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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V4 #882
Hey y'all,
This isn't really about aquatic plants but i thought you might appreciate it
:)
A couple weks ago I set up a micro-planted tank experment. I used a gallon
tall vase, cantaing some Hygrophila, java moss, salvinia plus one Betta. The
Betta was duly named Ee-jit, in recognition of his Eastern origins.
After a while I thought to test his pH, and was shocked to discover it was
8.3! not ideal for a soft acid water loving fish. So, I shifted him rapidly
into my 20g tetra tank. This was Saturday evening.
Sunday morning I checked to se how he was getting on, expecting to see a
miuch happier fish. I saw no fish at all. He had disappeared! After spending
a couple of friutless hours searching among all the pants, shining torches
into the plumbing, even looking around the tank to see if he'd jumped out, I
was forced to conclude that he'd jumped out in the night, probably due to a
too-rapid change in pH. Then when I opened the fishroom door in the morning
one of my cats had nipped in sharpish and devoured him.
Oh well, I thought, you win some you lose some. Bummer, etc...
Today I topped up the 20g with more water, pouring it into the tank and
letting it flow throught the plumbing into the sump. This causes a
Niagara-like effect at the trickle tower. I inspected the filter as it was
thus purged when I noticed a flash of blue in one corner of the tower. I
looked closer and, sure enough, Ee-jit was wedged securely in among the lava
rocks with only the end of his tail showing! After dismantling my
newly-sealed up filter to get at him, To my surprise he was alive and
wriggling, hainvg survived 2 days almost completely out of water and with no
food at all.
So, he'd squeezed his big 'ead though a 1/8" gap to get into the overflow
box, then he'd wriggled into the 1/2" pipework, down and up through a longish
section of enclosed pipe wth several 90 degree bends in it, down through the
drip plate, and right down among the lava rocks to the bottom of the trickle
tower....and then stayed there for 2 days out of water!
so...if you have bettas in a tank with an overflow box....make sure they
don't fit in it!
(He's in my 15g communty tank now. I hope the big gouramis leave him alone!)
Regards,
Matt.
PS Has anyone ever heard of the glass of a tank affecting pH...I scrubbed out
his former home, replaced the substrate....and already the pH is climbing
even though all it has in it are two snails and the plants....