A Fresh Chance to Start Right
Okie doles, as my phone likes to auto-correct. There is now another tank in the house. The ten gallon I may or may not have mentioned ordering is now set up on a relatively unstable shelf in our living room. I am not talented when it comes to aquascaping. Perhaps if I had rooms of rocks and sticks available to choose from, I could do something more elaborate. As it is, we have to choose from what’s on the shelf at our tiny aquarium shop and try to visualize the look without the tank to use for sizing things properly. I do believe if I owned a shop, I’d have…
Place Your Bets on the Limits of a Beast’s Appetite
It started with Esme, one little female betta. Now we have Esme, two loaches, four green tetras, four ember tetras, five shrimp, two gold mystery snails, a greenish-purple mystery snail, three purple mystery snails, a baby mystery snail who hitched a ride home on a plant we purchased, an unknown snail who is growing at an astonishing pace who also hitched a ride home on a plant, aaaaaaand 9,320,473,324 pest snails who must have been hiding on the plants we purchased for the plant tank. It’s just overrun with itty bitty snail babies. I can’t say with any certainty, because they’re still a little too small, but they’re looking a…
Waterbound Nowhere to Go
So many posts in the same month! A little update on the blackwater tank and other aquarium happenings. Firstly, yeesh. The plants have just taken off in Esme’s tank. The rotala? is now reaching the surface, the frogbit roots have extended, on average, about 1.5-2 inches. This is all since it was done on Thursday. I noticed the growth last night, but photographing this tank is anger-inducing. Speaking of… sorry about the glare. #@! Nevermind that browning on the sword. It’s been going on since we purchased it – you can see bits of it in the last post. I’m not concerned, since it was one of the sickly looking…
I Will Be Rocks, I Will Be Water
I cannot take pictures of this tank without a glare. That’s why every photo is of the back right section only. Anyway, the miniature blackwater tank has been made. Esmeralda seems to enjoy it. I don’t know about the snail. He was doing okay this morning, but finding him amongst the new gravel is impossibly difficult. I’m sure he’s fine. I don’t recall what everything is, but here’s what I can remember as far as what’s used for the aquascaping: Fluval Plant and Shrimp Stratum – You probably shouldn’t use this if you’re going for a blackwater tank as it states, “Will not discolor water and helps control organic discoloration…
There Ain’t No Air and There Ain’t No Light
I shared a video of an amazing blackwater tank with Brian. Here’s the video, in case you’d like to find yourself a new hobby. We have similar tastes in a lot of things, so it wasn’t a surprise that he also loved the blackwater tank. It’s not necessarily a replica of a natural betta environment, but the dark water and the submerged branches, leaves, and other debris create a much more realistic glimpse into the natural world than a tank full of shimmering plastic castles and pink gravel. The tanks seem more like cutouts of a pond, one that happens to have fish (or not), than something focused on a…
