end of the buces

these were among the last of my blue buce 'selena' (and a few others I didn't know the names of)

halfway

My 33L is about half empty now- 

it's mostly just vals and crypts left. 

and some bolbitis fern- I did always love the bolbitis

The largest one was starting to do poorly in the spare 20H tank- where I had a spotlight on it to show people, but it wasn't getting any indirect sun. 

So I moved it into a bin by the window. Easy enough to move it back into the empty show tank if needed.

Yesterday I sold off the rest of the buces and anubias- including some very tiny ones (buce 'green wavy' on the left here and anubias nana 'pangolino' on the right):

This was one of my prize plants, even though it had some leaves marred with algae- a nice clump of anubias 'pangolino'. I never got it to do that characteristic overlapping scale look with the leaves, but still I thought it an attractive specimen.

And this was one of my tiniest plants- I think it's anubias nana petite- as that's one I originally got as a tissue culture, and this has the clumpy growth habit typical of those.

I did try to look back on my record here and figure out the names of all the plant varieties I had, but lost the mental energy to track them all down. Glad that I found a few local people who like me just wanted to grow pretty or interesting plants in their aquariums, not so hung up on the actual names and rarity or whatnot. So I've had some happy customers, even a few people who came back for more plants, and I hope to move the rest of them within a week or two.

I do have more pictures but that's enough for now.

the 33L

is slowly emptying out. I have been selling the plants. After that rough, quick full tank shot, I tried to get a better one by making a composite of three separate photos (click for larger view):

and then things started to go out the door. It looks quite empty now, mostly just vals and small crypts left. I've been sad to see some of the plants go- the little pieces of wood with subwassertang and buce clinging to them

- this one had a bolbitis fern.

The beautiful little pearly leaves- here was one of my few clumps of Buce 'brownie'.

Didn't realize I still had bits of anubias pangolino in here until I started taking the scape apart- some were hidden behind or under other plants- so small but it's a rare one so I've gotten good prices for them.

In contrast this was my large, thriving anubias barteri- 

I was sad to see that one go too

My favorites were always the Buce 'Selena' and I was glad several people were very happy to get some from me- one person even came back for more after seeing how blue they looked in his tank.

I had so many more bucephalandra but I'd forgotten many of the names since I added them to my tank (or rather, the betta tank I used to have) more than a decade ago- and trying to go back here and find their identities was rather futile.

I will miss them. Ironically, I've been putting more care into this tank (and various containers where I've put plants for people to look at) now for the sale, than I did for my poor fish in the past few weeks of his life. I feed badly for that. Sorry to Tucker.

Should have worked harder for him. 

an end

I have sad news. It was actually so upsetting I never sat down to write about this until now. About a month ago, my paradise fish Tucker died. He had been unwell for several weeks already- hanging listless at the water surface, eating a bit and nothing else. Poor color, no interest in anything. Sometimes he didn't even want to eat. Honestly I made no attempt to cure him. I did not know what ailed him, I simply don't have the mental energy now to deal with trying to diagnose, medicate and extra-upkeep a sick fish. He was probably close to six years old, I'd had him for over five. That's a good long life for a fish! and now he rests under a stump in my backyard, on the edge of the flower bed near Miss Beautiful.

I had not taken any photos of the aquarium in some time, but here is a quick full tank shot. I am in the process of dismantling it, re-homing the snails, and selling all the plants, equipment, etc. It's feels kind of dismal that the year when my tank finally feels well-established, and looks like what I had first envisioned so long ago, is when I feel done with it.

Surprise- there was one Amano shrimp still alive in there! After all these years! He hid very well from Tucker. A real survivor. No idea how old this shrimp is, probably six to eight years. He went to live in somebody else's tank of shrimps last night. That was something, to see the little critter scurrying around again.

Bye, little shrimp.

Have a good end of life elsewhere.

how's my Tucker

doing, fine. Better color now again-

though hard to get it in a photo (as usual) because he starts zooming back and forth when I'm near. So most pics a blur or simply backlit-

or he lurks in the large anubias corner. 

Got this decent pic from the short side of the tank.

Something's still going wrong when I do the water changes. I admit it had been too long between them again, and I had never done a very thorough cleaning since the time away on vacation. Yesterday attempted to remedy that- siphoned the gravel, but only on one side of the tank because thought I ought not overdo it and put him into shock.

But then I continued with trimming plants and decided to move a few, and cut down or pulled out all the rotalas in the back (a lot of them dying, looking shabby) and trimmed some bolbitis fern off the log, tied onto stones to put in the background, etc. It ended up being too much change. So I thought. Except, the fish looked relatively calm until I started pouring the new water in, then he clamped up, hung at the surface, barely moving, curving his body. Looked alarmingly like the symptoms my minnows died of.

Prime doesn't expire. Nitrates were low already. My best guesses are: the city is using chloramine or added excess chlorine (but Prime is supposed to nullify that anyway) or I released ammonia into the water column when pulling some plants up (but the fish looked okay at that point) or, the new water caused a pH jump. I think it's the latter. Must test before and after next time.

He looked shocky all that evening and I was worried. But this morning seems completely fine, so phew.

my paradise fish

I'd had concerns about him lately. He'd been off color (see end of this post), and then was suddenly darting away, hiding after taking a few bites of food. He refused flake and NLS pellets for a few days, then I offered him one of his favorites- frozen brine shrimp. A bite, and then he hid under the ceramic arch (a spot I never saw him go into before). Spent days either there or under the filter sponge, and often darted off to hide when I approached the tank or lifted the lid. I started to wonder was he ill? was the frozen food spoiled? did someone (a kid visited the house recently) rap on the glass with a finger and traumatize him? But then his color came back-

with such dashing around upon the sight of me that I could barely get him in focus again!

Mr. Fire-Tail (though not so glorious as then)

I started to think maybe it was the cold, with winter here and his tank unheated (but I keep the room temp just above his limit). However, returning from a weekend away when it was colder than ever, found him in good form- greeting me at the glass

and getting in the way when I wanted to get photos of how my crypt balansae are doing- I thought they might melt away from the shock of transfering in here and being in a coldwater tank. They're doing fine! Standing up straighter, and showing a few new leaves

Tucker's fin extensions are getting longer- I've been trying to keep up on water changes ever week even though one fish doesn't put much waste in the water, and make sure to use the gravel vac too (I finally bought a new one that fits the tank properly and it made such a difference) perhaps that has been what he needed- just his own space, and better care.

He gets a little spoiled now, being the only fish. Gets any carpet beetle I catch, or housefly, or mosquito. When we left for the holiday, I gave him two live worms as a treat. He gets really excited over that. I finally got a decent photo from the short end of the tank- in showing his colors, that is- the angle and composition are poor, but you can see the bright blue on edge of fins. So I think he's feeling good.

Bothers me that I still don't know what was off, though. The water quality? temperature? food? was he a bit ill or just had a mood swing. Who knows. 

planted stuff

I put my new rosemary in the ground. In the corner of the garden. By the rue- so you can see it's really still quite small, considering the final size it might get- but four or five times larger than any rosemary plant I've had in the past!

I trimmed those droopy tips a bit too, to reduce the transplant shock.

Also planted out- on the backyard slope that I want eventually to have no grass- the shining sumac. So small from the house I can't even see it!

The iris are likewise nearly invisible-

And the two shrubby St. John's wort. Near the other ones. Now I suppose that my larger St. John's wort (the first one I planted) might also be a 'shrubby' one, and the one with very small leaves, another variety? I didn't realize before there's different types, though I ought to have guessed.

And indoors, I took all the crypt balansae out of the vase and planted them into the aquarium. They're down the center. Hard to get on camera though. Here's a side shot

and one with the fish in it. He's not quite as bright as before. Maybe the excitement of loosing his tankmates has evaporated. Or he doesn't like the change in weather (colder now). He still brightens up when I feed him a worm or fly, but then darts away from the camera, of course.