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Week 16 Fast-forward just a little! Overview My wife and I just returned from a 5 week holiday; we left for Europe just when the tank was springing to life; every single female was berried and some where even starting to drop. I was a little unsure of what we would return to as the tank will not be maintained at all during this time. So we did the best we could and just glad-wrapped the top to reduce evaporation as much as possible. Lights were left on the timer and the shrimp were given a double feed of snowflake. During the last few days of our voyage, the anxiety of seeing what will be waiting for us got real bad! My dreams alternated between the worst and best case scenario... surely my wife could pick up on this but I played it cool and reassured her they'd be fine! You must always have patience and optimism :) So what was waiting for us at home... Hahahaha Ugly tuffs of BBA had spread it's self so generously across 50% of our driftwood. That's the only damage! Filter hoses were dirty and clogged but there was still flow... unsure of to what is getting in there as there is a sponge cover on the lily pipe inlet. More importantly, we could see the tank full of life. Not 1, but 2 generations of mischlings/taiwans crawling around in there (females must have dropped, re-berried and dropped a second time). The females were also all currently berried as well for the 3rd time! Fauna ∞ Juvie Mischlings, Taiwans (KK + RR and Panda variants) We have a few KK's that are completely black... even the tail which is usually white is not visible! 9 x Female Mischlings 1 x Female Panda 1 x Male KK (Single stripe) Hardscape Introduced more lava rock to not only fill out the scape, but also increase beneficial bacteria. Plants Mini Pellia Becoming very branchy and pulling away from the driftwood in some areas too. Will have to consider tying it down eventually. Crypt Parva (Tissue Culture) Settled in and is now looking very healthy! Will have to introduce more in the empty gaps. Buce Beautiful beautiful plant... We've been able to split most of the clumps into two now and replant them. Next? At this stage we are wondering if we have too many females? We are moving all the 0.5 - 1.0 cm mischlings to a breeder box and selling them; this means the main tank doesn't feel overcrowded. We are letting the Taiwans grow to a sexable size and thinking to move all the males on. Should we keep all the females and replace all the mischlings with them so we are left with Taiwans and TBM's? We also have a stunning Spotted Mosura coming :)

I hope more people feel free to add their thoughts here. I have very limited knowledge of the new varieties of TB .It was so much easier when we just had the KK, Panda and Bluebolt but it is so much more exciting now the new varieties are here and we can only expect more!

IT BEGINS Equipment Komoda 3ft (SkyClear Rimless) UP Aqua Pro Z LED Eheim 2217 Hydor ETH 200w Substrate and Flora CAL Black Earth (Capping for plants) Mr. Aqua Soil (Foundation for slope + buffering) ADA Decorative Sand (Mekong) Mini Fissidens Mini Pellia Nano Pellia Crypt Parva Needle/Narrow Leaf Java Fern Bucephalandra 'Brownie Ghost'