46g Summer Shade - crypts and kribs galore!

[demosthenes]

I recently got a new 46g Bowfront aquarium, and i'm really excited to get it going. I just want to get this thread started so i can keep a nice record of the phases it goes through. The tank was started on 10.14.08, and the profile can be viewed on this website. Here's a picture:

The middle section looks a little bit hectic now because i just planted a big bunch of 4 leaf clovers in the emersed form in the middle, so theyre pretty tall and look weird for now, but they're starting to sprout the submersed form down at the bottom. I can't wait for the little carpet!

I'd love to have some suggestions of what other plants would look good in here. And also how i should stock it later. Obviously i'll have otos, and i like gold rams, swords, and gold honey dwarf gouramis. I'm looking for mostly yellow/orange fish to stock it with if that helps.

[MikeP_123]

GOLD RAMS ALL THE WAY!

BTW how much light (W) do you have over the tank?

My suggestions, to create a little more depth, would be to make sloping effect from the front to the back and maybe to the sides also. Ill also post a few plants that I've been looking at. Are you looking for red plants or all green?

[demosthenes]

i was thinking mostly green. this afternoon (after posting the picture), i added a red dwarf lily, crypt. lucens, stargrass, and an anubias minima. I really want to try to add depth, but im not sure how. i'll check out some of the aquascaping threads. is it possible to add more gravel to this tank without totally ripping up all of my plants? I want to add new eco-complete, but it totally clouds up the water, and i dont want all the fish and plants that are alreadyi n there to die from it...

[demosthenes]

i havent posted on this thread in a really long time, so hopefully i can improve it a little.
Here is its entire history, starting on 10.14 after just filling it up.

The last picture was just taken a minute ago.

I like my layout so far, and hopefully it will look a lot better once my plants grow in, especially the java ferns and star grass. I'd like some suggestions and comments on it. Im lookign for some plants to put in the center background (like next to the reineckii, on either side would be good), but i'm not sure what. What do you guys think?

[demosthenes]

The last picture in the last post was just taken a minute ago, i edited that post to fix some technical difficulties i experienced.. haha

so by now everything is starting to fill in a little bit and im starting to become pretty happy with this tank. I'm not sure where to go form here though. Some of my backgroudn plants are a little out of balance with each other, and once my foreground grows in a little bit more it will look a lot better. I dont know what to add or take away that would make it look better. I'm starting to have second thoughts about my driftwood configuration. Should i put the triangular piece on the other side or something? I'm hoping to get some jungle vals soon so they can add to my jungly area on the right side of the tank. Maybe between the rotala and sunset hygros? well see.

[demosthenes]

After a few more weeks everythings filled in a little bit, and im pretty happy with it. The fish are all doing well so far, too. My dwarf sag and chilensis have sent out tons of runners, and the background plants have been growing how they should.

Recently I added some crypt wendtiis from josh1694, so thanks a lot! I think theyve added a lot so far. I'm not sure where to go from here though as far as what else to do with the aquascape or the fish. Suggestions would be much appreciated!

[davemonkey]

Looks like it's coming along nicely.

[demosthenes]

my lighting on this tank is 2x25W T5's. (24" long on a 36" tank.... idk). should i be dosing this with anything? i have been dosing very little and i've been having a ton of algae growing on the glass.

[demosthenes]

Another quick update with some coolish pictures.
Everything has been growing in alright, it looks halfway decent which is a new thing for me! I'd like something to fill it in more, like how Amano has no space between his plants, they just blend right in together. Hopefully the plants will fill out more into that effect someday.

FTS:

Left Corner:

Right Corner:


Random thoughts:
Some Crinum Natans would look cool in the back right behind the stargrass, i don't know where i'd move the sunsets to though. I want to get rid of the H. polysperma in the middle and use something more interesting, but for it'll probably stay for a while.

[demosthenes]

Here's a quick update on the 46g bowfront... I chopped down some of the stargrass and hygros, one crypt wendtii, one echinodorus, and some dwarf sag, because my friend is just getting into planting his tanks and I thought he might want some. So here my tank is now:
FTS:

Cute little ludwigia bush (right foreground):

New jungle vals, chilensis, and reineckii:


so yeah. cool beans!
i'm hoping to get my dwarf sag to fill in the entire foreground up to my ludwigia repens, and basically replace the small crypts on the right. They're getting kind of ugly, and the DS still looks cool.

[EdTheEdge]

I love Hygro... it's always been my favorite plant. Yours looks choice! That Ludwidgia bush is pretty sweet too!

[demosthenes]

In the past week, I have lost: 3 neon tetras, 2 swordtails, 1 dwarf neon rainbow, 1 bamboo shrimp, 1 oto.

So now my stocking list is: 1 angel, 2 black mollies, 2 swordtails, 2 hatchets, 2 dwarf neon rainbows, 1 oto, 1 bamboo shrimp, 5 neon tetras, 1 honey gold dwarf gourami, and one clown loach.

I really need to get more of the same fish so they can school and all.... Tomorrow I'm going to my LFS. I am hoping to get rid of my swordtails, get 5 more neon tetras, and 2 or 3 more DNRs. That's still kind of a lot of fish, but when the angelfish and hatchets and clown loach eventually die, I won't get new ones. (although until they die, i will definitely take as good care of them as i possibly can). I'll give updated pictures either later tonight or tomorrow.

[Phoenix-cry]

Looks very nice!!

[demosthenes]

Originally Posted by EdTheEdge

I love Hygro... it's always been my favorite plant. Yours looks choice! That Ludwidgia bush is pretty sweet too!

thank you! the idea of a ludwigia bush popped into my head a long time ago, and once i did it i thought it was kind of a cute little thing, so i'm glad you like it!

I actually used to think hygros were really boring, but i'm starting to appreciate them a little more.

[demosthenes]

A quick update - after the massive die-off slowed down a little bit (I added a few caps of parasite-guard), I decided to move out the neons (theyre in my 10g now), swordtails, and hatchet (which are back at my LFS now, the hatchet with a school of hatchets and the swords in the livebearer tank where they came from) and I got nine hengelii rasboras. They seem fine so far (knock on wood), and they look awesome! They're big enough that the angelfish hasn't even bothered them yet. The plants haven't really changed much, they've just grown a little bit.

FTS [edit: the tank is a lot bigger than it looks in the picture, I didn't realize until now that I cut off like 6 inches of tank off of either side...]:

Hengeliis (fast little buggers + slow shutter speed = terrible pictures!)