65 gallon low tech FL inspired

[jaidexl]

Some updated shots from a few days ago. The Potamogeton pectinatus added to the right has since been mowed down to nubs by my SAE.

[hydrophyte]

really nice. that is great use of negative space on the right. sometimes the open areas in aquariums have a way of accentuating the rear pane of glass as much as anything else, but this is successful. your fish selection might have a lot do to with this.

i had missed before that this is a 65--nice and big. it must make an impression.

[jaidexl]

You say the exact opposite of my wife, she doesn't like the negative space, says it's too empty. She's always a good critic no matter what I do, and doesn't understand the concept of filling plants in. Maybe she wants me to fill it with upward branches again, I just wanted to do something different for a change, the new 110 will have plenty of upward branches.

It's a pretty good size tank, we have it right in the "great room" for the entire house to see. It really looks a lot better in person than I can ever catch in pictures. All the little imperfections in the glass pop out, color and dimension is lost. Size doesn't come across either, I keep meaning to get my wife to take some pruning shots so you can see my whole arm stuck in the tank. Heh, the 110 is almost twice as big and 30" tall. Already got the extra long pruning tool for that one.

[finfan]

really nice tank, like the scape, the natural look and plant combo

really nice angel and tetras

on a diff. note - why not give the angel a friend to hang out with?

[jaidexl]

Thanks!

Originally Posted by finfan

on a diff. note - why not give the angel a friend to hang out with?

Because he's a big mean TERROR and I would never want to put another fish or him, or myself through that ordeal.

I original bought a pair, they were nickel sized juvies and I didn't really know anything about Angels at the time. It didn't take long for them to start competing heavily and sometimes it was a tad nasty, this was at about silver dollar size. They may very well have paired up eventually, given the sex matched up by chance, but they were certainly never 'buddies' in the tank. I ended up trading one back in for some bottom feeders, partly due to aggression and partly tank size since I jumped into the situation with little thought. He's been stomping around as a loner ever since, I don't think he cares or knows the difference either way, he's just a fish. I give him food and water and that seems to be enough.

Knowing what I do about them now, I would never keep more than one Angelfish unless they are a mated pair or the tank size is suitable for a school.

[jaidexl]

This was right after 'the breakup', you tell me if he looks lonely... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuM5gml-694

[suebe333]

NIce , I havent kept angels in years

[suebe333]

Originally Posted by jaidexl

This was right after 'the breakup', you tell me if he looks lonely... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuM5gml-694

thats hilarious

[CL]

That's sad lol. I bet he was looking at his reflection.

[jaidexl]

Well, I lost all my corydoras one at a time. The C. trilineatus have been falling in numbers for a year, from 10 to none, so slowly I thought maybe they were a weaker species or I wasn't feeding them enough. Lately started to think they were passing around some bacterial or parasitic infection, especially after also losing the albino that has been strong for years, two days after the last trilineatus left the building. He was one of my favorite fish, about 5yrs owned, last survivor of a short lived group of Petco albinos.

So, the tank now has 5 juvenile SAE along with my adult. I also added 6 Otoicinclus months ago, but seems I forgot to mention them, perhaps because I never see them. I'm only positive there are 4 left, anyway.

[CL]

I've never had any luck with cories or otos either. I haven't even tried keeping them in over a year.

[jaidexl]

Otos I'm not so bad off with. I'd guess I'm a little luckier than most from what I read. They're notorious for dying in the first few weeks, but once they make it into the first month, they can last a while. I have a place that quarantines them for a long time before selling, so I think that helps. Still, I buy them in groups, expecting to lose some.

I bet a lot of people think theirs have died but they just can't find them hiding. I have one in a 30gl that came out after 6 months, I was sure they were all dead for that long because I hadn't seen one for a month earlier. That fish is at least 4yrs old and I have never tried to supplement his diet, thinking he was dead, and the tank has had no algae for years. He was in the yin yang tank in my sig and what is now the last tank in my user profiles. He survived undetectable through a re'scape, a residence change and everything else that has happened to that tank. Maybe there are still 3 in there but I never see them together, who knows. I know there are at least 4 still in this 65 because I saw them all on the glass a few nights ago.

[finfan]

i had a group of 5 ottos that were with me for 6 months, the most resiliant, active and fun ottos i've ever had, but all of a sudden in a few days they all disappeared w/o a trace, and i know for sure they are not in the tank anymore

on the other hand my 4 cories that i got more than a year ago are still around but i almost forget they are there because i never see them, but once in a while i will get a glimpse, they have survived many incidents with the tank

as far as angels, i know exactly what you mean, i have one mated pair in their 30 gallon with 3 cories and they do fine except the male will harass the female sometimes

the other one is in my community tank with everyone else by himself

[jaidexl]

I have a little trouble with my photoperiod, being that it's on longer than the sun is up. Once the house gets dark and he sees his reflection, he starts to act aggressive, biting and flaring at himself. He even spooks himself and shoots across the tank like a flight reflex, this seems to be the real problem there, I hope he doesn't scare himself out of the tank or his own skin one day. I've since moved the photoperiod back an hour to only subject him to about an hour of this while leaving us some time to enjoy the tank in the evening. We make sure to turn the room lamps on to diffuse some of the reflection. Plant cover helps a lot but this particular scape obviously makes it impossible to hide the glass or block his reflection. The black background makes it worse.

[NicoleRC]

I loooooooove this tank! Do you have a hard time keeping the two substrates separate and keeping the sand side looking clean? If it isn't as big of as a hassile as I think it has potential to be, I might do something similar in my 90g I'm setting up.