Morphine Kiss
Moth Feathers
I hope my Java fern will do that! I got it last week. It seems like there's a strand of anacharis on it, so I hope that will take off too.
But what's really taking off in my tank is this weird invasive plant I don't know the name of. It is a monster of a plant if there ever was one. I swear, every day I see some new baby leaves coming off of it- not just in one area, but /many/. It propagates faster than duckweed! And there's even little rootlets sticking off the stem, so it's like begging to have a cutting taken off and spread even more, lol.
I wonder if people on planted tank forums ever do plant trades? Take a cutting of one plant, send it to someone, they send you a cutting of one of their plants back. It sounds like it'd be fun! All you'd need would be a plastic baggy in an envelope.
I have an Amazon sword in the corner of my tank but it doesn't do anything. Doesn't grow (at least not in any noticeable amount), doesn't die, nothing.
Sand can work, it's been done before. I haven't personally tried it though. From my research on low-tech (non co2), natural tanks, sand is more compact than gravel which means that the roots often don't get as much oxygen and they don't get that nice mulm from the fishies. So, if you use sand, use a coarse sand, not beach sand. I hear pool filter sand is nice, and it's heavier so it doesn't cloud up as badly.
If you're going to do a substrate change for a planted tank, I have to say I quite enjoy a soil tank myself. =) I have 1 1/2 inches of potting soil capped off with an inch of gravel and it's been nice so far. The idea is that the soil is rich and provides lots of nutrients for the plant roots, but because all that is in the substrate rather than in the water column, there's not much nutrients for the algae. But when you do that, accept the fact that your tank shall never be spotless again. The dirt will get kicked up eventually when planting new plants, uprooting plants, etc. It always settles, but it'll settle on top of the gravel/sand/whatever, as well as settle on top of tank decor, sometimes plant leaves, etc. I don't find it a bad thing but some might consider it unsightly.
Ooor, have you thought about Flourite (or other planted tank substrates, like Eco Complete)?
Insta-cycle the tank. Siphon out some tank water into a bowl. Get a mesh bag and fill it up with gravel from your tank. Now put this bag immediately in the bowl. Yay, all your bacteriums are saved. I have done this many a time, heh, and it works fine. Just make sure the mesh bag is always wet/submerged in tank water. Don't make the dire mistake of placing it in tap water, that'll ruin you.
Guaranteed your java fern will xD I couldn't -kill- mine. Actually the thing I have now I can't kill either. xD
I have actually heard of people sending plants to eachother via mail =D With as many as I get...i'd just send tons of little babies because right now I don't know what to do except throw them away .-. Not many people like live plants here.
My swords...I started with 3 and ended up with a 4th. Actually I was 99% sure I killed it but I kept it around and it all came back. xD
And here: Picture of my tank:
Click
And, I would -love- to see pictures of your tank. You had mentioned the soil tank to me before and i'd seen you talk to someone else about it too. I tried to google a bit about it and look for pics online to get a brief idea but couldn't find much. =/ Though if it's messy it's definitely not for me...xD I'm constantly in there rearranging things
Besides mesh bags someone mentioned to just get some cheap pantyhose to put the gravel in?
Anyhow and the sand...my options are pretty much...Playsand. xD I know there are various things I can order in the shop, some of it looks really nice too, but customers tell me the sands we do get seem to take a long long time to settle.
You're the exact opposite of me, heh. I absolutely hate messing around in my tank. I feel like such a meanie, accidentally hitting the plants (though they obviously don't care), getting duckweed on my hands, etc. I try to leave it alone as much as possible.
I absolutely hate how so many pet stores don't sell live plants or otherwise have a horrible selection. At least two pet stores near me don't sell live plants at all, none whatsoever (though one pet store is willing to special order them for you). Even WALMART of all places sells live aquarium plants, it's such a disappointment when an actual pet store can't be bothered to.
I find aquariums really, really boring without live plants. I'm scared for the day when you can hardly find aquarium plants.
Pantyhouse works. It doesn't matter what you use- in fact, you don't really need to use anything at all, you could just drop the gravel in there if you want. It's just that using some sort of bag makes it easier and it means you can easily remove it once your bacteria takes over again.
I take new tank pictures every Saturday so these aren't the most updated. Since then I've added the Java fern, removed the mesh bag that sat on my driftwood (it FINALLY sinks. Hooray!) and removed a lot of the fake plastic plants since my real ones are taking over. But it gives you an idea.
Click on the picture to make them big! If it asks for a photobucket password, type 'aquarium'.
The pictures have timestamps, so you can tell how it's progressed in such a short amount of time...
First day I got it...
This is 10/8
This is 10/16
The plants grow so fast, I have them sticking out of my filter!
Just kidding, it's a fake plant. It keeps my outflow from pushing around my duckweed too much. And it looks pretty darn weird, so I like it.
That's what the soil/gravel looks like. It's not that bad, I really like it.
I just have to stick in some finch cuteness. I walked upstairs and saw Cheep chilling out in the funnel. About died from the cuteness. He was all up in there, shuffling about to get comfortable. I couldn't get too close since I didn't want to spook him. I keep the funnel in there to fill up the hanging feeders with seed, but I guess he found an alternative use!
If you show one cute finch picture, you gots to show another...
From a long time ago, but both of my boys took a bath and then proceeded to get up on their swing...together! Usually it's more like one bird is on the swing, another one is trying to figure out how to get up there as well. But this, this is true cooperation, lol.
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