Foo the FlowerhornThe baby oscar developed the little circle spot near the tail fin. This is the usual oscar eye spot that is meant to confuse predators. It’s meant to sort of look like an eye in the tail. I suppose if a predator attacks the back fin thinking that’s the head, the oscar might have a chance to escape. I’m curious if the spot will turn red color in the future, like most other oscars. The gold nugget pleco still hasn’t ventured away from the driftwood. I think I’ll get another pleco to clean the algae off the rocks and the glass.
The two umbrella cichlids are frozen b/c of the camera. It turns out, the female is actually a male in disguise. These umbrella cichlids, when there is a smaller male within the vicinity of a bigger male, the smaller male changes his color to look like a female to avoid the inevitable attack. I’m not sure what I’m going to do here. Maybe get more dither fish. If any of you know if adding dither fish would work with these two males, please lemme know.
This is the current state of Loomster’s tank. He is also frozen b/c of the camera. Loomster was born in this tank as some of you might know, and he is 2 years old now. He was born in March of 2019. He first appeared in the 16th month update video. The nerite snail has become part of this tank. The nerite was the oldest surviving member on this channel. I think I’ll make an update of this tank next.
Kartoffel has lived in this tank for 2 years and 3 months. Recently he has gone through finrot a few times. It fully recovered, and then I moved. The finrot comes and goes these days. I’m too afraid to use medicine b/c something might go wrong. He’s doing ok for the time being. I’m thinking I might make him a more stable tank.
The volcano betta has eaten several tetras and countless shrimp. I didn’t know he was eating the tetras. I thought a few got lost underneath the volcano. Then one day, I saw the evidence. Way too many shrimp have climbed the volcano and then ended up on the lid. The monte carlo is doing ok, overall. There is some melting here and there. The java moss spread like wild fire in this tank. I’ve decided I’m gonna make him his own tank. A 5 gallon, or 20 liter tank. I already have decided on the design. I just gotta make it. The volacano tank is going to be shrimp and tetra only tank. I think I’ll also remove the lid after I remove the betta.
This is a very simple sump, except for the double overflow.
I designed this sump and had a guy in my local acrylic shop put it together. I’m pretty sure I could’ve done it myself, but I was also pretty sure I would’ve messed up at least once trying to glue the double overflow part.
The entire sump’s measurements were depended on the pump’s width and the height of the heater.
My initial plan was to wrap the entire back wall and the sump with a background, but the background arrived very late. I suppose if I were to do it again, I probably would’ve used black acrylic or maybe black foemax sheets. However, black acrylic sometimes can be reflective depending on the setup. There are fish that do not do well with reflective black acrylic, such as flowerhorns or bettas.
Basically, this internal sump was made to function just like a real sump with a double overflow. The advantage of this internal sump is that there actually is an overflow that skims the surface of the water so the surface is always very clean. The double layered overflow also sucks the water from the bottom of the tank. Another advantage is that b/c this is a real sump, the water level in the display part of the tank never changes. When there’s an evaporation, only the last chamber of the sump’s water level drops, not the main display part of the tank. That can also be the downside of this kind of setup, but b/c this tank has a lid, the evaporation is minimal. I haven’t had to add any water for over 2 weeks in this tank. So if you’re gonna try something like this, a lid is a must, or an automatic top off in the last chamber where the pump is, if you don’t want to have a lid.
All My Tanks Update and Internal Sump DiagramFoo the Flowerhorn2021-03-09 | The baby oscar developed the little circle spot near the tail fin. This is the usual oscar eye spot that is meant to confuse predators. It’s meant to sort of look like an eye in the tail. I suppose if a predator attacks the back fin thinking that’s the head, the oscar might have a chance to escape. I’m curious if the spot will turn red color in the future, like most other oscars. The gold nugget pleco still hasn’t ventured away from the driftwood. I think I’ll get another pleco to clean the algae off the rocks and the glass.
The two umbrella cichlids are frozen b/c of the camera. It turns out, the female is actually a male in disguise. These umbrella cichlids, when there is a smaller male within the vicinity of a bigger male, the smaller male changes his color to look like a female to avoid the inevitable attack. I’m not sure what I’m going to do here. Maybe get more dither fish. If any of you know if adding dither fish would work with these two males, please lemme know.
This is the current state of Loomster’s tank. He is also frozen b/c of the camera. Loomster was born in this tank as some of you might know, and he is 2 years old now. He was born in March of 2019. He first appeared in the 16th month update video. The nerite snail has become part of this tank. The nerite was the oldest surviving member on this channel. I think I’ll make an update of this tank next.
Kartoffel has lived in this tank for 2 years and 3 months. Recently he has gone through finrot a few times. It fully recovered, and then I moved. The finrot comes and goes these days. I’m too afraid to use medicine b/c something might go wrong. He’s doing ok for the time being. I’m thinking I might make him a more stable tank.
The volcano betta has eaten several tetras and countless shrimp. I didn’t know he was eating the tetras. I thought a few got lost underneath the volcano. Then one day, I saw the evidence. Way too many shrimp have climbed the volcano and then ended up on the lid. The monte carlo is doing ok, overall. There is some melting here and there. The java moss spread like wild fire in this tank. I’ve decided I’m gonna make him his own tank. A 5 gallon, or 20 liter tank. I already have decided on the design. I just gotta make it. The volacano tank is going to be shrimp and tetra only tank. I think I’ll also remove the lid after I remove the betta.
This is a very simple sump, except for the double overflow.
I designed this sump and had a guy in my local acrylic shop put it together. I’m pretty sure I could’ve done it myself, but I was also pretty sure I would’ve messed up at least once trying to glue the double overflow part.
The entire sump’s measurements were depended on the pump’s width and the height of the heater.
My initial plan was to wrap the entire back wall and the sump with a background, but the background arrived very late. I suppose if I were to do it again, I probably would’ve used black acrylic or maybe black foemax sheets. However, black acrylic sometimes can be reflective depending on the setup. There are fish that do not do well with reflective black acrylic, such as flowerhorns or bettas.
Basically, this internal sump was made to function just like a real sump with a double overflow. The advantage of this internal sump is that there actually is an overflow that skims the surface of the water so the surface is always very clean. The double layered overflow also sucks the water from the bottom of the tank. Another advantage is that b/c this is a real sump, the water level in the display part of the tank never changes. When there’s an evaporation, only the last chamber of the sump’s water level drops, not the main display part of the tank. That can also be the downside of this kind of setup, but b/c this tank has a lid, the evaporation is minimal. I haven’t had to add any water for over 2 weeks in this tank. So if you’re gonna try something like this, a lid is a must, or an automatic top off in the last chamber where the pump is, if you don’t want to have a lid.
Music: Erik Satie Gymnopedie no.1 played by Kevin Macleod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.05. I had to Use a Pull Saw (Zucchinia the Wild Oscar and Karto the Betta Fish Update)Foo the Flowerhorn2022-09-30 | This fish is called wild oscar cichlid, or Astronotus ocellatus wild. I’m not completely certain where she bumped her head. It might’ve been the driftwood, the duckbill nozzle, or maybe the aquarium lid. I decided to cut the driftwood b/c I’ve seen her get scratched by it. She is a typical oscar. She does once in a while do a lightning fast zoomies. That’s how she hurts herself. This happens mostly at night. I might one day decide to take everything out of the tank. Not sure yet.
Whenever I take my shirt off, or wear a white shirt, she turns pale. I think it stresses her out for some reason. I don’t think I look that bad, uh, with a white shirt on.
The two plecos are doing fine. It’s really hard to get the golden nugget to grow. The golden nugget is the top dog of this tank. He attacks the white pleco and even the oscar sometimes. He seems to be very territorial. It’s very surprising.
Karto has pretty much died 5 times already. Once, he didn’t eat for 10 days. Then one day, he bounced back. Every time I think he’s a goner, he bounces back. I really do think adding the filter really helped with his longevity. I’m not sure if he’ll live long enough to see the first snow of the year.
I never trimmed the sweet potatoes roots this time around. The leaves did die off then regrew multiple times.
Other tanks’ updates will come in the near future. Some things have changed. I still have the volcano tank. A few tetras are still alive. I'll be changing the setup of that tank and will do an update.
1. 10mm acrlic pipe amzn.to/3Sr38Ed 2. 10mm hose amzn.to/3ri5gSy 3. 60ml syringe amzn.to/3fsgG3E I bent the acrylic pipe with a lighter. to make a big angle bends like 90 degrees or more, you heat the pipe half inch apart and bend those points. don't bend one spot only to make a big angle.
I re-edited the entire series. I was just going to stitch the videos together, but I found a typo here and there. For example I said “it was like groundhug day” when I meant groundhog day.
I did have to change some of the music, b/c you know, youtube.
The conclusion: Most of the plants you see at the end are pearl grass, hornwort, and guppy grass. I did feed the tank with a little bit of fish flakes every day. That’s why the plants were still healthy when I tore down the tank. There were some shrimp still living, and most of them were transferred to the volcano tank. All of the hair grass melted b/c they couldn’t get any light. I was really surprised to see that so many plants still did well when I stopped trimming them. While re-editing the videos, I got to take the journey of this tank again. When I first started this series, I remembered having lowkey fun doing youtube videos. This is a simple channel. My little sandbox, if you will. A little corner of the shallow end of the pool where I dip my legs in and read a book or something. But as the months went by, more and more people came in and it became something much bigger than I would have ever imagined. Most people were so nice and made me feel overwhelmed, since I’m just an ordinary guy. Then there were those who reached out b/c they wanted something from me. It would take several hours for me to tell you all the horror stories pertaining to this channel. I don’t think you would believe me. My brother’s wife’s sister’s best friend contacted me when she realized this channel’s sub count number, b/c she wanted a free consultation for her youtube channel.
Anyhow, this was too long already. I saved the plants for future projects.
Curry is doing well these days. She still eats and drinks on her own. We still feed her medicine and water four times a day.
Hindsight is always 20/20. Some of the decisions I made with this tank were super hard, and I tried to make the best decision I could at the time. For example, figuring out how to remove a tiny fish in a heavily planted tank without destroying the tank. That idea took me two days to come up with it. You can see that at 17:56
Check out her book in the link below if interested. The book I read to make this aquarium: Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(Hard cover) http://amzn.to/2tB4xiZ Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(digital) http://amzn.to/2svT0Sy
I own the rights to all other recordings not mentioned above.Ep. 4 Igloo Tank (The Smaller Male Stopped Looking like a Female and Galaxy Rasbora)Foo the Flowerhorn2021-11-28 | These fish are called Apistogramma borellii Opal (Umbrella Cichlid) and Celestial Pearl Danios (or Galaxy Rasbora). The smaller male that looked like a female has changed his colors completely to look like his usual self. The smaller male of the species, when surrounded by bigger males, sometimes change their colors to look like a female in order to avoid being attacked. I bought these guys thinking it’s a pair, well, actually that’s what I ordered.
On a quick note, moss balls are illegal in certain States in the US. Back in 2011, the laws were changed in some States. Check your local laws to see if moss balls are okay to buy. For the rest of the world, it seems they are not banned in most places.
One of the reasons why I haven’t updated this tank in a while is b/c I’ve been observing them to see if I needed to remove the smaller male as he grew bigger. Luckily there hasn’t been any kind of injury such as nipped fins or flesh wounds of any kind. The bigger male does chase around the smaller male, especially during feeding, but he has never harmed him. They do flare at each other from time to time. Also, they both sleep inside the igloo a lot of the times. So, I decided to keep both of them as they are. I don’t know if this is ideal, but that’s the thing about aquariums – there are so many variables at play, and sometimes things turn out differently than what is already known about certain species.
This is my first time keeping Celestial Pearl Danios, and these guys are one my favorite small fish. They are very curious fish, and they were not scared of me from the get-go. The boys do not eat or hunt them at all. They just ignore them unless one tries to eat their pellet. In the video, that was an accident. He wasn't trying eat the danio. He was trying to eat the pellet and accidentally swallowed the danio and spat it out.
Better Similar light (Lominie LED Aquarium Light): amzn.to/3mumvga
Suisaku thermometer: amzn.to/3iAY3Y1 (I switched out the thermometer to a smaller one)
Music: Canon in D Major by Pachelbel Clair de lune by Claude Debussy Row row row your boat by Eliphalet Oram Lyte4. Wild Baby Oscar Tank - Will She Eat Them All?Foo the Flowerhorn2021-10-18 | This fish is called wild oscar cichlid, or Astronotus ocellatus wild. Yeah, so, it turns out, it’s a female. I’m 90% sure. You might be able to tell at 3:06.
She only likes the zucchinis. She did nibble at other veggies, but she decided that they weren’t for her. She doesn’t eat the seeds. She spits them out. I boiled the veggies for around 10 minutes. Carrots, a lot longer until they were soft.
The golden nugget pleco hasn’t grown much. He cleans the driftwood really well. The driftwood is always immaculate. He does eat the cucumber once in a while. Usually, I have to feed at night when the lights are all off for him to start moving around. He is actually very lively and super-fast. It’s just that whenever I enter the room, he always plays hide ‘n seek with me.
The albino pleco eats everything. He gets beat up by the golden nugget. You can see the ripped fins in the video. That was done by the golden nugget. They go at it once in a while and the albino always loses. The fight usually only lasts less than 5 seconds or so, so it’s impossible to film it. The albino is at least twice the size, but the golden nugget is super aggressive toward the albino. They don’t fight every day, maybe once a week? Whenever the albino has torn fins, that’s how I know they got into it.
The fastest way to soak the sun dried river shrimp is to microwave it for 50 seconds in a half a cup of water. I then rinse it in cold water. My microwave is 750W.
Music: Erik Satie: Gymnopedie no.2 Gnossienne no.2
Mendelssohn - Songs without Words Op. 19 No. 1Ep.16 Sweet Potato Betta Tank (Building Kartoffels Final Home) Super Slow Flow Internal SumpFoo the Flowerhorn2021-08-11 | I tried to make this tank a month ago, but I messed up with the silicone. I ended up reordering the tank and it took 3 weeks to receive it. It’s custom made. The size of the tank is exactly the same as before. It’s 5 gallons or around 19 liters. LxWxH 35x25x19cm or 14x10x7.5inches.
The clovers I used to have did pretty well, but then they got spider mites. I tried bunch of different methods, but they kept multiplying. I ended up throwing them out.
His fins have melted away quite a bit compared to before I moved. They are growing back at this point. His fins would rot, then recover, and then rot again. This went on for a while. Maybe it was my tap water, I’m not completely sure. The main reason why I wanted to make him a filtered betta tank is b/c it’s much more stable setup even if the terrestrial plants don’t do well. I’m hoping he fully recovers.Toxicity of Our City (Rusted Municipal Water Pipes) Crashed My Tanks?Foo the Flowerhorn2021-08-11 | Sediment filter – basically blocks things like rust and other suspended solids from the water.
ACF100 Activated bonded carbon filter – basically absorbs already dissolved contaminants from the water. ACF100 just means a type of activated carbon filter. Most activated carbon filters should do pretty well against heavy metals and other stuff. Things like cadmium, copper, nickel, lead, arsenic, manganese, iron, fluoride, chlorine, … However, chloramine isn’t removed by activated carbon.
2 weeks after the city replaced the municipal water pipes, I started seeing less and less stuff in the sediment filter. Before the city actually replaced the pipes, they first sent someone over to just flush out the pipes. After that didn’t work, they finally replaced the pipes. I think the pipes they used this time are made of PVC plastic.
I was never too overly concerned about the tap water before, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen rusted pipes.
I just want to add that the place that I lived 2 years ago, I used to have a sediment filter there, too. That filter’s color didn’t change for nearly 3 months, and I replaced the filter finally at around 7 months not b/c the filter was very dirty, but b/c I just thought I should. I guess it really depends on neighborhood and the age of the pipes and the material they were made out of.
The day my aquariums crashed: I did the usual water changes in the evening. I checked to see if everyone was okay, then I went to bed. The next day, I went out and didn’t come home until the evening time. I fed the fish, but nobody would eat. I realized something was wrong and went to the store and bought lots of filtered water and did an emergency water change. I did add Stress Coat to the new water. After that…
The volcano betta stopped eating all together and ended up dying. It took about a month. A few tetras died. Lots of shrimp died.
Kartoffel stopped eating for 4 days and became quite lethargic. He barely survived. He’s okay, now.
Loomster stopped eating. He didn’t eat for over 3 weeks, then died. Quite a few shrimp died.
Igloo cichlids stopped eating for 4~5 days. They both survived.
I didn’t do a water change on the oscar tank that day. Everyone in the oscar tank is fine.
I think I’ve been poisoning my fish ever since I moved to this place through water changes. There were lots of little things I noticed about my tanks, but I didn’t think the tap water would be this bad. I actually did pretty big water changes here and there b/c I thought the tanks weren’t doing well. The fish weren’t at their peak health ever since I moved to this place.The ShowFoo the Flowerhorn2021-08-11 | Lenka’s original song: youtube.com/watch?v=elsh3J5lJ6g
This video is not monetized.
If you see ads, it’s b/c the music publisher has claimed this video, rightfully so.
This version of the song is also covered in a movie called “Moneyball(2011)” with Brad Pitt. It’s a pretty good movie. You should check it out.
***
Dealing with fish death for an aquarium channel on youtube is not easy. The death itself is already stressful enough, since your beloved pet has passed away, but dealing with it while people from all over the world get to watch you explain it…the stress level goes through the roof. Basically, your pet’s death gets amplified by a factor of several hundred. So, breaking the news to the audience becomes that much harder to do.
I wasn’t trying to take a break for this long. It just happened that I messed up the new tank build and I had to wait for some of the new parts to come in the mail. It was a welcomed break, though. I realized that I hadn’t taken a break from youtube in the last 5 years or so.
***
The movies I watched while I was away:
Moneyball 2011 with Brad Pitt Butter 2011 with Jennifer Garner Barefoot 2014 with Evan Rachel Wood Hero 1992 with Dustin Hoffman Gungho 1986 with Micheal Keaton
On a final note, I would just like to say I can’t do any of this without all of you. Thank you so much.
And special thanks to Cleo.3. Wild Baby Oscar Tank – Feeding 8 different Kinds of Foods!Foo the Flowerhorn2021-04-17 | This fish is called wild oscar cichlid, or Astronotus ocellatus wild. The feeding occurred over the course of THREE days. I would never feed my oscar this much all at once.
This wild oscar most likely came from a commercial breeder. Oscars aren’t endangered species, and some are probably caught from the wild. However, most oscars are easily bred in a tank.
The new albino pleco was a risky move b/c the oscar was already in the tank and had established his territory. Usually when adding a pleco with an oscar, you should add the pleco first or maybe both at the same time.
Sure enough, the oscar attacked the albino pleco for around 3 days. The pleco’s fins were torn and the oscar attacked him all the time. I almost took out the pleco twice. However, on the fourth day, the oscar finally realized that albino pleco’s aren’t tasty and too tough to eat, so he ignores the pleco now completely.
I bought an albino pleco b/c I always wanted an albino pleco with an oscar. The oscars that I’ve kept a long time ago ate the albino pleco that I had bought b/c the pleco was too small. I made sure this pleco was much bigger than the oscar.
The gold nugget pleco is still doing fine, but still never leaves the driftwood. I know they are nocturnal, but even at night when the lights are all off, he still never leaves the driftwood. He eats the driftwood all the time, so I don’t think he’s gonna die anytime soon, but I’m worried about him. I tried feeding around 6 different kind of foods. I tried 4 different kinds of veggies at different times, all boiled, and stuck it right next to him. Still nothing.
The albino pleco and the gold nugget pleco completely ignore each other. They don’t care about each other at all. The albino pleco cleans the algae really well as I had hoped. The glass and rocks are pretty clean now, all the time.
Pollock, untitled was printed out from a web picture.
Music: Debussy Reverie
Beethoven 'Pathétique' Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13 - II. Adagio cantabile38th Month – (Mulberry Leaf Feeding Frenzy) NO filter, NO CO2, NO Ferts 5 Gallon Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2021-03-25 | This is the 38th month update. Loomster is a sparkling gourami. The feeding started at 9 PM and ended around 5 AM. I thought they would eat it in 3 hours or so.
Words can’t describe my gratitude and appreciation for all those that have shown love and support on the journey of this tank.
This is a Walstad Method tank. The credit goes to Diana Walstad for publishing the organic soil substrate method. Check out her book in the link below if interested. The book I read to make this aquarium: Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(Hard cover) http://amzn.to/2tB4xiZ Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(digital) http://amzn.to/2svT0Sy
Music: Liszt – Consolation N. 3TV#1 A Call Out Video – Inspiration or Plagiarism?Foo the Flowerhorn2021-03-09 | TV(Talking Video) #1
I contemplated for quite a while before deciding on making this video.
Please don't get upset. This is not an earth shattering issue. However, it is something that needed this video.
I would like to add that as long as he leaves the titles the way they are, any future videos I upload on the series, his old videos could still get recommended to people. So when people see any of my old videos and any future videos I make on the topic, his old videos could get recommended. Basically his channel gets a free ride on the back of my channel, forever. This is one of the worst kind of dick move I’ve ever seen on this entire website.
The last thing I would like to add is that he now has more subs than the long time fishtuber who help boost his channel. I wonder if the long-time fishtuber is happy about that. All b/c he didn’t like my channel for some reason. Again, allegedly.
All in all, this whole thing really doesn’t bother me as much as the false copyright claims. Not even close. I actually have 99 other problems that need more attention than this issue. However, I feel as though this issue needed to be addressed, so that I can move on. I knew from day one that doing youtube videos could lead me to toxic situations. However, I never knew someone would piggyback on my channel for an entire year, and then some. I also didn’t know that sometimes, making a callout video is actually a requirement, not an option here on youtube, especially when someone directly affects your channel negatively or take advantage of you for a prolonged period of time. Or, maybe I gotta finally start using twitter.
Stock footage provided by Mark Schellenberg, Videvo, USFWS, and divemaster downloaded from www.videvo.net
youtube.com/watch?v=zlo6MK9zPA8 Aquarium Co-Op2. Wild Baby Oscar Tank – Gets into Trouble Already!Foo the Flowerhorn2021-02-11 | This fish is called wild oscar cichlid, or Astronotus ocellatus wild. Not to be confused with Oscar Wilde. :) He/she is around 5cm (2 inches). The pleco is called Gold nugget pleco or L018.
This wild oscar most likely came from a commercial breeder. Oscars aren’t endangered species, and some are probably caught from the wild. However, most oscars are easily bred in a tank.
I bought a new DC pump b/c the the Sicce silent pump wasn’t very silent at all. This DC pump is completely silent at 29% power, and it pumps out pretty much the same amount of water as the other one at that power. I’m really digging the “feed” button. That function turns off the pump for 10 minutes so you can feed your fish and the filter doesn’t suck up the food while the fish eats. Sicce Silent 1.5 was 23W pump, and this Grovita is 25W pump. The pump’s digital readout screen doesn’t flash like that in real life, it’s b/c of the difference between the refresh rate of the screen and the camera’s fps.
I didn’t do the usual drip acclimation b/c the bag was full of detritus. However, I should’ve done the drip method for the oscar. The oscar took over 2 days for him to swim around comfortably.
I bought the pleco from the same seller. I was going to get a regular pleco, but this one was so purdy. This pleco hasn’t left the safety of the driftwood, yet. He only cleans the driftwood and nothing else. I’m a little disappointed, so I might get a different pleco, and have the L018 clean the driftwood and another one clean the rest of the tank, maybe.
The baby oscar somehow got stuck in the sump. This is something that I never thought would happen when I designed the sump. I don’t know how long he was stuck in there. I was pretty sure he had jumped out somehow, and I looked all over the place outside the tank for over 10 minutes.
This oscar took around 8 days until he was comfortable with me. He finally associated me and the tweezers with food. Now, he is glued to the front glass when I enter the room.
Since he eats pellets now, the next video will be feeding him bunch of different kinds of foods.
https://www.chinaglobalmall.com/produ... Shot with LG V50 and edited with premiere pro.
Music: Liszt Consolation No.3
Debussy ReverieEp. 3 Igloo Tank (New Pair of Umbrella Cichlids and What I Feed Them)Foo the Flowerhorn2021-01-22 | These fish are called Apistogramma borellii Opal (Umbrella Cichlid). They are still pretty young fish. For the first 10 days or so, the male lived in the igloo and the female lived behind the driftwood. They really didn’t like each other at all. Then after a while, they started to live in the igloo together a lot of the time, but not always.
I chose these guys b/c they are one of the very few apistos that can live in high PH. These guys can live in PH range of 5~8. That’s a huge range. My tap is usually around 7.2~ 7.4 so I don’t have to do anything special to the water when I do water changes.
The reason why I spot fed them is b/c I really wanted them to take regular fish food. If they don’t take regular fish food and get conditioned to frozen or live food in the beginning, it can be difficult to get them to take regular fish food. So for the first few days, I only spot fed them flakes and pellets. They didn’t take it for the first 2 days, and on the third day, they ate just a tiny bit. It only takes one fish eating for the other to follow. Spot feeding also wastes very little food so there’s less excess food in the tank.
These guys are so smart, as most cichlids are. I’ve kept many different kinds of cichlids in the past, but always skipped the dwarf ones. They come right up to the front glass as soon as I enter the room. They seem to be afraid of the camera. That’s why you see the black stress marks a lot in the video.
Better Similar light (Lominie LED Aquarium Light): amzn.to/3mumvga
Suisaku thermometer: amzn.to/3iAY3Y1 (I switched out the thermometer to a smaller one)(I switched out the thermometer to a smaller one)Apistogramma borellii (Umbrella Cichlid)
Filmed with LG V50 and clip on macro lens. Edited with Premiere pro.
Music: Bach Cello Suite no.1 Debussy Clair de lune Erik Satie Gnossienne 2 Gymnopedie 1 on acoustic guitar youtube.com/watch?v=8USt85qpXxQCurry the Cat’s Favorite Toys of All TimeFoo the Flowerhorn2021-01-03 | In the last 11 years, we tried over 20 different kinds of toys ranging from around $1 to $50. Some even with motorized mouse that went round and round, but these are her favorite toys of all time. They are the cheapest stuff you can find around the house. Go figure. She also really liked a metal lid of some kind, and she would play with it all the time, even at night. That was actually her favorite toy of all time for maybe 5 years or so, but she lost it.
I play with her every day so that she doesn't get depressed from the move.
Curry’s last visit to the vet was okay. The x-ray showed one kidney stone has disappeared, but the other one has broken up and there’s a chance a small piece might or might not pass through the urethra. I’m giving her minimum of 120cc of water a day mainly with a syringe, plus wet foods and her usual medicines. On the days that she doesn't eat very much, I also spoon feed her wet food after blending it to keep her weight up. I'm hoping for the best.
Liszt - Liebestraum no.3Ep. 2.5 Igloo Tank (Hot Dog & Sushi Feeding Frenzy)Foo the Flowerhorn2020-12-29 | Of course it goes without saying, hot dog and sushi aren’t suitable for usual aquarium inhabitants.
This is a bit of a silly video. I did leave the hot dog in there for only a few minutes.
The hot dog was boiled for 30 minutes to remove most of the oil, grease, and fat. The shrimp were bought from a bait shop. The shrimp served two purposes, to clean the algae off of the igloo and to check if the tank’s water was stable. These shrimp are notorious for not doing well in an aquarium, but they did very well in this tank. This tank was cycled for over a month, and it has a very over the top internal sump filter to deal with the excess food and the huge number of shrimp.
I actually tried feeding them boiled spinach, cabbage, and mulberry leaf. They did not eat them at all. I did however saw that they were hunting and eating each other, even after feeding them with pellets daily. That's why I tried a meaty diet.
The fish added are called Apistogramma Borellii (Opal). It is a pair. I’ve been conditioning them to take flakes and pellets. They are eating fine. I just have to film it. They are very curious and intelligent fish. It took a week, but they have finally decided that I’m a food source, not a predator.
The algae on the igloo comes back way too fast. I tried manually cleaning it and using the shrimp, but they come back very fast. I’m thinking about getting an algae eater, but I don’t know if the apistos will leave them alone or not. I do actually kinda like the algae look, too, so maybe I might just leave it the way it is.
I’ll try to update this tank much sooner than usual.
Music: Erik Satie Gymnopedie No.2
Bach Cello Suite No. 1 in G major(New Tank Setup) Flowerhorn or Oscar Aquarium - Internal Sump FilterFoo the Flowerhorn2020-12-20 | This is going to be either a baby flowerhorn or a tiger oscar tank. Maybe a wild oscar if I can find one. Help me decide.
A quick note about the background: Back to Nature sent me the background. I wasn’t really looking for a free background, but a long story short, I got them for free. I was going to buy Back to Nature anyway, so I thought what da heck. But it took so long to finally receive them, and one was warped, so I changed my mind about how I was going to install it and decided to put it outside the tank. I think it still looks pretty good like that. I actually like these backgrounds. I used them in Kartoffel’s tank and in the igloo tank. I think there’s a reason why many youtubers use the services of people who majored in business, and not talk directly with companies.
Liszt Consolation No.3I Moved. All of My Tanks UpdateFoo the Flowerhorn2020-11-14 | Thank you everyone so much for the supportive words in the community tab. It helped me immensely. You have no idea.
As you might know, I was locked out from youtube studio b/c I moved. The system wanted me to “verify” that it was me, so I did the phone verification 2 times, email verification 2 times, USB key verification 2 times. The next thing on the list was to “move my entire channel to a new channel.” Seriously!? That’s gotta be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Then later the system disabled my account. I had to recover my account 2 times. And then everything went back to LOOP and wanted me to “verify” again! That’s when I decided to reach out to customer service. Anyway, it seems everything’s back to the way it was.
The move was ok for the most part. But some didn’t make it.
Igloo tank: it’s done cycling. I’m pretty confident that I can put fish in it now. I put bait shop shrimp in there just to see what would happen, and they are doing great. I might shoot some videos on them. They are hilarious. I’m only keeping them for a while and I’m gonna take them back to the bait shop later when I add the fish.
Loomster’s tank: A lot of the pearl grass got uprooted during the move. Loomster seem to be OK. The substrate did move a little bit, and I’m a little concerned about the all the “stuff” that might’ve gotten released from it. I did do a big water change. I did lose a few shrimp after the move. I’m keeping an eye on it.
Kartoffel’s tank: I reset the tank b/c there was an uncontrollable algae bloom. I always kept up with water changes, but the balance broke a while back and I’ve been playing catch up with this tank. Kartoffel’s fin rot comes and goes. He is eating and behaving normally.
The volcano tank: I moved lots of the monte carlo from the volcano before moving the tank. Some monte carlo had slime algae build up, so I had to remove it and clean it. I put the monte carlo back after cleaning it. It seems to be doing ok. All the Amanos died. They must’ve climbed out. Actually, lots of shrimp die in this tank. What happens is that lots of them climb the volcano, and when they fall off, they fall on the lid and some die on the lid and some fall to the ground. This tank is a death trap for the shrimp. Before I added a betta, this tank did not have a lid, so the shrimp that climbed the volcano just fell back into the water. I’ve been contemplating on this issue for a while, and maybe I might install a mesh or something around the volcano so that the shrimp can’t climb it. I’m too worried that the betta would jump out, so removing the lid is not an option. In the video, you can actually see a few dried up shrimp on the lid. When I moved, I found lots of shrimp on the floor behind the table. Fun fact: I built this volcano tank table. Other really ugly looking tables, I paid someone to do it, and it came out really ugly, haha. The igloo tank’s base and the oscar/flowerhorn tank’s base was built by a different professional.
Oscar/flowerhorn tank: It’s getting there. I’m thinking I’ll put water in it in a week or so.
Curry: I’ve been playing with her for 20 minutes or more each day for possible depression from the move. It’s hilarious. I might make a video how I play with her.
Interestingly, this new place has the same flooring as the old place.
The background for the oscar/flowerhorn tank was provided free by Back to Nature. This video is not a proper showing of the backgrounds. I’ll make a separate video where I setup the tank and show the background. It took so long to receive them, so I sort of changed my mind and I might use them outside the tank.
Music: Schubert (Serenade)33rd Month – (SWEET Pumpkin Feeding Frenzy) NO filter, NO CO2, NO Ferts 5 Gallon Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2020-10-21 | This is the 33rd month update of this tank. Loomster is a sparkling gourami. I’m moving again very soon b/c of my super nosey landlord. My next videos might be delayed. I’ll try to update as much as I can, but moving is hectic as you know. I had to edit the music like this to avoid the false utube contentid matches. I love you guys, but really do not like this website’s broken contentid system. Gymnopedie 1’s voices are vibraphone and harp. Gymnopedie 2’s voices are harpsichord and whistle. The voices are from Yamaha p515. amzn.to/3jcot1K
This is a Walstad Method tank. The credit goes to Diana Walstad for publishing the organic soil substrate method.
Check out her book in the link below if interested. The book I read to make this aquarium: Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(Hard cover) http://amzn.to/2tB4xiZ Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(digital) http://amzn.to/2svT0Sy
Gymnopedie 1 and 2Ep.15 Peppermint Betta Tank (Snail-Eating Leeches) No filter, No CO2, NO ferts Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2020-10-01 | Kartoffel is a wild betta species called Mahachai betta. Peppermint started out strong and then it grew too tall. I was going to cut the tops off, but I wasn’t sure if the plants would recover after that, so I used bonsai wires. It worked out in the end. However, the peppermint plant grew too much and it can’t get enough light, now. I suppose it’s time for a new plant.
The pest snails and hydra was taking over this tank, too. Many months ago, I added some giant duckweed from the volcano tank, and they must’ve hitchhiked on them. In the video, it doesn’t seem like there are lots of them, but the infestation was out of control. With the snail population exploding, algae bloom has gotten worse in this tank, too.
I ended up using snail leeches: Alboglossiphonia lata = Glossiphonia weberi lata (Family Glossiphoniidae, Order Rhynchobdellida, Class Hirudinea, Phylum Annelida).
They will disappear on their own once the snails(food) are all gone.
Kartoffel has been battling fin rot. It would heal, and then it would come back. I have three different types of medicines for it, but I’m waiting to see if it would heal on its own by doing big water changes and feeding him more substantial foods.
(*The most important part is the salinity and temperature. At room temperature, it might take 48 hours to hatch. At Higher the temps, they might hatch in less than 24 hours.
(*For salinity, I’m going by the 1 table spoon per liter rule. However, depending on the salt, you might want to try up to 2 table spoons.)
Desk lamp (I used the clamps to mount it) http://amzn.to/2svkS9s GE CFL light bulb (14w 6500K) http://amzn.to/2tAPVQo Philips CFL 13W T2 Daylight 6500K, 4-Pack http://amzn.to/2H67BrI Almond leaves amzn.to/2S3B8Hn Hornwort amzn.to/2srT6HY 2~3mm gravel 20lb bag http://amzn.to/2gJ5tOl 2~3mm gravel 5lb bag http://amzn.to/2y3e3ih 15pcs diamond hole saw amzn.to/2DGGXqL Magnetic thermometer amzn.to/2LRCrXd Mini Algae scrubber amzn.to/2MHbOHJ amzn.to/2PrgIXZ Aquarium lid clips (gotta know the thickness or your aquarium) amzn.to/2qW9S1T seiryu stone amzn.to/2K5rVuX Inline Switch (I use them for pumps and heaters during water changes) amzn.to/2L05ozT#5 Volcano Filter Betta Tank (Population Explosion & New Candy Betta) YES filter, NO CO2, NO FertsFoo the Flowerhorn2020-09-22 | Using the snail treatments was one of the hardest things I’ve done in this hobby. I’m always careful with chemicals and medicines in general, and usually try to use less than what is recommended. In my experience, there have been more than one occasion where the chemical caused more harm than good. However, in this case, at one point, I used something like 12 times the recommended amount and it still didn’t do anything. This really proves the point that it requires a specific chemical for a specific case.
I’m usually fine with snails. I actually like them. If the population stabilized around 50~100 snails in this tank, I would’ve been fine with it. These trumpet snails however, did not stop breeding and would’ve crashed the tank. Think about a thousand plus snails pooping in the tank every day.
I’m amazed that the wild snails survived through all this. There are lots of wild snails still in this tank. Also, there are a few shrimplets that survived through all this. That is mind boggling.
This betta is a super frisky one. He goes crazy whenever I go near the tank since day one. Most bettas I’ve kept are usually cautious for a few days at the least, before figuring out that I’m the food source. He completely ignores the tetras. He is interested in the wild shrimp, but I haven’t seen him eat one. He also ignores the Amanos. He was most interested in the java moss. He probably has never seen one before.
Making Brine Shrimp: youtu.be/qpU8Mwvb-FQ?t=239 (*The most important part is the salinity and temperature. At room temperature, it might take 48 hours to hatch. At Higher the temps, they might hatch in less than 24 hours.)
(*For salinity, I’m going by the 1 table spoon per liter rule. However, depending on the salt, you might want to try up to 2 table spoons.)
The plants in this tank now: Micro sword amzn.to/301YQHl – Still hanging on.
Pygmy chain sword amzn.to/2HWhfyS - It stayed very short and small and sent out lots of runners.
Glosso amzn.to/2LFAVbn – They have sent out lots runners. It’s staying very small and low to the ground.
Java moss amzn.to/2N4uQsr – The ones on the rock are doing well. The ones below the water surface are also doing well
Staurogyne repens amzn.to/39SlurG – It’s doing just OK. It is a slow grower it seems.
Giant Duckweed amzn.to/2xV2iuR - It grows very fast in this tank.
This is a Walstad Method tank. Check out her book in the link below if interested. The book I read to make this aquarium: Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(Hard cover) http://amzn.to/2tB4xiZ Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(digital) http://amzn.to/2svT0Sy
Music: Chopin_ Nocturne Op.48 No.1 in C Minor Francisco Tarrega – Lagrima Erik Satie - Gymnopedie 3 Debussy - Arabesque No 1Ep. 2 Igloo Tank (The Final Build) 10 gallon Internal Sump AquariumFoo the Flowerhorn2020-09-16 | First of all, working with superglue and epoxy can be hazardous. I had all the windows open and tried not to breath in too much of the fumes. With cutting glass, I used a very wet sandpaper to dull the edges, and then washed the glass in running water. I used wet sandpaper b/c I didn’t want to breath in glass dust.
Making the igloo: I first used aquarium safe silicon to stick the pebbles together. Later I realized that the pebbles should’ve been washed and dried before using silicon. It still didn’t matter b/c silicon doesn’t hold the pebbles together that well. If I were to do it again, I would’ve skipped the silicon part and just used Loctite 401 and cotton. I don’t know if just using the Loctite would work in the long run, but I decided to use the epoxy, too, for the underside.
For the tank itself, there are a hundred measurements, so I omitted them in the video. The tank itself is LxHxW 45x26x35cm or (18x10x14inches roughly) – around 10 US gallons/ 41 liters. 8mm thick low iron glass custom made for me at a LFS. They outsource it to make it, but I’m not sure where.
The thickness of baffles was decided by measuring the pump, and made it wide enough to fit it in there.
If you’re curious about any other measurements, comment here, or email me. I’ll try to answer them.
I actually omitted two functions from this tank. Originally, it was going to have an auto top off and an automatic water drain system when I turned the pump off, but it was going to be too time consuming to build. I still might do an auto top off later. The last chamber in the sump is where the water level drops as the tank water evaporates, but since there’s a lid, the evaporation should be minimal. However, I do have to periodically check the last chamber to make sure there’s enough water.
Some of you might’ve noticed it, but the background is the leftover from making Kartoffel’s tank.
Erik Satie Gymnopedie no.1 Gnossienne no.5Ep. 1 Igloo Aquarium Beginning & Quick Update of All My TANKSFoo the Flowerhorn2020-08-06 | I made a short update of all the tanks b/c I’m in the process of dealing with several decisions with the tanks.
I’m starting a new igloo tank. I’m stuck on the design of the tank at the moment, so I’m not sure when I’ll finish it. I’m thinking maybe in a month or so. It was my first time gluing pebbles together and it was very difficult and time consuming. Also figuring out what to use to glue together the pebbles took a very long time to research.
Many people asked me about the duckweed comb, so I put it in the video.
I did a 90% water change on Kartoffel tank b/c he has a little bit of fin rot. I’m trying the clean water method first with API stress coat as the water conditioner. If he doesn’t get better, I’m gonna try medicine or hydrogen peroxide directly on his fins. I haven’t decided yet. He is eating normally and behaving normally. I think he got fin rot b/c the lettuce was a fail. The peppermint grew a lot. It smells very pleasant when you touch the plant. There’s a pest snail population problem in Kartoffel’s tank, too.
When doing a very big water change, I always use 3 day old water that is temperature matched.
Volcano tank is being taken over by the breeding wild shrimp and the pest snails. The snail population has exploded. I tried snail trap, but I also saw way too many tiny baby snails everywhere. I’ll be trying something else soon. The female Amano continues to release her larvae. I’m pretty sure the tetras are eating them all.
Curry is doing better. She has gained all of her weight back. She sleeps around 17~18 hours a day. When she was sick, she hardly slept throughout the day. But she has a tougher time when it rains outside.
I think I’m gonna stay here in the new place for another year or so. I’ll probably be getting another tank for either another flowerhorn or an oscar soon.
Music: Erik Satie: Gymnopedie no 130th Month – (RED CABBAGE Feeding Frenzy) NO filter, NO CO2, NO Ferts 5 Gallon Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2020-07-20 | This is the 29~30th month update of this tank. Loomster is a sparkling gourami.
This is a Walstad Method tank. The credit goes to Diana Walstad for publishing the organic soil substrate method.
Check out her book in the link below if interested. The book I read to make this aquarium: Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(Hard cover) http://amzn.to/2tB4xiZ Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(digital) http://amzn.to/2svT0Sy
Liebestraum - No.3#4 Volcano Filter Betta Aquarium (Peace is an Option) YES filter, NO CO2, NO Ferts 7.6 Gallon TankFoo the Flowerhorn2020-06-24 | Dante is a plakat betta. He hasn’t eaten any of the tank mates these days. Well, at least that I know of. They say don’t hate the Dante, hate the game. There are definitely shrimp living under the volcano and they are breeding. I realized that most of them come out after the tank light goes out. I guess after Dante goes to bed. I haven’t seen any cherries, though. When the light is on, only ones brave enough to come out are the Amano shrimp. They are little gangsters themselves and can hold their own against Dante.
The female Amano you see in the video has actually been pregnant several times. She lets go of the larvae, and all of them get eaten by Dante, then she’ll carry eggs again in a few days. There are two Amano males that I can see. I don’t know which one is the baby’s father – Maury reference :) The larvae requires salt water to develop, so there’s no chance of them surviving in this tank.
There are hundreds of snails in this tank. They hitchhiked with one of the floating plants and now they have multiplied uncontrollably. Some actually live on the volcano, and pretty much everywhere else. I find empty shells sometimes on the lid of the tank. I might do a snail trap thingy, but maybe the population will stabilized based on the food available. I’m just gonna see what happens.
Making Brine Shrimp: youtu.be/qpU8Mwvb-FQ?t=239 (*The most important part is the salinity and temperature. At room temperature, it might take 48 hours to hatch. At Higher the temps, they might hatch in less than 24 hours.)
(*For salinity, I’m going by the 1 table spoon per liter rule. However, depending on the salt, you might want to try up to 2 table spoons.)
The plants in this tank now: Micro sword amzn.to/301YQHl – Still hanging on.
Pygmy chain sword amzn.to/2HWhfyS - It stayed very short and small and sent out lots of runners.
Glosso amzn.to/2LFAVbn – They have sent out lots runners. It’s staying very small and low to the ground.
Java moss amzn.to/2N4uQsr – The ones on the rock are doing well. The ones below the water surface are also doing well
Staurogyne repens amzn.to/39SlurG – It’s doing pretty well. It is a slow grower it seems.
Giant Duckweed amzn.to/2xV2iuR - It grows very fast in this tank.
This is a Walstad Method tank. Check out her book in the link below if interested. The book I read to make this aquarium: Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(Hard cover) http://amzn.to/2tB4xiZ Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(digital) http://amzn.to/2svT0Sy
Music: Erik Satie Gymnopedie 1Ep.14 Peppermint Betta Tank (Attack of Cyanobacteria) No filter, No CO2, NO ferts Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2020-06-05 | Kartoffel is a wild betta species called Mahachai betta. The lettuce started out strong, then ended up withering away. I can only guess that it’s probably b/c of from lack of nutrients. I added regular duckweed, and it also would not grow. I think adding the pearl grass made other plants not grow very well. It probably sucks up too much nutrients from the tank.
The bumblebee nerite didn’t make it through the cyano phase of this tank. It wasn’t the slime stain remover’s fault. I was going to add another nerite, but I didn’t want it to get harassed by Kartoffel either. The bumblebee rarely came out because of Kartoffel the entire time.
A snail egg must have been in one of the duckweed that I added from Dante’s tank. That same type of snail has spread like wildfire in there. Interestingly, Kartoffel never messes with it.
Peppermint is doing great for now. Only time will tell if they’ll end up like the lettuce.
(*The most important part is the salinity and temperature. At room temperature, it might take 48 hours to hatch. At Higher the temps, they might hatch in less than 24 hours.
(*For salinity, I’m going by the 1 table spoon per liter rule. However, depending on the salt, you might want to try up to 2 table spoons.)
This video was shot with: Camera: LG V10 and LG V50 Clip 3 in 1 lense photo kit. I only use the macro lens http://amzn.to/2HPggiF
Edited with Premiere pro
Music:
Francisco Tárrega - Gran Vals - played by Christophers787 Erik Satie – Gymnopedie No.1 played by jercarrier on vibraphone(Fan Service) This is YOUR NO filter, NO CO2, NO Ferts TankFoo the Flowerhorn2020-05-16 | This is a fan service video. Thank you all so much for sending me your pictures and videos. I hope you all reach balance in your own little worlds.
Claire de Lune and Reverie(Fan Projects Announcement) NO filter, NO CO2, NO ferts TankFoo the Flowerhorn2020-04-26 | Send me your tanks inspired by me.
Erik Satie: Gymnopedie No.128th Month – (Boiled Eggplant Feeding Frenzy) NO filter, NO CO2, NO Ferts 5 Gallon Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2020-04-24 | This is actually 27th and 28th month update. During the 27th, I just basically did regular maintenance. This has been the longest pause for this channel. I thought being inside for a long period of time would give me more time to shoot videos, but it actually had the opposite effect. I even started to replay one of my old favorites, the Mass Effect series. Not good. Great games, though. And it started to talk about the genophage, and I stopped playing. NHL anyone?
And life, also happened…I’ll probably update you guys in the future.
Ahem, anyway, Loomster is doing great. The shrimp are breeding. I actually saw Loomster suck in baby shrimp here and there, but I never got to film it. It usually happens super-fast. The mutt, the pinkish shrimp, is a bit of a mystery. I don’t know which combination of shrimp created that color baby.
I boiled the eggplant for around 15 minutes. It was very soft at that point. I’ve never seen the shrimp eat that fast. I think this was the fastest feeding of anything I put this tank. They really liked it.
This is a Walstad Method tank. The credit goes to Diana Walstad for publishing the organic soil substrate method.
Check out her book in the link below if interested. Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(Hard cover) http://amzn.to/2tB4xiZ Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(digital) http://amzn.to/2svT0Sy
Gymnopedie No.1 and 2#3 Volcano Filter Betta Tank (Dante Eats Too Many Shrimps) YES filter, NO CO2, NO Ferts 7.6 GallonFoo the Flowerhorn2020-03-22 | Dante is a plakat betta. One day, all of the cherry shrimp were gone from the tank all at once. I couldn’t believe that he would eat nearly 10 shrimp in one day. Turns out, he did eat some, but others were hiding under the volcano filter. He did go after the “clear” or wild shrimp later, but he left the Amano shrimp alone, except the biggest female Amano.
I’m not sure how many shrimp are living underneath the volcano, but they seem to be breeding under there. The shrimp that jumped out were all young or baby shrimp. I think the most shrimp only come out at night when Dante is sleeping b/c during the day, I hardly see any. Only shrimp that are moving about are a few Amano shrimp.
There weren’t any openings at the bottom of the volcano in the beginning. I think the Amanos dug up the gravel, or maybe after I moved, I didn’t seal it well enough during the setup. Now, after cleaning the pump, I intentionally left lots of openings here and there for the shrimp, but not big enough for Dante to squeeze through.
Also, one tetra is MIA.
The shrimp, most likely the Amanos, ate all of the floating plants - the Ricciocarpos natans. They ate the roots first, then later ate the dying leaves. Interestingly, nobody touched the regular duckweed and the giant duckweed.
Hydra is pest. They can sting fish or other critters. I was going to use hydrogen peroxide on it, but they disappeared after a while on their own.
The nerite eggs won't hatch in this tank. They need to be in brackish water to hatch.
Making Brine Shrimp: youtu.be/qpU8Mwvb-FQ?t=239 (*The most important part is the salinity and temperature. At room temperature, it might take 48 hours to hatch. At Higher the temps, they might hatch in less than 24 hours.)
(*For salinity, I’m going by the 1 table spoon per liter rule. However, depending on the salt, you might want to try up to 2 table spoons.)
This is a Walstad Method tank. Check out her book in the link below if interested. The book I read to make this aquarium: Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(Hard cover) http://amzn.to/2tB4xiZ Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(digital) http://amzn.to/2svT0Sy
Music: Erik Satie Gymnopedie 2
Gymnopedie 3
Gymnopedie 2
Mendelssohn - Songs without Words Op. 19 No. 1Ep.13 Lettuce Betta Tank (The Last of Strawberries) No filter, No CO2, NO ferts Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2020-03-06 | Kartoffel is a wild betta species called Mahachai betta. The strawberry plants hung on for much longer than expected. Towards the end, the tank’s balance broke b/c the strawberry plants were not “filtering” the water. This resulted in spread of cyanobacteria. This was the one of the reasons why I did a very big water change. I also manually removed the cyanobacteria with toothbrush and syphoned out most of it. I don’t expect the cyano to completely go away, so I might end up spot bombing it with hydrogen peroxide or maybe use “Blue-Green Slime Stain Remover”. The giant duckweed also mostly died. I removed them for the time being, and I think I’m gonna try regular duckweed in the near future.
The lettuce are doing great. Kartoffel really perked up after the lettuce spread out their roots.
* I’m still filming my tanks. I’ll try to upload more often, but these days, it’s hard to find the time for editing. This video was shot from Nov 11, 2019 to March 6, 2020. I’ll update the volcano tank next, soon. Thanks for understanding.
I bought the lettuce plants from a local gardening store. If you want to try it and can’t find it locally, you can try the seeds here: amzn.to/32UuCsK
(*The most important part is the salinity and temperature. At room temperature, it might take 48 hours to hatch. At Higher the temps, they might hatch in less than 24 hours.
(*For salinity, I’m going by the 1 table spoon per liter rule. However, depending on the salt, you might want to try up to 2 table spoons.)
.25th & 26th Month – (Watermelon & Banana Feeding Frenzy) NO filter, NO CO2, NO Ferts 5 Gallon NanoFoo the Flowerhorn2020-02-03 | This is 25th and 26th month update. Loomster is a sparkling gourami. Loomster started to become more confident these days. Sometimes, he even came out to greet me during feeding time. I don’t know why the shrimp gave up on the watermelon. They were very interested in it, then all of sudden, they all left. The banana was the party favorite. I used a well ripened banana. One thing to note is that banana did make the water tiny bit cloudy after they all munched on it. If you’re going to try banana, I would suggest a very thin slice or a very small piece.
This is a Walstad Method tank. The credit goes to Diana Walstad for publishing the organic soil substrate method.
Check out her book in the link below if interested. The book I read to make this aquarium: Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(Hard cover) http://amzn.to/2tB4xiZ Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(digital) http://amzn.to/2svT0Sy
This was the most difficult tank I’ve ever setup b/c I had to choose only foreground and short plants that would do well without CO2 and without dosing fertilizers. The volcano filter is working surprisingly well even though it went through algae problems initially. There are still algae on it, but it has slowed quite a bit.
The shrimp and tetras were getting along fine and did very well. The reason I waited 10 days before adding a betta was to see if the tetras were all healthy before adding a betta. Feeding them live brine shrimp along with flakes really made them recover faster from being shipped and put into a new tank. Also, I didn’t want to put the betta in first, b/c if the betta established its territory first, he might go after the tetras a lot more.
Adding a betta into this mix is risky. He is a chirpy little fellow, and I’m a little worried about the shrimp, especially. He has tried to catch the tetras here and there, but soon realized that there is absolutely no chance of him catching one.
When I moved, I had to take the entire tank apart, and I did end up putting back the pump sponge that I had forgotten during the setup. The pump really needed the sponge b/c there were baby snails stuck in the intake.
I’m finally getting back into the swing of things. There were million things that needed to be done when I moved. I’ll probably try to upload more often soon.
There were literally maybe 3 or 4 duckweed when I first bought the azolla. Then the 3 or 4 duckweed became hundreds in no time. All of the azolla disappeared. The shrimp ate some for sure, but I also think allelopathy was part of it. Duckweed vs. azolla – duckweed wins, it seems.
Most of the expensive plants didn’t do well. Some were hanging on, but when I added the shrimp, the weak plants were all eaten.
The plants in this tank now: Micro sword amzn.to/301YQHl – Barely hanging on after 3 months. Did not die, but stalled mostly. Pygmy chain sword amzn.to/2HWhfyS - It stayed very short and small, but they have sent out a few runners here and there. It’s surviving. Glosso amzn.to/2LFAVbn – Some didn’t make it, but some are also doing well. The ones that made it have sent out runners. It’s staying very small and low to the ground. Java moss amzn.to/2N4uQsr – The ones on the rock are doing well. The ones below the water surface are also doing well Staurogyne repens amzn.to/39SlurG – It’s doing pretty well. It is a slow grower it seems. Ricciocarpos natans – It’s doing very well. It’s pretty much perfect. The shrimp do not mess with it mostly.
This is a Walstad Method tank. Check out her book in the link below if interested. The book I read to make this aquarium: Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(Hard cover) http://amzn.to/2tB4xiZ Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(digital) http://amzn.to/2svT0Sy
Gnossienne No.2My Flowerhorn Gets a Bigger Tank (Blue or Red?)Foo the Flowerhorn2019-12-23 | The move went OK. Thank you everyone for your kind words. However, It was not a fun thing to do, to say the least. My flowerhorn Pollock had bit of a hard time with it. His colors are a little duller than usual. I set up the new tank first and moved the old filter. The next day, I moved him. So, it was nearly a 100% water change for him. He was recovering fine before the move, but after, he seems a litter weaker than usual. Hopefully the things go back to normal soon.
The volcano tank went through a few changes over the last few months. I finally decided on how to make the lid so that I can put the fish in it. I’ve ordered the fish, and as soon as I get them, I’ll make the update video.
Loomster dealt with the move like a champ. I just drained around 30% of the water into a bucket, then drained the rest of the tank and left about 1 inch of water above the dwarf hair grass. That’s how I moved the tank, with everyone in it. I also took the bucket water with me, so in the end, the tank only got around 50% water change. I think that made things much easier for everyone in the tank.
Kartoffel’s tank was done the similar way as Loomster’s. However, Kartoffel got spooked and thrashed around the tank a few times. That’s how he lost a few scales and his caudal fin got ripped. He is doing much better now. Although the tips of his caudal fin has 2 split ends that don’t seem to go away. It’s not getting any bigger, so for now, I’m just gonna observe and see if it gets any worse.
I have just started to film again recently. I think most of the updates will come starting next month. Thank you all so much for sticking with this channel.
Debussy: Clair de lune – played by PMG Projects soundcloud.com/pianomusicgirl/claire-de-lune24th Month – (Carrot Feeding Frenzy) NO filter, NO CO2, NO Ferts 5 Gallon Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2019-11-28 | This is 24th month update. Loomster is a sparkling gourami. Loomster continued to hide a lot throughout this month. I noticed he comes out in the morning more often than other times. I usually film in the evening, so it’s harder catch him doing his usual thing. The carrot was boiled for quite a long time to make it very soft. I didn’t know carrots took that long to boil to make it soft.
I’m still in the process of moving. I think my next video will be at least in 3 weeks or so. I really pushed to get this video out. Hope you like it.
I always appreciate the love and support from you all. I didn’t know so many people would show this much love and support for this little channel.
This is a Walstad Method tank. The credit goes to Diana Walstad for publishing the organic soil substrate method.
Check out her book in the link below if interested. The book I read to make this aquarium: Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(Hard cover) http://amzn.to/2tB4xiZ Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(digital) http://amzn.to/2svT0Sy
Gnossienne No.2Ep.12 Strawberry Betta Tank (I Eat a Strawberry) No filter, No CO2, NO ferts Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2019-11-17 | Kartoffel is a wild betta species called Mahachai betta. The strawberry plants produced so many strawberries this month. I’m not sure how long the plants can keep this up b/c some of the leaves started to die. I think the plants are using up the nutrients from the older leaves to help grow the strawberries. Maybe it’s time to start thinking about another plant to use when the strawberry plants finally give out. I like the strawberry plants b/c the roots don’t overgrow like the sweet potatoes, so I never had to trim them.
The strawberry tasted like what I would imagine a natural strawberry would taste like. Straight out of nature I did rinse it in running water first, though.
The nerite didn’t come out much this month. I think it’s b/c Kartoffel keeps chasing it.
Curry was annoyed when I gave her the strawberry, b/c earlier, I wouldn’t let her sleep in the closet full of freshly laundered clothes.
These days, I do monthly vacuuming of the gravel b/c when I did it too often, like once a week, the tank was too clean and there weren’t enough nutrients for the plants.
(*The most important part is the salinity and temperature. At room temperature, it might take 48 hours to hatch. At Higher the temps, they might hatch in less than 24 hours.
(*For salinity, I’m going by the 1 table spoon per liter rule. However, depending on the salt, you might want to try up to 2 table spoons.)
Played by23rd Month – (Cucumber Feeding Frenzy) NO filter, NO CO2, NO Ferts 5 Gallon Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2019-10-23 | This is 23rd month update. Loomster is a sparkling gourami. Loomster became very shy this month. I’m not sure why. He did eat the water fleas, but it took him a whole day. He would hunt them here and there and as soon as I got close to the tank, he would dart back into the bushes. The cucumber was boiled for around 10 minutes until it was very soft. The reason is to make it very soft so that the shrimp can eat it easily.
Check out her book in the link below if interested. The book I read to make this aquarium: Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(Hard cover) http://amzn.to/2tB4xiZ Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(digital) http://amzn.to/2svT0Sy
.My Flowerhorn’s Impossible Recovery from Swim Bladder DisorderFoo the Flowerhorn2019-10-18 | Pollock’s swim bladder disorder happened suddenly. About a week after, he stopped eating. Secondary symptoms were more holes in the head and nose area, and an open sore. B/c he was floating at the top of water all the time, his hump that was exposed to the air started to rot. It smelled like old rotting fish. Another week passed, and I tried the “Clear.” This entire time, I researched all that I could, phoned so many vets in the area and fish stores to find a fish vet, but I could not find any. I didn’t know what to do b/c he had swim bladder, holes in the head, and an open sore. I’ve never encountered something like this before.
I’ve seen videos where a needle was inserted into the fish to release the air for the swim bladder disorder. I’ve never done this before, and I wasn’t confident at all that I could do this successfully. So I decided to tackle the hole in the head and the open sore first. I used “Clear.” I didn’t film most of this and the procedure b/c I wanted 100% of my attention on him. Sorry. But if you search “Flowerhorn Clear Medicine” on youtube, you can find lots of videos where people force feed flowerhorns with this medicine.
The instruction was to feed 5 consecutive times in 5 days with around 30 to 50% water change each day. Well, after the first dose, he regurgitated all of the medicine into the water. The next day, he became nearly completely white, and didn’t move from one spot. I decided not to give him the next dose b/c I thought it would make things worse. Day by day, he got worse than before using the medicine. He didn’t move from one spot for nearly a week. I contemplated on the needle procedure to release the air from his swim bladder, but he was in a very weak state and I thought it would make things worse.
Days went by, and each day he would freak out and thrash around here and there, and float up to the top of the water completely limp. Some days he would barely breathe. He would make an eye contact with me, and I couldn’t look at him anymore.
So, a flowerhorn with swim bladder disorder, rotting head, holes in the head and nose area, an open sore, completely pale and weak and barely breathing, freaking out daily trying to sink…was there a chance of recovery? I thought to myself.
I thought about many different ways to give him peace. I thought about quick violent ways to do it, too. But I couldn’t get myself to do this. Maybe one tetra with no name that I barely noticed in a group of 10 or more that was in a similar situation… I couldn’t do this to Pollock.
Clove oil and vodka method: The day the clove oil arrived was the day Pollock sank. I didn’t open the package until late at night. I actually didn’t want to do it that day. After I opened the package, and a few hours later, I heard a huge splash and I saw that he had sank. I was ecstatic. It gave me hope. I fed him but he didn’t take the food. However, he took around 2 pellets the next day, and more and more thereafter.
It was around the third day after he started eating pellets that the “burn” on his hump started to heal. And then, it kept on healing very fast. It was like magic.
Final thoughts:
I think he wasn’t completely healed from the hole in the head and it caused the swim bladder disorder. B/c he couldn’t swim down and was stressed out, his condition worsened and he got secondary infections. Of course not eating made things much worse.
I’m not sure using “Clear” helped the ordeal. Just one dose made him go completely pale and made him much more lethargic. I can’t say it didn’t help, either. Maybe it took a long time for the medicine to work. When the clove oil had arrived, it was around 2 weeks after the first and only dose of “Clear.” I don’t know what’s in “Clear.” From my reading, it’s a cocktail of 3 different medicines. Many flowerhorn owners used it for hole in the head and it helped.
In the end, his swim bladder is back to normal, his head burn healed completely, open sore is gone, and there are scars where the holes in the head were.
This was the craziest recovery of any fish that I’ve ever kept. I’m so glad that he got better. He’s like a pet dog to me. I’m planning on getting him a bigger tank. Thank you so much for all the concerns past few months. You don’t know how much your kind words mean to me.
Music: Gymnopédie No. 1 - Erik Satie (Acoustic Guitar) Played by Shawn Hertel youtube.com/watch?v=8USt85qpXxQEp.11 Strawberry Betta Tank (Never Seen Strawberry) No filter, No CO2, NO ferts Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2019-10-10 | Kartoffel is a wild betta species called Mahachai betta. The strawberry plants started to grow new leaves but stopped producing flowers. Toward the end of the month, they started to produce flowers again. I don’t know why. The new flowers started to produce regular looking strawberries. The two odd looking strawberries are from one month before. I think they stalled and ended up looking like that. What strange looking strawberries!
I changed the salt recently when making the brine shrimp. 1 1/2 to 2 table spoons per liter (4 cups). It seems to work the best around that amount. If your brine shrimp isn’t hatching well, try adding more salt. Also, the room temps are around 22°C or 72°F. At this temperature, it’s taking around nearly 2 days for the brine shrimp to hatch. At 26°C or 79°F, it only takes around 24 hours for them to hatch.
(*The most important part is the salinity and temperature. At room temperature and above, it’ll work fine. Higher the temps, the faster they’ll hatch. They’ll continue to hatch upto 48 hours. If it’s winter, try this method: youtu.be/dU5izzyxqeA?t=168 ) (*For salinity, I’m going by the 1 table spoon per liter rule. However, depending on the size of the table spoon, you might want to try 1 table spoon, or 1 1/4 table spoon…and so on. You might want to experiment and see how much salt yields the best result. The brine shrimp will live for 3~4 days max. You can just siphon out only the amount you want during each feeding.)
INDOBETTA Pellet Monster #2 – This might be difficult to find. Very few stores import this I think. I bought this at a LFS. Every betta is a little different with different pellets. I feed Kartoffel with several different kinds of pellets and this is his favorite.
Erik Satie Je te Vous22nd Month – (Broccoli Feeding Frenzy) NO filter, NO CO2, NO Ferts 5 Gallon Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2019-09-21 | This is 22nd month update. Loomster is a sparkling gourami. This has been the calmest month for this tank. The plants are still growing very fast, but since the temps are cooling down these days, I expect them to slow down pretty soon. I believe the higher temps make the bacteria in the soil to produce more CO2. The tank’s temp goes up to around 28°C or 82°F. The light’s on 11 hours a day still. The broccoli was too big for the shrimp. I guess I should’ve used a smaller one. The reason I take out any kind of veggies after 24 hours is b/c it could foul the water. Loomster croaks almost every day. I suppose he croaks at the shrimp. He even croaks during the middle of the night when the lights are all off.
This is a Walstad Method tank. The credit goes to Diana Walstad for publishing the organic soil substrate method.
Check out her book in the link below if interested. The book I read to make this aquarium: Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(Hard cover) http://amzn.to/2tB4xiZ Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(digital) http://amzn.to/2svT0Sy
Gymnopedie No.1(New Setup) Volcano Filter Aquarium - YES filter, NO CO2, NO Ferts 7.6 Gallon TankFoo the Flowerhorn2019-09-09 | This project started with a lava rock from a local rock yard back in June. It took so long to finish b/c I bought the rock without a plan, and I wasn’t sure if I could do this successfully. If the rock didn’t work out, the whole project would not have come to fruition. After the rock was drilled, I had to plan things out one by one, here and there, with a bit of procrastination, and that’s why this took nearly 3 months to finish. I also made the table that the tank is sitting on.
The tank was custom made at a local aquarium store. It’s a low iron 8mm thick glass.
One thing to mention is that the cap lava gravel is too big. Also, b/c the pump is moving the water around, the water column became brown very fast. First time filling up the tank, I waited 24 hours to see if the water would be clear enough to plant the plants. It was not. I did 100% water change, and waited another 24 hours. I repeated this process for around 10 days. So, that’s ten 100% water changes in 10 days until it was clear enough to plant the plants. This is the reason why I usually wait 24 hours after the very first fill. If the setup is all good, the water column shouldn’t be too brown and you can plant the plants. In this case, the cap gravel was too big, and the pump is located below the gravel so the organic soil leached out much quicker.
I don’t expect all of the plants to make it. I don’t know if the java moss can survive on the wet rock, either. I also know I shouldn’t have bought the expensive plants for a Walstad method tank, but I couldn’t help myself :)
I’ll update this tank in 2 months.
This is a Walstad Method tank.
Check out her book in the link below if interested. The book I read to make this aquarium: Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(Hard cover) http://amzn.to/2tB4xiZ Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(digital) http://amzn.to/2svT0Sy
Music: Beethoven: Sonata No. 8 Op. 13 Pathetique II Adagio cantabileEp.10 Strawberry Betta Tank (It Smells So Good) No filter, No CO2, NO ferts Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2019-09-02 | Kartoffel is a wild betta species called Mahachai betta. Cat grass stopped growing so I tried strawberries. I was pleasantly surprised how well they did. Strawberry plants are very hardy it seems. I never knew fresh strawberry right off the plant would smell so good.
(*The most important part is the salinity and temperature. At room temperature and above, it’ll work fine. Higher the temps, the faster they’ll hatch. They’ll continue to hatch upto 48 hours. If it’s winter, try this method: youtu.be/dU5izzyxqeA?t=168 ) (*For salinity, I’m going by the 1 table spoon per liter rule. However, depending on the size of the table spoon, you might want to try 1 table spoon, or 1 1/4 table spoon…and so on. You might want to experiment and see how much salt yields the best result. The brine shrimp will live for 3~4 days max. You can just siphon out only the amount you want during each feeding.)
INDOBETTA Pellet Monster #2 – This might be difficult to find. Very few stores import this I think. I bought this at a LFS. Every betta is a little different with different pellets. I feed Kartoffel with several different kinds of pellets and this is his favorite.
Liszt - Consolation No. 3(Short Update) My Flowerhorn is Doing BetterFoo the Flowerhorn2019-08-30 | Pollock’s been getting better, although a bit slowly. He is a bit lethargic than his usual self, though. All in all, I gave him vitamins for around 20 days once a day with soaked pellets. I also did around 75% water change every 5 days instead of every 7 days.
Music: Erik Satie Je te veux – Sang by Carolina Caballero Bastidas youtube.com/watch?v=eO2Xp5uGEpU21st Month – (Cabbage Feeding Frenzy) NO filter, NO CO2, NO Ferts 5 Gallon Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2019-08-17 | This is 21st month update. Loomster is a sparkling gourami. And then, there was Loomster. He is the king of this tank. I haven’t seen him actually eat the shrimp, but he does nibble at them once in a while. But I’m pretty sure he eats the shrimplets. The cabbage, as usual, was boiled for around 10 minutes until it was very soft. There is another setup that I’m working on. I’m not sure when it’ll be ready. I might release the video before end of this month.
I’m always extremely grateful for your support. From bottom of my heart, thank you to those who have decided to support this little channel all this time.
This is a Walstad Method tank. The credit goes to Diana Walstad for publishing the organic soil substrate method.
Check out her book in the link below if interested. The book I read to make this aquarium: Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(Hard cover) http://amzn.to/2tB4xiZ Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(digital) http://amzn.to/2svT0Sy
Gnossienne no. 2 played by Fenixian soundcloud.com/fenixian/gnossienne-n-2Ep.9 Cat Grass Betta Tank (Kartoffel Girlfriend Test) No filter, No CO2, NO ferts Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2019-07-28 | Kartoffel is a wild betta species called Mahachai betta. So many people have asked me to give him a girlfriend, but I think there’ll be a fight, and I don’t have another setup to move the female if they do. I think the cat grass is too tall for this tank and it’s doing just ok after I trimmed the leaves and the roots. I’m thinking of trying another plant.
The fish vitamin I used is called Aquavital, but another good fish vitamins is this one: amzn.to/2SzxZjD
Cat grass is usually oats, wheat, or rye. The light is on 13 hours a day to promote fast growth. Cat Grass : amzn.to/2XGg7bU Clay pebbles (hydroton) amzn.to/2XfxEU3
(*The most important part is the salinity and temperature. At room temperature and above, it’ll work fine. Higher the temps, the faster they’ll hatch. They’ll continue to hatch upto 48 hours. If it’s winter, try this method: youtu.be/dU5izzyxqeA?t=168 ) (*For salinity, I’m going by the 1 table spoon per liter rule. However, depending on the size of the table spoon, you might want to try 1 table spoon, or 1 1/4 table spoon…and so on. You might want to experiment and see how much salt yields the best result. The brine shrimp will live for 3~4 days max. You can just siphon out only the amount you want during each feeding.)
INDOBETTA Pellet Monster #2 – This might be difficult to find. Very few stores import this I think. I bought this at a LFS. Every betta is a little different with different pellets. I feed Kartoffel with several different kinds of pellets and this is his favorite.
Debussy – ReverieMedicine Made Things Worse / Fish Vitamins Actually WorkFoo the Flowerhorn2019-07-23 | My flowerhorn Pollock was sick for a while. An open sore appeared on his tail fin, and it would heal and then it would reappear. This went on for over a month. I thought it was bacterial infection, but it also looked like a pimple rather than open sore. Maybe it’s parasite? I couldn’t figure it out. Also there appeared a pin hole on his pectoral fin. It was literally a pin hole size. Then it grew and ended up ripping the pectoral fin altogether. I knew that was bacterial infection, a type of fin rot. The “cone” or maybe a boil on top of his head is also a concern. I’ve never encountered something like this. If anyone knows anything about it, I would appreciate any kind of feedback.
The medicines were used by following the directions on the box. I don’t like to use medicines in general b/c I’m not a vet and I don’t always know the exact diagnosis, and don't have the knowledge of every kind of specific medicine for specific ailments. Using broad spectrum anti-biotics isn’t always the best course of action, but a last resort, imo. The medications definitely killed lots of beneficial bacteria, imo. This tank never smelled like fish before. I could smell the water several feet away from the tank.
I chose Eheim classic 1500 XL (2260) simply b/c of the amount of filter media it can hold. Also the Eheim’s pumps seem more reliable and last quite a long time, and the location of the pump made sense to me.
The main reason for my flowerhorn getting sick was my old pump, imo. The pump was sort of a cheap pump, and after nearly 2 years of using it, it had lost quite a bit of power. It wasn’t pumping as much as when it was new. The turnover rate had slowed down a lot. I always take the pump apart and clean it at least twice a year. Cheap pumps usually do not last long and lose some of the power after a while. This can affect the health of the fish, imo. This is my best guess why Pollock got sick.
The fish vitamins really did help, imo. Hole in the head disease can cause inflammation in the intestines causing havoc on nutrient absorption. So, by feeding him vitamins, maybe I thought it would help out on absorbing nutrients better. It was probably the combination of the new filter and the vitamins that made him get better.
This was a crazy ordeal. I'm planning on getting a bigger tank for him in the future.
In the end, the pectoral fin grew back some and it continues to grow. Although it doesn’t grow fast since he’s using it all the time. The open sore is gone and there’s a scaring. The sensory pit erosion has nearly healed up, but there’s a small indentation still. The “cone” or the boil has shrunk a bit.
The vitamin I used is called Aquavital, but another good fish vitamins is this one: amzn.to/2SzxZjD
Eheim Filter the one that has double tap valves included amzn.to/2Y7Bcbu
Siporax amzn.to/32NnFta Substrat Pro amzn.to/2JXPIgL20th Month – (Vs.) NO filter, NO CO2, NO Ferts 5 Gallon Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2019-07-15 | This is 20th month update. Loomster is a sparkling gourami. The lid’s been off this entire month b/c of the temps. The higher temps cause the plants to grow like crazy. Loomster started to hunt the shrimp. He’s been croaking more often at the tuxedo guppies during the night. The guppies didn’t stand a chance. I had my doubts when I bought the guppies, but I didn’t think it would be this bad. Loomster has claimed the entire tank and the one guppy that was left would not come out from hiding. I felt so bad for the guppies. Some say if it happened to you, it’s your fault.
This is a Walstad Method tank. The credit goes to Diana Walstad for publishing the organic soil substrate method.
Check out her book in the link below if interested. The book I read to make this aquarium: Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(Hard cover) http://amzn.to/2tB4xiZ Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(digital) http://amzn.to/2svT0Sy
Gymnopedie no. 3Ep.8 Cat Grass Betta Tank (Cat Tries Cat Grass) No filter, No CO2, NO ferts Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2019-06-30 | Kartoffel is a wild betta species called Mahachai betta. Growing cat grass was super easy. It was probably the easiest thing to grow.
The spinach flowering was a surprise. I suppose the plant was on its last leg, so it decided to flower before it withered away.
Our cat didn’t eat the cat grass. I tried multiple times and she wasn’t interested in it at all.
(*The most important part is the salinity and temperature. At room temperature and above, it’ll work fine. Higher the temps, the faster they’ll hatch. They’ll continue to hatch upto 48 hours. If it’s winter, try this method: youtu.be/dU5izzyxqeA?t=168 ) (*For salinity, I’m going by the 1 table spoon per liter rule. However, depending on the size of the table spoon, you might want to try 1 table spoon, or 1 1/4 table spoon…and so on. You might want to experiment and see how much salt yields the best result. The brine shrimp will live for 3~4 days max. You can just siphon out only the amount you want during each feeding.)
INDOBETTA Pellet Monster #2 – This might be difficult to find. Very few stores import this I think. I bought this at a LFS. Every betta is a little different with different pellets. I feed Kartoffel with several different kinds of pellets and this is his favorite.
Mendelssohn - Songs without Words Op. 19 No. 119th Month – (It’s a BOY!) NO filter, NO CO2, NO Ferts 5 Gallon Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2019-06-14 | This is 19th month update. Turns out, Loomster is a sparkling gourami male. He started croaking mostly at night. He started to hunt the shrimp, but I haven’t seen him eat one yet. The yellow tuxedo guppies are fighting often. I never knew these guys were so violent toward each other. They don't bother anything else in the tank, though. I did see one nibble at the nerite's antennas. The plants are growing very fast. I think it’s b/c the temps are higher these days.
This is a Walstad Method tank. The credit goes to Diana Walstad for publishing the organic soil substrate method.
Check out her book in the link below if interested. The book I read to make this aquarium: Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(Hard cover) http://amzn.to/2tB4xiZ Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(digital) http://amzn.to/2svT0Sy
Erik Satie Gymnopedie no.1,2,3 played by Kevin MacleodEp.7 Spinach Betta Tank (Making Brine Shrimp for Kartoffel) No filter, No CO2, NO ferts Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2019-05-25 | Kartoffel is a wild betta species called Mahachai betta. Making Brine Shrimp / Get rid of cyanobacteria.
The spinach started out so well, then the growth slowed down. I’m not sure if the spinaches will make it. I had high hopes for them. I suppose I’ll try something else if they don’t work out.
I used 35% hydrogen peroxide on the cyanobacteria. There was an imbalance b/c I removed the sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes were doing a lot of the heavy lifting in the tank. You can’t buy 35% HP these days online. I think the strongest you can buy is 12%. I suppose you can also use the usual 3%, but you might have to use a little more. You might want to check the local pharmacy if they have anything higher. 12% Hydrogen Peroxide amzn.to/2ImX7Ip
(*The most important part is the salinity and temperature. At room temperature and above, it’ll work fine. Higher the temps, the faster they’ll hatch. They’ll continue to hatch upto 48 hours. If it’s winter, try this method: youtu.be/dU5izzyxqeA?t=168 ) (*For salinity, I’m going by the 1 table spoon per liter rule. However, depending on the size of the table spoon, you might want to try 1 table spoon, or 1 1/4 table spoon…and so on. You might want to experiment and see how much salt yields the best result. The brine shrimp will live for 3~4 days max. You can just siphon out only the amount you want during each feeding.)
Both played by Andrew Metcalfe youtube.com/watch?v=F2kX8GPegcg youtube.com/watch?v=4k1tf0qxLx418th Month – (NEW FISH Tuxedo Guppy) NO filter, NO CO2, NO Ferts 5 Gallon Nano TankFoo the Flowerhorn2019-05-11 | This is 18th month update. Loomster is doing fine and getting bigger. I decided to get the guppies b/c I saw them at a LFS. I think they are called yellow tuxedo guppy. I didn’t get a female b/c I didn’t want 100+ guppies. They seem to be getting along fine at the moment. I don’t know if Loomster will get aggressive and nibble on them when he/she gets bigger.
This is a Walstad Method tank. The credit goes to Diana Walstad for publishing the organic soil substrate method.
Check out her book in the link below if interested. The book I read to make this aquarium: Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(Hard cover) http://amzn.to/2tB4xiZ Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad(digital) http://amzn.to/2svT0Sy
Gnossienne 5 : played by Cleo’s Piano youtube.com/watch?v=5jzsINyKA3M This is my friend Cleo. Please go check out her channel and subscribe to her. Thank you so much.