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Last time I bought plants from a fish shop I got an unexpected surprise - tiny snails had hitched a ride to my tank! I wasn't sure what kind they were as they were so small (I thought they might be bladder snails but their shells were a bit different) so I just left them to grow for a few weeks... it turns out they are blue ramshorn snails! Their shells are now 1.5-2cm wide and are a very pretty dappled pastel blue with hints of pink, some are plain and others have a gorgeous leopard spot pattern. I have about 10 and they seem to be laying eggs, so I will have more baby snails in no time! I have noticed there are some small bites out of my plants, so I will have to make sure they have enough algae wafers and calcium blocks to munch on!

#aquarium #fish tank #fish #tropical freshwater #tank #snails #ramshorn snail #blue ramshorn snail #hitchhiker

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Future plans!

I have decided to keep and breed guppies finally, as they are honestly my favourite fish of all time! (Probably because they remind me of mermaids!) I have set up the Aquacube again next to my 90l AquaOne tank, so that I can keep the babies in there, while selecting certain male and female guppies to breed away from the males in the main tank. I initially bought 12 or so standard male and female guppies in mixed colours, but after a lot of research have decided to breed blue glass guppies. They are out of stock atm so I will need to wait a few weeks before I can get them, but that gives me time to improve the plants and hard scape.

I bought some large seriyu rocks for that, I had to silcone other smaller rocks to the bottom so they would stand up on their own.

Here's a blurry photo of my setup! I have since moved the rock in the Aquacube in with the others in the main tank. I've taken out some of the plants on the left, trimmed the roots and re planted them. I might do the same for the back as I'm not sure they will grow tall enough to be background plants, so I might have a move around. The plants seem to benefit from a root trim every few years, last time I did this they grew incredibly fast afterwards. I just need to decide on what plants to get for the back of the tank that will grow talk enough!

Once the tanks are fully planted, I plan on getting some blue shrimp. They look amazing!

#aquarium #fish #fish tank #tropical freshwater #tank #aquarium plants #aquarium set up #fish room #shrimp #guppy #guppies #breeding guppies #blue glass guppies

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I have had a run of bad luck after trying to restart my tank post Algaegeddon. I bought some Cardinal tetras from Pets At Home, later that evening once I had released them into my tank I realised they had whitespot! :( I ordered a whitespot treatment that was safe for snails and shrimp (a lot of them are deadly to shrimp and inverts!) luckily the disease didn't spread to any if my other fish, but I sadly lost the tetra. Pets At Home gave me a refund luckily as they had just realised the tank was infected before I called them to complain. Thankfully the whitespot is completely gone and my other fish are fine!

In plant news, I ordered two tiger lotus bulbs off ebay, but I was sent some kind of bulb that looked like a spring onion?! I found out that this had happened to other people as well, so I get the feeling it was intentional scam by the seller. The next lotus bulb I bought from a different seller never developed shoots and started to rot inside, so it must have been a dud. Finally, I ordered 4 cryptocoryne plants which got lost in the post by Royal Mail! :( Thankfully I have got refunds for everything, but this run of bad luck has wasted weeks of tank progress!

Rotten tiger lotus bulb

Scam 'tiger lotus' bulbs!!

#aquarium #fish tank #fish #tropical freshwater #aquarium bulbs #whitespot #petsathome

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Last year I could not access my 90l tank to maintain it properly due to building work and as a result it suffered what I like to call Algaegeddon! My tank was plagued with hair algae, green spot algae and black beard algae, also resulting in a loss of a lot of shrimps, fish and snails.

So this year I have had to start over! I removed most of the badly affected leaves, but the algae still kept coming! I bought a treatment only to find out that it was harmful to shrimp and snails, luckily I realised before I used it! Then i bought another which says it was safe for fish/shrimps/snails, but only worked on one type of algae, (green water) which was no good! I finally found Colombo Algisin which treats all kinds of algae and is safe for fish, snails and shrimp! It's a long process to treat it, but it is working well!

I also used Algisin in the 30l Aquacube. I packed the tank away last year and recently restarted it, and although I bought new plants and everything was clean it developed algae from new tank syndrome. The algae is gone now after 2 doses of the treatment, so it's time to buy some more plants!

#aquarium #fish #fish tank #tropical freshwater #algae #algaegeddon #tank

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My tank has filled out slightly and the scissortails have started coming out after months of hiding! I added a coconut cave, spiderwood and cholla wood yesterday, and attached lots of java moss to them, the shrimps loved it! I'm going to get a few endlers this week to give the tank a bit of colour :)

#aquarium #fish #fish tank #tank #planted aquarium #aquarium plants #natural aquarium #freshwater tank

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WIP I dug out my old Aquacube 25L aquarium and am in the process of setting it up. I'm waiting for a new over head light to arrive and I'm planning to order some seiryu rock for the center.

This will eventually house assassin snails and low grade cherry shrimp rehomed from my other tank.

#aquarium #fish #fish tank #planted aquarium #aquarium plants #natural aquarium #tank #new setup #wip #25l tank #aquacube

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90L Aquaone aquarium - 11th April 2021

The new plants are perking up now. I'm still planning to get some more, a tall plant to hide the filter, some moss for the shrimps and some ground cover.

#aquarium #fish #fish tank #planted aquarium #aquarium plants #natural aquarium #tank

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90L Aquarium - April 2020

One week after the previous post, with new plants. I'm starting to feed the plants weekly again so they are generally perking up too.

#aquarium #fish #fish tank #planted aquarium #aquarium plants #natural aquarium #new fish

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90L Aquarium - March 2021

I haven't posted for a while but my 90l tank is still going! I just got some new plants so will post another photo when they have settled in!

Current inhabitants:

Shoal of scissortails

20+ red cherry shrimp

3 x dwarf algae eaters

Siamese algae eater

Assassin snails

#tropical fish #fish #fish tank #aquarium #natural aquarium #aquarium plants #planted aquarium #algae eater

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Fancy fairy shrimp

I’ve moved bedrooms and don’t have my 150l tank in here with me, so I decided I’d set up some low maintenance projects to give me something to look at while I’m in my new bedroom.

My first thought was Sea Monkey/fairy shrimp. I had some years ago and thought it might be fun to have another go with them!

I started researching them and found several different varieties of shrimp, my favourite being the Branchinella Thailandensis Sanoamuang.

It’s easy to get common fairy shrimp eggs on eBay and such websites, but as I was going for something more fancy, I had to order the eggs from Germany which I’m still waiting for.

As for their housing, I have ordered a 1.3 litre betta box. I chose this one in particular as it has a LED light that plugs into the mains, rather running on batteries, so it’ll have a good stable light source.

I have also ordered a 5 litre betta tank (Aqua One Betta Haven) which I might move them to when they get bigger or possibly start a miniature shrimp tank later on if not. I will have to see how I get on with this particular species of fairy shrimp first, as from what I have read they seem to be harder to hatch than regular fairy shrimp.

Looking into fairy shrimp I have read that the best time of year to hatch them is from Halloween to Valentines Day, which luckily for me it's currently the end of November. The hatch rate is better when it is cooler. The Ideal hatching location is on a windowsill with natural light for 24-48 hours. It’s best to hatch them in a clean tank with no algae as this lowers the hatch rate. When they are bigger I might use a small heater just to keep the temperature more stable and prevent it from dropping too low. I thought they might need a filter/air stone as I have seen people using them in photos but I read they tend to do better without as their natural habitats are still pools of water.

If/when I move the fairy shrimp into the larger betta box I am thinking of putting in a small layer of sand at the bottom, just to look less empty and add a nicer aesthetic than an empty cube.

I read that when the fairy shrimp die off in roughly 6 weeks, you can collect their eggs from the bottom of the tank, dry them and start the process again from the beginning. If there is only a tiny bit of sand the eggs will be easier to collect them.

I’m also thinking of adding a small piece of lava rock to the middle that can be easily removed and some tiny clumps of java moss for greenery.

I will post updates on my progress as I go!

#fairy shrimp #seamonkeys #fishkeeping #fish #aquarium #betta #tropical freshwater #freshwater tank #freshwater fish #shrimp

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New tank progress

October 2015 (first photo) - Taken straight after I transferred all the sand, plants, equipment and fish to the new tank. I trimmed all the roots of the plants to help them grow. The cave in my old tank collapsed when I tried to move it (which was surprising since I used proper aquarium sealant to make it) however that was about 8 years ago, so perhaps the glue doesn't hold up forever!

January 2016 (second photo) - The plants have done amazingly well, some have more than doubled in height and have really filled out. The only new plants are the Amazon Sword (left) and some straight Vallis (right).

My next project is to make a new cave and put it under the bogwood at the back, so that the wood and plants are lifted up creating a tiered planting effect. I'm sure the fish will be glad to have their cave back too!

#new aquarium #aquarium plants #new plants #progress #time skip #tropical freshwater #amazon sword #bogwood #plants #vallis #gourami

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Otocinclus Catfish

#Otto Oto Cat Dwarf Sucking Catfish Midget Sucker Fish #Otto #Otto cat #dwarf sucking catfish #midget sucker fish #catfish #tropical fish #freshwater tank #close-up #closeup #new fish #Aquatic Plants

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Otocinclus Catfish

I always thought Otos only held onto leaves by using their sucker mouths, until I had a closer look one day and caught this little guy griping the leaf with just his lower fins!

#otocinclus #catfish #planted aquarium #close-up #close-ups #leaves #tropical #plants #underwater #fish #tank #new fish #cute #addfish

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Flying Fox

#aquarium #fish #tropical #freshwater #Flying fox #plants #tank #close-up #close-ups

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Two male Pineapple Swordtail Platies

#aquarium #fish #tropical #freshwater #tank #pineapple swordtail platty

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New 90L tank to replace my 150L tank. It was very hard to get hold of this as it seems it has been discontinued. I don’t know why though, it’s a lovely tank! Photos of it set up to follow :)

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Pineapple Swordtail Platties

#fish #aquarium #freshwater #tropical #swordtail #platties #platty #orange #pineapple