# And this is where I shall dump all my photos...



## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I'm terrible at keeping journals, so this aint really that. 

but...

Seriously, I feel bad whenever I take over the other photo threads with photos of my fish/ tanks, I feel like such a show off. I mean sometimes i think he's so pretty i just cant help it... you know?

However I do need somewhere to dump the photos of splotch and my shrimp tank. 

I figured right here would be a good place. 

Welcome to my dumping ground


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Flare flare flare... one can never take too many photos of their flaring bettas...

That split straw hat tail make him look more ridiculous than majestic.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Why is it that I never see my shrimps unless it's feeding time? Then it's like... whoa, where have you guys all been hiding!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Red root floater and clovers, also an airplant. I've also grown an avocado pit in here at one stage (lemme dig up that pic)


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Voila! Behold the aquatic avocado!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol, aquatic avocado...that's interesting. I think mom would love me if I could grow her some avocados....hmmmm

I love Splotch, that flare is just too handsome!!


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## BlueLacee (Dec 8, 2013)

Gorgeous, and not I want an aquatic avocado


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Haha, just plop your next avocado pit in the tank  make sure it's clean and the tip's not submersed, it should sprout in no time in the warm weather 

I realized that I have not yet posted a tank shot. Nothing worth showing though, just a big glass vase filled half way. I took out the heater yesterday because it was getting too warm here, Splotch seems to be enjoying the extra warmth... there's more butt wiggling going on than usual today.


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## Anders247 (Jan 24, 2015)

Beautiful betta!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Thank you!!!


I haven't drawn anything for a long time. Recently My friend and I decided to do an art trade. I'm having fun 

WIP:


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

It suddenly hit me that Splotch is quite the aggressive little runt, he's always snapping at me from behind the glass.

butt wiggle, butt wiggle... snap! snap!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

One photo is never enough!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Progress..... 

Anddddd

time to sleep


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## BlueLacee (Dec 8, 2013)

He is so cute


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

thanks! Splotch or the little kid in the drawing?

Once in a blue moon, I'll tell my boss I'm taking the morning off to bake a cake. Today's one of those days!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Wow! That's an impressive cake!

I love to make Red Velvet Swirl Brownies with homemade cheesecake frosting, mhmm! So good!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Brownies are ooooh so gooood, but urgghhhh so rich and caloriefull! pray tell what is a red velvet swirl brownie? And where can I find a recipe of this delicious sounding thing?


This is my first time dressing up a bundt cake, I usually stick to chiffon cakes topped with whipped cream and fruits because they're not too sweet. This one's for my friend's birthday though, and he requested a chocolate raspberry cake, I'm excited to see how it tastes! 

Here's one of my mini 6in asian cake


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

I use this recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sunny-anderson/red-velvet-swirl-brownies-recipe.html

Though most of the time, I'm doubling it for parties. I usually cut it very small to make finger sized bites, they went over FANTASTICALLY at my gallery reception last month!

Terrible lighting but this was one of the batches I did. I did a fancy swirly thing lol. This is before the oven:


And after:


Unfortunately, I don't have one of them cut up, they look super cute all in diced squares! They're also fantastically yummy!

It's not real red velvet unfortunately, it's just red colored brownies more or less, but it's still very yummy with the cheesecake layer in there!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Omigosh so Pretty!!!! I *must* try this next week!

*saves*

Thanks Lil!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Not a problem!

I don't know how much baking/frosting you do but just in case; I've found that it's real hard to spread around the creamcheese layer after you put down the brownie layer in the pan. I put my cream cheese into a ziploc, chop off the corner at the bottom and squirt onto the brownie layer in lines and then spread from there. You can use the frosting bags too, ziploc was just what I had. Again, don't know what you've got or anything so just putting it out there  The first time, I plopped the cream cheese on it and I ended up mixing the layers too much, still tasted just fine of course, but it wasn't all pretty like ^_^


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

that seems like a great idea. I love zip loc bags  I use them for everything... like sometimes when i need to use the phone in the shower, it's the perfect water proof case XD

I worked more on this guy today, went in and fixed perspective... next, I'll need to fix anatomy D:


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I'm getting better at this whole phone photography thing! That tail is healing up nicely


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

and... Flare!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I did a trim on my stem plants in the back, yesterday. They're all now in Splotch's territory waiting replanting tomorrow 

The water in my 4 gal is very tanninfied and I was *just* about to do a water change when I remembered that I still have a bottle of purigen....
So in goes that.
(laziest aquarist ever)

LaMer at my local Macys has this new cichlid display... You cant deceive me LaMer! Good try with the chunks of dead coral... but cichlids don't live in the ocean where your seaweed comes from!

It was a pretty display though, fish looked a little crowded but healthy. Guess that's all that matters


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

Ugh I hate parrot fish and the other genetic mutants people have made (flowerhorn), they look so stupid. WTF with the coral? Texas holey rocks would have looked so much nicer (and been smoother for the fish) and probably cheaper... not to mention easier to clean, go look at the coral again in a month.. white? what white? we're just brown mulm (poop) covered coral here....


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Good thing It looks to be a temporary thing, it wasn't there the last time I visited. I'm not a fan of parrot fish either, or those glo-fish...

LaMer is some kind of fancy seaweed skin care product, rocks probably wouldn't make it look "ocean-esque" enough


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

There is a make-up counter in a department store I visit with a similar display.

The general public are dumb as a box of rocks when it comes to fish, so it wouldn't surprise me if customers thought these were actually marine fish. For some reason a lot of people seem to think tropical = marine.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Im glad they're not really putting marine fish in there though!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Doing some over time at work today, I used to own a lot of indoor plants, but this is the only one I have now  I actually grew her from a strand some naughty kid pulled off a larger plant in the department store. I feed her with left over coffee/tea, seems to work great so far!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Finger painted splotch!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

One night with purigen 

before:








after:


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

The residence air plant


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Purigen progress 









I traded someone frommy local planted tank group for some floaters and some ramshorns (I cant keep snails alive). We were both too lazy to meetup and decided to ship. It got here in a day!









Splotch's new friends 








It's getting crowded in there!
If anyone is wondering about the water being filled half way, I've been putting off cutting an acrylic lid for Splotch. Hopefully 3 inches makes it jump proof...


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Water temperature. 
Any higher and the shrimps will hate it. I lost my colony of about 30 shrimp one year when the weather was in the 100s...


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Purigen (36 hrs)


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Purigen (48hrs)








Top view:
Apologies for the ugliness
there's a bunch of emersed plants transitioning here!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Someone bit my avocado plant!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Looks like a caterpillar munched away.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

but but but. 

It's no where near other forms of greenery D: I'll have to check the leaves when I get home


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Idk, moths/butterflies lay their eggs everywhere >.< I assume it's outside? Looks like it's outside? It's certainly no animal, deer would have taken the leaf right down and off.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Yep, Just recently outside too. There better be leaves left by the time I get home!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Yay! So clean and clear, purigen did it again!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Is it me, or did his fins grow a tad spikier? 

He's such a curious fellow already.... photobombing whenever he gets the opportunity


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

sometimes I forget that my tank has more than one viewing angle... 

I also need some motivation to clean the glass housing for the light so I can actually see through it


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

They do look a little more spiky! He's definitely colored up very well! He's such a beautiful boy!!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I think so too!

I'm trying not to get too attached to my betta this time around. It's hard to do, since he's the only fish I have and he's so curious about everything, it's hard to notice he's not there. When I had my Hara Jerdonis, I never saw them in my tank. Didn't miss them when I gave them away either


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I got this today to wrap around my filter, hopefully i'll be getting some shrimplets from now on.









I also saw a really lovely but emancipated black and red bi-color betta in the same pet store...
I cant stop thinking about him


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

ao said:


> I got this today to wrap around my filter, hopefully i'll be getting some shrimplets from now on.
> 
> View attachment 581498
> 
> ...


Rescue him! Always feels good saving a betta from a the cup of doom! But then you'd likely be sacrificing your shrimplets to him as snacks.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

You're such an enabler Aqua!

No bettas are allowed near my shrimps D: There are too many nooks and crannies around the driftwood a betta can get stuck in anyway!

I have a finnex 3 gallon collecting dust somewhere in my room... We'll see if he's still there tomorrow...


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

ao said:


> You're such an enabler Aqua!
> 
> No bettas are allowed near my shrimps D: There are too many nooks and crannies around the driftwood a betta can get stuck in anyway!
> 
> I have a finnex 3 gallon collecting dust somewhere in my room... We'll see if he's still there tomorrow...


I know ^^ I'm at 7 boys and my husband is getting a female, they're so addictive!! We're running out of places to setup tanks. Gotta stop gotta stop OOOO PRETTY *sets up another tank for another fish*... [censor]!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I understand that feeling so well! But I feel bad if I have more than one betta. I don't want one to be loved more than the others!... you know?

I might go back to doing some betta rescues. It's always tough finding the right home to adopt them out to once they recover, but watching a little come back to life and color is so rewarding!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I asked my friend to grab me some cherry shrimps today. Unfortunately 3 didnt make the trip home. The rest are in my "quarantine" vase being treated with Fenbendazole for parasites. Soon they'll join everyone else in the big(ger) tank!









Meanwhile....The black worms are happily feasting on 3 juicy shrimp carcasses tonight. Little do they know... I'm only fattening them up for splotch.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Haha you sound like me and my white worm culture. I feed them premium grain free dog/cat dry, and make sure their environment is to their liking etc. all in preparation of that final journey to the fish tank.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

One more shrimp passed today  Hopefully these will breed for me. I rarely get my shrimps from aquarium stores, so die offs are a first for me ,_,

On the happier side of things, I got plants! Yay!!!!

I joined in a local mystery plant box event held by a generous member on our local planted tank group.

So... now... I have buces again! 
Goodluck to me keeping these alive. Lol!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Lol, I'm so afraid to try Buces, I feel like I'd just kill them all >.< I'd just need to do more reading on them I think, there are so many varieties, it's rather intimidating!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

i'm going to leave mine emersed. I tend to forget about them when I grow them under water and then they get crowded out by my other plants. 

I'm going to set up the new marina betta tank I got today  I think I have enough plants to fill it up instantly!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Tanks are steadily increasing  The Marina light.... makes a good night light. But is probably terrible for anything else. lol


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I got it started up, using my first ever piece of driftwood too! 

it's not in for a "snail cycle"


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

Someone gave me a free buce with some plants several months ago, they didn't even know what sp. it was.. It did fine neglected in a (flooded)tank with just a light on a timer and no love.. but then I tested ideas for my emersed set up (before the proper emersed setup was made) and it died from not enough humidity. 
The Marina tank will grow very low light plants like anubias and mosses, but not the blyxa j, bocoba c., and creeping jenny you got in the package.. not sure how the crypt and fissidens f. would do with that light.
I would not pay for the 'lil tank but I got it for free from my niece (after her failed attempt with bettas *cringes*). Currently mines a marimo only tank, lights is only on about 3 hours a day, don't want to give any chance for other algaes to take hold. I've also used that lil less than 1g cube for drip acclimating new fish in the past.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I'm gonna grab a new light for the marina, but for now, the overspill on my larger tank can grow just about anything, so i'm not too worried! 

I've killed two buces before, mostly from neglect. I think one got overrun by UG and HC and the other was in a jar I forgot to top up and flat out dried up, I actually don't particularly like buces, I mean... there's nothing spectacular about how they look and stuff...

Eitherway, I'm still trying to figure out what to grow in the little cube  
i got a bunch of monte carlo with the buces but I don't think i'll be using that... i'm actually thinking of setting up a new smaller emersed tank. 

I find that everyone is moving away from stem plants recently, it's too much of a pain to trim. I've done a pearlweed carpet once and it was such a pain to maintain.

The only stems I'm growing underwater now is l. arcuata, mostly due to its coloration and small size. 

I find that I'm moving away from mosses too... perhaps I'm just being really lazy.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Cherry shrimps went in the big tank! 

But.....I lost one more this morning, I was kind of expecting it since it was one of the lethargic ones. 

Oh well. 

in the bright side, all the others seem to be doing well, AND It's great having some red back in the tank again!


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## Anders247 (Jan 24, 2015)

Sorry for your loss. 
Nice shrimp!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Thanks  As dull as the malawas are, I love them for their hardiness and for being so active!


I figure that i should introduce you guys to my plants...

So, More than a fish person, I've always been more of a plant person. A lazy plant person. although the craziest phase of my collectoritis has passed (I had 50 different types of plants at one time, spread over about 3 pico tanks and a few small jars.) I've kept some plants I have a special attachment to in my tanks.

Here they are, one at a time:

*Eleocharis Belem*
i love this plant as a foreground. Given enough light, it's a short enough foreground, and unlike stem plants, I've never had to do a trim. 

Okay, I lied, I did trim off the few oversized blades that supersized when they were shaded by my moss. 

Sometimes i like to run my tweezers over the hairgrass to "comb" and straighten out some stray blades


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

*Red root floaters*
This is my favorite floater! The roots on the floater remain nice and short (unlike frog bit and water lettuce) and the leaves are thin and delicate enough to let light through. And the best part? it's red! root and all! 

I also love azolla, but gosh... that stuff can really break into a million pieces and end up being one really messy plant!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

*Marsilea minuta*
This is one of those plants that hitched a ride in one of my first plant packages, It survived in a dark spot of my emersed tank for years but never quite took off. I ended up finally planting it in the 4 gallon where it's finally able to spread and grow 

This is a photo of quadrifolia instead of minuta as my minuta almost hugs the substrate and is hiding in the hairgrass...

It's hard to get a good photo of my marsilea, as they tend to grow closer to the shaded areas.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I tried to trim back some hair grass and pull out the overgrown marsilea. I realize that when tanks get to a certain stage, it's hard to make changes without a huge overhaul. Still, I'm pretty happy with the way it is right now. I hardly ever have to trim anything, especially after I got rid of all that pesky moss


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

And splotch is here, all bleary eyed. i often get home around midnight, which means the lights have been off for at least 5hours. I watched splotch struggle to wake up when I turned on the lights today, he was such a little zombie, lol!

I really should vacuum the tank bottom...


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

I notice you say the lights are off for 5 hours when it's midnight. Does that mean it's on a timer set to turn off at 7pm?

I'm quite the night owl and enjoy watching and working on my tanks at night. I have the lights run from 6pm to 2am on the low tech tank. If I'm awake past 2am, which I normally am, and feel like working on the tank, I manually leave the lights on til I go to bed.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

andakin said:


> I notice you say the lights are off for 5 hours when it's midnight. Does that mean it's on a timer set to turn off at 7pm?
> 
> I'm quite the night owl and enjoy watching and working on my tanks at night. I have the lights run from 6pm to 2am on the low tech tank. If I'm awake past 2am, which I normally am, and feel like working on the tank, I manually leave the lights on til I go to bed.



Lol yep. I have a 12 hr photoperiod on this tank(also low tech), starting 7am. It's pretty much supposed to be the light that wakes me up in the morning, However, I've long since desensitized myself to that and my many alarms...

I'm a night person too. But I also need to get up fairly early. So I often wonder why I torture myself by going to bed at 3am D:


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Goodnight tanks!


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

I only mentioned that because a lot of people feel they have to synchronize their lights with the sun. A night person should definitely run their photo period later.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Oh really? I like mine to be on at during the day rather than night, but I *have* done a night cycle previously... When I was sill a student. Now I have regular work hours, I try to keep the tank regular


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Betta keeping must-have


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

How long does a bottle of micro ferts last? I think mine just turned 3YO. I haven't fertilized my tank since forever.









i grabbed a bag of "free" pygmy cories today from petco. I was only going for a small nerite but upon seeing their wiggly cory butts I caved and asked for 7. I figured they might not all survive and I'd end up with about 5. Some didn't look very healthy, and the dude catching my cories was swiping at random.

I also got a teeny weeny adorable horned nerite  

As to why the cories were "free". well...

I walked up to the counter and was greeted by a very bubbly cashier. She looked at the bag, and seemed very much lost. after a minute of tapping away at the keyboard and struggling to read the handwritten numbers, she turned to her colleague "This is a 9 right?" 
To which her colleague replied "Maybe?".

She sends someone to go down and check the barcodes

We wait another minute and he doesn't come back, so she gives the guessing another go.

Tap, Tap, Tap.
"Your total is $3.50!"

I look at the screen and it says - nerite x 1.

"Are you sure? What about the fish?" I asked "I mean i don't mind getting a discount and all.... but, you didn't charge me for the fish"

"Oh,"She looks at the bag again and seem to realize there's more than just the snail in there."how much were they?"

"About a dollar each."

It was then that the guy checking the barcode comes back with a photo of the barcode on his iphone.

She takes down the number in the photo.

"Your total is ......$2.37!"

Uh.....

"Are you sure?!"

"mmhmm!"

Well, by this point I had asked her to double check it twice and it didn't look like she was understanding how she was inadvertently giving me a big fat discount. See those things swimming around in there? there's 7 of them and a snail, oh never mind.

so.. *Swipe* goes my card and... 

Free cories!

Of course I checked the receipt to try and figure out why the second total came out less than the first one. It ended up that she charged me for just two cories. Where did she even get that number from?

I cant wait to get home and get the little guys out of this filthy looking water!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I have 4 schooling around...








2 in the back sitting on the substrate








and one more somewhere.....hopefully not dead!

Little nerite is happily nomming away at my glass.


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

Most of the writing on the bag is legible, but I can't stand bad penmanship. It's just a peeve of mine.

Seven fish and a snail for $2.37 is a steal. It's interesting your state taxes are to three decimal places. I've never seen anything like it.

I initially thought your photos were of oto cats. But then I clued in after reading the previous post.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

andakin said:


> Most of the writing on the bag is legible, but I can't stand bad penmanship. It's just a peeve of mine.
> 
> Seven fish and a snail for $2.37 is a steal. It's interesting your state taxes are to three decimal places. I've never seen anything like it.
> 
> I initially thought your photos were of oto cats. But then I clued in after reading the previous post.



You will HATE my writing then, lol. I can do lettering, but I cant write neat even if my life depended on it...

I'm not that into otos, only because I never know whether they're eating. and that just makes me worry that they're going to die of starvation at any moment. They're definitely cute though.

-----------
It's going to be corydoras pygmaeus spam here for a while. They're just too friggin adorable!

Why do sleeping fish always look dead? I turned the lights on and saw the pale fellow (cory #1)at the front. Experience said, he must be sleeping. Doubt says, but it's the first day, so there's a chance he might be dead?

Then cory #2 wakes up and straight darts across the tank hitting cory #1 across the fins and displaces him a bit. cory #1 doesn't move a muscle. And I think, oh crud, he's dead, better get him out of there.

I poke him with the tweezers and lo and behold, little fellow wakes up and darts away. gah.









There's 5 active little swimmers, They never swim together though  























Am I the only one with a bottomless pit of aquarium tools and products?
I struggle to find anything in here









I'm glad I hired Mr Nerite to be my glass cleaning man. Very diligent fellow he is!









And shrimp, just because


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

What a great deal on the corydoras. Sounds like you did everything you could to let the cashier know the price was wrong. I don't think I could even buy _one_ fish in a store in Australia for $2.87, let alone a whole gaggle of fish. 

Good luck with your corys and hopefully you don't lose any.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Ugh, planaria. I thought I had gotten rid of them all last time. i just used up the last bit of my fenbendazole on the shrimps *cry*.

Maybe the cories will take care of them...?




LittleBettaFish said:


> What a great deal on the corydoras. Sounds like you did everything you could to let the cashier know the price was wrong. I don't think I could even buy _one_ fish in a store in Australia for $2.87, let alone a whole gaggle of fish.
> 
> Good luck with your corys and hopefully you don't lose any.



Gaggle of fish! I like that, haha. 

I got a school of WCMM back in Sydney for about $10. They were selling at around $2 each but the guy gave me a whole lot more  

AUD has gone down soo much. I've been considering exchanging my USD to AUD now for when I head back in September, but mayyybbeeee if I wait a little more I'll get an even better exchange rate...


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

Edited to remove secret.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I don't even know what that means... but you're welcome!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Continuing on with the plant intro series...

*Runnunculus inundatus*
One if the more unique plants I kept around from my collectoritis days!

I only kept one node of this after taking down my emersed tank. I loved the shapes of those leaves too much to give it away...It looks much more delicate when grown under water. one day I will have the right set up for it, oneday...


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Who goes there!


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

ao said:


> One if the more unique plants I kept around from my collectoritis days!


That's a new word I have never heard of before. It sounds like another word I know. Definitely adding it to the vocab.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I lost two yesterday  So i'm trying to make the poor sickly cories as comfortable as possible. 

I guess...it's a bit big....?









Three are actively schooling around and eating so I know they'll most likely make it. But I'm not too sure about the others. The Weather's much too warm for these guys right now and I don't have air conditioning. Fingers crossed they will make it through!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Here's a photo of 4 of them...

The shrimps are loving the IAL already


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

YAY! a RRF flower!!!

I lowered the photoperiod from 11- hours a day to 7 to minimize heat. I didn't used to think it would affect coloration as the light is bright enough, but the new RRF leaves are growing green. hmmmm....


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Interesting, what type of light do you have on it? My tanks get 10 hours of light and my RRF were always bright red and flowering CONSTANTLY. I'd also get little seed pods too! But I use Finnex Planted+


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I'm using a 20w ceiling LED. My tank is only filled half way at the moment so the light is a bit more than 7in away from the surface. The RRF has been red until the last couple of days  It creates a nice gradient though!

Talk about coincidence! Right as I was typing this up, my workmate comes in with the new 6in LED panel i ordered for the Marina Cubus!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh that is a nice gradient ^_^ Sometimes the new sprouts would be green and then turn red later on, not all of mine did that but some did for whatever reason; could be I just dosed ferts and it was happy again haha.

Oh yay, new lights! I looove lights! I want to switch everything over to LED lights (all my tanks are LED's, I'm talking about house lights haha). But I love getting new LED lights in the mail, it's just so exciting for me for whatever reason, it's more exciting than getting a new fish or plants....strange, I know haha :rofl:


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## Mo (Mar 15, 2012)

Wow haha I forgot how beautiful your planted tanks were ao, especially love the look of those rimless ones


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I know right! I can wait to get home and wire it up!

I really really like these lights, they're less than 1/4 the price of aquarium specific LEDs and are super bright. 

I was sick of CFLs one year as they're bulky and got unreasonably hot. One day I was browsing ebay for an alternative when I came across these ceiling lights. The panels looked nice and sleek, and while I didn't know whether I would succeed in growing plants, the price was so cheap i could afford to experiment! In the end all perfect and I've been able to grow just about anything  *happy dance*




Mo said:


> Wow haha I forgot how beautiful your planted tanks were ao, especially love the look of those rimless ones



Thanks! You should really go and visit Lil and Aqua's Journals. I can't even begin to compare with their tanks!


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## Mo (Mar 15, 2012)

ill check out aquas because I don't think I've seen hers but yeah Lils tanks are amazing, I remember when I was all into planted tanks and all that lol


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Aww shucks! Thank you!

Summersea also has some beautiful tanks too!


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

Haha that monster IAL really puts the tank size into perspective. That is a very pretty gradient with the rrf but I hope you can find a nice balance so all new leaves won't be green from now on. I've wanted to try rrf but I don't think I keep my tanks strongly lit to keep them red-except 2 tanks that I can't have floaters in or it would be too weak a light for plants below them. Hope your pygmy cory stop dieing, they're so cute!! Even if you do lose them all (hope not though) at least they were free. And thank you for the compliment ^^


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Yep, small tanks for me 

The good news is, I've been consistently counting 5 pygmy cories! I think they'll survive.

Now I want a couple of mini tetras.... someone stop me!

I almost got an amano shrimp from petco on my last visit. the guy had trouble catching it with his holey net and i managed to change my mind last minute. They probably won't look very good in my tank, being 3x the size of anything in there, it'll be like the godzilla of the tank.


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

That's a lot of shrimp. What did you mean when you said you almost got an amano shrimp, aren't the ones in your tank amano?

If you're looking for small fish for the tank, I would choose something a bit more unique than tetras.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Could do a Dario Dario instead, lovely single fish, or Dario Hysginon


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

andakin said:


> That's a lot of shrimp. What did you mean when you said you almost got an amano shrimp, aren't the ones in your tank amano?
> 
> If you're looking for small fish for the tank, I would choose something a bit more unique than tetras.



I meant like ember tetras (which I don't think is a tetra) or chili rasboras (I think this one is actually a rasbora...), I'm not very good with fish names, bear with me 

That tank is petco's tank (not random betta cup in there). There's no way I'd ever have need for so many amano shrimp!!!



lilnaugrim said:


> Could do a Dario Dario instead, lovely single fish, or Dario Hysginon



There was a time I really wanted a scarlet Badis, but back then I could only get it online through Rachel and it was soo unaffordable. 

now, they're too intelligent of a species to stock in my tank. I also don't want to do just live food anymore like I did back then. So I just kind of want.... "dumb" schooling fish


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Chili's or Mosquito Rasboras would be great.

How much water do you have in the tank?


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

lilnaugrim said:


> Chili's or Mosquito Rasboras would be great.
> 
> How much water do you have in the tank?



Shhhh, lets keep the water volume a secret  it's a 10in cube, if you really want to do the math. 

It's only filled half way at the moment to accommodate some emersed plants and to combat the algae that was growing in the moss.

I think the rasboras will be next when I grow bored of pygmy cories and fill up the tank


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

I hope you mean galaxy and not harlequin. 

A 10" cube is like 5 gallons. Take the jump and get a larger tank.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

No... no harlequins, lol. Not even galaxy.

Bigger tanks is a "one day" thing for me. When I get a house, I'll take the jump and get a 125. lol


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I didn't understand the CPD craze. Always thought they were fat little fish... 

When things get a little on the round side, they don't really look small and cute anymore ,_,


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

That's all five of them in one photo! They don't move around much during the day, the light is probably too bright *whoops*. They get up and about when the light switches off at 3pm, unfortunately a dark tank also makes it hard to photograph. Boo!

Well here's all five of them. Three are blurs in the back:








I find it adorable that the shrimp is the same size as my fish.

http://youtu.be/Y2GREfkbyNE


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

My CPD was never fat....she also ate flake foods too and seemed to prefer it over frozen foods....never would have seen that one coming!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

lilnaugrim said:


> My CPD was never fat....she also ate flake foods too and seemed to prefer it over frozen foods....never would have seen that one coming!



Aw, just one? Feeding dry food is so much easier. i accidentally spoiled my last batch of corys by only feeding them black worms. snobby little brats turned up their barbels when i tried to feed them pellets.

By "fat" I meant that their rounder body shape tends to make them look bigger. Where the chillis in comparison tend to have more fins than body, it makes them look smaller and more agile


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

I suppose 

And yes, only one, she lost her school and was my last remaining survivor for almost a year before she also passed. They came from PetCo so I'm not so surprised but they were a deal and with my bestie's 20% discount, we got them for pretty cheap! We each had 6 IIRC or 8 or something, all of her's died and my girl was the last. I was also surprised she lasted as long as she did.


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## SplashyBetta (Jul 28, 2014)

ao, your private message box is full! I was trying to send you the snail package tracking number. But anyway, it says the package is at a post office in NYC and will be delivered to you on Monday  Just wanted to let you know! Sorry 2-day shipping turned into 4-day shipping. That was unexpected :?


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Thank you! Can't wait! 

My work place doesn't take deliveries, and my home address often gets thing stolen off the porch. so, I choose the lesser of two evils I guess 

Snails!!! *wiggles excitedly*


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

lilnaugrim said:


> I suppose
> 
> And yes, only one, she lost her school and was my last remaining survivor for almost a year before she also passed. They came from PetCo so I'm not so surprised but they were a deal and with my bestie's 20% discount, we got them for pretty cheap! We each had 6 IIRC or 8 or something, all of her's died and my girl was the last. I was also surprised she lasted as long as she did.



I've always wondered about the emaciated CPDs at petco. They never seem to last too long.

Hara jerdonis on the other hand really surprise me, they seem to survive for weeks in petco's tanks, I had though of them as fragile fish, but they turned out to be quite hardy. 

also saw a scarlet badis label at petco today, I didn't however see any actual fish that match the description， i wish petco will stop trying to sell fish they can't care for. When I went back last monday most of the pygmy cories they had were dead or dying  it's a sad sight. 



I also really dislike my local H-Mart (Korean Supermarket)


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

The CPD's had just come in the day before (bestie works there so she knew they were coming in which is why we got them, better chance of survival we figured).

My PetCo is actually really good with their fish. One day I'll take some pictures of the tanks, they look great as opposed to other stores I've seen!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

ooh that'd be cool! We should all show photos of our local petcos tanks and compare! 
I actually overheard two girls huddled around the bettas today, and one said "I want to rescue him!"

I guess betta awareness is spreading


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Catch a betta!!! 
it's so entertaininf feeding splotch at night when he's not quite awake, he's like a drunkard trying to pick up a needle. He lunges for the pellets and misses by an inch and ends up gobbling some air. Then he'll swing around all confused, looking at the untouched pellets. bwahaha.

I must express my exasperation at the ability of barebottom tanks to get absolutely filthy looking in no time at all. Time to vacuum again 

















I think Mr Nerite is done with the glass for now...


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Haha, that's awesome!!

I've actually converted a lot of people while standing next to the Betta's and idly staring at them XD That's how I teach people if they don't already know. I've led a few people to the forum as well, it's really great! I actually need to stop by soon to see what my favorite employee's are up to!

And yeah! Next time I go in, I'll get some pics and post them to my journal to show everyone ^_^


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Maybe this will become a thread of it's own! lol


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Well this is exciting! the longer growth on the hair grass is dying back
and newer shorter growth is coming in on the dhg belem! I'll just have to put up with the yellowing blades for a bit... patience...


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I don't usually like sticking my hand in the tank, but sometimes...

"There's a pellet conveniently floating there, even though it's wayyy past my dinner time....This is a trap isn't it?"








Muhahahah


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

It's photo spam night! 

You all know how it is when you do water changes and the fish come out from hiding.... photo spam!

Finally, they come to the front of the tank!















I decided to give Splotch some kind of decoration...

What do you do when you want to tie Java fern to a piece of rock but can't find your cotton thread? 

You pull out a handy length of xmas moss and use that instead 










Underwater Wabikusa!
As if.

It'll do for now, At least it's not all arbitrary, sitting around where ever at the bottom of the tank


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Splotch in slo-mo!

His fins are so mesmerizing. Unfortunately I don't believe those tears in his fin will grow back all the way. atleast he's unique that way 

http://youtu.be/5f1K_CD6VQg


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## SplashyBetta (Jul 28, 2014)

The quality of the fish section at my Petco varies from day to day depending on who's working there. There are two really awesome fish guys, but then everyone else is just ugh bleh. Today I heard one of the bad ones tell a customer "Since betta fish can't live with any tankmates, you don't need to buy them a tank. Just a cup is fine."


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

feeding time pulls all the shrimp out from their hiding spots


http://youtu.be/rh5UnsvH9Z4

I also counted 6 cories today?!
Either the guy gave me an extra fish or the "dead body" I saw a coyple of days ago wasn't a cory...

Eitherway, it's good news!



SplashyBetta said:


> The quality of the fish section at my Petco varies from day to day depending on who's working there. There are two really awesome fish guys, but then everyone else is just ugh bleh. Today I heard one of the bad ones tell a customer "Since betta fish can't live with any tankmates, you don't need to buy them a tank. Just a cup is fine."



There's probably only one guy at my petco who knows anything about fish. sadly he doesn't look like he cares much for educating buyers on fish care...


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

One of my local LFS sells bettas for just $5
I hate their betta system though, at first i thought it was like a drip system, but then I realized that it was just airlines blowing bubbles into the cups. Some of the poor fish end up hugging the bottom of the cup because the current kept pushing them around so aggressively.

They had some really pretty Dragon scale females and even an EE 
















One of the girls








Other than their bettas all the other livestock looked to be in great shape. They sold giant 1.5in CPDs. Made my jaw drop. LOL. Not so micro fish. I saw some huge ember tetras at petco too, I suspect some "micro" fish profiles will need rewriting....


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

I initially thought that betta barrack was plumb to a central filtration system as well. It's too bad not all stores have that.

I'm a big fan of galaxies. It's weird that I've never kept them though. You should get some for your tank.


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## ryry2012 (Mar 31, 2015)

Even an EE is $5? Wow! Petco sells EE for $20! The one in the picture is so pretty. I don't think I could leave without him if I go there.

CPDs I saw at my LFS were micro. They were so tiny that I thought it would be difficult to find them in a heavily planted tank...


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## SplashyBetta (Jul 28, 2014)

I was recently at a fish store with an air bubble system like that for the bettas. Obviously I wish it was a real filteration set-up, but the fish were actually in good shape and the bubbles were very slow. I guess it shows the place is trying, right?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Nice! My PetCo had to reduce the EE price to 14.99 because they weren't selling, still sort of aren't but they all looked healthy yesterday so I can't complain too much 

Giant CPD's and Ember Tetras?! Yikes. I don't think I even want to see those in real life! I like my micro fish to stay micro! My largest Ember just reaches an inch, and it's a female. All my males are like half an inch lol.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

andakin said:


> I initially thought that betta barrack was plumb to a central filtration system as well. It's too bad not all stores have that.
> 
> I'm a big fan of galaxies. It's weird that I've never kept them though. You should get some for your tank.



Really? I like them when they're small and somewhat emaciated, terrible I know... but they are really cuter that way. They're a tad too fat (in a cute way!) for my tank  I had a male endler guppy that looked more streamlined than the CPDs and was a bit smaller and he was the giant of my tank back in his time. I'm probably going to go into chilli rasboras after the corys!

It looks like *you* should be the one to get some CPDs!



ryry2012 said:


> Even an EE is $5? Wow! Petco sells EE for $20! The one in the picture is so pretty. I don't think I could leave without him if I go there.
> 
> 
> 
> CPDs I saw at my LFS were micro. They were so tiny that I thought it would be difficult to find them in a heavily planted tank...



I know right! i was like, dang, if only I had room... He'd be gone in a flash!

i cropped into the photo so you can see him better 

EE Fan service 

















SplashyBetta said:


> I was recently at a fish store with an air bubble system like that for the bettas. Obviously I wish it was a real filteration set-up, but the fish were actually in good shape and the bubbles were very slow. I guess it shows the place is trying, right?



It does put the bettas in a better place than previously. I'm sure they care about their fish a lot, all the other tanks are meticulous, I guess the bettas are more easily forgotten. Previously, they had bowls in between the tanks sitting on versa tops and were hard to take out and see. 

Oh and the people who work there are super nice, one of the cups was leaking, and the guy switched it out as soon as I pointed it out.



lilnaugrim said:


> Nice! My PetCo had to reduce the EE price to 14.99 because they weren't selling, still sort of aren't but they all looked healthy yesterday so I can't complain too much
> 
> Giant CPD's and Ember Tetras?! Yikes. I don't think I even want to see those in real life! I like my micro fish to stay micro! My largest Ember just reaches an inch, and it's a female. All my males are like half an inch lol.



This happened at Petland Discounts (a chain store on the east coast). One of my local Petlands lowered their prices to 14.99 as well. But since they're much more expensive than the next price tier ($7 for a HM and PK) no one really buys them 

I want my micro fish to stay micro as well! I'll take a photo of these mutants for you the next time I go visit petco. they freak me out, haha!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Coming up.... pond snails!

Thanks splashy!


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## SplashyBetta (Jul 28, 2014)

Yay! You're welcome. Glad they got to you! Can't wait to see some photos :-D


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

SplashyBetta said:


> Yay! You're welcome. Glad they got to you! Can't wait to see some photos :-D



They couldn't have arrived more safer and sounder!

My phone camera has gotten progressively crappier over the years, so you'll have to pardon the bad photo quality.

They're all in my 1gallon tank right now. I might just use it to breed only snails!
















----------------------
I'm slightly obsessed with watching my cories frolicking in the grass like little aquatic rabbits.
https://youtu.be/D5heBlTbpxU

One even got himself in a bit of a bind. 
https://youtu.be/EvnEIzvH7hk

This is my case of MTS, Hoarding tanks...with no room to set them up. lol

Say hello to my second 10in^3!
Ignore the price tag! This beauty is a 2nd hander and I only paid $25 for him


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## SplashyBetta (Jul 28, 2014)

So glad to hear! Snails are hardy little guys, but I worry every time I ship a batch. Good luck with your snail breeding!  That's a really cute tank, I love the driftwood piece. Looks perfect for snails heehee.


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## ryry2012 (Mar 31, 2015)

Thank you for the EE pictures! He is so pretty. If I ever get another betta, a pink EE would be my first choice 

Do bladder snails eat algae as much as nerite snails do? I'm thinking about getting pink ramshorn snails or nerite snails for my newly started tank. It seems nerites are better tank cleaner though.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

ryry2012 said:


> Thank you for the EE pictures! He is so pretty. If I ever get another betta, a pink EE would be my first choice
> 
> 
> 
> Do bladder snails eat algae as much as nerite snails do? I'm thinking about getting pink ramshorn snails or nerite snails for my newly started tank. It seems nerites are better tank cleaner though.




I don't think bladder snails eat any algae. or if they do, they don't make much of an impact on my algae. Though they are *really* good at cleaning up protein film!

Nerites are hard workers!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

My newest addition to the tank...

Rillis and Cherries! Some local guy were selling them at a great price, so I couldn't resist!

there's this really big mama shrimp which dwarves the cories...


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Shrimps, everywhere! See if you can spot the cories ^_^

I hope the cherries will breed with the rillis and throw out some random patterns for me!


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

I started my shrimp with a mix cherry/rilli the cherry trait seems more dominant (don't see any of the white backs now) but I have a range from almost 'wild type' (mostly clear), 'cherry', 'sakura', 'fire red', and 'painted red' (all various intensities of red coverage).


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

For cherries...I have one or two fire red, the rest are sakuras. And for rillis I have regular clear centered rillis with red head and red tails then really clear rillis that are mostly clear with red hilghlights. It's an exciting mix 

And then there's the drab but indestructible malawas...

I missed the days when I threw all kinds of neos together, yellows neos, blue and red rillis, cherries. LOL. Nevermind that I'll get a brown second generation - having a colorful bowl of shrimp was worth it. lol. 

Too bad they all died from the summer heat, I think I lost 50+ shrimp that one summer


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Tank is 3/4 filled! 

Water change day tomorrow, and I'll lower it back down again


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Threw a bag of rooibos tea in for an hour to see what would happen. I didn't expect the tank to get this dark at all!
At least the shrimps love it


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## Elleth (Feb 23, 2015)

Pretty shrimp!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Thanks! I haven't done much tank work this past week.

Pygmys - I'm 200% positive I have 6  I'm also sure I found two cory bodies. So the petco guy must have caught 8 instead of 7 for me.















Berried malawa. I have atleast two like this one that are almost black 








Feeding the tank has given the ludwigia a nice growth boost! Grow arcuata, grow!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I said I'd post photos of my local petco.....

So here it is!

Petco looked a bit happier today than they did my last visit.
First... bettas! These are the fish I wish I could say were mind and show them off to people...especially the EE!!!






























This petco has what I believe to be a fairly large selection of feesh















Plant tanks. There's one more plant tank that isn't in this photo. They also have tube plants, tissue culture plants AND betta buddys or whatever they call the anubias and marimos in the betta cups. 








Some fish for nano tanks, including scarlet badis and CPOs






















I decided to get an amano after all 








Half the selection are marine fish, seahorses, a surprisingly large selection of shrimps and nemos 




































Last but not least... sell your house for one of these corals! They're soooo expensive...















There wasn't much going on in the bettas section today, most looked healthy and actively. There was one poor king betta with white stringy stuff all over his body...almost wanted to take him home


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I like the colour on the DT plakat male. 

We have a chain store here called PetBarn, and that Petco blows their dismal stock of fish right out of the water. Those sort of marine fish and corals you'd have to go to an actual fish store to see.


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

I see glofish! They've always appealed to me, but that's probably because it's illegal here in Canada. You always want what you can't have.


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## ryry2012 (Mar 31, 2015)

Wow! Your Petco is big! I've never known there is a Petco store that carries lots of corals. I just wish pet stores put more water in betta cups. Even 1 tbsp might make a different for them.

How is Amano doing? I've been wanting to get one or two for my 5.5g. But Cryptocoryne parva grow sooooo slow and even melted some to cover the ground...


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

andakin said:


> I see glofish! They've always appealed to me, but that's probably because it's illegal here in Canada. You always want what you can't have.


They creep me out,  I think of them as little alien feesh from outer space

BUT I like the hybrids! the purple danio hybrids are pretty cool. They have purple coloring and retain their black stripe.



LittleBettaFish said:


> I like the colour on the DT plakat male.
> 
> We have a chain store here called PetBarn, and that Petco blows their dismal stock of fish right out of the water. Those sort of marine fish and corals you'd have to go to an actual fish store to see.


I've been there. I remember being a little disappointed at the selection since I drove 30km out to check it out. I'm not sure what made me so curious, I have two really great aquarium stores in a 2km radius from my house and they have EVERYTHING.



ryry2012 said:


> Wow! Your Petco is big! I've never known there is a Petco store that carries lots of corals. I just wish pet stores put more water in betta cups. Even 1 tbsp might make a different for them.
> 
> 
> 
> How is Amano doing? I've been wanting to get one or two for my 5.5g. But Cryptocoryne parva grow sooooo slow and even melted some to cover the ground...



He's doing great! I miss having a giant bulldozer in my tank! haha

He's already running over everyone for the food and no one can get out of the way in time. It's funny to watch 

I have yet to have a crypt melt on me yet, I hope yours grow out soon!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I've come to really appreciated the hardiness of my malawas and the broad assortment of patterns and shades they come in. I saw one with white stripes last night and got all excited. lol!









Shrimp parade! 








When it's feeding time, it's all tails and no heads!








and the obligatory cory shot. I must admit I bought another yesterday. he was the last one in the tank, and so active, I couldn't resist bringing him home to more friends.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Full tank shot!


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## InStitches (May 26, 2014)

gorgeous tank  wow!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

InStitches said:


> gorgeous tank  wow!



thanks!
It's getting old. It's actually my longest running tank so far... hopefully it'll last a while longer 

********************************************

My $5 chinese heater from ebay arrived!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh! I had a couple of those heaters! Work great but the cord was too short for me >.< Only 3 feet where I need 6 feet usually at least! But they did do their job fairly well 

And yes, beautiful tank!

How's that new light working out for you? The LED one that you got last week or the week before?


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

lilnaugrim said:


> Oh! I had a couple of those heaters! Work great but the cord was too short for me >.< Only 3 feet where I need 6 feet usually at least! But they did do their job fairly well
> 
> And yes, beautiful tank!
> 
> How's that new light working out for you? The LED one that you got last week or the week before?



I love these. I run mine with a $1 extension cord from the dollar store. They're so cheap, that I can recommend then to anyone with access to ebay when they say "I can't afford a heater".

I really don't think this tank is anywhere near as nice as it was before, neither can I bring myself to yank out the hair grass. On the bright side, the livestock really enjoys the carpet and it's always entertaining to view the cories and shrimps with their heads in the grass, wriggling their butts in the air (water column rather).

for the light, I still need to borrow the soldering iron from work to attach the power cord. yay for laziness!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Worrrrrmssssss. The shrimps love them. I doubt this happens in nature....








I will never get tired of watching pygmy cories wrestle worms 
http://youtu.be/vxbNN7PURkQ


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## Tree (Sep 29, 2013)

Wow this is an awesome thread! you can give shrimp blood worms??? 

anyway, would you happen to have extra Red root floaters I can buy off of you? you can message me about it if you want.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Tree said:


> Wow this is an awesome thread! you can give shrimp blood worms???
> 
> anyway, would you happen to have extra Red root floaters I can buy off of you? you can message me about it if you want.



They're blackworms  I believe these shrimps will eat anything though! I'd imagine frozen bloodworms would probably be easier to eat than a live worm, but frozen foods are expensive 

Remind me in two weeks about the RRF, and I'll send you some for the price of shipping. I gave away my discards night.

For whatever reason they're growing green now


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

ao said:


> Worrrrrmssssss. The shrimps love them.* I doubt this happens in nature....*
> View attachment 606418
> 
> 
> ...


If happens when a fisherman looses his bait bucket ^^



ao said:


> They're blackworms  I believe these shrimps will eat anything though! I'd imagine frozen bloodworms would probably be easier to eat than a live worm, but frozen foods are expensive
> 
> Remind me in two weeks about the RRF, and I'll send you some for the price of shipping. I gave away my discards night.
> 
> ...


Have you tried dosing iron in the water column and increasing lighting? This may get them red again but the more intense lighting might cause algae below.


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## Tree (Sep 29, 2013)

ao said:


> They're blackworms  I believe these shrimps will eat anything though! I'd imagine frozen bloodworms would probably be easier to eat than a live worm, but frozen foods are expensive
> 
> Remind me in two weeks about the RRF, and I'll send you some for the price of shipping. I gave away my discards night.
> 
> ...


thanks! and will do. =D


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Aqua Aurora said:


> If happens when a fisherman looses his bait bucket ^^
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I have a bag of iron I drew a skull and crossbone over  So until I figure out the right dosage... 

I can probably get the red back if I raised the water level back up... or maybe The starved floater is finally getting enough nitrates to lose the red. I didn't have much stocking in this tank before!


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## Tree (Sep 29, 2013)

ao said:


> I have a bag of iron I drew a skull and crossbone over  So until I figure out the right dosage...
> 
> I can probably get the red back if I raised the water level back up... or maybe The starved floater is finally getting enough nitrates to lose the red. I didn't have much stocking in this tank before!


I tend to drop 3 to 4 drops for my 5 gallon tanks if that helps out and I have an Iron kit that shows me how much iron is in the tanks. But I only dose once a week unless I still see iron. lol I use Flourish Comp.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

Tin my tanks with medium light red plants (AR and ludwigia sp red) i dose 0.3ml seachem iron daily (10g and 12g). My dwarf lily tank I dose 2 drops every other day (0.1-0.125ml roughly) (7g). I've not owned RRF to know any magic dosing for them.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Tree said:


> I tend to drop 3 to 4 drops for my 5 gallon tanks if that helps out and I have an Iron kit that shows me how much iron is in the tanks. But I only dose once a week unless I still see iron. lol I use Flourish Comp.



I have dry ferts. Not that I ever use them, I've just accumulated a lot of useless I-thought-I-may use stuff over the years :/ I know who I got my iron from, I need to contact them to figure out what it is exactly and the proper dosage


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

So I finally found my pack of seachem equilibrium. These products are always sold in excessive portions, I end up giving the bottles away and saving some for myself in ziploc bags. Then my bags disappear into the depths of my fish keeping stuff and I end up not being able to find them when i need them -_-"









And some clay for the shrimps. The iron i mentioned earlier is also in one of these bags, with a skull and crossbone drawn over it.









i realized that I bought this fellow the day amano died. Isn't he one special little shrimp?








Moar shrimp









FTS. water change day was yesterday, I think it will take another two changes to de-tannify the tank. My purigen is due for a recharge, I haven't gotten around to purchasing bleach yet


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## Tree (Sep 29, 2013)

I love those larger shrimps I have two of them. they are great!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Tree said:


> I love those larger shrimps I have two of them. they are great!



Amanos? Mine always finds a way to escape the tank. We'll see how long this one lasts!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah ,I just heard about Amano yesterday! How sad! He's a huge inspiration to me and I'm sure many other fish keepers as well!


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## Tree (Sep 29, 2013)

ao said:


> Amanos? Mine always finds a way to escape the tank. We'll see how long this one lasts!


I did have four but I know one died and one may have escaped but the others must be smarter. Haha 



lilnaugrim said:


> Yeah ,I just heard about Amano yesterday! How sad! He's a huge inspiration to me and I'm sure many other fish keepers as well!


I never knew there were shrimp that small until I started to look into tank mates for my bettas. Hahaha


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Tree said:


> I never knew there were shrimp that small until I started to look into tank mates for my bettas. Hahaha


I was talking about Takashi Amano, he was basically the father of modern planted tanks. Japanese man who just passed away this week. You'd likely seen a lot of his designs, he does a lot of work with space and depth.


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## Tree (Sep 29, 2013)

Oooh phhht my bad. I should never try to read comments when I have a massive headache. LOL

oh and YES I have seen his work! He died this week? How sad!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

lilnaugrim said:


> I was talking about Takashi Amano, he was basically the father of modern planted tanks. Japanese man who just passed away this week. You'd likely seen a lot of his designs, he does a lot of work with space and depth.



My bad for throwing around the word so ambiguously >.<


Tree- Takashi Amano passed away on the 4th. So...that was Tueday. It was pretty sudden  

if you ever wondered what ADA stands for, it's Takashi amano's line of aquariums - Aqua design Amano. 

The Amano shrimp is also named after him


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## Tree (Sep 29, 2013)

how sad =( but at least he did not suffer. T^T

Ahhh Gotcha I thought they were named after him seeing the same name and all. I should buy more in his honor!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Splotch's sleeping shot from last night. I had to fast him for two days because I accidentally fed him too many worms. Almost thought his stomach was going to explode, lol!

I hope his tail is done growing :/ it's getting too long already!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

last night I had a dream that splotch grew to 3in, and was absolutely mortified D: 

Meanwhile, here's his Bubble nest  Please stay small and cute for me splotch!


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## Tree (Sep 29, 2013)

Gasp! lets hope that dream stays a dream. 

Bubbles!!!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Splotch is flaring again!
He refused to flare at the mirror for a couple of days after I accidentally left the mirror up for a day.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Finally hooked up the mini insanely bright light. I think it's time to switch the big one out.

Btw I took this photo in my brightly lit office. The light was so bright, my phone's auto exposure dimmed everything else around it so it looks pitch black.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Lol, that's awesome! Should look fantastic on the tank


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Here's a better pic


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

lilnaugrim said:


> Lol, that's awesome! Should look fantastic on the tank



Yep! Can't wait to test it out  But I have an inkling that it's going to be too bright


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Can you raise it above so it's higher and not so glaring into the aquarium?


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## Tree (Sep 29, 2013)

I did that too once. Left the mirrors up almost all day. LOL oops


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

lilnaugrim said:


> Can you raise it above so it's higher and not so glaring into the aquarium?



I don't have a stand for the light, Itdid end up being too bright, especially since all I have in the tank is a couple of java ferns and floaters. i might re do the tank to hold some fast growing stems to accommodate the light 



Tree said:


> I did that too once. Left the mirrors up almost all day. LOL oops



Yep, I was going to just leave it there for a few minutes, went to do something else and totally forgot about it. 

--------------------------------------
The shrimps and fish in my tank have become quite fearless, the cories don't even bother changing course when they see my tweezers going in.








Shrimp conference, I wonder what they're discussing....









All my moss grew into the driftwood. They're also mixed in such a way it would be an absolute pain in the butt to separate trims...








Another shrimp conference. I moved the amano into the smallest cube because he destroyed the really nice patch of green algae that was growing on my driftwood.... I've heard that amano shrimps can be a nuisance in mossy tanks because they pick at the moss down to the bare stem... I can totally see how that is possible! 








You can see the half destroyed algae patch through the hole. It used to be all nice and green like a little bowling lawn. I think it's some kind of clado but it doesn't really grow and it looked pretty good so I left it alone. 








Shrimplet!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

It looks like the old longer grass has finally died back! It's great to see the nicer shorter lawn again 

All my Cherry shrimps have disappeared from this tank for some reason. A probable reason might be the malawa shrimps outcompeting them...? I don't know.


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