The Offenders!

These are Powder Blue Dwarf Gouramis, and they build "bubble nests." The thought was bubble nests, hmmm sounds cool, I have no idea what a bubble nest is nor what it consists of. Let's give it a shot. Plus they look cool don't they! I got 2, thinking either they will mate and I could see what a bubble nest is or they will be 2 males and will probably kill each other. Either way I win!

The Blue Devil on the right I think is the male, as the males build the nests. He swims all over with gaint pieces of a specific plant I have below. Clue #1

The Fresh Water plant below is called Dwarf Baby Tears. It is small, as that picture was taken with a digital macro lense, the 3rd day after I bought it. That plant was the first of 2 things, I HAD TO HAVE IN THIS TANK!

My plant as of today! It is sad isn't it. Looks like a swarm of locists found it after about a month and a half after getting the Gouramis. The other 4, that I bought for $5.49 a piece have been getting smaller as well. Clue #2

Clue #3 Please forgive the image!!! You have to click on it to see the bubbles. Grrr.. Johnny and Mark I need help or I need an SLR one of the two. Its hard to take pictures of bubbles. Oddly enough the Dwarf Tears survive at the top of the tank and continue to thrive. Just not in a place I can see them. The finality of the situation is more of a relocation of my plants that were more expensive than the fish that is moving them.

Short explanation of bubble nests:

The fish moves plant matter to the top of the water, They then go to the top of the water and suck in air (Gouramis are Labyrinth Fish, meaning they breathe directly from the air, and must have access to the surface), They then come back down and blow bubbles underneath the plant material where the female will lay her eggs.

So total costs of fish $9 from local fish store.

Total costs for 4 plants air shipped overnight $35.

Free Plant Relocation!

I know, I said I was going to start from the beginning but I just wanted to share that with everyone. I promise I will share setup information and costs ect..

1st Blog

Thought I would pick up something creative and try to blog about a hobby of mine that I take somewhat seriously. I have been running a 55 Gallon Fresh Water Planted Tank for about 3 months now. Looking back on the pictures, it looks like I snap some 3-4 shots a couple of times a month. I want to show you a picture of the tank now, then go back and describe what I did to set it up. I then want to try and keep up with the maintenance, events and plans for the tank on an as needed basis.

I enjoy this hobby its incredibly relaxing, and it creates a great avenue for my creativity. As well as nourish a hope of mine that our science will eventually keep us from destroying the earth, instead of helping us kill it.

Above is the most recent picture. This was taken after a 20% water change, Cartridge change, Fertizilation, Feeding, and Planting some cuttings.