Fish keeping and aquascaping

[MuddyMO]

Thought I would share another hobby that often crosses paths with collector's of insulators and bottles.

Fish keeping is a relatively new hobby of mine (3 years), but serves many purposes in my life. Originally, fish were just going to be a living decoration, much like that 15 year old mother-in-law's tongue plant (Sanseveria) you have in the corner of your living room. Being able to observe living fish was an opportunity to see what cannot easily be seen. The ability to manipulate a miniature ecosystem, and at will, change up the inhabitants and plants. Back to what fish keeping does for me, there is a sense of peacefulness and tranquility derived from watching the tanks (without getting wet!). Stress, anxiety, anguish can be lost watching the shrimp pinch snails for control of an algae wafer! Anyways, if you haven't kept fish, its not all that involved as long as you spend time on setup, and feed and turn on or off lights when needed. As long as you have a great substrate, some good plants (stay away from java moss), and some water... you got yourself a nice aquarium in time!

 

[MuddyMO]

This tank is the flagship of neglect. Be prepared, because it defies the boundaries of fishkeeping, yet looks real nice (for what it is).
This tank is over a year old. Substrate is simply rocks. A thick layer of waste has created detritus amongst the crevices, and a huge Cryptocoryne wendtii is loving every scrap of it. The moss is the rare (due to the average 1cm growth each year) Fissidens fontanus, and I can attest the moss snippet I got was a tenth of the current size. The purple and green Ludwigia is seen vining around. Fish are a strain of guppies called Mang's Supercross f4, and are snakeskin metallic looking, in beach towel colors! There are tons of wild type dwarf shrimp, and an algae eater.

Now for the nasty part! The water has not been changed since it was started, only adding water when low. The tank has absolutely no bad algae, and the water is the cleanest, with no suspended particles. This tank has been ignored for a year, and was originally a propagation tank. Its the only tank I never battle against something...

 

[Robby Raccoon]

Well that's crazy-cool.

 

[andy volkerts]

Well Whatever you are doing with this tank, I wouldn't change a thing, looks really good to me!!

 

[MuddyMO]

Well, it's been about 10 months, so I thought I'd post an update of my planted tank.This is the same tank as the first post, a 20gal. long. Many of the plants that were originally in there have been removed, and a CO2 diffuser was added. The rocks remain in the same positions. For those interested, I can provide a species list. It is a little out of control at the moment.

 

[andy volkerts]

kinda looks like the plant life is out of control too[][]

 

[andy volkerts]

but in a good way.........

 

[MuddyMO]

Are you doin any planted tanks, Andy? I've got quite a bit of cutting back to do. Flu is preventing me from functioning like a human being.

 

[andy volkerts]

No. I actually gave my tanks and fish-plants to my daughter a few years ago, but, she is doing well with them. I had to give them to her because my cat learned how to fish, and it wasn't pretty[]. I couldn't blame the cat, as it is pretty natural thing, so now I enjoy them when I visit her. Sorry about the flu, it can be pretty bad!! especially if you are older like me, I get shots every winter........Andy

 

[Robby Raccoon]

We have a couple plants in the tank. I have it running well enough to not have to do water-changes or scoop anything out. Your tank looks like an explosion of life. A bit full, but it's a nice one for sure.