# Anubias Paradise (56k)



## Haeun (Mar 9, 2007)

WOW, great idea! I think I may use that idea when I get enough riccia grown in.


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## sNApple (Nov 6, 2005)

ive always wanted to do a tank with just anubias


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

Haeun
it's pretty simple isn't it? i'll upload pics when the ricia has grown

sNApple
this has been my dream for a long time also, i have fall in love with these plants, but tha plant's cost is limiting me to make a bigger tank


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## sNApple (Nov 6, 2005)

i think a piece of wood that went to the surface covered in anubias or even out of the water would look even better


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

it still looks kinda empty isn't it? espescially the upper half of the tank. it's hard to find a good looking wood that fits the tank dimension. i'm gonna look again this week, perhaps adding more anubias too.


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## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

looks cool, but did you put the riccia in the 2.5?
I doubt it will live with 5w of light, think about upgrading, maybe a spiral compact bulb in a desklight?


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

yes i put the riccia in to take shots of the anchoring method, i was planning to remove them but suddenly i felt curious about it and left it there to see if it would grow. i can remove it easily though. can the riccia survive if i float it? recommend any other low light plants that come along nicely with this setup?


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

Where did you find the aluminum mesh? And did it hold down the riccia well as it grew?


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

mesh looks like gutter screen?? It will survive if you float it, but what a mess it will make...lol. riccia is a floating plant.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

ikuzo said:


> can the riccia survive if i float it? recommend any other low light plants that come along nicely with this setup?


Yes it can survive, but then further shades the plants below. 5W is really not much light...

You could try mosses and pellia as well.


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## mrbelvedere (Nov 15, 2005)

I can't grow anythying with 5watts. I had a 7 watt clip light and I could barely grow java moss.

Definitely upgrade to a 2x13 or a 2x9 watt light.


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

so where did the aluminum mesh come from? Does it sink?


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

ok a quick update, re-position some anubias, added some ferns.









what kind of snail is this?









uncskainch and RachPreach
my girlfriend works in a company that sells this aluminium mesh so i can get free samples easily  you'll find it easily in hardware stores. it sinks easily and i bet it can hold a lot of riccia down since it's pretty heavy and putting it inside the substrate will also helps to gain hold.

gmccreedy
removed the riccia inside the mesh at the bottom tried to float it but it quickly mess my tank due to the hang-on-filter current. it took me more than one hour to really clean it out. i made another riccia in mesh and put it in my other tank to see how it goes.

Wasserpest
i know about mosses, but can pelia survive in my tank? 

mrbelvedere
after about a week, my anubias seems to love this dim condition.


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## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

[drools]oooooooooo, windelov, zebra nerite snail....[drools]


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

omg is that really windelov and zebra nerite... i bought them on a flea market last night and the seller just told me it's just ferns and algae eating snails, lol...


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## sNApple (Nov 6, 2005)

take the windelov out


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

care to explain why?


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

you found aquarium plants at a plan ole flea market?


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

no no, what i meant is that in the city where i live, there's this night market that only occurs during wednesday and saturday night that sells a lot of aquarium fish. there are some people there that sell plants, and just recently this year, almost half of them are selling plants there with cheap prices.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

ok is this enough light? i mean i put the 5 watts lamp in a glass shelf above the aquarium like this :


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## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

can you get a spiral copmpact screw in bulb?
that would be a bit more light for you for cheap.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

spiral compact screw means more lenght and i need a new housing to make the placing on the upper glass deck flat.


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## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

huh?
What kind of light do you have on there?
i thought it was a desklight.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

ikuzo said:


> ok is this enough light? i mean i put the 5 watts lamp in a glass shelf above the aquarium like this :


No, I don't think that is enough light. I pictured the lamp sitting directly on top of the tank.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

dufus
well it is something like that but with watts compact screw (the shortest available), i'll post a picture of it later.

Wasserpest
if it's directly on top, will 5 watts enough, or should i get a higher lighting, seomething like 13 watts?


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## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

with it that far above, i'd you for 13-18 wwatts, to give you low light, but enough to grow the anubias.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

allright i'm gonna buy a clip-on 13 watts lighting this weekend.


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## Gill (Mar 20, 2005)

Loving the Simplicity of the scape


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## LondonDragon (Mar 15, 2007)

Nice idea with the riccia, I did exactly the same with mine, just used a different mesh  congrats


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

i put the lamp down, now it's exactly on top of the water surface and i see the anubias pearling. does this means enough light? the tank now is shining brightly.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Since you reposition the lamp right at water surface...
Should be getting somewhere enough for anubias, but I doubt it is enough for the windelov.

It should be piece of cake to swap for bigger lamp because you use that screw-in compact fluoroscent (neon bulb with on-board e-ballast). They made it in slightly more watts like 8 or 13W. Nowadays they even have the spiral ones which is shorter, but needs some start up time and is slightly more efficient.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

update with new clip on 9 watts lighting









pearling









RCS enjoying a piece of algae i took from inside of the garden hose


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## jebarj90 (Mar 11, 2007)

Why did you take the riccia out? :icon_cry:


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

not enough light to grow riccia. if i add more than 9 watts, i'll probably get algae on my anubias which is something i really don't want. i place the riccia mesh in my other tank.


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## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

that's much better, your anubs will grow much better and faster with that.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

That is a wise step to take. It looks like now you have yourself enough light for growing anubias and fern, but not too much to cause heavy algae problem. 
As the manufacturer of the fertilizer product you currently use, I would like to suggest mild dosing, probably you can try from 1/2 the recommended dosing and see how things grow. Setups such as yours is slow on nutrient uptake and does not need too much nor too often.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

so i added a new branch of driftwood that skies to the surface.









from above









the anubias nana from my other tank, tied to the new driftwood.









another snail i bought


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## Irish (Dec 17, 2006)

What kind of light is that? Where did you get it?

Irish


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

it's a Jebo clip on lighting (chinese manufacturer), probably hard to find in USA, but search up for their website, i'm sure they have one.


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## Irish (Dec 17, 2006)

Thanks. I did find it on shopjebo.com. They have it in 5, 7, and 13 watt though. But that should do just fine for what I need. Thanks again.

Irish


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

just an update, i put a bamboo screen at the back of the tank for a background. tell me what you think.









bought more snails, this time they have some horns on their shell


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## tropicalfish (Mar 29, 2007)

Nice! Get an incandescent light fixture the length of your aquarium and put in compact fluorescent screw in lamps. Find something in the 6700K range. If you can, stay away from the spiral ones, but you can use them still. Spirals just have more umm... I forgot the word...

EDIT. The word is restrike!


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## LondonDragon (Mar 15, 2007)

Looking good so far, what kind of fish you planning to put there? would be a nice home for a betta


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## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

tropicalfish said:


> Nice! Get an incandescent light fixture the length of your aquarium and put in compact fluorescent screw in lamps. Find something in the 6700K range. If you can, stay away from the spiral ones, but you can use them still. Spirals just have more umm... I forgot the word...
> 
> EDIT. The word is restrike!


well for the plants he has, there's no need for more light. his setup now can give him noticable growth and minimal algae.

i like the bamboo screen _idea_, but not particularly the screen you got.
get a rough screen, one that looks like a lot of small bamboo sticks stuck together all upright. it would look way mo natural.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

I agree bamboo is a great idea for a background, just not sure about that particular one. Sort of looks like a dinner mat or the tank is sitting in front of a window with blinds. Your tank looks great non the less, nice looking clithon brevispina, too. roud:


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

tropicalfish
i'm satisfied with the current light, it's enough to grow the anubias new leaves and yes i get minimal algae. 

LondonDragon
i'm thinking about putting some cherry barb in there. a betta is a great idea due to the tank size, but i will have problems since i already put 10 red cherry shrimps in there. there's also one SAE in there, i moved it from my other tank temporarily since it's digging my hairgrass and caused a mess.

dufus and jaidexl
it is a dinner mat, lol, i went to a shop and bought it for about $1, it was the best choice there. haven't find anything better for now. thanks for pointing the snail's name.


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## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

killies!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they may eat the shrimp though, micro rasboras!!!!!!!


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

cherry barb!!! this fish is very shy.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

they're not that shy... Wait a month for them to get used to the tank.. They're very energetic... And the color will improve too. It'll be a deep red. If you're lucky, you'll get good genetics and it'll be a deep red wine in color.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

yeah i read that when the mating time comes, the male will have great color. for now i really like the way they swim, but i have to watch them from distance as when i get close to the tank, they hide a lot.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

mating come everytime you change the water btw.. 
Fresh/new water stimulate them.


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## sayn3ver (Sep 1, 2006)

do cherries handle cooler waters?


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

from what i read, they're from sri lanka, so tropical temperature probably is the best.


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## almostaskater62 (Jul 7, 2007)

how does the riccia mesh work out? can anyone post a picture of it in action? i have some riccia on driftwood cause i really liked riccia when i saw it, so is there anyway to anchor down riccia to driftwood like you did to the ground? it's tied down now, but i hear it gets messy and stupid when it grows, which mesh would remedy, but that seems to be only for ground placement


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Creativity comes into play on weird shaped pieces of wood. You can try hair nets (the holey lunch lady ones, not the fine nylon ones). I like to cut chunks of netting out of those body scrubbers from the dollar store, the ones that look like a poof ball on a rope. Any mesh or netting that's light, flexible and has decent size holes in it can be very useful for attaching riccia to odd shapes. I wrap it around and tie it off in the back of the rock or wood with cotton thread. If there is a depression in the wood, I shove a thumb tac down into the spot so the riccia stays fairly tight, but too tight and the riccia will die out under it too fast and send chunks everywhere after it's grown for a while.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

i took out the riccia long ago because i learned that it won't grow with my kind of lighting. tried the mesh on my other tank but my SAE ate them all, maybe because there are some algae infesting my riccia. haven't found a good clean quality of this plant since that.

jaidexl explained well here, i also like to use those shower puffs to anchor stuff. i haven't got any experience growing riccia on driftwood, but indeed sometimes the wood does come in weird shapes and dent. sometimes i even use stapples to hold the moss in difficult angled parts.


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## fishymatty (Feb 25, 2007)

dufus said:


> [drools]oooooooooo, windelov, zebra nerite snail....[drools]


I have two of those in each of my tanks but they do something weird that kind of sucks.
They will leave these little white eggs? on the drift wood, rocks, glass and substrate. I can't tell if they are poo or eggs or what but they are rock hard and when you scrape them off they leave a white ring and some residue.
Do you have any ide what this is and Ikuzo have you seen this yet?


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

that white thing is their eggs. i have some on my driftwood too, but i've seen a lot worse on some tanks. they're indeed really hard to remove. IMO, you better remove them before they get frenzy on laying eggs, believe me it's not pretty seeing your driftwood with a lot of those white eggs. Mine is found dead under the living room floor, i guess this snail got another bad habbit. they keep trying to get out from the tank if it is open. get the horned one (clithon bresivina) which is smaller, don't have that egg laying and adventurous habbit.


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## druxboyz (Aug 3, 2004)

any updates on the riccia?


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## almostaskater62 (Jul 7, 2007)

who's? mine?
i actually just got some free from a guy on APC so i'll have a bunch more. i have a 10W CF light in a ~5 gallon tank, is that enough light do you think?


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

probably not, just wait and see though. i tried one in a really small tank (1 gallon) with 10 watts fluorescent no CO2. it won't grow. now i got some clean riccia to try on my 10 gallon tank which got 42 watts fluorescent and DIY CO2 + reactor. need to find some stones first.


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## almostaskater62 (Jul 7, 2007)

damn... will it just not grow or will it actually like, whither and die, i would be all right with it not growing while still looking nice the way it is.
i could always make a DIY CO2 thing for this tank as well (i have on in my 10)


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

mine just stay there for sometime and finally died. my advice is if you have the plant, give it a try. have some experience whether it's a bad or great one. don't afraid to try stuffs.


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## almostaskater62 (Jul 7, 2007)

yeah i plan to
thanks


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## Nekentros (Jun 11, 2005)

I just finished reading through your thread and I couldnt find any specifics about:

*Substrate(s)

Ferts

Water changes. 

CO2

Heater*

Just curious, as im planning on doing a similar tank. I just picked up a 6.8 gallon Kotobuki tank here in Japan.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

Substrate is just some ordinary black sand locally sold here. 
Ferts i'm using local brand, macro and micro dosing. 
50% water change weekly.
No CO2.
No heater, it's hot enough here... about 85°C 

Good luck with your incoming tank.


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## will5 (Sep 30, 2005)

Your thank looks really nice.

All of snails you have are different types of nerites and i would kill to to get my hands on them. Be very happy that you have access to them. If you wanted to try and ship some of those here me and Wilma Duncan are game for the test run. :icon_wink 



ikuzo said:


> just an update, i put a bamboo screen at the back of the tank for a background. tell me what you think.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

William, thanks. the snails here aren't hard to find if it's the right time. from june to august usually fish stores have lots of them. i don't know if farmers can breed these snails but after those months, they're really hard to find. i don't have experience on oversea shipping, and i believe i'll have problems shipping live animals from my country to USA  i'll ask around though...


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## wood (Nov 15, 2006)

I love everything including the snails. The only thing that I don't like is the Windelov ferns. They take away from the anubias shape. I do not think they fit in that tank well. Anubias only would look great.

Just my opinion. The snails are awesome looking


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## almostaskater62 (Jul 7, 2007)

how did you attach it to the driftwood?
string?
how long does it take to attach itself
thanks

those snails are pretty bitchin'


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

sorry about the windelov, back then i don't have enough money to fill the tank full of anubias 

i tied everything with cotton thread. anubias will firmly attach in about 3-4 weeks.

i will post some new pictures as soon as i have a camera. i will include snail photos!!


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

These snails sure available at large amount and it is indeed seasonal. They adapt to plantedtanks easily and so far no one had any success in breeding them. They do lay eggs but seems never develop into tiny snails, no matter what kind of setup they are kept in. It seems that these snails only hatch and grow into small snails at the sea, returning to rivers as a complete snail. I can see that they are capable of doing this, for these snails are known to be strong enough escape your tank out to dry land (mine even climbed some 4-5 feet high within my sunken garden tank) and actually survive for some time.

@ikuzo,
It appears that you have found the right tank balance. Looking good with minimal algae.


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## crazie.eddie (May 31, 2004)

Cool scape. I agree with everyone about the bamboo background and the windelov.

BTW, what brand HOB filter are you using? I've never seen a white one. Did you paint it?


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

medicineman, thank you. there are algae on the glass but hardly visible. cleaning the glass with a scrapper every two weeks is easy.

i have the same experience with nerites. they climbed, wander around my living room before finally i found it dead. the horned ones (clithon) don't have that climbing behaviour though.

the HOB is Jebo's, it came originally with the white colour.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

updates, fts.









notice some damaged leaves. what kind of deficiency are these?









as promised, snail photos. some of these are taken from my other tank.


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## almostaskater62 (Jul 7, 2007)

damn they're some nice snails. quite a nice tank in general. i'm taken with anubias myself, just the petite nana


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## rodney (Apr 10, 2007)

I love anubias and I love this tank, How many different species have you collected so far? Ive got 3 lol Love the snails too, breed them and your rich hehe


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## almostaskater62 (Jul 7, 2007)

haha yeah i'd take some


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

i got those horned snails (clithon) and about 3 nerite snails. currently looking for some apple snails, they're sweet... 

as for breeding, i don't know how to breed clithons and nerite just lay eggs everywhere without hatching.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

I don't know anything specific about clithons, but I believe nerite breeding requires brackish conditions, and if I'm not mistaken they're similar in that way.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

brackish? that's weird i didn't know if they live anywhere near the sea. i haven't seen any clithon's eggs anyway, but nerite's eggs.... oh well...


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

update here is a crappy fts


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

crappy? NO WAY! Im going low tech and ive got some anubias coming in the mail. Im so excited. Ive never kept anubias. Im kinda scared about the gsa and bba though. any way to prevent that? I have about 2wpg right now with no ferts and no co2. should i lower my light?


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

ikuzo said:


> updates, fts.
> 
> notice some damaged leaves. what kind of deficiency are these?


looks like one of those snail deficiency 

the snails probably ate it because it was dying. Could be potassium deficiency.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Take the snail eggs and put it in a jar of aquarium water with a bit of salt in it and see if it hatches.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

RachPreach
how big is the tank? probably you should lower the light anyway, anubias don't need a lot of lighting.

mistergreen
yeah i finally found out that the snails eating them because of the algae there. i believe they have good intentions cleaning the algae but damaged the leaves accidentally.


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

ikuzo--my tank is 100 gallons.


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## awrieger (May 12, 2005)

ikuzo said:


> notice some damaged leaves. what kind of deficiency are these?


Ikuzo, if you look at the new leaf at top left you can see the veins are dark green while the surrounding leaf is paler which is a sign of iron deficiency. 

Is the large leaf in the top middle there an old or new leaf? If it's old then it could also be a magnesium deficiency (add epsom salt). It could be related to the iron deficiency as magnesium is needed for the uptake of iron, so you may have enough iron already but just not enough magnesium for the plant to use the iron.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

RachPreach
that's a lot of light for anubias. my current 40 gallon anubias tank use 46 watts.

awrieger
that one is an old leave. thanks for pointing that magnesium deficiensy. i'll check my ferts later today.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

my two petites.









the leaves are bigger now i'm hoping that the bottom leaves won't die because of the shade. sorry about the dust.


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## Cohazard (Nov 26, 2007)

Looks really nice! Clean and simple.


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

Drools. Haha just kidding. Looking really good though. Anubias all the way!


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## jeremy in OR (Nov 26, 2007)

great looking tank here. I love the drank green anabias leaves


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

wow everyone thanks for the nice comments.

any suggestions of other plants for this tank?


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

your tank is beautiful. i would take out the java fern and put an anubis barteri in the back. just to keep with the anubis theme.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

there's no java fern this tank, well not anymore.
the upper right side is a little bit empty isn't it? i should ad something there but the space available is pretty tight.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

new year update


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## frisbeedog (Feb 26, 2007)

did you ever change the ferts ? It looks like they greened up and the holes are gone between November and now... maybe not, there are 2 damaged leaves visible ... Did you remove the damaged leaves ? More K or more Fe?


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

trimmed the damaged leaves. it's prettier this way 

and no i still use the same ferts.


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

can you get your hands on a barteri?


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

the tank is 30 cm long if you want to know the measurement


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

is this tank still up and running?


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

yes it is. thanks for asking 
now filled with 2 chocolate gouramies. still looks pretty much the same though. slow growing anubias.


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## Good Wolf (May 9, 2008)

It appears as if you have some anubias planted directly in the substrate. Unless the angle is bad I believe you have the rhizome planted as well. It will die if the rhizome isn't above the substrate and exposed to direct to water. Then again it could just be a bad angle.

I would also worry about any type of metal in the tank. It can leach harmful toxins into the water, and will most likely eventually begin to rust.


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## teban (Feb 2, 2006)

hi there, i really like the look of this anubias tank.
i also tried expereminting about the aluminum mesh for my java moss and i dont see any problems with my shrimps so far though i have not yet seen them breed (but i saw one berried female) so hopefully we will know in a months time.


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## sherryazure (Feb 10, 2008)

Old thread - was looking for something else can came across - which to note that:

Unless you can correct this old timer (45 years experience with fish, background in bio/chemistry and arts/arts chemistry) Aluminum is one of the metals toxic to fish (and people - I had to have it chelated out of my system simple from - in past, using aluminum cooking pots/pans. Stainless steel metal mesh (one company I got small sizes from was McNichols. Co. (no affiliation - I spent a long time looking for a company that would cut and mail small sizes. They are fantastic, will send samples and catalog.)

Maybe what you are using is coated?


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

it was coated but not well enough. i saw some oxidation and immediately removed it.


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