Tank Update

I removed a single plant from the front of my tank last night, and cleaned the glass, and the change is incredible. Taking out a single plant has made the tank look totally different and feel far deeper and more 3 dimensional. Just one plant made a massive impact. Make me wonder what other things can be changed irrevocably by such a tiny change.

Shrimps

Here's a piccy of x3 of my shrimps.
Green, Crystal Red and an Amano.


Here's the Crystal Red close up.

Tank Plants over time

Heres a Before and After piccy of my tank now that the plants have grown.
I think its about 12 to 14 months growth.

Tank Update

Having that awesome Betta was cool. What wasn't cool was his predilection for eating my shrimp.
He's now gone back to the shop, and Ive replaced some of the little fellas.

I now have...
x2 Amano Algae Eaters
x2 Red Cherry
x2 Black Bee
x1 Crystal Red
(possibly x2 Clear Tigers, but I haven't seem them since the Betta incident.)

x2 Glowlight Tetras
x2 Black Tetras
x2 SilverTip Tetras

On another note, Ive also taken out the twin lamp from my tank (Aquastart 320) which was red and white (for color and plants) and put in a twin White lamp (just for maximum plant growth).
It means the colors on the fish aren't so good, but the greens of the plants against the black substrate and background are vivid, and the plants should do better.

Ive also fitted a small cheap (from china) little strip of blue LEDs, to see if I can produce a little moonlight effect in the late evenings when the main lamp goes off.

Here's the fitting photos.
You can see the main tank and the little unobtrusive bolts on top.


Here's the bolts from the top. I tried to make them as flush as possible.


The inside. You can see the LED strip, and the cable I routed down the side and clipped in. I had to use a little grinder to cut out some plastic on the left side to make the cable run out the way, but it seems to have worked out ok :-)

New Fish

I decided to go for a single Specimen for the tank, as Kribensis etc are better in pairs, and I'm not happy my tank has the space for them to be happy.
Found a cracking Betta (Siamese Fighting fish) in a Bronze color with slight blue hues.
He seems happy enogh at the moment :-)

Tank Update

I cleaned the glass on my tank, and its looking nice.
The Crypto's are putting up extra shoots against the glass on the left and right, and the java fern at the back has made good growth and is starting to act as the background it was planned to be.
I only have 2 black tetras, 2 glowlight tetras, and 2 silver tip tetras left, plus x2 Amano Algae eating shrimps.

(The pic doesn't really do it justice)


I Plan to find a nice colorful specimen of some kind that's easily kept and tolerant, to stand out against the black and green. Maybe a Kribensis.


Or something bright blue.

Fishtank

Ive lost my flipping Apisstogramma Agassizi Cichlid.
Clearly not the right conditions despite my efforts.
Oh well, will try something else more hardy..
The shrimps are loving it though and are getting big :-)

Tank update

I finally got the Dwarf cichlid I was after, but cant find any females for him yet.


Also got x4 Cherry shrimp that appear to be doing well.
They have shed their skins several times, and certainly seem to be getting larger. They are always wandering about or sat on leaves or stones grazing.


Also added x3 black tetra,


and 3 Glowlight tetra,


both of which really contrast with the gold and white cloud minnows.

Tank Update

Well my 28L (6gal) (12 inch per side) Nano tank had a die off of fish, (as they do) and the plants weren't doing as well as hoped.
Turns out the plants I had needed more light than I have.
BUT, one of them did very well, and that's the small one in the front called a 'Crypto' (which is short for a long name I cant remember)
So I decided to change the whole setup, go for black sand instead of gravel, an internal box filter, and heavy planting with low-light tolerant crypto's.

So far just have a bunch of white cloud and golden mountain minnows.
Im hoping next month to have a pair of Apistogramma Agassizi Cichlids. (American Dwarf Cichlids)
I always wanted African Cichlids, but space and cash don't allow right now.




I moved the wood after making this vid.

Tank Update

Added some more fish....

x5 Ember Tetras - small pale red fish, that become very red and striking as they settle in a new tank. Very active.


x5 Neon Tatras - because the missis loves the striking blue and red colors. Also very active.


x4 'Endlers' - A rather special male Guppy. Specially bred for thier stunning fluoro colors.


Pair of Opal Dwarf Cichlids. Very charismatic little creatures.



All x10 tetras like to shoal up together and dominate the mid to lower portion of the tank, with occasional mass-hiding round the back of the plants and heater, making it look like they've all escaped.

The minnows have taken to the very top of the water (feeling shoved out by all the tetras?).

Tank

I recently gave into my craving for another fish tank.
I used to have several, with all sorts of tropical fish, and a lobster (yes, I did say lobster, he was called Colin:-)
I havent had one for many years because of moving about and spending my time on bikes and in college, but being more settled now, and finding a tiny space to squeeze a little one in, I got myself a small 28 litre tank. I just thought Id share a couple pics of the White Cloud Mountain Minnows and Corydoras Catfish that are the current residents to date, (although its hard to see the Minnows in the pic).