#fishproblemsmarble

[fishproblem]

planted tank update: alternathera is stalky, s. repens is weirdly happy, and the hairgrass can’t decide. I have yet to properly dial in my CO2 and I need to get a good liquid fert. Is my light not enough? Probably! Will I end up buying the flat one nano? Probably!

[fishproblem]

somebody got (carefully and responsibly) plopped into his new digs the other day.

he is A Fan of wedging himself into his dwarf hairgrass lawn. 11/10 would recommend.

[fishproblem]

Alright fish buds. The planted tank has been planted. Buckle the fuck up.

Box from Buce Plant showed up this morning. It looked suspiciously small. It was VERY full of plants.

(Yeah I bought my gf a switch for Christmas and her rabbit did 100% chew on it.)

LOOK AT THE PLAAAAANTS

At this point I was incredibly excited and had yet to discover that planting an entire carpet of dwarf hairgrass is tedious as fuck but whatever. Everything arrived from Buce Plant looking great, and the hairgrass and cabomba aquatica were even flowering!

The alternathera reneckii bunch was really tall, so I trimmed the stems before planting. Double the plants instantly! Very excited to have this plant back, as I loved it in my low tech 5.5g and if/when it takes off here, I’ll be planting some stems in the 30 gallon.

Next on deck was the bacopa caroliniana. The stems look great and it’s such a gawd damn gorgeous plant, but not a root in sight?

Whatever, planted it! It’s so fucking pretty I love those leaves.

Then came the prosperpinaca palustris. I’m not in love with this plant yet, but we’ll see. This was the smallest bunch I received. (There are also a few stems hiding between the alternathera and the bacopa here.) it looks like it has two types of leaf, the top leaves have spiky edges. Maybe that part grew emersed?

Next up, the midground! Planted some staurogyne repens (UNS tissue culture) to soften some edges. Very pretty plant, 10/10 I love it. Also they pack a bunch of plant into that little cup!

Finally, four lead bunches of dwarf hairgrass, with tiny little buds! It took ten years to plant all this, but it feels worth it. I hope it carpets well! The roots stunk like straight up shit, so I assume they were grown in some heavily fertilized substrate lmao.

I will be trimming the hairgrass as soon as I fill the tank, but because my filter and heater won’t be ready to set up for a few days and because the thought of carpeting plants floating out of the substrate is fucking triggering to me, I’m dry starting.

That’s all for now! Flooded the substrate, misted it heavily, and covered in Saran Wrap. I’ll be away for the weekend hiking, so hopefully everything is alright while I’m gone!

[fishproblem]

did a bitch shell out for all ADA substrate? a bitch did.

i’m excited about it and have to buy plants now.

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also PSA my betta is gorgeous and I love him but he’s also a fucking koi and those pigment genes have jumped and mutated themselves into a big ole tumor on his tail.

He’s happy and healthy now at about two and a half but I do wonder about slicing it off before it takes over. 😕

[fishproblem]

had to put my betta down today. the tumor was finally exhausting him too much. i know it was a right call, but it sucked to do.

one of my dogs is at the vet right now with what is probably end stage pancreatic cancer. he got terribly sick very suddenly while we were out of the house yesterday afternoon/evening. by the time we got him to the vet first thing in the morning he was in shock with no blood sugar and such low blood pressure it was undetectable. He’s a senior dog and we knew going into it we wouldn’t have enough time, but he’s only been ours for a year and I really desperately don’t want him to die.

Today is a really fucking shitty day.

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so f*****************ing excited to plant this. the plants should get shipped tomorrow so you can find me glued to the tracking info until they arrive.

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idk guys do you think this is enough filtration.