I teach, so now that summer is winding to a close, I’ll be returning to work soon… very soon. I really can’t complain about how the summer has gone, though, since I’ve made so much progress on my fishroom. Even better, there’s more good stuff on the way — I’m not going to let a little thing like a full-time job get in the way of fishkeeping!
So here’s how several of my tanks are doing:
55-Gallon Community
The original MTS in this tank are flippin’ huge. I’ve seen photos of MTS this size, but I’ve never had them this large in my own tanks. They’ve produced a ton of little baby snails, too, despite the fact that I’m not feeding them. They’re probably snacking on the algae and biofilm growing on the driftwood, as well as whatever organics they can get to in the substrate’s potting soil layer.
The Nymphaea lily bulb is doing well, also. I’m not going to let this plant reach the surface, but once it’s well-established, I’ll probably detach the bulb and move it somewhere else in the tank.
I’ve decided to take a break from trimming the anacharis — I want to see how it will fill in if I let it grow wild for a bit. Here’s where we are today:
Peppered Cory Quarantine Tank
Today is the two-week anniversary of bringing home my peppered cories, and they’re all swimming around energetically and eating happily. In the video below, there’s a couple of cories who look like they’re flashing a bit. I’m going to keep an eye on this, obviously.
10-Gallon Gammarus Colony
I’ve discovered a food (finally) that the shrimp really seem to get excited about: shrimp pellets. Generally, if I bother dropping in a few pieces of food, the gammarus don’t even react to it. The next day, I’ll find it covered in white fuzz as it decomposes.
When I drop in a shrimp pellet, the gammarus quickly latch on to it and start chowing down. It’s pretty amazing to see — and by the next morning, the pellet will be gone. I won’t be feeding frequently, since they’re reproducing rapidly without it, but I’ll drop one in from time to time.
5-Gallon Chi
This tank is still intended to be the home for some RCS, but in the meantime, I’ve got mystery snails! A member of Everything Aquatic hooked me up with some purple and magenta mysteries. They arrived smaller than peas, but one or two of them have doubled in size already, and the others aren’t far behind.
The two photos of a snail on lava rock shows a week’s growth. It’s incredible seeing how quickly this snail in particular is already more than twice as large as when I got them a week ago.
Speaking of lava rocks, the java moss I tied to these rocks isn’t growing nearly as fast as the snails, but I am happy to say that there is new growth visible (the light green spots in the photo at right).
It’s possible I might be adding a starter colony of shrimp to this tank soon, but I’m not sure yet. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, though.
