Afterburned's 60l Planted Tank

[Afterburned]

Quick update, during water change did some trimming of the Java fern, behind the rock to let the Vallis come through, and snipped off the bits that were rooting. Moved some Vallis that had sprouted from runners at the front to behind the rock, trying to hide the heater eventually.
Tied the rooted fern to a bit of (boiled & centre removed) bamboo to see if it will grow, don't want it, just curious!



Fish & all shrimp nice & active, I'm spending more time watching them than the telly!

[Afterburned]

not going to buy any more guppies, at least for a while, going to see how many I get naturally.

About a million in a few months. Guppies don’t know when to stop breeding. I bet a couple of weeks and she will drop fry. Rose certainly looks close to dropping a few.

Well someone certainly was!! Although it was Ochre that was acting oddly yesterday and looks emptier today. Whilst we were testing the water params my daughter spotted this little one:



Managed to spot 2, will be happy if that's all we get from this batch, I am guessing that Sparky ate a few, he was hanging around her like a bad smell yesterday!

Edit - this morning Rose is now completely empty & the others appear to be hunting! Can't see any babies as the light doesnt come on until later.
Now understand exactly what a pregnant female guppy looks like - and fr499y was spot on with Rose being ready to drop!

[Afterburned]

Latest update after the weekend - we now have 8 guppies! 3 original, 4 fry and a beautiful blue female that my wife saw in the fish shop (they had a lovely display of females all with the same colouring, and if the wife has a fish she is more invested in the tank) and so 'Ocean' has joined us!



So far Ocean has taken command of the tank, having quite a battle with Rose, plenty of space to hide & escape though and today they are all swimming together.

The reason for going to a fish shop was I found one nearby that had some catfish that I fancied - Banjo cats (bunocephalus)!




Also whilst at the shop got chatting about the tank & said the only thing missing was a floating plant, so he gave me some!
This is the tank tonight:



Am looking forward to identifying the Banjo's exactly, as they were wild caught and from what I have read you can get several species together, so could be one of a number! I chose the smallest two in the hope they are the smaller species! Just love searching for them in the sand when I can. Also looking forward to identifying the floating plant, looks good so far.


Oh yes, banjos are called Tigger and Zebedee because they are so active (not)!! Although they do bounce when they move!

[plankton]

It's weird that the blue female seems to be acting as the alpha, the same thing happens in my tanks, and I just thought it was because the original alpha (21 years ago) was blue.

[Afterburned]

It's weird that the blue female seems to be acting as the alpha, the same thing happens in my tanks, and I just thought it was because the original alpha (21 years ago) was blue.

I hope she calms down, just had a look during lunch & she is back to battering anyone that comes near! I think she is due to give birth soon so may be a little of that added to being in a new tank. Could just be a nutter of course...

[Staffylover]

The white sand might help you spot the Banjo cats, they are quite an odd looking fish I think, or just well adapted maybe, the Blue female does look very pretty, tank is looking lovely

[Afterburned]

It's been a couple of weeks so I thought I'd post an update (warning, might be a long post!)
Another guppy has given birth. Not sure which, turns out I am really bad at noticing when guppies are pregnant! About 5 from the first batch and 5 from the 2nd swimming about at the moment. Now the 1st batch are a little bigger they are swimming with the adults and I can see a change in behaviour as they all school together.
I'm hoping the babies have nice colouring, no idea who the dad was for these!

I think that I still have 6 shrimp, for a couple of days I thought the banjo catfish had been eating them as I couldn't see any! Eventually spotted 5 so happy that's not the case!

The banjos are behaving exactly as expected, one seems to come out a bit for food (if dropped in front of it), the other is more shy, can usually find where they are by looking for the dip in the sand where their mouths are.

The plants started dying off a bit, this combined with the fact my ammonia, nitrates & nitrites are always 0 made me change to a complete fert (TNC) and added root tabs on the left to see if they also help (if they grow better will add along the back too).

Latest toys are an inkbird 306a (eBay, offered a low bid on an item and got it cheap!l) and a Facebook marketplace doser (single) for £15! Now the ferts will go in automatically for those days I forget!!





Lots of wires & tech for a supposedly low tech 60l tank!!! Plugs will go on wall once I find the hangers again.
Still watching it more than the telly...

[Afterburned]

It's been a couple of weeks so I thought I'd post an update (warning, might be a long post!)
Another guppy has given birth. Not sure which, turns out I am really bad at noticing when guppies are pregnant! About 5 from the first batch and 5 from the 2nd swimming about at the moment. Now the 1st batch are a little bigger they are swimming with the adults and I can see a change in behaviour as they all school together.
I'm hoping the babies have nice colouring, no idea who the dad was for these!

I think that I still have 6 shrimp, for a couple of days I thought the banjo catfish had been eating them as I couldn't see any! Eventually spotted 5 so happy that's not the case!

The banjos are behaving exactly as expected, one seems to come out a bit for food (if dropped in front of it), the other is more shy, can usually find where they are by looking for the dip in the sand where their mouths are.

The plants started dying off a bit, this combined with the fact my ammonia, nitrates & nitrites are always 0 made me change to a complete fert (TNC) and added root tabs on the left to see if they also help (if they grow better will add along the back too).

Latest toys are an inkbird 306a (eBay, offered a low bid on an item and got it cheap!l) and a Facebook marketplace doser (single) for £15! Now the ferts will go in automatically for those days I forget!!





Lots of wires & tech for a supposedly low tech 60l tank!!! Plugs will go on wall once I find the hangers again.
Quick summary of wires:
Airpump tube
Dosing tube
Filter power
Heater power
Light power
2x inkbird sensors
External temp gauge



Still watching it more than the telly...

[Afterburned]

Haven't done an update for a while, tank is settling down, plants are growing, fish are swimming!
Put root tabs in for the Vallis all over, it's growing well now, have pushed it all back close to the glass to get more open swimming behind the bogwood.
Had an issue with hair algae on the java moss, eventually got 6 amano shrimp to help out, seems to be going down slowly now (win!).
Trimming the Java Fern to allow a little more light to the Echinodorus, hopefully if the shrimp do the job I can have the light on for longer each day (5 hrs daily at present) and maybe get some red leaves.

Nitrates are going up steadily, could be a mix of the TNC complete and the fry growing up, still on 15 before the weekly big water change according to NT Labs kit so within tolerance.
The first batch of baby guppies are coloring in nicely (well, the 2 males anyway), one female is a little deformed, will see how well it survives. Even the 2nd batch are starting to get spots here & there! Fry every few weeks but most from each batch get eaten, will have to move some on in another few months I think.
One of the Banjo cats had a wander around the tank - it took about a week! He was 'hiding' with his head in the vallis roots and his whole body exposed! Got some nice shots of him on the day he hid behind the filter!


So the tank is maturing and getting to where I want it, I'm a happly fisherman!


(already planning the next don't tell the wife!)