# Noah's Mini Haven



## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

I was surprised how quickly the Driftwood sank. I boiled it for a couple hours, and then floated it in a spare 10 gal over night, and this eve it was sitting at the bottom. 

Now to figure out what plants I should put in there. I have access to four aquarium stores that carry live plants. Some can order specifics for me, others I just have to wait and pick through their stuff on delivery day. 

Any suggestions for this tank? I want it to be pretty heavily planted, I think I will transfer quite a few of my cherry shrimp from the 36 into this tank.


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

I like that piece of wood!

Are you going to inject CO2 in this tank?


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

ZooTycoonMaster said:


> I like that piece of wood!
> 
> Are you going to inject CO2 in this tank?


I found the wood over at petco the other night while getting some more food for the 36 gal.

Eventually I will set up CO2, but until then I will be dosing Excel. I had thought of doing DIY, but since this is going to find its way into my office at work, it might be a pain to set up the DIY system, and keep it fueled


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

Then I think Marsilea Minuta will work as a nice carpet plant for you.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

ZooTycoonMaster said:


> Then I think Marsilea Minuta will work as a nice carpet plant for you.


I have that in my 36 gal, it is on my short list of carpets. The only problem I have with it in my 36 is the speed it grows, its like watching paint grow lol. but with this little sucker having more light than the 36 it might grow a bit quicker.


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## Eden Marel (Jan 28, 2010)

HC, some moss, and some rotalas.


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

Noahma said:


> I have that in my 36 gal, it is on my short list of carpets. The only problem I have with it in my 36 is the speed it grows, its like watching paint grow lol. but with this little sucker having more light than the 36 it might grow a bit quicker.


Really? Marsilea Minuta grew really fast for me :/


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

I have more than enough moss that I can transfer from the 36, The Rotala might be a good option. I think Aqua imports stocks that regularly. I was also thinking of Lawn Marsh pennywort as well (I think one of the stores in Lakewood stocks). I do have Creeping Jenny in my 36 too that I absolutely LOVE, that might be an option for the back of the tank. I also had thought of transferring one of my dwarf lily's into the tank too.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

ZooTycoonMaster said:


> Really? Marsilea Minuta grew really fast for me :/


lol yea, it is really creeping. it is though packing itself in very densely where it is growing.


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## Eden Marel (Jan 28, 2010)

If you add the moss are you going to tie it to the wood or make a carpet?


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Eden Marel said:


> If you add the moss are you going to tie it to the wood or make a carpet?


I figured that I would attach it to the wood near the surface. The Java that I have in the 36 gallon decided to grow horizontal near the surface, and it has a very nice look to it. If I can find where I found the Crypt. parva again, and get a hold of 5-6 pots of that, I could plant the foreground on the front right side in front of the driftwood.


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

Crypt Parva grows REALLY slow. But it looks nice

If you want, I have a fast-growing carpet plant called Hydrocotyle sibthiorpoides. I can ship it to you for the cost of shipping if you're interested


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

ZooTycoonMaster said:


> Crypt Parva grows REALLY slow. But it looks nice
> 
> If you want, I have a fast-growing carpet plant called Hydrocotyle sibthiorpoides. I can ship it to you for the cost of shipping if you're interested


Let me see what I can find in the local stores first, I might take you up on the offer though, it looks like a very nice plant.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Started planting it this eve. I am not anywhere near the final plants. I wanted to get some of my quick growing stems in there to help eat up any ferts in the water column to keep the algae at bay. So I added several stems of Egeria najas, a few clippings of my Creeping Jenny and my Red Ludwiga, both of which will be permanent in this tank, with final placement to be decided later. I also picked up a couple small Anubias nana tonight to glue to the driftwood. I have not done so yet... well due to the fact that the water is cloudy from disturbing the substrate while refilling after a quick water change lol. I plan to add more pictures late this weekend, they might be nice to look at, or well... plain depending on what my trips to a couple of the aquarium stores that carry plants yield. One trip today did not bring much luck, except the owner told me that next friday they will be receiving their usual plant shipment, and that I should get in sat. morning right after they open to get the best pick. 

I would like to go with the water shamrock carpet, but I am having a hard time finding any of it in the local stores, and shipping costs eat me alive whenever I do an order. So I might go with something else.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

another quick no picture update. Been doing large water changes to deal with the drift wood tannins. I have some of the plants I had planned on in the tank, working on growing um.... until tonight lol. I do not like the way the brown sand and soil are working, so I am going to grab a bag of Active Flora black sand for the tank. This should keep me from getting angry at the soil that finds its way through the sand. Pics to come once the new substrate is settled.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Update:
Made it out to Aqua imports today, I was a bit disappointed in the selection of plants they received on Friday. Apparently the shipment was not as large as they were expecting. Within a few hours they sold out of all of the ground cover. So... I am going to be placing an order here in about 15 min. for some Four leaf clover, and some Crypt. Parva to finish out the plant list. Which now includes two Anubias Nana, Narrow leaf chain sword, Micro leaf sword (hopefully will fill in nicely) and one of the worts lol (specified penny wort, but think he grabbed money wort instead) The tank still has multiple stems of Red Ludwiga, and creeping jenny, they are just very short at the moment, and need to grow in a bit. 

I think the stock list will be just shrimp, and if I have an algae outbreak, one of my Nerites from the 36 gal. I was thinking Cherry shrimp, and maybe Crystal red's (found a local store that stocks them)

I will update once the pots of plants come in from the order.

Here are a couple of pics, ignore the roots floating around the water, they have been cleaned up now lol


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

The tank is no longer open top!!! My father in law is a machinist. So he was able to get me a nice thick clear piece of Plexiglas and cut it to shape for me. The thing seals very nicely around the entire perimeter of the tank, with the only exception of corner where the tank equipment is. I can now fill the tank all the way to the top, which allows me to have a very nice clear view from the top of the tank (except the few bubbles due to an uneven floor lol)

Will post pics soon.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Well the tank is planted!! I recieved my order of plants and found out they sent the wrong four leaf clover species. It will probably be larger than the intended one. If it does get to large, I will swap out the stuff in my 36 for this. The Crypt. parva came looking absolutely wonderful. There is a tad bit of an algae problem at the moment, so pictures might have to wait. I will also let it grow in a bit before adding more. I decided to add a DIY co2 system to help out a bit instead of going broke on excel. So far things are starting to grow nicely.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

the tank has its first few residents. I added several ramshorn snails to help with a bit of an algae problem that is now clearing up. And today while grabbing some more bloodworms for the 36 gal. I noticed a lonely dark blue female betta just sitting there in her little container. My daughter fell in love, so I purchased her. She is now exploring her new home, and seemingly having fun doing it. The cats are absolutely enthralled that there is now something within viewing distance from their favorite place to perch. I tried to capture a picture of the little betta girl, but she is busy taunting me. Every time I would grab the camera, she would run and hide in the plants. And come back out as soon as I put it down. 

Here is how the tank sits now.





















I am waiting for the creeping jenny to fill in a bit more. And will be replanting the trimmings along the back to form more of a stem wall. And I do plan on adding a black background to hid the equipment that will eventually be on my work desk. The marsilea quadrifolia is filling in nicely, and is a tad larger than I had hoped (received the wrong plant with my shipment) But I still think I will keep it in the tank. The crypt. Parva is going through typical melt, and hopefully will spring back quickly. My hair grass is clearing from the algae outbreak, and has started to fill in. The dwarf lily sent out its first new leaf the past two days. And the parrots feather is well... a test plant. It came in pretty sad shape as you can see by the lower part of the stem. I am hoping that it will root and grow a bit.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Thinks are still filling in, the Four leaf clover is moving quick to fill the right side of the tank. The Crypt. Parva is going strong too, and has now went from its very pointy vertical look to being what I am used to, and sort of laying out from the center. The Chain Swords and grass on the right have now started sending out runners to fill in. I removed the parrots feather due to the messiness of it lol. And I have transplanted some of my Val. from the 36 gal into place. I am now of the belief that pond snails are a creation of hell, and are imposable to get rid of, and imposable to keep out of a tank. The infestation is not horrible yet... but is starting to get there. I am only lightly feeding the tank as it is, not sure what else I can do.

Bade (the name my daughter gave to the Betta) is not sure what the heck these new things are sharing her tank. She gets close to one, and it bolts off. She managed to get right next to one earlier, and sort of sat there like she was thinking "now what" they stared at each other for a few seconds and then went their separate ways.

Here are some update pics.


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## nemosreef (Oct 19, 2007)

Tank looks really nice.


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## Chrisinator (Jun 5, 2008)

Pretttyyy tank!


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

nemosreef said:


> Tank looks really nice.





Chrisinator said:


> Pretttyyy tank!


Thank you. I suck at aquascaping lol, but the fish in both tanks seem to feel at home.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Well update time:

As you can see the tank is filling in very nicely. I am going to add some red root floater to draw the "danio's, rasbora's (emerald rasbora)" or whatever they decide to call them someday out in the open. There will also be some of the val. on the left side to partially cover that side of the tank. I do have a bit of a snail problem, in which I am starting to take measures to fix, and a problem with hydra. Algae is completely under control now as well (YEA ME!!!) All of my scaled inhabitants are happy as can be, the betta is using the tank as her personal play ground, diving into the plants head first at any sign of food, and resting in the moss when she is tired. The "emerald rasbora" and White clouds seem to be happy as I saw some early morning spawning this morn. lol (gonna keep my eyes out for wigglers, I would like a group of these guys in my 36 gal. 

I have been thinking of removing the pygmy chain sword, what do you guys think? It is on the left of the parva in the mid ground.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Update time. The "Emerald Rasbora's" are now more visible, I purchased some Red Root Floater from Nemosreef a few weeks ago. After the snails had their way with what I received and a massive catch and release into a kettle pond in the backyard I have cut the snail population in half, and the RRF are growing like mad. I am getting ready to do a pretty big trim of the plants to get more light to the substrate. The stem plants have grown very thick. Bade, the Betta (daughter named her lol) is queen of the tank. While the other fish occasionally bicker with each other, and play their little fishy games. She is left alone. The colors of the "emerald rasbora" are striking. Almost as if they are luminescent. A pearly body, with glowing red fins and cheeks. And dark green vertical stripes. Unfortunately my camera sucks (Iphone 3g camera lol) or I would be able to post better pics. The fish so far are being fed NLS formula's and freeze dried tubiflex worms. They go GAGA over the worms, it took Bade a while to realize it was food, but now she anxiously wags her tail at me as I prepare them for feeding. This tank was originally meant for my office desk.... But my wife fell in love with Bade the Betta and has now requested That I keep it at home. Which is fine with me, might mean I get to setup another tank for work lol. 

overall tank shot. with Bade and some of the WCMM's showing off









The Red Root Floaters I purchased from Nemosreef (they flowered a few days ago)










Creeping Jenny doing what it does best.... creeping. I might just let it keep growing and see what happens. As long as it does not take over the tank, and keeps growing out of the tank it will stay.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Update time yet again. New developments in the tank. SNAILS!!! I have tons of ramshorn snails, I started fishing them out of the tank and putting them in a kettle I have in the backyard. The Red Root Floater is doing very well, I have "tirmmed" them back to only cover half the tank, but it recovers the rest in a matter of a week or so. I have now put some in my 36 gal, and in the kettle in the backyard. Of course the only stuff that is red is outside, the rest is a nice pastel green with pink roots. Today I added another light to the tank, the floaters were blocking too much light in the area where I needed it most, so I popped another 24 watts of light over the tank, we will see what happens. 

Here are some pics. Sorry about the reflection, and some water spots on the glass lol. 

1/4 shot No full frontal shot at the moment, I need to adjust the light again to capture a good one.









My Emerald Rasbora's They came out to get their picture taken!!




































And the queen of the tank Bade, the Betta (Daughter named her) The Rasbora's and the WCMM's bicker and play games, but stop when Bade comes by to see what is going on. She was begging for food in the first picture.


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## albirdy (Jul 16, 2008)

where'd you get the creeping jenny? it's hard for me to find. is it the bog plant?


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

albirdy said:


> where'd you get the creeping jenny? it's hard for me to find. is it the bog plant?


A LFS around me gets it in stock every once in a while, I have it both in my 36 and this 5.5 gal tank. I do know that Lowes sells this in there garden center, and it probably would not take much to get it to revert back to its aquatic structure. It is a great plant, and grows VERY quickly lol


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## boon (Mar 29, 2006)

Very nice tank. What kind of four leaf clover is that? It looks very good.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

boon said:


> Very nice tank. What kind of four leaf clover is that? It looks very good.


Thanks 
The carpet is Marsiella Quadrifolia, it was originally an accidental order lol I had wanted the Minueta, but ended up receiving this species. And I am very happy with it, it grew in very very quick.


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## TobasB (Aug 11, 2010)

Love this tank, everything looks so lush and healthy!


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

TobasB said:


> Love this tank, everything looks so lush and healthy!


Thank you. It is pretty darn healthy. There were several times I thought I might have to set up a third tank, because both the WCMM's and the Emeral rasboras were doing the mating dance lol


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## Eden Marel (Jan 28, 2010)

Your female betta loooks really fat lol. And are you sure that is a female?! The tail and ventral fins look a bit long for a female, but I guess they are out there and rare.


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## Lil' Swimz$ (Jul 24, 2010)

That looks very much like a male, a very fat one at that.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

She was labeled as a female when I found her. For a very long time her tail was very small, and not as long as it is now. If it is a male, it is one of the calmest and nicest male Betta that I have ever had. 

Yea, Bade is a porker. I do my best not to overfeed the tank, Bade is usually into everything that can be deemed edible. I put a few of the Betta pellets in the tank, then drop either a pinch of flake, pinch of mini pellets or a small amount of tubiflex in the tank for the other mouths, and she is in it lol.


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## Eden Marel (Jan 28, 2010)

Might have been mislabeled. My HM betta was in a female cup, but the darn cashier knew it was a male so she put it in the right number when she rang it up! Would have been such a great deal if I just paid female price...  And couple days ago, I saw a delta male in a female cup at the same Petco. XD 

But yea, nice docile males and long fin females are both pretty rare


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

If it was mislabeled I scored lol. The petco near me has all of the females in one area, and the males in another. The males are in a very ornate display, with the females on a plain shelf  I originally went in not expecting to buy a Betta, but I saw this one, and felt horrible that it was so tiny, and hiding in the back of the cup. So my daughter talked me into bringing it home (not really hard) and here we are. As I type, Bade is in the "feeding corner" of the tank begging me.


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## Eden Marel (Jan 28, 2010)

Bettas... they love food. My female also loves to beg for food every time she sees me.


Here are old pics of my bettas in the order I got them; first three I got from Petco, last one I adopted from a classmate, he was in pretty bad shape but is a hungry red eating machine now:

Mr. Red, the red Crowntail betta. Named after my other very first bettas that were name Mr. Tie Dye due to their multicolorness (I probably had three previous bettas all named Mr. Tie Dye). Deceased. :









Blue Moon, the Blue Butterfly Halfmoon (I'm so sad though, he got fin rot so he isn't pretty anymore =[) :









Innocence, a Crowntail betta. Looked pretty sickly but had a hint of innocence when I first got her. Boy was I wrong... once she became all better she is a stalking eating machine that threatens to rip off your finger unless you feed her:









Kabocha, a red veiltail betta. Adopted from classmate. Was a miserable betta, could no swim very well due to classmate dropping tank off a windowsill and hardly every fed betta. Now he swims fine and dandy with great appetite.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Beautiful Betta's

I think the appetite is an Anabantoid thing. Bade lives for food. My Dwarf Gourami is similar when feeding time comes, here she is up in the food ring in heaven as the food floats over her lol. My wife made me keep Bade at the house instead of the original intention of putting the 5.5 in my office at work. She is convinced that Bade is the long lost scaled sibling of one of our cats. They have similar personalities when they want attention, they both come as close as they can and do a little dance, they both love food. lol


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## Eden Marel (Jan 28, 2010)

So, how this going? Any algae problems yet?


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Algae has stayed away, but just in case I added a horned nerite lol. I also have decided to tear down the 5.5, it will get set up in my office probably mid next year. Instead I will be bringing back my 10 gal from the crawlspace and set that one up in the 5.5 gal place. I plan to start doing the change over the next few weeks. Everything will move over, and I plan this to be a very cheap switch. I think my current filters on the 5.5 should work, but just in case I still have my old HOB filter from the 10 gal in its previous setup. I will add another clip on desk lamp to the 10 gal in addition to the two lamps I have on this one now, this will help deal with the extra depth and length of the 10 gal. If it seems like too much light, I will take the home depot desklamp with the 5.5 gal to my office. I got the ok from my wife to do this since I am not adding a tank to the collection lol. 

I think the Bade will be happy with more space for her to dig into lol. It might also give me the opportunity to add a small school of Chili Rasbora's to the mix, depending on if the betta thinks they are food or not. I still need to do some research. My guess is that she in her current porker state and with long fins will not be able to catch them lol. I did find out she is most certainly a girl. She has a pretty prominent (ovifactor)sp? Her fins have not grown much, and man is she a moody Betta. I got her pissed off at me the other day by putting in some tubiflex worms as a snack for all of the inhabitants. Well, she is very picky at what she wants to eat. So she refused to eat any of the tubiflex, and after about 5 min. of me not adding any pellet in the tank for her, she swam to the back of the tank and did not come to the front for several hours lol.


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## Eden Marel (Jan 28, 2010)

Where did you get your horned nerite, how much it cost? 

Well some males can have a ovipositor, but yea you probably got a long finned female! Wahahahahaha. Them bettas, yes they have attitudes lol, very uniques ones which makes them a very special type of fish and you just can't have one betta!! One betta will eventually become multiple betta syndrome!


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Eden Marel said:


> Where did you get your horned nerite, how much it cost?
> 
> Well some males can have a ovipositor, but yea you probably got a long finned female! Wahahahahaha. Them bettas, yes they have attitudes lol, very uniques ones which makes them a very special type of fish and you just can't have one betta!! One betta will eventually become multiple betta syndrome!


I picked them up at Denver Tropical Fish Warehouse. They were 3.99 each. They are actually smaller than a ramshorn. Very pretty though, powder yellow shell with a black stripe. The horns appear at random, mine does not have any yet.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Well, I purchased another 10 gal tank, so the RRF grow out tank will stay intact in the crawlspace growing stuffs out lol. I started getting thing ready by setting up my new desk lamp and adding that one to the tank area. Right now I have the 5.5 sitting on a t.v. tray, and I plan on putting the 10 gal on the same tray. I sat on it for a while and it felt very stable. The 10 gal will stick off the edges by 3/4-1" each side, But I assume that it will be fine. All of my plants will be going over, although I am unsure how to replant the clover as it spreads through runners on the substrate, and sends roots down. I think I can just burry the runner under a thin layer of the substrate. The fish will spend the day in a 5 gal bucket until I get things setup in the new tank. I think I will have enough filtration with my current filters on the 5.5, as they are turned way down on the flow to keep the fish from going for a ride. I painted the back of the tank tonight, turned out nice. I hope the fish will be happy in their new home lol. Bade will be pissed with me for a few days, but she will get over it.


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## Superluminal (May 28, 2010)

Very nice tank.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Let the tank change commence. I will post some pics after it is done.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

I am unconfortable with the scape so far. It is not that much different, but man ti feels like it is barely planted lol. I might go out and buy some mature stems tomorrow just to make it feel more full. 

As I thought, the Bade the betta was pissed with me all day until I offered her some food. She seems to like the new tank, the others are well looking a bit lost. I think the Emerald Rasbora look better in a jungle of a tank. I did get some lace rock after the pictures were taken, and put it in the back left of the tank, which will have some sort of clinging stuffs on it at some point. Right now my betta is attempting to get herself stuck while exploring, but she has found her way out every time.


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## Eden Marel (Jan 28, 2010)

Nice, also did you want my plants?? I've been holding on to them, they kinda got legy cuz they ar being covered by other things since I haven't trimmed because I was waiting to see if you wanted them still.

also that table the tank is on!! Did you get that at Walmart!! I have one that looks exactly the same, but I didn't think it could hold 80+ lbs!! O_O


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Eden Marel said:


> Nice, also did you want my plants?? I've been holding on to them, they kinda got legy cuz they ar being covered by other things since I haven't trimmed because I was waiting to see if you wanted them still.
> 
> also that table the tank is on!! Did you get that at Walmart!! I have one that looks exactly the same, but I didn't think it could hold 80+ lbs!! O_O


ohh ohh ohh I completely forgot! I was looking for some stems for the 10 gal. Throw me a PM on when you could meet. I am off Thursday, Friday until 3:00 and sat. until 3:00.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Well, I have seen my first plants pearling. The Aponogeton ulvaceus is holding on to tons of bubbles on its leaves, and my small sword is streaming from a damaged leave. I have had some die off of the clover, but I bet it comes back quickly. I have had some significant growth on both the floaters and the Val. And I hope the vals continue to fill in the far right side. 

My horned nerite snail (I think I will get a couple more) seems to love the rock, and the wood. I can always find it in either of the two places. I also have a new leaf on the dwarf lily in the front right. This is the first new leaf since transplanting the plant from my 36 gal to the 5.5, then to the 10 gal. I continue to dose Florish comp. and Florish Iron (for the red plants)


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Nice work Noah. I like that big beautiful Aponogeton.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

hydrophyte said:


> Nice work Noah. I like that big beautiful Aponogeton.


Thanks


everything is getting back to normal in the tank, just in time for me to decide to rescape it lol. It will be a minor rescape. I am going to remove the rock now, and move my Apon. to the far left corner, I added some plants from Eden into the tank, which are now gaining in size lol. I visited an aquarium store that I have not been to yet, and they have an amazing show tank. So... that is where I got the bug, now that I am going with pressurized CO2 in this tank, I plan to get some more reds, and more high light plants in the left half of the tank, while hoding onto the lower light plants on the right side of the tank (so I can keep a nice dense layer of the RRF that is there now. I know my Danio's will appreciate it, the cover makes them less skittish. 

This will all happen after I get the CO2 up and runnin, hopefully in the next couple weeks. 

Anyone have any good high light stems that would work in the tank? I would like some red, and some nice feathery plants.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Well the Aponogeton ulvaceus was not doing so good with the high light on it. The leaves started to turn more translucent and take on a brownish look. So I moved it into my 36 gal lol. 

The tank continues to hold form until I can get some better stems for the background. I am thinking stems with more needly and bushy. The Rotala (not sure which one) is growing nicely so I think I will keep it and move it into the light more. The tank will be more 1/2ish high light with some cover from the red root floater on the far right for cover for my Danio's It ended up that the Nerite that I thought was a Horned nerite is actually a Bumble Bee nerite that made it into the batch of the horned ones. I did pick up 3 horned nerites from D&G pets and they are happily munching away at my algae (not much in the tank though) I finished my paintball CO2 injection kit, and we will see how well it does.I am getting the bottle filled tomorrow night, and hookin it up. I built the system for a little under 50.00 which included a 9oz bottle, the needle valve, and the ASA on off valve. I built the bubble counter out of an unused medicine syringe, a check valve and some hose. It seems to work pretty well and is located in a place where I can keep a close eye on it, and my pressure


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## jacari (Dec 1, 2009)

i love your lighting. and congrats on the co2


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

jacari said:


> i love your lighting. and congrats on the co2


lol thanks, they seem to be working very well, and if it ends up that I need another lol I have one plug left, and one 6500k bulb available, but I think this might be good on the lighting. 

I did a bit of plant additions today. I added some Cabomba furcata in the back left corner (looks awesome!!!) some Didiplis diandra in the middle back of the tank, and some Rotala sp. 'wallichii' between the two. The plants with the exception of the cabomba were in rough shape, so I hope they pull through. ohh ohh ohh yea and I added a Red Tiger lotus. My bulb for the other one has not started sprouting yet, hopefully soon.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

WE HAVE MAD PEARLING!!!!!

Wow, I never thought I could get this much pearling in a tank lol (to be fair, some of it is streaming from some damaged leaves) So far the tank is doing very good with a pressurized system. I dosed my ferts yesterday and already my Cambomba is starting to get red tops and yellow/green bottoms. The Red ludwiga which was burgandy red has lightened up to almost a pinkish red, and one of the stem plants that Eden gave me is starting to redden up a bit too. How great. The biggest pearler so far is the Anubias, which is producing over a period of a half an hour bubbles on the underside of the leaves that rival the size of a contact lens. My Betta which became bored with the setup before the plants is very happy now. she has been having fun swimming at full betta speed head first into the camboba lol. She then will turn around and perch on some of the leaves for a few min. only to get tired of that and dive into the four leave clover carpet for some left over food.

ohhh and my RRF on the darker half of the tank is flowering!!! little itty bitty tiny white flowers.

as soon as things color up a bit more, I will post some more pics.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

and at least one pic as I promised. The picture was taken a few days ago. Tonight when coming home, I noticed that the Cabomba is really starting to turn red, and has put on a little height lol the red Ludwiga is RED RED RED, and has put on another node. I will take a few more pics tomorrow eve.


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## JulieR (Aug 26, 2010)

Looks great! That red cabomba is an excellent addition! It adds a nice variance in color and texture. 

Do you have two different kinds of Ludwigia in there? -Squint- Looks like... L. repens and L. repensXarcuata? Maybe?

The repens x arcuata looks near identical to mine! They get a really nice red hue to them.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

JulieR said:


> Looks great! That red cabomba is an excellent addition! It adds a nice variance in color and texture.
> 
> Do you have two different kinds of Ludwigia in there? -Squint- Looks like... L. repens and L. repensXarcuata? Maybe?
> 
> The repens x arcuata looks near identical to mine! They get a really nice red hue to them.


I was not sure which stem the one to the right of the ludwiga was. Eden Mardel passed on some trimmings to me a few weeks ago.


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## Eden Marel (Jan 28, 2010)

Yes, I believe I included L. arcuata x repens. 

Looks beautiful!! :d


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Eden Marel said:


> Yes, I believe I included L. arcuata x repens.
> 
> Looks beautiful!! :d


thanks  I think it looks better in person than in pictures. 

I was going to ask you, what was the plant you gave me that has the almost lotus like (but thicker) leaves? I LOVE that plant.
its behind the tiger lotus on the left side.


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## Eden Marel (Jan 28, 2010)

Noahma said:


> thanks  I think it looks better in person than in pictures.
> 
> I was going to ask you, what was the plant you gave me that has the almost lotus like (but thicker) leaves? I LOVE that plant.
> its behind the tiger lotus on the left side.


Nymphoides aquatica, the banana plant.  I love it too, the only thing bad about it just annoying how much it wants to float until it gets rooted. Always making my bananas floating around in the tank, so I have to pull the plant off the bananas.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Eden Marel said:


> Nymphoides aquatica, the banana plant.  I love it too, the only thing bad about it just annoying how much it wants to float until it gets rooted. Always making my bananas floating around in the tank, so I have to pull the plant off the bananas.


 It died. not sure how, but the leaves over the past couple days turned brown, then started to melt away. The thing would push itself out of the substrate.

on a side note, the cabomba red is well... turning red!!! The new growth is very magenta red, while the stuff around is a yellowish green. It has put on about 3" since I first planted it. The others are slowly greening up too


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## Eden Marel (Jan 28, 2010)

Aww that sucks, I notice mine starts to die if I don't keep up with my ferts. Sometimes I'm lazy and skip a few days of ferts... I think specifically on Iron. I've been skipping ferts on my 5g for a couple weeks now and mine also is dying. The two biggest leaves turned yellow and melted away. I think I better go back to my usual fert regimen.

It also loves light, but I think you should have enough lol. Maybe it was your ferts not enough of it.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Eden Marel said:


> Aww that sucks, I notice mine starts to die if I don't keep up with my ferts. Sometimes I'm lazy and skip a few days of ferts... I think specifically on Iron. I've been skipping ferts on my 5g for a couple weeks now and mine also is dying. The two biggest leaves turned yellow and melted away. I think I better go back to my usual fert regimen.
> 
> It also loves light, but I think you should have enough lol. Maybe it was your ferts not enough of it.


could be, everything else is doing great though! So far, I have just a handful of snails for you, I may have to go get a fresh cucumber, this one is not attracting them lol


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

UPDATE!!!!!!

Things are GREAT in the tank, I may pull the Red Cabomba and go for a thin needle leaf green stem. The Didlipis is growing extremely well (see pics below lol) And the corckscrew stuff on the left that Eden gave me is growing so well I will probably transplant some of it into my 36 gal next week. 

I have ferts ordered to start the PPS dosing program, should be fun. It will be the dosing method for both tanks. 

I added a couple new fishie friends, which will be the last this tank will see unless god forbid something bad happens. The new friends in which I named "peanut butter" and "Jelly" are a couple of Dario Dario. what smart little tiny creatures they are. Jelly is a bit camera shy, and runs and hides lol. Peanut Butter is overall orange with the dark red stripes. Jelly is overall silver blue with the red stripes. I have had to start feeing frozen foods to the tank, so the little guys will eat. they HATE anything prepared, or freeze dried. They LOVE picking at frozen bloodworms and cyclops. 

Here are a few pics of the tank, and my scaled buddies 

Please forgive the pics, My digital camera is ancient, which leaves my iphone for the pics.

Overall Shot.









Quarter Shot









WCMM's and one of my cross banded danio's









Cross Banded Danio's (yea, they are hard to get pictures of, I think I need to dose the tank with Ritalin)









Cross Banded Danio playing peek-a-boo









My new little guy "Peanut Butter"









"Peanut Butter" Shows off for the Camera. 









And some Chili to go along with the Peanut Butter lol


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## Eden Marel (Jan 28, 2010)

Is Peanut Butter the sandwich bag Badis??


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Eden Marel said:


> Is Peanut Butter the sandwich bag Badis??


lol, he has stripes above his eyes that make him look mean. But he hides from Bade the obese betta.


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## AquaStudent (Jan 4, 2011)

That's a gorgeous tank! I love the aquascape.

what is the current stock you have in there?


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Thanks!, 
lol its stocked

It contains
8 Cross banded Danio
8 Chili Rasbora
4 White cloud mountain minnows
2 Dario Dario
1 fat female betta

inverts 
3 horned nerite snails
1 bumble bee nerite snail

All water params keep completely in check, the fish are happy and healthy except for my obese betta, who eats anything and everything she can find (she is on a diet)

I trim the tank about two times a week, the didlipsis diandra just grows like there is no tomorrow. It is kind of fun trimming too. The top of the didlipis is only red, once I trim about two inches off, the whole tank is green, and over the course of a couple days, it turns from green to orange then back to red. Quite fun to watch. 

I have tons of fun watching the smaller fish chase each other in and out of the plants, which is why it is so heavily planted.


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## Eden Marel (Jan 28, 2010)

Noahma said:


> Thanks!,
> lol its stocked
> 
> It contains
> ...


I'm curious, but what exactly IS your pH, gH, and kH if you know? Cuz most of those fish you have love acidic water and we both know Colorado doesn't exactly have the most acidic water


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Eden Marel said:


> I'm curious, but what exactly IS your pH, gH, and kH if you know? Cuz most of those fish you have love acidic water and we both know Colorado doesn't exactly have the most acidic water


My ph is 7.2-7.4, I am not exactly sure on the kh or gh, I have not checked in a very long time.


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## Eden Marel (Jan 28, 2010)

Ahh no too bad pH, yea. Ft Collins water is like 7.8, gH 5, kH 4. Longmont water is 7.4, gH 0, kH 2.

Did I mention how fat your WCMM look? O__O


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## Cynth (Sep 11, 2010)

Love your tank and the fish. Very nice.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Eden Marel said:


> Ahh no too bad pH, yea. Ft Collins water is like 7.8, gH 5, kH 4. Longmont water is 7.4, gH 0, kH 2.
> 
> Did I mention how fat your WCMM look? O__O


Yea, our water is not too bad. Most of the fish came from boulder water lol, which is um... liquid rock.

I took the pics right after feeding, the two fat WCMM's are gravid females, they tend to drop in size, then balloon back up again. kind a funny. And they are pigs too.






Cynth said:


> Love your tank and the fish. Very nice.


Thanks, now to attempt to get my 36 gal as colorful as this one lol


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## Eden Marel (Jan 28, 2010)

Ahh I see, I guess the closer to the mountain the harder.


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## mrchach (Sep 8, 2010)

great looking mini tank!!! love the cross banded danios


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

mrchach said:


> great looking mini tank!!! love the cross banded danios


Thanks! They are some of my favorite fish lol They are always moving around the tank, and have a bit of a manic personality


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Well update for this tank too lol. 
Some good and some bad. We lost Bade a few weeks ago. Apparently she had a problem that some have not been able to identify yet, it caused body bloating (not dropsy, the scales never popped out) it was cyst like, and some had had some success in prolonging life by draining the cyst. I was unable to prolong her life. I decided not to get another betta for the tank, as it was very hard on my daughter who loved that fish. I did however add a sparkling gourami. What a little pistol. it defends itself very very well, and has tried to take over the tank at a tiny 1/2-3/4" long lol. The Dario Dario continue to have boarder disputes lol, and have taken to their new sparkling neighbor well. It goes between the two territories with no problems (must be the fish visa) The tank is well... very grown, the Didlipsis diandra has taken over the majority of the tank, and I LOVE it. I have some new rotala that is growing in the back right, hopefully to bush out when it takes hold like the didlipsis did. All is well in the tank. 

here is a pic after tonights cleaning. 

Again, sorry for the horrible pictures, I really need to get a hold of a Digital camera instead of my iphone.


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## Rockhoe14er (Jan 19, 2011)

wheres my HM????!?!?!? Great looking tank btw.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Lol it's in the 36 gal. The stupid mts keep uprooting it though


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## Rockhoe14er (Jan 19, 2011)

haha. Did you ask them nicely to stop?


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## MaStErFiShKeEps (Dec 6, 2010)

Do you use any fertilizers?


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

I was using the PPS pro fert regimen, until tonight actually lol I am switching it over to EI. My 36 gal is already on EI, it is just a pain to keep two different fert systems going.


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## MaStErFiShKeEps (Dec 6, 2010)

Oh okay. Looks nice!


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Thanks. I just did a major trim, and clean so I might get better pics up here soon after the regrowth starts again.


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## PinoyBoy (Mar 14, 2008)

I love this tank. I thought it was a 15 gal long when I saw your updated FTS.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

PinoyBoy said:


> I love this tank. I thought it was a 15 gal long when I saw your updated FTS.


Thanks. I am getting ready to do a pretty intensive rescape. The Didlipsis is taking the tank over lol, I think I will trim it back to 1/3 the tank, and put a few more small leaved species in there.


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## Aquariumnoob1 (Nov 30, 2010)

What are your thoughts on that hagen mini? I just ordered a few, 1 as a primary in my 5.5, and one as a powerhead/diffuser in my 10 gallon. I hear it has alot of flow, is there any truth to this?

Noob


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Aquariumnoob1 said:


> What are your thoughts on that hagen mini? I just ordered a few, 1 as a primary in my 5.5, and one as a powerhead/diffuser in my 10 gallon. I hear it has alot of flow, is there any truth to this?
> 
> Noob


It is one powerful little filter lol. I have it set to its lowest flow in the tank to keep the fish from being smooshed on the opposite side of the tank. It is very easy to work with, and runs like a champ. I also have a HOB filter on the 10 gal along with the elite mini. and the tank water is always clear.


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## Aquariumnoob1 (Nov 30, 2010)

Noahma said:


> It is one powerful little filter lol. I have it set to its lowest flow in the tank to keep the fish from being smooshed on the opposite side of the tank. It is very easy to work with, and runs like a champ. I also have a HOB filter on the 10 gal along with the elite mini. and the tank water is always clear.


I dont want this thing to turn my 5.5 gallon into a whirlpool lol. I might run the smallest HOB as i can find on this tank to and see how that goes.
Thanks

Noob


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Aquariumnoob1 said:


> I dont want this thing to turn my 5.5 gallon into a whirlpool lol. I might run the smallest HOB as i can find on this tank to and see how that goes.
> Thanks
> 
> Noob


I had this one on a 5.5 at first, it was fine, just set it to its lowest setting.


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## Aquariumnoob1 (Nov 30, 2010)

Noahma said:


> I had this one on a 5.5 at first, it was fine, just set it to its lowest setting.


Oh thats great, so i wont have to pour any more money into this tank lol 
Thank you again

Noob


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Aquariumnoob1 said:


> Oh thats great, so i wont have to pour any more money into this tank lol
> Thank you again
> 
> Noob


no probs


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Well, after a year of being setup (well actually 8 months ish after setting it up as a 5.5 gal) the tank is coming down. I am now moving over to a Fluval Flora, it will have the fish from this tank in it, and some of the hardscape / substrate ect. Most of the plants are going to get trashed due to a very severe outbreak of BBA that I just cannot kick. Also now that the betta is no longer with us, this will allow me to get this thing setup for the eventual transfer to the office, where it was originally intended lol Lets see what I can do with the flora. I will be setting up a separate journal for that tank, and let this one fade into history lol.

Thanks for watching this tank, and stay tuned for the next. (gonna be fun!!)


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