Sophia

Plant in question is about 15-20cm tall in places and it was only the 2 older leaves that got the holes. You can see the main leaf to the left of middle has a couple of little melts out of the side too. With the duckweed it grows and then I cull some from time to time to let the light through. Maybe I should do this more often so the lighting is even. Other things I have done lately - put more gravel in but it didn't get disturbed, it just went around the top. Here are some pics Crypt Walkerii Crypt Supasii This one has done very well, didn't melt at all when I planted it. Looking a little sad at the moment. The other was doing OK then it got bumped by accident and a leaf melted. and in context in the 50cm tank with some other bits and pieces that should look familiar

What causes this ? Holey leaves on the oldest ones, getting raggy and dying off at the sides. Is that just normal die off of older leaves? I 'think' I noticed this when I went back to doing Mon/Wed/Fri Excel dosage a couple of weeks ago. At same time the duckweed took off a bit and the ambulia was getting a bit too much shade for it's liking. Other plants happenings at the time: a few tiger lotus melted and some other plants not enjoying the shade of the duckweed.

last night 4 fry were out in plain view This morning I was using a mirror to see into some corners and could see many little pearls attached to the bottom of the filter and another tiny fry hanging around. I gave them so many plants and instead they attach to the filter haha

Fry 1 and 2 are now brave enough to be seen most of the time and dart after the schraps at feeding time. Fry 1 is the biggest and I will say it's a he as he bosses the other one around already. Funny to see the grown up killie games being played out in the little ones. Still no real colour to speak off, they seem clear or just silvery colour.

some of my JBL balls were buried about an inch of grit for some time and one of them was showing ... no clouding of the water followed but then it wasn't sand, the grit was stationary. I have since added more to cover it over.

nice twisted val in there Bilbo

what a cool Dad 8)

most of my plants are doing very well. Only complaint is windelov and I don't think it's the lighting as there is a baby one sitting close to the light that is healthy

Floating riccia (in my tank at least) looks like green fluffy moss clouds just under the surface of the water. You can attach it to a stone with a hair net or such like and it will stay at the bottom. If you search for threads started by maoriphoenix, his first thread where he starts his little tank has some pics. this is mine. Excuse the lighting, wrong time of day for photos

Big News from the Scheeli Facilitation committee - 2 brand new tiny weeny fry spotted today during water change, living in the moss. These are at least half the size of the others so they must be freshly hatched within the last few days. Very exciting. 6 away from being registered!

Dennis is King Scaper so every time they mess it up he will have an excuse to un-mess it again and turn it into something new.

what sort of snails are they that they eat val?

ooh very nice Mr P I meself have 4 different kinds in my little tank

daily it is then I have found that once bitten with excel or I suppose an oxidiser the twisted val doesn't seem to like it at all. This batch got bleached and complained, it's very slow at growing back and I've noticed more floppy dying leaves when I put excel in again. All my hopes are now pinned on the one stronger plant

what's the green mossy plant on the sand at the front left side?

do you think I should go back to daily dosing the ferts?

Today is a 2 Fry day! For the first time I have seen 2 fry at the same time, so I definitely have 2, they aren't just zipping around quickly. I can tell which is Original Fry, the other is definitely younger and less developed. Fry 2 was at the surface so I managed to get him some dried brine shrimp before the greedy gobblers ate it. :bounce:

Well here I am again with a new ferny trouble. I bought some very nice windelov from KP, about a month ago, it was a fresh pea and dark green with lots of roots. I applied no sterilising anything, it went into a jug of water in the sun with some snail rid for under a week and that was all the quarantine it had. After a week or so of being in the tank it started browning off a little but not in the same way as the java and bolbitis did. It had patchy brown bits and no new growths on the ends of the leaves, which the java fern did even though the rest of the leaves were browning off. Now it is almost completely brown and the leaves resemble spidery thin autumn leaves, with rare patches of green. I have cut back the ferts by about half so the current regime is standard dose of flourish comp and excel every 2 or 3 days. I thought maybe it was missing something else so I gave a dose of florapride on sunday for the water change and nothing has changed. The lighting has reduced since I put it in as the riccia and duckweed almost cover the surface. There is usually a gap of some sort in the front where I move it aside to feed the gobblers, but not necessarily the same place and it's not directly above any of the ferns. I have restrained myself from giving up on the windelov, I think maybe this is the browning off that Jen mentioned, or could it be the comment someone made that sometimes the ferns just don't like your tank. I have crypts, ambulia, riccia, duckweed and tiger lotus and they seem to be doing well. The bolbitis is still tied to the wood in the current/inlet and has not produced any growth. I live in hope that it hasn't really died. There are some surviving baby javas too and a floating windelov baby that came from the main plant that is bright green - this I find odd. I want my windelov back or KP won't sell me any more plants :-? ) In any case, what are your thoughts dearest plant nerds?

very pretty that is a very big tank for you isn't it?

thanks

duckweed is good for fry to hide in and I think it adds a natural look to the right kind of tank. When I was looking for it the only free stuff I could find, without knowing every creek and backwater in auckland, was western springs and I got about a 10cm square blob worth. I did manage to buy some later but it was hard to find. Now it's growing really well and I'm starting to net out what is not needed. Bilbo I think you should try auctioning onehunga weed, market it as a deterrant against people walking on the lawn :evil:

those pygmies are very cute

if you PM Zev and ask her nicely she might send you the back issue of the newsletter that explains some more of what Barrie just said too

do I have to have 5 fry of the same age to register them?

found a brand new wriggler this morning