tank full of hyacynth

somebodies peekin.

I like that idea. Might try it do they very jump out?

well, light, flow, nitrates, and open space are all stress causing.

choking the entire surface up with a labrynth of hyacynth provides shade (enabling light to be on promoting photosynthesis, promoting cleaning and carbon removal) and the roots diffuse flow (which i had little of anyway)

the axolotls took to it well, they spend half their respective time exploring in the roots and between plants.

the plants are connected by running stems, the axies seem to like sitting on these. even exposing themselves to direct light, it doesn't seem to stress them if there is shade and refuge immediately available. So all in all it seems to promote healthy activity and makes them more fun to watch.

also the plants are teeming with midge larvae, and the axies have been hunting them, they are tiny and hardly a snack, but they are activity,

im going to introduce some milfoil, damselfly larvae and freshwater shrimp from local lakes.

the milfoil brings planara to consume food waste, the damselflies consume fly larvae and become good food for axies, and the shrimp are the primary food supply for our local populations of neotenic tiger sals... figure they would be good for axies too.

Have a read of this thread for more discussion on water hyacinth:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=38852

Something to keep in mind.

Ed said:

water hyacinths are very heavy feeders and pull a lot of nutrients out of the water. They are typically difficult to maintain in tanks due to the need for a large amount of light and lots of nutrients in the water. Without these the hyacinths will eventually decline and decompose. Once they begin to break down they can shed a lot of the nutrients back into the tank resulting in massive algae growth and/or poor water quality as these plants compete with the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite to nitrate for ammonia potentially reducing the levels of the bacteria to the point where they are no longer able to keep up with the bioload.

Ed

Click to expand...

Is the frog food for the Axie?

heres the tank on an angle, the last two pics have a juvenile axie in them,
hey kids, can you spot him?

I had been about to ask if this was an out door pond, but now I've read the thread I see its not. I Love the idea of a more 'natural sety up' , but does this affect the water chemistry at all?( the good old nitrite/nitrate/ ammonia). In the distant future I was thinking of something similar with an out door contained pond i.e a cat free zone)

declining material would be summarily culled.
i have a 1000W setup for my cacti and buckets of hydroponic media (never had a use for it)
i COULD rejuvenate the plants in a bucket with hydroponic fertilizer under the 1000W bulb if needed

ohyeah, no the frog is not food, rather she is cleanup crew for the midge larvae that escape the axies to adulthood. theres two pacific treefrogs in the foliage, they came in on plants from another region.
cant rightly release them into this region now, although native.

figured the big habitat dichotomy would serve a barrier against stressful mixing scenarios.

worst case scenario, axies get really big, eat frogs. No big deal. tho, I doubt it. SURE they CAN, and WOULD, but theres lots of above water habitat. Ive had the same setup once with a very large axie and some spring peepers. they never interacted or even inhabited the same media.

I have another tank for them, but theres alot more space in the axie tank above the floating plants.

I would love to see some more photo's of your set up. What does it look like from the side?

not nearly as nice as the tank i had before i moved.
ill get some more pics from my current setup later

Water hyacinth is illegal in some places due to the problems it can cause if it gets loose. Elodea is even illegal where I live...so I "solved" the issue of needing something to take some of the nutrients out of the tank, and give my siren some cover (and keep her in her tank) by doing this.

I purchased 1/2 inch square plastic covered metal mesh. Made a form fitting top for the tank, Poked potos (some call them philodendrum) cuttings through. My tank is in front of a eastern window with large tree cover...so rather dim light, but the plant grows like gangbusters and the siren loves haunting the roots.

Every year or so I have to seriously cut back the plant because it's growth is so lush. Once, when stretched out it was over 45 feet long!

I have had great success with this, and the roots don't harm the critters if they nibble them. The siren sometimes does and the goldfish made an effort to keep them pruned.

Since I started this system, over a decade ago, I've encountered in in some large Amazon exhibits at a few zoos as well.

So, if you don't have the light intensity for other plants, or they are unavailable or illegal where you live...you might want to try this. Potos can be picked up at most home store garden centers, florists, or even grocery store plant sections for the cost of a burger.

Linette

Wow! Great set-up Mitch!

a few more pics

algae

Hi mitch, do you have any problems with algae, plus would it be safe to put an algae block in the water............I love your setup

no problem with algae. don't know why, maybe im just lucky.

I wouldn't put a chemical block in tho, algae can be managed by light cycling. with axolotls preferring darker haunts anyway, keeping light low seems the best way,

if you want to have alot of cover plants, youll need light to keep them going, rule of thumb from water gardening, keep >80% of the water covered with plants and algae should be managed.

less cover will support algae growth, more will prevent it. of course, some of it is luck.

algae eaters are handy, but i caution you on keeping otocinculus with axolotls, as they are small enough to swallow, but have catfish spines to lodge themselves in throats.

i keep whiteclouds in my tank, yummy.

Hi Mitch,Thanks for the reply, my axie is outside in the top tier of the new pond, she is very happy, will have to shade her more because of what you said about light and algae, she only wants to eat garden worms is this good enough, in the bottom section of the pond we keep BLACK MOLLIES,GUPPY'S SWORDFISH,GHOST,BALLOON,PLATTIES, BLUE EYE etc, maybe she might like some little fish as they are all live bearers and I have babies everywhere,also she does have a net over as I had two , one climbed out of the pond in the night and went walkabouts in the garden he didn't survive we found him some 20 feet away in a sorry mess.

Hi kassie Earthworms are a good food if your axie likes them feed them they are a cheap source of food.