most definitely

it's a baby cherry barb

fish and sticks

Put the peeled, boiled and soaked maple sticks into my window tank. Not as the arrangement will finally be, and I haven't yet attached the java ferns to them- right now just held down with some stones to waterlog more. Later when it's time to empty the tank and move onto the stand, I'll take the trouble to fasten the plants on, as I'll have to lift them all out then anyway.

I have more plant cuttings across the back- including a few sweet potato vine now, and am making a new lid that fits better, using pieces of lexan leftover from when I made the sliding lid on the betta tank. I kind of like the lighter, orange/tan hue of the sticks in there. It makes the orange of Fabio's long fins really stand out, and the smaller little orange shape that is the baby fish-

Cherry barb fry is loose in the tank now.

Fabio doesn't make any moves to eat it- the fry is big enough now, or quick enough to move out of the way. I am not sure if the fry itself is getting enough to eat. Belly doesn't get as big as when I could target feed it three times a day. I do see it picking at stuff- but not necessarily what I try to feed it. A few times I have dropped in the powdered food near where the fry was, and watched to see if it found the bits of flake. It took bites but spit them out again. Why? I also dropped in tiny live mosquito larvae again, and watched them move herky-jerky up and down the water column for a while. The fry found one and ate it, so at least it is getting that.

For some reason it won't eat the gold pearls I bought. I got size 300-500 microns, maybe it is too big. The fry doesn't eat them. I offered them twice when it was in the mesh box, and just found the little orange dots stuck to plants later. Even after I thought they would have softened and started to disintegrate, the baby fish didn't eat them. I had to siphon it out. However it's not a total loss- when I put a tiny pinch in the main tank, the adult serpae tetras scrambled to grab all those bites. So I can feed it to them...

While talking of feeding, I've been giving my betta Samblu the NLS pellets once a day, alternating his other flake and betta micropellets for the mornings and live food (moths, mosquito larvae, caterpillars) midday too. It's pretty sad but I didn't realize all this time my betta has been slightly underweight. Viewed from the side he looks fine, always has. Viewed from above the head is quite a bit wider than body. I never thought of it. Until saw similar above-view picture on another blog and someone's comment "your slightly skinny bettas" and wondered. Then reading a high-end aquarium magazine which featured beautiful bettas, even the overhead photos were lovely, and I realized yeah, my betta is skinny compared to these. So I'm trying to feed him better, with better food, so it won't pollute the tank- and he is getting filled out now. I've also started treating him for what might be bacterial infection. On a round of kanaplex right now- still has great color and appetite- if no improvement I also have tetracycline to try- if that does nothing I will assume it's a tumor or lymphocystis and just wait it out...

fishies update

My cories seem to be fine now. The one that was listless perked up after a partial wc, and when I dropped sinking food in the tank at night. I think sap was seeping out of newly-cut pothos stems and affected the little fish.. I'm also adding a few cuttings of sweet potato vine, but have these in a jar of water changing out for a few days, to make sure the cut is healed before I add them to the back of the tank.

I am certain this baby fish is a cherry barb. If a tetra it's just three weeks old, if a cherry barb it must be near two months now!

Got slightly better photos using my daughter's phone. Disappointed it's not the fish I thought I was raising. I'm letting it go in the tank to take its chances. If it survives until temps drop in the fall, I'll move it into the main tank and see what happens....

On another note, I can't believe this, but I seem to have misplace my 'sun thorn' nerite snail. It was in the betta tank. When I did that deep-substrate cleaning, I had the snail and the fish out of the tank in a bin for a day. I replaced the hardscape, plants and fish, cleaned out the bin, rinsed off the plastic plants, stored everything. Only days later realized looking in the tank, that I hadn't put the snail back! Where is it? Possibilities: it is in the tenner, or in my window tank (I moved a stone with windelov fern to that tank) and I just haven't seen it yet. Or it is in one of those tanks but was on the underside of a piece of harscape I placed, and I smothered it. Or it crawled out of the bin and is somewhere on my floor (but there's no stink). I can't think what else might have happened.

greens for fish

It's crazy that one small dandelion leaf like this is enough for all my fishes (paring knife for size). I have to go even smaller now, and offer just half a tiny leaf, minced up fine. The cherry barbs (now re-homed elsewhere) used to gobble it all up but now Fabio is the only one so eager. Samblu of course, gets none. I've noticed with the serpae tetras only the smallest ones really eat the greens I offer, the larger fishes kind of mouth it and spit it out. I end up siphoning out quite a few leftover bits on water change day that the shrimps and snails didn't find. So must offer even less. I wonder if it's because younger fishes seem to need more greens in their diet? I've heard this about another species- that if they're eating the aquarium plants, to offer more vegetable-based food, especially for younger, still-developing fish.

one less and many more

The female swordtail Witchy Fish in my window tank, died sunday night. She'd been rather inactive for several days, laying on the bottom and not coming up to feed... I guess it was her time.  I was not sure how long her body had been in there overnight so did a 30% wc after the small burial (under the forsythia).

Fabio swims with the cherry barbs now... That same day I moved three of the male cherry barbs out of QT into the window tank, and tuesday I moved the last two over, so I could put some new serpae tetras (destined for the 38 gal) into the QT (while it still maintained the cycle).

Now the window tank is fully stocked- and the cherry barbs seem to really like it in here. When I was floating the males in a plastic bag to equal temperature, they weren't stressed or nervous or pale at all. They were darting at the sides to get out, and wagging their pectorals eagerly at the females! There was a lot of initial chasing, flirting and spawning going on.

There were so many baby windelov ferns growing on tips of older foliage, I finally plucked them all off. Some from the betta tank, too. A good dozen were just large enough to fasten down, so I started another windelov stone. Two views of it.

The rest are still too small- I have them floating in a tiny plastic cup, to grow a bit bigger. These are still on the tips of an old leaf,

and I was surprised to find some very tiny ones growing at intervals along those feeder roots the java ferns put out. I didn't know they could grown plantlets off the root hairs! You can just see a few top and bottom of this picture.

Here's the new little windelov stone, in the tank-

I rearranged the hornwort stems a bit to make a space for it, front left.

The regular java fern bits that I fastened onto rocks a while back, some of them came loose and the ones left are really starting to grow out. They're situated just under the filter box.

The java fern 'red' across the back wall, older leaves are starting to decay away, newer ones are growing up- the brighter green.

I removed the arrowhead cuttings. They just weren't doing well. Pothos is thriving though, and the root mass from the cuttings is substatial enough now that it kind of wedges itself into the corner and I don't have to find a place to set it down when taking the lid off (still just a sheet of plastic from an old storage tote), it more or less stays in place.

The tank regularly has two 'looks'. Usually it's like this, now- I have a backdrop of dark gray felt over cardboard, and the window curtains held open, so bright ambient light comes in through the top but not the back of the tank. Hornworts do great with this as long as they're in the center or near front of the tank, java ferns seem okay in the back. On cloudy days, I keep the curtains closed and lift the backdrop off instead, so then the whole tank looks bright and airy and the java ferns get a good amount of light. (This is actually more because on cloudy days I prefer to keep the curtains closed if we have lights on in the front room, but it seems to work out well for the plants, too.) There is still no sign of algae aside from some diatoms, which are easily managed. Subwassertang remains healthy so far, I've added a few more bits of it (but not sure how well it will do when temps drop later in the year). Anacharis (elodea) always faltered in here before, but now the few stem pieces I have are actually growing- so I might add more when the thicket in the 38 needs a trim. Perhaps it is doing better now because with the added fish load, there are more nutrients in the water for the plants. I haven't checked nitrates in a while, it will be interesting to see where they are at in a week.

tank notes with no pictures

Did tanks maintenance today because treating the 38 gal w/levamisole which means today it got a 50% water change and tomorrow a 75%. That feels like a lot of work. Also wrapped in black plastic for darkness. And noted on the calendar to repeat in three weeks. Today I moved one of those unidentified crypts in the front corner- to the back of the grouping- so that bolbitis fern that is slowly growing out more visible. I want to see it. Also trimmed off a few of the longer leaves, just to clear the view. I was a bit surprised to find there was very little algae, very few dying-back leaves to trim off, hornwort mostly looked healthy with longer, strong needles and even watersprite is improved. Usually I take a few of the lower leaves off each watersprite bunch, that is browning. This week- none.

I'm wondering if the difference is the lighter fish load (since cherry barbs all moved out). Because I mistakenly thought I had the bigger filter, I had plugged into aqadvisor and it was telling me more fish okay. I did think the tank looked too busy, a bit crowded; I hadn't pushed it to the limits of the stocking calculator's suggestion, but it was close. Now that I realize I'm a size smaller w/my canister know that I can only put four more serpae tetras in there, to hit the limit. Which is fine with me!

It also might be a factor of feeding more live and fresh foods recently. I do see a slight film on the water surface when looking up from below- like fine dust- it doesn't bother me too much- I think it's from fine debris even though I rinse the bugs and whatnot, or from hairs off their bodies? (for example, the tiny moths are furry) Not sure. I thought the film meant the live food made the water a bit dirtier, but it's not actually disintegrating into dissolved mess like some of the flakes and pellets do...

Irritating was to find a freshwater limpet on the glass. I noticed earlier in the week there were two small, very fine scratches- on the inside- that hadn't been there before. The week before I had cleaned the glass inside w/algae scrubber. I bet I got a tiny limpet caught in the scrubber- and scratched the glass with it. Must have transferred some over here accidentally from the betta tank. Gah.~
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In the window tank, it does seem I was right guessing why the swordtails had been laying low again. Now that the filter has more sponge media stuffed into it and the flow rate is slowed down, they are moving about as normal again. Still not as quick chasing food as the cherry barbs, but they are in the midst and do get some.

The tank has been getting some diatoms, it looks like- pale brown haze on the glass, mostly on the back wall against the window, and some on front right corner. It's easy to wipe it off just with my finger- in fact, easier than using algae scrubber because I can rub it off the silicone in the corner as well without damaging anything.

I took the aponogeton capuronii trimmings of long leaves out of that tank and put it in the male cherry barbs' tenner. Instead of hornwort, which was shedding needles all over and melting into a scattered mess. I had been cleaning up most of it each week and tossing in new trimmings, but getting tired of that. To keep a bit of floating cover in there, I tried putting these long capuronii leaves draped across the surface, and the handful of s polyrhiza culls from the betta tank. I know those will probably die just as quickly- there's simply not enough ambient light in this location- but maybe not as much of a pain to clean up each week.

All the cherry barbs' tails are over halfway grown back, now. Some of the females they almost look complete in form, just the new fin tissue is clear. I've seen a few of them grow back from nips and tears in the past, and eventually the new fin part colored up again, so curious to see if these all do as well.
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My betta tank continues to slowly improve. I moved some rotala stems from the front corner (now crypt is mostly focal point of that spot) to space across the back. Bacopa still kind of faltering, more dying stems than thriving. I'm considering taking that plant out of here entirely. Have started slowly pulling out the dying marislea hirsuta. Only one clump today, because things were already a bit disturbed. (Not as if the fish cared. Samblu was so close to my hand while working, I didn't see him and accidentally he got sucked into the cup I was using to scoop out floaters- by the pressure of backwash. I noticed when he thrashed in the still-partly-submerged cup) Because of moving the rotalas, there was more mulm kicking into the water column than I could get out with my tiny siphon, and some of it settled back on the foliage afterwards, but I know what was the cause this time and still think it's doing better since I started vacuuming more thoroughly. One nice thing about how gentle the tiny vacuum is, I can put it right over a clump of fissidens and get fine debris out without dislodging the moss.

foods

The tank has a very different feel with just serpae tetras and kuhlis.... the serpaes are starting to figure out that when I lift the lid it's not reason to hide, but might be food. I have started feeding them more fresh foods- greens and insects- lettuce and dandelion leaves both were gobbled up. They have eaten small moths, tiny caterpillars and aphids from my house and yard. The moths and caterpillars I freeze for later use, the aphids I chill a few hours in the fridge then feed same day so still very fresh. To gather those I dip the rosebud end in a bowl of tank water and swish it (carefully, to not break the bud off). It was so effective when I checked a few days later, couldn't find very many aphids so refrained from gathering. Maybe in a few more days.

Caterpillar-picking is very effective too. First time I got at least twenty, thirty caterpillars. Second time I only found four. Then just six- and there were some teensy ones I actually left to grow bigger (would have squished them if I tried to pluck off the leaf). Also in the garden beds I got aphids off of leaves by turned their undersides up and wiping with a wet finger, then dipping it into the bowl of tank water. Got lots of aphids and a few other tiny bugs this way. There were plenty to get off the tomatoes and swiss chard leaves, but what really staggered me was the swarms all over underside of borage leaves- the biggest, two-year-old plant. Surprised me because the plant doesn't seem to be suffering at all, it doesn't have pale spots or anemic-looking foliage. I get some tiny flies, minute brown round beetles and other bugs I don't know, but it's mostly aphids. I make sure to leave alone the spiders and ants. Saw a very pale, light green bug with incredibly long antennae- the wings were too faint to distinguish but I think this one might be lacewing so left that alone, too.

Gourmet dinner for the fishes tonight! (this pic just a small sampling of what's in the container)

It can be funny feeding the fishes aphids. The cherry barbs go quick after them. Serpae tetras were more hesitant, then enthusiastic when had a taste. They'd often spit one out and then snap at it again. One tetra grabbed at a clump of aphids and a few must have still been alive- one crawled up on its head, just above the mouth. The fish jerked around and managed to get it but sure was funny a moment seeing fish swim around with a bug meal on its face!

A few of the aphids were missed and sunk to the substrate- kuhlis blazed past them, going nuts searching for the food they were sure I'd put in the tank when heard the lid open. Later when I checked (don't want missing insects rotting in the tank no matter how small) couldn't see the ones that had fallen. I'm not sure if the tetras found it, or if the kuhlis ate some. I'm sure a shrimp would if it got ahold of it. Really was curious to see if the kuhlis would- I know they love bloodworms when they can get them, and I've seen one choke down a tiny caterpillar before.

Yes, some aphids have wings. The ones I saw are aphids, not lacewing. And some can be aquatic- crawl down stems to feed on plants underwater. So I only give in small pinches to make sure the fish eat them all, or chill them in the fridge long enough to stop life.

All my kuhlis are positively pudgy now from the lack of competition on the ground- except for Sassy. I'm going to do a levamisole treatment later this week after all...

I really like preparing greens and catching bugs for my fishes. Not about saving money- a $10 container of commercial food lasts them all for over a year anyway- but it just feels satisfying and they sure love it. Between the peas, lettuce, dandelion, zucchini, moths, caterpillars, fruit flies and aphids- in the summer I may now only feed dried/prepared foods two or three times a week. Although I haven't had fruit flies in my kitchen for a while (something the rest of my family is glad of) but the little moths are kind of a new thing.

Swordtails really liked dandelion greens, by the way. They didn't spit any out as with the lettuce leaf, but gobbled it down. Only now I have to spot-feed the swordtails. The cherry barbs are just to quick for them. I feed a bit to garner interest, then wait for the swordtails to come to the surface, and have to drop a large clump of food right in front of their face so they can get some while the barbs dash in. Incompatibility doesn't just have to do with aggression [sigh]. It's also about food competition...

another transfer

Out, this time. I moved the cherry barbs out of the 38gal tank. Everything was fine up until a few days ago I noticed more cherry barbs had pieces missing of their tails. I thought at first it was from the usual sparring- there has been a lot of breeding behavior lately, the cherries seem to be at it at least twice a week. They get excited at water changes, at thunderstorms, at insect food.

But when I looked closer one morning and saw that every single cherry barb had a ragged, bitten tail I knew it was the serpae tetras. Shameful thing is that I like the serpaes. Should I feel bad for favoring them over my cherry barbs? who went through my learning curve.... but I love watching the serpaes, and I'm only just fond of the cherry barbs- even though I've had some of those over four years- so the serpaes got to keep the best digs in the house (if you're a fish) and the barbs moved out into the temporary tanks.

All the extra equipment had only been rinsed and dried off for a day (from the shrimp container). The QT got setup with half tank water/half new (to keep water chemistry close to home), the 50 watt heater, a handful of gravel out of the main tank in the sponge filter base to seed it, most of the hornwort floaters out of the 20H to bring over more bacteria, a small bunch of subwassertang trimmings tied onto a stone, and the usual bridge decor for hiding spot plus fake plants.

It felt like I spent all day at two things- moving fish and doing laundry. I set the bottle fish trap with sinking food, and the kuhlis really had a great time going in and out of the trap gorging themselves. Every time two or three barbs got into the trap I'd lift it out, tip them gently into a baggie, float in the other tank, adding the new tank water every ten minutes until acclimated enough to release. It would take half an hour or so for the barbs in the home tank to get over being frightened by the trap getting moved around, and approach it for the food again. Near end of day little bits of disintegrating pellet were drifting out the air holes of the trap, so it wasn't as effective anymore. I caught the last few barbs with a net. That took a lot of patience, as I didn't want to panic all the fishes in there or rip up plants... but I finally got them. I put the females in with the swordtails in the 20H, and the males into the 10g QT. Want to keep them separated so females don't get chased around, and have time to heal.

The males seemed to feel right at home in their tenner. First one released hid,

but when I put a few more in they immediately started sizing each other up, and when all five were all in there they were darting around displaying at each other and playing in the current from the filter. Fed eagerly when I offered peas this morning.

You can see how much their tails are torn,

but I think they should heal. None have fungus or rot yet.

The females feel differently about their new home. They are all hiding, staying low behind plants at substrate level. I'm not sure if they are nervous because this tank is more open with fewer plants,

or because they share it with larger fish (although the swordtails ignore them).

They blend in so perfectly with the gravel hues that from a distance it looks like there's no fish in the tank at all (if they swordtails are lying still, which they do from time to time- resting, I think). I kept a background on the tank an extra day to help them settle in. They fed well this morning, too. I am testing water parameters- so far no ammonia or nitrite spikes in either the 20H or the tenner. Doing small partial water changes each morning anyway, to help facilitate healing. The tenner gets one gallon changed out, the 20H gets two.

As a side note, I stuffed that little internal filter in the swordtail tank with media out of the canister and HOB when I switched out filters earlier in the week. Since it wasn't getting as big a wc as the main did after meds, I put in the carbon filter pad it came with. On the output side of that I dropped a bunch of those tiny sintered glass media from the main's canister- the tiniest ones that get stuck in the grill of that separation piece that holds media away from the head (or base). On the input side I stuck a few ceramic rings on one side, and wedged the fine floss on the other. I have a piece of sponge that will fit in here, planning to replace that carbon media with sponge soon. If this won't all screw up my filter function- I know I made a mistake before altering contents of a filter!

serpaes

More and more I like my serpae tetras. Because of their color and vigor, I enjoy watching them more than I do the cherry barbs. I can tell already that when the cherry barbs are gone and it's just tetras and kuhlis, how much easier feeding will be. Right now, I drop a bit of sinking food in to alert them all with the smell, target the kuhlis and distract the cherry barbs. Then as the serpaes come out cautiously looking for the food I drop in food that's crushed up- if it's shrimp pellets or algae wafers. They dash around for it, but once the bites land on substrate they quit looking, just kind of drift around as if wondering where it went. So it looks like when I just have two main species of fish in here, I won't have to do that target-feeding as much. Just drop in crushed wafers or pellets: whatever the serpaes miss they will probably leave, and the kuhlis will easily get their share. The cherry barbs are just too much of bottom feeders themselves.

good and bad

Well today good news is that all my livestock is doing fine. Shrimps are okay in their little setup- they are not moving around much or eating- however I know they alive as I see their feelers waving around. Two trumpet snails I dropped in there moved in on the food quicker than the shrimps. I offer two large flakes (saw a shrimp eating those) and a bit of minced blanched lettuce yesterday. This morning a small broken piece of algae wafer- one too small to offer the fishes as someone would likely try to hog it and choke himself. I tested their water this morning to make sure the little bin had not gone into a cycle- ammonia zero, nitrites zero so all good. I guess they are just distressed at the change or slowed down by the cold- no heater on it and room temp dropped to 65° last night.

This morning I siphoned out a bit of waste and added a gallon fresh water- adding more than I removed so now the bin has at least 4 gallons in it (could hold five if I fill it all the way). The shrimps like to hide between the leaves of this fake plant-

there are four in this pic

Lots of activity in my 38 this morning. I soaked dried bloodworms in garlic juice for the fishes and a third of an algae wafer for the kuhlis. Dropped the wafer piece into the thicket and then fed the others at surface- lots of cherry barbs tried to get into the thicket which gave more chance for my serpaes to get some bloodworms- they still hang back a bit at feeding time. But then they got super excited over the food I guess- dashing around displaying to each other and a few flirtatious in the corner looked like spawning activity again. The dominance displays were really something to see- if that's what it was- two fish darting at each other circling while angling their bodies steeply towards each other and buffeting tight waves with their tails and spread fins. All this while spiraling upwards in tight circling motion- very vigorous. Then they spring apart, chase across the tank, dash back to this corner and spar again.

The cherry barbs are chasing around and spawning too- it's funny to see the smallest male Little Bit just as energetic in sparring and courting females. I guess he must be a runt with stunted growth, had him several years now and he never did grow full size.

Bad news is that my canister filter has a leak. I am very glad that I got that tupperware bin to sit the canister in. Sat down in front of the tank today to watch the serpaes' display and thought the filter murmur sounded a bit different, so I opened the door of the cabinet to look. Good thing I did. It was sitting in two or three inches of water. I shut it down to feel all the hoses and fittings, leak seems to be coming from the bottom fitting where the intake pipe goes into the body of the filter. I have been going over possible issues on the forum- what could have caused the leak and how I can temporarily stop it and if I can get a replacement part or make a permanent fix- but no way to know for sure until I dismantle/empty the entire filter to inspect. Meanwhile the leak is fairly slow- in a few hours it has not even filled the bin halfway again, so I am just keeping an eye on it and periodically sponging out the water.

Fish sure are happy- at least once now I have added half a gallon fresh water back into the tank to replaced what leaked out, and probably will have to do that several times before done here. The one serpae tetra had a bump on its lip that seems to be gone. I have noticed since getting the newer ones that the older trio have slightly bulging eyes and the one with a bit of cloudy eye they protrude so much I'd say that fish has popeye. I have checked water parameters again thinking since the snail died  maybe an ammonia spike? but there is no detectable ammonia or nitrites. So the fish had this condition before I got it, not sure what caused it or if it is reversible at this point, but waiting to try a cure until I'm done with the round of parasite treatment.

fish behaviors- and food

Well I think I was right. The female swordtail was more terrified than anything else. In fact, I think her fear had been influencing the other fishes- I'd noticed that since bringing the new fishes home (few weeks now) that all the fishes lay low most of the day, only getting active in the evening when it was darker. I thought they were just still getting used to the new surroundings. They were always a bit active after the partial wc in the morning (for the sake of the female sword I thought was sick), then lay low again.

One day when I removed the gallon of tank water I needed for her salt bath, replacing w/new for the water change, everyone hid from the disturbance. Had to do something else, came back 15 min later to catch the sick fish- everyone was still acting timid. After I caught the fish and put her in the bath, all the others were swimming around the tank acting perfectly normal. So I wondered if they had been cowering all day because the sick fish made the rest of them feel afraid? Because when I took her out of the tank all of a sudden there was all kinds of activity. She was in the bath for 30 min and then another 20min readjusting- I poured portions of tank water into her bath at intervals so just over 50min total. During that time I was often walking close to the tank and the other fish didn't startle, swimming around interested in each other, like I'm not there. The moment I dipped a cup holding her back into the tank, it's like I flipped a switch. All the fishes hid low in the plants again, and if some start to venture out, they darted back out of sight when I walked by the tank. Looked to me like her illness and/or fear was making the rest of them feel scared or stressed out.

When I moved out the serpaes, the swords lay low all the rest of the day- probably frightened by all the fuss when I lifted out some plants and caught the tetras. Next morning the female swordtail was swimming about in regular intervals, looking more relaxed. Picking at stuff on the rubber base of the heater, and even came up to feed. I offered them garlic-soaked betta bits. The lamp-eyes (who don't seem to intimidate the swords) cruise around lower regions of the tank eyeing the surface, then move up swift to strike a bite and dart back down again. Swordtails are much more leisurely about it- they wait until they feel safe, then drift up, take a mouthful, drift back down.

I have this feeding strategy I use about once a week to make sure the kuhlis in my 38 get enough due to competition from the barbs which readily feed off the bottom. I have a baby-food jar in the freezer with moth larvae in it - collect live food when I can from the garden (no pesticides) or in the house (my betta regularly gets small moths that I catch, and all the fishes get fruit flies out of the kitchen). These moth larvae are just big enough the barbs can eat them with an effort. I soak betta micro pellets in garlic juice (or just tank water) until they sink, then suck them up into a medicine syringe. Then drop the larvae into the tank for the barbs- they stuff their faces and sit around working on the mouthfuls, so I can squirt the betta bites into a thicket of dense plants where the kuhlis can easily go. Most of the barbs are busy with their stuffed mouths, and the few that aren't can't get into that thicket so easy. So the kuhlis get a really good feeding.

Yesterday I did this with the new serpae trio in the tank. Serpaes have a reputation for being extra aggressive at feeding time, so I prepared extra soaked betta bits to drop in the tank- I figured they wouldn't strike at the surface for the larvae yet. It all went as usual- and yes the serpaes got very excited when food was dropped in- dashing all over the tank. They are so luminous, so much vigor and shine! But they weren't going after food. They were chasing each other, and looked like a pair was spawning again- in the bacopa/elodea thicket. Blank flared and competed, but was excluded from the spawning activity- when I squirted in a few soaked pellets he did move curiously at them but some barbs dashed in and got them first. So all the extra food I put in was on the ground, and the kuhlis absolutely stuffed themselves. Their tummies were super full- I could actually see the pinkish, round shapes of the food through the belly wall - and they lay around afterwards as if with a stomachache. Good thing next day was a day of fasting for the fishes, and a water change to clean things up. (I tested the water next morning to see if an ammonia or nitrite spike from the increased fish load, all was fine. Although one of the serapes has a bit of cloudy eye).

Not sure yet how the aggression risk will work out. I saw one of the largest male cherry barbs displaying to Blank and chasing him around the day the serpaes were introduced. Day after I saw one of the serpaes chasing a barb. So far no actual injuries. It's very hard to tell the sexes apart, but I think I currently have two males and one female. If I can, will need to get more females when I increase the school.

And now that the serpae tetras have been out of the window tank for a few days, the female swordtail is like a new fish. She isn't sick after all. She was just feeling harrassed by the serpaes, I think. She swims all around the tank now, doesn't even hide when I open the curtains on cloudy days to let more light in. I've since fed them flake, fruit flies and algae wafers- they eat them all (lamp-eyes are quicker to get the flies, though- but that's okay because the swords go after the sinking foods more readily).

Serpaes in the bigger tank are still learning how things work- I remember when I had new cherry barbs, how it took them several weeks to start following the other fishes when they flock to the top for food at the opening of the lid. They approach cautiously when the barbs are swarming after food, so don't get as much to eat right now- but I have seen one get bits of flake, and another got a fruit fly this morning (spit it out several times, finally swallowed and then dashed around flaring its fins as if excited at the taste). They do not at all seem interested in sinking foods- when everyone else is piling around a wafer the serpaes approach but keep their distance- as if just curious what all the fuss is about. So perhaps when the cherry barbs get phased out (by age) and replaced by a nice school of serpae tetras, the kuhlis will finally have plenty all the time.

Too much about fish feeding, ha.

maintenance notes

Today was the first time I cleaned my new filter. The fine filter pad (last stop before the tank) was very dirty. I rinsed that one out thoroughly, gently rinsed the coarse blue pad, left the rest alone. It was easier to do than I'd expected, and I managed to bend that one clip more or less back into shape. A big plus of this new filter setup: I'm loosing hardly any water to evaporation anymore. Used to have to top off a half gallon or so midweek, but now there's no need. Still a large gap cut out of the plastic skirt of the lid, but I've covered it with a piece of clear plastic and it's doing the job. Small downside is that it's no longer easy to lift out the intake tube for rinsing. I don't want to undo the snug fit the intake hose has onto the elbow of the intake pipe, and the way I've sewn the coarse sponge onto the slotted prefilter it might be tricky to get that off/on the pipe. This week I just picked the largest bits of plant debris off the sponge with tweezers, when cleaning. The shrimps do feed off that area constantly, but I don't want a lot of plant debris building up.

Plants are doing great. Last week I cut and replanted some stems of hygro, extending that thicket even further to the left behind the mother crypt.

This week I had to trim and replant the tallest bacopa stems- they hit the ceiling again.

Not sure if apono capuroni got the message when I cut back all its tallest leaves- I took out three today that had enough height to hit the water surface and curl back down.

I'm really pleased with the new arrangement I have for tethering hornwort stems in place. Clipped onto the braided fishing line, it's easy to slide the individual stems back and forth when I'm working up there. Getting the clips on/off the line is a bit tricky, I just have to do it carefully and maybe with a little practice it will become easier. There's a lot more space for stems now. Last week with trimming I added four more clips to the row, this week I added another six. I think that might be the max- there's now over twenty individual stems on the line.

Not doing so great is my 'grassy corner'. I had been using it as a feeding spot for so long- the kuhlis always zip over there right away when they smell food. But all the little bits of rhizome I'm hoping will grow out kept getting disturbed by kuhlis and snails uprooting.

I've started feeding sinking foods in the opposite corner instead, where the elodea thicket is.

It's getting denser as I cut and replant stems fairly often. You can see the barbs above hesitant to force their way in, kuhlis down below at ease winding in and out of the stems.

Today I lifted the log out so I could get the tweezers into the 'grassy corner' area and replant some of the crypts, also wiggled the rhizome pieces a good half inch down into the substrate, so hopefully they will stay put now. I'm going to avoid feeding in that spot until those plants are well rooted again.

I found out what a tough, undemanding plant subwassertang is. Last week one bit got siphoned up when I was cleaning the tenner upstairs. Not having a free container to put the piece in, I dropped it into the fish pitcher which held some newly conditioned tapwater I hadn't used. Meant to add it to my growout subwassertang jar but I forgot about it completely when putting stuff away. For storage during the week I have that fish pitcher inside the clean white fish bucket, under a table. With a lid on it. So I doubt much light got in there, through two opaque sides. I was surprised when I got out the pitcher for use today, to find a nice green bit of subwassertang floating in there. No algae, no melting, it looked perfectly healthy. And it had absolutely no nutrients all week! Just plain (conditioned) tapwater.

Those subwasser bushes I made on sponges are not working out. The bits are too thin where they were glued on, or for some other reason coming loose. The small one I made two weeks ago has lost over half its greenery,

and the 'bridge' piece is only doing slightly better. I might have to give up on that idea

and just stick to using baskets (or tie netting over a different object to anchor down, hm).

Another female cherry barb has a piece missing from her tail this morning. Not as tidy as the other one, but right from the center of it again. I am really suspicious the amano shrimps are attacking them at night when the fishes sleep?

sparring injuries

Once again I feel bad I hadn't upgraded my filter sooner. Tank looks so much cleaner- the water very clear. Fish seem happier- there has been lots of spawning going on and my kuhlis are very active. Even more significant, this persistent what-looks-like-fungus that some of my cherry barbs always seemed to have, disappeared now. It was never enough I felt motivated to treat the tank with meds- just a few pale patches on some of the fish- but very noticeable that suddenly its all gone. They look great.

There are a few minor injuries from all the sparring going on.

The smallest male barb has lost pieces of his tail and dorsal fins again. However I think it will heal quickly- if you look close can see already new clear tissue is filling in.

It hasn't all all damped his interest in flirting (wisely he keeps to the back of the tank- probably to avoid the bigger males).

And this female has a very tidy piece missing from the center of her tail. It's such a clean piece, right from the center of the tail, I wonder if another fish caused the injury.

Was it possibly a shrimp? They are the same size as the barbs, now.

Best closeup yet.