Was 13.1F and pretty sunny @ 13:00 when I started to write this post ... overnight low was 6.1F ... got a little snow here, but really not that much compared to the guys up in the snowbelt ... can still see the tops of the grass peeking out here and there above what snow there is ...
Ammonia is @ between 0.25 and 0.0 ppm in the 55g, Nitrite looks to be between 2 and 5 ppm. Drained 5g out and did a partial water change, cranked the heater t'stat up to 85 for the
nitrobacters, now that the
nitrosomonas seem to have gotten a good hold. Had my hand down in the tank when I was adjusting the t'stat and noticed that I brushed off some "biofilm" (aka
slime) so things are starting to look good. Tank has a nice earthy smell to it.
Started making fish food yesterday ... took a bunch of old(er) broccoli that The Woman said was starting to go south and trimmed out the spots which were obviously bad, then did the same thing for some sugar peas in similar condition. Then boiled them together. Had Cupcake stop by the store and pick up some carrots , sweet potatoes, and a package of chopped spinach. Cut those up and boiled them tonight.
Gonna make two varieties - one strictly vegetarian, the other one omnivore. Will add about a half pound of medium shrimp to the latter. Plan using The Woman's pans for tortes which are basically like cupcakes tins only smaller. Will try making 1/2" to 1" thick wafers by dehydrating them in the oven. If that doesn't fly, then I may just use the torte tins to make frozen wafers.
Why go to all the trouble ?
The other day when I was @ PetSmart I picked up some Omega One freeze-dried Tubifex worms for the African Spotted Leaf Fishes and I noticed that they provided the price for various fish foods by the
unit of measure ... mostly by the ounce. Price on one item - don't recall which one - was in price
per pound ... and was pretty much in line with most of the others, considering that there are 16 ounces in a pound. The price was over $225.00 per pound ...
And folks think steak and lobster are expensive ... :laughing:
The leaf fishes are loving the Tubifex worms BTW ... they seemed to acclimate pretty quickly and were eating within 6 hours of being introduced in the tank. At this point they're starting to look pretty plump.
Very graceful fish with a pretty color pattern ... they just seem to glide and float around. The smaller one is maybe 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" long with a darker coloration. The larger one is mebbe 1 3/4" to 2" long and is considerably lighter. Dunno, could be a male vs. female thing.
The smaller one is constantly patrolling all over the 10g tank, the larger one is much more shy - usually hovering under a leaf of the Annubias plant or hiding in the cave, only coming out when it smells or tastes food in the water. They are definitely predators ... with very large mouths. They seem to be constantly eyeing up the rest of the fish in the tank as to which ones might fit in those mouths. The larger one has already gone after one of the Kuhli Loaches ... which is probably at least 1/2" longer than it is.
Not my tank, but here's what they look like:
