Jared Andrews

tds_pr 365 phosphate_api: shrimp_count:

Added 1 pump of easy green after testing.

Been a while since I have posted an update. I added a net for the pathos to climb.

I have let the tank get quite dirty. In the last few weeks I decided to weigh down the rotala stems on the left side of the tank, as they were reaching the surface. I would normally cut and in many cases replant the cuttings. This time I decided to weigh the stems down at about their half way point, to see if I could thicken the forest without having to cut things up.

This didn't really go well at all, the plants suffered a lot and provided additional surface for algae to grow on. The rotala also tangled up a ton.

I cleaned up the rotala by cutting it and replanting it, as described here.

Pregnant shrimp (below) and fish (above) explore the dust storm caused by my rotala clean up.

I'm not really sure how harmful it is when huge amounts of dust get kicked up, especially the brown mulm. Usually the water on the other side of the tank is completely clear while I do operations like this, I assume the animals would go to the other side if it was causing problems.

The mollies usually come and check everything out, grabbing little pieces of whatever is in the water. The shrimp are more cautious but eventually do the same.

The shrimp, can be startled by the activity it seems. Despite being bright yellow, it can be tough to be 100% certain a shrimp is not in a planted area or nearby prior to ripping it apart.

I know there were at least 4 berried shrimp before I did this, all with a lot of eggs. I did notice that at least one shrimp appeared to have a smaller supply of eggs after the disruption, like ~20 to 5 eggs. Truth be told I have no idea how many shrimp are in the tank and it's very possible I saw the shrimp with 5 eggs for the first time ever after this.

Regardless, in an attempt to keep dust down, I took several breaks while doing this to, leaving rotala I was going to replant wrapped in damp paper towel.

Healthy growth on the right side of the tank. You can see new leafs on both anubias's which have reduced algae, I have been aiming the light more towards the wall recently. Additional the lilly pads are getting high enough that they are blocking some light.

Another interesting observation, the duckweed in the middle section of the tank appears to be dying off.

I suspect two factors here: the pathos directly outcompeting the duckweed and a slight movement of the right side divider.

Regarding the latter point which I think is the primary factor. While it is difficult to see, I have a second small sponge filter in the tank. It is directly below and to the left of the right divider in the picture.

I usually have the divider directly above it, thus agitating the water on the right side of the divider.

Over this last month I moved the divider such that the water agitation would occur in the middle section of the surface. Which seems to suggest the agitation played a role.