unnamed paradise

While the angelfish tank is occupying my mind a lot these days, nothing could be easier than the 33L, or the centerpiece fish destined to go in it- my new paradise guy is still doing great. Haven't quite decided on his name yet.

The tank he'll go into- I tried to get a full length photo today- both with window light coming thru

and with a temporary backdrop 

Noted that I'm pleased how the dwarf sag has done so far

in my smaller tanks

Tidied up the tenner a bit. Planted two more stems of creeping jenny- in the back right corner- and moved one crypt parva, added a bit of substrate, moved a few vals. In ambient light:

and with the light on:

Gave up trying to keep floaters in here, but now the rotala stems have grown tall enough to trail across the top, and I kind of like it-

Also from above- short end with crypt lutea, and the creeping jenny (upper left of photo)

Crypt parva in front corner. 

In the other corner, I pulled out some anubias and moved a few crypt undulata into that spot

The anubias I took out, went into the short end of my 33L.

I trimmed and replanted some hygro stems

Moved one crypt moehlmanii from nearly under the driftwood arch next to the madagascar lace-

put it in further into this corner with its fellows, also moved to the back a few leopard vals that were growing up into the foreground.

Added a bit of substrate to some areas in here too, where it was low, and planted a few more creeping jenny stems in the background. Rinsed one of the filter sponges. Always surprised how little mulm comes out of them, either the fishes have very little output being small? or the plants are great at taking it all up.

tank greenery

I put a white backdrop on my 33L and attempted a full tank shot:

The hygro is looking very nice, colored up on top.

I still like this rosette plant, and still don't know what it is. Seems to be doing well, whereas the dwarf sword I moved, isn't.

Here's another thing I moved- a new crypt moehlmanii shoot. It was growing out to the right of the thicket

I pulled it out very carefully, exposing the runner all the way to the parent crypt, shifted it to the opposite side (left, where it is now) and reburied the roots and runner. 

Madagascar lace plant continues to wow me. It has several more new leaves- the youngest is paler.

In the tenner, the rotalas are getting real nice and one has started to trail across the surface. I was going to trim and replant to multiply it, but kind of like having it across the top.

One blue buce is flowering.

I found some of the crypt parva were getting overshadowed a lot by crypt becketti, so I shifted them all into a front corner-

Moved the severum out of the regular QT into his own little container. The festivums were really starting to harass him, I saw one tug at his tail, and the largest (Foxface) chased him away from all the food. I moved him into 8 gal bin with small heater, sponge filter, etc. 

He showed a white spot on the tail- fungus? or just injury? so I hope will benefit from some daily small partial wc. I found a buyer for him, but have to get him healed up. 

Hard to get a photo now because the bin sides are semi-opaque, and he hides a lot- nervous being by himself I bet- but here's a few from when I had netted him out of the first QT.

Minor split in the caudal fin-

In my 55, I'm eagerly watching growth on my aponogeton capuronii, and wishing the younger shoots of crypt balansae would grow faster. Feeling iffy about the crypt retrospiralis, and have decided I'm not really fond of the corkscrew vals. The leopard vals are so much more vigorous, and I do like how straight and tall they get. I think I would rather have more crypts, with their slightly thicker leaves, in those planter baskets. Maybe aponogeton crispus again (how I miss that plant) or even some kind of long-leaved sword. . . 

window tank light

One day the winter sun exposure was just right for taking photographs- so I did. (That's Laddie top just off center, he likes to hang in the middle of the tank and look out).

Overall the tank needs more plants with height- my vals have just never grown up. Some of the elodea are starting to get there- behind the 'hill' of bolbitis fern.

The younger crypt moehlmanii is just as big as its parent now. In front of that, is the group of little crypts I moved out of the front left corner a while back

They'd been looking peaky for a long time, always having a leaf here or there turning pale and dropping off. I finally decided to shift them all to a spot that gets more light- and now they're doing great!

The dimmer corner is now with buces.

Two buce in the tenner were getting tall enough to need a trim- one 'selena' and one 'isabella' so I clipped their tops and planted in here. Near the dwarf sword, which continues to do fine even when the temp drops to 64° nights.

Other side of the tank everything is nearly the same height- because I trimmed the stems and replanted a few weeks ago, and they grow slow or not at all in winter. Oh well.

window tank plants

Some belated pictures. Hygro or whatever-it-is looking golden in the sunlight- recently cut and replanted some of those stems.

I'm glad I moved the moss rock back a bit, put the crypt becketti behind it, and planted a row of buce 'green wavy' in front. It's one of the nicer spots in the tank now.

Fissidens on the rock is finally big enough to get a decent photo-

Anubias 'pangolino' on the other rock-

I just cut out all these brown stems of the parrot's feather, leaving a bit trailing in on top from above, and a short piece sticking out of the substrate on a few, that are already growing out ferny wisps.

Still have some stems of mermaid weed and ludwigia arcuata (on left). Wish there was more of those, but it grows rather slowly.

Buces still do pretty well for me in here:

The dwarf echinodorus continues to look better in this tank, it doesn't seem to mind the chill so far.

guppy fry note and wc's

The little guppies are week and a half old now. I'm starting to see slight size differences, and squabbling, among them. I'm feeding them two or three times a day now, and admit haven't done as well with the cleaning schedule as I wanted to. Only actually siphoning out the box once every other day. Realized I ought to do a better job at that so I removed the leaf litter, makes it simpler. One of the adult females looks ready to pop out more fry again.

White clouds doing great. Love to see them wriggle their little tails excited when they find food in the tank. Laddie ignores them. They're so quick, it's hard to get photos now-

Several more of them are looking fatter, so I wonder if I have more females.

When I put the parrot's feather in the back of the tank, I took the plastic film off the window. Thought- this plant needs more light, and hopefully will take up enough nutrients to outcompete algae that might arise. Plus, the sun exposure is different in winter. I do see more trumpet snails out on the rear glass now, but I also see a lot of my window tank plants perking up and looking a bit greener.

Parrot's feather grew taller. Almost leggy enough to be unattractive...

How it looks now:

Some of the underwater parts are turning brown and yellowish-

but I am pretty sure will regrow regardless