yum

So, it's been quite an experience since I set up the tank late Feb of this year. Thanks to this board and generous local enthusiasts, my tank is thriving despite my crude care. The cherry shrimp are thriving, almost all algae is gone, and everything looks happy. The biggest achievement is keeping the plants alive. I have successfully killed every plant I have ever tried to keep in the past and even though the tank has it's problems (grrr potassium levels), it's still the best part of my day.

My biggest surprise was last night when I discovered a mysterious fry swimming around. It was about the size of a grain of rice and partially translucent. It has to either be a otto baby or a pygmy hastatus cory baby. Either way, I'm ecstatic! I've read that ottos can be difficult to keep alive and are often sick so if they are breeding I'm really psyched. Does anyone have a picture of a otto fry? If it's my pygmy cories, I'm just as happy since they are pretty hard to find around here.

Sadly, I've lost my big mama guppy quite suddenly. She developed some red spots and then died the following night. That leaves me with her 20+ fry and her mate.

My cherry shrimp have had 3 hatchings since I first introduced them 3/11/08, I count 3-4 other adult females that are berried and half a dozen developing egg saddles. My tank will be overrun with shrimp soon! YES!

And my big apples snail, whom I have named J. Edgar Hoover, is doing very well. He is really a bull in a china shop as he plows through the plants but that amuses me more than anything since I have no aquascaping done.

My tank has turned into my mom's basement for plants, I put in anything that comes my way.

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Tex Gal

Looks like you have some serious growth there. It might be time for a trim!
Congrats on the fry. It's always so exciting to have fry! How neat to have 2 possibilities on what fry you have. Keep us posted.

yum

yeah, i've been quite delinquent on the trimming. :P

dwalstad

Nice tank, and I see a very pretty male guppy in your picture. Sounds like its doing quite well with minimal effort. That's the way it should be.

bratyboy2

yum be proud you got diana walsted to post in your thread!!!! yay you lol

you should get on a trim here soon lol it needs it bud! anyway good job its cool

yum

Woo! Yeah! The tank is ridiculously overgrown but I have finally gotten some nice long surgical tweezers and scissors from a friend so a trim is in the near future. I have this crazy Elodea I threw in there that came with my apple snail. It has since created an offshoot to the top of the tank and it has grown about 18+ inches. It's gotten to the top and expanded from one length of the tank and back again.

I'm jealous of everyone on here that has actual aquascaping.

yum

Ok, so I still haven't trimmed the tank but I have spotted the fry again this morning. He/she only seems to hang out in the front of the tank in the mornings. I believe that it is a pygmy cory fry and not an otto. I wonder how many are in there! The 6 adults I have in there now are so shy that I barely see them at all. I was under the impression that they were very social and free swimming fish that will school. Maybe it's b/c there is no open water in my tank. Or maybe b/c I give them places to hide, they will hide more if given the choice?

Because I have so many snails and shrimp in the tank now, I figured it couldn't hurt to throw in an egg shell from my last batch of chocolate lava muffins. I didn't grind it up, I just tossed both halves in the tank. I read that the snails will eat the shell but I can't really see how. Will the egg shell just dissolve after a long while or should I take it out at some point? I've also been supplementing the water during my few water changes with "Snail Milk" which should also help promote good shell development.

My guppy fry are finally starting to show some color but I'm really surprised at the different growth rates. Some are still so tiny and some are easily 3 times the size.