# HybridHerp's 75 gallon



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Okay, so, I let this tank fall apart more or less, and it makes me sad. So, I'm going to get this tank back into shape over the summer, once and for all, or so help me lords of the aquaria.

Link to the last thread I had about this tank http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?p=2086394#post2086394

It was starting to go somewhere but then fell apart and all the plants sort of just...stopped. Diatoms took over and other problems plauged me. So now I'm going to find out how to bring everything into balance and get the plants I want in this tank growing the way I want them.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Not much to currently show or say, but I've been making some small progress so far. I'm starting to hit the BBA pretty hard, started spot dosing H2O2 and I just took out all the rocks and driftwood in this tank so that I can boil and scrub everything tomorrow.

Aside from that, I have come to the conclusion that the endli bichir has to go. Besides making planting this tank incredibly difficult, the fish itself deserves to be in a bigger tank, and even though its my oldest fish (6+ years in my care) it should be elsewhere. I have plans to sell it to a friend with a 275+ gallon tank....so hopefully that should be taken care of soon.

Without the big guy in here....it opens the tank up to a lot of stocking options and ideas as far as fish go. But even then, a part of me is wondering if keeping the rainbow cichlids is a good idea as well....I know though that the 6 pearl gourami's and the albino sen are staying with me, they work with plants and they look nice.

I might want some rope fish or a small growing upper jaw bichir to go along with the albino sen, but that's all stuff to think about in the future. I might just focus on getting plants going in here for now.

More updates in the coming days.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Gosh, this tank looks weird without hardscape. Took it out to kill of the BBA that was covering it, and I was successful after boiling everything and scrubbing, wood looks brand new now  However, I won't add it back into the tank until I've got moss, anubias, fern, and whatever else I want to tie to the wood.




However, the rainbows have decided to become super colorful with the change in location, and have been lip locking and just very fun to observe. They leave the gourami's alone though.

Still gotta get rid of the big endli though, I added some plants into this tank for now but I won't really get anything going the way it should until he is gone.






Going to use those pics to show him off as I try and sell him to someone in the area. Full tank shot is the best I can do as far as giving a reference for his size, he's a nice 15" though (hard to take a pic with the tap measure and have it be readable and have the fish stay still :S)

Anyone seeing this that is local to me (I'm on Long Island, just east of Queens) send me a message if you are interested or know someone that is interested. I'll talk price and such elsewhere 

Anyways, as far as the tank is concerned, I just want to get the plants going and put in a nice order with h4n (again) and get everything I want (or as much of it as I can) in one go. This tank will look amazing before summer's end.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

So, I'm getting all sorts of ideas for fish I want in this tank now. I did pick up a ropefish and a mokelembembe bichir (unless I get an ID saying it is a retro, either way its an upper jaw bichir that stays small). I'm also thinking about doing a pair of angels, I would do 6 but I think a male and a female pair would look nice and classey, plus, getting only two angels would mean more space for other fish AND more money for nicer angels that are perhaps a bit bigger. Not sure what variety I'd want to go with, that might possibly depend on the other fish I want to get in the tank as well.

I saw some nice nice nice nice nice congo tetras...and if I did a tetra, I feel that would be the best bet as it gets some size to it, and they look pretty regal. I'd maybe do 6-8 of them....then I'm also thinking rainbows, I saw some goyder river rainbows that where $15 a piece...not bad, but idk if I'd do 6 rainbows at that price lol I also do not know how to properly sex goyder river rainbows. However, I am thinking of maybe doing some bosmani, a bit of blue would go a long, long way in a tank like this. I'd do at least a 1:1 ratio, if not a 1:2 ratio, but I'm unsure if I would get 6 bosmani total or keep it more like four, I'm not entirely sure how much they benefit from being with their own kind.

I'm also still thinking about other cichlids in the back of my mind. Perhaps an EBJD would be worth getting into again, and I still do have a soft spot for parrot cichlids even though they get pretty girthy. I could always also do something like firemouths or keyholes, or just be happy with a rainbow pair and a pair of angels.

Also thinking about getting an oddball of some sort....I saw a brown ghost knife once and I'd LOVE that fish, stays smaller than the black ghost knife and I think they look a bit cooler than the african knifes, athough an african knife is always an option as well. So is that african leaf fish that I keep seeing around. However, I feel it looks a bit too much like a gourami for me to really want to keep it, but I am slowly changing my mind.

Now, algae eaters, I'm thinking about those. I could do SAE, but I also want to do fissedens in this tank, a LOT of fissedens. So I'm not sure as I know they are known to eat mosses. I'm also thinking about bushy nose pleco's, either the super reds or the blue eyes, but then I'm also thinking about those whiptail cats and farwolla's (or however you spell it) just to be a little more exotic with it and because perhaps they are more delicate with plants and the like.

My MTS are now, for once, doing well in this tank. I'm thinking about adding a small small small small small amount of mystery snails to this tank again as well, but that's easy to come by and not a big deal. Would be nice though to eat any dead leafs decaying around the tank.

However, I need the big bichir to leave first lol

My main goal and idea for this tank, is to do something akin to what daveguitarfish is doing with his 75, a sort of hybrid of dutch and iwagumi. Then, adding interesting and colorful fish ontop of that, but also fish that have a degree of size to them. I'm not one for having a larger tank filled with plants and tons of super small fish that you never see because they are lost among the leafs. I think a balance between plant color, plant size, fish color, and fish size can be achieved, meaning fish people can be wowed by the fish, plant people wowed by the plants, and fish AND plant people just being wowed in general.

As far as plants go, I have quiet the list of possible plant species I want in here, and even somewhat know where I want them as well. But, I might also mess around with my hardscape first since I have the opportunity to do something totally new as well. If I feel adventurous, since I already want to get some HC for my 10 gallon, I might toss some into this tank as well...just to see what would happen.

All I know is, I'm excited for this tank to turn into a real masterpiece, and I plan on having it at least well started before the summer is over. EXEPCT TO SEE ME ON THE SnS IN THE COMMING WEEKS....all your plants are belong to me


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Going to be in this holding tank for at least two weeks.


----------



## BHolmes (Aug 23, 2012)

HybridHerp said:


> My main goal and idea for this tank, is to do something akin to what daveguitarfish is doing with his 75, a sort of hybrid of dutch and iwagumi. Then, adding interesting and colorful fish ontop of that, but also fish that have a degree of size to them. I'm not one for having a larger tank filled with plants and tons of super small fish that you never see because they are lost among the leafs. I think a balance between plant color, plant size, fish color, and fish size can be achieved, meaning fish people can be wowed by the fish, plant people wowed by the plants, and fish AND plant people just being wowed in general.
> 
> As far as plants go, I have quiet the list of possible plant species I want in here, and even somewhat know where I want them as well. But, I might also mess around with my hardscape first since I have the opportunity to do something totally new as well. If I feel adventurous, since I already want to get some HC for my 10 gallon, I might toss some into this tank as well...just to see what would happen.
> 
> All I know is, I'm excited for this tank to turn into a real masterpiece, and I plan on having it at least well started before the summer is over. EXEPCT TO SEE ME ON THE SnS IN THE COMMING WEEKS....all your plants are belong to me


That's the same set of goals that I have for my 90g. Right now there are 17 different types of plants and ten different types of fish. Most of the fish will be between three and six inches full grown. Can't wait to see your progress on this!


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Where is your tank? I want to see it lol
Share ideas and the like


----------



## BHolmes (Aug 23, 2012)

The link in my sig is my journal. Now I'm just in the process of letting it grow out. I also want to add some more rainbows. Is there a list of tank and equipment specs


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Didn't see your sig when I was on mobile, gunna look at it now


----------



## dprais1 (Sep 12, 2012)

You know, concerning bows, they grow slowly, especially bosemani. But if you are willing to wait a bit for them to grow you should be able to get just about any bow for $4-$6 from a breeder. 

I got 25 bows for a total of 120.00, each about 1.5" or so. Even at that size they have some nice colors and those colors have just been improving each week.

And I know there are plenty of rainbow fish peoples on the rainbowfish forum from New York.

One thing to consider is that since they are such aggressive eaters they would not mix well with passive fish.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

The only passive fish I have would be the small bichirs I am keeping....the pearls aren't passive at all so I am not concerned.


----------



## Mizuhuman (Mar 16, 2013)

wow huge and beautiful endli bichir there. If only I had a much bigger tank. I would be more than willing to take him off your hands. I heard that mokelembembe bichirs are more sensitive thus harder to acclimate. 

I currently have a 3-4in african brown knife fish. great looking fish. I have no problem feeding him the first day. The only problem is he still refuses to come out during lights on and he is really shy.

It looks like your planning to stock up your 75. What kind of filters do you have?
All in all you have some grand plans for that tank. I'm excited to see it finish. good luck


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Well, the moke is actually a retro but he's doing alright so far.

My filters are two eheim 2217's, and 50% weekly water changes. As well as going to be heavily planted.

And thanks on the bichir...tbh idk how much bigger it will get but he deserved to be in at least a 120 if not larger.

One day when I have my own place I do want to do a planted tank with a few big bichirs, but I wouldn't do it I'm anything less than a 180.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

BHolmes said:


> The link in my sig is my journal. Now I'm just in the process of letting it grow out. I also want to add some more rainbows. Is there a list of tank and equipment specs


Aside from the filters mentioned above, using a Catalina 4 bulb t5ho fixture and a gla online diffuser as well as an inline heater to keep the tank around 76 or so.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

So, today is the day I rehome my endli bichir.

Sad since I've had it for 6 or 7 years now, but the guy needs a bigger home and I can't get a larger tank in the foreseeable future.

Route 4 aquarium in Jersey offered me a nice amount of store credit, and I couldn't find a local buyer who was willing to nab this guy.

Not the first time I had to rehome an animal, but it's always sad when it happens.

But, now I can finally get this tank rolling as a planted tank, and will be adding back plants later today as well as fish I've been quarantining and perhaps getting new guys today.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

So, my hand hurts from the amount of pruning that happened due to being in the water all that time re-scaping.....

Endli is in another home now, and now I re-scaped this tank....I'll post pics up later.

Also got some new fish, I'll show the full stock list once I put up the pictures...and of course me being me, I have a few fish that still aren't traditional planted tank residents, but I have faith that they will work (or at least most of them...one of them is going to be hit or miss but if its miss its an easy fish to rehome for the price I payed for it).

Time will tell if I'm being stupid with my fish choice or not, but I'm feeling daring. Plus, if it works, they are some beautiful fish when fully colored up.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Thorichthys ellioti – “Ellioti Cichlid”
Got him growing out a bit in my 10 gallon...he probably is big enough as is but I'd rather be safer than sorry since I don't see these in NY (got this in Jersey).




Full tank shot. Like the scape so far? I decided to mix it up a little bit from what it was before. 6 pieces of wood are in this sucker now, I'll go over them in pictures.


Eichhornia diversifolia was trimmed way down, on the far left. Subwerstang is on the stone, H. pinatifida and Blyxa also in front of the wood, with Petite anubias on the wood itself.

I call this Wood #1 (creative right?)



More blyxa, subwerstang, and H. araguyai to the right. I want to get it to carpet a little bit...should look interesting next to the blyxa and the s. repens to its right. Also, you can see the Red Tiger Lotus in the background...that should be cool once it grows huge, as I know they do.



S. repens, Gold nesea...it looks a little rough but it will be bouncing back soon now that nothing is uprooting it or anything, plus I am dosing ferts again.


Crypts...a mix of some wendtii hybrid, a bit of green gecko, nurii, parva, usterania, crispatula var. flaccidifolia, a rose sword, l. aromatic, a. reineckii, a micaranthra lotus, and the laghenandra (they are super small though but growing...soon to be monsters)


This feel over a bit, so it looks less awkward now. I call this wood #4. Its covered in assorted anubias species, and has Red cabomba and H. 'Brown' to its left, alongside two madagascar lace plants and some sunset hygro, and it has H. corymbosa to its right. I want to put bangladesh behind it as well, and have R. vietnam, R. japan red, and R. goias in front of this wood as well, alongside getting more anubias for it.


The two lace plants where sitting in a 10 gallon for months...they are a lovely, lovely plant. I have them behind the banana plant (they get big...the tubers all rotted off and/or where buried, but this started out looking like any other banana plant).



Wood #2, I have some fissidens from MonsterFish on here, as well as windelov java fern that I've been holding on to. Wood #3 is the piece right in front of this one, and it has more fissidens on it, as well as a bit of trident fern that I want to grow out. Should be nice.


This I'm not sure how I feel about. The plant you see here is some L. Atlantis that I trimmed from my 10 that is in my sig. Behind it is Rubin, which I like, and a crinum calminstratum, which will grow huge in time. I want to get multiple ludwigia species growing in rows here...but I am unsure if I want to keep atlantis here specifically. I'm also debating if I should use glandulosa...or if I should keep only Rubin as a larger, background ludwigia species in this section. Debating debating.


And now for the fish. I am SO FREAKING HAPPY that I was able to find this EBJD...he's a good 4" I'd say. I MISS HAVING ONE SO MUCH. I had one...over two years ago, that I had had for 3 years and grew out from a 2" baby...got it to just over 5" before it died when I went away on vacation. And he is behaved with the stems so far...only plant that's been uprooted is blyxa...which is a pain in the ass to keep planted anyways...and its only a small amount of blyxa (like one stem of it) that seems to be uprooted...I'll bury it better later.


Australian Rainbows....5 of them. Got these at the GCAS auction a week or so back. One of them is deformed a bit, and had some fin rot, but its bouncing back. The rest are starting to show their true colors. I'm debating getting 2 or three more...if I did I'd aim to just get more females most likely.


This, is a nice fish. A pair, male and female actually. Threadfin Acara. From what I understand it doens't grow super huge either. I'm doing this pair in place of attempting to do a pair of some nice angels....I just like the regal appearance of these and am getting tired of not being able to find angels I want that are affordable. This one is the female, less colorful and show, but still pretty.



The male is prettier, but wasn't as easy to snap a pic of. That dorsal gets some long trailers, and the fish gets a lot of red highlights and blue speckling. I'm excited lol


Yup, my rainbow cichlids are still doing fine. I think they might be a male and female pair...idk. They get along and are showy and active, so I'm happy. They aren't being dark and hiding anymore which is fantastic, as they are a fantastic cichlid, especially for a planted tank.


The 6 pearls are doing fine as well. Pictured are 4 because they like to break off and chill around the tank.


Not the best pic...but it shows that I have a rope fish now. Considering getting another one as well, but he should be fine with the sen bichir and retropinis bichir that I have now.


Another crummy shot, but this is the back end of my retropinis bichir. Just to prove that he is, indeed, in this tank.

Andddddd, photo dump time


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

So, on sunday I am going on a LFS tour with some other Long Island people. I'm thinking of getting 6-8 congo tetras....only other fish I then desire for this tank would be some sort of something that will nibble on algae and NOT on fissidens. Idk if bushynose plecos are out then, but I know it takes out SAE. I'm also debating flagfish or just some nice mollies/platties/swordtails/whatever live bearers that might nibble stuff up...plus them making babies should be a nice snack for everyone else in here.

Now for the important stuff....the plants. I have quiet the list of plant species I want to toss in here. As mentioned, I'm going to do rows of ludwigia...I know I want either/or both cuba and pantanal, as well as twisted and the regular version of inclinata....senegalenses is always nice as well, and I want to get some diplis diandra going too in this same area. Not sure if I'd want to get the straight Red Ludwigia as well....I've done it before in another tank but meh, I might have space in here.

Aside from that, I have rotalas that I want, a few crypts, might be getting some leopard jungle val to see how it does....maybe even some P. stellatus and P. erectus in here too.

Only thing I don't know what to do with is Wood #6...the wood standing upright in the back right corner. Atm, it has some tawiain moss stuffed on it, but idk if I want to keep that or not. I might consider doing another moss of that genus, but I'm not sure if it will look random. I could just throw anubias or fissidens on it, but I feel like it will get covered over by crypt leafs and the lagenandra and everything else if I make it too subtle. Maybe I could try a Buce here? But those are small too right? Ideas people?

I also have some more rainbow rock I can put in the tank, its the stone I'm using in this tank. Rainbow fish, Rainbow Cichlids, Rainbow Rocks....wasn't aiming to make that a little theme but its cool lol. I might try some Buce on the rainbow rock perhaps...or maybe even do smaller buce mixed in on wood #1 with the petite anubias, might even try some micro on it just to see the size difference.

Oh, and I am getting an aflame sword, probably to put right in front of Wood #2, in the little nook there. Should like nice, and I've never seen it grow super big, so I think it could make for an interesting foreground.

Anyways, on to the full list of species I have in the tank currently. The T. elliot is going to be an epic looking fish (google image search it and you will see), but I'm not including it in this list until it is actually physically in this tank.

Just going to copy and paste from my microsoft word document that complains all my notes and plans for my tanks.


Current Fish/Inverts 
•	Herotilapia multispinosa – “Rainbow Cichlid” x2
o	Allow breeding to occur
•	Acarichthys heckelii – “Threadfin Acara” x2
o	Allow breeding to occur
•	Rocio octofasciata – “Electric Blue Jack Dempsey”
o	Remove if screwing up plants
•	Trichopodus leerii – “Pearl Gourami” x3:3
o	Allow breeding to occur and give away/sell broods
•	Melanotaenia australis – “Australian Rainbow fish” x5
o	Allow breeding to occur and give away/sell broods
o	Add a few more when possible
•	Polypterus senegalus – “Senegal Bichir”
o	About 8” long now
•	Polypterus retropinnis
o	About 5” long now
•	Erpetoichthys calabaricus – “Rope fish”
o	About 14” long now
•	Melanoides tuberculata - “Trumpet Snail”
o	Allow breeding population to form

Plants
•	Current
o	Bottom
•	Staurogyne repens
	Partial carpet
•	Hygrophila sp. ‘Araguaia’
	Partial carpet to the right of S. repens
o	Foreground
•	Eichhornia diversifolia
	In front of Wood #1
•	Hygrophila pinnatifida
	In front of Wood #1
•	Blyxa japonica
	In front of Wood #1 and #2
•	Nesaea pedicellata – “Yellow Nesaea”
	In front of N. aquatic
•	Cryptocoryne parva
	Edge of crypt ring
•	Cryptocoryne nurii
	Crypt ring
•	Cryptocoryne sp. ‘Green Gecko’
	Crypt ring
o	Mid-Ground
•	Echinodorus sp. ‘Rose’
	Middle of crypt ring
•	Limnophia aromatica
	Right next to crypt ring
•	Nymphaea micrantha
	Near crypt ring
•	Rotala sp. ‘Vietnam’
	In front of R. macrandra var. ‘Japan Red’
•	Nymphoides aquatic – “Banana Plant”
	In front of right side of Wood #4
	Keep trimmed when leafs get too tall or too wide
•	Nymphaea stellata – “Dwarf Lilly”
	On top of N. aquatic
•	E. angustifolia ‘Vesuvius’
	In front of N. aquatic
•	Hygrophila polysperma var. ‘Sunset’
	In front of H. sp. ‘Brown’
•	Nymphaea zenkeri – “Red Tiger Lotus”
	In front of the gap of Wood #2
•	Didiplis diandra
	In front of Ludwigia senegalensis
o	Background
•	Alternanthera reineckii var. ‘Rosaefolia’
	Back right corner
•	Ammania gracilis
	Next to A. reineckii
•	Lagenandra meeboldii ‘Pink’
	Back right corner
	Let it grow more compact
•	Cryptocoryne crispatula var. flaccidifolia
	Allow to grow around back of crypt ring
•	Cryptocoryne usteriana
	Keep in back of crypt circle
•	Cryptocoryne sp. Wendtii Hybrid
	Said to grow tall
	If so, use to frame crypt sp. group
•	Hygrophila corymbosa – “Giant Temple”
	Bordering back right of Wood #4
	Trim compact
•	Cabomba furcata – “Red Cabomba”
	Behind Wood #4, in-between A. madagascariensis and R. sp. ‘Bangladesh’
•	Aponogeton madagascariensis – “Lace Leaf”
	Behind N. aquatic
•	Hygrophila sp. ‘Brown’
	Around A. madagascariensis
•	Crinum calamistratum
	Behind Wood #1 and in front of Wood #3
•	Proserpinaca palustris – “Mermaid Weed”
	In the gap of Wood #2
•	Ludwigia sp. ‘Rubin’
	Keep right of L. glandulosa
•	Ludwigia sp. ‘Atlantis’
	In front of L. sp. ‘Rubin’ and L. glandulosa
o	Non-Substrate
•	Surface
	None
•	Hardscape
	Wood #1
•	Anubias barteri var. ‘Petite’
o	Allow to carpet wood
	Wood #2
•	Microsorum pteropus var. ‘Windelov’
o	Allow to carpet top of wood
•	Fissidens fontanus – Mini Fissidens
o	Allow to cover wood
	Wood #3
•	Microsorum pteropus var. ‘Trident’
o	Allow to carpet bottom of wood
•	Fissidens fontanus – Mini Fissidens
o	Allow to cover wood
	Wood #4
•	Anubias barteri var. ‘Nana’
o	On wood
•	Anubias barteri var. ‘Broad-Leaf’
o	On wood
•	Anubias barteri var. ‘Coffeefolia’
o	On wood
•	Anubias sp.
	Wood #5
•	Fissidens fontanus – Mini Fissidens
o	Allow to cover wood
	Wood #6
•	Taxiphyllum sp. ‘Taiwan’
o	Might replace with something else
•	Stones
	Lomariopsis sp. ‘Subwassertang’
•	Allow to form a nice layer on stones and wood
•	Spread throughout foreground as an accent

More to come soon, as things grow and as I acquire new plants. Its good to be in business with this tank


----------



## jesseliu13 (Jun 3, 2013)

wow beautiful chris


----------



## Monster Fish (Mar 15, 2011)

This should look great when it fills up. Lemme know when you want to get another rope.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Monster Fish said:


> This should look great when it fills up. Lemme know when you want to get another rope.


Will do...unless of course we find one on sunday lol


----------



## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

Looking good. you sound much happier now that your monsterfish was rehomed... and you have a new monsterfish to chum with hehehe...


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

The dempseys and the like are calmer and less invasive, from experience, I know ebjd for example are about the same in size and temperament as rainbow cichlids...they are very different from regular dempseys based on what I've researched and experienced (I was a cichlids guy when I started fish keeping).

Nothing gets bigger than 6 inches, and the bottom guys stay small too, no bigger than the albino sen.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

I think the rainbow cichlids are trying to spawn, as they keep digging a small pit in the same spot. I put a rock in that spot to see if they will spawn, because I know they are rock spammers and not pit spawners.

Not sure if the thread fin acaras are trying as well, but I feel like eventually they will. Have to read up on it as I've never breed anything other that cherry shrimp and guppies.


----------



## BHolmes (Aug 23, 2012)

That'll look awesome when it fills in! I think you landed on the subtle side of variety


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Thanks, but what does "subtly side of variety" mean? Lol


----------



## BHolmes (Aug 23, 2012)

I was being sarcastic  It's a zoo! There's a ton of variety in that tank. Awesome! I'm not a fan of tanks that only grow one or two species of plant and stock one species of fish. It doesn't seem challenging enough and too simple looking. You could take one picture of one area in a tank like yours and see many different varieties of life, like a freshwater reef.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Ahh, and yah, it's maybe only half way there in terms of diversity too lol.

Especially in a big tank, I don't see why one would keep only a few species. I can understand in a 10 or smaller but a 75? You've gotta make that interesting.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

I'm wondering what sort of algae eating things I can come up with for this tank. I'm avoiding SAE because I hear they will eat fissidens....I'm wondering if a few flagfish or even just having a few livebearers of some sort (probably either mollies or swordtails as I think platies are too small and guppies are obviously too small) would help?

I'm also kind of wanting to do mystery snails again...but that remains to be seen. The MTS are doing okay though, no idea if ramshorns are breeding or not.

I might throw in some ghost shrimp as well...just as a snack mainly and cause it might be cool if any did survive. But probably mostly as a snack.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

So, I've added a few new things....I'll start with pics from sunday that show what I got sunday.....although I got a few things today that I'll show off tomorrow 


Leopard Jungle Val...doesn't look super stripy, but I'm hoping that it will in time. Should be really cool once it gets going. And besides, if you are going to keep something weedy, might as well be something weedy that looks cool right? 

Also to note is the rainbow rock I put right there....mainly because my rainbow cichlids (well, the male any who) was digging that spot out...so I put the rock there so he could have something to try and get the female to lay eggs on (his luck with the ladies so far seems to be as good as mine...which is to say....meh at best lol)


I threw some Kompact Hygro with the regular corymbosa....just to add more density to it all.



Because I would never just have bushy nose plecos, I have to do it up with fancyness . Two royal farlowella's should do the trick of maybe munching on algae, but looking cool as hell and chilling out in the open. Its cool that they don't really hide, I always seem them up front in plain sight, although they can be hard to find when they are on my wood right in front of my face....cool fish though 


Oh yah, I got more blyxa....I remember wanting this plant so badly, thinking it was so cool....now I have so much of it, its pretty dense, and I love it XD


P. erectus and L. glandulousa that I got from a LFS...the glandulousa is emersed form, so I'll let it sit here and convert on its own time. Very little melting for now though, so we shall see.

Anyways, I got more fish and more plants today, and am putting in an order of plants with h4n again....because we do that lol. But no spoilers on that yet, not until there are pictures 

I had to trim some plants down already though, namely the red cabomba that I have in here now...and really like the look of and am going to keep in here, and a bit of the yellow nessea. Hopefully these continue to do well for me, and all the plants that looked rough are showing signs of new and much healthier growth, such as my E. vesuvius.

Also managed to get my rose sword to stay down by cutting off a ton of its old leafs...I left it with only two leafs, but it hasn't been uprooted now and its growing pretty steadily and noticeably, so I'm fine with hacking something back all the way to let it get better established.

Gotta do the same to s. repens some time, as well as my H. brown. The older leafs on the lace plants are starting to brown a bit, but I think that might just be due to being in a different tank, as new leafs are growing steadily.

Only real issue I have to deal with, is killing off some BBA that has decided that the top of the filter outlet is a good place to be, and to get my crypts to take off, and not get algae growing on them, ugh. Although, I suspect that won't be a problem once the sword gets going, the idea being that with the rose sword in the middle, and the lagenandrha behind it, that the crypts can be shaded enough so that there isn't a ton of algae. Same idea on wood #5 with the anubias that I want to put on it. Going to be surrounded by stems, and then hopefully have the big leafs poking out.

Not sure what I want to do with Wood #6 though...I was thinking of moss originally but I don't think I really like that idea. I might just keep it as is, and then use it for more lagenandrha in the future, one the little bit I have takes off. Actually, typing that out, I like that idea, so I think that's my new plan for that area


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Notice a few new things?


My fish where wanting to be in the lime light, but I got this R. sp. Vietnam....and it looks so gooooodddddddd. Just put in last night, these pics are from maybe an hour ago at most.


My Blyxa is looking pretty thick. In a week I guess I'll have to start thinning it out or something.


Is it just me, or did the P. erectus grow significantly since sunday? Also, new plant alert. Got some L. inclinata var. Cuba.....I was told to put it in the back, but I think I like how it looks in this area a bit more...shows it off and it has thinner leafs than the Rubin, Atlantis, and Glandulousa, so it should be very nice once it all settles in and establishes.


Just a nice pic of one of the stems. In the future, I might get some pantanal in this tank as well, but I'll wait until I'm selling trimmings from this tank before doing that. And trust me, if all goes well, there will be some trimmings comming out of here that will be well worth peoples time.


The glandulousa. Its doing well, its not losing leafs or anything though, which I find intriguing. I guess we will have to see what happens as it turns.


The mermaid weed that I have going on. Its small since I just took the tops from what I already had and tossed the rest, but it is climbing up...should look pretty cool once it grows to a point where you don't have to look for it in the woodwork. Hoping this turns a nice red for me.


These guys like to move...a lot......got six congo tetras last night as well, and I am super excited as they add a lot of movement and detail to the tank, plus, they are getting along with the rest of the fish, the rainbows especially have taken a liking to them and they kind of congregate with each other. It also seems to be helping to cut down on the aggression of the rainbow cichlids with each other and everything else...that or I think the male just gave up on breeding lol


Just a nice pic of some of the fish being in one area.


My banana plant likes to send these out to try and reach the top...I keep cutting them though because I'd rather not have it make lillies...but then again, since I don't have any floating plants, I might let it send a few up.

But yah, I pretty much have all the fish I want for this tank now. Might add more congo tetras and rainbows later, and another rope fish, and some livebearers or flagtails or something, but that's not stuff I really care too much about getting done right away, if at all even. I do want to add the T. ellioti before the summer is over though, he would probably grow faster, and be able to establish himself sooner rather than later. He would be the smallest cichlid though, but he is a bit bigger than the congo tetras, so he should be fine in that regard.

But plants, I'm going to be getting some in the next week from h4n. And then I will consider this tank completed (for now at least). No tank is truly ever "finished".


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Thanks h4n for noting this to me, what I've been calling P. erectus is actually Hydrotriche hottoniiflora....might explain why this is doing so well for me, but when I got some P. erectus a while ago it just melted on me. Either way, looks very similar and I am happy with it. Just like being as accurate as possible


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Hydrotriche hottoniiflora grows super, super fast.....but doesn't grow roots and has a thin stem.....its one of like, 3 plants that gets uprooted on me a bit.....I think cutting them and keeping them short for a bit will help with that, as now they are almost as tall as the tank.....

blyxa, some of it sometimes comes up but I have so much I don't really care. And the glandulousa that is converting comes up a bit too

end of the week I should have another picture update, because I'm getting the final bit of plants I want before I call this tank complete


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

New plants today=pics tomorrow


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Little 2 inch Black Ghost Knife, going to grow out in the 10 for few months.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Will I ever take a straight full tank shot? Probably not. new plants in, courtesy of my friend and your friend, h4n.



New plant #1. A stem of emersed grown Rotala sp. 'Sunset'. I am soooooooo excited to see if I can get this plant to do well for me. It looks so sweet and it seems hard to come by. I'd love to get more of this out there.



What's this? Why, this is only my favorite Echinodorus variety ever. The Aflame Sword. Not much to look at now, but as it grows, its leafs grow in a deep wine red, almost black color. I had one before but lost it during the super storm. In a way, this tank is the combination of things I have lost throughout the years coming together to make one, awesome looking tank.



Aside from the epic close up on a Royal Farlowella, this right here is a small bit of Monte Carlo. I have more coming tomorrow from Tom Barr (I love group orders on expensive plants), and I'm hoping that, over time, I can get a nice patch of this stuff going. To me, it seems like the perfect blend of HC and Glosso, without any of the drawbacks.



Fish make it hard to get good plant pics. Aside from that though, I got some Rotala macrandra 'Japan Red', that I'm hoping will turn blood red for me in the coming weeks.



Anubias hostifolia is now on Wood #4. I'm also noticing that Red Cabomba is a great color indicator, as it is turing very, very green in this tank. I am playing with my photo period still, as my light is a 4x54W T5-HO fixture from catalina. Any advice on ideal lighting duration (I'm trying 8 hours now, with 4 hours in the middle of all 4 bulbs on) would be much obliged.



My crypts are starting to look better, as is the rose sword I hacked down. Not pictured though, as this new addition only got placed here this morning, is some Littorella uniflora that needs some recovering. I have it, currently, placed so that it can grow in-between my C. parva, as both seem to be slow growing plants and are both a very bright green color and small. Seemed like the best place to use this plant.



Nurii is looking good 



Crummy pic, but my Lagenandhra is looking a little rough. Perhaps it is being restricted by the fishing line used to tie it down? I am unsure, but all I know is that I hope it bounces back, as I don't see this plant around ever and I want it to do well.



More alternanthera, because why not? It should look nice once it grows in.



The leopard val is spreading. Hopefully soon is starts coming in nice and thick.



Some small Pogostemon stellatus. This should like super, super nice once it gets going.



Mini Bolbits on Wood #5



A lot of the Windelov had came unattached (i have poor luck with super glue it seems) But eventually it should stay and take off on me, as regular java fern has in my 10.


I am debating if I like the order of ludwigia's as I have them, but I got in L. inclinata var. 'Twister'. Should look nice once it gets going, but I can't help thinking that having it right in front of the Cuba looks....weird. I might move the cuba behind the glandulousa, the rubin (which doesn't look very happy) and the atlantis, so that its (from the back) green (cuba), red (glandy, atlantis, rubin), green (twisted), red (L. senegalensis and possibly L. inclinata var. Pantanal when/if I get them). Then again, I might just keep the Twisted and Cuba shorter than the Rubin, Atlantis, and Glandy, and have the Sen and Pantanal in the front to make it Red, Green, Red. Idk



I NEED MORE DILPIS DIANDRA.



E. diversifolia is doing well despite being shoved into a corner under some wood. I also suck at cleaning the diatoms off the glass in this corner....meh



H. pinnatifida....hopefully it will do well, it seems to be very slow growing for me, but I have also been keeping it short.



N. micrantha needs to be used more. I like Red Tiger Lotus (hence why I have it) but this is soooo much cooler looking.



Don't worry, I still love you to.



I have a love/hate thing going on with this plant right now. This is the Hydrotriche hottoniiflora I originally thought was P. stellatus. Looks super pretty. Gets uprooted super easily. It has a very flimsy stem. Grows like a weed though. This and Blyxa tend to get uprooted a bit, not the fish, just because of how floaty they are as plants. Might also have to do with the fact I'm using Eco Complete.



T. ellioti is a big boy now (not really, but he can handle himself in here and is as big as the congos so he isn't becoming a meal for anyone). He has sweet fins, and as he gets older and bigger his colors should start coming in more. Already has a lot of blue speckling, and he is always out front and exploring.



You're so pretty but you move too much. Slow down please.




Australian Rainbows. Under rated. Not as flashy as say, Bosmani or those deep burgundy guys, but they have subtle intricacy that makes them so, so pretty. Its the details that make these pretty, and every day they are becoming more and more colorful.

Only things that are annoying me atm are the lack of red plants staying red (upped my co2 and my lights....going to play around with my dosing as well to get everything in balance properly) and my Retropinis bichir never comming out of his little hiding spot.....I see him, I can't get a good pic, I just want him to come out. I'm thinking of getting another rope, that might coax him along, or maybe another small upper jaw bichir. That remains to be seen.

Oh, not pictured for some reason, I got a small bit of Rotala mexicana var. Goias, and some Rotala sp. Bangledesh. Those should both be fun.


----------



## Mizuhuman (Mar 16, 2013)

Goodness. that's a lot of variety of fish and plants in that tank. You are making me jealous.
How do you feed all of those fish? Do you have trouble feeding any particular fish like maybe the senegal?


----------



## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

If the Hydrotriche hottoniiflora is dropping needles, there's likely a deficiency. left alone for too long, it gets leggy and sparcely needled. iron and co2 help but to keep it happy, it loves light.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Mizuhuman said:


> Goodness. that's a lot of variety of fish and plants in that tank. You are making me jealous.
> How do you feed all of those fish? Do you have trouble feeding any particular fish like maybe the senegal?


Nope....only fish that I am having trouble feeding atm are the baby BGK that is alone in a 10 gallon (this one concerns me actually...not that I payed a lot for it, but it'd be nice for it to grow out, as it would work well in this tank for a while from what the knife fish people on MFK are telling me), oh, and my retropinnis, idk how its doing as far as food goes, as unlike my sen bichir and ropefish, he doesn't like to come out when I feed. Maybe he cruses around at night, idk.

I feed pretty heavily though, and while the congos and rainbows are pigs, the cichlids take a few seconds to realize there is food, so the congos gorge while the cichlids are just like whu?

The sen and rope both eat whatever sinks to the bottom, which is most of the food I feed, although when I throw in krill the sen has swam to the top and chilled there to grab and eat what he can (my endli did that all the time, oddly, and the sen picked that up from him).

I'm thinking about adding another rope fish or small upper jaw bichir....might get the retro to ease up and come out of hiding.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

acitydweller said:


> If the Hydrotriche hottoniiflora is dropping needles, there's likely a deficiency. left alone for too long, it gets leggy and sparcely needled. iron and co2 help but to keep it happy, it loves light.


So far it has not been dropping needles, and its been growing pretty well for me, although I feel I could get it to grow more condensed as well, but I think my lighting is a bit....idk, its weird that my reds are not as red as they should be. I have 8 hours of a 10K and a 6.5K, and then 4 hours in the middle of a 6.5K and a pink grow bulb from catalina (all the lights are from them actually, I just forget the actual name of the thing....meh).

I might just have to replace the 10K and one of the 6.5K's though, as they are a little older than I'd prefer to run (I replaced the burst lighting so they are brand new....the other were originally on burst but it might be better to just replace them anyways)....I might keep the mix though as I like how the 10K brings out the greens in the plants and the blues in the fish....but I might replace the 6.5K with another plant grow bulb.....making my mix a 10K and a plant grow for 8 hours, and a 6.5K and a plant grow for 4 hours. Pending on how things do with those light times as well, I might bring it up to 9 and 5 and then maybe even 10 and 5....maybe.

And I just replenished my ferts so I have plenty of things to dose the tank with. I'm actually going to trim the stems down tomorrow....as I think most of my stems still have a lot of their bottom growth being older growth....so I might just trim the bottoms, throw them into my holding tank, and keep the fresh new tops in here to allow everything to grow adjusted to this tank.

Also, it needs to cool down, my lace plants are not happy with this heat at all.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

UGH, black ghost knifes frustrated me.

The little guy died on me . I guess he wasn't eating or whatnot for me, I had just bought live blackworms to give him to get him going, but I guess I was too late *sigh*

I might get another one, but I know that the better fish to get would be an brown ghost knife....not the african knife fish (it works, I've had it before, but I'm generally over that species), but the brown ghost knife, which stays smaller and might be a better idea for this tank....although from what I've been told on MFK a BGK still works, and if I can't find a brown ghost knife I might just get another black one....but idk.

I'm doing water changes tonight and going to trim and replant the tops of some of my stems, mainly that left side with the ludwigia. That way, I can just get the tops growing, and I'll put the bottoms in the grow out 10 to form sideshoots which I will then put into this tank.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

So in a few days I am going to be getting new bulbs (because I needed them), a 5K and a 6.5K that will be on for 8 hours or so, with another 6.5K and a pink grow bulb on for 4 hours.

Also going to be getting another korelia 750, as I am not a fan of my level of flow for this tank in some areas. Also, going to be buying excel and doing the one-two punch on this tank too....just to kill off the last of the BBA in the tank (its on the back glass and equipment....its a pain) and try and keep everything in this tank in check.

Slowly increasing my co2 levels as well.....things are progressing but very slowly.

I also want to pick up two rainbows, either same species or different (if different, might be three so its a male and two females), and am growing out a small delhezi bichir and two more small congo tetras (they were $5 each...so why not?) that will be going in here....eventually I'll maybe pick up another rope fish as well......maybe an african knife.....maybe a bushynose or two to help with diatoms. I don't know exactly, those are all just ideas.

For now I'm good on plants....I'll try and get a few more species later on.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

New bulbs....check
New plants...check
just did water change today so tank is cloudy as heck....check *sigh*

new pics tomorrow along with more of my rambling.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

So finally, I make that update. Wasn’t feeling well last night so wasn’t worth typing this all up and uploading the pics and all.

I’ve made some additions to the tank. I was getting a lot of dead spots so I had to fix up my flow. Added another korelia 750 that I got in a trade for some plant clippings from a guy that used to keep it salt water…cleaned it off by just soaking it in a 1:1 thing of vinegar and tap water. Easier than scrubbing that’s for sure. Joraan, whom I recently met, told me how to set up my flow, although I slightly modified his idea with my own simply because I don’t think the flow on an Eheim is really worth its weight. Maybe excessive, probably. Does it work? Yes. So do I care? Nope, as long as it works 

I kinda am too lazy to write out what is and what isn’t new…so I’m just going to post up the entire list of plants in this tank again. Also, got new light bulbs finally….my lighting now is 2 6500K Bulbs for 8 hours….and a pink grow bulb and a 5000K for 6 hours (should be 4 but….tbh I kinda don’t mind doing it like this if it helps things color up and all)

Bottom
•	Rotala Mexicana var. 'Goias'
o	Partial carpet between R. sp. ‘Vietnam’ and S. repens
•	Staurogyne repens
o	Partial carpet
•	Micrantherum umbrosum var. ‘Monte Carlo’
o	Partial carpet in front of S. repens
•	Hygrophila sp. ‘Araguaia’
o	Partial carpet to the right of S. repens
Foreground
•	Eichhornia diversifolia
o	In front of Wood #1
•	Hygrophila pinnatifida
o	In front of Wood #1
•	Blyxa japonica
o	In front of Wood #1 and #2
•	Nesaea pedicellata – “Yellow Nesaea”
o	In front of N. aquatic
•	Cryptocoryne parva
o	Edge of crypt ring
•	Cryptocoryne nurii
o	Crypt ring
•	Cryptocoryne sp. ‘Green Gecko’
o	Crypt ring
Mid-Ground
•	Echinodorus sp. ‘Rose’
o	Middle of crypt ring
•	Cryptocoryne wendtii ‘Florida Sunset’
o	Back of crypt ring
•	Limnophia aromatica
o	Right next to crypt ring
•	Nymphaea micrantha
o	Near crypt ring
•	Rotala macrandra var. ‘Japan Red’
o	In front of Wood #4
•	Rotala sp. ‘Vietnam’
o	Behind R. macrandra var. ‘Japan Red’
•	Nymphoides aquatic – “Banana Plant”
o	In front of right side of Wood #4
•	Nymphaea stellata – “Dwarf Lilly”
o	On top of N. aquatic
•	Echinodorus angustifolia ‘Vesuvius’
o	In front of N. aquatic
•	Hygrophila polysperma var. ‘Sunset’
o	In front of H. sp. ‘Brown’
•	Echinodorus sp. ‘Aflame’
o	In front of R. sp. ‘Sunset’
•	Nymphaea zenkeri – “Red Tiger Lotus”
o	In front of the gap of Wood #2
•	Ludwigia inclinata var. ‘Pantanal’
o	In front of L. inclinata var. ‘Tornado’
•	Micrantherum umbrosum
o	In front of L. senegalensis
•	Didiplis diandra
o	In front of M. umbrosum
Background
•	Hydrocotyle tripartita – “H. ‘Japan’”
o	To the right of Wood #6
•	Vallisneria sp. ‘Leopard’
o	Behind Wood #6
•	Alternanthera reineckii var. ‘Rosaefolia’
o	Back right corner
•	Nesaea praetermissa – “Red Nesaea”
o	Between P. stellatus and H. corymbosa
•	Cryptocoryne crispatula var. flaccidifolia
o	Allow to grow around back of crypt ring
•	Cryptocoryne usteriana
o	Keep in back of crypt circle
•	Cryptocoryne sp. Wendtii Hybrid
o	Said to grow tall
•	Pogostemon stellatus var. 'Broad Leaf'
o	In between N. praetermissa and A. reineckii
•	Hygrophila corymbosa – “Giant Temple”
o	Bordering back right of Wood #4
•	Hygrophila corymbosa – “Kompact”
o	Same as other variant
•	Rotala sp. ‘Bangladesh’
o	In between H. corymbosa and C. furcata
•	Cabomba furcata – “Red Cabomba”
o	Behind Wood #4, in-between A. madagascariensis and R. sp. ‘Bangladesh’ 
•	Aponogeton ulvaceus
o	Behind N. aquatic
•	Aponogeton madagascariensis – “Lace Leaf”
o	Behind N. aquatic
•	Hygrophila sp. ‘Brown’
o	Around A. madagascariensis
•	Persecaria praetermissa 'Ruby'
o	Behind Wood #2
•	Myriophyllum tuberculatum – “Red Myrio”
o	Behind Wood #2
•	Proserpinaca palustris – “Mermaid Weed”
o	In the gap of Wood #2
•	Crinum calamistratum
o	Behind Wood #1 and in front of Wood #3
•	Hydrotriche hottoniiflora
o	Keep to the right of Ludwigia forest
•	Ludwigia sp. ‘Rubin’
o	Back right of Ludwigia forest
•	Ludwigia glandulosa
o	Back left of Ludwigia forest
•	Ludwigia sp. ‘Atlantis’
o	In front of L. sp. ‘Rubin’ and L. glandulosa
•	Ludwigia inclinata var. ‘Cuba’
o	In front of L. sp. ‘Atlantis’
•	Ludwigia inclinata var. 'Tornado'
o	In front of L. inclinata var. ‘Cuba’
Non-Substrate
Hardscape
Wood #1
•	Anubias barteri var. ‘Petite’
o	Allow to carpet wood
•	Anubias barteri var. ‘Micro’
o	Allow to carpet wood
Wood #2
•	Microsorum pteropus var. ‘Windelov’
o	Allow to carpet top of wood
•	Fissidens fontanus – Mini Fissidens
o	Allow to cover wood
Wood #3
•	Microsorum pteropus var. ‘Trident’
o	Allow to carpet bottom of wood
•	Fissidens fontanus – Mini Fissidens
o	Allow to cover wood
Wood #4
•	Anubias barteri var. ‘Nana’
o	On wood
•	Anubias barteri var. ‘Broad-Leaf’
o	On wood
•	Anubias barteri var. ‘Coffeefolia’
o	On wood
•	Anubias hastifolia
o	On wood
Wood #5
•	Bolbitis heudelotii var. ‘Mini’ – “Mini African Fern”
o	Allow to cover wood
•	Fissidens fontanus – Mini Fissidens
o	Allow to cover wood
Wood #6
•	Lagenandra meeboldii ‘Pink’
o	Let it grow huge
•	Vesicularia montagnie – “Xmas Moss”
o	Let it grow compact and bushy
Stones
•	Lomariopsis sp. ‘Subwassertang’
o	Allow to form a nice layer on stones and wood

Yah…that’s a lot of plants lol I still have a few more I want, and of course I need things to grow in. Gotta refill my co2 tomorrow though, thing ran out (sadface but also expectedface)


Joraan grows plants like nobodies business. Shout out to him, this aromatica came straight from him. 15 stems...I might actually thing it a tad because my crypts will need room to grow, as well as the sword, but they are fine like this for now 


Found this at my LFS. Red Nessea. Picked it up because why not. Its getting brighter now and I have high hopes that this will do well for me. It seems really pretty. And will look great between the H. corymbosa and the P. stellatus (which is slowly coming around)


H. Japan in the background say what? I saw someone grow this up as a big bush….decided why not since someone gave me some extras. If I don’t like it, I can just let the A. reineckii take its place or the Leopard Val.


The Lagenandra has not looked super happy for me in a long, long time. But it is slowly becoming something, at least I hope so. If I come across this plant for sale again I might just buy a new one since its easier to grow healthy plants than wait for things to recover, but I don’t see it around often so I’ll work with this.


Some green gecko and nurii going on. Growing slowly but surely. I find crypts take a few months to get the ball rolling, but once they get rolling they are unstoppable forces….like Whitney’s Milktank (cool points for anyone who gets the reference)



Found more gold nessea (emersed grown) at my LFS…picked it up because mine seem to be stunted. Really, not realizing about my bulbs needing to be changed did a number on some of my plants…but they should bounce back in time.


Vietnam is doing well, Rotala macrandra is starting to do well (I always get a lot of melt when I first add it...hopefully this batch does well for me and I can propagate it myself. OTV if you are reading this, TELL ME YOUR SECRETS)


I like Madagascar Lace plant, but it does not like this tank, or this heat. I like to keep the tank closer to 76 degrees but with the summer its been higher than that which makes that plant angry. However, this Aponogeton should be better suited, and should look nice with the lace when that eventually comes back (the bulb is still there and healthy with new sprouts…its just being difficult)



Bought more of this too. Will be a good little weed once it gets going.


This was a surprise tbh. Pantanal is doing very well for me. Better than twisted and cuba so far, although I have fresh cuba elsewhere that I will transplant at some point in the next week or two. Got this from Joraan, and am very happy with the purchase.



I cut down all of my ludwiga’s though, because I feel that the best growth will come from the new growth in this tank, as opposed to how things where growing in other tanks that they where in before mine. Its all coming in slowly, the newer lights are helping though that’s for sure.


I still have some diatom issues though, but the added flow, and a little something else I’ll show, will make that a thing of the past soon enough.


Guys, what do you call a fish with no eyes?


FFSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH


I like cichlids. My cichlids like this tank. I am a happy person.


I like these, my mom doesn’t. She thinks they look drab…and compared to something like the EBJD or the Pearls she is right. But I like how the have complexity to their color, you have to look into it, and when you find it it is very nice. Might get 3 more of another variety though, as right now I’m at 4 of these, one of which is the dumpy one that, in terms of looks of the tank, doesn’t quiet count…it swims funny due to its body shape and probably should have been a cull earlier on. It also is having a fin problem so I’ll have to keep an eye on it. I hate to be that guy, but I might give it away to someone that would appreciate a fish with special needs more…but then again I might not, if he can keep up with the rest that’s fine but if not he will be rehomed.


Under rated gourami.


Seriously, these belong in every planted tank 55 gallons and over


I just like this shot. They haven’t been digging much and very few things get up rooted (well, new things get uprooted when they are planted in the corners of edges of the tank, but that’s expected with or without fish)


Dat fin


Hard to take a good picture of these guys…move too much.


Close enough


Baby delhezi Bichir. I got this little guy in china town…growing him out in my 10 gallon. Slowly but surely…he should be to size in a month or two…Got him mainly because my retropinnis is super shy and might like a friend more his species that isn’t as active as the sen. I might grab another ropefish at some point as well….but the single rope is actually doing very well so I might not.


Won these at an auction. 5 of them in fact, two growing out in my 10, three smaller ones growing out in my 5.5. Albino Blue Eye Bristlenose Plecos. These should put a nice dent in that GSA on the front glass and the detritus. They will go into the 75 once they are big enough where I feel the bichirs won’t try and be stupid.


In the 5.5…they will come with me to school as well and should be happy eating my algae in that tank for a few months or so. Then they can graduate to the 10 and then the 75.


His fins are starting to look nice. His color is very nice. Glad I got this guy when I did.


We where just talking about you. How’s it going dude? Good? That’s great.


The rope and Bichir like feeding time. They also have a soft spot for algae wafers….even though they are carnivorous (shrugs) Of course I feed them carnivorous foods as well but this works too.

That’s all for now. I just gotta keep dosing and feeding, and refill the co2. And for the grow outs….feeding and water changes will be my friend. Also, growing out some extra plants in there that are already in the 75…it’s a good strategy cause it helps me get more sideshoots of stems….keep the tops in the 75 to look good, keep the bottoms in the 10 to grow more sideshots that will become new tops. Works.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

One of these days, when the tank is full swing, I will use my mom's nice camera.

Also, LOL at my being a "guru" now. Pretty sure all I am is some guy that spends too much time on here and makes a few too many posts


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Slowly but surely, it looks like my yellow nessea is recovering and un-stunting.

A few curious things with my plant growth though...I notice that the leafs on my L. cuba and R. vietnam like to stay shorter than when I got them....the Cuba seems to be doing okay but the vietnam is doing well, changing to a nice reddish-orangy color as well...but idk if it having smaller growth is an issue or not. Might also have been stunting from when my lights weren't what they should've been.

My Blyxa is also looking meh...I feel some of my not as tall plants got stunted when I was stupid with the lights....I just hope it all recovers.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Yah, so, I finally added the del to this tank...also, my T. ellioti died 

I'll get some other cichlid to fill the void, but that will wait until I'm done with finals in like two weeks or so.

Plants are doing okay, gotta add more though, change some things around. I'm not liking having all the different lotus plants though, as they take over very quickly and shade everything. I'm going to think of new places to put them in the tank, or possibly remove some all together.

Also, co2 ran out while I was away, so BBA took over, tank is totally not pic worthy atm. I'll be killing off my algae problem soon. Running the lights on this tank for only 4 hours the next few weeks, just due to lack of co2 and excess of algae.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Guess who managed to somehow kill off a ton of BBA? This guy...that's who. Also doesn't hurt that I'm now running a Vecton 600 UV sterilizer. Its cleared the tank up a lot, but the algae battle isn't over yet. Also STILL getting more plants into this tank and waiting on some fish to grow out (but I did add the last two L144's (the bristle nose plecos) recently so thats nice).

Debating on if its worth getting more bristle nose plecos...they seem to be slow-ish growers.


Trying my hand at erios....with cichlids....god I'm crazy but theoretically it should work. In fact, the plants that do have issues only have issues due to larger fish disturbing them before they make good roots. I know erios are thick rooted plants, so I know once they settle they will be golden. The downi should also work the same. Realistically, if I was starting a new tank with these kinds of fish, I'd get the plants growing before having the fish, but I had the fish before I was into planted tanks so it can't be helped.


Minus my thinking that top anubias is not petite, the rest of the anubias here is growing fine now that the algae is clearing.


And someone was feeling a nice bright blue


Biggest of the three is still small but, is growing. I do like these a lot as I love the idea of an easy to see pleco in this tank.


A buddy gave me this P. erectus. Idk if I like it in this tank, but for now I need the plant mass so for now it stays. I might remove a large chunk of it or find some other place for it later one though.


Lace plant is slowly growing back, but should look nice poking out of this driftwood when it gets bigger. The mermaid weed is looking sad though...I need more of it eventually.


Now, this is where some will very much think I'm out there with my plant choice. After I get this S. repens to grow in, I might have it work as a frame for some other plant species. I'm thinking Blood Vomit or MC3...of course, I'd wait until the summer when I'm more around to do either species since they are delicate and a little more expensive. But if I got that to work, it'd be super sweet.


I also wish my phone took better pics, as this is much redder/pinker/brighter in person. I gotta trim this down though so that the Brown behind it can actually be seen, and look a little more even.


Linderia India is here (curtsy of sjb1987) and the Vietnam is doing alright. I think its Vietnam at least, but I am unsure as it does get a little more red/orange than I thought vietnam could get.


Cichlid mania


Rainbow cichlids are still super underrated.


And ropes are still adorable.



And 8 congos is very, very nice


Rainbows are also very pretty fish


Corymbosa is also a very pretty plant. There was some compact I had here, but I think the regular out competed it. Either way, its not leggy when trimmed and kept up with, and since its placed as it is, its not an issue.


female


male


CTNEPOMA, GROW FASTER PLZ T_T


And you, stop being so dose garn camera shy


Yah, I like my EBJD in a planted tank.


Someone, tell me why these are not more popular? Just look at it, there is NOTHING drab or boring about this fish.


*swoon*


Albino bichir is still cool


As is delhezi (who is growing fast)


And this guy just happened to be in a very goofy pose.

Sadly, the retropinnis is still super shy, and I have more plants to add to this, but progress is progress, and I'm glad that the algae is subsiding.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

UGH, so I was halfway through posting an update on this thread and guess what, my browser freezes and I have to restart….so I’m pre-writing my post via word and am going to copy/paste because UGH



So anyways, as far as fish go, it’s the same as before, but I added a male Bristlenose and should be adding a long fin albino female tomorrow. Possibly a Pictus too pending on its size and likelihood of becoming Bichir food.

I’ll post the list of plants I have after doing the pictures, because its probably a nuisance for those who just want to look at pics to see a wall of text right away.


Syganthus belem is a larger plant than I initially thought. I thank Joraan for talking me into grabbing this species, I feel like it will work very nicely right where I have it, since I’d be wanting to keep it shorter anyways to show off the tops of the stem.


Barthog had a special on erios….I couldn’t resist. Parkeri in the front is the small one, but man am I excited for that compressum. I had to pull it apart as it was all one mass at first, and then I trimmed off the bad leafs, but from seeing Barr’s tank, I can say I’m excited for these to grow nice and thick.


Ludwigia brevippis sneaking out the wood. Also spheracopa in front of the wood and Cuphae. I only have small stubs of Hygro araguaia in here now, but I have some I’m adding as soon as they convert to submerged for me. Might also add an Aflame sword over the summer.


Ludwigia species are an addiction. Its going to be interesting differentiating them after some time has passed, but this is why I keep really, really good records of what I plant where.


This is also going to become a very colorful area for sure.


Mermaid weed and Lace plant popping out the top of this wood will look really cool. I know lace likes getting large, so I figure this is a way to let it do its thing while also letting it be a little more reeled in.


Ulvaceus is there, died back but is sprouting again. There is also a Marble Queen as that leaf type will look cool behind the sunset Hygro. I moved the brown to the front since the sunset was blocking it, and to be honest I like the look more like this, and it makes more sense since sunset just grows faster.


Some shoreweed framed by S. repens. I’d love for this to carpet, but if not, I’ll try something else, maybe Monte Carlo. Or blood vomit if I’m feeling really crazy and wild.


Lots of Rotala here and Hygro. Also some S. Bihar in front of the corymbosa now, I want to let that grow tall as well so that it can get that orange color. Seems like a really cool plant.


Surprised that the Red Ammania is growing for me. New growth isn’t really red but that’s okay, still looks cool. Also have some narrow leaf Stellatus behind the Limno now, so that’s fun.


EBJD, listen, I just want to show a nice pic of the variegated Althernathera. You aren’t the star of the show okay?


FINEEEEEE, you can be the star right here, alright? Good.


The Lagenandra went on an adventure around the tank for a while when I was gone so, that’s why it looks so BLEH. Should stay in place now. More importantly, that variegated looks sick. Can’t wait for it to grow nice and big.


Got this from a LFS. Not sure what it is…but I like it.


All that green is Repens x Arcuata. There is also Repens hiding somewhere in this area, but whatever. It will become more apparent to others what Ludwigia is here as they grow towards the light and get their colors.


The nice thing about L144 and albino fish, are that they are pretty easy to see. The male has a nice head but good luck finding him in a spot where he sticks out sigh


I suck at picture taking but whatever. Awesome congos are awesome regardless of my picture quality.


So blurry, ugh


Woah, throwback. I guess this says a lot about my progress, being that this picture is from when I first decided to go planted. This was like, 2.5-3 years ago.


And this, explains a lot. As in, my BBA problem. For a frame of reference, this was a week or two after Sandy had it, and it devastated my tanks. This one especially, never got a real complete overhaul, since there were always some fish still alive in this tank. Probably not best to turn an established tank into a planted tank without resetting the tank, but hey, its taken some time but I’m finally getting the hang of this craziness.

Nostalgia fest done. Here’s the plant list as it is now.

Bottom
Rotala mexicana var. 'Goias'
•	Behind S. repens
Staurogyne repens
•	Partial carpet
Littorella uniflora
•	Partial carpet in front of S. repens
Hygrophila sp. ‘Araguaia’
•	Partial carpet to the right of S. repens

Foreground
Cryptocoryne sp. ‘Green Gecko’
•	Crypt ring
Cryptocoryne nurii
•	Crypt ring
Cryptocoryne becketii petchii
•	Crypt ring
Cryptocoryne x willisii
•	Edge of crypt ring
Ammania pedicellata – “Yellow Nesaea”
•	In front of N. aquatic
Eriocaulon cinereum/compressum
•	Back of Erio grouping
Eriocaulon parkeri
•	In front of Erio grouping
Syngonanthus sp. “Belem”
•	In front of Wood #1

Mid-Ground
Ammania praetermissa
•	Directly behind crypt ring
Echinodorus sp. ‘Rose’
•	Middle of crypt ring
Cryptocoryne wendtii ‘Florida Sunset’
•	Crypt ring
Cryptocoryne wendtii - “Red/Brown Crypt”
•	Crypt ring
Limnophila aromatica
•	Right next to crypt ring
Rotala macrandra var. “Mini Butterfly”
•	Behind Limnophilia rugosa
Limnophilia rugosa
•	Next to Wood #5
Rotala sp. ‘Vietnam’
•	In front of Wood #4
Rotala mexicana var. ‘Araguaia’
•	Left of R. sp. ‘Vietnam’
Rotala wallichii
•	Left of R. mexicana var. ‘Araguaia’
Nymphaea micrantha
•	In front of R. sp. ‘Vietnam’
Nymphoides aquatic – “Banana Plant”
•	In front of right side of Wood #4
Hygrophila polysperma var. ‘Sunset’
•	Back of left Hygro group
Hygrophila pinnatifida
•	Between H. Brown and H. Sunset
Hygrophila sp. ‘Brown’
•	Front of left Hygro group
Murdannia sp. 'Red'
•	Left of H. sp. ‘Brown’
Persecaria kawagoeanum
•	In front of Wood #3
Cuphea anagallidea
•	In front of Wood #2
Aponogeton madagascariensis – “Lace Leaf”
•	In the gap of Wood #2
Proserpinaca palustris – “Mermaid Weed”
•	In the gap of Wood #2
Ludwigia palustris
•	In the gap of Wood #2
Ludwigia sphaerocarpa
•	In-between Wood #1 and Wood #2
Ludwigia sp. ‘Red’
•	Behind L. arcuata and L. senegalensis
Ludwigia brevipes
•	In front of L. sp. ‘Red’
Ludwigia inclinata var. ‘Pantanal’
•	Behind L. arcuata and L. senegalensis
Ludwigia arcuata
•	Behind L. inclinata var. ‘Pantanal’
Ludwigia senegalensis
•	Front of genus

Background
Vallisneria sp. ‘Leopard’
•	Behind Wood #6
Alternanthera reineckii var. “Variegated”
•	Back right corner
Cryptocoryne sp. Wendtii Hybrid
•	If so, use to frame crypt sp. group
Nymphaea stellata – “Dwarf Lilly”
•	Next to H. corymbosa
Pogostemon stellatus var. 'Needle Leaf'
•	Behind L. aromatica
Hygrophila corymbosa – “Giant Temple”
•	Bordering back right of Wood #4
Staurogyne sp. ‘Bihar’
•	In front of H. corymbosa
Cabomba furcata – “Red Cabomba”
•	Behind Wood #4 
Echinodorus cordifolius var. “Tropica Marble Queen”
•	Behind H. polysperma var. ‘Sunset’
Aponogeton ulvaceus
•	Behind Hygrophila polysperma var. ‘Sunset’
Myriophyllum mattogrossense var. ‘Red’
•	In front of E. sp. “Marble Queen”
Persecaria praetermissa 'Ruby'
•	Behind Wood #2
Myriophyllum tuberculatum – “Red Myrio”
•	To the right of Ludwigia forest
Crinum calamistratum
•	Behind Wood #2 and in front of Wood #4
Ludwigia sp. ‘Unknown’
•	Request ID (maybe repens x arcuata?)
•	Back of right of genus
Ludwigia sp. ‘Rubin’
•	Back left of genus
Ludwigia sp. ‘Atlantis’
•	In front of L. sp. ‘Unknown’
Ludwigia repens x arcuata
•	In front of L. sp. ‘Unknown’
Ludwigia repens 
•	In front of L. sp. ‘Atlantis’
Ludwigia sp. ‘Pink Ovalis’
•	In front of L. sp. ‘Rubin’
Ludwigia inclinata var. 'Tornado'
•	In front of L. sp. ‘Pink Ovalis’

Hardscape
Wood #1
•	Fissidens fontanus – Fissidens
o	Allow to carpet wood
•	Anubias barteri var. ‘Petite’
o	Allow to carpet wood
Wood #2
•	Fissidens fontanus – Fissidens
o	Allow to carpet wood
•	Riccardia chamedryfolia – “Mini Pellia”
o	Allow to look like coral
•	Microsorum pteropus var. ‘Windelov’
o	Allow to carpet top of wood
Wood #3
•	Microsorum pteropus var. ‘Trident’
o	Allow to carpet bottom of wood
Wood #4
•	Anubias barteri var. ‘Nana’
o	On wood
•	Anubias barteri var. ‘Broad-Leaf’
o	On wood
•	Anubias barteri var. ‘Coffeefolia’
o	On wood
•	Anubias hastifolia
o	On wood
Wood #5 
•	Bucephalandra sp. “Brownie Red”
o	On wood
•	Bolbitis heudelotii var. 'Mini'
o	On wood
•	Taxiphyllum sp. “Flame”
o	On wood
Wood #6
•	Lagenandra meeboldii ‘Pink’
o	Let it grow large


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Soon…sooooooonnnnnnnnnn.


FTS, as per usual. Probably should have wiped the front glass…too lazy. 

EBJD is still the king of the tank. I wonder if that will change as the EBA grows…that will be an interesting dynamic.


Some algae and nastiness yes, but I’d say this has grown since I had to trim it down a little.


iPhone 5s takes much nicer pics than my old phone.


Mini Pellia is slowly growing.


S. sp. Bihar…such a good decision to buy. Kind of tempted to let this replace the H. corymbosa but I like both plants for different reasons. Also, plants like this are giving me horrible and beautiful ideas for what I’d do with a bigger high tech tank. One day, one day…


L. rugosa. Surprised I don’t see this ever, I’m enjoying it quite a lot.


So pretty


Bichir and P. stellatus narrow leaf. I’m liking this plant a lot. I removed the L. aromatica from in front of it to let this plant shine more (also to maybe add more another crypt or two…I’m looking at that flamingo AaronT) L. aromatica is still in the tank though, behind the second piece of wood from the left.


Myrio “Red”. I’m hoping as it grows taller it will get a brighter red, but if not, I’m still happy with this plant.


So L. senegalensis and Pantanal like this tank, as they grew tall and had to be trimmed down and replanted. This section is a mess, sure, and I need more Pink and more Twisted, but man this section is making me happy because its all growing. I THINK there is some regular repens and regular palustris somewhere in this mess but man its going to be hard to find. Atlantis is doing well, as is the Arcuata, Brevipis, Arcuata x Repens, and the other Arcuata x Repens that is actually red, thicker, and looks different. Oh, and Rubin is pretty awesome as well, and Red is a nice place holder.


I only have 2 stems of the pink but…it will soon grow to be a little more noticeable. I might remove some of the Red as this grows out more. Its going to be fun balancing all the Ludwigia species and varieties I have going on in this area. Again, this is one of those moments that is giving me ideas for how I’d do a bigger tank.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

I'm home for the summer now, I've made some minor changes, but the most exciting change is that the Electric Blue Acara is now in this tank and seems to be getting along with everyone!

So glad that the EBJD has decided that the little blue guy is cool lol. The leopard ctnepoma will be added to the tank soon as well.

Next post will update the stock list of fish and plants and have a bunch of pictures!


----------



## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

Looking forward to the update


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Tank is coming along now, I’m satisfied with its progress. Still dealing with some algae but its not on the plants so its not the worst. Gotta put in some new bulbs soon and gotta put a new bulb into the UV sterilizer, and gotta really do a nice trim on the left side (like a HUGE one) but its looking good to me. Here is an update on what is currently in the tank. Some new plants, and FINALLY ADDED THAT ACARA (whom I will know refer to as the EBA).

•	Current Fish 
•	Herotilapia multispinosa – “Rainbow Cichlid” x2
•	Acarichthys heckelii – “Threadfin Acara” x2
•	Rocio octofasciata – “Electric Blue Jack Dempsey”
•	Aequidens sp. ‘Electric Blue’
•	Trichopodus leerii – “Pearl Gourami” x3:3
•	Melanotaenia splendida australis – “Australian Rainbow fish” x4
•	Phenacogrammus interruptus - “Congo Tetra” x6
•	Polypterus senegalus – “Senegal Bichir”
•	Polypterus retropinnis
•	Polypterus delhezi
•	Erpetoichthys calabaricus – “Rope fish”
•	Ancistrus sp. “Albino Blue Eye Bristlenose L144” x0:1
•	Ancistrus sp. “Brown Bushy Nose” x1:0
•	Melanoides tuberculata - “Trumpet Snail”
•	
•	Current Plants
o	Rotala mexicana var. 'Goias'
o	Limnophila sp. ‘Vietnam Mini’
o	Staurogyne repens
o	Alternanthera reineckii var. “Variegated”
o	Littorella uniflora
•	Foreground
o	Cryptocoryne sp. ‘Green Gecko’
o	Cryptocoryne nurii
o	Cryptocoryne becketii petchii
o	Cryptocoryne x willisii
o	Lobelia cardinalis var. 'Dwarf'
o	Eriocaulon parkeri
o	Pogostemon helferi
o	Syngonanthus sp. “Belem”
•	Mid-Ground
o	Echinodorus sp. ‘Rose’
o	Cryptocoryne wendtii ‘Florida Sunset’
o	Cryptocoryne sp. Wendtii Hybrid
o	Cryptocoryne wendtii - “Red/Brown Crypt”
o	Rotala macrandra var. “Mini Butterfly”
o	Limnophila rugosa
o	Rotala sp. ‘Vietnam’
o	Rotala mexicana var. ‘Araguaia’
o	Rotala wallichii
o	Nymphaea micrantha
o	Nymphoides aquatic – “Banana Plant”
o	Hygrophila polysperma cv. ‘Sunset’
o	Hygrophila pinnatifida
o	Ammania pedicellata – “Yellow Nesaea”
o	Ammania praetermissa
o	Hygrophila sp. ‘Brown’
o	Murdannia sp. 'Red'
o	Myriophyllum mattogrossense var. ‘Red’
o	Cabomba furcata – “Red Cabomba”
o	Proserpinaca palustris – “Mermaid Weed”
o	Pogostemon stellatus var. 'Needle Leaf'
o	Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata cv. ‘Pantanal’
o	Ludwigia sp. ‘Red’
o	Ludwigia arcuata
o	Ludwigia senegalensis
o	Ludwigia brevipes
o	Persecaria kawagoeanum
o	Cuphea anagalloidea
o	Ludwigia sphaerocarpa
o	Aponogeton madagascariensis – “Lace Leaf”
•	Background
o	Cryptocoryne crispatula var. ‘Balansae’
o	Aponogeton ulvaceus
o	Nymphaea stellata – “Dwarf Lilly”
o	Echinodorus cordifolius cf. “Tropica Marble Queen”
o	Hygrophila corymbosa – “Giant Temple”
o	Staurogyne sp. ‘Bihar’
o	Rotala mexicana var. ‘Bangladesh’
o	Vallisneria spiralis cv. ‘Leopard’
o	Myriophyllum tuberculatum - 'Red Myrio'
o	Limnophila aromatica
o	Crinum calamistratum
o	Ludwigia sp. ‘Rubin’
o	Ludwigia repens x arcuata
o	Ludwigia sp. ‘Atlantis’
o	Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata cv. 'Twisted’
o	Ludwigia ovalis var. ‘Pink’
o	Cardamine lyrata
•	Hardscape
o	Wood #1
•	Fissidens fontanus – Fissidens
•	Anubias barteri var. ‘Petite’
o	Wood #2
•	Fissidens fontanus – Fissidens
•	Riccardia chamedryfolia – “Mini Pellia”
•	Microsorum pteropus var. ‘Windelov’
o	Wood #3
•	Microsorum pteropus var. ‘Needle’
•	Microsorum pteropus var. ‘Trident’
o	Wood #4
•	Anubias barteri var. ‘Nana’
•	Anubias barteri var. ‘Broad-Leaf’
•	Anubias barteri var. ‘Coffeefolia’
•	Anubias hastifolia
o	Wood #5 
•	Bucephalandra sp. “Brownie Red”
•	Bolbitis heudelotii var. 'Mini'
•	Taxiphyllum sp. “Flame”
•	Bolbitis heudelotii
o	Wood #6
•	Bucephalandra sp. “Black Titan”
•	Lagenandra meeboldii ‘Pink’

As you can see…I think its safe to say I might have a “problem” coughcollectoritiscough

Anyways, enough of that, picture time.


Full tank shot, I should wipe the front glass, I’ll be doing that on Sunday with the water change and the trimming.


Here you can see the Littorella (its melting a little but I hope it hangs in there and grows because I think it would look really cool there, I’d replant runners every now and then to make a bushier apperanace. It was emersed grow so its transitioning) the downi, which is doing surprisingly well and NOT being uprooted or anything, and the E. parkeri that I’m working on (most of my original parkeri melted sigh) and the Belem that also had a bit of a problem while I was at school, but I’m confident will grow back/was doing well for me so I might buy more if I get tired of waiting on it to grow out.


Too…many….species. Here is just, a lot of things. My Ludwigia collection, and other misc. stem plants. Growing the stuff that is chilling in the piece of driftwood out, and the mini Pellia is growing well for me. I just need to find where my fishing-line went to tie it down better.


Aromatica was not happy at first with being moved but it looks much better now and I’m confident it will bush out and look super nice in this spot.


Sphaerocarpa is green for me, but growing well and giving me sideshoots. I’m going to use more of this in the foreground as well, let it fill out nice and thick. The Cuphea is doing alright as well, added more and wanting to make it a nice little bush. Slowly, but surely. The kawagoeanum is a real weed of a plant…I want to remove some of it and replace it with Sao Paulo, just to have a bit of both around.


I removed the stems I had growing here and placed them elsewhere in the tank. I think it looks better like this. I’ll keep this side to just crypts, the Aponogeton ulvaceus which is growing out after having went dormant, and swords. I also have the Black Titan and the Lagenandra over here, both of which I hope will become real monsters, as well as the tissue culture Balansae I picked up not too long ago.


Seriously, why is N. micrantha not more popular?


BUCE


NEW BUCE


Surprisingly, mini butterfly managed to survive and stay red…despite being uprooted and super shaded….going to let it grow out, form sideshoots, get tall, and be awesome looking.


H. Brown is a weed. I need to trim it, I have a friend who wants to buy more of it from me, its all good.


I managed to convert emersed grown Limnophilia Vietnam mini into its submerged form…now I’m letting it fill out since it seems like it’s a really pretty plant…also doesn’t hurt that it seems fairly rare.


These guys are fine.


Rainbow cichlids…great fish. Color really depends on mood, they are more yellow when they are the dominant fish.


This guy is the current dominant fish.


Rainbows…I think they might be two separate varieties but I’m not 100% sure. They all get along fine though.


No this isn’t from the co2, they just seem to do this in unison from time to time. Really a great looking fish, highly recommended for anyone’s aquariums.


I got a decent shot of a congo tetra…huzzah


HE’S IN THE TANK FINALLY.


Despite this guy, who for whatever reason does not care that the EBA is in the tank.


Despite the size difference…the EBA is very good at hiding around, but he comes in full force come feeding time and does not shy away from the food. I’m excited to see him grow out.


----------



## umarnasir335 (Mar 2, 2014)

I like the fact that you think of your tank as a FISH tank first and everything comes later. It's a cool difference from most others on here, including myself


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

umarnasir335 said:


> I like the fact that you think of your tank as a FISH tank first and everything comes later. It's a cool difference from most others on here, including myself



I started with fish and the tank was set up like 7 years ago strictly as a fish tank for my cichlids and other larger fish. The albino bichir was in the tank since that era.


----------



## 180g (May 20, 2014)

love the blue fishy :tongue:


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

180g said:


> love the blue fishy :tongue:


Haha, thanks 

Which one? The big one is the Electric Blue Jack Dempsey, the smaller one (which will eventually be about the same size) is the Electric Blue Acara.


----------



## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

very cool tank, ecclectic collection of fish to say the least! And your list of plants is really cool. 

This tank must be a lot of fun to just sit in front of and watch. I am not sure if it has been covered or not, but do the cichlids eat the plants at all? Do you just keep them nice and fat so they don't go after the veggies? 

On another note, I am seriously considering getting congo's for my tank. They are really beautiful.


----------



## philipraposo1982 (Mar 6, 2014)

what do you feed your fish?


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

philipraposo1982 said:


> what do you feed your fish?


Variety of things. I like hikari a lot, I mix up the varieties, I also feed misc. frozen foods, and freeze dried krill.

I always try to have some vegetable matter for the fish as well, just picked up Hikari Excel which should be good. Biogold and staple and all that other stuff is more or less interchangeable for me.


----------



## 180g (May 20, 2014)

both of them are amazing fish. and were did you get all those different types of plants? the tank looks great by the way. roud:


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

180g said:


> both of them are amazing fish. and were did you get all those different types of plants? the tank looks great by the way. roud:



Mostly other hobbyists, both online and offline.


----------



## 180g (May 20, 2014)

wow, I bet you got em for a good price too.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

I’m going away tomorrow so I’m making this a fast update. Since my last update a few things have been moved around, I acquired a Red Ciebal (who is a little camera shy still) and some narrow leaf java fern as well as some Hygro Ceylon. Also added a crypt cordata rosenvarig that doesn’t have the pink viens yet (source these came from got them eventually so we will see what this does). Also added some Rotala H’ra from my 5.5 that I will update when I come back, which looks nice so far.

Also got some vietnam from h4n (at least I believe it to be vietnam, but I will look at how it has adapted for me before passing judgement). If I am right that what he gave me is vietnam and it remains looking as it does (green leaf red stem) then I think my vietnam is not vietnam and is something else. That may be a thread for another time though.






(he is going in once I get back)









(have another one of these I’m picking up when I get back, female super red)






bonus shot, idk why but the MTS in my 10 grow out are black...I’m down with that


----------



## 180g (May 20, 2014)

ok, you have driven me to want an EBJD in my 180. just don't know if he'll be alright being surrounded with tetras? 

I still cant believe you fit all those different types of plants in this tank. its hard just to read all those Latin names!


----------



## 180g (May 20, 2014)

it would be interesting to see if an EBJD would dare to challenge the mighty wrath of nugget! (nugget is my musk turtle and current tank boss  )


<-------------------- nugget.


----------



## BuddhaBoy (Jun 12, 2014)

Beautiful tank and fish!


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

180g said:


> ok, you have driven me to want an EBJD in my 180. just don't know if he'll be alright being surrounded with tetras?
> 
> 
> 
> I still cant believe you fit all those different types of plants in this tank. its hard just to read all those Latin names!



EBJD are fine with tetras as long as said tetras don't fit into their mouths.

The turtle though idk. Baby EBJD are super fragile fish, they don't become hardy at all until about 4 inches. I was lucky to find him as an older and larger EBJD.


----------



## 180g (May 20, 2014)

oh, he dosent bother fish unless they start biting him. most of the time he just acts like a rock  he is a musk turtle so he pretty much just walks around the bottom or he sleeps in his den under the driftwood. he is not a very good swimmer either. he is about 2 inches long. pretty small.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

180g said:


> oh, he dosent bother fish unless they start biting him. most of the time he just acts like a rock  he is a musk turtle so he pretty much just walks around the bottom or he sleeps in his den under the driftwood. he is not a very good swimmer either. he is about 2 inches long. pretty small.



Still, EBJD are fragile fish. Maybe even discus level fragile. Especially when small.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

In an effort to make room for more ludwigias and re-organize some of my collection, I think I am going to remove the piece of driftwood to the far left, take the petite off of it, and place it onto the large piece that I was trying to get mini pellia on.

I'm also growing out some SAE's now to help out with removing BBA, I'm slowly but surely getting it off the plants and it doesn't look like new BBA is forming. Its just all the old BBA that's in little crevices and such that are hard for me to reach.

Also I have increased my dosing a little, I was doing 1/4 tbs my macros (I forget the exact ones I use I can mention that later) and 1/4 my micros and iron 3x a week alternating of course but have upped it all to 3/8 tbs and that seems to be helping growth and keeping algae at bay. I'm thinking I need to remove some stuff as well, to make room for other plants mainly. I have way more L repens x arcuata than I could possibly want or even really enjoy having, and I need to thin down my Rotala vietnam a bit as well.

I also want to move my rugosa once I move the wood, as its a nice plant that I enjoy and all but I'm not so keen on where it is as its shading everything. I also want to re-do where I have my crypts because everything is all mixed up (I planted it that way originally....stupid me sticking to ideas I had when I was new to the hobby) so I'm going to make little rows of them.

Got some plants from asukawashere on APC (great to work with!) and waiting on those to convert, as well as waiting on a shipment from Barthog. Eventually going to have to get a few things from StrungOut as well, soon man I almost have enough plant mass where I won't feel like I'm ripping you off for what I want lol

Not sure how I'm feeling about the wood on the far right either. Its a nice place for that black titan to be but with everything I'm putting in front of it I feel like its going to get lost in the crowd. Perhaps I move that to be on the wood I want to put petite on as well...

This tank is by no means a really well done scape or anything, and its not because of my fish choice so much as it is due to my wanting to have one of everything (or at least 3 of a type of stem lol) and not having had the nicest looking placements to begin with.

I can already tell that I'm the kind of guy that needs like, either multiple 40B's or 75's to have fun scaling, or one really big tank that I can put a ton of variety into that still looks appealing.


----------



## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

Still looks more scaped than my 75G !


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

vanish said:


> Still looks more scaped than my 75G !



Ha, your tanks coming along though. This has just had more time to grow in and a tom of plants.

I'm kinda realizing that I'd just skip traditional foreground plants all together if I could. But having 6 inch stems be up against the glass might be...weird.

Quickly, I must make a carpet of ludwigia.


----------



## DennisSingh (Nov 8, 2004)

N. prob man, take your time. Looking forward to that N. Micranthra, nice tank and love the fish selection


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

A few changes. My leopard Ctenopoma is now living in this tank and doing super well, as well as a nice big fat female super red Bristlenose. Surprisingly added some plants as well, notably Ludwigia Twisted, Ludwigia Cuba, Ludwigia Pantanal, more Ludwigia Atlantis, Ludwigia inclinata, Ludwigia simpsonii x repens, Ludwigia alata, Echinodorus x 'Tanzende feuerfeder', and Echinodorus x 'Altlandsberg'. Moved the Limno rugosa to the front left and trimmed it back hard, hopefully it will grow a little more slowly there and be a little more manegable.

Biggest change was moving the larger piece of driftwood that was on the left out of the tank and removing and replanting the Anubias petite that was on it to the bigger piece of wood still in the tank. I put some on the sides and such (supergluing Anubias petite kinda sucks) so it looks like less than there actually was but I put it all back on there. Hopefully it continues to grow well, even if it’s a slow grower. I also re-organized my crypts in this tank so they are now more in rows than all mixed up (although certain crypts were hard to tell apart, but as they grow that should change hopefully/maybe).


I’m thinking about cleaning up my Hygro species as well, moving Ceylon behind Sunset somewhere. It’s a nice plant and all but its way to weedy for where I currently have it….plus I can’t let it get too tall there so it doesn’t get the color it could otherwise have, which is its main draw. I also want to maybe thin out how much Sunset and Brown is actually in this tank too, because man are my hygro’s thick. They make me wish I had a bigger tank lol.


Despite all the competition the Rose Sword has been doing well. The Altlandsberg has been converting from emersed very nicely.


Metallic Red crypt is new so it looks bleh. But the green gecko is pretty still lol


Altandsberg converting. Swords cultivars and hybrids don’t seem to be super popular in tanks these days, maybe due to their size plus how many people are running high tech tanks and want to have big ol’ swords in them? I still love them though.


Tanzende feuerfeder, I’m expecting good things from this plant, its growing faster than the other swords I have. Might end up being my favorite of the 4 swords I have (can I consider that a Legend of Zelda reference?)


So the Lagenandra is becoming more pink each leaf it puts out, and each leaf is getting bigger, but each bigger leaf is getting what I believe to be Pleco damage or something…ugh, plant, why you grow pretty leafs that I have to cut later on?


Big super red female. She’s not the culprit since that issue has been happening since before she was in the tank.


I need to think these Rotalas. Especially the nanjensha, its nice and all but I don’t need even half of this amount in this tank. I am going to get some Macrandra Green before the summers end, so that will probably replace some of this.


See what I was saying about the Ceylon?


A.R. variegated is recovering steadily for me, so that’s good. Its been doing much better once I increased my dosing (I may need to increase it more even, not sure). I do 2/4 tsp KNO3 3x a week, 3/8 tsp KH2PO4 3x a week, 3/8 tsp K2SO4 3x a week for macro, and 3/8 tsp traces 3x a week and 3/8 tsp iron 3x a week. Also 1 tbsp GH Booster after water changes. I may continue to modify this though.


This stuff was nothing but a stem not that long ago, its recovering in here. Somehow A.R. grows better in my bichirs and cichlids and whatareyoudoing tank than it does in my 10 gallon “this is how you should be doing it” tank.


Part of me wants to thin this, part of me thinks its too nice looking. The lace leaf is still doing nicely as well, and you can see how not great the A. petite looks on the wood. It will grow over the superglue…eventually.


Tiny alata is tiny.


I moved the pink up front and with space so that it could grow out more. I’m thinking it will be a real looker of a plant in time.


Simpsonii x repens still converting. It did send out some nice big roots though so I’m confident it will do well. 


Also converting Persecaria praetermissa 'Ruby’ that seems to be doing well. I might grab Sao Paulo sometime. Might not. (shrug)


Not a shy fish, just camera shy. Always out and about despite being half the size of most of the cichlids.


Subwassertang should grow for me, I miss having this plant.



A better look at the Ludwigia forest. Some stuff for sure has a lot of growing out to do, but its been a day since I added some of these/moved everything around. I also want to add Red sphaerocarpa (I got some from barthog but it didn’t do so well waiting two days for me to plant it *sigh*) and am going to get some Palustris ‘North Carolina’ semi-soonish as well.



He’s gotten big. He is also one excellent looking fish. I am realling loving the EBA, now I’m only wishing my phone caught the brightness more and that my lights weren’t more geared towards red. I want to get a 10,000K Plant grow BML fixture for the front of this tank at some point when money is a thing that exists for me in greater forms though, cause I think my foreground gets a little shaded. And I’d want the 10,000K since I hear the color balance is very nice, but I’m still looking into it and still have plenty of time to decide on that.


----------



## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

Looking awesome to me. Such a variety of plants, how do you keep them all straight?


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Straight as in knowing what's what or straight as in growth?

They just, idk grow that way for me I guess lol

I keep a monster list of what plants I have where though and update it whenever I add it move things.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

So my buddy MonsterFisk brought over a PAR meter....be right back I'll be crying in the corner.

My par in the front is 23 T_T. Guess who really wants an added light fixture now?


----------



## 180g (May 20, 2014)

HybridHerp said:


> So my buddy MonsterFisk brought over a PAR meter....be right back I'll be crying in the corner.
> 
> My par in the front is 23 T_T. Guess who really wants an added light fixture now?


really that's it? I would have thought it to be much more.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

I figured something was up with that since all my foreground plants take forever to grow.

Next time I get a t5-ho I'm doing like 8 bulbs


----------



## 180g (May 20, 2014)

hybridherp said:


> i figured something was up with that since all my foreground plants take forever to grow.
> 
> Next time i get a t5-ho i'm doing like 8 bulbs.


lol


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Dude, it's a think. Look at Barr or CrazyDaze's tanks that have t5-ho end to end


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Sometimes, I really hate this hobby. This week has been one of those times. My folks did the usual 50% water change this week, and something went wrong. Apparently there was extra chlorine or something in the tap, because on Tuesday all of the congo tetras died. When that happened a 50% WC was done, and a 3rd Eheim 2217 was placed onto the tank that had extra carbon and nitrozorb. Then, either late Tuesday or early Wednesday, my threadfin acaras died, my rainbow fish died, my EBJD died, and a rainbow cichlid died, as well as two adult SAE I had added to the tank a several weeks ago and my female super red Bristlenose. I do not know if the male Bristlenose is still alive, and the retropinnis bichir hasn’t been seen (however I can only find him at 3am when I do find him, I’ll assume he isn’t dead unless he is found dead).

I’ll do a sad, sad update once the tank settles down, but I’m upset. My folks and I have been doing everything we can to settle the tank down, and I’d like to thank my next door neighbor and my friend MonsterFish for coming over and trying to help me figure out what’s going on. I’m hoping that the water changes needed to lower the ammonia doesn’t do any more damage (ammonia now reads at 1-2ppm). I can almost guarantee I’ve lost some plant species as well…in that regard I have no idea what is or is not left.

Seriously, when random mishaps like this happen, I can really start to hate this hobby T_T

For now though, I’m just going to dump all my old photos of the tank that haven’t been posted since the last update.




























God my hearts breaking looking at all these T_T


----------



## spunky (Oct 26, 2014)

such sad news  I lost a bunch of fish once to what we could only assume was a big chlorine spike in our tap. It killed my 5 perfectly behaved yoyo loaches, and most of my big schools of lemon tetras and rasboras. That was years ago and I am just now getting the big itch to get things up and going again to my high standards. I only do small water changes now and have been strongly thinking about setting up some system where I can store my water ahead of time and pump it into the tank. Might be over kill, but I also have pH issues (tank 7.5 and tap 8) and want some more tanks with fish that would want low 7 or high 6 too. Water can be so annoying huh?


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

spunky said:


> such sad news  I lost a bunch of fish once to what we could only assume was a big chlorine spike in our tap. It killed my 5 perfectly behaved yoyo loaches, and most of my big schools of lemon tetras and rasboras. That was years ago and I am just now getting the big itch to get things up and going again to my high standards. I only do small water changes now and have been strongly thinking about setting up some system where I can store my water ahead of time and pump it into the tank. Might be over kill, but I also have pH issues (tank 7.5 and tap 8) and want some more tanks with fish that would want low 7 or high 6 too. Water can be so annoying huh?


Man, I hear yah, its hard to come back after these sort of things. Oddly, my pH tends towards the lower side, I wouldn't do well with anything that required hard water I can tell you that much.

I'll post an update on this tank at some point...its nothing to look at right now, but I have plans, because I refuse to let this tank go down or go to waste.


----------



## mattjm20 (Nov 2, 2013)

dprais1 said:


> You know, concerning bows, they grow slowly, especially bosemani. But if you are willing to wait a bit for them to grow you should be able to get just about any bow for $4-$6 from a breeder.
> 
> I got 25 bows for a total of 120.00, each about 1.5" or so. Even at that size they have some nice colors and those colors have just been improving each week.
> 
> ...


Hi there!
What rainbowfish forum are you talking about? I'd love to be put in touch with some breeders... very interested in buying in bulk!


----------



## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

This is a fantastic journal. Im not sure what's more impressive, the vast assortment of fishes you've had, or the wide array of plants you manage to keep together. Im sorry about the recent losses. It can be a real kick in the crotch when something like that happens. Glad to hear you have further plans though, looking forward to future posts.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

burr740 said:


> This is a fantastic journal. Im not sure what's more impressive, the vast assortment of fishes you've had, or the wide array of plants you manage to keep together. Im sorry about the recent losses. It can be a real kick in the crotch when something like that happens. Glad to hear you have further plans though, looking forward to future posts.


Thanks, its about time I update this. Now if only my phone will agree with me and let me upload pictures onto my computer *sigh*

This whole break has been me doing aquarium stuff and its finally now at a point where I'm happy with it. Of course, always room to add a few more plant species and I need more fish, but its getting there. I'm at a solid 70% now I'd say.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

So lets first start with where things were when I left them. 
After this, the tank got worse and worse. Something from the crash caused disease to take hold and BBA to become unimaginable. I did not take pictures, it was bad. Really bad. I was losing fish still and it was awful. I decided it was time for a complete overhaul.


I have to thank both Tom Barr and msjinkzed for the wood. Two big pieces of Manzanita, Rachel bought them from Tom Barr, a friend of mine visited Rachel and bought wood from her and picked up the wood I bought from her, to then have another friend pick up the wood from me from our friend to then give to me…man, I really need a car.


I soaked the wood for about a month and a half. I managed to find a lot of nice black lava rock at Monster Aquarium in Flushing. $2 a pound I bought more or less everything they had that was black. Not pictured, I also bought my substrate materials. I decided that eco-complete was not the way to go, and so I bought 100lbs of black beauty blasting sand, which is apparently the same stuff as black diamond just different company. Regardless my friend uses the stuff and it works fine for him. I had to rinse it like you wouldn’t believe though, jeez. I’ll talk about substrate later on this post though.


January 2nd, I began the process of re-doing this tank. I needed remove everything and bleach the tank. BBA and other nastiness was becoming a big issue and this was the only surefire way to stop it. My plan was to drain the tank, let it sit for a bit, then spray a bleach water solution onto the tank, then fill the tank with a bleach solution, then spray the tank with an h202 solution, then drain and fill the tank until if smelled normal.


This is where the fish were sent to live. My neighbor was lending me an Eheim 2217 so I had 3 of them running on a 33 gallon brute force Rubbermaid garbage can. And I needed those lids as I know my fish are jumpers. And hey, no one jumped. I did lose a few fish in the process though. One of my male gouramis wasn’t looking so hot to begin with and ended up dying. My gouramis in general were in a bad shape when going into this, they had fungal infections so I had to treat the system with methylyne blue. The 3 bosmani I got on black Friday did not enjoy that in the least *sigh* I needed to do this though, I didn’t have another choice, and I was prepared for the possibility that fish may die in the process. Tbh, fish were dying from me not doing this too, so it was a screwed either way, lesser of two evils scenario.


January 3rd, before bleaching I decided I’d try and scrap off as much BBA as I could. Man, I could not tell you the last time I actually saw the back on this tank. So much elbow grease went into this.


January 4th, this is what substrate removal and bleaching gets you. I was lazy and didn’t clean up water stains on the front of the tank though…still should probably do that…but this was like a whole new tank, as if I had just freshly bought it.




The closest shots to the final from my hardscape planning stage. I did this on the 4th as well while draining and filling the tank a whole buncha times.


January 7th. I let the tank air out for a bit, also had some holiday and family matters to attend to given the time of year so I had to wait a few days to get the ball rolling. This is where we talk substrate. I decided that I wanted this tank to be more like my 10 gallon which has had a lot of success with few setbacks. I attribute that to my usage of dirt capped with sand. However, for my 75, I wanted to do things up even more, given the larger plants I’d be using and the desire for better colors. I decided to take a page from the mineralized top soil ideas. I couldn’t mineralize top soil myself and it wouldn’t have paid to attempt to buy enough MTS online, so I improvised a little. I sprinkled potash and dolomite onto the glass, as well as some Osmocote + and earthworm castings, 1tsp of osmocote plus per 10 gallons and 2 tbsp of earthworm castings per 10 gallons. Not pictured, I ripped up something like 2lbs of red clay (that stuff was annoying as all hell to find) and threw it in as I was dirting the tank with miracle grow organic potting mix. I sifted out any overly large pieces of wood as well, but left a decent amount of smaller soggy wood pieces in, as I know they will be breaking down and adding nutrients over time.


Hardcape in the tank. I recently wound up removing the larger middle rock and the rock furthest to the right in the tank in order to make more planting space. Kinda bummed about that but, it’s a planted tank with dirt so I needed the space.


January 8th. Fun fact, if you soaked your wood for a month and a half and then keep it out of water for like two weeks, its going to want to float for about a week. Luckily it didn’t really float but it kept trying to so I put these two rainbow rocks there to weigh the whole thing down and let it re-soak. I threw in what plants I salvaged and could clean off from my previous iteration of this tank.


January 9th, added the plants that I bought from Ebi that I had sit in my high tech 10 gallon and my quarantine 10 gallon. 


January 16th, replaced my t5ho lighting. Another fun fact, I totally forgot to update my record I keep on my computer for my tanks about what bulbs I bought…ugh. I’ll post that information tomorrow when I write it down myself. I still have the boxes in my basement haha.


January 18th, took a picture of one of the MTS I am trying to get to populate this tank. My quarantine has a population of black MTS. I posted this on facebook and someone thought it was a rabbit snail. It’s not I can assure you, these popped out of a batch of MTS I’ve had breeding in my tanks for a while now. Seems like a lot of MTS from that tank are this color, they start off light and as they get bigger the shell eventually becomes this super dark brown/black. Might have to distribute these to some local buddies.


January 22nd, finally was able to get in 2 order of plants from MadMax and from 2ManyHobbies. This particular plant is Myriophyllum tenellum. I won’t go into detail about each species like I normally do but I think in another post after this one I’ll write up some stuff about the plants specifically and give more details on the specs of the tank. This post is going to be running long as is.


Took me a few hours to get everything planted. But I am very pleased with the results.



Helanthium sp. “Sao Paulo”



Rotala ramisori “Florida”

Ludwigia brevipes


And until tomorrow I leave you with a picture of things to come.


----------



## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

I really like your redo. Great plant selection!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## neilshieh (Sep 6, 2010)

Great progress! I really like the look of your MTS, the ones I have and usually see are always tan colored. 
What's the name of this plant here


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

I got that crypt as Cordata rosenvarig. I'm thinking it will change appearance in my setup
If not it still looks cool


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

So already I’m thinking I may want to move some of these plants around haha. I’m looking at the left side of my tank and am realizing that the Helanthium sp. “Sao Paulo” is going to dwarf a lot of the plants around it, so I’m thinking at some point I should put that one where the Alternanthera reineckii “Variegated” and move the A.R. more to the front of the tank…although I’m debating about that too because I know the variegated can get a bit taller eventually. However I know that the H. sp. “Sao Paulo” is going to dwarf the s. repens and the Myriophyllum tenellum so I may have to re-arrange for the sake of those plants anyways. Not entirely sure how I’m going to do that but I’ll think of something to make it look nice.

I also have to let the red Barclaya and the green Barclaya grow out more, and wait for some Ludwigia my friend gave me to grow out so that I can ID them. He thinks he gave me some combination of Rubin, palustris, and atlantis…he grows low tech so its hard to differentiate them and the stems aren’t in the best of best of shape…time will tell though. I already have Rubin going decently and I wouldn’t mind keeping atlantis but I’m not sure if I’m feeling palustris…then again if it’s a palustris variety that gets a nice color I’ll probably keep it. I got my Rotala macrandra as Variegated but honestly it looks more like Japan Red or the normal form to me…not sure if I want to eventually switch it out then or leave it as is…meh. I may also in the future switch out my Persecaria sp. “Kawagoeanum” for the “Sao Paulo” one but that remains to be seen.

I also need to figure out where I want to put my Piptospatha sp. Kalimantan as I’m not entirely sure how large it will grow under submerged conditions. Not a whole lot of info on these plants in terms of aquarium growth. I also have to figure out if some really badly stunted stems I have from the previous setup or worth or even possible to bring back to healthy growth. Specifically some Pogostemon stellatus Needle Leaf and Ammania praetermissa. I’ll also, eventually, be adding a few more plants here and there. And more fish.

Anyways enough rambling, lemme post the lists.

Current Fish/Inverts 
•	Herotilapia multispinosa – “Rainbow Cichlid”
•	Ctenopoma acutirostre – “Leopard Leaf Fish”
•	Trichopodus leerii – “Pearl Gourami” x2:1
•	Polypterus senegalus – “Senegal Bichir”
•	Polypterus retropinnis
•	Polypterus delhezi
•	Erpetoichthys calabaricus – “Rope fish”
•	Melanoides tuberculata - “Trumpet Snail” x#
Current Plants
•	Carpets/bushes
o	Myriophyllum tenellum
o	Ammania praetermissa
o	Staurogyne repens
o	Helanthium sp. “Sao Paulo”
o	Cryptocoryne x willisii
o	Eriocaulon parkeri
o	Hygrophila sp. “Araguaia” 
o	Eleocharis belem - “Dwarf Hairgrass” 
o	Alternanthera reineckii var. ‘Mini’
o	Blyxa japonica
•	Foreground
o	Alternanthera reineckii var. “Variegated” 
o	Cryptocoryne affinis cv. “Metallic Red”
o	Cryptocoryne sp. “Green Gecko”
o	Cryptocoryne becketii petchii
o	Echinodorus parviflorus - “Tropica Sword”
•	Mid-ground
o	Lagarosiphon madagascariensis
o	Cyprus helferi
o	Cryptocoryne cordata cv. “Rosanervig”
o	Cryptocoryne wendtii x hybrid
o	Nymphaea micrantha
o	Cryptocoryne nurii
o	Ludwigia glandulosa
o	Ludwigia x lacustris
o	Hyptis lorentziana
o	Bacopa salzmannii
o	Cuphea anagalloidea
o	Didiplis diandra – “Blood Stargrass” 
o	Rotala ramisori var. “Florida”
o	Rotala sp. ‘Nanjenshan’
o	Pogostemon stellatus cv. “Needle Leaf”
o	Persecaria praetermissa
o	Rotala macrandra cv. “Variegated”?
o	Aponogeton madagascariensis – “Lace Leaf”
o	Ludwigia brevipes
o	Ludwigia simpsonii x repens
o	Rotala sp. “Vietnam”
•	Background
o	Cryptocoryne crispatula cv. “Balansae”
o	Barclaya longifolia cv. “Red”
o	Cryptocoryne usteriana
o	Cryptocoryne cordata cv. “Rosanervig” 
o	Staurogyne stolonifera
o	Ludwigia sp. “Atlantis”?
o	Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata cv. “Twisted”
o	Piptospatha sp. Kalimantan
o	Eriocaulon compressum
o	Persecaria sp. “Kawagoeanum”
o	Helanthium bolivianum cv. “Angustifolius” – “Vesuvius” 
o	Blyxa aubertii
o	Ludwigia sp. ‘Rubin’
o	Hygrophila lancea
o	Hygrophila polysperma cv. “Ceylon”
o	Ludwigia palustris?
o	Ludwigia alata
o	Echinodorus sp. “Paul Klocker”
o	Echinodorus sp. “Red Devil”
o	Echinodorus x “Tanzende feuerfeder”
o	Echinodorus x “Altlandsberg”
o	Vallisneria americana var. “Nana”
o	Hygrophila sp. “Brown”
o	Hygrophila sp. “Tiger”
o	Barclaya longifolia cv. “Green”
o	Rotala mexicana cv. “Bangladesh”
o	Ludwigia ovalis var. “Pink” 
•	Surface
o	Lemna minor – “Duckweed”
o	Pista stratiotes var. ‘Dwarf’ – “Dwarf Water Lettuce” 
o	Spirodela polyrrhiza – “Giant Duckweed” 
o	Hygroryza aristata
•	Wood
o	Burl
•	Microsorum pteropus cv. “Trident”
•	Microsorum pteropus cv. “Narrow”
•	Bucephalandra sp. “Brownie Red”
•	Bolbitis heudelotii – “African Fern”
•	Microsorum pteropus cv. “Needle”
•	Microsorum pteropus cv. “Windelov”
o	Front branch
•	Anubias barteri cv. “Nana” 
o	Front laying down branch
•	Anubias barteri cv. “Petite” 
o	Back rising up branch
•	Anubias barteri cv. “Petite” 
•	Stones
o	Front wood stones
•	Bucephalandra sp. “Shiny Purple” 
•	Bucephalandra sp. “Unknown Ebi”
•	Bucephalandra sp. “Mini Catherine”
•	Bucephalandra sp. “Silver Powder”
•	Back left wood stones
o	Bucephalandra sp. “Shiny Blue” 
•	Back right wood stones
o	Bucephalandra sp. “Centipede”
o	Bucephalandra sp. “Mini Belinda”
•	Middle back stone
o	Anubias barteri cv. “Congensis”
•	Anubias hastifolia 
•	Back right stone
o	Lagenandra meeboldii cv. “Pink”
•	Substrate
o	Dirt capped with sand
•	Additional additives
o	Dolomite
o	Potash
o	Osmocote +
o	Earthworm castings
o	Red Clay
•	Hardscape
o	Rocks
•	Black Lava Rock
o	Driftwood
•	Manzanita x2
•	Heater
o	Inline Heater set at 76
•	Lighting
o	Catalina Black Solar T5 HO 4x54W with 8 dimmable moonlights
o	Wave Point Tropical Wave
o	Wave Point Color Wave
o	Wave Point Ultra Growth Wave
o	Giesemann Super Flora 
•	UV sterilizer
o	Vecton 600 25W Sterilizer
•	Filtration
o	Eheim 2217 x2
•	Circulation
o	Koralia 750 x2 (only using the one on the right atm)
•	Fertilizers
o	GH Booster – 1tbsp after water change
•	Carbon Dioxide
o	Dual Stage Regulator on 20lb tank
o	Up Aqua Inline CO2 Diffuser
•	Aeration
o	2 air stones on one aerator


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

•	 A full tank shot to start this off. Its been a while since I last posted but man, the tank has been looking nice.


Here’s my latest cichlid addition to the tank. Several months ago I got a group of Cryptoheros cutteri at a local auction and have been growing them out. This one was the dominant male, and while his fins are either genetically a little funky or just healed weirdly while growing idk but he’s got some nice color to him.


This guy has been doing well, definitely funny to think of how small he was when I got him (or she, I forget how you sex these things, I know it has to do with spines on the gill plate or something) and how he got super beat up for a while and was difficult to get eating. Eats like a champ now that’s for sure haha


A nice shot of the dominant male angel. Might possibly be the boss of the tank too, but he doesn’t mess with the cichlids or bichirs so (shrug)


Love these guys but this one in particular is a little snot. I tried adding an elephant nose to this tank and this guy just would not leave the poor thing alone. But he’s a pretty fish, just can’t have anything too too meek in the tank.


This rainbow cichlid colors up only when he wants to haha, but I’ve had him at least 4 years now and he’s definitely one fun fish and has been through a good amount of things with me. Definitely the biggest cichlid in the tank atm.



The pair.


One of the rose lines. Nice fish, I need more, they have to be near full grown though to play with the Polypterus though.


An assortment of plants, notably Rotala ramisori var. Florida, Rotala Colorata, Limnophila Mini Vietnam, Rotala indica, and Tonia fluviatilis Lotus Blossom.


Blood vomit that’s been buried a little too deep, can’t see the red super well, I’ll bring it up higher in the substrate later on.


Some more cool plants. Rotala ramisori var. Sunset, Limnophila sp. Dwarf, Ammania pedicellata, Limnophila sp. Belem, Ludwigia sp. Atlantis, and some others.


Some Ludwigia Pantanal.


Some Rotala macrandra in front (the red one) and some Didiplis diandra (the green needle leaf one) behind it.


Nothing much to look at now but this is something relatively new to the states called Hygrophila Cherry. Its not the same as the Cherry leaf from what I can see, that plant has a much wider leaf and tends to be a lot greener and grow faster, this thing is growing at a moderate rate at best and is staying a nice red color.


Red Hadi Pearl Sword, a real nice dwarf sword (doesn’t get taller than 4 or 5”) that gets some nice color to it. If I can get it to flower that’d be fantastic lol


The lady pearl gouramis.


This is a new lotus I got from a buddy (Tinanti on several different forums) called Nymphaea sp. Santorum. Stays small (4-5” tall, leaf not too too wide) and has that nice reddish color.


Lagenandra Red, like the previously mentioned lotus it stays on the smaller side. I just want to get some moss or a liverwort growing on the wood that separates this two plants and I’ll get some real nice looking contrast.


Rotala H’ra, Anubias petite, and a bunch more.


Vallisneria Nana, has a lot of tiger striping and likes to spread more than grow tall, definitely a nice Vallisneria and weirdly the only one I’ve ever had luck with (shrug).


Some wave moss, a nice sized Anubias hastifolia.


A lot going on plant wise here. This tank has over 100 different plant varieties in it :S I may or may not have gone overboard with my plant collecting haha


A nice little view at some of my crypt collection. I’m just not sure about wendtii tropica…it seems like its just a nicer name for wendtii bronze, and I have way too much of that plant given that it looks like nothing special. I’d rather have my special crypts take over anyways…striatola and silver queen are taking their sweet time to grow in (like, literal months). Nurii has started doing well for me as well.


Polypterus palmas polli, definitely my most outgoing bichir right now.


Staurogyne sp. purple looks really nice, way cooler than repens imho. Plus you don’t see purple too often in fresh water aquariums.


Several java fern varients (trident, thor’s hammer, narrow leaf, needle leaf), some xmas moss, some Anubias coffefolia, among others.


Anubias Pinto, definitely an algae magnet, trying to get some of the plants behind it to shade it so that it gets less algae and grows a bit better…but right now I’m just happy that it’s growing. Not a cheap plant.


 
Some misc. plant shots.


Now this one is cool, its Ludwigia glandulosa x palustris from my good friend Barthog, who has a pretty nice website online with plants for sale. This one was also one he collected locally from his area. This one is going to look NICE when it grows in.


Tonia fluviatilis Lotus Blossom.


Bucephalandra centipede.


Java fern Windelov.


Tire track Nerite snail, great algae eaters and very colorful little guys, they do well with the cichlids because unlike other snails these guys tend to stay very close to the glass and leave very little gap between the glass and their shell.


Whiptail Cat is pretty cool, I have two of them, might add a third but idk. Pretty gregarious and never completely out of sight in the tank, pretty active at night and unlike many plecos don’t lay a finger on the plants.


Reason they are called whiptails.


St. Elmo’s Fire…this thing is going to look SICK once it grows tall.


Rotala macrandra Variegated…super pretty plant, grows slower than regular macrandra, but man oh man am I excited for this one to grow in. It took me a FOREVER to find some.


A side view. Aponogeton capuronii is a really cool Aponogeton that I hear is hard to grow (in reality it just seems to demand softer water than most people probably grow it in) and while it grows decently quickly its not a monster like some of the others that needs constant pruning. I’ve had to cut no leafs off from this plant (aside for old growth that looked meh from when I bought the plant) and it’s a blast.


Zebra Nerite, another cool Nerite.


The rope fish being silly.

These pics are about a week old now, and I’ve since added a few more plants, so I’ll have to do some updates in another week or so and at that point I’ll give an updated full stocking list…also that’s going to be a monster of a post when that happens. But thanks for reading this far and tank on people


----------

