Plant Update

still no sign of the shrimp but all of the plants are looking great. here's a higher quality video that i took.

Spawn Update

I didn't post anything about the spawn I had going on here because I lost all of the fry before I started this blog. I was really upset about this and was thinking that the male may have eaten the fry, but after deeper investigation I learned something new. At 2 weeks of age betta fry are developing their labyrinth organ. During this process they need the air temperature to be the same as the water temperature (where I went wrong, I had a lid with a hole in the top next time I am using plastic wrap to retain heat better) or else they will get mucus in their labyrinth organ and die rapidly. On day 13 I had fry, on day 14 I had none. Once I have a well conditioned male again (The daddy of this spawn is bubble nesting but I want to give him a rest) I will pair him with the appropriate colored lady from my sorority or one of my two platinum red crowntail females but most likely not as they are part of my friend's project I don't have any crowntail males and prefer not to cross into crowns.

More Pictures

So here's some updated pictures. Haven't seen the shrimp today, but I'm sure they're just hiding. I didn't find any shrimp parts anywhere... as you can see the Pennywort is REALLY standing up now.

The caves that I can only see into with the flash.

Here's a front view of the tank, I really need to fill in those last couple of inches so my pictures aren't so blown out.

Closeup of the front left.

close up of the front right. once again I apologize for the top being blown out. The Java Moss in that jungle clump are REALLY growing I'm surprised. I'll have to get a close up for you later. I plan on fixing that mess of Java Moss in the front It's been bothering me.

Sorority Update

So I did a few changes since my last post. I did a 3 gallon water change trying to take down some of the tanins, it worked well while still keeping the auburn color. Also, yesterday I bought a pair of red cherry shrimp and some more java moss (which looks a mess I need to tuck it away better) for the shrimp to possibly breed. If the shrimp breed and I get more, yay for that because they're super cute. If the shrimp breed and the females eat them, yay for that because they're probably pretty healthy for them. I will post pictures once I get some of them, it's hard to spot a 1" shrimp in a 14 gallon heavily planted aquarium.

Lighting

In case anybody is wondering why the lighting looks a little wacky in the pictures sometimes is because I have a 10,000 K bulb on the back fixture and a 6,500 K bulb on the front fixture. The 10,000 K is very white light and is being used with the prospect that extra light in the back will grow my background plants taller. The 6,500 K light is very red/purple and brings out the red in my cobomba.

Female Sorority Update

So today I noticed that the pennywort was turning more towards the light, it's hard to tell in the pictures that it wasn't but you might be able to see that it is now in the new pictures.

so dense, can't wait for that anacharis to really start growing.

My Halfmoon Blue Butterfly Male in Photo Tank