I went to buy some neons …
Posted by Anja on March 27, 2008 at 11:47 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 19:04… and came home with three little glowlights. The neons were still in quarantine and not for sale yet. I saw the tank full of beautiful glowlights a couple of weeks ago when I went to get my bristlenose, but thought they’d all been sold by now. Lo and behold, though, there were three left, swimming a little forlornly in a tank full of small rasboras. Since they were the last of a whole shipment, I named them The Mohicans.
They still look a little lost in my tank, but they’re checking out all the hidey holes and occasionally surf in the filter current. Now I just hope they’ll survive the next 72 hours.
Tags: Hemigrammus erythrozonus | Categories: 25G South American | Comments Off on I went to buy some neons … | PermalinkHappy Paddy Day
Posted by Anja on March 17, 2008 at 19:01 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 19:02I got a really nice macro shot of him just now. You can even see the pale green spots under his eyes. (He’s a Green Dotted Bristlenose.)
He’d been hiding all day, to the point where I got quite nervous, but he came back out around 5pm. I put in a spirulina wafer, but he hasn’t discovered it yet. Still busy munching away on the wood.
Tags: Ancistrus | Categories: 25G South American | Comments Off on Happy Paddy Day | PermalinkFinally. A fish.
Posted by Anja on March 16, 2008 at 19:00 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 19:01Meet the first resident: Cthulhu, the cutest little Bristlenose this side of Peru:
After a couple of hours of hiding shyly behind the rocks, he’s now happily scampering all over the place, not the least bit fazed by the flash.
Tags: Ancistrus | Categories: 25G South American | Comments Off on Finally. A fish. | PermalinkI got the fitting hood
Posted by Anja on March 12, 2008 at 18:57 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 18:59Looks a lot sleeker. No ugly waterline, no huge gaps.
Me’s happy.
Aaaand: Lights on!
Could use a leeetle top-up. But otherwise bright and shiny. Yeah. Now, if the parameters keep being good, I’m ready for a fish next week.
Tags: tankbuild | Categories: 25G South American | Comments Off on I got the fitting hood | PermalinkThe nano apparently already had a snaily inhabitant
Posted by Anja on March 7, 2008 at 18:47 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 18:56He looks different from the ones I had so far. This one is about 1,5 mm. Ramshorn?
Looking around for the macro snails, I noticed that there’s also a batch of eggs on the Vals:
And here I thought I’d be bored waiting for the fish. ;o)
The eggs seem to be hatching. There are teensy snails in the nano now:
About the size of a quarter pin head. I left the side of the tank in the picture when I cropped, so you get the thickness of the glass and the silicone strip for scale.
And? Is that a Physa?
Anyone want to hazard a guess? To me those triangular horns (see 2 pics below) look quite different from the one I first fished out and think is a physa. But I find it hard to get relevant info on the net. The pages that are there all seem to be disagreeing as far as taxonomy is concerned.
And another one:
Both have been kicked into the nano. I also found more leaves with eggs (they were on the Crypts), which I at this point just threw out. I’m sure there’ll be more.
Found another one in the big tank.
And here’s the captured snail
Posted by Anja on March 6, 2008 at 18:43 | Last modified: July 11, 2012 17:01… that I think belongs to the eggs (or vice versa). It looks like a tadpole snail (Physa), about 2-3 mm:
I put her and the leaf w/ eggs in the nano tank. I was afraid she’d run out of oxygen in the jam jar. Here she’s on her way to the surface to get some air:
Takin’ a deeeeep breath.
Happily munching away.
Here’s a better picture of the eggs:
It’s easier to photograph in the tank than in the jam jar. ;o)
A view of the nano tank after replacing the twisted with the straight Val:
If you look closely, you can see a speck on the glass; that’s the snail heading back down after her breather.
Tags: Physa | Categories: 2G Brigs | Comments Off on And here’s the captured snail | PermalinkPosted by Anja on March 5, 2008 at 18:39 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 18:43
Seems I have imported some small snails with the plants:
They’re hard to make out, so I put up a trap. Maybe I can identify them. I want to know if they’re friend or foe. Looking around, I also spotted some eggs on a leaf. Sorry for the poor picture quality. I have to learn to take pics through water. I carefully put the berried leaf in a jar with aquarium water to see what’s going to happen.
Tags: Physa | Categories: 2G Brigs | Comments Off on | Permalink25 g tank up and running – so far so good
Posted by Anja on March 4, 2008 at 17:50 | Last modified: July 11, 2012 17:02I finally finished putting all the auction loot in yesterday, and now the filter’s starting to clear the water a little.
I’m not in love with the canopy that came with the kit. Not that it’s bad, it’s just the wrong one for this tank. It’s 5 cm too short and not made for rimless tanks. If I can find a light-glo or something similar for not too much money, I might try to sell this one while it’s still new. It’s either that or rig something up that keeps the fish from carpet surfing.
Close-up of the Tiger Lotus:
The flash swallows the colors a bit, but if I try w/out it, the reflections are bad on the glass.
In a few weeks I’ll go looking for a little bristlenose. It was too sad to see those beauties go at the auction and not being able to get one.
But now, the waiting game starts. I should go, read my library books, knit a sweater or something, to pass the time.
Ok, ok, I couldn’t resist. I tried a pic w/out flash, just for the pretty color of the light:
So, sue me. At least I found a position where the reflections are kept to a minimum.
Tags: tankbuild | Categories: 25G South American | Comments Off on 25 g tank up and running – so far so good | PermalinkFirst Giant Auction
Posted by Anja on March 3, 2008 at 10:51 | Last modified: July 11, 2012 17:03I came home with an amazing pile of loot, and an OVAS membership card, but too late to do anything but collapse on the couch. Now I’m back with fresh energy, planting some plants. There’s Java Fern (both kinds), Java Moss, Vals (straight and spiral), Crypts, Swords and Nympheas (Tiger Lotus).
I had to move the rock formation to the back and replace a couple of the stones with smaller ones to make room for the big rooted stump I bought. That thing has an amazing volcano-like opening in the top that just begs to be stuffed with plants.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t look half bad. I have quite a bit of straight Val left over (that was a big bag) and some tiny Java Fern plantlets. They’re in the nano for now that I freed up when I took the spiral Vals out.
Already looks much better
Posted by Anja on March 2, 2008 at 18:28 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 18:30… with a bit of water in it. ;oP
Anyway – off to the big auction.
Tags: Giant Auction, tankbuild | Categories: 25G South American | Comments Off on Already looks much better | Permalink