New fish and a video

Mikaila31

Well last Saterday I received 6 Garra flavatra in the mail. They were suppose to arrive on a Thursday, but USPS was really slow with them. I was worried they were not going to make. They all arrived just fine, only a little cold. They have a 15gal all to themselves. The first picture is the day after they arrived, the second is from today. It will take awhile, but eventually they will look like the one in my sig.



Also here is a video from my 55gal planted tank. I've been meaning to put one together for awhile, but college keeps getting in the way. Its slowly recovering from the crash it had awhile back. I am still want some more GBR. I had 5 when the tank crashed, they were moved out ASAP but were still subjected to some high nitrites for a couple hours. They were fine for a month then started suffering cronic diseases, I've got 1 left currently. I raised them from babies too. I can't afford adult rams around here they are $14 each from LFS. I managed to snag 8 quater inch fry at an auction for $9 last year and was able to raise them to adults fairly well. Was hoping to do the same thing, but there were very few GBR at the auction this year. I didn't manage to get any. I did get 4 little calico BN plecos which are in the video. The emperor tetras are locally bred fish too.

Twistersmom

Great video! So well done. Your tank and fish are just beautiful!
The second garra picture is just adorable! Thats a fish, you wish you could hug! Glad they made the long trip!

molliefan09

WOW!! that is a GREAT video, you did an awsome job and your tank is beautiful!!

jzon414

Fantastic video and awesome tank. good job :)

fighttest

how are you able to keep the tree leaves in your aquarium? i would think they would rot

Mikaila31

The leaves will break down eventually. They float for a good 3-5 days before sinking. Then it takes a few weeks before they start breaking up. I tend to let them be until they start breaking up. Then when I do the weekly WC I suck them up with the gravel vac. They are from the yard and I'm sure they are full of tasty stuff. The shrimp,snails, and fish go crazy and clean every last bit of them when I first put them in.

fighttest

do your plants still get enough light with them floating on the surface and how much light do you have?

aunt kymmie

Molliefan took the words right out of my mouth!! Amazing.
Your Garra flavatra are adorable. :)

Romad

Wow. What a great video. And you picked the perfect song.

What is the snake/eel in the tank? Is it blind? Very cool looking and I can't believe it doesn't eat the small fish.

Mikaila31

It has 2 wpg of compact flourescents. Majority of the plants are lower light. The leaves to block some of the light when they are floating and once they have sunk. They have a tendency to move around. The plants don't seem to be effected by them too much.

Its a caecilian (Typhlonectes natans) its a species of amphibian. There are two of them, both fully grown at 2 feet. They are blind and go mostly by smell. As adults they are usually no threat to the fish, some of the fish probably don't feel that way though. They all keep their distance at first, but most adjust. Each species of fish seems to have its own boundaries. The eels are conditioned to their foods pretty well. They don't know that they can eat the fish, usually even the ones that die are left alone. The blindness helps and they are lazy. They will bite me before they try to eat their tankmates.