Alexyay's tanks 02/02/14

[alexyay]

Just thought I'd post my tanks here, partially logging for myself and also for some advice.

My first ever tank was a 70L, which I unintentionally cycled (I had it running for months before I added any fish), but it was pretty crap. I knew nothing about hardscaping so, well, it was pretty plain. Currently dosing with flourish excel and flourish. 20W bulb.

Home to

- 6 black neon tetras

- 3 bristlenoses

- 1 siamese fighter

This was when I first set it up (none of those plants survived, I had no idea what I was doing)

This is it now - it's super messy, some of the plants I'm just holding until I get a different setup, most of them I'm just too attached to (?) to let go lol. Since that photo I've added riccia moss to the driftwood, but I can't photograph it because I've got two bits of java fern in the way, which I'm holding for a week for Dad. I got a bunch of free plants from when I got the 31L, including the polysperma (both types), sword (which I've split into two since that photo) and the anubias (which I can't seem to get to take off?) The dwarf babytears are a mess too.

If anyone's got any suggestions, feel free to post them. Also, if anyone in Tauranga wants some free ambulia stems (they're pretty ragged, the lighting's not high enough), feel free to PM me. I'd recommend washing them first though, as it's home to a bunch of ramshorn snails too.

Tank 2 - 31L

Not really sure where I'm going here, if anyone's got any suggestions PLEASE post them! I'm considering replacing the driftwood for a rock, but still not sure if that'll do the job. Dosing with flourish excel and flourish, 2x 39W T5-HO bulbs.

To be a home to 3 dwarf puffers

(Ammonia at 0, nitrites at about 1-2, nitrates at about 10)

When I first set it up -

(Please excuse the shoddy picture)

I want to look into different plants, I'm going back to HFF this weekend to see what they have. I guess I wanted to create some depth, but I'm not really sure how to do that in such a small tank. I'm using moss rocks and I worry that because DPFs are messy eaters they'll get food building up in the holes? I'm a fan of dutch-style tanks, but I don't have the money to get into them. I plan on mossing up that back wall, and having a bushy look around the back, with hairgrass at the front leading up to it? I would do a simple style one but I want lots of hiding places for the DPFs.

Tank 3 - 90L hardscape (inspired a lot by SamH's coldwater tank, I promise I didn't mean to get the same gravel! But used the stone and water world for the moss rocks, thanks!)

The hardscape is leading towards simple, but I want to have some bushy plants in there too for fish to hide in. Once it's set up (might be quite some time away) I plan on moving the 70L fish into it, and eventually upgrading the 70L. Then perhaps adding some more plecos and tetras.

Do you guys reckon I should remove that rock towards the left or leave it?

Tank to the left, obviously I need some more gravel too -

[Li@m]

Nice Scape.

IMO turn the big rock on the right a full 180 deg around. Or lay it down more towards the back of the tank.

[SamH]

Very strong hardscape in tank 3, I like it of course Is there any way you could up the hardscape in tank 2 to the same level but in a different style? What are your stocking plans plant and fish wise for these two tanks? As for depth, you need to be thinking about size and placement, putting larger things closer to the front and smaller, finer objects towards the back creates an increased sense of persepective.

[alexyay]

Thank you

3 dwarf puffer fish for the 31L, and moving the fish from the first tank to the third tank + some more tetras and plecos (maybe). Yeah, I think I'll go for rocks in the 31L, I'll have to go get some more this weekend, as long as they're not too sharp for the DPFs that is. I'd like to keep that small bit of driftwood but if it doesn't work I guess it'll have to go

[alexyay]

Perhaps because dwarf puffers are scaleless, I should fine some "twig" like driftwood? And grow plants off that - which'll offer them a lot of space to hide and will make it look "bushy"? I just have no idea where to find the driftwood... (I'm in Auckland this weekend if anyone knows of anywhere to get some)

[reptilez]

wow, those tanks are really nice

[alexyay]

Really? Thank you :happy2:

I've decided for the 31L I'm going for a more jungle look (sorry for switching back and forth between styles all the time) - I'd like darker leaved plants but I assume that usually means they're low-light plants. I'd like to make full use of the HO lighting, but if anyone has any suggestions that'd be great.

Driftwood - do places even sell "twig" like driftwood, if not where do you recommend finding some?

Can Anubias and Java Fern thrive under high light?

As for inspiration, I like these three tanks - [ur=http://farm8.static.flickr.com/7114/7663731222_099888629a_m.jpg]1, 2, 3

Would christmass moss take over riccia moss?

My riccia moss is yellowing a bit... as is my dwarf hairgrass (both are OK in my 70L), I'm dosing Flourish + Flourish excel (ODing a bit on the excel for the DHG) based on the instructions and I also have a root tab in there (one of the round JBL tabs? I was recommended that one would be a good amount), should I dose extra Flourish until I have fish to help with ferts? Also, any tips on speeding up the growth for these? Unfortunately my lighting is a bit off because the timer broke (but it's generally around 6-8 hours a day).

Thank you for all your help so far by the way

[alexyay]

31L has a few more plants, is starting to look a bit busier. I have some albino X-ray tetras in there (temporarily) to keep the biological filter running. I think I'm going to have to get some christmas moss for the back wall, the riccia isn't really doing the job (either that or it's growing slower than I want)

And some tetra pics -

Couple of driftwood questions-

Am I right to assume that if a piece still has a *slight* amount of wood-y smell it's probably not safe to use?

Piece in question (I would like to use it if it is safe)

I have another piece that I like - I've scraped off any bark, but it still has the occasional soft bit that I can't get to - is that safe? It's a hard wood otherwise (the two pieces to the right).

Any thoughts on whether the one to the above left and below are safe? They're both hard, been boiled, but I'm just paranoid about the wood types -

(I have a couple of other pieces that I'm boiling too but I'm pretty sure they're both safe)

[alexyay]

I really like that slightly fragrant piece so can someone tell me if it's safe or not?

[SamH]

It will go mouldy/rot/look gross before it harms fish giving you plenty of time to take it out. The only way to really know is to try it out.

[alexyay]

Awesome, thanks! Boiled it about six times now, so I can hopefully put it in the tank today

[alexyay]

Gonna post pics tomorrow - have had the 90L set up for a week now, and now have to HOB filters running on it (the aqua clear just didn't seem to be enough, and I'm hoping to stock it heavily-ish).

MANY questions -

I have some dragons tongue lying around in the tank. Because it's not a true aquatic (although it's got a couple of roots), what the hell should I do with it?

90L - Only one filter's been going for a week, the other was set up today. Is it big enough that I can slowly transfer my golden x-ray tetras to it without any major ammonia spikes? I'm at home daily to do water changes if need-be.

My stocking plans are -

Kuhli loaches (a. is the tank big enough, b. should they be ok on the rough rocks)

Rainbow fish of some sort? I'd be interested in a few different kinds of mid-top dwellers. My tetras may go in there or they'll go into my 70L, but I'd really like to go for some colour. (Not a gourami fan, btw)

I've scored myself some small tanks - 2x 18L and 2x 14L. One 18L will be set up as a backup/QT tank, the other with a betta.

14L - is there any kind of "nano" fish that would do OK? Otherwise I'll set one up as backup and leave the other one/keep it for snails. I think bumblebee gobies might need more space, are there any kind of killifish that could be in there as a permanent setup?

The 2nd 18L is in case my DPF layout goes pear shaped, so I want to leave that free, so it's just stocking the 2 14L tanks.

:nilly: I can grow high tech plants just fine, but my java fern isn't growing (not dying, but not thriving), my anubias is surviving and my christmass & riccia moss won't take off. I just really want my moss

[alexyay]

Here's a list of fish that I'm interested in (for the 90L) - still not sure whether the pristella tetras are going into that tank or not.

- Kuhli loaches (preferable)

- Golden Pencilfish

- Scarlet Badis

- Veiltail Blue Ram

- Licorice Gourami

- Glowlight Danios

- Kribensis

Kuhlis being my bottom dwellers, I want 2-4 top colourful/interesting dweller species. Tank is running two HOB filters - an Aquaclear 150 and a Second Nature whisper power filter (2?) which is missing a filter piece if anyone has any lying around

Pictures!

90L

31L (looks better in real life, sword is looking unhappy for some reason)

I accidentally dug up some gravel which is why it's so dusty, needs a couple more water changes to get back to normal. Anubias came with some kind of algae on it which I can't seem to remove.

I finally got my new macro lens, sorry you'll have to put up with test photos from it.

Bladder snail that seemed to hitch a ride on one of my plants

One of the very shy black neon tetras, whom I can hardly get photos of.

Kaiden

And Kaiden's "tumour" (just for future reference)

Edit: Oh, and have decided to make one 14L for brine shrimp, maybe? So then I just have one 14L and one 18L to stock.

[alexyay]

How does this sound -

90L

2x veiltail blue ram (pair)

3x honey gouramis (2 female, one male)

5-7x threadfin rainbow fish

5x kuhli loaches

3-5x otos

I've read AqAdvisor is pretty accurate, I'll do 2x 15% water changes each week. Temp at 27 degrees.

14L -

3x Aphyosemion striatum

or

A Nothobranchius species (suggestions welcome)

Do we get Aphyosemion australe and would those be compatible?

18L -

1x Siamese fighter

18L - backup

14L - ???

[alexyay]

Tank update :happy2: Not much of a change in plants, still working on that.

90L stocking plans are staying the same, but I now have a L129 pleco in there and am thinking of adding some apistogrammas, maybe. Probably not, just a thought right now.

So I currently have the golden pristellas split into two groups until I get my dwarf puffers - 4 in the 70L and 3 in the 31L. I never want to try to catch tetras again (in a tank full of caves that they can hide in, and places where they can avoid the nets :an!gry )

31L - sorry for the shoddy lighting. I was going to get rid of the mesh but the christmass moss has finally popped out and is starting to grow.

3x golden pristella tetras (temporary)

90L - sorry for the shoddy picture and random plants everywhere. Currently trying to convert water wisteria, also have some floating ludwiga that thrived for a week and then just about all rotted away which is a shame because it's super pretty.

5x Kuhli loaches

1x L129 Pleco

3x Honey gouramis

If someone feels like sexing the honeys for me, feel free to!

2 smaller ones -

the slightly larger one -

70L -

6 x Black neon tetras

4x Golden Pristella tetras

3x Bristlenoses

1x Betta

Now for a bit of picture spam

Bad photo of the pleco -

[Adrienne]

Honeys are females

[alexyay]

Honeys are females

Thought they were probably all females, was just testing my luck! Am interested in swapping the larger one for a male if anyone's interested

[Sophia]

nice photos, I hope you enter some in photo of the month sometime

[alexyay]

nice photos, I hope you enter some in photo of the month sometime

Thank you :happy1: I do intend to, I just keep forgetting. FNZAS are welcome to use any if they want though (just contact me for a higher res version).

[alexyay]

Small update - I intend to take some more pics tomorrow morning.

I had to euth Kaiden (the Betta fish), as he was no longer able to swim or coordinate himself properly. He ended up spending his last day lying down on his side in a breeder net and I wasn't sure how much longer he'd have to live like that so euth seemed the best option

This is what it ended up looking like -

I also lost two BN siblings, and I'm still not sure why. The only thought is that they starved themselves, as they wouldn't eat any kind of wafers and would only eat courgette - I was trying to switch them back to the Aqua One wafers which I knew they used to eat. The third one (unrelated to the first two) is still looking healthy and fine. Water parameters were fine.

So the 70L now has

7x Pristella tetras

6x Black neon tetras

1x BN

(After adding the pristellas the black neons have really come out of their shell! They were always incredibly shy - wouldn't even eat in front of me - now they're schooling happily with the pristellas)

I bought 3 otos for the 90L, but lost one in the process. I also have one threadfin rainbowfish (the only one that was in stock) - I plan on slowly making a school of 7 out of them. If HFF have any in stock next weekend I'll buy a couple more for him.

Uh, the honey gouramis that we sexed as females suddenly decided they weren't. I now have one female, two males. I've given one male to Dad, as he was bothing the other male. I'll mention the honeys later on in the thread as I've got loads of questions about them.

So 90L stocking -

2x Honey Gouramis

1x Threadfin Rainbowfish

5(?)x Kuhli loaches - I've only ever seen three out at a time so I'm thinking of getting two more just in case I lost a couple. Haven't seen any dead bodies though :dunno:

1x L129 - I don't see him much but I know where his hidey hole is so check up on him occasionally.

2x otos (need 1-3 more)

Uh, the dwarf puffers. I haven't had much luck there.

I first got one from my LFS, which I shouldn't have gotten but I had been setting up their tank for so many months I was running impatient. It wasn't healthy in the store, and was lethargic from day one. I couldn't get it eating.

I had them hold two for me and went to pick them up - one passed away in the shop, and because of the issues they gave the second to me for free. Unfortunately he wasn't very healthy either (I wouldn't have bought him) and passed away pretty quick.

Went to HFF to get three of them and they're looking super healthy and happy (only had them for 5 days though) - dosed with a dewormer just in case the others had something, and I just did a 90-100% WC today. They picked away at the large snail population instantly - they don't seem to be interested in bloodworms though? Caught one eating white worms (he is the skinny one of the lot too which is good), but haven't seen any eat the blood worms so I'm a bit concerned about that.

Pics -

And from Dad's tank -

Kevin is near impossible to photograph.

I'm gonna stick the honey gourami questions in a second post.

[alexyay]

So, I now have one female and one male honey gourami in the 90L. And since removing the other male, this guy's pretty happy.

I intend on getting better photos tomorrow morning - he's a gorgeous red colour at the moment

My original plan was to remove they honeys and get 2 blue rams and 1 apisto, but at the moment I'm thinking of breeding the honeys. So I've got a few questions -

- He's been bubblenesting for a week. She doesn't seem to care at all - she even destroys the bubbles when he's not looking (which isn't often, he's super protective of it) - is she going to spawn with him? Or do I need to find myself another female?

- IF she can breed with him, are honeys tolerant of line breeding? It would only be for this generation - this would be my first spawning, so it is mostly for the experience at the moment

- What are my options for food? Are there alternatives to live food? I don't really have the money or the patience to set up a brine shrimp hatchery at the moment, I currently only have white worms. Is there something I can buy from the store to feed fry? I can set up one of my tanks outside to make green water for them though.

- Is the gold or red dominant? I'd be happy to buy a gold honey (what my LFS has in stock at the moment), but not if I'm going to end up with gold fry - I'd love to get the red colours out.

These are my current thoughts?

Once she spawns (if she spawns), remove her and put her in the 70L. Once the fry hatch, put them in the 18L with a sponge filter and heater? I figure they will either get eaten or sucked into the filter intake, so I presume removing them is the best option?

Is it necessary for the 18L to be barebottom? It's got gravel in it at the moment, I'll just need to get rid of that first lol. Technically I don't really have anywhere to set up the 18L, but I'll find somewhere.

Super cruddy pic -

[calculator]

Noce tanks, and nice photo's.

If you are looking for plans for one of your small tanks grow ramshorn snails in it for your puffers?

Is the sword you have an osiris sword? if so does it have enough light? (Same with your moss)

[alexyay]

The other two tanks have plenty of snails, so they're my snail growing tanks.

I think so - and I have 2x 32(?)W T5HO tubes so I'd hope that's enough - it is melting a little but still growing, so surviving but not thriving. The moss is pretty good, though.

[alexyay]

More pictures :dnc1:

Pond (?) snail eggs - haven't had them eating plants too much, pretty much do cleanup crew and become DPF food.

My kuhlis have different patterns - one has only stripes, the other has spots - is that normal variation within the species? Or could they be different types? I saw four today, which is one more than I thought I had! (I got five, but only ever saw three out at one time)

Spotty

Stripey

The honeys compared to each other - note the male looked exactly like the female a few weeks ago! He's looking gorgeous now!

I was having issues with the DPFs not eating anything other than snails, but two of them ate white worms today (one ate so many I thought he was going to explode) - not sure exactly what to do with the last one, I've seen him picking at snails but hopefully anything like parasites have been killed off with the dewormed.

Skinny guy was the only one I got photos of - one other is a bit skinny but ate today, the other looks pretty healthy -

[calculator]

Looking good. Your puffers are quite a bit skinny though.