coleus here and there

I noticed that of all my coleus plants, the ones in pots on my deck are leggy, unhappy and leaves going pale. I think too much sun. I cut those back and moved them to a shady spot against a fence, at the end of the tithonia row where I can still see them and keep an eye on how they recover or not. Whereas the pink ones in reliable shade under trees in the sideyard are doing the best. They look great (and those in the front of the house that get more sun are just okay)

Next to it is the joe pye weed 'chocolate'- hasn't grown very large this year but it looks like it's doing well since the transplant.

The 'kiwi fern' coleus is looking awful at end of summer like usual- pale rusty appearance to most of the foliage (healthy stuff is the redder, purplish color). I think again it is from too much sun.

I moved one of these to sit between two mint pots, and the other to sit next to my large jade, both shadier corners of the deck.

The spearmint got moved to a sunnier spot and cut back severely- it looked all scraggly and awful.

Choc mints got a trim, too- but they are doing much better (which is great, because I like them!)

I kept a bunch of cuttings from the trim, to start new plants (probably they will be gifts). Love how the light shines through them in the windowsill.

And this plant doesn't really fit the post, but look how well my jade has grown out since its struggles with bugs earlier this year. If I can just transition it to go back inside for winter, without introducing pests to my houseplants again...

some yard plants

Checking up on them. I pruned my flowering crab apple tree in the front yard today- for the first time ever. Tired of getting hit in the face by low-hanging branches when I mow, if I forget to duck. I used clippers and a handsaw. Cut out all the branches that are too low, then took out a few larger and higher ones that were obviously dead. I tried to keep it looking balanced. I was cleaning up when a guy who had been working in someone else's yard across the street approached me and asked if I was done- offered his services "for next time" including what I'm sure he thought was a plus: "we haul it all away when we're done!" I shrugged at him: "that's okay, I use it. I do composting and burn the branches in my fireplace in winter. I don't need anything hauled off." And I prefer to do the work myself, if I can. He looked a bit surprised, probably most people don't want to do the work I guess.

Cleaning up elsewhere in the yard- taking out older stems of daisies, clipping spent flowers on the tithonia so it will keep blooming- I saw some things that look particularly nice so went back around with my camera. Turtlehead is blooming! The dark foliage tends to blend into the background, so it looks as if the pink flowers are floating, sometimes. I can't quite get that effect with the camera, though. Around a tree:

Next to my veggie garden:

Flanking that, the sensitive fern is still lovely.

Of all the areas where I have planted salvia, this one by a tree in the backyard near a fence is doing the best. It has larger leaves and is untouched by insects. The parent plant I took cuttings of for all the rest, is doing worst right now. I don't know if because it needs to be refreshed (dug up and divided) or because growing near the columbine which attracts pests, it gets the brunt of insect damage.

My clematis was looking so terrible earlier in the summer I thought it had died. But now it is growing a new tendril and even has a few flower buds again. It doesn't hold well onto the decking post. I think I need to tie some more strings up for it to hold.

I don't know what happened to the sedums around the stump in my front yard. Lower parts of stems the foliage has all blackened and died. Is it something from the rotting wood affecting it? or a bug, or a sickness... New foliage seems to be growing, however. I need to clean the dead stuff out and cut it back.

The cuttings of it I transplanted to another spot behind my lilac, are doing great. No withered leaves here. You can see it is quite different from the stonecrop I planted it among- and I kind of like the mixed look.

in the garden

Things are not so well. Something is eating the leaves off my swiss chard and beets. Not mowed down- just nipped off here and there. Rabbit? Or- deer?! Have found little piles of deer droppings in the yard again. And something ate a lot of leaves off my forsythia- to a height just above my head. It is naked stems. I didn't know deer would eat forsythia, sigh. So far they have not touched the rhodies, or hosta, or other vegetable plants, but I expect I will have to get a lot pickier about what I plant soon...

I cleaned up my tomato plants- there was lots and lots of dead dried foliage hanging, and mottled sickly-looking leaves. I'm not sure if it is from insects infecting the plants, or disease spores, or they just suffered from the colder weather we had this past week. I cleared out all the nasty stuff (into the trash, not compost) and all the upper leaves are still healthy-looking so I hope the plants will well long enough to ripen the large tomatoes. The brandywine looks the worst, I don't think those two have any tomatoes on them at all. I have some set in kitchen windowsill to ripen.

At least we are enjoying lots of cherry tomatoes, now. And I can't wait to eat that cantaloupe that is ripening in my daughter's patch!

green island

I tightened up the 'island' in my tenner, moving the crypt further behind the mound, and nudging the group of anubias afzelii closer to the skull. If rotalas keep their health, pretty soon this will look different with a curtain of them across the back.

I am not sure if I like it yet- does it look nice, or is it just a heap of plants?

This is my favorite area of it-  except for that large blank area front right. Crypt parva does okay on the other side of the foreground- at least it has not all died- but I don't expect it to multiply soon enough that I could pull plants and spread them out. Better to buy myself another lot of them. Or maybe I should spread the buces around. There's a few of those grown tall enough I could take a cutting... Thinking about it.

Here's the new look of the short end-

and the other- yeah, really blank

I do really love the fingers of windelov fern. Wonder if they will change orientation and stand more upright with the shift in location and light.

I found that the strip of plastic I taped over the LEDs has got burnt smudges from the heat of the lights. I threw that away and taped two new strips of plastic sheeting over, instead. It's the same kind of plastic I'm using on my LED on the main tank. But probably blocks a slightly different amount of light, than the piece I threw away. So have to keep a close eye on the plants and see if they need less, or more of that.

worm food

I renewed the worm bin again- could tell it was getting toxic for the wigglers and heavy with the waste that is my garden richness. In just one day this time I sifted out the worms and remainder of cardboard chips into a new bin. (This time dampened the new layer of cardboard bedding by just setting the bin out during a rainstorm, and every half hour or so going out to turn and fluff it up. Much easier than soaking the bedding in a bucket and trying to drain it enough later. Perfect level of dampness).

So I set aside small worms I came across, as a treat for the fishes. Don't need to go for tiny baby worms anymore. I gave one to Perry- he's really starting to show his colors now. At a glance when he's paler in the dim tank, the mix of red and blue makes him look muted violet color. Cleaned the worms more or less by putting in a small container of tank water for a day, and changing the water out a few times when the worms soiled it. I cut some worms in half and gave to the cories- they sure liked that. I gave most of them to the serpae tetras, and those guys went wild! There was a ton of flirting, chasing and sparring going on. I saw Diamond, Nito and Wedge all doing the begging spawning shimmy in front of others, attempting to lead them into thickets. They all still look very healthy but Smudge's fins are pretty ragged and Lino is keeping out of everyone's way, those two seem to get the worst of it.

While the serpaes were so busy trying to grab each other's worms and then chasing around, I fed the kuhli sinking wafers on the other end of the tank. Shrimps came to steal their share, again. One of my smaller Amano shrimp looks different this morning it doesn't move the swimmerets legs and looks bulgy underneath. I do think it is berried! That will be my first one to do so.

pond pot

Still outside- I really like the water lettuce in it. Even if I never keep shrimps, micro fish or triops in here, I think next year I will still do at least spriodela polyrhiza and water lettuce. It's nice to just glance over and see it pretty with green live things floating in there, every time I step out on the deck.

tenner redo- again

I find I don't have a lot of motivation to take care of a tank that doesn't have fish in it. This one was two days past its regular maintenance and ferts dosing for the plants. Which is important- I do care about my plants. To help myself take more interest in it, I did a bit of rescape today. It seems kind of perverse that now the betta is gone, the plants are thriving again- but that's probably because the frequent wc for sake of the fish were depleting nutrients...

I made it into a kind of 'island' scape. The photo is dim because lights were not on and lots of stuff got kicked into the water column, of course. I will get a better pic when things have settled.

Basically I moved my two pieces of hardscape to be together in the center, wood piece overlapping and hiding most of the fake skull:

Funny surprise I found when I had the piece out of the tank- one java fern rhizome instead of growing across the gap of the skull's nasal hole, went down through it and the new leaf came out the mouth.

It's like the skull creature has a tongue, haha.

So in the tank I moved all the rotala stems to be a row across the background again- I haven't seen them look so healthy since I had some in my old 20L, to be honest. Some have rosy tops now- they are happy about something.

My baby anubias barteri- it has grown quite a bit, but is still very small! Now in a front corner.

Here's a quick overhead shot.

I shifted the crypt further back into the corner, moved a few buces forwards, and replanted the anubias afzelii on the other side, middle ground off the end of the skull. I really like how the afzelii, buce 'selena' and anubias laceolata (behind the afzelii group) echo each other's leaf shapes. The only thing I don't like about the new arrangment is the placement of baby anubias barteri and that other anubia in the back corner- they are too straight in a line, maybe. And all the subwassertang is now on the back side of the driftwood piece, so I can't really see it (until it grows crazy out of control).

The floaters are still looking bad. I scooped them all into a small bucket and picked out with tweezers the worst of them- lots have black or brown spots of decay. I am still hoping it's just because they were so starved of ferts, and will recover.

Snails still look fine in here, btw. In fact, the trumpet snails that I pick out of my window tank seem healthier than those in the other two- they don't have as eroded, whitened shell tips. I wonder if because that tank has less safe-t-sorb in the substrate? Hm. Here they are piled in a corner where I gave them half a cooked pea yesterday. (They don't seem too interested in the flake of fish food I dropped in once in a while).

main tank

round leaves

These two plants are so different, yet the leaves have similar round shape and upright growing habit, I put them side-by-side to take a photo. 'Cuban' oregano is an herb with sharp scent, soft fuzzy leaves. The other, mini jade or ice plant, is a succulent with shiny smooth foliage. On one the light glows, and off the other it bounces.

Perry the paradise fish

This is the first day where I have looked at Perry and thought: wow, he looks like a paradise fish! Here's why-

His small bin QT was still not cycled, and the ten-gallon one was sitting there next to it empty of fish but fully cycled, so... I moved him. I pulled the heater, but left the previous filter in there- it's not plugged to an airline and I rinsed out the media so it wouldn't be stitting full of stagnant mulm, but I kept it there for the bacteria load- maybe they will transfer? Perry's smaller sponge filter running next to it.

I moved all his plants over- sweet potato vine in the lid, bolbitis fern making a thicket on one end of the tank, a small bunch of hornwort on the other, all the plastic plants in between.

Subwassertang was the biggest pain to move; I much prefer when this stuff is tied down to something, but I wanted to keep it going as long as there is a fish in QT so I plucked every last bit of it out of the bin with tweezers and moved into the ten-gallon tank to sit in a corner. It does sink more or less.

I did think once Perry was in a darker tank, he'd show better colors (my daughter's friends visiting a few days ago said "oh, you have a new fish! this silver one!" because they didn't see any color on him then). True to expectation, he showed his stripes the moment I floated him in the tank to acclimate. See first photo. When I released him the first thing he did was try to eat the floating duckweed.

He seemed real excited to be in this larger, more densely-planted, dim tank (with better water!) He was going around and around the tank in constant, curious motion with his tail wiggling animatedly. So most of the photos I got were blurry, like this:

This one is only a little better. I do love the gold gleam on his eye.

And for the first time I saw him hunting malaysian trumpet snails. Yeah, I am pretty sure this fish is going to give me natural snail control. A snail on the glass wall moved, and Perry stopped short, tipped his head to roll his eye sideways at it, and nipped lightning fast at the snail's head. The snail dropped to the floor; I don't think the fish has managed to eat one yet but he sure is trying. He was constantly perusing the bottom of the tank, biting at snails he found with their heads out.

(He rejected some caterpillars I tried to feed him yesterday, plucked fresh off the rosebush. He took them eagerly then spit them out right away, rolling his eye at them but not trying again. I had to siphon them out of the tank. I wonder if they were a toxic species.)

moving fishes

It was a fish shuffle again. The three newer serpae tetras have been in QT almost two weeks- they look to be in robust health and show no signs of illness. The dominant female has three times been trying to encourage the others to mate. In fact the last time I think they did- I saw the quivering together and springing apart movement, and afterwards the two subordinate tetras were going around picking stuff off the bottom glass- probably the eggs.

This one is the boss female, 'Nito. She is really camera-shy so it was the best I could do for an individual photo. Afraid of me, but bullies the other fish- perfect finnage. Because of her faint shoulder mark that looks like someone erased it, I think of her as the 'incognito fish', thus her name.

Wedge has a shoulder mark very similar to that of Diamond and Spark in the main tank, but flatter on top. Tail is really getting bitten up.

I call this last one Smudge. Its marking is so very like Punk's that when they are in the same tank not sure if I will be able to tell them apart. (The face is not really as red as this picture makes it look)

The close similarity of these fish's markings to others in the main tank makes me think they came from the same set of parents at whatever fish farm they originated... even if a different spawning, I wonder if they would have inherited the same looks.

Anyway, even though they don't look to have fungus or fin rot from the damage, Smudge was starting to hide behind the filter to keep away from 'Nito, and I got worried watching them beat each other up in QT once again. I decided to move them into the main tank already. Keeping QT set up for a few days so if needed can isolate them again. I acclimated them to the main tank in the evening, after lights-off (and they don't turn on again until noon the next day, so a good amount of time to settle in).

As before, when floating the serpaes were eager to get through the plastic barrier into the tank proper - as soon as they saw others of their kind in there. Some of the residents came up to check them out. When I netted them into the tank, there wasn't a large fight as I expected. Yes Diamond is chasing 'Nito around a lot, but they all seem relatively calm. Everyone came up eager to feed in the morning. I don't see any new fin damage, although Lino seems to be really intimidated. That one was hiding a lot today.

two kind of catfish

Last week I moved my one otocinclus into the window tank. I can't make up my mind what to do with this lonely fish. It was starting to look skinny in the main tank, and rather listless- instead of constant busy nibbling it would lie still for long periods, then make frantic-looking darts around the tank- to this spot, then another, then another- without feeding long in any one area. I really think it was running out of algae to eat in there. Between the trumpet snails, nerites, limpets and shrimps- not enough left for the oto maybe.

So I took a chance and moved it over here where there are still some diatoms, green spot algae and fungus growing out of driftwood. Even though plenty of trumpet snails in here too, and far more visible limpets, it seems like the oto is finding more food now. I did a slow acclimation but for the first day it looked pale and was breathing hard. Now its tummy is rounded again, and it moves about busy nibbling on surfaces again. It's cleaned all the diatoms off, but appears to be finding enough on wood and plants for the time being.

It is kind of cute, and also rather sad, that it hangs out with my cories at the substrate level sometimes. I wonder if it finds their company a bit companionable.

I am kind of hoping it will learn to eat algae wafers and zucchini from the cories, then maybe I can move it back into the main tank and supplement its diet that way. Soon it will be too cold in this tank.

Incidentally, when I was taking closeups of the oto among cories, I noticed this one catfish seems to have a bent tail- on the right

Before I thought well, maybe it just lets its tail drift up when resting. But when I look at the others- you can see it even though the photo is a bit blurry- their tails remain straight whether scavenging or at rest.

I hope it is just a birth defect and not an early sign of fish tuberculosis.

fern

Boston fern is finally doing better, although not nearly as pretty as years before. I quit shifting it around and just left it on the deck table, where it got shade for about half the day. That seemed sufficient.