40 Breeder #2 - rescaped 10/12/08 - new pics 11/30/08

[cah925]

Here's a few quick shots of future inhabitants of this tank, courtesy of brohawk. They are currently in the QT tank after a long journey across the country.

Fundulopanchax gardneri nigerianus


The juvie was the only one hungry enough for an afternoon snack. He was swimming all over the tank with this worm hanging out of his mouth.

[brohawk]

Again, glad to see they made it safe and sound!!

[cah925]

It's been a month since the killis arrived. I have thoroughly enjoyed these fish, expecially the adult male. He is quite a character. Here's a few more pics of the inhabitants settled in their new home.

Male


Female


Fry - beginning to think this one will be a male as it is starting to show colors similar to the adult male, currently about 1/3 size of the adults

[cah925]

And some tanks shots-
I moved the Blyxa in towards the middle and added some new plants on the right. Details below.

FTS


Left side (plant list left to right, front to back)
Eriocaulon type II, Lobelia cardinalis 'Small Form', Ludwigia brevipes, Alternanthera reineckii aka Red Temple, Heteranthera zosterifolia, Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata 'Cuba'


Middle
Lobelia cardinalis 'Small Form', Elatine triandra, Heteranthera zosterifolia, Blyxa japonica, Rotala sp. 'Green', Hygrophila sp. 'Bold', Polygonum sp. 'Kawagoneum', Ludwigia glandulosa


Right
Elatine triandra, Blyxa japonica, Hygrophila corymbosa Kompakt, Rotala sp. 'Green', Myriophyllum tuberculatum, Bacopa caroliniana, Ludwigia glandulosa, Cabomba sp. 'silver leaf', Hygrophila sp. 'Guinea', Echinodorus Angustifolia 'Vesuvius'

[brohawk]

Tank's looking great! That fry is definitely a male--the females' tails never color up.

Now get on breeding them!

[cah925]

I'll give some credit to the adult male, he has been trying. I catch him at least once a day putting the moves on one of the females down in the bushes. One female in particular doesn't seem to mind the courtship routine, the other looks like she just puts up with it and scampers off as soon as possible.

[brohawk]

You've probably already had luck then. Get some moss or other ground cover going so the eggs/fry have a chance at not being their parents' dinner.

[cah925]

The Elatine triandra has finally settled in and has been growing real fast lately. It still has a way to go before it completely covers the foreground. The male is really the only one that "plays" in the plants. The others like to hang out in the current provided by the Koralia.

[kotoeloncat]

its filling in nicely, good work

just my 2 cent hopefully you dont mind, the red temple seems kind of out of place. Maybe because it is much taller than the rest of the plants.

[cah925]

Yeah, that pic was taken after a trim. Before the trim, the Ludwigias were much taller and complemented the Red Temple very nicely. Chris127 had a WTB on the Ludwigias so I sent those out over the weekend. Now the Red Temple stands out and is too big. It will probably end up on the SNS very soon along with some others that also need a trim.

[fastfreddie]

This tank looks great! Very impressive growth for a month and a half since the rescape.

What type of stand do you use for your 40B's? I need a new look under my 40. You seem like the person to ask considering you have multiples.

[cah925]

Thanks for the compliment. I use a steel stand from Lowe's. I think it's 65" long and 6' tall with 3 shelves. The unit came with plywood shelves that I painted with polyurethane as waterproofing. Then I put several 1X4's under each plywood shelf for extra support. This is an older picture, but it shows the stand (excuse the mess).


So far I have only managed to scape the top two. The bottom two are grow out tanks/breeders for Kribs. I plan on upgrading the lights and adding CO2 to the bottom 2 tanks when I get my tax return next year. I have 2 scapes in mind that I would like to try. 1 tank will be a "green" scape with swords, anubias, vals, and whatever else I come up with. The other I want to try a sort of island surrounded by white sand using lots of rocks, wood, and mostly ferns.

[jinx©]

Tank is looking great and I really like the wood.

I read a post elsewhere where someone was having issues with stargrass and mineralized soil. How does yours seem to be doing and are you using any root tabs etc. under it? I'm drying soil (or trying...lol) for my soon to be set up 75g.

Thanks in advance.

[cah925]

Originally Posted by jinx©

Tank is looking great and I really like the wood.

I read a post elsewhere where someone was having issues with stargrass and mineralized soil. How does yours seem to be doing and are you using any root tabs etc. under it? I'm drying soil (or trying...lol) for my soon to be set up 75g.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the kind words and that was my post about the stargrass. Yesterday I added some Seachem nitrate and the results were immediate. The new growth from yesterday to today looked fantastic. As an experiment, I got some nitrate capsules (homemade) and put one in the soil this afternoon directly in the middle of the stargrass bush. As the cellulose breaks down, the nitrate will release into the soil for the roots to absorb. If this doesn't work, then I'll go back to dosing the Seachem nitrate once a week or as needed.

[cah925]

Here's a few more random pics of the male killis. The second pic is the male fry that Brohawk sent me (original pic in post 31 above)-


I had one of the females nip my arm earlier today as I was doing some planting. It felt like they bit me with some teeth. I've had other fish nip at the hairs on my arm, but this was completely different.

Here's a shot of my Hygro 'kompact'