# 12g long shrimp jungle 10g half moon marimo floating mountains



## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*In the Begining there was..*

Tank history from its humble start... took a while to dig these up (sorry some photos suck)


[3/28/14] LED lights arrive.. have an issue with a battery getting jammed in the remote but husband fixes that.



[4/17/14] Cherry/rilli shrimp arrive. Originally intended for picos.. the colonies failed and only 5 survived.. which started the colony in the 12g..



[4/29-30/14] Tank FINALLY gets here (was on back order)



Set up and cycle Started (using eheim 2211 canister and eheim jagar 75 watt heater). Curtians used to prevent algae.. no light no algae! you can see my 7g Aquatop in the background, gave my nearly cycled filter to him and started a new filter cycle (with a little bit of the media) on the 7g.



[5/13-14/14] Tank cycled! First plant attempt: Blyxa j. and mini micro sword.



3 dwarf puffers arrive in mail and are dripped in.. later determine 1 male and 2 female.






[5/19/14] First puffer death (one dove onto the floor when acclimating, its the one that died) site made a big stink about honoring their 7day after arrival live guarantee.. said they were "making a special exception" for me..won't buy from them again...

[5/21/14] Got more blyxa in.. they were melted.. tried to salvage a few to plant but that went bad real fast.. major water change and threw them all out. Also got a new dwarf puffer from another source (female)

[5/30/14] Got healthy shipment of blyxa a. and italian val. Due to disaster in 20g long (rhizome rot destroying rove 3/4 the tank plants- anubias) 3 otos were moved from 20g to 12g as the betta in 20g was getting stressed and aggressive with them (it loved the anubias :c)




[6/3/14] Last view with heater in tank.. and now it has DII inline heater! (has been working great btw)





A really good shot of one of the otos (do full size view)



One of the female puffers (largest of them)



[7/7/14] Blyxa has been dieing off.. vals taking over. Smallest female as harassed by the male until she jumped the day before. Made a Lexan lid for the tank and put in rose quarts rocks of added line of sight break up




Female foreground, male background



[8/1/14] otos are getting FAT and vals are really dominating the tank




[8/13/14] One of the otos had an odd unexplained pale spot (I feared columnaris) so I quarantined in a small cube with Prime for 36 hours (qt tank was occupied).. it was healthy so it was put back into the tank.



[9/6-7/14] After a long fight with hair algae which i was loosing I tried removing and hydrogen peroxide dipping all the plants + grabbed some new ones from my bubble bowl pico as it was overgrown. Fish were removed and substrate was siphoned. The 5 remaining shrimp from the picos were also added to the 12g. Tank replanted and fish dripped back in. (sorry bad photos, tank lights off). Plan list now also has micro sword and pygmy chain sword.








[9/8/14] No shrimp seem to have been eaten as they were intended to be..




[9/22/14] Dared to try to use Excel in teh val heavy tank (was using 1/12th a dose-0.1 ml in 12g) all vals completely melted! Added more plants from bubble bowl + some from plant dump tank. Current list: mini micro sword, micro sword, pygmy chain sword, blyxa j. (a. all died, and vals are gone), penny wort, hydro sp. japan. Also got a worm feeder cone.



[9/28/14] Added 1 more oto from 7g to 12g tank, oto total now is 4

[10/2/14] Notice shrimp females seem berried (they won't let me get a shot of the eggs though)

[10/5/14] YUP! I got shrimplets!



[10/18/14] nothing special just some shots of shrimp and otos




[10/22/14] shrimplet are growing fast! + the 2 main momas




[10/27/14] Removed the blyxa, micro sword and mini micro sword, swords were hidden by other plants and blyxa getting mothered out for light.

[11/9/14]Tank growth progress shots.. everything it taking over now ^^







[11/18/14]Few cropped shots taken after a water change. Also moma shrimp finally lets me see her berried glory- more babies o the way! Also I have semi rampant green dust and green spot algae on the glass at this point (came in on pennywort and hydro)




[11/21/14] post pennywort trim Grim, shrimp, and otos







[11/27/14]Just some more shots








[12/3/14] My view and a water change




[12/7-9/14] the trio of original otos bought in April, love photographing them! Sadly this is the last photo of the group, one died mysteriously soon after :c Going to try to get some more once quarantine tank is done with mini cycle.





Whoo finally done!

Bump: A quick shrimplet shot from today.. I put in a bit of shrimp food and no one went for it (they love cleaning the rocks and plants more... might just RAOK the food off...)


I did a water change on Tuesday and Grim decided to be a retard and zipped up the siphon tube. The water level was getting low and plants getting bunched up, I was holding it still and he had the choice to dart through plants or at the tube... he went straight to the tube =.= He got stuck in it and I had to (gently) blow air through it to pop him out in the dump bucket.. then cup him back into the tank. He seemed undamaged and just rattled.. he's still fine today but does not like me still (swims away whenever he notices I'm looking at him)...

Bump: A quick shrimplet shot from today.. I put in a bit of shrimp food and no one went for it (they love cleaning the rocks and plants more... might just RAOK the food off...)


I did a water change on Tuesday and Grim decided to be a retard and zipped up the siphon tube. The water level was getting low and plants getting bunched up, I was holding it still and he had the choice to dart through plants or at the tube... he went straight to the tube =.= He got stuck in it and I had to (gently) blow air through it to pop him out in the dump bucket.. then cup him back into the tank. He seemed undamaged and just rattled.. he's still fine today but does not like me still (swims away whenever he notices I'm looking at him)...

Bump: A quick shrimplet shot from today.. I put in a bit of shrimp food and no one went for it (they love cleaning the rocks and plants more... might just RAOK the food off...)


I did a water change on Tuesday and Grim decided to be a retard and zipped up the siphon tube. The water level was getting low and plants getting bunched up, I was holding it still and he had the choice to dart through plants or at the tube... he went straight to the tube =.= He got stuck in it and I had to (gently) blow air through it to pop him out in the dump bucket.. then cup him back into the tank. He seemed undamaged and just rattled.. he's still fine today but does not like me still (swims away whenever he notices I'm looking at him)...

Bump: A quick shrimplet shot from today.. I put in a bit of shrimp food and no one went for it (they love cleaning the rocks and plants more... might just RAOK the food off...)


I did a water change on Tuesday and Grim decided to be a retard and zipped up the siphon tube. The water level was getting low and plants getting bunched up, I was holding it still and he had the choice to dart through plants or at the tube... he went straight to the tube =.= He got stuck in it and I had to (gently) blow air through it to pop him out in the dump bucket.. then cup him back into the tank. He seemed undamaged and just rattled.. he's still fine today but does not like me still (swims away whenever he notices I'm looking at him)...


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## Powerclown (Aug 17, 2014)

Nice story,nice tank,and awesome pics,thanks for sharing


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Powerclown said:


> Nice story,nice tank,and awesome pics,thanks for sharing


Thank you ^^ happy to share.


A quick shrimplet shot from today.. I put in a bit of shrimp food and no one went for it (they love cleaning the rocks and plants more... might just RAOK the food off...)


I did a water change on Tuesday and Grim decided to be a retard and zipped up the siphon tube. The water level was getting low and plants getting bunched up, I was holding it still and he had the choice to dart through plants or at the tube... he went straight to the tube =.= He got stuck in it and I had to (gently) blow air through it to pop him out in the dump bucket.. then cup him back into the tank. He seemed undamaged and just rattled.. he's still fine today but does not like me still (swims away whenever he notices I'm looking at him)...

Did my 2nd water change of the week today (only sucked up 3 shrimp (that I found... i use a blue bucket and check every hour to see if I spot another tiny shrimplet in there) this time and put them back. The tank cleaning was finished just before lights out (night mode). I noticed some riccia hanging form the pennywort was pearling and looked like holiday lights so thought I'd share^^


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Update*

No FTS shot today but some shots of the shrimp.. Grim still is horrified of the camera and makes getting an in focus shot a real pain.




A cool shot of pennywort and condensation


Sadly I lost my otos -except for one- I think because I failed to feed blanched veggies for a bit, so back to stuffing cucumber in every time its done. I ordered some zebra otos from msjikzed (which hopefully will be here Friday). I plan to move the regular oto to the 55g and put the new zebras in then go through the _fun _of frequent water changes for a mini cycle.


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## Josh40996 (Aug 1, 2011)

I like it.
Looks very natural. 
That last picture of the pennywort is cool. 
I know how you feel about not being able to take pictures of grim, my killiefish shows off his colour all day long until I get out the camera to take a picture. He instantly bleaches out his colours and goes all drab looking... We'll get our killer shot one day!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Josh40996 said:


> I like it.
> Looks very natural.
> That last picture of the pennywort is cool.
> I know how you feel about not being able to take pictures of grim, my killiefish shows off his colour all day long until I get out the camera to take a picture. He instantly bleaches out his colours and goes all drab looking... We'll get our killer shot one day!


THank you ^^
Hopefully we get lucky some day... the puffer is staring at me right now like "The hell you will!" He's starting to get his markings for sexual maturity ('wrinkles' by the eyes and a iridescent looking highlight over the eyes) but no chance of a clear shot to show that >.<

Also 3rd generation of shrimp are on the way!!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*New additions!*

So good news! zebra otos (ordered from msjikzd) came in today! bad news: one didn't make it :c I wish she lived just a little bit closer to me (closer to 1 hour or less drive), I would have drove to pick up the fish instead...but people drive like [censor] morons in Pa... I'd probably get smashed into my some idiot that doesn't understand "yield, stop, or red light with 'no turn on red sign'" or to use a turn signal and actually look before a lane change... ugh hate driving in this state... But 4 out of 5 otos isn't bad. 
Caught out the regular oto from the 12g to put into the 55g with the other 5 regulars and am now dripping in the new guys/gals. Then its pretty much all tank lights off for the day so they get some dark to settle in. Will hopefully post photos tomorrow.
.
.
.
The regular oto finished a 30-45 minute drip and went into the 55, immediately attached itself to the front glass and got to work. Turned off the light for that tank and the 20g long by it just to reduce any possible stress. I wonder if it will think "yay I'm not contending with shrimp for food any more!... Ooh [censor] now I get to deal with _everyone _in here eating the veggies...." (as all by the rainbowfish like to take pecks at the zucchini or cucumber put in).


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Whoops I never posted photos of the zebra otos sorry! Sadly I lost one more oto in the first week the the remaining 3 are doing great. Each had a unique pattern to it make them fairly easy to tell apart, my husband says he will name them all soon. I also have a new generation of cherrie shrimplets in the tank that were born in the past week.. its made water changes take much longer now as I spend 20-60 minutes staring into the removed water bucket looking for itty bitty shrimp to net back out and put in the tank.. I swear the dwarf puffer doesn't eat any babies, I find so many (easily pulled 30 out of the bucket from the last water change)! I probable kill more from the act of siphoning or ones I don't remove from the bucket before its dumped, than would die from natural selection in the tank if it wasn't touched.
I'm still loosing horribly int eh battle against green spot algae and not (kept short) black beard algae.. I dose 3x excel and phosphorus each day (normal doses for other ferts) but no luck >.< 
Duckweed has gotten to "grow rampant" stage.. it seems to take a few weeks after first introduction to start building momentum.





Most the shrimplets I had to recollect out of the water change bucket a few days ago(got another 10 or so after putting these back in the tank).


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

The cherry gals are pretty much constantly spitting out babies now! I finally reduced water changes from 2x a week to once a week. Duckweed has a habit of running rampant in the tank to every 1-2 weeks I cup it out and let it re-grow. Otos and puffer are doing well... I almost want to say I'm starting to win the algae war but I'm sure it'll explode as soon as I click "post" and be a tank full-o-green=spot in an instant just to spite me >.>




I had a bad dream a few nights ago, it felt very real and when I came into the office I panicked as ALL the plants had melted and completely vanished from the tank, there were just some leaves left by the filter and the otos, shrimp, and puffer where all seeing 'shelter' by a slice of cucumber in the tank. I started freaking out and trying to figure out how to keep them all from dieing from the impending ammonia spike (realisically they'd all be dead already), and debated moving the otos to teh 55 and putting the puffer and shrimp in breeder baskets (fine mesh style0 in there too to keep alive. When I walked by the 55 i noticed it was not my current scape, I have vals, amazon sword, giant hair grass, and some other plants I don't own... then I woke up... I addmitedly was worried about looking at teh tank that morning, as I feared the dream was a permission of disaster, fortunately not it wasn't.....
Why can't I ever have happy fish keeping dreams?.. Well I guess I did have ONE though it was odd..: went to some ladies house to buy dwarf shrimp (neo species). The house was a maze that literally changed as you went through rooms (turn around and last room is different). Finally got outside to backyard, shrimp were in a pool (real built into the ground get 10 deep pool) and the lady started catching shrimp out.. They were as big as a medium sized dog! 3' long and easily 30-40lbs!!! They were all mixes of the various types chocolate, blue bolt, crs , the colorful rilli, etc.


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

I really do enjoy looking at this tank. It is such a jungle! So different from many of the aquascapes you see around here. Your otos are awesome by the way. Sad to see the normal ones didn't fare too well. Do you sell the RCS or just let them endlessly breed?


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Freemananana said:


> I really do enjoy looking at this tank. It is such a jungle! So different from many of the aquascapes you see around here. Your otos are awesome by the way. Sad to see the normal ones didn't fare too well. Do you sell the RCS or just let them endlessly breed?


Thank you ^^ I started out trying to scape.. I wanted a thick low mat of hydro japan like clover fields with taller pygmy chain sword and make a few 'arcs' with the penny wort.. Then everything just went crazy and I left it be and slapped in some creeping jenny. ^^''
Thank you, I love the zebras they're really cool, easier to tell the zebra apart from each other than the regulars (each have a slightly different pattern).
Currently I don't sell any shrimp, the colony could triple before the tank started looking 'full' and I'd want to remove any. I don't do any culling (except accidental from water changes though I try to catch and put 'em all back but the newborns are so damn tiny and hard to find in the bucket!) so if I did sell it'd be the whole range of mix grade from low end to fire red.
If you are looking to buy shrimp post a WTB thread in the WTB/RAOK section and ask for cherry culls if you want cheap ones (usually sold for 0.50-$1 each instead of $2-3 each). Make sure the seller offers insulation and DOA guarantee to avoid issues and keep an eye on weather as I've heard a lot of heat packs fail at 32F and lower. Also do not buy if they want you to pay as "gift" in paypal, that's a red flag for scammers, only pay as "goods and services".


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

I actually bought 40 of them at $0.50 just recently and they seem to be loving my community tank. I was just curious really. And if you said you were selling them, I'd be interested in snagging some for a 5G I want to set up and get running. 

Glad to see you have had your success with the tank. What is the thin grassy like plant? It is quite interesting to me. Looks like a small jungle val.


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## nawilson89 (Nov 17, 2014)

My goodness that is beautiful. 

I wish I could keep Dwarf Puffers with Dario Dario, cuz i Love those fish!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Freemananana said:


> I actually bought 40 of them at $0.50 just recently and they seem to be loving my community tank. I was just curious really. And if you said you were selling them, I'd be interested in snagging some for a 5G I want to set up and get running.
> 
> Glad to see you have had your success with the tank. What is the thin grassy like plant? It is quite interesting to me. Looks like a small jungle val.


Narrow Leaf Pygmy Chain Sword. Love it! Starts small but once it's settled in it spits out run a EVERYWHERE and the it starts getting tall (up to around 6" now").



nawilson89 said:


> My goodness that is beautiful.
> 
> I wish I could keep Dwarf Puffers with Dario Dario, cuz i Love those fish!


I'm not sure about their comparability pH and temp wise (I'd looked datiodario before but forget) but the puffers would be too aggressive and out compete the Dario for food sadly.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Much needed update*

tank is still going wild with its plant growth. The dwarf puffer has made a habit of napping in the mass of pennywort and riccia mix. We can't find him half of the time and start panicking that he somehow got out then he (sleepily) swims into view. The cherry shrimp are pumping out babies non stopped, there's no safe time where there aren't microscopic shrimplets to look out for when water changing >.< I still can't get a close up photo of Grim (puffer) but he tolerates some shots getting taken once in a while. I'm debating catching the otos to put in my 20g or 6g to do some quick diatom cleaning (sort of a all you can eat buffet/vacation), but would probably have to move the betta in the 6g if I did (since he's killed all his larger shrimp tank mate attempts(ghost an amano)).
Anyways... photos!
shrimp hogging the oto's cucumber

otos

dwarf puffer



Crappy tank shot.. need to try to get a better one


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*One more time...*

Going to try wrangling the tank under control and re-scape it this Friday. I'll move the otos to my 20g for a 'vacation/buffet' as I let it get all diatom-y. I'll put the puffer in my 1g cube acclimation 'tank', and just hall all plants and shrimp out into one bucket. Hopefully I can get the shrimp to let go of the plants when I put everything back in (after probably a 600% water change to clean the substrate). The riccia has gotten so insane I want to try to make a carpet with it and the stainless steel mesh pieces I still have from my fissendens (in another tank)... We'll see how it goes I'll post photos over the weekend or next monday.


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## kimchilee (Mar 2, 2015)

i'm very interested in your diy inline heater...


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

kimchilee said:


> i'm very interested in your diy inline heater...


It's been a while since it was put together so I can't recall all the parts off the top of my head. I'll dig up the info and photos for it later today ^^


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*DIY Inline Heater*



kimchilee said:


> i'm very interested in your diy inline heater...


Ok pulled up some photos and looked up part names

This inline heater was build for an eheim jaguar 2211 canister filter which uses 12mm outflow pipe (where the unit is connected). When making your own make sure to check the canister tubing size to get appropriate parts.

Eheim jagar 50 watt heater (bought on amazon)
1" to 1 1/2" (or 1 1/4") pvc reducer bushing
(2x) 2"x2"x1" pvc T
(2x) 1"x 1/2" barb adapter
2" pvc cap
pvc primer and cement used to attach cap, reducers, barbs, and Ts together. I believe teflon tape had to be used on the barbs to fit into the T (can't recall why right now- I'll ask my hubby later, see if he remembers). Let set several days then ran tap water though it.. Husband kept running tap through it until the water coming out the barbs did not have any taste of the cement.. Let dry completely
GE I door and window silicone used to seal the heater into the unit. Again let sit set several days and same water test (make sure not silicone flavored water) before putting to use.




Honestly the original parts list my husband and I went into Lowes to get we couldn't find several pieces for (stores don't stock EVERYTHING any more :/ but my wonderfully handy DIY hubby was able to wip up a new part list on the spot from what *was *available.
Its been running smoothly with no issues since June 2014. Its strapped to the table leg with zip ties.


If you have any other questions let me know. ^^


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## kimchilee (Mar 2, 2015)

AquaAurora said:


> Ok pulled up some photos and looked up part names
> 
> This inline heater was build for an eheim jaguar 2211 canister filter which uses 12mm outflow pipe (where the unit is connected). When making your own make sure to check the canister tubing size to get appropriate parts.
> 
> ...


awesome, i'm using eheim jaguar 75 watt heater and 2211 canister filter! thank you so much for your time! i'll probably stop by my local home depot next week, and see if they have everything you listed in stock.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

kimchilee said:


> awesome, i'm using eheim jaguar 75 watt heater and 2211 canister filter! thank you so much for your time! i'll probably stop by my local home depot next week, and see if they have everything you listed in stock.


Measure your heater width and length, and the canister plumbing, if they don't have the parts I listed you may be able to make a unit with slightly differnt sized parts. There are few other DIY online heater threads with parts and photos that are good to look at for other variations of parts options.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Rescape photo dump*

So I finally ripped out and re-did the 12g this past Friday, but have been busy since so didn't get a chance to toss up photos sooner.
photo spam, text, and final tank shots.

Before the re-scape started:


And it beings...




















Otos were caught and vacation in the 20g long on Thursday so they could get fat on the diatom explosion in there.. they didn't eat at much of it as I'd hoped. Otos were dripped back into the 12g tank on Sunday. Dwarf puffer got to sit in the dark in my just under 1g acclimation 'tank' with some plants while the re-scaped happen. He fared well through it and seems to like teh new scape (still has a place to hide/sleep in the penny wort and one remaining floating riccia blob, and enjoys swiping around the more open 'front' (husband's side) now that it's redone).

I started working on the tank around noon. Spent a good 90 minutes+ trying to catch most of the shrimp, put them in two separate containers so if I somehow messed up re-acclimating one I still had another batch... [Censor] there were a lot more than I thought!! I know I didn't catch all the shrimplets though, and felt bad that they died through the non dechlornated 800% water change done to remove all the poop and sediment (left over root tab contents).

The riccia blobs I removed were so huge (and felt so nice to 'pet')!! Used 2 10"c6" tubs to set them in, all other plants were pulled and tossed in a bucket (with the first batch of shrimp-other shrimp when in a 3rd 10"x6" tub). I found some microsword that had been lost in the mass of plants for months, and had a real 'fun' time when it came to de-tangling all the pennywort, creeping jenny, and hydro sp. japan x.x. I cut all the microswords off the run 'stem's that connected them to make replanting easier. Got some that reach the surface, but a lot are still small (were in the shade before.

Plant bucket at the canister filter running on it so it stayed at temp through the re-scape. I only turned it off to clean the sponge intake. I also removed and bleach dipped the spraybar which was more black than green until the soak. I also put the rocks in the bleach-water mix for the duration of the water change marathon (my back still hurts from hauling the 3-4g filled buckets of water back and forth) I forgot how white they were!

After rocks were thoroughly rinsed I had my husband put them where he wanted (its his tank after all). Used leftover ss mesh from a fissedens order to tie down 2 of the 3 riccia blobs (using clear fishing line) to make a carpet. Really like the look, need to buy some more ss mesh and tie down the last blob. Need to trim the riccia bit more but the shrimp are loving the new carpet. After putting riccia in I cut up and planted the narrow leaf pygmy chain sword (it was never ending). By then it was past our usually dinner time, I was tired and very pruny. So stopped to eat dinner then I went back at the tank for a few more hours to de-tangle and plant the pennywort and creeping jenny. Hydro japan was not put back, instead I'm trying to convert it to ermesed form for my vivarium.

After plants were in I started dripping the puffer and shrimp. Dripped for over an hour then bagged and floated them to get them to temp for 30+ minutes.. shrimp were a real pain to get out of the bucket and into a zip lock bag (had to have husband help me).

Was finally done and ready to hit bed around midnight x.x ugh

Final tank shots (taken sat/sun)


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

good job with the rescape!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

andrewss said:


> good job with the rescape!


Thank you! ^^


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## theatermusic87 (Jun 22, 2014)

Looks great! Subscribed


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

I bought and received some ss mesh (that reminds me I need to give a + ptrader review) to continue tieing down riccia, added a bit more carpet to the front (need to get a photo). Have to let the riccia float and grow more to get wide enough for another batch to tie down. Husband is really liking the way it look. All the fish and shrimp are doing fine. Got a photo of the two otos hanging out on top of each other.. never notices how different in color they were before.

I also got grindal worms and started 3 small cultures. One in soil, and two in soiless with scouring pads (one with dechlorianted tap, the other with distillery water) to see which does better. Hope the dwarf puffer with transition to them.. will be pissed if I get cultures going strong and he forces me to keep up the black worm culture (which he eats through faster than it reproduces x.x)


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## kimchilee (Mar 2, 2015)

AquaAurora said:


> Measure your heater width and length, and the canister plumbing, if they don't have the parts I listed you may be able to make a unit with slightly differnt sized parts. There are few other DIY online heater threads with parts and photos that are good to look at for other variations of parts options.


my local home depot sucks, most of the parts that you listed they don't have it. so i'll give up and going to grab the hydor inline heater. thank you so much anyway! by the way, love your rescape! a lot better than the old one!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

kimchilee said:


> my local home depot sucks, most of the parts that you listed they don't have it. so i'll give up and going to grab the hydor inline heater. thank you so much anyway! by the way, love your rescape! a lot better than the old one!


You can try a Lowes or other improvement store in the area with plumbing (pvc) parts. The inline heater made for this tank was not made with the original list of parts we went to the store with (store did not have them all) so my hubby had to wip it together at the store knowing the minimum measurements to fit the heater in and plumb the canister tubing.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Well [cenor] my life....*

So I recently re-did the tank and had a nice ricca mat going for a little but it was a pain to maintain as the shrimp would not gtfo when I tried to trim (did not want to cut shrimp in half) and it kept floating up, exposing bits of the ss mesh below... This is the last photos of it..

Husband's view

My view


SO after getting sick of the riccia I decided i wanted to try something else.. I stupidly bought dwarf baby tears on a coco fiber mat that was wrapped in non ss metals... I complained to the seller who sword up and down that it was shrimp safe and they they kept it with shrimp.. I wish I'd followed my gut and ignored them... Within a few days I noticed all the shrimp were as far away from the hc as possible, in the top corners of the tank onto of the chain sword and penny wort, and upon closer inspection I found probably /2 the colony dead (mostly juvies and shrimplets). I've ripped out the dwarf baby tears and did a 50% water change to suck up what I could of corpses.. surprisingly my api liquid test I did before the water change showed 0 ammonia and nitrite, and 0-5 nitrate (not quite the 0ppm yellow but paler than the 5ppm orange) so the only change had been that metal bs in the tank... I'm fuming mad right now but the seller is conveniently closed their website due to a "family emergency" right now so i can't rip them the new [censor] hole they deserve for this... And I'm left with the dilemma of what to do... should I try to wrangle riccia again or rip apart the $60 in hc mats and make new mats with my ss mesh? Either way I'm very pissed at the loss of shrimp and very worried about the otos and dwarf puffer right now... 
In other news my 55g sprung a leak (bottom seal gave out) and I had an emergency fish and plant transfer this past Saturday (see 55g journal for more details). So yeh.. not a good week.. =.=


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*'nother tank! prepare for ramblings!*

TIME TO RENAME THE THREAD!

Sorry for the lack of updates.. thinking about redoing riccia in this tanks as I really liked it.
Recent shot of the 12g long ('back view'-my side)


Need to get a shot from my husband's side of the desks some day. Pygmy chain sword and penny work have been going nuts in there. Hacked back the pennywort yesterday but no photo today because.. there's a new fish in the room! Not the same tank but next to it so keeping tank lights off until evening to let them settle in.

So I recently had a de-rimmed 5g Aqueon on a bookshelf in another room that was planted and got a lovely double tail mustard gas betta in it... until said betta decided to destroy his fins >.< ugh so he's in a 2.5 quarantine on my desk getting daily 100% water changes and aq salt treatment to get the fish to heal quickly and avoid infection. 

With him out of the 5g I decided it was too small for the space it was in. Que Petco's $ per a gallon sale FOR AQUEON TANKS!! YES!!! Much better silicone work than tetra tanks. So grabbed a 10g for the bookshelf space and offered the husband the 5g. 

He put it on the only open spot left on his desk (I wish I could get a good panoramic of the office.. there's tanks all over! After showing him several options for nano fish in the 5g he decided to try bettas, specifically females or plakats.. After showing him a few dozen he took an interested in 'koi' betta (which si being overly used as a term but its suppose to be a fairly stable marble betta that has colors/partners that look like a koi from above). He end up really liking a female plakat koi from Thailand so I scurried around and bought her (had to get up at 3:45 am to make sure I'd win the auction only to notice there was a "buy it now" option *head desk*) and paid transhsipper (used Koo Yang in MN since he was the ONLY one to pick up when I called (others never called back nor e-mailed me back when I emailed them)).

So fast forward a few weeks. Husband decided he wanted something different from the dark thick jungle mess that is his 12g so we got white aquarium sand (I'd much rather buy bulk cheap pool or play sand I could get enough to fil the 55 for the cost of "aquarium sand" ugh..but this is only for the 5g so no point getting it in bulk). After showing my husband a lot of planted betta tanks he took and interest in this:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JYCMRJbidPQ/TQ3rKzRzvkI/AAAAAAAAAX4/4ZOd337Q3p0/s1600/left.jpg
Dried bamboo turned into live bamboo (aka lucky bamboo which is not a real bamboo but Dracaena Sanderiana) and after a few raids on Home Depot and Lowes and some chopping and waxing we had a 'bamboo jungle' started.. sadly several of the lucky bamboo bought were iffy, I quarantined them and glad I did as they show signs of infection.. Wish I could return them but no store does live plant returns.. even if they did sell already sick plants... Will figure out what to so with them..
And here's what I did with the healthy ones that got cut (didn't want curls in the tank)


Anyways I keep the tank water shallow and let the good lucky bamboo acclimate, toss in some black worms to do sand sifting and wait for the fish to come. Meanwhile the 5g's heater is unplugged and its HOB is in the new 10g staying cycled with pure ammonia.

Fish ships to Koo Yang. I call the day he is suppose to ship the fish out (yesterday), got voice mail but he called back before I could put the phone down. Said Fedex would be by to pick up pacakge soon ans should be here "tomorow"(today). Said he's update tracking after Fedex picked up.. Well fish arrived early in the morning so I scrambled to flood the tank, put the filter on and plug it and heater in, then started drip acclimating the fish. Finally had a chance to lok at email-didn't get tracking # until 6:45 am =.= whatever she's here. 

I pulled hornwort out of one of my black worm bins only to find these little semi translucent.. snot like things on it.. limpets!! Google searching redirects me to a thread on here someone used potassium permanganate to kill them. I ave the stuff since I dipped pond plants recently so do a dip. Limpets turn purple and die (and my hands and nails turn more orange), pull them off, rinse and toss hornwort in.. Hmm tank still looks a little empty. Need more! 

Off to the store with the dog (who loves going to petsmart/petco). Start at Petsmart, I stare at bettas for a bit, take several photos (so many lovely bettas!) then go to the plant section.... I'm reminded of why I always buy plants online.. thers nothing healthy in ther and the hornwort and ancharis was mostly dead.. HOW THE [CENSOR] DO YOU MANAGE TO KILL HORNWORT AND ANACHARIS???? I know they don't dose ferts so its not excel.. whatever I pull out the only not completely dead hornwort (and some Green Cambodian for the 10g). There was also some "frill plant" as it was labeled that I almost bought thinking it was hornort (dark tank can't see much thin needled leaved plants and all..) I bailed on that one though as it cost twice as much and I don't know if it took medium or low light... I think its myriophyllum simulans or pinnatum but not 100% sure, didn't take a photo to compare it.

Try Petco next, look at bettas, take some photos, look extremely bewilder-ly at their dead marimo in a cup.. its [censor] marimo.. how did you kill that?? It needs virtually no light  I peak in the plant tank and remember again why I don't buy there.. everything looked like [censor] and half there stock was not true aquatic (fully submerged lucky bamboo and several other house plants ugh).

Ok so that was mostly a bust but got some hornwort. Got home and did a potassium permanganate dip on it (got my hands more stained), rinsed, and cut off the worst parts of the hornwort then plopped it into the 5g. Cambodian was left to float in the 10 until it gites some roots.

Next I pull the marimo balls from their >1g cube, rinse and ring them then dip them in dechlorinated water and drop them in the 5g. The largest one floated (and sitl is) no suprise, the smaller 2 went down though.

The betta seems very inquisitive and I hope will be happy in the tank ^^


My only disappointment is that she is not a stable koi, she's marbled since the seller photo was taken and the cellophane (clear) parts of her fins are now red and the red scales have seeped over more of her pale body. But my husband knew to except marbling- my boy Xerxes marbled drastically from the time the seller took a photo to his arrival (we proved it was him from fins several distinctive traits-some odd colored scales, deformed ventral/pelvic fin, and notches in anal fin) so thankfully he's not upset.

Ok enough talk, picture time! Kept all tank lights off so pardon how grainy the photos are, better pictures will be taken later!

Right out of the box she's not pale at all! Lil' trooper took the multi day transcontinental trip really well!


Starting to acclimate in a clean cup (shipped in too little water to use larger container yet.


More water-larger container (ended up doing a 2 hour acclimation).


In she goes and off she goes exploring everything, trying to ear bamboo roots ("worm?!.. nope", checking out the red light on the heater ("whats that pretty shiny?"), trying to figure out the filter ("wtf???"). She's so tiny compared to her tank!







Need more plants! Why is it so hard to find healthy local plants??


aand final tank shots
my view

husband's view


above view


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## strangewaters (May 13, 2015)

why the need to wax the "bamboo" sticks?

Bump: nice journal by the way


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

strangewaters said:


> why the need to wax the "bamboo" sticks?
> 
> Bump: nice journal by the way


Its recommended to wax the cut top of lucky bamboo stocks to try to prevent bacteria infections (sadly I don't find much on what _exact _bacteria it is that can get in this plant and kill it or other methods of prevention ) entering the plant through the top. I saw mention of it on a few sites and followed these videos for cutting and waxing lucky bamboo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNvRq4cd_U8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOFVUgbTxcc


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## strangewaters (May 13, 2015)

Yeah ive seen other tanks with them but never seen or mentioned the wax

Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Don't be 'Koi' with me*

Sorry had to do the pun. Some shots of the girls when she wasn't in motion. She's super cute but sadly marbled a lot since the seller photo, all the cellophane is gone along with most of her peach/flesh tone.

Seller photo:









Her:
















And a quick animation. 


She has no fear! She already bit my finger when I hovered it above her for too long (not sure if a "GTFO" or assuming there was a pellet on it) and gave me a semi flare (gill puff) so sassy and cute!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*12 re-scape*

*7/15/15
5g
*Husband's 5g is slowly changing.. Had to pull out the live lucky bamboo (aka dracaena sanderiana also seen it listed as dracaena braunii) as some stocks were infected with a bacterial disease that I have a hard time finding any real info on other than it turns the plant yellow and kills it, can spread to other plants in same container, and usually you can't save the plant, can try hacking down eh stock but there would not be enough left to put in the tank... So currently have the lucky bamboo quarantined in separated cups in a windowsill (shades drawn so not too bright) to see if any more show signs of sickness. WE tried getting some kiln dried bamboo stocks to put in but they would not stay upright and my husband disliked the brown-er coloring... SO we went to Michel's art store and bought some Sculpy (man that's expensive stuff!) its oven cured then tank safe (follow directions if you use it!). Had some fun making things for the tank and baked them... I'm slowly trying to fill the tank in with more plants (he's apposed to a 'jungle' but just slowly adding should get it well planted soon ^^ Current it has hornwort (ugh forgot how much I hated that stuff-sheds constantly) and some riccia and duckweed I pulled from my black worm culture bins. Today I got some frogbit in the mail which I hope will grow nice long roots for the betta gal to swim in. I also convinced my husband to let me put some corkscrew vals in (figure might as well use anti-excel plants since marimo can't have excel.. I tried to get him interested in subwassertang but that failed (He said he didn't want a "green egg noodle" look). Also tried for anacharis (to replace hornwort) but he didn't like it either.. SO Now I'm on the hunt for a corkscrew val seller. I asked the person I want to buy red plants for the 10g if they happen to have any vals but I doubt they will.



*Today
12g long
*So for a long while my husband didn't get to fully enjoy his 12g as he had monitors blocking the view, now with them raised he ca see the teak better and I decided ti was time to clean it up. I pulled out all the pennywort as it was just a pain, the lowest parts of ti didn't get enough light so there were no elves and the upper part grew very long, blocked light for other plants.. and have gsa (fixed that with a potassium permanganate dip after pulling the pennywort out). The pygmy chain swords had really taken over tank. I pulled them up from the front of the tank and stuffed them in the back right side (from husband's view) of the tank then replanted the creeping jenny on the front right side. Left in the experimental hc coco fiber carpet mat weighed with real ss mesh (unlike the shrimp killing metal it originally was wrapped in...) and made a riccia carpet using my emersed grown riccia and some slate we had laying around that my husband cut into smaller pieces for me. I put in several riccia rocks in the front to be a carpet. Hoping the hc eventually spreads and grows in the riccia.









Some out of focus shots of the dwarf puffer



And final planting





*5g*
For now I stuffed some of the pennywort into the 5g (after it was dipped) and tossed out the horwort (forgot how much I hated that stuff ug shedding nightmare!) waiting for corckscrew vals to ship here to put in the tank as he liked the vertical look of them. I also have forgbit in there I'm trying to get to grow (it does not like being shipped) for long roots and more shade... may also consider adding dwl. Currently water level is lowered as I cannot have the lid on or condensation will kill the frogbit.. (my salvia minima is not so stupidly sensitive but it also has very short roots and husband prefers the long roots for frogbit/dwl to the salvia minima).

His betta girl has been named Chiyome (Pronounced kEy-om ("key" liek keychain and "om" like that self meditating chant ooommmmm)) after the feudal Japanese noble woman who became a ninja and recruited other women ninjas. He picked the name for the red band between her eyes giving her a ninja-esk look.. though with her marble genetics the white above that will likely turn red in time but she's a fearless and inquisitive girl so its not like the name looses its importance... She's a very diligent hunter btw.. tried to put some black worms in the substrate to sift and be fund later (injected them under the tank with a pipet) she found them-last photo of her bum is her hunting them between the marimo.

Tank will be rescaped after more plants arrive






Since I cannot make a new sales thread on this site for another 3 weeks I'm selling my leftover pennywort and narrow leaf pygmy chain sword (with optional added salvia minima) on the betta forum I frequent..don't have room for all these excess plants.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*[7/25/15*
Saterday I rescaped the 12g long (minor-ly) to put the red plants where they'd get decent light. Current plant list: riccia, hc, narrow leaf pygmy chain sword, creeping jenny, AR, ludwigia sp. red.. and some persistent duckweed..
my view (back of tank)



Husband view(front of tank)







Shot of one of the zebra otos


A female cherry shrimp with a "saddle" this means after she molts she'll be ready to breed.


And some shots of my husband's betta, full name Mochizuki Chiyome, but usually just called Chiyome (except when she's in trouble my husband says >.> she's not gotten in trouble yet). Vals are going through a melt not too uncommon from shipping and pH change, will take photos of the tank once they bounce back.







*7/27/15*
Chiyome being cute in the pennywort


*Todya*
Riccia is growing in nicely, will have to start trimming it soon.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*12g long*
Riccia is going crazy I think I'll be trimming it tomorrow or Wed. My only frustration with this tank is BBA (black beard algae), it never gets to beard length but I get the black alga and tis a pain to get rid of grrr


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*8/7*

5g Chiyome photos



Also tank shot from my perspective (my desk view-side view of tank)



12g long



More updates to come


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Chiyome's 5g got a major water change and glass clean last week. After the tank was refilled my husband noted she was rearranging the floating pennywort so its more spread out and not clumped together.




12g long lot of green spot algae.. moved the canister filter intake to the opposite side of the tank. Amusingly the dwarf puffer seems to like to swim in the current instead of stay in the calmer waters.. he's also less shy about the camera! The hc I'd left in the tank as an experiment has grown well.. riccia is being a pain (i think the shrimp are pulling it out of the mesh).


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## Daisy Mae (Jun 21, 2015)

That's a really interesting scape for Chiyome's tank. I like it, and definitely cool use of Sculpey. I will have to keep that in mind. My favorite piece is the mirror pond.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Daisy Mae said:


> That's a really interesting scape for Chiyome's tank. I like it, and definitely cool use of Sculpey. I will have to keep that in mind. My favorite piece is the mirror pond.


Chiyome really likes the 'pond' too, she was so curious or perhaps confounded by it when she was first put n the tank.. why is _this _area darker? ^^


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Some fauna shots from teh 12g:
dwarf puffer


zebra otos


cherry shrimp


Need to trim the stems in the 12g and scrap gsa off the glass again... I wish i could get rid of the [censor] algae....5g is due for a water change.. the 2 mts snails I put in turned into 20 (fished out several but not all) and snail poo does not look nice on white sand...this is why i stick to black substrates.. hides poop better...

Riccia carpet in the 12g has not been doing well.. I think the shrimp pull it loose as they forage.. tempted to get some more "coco fiber" mats (don't think its really cocofiber) and spread the hc around.. or mabye getting my hands on some ug to try.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

So I've not been happy with the scapes in both tanks so I'm plotting some rescaping fun. Teaser photos




More to come


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## bereninga (Mar 18, 2006)

Whoa, that's a lot of moss balls! Those aren't cheap either. Can't wait to see the scape!

Btw, how did yo clean the dragon stone? I tried cleaning mine for about an hour and still dirty. I also felt like they were eroding/falling apart as I scrubbed them, so I stopped at one point.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

bereninga said:


> Whoa, that's a lot of moss balls! Those aren't cheap either. Can't wait to see the scape!
> 
> Btw, how did yo clean the dragon stone? I tried cleaning mine for about an hour and still dirty. I also felt like they were eroding/falling apart as I scrubbed them, so I stopped at one point.


I've not cleaned the stone yet but I'll soak it and go at it with q-tips and a soft bristled tooth brush I use only for aquarium cleaning.
As for the marimo you can buy them in bulk for cheap at aquaticarts.com (amazon.com invertobssesion) 25 balls for $49 +$11 shipping. The only thing to note is they are labeled as 1.5"-2.5" but most are around 1.5" only 5 where larger. But at what equates to $2.40 a ball (combining plant+shipping price then divide 25) I'm not complaining! Marimo cost $7-9 per a ball locally x.x


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

I just found your tank journal- love the wild growth. Also how you cut your zucchini for the otos, will have to try that for mine (I've been doing just slices but they don't go after it much yet). Can you share more pics of your smaller tank, w/the bamboo? I'm curious about that one.

I have dreams of fish disasters too! Never a peaceful dream of a beautiful tank- or at least I never recall those.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

JJ09 said:


> I just found your tank journal- love the wild growth. Also how you cut your zucchini for the otos, will have to try that for mine (I've been doing just slices but they don't go after it much yet). Can you share more pics of your smaller tank, w/the bamboo? I'm curious about that one.
> 
> I have dreams of fish disasters too! Never a peaceful dream of a beautiful tank- or at least I never recall those.


Thank you ^^ 
The otos and shrimp seem to plow through the zucchini real fast. If your are not taking an interest consider using garlic extract (I use my own diy extract) and placing the slice(s) at/near where the otos often rest/common hang out spots. You can also try other veggies like cucumber, spinach, romaine lettuce.. I've seen people feed their otos white button mushrooms too.
I'll get more photos of the Bamboo box and post them in its journal (I have a few journals ^^' ). Its hard getting a good shot as the sunlight makes the tank so dark.. might have to snag a lamp to place over head for the next photo.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

I will have to try that. i grow algae on rocks for them, but there's never one ready more than once every week or two. They are quickly learning where the "rock" spot is, maybe now they will feed on zucchini placed there. I have soaked foods in garlic for other fishes, never thought of doing it w/veggies for the otos. Good idea.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

JJ09 said:


> Can you share more pics of your smaller tank, w/the bamboo? I'm curious about that one.


http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/1...l-stumped-2-10g-tank-room-11.html#post8676762


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*5g tank*
I redid my husband's 5g betta tank where Chiyome lives before Christmas. I converted it to mairmo covered pumice scape for floating rock fun. Slapped riccia back in to be the nitrate absorber (and doing great-0 across the board when tested) and give some more shade. I also put the flame moss mats back in after the photo but I'm not sure if they're getting enough light now-if they don't work out I still have 5 marimo balls left over I can toss in for the bottom. The lights were taped over and covered with window screen to diffuse/reduce par since marimo needs such low light.






This was the best photo I could get of her while she was drip acclimated back into the tank.


A few days ago she gave my husband a scare, she was in the riccia but looked dead to him, he poked her and she fell out then sunk like a hit submarine to the bottom of the tank. Thankfully she woke up (was just being a heavy sleeper) and started swimming (tried to go back to sleep in the riccia again) so all was well.


*12g long*
I also redid my husbands 12g long for new years. I'd bought a batch of OHKO stones from the same ebay seller I got the pumice from. My husband arranged the stones as he wanted and I planted. I honestly don't like the plants and am tempted to gut them, the stone scape is nice enough to be an unplanted tank.. but the otos and cherry shrimp would not like that... I'm debating about changing out the plants I had placed in there (currently dowoni, dwarf baby tears, creeping jenny, and ludwigia sp red). I'll be adding in blue eyed gertrudae soon from my 10g in the living room. Some of the shrimp are as large as the rainbows!
Photos to come.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

That is a very striking betta. Is she a wild type? I really like the look of the floating riccia. I've had to screen some light out w/packing tape on my betta's 10gal because the light was too strong for the anubias- but I'd rather use a thick floating plant! I'm upset at myself I found some riccia in my other tank but was pulling it out, I didn't know what it was and since I've learned, haven't found any more in there...


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## randym (Sep 20, 2015)

Very much enjoyed reading this thread. Man, that office of yours looks fantastic. Tanks everywhere!

I like the re-do of Chiyome's tank. Not the usual scape, that's for sure.

(BTW, "Chiyome" is pronounced more like chee-yo-meh, not key-om. Generally, you won't go too far wrong with Japanese names if you pronounce each syllable, with an equal stress on each.)

She is a beautiful fish. I didn't know bettas came with koi coloring.

Why did your husband want a female? Is he planning to breed them? If the females are that colorful, the males must be amazing.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Tank as of today. Just waiting for the micro swords to fill in


*Flora:*
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis
Lilaeopsis mauritiana
Lilaeopsis nova "mini"
Lilaeopsis ??? (taller micro sword)
Pogostemon helferi (Downoi)
Ludwigia sp. red
Alternanthera reineckii
Lysimachia nummularia (Creeping jenny)

*Fauna:*
Neocaridina davidi (various graces from wild to painted fire red..a dn some that are almost chocolate) unknown #s
MTS (just a few)
Pseudomugil gertrudae 13-15


edit: and some quick shots of Chiyome.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Just a few more shots of Chiyome. I really need thin out the riccia in her tank.
My view of her tank


The beggy face


Getting sassed by her


The 12 needs another good clean but is doing well. My only complaint is the blue eyes are the longest to feed.. have to add a little food as a time, let them eat and repeat. They won't find food off the substrate/plants or when ti drifts too far from "the feeding spot"... They've taken to eating the repashy gel foods-I now put in soilent green and meat pie both shrimp and fish eat each, but not all the fish will eat it so can't switch solely to it (would love to).. on a tangent the 55g is oblivious about the meat gel foods, never gets eaten in there when I tried to switch to that (so no I have a huge container of powder I'll never finish ugh).


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

Can't believe I haven't came across this thread yet (haven't read through it all yet).
Great pics and nice tanks!

Are the Ohko/Dragon stones proving inert for you?

The Betta's eyes look to be hazing over. Not sure if he is developing cataracts or just a infection on the eyes from diminishing water quality.

Do those SS prefilters really not suck up any tiny shrimplets? Assuming fine mesh version.

The shrimp colony still growing in numbers even with the P. gertrudae in there?


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

WaterLife said:


> Can't believe I haven't came across this thread yet (haven't read through it all yet).
> Great pics and nice tanks!
> 
> Are the Ohko/Dragon stones proving inert for you?
> ...


I honestly have not tested gh/kh/tds since adding them, but I can later today. Shrimp have had no issue with water changes and such so I'm guessing its fine.
Yes she sadly has cataracts. At first I thought it was 'cloudy eye' which is a symptom for other infections/etc, but no other symptoms showed (and no other fish got sick-issues would have been contagious), its not poor water quality either-she has ammonia 0, nitrite 0, and nitrates between 0-5 for her tank. I spoke with another betta owner (very knowledgeable) on a bettafish forum, they confirmed cataracts, one of their recent giant betta's also has them.
It sucks, 3 of the 4 bettas I bought directly from Thailand have had eye problems, the other 2 have diamond eye (scales grow over the eyes) rendering them 70%+ blind, they need a little extra care with feeding. Hoping the 4th doesn't end up with eye troubles. And non of the bettas I've bought locally have had eye issues...kinda makes me want to stick to local buys only.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

randym said:


> Very much enjoyed reading this thread. Man, that office of yours looks fantastic. Tanks everywhere!
> 
> I like the re-do of Chiyome's tank. Not the usual scape, that's for sure.
> 
> ...


Sorry I never saw this post somehow  Super late reply

Thank you! And yes I know how her name is pronounced (that's how I mouth it out as I type it ^^). 

"Kio" is a newer term koined by betta breeders to sell off marbles. Marbles is a term for certain betta genetics that put simply.. makes their colors unpredictable as they can and will change. The red-black 'koi' tend to be less stable and colors spread quickly. But yellow-black 'koi' don't change as much/quickly. Typically any clean (cellophane) fins or flesh tone body will get covered by the more dominant colors (red/black/blue). Chiyome's seller photo vs how she looks now is a good example of that.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/12-tank-journals/779506-[dragon-stone-valley]-12g-long-[marimo-mountains]-5g-de-rimmed-3.html#post8069417

My husband just wanted to try a different sort a betta (female since I owned all males), he also likes u-boats and said Chiyome's form reminded him of his second favorite uboat, so he didn't mind that she marbled out so much. 

No intention of breeding her, as breeding can be stressful or harmful to the fish.. bettas are not the nicest lovers.. sometimes one gets pretty beat up or killed, even with close monitoring (I've heard from some breeders females die after being removed from the breeding tank-the stress of breeding just made them give out).... won't even get into feeding fry and jarring them as they grow. 

Females can be very vibrant and beautiful like male bettas (and have their own wonderful personalities-I got a female several months after my husband because I liked his), they just have shorter fins to their male counterparts for the tailtype type they are. 




WaterLife said:


> Are the Ohko/Dragon stones proving inert for you?
> 
> Do those SS prefilters really not suck up any tiny shrimplets? Assuming fine mesh version.
> 
> The shrimp colony still growing in numbers even with the P. gertrudae in there?


Sorry didn't get this done yesterday was digging for the tds meter.. found it but not its battery >.< so no tds info.
gh and kh api liquid test results measrued as ppm gh/kh
tap: gh 179 (10 drops) kh 71.6 (4 drops)
tank: gh 161 (9 drops) kh 53.7 (3 drops)
So looks like tap is harder. How? Plants/fish/inverts are absorbing minerals in the water.

As far as I know the shirmplets are not going through the mesh, its too fine/small. I just had to pull about the filter today as the filter floss was clogged and killing flow, did not see any babies when tossing the filter floss. I have seen new juvies growing up since the blue eyes arrived so I believe the colony is sill growing. Shrimplets have plenty of hiding pales in the rock crevices.

My one complaint with the gertrudea is I think the dominant male (or 2 most dominant) intentionally crash into stems to make them come loose and float for them to breed in (they breed by the surface). But it may just be I have shallow sand (1/2 the substrate depth is actually egg crate for the stones to keep them off the glass)and the mts is making them come loose, but the gertrudea make use of them until I get around to stuffing 'em back down. No fry yet (guessing they eat the eggs since its not dense vegetation to breed in at the surface).


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Sorry I've been so terrible at updating. The 12g long is chugging along but has ah green spot algae issues. Its only flora now is various forms of micro ad mini micro swords (I think 3-4 species in there). Have 7 blue eye gertrudea left, and strong shrimp population. Recently bought 2 nerties to work on the algae as I'm getting sick of trying to scrape it off. here is a photo of tech tiger aka red spot nerite. The otehr is a black cap aka base ball cap nerite that loves to burrow nuder the substrate against the glass for its meals.Minor photo bombing by gertrudea gals.









Chiyome in the 5g isn't doing so great. She still has cataracts and has developed a cyst at the base of one of her pectorals. One of my boys had this too-Xerxes. The cyst eventually burst and he lost that fin but kept going just fine... Unfortunately Chiyome also keeps getting sbd-swim bladder disorder. At first I thought she was egg bound but she keeps having this issue. She cannot have blood worms any more and even on a high nutrient low filler pellet diet she still gets sbd and needs fasted at least once a week. Thankfully the sbd she gets is leaving her stuck at the top of the tank which is much better than begin sunk to the bottom, as she usual sleeps at the top, plus getting air is much easier for that form of sbd. I've check water quality and everything is staying at 0. Chiyome has gotten more red over time and her previously white dragon scales are turning blue. She doesn't like to cooperate for photo ops with me, but she still loves getting attention from my husband (I get the dagger eyes). Marimo is growing in nicely, and riccia still grows like crazy at the surface. The pumice rocks are loosing boyancy but aren't completely sunken yet.

















I'll get fts of both tanks some day....


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*[/10/25/16]*
Chiyome's tank got a 400%+ water change last week (don't remember the last time I did a wc on her tank) and I pulled out most of the riccia (already shipped it out to someone). Added extra window screen mesh over the LED to diffuse light more. Chiyome seems to like having the mass of riccia out and is more active. Sadly the pumice is95% non buoyant now so the marimo rocks don't go as high in the tank as they did when first set up, but it still looks cool. You can see Chiyome's been marbling still-getting more black and blue now. Thankfully no sbd lately *knock on wood*
















*[11/10/16]*
Chiyome has been doing great, no sbd problems and she's back to having blood worms periodically (which she's quite happy about).

Red spot aka tiger nerite still at work in the 12g.. was hoping the glass woudl be clears by now but nope. Baseball cap nerite is missing, it use to burrow in the sand but I haven't seen it in 2 weeks.


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

Fascinating journal, honestly I was just bored and came across this but then I saw how you where designing your 12G (that's what really grabbed my attention btw lol) and you know I've never seen anything like it? its wild but tamed? idk looks very very natural to me, prob. cause everything grew so quickly! bettas tank looks cool  good designs in there as well ! also I the moss balls look huge! like the size of my hand or bigger. Also like the newer 12G tank design as well, I have cherry shrimp to, 5 males and 1 female, hoping that someone steps in and maybe does some magic with here soon lol  also good idea with the window screen! not many people think of it, but its actually a very useful tool in my opinion! I used WS on my filter (for my cherry shrimp) to stop them from getting in the filter tube :l and it worked to! I just took a good size chunk of WS and wrapped it around the filter entrance, then used some hair ties (idk what they are called, the little black rubber band things for women's hair?) to tie it on the filter so it stays, water flow is still the same I just have to clean the filter off every once and a while cause gunk builds up in the WS but the cherry shrimp get the small stuff off of it for me  
Also do you feed your shrimp Zucchini or do they not like that? ik u can feed them cucumber but I was wondering if I could try something new?
Also I have a few nerite snails to it my 5G, one is very active and always goes, well everywhere, and the other is practically motionless  so maybe yours is hiding out somewhere deep within the plants, or substrate! also nerite snails (in my opinion) aren't the only amazing algae eater, mystery snails are also my secret weapon... I have 1 mystery snail and he cleans the whole tank in at least 1 night :l he works hard and he doesn't make a bunch of waste! efficient critter!
Anyway, great tank! subscribed


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

BettaBettas said:


> Fascinating journal, honestly I was just bored and came across this but then I saw how you where designing your 12G (that's what really grabbed my attention btw lol) and you know I've never seen anything like it? its wild but tamed? idk looks very very natural to me, prob. cause everything grew so quickly! bettas tank looks cool  good designs in there as well ! also I the moss balls look huge! like the size of my hand or bigger. Also like the newer 12G tank design as well, I have cherry shrimp to, 5 males and 1 female, hoping that someone steps in and maybe does some magic with here soon lol  also good idea with the window screen! not many people think of it, but its actually a very useful tool in my opinion! I used WS on my filter (for my cherry shrimp) to stop them from getting in the filter tube :l and it worked to! I just took a good size chunk of WS and wrapped it around the filter entrance, then used some hair ties (idk what they are called, the little black rubber band things for women's hair?) to tie it on the filter so it stays, water flow is still the same I just have to clean the filter off every once and a while cause gunk builds up in the WS but the cherry shrimp get the small stuff off of it for me
> Also do you feed your shrimp Zucchini or do they not like that? ik u can feed them cucumber but I was wondering if I could try something new?
> Also I have a few nerite snails to it my 5G, one is very active and always goes, well everywhere, and the other is practically motionless  so maybe yours is hiding out somewhere deep within the plants, or substrate! also nerite snails (in my opinion) aren't the only amazing algae eater, mystery snails are also my secret weapon... I have 1 mystery snail and he cleans the whole tank in at least 1 night :l he works hard and he doesn't make a bunch of waste! efficient critter!
> Anyway, great tank! subscribed


Thank you.
The marimo is not whole, they've been split open and spread over pumice and river rocks. If they were a solid maimro and that large they'd be worth thousands of dollars each (would be a few hundreds of years old marimo to get that large).
I amusingly found my shrimp population exploded when I first put them into the 12g. Before they were in a 2g ad 3g tanks, did not reported, just starting dieing off so I tossed them in as a snack for the puffer who didn't eat them. And the threat of being eat (though they never were) apparently was a great aphrodisiac as the 5-7 I had left turned into well over 100.
They're called Hair bands.
I've used zuchini in the past, they eat it just fine, I usually blanch it.
I have a mystery snail in one of my tanks(7g cube). It use to be in my goldfish tank but it can't break up green spot algae-which it started to get so I moved the mystery snail and added nerites.


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

> They're called Hair bands.


lol, I remembered almost right after I clicked the post button  "rubber band things that wrap on stuff" best definition 2k16


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Waaay past due for an update.. quick crappy photo for 12g long:








Flora: Red jungle val, Jungle val, Sagittaria subulata
Fauna: cherry shrimp (various grades of red) 40+, 1 tiger nerite snail
Hardscape: ohko/dragon stone
Substrate: black diamond blasting 'sand'
Light: finnex 24/7

selling microswords and mini micrswords from this tank in the sales section


Chiyome the female 'koi' plakat betta female is still alive, her cataracts are annoying but she manages to eat well, marimo is still healthy in her tank (use riccia to absorb nitrogen), will get a photo eventually..


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Will get an update photo of the 12g long sometime this week.

*5g*
flora: riccia and marimo
fauna: 1 'mustard' (i think yellow salamander is the correct term?) eepk male
filter: azoo mignon
heater: hydro theo 50 watt
light: finnex 16" i think fuge ray?
substrate: white sand from petco
ferts: weekly flourish and potassium -3 drops and 1 drop- for the riccia









































As you ca see the pumice looses buoyancy with time so all the rocks have sunk now. If I wasn't using an HOB I'd lower the water level a bit.
So sad news, Chiyome finally had to be put down. She lived a long life but by the end was getting lethargic and eventually had kidney failure. Put a nerite in her tank for a few days to eat diatoms on the glass then did a massive water change yesterday and moved Ciel over from the pond pot in the aquaponics room. I haven't been able to see him much since he went in the 'pond'-so many floaters and he never wanted to stay put to be looked at. He deiced the table was better than the tank when putting and flopped out of my hands =.= but he's in now and hopefully fins will heal (think damage is a bit from water quality issues in the pond pot-apparently i had pest snails in there and never saw any (just all their poop when I went to take Ceil out). Being in a clean snail free tank with better (lower) nitrate levels should let the fins heal up quickly. Ceil has a lot of personality and I love the big EE pectoral fins. My husband amusingly is not a fan of the huge fins, he prefers hmpk- because they 'look like they could survive in the wild'/'look more like wild bettas', but he didn't mind me moving this fish into his tank. 
Ceil got his name from David, after a character in a show we'd watched from Queen Elizabeth era (original, not current one), the character has frilly shirt sleeves that came out of his jacket and the pectoral fins reminded my husband of those.
We'll have to see how he does being able to see his reflection and see André next door. The pond pot did not have any reflective surfaces for him to see himself before, hopefully he doesn't mind, if I have to add anti reflection inserts then I won't be able to see him anymore :c


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*12g*
flora: Sagittaria, leopard val, jungle val, water sprite
fauna: 9-13 (immpsoible to count) chilly rasoras, #? cherry/sakura/fire red shrimp, #? mts 
filter: eheim 2211 canister
heater: 75 watt eheim jagar diy inline ehater
light: finnex 24/7 36"
substrate: wblack diamond 'sand'
ferts: weekly flourish, iron, potassium, osmocote+ root tabs

Not best photos but took quick shots of the 12g long
husband's view:

























side view:









My view:

























Have some bba on filter intake screen and nearby val.. also gsa on ohko (dragon) stones and diatoms growing on front glass.. about time to add nerite for the last 2 (bba I get to deal with myself).


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*[1/17/19]*
Finally updating again with new photos!
*[12g long]*
Been through a lot of ups and downs.. went through a few re-scapes and fish variants. Hubby missed having shrimp through the tank so got the blue version of cherry/sakura/firered shrimp we use to have, they should do well in our water, they just arrived yesterday.

*[flora]* Italian vals, Echinodorus parviflorus, lots of duckweed, stray water sprite I need to remove, will be adding flame moss to driftwood after treating for snails.
*[fauna]* currently Dream Blue Velvet Shrimp (Neocaridina davidi), plan to add nano fish after shrimp colony establishes
*[substrate]* black diamond blasting 'sand'
*[hardscape]* the manzanita driftwood that use to be in my 20g long (cut to fit)
*[equipment]* eheim 2211 diy inline heater eheim jagar 50 watt
























*[10g half moon]*
Clearly been bad at updating since last time I posted this was still a de-rimmed 5g. Got a 10g half moon at petsmart because hubby lied the curved glass (no corners) and moved marimo covered river rocks and pumice to this tank. Also added silicone anemones for hiding places for betta. Has riccia floating at top to keep ammonia in check. 
Sorry not as nice a photo.

*[flora]* riccia fluitans, marimo
*[fauna]* an old veiltail female betta named V
*[substrate]* off white sand
*[hardscape]* river rock and pumice 
*[equipment]* nano sponge filter/airline hose/whisper air pump, hydro theo 25 watt heater, azoo micro temp controller


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*[2/8/19]

12g long*
























I'm at 0/0/0 ammonia/nitrite/nitrate! I shouldn't be surprised since its just shrimp but I always had a ton of Malaysian trumpet snails and other 'pests' snails so not use to yellow liquid for a nitrate test. Have to increase my liquid fert dosing (has nitrates in it). If they didn't cost so much I'd buy some more shrimp but I don't feel like spending $100+ on shrimp and shipping again.



*10g half moon*








V passed this past weekend. Found her Monday, gutted and cleaned the tank, removed all the riccia, took out the silicone anemone, re-tied down some loos marimo and ripped open a few balls to put on a rock that spent too much time out of the water and original marimo dried and died off. I had a diy sponge cover on the sponge filter I switched out for a proepr sponge filter-will do a fish in cycle with Prime..



Ordered some new riccia and a large anubias that should be her tomorrow I'll put in the tank and upgrade the light to something a little brighter (currently on stock light), probably a 9wat cfl 6500k in a clamp lamp above the tank (like my 8g jumbo bubble bowl and 7g cube).


After plant come in if they are ok we'll start stalking lfs for a betta that catches my husband's eye. He's told me he doesn't have any preferences on color/fin type/etc more interested in taking someone that is clearly been there too long and needs help (likely to die to try to revive). If we grab anything with fungus/fin rot/etc I'll set up a temp qt until its treated and healed.


Don't worry there is a heater in there, curved glass kinda hides it and the filter... Looking at the photo i need to wire tie those wires to make the back of the tank more appealing.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*[2/9/19]
10g half moon*
Excuse me while I vent.

*UUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH *not a good day for this tank. I'd ordered plants-new riccia and anubias. Riccia came completely covered in duckweed (even after asking the seller specifically if it had duckweed before ordering!) so I get to toss that out.. 

And the large anubias I ordered is missing! Last update in a few days is "In Transit to Next Facility" (this is 2-3 day priority mail.. it should [censor]ing be here!) and with the cold I'm expecting a dead plant to arrive so yeh... not happy...


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*[2/11/19]
10g half moon*

*[massive amount of expletives censored]*
I am just so furious right now! SO SO *SOOOO *sick of dealing with lying online sellers!!
Anubias finally arrived today.. what I was told was 15"+ (NOT including the pot).. came in a 9"x6"3" outer dimensions package... The " 15" and taller anubias" (excluding the pot) was barely 7" (with pot-just at 9") and looked nothing like the photo for the site (photo had larger leaves with more distinct grooves/wrinkle look).
To top it all of it has the fungus growing on its leaves that leads to/attributed to rhizome rot so YAY, not only too small for my purposed, also diseased and will be dead probably in a month so just completely useless!!
Sent the site an email about these serious issues.. whatever the 'solution' they might offer they are [more expletives censored].. just so *aaarrrrgggggh!!!!*
*Why is it so [censor] hard to find non diseased anubias now! And having to deal with lying [censor]s about species/size on top of that?! *


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*[2/13/19]
12g long*
So because I had 0 nitrates and my swords seemed to be suffering I started dosing ferts 3 times a week and removed the duckweed so it wasn't hogging the 'food'.. well not I have hair algae and long strands to x.x
Can't dose Excel-vals melt instantly (know from past experience in this tank), readings are still 0 nitrates so its getting used up.. just urrg I don't know if I should finally try a CO2 system on this tank, diffuse the light, or what??

*10g half moon*
Received replacement riccia from the seller-came from home personal tank no duckweed, yay! But I put pothos on top of the tank so now I'm debating if I want to use the riccia at all, or just pothos hmmm... Think I might just save the riccia for something else.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*[3/10/19]
12g long*
I had ordered a breeder pack of blue dreams from aquatic arts. Acclimated over several hours. Lost them all to a bacterial infection. Bodies went pale/white with red dots on head. Won't be buying from importers again, looking for home-bred blue dreams now.



















*[3/29/19]
12g long*
Hacked down all the vals after they went melt-y from dosing hydrogen peroxide to kill bacterial infection. I also did a 6 or 9 day no planiria treatment since I thought I spotted one in the substrate when cleaning. I did some research and apparently planaria can bit shrimp which can then develop a bacteria infection from the bite.
























*[4/1-19/19]
12g long*
About 2 weeks ago I tore out all the plants, did a potassium permagnimate dip, scrubs wood under hot water, and threw out all the old substrate-replacing with new black diamond 'sand' (coal slag). 

I replanted the swords, and put in a *ton *of dwarf sag and peacock moss I got from @*briscoe*. It was way more than 60 sag (if you count the babies)!
Still have a lot leftover dwarf sag in a bucket w/ light along with the vals- plan to move them to my 75g goldfish tank but need to clean my substrate first... arm is currently injured so can't yet.
Anyways moss with on the driftwood and some small lava rocks via superglue gel (cyanoacrylate). Lava rock was bought at home depot-its the small bagged stuff used for drainage/top layer for indoor plants.
I went for a more 'wild' look-messy intermixed plants instead of clean separated species. Its growing in well, the ugly white residue from the superglue is already gone. I need to trim the moss again.
My view (back of tank) pardon algae-letting it grow for shrimp


















husband's view (front of tank)






















*[flora]* Echinodorus parviflorus, dwarf sag, peacock moss, lots of duckweed, azolla, water lettuce
*[fauna]* nothing atm, hope to add Dream Blue Velvet Shrimp (Neocaridina davidi) in the summer.
*[substrate]* black diamond blasting 'sand'
*[hardscape]* the manzanita driftwood that use to be in my 20g long (cut to fit)
*[equipment]* eheim 2211 diy inline heater eheim jagar 50 watt, Finnex 24/7 LED
*[parameters]* 70F, pH 7.5, gh 9, kh 5, tds 220(few days ago) 



Did another 6 day treatment of no planaria just for good measure after. Have not seen snails or planaria since new setup.

I also put a cut piece of black foam over the intake0so shrimplets (and adults) can nom on food that grows on the foam. I have 2 ss mesh shrimp filter guards now-13mm and 16mm (bought wrong size first). If anyone is interested they can pm me, or I'll put them up in my next sell thread.
Tossed in some boiled white oak leaves (pretty much same as indian almond leaf), and other botanicals I can't recall the names of.

Threw in some duckweed (I know you're all cringing-but I don't mind the stuff, it deals with excess nutrients/nitrogen well) as well as some water lettuce I'm not sure it'll survive under the lid.. I've also spotted azolla that I'm not sure where it came from (probably fragments in the duckweed order-which also contains giant duckweed.. thinking of separated and keeping just azolla and giant variety in tank-toss the smaller leafed duckweed.
Will all these plants if i dose for 1 ppm ammonia I get readings of 0 next day (no nitrites).


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*OK time for a freakin update!
11/26/19
12g long
*MINOR NEAR MASSACRE
Last weekend I tried restocked the tank (with something besides the snail army). I got yellow neos (golden back dominant line it looks like) from msjinkzd 2 Saturdays ago. Even though she's a proponent for the plop-n-drop method I wanted to drip acclimate becuase that's just how I've always done things... Well it started off ok










*But then all the shrimp kinda went sideways (literally) looked like they were all dead or dieing!*










I was so heart broken but on a lark I tossed them into another bucket with an air stone overnight because.. if they're already dead it doesn't matter (and I don't want to just toss dead shrimp in a tank). The next morning I couldn't really see any with the air stone going, went about my day and around lunch turned off the air stone to dump them out.

They were all alive and desperately trying to forage food off the lava rock used to weigh down the air stone... well except 1-it was dead but she was an adult that looked to have molted right before I got her so.. acceptable loss.

I figured out it was the acclimation bucket (I must have used it to euthanize a dieing goldfish with clove oil back in early spring) x.x No longer keeping that bucket! 

Shrimp were bagged and floated to get to temp then released and have done well! Tank is too densely planted to find corpses unless they do it right against the glass. But they're active and happy in there so we ha. Have a crapy photo. (I'll clean the glass and get better shots later).










*10g halfmoon*
Forgot to add: got some emerald eye rasboras this past weekend that went in the 10g next to the 12g long. The girl that bagged them for my husband and I couldn't count-thankfully in my favor (i think) as I paid for 10 and came home with 14... 3 have since died (they were sickly at the store) hopefully no more deaths. I'm just happy the tank help up to the corpse ammonia generation until I pulled them out.

They do not hold still for photos, but they've learned fast that my hand over the opening means food's coming.

















Need to find a way to clean the diatoms-fish/snails are not an option as I want to minimize bioload.. can't really get in there and clean with the egg crate top that keeps the stones 'floating'.

Slowly adding white oak leaves to the tank now in case they ever spawn so fry have hides/food.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*[1212/19]*
view from my desk 'back' of the tank























So shrimp are doing well, plants growing well-have to trim dead leaves from sword, sag, and lettuce each week, hack back the moss every other week.

Spotted a female with eggs several days ago and freaked out trying to pull my husband over to see it before it moved. Of corse by the time I got my photo for a photo she'd disappeared into the moss. Kept looking over the next several days and finally got a shot of her today, and bonus shot of a 2nd female carrying babies! Hubby think's he's seen a 3rd too but anyways have some shots








You can barely make out the 2nd female under the wood 

And this is why no front tank shot yet.. green spot algea has alwasy been rampant in this tank.. if I didn't have pest snails I'd put a nerite in but don't want to spike the bioload.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*[12/15/19]*















10g half moon from petsmart
*[flora]* marimo and pothos above the water.
*[fauna]*Emerald eye rasboras ( Brevibora dorsiocellata) 10-12 (good luck counting them they don't hold still)
*[substrate]* petco white sand
*[hardscape]* pumice and river rock (covered in marimo)
*[equipment]* mini jardin sponge filter + whisper air pump (small old kind), hydro theo 25 watt heater+ azoo micro temperature controller, stock light + 13 watt 6500k cfl bulb in work lamp with some *lovely* aluminum foil for the pothos

Need to go in there with super glue and stick down the loose marimo (currently attached via fishing line-this stuff never rows roots its actually an algae).
Also want to add some more leaves in case they decide to spawn. Going to go feed them now actually (omega one flakes crushed up)


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