Got my hands on chemiclean and went to town on the cyano! I also removed a lot of dead plant matter that was likely a huge phosphate sourceHappy to report that it shouldn’t return any time soon!
Before:
After:
The chemiclean also helped to clear up the cloudiness in huey’s eye, so an added bonus there.
Dewey still doesn’t touch the repashy, but Huey and Louie eat it like crazy. The added cuttlebone keeps their teeth trimmed (except Dewey...).
In recent news, Huey has been less interested in food and been a little extra thin and bony... I’m getting worried there is some parasite I missed, so I may have to get some metroplex. Always something with these guys...
Aponogeton flower (more on that later):Somehow Dewey is the fattest... no clue how that’s happening. I think he has a bloodworm stockpile somewhere.
Huey doesn’t look much better but no worse either. Maybe he’s just a thin guy.
Lost 2 otos, the other two are going strong. I guess the tank isn’t pristine enough for their delicate liking.
Aponogeton is flowering! There is a shoot reaching up to the top. I noticed it yesterday and it should hit the surface by tomorrow. Duckweed is out of control, I had to move some over to other tanks. The leporinus ignores it so looks like the severum will be receiving the most sacrifices.
As I look at the crevices where detritus reaches, especially dead plants, I can’t help but wonder what inverts may work for the tank. I am too cheap to try anything large... which are the only things that will last long. Puffs would destroy any type of shrimp I assume? And crayfish destroy plants... I’ll probably start breeding cherry or ghost shrimp and just put in babies as I have to. My Amphipod plan was a bust, maybe I’ll try again over the summer.
Your puffers will most likely eat any shrimp you put in there honestly…
although if you start breeding them and just throw them in there might not be too bad an idea although with that said just don’t expect them to last too long unless they are extremely clever and find a hiding spot away from the puffers…
Some updates as Dewey’s teeth continue to grow with him having no taste for crunchy foods.
Acara dropped dead for some reason. Suspecting puffer foul play but I have no idea. More on it here:
So my otos have been dying one by one, for what I suppose is the typical “otos are hard to keep alive” reason, and I come down this morning to expect to find one that wasn’t looking to hot last night. Instead I find my acara lifeless on the gravel. He was my favorite fish in the tank. I also...
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
Otos also have dwindled down to one left. Very hard to keep alive.
While I was trying to fish the acara out I accidentally broke the aponogeton flower stem before it opened
In good news, I added a background to the tank and it looks great!
I guess bad stuff has to happen to make the eventual successes feel all the better.
Some updates as Dewey’s teeth continue to grow with him having no taste for crunchy foods.
Acara dropped dead for some reason. Suspecting puffer foul play but I have no idea. More on it here:
So my otos have been dying one by one, for what I suppose is the typical “otos are hard to keep alive” reason, and I come down this morning to expect to find one that wasn’t looking to hot last night. Instead I find my acara lifeless on the gravel. He was my favorite fish in the tank. I also...
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
Otos also have dwindled down to one left. Very hard to keep alive.
While I was trying to fish the acara out I accidentally broke the aponogeton flower stem before it opened
In good news, I added a background to the tank and it looks great! View attachment 1464126
I guess bad stuff has to happen to make the eventual successes feel all the better.
Going to soon order a lot of scuds to try my luck with them again...except actually get them their own holding tank.
Hair algae has gotten bad, and there isn’t a single vegetarian fish in there, so I may be picking up a molly now that the cichlid is dead.
I lost a sun loach yesterday to what I assume/hope was aggression.
So far still no luck with snails on 2/3 and they haven’t been caring much for the repashys lately, I’m convinced the cichlid helped them feel comfortable eating.
Added loads of hornwort on Wednesday. Bought it along with 1000 scuds from goliad farms. Very pleased with it. Along with them were some guppy fry, a cherry shrimp, planarian, and a lot of pond snails!