1st Tetra Spawning

Hi!

My Glowlight Tetras are currently spawning! Meaning breeding! So I might get baby Glowlight Tetras! I'm really excited.  I will get a video, and post it later.  They've been laying eggs in the Cabomba, I think.  Of course there's about 2 males for every female, and the females don't seem too happy about that.  All 10 of them are frantically swimming around the tank right now, it's pretty funny to watch.  Last test was yesterday:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 30
pH - 6
Currently the temperature is 78F.

I'm really happy, because that means that they're happy, and that the water parameters are good enough for them.  :)  Yay!

Anyways, more later.

South American Biotope: Part 7

Hello!

I'm not sure how many more parts South American Biotope is going to have, in case you're wondering.  When I'm done stocking, and adding plants I'll be finished lol, then every once in a while I'll do a South American update! :p

Today I went to my favorite LFS, and got three more Glowlight tetras.  I asked if they were going to restock Albino bristlenoses soon after they ran out, and the guy in the fish section said no.  So obviously I had to get two of them! Pebble is the smaller one, and I think I'm naming the bigger one Icicle.  I'm hoping I got a male/female pair, but they're so little they don't even have bristles yet! I'll post pictures with part 8 :)

The 3 new tetras are smaller than the old ones... They'll grow though, so I'm not worried.  Though one has some kind of physical deformity, and I'm hoping it's some genetic thing.

Stocking list so far:

10 Glowlight Tetras

10-12 Neon Tetras

8-10 False Bandit Cories

2 Albino Bristlenose Plecostomus

1+ Angel fish

4 Platys

2 Guppies

They have some beautiful Angel fish at that store, if I got one of each color I'd have 6 or more! They has an albino, and I fell in love! Though it looked like it might have dropsy, so I'm not going to be buying it.  I'm not buying Angels anytime soon anyways...

That's it for now! 

South American Biotope: part 6

First pictures today!

 This is the picture of the whole tank, and I'm soo happy with how it looks so far!  Once the "Cabomba forest", and the Amazon Swords grow a bit it'll be perfect.  I'm going to be adding a few (small) pieces of wood laying down in the "Forest", and a hollowed out log next to the bigger sword.  Maybe another hollowed out log at an angle between the two swords?

 These are the two Amazon Swords.  They both have a lot of growing to do, especially little one in the corner.

This is the "Cabomba Forest", and the first piece of wood I've added.  I really can't wait for the Cabomba to fill out a little more!

Here's my rock caves! I'm going to add more rocks before I finish stocking.  The Cories, and Plecos will appreciate it, I hope.

And these are my new Glowlight Tetras! They were given to me by someone who didn't want them anymore.  I currently have 7, tomorrow I'm going to get 3 more.

Well that's my tank so far! I'm super excited to finish it! Tomorrow more Glowlights, and maybe 6 neons?  Probably not, but you never know! :) Anyways, that's it for now! 

South American Biotope: Part 5

Hello!

Stocking is set, though I need to choose exact numbers of each species.  That's going to mostly depend on size, I'll be figuring that out after this post because...

...This post is about my plants! The plants I ordered came in.  Woo-hoo! I'm really excited.  I got 10 Green Cabomba, and 1 potted Watersprite.  Actually, I got 2 Watersprite, I got a bonus baby plant.  :)

I don't have any pictures of my "Cabomba forest", or watersprite yet, because I have a bunch of plants (Ferns, Anubias, and Crypts) to take out.  My giant Java fern, and one of the green Crypt Wendtii are going into my Betta's tank.  Now I just need the Duckweed, and the Christmas Moss and my South American Biotope is done been planted! Yay!

I need more rocks, and more wood, but once I get all that I'm going to really plan stocking ORDER.  I'm probably getting the Glowlight tetras (7 of them) today.  I'll get 3 more Sunday.  Then I'll concentrate on the Decor, then finish stocking! :) So excited...

That's it for now! Pictures later today, or tomorrow.

South American Biotope: part 4

Hi!

Okay, this is the FINAL DRAFT of my stocking plan! Woo! It's finally set.

• 10 Glowlight Tetras
• 10-12 Neon Tetras
• 8-10 False Bandit Cories
• 2 Albino Bristlenose Plecostomus
• 1+ Angel fish
• 4 Platys
• 2 Guppies

I'm finally happy with this stocking, and I'm pretty sure that it's not overstocked now.  Plants are the same as before, and I've decided not to add anymore.  Now I've just got to start.  More rocks, and wood are both needed right now.

Wish me luck!

South American Biotope: Part 3

Part 3 is here!

You'll never believe it, but I changed my stocking plan.  Crazy, right?  Unexpected?  Probably not... Here is the new stocking, and the reasons for the changes.

• 10 Glowlight Tetras - not changed.
• 2-4 German Blue Rams - not changed.
• 8-10 False Bandit Cories - why the change?  I found these at a local pet store! Cheaper than $40 for 6 of them!
• 1-2 Albino Bristlenose Plecos - why?  I saw them at my lps (Local Pet Store), and fell in love! These are instead of the Albino Cories that I was thinking about.
• 4 Platys - already have these 4!  
• 2 Guppies - Lost another guppies today :( Niklaus died sometime last night.  Though he was completely fine during the water change I did last night!

So that's my stocking list now.  Why did I take the Black Widow Tetras (my favorite tetra) off?  Because they get huge.  Two inches or so long, and tall! That's a little bigger than I thought, so I'm thinking about doing some other kind of tetra, or even just making the Glowlight's school bigger.  I'm not sure yet.
The plants I'm getting I'm pretty sure are the same, but I'll put them here anyways.

• Duckweed - floats on the top of the tank
• Green Cabomba - I wanted red, but couldn't find it anywhere! So I'm settling with green... It's a frilly plant, good for fry.
• Amazon Swords - I hear these get big, mine are currently 2-4" tall, they've got a little more growing to do...
• Watersprite - A somewhat frilly plant, not as frilly as the cabomba though.  
• Christmas Moss - I'm going to plant this a little in the sand, and on some of the wood!

I'll probably find a few more plants eventually, but for now that's it!

South American Biotope: Part 2

Hello there! This is Part 2 of my South American Biotope "journal".

So the daily water changes are going pretty well, I'll post the stats for all of them when I'm done!
A few of my plants are being ordered soon!
My new plant list:
Amazon Swords
Green Cabomba
Duckweed
Watersprite
Christmas moss

I still need the Duckweed, and the Christmas moss, but the others I have, or are going to be ordered.
I also changed my stocking list, as much as I love the L444 Plecos they just won't work in my setup... Most of the fish I want come from slow moving streams, and the L444's come from fast moving streams, so that won't work.  Here's my stocking plan:
10 Glowlight Tetras
8 Black Widow Tetras
10 Albino Cories
8 Bandit Cories
4 German Blue Rams
3 Guppies
4 Platys

I think this stocking might be pushing it a little... So I may just get the bandit cories, and leave out the albino, or bring the albino numbers down to 8.  The glowlight tetras numbers have to be 10, because somebody I know is giving me 7, and they are apparently nipping, the more I have the less they nip, or so I've read.  The black widow tetras could be taken out, but they're my favorite kind of tetra, so... 4 GBRs might be tough, but with enough hiding places I should be able to swing it.  Unless I can find a store to buy them.  The guppies, and platys I already have, so I can't take those off the list.

So that's my new plan! Hopefully I won't change it too much more. :)

Betta's Biotope

Along with the South American Biotope I talked about in my last post I've decided to do a South Asian Biotope for my betta! Since bettas are from South Asia (Siamese fighting fish) I'm using plants from south Asia, and I'd like to get some shrimp, too! I want 2-4 Cherry shrimp to go with Damien.  The plants/decorations I'm going to have (so far):
Cryptocoryne Wendtii Green
Java fern
Java moss
my small pile of  blue rocks (though I may add a little cave)
The blue archway (I'm not removing the blue decorations!)
The shark with a "no fishing" sign (favorite decoration!)
Piece of wood (may add more)

And I'm going to be adding more plants, I just don't know what yet! :)

Well that's it for now!

Starting over...(South American Biotope)

Well apparently I'm starting over with my 55 gallon tank...

What happened was I missed a water change one week, and wasn't able to do it until the next week.  Meaning my NitrAtes were getting out of control.  Then my guppies started dying.  I was keeping up with water changes again by then, but it wasn't enough to get the Nitrates down far enough, and keep them there. So my guppies continued dying.  Then last week, Zip died (RIP!), and I got the advice to start doing daily water changes to bring down the Nitrates.  The last four or five days I haven't been able to, so yesterday I lost a guppy (Yuki), a platy (Elena), and Muddy.  Today all I have left: 3 guppies, 4 platys, and my sister's 3 snails.

I've decided that I'm going to re-model, and do a biotope.  Meaning I'm going to try and make my tank as much like the fish's natural habitat as possible.  I'm doing a South American Rio Meta, and Orinoco rivers biotope.  My current stocking list is:
1-2 L444 Pleco(s)
6-8 Bandit Corys (A.K.A. Rio Meta Corys!)
8-10 Glowlight Tetras (if my sister decides to get rid of them), or 10-12 Cardinal Tetras
Malaysian Trumpet snails (though not from South America...)
And I also want a "center piece" fish, but I'm not sure what yet.
If I can get away with it I'm thinking about (for more exact stocking):
1 L444 Pleco
8 Bandit Corys
8 Glowlight Tetras
10 Cardinal Tetras
1 "Center piece" fish (possibly some kind of South American Cichlid)

So far plants I'm using are:
Red Cabomba
Duckweed
Amazon Swords
Christmas moss

Other decorations I'm using are:
Rocks, I want more, and I want some different ones.  I'm probably going to get some redish ones, and some more dark grey ones, but I don't really like the lighter ones I have.
Wood.  I'm going to try and find an oak log, and hollow it out before treating it, if I can.  I might hollow it after, but I want a hollow log for them!

Other than the dead fish my fish are doing good.  I've decided to remodel Damien's tank again, but I'm going to do a South Asian biotope with him! Though the shark is staying... :)

(This was part 1 of my South American biotope journal)