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HybridHerp's 75 gallon

34K views 93 replies 19 participants last post by  HybridHerp 
#1 ·
Okay, so, I let this tank fall apart more or less, and it makes me sad. So, I'm going to get this tank back into shape over the summer, once and for all, or so help me lords of the aquaria.

Link to the last thread I had about this tank http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?p=2086394#post2086394

It was starting to go somewhere but then fell apart and all the plants sort of just...stopped. Diatoms took over and other problems plauged me. So now I'm going to find out how to bring everything into balance and get the plants I want in this tank growing the way I want them.
 
#2 · (Edited)

Not much to currently show or say, but I've been making some small progress so far. I'm starting to hit the BBA pretty hard, started spot dosing H2O2 and I just took out all the rocks and driftwood in this tank so that I can boil and scrub everything tomorrow.

Aside from that, I have come to the conclusion that the endli bichir has to go. Besides making planting this tank incredibly difficult, the fish itself deserves to be in a bigger tank, and even though its my oldest fish (6+ years in my care) it should be elsewhere. I have plans to sell it to a friend with a 275+ gallon tank....so hopefully that should be taken care of soon.

Without the big guy in here....it opens the tank up to a lot of stocking options and ideas as far as fish go. But even then, a part of me is wondering if keeping the rainbow cichlids is a good idea as well....I know though that the 6 pearl gourami's and the albino sen are staying with me, they work with plants and they look nice.

I might want some rope fish or a small growing upper jaw bichir to go along with the albino sen, but that's all stuff to think about in the future. I might just focus on getting plants going in here for now.

More updates in the coming days.
 
#3 ·


Gosh, this tank looks weird without hardscape. Took it out to kill of the BBA that was covering it, and I was successful after boiling everything and scrubbing, wood looks brand new now :p However, I won't add it back into the tank until I've got moss, anubias, fern, and whatever else I want to tie to the wood.




However, the rainbows have decided to become super colorful with the change in location, and have been lip locking and just very fun to observe. They leave the gourami's alone though.

Still gotta get rid of the big endli though, I added some plants into this tank for now but I won't really get anything going the way it should until he is gone.






Going to use those pics to show him off as I try and sell him to someone in the area. Full tank shot is the best I can do as far as giving a reference for his size, he's a nice 15" though (hard to take a pic with the tap measure and have it be readable and have the fish stay still :S)

Anyone seeing this that is local to me (I'm on Long Island, just east of Queens) send me a message if you are interested or know someone that is interested. I'll talk price and such elsewhere :p

Anyways, as far as the tank is concerned, I just want to get the plants going and put in a nice order with h4n (again) and get everything I want (or as much of it as I can) in one go. This tank will look amazing before summer's end.
 
#4 ·
So, I'm getting all sorts of ideas for fish I want in this tank now. I did pick up a ropefish and a mokelembembe bichir (unless I get an ID saying it is a retro, either way its an upper jaw bichir that stays small). I'm also thinking about doing a pair of angels, I would do 6 but I think a male and a female pair would look nice and classey, plus, getting only two angels would mean more space for other fish AND more money for nicer angels that are perhaps a bit bigger. Not sure what variety I'd want to go with, that might possibly depend on the other fish I want to get in the tank as well.

I saw some nice nice nice nice nice congo tetras...and if I did a tetra, I feel that would be the best bet as it gets some size to it, and they look pretty regal. I'd maybe do 6-8 of them....then I'm also thinking rainbows, I saw some goyder river rainbows that where $15 a piece...not bad, but idk if I'd do 6 rainbows at that price lol I also do not know how to properly sex goyder river rainbows. However, I am thinking of maybe doing some bosmani, a bit of blue would go a long, long way in a tank like this. I'd do at least a 1:1 ratio, if not a 1:2 ratio, but I'm unsure if I would get 6 bosmani total or keep it more like four, I'm not entirely sure how much they benefit from being with their own kind.

I'm also still thinking about other cichlids in the back of my mind. Perhaps an EBJD would be worth getting into again, and I still do have a soft spot for parrot cichlids even though they get pretty girthy. I could always also do something like firemouths or keyholes, or just be happy with a rainbow pair and a pair of angels.

Also thinking about getting an oddball of some sort....I saw a brown ghost knife once and I'd LOVE that fish, stays smaller than the black ghost knife and I think they look a bit cooler than the african knifes, athough an african knife is always an option as well. So is that african leaf fish that I keep seeing around. However, I feel it looks a bit too much like a gourami for me to really want to keep it, but I am slowly changing my mind.

Now, algae eaters, I'm thinking about those. I could do SAE, but I also want to do fissedens in this tank, a LOT of fissedens. So I'm not sure as I know they are known to eat mosses. I'm also thinking about bushy nose pleco's, either the super reds or the blue eyes, but then I'm also thinking about those whiptail cats and farwolla's (or however you spell it) just to be a little more exotic with it and because perhaps they are more delicate with plants and the like.

My MTS are now, for once, doing well in this tank. I'm thinking about adding a small small small small small amount of mystery snails to this tank again as well, but that's easy to come by and not a big deal. Would be nice though to eat any dead leafs decaying around the tank.

However, I need the big bichir to leave first lol

My main goal and idea for this tank, is to do something akin to what daveguitarfish is doing with his 75, a sort of hybrid of dutch and iwagumi. Then, adding interesting and colorful fish ontop of that, but also fish that have a degree of size to them. I'm not one for having a larger tank filled with plants and tons of super small fish that you never see because they are lost among the leafs. I think a balance between plant color, plant size, fish color, and fish size can be achieved, meaning fish people can be wowed by the fish, plant people wowed by the plants, and fish AND plant people just being wowed in general.

As far as plants go, I have quiet the list of possible plant species I want in here, and even somewhat know where I want them as well. But, I might also mess around with my hardscape first since I have the opportunity to do something totally new as well. If I feel adventurous, since I already want to get some HC for my 10 gallon, I might toss some into this tank as well...just to see what would happen.

All I know is, I'm excited for this tank to turn into a real masterpiece, and I plan on having it at least well started before the summer is over. EXEPCT TO SEE ME ON THE SnS IN THE COMMING WEEKS....all your plants are belong to me :p
 
#6 ·
My main goal and idea for this tank, is to do something akin to what daveguitarfish is doing with his 75, a sort of hybrid of dutch and iwagumi. Then, adding interesting and colorful fish ontop of that, but also fish that have a degree of size to them. I'm not one for having a larger tank filled with plants and tons of super small fish that you never see because they are lost among the leafs. I think a balance between plant color, plant size, fish color, and fish size can be achieved, meaning fish people can be wowed by the fish, plant people wowed by the plants, and fish AND plant people just being wowed in general.

As far as plants go, I have quiet the list of possible plant species I want in here, and even somewhat know where I want them as well. But, I might also mess around with my hardscape first since I have the opportunity to do something totally new as well. If I feel adventurous, since I already want to get some HC for my 10 gallon, I might toss some into this tank as well...just to see what would happen.

All I know is, I'm excited for this tank to turn into a real masterpiece, and I plan on having it at least well started before the summer is over. EXEPCT TO SEE ME ON THE SnS IN THE COMMING WEEKS....all your plants are belong to me :p
That's the same set of goals that I have for my 90g. Right now there are 17 different types of plants and ten different types of fish. Most of the fish will be between three and six inches full grown. Can't wait to see your progress on this!
 
#14 ·
Aside from the filters mentioned above, using a Catalina 4 bulb t5ho fixture and a gla online diffuser as well as an inline heater to keep the tank around 76 or so.
 
#10 ·
You know, concerning bows, they grow slowly, especially bosemani. But if you are willing to wait a bit for them to grow you should be able to get just about any bow for $4-$6 from a breeder.

I got 25 bows for a total of 120.00, each about 1.5" or so. Even at that size they have some nice colors and those colors have just been improving each week.

And I know there are plenty of rainbow fish peoples on the rainbowfish forum from New York.

One thing to consider is that since they are such aggressive eaters they would not mix well with passive fish.
 
#12 ·
wow huge and beautiful endli bichir there. If only I had a much bigger tank. I would be more than willing to take him off your hands. I heard that mokelembembe bichirs are more sensitive thus harder to acclimate.

I currently have a 3-4in african brown knife fish. great looking fish. I have no problem feeding him the first day. The only problem is he still refuses to come out during lights on and he is really shy.

It looks like your planning to stock up your 75. What kind of filters do you have?
All in all you have some grand plans for that tank. I'm excited to see it finish. good luck
 
#13 ·
Well, the moke is actually a retro but he's doing alright so far.

My filters are two eheim 2217's, and 50% weekly water changes. As well as going to be heavily planted.

And thanks on the bichir...tbh idk how much bigger it will get but he deserved to be in at least a 120 if not larger.

One day when I have my own place I do want to do a planted tank with a few big bichirs, but I wouldn't do it I'm anything less than a 180.
 
#15 ·
So, today is the day I rehome my endli bichir.

Sad since I've had it for 6 or 7 years now, but the guy needs a bigger home and I can't get a larger tank in the foreseeable future.

Route 4 aquarium in Jersey offered me a nice amount of store credit, and I couldn't find a local buyer who was willing to nab this guy.

Not the first time I had to rehome an animal, but it's always sad when it happens.

But, now I can finally get this tank rolling as a planted tank, and will be adding back plants later today as well as fish I've been quarantining and perhaps getting new guys today.
 
#16 ·
So, my hand hurts from the amount of pruning that happened due to being in the water all that time re-scaping.....

Endli is in another home now, and now I re-scaped this tank....I'll post pics up later.

Also got some new fish, I'll show the full stock list once I put up the pictures...and of course me being me, I have a few fish that still aren't traditional planted tank residents, but I have faith that they will work (or at least most of them...one of them is going to be hit or miss but if its miss its an easy fish to rehome for the price I payed for it).

Time will tell if I'm being stupid with my fish choice or not, but I'm feeling daring. Plus, if it works, they are some beautiful fish when fully colored up.
 
#17 ·
Thorichthys ellioti – “Ellioti Cichlid”
Got him growing out a bit in my 10 gallon...he probably is big enough as is but I'd rather be safer than sorry since I don't see these in NY (got this in Jersey).




Full tank shot. Like the scape so far? I decided to mix it up a little bit from what it was before. 6 pieces of wood are in this sucker now, I'll go over them in pictures.


Eichhornia diversifolia was trimmed way down, on the far left. Subwerstang is on the stone, H. pinatifida and Blyxa also in front of the wood, with Petite anubias on the wood itself.

I call this Wood #1 (creative right?)



More blyxa, subwerstang, and H. araguyai to the right. I want to get it to carpet a little bit...should look interesting next to the blyxa and the s. repens to its right. Also, you can see the Red Tiger Lotus in the background...that should be cool once it grows huge, as I know they do.



S. repens, Gold nesea...it looks a little rough but it will be bouncing back soon now that nothing is uprooting it or anything, plus I am dosing ferts again.


Crypts...a mix of some wendtii hybrid, a bit of green gecko, nurii, parva, usterania, crispatula var. flaccidifolia, a rose sword, l. aromatic, a. reineckii, a micaranthra lotus, and the laghenandra (they are super small though but growing...soon to be monsters)


This feel over a bit, so it looks less awkward now. I call this wood #4. Its covered in assorted anubias species, and has Red cabomba and H. 'Brown' to its left, alongside two madagascar lace plants and some sunset hygro, and it has H. corymbosa to its right. I want to put bangladesh behind it as well, and have R. vietnam, R. japan red, and R. goias in front of this wood as well, alongside getting more anubias for it.


The two lace plants where sitting in a 10 gallon for months...they are a lovely, lovely plant. I have them behind the banana plant (they get big...the tubers all rotted off and/or where buried, but this started out looking like any other banana plant).



Wood #2, I have some fissidens from MonsterFish on here, as well as windelov java fern that I've been holding on to. Wood #3 is the piece right in front of this one, and it has more fissidens on it, as well as a bit of trident fern that I want to grow out. Should be nice.


This I'm not sure how I feel about. The plant you see here is some L. Atlantis that I trimmed from my 10 that is in my sig. Behind it is Rubin, which I like, and a crinum calminstratum, which will grow huge in time. I want to get multiple ludwigia species growing in rows here...but I am unsure if I want to keep atlantis here specifically. I'm also debating if I should use glandulosa...or if I should keep only Rubin as a larger, background ludwigia species in this section. Debating debating.


And now for the fish. I am SO FREAKING HAPPY that I was able to find this EBJD...he's a good 4" I'd say. I MISS HAVING ONE SO MUCH. I had one...over two years ago, that I had had for 3 years and grew out from a 2" baby...got it to just over 5" before it died when I went away on vacation. And he is behaved with the stems so far...only plant that's been uprooted is blyxa...which is a pain in the ass to keep planted anyways...and its only a small amount of blyxa (like one stem of it) that seems to be uprooted...I'll bury it better later.


Australian Rainbows....5 of them. Got these at the GCAS auction a week or so back. One of them is deformed a bit, and had some fin rot, but its bouncing back. The rest are starting to show their true colors. I'm debating getting 2 or three more...if I did I'd aim to just get more females most likely.


This, is a nice fish. A pair, male and female actually. Threadfin Acara. From what I understand it doens't grow super huge either. I'm doing this pair in place of attempting to do a pair of some nice angels....I just like the regal appearance of these and am getting tired of not being able to find angels I want that are affordable. This one is the female, less colorful and show, but still pretty.



The male is prettier, but wasn't as easy to snap a pic of. That dorsal gets some long trailers, and the fish gets a lot of red highlights and blue speckling. I'm excited lol


Yup, my rainbow cichlids are still doing fine. I think they might be a male and female pair...idk. They get along and are showy and active, so I'm happy. They aren't being dark and hiding anymore which is fantastic, as they are a fantastic cichlid, especially for a planted tank.


The 6 pearls are doing fine as well. Pictured are 4 because they like to break off and chill around the tank.


Not the best pic...but it shows that I have a rope fish now. Considering getting another one as well, but he should be fine with the sen bichir and retropinis bichir that I have now.


Another crummy shot, but this is the back end of my retropinis bichir. Just to prove that he is, indeed, in this tank.

Andddddd, photo dump time








 
#18 ·
So, on sunday I am going on a LFS tour with some other Long Island people. I'm thinking of getting 6-8 congo tetras....only other fish I then desire for this tank would be some sort of something that will nibble on algae and NOT on fissidens. Idk if bushynose plecos are out then, but I know it takes out SAE. I'm also debating flagfish or just some nice mollies/platties/swordtails/whatever live bearers that might nibble stuff up...plus them making babies should be a nice snack for everyone else in here.

Now for the important stuff....the plants. I have quiet the list of plant species I want to toss in here. As mentioned, I'm going to do rows of ludwigia...I know I want either/or both cuba and pantanal, as well as twisted and the regular version of inclinata....senegalenses is always nice as well, and I want to get some diplis diandra going too in this same area. Not sure if I'd want to get the straight Red Ludwigia as well....I've done it before in another tank but meh, I might have space in here.

Aside from that, I have rotalas that I want, a few crypts, might be getting some leopard jungle val to see how it does....maybe even some P. stellatus and P. erectus in here too.

Only thing I don't know what to do with is Wood #6...the wood standing upright in the back right corner. Atm, it has some tawiain moss stuffed on it, but idk if I want to keep that or not. I might consider doing another moss of that genus, but I'm not sure if it will look random. I could just throw anubias or fissidens on it, but I feel like it will get covered over by crypt leafs and the lagenandra and everything else if I make it too subtle. Maybe I could try a Buce here? But those are small too right? Ideas people?

I also have some more rainbow rock I can put in the tank, its the stone I'm using in this tank. Rainbow fish, Rainbow Cichlids, Rainbow Rocks....wasn't aiming to make that a little theme but its cool lol. I might try some Buce on the rainbow rock perhaps...or maybe even do smaller buce mixed in on wood #1 with the petite anubias, might even try some micro on it just to see the size difference.

Oh, and I am getting an aflame sword, probably to put right in front of Wood #2, in the little nook there. Should like nice, and I've never seen it grow super big, so I think it could make for an interesting foreground.

Anyways, on to the full list of species I have in the tank currently. The T. elliot is going to be an epic looking fish (google image search it and you will see), but I'm not including it in this list until it is actually physically in this tank.

Just going to copy and paste from my microsoft word document that complains all my notes and plans for my tanks.


Current Fish/Inverts
• Herotilapia multispinosa – “Rainbow Cichlid” x2
o Allow breeding to occur
• Acarichthys heckelii – “Threadfin Acara” x2
o Allow breeding to occur
• Rocio octofasciata – “Electric Blue Jack Dempsey”
o Remove if screwing up plants
• Trichopodus leerii – “Pearl Gourami” x3:3
o Allow breeding to occur and give away/sell broods
• Melanotaenia australis – “Australian Rainbow fish” x5
o Allow breeding to occur and give away/sell broods
o Add a few more when possible
• Polypterus senegalus – “Senegal Bichir”
o About 8” long now
• Polypterus retropinnis
o About 5” long now
• Erpetoichthys calabaricus – “Rope fish”
o About 14” long now
• Melanoides tuberculata - “Trumpet Snail”
o Allow breeding population to form

Plants
• Current
o Bottom
• Staurogyne repens
 Partial carpet
• Hygrophila sp. ‘Araguaia’
 Partial carpet to the right of S. repens
o Foreground
• Eichhornia diversifolia
 In front of Wood #1
• Hygrophila pinnatifida
 In front of Wood #1
• Blyxa japonica
 In front of Wood #1 and #2
• Nesaea pedicellata – “Yellow Nesaea”
 In front of N. aquatic
• Cryptocoryne parva
 Edge of crypt ring
• Cryptocoryne nurii
 Crypt ring
• Cryptocoryne sp. ‘Green Gecko’
 Crypt ring
o Mid-Ground
• Echinodorus sp. ‘Rose’
 Middle of crypt ring
• Limnophia aromatica
 Right next to crypt ring
• Nymphaea micrantha
 Near crypt ring
• Rotala sp. ‘Vietnam’
 In front of R. macrandra var. ‘Japan Red’
• Nymphoides aquatic – “Banana Plant”
 In front of right side of Wood #4
 Keep trimmed when leafs get too tall or too wide
• Nymphaea stellata – “Dwarf Lilly”
 On top of N. aquatic
• E. angustifolia ‘Vesuvius’
 In front of N. aquatic
• Hygrophila polysperma var. ‘Sunset’
 In front of H. sp. ‘Brown’
• Nymphaea zenkeri – “Red Tiger Lotus”
 In front of the gap of Wood #2
• Didiplis diandra
 In front of Ludwigia senegalensis
o Background
• Alternanthera reineckii var. ‘Rosaefolia’
 Back right corner
• Ammania gracilis
 Next to A. reineckii
• Lagenandra meeboldii ‘Pink’
 Back right corner
 Let it grow more compact
• Cryptocoryne crispatula var. flaccidifolia
 Allow to grow around back of crypt ring
• Cryptocoryne usteriana
 Keep in back of crypt circle
• Cryptocoryne sp. Wendtii Hybrid
 Said to grow tall
 If so, use to frame crypt sp. group
• Hygrophila corymbosa – “Giant Temple”
 Bordering back right of Wood #4
 Trim compact
• Cabomba furcata – “Red Cabomba”
 Behind Wood #4, in-between A. madagascariensis and R. sp. ‘Bangladesh’
• Aponogeton madagascariensis – “Lace Leaf”
 Behind N. aquatic
• Hygrophila sp. ‘Brown’
 Around A. madagascariensis
• Crinum calamistratum
 Behind Wood #1 and in front of Wood #3
• Proserpinaca palustris – “Mermaid Weed”
 In the gap of Wood #2
• Ludwigia sp. ‘Rubin’
 Keep right of L. glandulosa
• Ludwigia sp. ‘Atlantis’
 In front of L. sp. ‘Rubin’ and L. glandulosa
o Non-Substrate
• Surface
 None
• Hardscape
 Wood #1
• Anubias barteri var. ‘Petite’
o Allow to carpet wood
 Wood #2
• Microsorum pteropus var. ‘Windelov’
o Allow to carpet top of wood
• Fissidens fontanus – Mini Fissidens
o Allow to cover wood
 Wood #3
• Microsorum pteropus var. ‘Trident’
o Allow to carpet bottom of wood
• Fissidens fontanus – Mini Fissidens
o Allow to cover wood
 Wood #4
• Anubias barteri var. ‘Nana’
o On wood
• Anubias barteri var. ‘Broad-Leaf’
o On wood
• Anubias barteri var. ‘Coffeefolia’
o On wood
• Anubias sp.
 Wood #5
• Fissidens fontanus – Mini Fissidens
o Allow to cover wood
 Wood #6
• Taxiphyllum sp. ‘Taiwan’
o Might replace with something else
• Stones
 Lomariopsis sp. ‘Subwassertang’
• Allow to form a nice layer on stones and wood
• Spread throughout foreground as an accent

More to come soon, as things grow and as I acquire new plants. Its good to be in business with this tank :p
 
#23 ·
:p
The dempseys and the like are calmer and less invasive, from experience, I know ebjd for example are about the same in size and temperament as rainbow cichlids...they are very different from regular dempseys based on what I've researched and experienced (I was a cichlids guy when I started fish keeping).

Nothing gets bigger than 6 inches, and the bottom guys stay small too, no bigger than the albino sen.
 
#24 ·
I think the rainbow cichlids are trying to spawn, as they keep digging a small pit in the same spot. I put a rock in that spot to see if they will spawn, because I know they are rock spammers and not pit spawners.

Not sure if the thread fin acaras are trying as well, but I feel like eventually they will. Have to read up on it as I've never breed anything other that cherry shrimp and guppies.
 
#27 ·
I was being sarcastic :) It's a zoo! There's a ton of variety in that tank. Awesome! I'm not a fan of tanks that only grow one or two species of plant and stock one species of fish. It doesn't seem challenging enough and too simple looking. You could take one picture of one area in a tank like yours and see many different varieties of life, like a freshwater reef.
 
#28 ·
Ahh, and yah, it's maybe only half way there in terms of diversity too lol.

Especially in a big tank, I don't see why one would keep only a few species. I can understand in a 10 or smaller but a 75? You've gotta make that interesting.
 
#29 ·
I'm wondering what sort of algae eating things I can come up with for this tank. I'm avoiding SAE because I hear they will eat fissidens....I'm wondering if a few flagfish or even just having a few livebearers of some sort (probably either mollies or swordtails as I think platies are too small and guppies are obviously too small) would help?

I'm also kind of wanting to do mystery snails again...but that remains to be seen. The MTS are doing okay though, no idea if ramshorns are breeding or not.

I might throw in some ghost shrimp as well...just as a snack mainly and cause it might be cool if any did survive. But probably mostly as a snack.
 
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