# HybridHerp's 10 gallon (Post Sandy Edition)



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?p=2086382#post2086382

The original thread.

I know I might be getting obnoxious with starting new threads for these tanks, but I feel that the old ones where left going nowhere for so long that I'd rather start fresh and keep better updates.



Mild trim job



Not quiet the most up to date picture (just did yesterday, gotta get new pics) but it shows the tank pretty well.


Current Fish/Inverts I have in here:
Poecilia reticulata – “Guppy” 1:3
Otocinclus sp. x6
Caridinia serrata - “Tangerine Tigers” x13
Neritina natalensis – “Zebra Nerite” x2
Neritina natalensis – “Tire Track Nerite” x3
Physa sp. – “Pond Snail” x#
Planorbis rubrum – “Ramshorn Snail” x#
Melanoides tuberculata - “Trumpet Snail” x#

Current Plants
o	Foreground
Hemianthus callitrichoides- “Dwarf Baby Tears”
Hydrocotyle tripartita – “H. ‘Japan’”
Lobelia cardinalis – “Dwarf Cardinal”
Echinodorus parviflorus – “Tropica Sword”
o	Mid-ground
Rotala sp. ‘Colorata’
Sagittaria subulata - “Dwarf Sag”
Ludwigia sp. ‘Atlantis’
o	Background
Egeria najas – “Narrow Leaf Elodea”
Cryptocoryne wendtii - “Red/Brown Crypt”
Cabomba furcata – “Red Cabomba”
•	Hardscape
Microsorum pteropus – “Java Fern”
Vesicularia montagnie – “Xmas Moss”
Subwassertang sp. – “Round Pellia”

I still am adding a little more livestock, and I just want to get some more HC and some Ammania sp. Bonsai in here for the empty space on the right. Debating if I should squeeze in L. 'Twisted' in here or not....


nice shot of the male guppy I got, or at least as nice as I can get on an iPhone









I went a little overboard on TT pics 



Trumpet Snails actually look kind of cool when you stop and notice them.



Ramshorn and one of two Zebra Nerites.



Happy otto and a bladder snail that seems to have staghorn algae on its shell. At least I think its staghorn...

More to come in the following days.


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Added more e. najas I've been holding onto in the back. I also have like 30+ stems of it that I want to sell or just move out lol


Also got these guys, 5 of them, from acitydweller. Cajun Dwarf Crays, Cambarellus shufeldtii. They do a fantastic job of hiding around the hardscape and leafs of this tank, but if they gain confidence or start reproducing, hopefully I should see them out and about eventually 

No pictures, but also added two gold honey gourami's. Impulse buy, but I figured what the heck, they are pretty, I know they work, and why not I like them 

I still want to grab some ammania sp. bonsai for the front right corner, and I'll probably just get a small school/shoal of some sort of fish, ember tetra's or CPD or something of that nature, then call it a day. Only other thing I'd consider adding would be pygmy cories....but idk if that'd be too many fish. I'm sure the tank can handle whatever bioload it gets though, plants are doing super, super well .


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

FTS



My moss...there's some algae growing in this....bleh. I need to get some amano's and figure out how to clean this up.



I want some ammania sp. bonsai in this spot. right there, in this exact spot 


Otto is doing well


Hard to see in the pic, but one of the at least 3 tt's I have that are berried. Fingers crossed that I have little ones in this tank soon.



All the leafs.



It is soooooo hard to get a good pic of the cajun crays.



More berried TT



And I just really like this picture 

Hopefully I can get the moss fixed up and the hair algae that seems to love my e.najas down. As well as raise TT's and get that bonsai ammania. Oh, and the red root floater I have in here is doing pretty well too, its getting a bit red which is always nice, it'd be cool if it flowers for me eventually.

Still need to get some more fish though, at least a single male guppy and then maybe some chili rasbora or green neons or something of the like.


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## kingjombeejoe (Feb 17, 2013)

How do those dwarf crays and the shrimp get along? Or are they in separate tanks?


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Same tank, they are doing fine actually. This thread is for this one tank only.

No deaths that I can see on ether part, and the shrimp are berried so that's nice. Hopefully the Crays will eventually do the same. I got them from acitydweller, shout out to him


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## kingjombeejoe (Feb 17, 2013)

I saw some nice orange dwarf crays a while back. I didn't get them because I thought they would eat the shrimp and destroy my plants. I may have to try them out next time.


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

cpo and cajun crays are not the same, assuming the orange cray you speak of is a cpo and not a larger orange cray, big crays pretty much always destroy plants and shrimp and try to destroy fish with varying success, from what I understand.

cpo I hear mixed reviews, but cajun crays I've had no problems with. I would keep that in mind before adding a crayfish because not all species are the same even when they seem similar.


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## Markahsf (Feb 27, 2012)

Cajun crays are awesome. I had a couple in my 10 gallon but I constantly caught them snacking on my RCS. I didn't really care since I had well over a hundred RCS but one time I saw him eating a berried shrimp and that's when I knew he had to go. Never messed with the plants though. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2


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## Monster Fish (Mar 15, 2011)

You should take a more recent pic of your jungle.


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## kingjombeejoe (Feb 17, 2013)

HybridHerp said:


> cpo and cajun crays are not the same, assuming the orange cray you speak of is a cpo and not a larger orange cray, big crays pretty much always destroy plants and shrimp and try to destroy fish with varying success, from what I understand.
> 
> cpo I hear mixed reviews, but cajun crays I've had no problems with. I would keep that in mind before adding a crayfish because not all species are the same even when they seem similar.


Thanks for the info. I'll do some more research if I decide to get any.


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Monster Fish said:


> You should take a more recent pic of your jungle.


Well that's what I'm doing now 



Major trim job, it was getting pretty over grown. Main problem is still that the E. najas gets hair algae growing all over it....going to add some amano shrimp and see if that helps. Sadly, I don't think the TT's ever had anything hatch...I my TDS is getting way too high...I'll have to figure out a way to make sure it stays lower. My tap TDS is fine for the shrimp, so it might be that the tank is dirted that is adding to the TDS? Idk.


The dwarf cardinal is looking nice now though, always a good thing.


I wish this sword would like...more runners or something, because that'd be nice. It seems to have just sort of...stopped doing anything.


Moss and E. najas.


You've seen things like this before at this point from this thread lol


Dwarf Cray is cray cray.


I took this pic, because I believe this to be a runner from my crypt. I want to take a pic of it every few days, and see how long it takes for this to grow leafs and breach the substrate and all that good stuff....then I'll trim it and move it to where I actually WANT the crypts to be putting new plants *sigh*

Still need Amania sp. Bonsai for this tank. And fish, I'm down to however many ottos are left, a single honey gourami, and just two female guppies, one of which does not look well. I might just put the guppies in the 10 with the t elliot I showed in my 75 gallon thread, and then do a different strain of tank raised guppies in this tank, keep a nice little line or something. And maybe get the TDS and water parameters to change so that the shrimp can actually reproduce...and wait for the crays to do the same.


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Got three of these on Sunday....they are big, like the size of a thumb, the whole thumb. Hoping that they will help my hair algae issue in my egeria najas...otherwise I am going to just throw it all in my quarantine 10 gallon and replace it with something else.


It sucks getting pics of these, but I got 12 of these ember tetras. Nice new addition to the tank 

Not pictures, I picked up some more ottos because I think most of mine had died....I also only have one honey gourami (the sicker looking one didn't make it) and one female guppy, I might move out the guppy and replace her with a fancier looking already reproducing pair or trio or something. Not sure.

Ordering some Ammania sp. bonsai now though, and my attempts at making a coral for the RRF failed...I'll try again but with fishing line or something next time...or just seal the ends of some airline tubing and make a little raft in the center


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Some changes, nothing drastic though. Fixed the coral for the RRF so that's always nice, although I'm noticing that they aren't doing as well in here as they are in my 5.5.....I might add some dwarf water lettuce into the mix as well, debating that.



I removed a ton of this. It was getting on my nerves, sort of just growing everywhere and being a mess. Of course, it will still do so, but it seems more controlled now.



Crays <3



I gotta get my TDS to stay down, also bought a new gh/kh test kit so I can get a better reading, as I realized the ones I had were 3 years old....oops. Honestly though, I'm happy as long as the shrimp are alive and healthy, in a way I almost don't care about breeding. That being said, if my 5.5 somehow has better conditions for TT's than my 10, you bet I'm going to try and breed them in there.



On the subject of shrimp babies....I present to you, guppies. This might annoy those of you who are into shrimp only, but I'm not, its just not my thing. If a few babies survive for me great, awesome, but I'm not looking into trying to keep a huge colony. I just want a nice looking tank. And these guppies....are nice looking  No special variety that I know of, but I just loved the colors and flare on the males I saw, and the females were nice and beefy, and already preggers. Which is great because I can then raise some nice males out for myself/feed baby guppies to my larger fish.



Niceeeeee



I hacked back the Colorata and the Red Cabomba....trying to get denser, new growth. Its slowly comming back to its fuller glory. L. Atlantis laughs at any and all attempts to curb its growth.



Oh yah, I have a bit of UG in here now too, thanks to h4n (he gives me lots of goodies). If this does well, I might carve out a space for it to carpet the front of the tank, even removing H. 'Japan' and some of the dwarf cardinal plant.

Also, like my 5.5, this tank is going to be dosed using a PPS-Pro method. The ferts come in tomorrow, and I am excited.


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

So, I just realized something today....on my wood....Java Moss is spreading.....it must not have died after Sandy and after having been dried out for days on end. Wow.....

The Xmass moss is still there, but it hasn't attached itself to any wood yet....so now I'm wondering.....do I try and remove the java moss, or do I remove the still on the mesh xmass moss and have it grow in my 5.5 or 75. I'll probably decide on that tomorrow when I do water changes.

Also, side note, netting shrimp out of this tank is super difficult.


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## hambone870 (Feb 13, 2013)

Very lush, well done

10 gallons are fun and you have done nice with this one. Can't believe that java moss bounced back. How long was it dry?


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

I honestly don't even remember...
A few days at least, a week or two at most...managed to survive enough though during 2 weeks of no light with sandy I guess...jeez


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

I'm debating and I want an opinion on this.

I have some Ludwigia sp. 'Red' coming to me in a few days, and I am unsure where to put it. I could keep it in the 5.5 again like I used to, but part of me feels that it might be a good plant to use in this tank....where Atlantis is.

I'm thinking of removing the atlantis in here, and keeping atlantis solely in my 75 gallon.

Thoughts?


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## sjb1987 (Feb 23, 2012)

Id remove the atlantis and throw some ludwigia sp red in..you need some easy color in there... I sent some extras stuff with your package so youll have some stuff to play with... I wish I would have seen you were looking for some r. Indica I would have threw a few in there too


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

sjb1987 said:


> Id remove the atlantis and throw some ludwigia sp red in..you need some easy color in there... I sent some extras stuff with your package so youll have some stuff to play with... I wish I would have seen you were looking for some r. Indica I would have threw a few in there too


Lol, alright, sounds like a plan. Did you label the extras?

Also, I was looking for indica?


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## sjb1987 (Feb 23, 2012)

HybridHerp said:


> Lol, alright, sounds like a plan. Did you label the extras?
> 
> Also, I was looking for indica?


True rotala indica (ammania sp bonsai)

No but when you get them ill let you know what they are... I think I put them in separate baggies


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Okay, and I got my hands on that plant already, just decided to use it in my 5.5 instead.


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

So I was feeding this tank today and OH MY GOD, I didn't realize just how many ramshorn and MTS snails are in this tank lol (hint, its a lot)

Also, I'm getting annoyed at guppy keeping. Endlers are doing just fine in my 5.5 but regular guppies don't do very well for me in this tank. I have no idea why. However, there are some guppy babies in this tank now that seem to be left alone by the other fish and aren't doing badly at all, so we'll see.

If at some point all the guppies die on me, I'm just going to maybe try a different sort of fish in its stead, because this has been a problem for me for years. Ugh

Also, no pics because the tank is in terrible need of a trim job.


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

No pics, but this tank is now 90% crypt wenditii. I kind of don't like that look, as it shades everything else a heck of a lot and is hard to trim, so I'm thinking about doing a re-scape, using a smaller growing crypt species (petchii maybe) and doing new stems, making a real nice scape and all in the process.

Honey gouramis are no more though . I'll get something to replace them, and also add some sort of neocaridinia and maybe pymgy cories or something similar to this tank. Might have some nice guppies as well, or just throw endlers from my 5.5 in here, as they have been breeding.


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## TheRiverRat (Feb 13, 2013)

i had guppies in a tiger salamander tank once (when the salamander was in the aquatic stage) they absolutely flourished in the dirty stagnant water, best i have ever seen them do lol.


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Guess who did a re-scape? This guy, that's who. Started the process shortly after christmas.



My main goal was to do a lot of colorful, moderately fast growing plants, with my java fern kinda swaying to the side and arching over. That plant has been through hell and back for me so I figured I'd make it pretty prominent in the tank. Also, just couldn't resist the look.



I also wanted to not deal with wendtii in a dirted high tech tank anymore. It took over and became a hassle. I re-did the substrate in order to remove the plant...



Which meant that I managed to find and salvage over 250 trumpet snails while re-scaping....Damn, thats a lot of snails.



And here's the tank as it is now. I want to add a few things, mostly UG for a carpet, and maybe another stem or two and some blyxa in the back right corner, but I'm pretty happy with how this is looking.

The specs:
Current Fish/Inverts
•	Poecilia reticulata – “Guppy” 0:1
•	Hyphessobrycon amandae – “Ember Tetra” x2
•	Trigonostigma espei – “Lambchop Rasbora” x5
•	Otocinclus cocama – “Zebra Otto” x2
•	Caridinia japonica – “Amano Shrimp” x2
•	Neocaridina heterotopia var. “”
•	Cambarellus shufeldtii – “Cajun Dwarf Cray” x2
•	Neritina natalensis – “Tire Track Nerite” x1
•	Planorbis rubrum – “Ramshorn Snail” x#
•	Physa sp. – “Pond Snail” x#
•	Melanoides tuberculata - “Trumpet Snail” x#

Plants
•	Current
o	Foreground
•	Echinodorus parviflorus – “Tropica Sword”
Front right
•	Lobelia Cardinalis var. 'Dwarf'
In front of L. sp. ‘Red’
•	Pogostemon helferi
In front of wood
o	Mid-ground
•	Rotala mexicana var. ‘Araguaia’
Left of C. becketii petchii
•	Cryptocoryne becketii petchii
Off-center
•	Ludwigia sp. ‘Red’
Off-center
•	Ammania sp. ‘Bonsai’
Left side of M. pteropus
o	Background
•	Lagarosiphon madagascariensis
Back middle
•	Alternanthera reineckii var. 'Mini'
Back middle
o	Non-Substrate
•	Hardscape
Microsorum pteropus – “Java Fern”
•	Back left
Anubias barteri var. ‘Petite’
•	In front of M. pteropus
Fissidens splachnobryoides – “Mini Fissidens”
•	On yellow spongy rock

Filtration
•	Marineland Penguin 100 x2
Heater
•	None
o	Use heater from quarantine tank if dire emergency
Lighting
•	Ray2 Ultra Slim 24” DS
Other
•	Substrate
o	Dirt with Black Sand cap
•	Hardscape
o	Rocks
•	Yellow and Spongy
•	Red and Brown
o	Driftwood
•	One main piece
Smaller ones surrounding it
o	Fertilizers
•	PPS-Pro
•	Carbon Dioxide
o	Dual Stage Regulator on 20lb tank
•	Atomic Diffuser
Replace with an atomic diffuser eventually
•	GLA Atomic Check Valve x2
•	Drop Checker Color: Green
•	Bubble Counter: 6 per second
Filled with Mineral Oil



The downi will look nice once it fills in, as will the Bonsai. I'm not sure how much bonsai I want to let be in the area though, as I want enough room to balance that and the UG I want. I'm also thinking about doing some flame moss in-between the fern and the anubias on the wood.


sbj1987 hooked me up with a ton of nice stems. This is Rotala mexicana 'Araguia', can't wait till it settles in for me, its really pretty.


And who doesn't love Ludwigia Red?


And of course, I love me some amano shrimp and dwarf sword.


MonsterFish gave me some _Lagarosiphon madagascariensis_ to play with. Not sure how it will do for me (I almost think the amano shrimp might have picked some leafs off) and not sure if I want it here, or in that hole in the wood. Its a pretty plant though, and I'll be sure to make some sort of use of it in either this tank or my 75.


My one oddball shrimp that popped out from my fire reds in my 5.5. Its brown with dark blue sides...I think its cool but we will see what happens. It had eggs when I moved it and those eggs hatched in this tank so I'm curious to see what will come of that.


Mini reneckii below ember tetras. I need more of the tetras, but I'll focus on fish more after I get the plants in order.


Espie are doing well...I might want a few more of them though, idk


I am loving these zebra ottos

In the spring I'll be grabbing more plants for my tanks, and seeing what I want to fit where. I was thinking about doing Mini Myro in place of that madagscar plant and moving the madagascar up front or into another tank, and also considering Muridania sp. Red in the hole in the driftwood depending on how big the leaf size is.

And as this grows I'll try and update at least one every 2 months if not once a month  And definitely as soon as possible after any significant changes.


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## The Plantman (May 5, 2010)

I like this one a lot as well. Very nice!


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

So this tank needed a nice trimming when I came back home to it. Thinking about other fish to add to it, thinking about pygmy cories or rosy loaches for the bottom…waiting on the shrimp population to slowly increase and for the Japan Blue Endlers to start popping babies as well.


This Madagascar plant is doing pretty well, it’s a bit of a weed though. Pretty soon I’ll be cutting it so that I only keep the tops since it grows so fast and does seem to like branching. I hear this stuff is fragile shipping wise though, and that’s a shame since its so nice. I might try the extras in a soon to be started project…or see what they do in my 75 (seems like a bad idea though)


Amano close up


Sparkling gourami close up


Japan Blue


Ember Tetra


Espie Rasbora hate the camera it seems


I heard mini Myrio is hard, its doing okay for me. Looks a little bleh though but I’ll give it more time to fill in. Its growing though so I’m not worried.

Overall, I’m happy with this tank, but I think I’ll start dosing PPS Pro liquid stuff from Nilcog soon as I saw some pinholes in the older leafs before I started trimming. I also have a few more plants I need more of, such as the Rotala indica, Rotala Butterfly, Rotala Pearl, UG, and the Limnophilia vietnam that I’m trying to grow out for my 75.


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Man, I am the worst at keeping threads about my smaller tanks up to date :S

Here’s what’s going on with this tank these days

Current Fish/Inverts
•	Poecilia wingei – “Japan Blue” x1:2 and 5 unknown
•	Trichopsis pumila – “Sparkling Gourami” x2 
•	Hyphessobrycon amandae – “Ember Tetra” x8
•	Trigonostigma espei – “Lambchop Rasbora” x5
•	Corydoras pygmaeus – “Pygmy Cory” x6
•	Caridinia japonica – “Amano Shrimp” x2
•	Neocaridina heterotopia var. “Steel Blue” & “Fire Red” (offspring of the Steel Blue)
•	Neritina natalensis – “Tire Track Nerite” x1
•	Physa sp. – “Pond Snail” x#
•	Planorbis arnoldi – “Mini Ramshorn Snail” x#
•	Melanoides tuberculata - “Trumpet Snail” x#
•	Planorbarius corneus – “Ramshorn Snail” x
•	
•	Plants
•	Alternanthera reineckii var. 'Mini'
•	Utricularia graminifolia
•	Echinodorus parviflorus – “Tropica Sword”
•	Lobelia cardinalis var. 'Dwarf'
•	Pogostemon helferi
•	Eriocaulon setaceum
•	Cryptocoryne becketii petchii
•	Ludwigia sp. ‘Red’
•	Lagarosiphon madagascariensis
•	Myriophyllum sp. 'Guyana'
•	Blyxa japonica
•	Microsorum pteropus – “Java Fern”
•	Taxiphyllum sp. “Flame”
•	Anubias barteri var. ‘Petite’
•	Bucephalandra sp. “Mini Belinda”

As I said in my other thread, I’m currently rather busy, so throwing a fast update at you all. I have a plan for that right side that I’ll start once I get back from vacation.


(I’ll take a nicer looking FTS one of these days)

(no idea why AR mini doesn’t like me…I think the front of my tank isn’t getting enough light…downfall of the rayII)

(the weird ones are in here, they just blend into everything. Fire red doesn’t blend into anything)

(biebiez)


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

I give up on UG, I'm going to switch to Monte Carlo. Added some Rotala indica true behind the E. setecauem, which I'm hoping grows well for me as its a pretty plant. Waiting on my blyxa japonica to grow back, the fern kinda shades it but its growing so I'll wait. Might trim and spread the petite anubias as well.

If monte carlo doesn't work I'm just going to say screw it and toss down as much petite anubias as I want to into the foreground and let that carpet.


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## thefishnoob (Jul 12, 2014)

Im really liking it!

Nice progress. As a nano only guy, I didnt know they could be this lush and have so much volume.


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Some pygmy cories died so I bought more. I added some mini xmas moss and more flame moss, I have too much of that Madagascar stem (I removed a bunch yesterday though), I removed the buce from this tank since the was no space in here that I liked it, and I added variegated macrandra. I’m going to be adding some sygonanthus to this tank once it comes here from StrungOut, which I’m super excited for.

Fun fact, I’m also an idiot and for several months, at least half a year, thought one of the pygmy gourami died and that I only had 2, until the other day when I saw all 3 at once and felt really, really dumb.

Only other livestock plans for this tank are maybe some more shrimp, maybe a second Nerite snail, but definitely 3 more espei Rasbora so that I have two schools of 8. Oh, and let the Japan Blue Endlers do their thing.

Picture Time (come on grab your friends)




Downoi was getting shaded while I was away, it was not happy. I’m hoping that I can get it to bush out again since it was doing well not that long ago.


Blyxa moved up front, I’ve given up on japonica as a background plant. Especially now that I have some aubertii for the 75.


This.stuff.is.a.weed. Its really pretty but before I cut it each stem was like two feet long it was insane.


Mini x-mass moss on rock. I’ll see how it does and how long it takes being shaded to get going.


One of the daughters of the weird shrimp. Sadly I don’t see the weird ones much anymore, they may have died, hard to say.


This stuff is growing slowly where I have it but I’m confident it will start getting nice once it bushes up more.


Same with Ammania bonsai (which I really want to just start calling Rotala indica since that is more correct).

I’ve started dosing the tank again PPS-Pro style. Some of the plants, specifically the erio and the mini Guyana started looking bleh when I forgot to dose for a bit :S.


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

My mini myrio is and downoi is melting a lot more than I'd like for some reason.

I am unsure why but there are some things that need to be cleaned up in this tank. Mainly I need to tame down the java fern as it is invading the mid ground and shading a lot of my plants. I need to get the myrio and the downoi back in shape or acquire more if need be.

I also want to thicken my Ludwigia Red as I keep cutting it. I need to be diligent again and trim the tops and side shoots, remove the bottoms, to get it neat again.

I recently added some sygonanthus to this tank as well, curtsy of StrungOut. Specifically added Manus and Maderia to this tank, as well as Belem.

Not 100% sure on how they are placed atm but I'll most likely move things around come WC day on Sunday (or maybe earlier because its nice to just have to do the 75 and the QT/Growout tanks on Sunday).

I've been dosing (not as diligently as I should I'm afraid) PPS-Pro form Nilcog, however I am considering forgoing that and doing straight EI, at least until plant mass is where I'd like it.


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