The Oto Journal

Parting shots from today (10/04):

Size comparison. Ever wonder how small a baby Oto actually is? Here's Boris. In the upper right is a one week old baby. In the lower right is one that just hatched this morning.


They learn quick that zucchini is yummy:

 

10/05: Performed 10% water change today. The trickle method from the HOB worked like a charm. Going to make a permanent setup like this. No fuss, no mess...no hands in the water.

Removed remnants of remaining zucchini. Two new pieces prepping now.

Activity level extremely high. Babies zipping all over the place. I think I have more than (10) week olds. I did manage to count (15) wigglers. These are visibile on the glass.

To aid in slowly getting the water back to where it needs to be, I added 1g treated tap water (well) and 1g spring water. I aerated the well water good prior to using.

Natasha started moving around so I'll be keeping a close eye on her. I'm praying this is a good sign as her activitiy level has been virtually nil.

Will be adding another Lobelia plant shortly.

Air stone turned on for 15 mins.

 

10/06: Still tons of activity in here. Little ones swimming all over the place. No way to get an accurate count. At one point, it looks like the substrate is alive with all the little ones working over one section.

Natasha still dormant. She is completely tucked in her shell now. Usually I find her peeking out. Still holding out hope.

Water test today:

Temp: 78
PH: ~ 7.4
NH3: ~ 0
NO3: ~ 20
NO2: ~ 0
GH: ~ 8
KH: ~ 5

 

10/09: Wow...what can I say about this tank. The babies are just going rampant. The last two hatchings have by far been the most successfull. Too many to count as they are constantly on the go. I think it safe to say that there are 20+ wee ones. They are working over everything they can find.

I had a missed photo op too. When I first went down to check on them, I found papa and (3) juvies on Boris! It was the funniest thing. Maybe I should look at beginning my own snail shell cleaning business?

Getting ready to head out for the night. Took lots of pictures so we'll see how many turn out.

 

10/10: After all them pics yesterday, only two turned out worth while.

Here's one that is around two weeks old now. This is the area of the tank where they working over.


This one is about a week old:


Water change on tap for today.

 

10/12: 10% water change today. Fed zucchini last night. They are swarming all over them today. Ravenous little guys and gals. Activity level still high. Always a good sign. Running the airstone for about 30 mins.

Here's some shots from today:

 

Went down to turn the air off and boy did I find a surprise. Here's a couple parting shots for the day:

Kids...remember to eat your veggies so you can grow up like mom and dad

 

10/13: May have done a bad. Yikes! Went down to do the water change and instead I decided I would work on the scape a little. Man! Did I stir up some crap! No...literally. It's snowing in the tank. Everything getting covered in a fine layer. Boy do I feel bad at the moment. Hope this has no ill effects on everyone. Will go back down and check in on them in about 30 mins and turn the light out.

On the brighter side, the babies are still working over the zucs even though they are covered in fallout.

Turned the airstone on for a spell. Not sure how long I will run it this evening. Hopefully keep a good circulation going in hopes the filter will pick up more.

CO2 started to get a little low so went ahead and recharged it. Still plenty of Jell-O left in the bottle so didn't have make a whole new bottle.

 

10/15: I just checked on them and low and behold....left the friggin airstone on all this time. Crud! I've got to do a better job than that. Did see quite a bit of activity still in there though. Can't believe how fast these little guys are growing! It's amazing.

On a sad note....I can officially pronouce Natasha. That's a real downer. Will have to get another one to keep Boris company.

Prepping two more zucs to throw in there.

 

Running the airstone isn't neccessarily a bad thing. However, when you are trying to control a constant state, the variables need to be within a margin of error. The airstone doesn't stay on more than an hour when I do use it.

The best way to tell if the snail is dead is by giving it a good wiff. When they die...they smell sumpin bad!

 

10/17: Tank maintenance today. Going to try something else. I made a small gravel vac (basically just a small water bottle and tubing). Going to use it and a gallon jug. My theory is that I should be able to clean up small areas of the SMS pulling out minimal water. Everything would be captured in the jug. Any SMS would then be rinsed and and placed back into the tank.

Made a modification to the retaining wall that the Suesswassertang will grow on. Think that will work out much better.

Going to add a few plantlets of Downoi from another tank. They aren't doing that well in that tank so this will be a recovery effort until that tank is back in gear. Hopefully they will do ok.

On the Oto front, all still doing very well. Babies still growing fast.

Maybe I should try to get a web cam up on there. It is something watching all the wee ones swim all over the place.

 

Gravel vac idear worked out rather well I must say. No little ones were harmed in the cleaning of one area. I did have to shoo a few away but other than that, really well. It had just the right amount of suction to leave the substrate alone and pick up the gunk. Two gallons later....pretty good. Hopefully the plants won't mind being uprooted from time to time, but I may just add this into the routine for awhile. Just until I get it back into shape.

 

10/19: Did another 10% wc w/ gravel vac. Worked very well again. Decided to try and start working on the new scape as well. Turned out to be more frustrating than anything. Definately not easy when you basically can work with only one hand. Managed to use both at times. Think I got the wall up. Gonna let it get a little less cloudy to analyze the situation.

Little ones completely snarfed the zucs. Getting a couple more slices ready to go.

 

Just checked on the tank. Cleared up nicely. Here's a shot what I am currently working on. Still need to do some straightening up in this corner before moving on:


Think it may work out pretty good once I get it right.

Just so you can get your fix...what would a photo journal be without pics. Here's some shots from today:








And I think this may be one of my favorite shots of all so far:

 

10/21: Ludwigia Ovalis came in today. Just placed it in the tank in no particular scape. Waiting on a couple more plants. Then I'll get the Ludwigia section completed.

Small issue with the CO2 bottle. Not seeming to get any output through the the diffuser. Swapped it out for another one.

Here's some pics from today. Tried focusing on something other than the zucchini for variety.

 

10/24: Ludwigia senegalensis came in. Got a few stems planted. Getting ready to arrange the Ludwigia area. Having issues with my CO2 setup (all of them actually). All my bottles stopped delivering gas into the tanks. Just really, really odd. Still doing more research on this. In the mean time, I put a cheap air stone on one of the bottles so we'll see.

Little ones continue to grow up fast. Zipping all over the tank. Noticed that mom and dad are hanging out again. Will be on the lookout for new arrivals.