Dan's 50G Tank Journal

50G / 189.9L Tank Journal


3 February 08 Substituted all the Head and Tail Light Tetras for my favourite fish — Cardinal Tetras. Currently have 12 of them and so far, I've seen 10 Cherry Shrimp. Not buying anymore as they aren't breeding. Temperature (29 degrees centigrade) seems to be too warm for them. My bro bought a new digital camera — tried it out and am very pleased with the results! Here are some shots ;-) Also substituted the white fluorescent light bulbs behind for red ones to enhance the plant colours .

1 January 08 Bought more cherry shrimp. In theory, there should be about 11 of them in there, but I usually see about 6-7 (max). Hoping that they will be able to breed one day. Had to remove a lot of the "Head and Tail Light" Tetra as they attack the shrimps at times. Surprising behaviour from such a small fish. Java Moss (Taxiphyllum barbieri) is doing extremely well, as is the mini pelia (Riccardia chamedryfolia) since my Siamese Algae Eater (SAE) vanished from the tank...


5 December 07 (top) & 30 October 07 Had to remove my Bosemani Rainbow fish as most of them were suffering from dropsy and getting skinny. Replaced them with 22 "Head and Tail Light" Tetras (Hemigrammus ocellifer). Always wanted to buy some Cardinal tetra but I felt that the choice was such a cliché. Also think their colours are a little too overwhelming for the scape. The new guys are doing OK. The more dominant fishes tend to establish their own territories. Introduced some Cherry Shrimp yesterday but was disappointed to find the tetras attacking them (though not all the time).... Don't think they'd make it in the long run...

30 October 07 The Echinodorus Tellenus had taken off in a big way. Had to give some away as the hairgrass has improved and I wanted more space for the "meadow" which you will see in the coming photo. Am really happy with how my mosses are growing out too. Compared with the photo below, there seems to be an improvement;-) I'm continuing to use my AZOO liquid fert and will then switch to ADA's as I'm quite impressed with it's results. My LFS (Local Fish Shop) uses the latter and it looks great... Maybe it's also because their tank is in an air-conditioned room @ 25° Centigrade (77° Fahrenheit). The temp. of mine's hovers around 28 degrees (82.4° Fahrenheit). They say this makes a difference...

29 September 07 I was still unhappy with my rescape since the last photo. Decided that driftwood is essential to give things a more natural look. Before this, I felt that I was never going to be successful growing moss due to the Siamese Algae Eater in the tank... However, I need it to control the hateful algae growth... I was SO WRONG. After increasing liquid fertilisation, the mosses in my tank (Christmas and Java Moss) started to grow better. Decided to tie them to the driftwood to create the famed "wabi-sabi" look and they just took off... Never looked back since.... I've also discovered the benefits of using ADA's "Multi Bottom Long" substrate fertiliser. It is expansive but so worthwhile! Found that my Cryptocoryne Retrospiralis which I thought had long "died" started to rejuvinate. Out of the 21 baby plants which I've planted, 4-5 are now growing very well!

23 April 07 I've decided to uproot the Echinodorus "Rose" and transfer it to the background as I keep plucking out its leaves in order to limit its size in the middleground. I do want the plant to do well (meaning grow to big and still look good) and thus, eventually breed new plantlets, hence the change of position. Finally got rid of my Rotala macrandra which were not doing well. In place, I'm SLOWLY to establish a low maintenance cryptocoryne tank with lots of Echinodorus tellenus (pygmy chain sword) to supplement the hairgrass is still in an unsatisfactory state. I like the beautiful reddish-pink colour, not to mention the nice size of the former under my bright lights. Managed to buy Cryptocoryne alba (he said it was a white crypt in chinese) and what I think is a Cryptocoryne beckettii too. Both doing well in my tank – no such thing as crypt melt ere ;-) Currently going for a greener "Nature Aquarium" look which emphasises more on the Bosemani Rainbows as well as different leaf shapes and textures. Stay tuned for more updates ;-)

1 March 07 Trying out a better layout for my journal here so I can show the tank better as well as write more. Just recovered from a near devastating outbreak of Bluegreen algae. I totally regret not taking any photos during the outbreak. Found that covering the tank up in total darkness for a few days works but it didn't! Eventually, the antibiotic Erythromycin did. Had to wait for a few weeks for the tank to recover fully. Even then, the fish which "accidently" ate that antibiotic are now a bit skinner than normal, in spite of feeding them normally. Some of the Anubias barteri var. nana's leaves have since become brown and died although new growth has appeared, as with the hairgrass too... although I've noticed that things still aren't the same with the former...
	30 December 2006 Hemianthus callitrichoides ''Cuba'' is a hard plant to keep – it takes a long time to fill out. I've decided to throw most of it out and fill up my foreground with hairgrass. The plant is lower maintenance than glosso BUT can be an algae magnet if you over feed. I've been having a problem with that recently, so I've got to cut down my lighting and reduce my fish feeding portions... I've done this before and the algae dissappeared fast... Hope it'll work this time!
	1 October 2006 I threw away the glosso as it was too high maintenance – the plant fills out the foreground well but it grows too thick. Replaced it with Hemianthus callitrichoides ''Cuba''. Also threw away my Eusteralis stellata as the plant is too demanding. Too little nutrition in the substrate and its leaves grow shorter and less bushy. It was costing me too much money and time and it was not too popular too.
	14 August 2006 Since the last photo session, my foreground has improved tremendously! The plants have filled out well, especially the glosso and the crypts. The Bosemanis are growing well too as I've been feeding them with small BB-like fish food balls instead of flakes. Unfortunately, I've had to discard two smaller ones due to fish TB – they just became skinnier and appeared stunted.
	7 June 2006 I've never been happy with my foreground until adding Glossostigma (Glossostigma elatinoides) and Dwarf Hairgrass (Eleocharis parvula) for a more delicate touch. They're filling in well and the Glosso's not as hard to grow as I've imaged it to be. My Cyperus helferi's growing taller and thriving. The last time I tried it in my smaller tank, it didn't do as well... so this is good!
	3 April 2006 I increased the iron tabs and mineral frets for the Eusteralis stellata and they grew red and more lush. However, the Rotala macrandra isn't doing as well as I've always been keeping them short, as a foreground plant. Aponogeton ulvaceus is taking off nicely as is the Nuphar Japonica.
	1 February 2006 I made the mistake of placing Hygrophila corymbosa ''Stricta'' as a foreground plant. I kept pruning it to keep it short and it didn't look healthy so I decided to discard it. I bought some Cryptocoryne walkeri (lutea), Aponogeton ulvaceus and Spatterdock (Nuphar Japonica) instead.
	6 December 2005 Ludwigia repens is starting to do very well. I'm begining to realise that the plant is extremely easy to cultivate and by the way it grows, it will soon block out the light. Eusteralis stellata is propogating nicely. It can look a lot redder and better with longer leaves although I didn't realise it at that time.
	17 November 2005 Filled up the gap in front of the bogwood with some Ludwigia repens. I also added some Eusteralis stellata (the spiky yellowish plant) to the background. I over bought the expensive plant in my excitement only to regret this later...
	31 October 2005 Started out with Ludwigia repens, Hygrophila corymbosa ''Stricta'' and Cabomba furcáta (C. piauhyensis) amongst other plants. For lighting, I used four 18W fluorescent tubes, with a total of 72Ws.