kittendrumstick

If you’re looking at these pics like, “dude why didn’t you close your shades and clean the glass,” 1. the shades are those woven ones you have to tie and untie and I’m a lazy shit. 2. I actually DID try to clean it but didn’t notice that I made everything worse until after I started taking photos and if you know how hard getting a good pic of a fish is you’ll know why I didn’t retake them. Aaaand also I’m a lazy shit.

ANYWAY, I thought I’d put these up since I haven’t posted photos of my tanks in... uhhh... idk man, probably forever. Still trying to fill in the back of the big tank with plants, it’s a slow process since I’m taking bits and pieces from the existing ones to fill the space instead of buying more, haha. Could probably get another amazon sword, though.

I’ve been long overdue for a fish post. My tank looks like butt right now because my old lights got real crappy and the plants needed potassium, so I switched to LEDs (I highly recommend any of the Finnex Planted+ lights, they’re great and my plants love them) and have been trying to keep up with dosing ferts more often. The sword plants lost a bunch of leaves but have been growing back some nice ones, so I’m hopeful!

The fish are all doing fine, at least. I did a shrimp experiment with my smaller tank to see if my water’s just too weird for them, and it looks like it is :( they don’t survive in it no matter what I do. Sucks, but I guess I can get snails or a betta or something instead.

Haven't posted my fish in awhile. I hurt my back the last time I was supposed to clean my tank, so I had to put it off for a bit which did not make the plants happy. They're ok now, though. I have to laugh at whoever told me that red wendtii is a foreground plant, though, because, uhh... yeah. It's kind of taking over the space in front, haha.

I found out that if I tap or wave my fingers in front of the tank glass really fast, it messes with Li'l Shark's tiny brain because he can't figure out if they're a fish or not, so he charges them, stops a second later, forgets what he was doing, and then goes after them again. His tail is always super bright red, though. It's really pretty. So is Ziggy. And all of my fish. Still want to get more tetras when I find some that don't have problems.

A couple random fish photos since I cleaned my tank today. I bought that one loach on the far right in the last two photos thinking it was another botia kubotai since it was labeled as one, but now that it's bigger it's definitely not kubotai. Hard to tell what it actually is though. Looks like possibly botia rostrata or more likely botia histrionica. They all look similar when they're young. I'm wondering if I should see if one of the local stores will take it in hopes it ends up with the right loaches since it doesn't seem to get along with the other two very much.

My plan to make water sprite fill the back wall of my tank is finally happening, sort of. Originally I was going to use wisteria, but aside from that one crappy looking stalk that's still growing it just didn't do well in my tank. I don't even know how, because it's wisteria, but whatever. Water sprite it is! All of that came from one plant, too.

Tank photo from today and a random shot of a kuhli loach eating an algae wafer. I kept forgetting to change out the bulbs in my tank lights, so I finally did and holy balls they're bright. And very green. Hopefully the plants like it.

I keep considering adding a school of rummy nose tetras or something, but at this point I'm thinking maybe just adding one or two more of the polka dot loaches would be a better idea, 'cause those guys are awesome. Also someone please take my damn nerite snails. They keep eating my amazon sword's leaves down to stems even though there's algae everywhere.

Haven't forgotten these guys! They're all still kicking it. Ziggy turned into such a beautiful fish. I never would have guessed she'd end up with that smoky blue color when I originally got her, but man. With those red eyes, it really looks amazing. Also, have an extremely chunky loach.

I don't think I've ever posted a tank stock list, but it's mostly loaches and catfish in a taller tank which is why the middle space looks so empty, haha. So I've got:

1 angelfish (Ziggy, the best and most docile angelfish in the world) 1 Killifish, Stripey Fatty. He is also turning into a big chunk. 1 red tailed shark, Li'l Shark, who is not so little now! 3 angelicus/polka dot loaches 4 brown kuhli loaches. Can you believe I had one by itself for years, then added a second one and suddenly ended up with two more? Of course I kept them, haha. 6 catfish - 3 bronze corys, 1 peppered cory, and 2 brochis splendens, which I didn't realize weren't corys when I got them. They fit in with the others fine, so I never returned them. 2 nerite snails, one is ruby and one is zebra. I had a second ruby nerite but it disappeared shortly after I got it.

Tank looks pretty good today! I started adding Flourish Excel on a more regular basis, and it's been great for the plants so I'm gonna keep doing it. The water sprite and wisteria were growing out of the water before I cut them back. I also moved some of the water sprite to the right side of the tank in hopes it'll fill out a bit more. Wish I could get my nerite snails to stop eating the amazon sword, though. Jerks.

Photo of my tank from today. I had to cut back a lot of the leaves on the big plant in the middle because of black beard algae (ew). It's pretty much gone now, but dumping a ton of Flourish Excel into the water to kill it was the final nail in the coffin for the few remaining cryptocoryne balansae leaves. Other than a few stems it's entirely gone now, which is a shame. I really liked that plant, but it wasn't nearly as hardy as the other crypts. That red wendtii could probably live through anything. 

Also, my anubias nana is flowering. It's been in this tank for ages, and I never knew it could do that.

Some random photos of my fish from yesterday. Li'l Shark's coloration is probably the brightest of any red tailed shark I've owned so far, and combined with his fairly laid-back attitude it's making him my favorite of all the sharks I've had. Go, Li'l Shark! Ziggy is still fascinated with my camera. I don't know if she thinks it's another angelfish or what.

That photo with the three loaches is the best I've done in getting a picture of them chasing and playing with each other (they do this constantly, it's adorable).

Eventually I'll get another full tank shot - the plants are starting to come back a bit more since the move, except for the cryptocoryne balanse which has almost completely died off :/ I loved the hell out of that plant, but it just did not do well at all after the move and is down to 2-3 leaves left out of what was a previously very full and fast growing plant. Sucks about that.

Also, have a crappy photo of my new betta! After Ghost died, I was looking for new bettas and found this pretty one I named Remy. The light in his tank burnt out, and I can't replace it, so my next project is going to be setting up a nice little 5 gallon with live plants and some shrimp for him. As of yesterday he has gained a gray and black mystery snail friend.

Yesterday I randomly went to Tropical World and they had a ton of extremely nice-looking anubias frazeri (must have gotten a new plant shipment in), so I got two of them and planted them. I was thinking about getting a third for the left side of the tank, but I think I'll wait for the bigger plant to grow taller, move it, and then hopefully get another one. I think they're filling in the space pretty well, and you can never go wrong with anubias.

It's kind of funny, but since I replaced that short barrel decoration with the fake tall tree stump it's divided the tank in a neat little way. When they're not eating all of the loaches (angelicus and kuhli) hang out in or on that long rock on the left while the cories all hang out by the tree stump on the right. They do go all over the tank a lot of the time, but they definitely have their preferred spots. The angelfish, killifish, and red tailed shark just do whatever. Haven't seen the snails in awhile, though. One disappeared completely, but the other two are still keeping the tank relatively algae-free, at least. 

I kind of miss the blue walls at my old place because the tank looked so much nicer with a blue tint to the water. The walls are beige here, so now everything looks extremely yellow. It's weirding me out a little - I keep thinking my tank water's gone wrong.

Loaches! I rarely get photos of these guys since they move around and hide a lot, but here are some old pictures. The top ones are botia kubotai, also called polka dot loaches or angelicus botia. The one in front is Howard, and the one behind it is Vince. I've since added a third named Naboo (why yes I do like to theme name my fish how did you know?). I have yet to get a photo of the three of them doing their Angry Loach Dance, where they all swim around in a circle and pretend to chase each other.

The other two are plain brown kuhli loaches - I rarely see these for sale locally and have never seen the striped variety for sale, though a friend of mine just recently got some so they must exist somewhere. I had one sad little loach for the longest time (before I even had my 36 gallon tank), managed to get it a friend, and then they had loach babies. Now I have four brown kuhli loaches, and I still can't tell any of them apart.