Breeding Project: Cherry Barb
Breeding Project: Cherry Shrimp
Breeding Project: Java Fern
Breeding Project: Hornwort

So the hornwort have been sitting in a small tempo. tank since I didn't have the soils to begin propagation yet. Instead of just leaving it in water, I've been feeding it the water I collect during water changes since I figured there would be plenty of minerals and whatnot thanks to the fish. Of course, hornwort being the fast grower that it is, is slowly beginning to die off since there aren't enough nutrients in the water for it.

A lovely note that shouldn't be much of a surprise, I have snails. I am not very pleased and its pretty sad that I actually contracted them. But y'know, its kinda not unexpected either since hornwort has been known for years to be a carrier of pond snail eggs and there wouldn't have been a way for me to have cleaned it without stripping the poor plant of all it's leaves. Whatever. Good thing the hornwort was planned to be in it's own propagation tank anyway. Not to mention, the snails will be able to eat the leaves that have fallen and are decaying so it'll help. I figure the snails should be self-sustaining in that aspect and shouldn't explode into a billion unless they begin eating the hornwort. I figure, I'll give it a good rinse perhaps before I "export" any of the plant, but the goldfish would probably swallow the snails whole anyway.

So I returned to the big city I call home during the weekend and of course, stopped at a Big Al's before making the migration back up to school town. I haven't been to a Big Al's in FOREVER, let alone that EXACT location either! So you can imagine how estatic I was! So many gorgeous fish of all varieties and with the utmost high quality. Picked me up a beautiful java fern, whose size is twice (if not thrice) of that of PetsMart and lower in price too! Not to mention it had a LOT of daughter plants growing on it too, so faster propagation should be available from it very shortly. Hopefully before I'm able to set up the propagation tank for the java fern so that I can plant the daughters alongside the mother plant.

With the java fern, I also purchased myself some Red Cherry Shrimp. Of course, they're not of the supremely high quality with the bright red coloration. Instead, I find they are more similar to the wild end of the spectrum as they have a low red coloration, but its still present nonetheless. I only bought 3 as they came in a bundle like that, but I was scared the 4 hour drive would stress them out too much and that they'd die. Lucky for me, they all survived the trip and the acclimatizing and are happily settled in their temporary tank!

I am thinking of moving them into the 5 gallon breeder temporarily until the propagation tanks set up and move them back in there once water parameters have stabilized. I've thrown in half of the java moss collection I have with me with the extremely few surviving pieces of najas and two small things of hornwort to help battle nutrient levels. Originally I only had the najas and java moss in there since I knew they harbored delicious morsels of food for the lil buggers. I later added some cleaned hornwort because I was scared I'd have random spikes and figured the hornwort would better stabilize and prevent that from happening inbetween water changes.

Seeing as how this is the first time I've actually owned Cherry Shrimp, I'm still quite inexperienced with them and can't sex them on sight as well yet. I know I have two females for sure, but I can't help but think the guy got me a third female when I know I pointed at a male. All these random factors are floating in my head and I think it may be a male afterall, but we'll have to see when they really settle in. I know I have two females though seeing as how they have BERRIED!!! Thus, the great anxiety I have for them since I didn't want either of the ladies to drop or die.. but they've still got their brood so I'm excited at the prospect of a booming population!

Here's to hoping that things will go well!! I've decided to close Breeding Project: Cherry Barb, however. Why? Well its quite the sad story. I knew I shouldn't have been so rushy, but sometimes I can't help myself and I work faster than I think. So I did a water change like usual, splitting the water to set up the tempo. hornwort tank and mixing fresh water into both setups. Then, feeling that Mr. Cherry would be cramped since there was quite a lot of java moss at the time, I took him out and moved him into the hornwort tank since there was a lot more room for him. I should've waited another day to do this since I'm sure doing a water change still brings on some stress for the guy let alone introducing him into a new tank!

If that wasn't enough, I placed it on my desk and left for school the next day. Now, my room has one giant window which faces west - meaning when the sun begins to set, I get a surplus of very strong lighting. It often raises the temperature of my room by a couple degrees thanks to the mighty power of the sun's rays. Strong lighting in a fresh tank, I'm sure these factors weren't kind to stressed Mr. Cherry. He succumbed to a type of fungal rot I think, or it could have been a form of velvet. I was kinda sad when he made the passing, so I'll be leaving the Cherry Barbs for now even though I saw a sale at Big Al's for a pair being quite cheap, but naw.

On a better note, the three successors are growing nice and strong. I am almost sure now that I have 2 boys and 1 girl thanks to coloring as well as behaviour. Lots of fin flaring, trailing of the suspected sister, and brotherly chasing all are telltale signs that I believe I have what I have. If that's the case, it may still work though since I can always pick up a lone female (afterall, I was planning on doing that in the first place with the father) and breed her with either of the two brothers. That way, I can grow a school of them and perhaps put them in the 20 gallon with a corral of Cherry Shrimp too. :)

Nothing like a school of Cherry Barbs and an army of Cherry Shrimp to dominate a tank of greens! Hopefully it'll produce a stunning color contrast as I'm planning on using a black gravel substrate! Oh, and I picked up the necessary soils I require to begin the propagation tanks! I believe tank set-ups and changes will be made accordingly over the span of this week.

Breeding Project: Hornwort
Breeding Project: Cherry Barb

Okay! So its been 9 months exactly (freaky! I didn't even plan for it like this!) since I've last posted. Some major updates: my female Cherry Barb has gone, presumedly from high stress levels or breeding pressures by the male, actually I don't really remember. The male Blue Ram ended up developing pop eye unfortunately and the female passed the day after I returned home from school. Guess the move was too much for her, poor gal!

Now if you're an aquarist, you would probably know that Hornwort is a plant and therefore, wouldn't technically qualify under a "breeding project" because not many people try to flower their plants so that they could pollenate and seed. Plant "breeding" is called propagation, but I don't really want to call it a "propagation project" so it'll just have to be a breeding project! Now, Hornwort is an incredibly easy plant to grow let alone trying to propagate it. However, I've selected this plant as a tester to test out a new method I've discovered on plant growing.

The Hornwort also serves a double purpose; my aunt has a pair of goldfish that she regularly feeds live plants to. Something about them having a better shine.. so anyway, I used to give her my Najas clippings but then I left for school and my parents decided to give her some without my consent. Well, they gave her a bit too much and not just as a clipping... now my Najas stock has seriously been damaged and quality has run amuck! This is where the Hornwort propagation comes in. She used to buy Hornwort after I exploded in fury after discovering an ugly Endler tank but it gets quite expensive after a while with the constant purchases. I figure, since she's such an awesome aunt and the Najas thing was so long ago, to grow hordes of Hornwort and gift it to her!

Now, I've bought the Hornwort but have yet to assemble the rest of the propagation tank. Here's to hoping that all becomes successful! I hope so as I now have a brand-spankingly new 20 gallon that will need to be filled with lush and gorgeous plants! So far, I'm thinking about adding Java Ferns as the main plant with a small thing of Java Moss and perhaps a small collection of Najas.. if the Hornwort grow beautifully, I might consider adding them to the tank as well! May be the ugliest tank in the world, but I'm no aquascaper!

So an update for the Cherry Barbs! Thanks to a busy school life, hectic exam schedule, funeral trip, moving stress, and summer neglect (well not 100% neglect!) I'm left with 3 surviving younglings. I know its my fault for not being able to be a better aquarist and keeping the mortality rate low.. but the three survivors are about 2-2.5 cm long and are developing very well! They have a similar bronzey coloring like that of their mother, however, two of them seem to be different than the one. Somehow, they almost give me the impression that they will mature into boys. Something about a slight darker coloration, especially in the tail fin.. but I suppose we'll have to see with time! Maybe I'll take some updated pictures and post them!

Speaking of the younglings, I am planning on doing another Cherry Barb breeding, but this year with a higher yield of young. I am not too happy with the way things turned out, albeit the first time and all. I would just rather a much higher survival rate, just to boost that breeder's profile. Nothing says success as the results of your breeding attempts! I would like to set things up as soon as possible, but its very dependent on when I can finish setting up the desk I have here so that I'll have room to set up the breeding tank.

I've been debating about setting up marbles on the bottom or just supplying a plethora of flora to decrease egg predation. Guess I still have a little while before I make my decision.. I'll purchase a female when the tanks are set up so that I don't stress her out by not knowing where to place her! I figure I would be able to stick the school of Cherry Barbs in the 20 gallon 'social tank' (as I call it) when they grow up.

I suppose that's all I have to say for now.. hopefully this blog isn't so darn long! I have such a terrible tendency to produce long, boring blogs. Talk about verbal diarrhea! I think I'll make adjustments where I see fit - or if I have any suggestive inputs (which will probably never happen seeing as how nobody reads this thing anyway! :D)