au revoir Snaily Snail

The snail died. And I have no idea how long it was in there, polluting the aquarium- the shell was completely empty when I found it.

fish doings

I recently got home from a three-week vacation. For the first two weeks I had someone to water plants and feed the fishes, the last week they were left on their own. Pleased overall to see how things went in my absence.

All the fishes in the main aquarium seem fine,

even Tilda, who was my biggest worry. 

Pinkie looks great- his eyes seem less cloudy, tail notch even diminished.

The first day home I changed out a third of the water. Five days later changed out 25%, as well as gently rinsing out the filter medium, cleaning algae off the front glass and trimming off a lot of decaying plant leaves. Now the tank growth looks sparse again, but I wanted any bit of decay out of there, to get the tank really clean again...

red glory

my Croton is on fire!

pretty success

I have accepted by now that the Echinacea, autumn Ferns, Mimosa and Hibiscus on my balcony are not going to grow again. Still dead dry stems, barren ground in those pots.

But, I now have flowers! The Nicotiana is so lovely. It reaches just outside the railings towards the sun, so I had to lean over awkwardly for some photos.

Lots more of these plants still growing up, the broad leaves are quite large.

afuera

I moved my Aloe Vera outside, where it has room to spread. It seems to be standing taller.

repotting

The other day I took all these plants, and then some, and shuffled them into new pots. Some when out of a pot it was too small for, and another plant moved up into its pot.

I didn't think to photograph them all, but here's a few notes. The Coleus cuttings finally went into soil. These things grow amazingly quick, and you can see how many roots! This is after I trimmed some off, there was twice as much.

I took quite a few plants out of SIP bottles- they had outgrown them. I didn't have suitable container to make a new larger SIP so they just went into regular pots. My largest Geranium, the Poinsettia and my Croton

I potted up the Aloe Vera into a large clay pot. It is growing new roots, a few leaves broke off, it is starting to stand up straight again. But I still have trouble finding a good location for it, where it doesn't run into something or poke my kids!

The only plant that moved down in pot size was the Creeping Charlie. One of its stems died, I had overwatered.

The nicest-looking results are my two largest Palms, but I didn't get a picture of those. Will soon.

unknown

One left of this still unidentified (but awfully familiar) volunteer plant growing

water jar

of Java Moss- keeping the trimmings going for one day when I might use them to grow a carpet... another idea for a future aquarium setup- like the vase of arrowleaf cuttings, I change the water out weekly.

fern

The one fern I have left. Has been outside overnight for weeks now, it's so warm.

I cut it back the other week. Expecting lush new growth soon- I already see fiddleheads coming up through the debris.

what seedling?

These little plants are still growing for me.

They were in a fern pot which I moved into the ground, so I pricked these young plants out and into other, individual pots. Still don't know what they are. They look very familiar, I'm sure I've seen them growing around here in someone's yard- a shrub or perhaps a young tree. Planted here by a squirrel!

moved up

I finally potted up all my Nicotiana seedlings- there were just over a dozen in that greenhouse jug. Actually, a week ago but I've gotten behind in posting here. Must go take photos of the growth now! there's a row of them next to the Lettuce- which are already beginning to bolt in the heat and inedible now. I only got a nibble twice.

The Chard are still going strong, I will eat those later.

onion greens

These two onions began sprouting in the fridge. So I put them over little cups of water, let the tops grow in windowsill. For a period of time can cut the green shoots. Already put some on mashed potatoes the other day! And diced a bit into eggs. Nice to have a bit of fresh green.

green and red

Moved a few plants around again. The Ponytail Palm is getting a beating where it sat on small bookshelf- corner of a doorway and the fronds were getting bent by people walking by (or kids tugging on them) so I've put it aside and the Poinsettia in its spot.

Not sure where Ponytail can sit now. Suitable out-of-reach places are also further back in the room, might not have enough light...

nicotiana

flowering plant, significantly bigger now. The ones I moved into planter first are quite large

the others got planted out a week or so later, still relatively small but I think will catch up.

big enough to eat

swiss chard

all together

Well, I've moved all the fishes (except for Flash, who got Pinkie's bowl with the skull cave) into the main aquarium. The two Cherry Barb from my QT went in last week, Pinkie a few days later. I watched him closely. He was definitely alert when floating in the plastic baggie, all the Barbs curiously swimming around him- but not displaying aggressively.

Upon release swam around with ease; comes up to the surface for air no problem, even swims behind the baffle on the filter through the current without trouble (a few of the Cherry Barb seem to do this on purpose- they will go through, turn around, go through again, repeat- even though they get pushed around). Pinkie seems to be at his full size- two inches- he's a bit bigger than the largest Cherry Barb. He tends to follow the biggest red male around, flaring at him occasionally, but I don't think he's fast enough to catch the other fish. When the Barbs chase each other, they move like little torpedoes.

It's gratifying to see Pinkie in the home tank at last.

I thought he might have trouble competing with the other fish for food, but he sits just below the surface and grabs bites as they float past. He's eating better than ever before, quite a varied diet now- every other day the fishes get one of three types of tropical flakes, or betta flakes, on other days get either shrimp pellets, algae wafers (both crumbled up to bite-size), betta bits, freeze-dried bloodworms, chopped zucchini or peas. They all seem to love the shrimp pellets. The Barbs come to the surface for food now, so that's gotten easier as well.

Pinkie seems to be showing his age, though. He has cloudy spot on his eye- maybe he bumped it? and still a crease in his tail. But the scales have healed, and he seems quite spry.

green food

I ate the first bit of my Lettuce, a few leaves from each plant. Still small, but with the heat already upon us I might not get much else. It was a nice fresh taste.

bye to my favorite plants

I have moved my pathetic Ferns out of the balcony pots and into my boyfriend's yard. He's got a shady, damp area against the back fence where planted his ferns obtained the same place/time as mine last year. His have come up wonderfully this spring with new bright green fronds.

Mine are still lagging behind, just a few fiddleheads showing

but not much else.

I took six pots over to his house the other day and planted them out; three showing emerging growth, the other might not even be alive. They probably have a better chance of recovering and surviving in the ground. I do still have my two pots of autumn ferns (dead to all appearances), and my Boston Fern (the only one looking good) but that's it for ferns now. Which makes me feel dismal. Ferns are my favorite plants, but I can't seem to treat them well. Bah.

more cherry barb

I should not have been happy so soon about the new little Otocinclus. It died the first night. Looked great all afternoon and at last look in the evening, gone by morning. All the other fishes fine. Tilda destined to be a loner now, I'm not going to keep buying these fish that die so easily. So I went back to the shop for a refund / replacement- they had no more Otos. I got another Cherry Barb.

And figured while I was there, might as well buy the rest to finish off the school I'm forming; my QT tank has finally cycled and stabilized. Save me another trip to the shop, and see how well the fish do in both methods of introduction. So I put one female straight into the home tank, with the preventative dose of melafix, no-lights and no-feeding to keep the fishes calm for the first day or so. The other two new fish (male and female) went into the QT. They seem ok. A bit shy- hiding under the decor and in the tunnel- and this morning the female clamped fins until I did a partial wc, better this afternoon.

It's nice to see a good number of fish in the home tank now.

The biggest Cherry male is the boldest; he comes out first for food, and swims into all corners of the tank.

The females and smaller male keep to one corner, behind the Java Fern log and just in front of it center to the feeding spot. They never venture over to the other side where the Anubias are.

They are all eating better; I fed flakes (released underwater again) and minced cooked pea today. Not all the fish came forward to get the food but later I could see them picking through the gravel after bits that fell; soon after when looked in I could not see any debris leftover at all. I had been thinking to get some bottom-feeders like cory catfish or a loach but now don't think that's really necessary, if the barbs clean up this well.

My Snail seems to be failing, though. It is still alive, when I look into the aquarium every now and then it has moved position, but I never see it actively crawling around like used to. It stays still in one place for a very long time. Maybe it's getting old? I have found a small clear blob on the back of a driftwood piece; I think this is snail eggs. I've seen it before and scraped off but this time let it be; if the snail is getting old and dies I'd like to have some progeny.