KevinVA's 75gal Journey in Planted Tanks

[steeler1]

I realy like the way you mapped it all out, much better than the old pencil to paper way LOL.

[KevinVA]

Haha, it makes for a cleaner presentation and it's just as fun! Thanks Steeler. =]

[Sandz]

Very cool! I am considering Frogbit and Duckweed as a shade plant for my future discus tank.

[KevinVA]

Sandz, it'll certainly outperform your expectations. =] In fact, I think most floating plants will perform in the same manner. They grow like weeds. My red rooted floaters are exactly the same way. I will admit that the Frogbit is a very interesting looking plant to say the least. I do like it, just not for the Betta tank. It was actually stressing him out in there, depleting his territory. He perked right up again, once I removed it, but now I'm treating fin rot. lol

[KevinVA]

Yay! We had success today. =] I received my SAEs in the mail and to my surprise, Gunpowder Aquatics sent me an extra one, making my stock 4 instead of 3 SAEs. I assume they were accounting for a DOA, but I had none. Woohoo! I was a little worried, from my recent Rabbit Snail experience, but I have reason to believe that the packaging had a lot to do with that one. The SAEs were packaged with the utmost care and detail, using breather bags (filled properly with only water and not air), paper towels for cushioning, wrapped in fiberglass for insulation... followed by a Styrofoam box for more insulation with a heat pack taped to the top, and finally inside of a cardboard box for shipping w/ "life tropical fish" stamped on it, so people know what it is. If you ever have to purchase via mail order, I would highly recommend this company. That would be gunpowderfish.com. Very fast processing, quick shipment, very fair prices, great stock and excellent packaging.

Anyway, I'm really excited about my new additions. They're surprisingly more attractive than I thought they'd be and they definitely stick together in a close pack when nervous. I acclimated them for about 3hrs, did a water change on the 75gal, fed my fish and then added the SAEs. They flocked to hiding spots immediately. It didn't take long for the male GBR to find them. He strutted about for a bit, slowly chasing them around the bottom of the tank, making them aware of his presence. It was pretty interesting to watch. Then I got really nervous when my big, fat Killifish decided to check them out. He actually started stalking one of them and I thought he would actually try to fit it into his gaping hole of a mouth... I decided to get his attention by chasing him with my pellet applicator. lol I'd never done that before, but I did not want him ruining this for me. Anyway, after a while things calmed down, he lost interest in them, and I was able to get a picture of the four of them here:



I turned off the lights before they normally go out, so they'd feel more comfortable and the rest of the fish would think it was time to get settled. Hopefully that worked. It's too dark in the tank to find all of them, but I've at least counted 3, so I'm feeling good about the successful introduction.

Tomorrow I should be receiving my 5 new plants that I purchased earlier this week. That should give them some more hiding places, so I'll feel better about that. Right now, they're a little bigger than adult Otos, so I think they're too big for my Killi, but you never know with him. They have huge mouths and will stuff themselves silly. The big one usually eats flakes, small cichlid pellets and follows that up with 3 big bottom-feeder pellets (usually reserved for catfish). He's a greedy little fat thing, but at least he's entertaining. I keep saying he... but I really don't know if it's a female/male. I think the bigger Killies are supposed to be female, but this one's so aggressive it's hard to tell. I'll have to look into it.

Anyway... here's to new fish!

[Gogi]

cheers on the SAE. Wait til the get bigger and fill in. I named my two Submarine and Torpedo thats how round the get. Say good bye to your BBA. I bet $$$ it will be gone within the month.

[steeler1]

Glad to see they arrived in good shape. I've only had a problem with one mail order place.

Anyway great alage eater that does their job.

[KevinVA]

Thanks Gogi! I don't have BBA, but I definitely have a ton of green beard algae and even some Cladophora algae. I'm hoping they eat both of these types.

[KevinVA]

Thanks Steeler. Yeah, I've made about 5 mail order purchases for fish/snails now, so I've seen a few different ways of how they're packaged/mailed. By far, this shipment has been far and away the most professionally done and you could tell they care for their livestock. I'll definitely buy from them again if I need to. =]

[~firefly~]

Looking really good Kevin, this tank has matured quickly. Great work.