are those endlers? I love them in the vase!

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Check out my 10 gallon shrimp build ---> http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/10-...ild-39531.html

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lol I don't know...When I got some the first time (long story, didn't end well) I was almost certain there was endler blood in them, but I don't really know. These are just the regular feeder gups at my LPS. Right now they aren't even showing half of their potential...can't wait for them to color up more

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Wow, those are some nice feeder guppies.

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Check out my 10 gallon shrimp build ---> http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/10-...ild-39531.html

Check out my 10 gallon cpd build ---> http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/10-...ild-39637.html

lol nice and 5 for $1...but they are in fairly rough shape. I had one not even make it through acclimation, and the ones I've got seem to have some ammonia damage. soooo pretty though

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well sorry about the late update, been busy. Warning: pic spam

Did a minor rescaping, added a strand of anacharis...I hate that stuff, but I needed height, it was there, and it should help keep ammonia and such under control. I haven't been having issues really though, since I do daily water changes to remove uneaten food and such.

before:

after:

I considered removing the anubias and replacing it's spot by covering a rock in xmas moss, but since this is the fastest I've ever seen it growing, I'll let it stay. I feel bad though, all the leaves are getting roasted by the light.

new growth is really encouraging though. Maybe lower light, but keep the higher ferts?

The crypts are starting to grow like a proper jungle. I think their roots are finally finding the dirt under all that gravel.

remember this was the tiny baby crypt?

the only problem with all this though is the algae...still everything seems fine despite that.

This is the former baby val runner, it's gotten huge, and starting to get another runner off of it

the dwarf water lettuce loves it here

And to top off the bowl, here's the four amigos doing their thing:

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Update #2- the blue pearl shrimp!
Warning: pic spam again

gotta love hijacking your own thread, but I may end up putting some of the less-blue shrimp in the vase and see how they fare. I'd like some permanent occupiers of the bottom/ middle of the vase, since the gups stay mostly either right at the top or on the bottom, foraging for food. I'd feel terrible putting more fish in here though.

well...these are still juvis, I'll give them some time to turn blue

(sorry for the blurriness) think they like the rock?

Not quite where you expect to see a shrimp...

This one's gonna look great all grown up! i hope...


my entire setup, including all the emersed farm stuff, and without the vase:

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coming along nicely.... I see your almost at 1000 posts congrats, do the moderators send you some kind of gift? hahaha,

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90 gallon, 1 Iridescent shark, 2 Pleco, 3 Goldfish, 5 Cory cats, 2 Nerite snails
5 gallon hex, Blue Crowntail Betta, 1 nerite snail,

Well....really bad news guys.

Lost one of the four amigos, the one without much color...he swam right into the airline tubing I was using to clean, and didn't make it.

Then this morning, I woke up to find 5/12 shrimp dead, a couple not looking so hot, and 1 missing entirely...Everything was normal, I have no idea what caused this die off...

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Well, update time. Since I got a large tub to grow things emersed that might become a small pond, I might take the vase down in a few weeks/months. It was only meant to be a place for my tall plants to grow, but I've gotten really attached to it. I'm hoping I can afford a real tank soon, and move whatever plants aren't going into the pond into that. I might set it up as a low tech/low light vase for my mother dearest. Or use it as a pot for some regular houseplants. Either way, it'll be a bit until its fate is decided.

Switched out the light over it to my floor lamp so I can have an emersed setup on the ground beside it. Neither is getting enough light though, so I might end up seeing the lilly pads again. May start introducing the 3 amigos to live food (bugs) so they can get used to it before I dump them in the hypothetical pond outside. Also, I've got more plants ordered that will be being shipped out on saturday, so expect a bit of a rescaping.

Tiger val is growing wild (lol) but I really like it, so it can grow as much as its little hearts desire. The myrio is finally getting close to the surface, so it'll need a trim. The bottom part of it isn't looking too hot though. The crypts seem really happy, growing like crazy still. The dwarf lilly is a nice little bush now...grr, it in the vase where I wanted it to have lilly pads too!

Pics - sorry for the odd sizes and how blurry they are...Trying to get decent pics of the gups, and it's really hard.
FTS from a different angle than normal:


My apologies for the pics...I really wanted to show off the pretty colors though

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very cool tank, I have 2 pots of lucky bamboo at home, one I bought at a local shop that had 8 stalks braided together and another group of 3 stalks that I got from an event at my school that I've babies since they were under 2 inches long. I've wanted to start a fish tank for awhile just to give them a stable place to live and always thought they would look really cool in a fish tank.

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2.5g betta tank w/ 1 male double tail betta
10g tank to come this summer (girlfriend has two 10g tanks she doesn't want so possibly two!)

Just make sure that A) the stalks don't get submerged- the leaves and most of the stalk needs to be above water, and B) the bamboo (dracaena really) don't get damaged, they release a chemical that is harmful to fish. That being said, I've seen people make sump tank filters that include bamboo, and if you build a platform in there somehow that would keep the stalks elevated, it could work.

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Wow Kay! Your "vase tank" is really looking great. The feeder guppies are awesome...makes me want to try this set up. I've been following this thread and am amazed at the progress your plants have made. Are you still dosing with CO2 or not?

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26g freshwater- A variety of Tiger Barbs, 2 S. Am. Bumblebee catfish; 38g freshwater-3 fancy fantail goldfish, zebra danios; variety of snails

I've actually stopped with the co2, I was really working the ferts (Flourish + Excel), but I've kinda gotten lazy and haven't kept up with those as much either. Instead of co2, I use excel, and it seems to work fairly well. If I kept up the ferts, and put the original light back over it, I would be getting better growth, but I'm happy with it so far...the best growing out of all the tanks I've ever done!

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Alright, update time, FINALLY! Been busy being a college student :P

Seeing some decent plant growth in the vase, but I split up the lilly plants since they were shading each other out, and really not growing as well as they could be. They aren't even the main focus of the tank anymore, which kinda sucks. Instead, the tiger vals and the crypts are really popping now, and the crypts are going insane, looks like a proper jungle now. I suppose they're MUCH happier without so much light- I moved the desk lamp to the 1.5 gallon shrimp tank so I could use the floor lamp to light both the vase and an emersed tub I've got going...not nearly enough light for the tub though. Starting getting collectoritis with crypts too...great.

The three amigos are doing well, and they're acting like desperate frat boys who haven't seen a girl in months...sorry guys, you're outta luck! I don't want babies! Speaking of babies, my one female shrimp is nice a berried, has been for a week or two, can't wait to see babies! I did lose one shrimp though, to unknown causes, and I'm now officially calling these shrimp zombie whites. They seem healthy, just opaque white flesh. Nice red stripes on them, even if there isn't any blue really. I think I'm going to try breeding for the stripes. Should be easy, I only have 1 female and 5 males :icon_conf Also, anyone got an amano shrimp and assasin snails? My pond snail problem in the 1.5 is out of control, and the vase is about to experience a bad outbreak too.

I redid the most boring bowl in the world, with some extra plants. I stuck one of the lilly plants in there since it should be getting more light/ferts in there and should start growing more. I have a couple other lilly plants, a different species, can't remember if it's zenkeri, looks more like a lilly than a lotus. Going to be trying a glosso carpet in there too, now quite sure how well that will work, can't decide between using co2 or excel in there...going to move some of the culls from the shrimp tank in there or in the vase. Unfortunately we all know how well shrimp and excel mix. :angryfire. It's only a 1 gallon bowl, so maybe co2 would be overkill? I want an actual carpet of something, and it was between glosso and HC.

And now, pics:

crypt jungle


berried shrimp moma (sorry, forgot FTS of the 1.5 and the bowl!)


bowl rescape


My emersed setups...


Someone need some HC?


And finally, since I thought ya'll deserved it for waiting so long, a video of the tanks:

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Alright, it's been 2 weeks since my last update. Not a whole lot to report in the 2.5, aside from some aggression from the 3 amigos...They're acting like desperate frat boys who haven't seen a girl in months...which I guess they are, sorry guys! Now stop picking on Anchor! The tiger vals are really starting to stand out, they look great. Now if I only had 3 less of them in the vase, that'd be perfect. I might try growing them in the pond when I get it set up, I think they'd really like the extra light and growing room.

Big news in the 1.5, babies! I don't know how many, but mama was loaded with eggs! I'm hoping they didn't get caught in the filter though, didn't realize there was a part with no sponge before the pump part. The babies really like the filter though, and there's usually at least one or two on it at a time. Sooo freaking cute! I also got what was sold to me as an amano shrimp to help with the crazy hair algae I've got in the moss, but so far no signs of it doing anything with that. In fact, no sign of the amano at the moment, thanks to all that dumb dwarf water lettuce. I can barely see anything due to the roots, but I have a feeling my nitrates are a big fat zero. It seems that the other shrimp relaxed and were out and about more after I got the amano. I would be too, if there was a huge version of me, lol.

In the boring bowl...growth! Glosso's growing well vertically (grr), and so is the N. micrantha. The sword is happily just doing its thing, I'm not about to stop it from growing out of the bowl. I think the bowl needs more light though, but for now, that isn't possible.



dumb dwarf water lettuce...

babies and moma! Ignore the algae, it counts as baby food.

The...amano? Seems a little brown...

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Haven't kept up the updates, sorry!

5-20
Not too much to report really, except that one of my lillies is floating in the vase the tiger vals are getting much bigger, the three amigos continue to pick on one of their own, and I'm considering separating them to either protect the victim or isolate the aggressor.

Almost all of my shrimp except for 1-2 blue pearls have disappeared, including the babies and amano...noooo....I have no idea what happened to them, I haven't even seen bodies. Not even sucked into the filter.

The boring bowl seems to be puttering along. Too bad I'm one payment away from selling the sword...what I'll put in there instead...I don't know. Maybe a crypt. The glosso seems to be doing well, just growing vertically. I'll trim it when I get the chance.

Right now though, I feel really exhausted, and I'm busy with school work. I end up spending a long time staring into the tanks, and it does make me feel a bit better. So sorry if I'm not posting much I'm just...out of it..

5-24
Minor update: moved the guppy that was being chased to the 1.5 so he can recover. Unfortunately he seems to have liked it much better, and isn't showing his pretty black colors. Still, the vase seems to have calmed down since he's been moved. I'll be doing a minor trim over the weekend since I'm selling some plants, including one of the lillies.

Started working on a written guide for beginners to plants. Would be doing better if I wasn't falling asleep, lol

6-11
Alright, it's been too long since I've updated.

Not a whole lot has changed, although I did have to remove the lillies from the vase since the pond snails were eating them like crazy. Ended up with one decent sized plantlet, and then 2 babies still attached to the bulb. I stuck them, and the rest of the lillies in the 1 gallon bowl. The snails have been going nuts and killing everything. I figured out how to take care of the snails in the vase though; hook up some co2, and all the pond snails rise to the surface, where I just wiped them off. I think I removed over 50 snails, most of which were hatchlings and tiny babies. The MTS in that vase seem to be doing ok though, I think. Hard to tell with them.

I replaced the lilly in the vase with a baby sword, an E. Parviflourus, which should stay small enough to work in the vase.

Bad news on the guppy front though, one of the 2 gups in the vase disappeared. I literally saw it one minute, turned around to clean the 1.5, then looked back and it was gone. I couldn't find it anywhere, but the remaining boy in the vase seems fine.

In the 1.5, did a pretty big rescape, much happier with it now, although I don't know how well it will grow because I moved the light from the 1.5 to my emersed tub and forgot to buy another one for the 1.5, so now it's running off of sunlight. No idea how it's doing, since I'm on my one week summer break. Entirely certain every shrimp in there is dead and gone, working limiting the snail population now. The emersed moss on the driftwood is growing very nicely, but everything below that got bad hair algae, so I cut that part out, and I re-tied the moss. Immediate improvement there.

pics to come

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Left side

right side

crypt forest

the anubias is puttering along nicely

New baby sword

1.5 before rescaping

after

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Lead me not to temptation...I can find my own way there, thank you

Where do you find a 2.5 gal vase? If you don't mind me asking.

I found mine in the arts and crafts section at my local grocery store- just look for the largest base you can find. I measured mine after I got it, about 8" across and 10" tall. Try to get one. At least that big or bigger would work well

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Soooo cool!!!