MrJim's Fishworks

**MrJim** · 02-16-2009, 01:22 AM

I thought maybe I'd start something to record the goings on with my tank which will be soon expanded~leaning more toward the 29 instead of 20L since they have the same footprint.

Currently in my 10gal I just added a couple of tiny otos Saturday night~I had a palm sized spot of algae on the back wall of the tank and it was gone Sunday morning. Watching otos and when they are just hanging on the side glass or on a plant leaf makes me wonder if they are just resting or sleeping and if they do most of their work at night...I did get some algae wafers-I think I starved my last one..my tank doesn't get direct sunlight and expect maybe he starved.

Ruby the GF is the queen of the tank-no doubt about it. She isn't aggressive to any of the others; she's just big. The corys go about their own business not bothering anyone, but those danios, particularly two of them, are a nuisance. There is now a danio that will hang with the neons in the corner with those other two get to into their chasing chasing games...not sure, maybe I'll take the back to the lfs I got them and trade em for more neons or another panda...

I'll post some pix in a little while..

**Sharon** · 02-16-2009, 01:30 AM

Jim, do you mean 29gal instead of litres....

**MrJim** · 02-16-2009, 01:36 AM

Originally Posted by Sharon

Jim, do you mean 29gal instead of litres....

Yes ma'am. I remember in the first grade (1971?) when the teacher said the US was going to convert to the metric system

**MrJim** · 02-16-2009, 01:43 AM

My humble 10 gal~it has an AC30 + spongefilter (HydroII). I'm not a huge fan of the pirate head, but at least the GF won't root it out like it does the plastic plants. I like the plant thing that's in there now-it has a heavy weighted bottom. The pirate is hollow to hide in if the smaller critters like..

Peppered Cory~no name...

**Sharon** · 02-16-2009, 01:48 AM

Well, at least you're not as mixed up as I am...I think cm for snow, if I measure something it's inches, tanks are gallons, temp is Celsius...I confuse myself sometimes!

The reason I ask is that a 29litre tank is actually smaller than the 10gal that you have...

**troy** · 02-16-2009, 01:52 AM

Feeding veggies to the otos would be a lot better than algae wafers.

**MrJim** · 02-16-2009, 01:58 AM

Ruby, queen of the tank, with a danio blur whizzin' by

The neons, no name~just doing their usual hiding from the danios & GF..

Obviously Brookfish doesn't have to worry about any photography competition from me

**MrJim** · 02-16-2009, 02:00 AM

Originally Posted by troy

Feeding veggies to the otos would be a lot better than algae wafers.

Yeah I'm gonna shell some peas for 'em. I gotta feed 'em after dark I guess, the GF will suck those right down. I understand blanching some squash would be good too?

**MrJim** · 02-16-2009, 02:25 AM

On my tank expansion~

I'm waiting a bit for warmer weather. I want to put in a sand bottom, but it's been so freakin' cold that I'm going to wait a bit so I can do a good washing outside. Thinking I'm going with a 29gal I would plan on getting an AC50 or AC70 plus the spongefilter for the filtration work. [I like to run the sponge so I have a seeded filter if I need a quarantine/hospital tank, and it does help keep things tidy.] In pricing the 20L & 29 are just not that far apart in price. Unfortunately I absolutely can't get anything wider, just no room.

I swing back and forth on the GF issue, maybe I'll donate her to the lfs pond; bet she'd like the room, though a 29 would be 3x the size she's in now...but I'm not getting anymore GF and maybe being with her own would be better, but then she's been around tropicals most her life anyhow so you can see i'm a real flip-flopper on the issue.

I'd like to lose the danios, (won't miss them, if I had a cat they'd already be gone

) add neons and corys (pandas & peppers) and leave it at that, though maybe adding a bit of live plants. I read about tying some kind of plant/moss? to driftwood, maybe trying it out, though all the stuff about adding CO2 and whatnot starts to sound complicated-the planted tanks are pretty sweet.

One of the side effects of getting a larger tank is that I'm not losing the 10~what would I do with it? Kinda keen on inverts like fiddlers or shrimp, and a species only tank would be neat, like some specific species of corys--pygmies in their own would be cool--so that bounces around in the back of my brain, along with figuring just where in the world to put the 10...I'd put it upstairs but it's not air conditioned and it hits the low nineties up here in the summer, worry it might get too tropical..but then it gets pretty hot in Amazon, doesn't the water heat up a bit anyhow?