125 Gal. B-day Present: 11/10 new fish and rescape (56k)

[yikesjason]

With this first spawn, the angels were just too aggressive to rest of the fish in the tank. It is funny how attached other people were to the angelfish, even though they are not all that excited about the overall hobby, like my wife. I mentioned that I might need to get rid of the angels so that they would kill or at least over stress the rest of the fish in the tank. Wow! that was the wrong thing to say around anyone who knew the fish. Selling the pair, or even giving them away was not an option. So the compromise I came up with was to move them to a different tank, the 25 gal hex tank I have in the bedroom.

So, I took the school of green neons, some corys, and shrimp out of the hex tank, and switched them with the pair of angels. I added a couple of female guppies I had to act as target fish for the aggression of the pair. Less than a week later, the angels had spawned again.

This time they are doing better. The fry are free swimming now and the parents are not eating them. I don't really have any desire to grow out large batches of baby angelfish, but my wife is really excited about raising some baby fish, so we are going to give it a try. I got some Hakari First Bites and we will see if I can get a few of them to grow enough to keep some juvies in the big tank. We will see what happens.

I would like to get some more pictures to put up, but the power cord to the digital camera some how got melted by the waffle iron in the kitchen. So it might be a couple of weeks before I can get back in business with a camera.

[yikesjason]

A few weeks and a new camera power cord later

Things have been growing fine. I had to do a major trim on the Aromatica, I pulled the whole patch out and replanted the tops. It had gotten so thick that all of the leaves had fallen off underneath. I also got some lily bulbs from Walmart around Christmas time, and they never grew. I didn't really expect them to. But I had heard that you usually end up getting even more bulbs when you send the duds back. So now I have 2 red lotus, 2 green, and a few other bulb plants that I have not identified.

I still don't really know how to take good pictures of the tank, but here are a few that I took today.

Full tank shot


I added a school of baby angelfish from my pair of goldies in the other tank.

[sunfire99]

Very cool, and I love your tank. Congrats on growing out the babies.

[wkndracer]

You commented on the wife being protective of the angels and I had to laugh outloud! The way I buy new tanks is by the fish spawn method. My fish spawn and my wife MAKES me buy more tanks.

Nice looking set up.

[yikesjason]

Originally Posted by wkndracer

You commented on the wife being protective of the angels and I had to laugh outloud! The way I buy new tanks is by the fish spawn method. My fish spawn and my wife MAKES me buy more tanks.

Nice looking set up.

I pointed this out to my wife and it was a no go for more tanks. That is why I got the biggest tank I felt comfortable having since it is on the second floor of the house. I knew it would not be likely I would be able to have more tanks.

[yikesjason]

Originally Posted by sunfire99

Very cool, and I love your tank. Congrats on growing out the babies.

Thanks. I have been watching your new tank too. I think it is going to be great.

[mountaindew]

YJ,
Looking good!
Always nice to see a healthy and clean setup.
-MD

[yikesjason]

I cleaned my xp3 for the first time today. This is my first canister filter. I can't believe how much junk was in there. All of the media was just full of mud.

I added some floaters a while ago because my wife really likes them. I now know not to let them get too thick, I lost some of my more sensitive plants because of the lack of light.

All and all, the tank is doing pretty well.

[yikesjason]

I have made a few changes. I got rid of he frogbit, moved the red rubin sword to the back right corner to make some more space up front, and spaced the lilies out a bit.
I am not liking the micro sword a whole lot. There is a lot of it, but it has not grown in very thick. And there are always a few pieces coming up out of the substrate. I think I am going to pull it all out and slowly spread my blyxa japonica into that area.

I still do not have a good handle on how to get a good picture with my camera. I just keep taking pictures until I get one that looks ok. Except for the reflection, this is the best picture I have ever gotten of the tank, but I could not figure out what setting I was using when I got it.

[FSM]

bump up the shutter speed as high as you can without the tank looking really dark. A lot of cameras have a round dial for the different settings, if yours is like mine 's' = shutter priority, meaning you can change the shutter speed manually. A is aperture priority, meaning you can adjust the amount of light that is coming into the camera, and m allows you to adjust both. Your camera might be completely different though.

Also, try and use a sheet of posterboard or cloth to prevent light from the fixture from spilling into the room. The way you have it now, the fixture is the brightest part of the picture, and the camera will automatically adjust to it making the tank look darker.

the tank looks great by the way.

[plantman119]

I would really consider upgrading that lamp. To me it seems like you have everything else for a great tank. Your even use CO2 so it seems like you could advance the species of plant your using and everything.

Looks great!

[@marko@]

lileopsis is hard to get in a thick carpet. its better as a midground plant IMO.
if you want a grassy foreground go with riccia or an eleocharis sp. (hairgrass).
a few monthes ago i got ahold of belem hairgrass, and it carpets very thick. its a great plant, i highly reccomend it.

[AzFishKid]

So why did you decide to go with the 48" fixture? I have a feeling you will be changing it out for a 72" soon.. for $25 more, you could have gotten this 72" fixture on ebay, which includes free shipping. I purchased this light about a month ago for my 6' 85 gallon, and I LOVEEEEEE it. Best light i have ever had.

Nice tank though, good stock list btw.. love the angels and cardinals!

[yikesjason]

Originally Posted by AzFishKid

So why did you decide to go with the 48" fixture? I have a feeling you will be changing it out for a 72" soon.. for $25 more, you could have gotten this 72" fixture on ebay, which includes free shipping. I purchased this light about a month ago for my 6' 85 gallon, and I LOVEEEEEE it. Best light i have ever had.

Nice tank though, good stock list btw.. love the angels and cardinals!

The 48" works well for me. I have the high light plants in the center and there is plenty of light for low light on the ends. Most of the time I only run 2 out of 4 bulbs as it is. Still, I would have liked to get a 72" fixture, but there was a very big price difference at the time I bough this one. I had never seen the one you mentioned. How is the quality on that light? Have you seen many reviews on it? The no-name lights on ebay before were not getting very good reviews.
There are quite a few upgrades I would like to do once I can renew my budget for this tank. I have spent $800-$900 already this year getting it started.

[yikesjason]

Originally Posted by @marko@

lileopsis is hard to get in a thick carpet. its better as a midground plant IMO.
if you want a grassy foreground go with riccia or an eleocharis sp. (hairgrass).
a few monthes ago i got ahold of belem hairgrass, and it carpets very thick. its a great plant, i highly reccomend it.

I have tried a bit of riccia in another tank and it just makes a huge mess for me. Hairgrass might be nice though. I have also been thinking I would like to do a leafy forground like a marselia or Lobelia cardinalis.