I've added two gravel covered PVC caves, inspired by http://aquarium.shuru.com/ to my 55 gallon aquarium. I'm hoping that having the additional caves will make the clown loaches more confident. So far, no change. I did sort through the tangles of java fern, using them to cover the new caves. I also rearranged some of the other plants and added some stones.

The most recent addition to my aquarium is this Bushynose Pleco.  This suckermouth catfish is also known as a Bristlenose Pleco or an Ancistrus.  They are related to the common Pleco, but Bushynose Plecos only gro to 5-6 inches in size, which is much smaller.  Another key difference is that the Ancistrus will not eat your aquarium plants, yet they still eat a great deal of algae.  I spent several years trying to acquire one for my tank, and finally a new Petco opened in town this year that was willing to order one for me.(The local fish stores in the area never managed this)  So far, this fish lives up to it's reputation.  It's shy during the daytime, generally not coming very far out of hiding until the lights go out, and therefore challenging to photograph.

Here are a few video clips of my 55 gallon inhabitants. Cherry barbs, brilliant rasboaras, and clown loaches.

 

 

I've just set up a new 5.5 gallon aquarium on my desk at work. I have a desk lamp with incandescent 60 watt bulb. Bulb will be replaced with a screw-in CF bulb soon. Also have a Penn-Plax Small World filter. I cut the ends of the cartridge off, emptied it, and filled it with a cut up AquaClear sponge. So in effect, I now have a small air-driven sponge filter. Also a small aquarium heater that was previously used on a 10 gallon aquarium. Substrate is plain gravel, temp target is 78F, and Ph target is neutral. The water comes out of the faucet a bit harder than that, but I've mixed it with bottled water to get it down a wee bit.

Plants so far: Java Fern, Java Fern Windelov, Wisteria, 1 small Wendtii Crypt. All taken from my main 55 gallon tank.

Inhabitants so far: So far: two Malaysian Trumpet Snails. Soon, I hope to add a ghost shrimp or two, and then in a few weeks, after vacation, I plan to add a couple of small tetras, barbs, or other small fish. I'm trying to resist the temptation to go out and buy fish right now, because I'll be on vacation for a couple of week of the holidays, and I want to be here daily to sort possible problems when I do add fish. I'm also still making final decisions about just what fish to add. Tetras? A couple of Cherry barbs from my home tank? Not sure yet.

Also still tweaking the plants/layout, etc.

You'll often see these fishes used as algae eaters. They will do a fine job of polishing the aquarium glass, but beware that they will also polish off most any plants! (except for Java Ferns so far!) Not suited for most planted aquariums, but can be useful and interesting to watch in an unplanted one...

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The loaches are doing well after all this time, and growing slowly larger. I hadn't realized how much they've grown in the last year until I looked at some old photos. One is much larger than the other, of course. My aquarium is doing well. The Java Fern and Wisteria have just about been doing too well lately. I just threw away about a gallon worth of plants. I got rid of my corner corkbark that was covered in java fern a few months ago. between it and the corkbark cave, which was is also covered in java ferns, the tank was one clogged mass of java fern at one point.

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Rasbora Borapetensis...

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I made this aquarium hood for my 38 gallon aquarium. After having made and lived with the Top-Lifting design, I decided to try something different. I made this hood based on many I've seen at assorted pet stores. One Hint: My old hood was heavy, so on this one I used thin boards, and had problems with screws splitting them. I'd recommend 1/2 inch thick wood as a happy medium.


See the plans after the jump.

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Here's a photo of the new 38 gallon tank after set-up. I just moved the canister filter from the old tank to the new one. No bothersome cycling that way. There's a piece of corkbark in the corner, and a small cave towards the middle made of it. I have more to add, but weighting this stuf down's real fun. My loaches appreciate the hidey-hole qualities of it though.

Moved to a new town, and there's a great pet store up the street. They were having a sale, and my new living room is big, and just needed a larger tank. 38 gallons is the best my budget can do right now. I've been busy setting it up...

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