#tropical fish tank

[nanojungle]

Week 3

So after a bit of research and with some help from the lovely people at the local fish shop, my lil underwater garden is looking luscious and healthy!

I’ve chosen plants which are nitrate hungry. The LFS guy said that plants that are bought off online stores sometimes arrive so beat up that they usually can’t muster the energy to root. It might have been a pitch to sell me some plants but I found that he was right. All the plants I bought managed to take root within the week and are looking bushy and happy.

The Monte Carlo is now completely cleaned out and the Rotala also got trashed too. Instead we have water weed, water wisteria and hornwort as the background plants (all nitrate hungry fast growers) and we have Anubias on the rocks and Java fern by the filter. As the Hornwart grows, I chop the new shoots up into little bouquets held by lead weights. They function as new plants so I can keep filling in the background.

The best news of all; the tank is cycled! I’ll give it a week to see if it’s stable and then we can get some wet pets in there!!

[emeraldlabyrinth]

If you enjoy Emerald Labyrinth's content feel free to check out my site. There you will find longer blog posts and hand-selected books you can purchase.

[emeraldlabyrinth]

When I first got the Jazzy shrimp, five of them died (there were 11 in total).

It took a stakeout for me to find out how they were dying. They were climbing up the wall of the fish tank out of the water and into the pretty high flow outtake of the filter. That day I learned never to underestimate the strength of a shrimp or their lack of intelligence.

girl what are you DOING

[mastermigraciones]

New York Family Room Inspiration for a large, open, eclectic family room renovation with white walls and no television

[iridescentclouds29]

Dinner time

[treasuregamble]

more fish from the excellent LiveAquaria website

[headlessandhellbent]

Been a hot minute since we did a Fergus update-

So I ran out of IAL and ordered some of the same exact ones I had.

I did not get what I was expecting.

This is one single leaf of what arrived:

And now I get great views like this:

It's little fish against big leaf over here

And Fergus is enjoying every single damn moment of it

[addfish]

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!

[gntropics]

Fish wall project begins 🤓🐠 Ft Stitch 🐱

[nanojungle]

Fish Wishes!

(Images aren’t mine, snatched from google)

Ok so I’ve thought about this for awhile and I’ve seen a couple of these guys in fish stores and done the research to figure out what’s going to be happiest in my 15G nano tank.

Honey Gourami as the centrepiece fish

When I see these guys iRL, they’re always inquisitive, swimming right up to things and then giving them a little pat with their feelers. They’re cute and interesting to watch. Generally considered a peaceful community fish but Reddit has been full of stories of them bullying their own kind until they die :< As they’re happy solo, I think I can give them a stress free life being the centrepiece fish of the tank with a few easygoing nano fish friends.

Or Sparkling Gourami as the centrepiece?

I love the idea of Sparklers. I fell in love with the YouTube series from Foo the Flowerhorn where they set up a tank with sparklers and amanos. In reality I think it’s very risky for the amanos; I’ve had LFS guys and Reddit posts give me anecdotes about the sparklers eating shrimp or killing them off slowly by beating them into hiding. Let’s be honest, I do this hobby to relax. I’m not going to have violence in my tank! Such a shame as they’re so pretty. The image of these guys with their turquoise scales and a backdrop of a bunch of baby blue jelly shrimps would be soo cool but I know there would be suffering so it would never be worth it.

Nano fish

Celestial Pearl Danios

Excuse the shitty iPhone vid. Sometimes you just have to go to see some fish iRL to figure if you’re really going to love them.

I’ll tell you what, every time I see these guys in real life they make my heart flutter with how stinking cute they are. They have beautiful colours and are so small. The ones I’ve seen in store have been about 0.8” in length.

Chilli rasbora

These are another species that always catch my attention in person. Their little faces and big eyes are too cute to handle and their body shape looks like a miniature red shark. They’re also micro predators so they would have a great time gobbling up the creatures and loose eggs in the tank. Thankfully their mouths are too small to do any damage to shrimps!

Extras;

When I think of all the gross lil non-fish creatures I would enjoy in a tank, my mind always gravitates to cherry shrimp or amanos. With amanos I think i’d like the peace of mind to rely on these lil dudes to clean up the nastier hairier algae if it turns up.

However, a hoard of cherries swarming the tank and filling it with bright colours would also be so fun! Blue jellies are the cutest but bright orange ones look like you’ve got a tank full of pre cooked shrimp or living cheetos.

Anyways, that’s my fish wishes! Im not going to get every one of these fish, just a centrepiece fish, some skrimps if compatible and a small shoal of nano fish.

Next weekend I might go to the LFS and see what I can find, I’m so excited!

[emeraldlabyrinth]

If you enjoy Emerald Labyrinth's content feel free to check out my site. There you will find longer blog posts and hand-selected books you can purchase.

[pardomagus]

One of my new scarlet badis babies showed up for a closeup.

[autistic-clownfish]

Just bought one of these and I’m so happy! Can’t wait for it to arrive

[jajafilm]

Photo from World of Jellyfish, Pankrác, Prague

As always, you can also find more photos on Shutterstock, Adobe Stock and Deviantart.

(You can't copy these photos and use them for commercial or private use without purchasing a license.)

[treasuregamble]

some additional fish (and a coral)

from the incredible LiveAquaria website

[toddbarrowcountry]