I just managed to grab a shot before he disappeared into the undergrowth - I’ve no idea how many might be in there!

View attachment 175570

View attachment 175571

Absolutely stunning, and my favourite kind of corydoras! 😍😍😍 Congratulations!

 

[Wookii]

Finally managed to obtain some Aeschynomene Fluitans after discussing it in another thread. Thanks to @shangman for the heads up on Wildwoods - World of Water (Enfield). They had both the Aeschynomene Fluitans I wanted and also some of the Nymphaea micrantha "Gefleckt" (Tri-Coloured Lotus) that Rosie has showcased in her tank with its amazing pink and yellow spotted colouration.

Can definitely recommend Wildwoods, my order arrived in less than 24 hours, well packaged in a polystyrene box, and though I ordered two of each, they actually sent me three of each:





This is the Aeschynomene Fluitans unceremoniously dumped in the top of the tank:





Planted a lotus bulb at the front of the tank to get it going, but already showing amazing colouration. It’s tiny at the minute, but from small beginnings . . .

 

[Tim Lee]

Could I ask is the Aeschynomene Fluitans like the sensitive plant i.e closes up when disturbed?
My 7 year old son is intrigued by the prospect!

 

[Wookii]

Could I ask is the Aeschynomene Fluitans like the sensitive plant i.e closes up when disturbed?
My 7 year old son is intrigued by the prospect!

Hi Tim, yes, the leaves react to touch. They don’t close up fully, but the leaf blades do visibly move when touched. They also close up fully when the lights go out.

 

[Tim Lee]

Going to contact WoW to see if can grab a couple.

 

[Wookii]

The Aeschynomene Fluitans is putting in some serious growth now, and has produced quite a few nice yellow flowers!





I trimmed some off to see if I could propagate it, and it threw off a side shoot quite willingly:





I’ve even tried a cutting of completely bare leaf-less root:



After around a week, I can see some buds starting to come through already, so it looks like it can be propagated from a small section of root:

 

[shangman]

Well well well .... You'll be supplying all of us soon! 😀

 

[Wookii]

Well well well .... You'll be supplying all of us soon! 😀

More than happy to send a cutting to anyone that wants it, now I know how rapidly it grows 👍🏻