Fish tank shifts
Well, it was a nice run on the 5.5 gallon tank in the work room.
It was all live plants, some Marimo algae balls, and a few cherry shrimp. Sadly I wasn't able to find a consistent local place to buy shrimp to keep a breeding pool going. (My first batch of 6 ironically were all male.) The two hardiest ones lived a little over a year and a half, not bad for a little critter that only push 3 years tops in ideal settings.
Last lone shrimp passed the week we left for a vacation, and I made the choice to transplant the remaining foliage into the 50 gallon and shut down the small tank in the office. For the better, the more live plants I can get stable in there, the better it's going to look and the better it will function with fish.
SPEAKING OF, after delaying this stupid setup for at least a year due to tight money, I think I'm finally ready to start adding the base for the animal life.
Still need to do some last pH checks and temp prepping, but I think it's going to start with a small satellite school of Tetra, and Corydora cats for clean up. Once I know I can handle upkeep on that, I'll look into getting some extra fish.
MAN, despite the fact I keep up on water changes and pH monitoring, I still feel kind of shitty when my fish don't live to the expected time frame. This is the fear that keeps me from starting this tank so much. I just can't tell myself enough that sometimes fish die for almost no reason, and it doesn't reflect on how well you maintain a tank. Ugh..small steps.
It was all live plants, some Marimo algae balls, and a few cherry shrimp. Sadly I wasn't able to find a consistent local place to buy shrimp to keep a breeding pool going. (My first batch of 6 ironically were all male.) The two hardiest ones lived a little over a year and a half, not bad for a little critter that only push 3 years tops in ideal settings.
Last lone shrimp passed the week we left for a vacation, and I made the choice to transplant the remaining foliage into the 50 gallon and shut down the small tank in the office. For the better, the more live plants I can get stable in there, the better it's going to look and the better it will function with fish.
SPEAKING OF, after delaying this stupid setup for at least a year due to tight money, I think I'm finally ready to start adding the base for the animal life.
Still need to do some last pH checks and temp prepping, but I think it's going to start with a small satellite school of Tetra, and Corydora cats for clean up. Once I know I can handle upkeep on that, I'll look into getting some extra fish.
MAN, despite the fact I keep up on water changes and pH monitoring, I still feel kind of shitty when my fish don't live to the expected time frame. This is the fear that keeps me from starting this tank so much. I just can't tell myself enough that sometimes fish die for almost no reason, and it doesn't reflect on how well you maintain a tank. Ugh..small steps.