My FIRST planted tank. Journal of a 20 Long

[fishman9809]

yeah, I want to like semi breed, so I want SOME fry, but not TOO many fry, I just wanna sell a little to my lfs. so I will have rummynoses. They might eat all fry, but if I do decide to breed, I could just move them to a crappy 5 gallon, right?

[Sponsors]

[goalcreas]

Yes, for Apisto's, the female will see the eggs to wigglers to free swimmers, then take them out and put them in a grow out tank.
For Rams, pull the rock with the eggs and hatch them in the grow out tank.

[fishscale]

Originally Posted by goalcreas

Where does this come from. I have had 3 pair with MORE THEN ENOUGH room in a 29 gallon and a trio of apisto's in there, and all of them spawning. Of course water changes are a must, but IMHO they are anyway.

You may have gotten lucky here, I have had some very territorial female GBR's. A trio in a 55, and one female killed the other.

[fishman9809]

yeah which would you go with? A pair of GBR or a trio of apistos?

[fishman9809]

I might have trouble updating tomorrow due to school, but I will try

[Left C]

I use this Penn-Plax Aqua Nursery with my Pn. You hook an airline up to it and the fry are fine. The mother hold the fry in her mouth and when she lets them out, they are drawn into the smaller container with an airline. It works somewhat like how an UGF flows water. It's a nice fry tank. You can easily use it if you breed Rams to hold the eggs.
http://www.bigalsonline.com/StoreCat...pe=0&o ffset=

[fishman9809]

wait, but if GBR's are substrate spawners (rocks), then couldn't you just put the rock with the eggs on it in another tank?

[Left C]

My rams liked to spawn on the leaves of an Amazon Sword.

I'm sure that you could pull the leaf off and put it in another tank with some of the same aquarium water.

I like using that little nursery because it is in the aquarium that they spawned in with the same water and temperature. It's only $8.49.

Then I put the fry when they're about three weeks old in a grow out tank with a heater and sponge filter plus some Java Moss.

It works well for me.

[jaidexl]

Originally Posted by lauraleellbp

Eco will raise and buffer your pH and kH, which you don't want in this tank

Eh??

From CaribSea - "The Caribsea Eco-Complete Planted Aquarium Substrate is Iron rich which eliminates the need for laterite and is also Nitrate and carbonate free which will not increase pH or carbonate hardness."

I think you're confusing the info that it has buffered blackwater solution (most likely buffered to counteract acidity) or that it has a neutral pH, but it won't increase pH or alkalinity. I have Eco in a tank that will still lose a degree of KH in between spaced out water changes.

[dekstr]

Looks good fishman!

That is a nice 20 gallon, from the picture it has nice silicon seams.

I can't wait to see when it's set-up. You spent a lot of time planning so it will be no doubt turn out very well.

EC is a good planted substrate. Its buffering capacity is not that important. Good selling point but doesn't actually do much. I mean.. woah raised my buffering capacity by a few degrees, but the plants use the calcium carbonate anyway. !

From the caribsea FAQ: "My pH and KH went up after I put Eco-Complete™ Planted in my tank with RO water, what’s going on?

While Eco-Complete™ Planted does not affect pH and KH long term, you will find that it will give a small bump to both of these parameters initially, and this is especially noticeable with the use of RO /DI water. Fortunately this is just a small amount of Calcium Carbonate that is on, not in the substrate and it will dissipate with the first couple of water changes, usually in the first couple weeks. Planting the tank will also help. Keep in mind that one should never add particularly sensitive animals to a tank in the first few weeks anyway but that this is especially important with this situation if the animals are pH sensitive- requiring a low pH."

To be on the safe side you can add the fish after a few weeks as CaribSea recommends.

Sweet equipment you got donated!

You have more delicate species (rummynose, otos, rams) so it'll be a challenge for sure! Should be no problem though.

Have fun!

[jaidexl]

Well, that explains it. Funny how there's always some fine print.. er, "non-print" in this case.

Negligible affects, none the less. Eco's good stuff.

[Left C]

There are some people complaing about E-C recently. Carib-Sea is being very kind and replacing the bad bags for free if you give them your sales receipt. Check this out:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/su...ry-coarse.html

[jaidexl]

Wah major bummers.