tanks update

The good first- crypt moehlmanii I moved a little while ago, has done just fine. I took some photos of it unfurling the leaf a few days in succession,

now it's fully open and sprouting another one!

Not much else to say about this tank, except that there's more white cloud minnow fry! I've counted six or seven, but they're still so small hard to see. Fed the last of the guppy fry in the 10g to my angelfish tank yesterday- I think Foxface ate it. The two adult females that are holding the QT cycled look well, a lot more relaxed, too- I think being in the large tank the only small fish with a big predator made them nervous. 

Front corner of that tank now has a loose clump of moss that came with the new angels- and most of the subwassertang that's gotten inadvertently pulled out with water changes, I've dropped into a windowsill jar with a single tiny snail. Again. Don't even remember noting when I took the last one down.

My two new golden angels look well-settled into the 55- in fact, last night Shirley and Precious were both cleaning leaves on the crypt balansae, and the airlift tube. Precious was particularly energetic about it, this time. And she looks a tad plump, and her breeding tube is more prominent. 

But the tank is having heater issues, which is aggravating. Yesterday I plugged in the new replacement heater, but left the older one that was faltering, and the spare, in place, in case I needed to still use them. Good thing I did.

(Foxface liked resting between them, against the wall)

New heater doesn't seem to be working. Indicator light never came on. Temp in the tank started dropping again. I worried because yesterday two of the fish had white on their lips- it could be the start of a mouth fungus, due to the unstable temperatures. I did a partial water change and they seem better- these photos are from the next day, which I took to compare if it keeps improving or gets worse again. Shirley had a white blob on her upper lip twice this size when I first saw it:

and Foxface had the entire upper lip was white before-

But can also see that the thing on Foxface's chin hasn't gone away, it got bigger again. Sigh.

So I unplugged the new heater, and plugged back in the old one and the spare. Temp went back up to normal- 78° is where I have it set now. Then an hour later, I suddenly heard a noise in the tank, like extra air running. Saw a stream of bubbles, much stronger than from a broken leaf. It was coming from the older, failing heater. I promptly unplugged it and pulled it out. Seam cracked on the bottom of it. So that one's done for. Got out my other spare heater and put that one in the tank. I have no more heaters. These two small ones are okay for emergency use but I really do need a larger one for long-term in here!

Went back and read the instruction leaflet, read some on forums about heater malfunctions. Supposedly this heater brand is known to have problems with the indicator light. Argh. Also it's supposed to be left set to run for a whole twenty-four hours before adjusting the temperature knob. Well, I decided to try that before driving to the store for replacement. Maybe it's not calibrated properly and will kick on at a lower temp and then I just have to adjust it up higher than you'd think, to hold the temp where I want it.

Plugged back in the new heater, unplugged the two spares. Set my house thermostat to let the room get warmer, 74-75°, so at least if the heater fails to kick on, the fish won't die outright from cold. It made sleeping uncomfortable, so I woke up middle of night to check on them! It's only fallen to 76° so far. I'm giving it another few hours then I'll try adjusting then I'll start making some complaints. 

On another note, I bought new frozen food, with the younger angels in mind. Haven't used frozen foods in a long time and I remember why now. It's messy! but the fishes do love it. Also tried feeding dried seaweed (nori with no added salt or preservatives or anything) for more greens. Guppies, minnows, shrimps and kuhlis loved it. In the large tank I was giving it for the festivums, but I think only Rascal actually ate it. The young angels were game to try and spit it out (no surprise). Frozen foods I got were beef heart, brine shrimp and a mysis shrimp mix with greens in it (spirulina, romaine, etc). I really wanted to get daphnia that's supposed to be better than peas for giving fish a source of fiber, but haven't ever seen any for sale.

fish notes!

Did a large wc and re-dosed the QT with Prazipro. Everyone looks great. Not keen on broccoli leaves, it turns out. They do like carrot, though. I tried clipping a leaf and letting it hang in the water, thinking they'd enjoy pulling it apart. They went all over the tank looking for food they could smell, but never nipped at the leaf. When I unhooked the clip and snipped the leaf into little bits, then they darted over to taste it. Although it makes feeding them fresh greenery a bit of a chore, I'm actually glad. If they think complete leaves are inedible or prickly like the fake plants and hornwort in their QT, maybe they won't even sample my live plants in the 55.

What happened last night? This morning I found most of the hornwort off its pegs, 

floating at the surface. 

A leaf of crypt balansae was bent down to the floor, too. I think either Miss Beautiful startled and crashed through the corner, or she was trying to ambush guppies in the dark. I spent a good five minutes re-pegging down all the stems. Found a funny thing- two little corkscrew vals on a runner that rooted onto a piece of sponge. 

Looks like soon enough I'll be thinning vals out of this tank.

fishes update-

All is still well in the QT tank. The little cichlids have now eaten carrot and cabbage worms as well as regular fish food. They really love flake best, though. Or just dash to eat it because it's so familiar, perhaps. 

Spot-cleaned the tank floor again today. Somebody in there is still dropping white feces, severum is the one I haven't seen actively pooping yet so I guess that's who. I've definitely named the larger festivum Foxface, but keep switching between calling the little one (in my head) Bandit or Rascal. My kid thinks it should be Rascal because it's so quick to zip over and jab at the severum's face, even though the severum is bigger!

Two days ago I found a box of dried, pressed oak leaves from when I used to put those in the tanks. Thought I'd do so again. Next day saw one of my blue guppies has a white lump behind pectoral fin joint. Just like what showed up on my betta Samblu. Coincidence? I don't know, but I pulled the oak leaves back out (except for in the shrimp bowl). I did stop using them quite a while ago because a) they are a pain to clean out of the tank when start to break apart and b) I always worried would introduce some pathogen to the fishes . . .

twisty in the 10

New vallisneria planted in the center of my 10gal- between the fake skull and the driftwood piece. Space is a lot fuller now!

I cleaned up more algaed lowered leaves off buces, and planted one bit of buce 'isabella' on the driftwood- you can just see it in the back there. Removed a lot of windelov fern from the wood because it's just not doing great in here, and put a few of them in the 55- as the regular java fern is taking off maybe this will too.

Most of a full tank shot: 

Baby guppies again. Feeding them to the angel.

now only six

guppies- three females and three of the little blue males. Last week one female in the angelfish tank was look very fat. I thought she might be pregnant but not giving birth because of the angelfish presence? I put her in the tenner with the smaller guppies. Then noticed she didn't have the dark gravid spot. Fasted the fishes a few days and fed peas, was going to try an epsom salt bath next. But she started to pinecone and that was pretty much the end. Died of bloat. So now only three females (and one those does have a gravid spot, I looked more carefully).

Of the males- one was also looking a bit bloated a few days ago and the next morning I found it floating, dead and missing parts. I assume the shrimps got to it. Yesterday another one missing. I never saw it but did spot a shrimp carrying around and eating something that was probably guppy remains. The female might have been older- one of the first trio I got- but these males are just over a year old so not sure why they're dying. Maybe just a bit unwell and then a bold shrimp grabs them at night when they are unwary? 

I'm thinking of putting the gravid female in here, see if I get more guppy fry. (Never seen any in the 55 because I assume the angelfish eats any).

tiny minnow fish

Not sure how old it is- been a month since I first spotted the fry in here. This is the larger one, four or five weeks old, but looks to be the same stage as three-week fry last summer when the previous generation hatched.

I'm guessing they're growing slower because of the cold, and because I'm not feeding them as intensely. 

The smaller one is just barely starting to show a smudge of color on the tail, and I can't really make out its dorsal/anal fins yet. No pictures of that guy. There were two smaller ones but one must have died.

I'm also down another male guppy. Now just five blue dwarfs. Not sure what happened to it but I took the lid off and looked through the plants, moving leaves aside with a skewer- didn't find anything. Also didn't find one of the amano shrimp, so guess he was hiding with a nice big meal he secured for himself.

not so great

It hasn't been the best week for my fishes. I lost another guppy- yesterday, after tank maintenance. When I dose liquid vitamins, the small fishes always dart around gobbling up the granules. I never thought this would harm them, but later in the day found one blue guppy expired on the substrate, looking bloated. I will start stirring that into a cup of tank water to dissolve first, from now on. Six guppies now. 

Last week one white cloud got caught by the siphon hose. I netted it and returned to the tank. I think it's the one that's been looking paler and thinner than the others- can't do anything but wait to see if it recovers. But they seemed fewer when they were feeding, past few days. I made an effort to count closely, and there's only ten. I don't know if one is unwell and hiding, or if it's died. There is a minnow that seems to stay apart from the rest- on one side of the tank by himself, but it's hard to tell if it's sick or just been ousted. Earlier in the week lots of displaying and chasing again. It was really amusing to see three males rising through the water column, furiously vibrating their fins at each other in parallel. Most of them look bold, and bright fins.

My angelfish has startled again. A few times mildly this week, then once very badly yesterday. I don't know what caused it as I approached the tank not holding anything or moving suddenly (which often seems to trigger her fear). She bolted away into the corner, crashed into the wall behind the heater and was there head down absolutely still for a minute or so, stunned. I really thought she'd died this time. Then she jolted out of the corner- has scraped off some scales on her head, and one pectoral fin is injured- held clamped tight to her side. When she started moving it a bit hours later (very stiffly and only partly extended) I saw it's torn and there's a bloody streak. I feel so bad for her. I don't know why she keeps getting scared. Maybe too alone now, without the tetras. I don't know how to solve this. Maybe a different fish as dithers? 

I think I did figure out why she startles so much, though. From when she was very small, and the tank used to be down in the dark hallway. My husband would go through there to his office, often holding his silver laptop and one day he wondered if light reflecting off the laptop frightened the young angelfishes- maybe it looked like a much bigger fish to them. So he stood there in the dark hallway and tipped the laptop to bounce the light off it- and the baby angels bolted into the corner. After that he tried to be more careful and hold it differently so it didn't flash at them, but I don't know how long this was going on. He told me about it much later. My best guess is that Miss Beautiful was simply traumatized by that, and I don't know if she will ever get over it.

She didn't want her picture taken (understandably)

Meanwhile, I still have nine black skirt tetras living in the 20H. Most of them they look perfectly fine and they eat eagerly, though one is usually pale. 

Probably stressed. I do a large water change every week, rinsing one or the other of the filter sponges, and have been testing the parameters to make sure nitrates don't get too high. Also dropping in every hornwort trimming from the other tank, so they have plenty of plant mass to give some natural filtration. They like it dim- I noticed when I put a row of coleus pots on the table in front of their tank, they started coming out of the corner and hanging around in the open space more. But I know it's too crowded in there. It's been a month and nobody has even asked, where I posted to re-home them. 

The only ones doing great? My little bowl of shrimps. Nothing bothers those guys! Well, and the kuhli loaches in my angelfish tank. The few glimpses I catch of them, all four look fat and content.

one fewer

A few days ago I noticed one of my guppies wasn't feeding, but just hanging around at surface. Then was always in the corner by the heater- 

and closer look saw it's very bloated. I fasted the tank two days and fed cooked pea bits after, but this fish never ate. 

I moved it to a container with plants, because I didn't want the others to pick at it, if it's contagious. I thought about giving epsom salt bath, but then the fish lost eqilibrium

and the end was not long after.

So now only seven little bright blue guppies.

angel fin

Miss Beautiful's dorsal and anal fins have grown back- near complete, it looks to me. Although lacking color. 

I'm finding new joy in just sitting in front of this tank. Watching the kuhlis wriggle and slide all over the place (Tiger looks particularly fat, I wonder if that one is a female?) The female guppies- some of them quite fat now too, so I expect fry- which will quickly become feeders- again soon- have taken to hanging out in the open or skittering around just under the water surface now. Either they too had been harrassed by the tetras, or the angelfish has realized they're not worth chasing and ignores them now. 

She really seems to appreciate the tall val rubra, and the leopard vals are doing great too.

an end, and some shuffling

Finally gave up on my second paradise fish, Laddie. He's continually pale, listless, hanging at the surface, mostly clamped fins- now also looks like fungal infection starting on his skin. 

Is it still gill flukes? I don't know. Didn't see any flashing. And the other fishes in the tank are so active, flaring and dancing around each other in spawning mood. Yesterday I turned my worm bin and fed a few red wigglers to Miss Beautiful, also one to Laddie. He was eager, but still didn't color up and right after went back to hanging still. If my guess on his age is correct, he's probably four and a half years old, maybe close to five. I had to move my tetras, so very unhappily I dug a hole under the hydrangea today, and Laddie met a brick. With his head. This is my last photo of him.

So I moved all my young white clouds into the window tank. 

The slightly larger, orangish fish among them is the mother, and the one with brighter red on fins is one of the adult males.

It is very lively now. Lots of displaying and chasing. It's nice to see them so exuberant, but not the same as having a fish that seems to recognize you, drift over waggling fins and tail, eyeing you sideways through the glass expectantly. My smaller fishes pretty much only pay attention to each other. I feel the same about the tenner- it's nice to look at, the small blue guppies are attractive, but I don't feel engaged with it the same way as when a betta lived there. 

Now the only tank with a fish in it I really care for is the 45, and my angelfish isn't at her best. Fins slowly growing back, but I saw the black skirt tetras nipping at her yesterday. I sat in the room with the angel tank longer than usual (reading) and had time to really notice what was going on in there.

Thus today I caught all my tetras and moved them into the 20H. Again, sigh. I really do like them, but I like my angelfish better- and I don't want to run a fifth tank just to keep them. Going to have to re-home once more. Unhappy about that.

They were hard to catch. No way I can net them with all the hiding spots under and around driftwood. My bottle fish trap is too small. I submerged a large plastic bag and dropped food halfway in. The guppies went in and out for hours, gorging themselves. The angelfish eyed it sideways and never approached. Tetras were wary but eventually one would go in, and then I'd net it out, wait for the rest to settle down and approach once more. Took half the day, going back and forth. I really hope my angel is okay now without them as dither fish- maybe the five female guppies can take that role. Have to find better tank companions perhaps. The last tetra of course got way more skittish and I had to lift out a lot of smaller plants on their anchors, block off part of the tank with piece of plexiglass, and deploy two nets. So stuff got rearranged a little. Miss Beautiful didn't freak out while I did all that work- I think she realized I was catching and removing the bothersome tetras.

Angelfish seems a lot more at ease now. I'm glad to see the white clouds all enjoying the 33L. And tetras will probably get re-homed (disappointingly this is a total repeat for me).

tenner trims

Cleaned up some dead leaves, pulled out a bunch of subwassertang to thin it out, and trimmed some of the buces. A few tops I replanted in here, others went into the 33L. 

Here's how it looks now- full tank shot

and from slightly above

green wall

I recently trimmed a bunch of stuff in here- anubias leaves with algae, some melting crypt pieces and cut back a bit of the long strappy val foliage. Moved around some buces, resituated the java ferns (they're doing better now tho I don't know why), happy to find my one remaining bit of crypt wendtii is still alive. Pleased to see the crypt balansae in front corner is growing well! But after a few days of looking at the tank I don't like the appearance- so I didn't take a new full tank shot, but also don't feel like putting in my hands to rearrange stuff again soon as it freaks out my angel. I do however like how the hornwort stems fill up the sides, a tower of green (ambient light pic)

Um, the female guppies are in here now. I've already decided they have to go when my younger minnows are big enough to join the three adults in the 33L. I've been unable to give them away and there's really no place else to put them. Moved them early because I didn't like watching them pick at Laddie. I thought the angel would finish them off, but they're big enough she didn't really try. The tetras harass them, chasing and nipping. They hide most of the time down among the driftwood pieces. Maybe with something smaller to pester, the tetras will leave my angel alone? I kinda doubt it though.

I've been trying to learn what I can do better for Miss Beautiful besides more room or new tankmates. I bumped up the heater to 80° and sorted through all my fish food containers- about a third of them were expired and got composted. I've got three new containers I bought weeks ago but hadn't started using yet, and will go get another soon (the NLS pellets are one of Miss Beautiful's favorite). I hope a bit warmer temps and quality food can help improve her health. 

one down

At some point in the last week or so I lost a guppy? 

I hadn't counted them in a while. Watching them today while feeding I idly counted- and came up short. Counted again- yeah, now there's only eight. Don't know what happened- it's possible it got siphoned out while I was cleaning- but I always check the bucket afterwards for that. I suppose it died of something else and the snails cleaned up . . . 

Ah well, I'm not very attached to these fish- their color is pretty but they're so small I don't discern individuals and never gave them names. 

Here's a full tank shot from angle: