I did a major weeding & water change on my 55g "riverish" tank this week. I removed a ton of duckweed, java moss & jungle vals. I found I still have a black worm colony The bolbitus seems a bit stunted, maybe I got carried away last time I picked off old leaves with bba & moss. But the java moss was not quite as bad in it so I'll save that removal chore for another day.
I also found an algae coated weighted thermometer! (what is that, another stick?) That was after the small wood I thought had bolbitus on it came loose. I think the oldest roots had died off as the wood broke down. The tank has be set up for 9 years so not surprising.
I had to feel around to find the MIA sponge prefilter & clean off the now clogged intake. I need new sponges! But a couple loaches are grazing on it...& maybe something friskier is going on too. An adult male seems to be chasing, grooming...or?? I can't tell the gender of the small "chasee", a young female maybe? I always see a couple new fry in Jan. or Feb. but maybe now is when they breed? These are the slowest growing fry ever!!
I leave moss along the tank back but I did fingernail scrape to remove some. I couldn't remove it all if tried really hard (I have). My sewellia loaches breed every year so I leave some for eggs & fry to hide in. It actually looks quite nice with duckweed stuck on it kind of like a wall of HC if I don't look hard I never truly clean the back glass, my loaches are algae grazers. They have cleaned a white rock halfway since there's many fewer plants to graze on. It's kind of blinding now, lol.
I could actually vacuum the Eco substrate at 1 end but I didn't "swirl'n'vac" near the crypts or black worms' end. I was sore enough from all this tank fun, ha!
My have fish been very active since all this...maybe they always are but I couldn't see them.
I wish I had before & after pics to share but that's not my hobby, as some of you know. It's probably easy with a smart phone...but I don't have 1. I'm a Luddite & have to take & load them onto a hosting site...well, not happening...
I also found an algae coated weighted thermometer! (what is that, another stick?) That was after the small wood I thought had bolbitus on it came loose. I think the oldest roots had died off as the wood broke down. The tank has be set up for 9 years so not surprising.
I had to feel around to find the MIA sponge prefilter & clean off the now clogged intake. I need new sponges! But a couple loaches are grazing on it...& maybe something friskier is going on too. An adult male seems to be chasing, grooming...or?? I can't tell the gender of the small "chasee", a young female maybe? I always see a couple new fry in Jan. or Feb. but maybe now is when they breed? These are the slowest growing fry ever!!
I leave moss along the tank back but I did fingernail scrape to remove some. I couldn't remove it all if tried really hard (I have). My sewellia loaches breed every year so I leave some for eggs & fry to hide in. It actually looks quite nice with duckweed stuck on it kind of like a wall of HC if I don't look hard I never truly clean the back glass, my loaches are algae grazers. They have cleaned a white rock halfway since there's many fewer plants to graze on. It's kind of blinding now, lol.
I could actually vacuum the Eco substrate at 1 end but I didn't "swirl'n'vac" near the crypts or black worms' end. I was sore enough from all this tank fun, ha!
My have fish been very active since all this...maybe they always are but I couldn't see them.
I wish I had before & after pics to share but that's not my hobby, as some of you know. It's probably easy with a smart phone...but I don't have 1. I'm a Luddite & have to take & load them onto a hosting site...well, not happening...