Cycling

• 50g
  • Started cycle - Jul 28
  • Added plants - Jul 28 - Aug 8
  • Added snails - Sep 1
  • Added shrimp/ otos - Sep 21
  • Most Malaysian trumpet snails are at the top
  • added sterilizes anubis and java fern - Oct 18
• 13g
  • Started cycle (dark start) - Aug 8
  • Added plants - Sep 24 (no CO2)
  • Added one Amano shrimp and one nerite to help with algae, they mostly hid (Oct 3)
  • Removed Marimo moss because it was burning - Oct 7
  • Added yellow shrimp, amanos, and two new yellow horned nerites - Oct 13
  • Added weeping moss to tree, glue made the water cloudy but it cleared up - Oct 13
  • added red floaters - Oct 18
• 25g
  • Started cycle (dark start) - Sep 24
  • No ammonia or nitrites by Sep 26
  • Added plants (no CO2) - Sep 26
  • Added CO2 - Oct 7
  • Facing green algae, lowered light - Oct 8
  • Added 4 SAE - Oct 9
  • Facing brown algae, raised lights - Oct 12
  • Renewed CO2 - Oct 13
  • added red floaters - Oct 18
  • added red floaters - Oct 21
• 17g
  • Started cycle (blackwater & sand) - Oct 9
  • Added moss, driftwood, and rocks - Oct 9
  • Added 10 existing mix color shrimp - Oct 10
  • Added a new 700 l/h filter
  • Adding stability every day/other day
  • Added sterilized Anubis and java fern - Oct 18
  • 50% water change and rearranged plants
  • 5 shrimp died after this water change, suspecting high GH but also saw a red free-floating worm.
  • Oct 29 - GH tested ~40, removed all limestone rocks from tank big and scatter ones, expect those tide to the epiphytes. Changed 95% of the water. Tested GH after an hour, GH at 8
  • Oct 29 boiled botanicals for an hour and added them and their water to the tank
  • Nov 3 GH tested 13 from 8 a few days prior, remaining limestone rock are suspected culprit
  • Nov 5 emptied tank of all sand and added left over aquasoil from glass bowl, added more aquasoil from store.
  • Nov 15 - removed most dead annubius

Quarantine

• ✔ First Batch of Amano Shrimp and Otos (3 weeks, Aug 30-Sep 21)
  • Aug 30 - Started in a 5 gallon tank
  • Aug 30 - added 10 shrimp
  • Aug 31 - added 3 otos
  • Sep 21 - removed 10 shrimp & 3 otos from QT to main tank
• ✔ Siamese algae eater (4 weeks, Sep 22 - Oct 22)
  • Sep 21 - started in an established 5-gallon tank
  • Sep 21 - added 1 Siamese algae eater
  • Sep 22 - added 3 Siamese algae eaters
  • Oct 9 - Moved 4 Siamese algae eaters to pink tank
  • Nov 10 - Move 1 to big tank
• ✔ Pygmy Corydoras (4 weeks, Sep 22 - Oct 22/Nov 5)
  • Sep 22 - started in a 10 gallon container
  • Sep 22 - added 16 pygmy corydoras
  • Nov 15 - moved them to BW tank
• ✔ Koi Betta (4 weeks, Oct 3 - Nov 3)
  • Oct 3 - started in 10 gallon container
  • Oct 3 - added betta with almond leaf and alder cone
  • Oct 5 - super cute and friendly, eats betta pellets
  • Nov 16 - died without apparent cause, didn't eat night before
• ✔ Betta Smaragdina (4 weeks, Oct 3 - Oct 22/Nov 15)
  • Oct 3 - started in 10 gallon container
  • Oct 3 - added betta with almond leaf and alder cone
  • Oct 5 - super shy but is getting more curious around food time
  • Oct 29 - put a mirror to make it flare, saw that the tail was split in half, started treating with 5 ml Melafix
  • Nov 11 - started it omnipur, still eating
• ✔ Mix Color Shrimp (3 weeks, Oct 3 - Oct 24)
  • Oct 3 - Added 10 of them directly into the danish tank
  • Oct 6 - Removed them from the Danish tank and put them in a vase.
  • Oct 19 - 50% water change, many died after
  • Oct 19 - noticed one wiggly red worm and removed it
  • Oct 19 - Prazicleanse dose
  • Oct 19-21 - 6 dead shrimp and more twitching
  • Oct 25 - I suspect all shrimp died in the blackwater tank, but they had babies in the pink tank, and 5 of those survived!
• ✔ Sunset Yellow Shrimp (4 weeks, Oct 12 - Nov 12)
  • Oct 12 - Added 13 of them directly into the bonsai tank
  • Oct 19 - One died
  • Nov 13 - noticed babies and hydra
• ✔ Australian Amanos (4 weeks, Oct 12 - Nov 12)
  • Oct 12 - Added four of them directly into the bonsai tank to help w/ algae, will move them to dutch tank after Nov 12
  • Nov 16 - still in shrimp tank
• ✔ Albino long-finned bristlenose pleco (4 weeks, Oct 12 - Nov 12)
  • Oct 12 - Added her to cycled 5 gallon tank
  • Nov 8 - Added it to big tank
• ✔ Rainbowfish and Guppies (2+ months, Aug 30 - Nov 25)
  • Aug 30 - started in 10 gallon container
  • Aug 30 - added two kinds of rainbowfish and guppies
  • Aug 31 - added neon dwarf rainbowfish
  • Sep 1 - added 3 male guppies
  • Sep 4 - moved them to 25 gallon tank
  • Sep 7 - one female guppy died
  • Sep 11 - one female guppy died
  • Sep 11 - ICH treatment
  • Sep 13 - ICH treatment
  • Sep 15 - white male died
  • Sep 16 - Prazicleanse
  • Sep 17 - one female guppy died
  • Sep 18 - yellow male and female guppy died (camallanus suspected)
  • Sep 20 - 3 forktail rainbowfish died
  • Sep 20 - Expel-p (expired)
  • Sep 21 - moved them to 10-gallon isolated container
  • Sep 22 - Prazicleanse
  • Sep 25 - all remaining guppies died (black male and three females)
  • Sep 26 - added 2 tbps of aquarium salt
  • Oct 25 - One spotted rainbowfish found dead
  • Nov 4 - Fed them medicated egg whites
  • Nov 12 - Moved them to big tank
  • Nov 14 - euthanized one female neon rainbowfish that wasn't moving much

Livestock Count (88)

• 3 Otocinclus - Aug 31
• 10 Amano shrimp - Aug 30
• 6 Nerite snails - Aug 30 - Oct 12
  • 1 escaped temporary home
  • 1 was eaten by pest assasin snails
• 7 Neon Dwarf Rainbowfish - Aug 31
  • 1 sick euthanized
• 7 Blue-eyed forktail rainbowfish - Aug 30
  • 3 died in QT
• 9 Blue-eyed spotted rainbowfish - Aug 30
  • 1 died in QT
• 0 Guppies - Aug 30
  • 10 died in QT suspected camallanus
• 4 Siamese algae eater - Sep 22
• 16 pygmy corydoras - Sep 22
• 0 betta splenda - Oct 3
  • died Nov 16
• 1 betta smaragdina - Oct 3
• 5 Mix color shrimp - Oct 3
  • 10 died for unknown reasons, the five are their babies
• 12 Yellow/orange shrimp - Oct 12
  • 1 died
• 4 Australian Amanos - Oct 12
• 1 Albino long-finned bristlenose pleco - Oct 12

Livestock WISHLIST

• 12 black neons for BW tank
• 4 SAE, 1 for pink tank, 3 for main tank
• 12 schooling fish for dutch tank (glowlight tetra or some other tetra)

NOTES

Lessons Learned:

• NO MORE GUPPIES
• Only buy fish from AA, but their shrimp suck
• ALWAYS quarantine, don't add anything directly to planted tank
• Sometimes QT is worse for the fish than actual tank
• Medicine is essential to have on hand
• Totally isolate QT equipment from main tank. Better yet, put them in separate rooms.
• Buy plants in advance (stores don't stock often)
• Buy algae-free plants and dip them in a diluted bleach solution
• Dark start gets cycle going but doesn't protect from algae (algae eating fish/inverts do)
• APT 3/complete raises nitrates too much