Say "hello" to my pygmies!

Even though they're sedentary creatures, compared to the Endlers, these little guys aren't that easy to capture on camera. Any little movement gets magnified, because I have to get really close and zoom right in, otherwise they'd be unrecognizable pinpricks!

Anyway, here they are, amongst the "jungle" of microsword (which stands all of 3/4" high), at the front of my 8g.

My Tropical Fish Aquarium - Part XII

I decided to re-landscape my little 8g and find some more appropriate inhabitants for it. It looks like this, now.

I bought a little shoal of six male Endlers, and a little shoal of six pygmy corys, which were sold as Coryadoras Hastatus, but look more like Coryadoras Pygmaeus, to me. Anyway, Hastatus or Pygmaeus, neither corys nor Endlers grow beyond 1" as adults.

I haven't got a pic of the corys, yet, but here's a crappy one of one of my Endlers.

My New Aquarium - Part VI

There's quite a lot of reflection, which interferes a bit, but I was just testing out what difference, if any, the light reflector that I've just installed in the hood made. It's supposed to improve brightness by 100%. I don't know about that, but it certainly seems to be an improvement over the previous picture.

My New Aquarium - Part V

It's a bit grainy, probably because the light isn't strong enough and needs a reflector, but I think I'm pretty much happy with this. I ended up just switching the filter across from my little 8g, which is already cycled, before moving the neons and the corys in with the White Clouds. I picked up the bopani root from a local garden centre for peanuts.

My 8g only has the snails keeping a couple of plants company, but it'll do as a QT tank.

Addendum:
I ought really to acknowledge the guys on Badman's fora (link on my sidebar), for all their invaluable advice and support. Being a complete rookie, I've managed to avoid a whole range of errors, and learnt at a rate that I simply wouldn't have done, without that assistance.

My New Aquarium - Part IV

Let me tell you: these little bastards move fast! I decided to get a little shoal of White Clouds, to help with the cycling of my 20g. They're 1" long (max. adult size of 1.5"), and are constantly on the move - as demonstrated by the fact that three of those in the picture are blurred! I need something with a faster shutter speed!

Matt

My New Aquarium - Part III

I'm using playsand in the substrate, and it's quite fine. I put the sand and rocks in several hours ago, and it still hasn't settled, yet! I'm going to get a couple of goldfish, to cycle the tank. I want some bogwood, too - just to complete the "hard landscaping"!

Matt

My New Aquarium - Part II

OK. Here's my new tank. This was taken a couple of days ago, when I was disinfecting it, just in case there were any live snail eggs, or algae, or whatever...

My New Aquarium

I bought a "new" tank on Ebay, and I thought I'd keep a photo diary, as I set this one up... This, obviously, is not my new tank, it's the stand, which I will put my aquarium on, and which I also bought on Ebay. I've to drive to Worksop, next Thursday, to pick up the aquarium, and whatnot.

I'm going to move the current occupants of my little 8g to the new tank, which is 20g, and then increase the size of the shoals - a dozen or so neons, six pandas and two or three trilineatus. I'm going to be a bit more considered about my planting, this time, too. It turned out well, I think, but was done, much like my garden, on a piecemeal basis.

Matt

My Tropical Fish Aquarium - Part XI

Feeding time at the zoo: there are some catfish pellets amongst the gravel, and the neons obviously weren't satisfied with the flake I gave them. I'm starting to realize the limitations of my camera, just now: the shutter speed isn't quick enough to catch them without a bit of blurring, on a close-up.

My Tropical Fish Aquarium - Part X

Yes, it was just an excuse to take another couple of photos of my tank, but I managed to find something small enough to shoehorn into the tiny bit of unplanted space that was left to me!
I think (no labels ($*^!)), that this is Cryptocoryne parva, which if my research is correct, won't grow any taller than it is already (6-7 cm).

My Tropical Fish Aquarium - Part IX

OK, I succumbed, but there's really nothing else that I can put in there, now! I bought a couple of Amazon Swords, which are really capable of growing too big for my little 8g, but I wanted a really dense planting effect, and I think I got that!

My Tropical Fish Aquarium - Part VIII

I've been trying to get a decent picture of my julii cory (which I'm satisfied is a false julii - coryadoras trilineatus - to be accurate), for some time - must be a bit camera-shy!
And this is one of my zebra snails, because they need love, too!

My Tropical Fish Aquarium - Part VII

I caught one of my Pandas surfing on a Cryptocoryne leaf!

My Tropical Fish Aquarium - Part VI

My latest (and probably last, for a while), effort at planting. My Anubias v. barteri and Cyperus helferi are now out of their pots. I've gone for the jungle effect!

And here's my latest acquisition. It broke my heart to do it, but I had to accept that Tom and Thumb were just too big for my little 8g. I took them back to the store and got some Pandas, instead, which are about half the size, when adult.

My Tropical Fish Aquarium - Part V

It's a bit fuzzy, not least because my zebras haven't been keeping up with the algae, but here's my latest effort at planting. I don't know how the cryptocoryne is going to get on - it's really a low-light plant, and all the others get on better with >2WPG, but still...

That's Tom, front and centre.

My Tropical Fish Aquarium - Part IV

Just to give you the "big" picture... Fear not! I know I'm overstocked, and I know that received wisdom says that one shouldn't keep cories in an 8g tank. All things being equal, I'll be getting myself a 20g, at some point in the not too distant future.

In the meantime, this is what I'm working with. I'm going to plant my plants properly, the next time I do a water change (they're currently still in their pots). I want my Brazilian Microsword to grow into a carpet, and it's not going to do that, if I keep disturbing it with a deep gravel clean.

I've been trying to get some decent pictures of my cories, but they're challenging my skills (ie, lack of patience), as a wildlife photographer. Actually, they're not "challenging" them, at all - that would suggest a contest of equals!

Matt

My Tropical Fish Aquarium - Part III

A small fanfare is in order



My camera works! But I need to find my tripod - because they're so small, and I have to be close, it took me ten really fuzzy attempts to get this picture of my neons.

By the way, that brown lump, nestled in to the left of the lilaeopsis brasiliensis, is one of my zebra snails.

Addendum:
LOL! It was so well-camouflaged that I didn't notice it, but in the bottom righthand corner, you can see my panda cory (a new acquisition - one of my juliis died, just as it was about to enter the "safe zone" of one month's residency).

My Tropical Fish Aquarium - Part II

I haven't got round to even looking at the state of my camera, let alone taking picture... Here are a couple of images that I nicked off the web:


Julii Cory


Bronze Cory


Neon Tetra


I lost another neon (the third), to a fungal infection, yesterday - the first for a week. So I bought a cardinal, just to be different...

My Tropical Fish Aquarium

...is up-and-running.

I've got a little shoal of neon tetras, with four little cories (two bronze, two julii), for company. I had a bit of an issue with nitrates and I lost the guppies that I was keeping prior to the neons, but that seems to be sorted. Fucking brilliant!

I've got it planted, and I've got a couple of zebra snails to keep the algae down, although I've committed to a gravel clean/water change, every Friday, to combat the extra waste from the zebras.