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It has been quite a long time since I've posted here about something actually fish related. Not sure if anyone around remembers me, but I started my fish-keeping journey on this website when I was about 14. I've been out of the hobby since about '06-'07 when I lost my entire 55 gallon to ich. It was extremely discouraging. But now, I'm back! I started up a 10 gallon planted tank a couple weeks ago with some success.

The stocking is as follows:

Fauna
6 Cardinal Tetras
5 Dainty Cory's
1 Betta (who will be moved to my 2.5 gallon Walstad tank very soon... 'cause he's a jerk to the cards.)

Flora
Rotala Rotundifolia
Micro Sword (front right)
Chain sword (just to the left of the micro)
Baby tears in the front
Some type of java fern behind my driftwood (it has a ruffled top and I haven't been bothered to look up the actual name)
And a Jungle Val in the back left.

Without further ado... the tank.

Attached Image:

Full tank shot before attempting to scape the baby tears. Didn't have good scissors/tweezers until today!

Picture #2

Attached Image:

A better shot of the baby tears after an attempt at pruning and scaping. I hope to make it a carpet along with the micro sword. Either mix the 2 or have them border each other.

Hi Guy,
Welcome Back! I hope all has been well while you were gone. The 10G tank looks like it will be nice when it fills in, and will provide a nice, stable, Quarantine (hint) Tank, when you are ready to start up the 55.

Did you really put Jungle Val in a 10G tank? That will be very interesting when it takes off.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Hi Frank

I've been well, just trying to finish up college to get my degree. Need a little more income to support my rekindling addiction to fish

Unfortunately I no longer have the 55 gallon. My dad has since moved to Texas and we had nowhere to store it so it was sold before the move. But yes, the long term goal for this tank is a quarantine tank. I could not afford to do much with my 29 like I had planned, so I figured I'd do up the 10 for now to ease myself back in. Then it turned into a full blown planted nano project and it has worked out quite well so far. No fish loss to date!

And yes, that's a jungle val in a 10 gallon I figure I can keep it trimmed up, but I guess we'll see what happens.

How have you been? I do remember seeing you around the site, but I don't know that we ever really interacted very much. What kind of fish are you keeping these days?

Hi,
I've been a roller coaster ride since September. I retired on the 15th of September and we moved to our home inside the Colorado Rockies and now live full time at
10,000' elevation in south, Park County, Colorado.
We are building an addition that, when completed, will house my tanks, radio room, and wood shop. Meanwhile, on the 17th of December, my wife of 35 years passed away. Trying to rebuild my life, and the addition and carry on.
Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Wow, sounds like you've been pretty busy! That seems like it would be a beautiful place to live. Congrats on retirement!

And I'm so sorry to hear about your wife; I send my condolences and I hope your doing well in that regard. I have no idea what that must be like to go through.

That addition to your home sounds very nice though. I bet you're excited for that to be completed! Hopefully everything settles down for you soon so you can attempt to enjoy retirement.

Nice assortment of plants Tetra!


Only little bit of a suggestion I have is to try and keep the plants right infront of where the driftwood meets the sand nice and short. That will help with the visual line of the tank .


^_^

Thanks, Babel!

Yeah, I've been meaning to trim down the baby tears right there, I just haven't gotten around to it. I also discovered that the fern I have has spot algae (hard green chunks, is that it?) and it is dying. I've snipped off the worst of it, so we'll see if it can bounce back.

Overall I'm pretty pleased with my first planted tank. The rotala is growing like a weed, the jungle val is sprouting new leaves (strangely twisting like a corkscrew val, but it didn't look that way when I bought it) and the micro sword is starting to spread out. Which is a bit harder to tell in the picture. It's just a few runners.

Here's the tank as of this evening. Still haven't done any baby tears trimming, but you can see the rotala growth really well!

Sorry about the lighting, don't know what happened. Using my phone's camera is hit or miss.

Attached Image:

It's definitely taking off!
For a first planted tank I'd be pleased too. Looks like everythings doing well.

Java fern is pretty tough, you could always try scrubbing instead of snipping (if the algae comes back). If you can lift the ferns out you could try scrubbing with a new toothbrush, or even some paper towel might work.


^_^