We have been receiving questions from our customers and readers on how to plant Fissidens Mini or Fissidens Splachnobryoides into aquarium tank, and we should have published this step by step guide for the benefit of everyone here.

Step 1: Upon receiving the Fissiden, take them out from the bag and float the Fissiden in a small pail of water. The Fissiden might comes with some brown color portion, which is actually the root structure of the plant. Do not remove them, as new leaves will be growing out from there (see close up picture below). These root structure should not be visible once they start growing in your tank.

Step 2: Spread the Fissiden evenly on a stainless steel or aluminium mesh.

Step 3: Use sewing thread to tie the Fissiden onto the mesh. Recommended spacing between sewing thread to be 3 to 4mm apart.

Step 4: Put the complete mesh into your aquarium. Recommended to have 8 to 10 hours of lighting period. Do ensure sufficient nutrients in your water column.

You have largely completed the setup. We have posted a number of photos below for further illustration on a healhty growth of Fissidens Mini:

- 2 weeks old Fissidens mesh. You will observe new leaves growing out of the brown roots (See red arrow)

- 4 weeks later (see below)

- 6 weeks old (See below)

- 3 to 4 months old fissiden carpet on the foreground of the aquarium:

David
AquaticMagic

As we have discussed earlier on on the beauty of moss in your aquarium tank, we shall shift our focus to larger tank here.

For larger tanks, moss decorations need not be the feature. With their minuscule size and ephemeral nature, these could be used to highlight greens of a large tank to create the impression of a giant forest or a mountain-scene by making use of rocks along with. Remember the trick with larger tanks is its sheer size and not moss. It’s the utter size of the tank and not the moss that awes viewers. Java Moss will solve the purpose for most of such tanks, as it gets conventional to the profile of the background plus the ease with which it can be profiled.

Now if can get some animals with the same cultural background as the moss, the two will go together exceedingly well. Think of slightly silver colored Cyprinids (rasbora, barbs, danios, minnows, sharks) racing around in the upper half portion of your tank. These will be thankful to you if you provided them with moss, for both love swift currents and come from nearly the same environments; yes I am referring to Asia. Without intermingling with the mosses they continue to race around thus imparting that feel of expansiveness to your aquarium.

Should you need something larger for the sake of aesthetics you could try one of the not so often noticeable shrimp, like Amanos or “wild-form” neocaridina denticulata. Amanos are nice because they are big, clear, and even if you have Java only you don’t have to worry about their insatiable nibbling.

General tips:
Explore the possibility of getting Mini Pellia (ricardia sp) that gives you a good option of trying a few combinations with moss. Its smaller size and not so bright green color makes mini pellia a nice combination worth attempting with the bigger taxiphyllum/vesicularia (example: Java/Singapore) species to make dark and vivid combinations.

Position the plants separate in a large enough area. Places where you grow the smaller, not so bright ricardias would appear  “darker,” whereas the places with the larger mosses impart brightness around them.

White sand contrasts really well with moss, and can award the tank a neat look. It would look all the more eye catching with moving water. Moss is quite a flexible medium and encourages you to keep experimenting.

David
AquaticMagic ~ Grow Happiness

Once your tank is assembled and the contents of your aquarium are going strong and healthy, your natural tendency is to make it attractive to catch anybody’s eyes. A proper combination of colors and moving objects would draw viewers’ attention. Of course you have to maintain a balance of all the items and colors lest it gives an uneven and patchy look. Aquatic moss is a very convenient and affordable item for being incorporated in your menu of items that you may choose to enhance the looks of your aquarium.

It is a very natural phenomenon for the eye to catch movements. But a small tank with a heterogeneously large variety of living beings will distract the eyes as they get drawn to contrasts.

On the other hand choosing a species of fish that interacts and goes around the moss will make an eye-catching view. Fish like Apistograma jells well with moss to give that feel of a real tropical forest.

Small sized fish too can be very prompting for the viewer, for it almost compels the viewer to get drawn to it to observe its smaller details like those small spots or thin colored and curved lines along its body. But to get that attention, it has to be colorful.

You can well imagine how effective or shall we say, defective a brown rams horn snail can be! Small size and bright color makes a perfect combo to attract viewers. Crystal Red Shrimp or other shrimp with stripes or an assortment of spots makes an ideal choice. As they relate very well with the moss, their proximity to it gives you an opportunity to show case your moss too, though primarily one gets drawn to them due to colorful stripes.

Let me remind you once again to desist from overcrowding your tank with a diversified variety. This is not only unhealthy for fish but also prompting for the viewer to mark the differences.

Shrimp also associate well with moss as most of the caridina species prefer cooler temperatures, and slight movement of water. Their continuous picking at moss is helpful as it prevents debris from remaining stuck on it, and also helps thwart algae. But be warned that the larger shrimp like Amanos, may tear apart the more delicate foliage of some of the newer varieties of moss species like Christmas Moss or Fissidens.

If you find this article interesting, read on for more…

David

AquaticMagic ~ Grow Happiness

It was in the late nineteenth century that fish were first kept at home. Originally they were kept for a short span of time and used for consumption. You would normally find home aquariums in towns along the coast where the fish were easily available. Today, nobody would even think of lowering a net into the tank to cook and serve the pet on the dinner table. Home aquariums are meant to entertain and enjoy. They add color and life to any home. They have a soothing effect on the observers. For this reason they are displayed in physician’s offices and at shopping centers where the kids are kept busy while their parents shop.

Let’s examine the benefits of keeping fish rather than bigger animals as pets.

1. They don’t require much care as compared to other pets like dogs, cats or birds. If you are going away on holiday it is okay for you to leave the fish on its own for even a week or more. You just have to get a kind neighbor to feed them maybe a couple of times.

2. They are low maintenance. Although a home aquarium does need recurring cleaning and other maintenance, it is slight as compared to the larger pets.

3. They become a terrific learning tool for growing children. If the kids are involved in caring for the aquarium they learn to be responsible. You can teach them to feed the fish and clean out the tank. It also helps toddlers develop their language skills as they make conversation with the fish. You can name each fish and educate your kids the fun way by asking them to tell the color of the fish or count them. A fish floating at the top is something nobody would want, but since death is unavoidable this is a simple way to help your children understand it and learn to cope.

4. In today’s world with an endless number of cable channels and video games. An aquarium would add a rejuvenating source of fun to the home. So the next time you gather for dinner, turn their attention from the tv to the aquarium and talk about it. This will lead to a lifetime interest in fish keeping as a hobby.

Why wait? Get your home a planted tank with fish now!

David

Elimination of encrusting algae can be accomplished by simply scouring the aquarium sides or cleansing the rocks occasionally. If you have plastic plants and a gravel bed which is entirely white, it will require more effort as you would need to bleach the gravel to eliminate the algae altogether. But if you use bleach which is very poisonous, you must meticulously wash out the gravel thereafter or else even tiny traces could have an adverse effect on the fish in the aquarium.

Extra light is the main reason for green algae. The first few things you should do to eliminate the algae is to reduce the light, change water fractionally and replace the artificial plants with live aquarium plants. Thereafter, an algae killing formula should make sure that the crisis has been eliminated, not to reappear for awhile. Only make sure you don’t overuse it!

What is even more important is to first eliminate the causes that brought about the algae in the first place. Using live aquatic plants is one of the most successful methods of keeping the algae away. Abundant growth of the aquarium plants will filter out the extra light thus keeping the algae under control. Besides, aquatic plants absorb a lot of nutrients from the water therefore leaving extremely little for the algae to feast on. You will be surprised to learn that the ideal plants to space ratio is about 50 to a square foot.

Green algae is supposed to be tasty and an excellent way of eliminating it is to introduce some algae eating fish like the Suckermouth Catfish, Siamese Algae Eater, Peckoltia, Ancistrus or Otocinlus. Is your aquarium lit continuously? Too much light can promote the growth of algae. By making sure your aquarium is lit for at most ten hours in a day, and removing whatever green algae you can get your hands on, you can restrict the growth of algae quite effectively.

You can control the growth of algae by changing the water time and again. In so doing, you will maintain the nutrient levels in the aquarium, which are vital in restricting the growth of algae. You must introduce suitable live aquatic plants that absorb high levels of the same nutrients needed by algae. This will result in the algae getting starved thereby reducing its chances of survival.

The suggestions mentioned here have to be carried out faithfully if you want to have an algae-free aquarium on a continuous basis.

Read on more tips on anti-algae solutions!

David
AquaticMagic ~ Grow Happiness

The salt-water fish tank represents a unique complex of conditions that accurately imitates the sea as a natural environment with its set of complicated biochemical interactions. It demands regular maintenance and control of the water quality – at least once per week.

The salt-water fish tank is possible to maintain although it requires much more of a time commitment than a freshwater aquarium. Its inhabitants require more attention to maintain them in a healthy condition. The main difficulty is the necessity of keeping the water in appropriate condition without any drastic changes all at once as the fish cannot tolerate that. For example, replace a third or at most a half of the water at one time. Lesser volumes per change are best.

Never change all of the water to clean water at one time. This will cause the fish great distress. They will either die or live on in an unhealthy state for six months, and then die. The inexperienced aquarist will not necessarily connect the two events, his changing the water drastically (too much at a time) rather than gradually to maintain the appropriate water conditions and the death of the fish. The maintenance of the oxygen in the water of the salt-water fish tank should also be closely monitored. The regular filtration and water regeneration are obligatory.

Perhaps the beginning aquarist should first have a freshwater tank to gain experience. It would be very disappointing to deal with the pet fish dying quickly especially if it is known they have suffered rather than finished their average life span and then died.

What a pleasure it is to come home to the enjoyment of watching your fish swimming happily around in the environment you created for them. This however, is not an inexpensive undertaking. It requires an original investment in an aquarium, pump, lighting system and heater. Careful evaluation of purchasing the fish and plants that can both flourish in the same underwater environment requires study and careful thought.

If you do acquire an aquarium for the first time the volume of water should be at least ten gallons and preferably twenty gallons. Its structure (the saltwater aquarium) requires installation, illumination and heating just as the freshwater tank does. At least give careful thought to beginning with a freshwater tank of about twenty gallons for an optimal first experience at keeping fish.

Give it a thought. If this is really what you wish to have, and what you are ready for, go and get it started, and enjoy the great sense satisfaction when the salt water tank is ready for display in your living room!

David
AquaticMagic ~ Grow Happiness

A fascinating, planted aquarium can help create a focal point in your living room, it can transform a corner of your office into a liquid Zen garden to help relieve stress and it can create a more relaxing, pleasant atmosphere to help you relax.

We have been working out a starter kit (as shown in the demo tank above), which is ideal for beginners in planted tank, or those hobbyists in aquarium but wish to make use of the aquarium plants for the landscape design, instead of using artificial ornaments in the tank.

The planted tank starter kits will be designed for a 2-feet aquarium (54 liters or 15 Gallons), comes with Java fern (mid-ground), Cryptocoryne Balansae (background), Xmas moss (foreground) and CO2 tablets (no clumsy CO2 systems/regulators, extremely easy for beginners to maintain the tank).

On top of that, the starter kit will be offered together with a 10-step easy to follow start-up guide, as well as bundled price for the hardy plants specially designed for beginners. It is really different from the starter kits offered from other pet store or huge online store, where the sellers might not have a in-depth knowledge of what is really suitable for beginners.

We will update you once the starter kit is available at our aquarium plant store.

David
AquaticMagic ~ Grow Happiness

It is not difficult to deduce why most aquariums have aquatic plants. Having aquarium plants in your aquarium not only adds to its aesthetic beauty but also creates an environment closer to the natural habitat of your pet fish. A lot of species of fish feel secure and comfy when there are plants to hide around and there are some that will just not thrive in the absence of plants. Some species of fish live around rocks and feel safe among rocky and cave-like structures. If you find that the fish are damaging your plants by feasting on them or uprooting them, try using rocks and some bits of wood. Or perhaps you could select floating aquarium plants that don’t need to go into the substrate or plant hardy aquarium plants that grow pretty fast and are none the worse after being nibbled at.

Aquatic plants maintain the quality of water in the tank besides beautifying it and providing shelter to your fish. Just as plants and fish exist together in the wild waters and maintain the ecosystem so also they bring the same benefits while living together in an aquarium. The waste matter let out by the fish serves as a manure to the plants. Thus, instead of floating around in the tank and causing harm to your fish, it will be put to good use if you have live aquarium plants in your tank. However, you must make sure that you trim the plants on a regular basis and remove the dead or rotting parts so that the water does not get polluted. The live aquarium plants use carbon dioxide thus maintaining a healthy level in the tank and produce oxygen which is crucial for the fish. The plants are also home to a variety of micro organisms which help maintain the water content. Having live aquarium plants leaves very few nutrients for the growth of algae.

Several species of fish will just not reproduce in an aquarium having no plants. A few species need the plants just to hide around them and feel safe. Others require leaves to fasten their eggs to. If you are bringing up the baby fish in the same tank as the adult fish, the survival rate of the young ones is found to be much higher if the aquarium is dense with plants, creating a great hiding place for them. Plants with plenty of tiny leaves should work well. Fry that has newly hatched can also use little caves, stones or any artificial decoration as a safe hiding place.

For the process of photosynthesis, plants require light. If your aquarium has only fish, you don’t need much light. But if you decide to plant your aquarium densely, you will need to enhance the lighting. Fluorescent lights work better than the normal incandescent ones. However, although they are comparatively a bit more expensive, they do not give out as much heat and save electricity. Some plants require even stronger light, but to begin with let us stick to rugged aquatic plants like Java Moss and Java Fern. These live aquarium plants can endure a varied series of pH values and water hardness.

Instead of planting Java Fern in the substrate, it is better to fasten it to a bit of rock or wood where it will start giving out roots. Java Moss and Java Fern both multiply easily. Soon you will find that little plants have appeared on the old ones. Just break them off and attach them to some support and watch them grow all over again.

Read on more about setting up a simple nano tank to fit into a small corner of your home, or even in the tidy office space.

David
AquaticMagic ~ Grow Happiness

This is posted by the creative guys from Curiousphotos.blogspot.com. Nice for them to share, great for us to see.

If you happen to set up one of such aquarium tank in your home, please do not flush too often - leave some for the fish!

David
AquaticMagic ~ Grow Happiness

There are practices that can be followed by all who keep fish as a hobby. It doesn’t sound like a difficult program to follow. It will benefit your fish and the planet for future generations such as your kids and grandkids by keeping the planet as green as possible. If we all do our part, it will be for the benefit of the Earth.

Live plants will aerate and clean the aquarium water. Planting several varieties will assure you of providing the fish with the cleanest possible environment. Believe it or not, fish are subject to stress. Since they can’t take tranquilizers you keep them happy by giving them plants to hide among and nibble upon.

It places a strain on the fish if you change more than twenty per cent of the water at a time.

This will protect them from shock. Changing more at a time can cause an imbalance in the healthy bacteria required in the water. Clean the gravel and try to siphon the water to be changed from the bottom of the tank.

The water you siphon can be used to water your regular plants around the home. With its natural fertilizer created by the waste your fish produce, it is good for land plants too. For fun try watering one part of your lawn with this water regularly. It will stand out in its improved look, thereby proving the benefits to your house plants. Using it on the house plants should be done on a monthly basis. More would be detrimental to them.

If you want to give your pet fish a natural treat go catch a few mosquitoes. They’ll become active right in front of your eyes as they chase them to eat them. The more your approach to setting up your aquarium and maintaining it replicates nature and the environment your fish would experience in the wild, the happier each little wet pet will be…
Let’s go green. Reduce our carbon footprint even when you are building your aquarium!

David