March this year (2021, in case it wasn't clear), my aquarium ran into a serious problem. It's filter died down. Worse, it happened when I had to leave the house and stay elsewhere for two weeks because I was unwell - turned out to be Intestinal Flu (thank God!), but it still floored me. Oh, and another thing... the Metro was in strict lockdown, so no pet shops were open for me to buy a new filter - assuming I was well. Talk about timing.
So the aquarium got dirtier as the days went. Barbie had to do water change (50%) on a daily basis, most fishes and shrimps died... except for two Otocinclus, and the snails. I didn't really care for the snails. But I marveled at the resilience of the Otos.
By the time I was well enough, we bought a new filter online (I discovered online shopping!), and I started rehabilitating the aquarium. I didn't get new fishes yet. Nope... I wanted to make sure my aquarium was stable first, and the two Otos showed great health. I cleaned what I could, and when the water was clear - an indicator that the filter was working, I then decided to start repopulating the tank - starting with rebuilding my clean up crew.
I had the Otos... so I added some Cherry Shrimps. Observed them a few days, and just as I was about to get satisfied with the tank's stability, I saw a bunch of Shrimps dead. What happened? Something toxic hidden deep in the soil? A dead insect that I didn't notice - that the shrimps feasted on, and died because of it? Bad algae? I had no idea. removed whatever Algae I saw, saw a few remains of an insect... but I was basically back to just one shrimp, and the otos. damn frustrating... oh, and I was slowly replanting some aquarium flora - whatever i could get my hands on.
So I waited a few days, then tried getting shrimps again. This time, they seemed to stay alive for the succeeding weeks. I opted to add two Corys... again cleaners. Since these guys seemed stable, that was when I decided - from hereon then, I'll just have Cardinal Tetras. You see, in the past, I had a community tank - and it was nice to see a variety of denizens. The Cardinals always outshone everyone else - but I couldn't ad more.
You see, there is a rule of thumb on aquariums - you only add the surface level square inch per fish... meaning a fish that is 1 inch, has a 1 square inch of surface covered. So the total number of fishes should not exceed the aquarium's surface level. Having other fishes eat up said surface level means I couldn't add more Cardinals without taxing the tank's ecosystem. To maximize the aquarium's visual spectacle, I would just need to place colorful fishes.
Cardinal Tetras were colorful, and small... so I could add more of them - maybe have them school, assuming I could put maybe 10 of them together. Since I was starting from scratch - I might as well just concentrate on Cardinals. But to add 10 at once... it might tax the recovering tank - so I got six first... then added six more after a week... then six again, the week after, then decided to top at 21. The result was a sight to behold... they did school, and it looked great.
Next was the plants. Yes, I had plants - but these were mostly freebies from pet stores... and some looked good - but the aquarium was starting to look like a hosh posh of shapes and styles. No aesthetics, no simplicity - just an amalgam of different plants randomly placed in whatever space I could find. No organization. The shrimps want many plants - the fishes find them crowding their swim space. So I had to make changes.
In search of a plant that looked elegant and simple, I remembered way back that I had the straight Valisneria plants... long, straight, green - that's it. So I asked the locl pet shop if they had any... and got three pots and just spread them out in the back. I knew by experience they would spread - and they did.
They grew long, and because my tank isn't that tall, they started forming a canopy of green at the water's surface. They're very long... but I have not cut any of them yet. THe canopy offers a green jungle of sorts/ Sure I als have hair grass and at least two more tall slender plants to populate the left and right side of the aquarium = but the Valisneria almost covers all the back, and one even went around the side and front, before going back to the rear on it's own volition. I can say the back where the Valis started out is now dense with leaves... the right side, that had lots of thick plants... which I slowly pulled out as the Valis creeped towards them - that place is starting to fill up as well.
The shrimps seem happy, and the fishes still have a wide place to swim - some even prefer staying under canopy when the lights are turned out (so they can sleep).
I had, however a slowly creeping problem - algae. It seemed that my shrimps and ottos were not able to meet the spreading problem, checking some YouTube videos on which aquarium denizen ate algae - and came upon Nerite snails and Amano shrimps... supposedly more hungry for algae than Cherry shrimps of all colors. So I got two Nerite snails, and four Amanos. The algae is still there - but I don't see a spread as much. They, plus the Cherries and Otos seem to be working better now.
I lost some shrimps and fishes along the way. So I just replenish. But as is... I'm happy with the aquarium.Oh yeah, and somewhere along the way, I added an aerator/filter. so if one conks out - I'm not in panic mode. I may find it difficult to change anything with this tank now... I mean, it looks great the way it is. Maybe the fact that I also added some CO2 along the way also helped. Yes, I take pictures, and post them on Instagram once in a while - I mean, I like what I see - so I share.
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