fish keeping & aquatic plant care

I manage to get most of the materials that I needed last Sunday (Oct. 5, 2008) and started aquascaping my 10g tank at that same day. Here’s some of the materials that I’ve managed to prepare, most of them are quite far from the sketch that I’ve drawn but the most appealing (IMO) I could find.

1. Driftwood. Got this driftwood from Aquarium Services Kitchener (a.k.a. Big Als Canada).
2. Rocks. Found them on our backyard.
3. Flourite Substrate (black). Bought this from Aquarium Services (a.k.a. Big Als Canada) as well.
4. Compact Flourescent Light. I couldn’t find CFL 20watts bulbs so I just bought Two 6,500k 15 watts CFL bulbs.
5. Cabomba Green, Coffeefolia (anubias), Java Moss and Java Fern. Have them already and still waiting for my groundcover plants that I bought from AquariumPlants.com

Since most of the materials that I need are ready, I started setting up the stage:

While looking for the stone that fits to my liking I tried setting up the stage in our backyard first and here’s what I came up with (see fig. 1).

And when I was certain and satisfied with the positioning I then applied the layout in to my tank (fig. 2 and fig. 3)

(fig. 1)

(fig. 2)

(fig. 3)

4 more plants will arrive tommorow (hopefully) to be added in this 10g tank, these are Pelia (Monosolenium Tenerum), Aponogeton crispus, Dwarf Hairgrass (Eleocharis acicularis), and Myriophyllum tuberculatum. There are 2 more plants that I forgot to order though, one is Riccia Fluitans and HC Cuba (Hemianthus callitrichoides cuba) and since this is most likely the last month of shipments due to winter I may not be able to get those plants till next year spring by then I wonder how will my 10g tank going to look like.

It’s about 2 years now since I started my aquarium hobby and it is now turning into an addiction (lol). It all began when our family friend gave a 10 gallon aquarium to us when they were moving to a new house.

The enthusiasm grew more when I bought a pair of Guppies which at that time I didn’t have any ideas that the fish gave birth to live fish. Anyways a few months later I saw tiny stuff moving  on my 10 gallon tank and noticed that it was a fry, with excitement I searched the web on how to care for fry and found out that I will need to either separate them or put a divider so that they won’t be eaten by their parents.

Below is a photo of a 2 days old Guppy Fry:

November last year while buying dog food for my dog “Rocky” I saw a 35 Gallon Hagen Waterhome aquarium on sale and really thought it was a good deal and so I bought it. Since then I’ve kept variety of tropical freshwater fish and aquatic plants.

I currently have 4 tanks now (and a pond in our backyard): Two - 35 gallon aquarium and Two - 10 gallon breeding tanks. I’m actually thinking of getting another 55 gallon tank or larger but the problem is I have no where to put it (and mom might kick me out already … lol) so I probably need to wait till I manage to save up to get my own house with my girlfriend.

To me aquarium hobby is so dynamic and there’s always something new to it. I’m glad that I’ve found this hobby and would continue for years to come.

This blog has been created for Freshwater Aquarium Hobbyists and aims to document my ever increasing interest in this hobby. I will be posting some knowledgeable articles, DIY guides based on my experience and my success/failures in this hobby. Keep tuned in!