150g, Cichlid, low light aquarium

[Deluxeman]

I keep cichlid for a little while now.

Its my first try with plants.
I want to grow tons of plants in that one, so this first photo is literally a canvas for my aquascaping. Excuse those 2 temporary plastic plants at the left!

I want to create hills on both sides.

Substrate
3x 1 cubic foot of lava rocks
7x 22k of play sand.

Lighting, low tech


Filter
Rena xp3

Fish
8 Yellow labs
6 young Frontosa B.


Evolution
Starting point


Nov. 20th 2010


Dec 6th 2010
Night light


Dec 20th 2010


Anubias

[Cuchulainn]

Pretty Deeeluxe scape there. Looks great!

[jwm5]

love the layout, the rocks look great. if it is all play sand you probably want to add root fertilizer tabs to the sand below/near the plants this will help feed the roots. I know cichlids arent known to be plant friendly but with hardier plants like swords and the anubias you may be fine. You mention a marine grow light to come, what is that? do some research on it, marine lights are not necessarily good for planted tanks, ie they may not provide lighting that the plants need/use

[Jadelin]

Hmmm . . . someone correct me if I'm wrong, but those two plants in the middle look like 'Brazilian Swords', which are actually peace lilies (Spathiphyllum sp.) and will eventually die if left under water. They make great houseplants, though!

They'll probably be okay until you get more true aquatic plants in there, at which time you can plant them in a pot and put them in your house!

The Swap and Shop forum on this site is a great source for plants that won't cost you an arm and a leg. That's a good thing when first getting into plants, because if you kill some off you didn't just throw $50 in the trash! Also, I think you'll have to do some research to make sure the plants you choose won't get eaten by your chiclids. You have the right idea in adding LOTS of plants, as more plants means less damage to any one plant.

As a general rule, I would start with large firm plants like Anubias, swords (Amazon and other Echinodorus sp., not Brazilian), and large Cryptocorynes. You could look into fast-growing stems that may be able to out-grow nibbling, such as water wisteria (Hygrophila difformis) and hornwort (Ceratophylum submersum). These are just the plants that are often recommend to beginners with problem fish, so do your research to find out which ones you like the look of and which ones will survive your fish.

[WeedCali]

to my knowledge, Spathiphyllum species can grow submerged just fine.

[globali]

Nice layout, harmony view,
the rocks are very pleasant
but one can feel that they
are too "heavy" for the scene.

[lauraleellbp]

Originally Posted by Jadelin

Hmmm . . . someone correct me if I'm wrong, but those two plants in the middle look like 'Brazilian Swords', which are actually peace lilies (Spathiphyllum sp.) and will eventually die if left under water. They make great houseplants, though!

I agree, they look like Peace Lilies to me, too. And IME they'll do OK underwater for a while, but eventually will die unless their leaves are allowed to grow up out of the water.

[Pri]

Hi Everybody,

Deluxeman :
Nice cichlid tank. I'm a fan of cichlids!
Are the rocks laid directly on the substrate or are they on some kind of support?
What are those black plants on the middle left?Plastic?

[Tsartetra]

Originally Posted by lauraleellbp

I agree, they look like Peace Lilies to me, too. And IME they'll do OK underwater for a while, but eventually will die unless their leaves are allowed to grow up out of the water.

+1! Spathiphylum are not true aquatic.

[Deluxeman]

Originally Posted by Cuchulainn

Pretty Deeeluxe scape there. Looks great!

thx!

Originally Posted by jwm5

You mention a marine grow light to come, what is that? do some research on it, marine lights are not necessarily good for planted tanks, ie they may not provide lighting that the plants need/use

yeah, those are just for the fish, to make the colors pop. common in the cichlids tank.
It will be also my "dawn" and morning light.

Originally Posted by Jadelin

You could look into fast-growing stems that may be able to out-grow nibbling, such as water wisteria (Hygrophila difformis) and hornwort

great info, I will get some this weekend!

Originally Posted by globali

Nice layout, harmony view,
the rocks are very pleasant
but one can feel that they
are too "heavy" for the scene.

cichlids = rocks. they need places to hide for reproduction and territory.
I want to grow plants on top of those.

Its been 3 years that I "grow" rocks

Originally Posted by lauraleellbp

I agree, they look like Peace Lilies to me, too. And IME they'll do OK underwater for a while, but eventually will die unless their leaves are allowed to grow up out of the water.

indeed, I will remove those before it happen.

[KiDD]

The tank looks good... The Yellow labs should do good with the plants mine never messed with my plants when I had them but I went full planted..

[Deluxeman]

I'm going away for 3 months,
so I added more lilies to filter out the water a bit more. There is about 15 anubias.
The fish loves it.


The big pile of rock contains caves, big and small ones to protect the babies.

6 frontos + ~30 Yellow labs.






My big baby, a Frontosa Burundi. ~4"

[macclellan]

excellent!