# 10in^3 - Ao's non betta tank! *very pic heavy*



## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Time to get a diary up exclusively about my 10in cube  I have a photo journal in the faraway lands of TFK about all my setups, *But* i thought it would be nice to be more specific.

*Specs:*
Low tech high light, 10in low iron glass cube.

Tank: Aquapro 25cm high clarity low iron glass cube tank.

Light: 20w LED ceiling panel from ebay
Fauna: Over stocked, all inhabitants temporary.

Substrate: Flourite black sand

Filter: Hagen elite mini

Plants:
Major plnts
Xmas moss
Peacock moss
Fissidens
Marsilea minuta
Marsilea quadrifolia
Ludwigia arcuata
Persicaria kawagoeanum
Eleocharis belem (dhg belem)
Cryptocoryne petchii
Herminathus callitrichoides

Minor plants- Unintended plants
Macranthemum umbrosum var. 'monte carlo sp3'
Susswassertang
Salvinia
Riccia
Staurogyne repens

Fauna: Overstocked, but all very much temporary.

*Progress thus far...*
Pardon me while I go dig up some old photos 

The tank is an impulse buy in April 2013. i didn't quite get around to it until October. For the longest time, it looked like this...











10/04/2013-Starting up











10/13/2013-Fabulously beautiful algae




















10/14/2013- one of my favorite algae pics











10/15/2012- Tank is establishing... algae dying 











10/19/2013- Some crazy growing persicaria...



















11/03/2013-Some nice growth in the moss




















10/04/2013- A pic of some of the first inhabitants



















10/05/2013 -Didn't like the riccia much, shoved it all in the back...









+a top view...









+a trim :O









10/14/2013- rocks added!









+close up of transitioning arcuata from emersed to submersed









+ lesson learnt, do not attempt to move drift wood!









11/18/2013










11/22/2013- moved rocks (again!)











11/29/2013- It's getting there 









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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

12/01/2013 - I blanched some zucchinis for the tiny super red BNP (I'll be gifting this one out for xmas), he's addicted!

This pic cracks me up because he's nomming on the ramshorn's shell 



Video gives a good idea of the current tank inhabitants 
http://youtu.be/5OXwkPAMJJE


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

12/2/2013
Morning tank 

The marsilea's finally unfurling, I've been waiting for it to sprout leaves since last wednesday.









"Before" pic









Trying out a black background 











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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Looks amazing! Are those Hera Jerdoni? That little BN is so adorable!!! Love it ^_^ also what kind of algae is that? That's exactly what I've been trying to identify in my tank and couldn't figure out what it was. I like it on the glass, just not choking my plants out >.>


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Yes they are  Im lucky if I see two in one day and extremely blessed if I see all three O_O 
I still have to figure out how to catch them to give them away...


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

They don't eat algae correct? They're like Cories and are scavengers? They're so adorable and I wish I could own some but there's no point in it for me lol.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

They're strictly nocturnal  I'm not quite sure about the scavenger part. I feed my cories and the haras black worms. During the day, some of the worms escape the cories and burrow into the substrate. The Haras dig them up at night


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

That's cute they dig them up lol.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Littorella Uniflora from my emersed tank... Will it grow low tech submersed? only one way to find out!









Full tank shot...









The view from above always fascinates me. It's too bad that the tank is set up so that the top is fairly inaccessible










My little moss gardener 










I got a blue guppy for xmas! just one! what should i do with him...?









My little super red bristle nose pleco and amano was also rehomed as a xmas gift ^_^ I hope they find lots of happiness in their new homes!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Uggg looks so amazing! Super jealous haha. Love the little shrimp! So adorable!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

^_^

Here's a little size comparison chart... everything is teensey!


























So the pygmy cories are about the size of the momma neos. The momma neos are a little bit bigger than the trumpets snails, the amano is almost double the size of the pygmies. The lone male endler guppy is about as long as the pygmies in body length, but his tail makes him look quite a bit bigger...

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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

And the litorella...? growing new leaf and root! I'd say it's not doing too badly at all ^_^ Does anyone else have a curious case of upside down snails? 










I'm raising water hardness to see if it will slow down some bba growth i'm getting, but it seems to be taking a toll on the hc...


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## sandybottom (Nov 29, 2012)

nice looking cube. makes me miss my pygmies:-(. seriously one of the cutest fish species ever.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh yes, I get the upside down snails as well, I tend to call them Jesus Snails at that point haha. My Mystery loves to try to go upside down but she's getting to the point where she's a little too big and can't venture far out past the wall.


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## RainbowhLizzie (Sep 15, 2013)

Ahh, yay I am not the only one! I was horrified to see my snails attempt that, and I could not find much info on it. I thought there was something bad in the water and they wanted out 
That tank is gorgeous! Emersed tanks always look so intriguing.
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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

RainbowhLizzie said:


> Ahh, yay I am not the only one! I was horrified to see my snails attempt that, and I could not find much info on it. I thought there was something bad in the water and they wanted out
> That tank is gorgeous! Emersed tanks always look so intriguing.
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


Yeah it's just them wanting to explore. They basically fill themselves with air I believe and then because they can achieve the perfect water tension ratio, they are able to "walk" upside down on the water. It's very normal for small snails to do! Bigger snails will attempt like mind but they don't always achieve it lol


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

lilnaugrim said:


> Oh yes, I get the upside down snails as well, I tend to call them Jesus Snails at that point haha. My Mystery loves to try to go upside down but she's getting to the point where she's a little too big and can't venture far out past the wall.


I think at some point they get too large and heavy for the surface tension to hold  your mystery snail looks lovely, I can totally imagine sticking a pellet in its foot when it comes up to the surface like that!

Mystery snails are one of the snails I never owned XD they get a bit too big for any of my tanks 



RainbowhLizzie said:


> Ahh, yay I am not the only one! I was horrified to see my snails attempt that, and I could not find much info on it. I thought there was something bad in the water and they wanted out
> That tank is gorgeous! Emersed tanks always look so intriguing.
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


haha, I think they're trying to nom on the surface protein... which suits me just fine as they do a good job keeping it sparkling ^_^
seeing them upside down AND blown around by the current really cracks me up though  I took this vid the other day of my shrimps. You can see the snails travelling backwards and in circles around the surface

http://youtu.be/uLgXZJA6m9E




sandybottom said:


> nice looking cube. makes me miss my pygmies:-(. seriously one of the cutest fish species ever.


They are! They're so teensey and wiggly XD and trying to watching them wrestle a black worm? outright adorable!










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## sandybottom (Nov 29, 2012)

awww. thanks for the cool pic.looks like he is eating pasta. **slurrrp**


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Hitching an upside down ride.... 

Merry Xmas!











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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol, that's a cute pic!

Merry Christmas to you as well!!!

What kind of snail is the bigger one? The small one looks like a Pond Snail?


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

the big one is a pond snail  the small one should be too... it might be a bladder snail but I don't recall having those in my tank :O


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Ah okay, interesting. The shell just looked a lot flatter than I recall Pond snails being. but I was reading in another post about the whole antennae being stubbier on Bladder snails or was that pond snails you said? or am I completely off? lol I obviously didn't comprehend it XD


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Bladder snails: 
Filehysidae Bladder Snail.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Pond snails: their antennaes look more like little triangles =D
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Water_snail_Rex_2.jpg

edit: found a great website wth more info!
http://molluscs.at/gastropoda/index.html?/gastropoda/freshwater/physidae.html

http://molluscs.at/gastropoda/index.html?/gastropoda/freshwater/lymnaea.html


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Ooooh so I've been seeing Bladder snails this entire time lol.


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## squishylittlefishies (Sep 12, 2012)

Love the dwarf cories, they are so cute how many do you have?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Aus (Feb 3, 2012)

Aokashi! Hello there!

Once more, you're my favourite maker of little gorgeous planted tanks. I love how this has come together, and all the tiny livestock are just adorable! Well done, indeed.


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## Crowntails (Feb 12, 2013)

In love with your tank, its beautiful! Ah, you're making me miss my little pygmy cories.


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## Quinn (Apr 4, 2010)

Your tank looks great, and everyone is SO CUTE! EEEEEEEeeeeee


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Crowntails said:


> In love with your tank, its beautiful! Ah, you're making me miss my little pygmy cories.


They ARE cute!!!! so wigggly and adorable! What happened to your Pygmys?



Quinn said:


> Your tank looks great, and everyone is SO CUTE! EEEEEEEeeeeee


They are! XD except maybe for the Amano, he's just awkward and klutzy, bulldozing over everyone else 



Aus said:


> Aokashi! Hello there!
> 
> Once more, you're my favourite maker of little gorgeous planted tanks. I love how this has come together, and all the tiny livestock are just adorable! Well done, indeed.


Nice to see you back! it's been so long! How are you? It seems like I'm stuck with small tanks until I get bigger accomodations!



squishylittlefishies said:


> Love the dwarf cories, they are so cute how many do you have?
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I have 5 in total  I originally had 6, but one didn't make the quaratine D:
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Quinn (Apr 4, 2010)

I can't wait to have my pygmys! I'm so excited! And nah, your Amano is (or was since I think I read you rehomed) a cutie too! I think they are cute in a weird, unconventional way. Though as my bf said I'm sure if they were land-lovers and running around the house I'd be as skeeved out as the house centipedes make me :lol:
It's amazing how quickly my Amanos seemed to realize the terrorfish (he actually really wasn't bad) was removed from the 10 gallon, they've been back out and about on the driftwood all day today. I fed that tank right after removing him, so I guess they noticed he wasn't trying to steal all the food and figured they could party! A lot of people say Amano are better in terms of standing up to Betta, but I found mine to be total wusses! The Cherries do better than them! I'll have to see if my Amano are klutzes too, though I don't think anything can be as clunky as large Mystery Snails :lol:


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I went to Las Vegas for a vacation last Sunday and only just came back today...
I did observe a few changes... good and bad that occurred in my absence. 

Let's start with the good:

-No sign of BBA (yippee!)

-GSA has also cleared out on the front glass

-All my fish are alive! (Ofcourse I couldn't count the hara jerdonis, but I saw two of them hanging out in the plants...)

-Crypt petchii grew a couple of new leaves! yes, not just one, a couple!



And then there's the not so good...
- 3 ramshorn shells... I just cant seem to keep these so called pest snails alive!

- My blackworms in the jar next to the window froze to death  I didnt take any photos... mushy wormy carcasses makes a pretty gross image. Need to venture out to the lfs soon to get more... *cries*

- Tank is super overgrown and needs to be cleared out and trimmed (especially the salvinia!) I'm personally not a fan of trims and water changes, so this is a  for me. 

Picture time!
Feeding the tank was the first thing I did when I came home... the guppy's such a bully...



















I saw two hara jerdonis today as opposed to the usual ... none. I'm blessed today.










Extra fluffy xmas moss










I never really show a shot of the back do I? Well here it is. You know how people have sumps to improve filtration? This is my "plant sump", that ugly hidden part of the tank which helps the handle the bioload. After all, just having moss isn't very good insurance against an ammonia spike. there's all kinds of unpresentable plants here in the back, guppy grass, more unruly stems, stray moss...










Drift wood platform









Full tank shot 





























RIP poor nameless ramshorn snail...











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## sandybottom (Nov 29, 2012)

too bad about the ramshorns. glad that no fish perished. how was the trip to vegas?


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## Aus (Feb 3, 2012)

Ah, lovely pics! Always cheers me up to see your tanks.

I'm fine, atm, had a hard year with my health and sundry other mini-disasters. Lost my two most beloved fish due to not qt'ing carefully enough, so I've felt a bit bleh about fishkeeping in general. All is on the mend, however! 

So nice to see you still about. I wonder what's with the ramshorns? I can never keep 'em alive myself..  But I have a bajillion MTS.


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Is your water soft? That might be why you can't keep ramshorns alive. 

I love the tank and the Hera jerdoni (where'd you get them?). So cool. You always have the best nanos and picos.


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## Aus (Feb 3, 2012)

Ah, of course.. in my own case - yes, very soft. That'd explain it, then. Silly me! :roll:


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Aus- great to hear that everything is falling back into place! 

I'm sick with a hideous cough, hoping to update soon :<


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Finally getting over this cough
grrrr 

Sleeping fish are so pokeable


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Lmao! I gave a good laugh at that! I used to do that all the time to my sleeping sorority XD


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Ao, we need an update! =)


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I will when I get back the the US!
meanwhile.... enjoy some photos of the good ol Aussie Summer


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## Quinn (Apr 4, 2010)

LUCKY YOU! It's so brutal in the city right now with all this snow/ice... I feel like this year everyone decided to just forgo shoveling. Does not make for a happy me, as I work outside, and we're supposed to get another snow dump on Thursday. That looks SO lovely though, and such gorgeous critters. I'm so jelly.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I've been keeping up with the weather over there. I love the cold weather, but I can't say I miss it. Summer's been pretty mild here in Sydney during my stay 

Stay warm!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

This little endler thinks he's a pygmy cory.

http://i.imgur.com/Dyyu3eSl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/HVGqnOal.jpg


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

Awwwww... he's looking to fit in somewhere  I love lurking on this thread :thumbsup:

Curious - how did you raise your water hardness to beat down the BBA?


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

eh... I dont recommend trying this at home... But at first I added baking soda. Then I resorted to seachem equilibrium when it arrived from amazon. I think the flourish excel and reduced feeding was what really took it down 

This little endler was given to me for Christmas. Mostly because there was one other male endler in my friends tank that ended up killing all the other males. I realllly don't want babies, so it's going to stay lonely


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Or you could give him a male friend and take one of my male guppies! ;-) lol

His pictures with the little Pygmies are absolutely adorable! Still loving this tank!


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## Quinn (Apr 4, 2010)

Aww how cute! Tank looks great!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Thanks!
I've been lazy with my uploads, writing posts on my phone is simply too tedious D:

Here are all the photos I've been owing this thread...

So here I go.. in reverse chronological order....


Tank as of today.... The purple background was an accident, but it kind of looks nice, so I left it there =D I also filled the tank! yay!











I pulled some E. "belem" (aka dwarf hair grass belem) from the xmas moss in the drift wood and planted them in the substrate 










The l. arcuata is certainly making good progress =D










Tank was in a good old mess when I got home. I really got sick of trimming moss so I pulled all the moss. The tank remained dusty the following day >.>










moss madness.... photo taken during my first water change after coming home...


















surprise surprise! All three Hara Jerdonis survived my 4 week absence!


























After clearing out a little salvinia....










What I came home to... 2 weeks ago.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Finally... a trim! First in 3 months! >.<
The carpet is slowly but steadily growing out  








Little blue endler guppy passed two nights ago, probably reached the end of his short little lifespan. The shrimps and fish worked so quickly away at the body that i never had the chance to tale it out. All that was left by morning was this little white endler skull...RIP little fish.


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

Awwww...


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Sad about the little boy, do you want my Tiger Endler? lol or any Half Black fry who are almost three weeks old?


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

nooo! no more endlers/guppies/live breeders for me. They're such piggys too XD 

But thanks for the offer!

Recently mice have been stealing my fish food  has any one else had this happen?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh lol, no worries.

Huh, I've never had that issue before! Just my cats always trying to get a bite of the food, they absolutely love the smell! lol


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

They do smell amazing... they smell so good that even I took a little nibble on a pellet once...

Here's some pre trim photos 









And this was from about 2 weeks ago:


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

and a year later...after a LOT of neglect and ONE trim...


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

Well.. the belem carpet filled in ^^ 
Good read, fun seeing the evolution of a tank over a year or more.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Ao!!! You're back! Or at least, you popped in ^_^

Good to see you and your tank! It's still a beautiful tank needless to say!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Thanks 
I haven't had time for this tank, It's been running by itself... I didn't add a filter back in until last weekend  The moss was so overgrown that the belem carpet grew an extra half in because it was so thirsty for light.

I've never really been away  always lurking >.>


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