The tank is a 37 gallon tank with 110 watts of light at 6700K from a homemade fixture. It's CO2 injected with a paintball cylinder, regulator and pH monitor. The plants are Anubias nana and barteri, some green crypts, java moss, baby tears, purple cacomba, dwarf hairgrass, amazon swords and red leaf ludwigia. I'm still working on cultivating the plants and adding more to the tank. I regularly dose fertilizers (nitrate, potassium, phosphate, CSM+B) and maintain the tank at pH of 6.8 with 6 degrees of KH.
Bosemani Rainbow. The male is more brightly colored than the female. I have a juvenile male that is kind of intermediate between these two color wise but he is kind of shy with this dominant male around
Kribensis dwarf cichlid (complete with a nice string of poop)/ I tried to get rid of this fish because it seems a bit territorial but I was never able to catch it so its just chillin for now. I can't believe how fast it is when it wants to be. It seems to just putt around the tank very slowly most of the time. It took out most of my juvenile shrimp and also seems to snack on young Ramshorn snails.
TRUE siamese algae eater. This fish earns its keep. It eats hair algae like there's no tomorrow. I highly recommend this fish for a planted tank but make sure it is not a false siamensis or a flying fox. Do your homework so you know what to get. It seems to be a bit territorial around chow time with my Cory's which is atypical for this species but it hasn't done any harm so I think its just trying to be social. I purchased it when it was about 2 inches long and it has at least doubled in size. The girls call this one 'the Mommy fish' because its the biggest one in the tank right now.
Corydoras sterbai. I really like this fish and it's a great scavenger of leftover food. They get harassed by my SAE and the Kribensis but so far no major problems. It kind of reminds me of a mouse and occasionally rolls its eyes which makes it look like it's winking. This female occasionally lays eggs but none have ever been fertilized. I have a pair of these and it is pretty much the only fish I have left from my original setup. (See below) I lost some of my fish to infection and traded in a lot of the originals. Since I added a sterilizer, I have not had any problems with fish loss unless they were in poor shape on arrival.
Cardinal Tetra. I have about four of these left over from my attempt to acclimate a small school to my tank. Its hard to find a well handled group from the local fish stores but they make a great addition once they survive. They get a little bigger than Neon tetras and are much more colorful.
Olive Nerite snail. I had a horrible time with brown and green algae on my driftwood and plants and finally discovered these guys on eBay. I bought 5 and they cleared my whole tank of algae in about a month. They also clean my filter intakes and heaters. The only drawback is that they lay little white eggs everywhere. (white dots on the snail itself and see the driftwood pic above) They can't hatch in freshwater but they are a nuisance and attach tightly to everything, including other snails. I'm hoping the egg laying will slow down in a few months but for now I can put up with these better than algae.
3 comments:
I love your obsession/hobby. It makes our house prettier and the kids get to be a part of it- you couldn't have chosen anything more family-friendly, hon. :)
And I don't think the snail eggs are ugly! They look kind of cool and glow-in-the-darkey.
Those pics were the best I've seen yet- those lights really do make a difference.
I'm so glad you're writing again, Zach. It's fun to learn about your medical experiences and wonderful advances on the fish adventure. Thanks for sharing!
--Maureen
These are cool pictures. It's a good thing you have an amazing camera so we can enjoy your aquarium!
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