More galaxies onboard!!!

I have decided to skip my meditation class and go get some more Galaxy Rasboras as I think my tank is suitable to keep these cuties as I was around Clementi area after work. I could not restrain my urge and as my wife also asked me to join her for dinner, I made the plunge, skip class and get my galaxies.

Polyart has lesser stock of them now, compared to last week when I came to get 5 of them. It seems that the aquarists has started to stop buying them to prevent these fishes from over-fishing. Those aquarists whom has these nice fishes are trying to breed them. Information regarding breeding them is limited but with some successful attempts, it seems there is hope for these fishes to become popular again...

I managed to get 10 more pieces of the galaxies and they are now in my tank at home, with the rest of the other 5. As this blog serve as a journal for my hobby, I would like to provide some information of what I have for the tank setup. The galaxies seems a bit bigger than the earlier batch. I have another blog for that but I think it might be good to put this one here as well. Below are the equipment that I have.

Equipment:
Tanks size: 2 x x ft tank
Light: 55W Magnium II PL light set (on from 7pm - 11pm)
Filter: Ehiem Ecco 2232 (400L/h)
Gravel: Lapis sand
Fan: None
Temp: 27 - 29 (Estimate)
Fauna: Boraras, 15 Rasbora Galaxy, 2 Cardinal Tetra, 2 Rummy nose, 2 dwarf molly, cherry shrimps, 12 yamato shrimps, grass shrimps
Plants: Spiky (bogwood), java fern, stringy moss (loss form), crypts

As I go not have any water test kits, I cannot provide much information on my water condition. The water is age water with Genesis (water conditioner) added. I'm worried that the eggs might become food for the yamotos or dwarf molly (potential threat) so I might shift some galaxies to another tank (shallow tank with my young guppy fries). They might stand a higher chance of survival but I would not be able to monitor them. I would be adding more hiding space (more moss and change my aquascape for this purpose. Have not decided what to do yet. Any opinions?

Microrasbora sp. Galaxy is here to stay!

I was wondering should I get the cuties when I found them at Polyart Aquarium last Friday. I was worried that the initial experience of these nice fishes mentioned that they do not feed well. I really don't want to kill them in my tanks but my wife convinced me to get some.

So in the end I bought 5 pc and brought them home. : )

For those who don't know who these fishes are, below is a picture that I have taken off the internet.

Luckily, my 5 Microrasbora sp. Galaxy has been doing well in my tank. There seems that there is a couple in the mix (1 of them kept chasing the other one). I must admit they looked so nice once their colour starts to come out (the blue or black background on their body). They have been feeding well with the food that I fed them, which was a concern as I'm worried that they might not like it. I will keep monitor them for a while before I decide whether should I get more of them, at least another 5 more. : )

Major shifting works done!

Today, with the encouragement and wonderful assistance from my wife, I have managed to do what I have wanting to do for a while... Shift my tanks! More pictures would be added later on when I got time to take more to show you all what I mean.

Actually the main reason is actually that my dining room is rather dark, especially at night. Since I 'm keeping planted tanks (need to on my lights, 55W and 36W everyday for a while for 2 tanks), I wish to utilize them to brighten up my dining room. Initially both tanks are at one corner of the dining room. That area is bright enough but the side near the main door and kitchen is rather dark. My plan was to get a cupboard and then transfer my Planted Tank 1 (the nicer of the 2) to the side in front of the main door. The other side with still have the Planted Tank 2 but now located at the top of the metal rack.

My search for for the cupboard finally ended when I went to Helping Hand (near Kovan MRT) to look at some teak furniture. I finally found my cupboard that I really liked. Actually it is a TV console but it is perfect for my needs. I actually got a shoe rack as well from them. These 2 items were delivered recently to my house since I need to wait for a new shipment for the cupboard.

Well, to keep it short, I had shifted the Planted Tank 1 to the new cupboard this afternoon. The canister filter is now located outside the cupboard as I need to touch up the vanish on the inside cupboard due to removal of the board that divides the compartment in the cupboard. The other tank was shifted up in the evening. I have now put the canister under the tank and with less wires and electrical stuff, the corner looks a lot neater now. I wonder why I never thought of this before. Hmm.... Just to lazy I guess. : P

Ok. With that I shall end the long 'talk' and show you some pictures that I have taken just now.

The main actor is the yamoto shrimp in the center of the picture. If you click on the enlarge picture, you will see it actually holds 3 pieces of fish food at its claws... Are you really that hungry?

This is the updated picture of the Planted Tank 1. It is still affected by green hair algae and I have been manually removing them. I also noticed that the java fern are turning yellow for some leaves. Looks like not enough nutrient for them. Just added liquid fertilizer after the shift. I have also transfered 3 rummy noses, 2 cardinal tetra and 1 white cloud mountain into this tank to provide more fertilizer for the plants!

This is the Planted Tank 2 that I have shifted up the metal rack. It is still a bit cloudy as the 'dust' has not fully settled down. As I'm typing, it should clear by now. There are limited plants here now as the spiky moss that I had here all got infested with hair algae. I have threw all of them away. : ( I will be bring in some plants from my shallow tank by the window. Likely tomorrow as I will also be bringing all the adult guppies here as well.

Been there... Done that ...

It has been some time since I update this blog. Well, was kind of busy on other things so neglect this blog and my fish hobby too... Well here goes ...

I did a clean up on the shallow tank (left) that has moss covered with hair algae. It got so bad that I threw away all the moss. Now just a few strands of hornwort, a driftwood and a lava rock in there. It is still used to house baby guppies and gets transfered to the shallow tank (right) when they grow big enough or my wife will complain they are too big and transfer them herself. It looks empty now. Below is a picture of how empty it looks. Might be closing this tanks soon. However, this is the only no-maintenance tank that I have and not so sure I really wanted to close it since it just 'run' by itself, except feeding and changing/top-up water. Hmm.... There seems to have some green algae growing on the driftwood and lava rock. Will let it be as it will make them have a more natural look.


The moss in the 1 ft shrimp tank is also infested with hair algae and I have taken and removed most of it, including my moss as well. : ( Luckily the oto is still surviving inside. The rest of the fishes either died or taken out already. It looks like a mess now so I should be rescaping it when I can find time to do it. The shrimps are still there but their numbers are not that many, I wonder why?!? Will keep this tank for now unless I can find a good reason not to.

Above is my Planted Tank 2, looks bare now compared to the last time. My moss has also been infected with hair algae here as well and I have also removed some of them and let the spiky moss spread in the tank rather than in plastic lunch boxes. This tank might get a make over if I try to close down my shallow tank. Not a lot of fishes now. Maybe get some more??


The Planted tank 1 is the only tank that is able to look nice even when it is not well taken care of. Looks like planting dense does have its merits as you can see below.


I have been removing dead or unhealthy plants and there are more space for me now. The hair algae problem is still there and I have to manually remove them from the bogwood and my moss as well. There has been more green algae growing on my bogwood. They looked nice so I let them grow. Maybe I would be getting my home-made algae ball soon?!? NOT!!!


Below is the sole surviver of my badis badis. It managed to find something to eat and survived after all these time. Not sure it started to take processed food or shrimplets. Well, at least it survives.

Here, you can see it looking at my camera. Must be wondering what I'm doing...

This is the close shot that I took with my shrimps in Planted Tank 1.

Also I have turned off all my fans for my planted tanks and shrimp tank. I even turn off the filter for the shrimp tank. The shrimp tank filter was meant to get some cleaning up after I off it but never get to clean it. Should be doing it soon or will remove it. Last time it was so weak that I just turn it off.

Til next time ... Bye.

It has been a long time ....

It has been a while since I updated this blog... Just say I'm lazy and also lost interest in this hobby for now. Furthermore I have resigned from my current job and the office tank was decommissioned as well. I have intention of closing 1 or 2 of my tanks at home to keep the maintenance low a bit more since I do not have much interest in taking care of them. So sad...

I was thinking of decommissioning my 1 ft cube and shallow tank. Since the plants are infested with hair algae (other tanks not so bad). I also lazy to tie the moss onto the bogwood that I have and will not do it for a while.

I have lost my 2 corys. I also got a dropsy cardinal but it does not die and I just let it live. The grass shrimps that I have bought from C328 have been producing rather a lot of shrimplets (more in the shallow tank). I was thinking of rescaping the 2 2 ft tanks to allow me to put all the stuff from the shallow and 1 ft cube tanks. Well, it needs proper planning and I do not have the time to do that for now.

Tank maintenance

After coming back from my ICT, found that my 3 tanks are not in a good shape...

The 2 ft Planted Tank seems to have dead leaves and the overgrown of some stem plants.

The 2 ft Bare Bottom Tank's hortwort are dying for some parts (maybe not getting enough light since the right hand corner is a blind spot for the light. My wife has been complaining that the dead leaves of the hortwort are choking the inlet pipe and suspected causing the slow outflow of the canister filter. Actually it is caused by choking of the media and need to clean it.

The 1 ft cube Shrimp Tank was badly infested with green hair algae. Most of the moss in there are affected. Also the flowrate of the Eden 501 is almost gone so I think the filter media is choked somewhere and also needs cleaning up.

So sad after coming back from ICT and so many things to do and fix... : (

So I have cleaned all the canister filters for the above tanks this evening. It was hard work man, cleaning so many canister filters. I have found some shrimps in the canister filter and had a hard time trying to catch those buggers since they swim so fast and also not to mention that they are small!!! I have also removed the moss with bogwood that are infected badly with green hair algae and removed most of them (with my moss) and threw away the infected moss. : ( Then place them in the Bare Bottom Tank to quarantine for while.

Will leave the cleaning of my Planted Tank tomorrow.

Also found that a badis badis that had a sunken stomach. It must not have any food for a while and still do not want to eat the fish food that I have put in. Looks like it would be dead soon. : ( These fishes are really fussy eaters!!!

Grass shrimp shrimplets found!!

I was busy doing water change for my tanks on a Saturday evening when I found that the pregnant grass shrimp has given birth (it was pregnant and it somehow climbed into the plastic lunchbox where I kept some spiky moss for them to grow until I have use for them). I caught something moving in the lunch box when I was doing water change. Closer inspection, I found quite a number of shrimplets in the lunchbox. : )

I had to leave them in the lunch box as I was too tired to transfer them to the shrimp tank (1 ft cube). I did that on Sunday but as I was too lazy, I wanted to throw in all the water and shrimps (taken out the spiky moss already) but my wife insisted that the water is dirty and help me to catch them and put them in herself. She was scolding the boraras for swimming over to peck at the shrimplets when they were released into the tank. It was the last straw when she found her last shrimplet get eaten by a boraras. She took out all the boraras after that. So now left only the 1 badis badis and 1 oto. I must say that the shrimp population is not growing too well and medium sized shrimps were found dead. Maybe due to me messing up the place to rescape or the fishes in there are the main cause. I know my badis badis has been feeding on the shrimplets as I did not introduce any live food for it. Will see how it goes from now on.