New Plants

I decided to get some new plants to replace the Cabomba as the fish were slowly pulling them apart. As I was having trouble finding the plants I wanted at the pet shops, I decided to use a Internet site recommended in a tropical fish magazine I have been reading. So I ordered 5 plants from them last Saturday and they arrived on Wednesday. They came in bags that were very moist inside. These bags were packaged in a box. I was only able to get around to planting them on Thursday night, so I kept them in a bucket of water.

There are the plants I bought:

Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Mi Oya' - An easy plant to grow and one of the most robust Crypts. Very variable under different light and other environmental conditions.

Bacopa australis - Easy to grow in an aquarium. Under certain conditions it creeps across the bottom to form an elegantly decorative light green cushion.

Staurogyne sp. - This is a new plant to the aquatic hobby. It is a hardy plant for the foreground of the aquarium.

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

Messy Tank

The tank is currently looking very messy. I have just removed some Cabomba that was not looking too great and suddenly the whole tank is full of Cabomba pieces. Generally there are always a few pieces of Cabomba floating around or stuck on the filter grid, but now it is everywhere. I have been thinking of removing the plant for a few weeks now as it has been looking very sparse and unhealthy compared to the others. Little did I know that when I did remove it, it would get revenge and shed a load of leaves into the tank Not wanting to throw it away, I have put it into the fish pond outside to see what will happen. Maybe it will recover and I might put it back into the tank again.

First Guests

After monitoring the Ammonium (NH4), Nitrite (NO2) and Nitrate (NO3) for the last few weeks and seen them fall to the appropriate levels, I decided it was time to get some fish. After some deliberation I decided to go for a fish species that was hardy, playful and fun to watch (my opinion of course). So yesterday I went to my local fish shop and bought 3 Zebra Danio (Brachydanio rerio) and 3 Leopard Danio (Brachydanio rerio var. frankei). Once I had introduced them to the tank, they spent the night getting to know their new surroundings. Part of that process was eating all the bloodworms (I was able to identify them with the help of the local fish shop assistant), so by this morning they were pretty much settled in. They appear to be enjoying the few plants in the tank, especially the Cabomba aquatica (Green Cabomba, Giant Cabomba) where they like to hide from each other. Besides darting around the tank, they also enjoyed the flakes I fed them tonight, though not as much as live bloodworms.

So welcome to our first 6 guests. We hope you enjoy your stay.

Hello And Goodbye

On Friday night while inspecting the tank I noticed 2 more snails, so now I have a total of 3 snails in the tank. Two of them seem to be hanging around the thermometer (which currently reads 26 degrees Celsius). I have turned up the temperature to help the acceleration of the bacteria that is needed to keep that tank running smoothly.

I have had to remove the Fittonia 'Superba Red' and the Dracaena sanderiana (Red Striped Dragon Plant) tonight as both plants were starting to decay already. The leaves from the Fittonia 'Superba Red' had decayed from the stem and were floating around the tank. I had also noticed an abundance of red worms in the water (introduced from the Cabomba aquatica (Green Cabomba, Giant Cabomba)) and they were attacking the Dracaena sanderiana (Red Striped Dragon Plant), eating the decaying parts. 

I am a bit worried about the red worms as all my internet searching for the last 3 hours has not turned up much, so I have posted a question on a forum to see if I can get any answers. I am hoping that they will not be a fish parasite of some sort, but rather fish food.   

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.