Abundance Of Fish

We are back from a lovely cold holiday. The fish have survived again using the automatic feeder, so it is a worthy investment for feeding your fish when you are not around. The tank is doing well, too well in fact. A few posts ago I mentioned that we had a 7 babies in the tank. Well that number has gone up a bit, to about 20. I say about as they are difficult to count because they keep moving around and hiding amongst the plants and bogwood. Still not sure which fish species it was that dropped them, hoping to know when the fish are a bit bigger.

Babies Update

L discovered that there were three baby Mollies in the tank rather than the two we first saw. I say were as there is only one left now. This batch of babies seemed more brazen than the last batch, as they were swimming out in the open amongst the plants and around the bogwood, which probably made it easier for them to be eaten. The sole remaining one has started to loose its transparency and has gained a bit of white in its body. If it survives, it will be interesting to see how it grows up and what colour it will eventually become.

Tank Update

The sick Molly is still sick. He has started eating a bit, but generally is not doing well. There are a few scales that are missing and the speckled Molly is returning the favour of chasing him around the tank. I am surprised he has lasted this long.

The Kuhli loaches are settling in and have made the gap under the bogwood their home. They can be found hiding there most of the time and only come out when the lights are off or there is a bit of food out. But they are slowly acclimatising to the tank and every now and then we see one swimming along the bottom.

I now know why they call the shrimp "Ghost Shrimp". It is not because they are see-through, but it is because you do not get to see them! Since they have entered the tank, I have only seen them a few times. They appear to like the Java fern and now and then I see both of them hanging on the leaves. Occasionally a fish will chase them around until they get away.

Last but not least, the snails have been reproducing. The total number of snails have increased and we have even seen some snail egg sacks on the Java fern's roots. They appear to live mostly on the Vallis and Java fern. I might have to invest in a fish that likes snails for dinner to start keeping the snail population under control.

I also noticed that the Vallis was starting to block out the light to the plants below, so I decided to do a bit of pruning. I thinned out the longest leaves, creating space for the new leaves. I decided to cut the leaves just as they reached the surface. Some of the off-cuts were nearly a metre long, so the total length of the leaf must have been over a metre.

Reluctant Guests

Today we bought the most difficult fish and crustaceans that you can catch, or so it appeared when the pet shop guys were trying to catch them. It took ten minutes to catch four Kuhli loach (Pangio Kuhlii) and just as long to catch the two Ghost Shrimp (Palaemonetes kadiakensis). Both groups are scavengers. We had fun getting them out of the bags when we got home. The shrimp slipped passed the net as we were pouring the water over the bucket, but likely L was better at catching them than the pet shop boys were. Loaches were just as fun, one decided it did not want to leave the bag and got itself trapped in the corner. Luckily I was able to coax it out into the tank with a few shakes of the bags.

Once both the shrimp and the loaches were in the water they disappeared into a variety of hiding places. Last night they had settled in a bit and it appears the loaches like to live under the bogwood away from the light. The shrimps on the other hand have hidden themselves somewhere in the tank, but now and then we see them on the Juwel Rock background. I am hoping that once everyone settles down, we will see more of both the loaches and shrimp.

Kuhli loach

Ghost Shrimp

Baby No More

The last few days I have noticed that the Siamese fighter has not been hanging around the bogwood, hunting for the baby Molly. I have also not seen the baby hanging under the bogwood and after a few checks with the torch, I have come to the conclusion that the Siamese fighter has had his take away meal. Pity as I was hoping the Molly would mature to an adult.

Baby Is Back

Guess who I found today? One baby Molly hiding under the bogwood, trying to avoid the Siamese Fighter who is keeping an eye out for a quick snack. I happened to notice that the Siamese was hanging around the bogwood with a very keen interest in what was there. He reminded me a bit of how a cat stalks its prey. He was just floating very still by the bogwood, staring at one location. Then suddenly I saw the baby Molly swim out and the Siamese darted forward trying to catch it, but luckily for the baby Molly the Siamese was too slow, this time.

I thought about catching the baby and placing it in the filter box until it is a bit bigger, but because it is hiding in the crevices of the bogwood, it might be difficult to get to it, so I have decided to let nature take its course.

Uprooted

I have been away for a few days and came back to a tank that has had most of the Cabomba uprooted. My current suspects are the Mollies as they have a habit of nibbling on plants and if those plants are not rooted down strongly, they slowly get pulled free of the substrate and end up floating.

I took some awful photos to show the effects of the uprooted plants in the tank.

The sparse location where the plants used to be.

Caught on the Java fern and Vallis

Caught on the bogwood

Replanted

Cleaning Crew

I have noticed an increase in algae growth on the bogwood over the last two weeks and decided I had better do something about it. After a bit of research I discovered that Mollies (Poecilia sphenops) like to eat algae as part of their diet, so I bought four today to help keep the algae growth down in the tank. Of course doing regular water changes helps reduce the amount of algae growth, but having a cleaning crew helps as well.

We bought four different coloured ones, total black male, white and with black spots female, total white female and a total orange female. The white and orange ones are settling in and have already started eating some of the algae. The other two are currently a bit skittish and are hiding below the filter or amongst the plants.

I also decided to get two female guppies to keep the remaining male happy. He appears to be happy and is already chasing them around the tank.

More Snails

I have now counted 7 snails in the tank, consisting of 2 different species. One species is from the Physidae Family and I think they are Physa spec, otherwise known as pond snails. I have not been able to identify the other species yet as the snails are currently too small and their shells are white without any identifying features.

The Physa spec were the first snails I spotted when starting the tank and they have more than doubled in size and number. I often see them on the bogwood, glass and on some of the plants, especially the Java fern, eating the algae growing on them. I was lucky to see two either mating or fighting tonight. There is not much information out there on the Internet to suggest one or the other, but if there are a bunch of new baby snails in two to three weeks time, I will know which one it was.

And They Call Him Houdini

L and I have just had a big shock. We just sat down to eat dinner and looked over to the tank and I noticed that the Siamese Fighter was missing. Oh, we thought, he is just hiding somewhere beneath the bogwood or amongst the plants. 5 minutes later and still no sign of him, we started to panic. Our dinner got pushed to the side and we started hunting high and low for him. Could not find him anywhere, I even checked the cross beams, thinking he might have tried to jump out of the tank and landed on one of them. Still no Siamese Fighter. L suggested that maybe he could be in the filter box. I opened the lid and looked in and could not see him, and then low and behold, there he swam into view. One quick net catch later and he was back into the tank.

Now the interesting bit, I am not sure how he got in there! There are no large holes into the filter for him to swim through. The only place we can think of is the gap between the pipe that creates the current and the filter wall. We will have to keep a close eye him to make sure that this does not become a regular occurrence, else I will have to look at ways of bocking the gap.

This is the back between the pipe and the wall. In the time it took me to write the above bit, he went and did it again and got himself into the filter. So I had to come up with a quick solution to stop him getting in again. I took an old plastic plant container that I had kept and cut the bottom off and wedged it over the pipe, blocking the gap. I hope this will work, though it looks awful. Let see if Houdini can get inside now.

Java Fern And Vallis Update

The Java fern appears to be doing very well. Loads of roots have grown onto the bogwood and seven new leaves have appeared. Also, most of the original leaves have baby plants on them. I am waiting for them to break away so that I can relocate them to other parts of the bogwood. This is a very easy plant to grow in the tank, most difficult part was tying it to the bogwood with cotton thread.

Some of the Giant Vallis plants are doing well. If you look behind the Java fern, you will see some of the 50 cm long leaves flowing in the water current caused by the pump. Most of the other Vallis plant leaves are growing slow and occasionally I find that some have broken off. This is also another easy plant to have in the tank. Its leaves are tougher than they look and can handle strong currents, though something in the tank causes them to break off occasionally.

Gardening

Today I decided to do a bit of gardening in the tank. The three Ophiopogon 'Kyoto' (Dwarf Fountain Plant) had turned yellow and was starting to rot, so I removed them from the tank. They only lasted one month, which was a pity as they provided a nice wall in front of the bogwood. While I had my hands in the water, I decided to prune a few of the other plants that had a yellow leaf or two and did a general tidy up. The fish seemed to love having their environment invaded, as they were darting around, trying to see what the giant hand was busying doing. I think they were a bit disappointed when I had finished as their fun had left.

Baby Java Ferns

When I bought my Java fern (Microsorium pteropus) and tied it to the bogwood, it looked like the picture below.

After a couple of weeks on the bogwood, some of the leaves now have little plants growing on them, see picture below. This is how the Java fern reproduces. Once the new plants have developed roots, they will break away from the mother leaf and float around in the aquarium until they find something to which they will attach. I am hoping to put a few of the new ferns into some holes in the bogwood so that they can grow from there.

Real Aquatic Plants

Out of the 7 plants species that I have bought so far, 3 are real aquatic plants. These should help the fish feel more at home than the non aquatic plants ones.

Echinodorus bleheri (Broad-leaf Amazon Sword) - This is an ideal plant to be used in the background of the tank. It is a slow grower, but when it is established it will be tall and wide and can fill a large portion of the tank. When I removed the plant from the plastic plant container, I discovered that there was a baby Amazon Sword growing next to the large adult. So I have ended up with 2 plants for the price of one, which makes up a bit for the non aquatic plants. I have planted both at the back of the tank, behind the bogwood, with the baby plant close to the adult one. I will relocate the baby one to a different location once it is bigger. 

Cabomba aquatica (Green Cabomba, Giant Cabomba) - Tall growing plant, great place for fry to hide in so that they do not get eaten by any adult fish. I have planted 3 of these close together to form a nice area for fish to hide in.

Microsorium pteropus (Java fern) - This plant is different from most aquatic plants as it can grow on rocks and bogwood. I have tied mine to the V area of my bogwood using cotton thread and hope it will form a nice centre piece.

Flora Planted

Just a quick update. During the course of this week I have acquired some plants, which have now been planted. I will post more about each one later on.

Still looking a bit sparse so will be popping into the local fish shop to acquire a few more. Of course once they start growing the tank will fill up a bit more. 

The tank is still a bit cloudy, but each day it has been improving, so it appears the filtering is working.  

Gravelled And Watered

It has taken L and I 3 nights worth of gravel washing to get the 35 kg of Dorset pea gravel clean so that it can go into the tank. Unfortunately the gravel is covered with a fine dust that takes on average about 4 washes before the clear water runs off it. But it was worth it as the gravel looks great with the backing and the bogwood on top of it. 

Once the gravel was in, it took 23.5 bucket loads of normal tap water to fill the tank. After which I switched on the filter pump and heater. By tomorrow the tank should be warm enough to start planting plants, but we will have to do a bit of shopping for them first.

First Of The Hotel Furnishings

On Sunday L and I went to our local pet shop that specialises in Koi to get a water testing kit so that I could test the hardness and pH of our tap water to get an idea what we are facing. I bought a Tetratest Laborett test kit, which covers pH (acidity of a solution), KH (carbonate hardness), GH (general hardness), NO2 (Nitrate) and CO2 (carbon dioxide).

While we were there we had a look around at some of the aquarium backings you get, perused the fresh water fish and plants, and came across this piece of wood, which we both could not resist.

It is 55 cm x 41 cm x 41 cm (Length, Width, Height). We felt this could either become a centrepiece or be used to distract from the filter. We will decide on that later. In the meantime I have given it a good rise and have put it in the outdoor fishpond to soak to remove any tannins.