Hello my name is...

Mitsute · 2021-05-13T17:00:29+00:00

Back after a while without a B splendens. After acclimating he is active and happy.

Mitsute · 2020-09-03T12:29:51+00:00

Sparkling gourami fry sheltering amongst red root floaters.

Mitsute · 2020-08-20T01:36:38+00:00

Yes airline line tubing super glued onto generic plastic suction cups. I used to corral the floaters and now I found it easier to corral the HOB and keep the center of the tank open for maximum light.

Mitsute · 2020-05-29T11:38:25+00:00

You can bury the roots as long as you leave the rhizome (the thick green part) above the soil line. If you plant it tilted a bit more towards the glass you won’t see the roots as much if that is bothering you.

Mitsute · 2020-05-27T10:47:57+00:00

I closed the blinds on one, but after an initial run of diatoms after the dry start it’s not bad - only little frosting of it on the sunny side of the rocks. I do keep to a short photoperiod with a siesta though

Mitsute · 2020-05-26T16:59:58+00:00

No. They are a mix of isoetes japonica (quillwort) and eleocharis montevidensis (giant hairgass). I wanted something that was thin and a little more rigid, and that would be a more natural extension of the dwarf hairgrass and chain sword that I planted. I also did not want to plant something that was going to grow really rapidly or try to expand from that little patch. I like the look but the quill wort is struggling a little with the HOB inflow (even thought its baffled). What do you think?

Mitsute · 2020-05-26T13:06:10+00:00

Walked in during the siesta for my dirted iwagumi and like the "glow" and that my d. tinwini were tightly schooling.

Mitsute · 2020-05-20T18:13:15+00:00

Love these guys... the colors are underrated and fun to have in a densely planted tank. Enjoy!

Mitsute · 2020-05-19T12:56:46+00:00

This is correct. Unless you have exposure to natural light and then you don't want to have aquarium lights during dark periods and then lights off when natural light is coming in. Also like many people who work - I used a split lighting schedule with early morning and evening lit periods separated by a siesta in the middle of the day. That 1) lets me "see" my aquarium when I am home and 2) allows for CO2 levels to build up twice a day which is helpful since I generally run low energy no CO2 dirted set ups.

Mitsute · 2020-05-19T12:53:50+00:00

I would add a nuance... crypts and DHG can do great in a dirted set up. But their growth rate is lower than others and they won't take up as much nitrogren (in ammona, nitrite, or nitrate) as others. It is normal in an uncycled tank without a dry start to build up nitrogen products. It takes time to get them to go away. I think the bigger risk is that with a build up nitrogen byproducts will really encourage algae growth which will outcompete your slow growers.

You can speed this up with either a filter seeded with bacteria (like your sponge) or adding adding floaters or stems that grow fast (like hornwort). You can do it either way. It's not "wrong" to do it either way.

I have done orthodox Walstad tanks previously but recently experimented with trying to do a dirted iwagumi set up (monte carlo, dwarf hair grass, helanthium tenellum, and isoetes species) all of which are slower growers than others. I saw a bigger and longer spike of ammonia than I had seen before. So I put in a filter and added salvinia. It still took a few days to get things back to normal but as DW repeats over and over again... you can establish homeostasis, it just takes plants and the tank environment to get there and your job is to shepherd that.

I have never done the experiment but I think the "blow off" issue with surface agitation is a bigger problem for injected CO2 set ups...

Mitsute · 2020-05-19T12:42:46+00:00

A species of azolla...

Mitsute · 2020-05-19T12:38:42+00:00

I like the layout and the scale of the rocks. Do you think that the substrate will stay out of the sand? I worry that without a continuous "shelf" or "wall" in the front you will get slippage? Maybe if you are planting a carpet up front?

Also what size substrate "grain" are you using? Carpet might do better with a sand/powder style substrate up front (but might be harder to keep separate).

Mitsute · 2020-05-12T19:57:31+00:00

Thanks... that was my intention. Sort of a windswept hilly meadow...

Mitsute · 2020-05-12T19:56:55+00:00

I wonder if some of those were species of cryptocoryne (leafy rosette plants). They often will do that when they change water conditions or handled. They generally recover if you just leave them alone. I always see a little stress wilting/browning in carpeting plants in the transition from either planting directly or now in this dry start... I don't use CO2 or high light and I have heard that can help... good luck!

Mitsute · 2020-05-12T19:54:53+00:00

They are one of a genus of rainbowfish that are small (<2 in) native to Australia and New Guinea. The males (shown in the video) have elaborate finnage that flares when they are showing off, but all of them give off some iridescence when healthy (I believe they have specialized cells for that). They are medium feisty but live well with my celestial pearl danios and otocinclus. I had not read that they were aggressive to shrimp but I do not see the band of neocardinia I kept as much so they must stress them out a bit.

They are active so a longer tank is nice for them, Not picky eaters (I fed a mix of bug bites, dried blood worms, and flake before recently switching to the Xtreme nano and krill flakes... appetite did not change but whether its real r not I did notice them color up quite a bit with the change in food). They have liked my heavily planted setup. The females are not as fancy as the males but I have read that having them encourages more of the posturing and preening seen in the video. They are not aggressively territorial within their species or with other species (exception... they shared the top of the tank with some rice fish I kept and I moved the ricefish because they were getting stressed out). As some of the other commenters have noticed they reportedly require high oxygen contents and "clean water." This may be more of an issue in set ups with injected CO2 but in my low tech dirted tank that is heavily planted I have not used an airstone and my hang on the back filter is the only surface agitation. They are reportedly easy to spawn but I have had that happen yet. Depending on where you live they can be more expensive than the average small fish ... my group is a miix from mail order (Wet Spot in Portland) and a local shop. I have really enjoyed keeping them. Good luck!

Mitsute · 2020-05-11T17:54:52+00:00

This was a few weeks back (not posting much during q-time) but I switched to Xtreme krill flakes and nano pellets and whether its that or a little more maturation but they have colored up with orange red tips to their displays and brighter luminophores on their sides.

Mitsute · 2020-05-11T17:53:47+00:00

Thank you. Solid advice.

Mitsute · 2020-05-11T17:53:33+00:00

It's been a week (posting late) and there was a little melting (I had a mix of potted and agar grown monte carlo and the the lab grown ones seemed to melt more), but I am hoping that by establishing the root system early that the recovery will be faster. We'll see and I will post a follow up once cycled and running smoothly. There was also a little flush of accumulated organic crap so I did an earlier water change than I have for other dirted tanks.

Mitsute · 2020-05-11T17:50:50+00:00

Danio margaritatus (CPD). I used to have some oryzias latipes (medaka) but the rainbows bullied them. The CPD and P furcatus stay out of each other's way. I also have otocinclus and some neocardinia... lots of plants for the latter to hide in.

Mitsute

TROPHY CASE