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My ever-evolving tank (picture heavy)

32K views 279 replies 31 participants last post by  tomfromstlouis 
#1 · (Edited)
I am finally closer to creating just what I have been envisioning for my tank. :) (edit: The tank measures 48" x 17.75" x 24".) It's been in the works for a year! It started with a 30 gallon tank complete with dying plants and sick fish found on craigslist for $30. Of course at the time, I knew nothing about fish and had no idea they were not healthy.
Anyway, it has been quite the journey thus far, and I have learned that fish keeping is not as easy as 1-2-3. No, you can't just drop fish in the tank and throw in some food here and there, topping off the tank as the water evaporates. No, you don't just put all the fish that you liked at the fish store in the tank without running into huge complications because not all fish are compatible! No, you can't cheap out with desk lights or anything similar and expect to have living plants and there is not a species of fish you should buy to replace you cleaning your tank!

Anyway, I am the proud owner of some driftwood! YEAH! So, I have begun the process that will bring my vision to life! Here is what is happening:

I rinsed my dishwasher 4 times in a row then added the driftwood and on the highest setting, let it rinse in the dishwasher 4 times. It's been soaking in a tub since. No tannins! Just needs to sink. I've cleaned all my rocks collected locally this past summer and am now testing them to be sure they are aquarium safe. I have gotten my water chemistry stable, although it is noted the KH needs to be a little higher; working on that. I have posted in the WTB/RAOK thread a list of plants I need for my tank. I am still researching potential inhabitants to replace the Denison Barbs I have, which are currently 5" long. No rush there.

Tonight I added black Echo Complete to just under half of the tank and in 3-4 days I will be doing the same to the middle, then the other half. After that driftwood and rocks :)

Here's a couple pics.
Before:
Plant Water Light Pet supply Organism


After:
Water Plant Vertebrate Pet supply Fish supply


It is a looooong way from finished and the water is a bit cloudy from the 1/2 tank change. None of the plants and wood are in their place. It's just temporary until I get the substrate finished.

I am sooooo excited!

Update: 11/17/12 All the old substrate has been removed, some plants added as well as some Manzanita, rocks, and Mopani dw. Not finished, but close :)
 
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#228 ·
I've read through the pages, and I must say your tank grows a lot from the beginning.
Getting better every pages. I like how u crazy-slope the substrate at the back. Not so much of a fan of those water sprites at the surface though. But what a jungle! I'm sure your fishes are happy in there. Do u dose CO2 & ferts?
 
#229 ·
Thank you very much! I love the slope...it's awesome watching the Kuhli Loaches zip up and down it! Thank you for your honesty :) The little Blue Angel and the Betta love the floating water sprite. The Angel lays flat and shimmies through it. It's so cool to watch. The Betta rests in it, and I use it to coral her food so she doesn't have to compete with the Angels and the filter flow. I do not inject Co2 and only use Leaf Zone once a week. These plants are all so new (except the Anubias, Crypt and Lillies) that I'm waiting to see how they will do under the lighting conditions I have at the moment. I hope I don't loose the reds and purples. Only time will tell.
 
#238 ·
Your have nice looking angles.I was debating angles in my column but decided I had to much flow for them and went with bottom middle top specific species.
8 years for an angle! What is their life expectancy?
Hey, I'm sorry I missed your post yesterday. Weird. But I found it!
Anyway...Thank you :) 15 years from what I've found online. It's amazing this one has lived as long as she has concidering where she spent those years before coming to me. I really enjoy them. They are beautiful and just interact with me much like my betta does. Great fish.
 
#239 ·
I thought the term was Koi, but I could get past the fact that Koi are a diff't type of fish altogether... Still doesn't seem to compute in my head that "koi" could be a descriptor for a calico colored fish =) Can you imagine calling a calico cat a koi? Kinda funny :D
Yeah...I agree with you. Actually, it took me a very long time to get used to the sound of it. I liked Scalare better but Koi was accurate for the pattern. Koi could be a cute call name for a calico cat! I will have to remember that if I ever have a calico kitty in my life.
 
#233 ·
Thank you :) I never expected Little-Blue to get so blue. When I got him/her, s/he was silver with the teeniest hint of blue shimmer here and there. S/he has a lot of growing to do. Still just a little 'ole juvenile. The older it gets the bluer it gets. And it also has some pinkish/purple under it's belley. So beautiful.

Limnophilia aromatica is my favorite with Ludwidgia repens x acurata andLimnophila aquatica following close behind. I am really liking the Staurogyne repens too. Once everything adjusts and melting ceases filling in with new growth, I may change my mind :tongue:
 
#236 ·
I've been playing around with some L. aromatica that I got from the LFS. It is a very cool plant, I have it in 2 different tanks, and it definitely has different growth forms. High light+ no CO2 and it has awesome short leaves, high light + CO2, and the leaves are about twice as long and more than twice as wide!

Getting the red color can be tricky, I'm not even sure what does it but it seems more light and more ferts help.
 
#241 ·
...The color is a protective measure against high lighting. ...
In general, I agree with the above statement. The peculiar thing about Aromatica is that the color is on the underside of the leaves, not on top. It might be one confused plant: using sunblock cream under the skin, not on. It is possible to get the color on the top part of the leaf, but it does require an insane amount of light.

Here is a fun read, with many oppinions, as usual :)

One way to enjoy Aromatica in a lower-light tank is to keep it cut short, say ~16" - you will get greenish/yellow 'stars" that look awesome to me, without having to climb on top of your tank. With a bit more light, the top color slowly changes to camel brown.


http://www.aquascapingworld.com/plantpedia/full_view_plant.php?item_id=69
 
#242 ·
So, I stopped by the LFS to see if they got more kuhli loaches in, and saw two beautiful Altum Angelfish. I thought about it for a day, and decided to give it a shot. They have bent fins, but are still beautiful. No need to quarentine them...I really don't want to get into the reasons why, but will say I am very careful with my fish and use the QT when it is neccessary. This time it wasn't.
When they first went in it was looking good. but, as expected, as time passed the harmoney was quicly ending.

Anyway...I decided that one of them is going back...maybe both. I gave it a shot, in the off chance it would work, but my current fish are very important to me and their happiness will always come first. One of the two does not like anyone in the tank...even the kuhli loaches. S/he grabbed a kuhli today and shook the crap out of it then let it go. Maybe s/he thought it was food, but I think it was more territory than anything because this particular Angel has claimed a spot and won't let the others near it. The other new Angel is fine with the rest of the group. But the aggressor corals her into his territory (I do believe the aggressor is a male and the other a female) Gwen the betta rules the roost still though. And, she protects her Koi and Little blue from the aggressor. Darndest thing I ever saw.

Anyway...chances are high that when one is removed another will turn into the agressor. I'm going return the "male" tomorrow and give it 3-5 days and see what happens.

Enough jabbering. Here's some pictures:








The aggressor is cleaning the wood


The one on the right being held in this area












The one that's leaving tomorrow...


The one I'm going to try a few more days...


Had to share this one...look at that cute face ;)










Another of the one I'm going to try


And look at what happened to my plants from the aggresser chasing everybody! :icon_roll There all floating again!!!
 
#253 ·
That is a beautiful Philippine Blue Angel OVT. The reason I said my Little Blue Angel is related to the two Altums is because that is what the breeder claims. Seems that they have a same parent...obviously not both parents though ;) So, they have been inbreeding Altums and Philippine Blues.


Anyway...things are looking much better. The aggressor is now back at the LFS taking on another Koi Angel a bit bigger than himself...through the bag he's floating in!!! Wow what a scrapper LOL! The remaining three angels are getting along perfectly. Swimming together in a group and picking the substrate together. It's promising...so far. Anything could happen.

Thanks to having 4 Angels in my tank at once, I was able to get a good distinction between the size and shape of the breeding tubes. The angel I have been assuming is a male has a very pointy and much thinner tube than the other two larger angels in the tank...which have thick and rounded tubes. The Little Blue is too small to see the tube.

So now, fingers are crossed that Little Blue will end up being a female too. Three females will be much better especially since I'm mixing strains and don't want to have a breeding pair in my community tank.

The status of the Diamond Tetras is questionable. Seems they have not been able to get any. sigh. In time.
 
#262 ·
The aggressor is now back at the LFS taking on another Koi Angel a bit bigger than himself...through the bag he's floating in!!!
This made me think that the fish might be going back into a sales tank - unless the QT tanks are visible to customers?

Oh well...
 
#255 ·
Oh for sure sexual maturity had something to do with it. The cleaning of the driftwood and the claim on the territory, I definetely believe the intent was to commence breeding...only thing is the female was more interested in Little Blue. She was following Little Blue and then when the "male" interested in her would chase Little Blue and coral her back to his turf to start cleaning the wood again. Everytime he was busy cleaning, she'd sneak away to be with Blue LOL!
 
#256 ·
Did some reading about wild caught Altums and tank bred Altums (because I do not know a lot about them outside their basic needs) I found that the Altums are very difficult to breed in captivity...so I am guessing the breeder is working with hybrid Altums which explain the bent fins and black lines of the one I kept. The other that I returned had brown lines which is more true to the wild Altums and his dorsal fin was much straighter than the other. (I got this from reading...no first hand experience) No difference to me though. I think the fish I have a beautiful.
 
#267 ·
While those are some nice looking angelfish you have there they are not Altums. They are actually Pterophyllum scalare. Altum angels are a very sensitive fish as most of them are wild caught and the survival rate is very low. Altums have a very distinct look and once you see one the difference is very noticeable. My dad used to breed several different varieties of angels in the late 70's and 80's, so I have seen almost every variety of angelfish out there. Anyone looking into keeping Altums needs to understand that these are not fish for beginners and raising them to adulthood takes a lot of work and near perfect tank conditions. I have seen several people on this forum attempt to keep these fish only to watch them meet an untimely demise. The altum hybrids are a Pterophyllum scalare x Pterophyllum altum cross. The dorsal fin is almost identical to that of P. altum and there is other morphological features such as the head and mouth formation, which is the easiest way to tell if you have a altum hybrid.
 
#260 ·
Y'know, I was just thinking...I think you don't QT because you said your lfs does QT their fish. But if they have a revolving door policy where fish can be returned anytime (didn't you say you once returned fish you had 6 months?) don't you worry that fish you buy may have been returned from someone else, and the fish may have been exposed to something when at another person's house? Other folks may be mixing fish from different sources - not always from your lfs...just a thought. It would make me nervous!
 
#263 ·
They are very careful and very trustworthy. I am not worried at all. The fish they get in they have different tanks for certain fish from unfamiliar tanks and fish for familiar tanks. The LFS owner takes care of many of our tanks when we take vacations (awesome ;) ) and he knows his familiar customers quite well as well as their practices. But thank you dear for your concern :)

one would think that if they care enough about their product to quarantine it from outside suppliers, that they also would quarantine any "returns". or at least you would like to think that is the case.
They do :) They have stack of 12 tanks just for this purpose. As well as a few others for fish that are obvious sick with something. They also have more tanks in the back room in case they need them. Great FS!

This made me think that the fish might be going back into a sales tank - unless the QT tanks are visible to customers?

Oh well...
Yes, the 12 stack is. The other bigger ones are not lighted so viewing is not something people do...it's pretty much invisible without the lights on.
And of course, those in back are closed off the general public.
 
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