snail move

I put the pond snail into the window tank. Perry immediately took an interest and tried to bite it through the plastic.

I tried to get a few closeups so you can see its little stubby 'horns'.

When I put it in the tank, the snail fell to the bottom, Perry following it down. I found the snail later lying on its back. I righted it, and it crawled up the glass a few inches in a corner, has been in that spot for a day. I don't know if Perry managed to injure it or not (well, at least he is trying to feed on the snails) but now I happen to like this one! I've still not seen the smaller bladder snail again, although there are so many new baby trumpet snails it's like his tank has a rash.

my fifth betta

is this bright halfmoon plakat

blue with hints of violet, and the red in his fins is a pinkish-orange hue

He has a few paler scales on his flanks, and a notch out of both the caudal and anal fins- I hope that's genetics and not injury. Also hope the dark edge on his tail isn't sign of ammonia burn or fin rot- but I will keep careful check on his water quality and he does have some almond leaf in there. The QT is temporary of course, while I find a home for the peppered cories that are in the tenner (or move them into my new tank after it's cycled).

What a spunky personality already. Not shy at all. He moves around lively and graceful, interested in everything in the tank- did nip at ramshorns and the apple snail, but not persistently. Well, I don't care if he eats trumpet snails in his intended home, and I can always shift the malaya shrimps back into the main tank if its a problem... I tried to get more pictures but he startled away from the camera in a quick, fluid dash. It looks like his pelvic fins have double tips- or are split. It's very distinctive when he flares at his reflection in the glass.

Speaking of that, I swear he saw his reflection in the glass of the heater. Several times I saw him  underneath it, stop suddenly, roll his eyes upwards and then slowly tilt himself so he was entirely perpendicular, eyeing the heater glass the whole time and spreading his fins in jerks. Sure looked like a threat display. The heater body in the tenner is black, so that won't be an issue once he moves in. It sure is funny to see. If he got himself hurt by brushing against the heater while it was on, he probably thought the fish-reflection bit him.

equipment and small stuff

This little thing suddenly made tank day so much easier, ha.

I found it in a box of stuff I once used for inks and gouache paint. Took it apart and sterilized the glass. Using it for measuring the water conditioner. Simple. Before I was using a medicine syringe for that- and after time the plunger sticks and the drops don't come out evenly. Sometimes I'd have to dump the start of the water and do it again, to get the right amount of conditioner. Why did it take me four and a half years to think of using an actual eye dropper for something that requires dosage by the drop?

In setting up my new tank, I figured I could run it half-full for a while using my spare 50 watt heater and several small sponge filters plus the extra corner box filter, while I save up again for a new Eheim canister - as I've now used all my hobby budget. I forgot how many other small essentials I'd need to buy for the setup, though. Here's a start (plus what gathered from under the other tank cabinets- the airline tubing, line splitters, air control valves, pvc pipe, clay caves, analog timer): an air pump (my spare is in use on the QT tank), 250 watt heater, large siphon vacuum, longer-handled fish net, check valve, glass thermometer. I've ordered a GFCI power strip. Getting ready!

plants, plants

While I was at the store the other day, I picked up a tissue-culture packet of crypt becketti. I've put the two largest bunches in the main tank, one in Perry's tank (gently divided) and the last one in the tenner. To see where it does best.

I got tired of tending to the pennywort in a pot, even though it has been growing. Took it out and rinsed off. Surprised it had very short, very few roots. I plunked it into Perry's tank to see how it will do just floating.

This morning I moved all the salvinia out of the QT and the thirty-eight gallon. It is just too dense, makes the tanks too dim. I replaced most of the hornwort in Perry's tank with salvinia, keeping a half-dozen of the longest hornwort strands against the front glass (because I like to see its brightness). Frogbit floats around more freely now (I think salvinia had been impeding the surface flow) in the main tank, and most of it appears to have adjusted, looks very healthy and maybe starting to multiply. There was way more salvinia than could fit in the 20H. Covered the surface and have just as much again extra held in totes. If I don't use it in the new setup, I will probably send it to someone on the forum.

my new forty-five!

And I mean brand-spanking new. I got it at the petsmart in the next town- where the lfs is. I usually stop in there just to look at things- and this time found a 45g on sale. It will fit perfectly in a niche in our basement hallway, and I am finally doing a setup for angels! Not quite as big as I had imagined, but I think this size will still be easy for me to manage. Here is it outside for a leak test.

At first I just put ten gallons in-

Filled all the way! I left it like this for half a day. No sign of any leaks or weakness so far. It's returnable to the store for sixty days, and has a manufacturer guarantee for five years (I called them to check on that, as it doesn't come with any paperwork).

I did do a few slight improvements to the stand already. It had a few nicks, the finish was rubbed off on corners- exposing the wood. I covered those with black wood stain. Also some edges on the back the composite wood is just bare, no finish. I gave those several coats of polyurethane for peace of mind. I don't want any moisture weakening the stand. Although, after finding a hobby forum where someone answered questions who actually worked at Aqueon, the quality control testing they do with these stands for weight and stability have eased my mind. It feels like a very large tank to me, so I'm still a bit nervous to fill it up in the house.

You can see how perfectly it fits into this gap in the hallway (which was originally meant for shelving that we never installed...) I filled it halfway then leveled under the stand- it was only a bit off front-to-back.

So many pictures of an empty tank, ha. I am very excited about it.

It's full to just under the trim, now. I'm going to leave it sit empty for a few days while I wait for my new protected power strip to arrive, then install the heater and a temporary filter, to start cycling. My long-nostalgic dream of keeping angels again is going to be reality. Wahoo!

pearling

riccia in the jar seems to like its new bedroom window spot just fine!

I took apart the hornwort jar the other day. And the square glass boxes of snails, too. Hornwort jar got unbalanced- it was growing algae way faster than the few trumpet snails could keep up, and plant stems starting to die off detach at base. When I went to lift everything out there was a very strong odor that reminded me of the seaside- it was from the alage! Well, it was pretty while that lasted.

I moved the snail jar contents into the QT tank. Much easier to care for them in there, their plants helped cycle the tank, and I'm sure its a better environment for them too. At least I proved to myself that I can QT snails in these little containers just fine.

So now I only have the riccia and some bits of moss growing in windowsill jars. Everything else is in a tank with equipment.

I set up a QT tank

It's probably the best job I've done yet. I filled it with the usual fake plants and fake decor for shelter. Used a handful of gravel out of the main tank, and sponge pulled out of the canister for the filter. Also some loose rocks from the established tank,

leaf litter and hornwort

and subwassertang.

Even a few bucephalandra- this largest 'emerald green' one from my tenner

and two small 'green' ones which came loose from their rocks in the main tank.

The ramshorn snails-

All these things brought in enough bacteria on their surfaces, I finally did it. Got an instant cycle. Fed the snails generously (carrot, algae wafer) and tested the water each day. No sign of ammonia or nitrites, small amount nitrate.

Snails showed no signs of distress. They're just cruising around.

A few days later I added salvinia minima (and two more snails) from a package- which created thick surface cover on the left side.

All in all I thought it was a great QT setup that would keep new fish happy for weeks- except they never came. Long story short, I was going to adopt someone's kuhli loaches from a tank teardown, and they never came through. So for now it is just snail and plant quarantine... meh.

seedlings are coming up!

First one to appear was arugula:

this individual has an oddly three-lobed leaf with a fused petiole-

What else has sprouted so far: tithonia, celosia, some of the tomatoes, lettuces, marigolds, leeks, dill.

main tank small changes

I had to lift out the largest dragon stone piece to re-fasten some buce 'green' that came loose. Then I moved the anubias pangolino onto rocks-

here on the lower front side- kind of hidden behind the crypt-

this little bit under crypt becketti petchii on its own small rock

because I made a ditch on the short end of the tank where they had been. There's been ugly dark algae in a wide bade on the glass under substrate level there, and some alarming-looking bubbles of gas. I've done this deep clean on bottom edge of front glass, before. I simply used the hose without the wider vacuum fitting, siphoned out all the substrate from that edge into a bucket through a strainer.

Crypt parva roots seriously exposed. Healthy looking! I was going to gently sift substrate back over them, but want to leave the low edge of glass exposed so the snails can do their work- and already the ditch is gradually getting filled in again as things sift down. I thought I'd have to scrape the algae off by hand, but already is barely noticeable as the nerites and trumpet snails have been eating it.

You can see where all the new floaters are pushed to one side by the current, the tank is distinctly shaded now. Much denser cover than the hornwort ever gave. I am watching to see if this is an improvement or detriment for the other tank plants. I can allow floaters to spread across the entire tank, if it seems a plus, or remove a layer of plastic off the LEDs so they get stronger light if needed...

full coldframe

Very hot day this week. Coldframe open all the time. Thermometer in there read over ninety degrees, up to a hundred a few times. It was warm enough at night I simply wrapped the thing in old sheets and left all the plants in there (above 60°). Getting cooler again so not quite ready to plant out yet...

It's mostly coleus right now.

and the new perennials

herbs and other plants I recently bought

sweet potato vine takes its days in the sun

This is the spot indoors where my lemon verbena spends the night. I like how it looks next to the false aralia. Which is still getting sprayed every-other-day with soapy water. It keeps dropping dusty shriveled looking lower leaves. I hope the younger growth on top stays healthy. Still might have to use Neem on it...

new plant!

I received an ROAK (paid only for shipping) package from a forum member, full of salvinia minima. I was just curious to try this plant, but once I had a closeup look at it, I am fascinated. It has these tiny hairs on the top surface. It is an aquatic fern, also called water spangles.

The portion I received was so generous- this is only a third of what I got. Actually, more like a fourth or fifth, because this is the selected individuals I kept. I put the plants in a bucket, rinsed them in little clumps by hand- dislodging a lot of (very tiny) duckweed- and discarding any that were brown, decaying, torn pieces or just unhealthy-looking.

Got some hitchiker snails! This teensy little one I thought was a bladder snail. I dropped it in Perry's tank. He tried to eat it- but spit it out a few times and let it go. When I see it again I will smash it for him.

This larger one I think is an actual pond snail. Yes, they're different.

Pond snails are much larger, don't reproduce as rapidly, and have very short, thick "horns" instead of the longer, threadlike tentacles. I distinctly saw that feature on this guy once it was in the water, and it was cool. To have such a different snail. It's in QT right now, but will have a natural place in Perry's wild tank (as I've come to think of it).

This third snail is just slightly bigger than my largest ramshorn, but I think it will grow a lot more. I am pretty sure it is some kind of apple snail (or mystery snail?)

It has stripes that follow the spiral.

It's "foot" has a very definite shape.

If I decide to keep this one, I'll probably put it in my angelfish tank. Larger snail with larger fish, and tougher plants it won't eat up. Right now it appears to be chowing down on the salvinia, which is fine, there's so much. Here's the amount I discarded, btw.