# 40 Gallon Community Journal (L260 Plecos are in!)



## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

Hello,

This is my old 40 gallon community tank.
Current FTS:









Current Stocking:
1 Black Angelfish
6 L260 Juvenile Queen Arabesque Plecos 
1 Juvenile Albino BN Pleco
1 Juvenile BN Pleco
1 Mickeymouse Platy
6 Lemon Tetras
2 Neon Tetra
1 Cardinal Tetra
1 Juvenile Pygmy Corydoras

Equipment:
40 gal Flatback Hex Tank
75w Marineland Heater
Aquaclear 70
Tetra Whisper 20i
9w Cree LED DIY Fixture(dimmable) retrofitted into stock Canopy


The tank used to be planted a year ago or more. It had several planted phases. Here is a look into the past:









And then:

















Then:










Looked like this at some point:


















Thanks for any advice and suggestions guys!


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

...
anyone have any ideas?


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## EnigmaticGuppy92 (Jan 31, 2012)

id go for a driftwood hardscape with attatched moss and a vallisneria background for half of the tank then have the other half or quarter carpeted in dhg with open water above


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

can you do a sketch in Microsoft paint for me? it would help visualize the scape you mean


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## EnigmaticGuppy92 (Jan 31, 2012)

yup will do


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## leblue (Sep 22, 2012)

I'd go a mangrove-esq hardscape with a few plants that flower above the water. Add some Indian almond leaves and go for a tea colored look and then many many dwarf puffers (i have a puffer problem...)


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

Thank so much!

@leblue: that sounds great, but wouldnt i have to lower my water level in order for that to look its best; to see the flowers?
Also i can't really put anymore fish in here haha, or swap fish out. puffers wouldnt work because i like my sulawesi snails in here  Too many pest snails, yes, but the puffers would go after my prized snails too


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## leblue (Sep 22, 2012)

Newman said:


> Thank so much!
> 
> @leblue: that sounds great, but wouldnt i have to lower my water level in order for that to look its best; to see the flowers?
> Also i can't really put anymore fish in here haha, or swap fish out. puffers wouldnt work because i like my sulawesi snails in here  Too many pest snails, yes, but the puffers would go after my prized snails too


You might be able to get away with not lowering the water if you made some sort of faux background to mount the plants to instead of putting them on the bottom. Also finding a way to make a lattice as if you were growing pothos ivy out of a hob filter. 
not my photo btw


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## EnigmaticGuppy92 (Jan 31, 2012)

excuse my un artisticness everyone lol









i would have vals at the rear right expanding over half the tank with a striking piece of dw with a dhg carpet to keep it all simple


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

I would definitely try to use more of the vertical space since it is so narrow. 

You can either use bigger rocks or make a pile of rocks to increase the vertical range of the hardscape. The rockscape you have now is a little bland and lacks drama. If you had more of them you could make some caves etc...also getting similar rocks will make it less distracting. 

Driftwood could also be great for using the entire height of the tank. You could have big sticks descending down to look like submerged roots, or you could do a tree stump scape.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

all sweet suggestions guys, thank you!
I tried to do the pothos in HOB setup once, but the plant didnt grow too well which was odd...

I really like that scape, EnigmaticGuppy92, I might try something like that.
Would I have to improve my lighting, or will my current 18W work?

I am going to have to locate a source for a good piece of DW like that, some vals and DHG.
Also what kind of moss should i use?
thanks again!


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

What is a good place to get manzanita wood like that? a website, or thread on here?


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## EnigmaticGuppy92 (Jan 31, 2012)

thanks newman
nt to sure of a good place in the us you could always go foraging and disinfect the wood and clean it yourself iv had alot of success doing this
if you want the tank anything other than low light i would go for upgraded lighting
id go for xmas moss


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## Drift Monkey (Mar 26, 2012)

It'd look great with a nice piece of manzanita in there! Ifound mine at a LFS, but there should be some vendors that would be able to hook you up!

I had a hard time vertical space as well...but as you can see in my Ebi...a nice piece of manzanita with moss works well. Anubias petite at the base along with java fern growing out behind it would be cool.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

Yes, I think i will put manzanita in here. I ordered a nice big piece on [Ebay Link Removed] wasn't too expensive. It will arrive some time next week. In the meantime i will be gathering my vals, hairgrass and choosing what moss to put on the DW. 
My LFS will get some vals in on thursday this week, so I'll pick some up soon =)

Unfortunately anubias does not do well in my water for some reason...it hates my tap and melts after a week in my tank. i have tried multiple times and failed. java fern is in here now. not sure if i will use it for the scape though...

Planned plants are Vals, Moss, and Dwarf Hairgrass. keeping it to 3 plants is a good idea and should look nice.


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## Drift Monkey (Mar 26, 2012)

Simple is always good! Can't wait to see the rescape.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

Ok started to work on it today. vals went in, other plants were removed, two rocks went out.
didnt get hairgrass yet. DW is shipped, will arrive next week. 
Still unsure about which moss to use. christmas moss? mini christmas moss?


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

how do you guys feel a blue background would look? I can just flip my black BKG - its blue on the reverse side. i think it might look interesting. I've had this black for 3 years now lol.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

seems like my sulawesi snails might make planting this tank more difficult than expected. they may be eating my plants lol.

At any rate, I put in dwarf hairgrass and the DW branch that i found. waiting on the branch to sink. will happen soon.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

Tank now looks like this:


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

hairgrass isnt going to work, so i'm going to go crazy and get a bunch of dwarf sag instead...

also my vals are getting chomped by my snails, but they are sending out runners and growing somewhat.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

so i planted a bunch of dwarf sag yesterday, and if my snails dont eat it all over the course of the next few months then it should look nice!
vals are still half eaten. I also removed most of my pest snails from my tank. the only ones left are a huge number of my sulawesis. they bred prolifically recently. hopefully they wont eat everything i planted lol! but I'll still love them even if they do. they really are the best snails for my tap water.

over the next few days i'll be trying to hunt down and remove ALL of my pest snails. they're bladder snails, and we all know how impossible these are to get rid of >_>


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

Mission one: eliminate all pest snails
Mission one status: FAILED

After a month of repeated manual removal, i now feel confident that it is not possible to remove pest snails from this tank. so **** 'em. I have better things to do.

Recently i have started to raise some more pleco fry in a breeder net since my BN pair bred. 

The planted idea didn't work because my sulawesis ate right through the planted part of it. on the plus side now i have a lot of tylo babies in the tank. on the negative side I am pretty much left with doing a hardscape for this tank.
At least the plecos will appreciate the DW. lots of DW. I'll probably work on the re-scape during winter break.

(I am planning on buying a lot of DW and adding in some dried leaves.)


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

This will be my inspiration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tysGxRYRubk

going to replace some of my flourite with a sand cap.
I hope i can select appropriate DW for this...


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## danakin (Jun 8, 2007)

Starting from scratch? Or just redoing it?


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

redoing it. its pretty empty right now, with just flourite and a single branch. i'll take out some flourite and cover with sand.

my fish are still in here though. they're staying the same for the most part.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

looks like i haven't updated this in a long while, so here we go:

I finally got my LED components today so i quickly gutted out my fixture and put them in. The results are exactly like my schematic showed before. here is a video, because only a video can show how dim the lighting goes (the camera always adjusts the light level for w/e reason.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH1tG303Ksw&feature=youtu.be

Here is a pic of the max light output. the sword plant will go where the spot light is.









There is some shimmer but I'm going to modify my HOB a little bit so that hopefully i can move it right next to the LEDs (so that there would be turbulence right next to the light) to get the level of shimmer i really want. It's going to be crazy.

(I realize there is no schematic, this is just a copy paste out of context. basically i swapped out most of the flourite for play sand, got rid of plants, added in DW from my back yard, and am planning on selling all of my sulawesi snails soon so that i can add one Red Rubin Swordplant. Right in that spotlight.)


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

Swords are in (they sent me two. one will stay, the extra one will be grown out then sold.) and i tried positioning the tree bark on the substrate like i wanted to. unfortunately that bark still floats so its hard to keep it down like that. released all the pleco fry and shrimp. do not know what will happen.

Tank looks much more complete now. put some dried leaves in the corner to water log them and when they sink they will be spread over the sand. I think the tank reminds me of the Amazon a bit, what do you think?



















Two main structures are the driftwood pile on the left of the tank:









And the plant on the right side:


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## Kinection (Dec 1, 2012)

Your really creative. Makes me want to rescape...


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

Thanks! It really looks great in person, the pics only show a general idea. the full effect with the shimmer can only be experienced in real life (or through a good camera which I do not own haha!)

I am finally happy with this tank. I added more neon tetras for a school and also added pygmy cories.
When the pleco fry grow a bit more they will be sold and moved out, because clearly it is not possible to house 50+ BN plecos in a 40gallon lol. I'm also thinking about re-homing the platies to lower the bioload, but I may just let them live out the rest of their lives in comfort here. They are used to this tank.


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## crazydaz (Mar 18, 2007)

Hey Newman! I like the new set up, and the branch placement is brilliant! Nice work!

For me, if I were doing a tank of this type, I would probably suggest the addition of a few things:

1. A nice piece of driftwood that's comes up from the back corner by the sword plant, and maybe branches along the back of the tank.

2. In front of the suggested driftwood, the addition of another two swords to compliment the first sword already there....in the wild, these guys grow in patches, and it would add a bold bright green. It would look nice.

3. In front of the sword patch, add a nice long and thick piece of driftwood running at a diagonal such that the back end starts at the back of the tank towards the left side (maybe a third of the way from the extreme left side), runs in front of the swords partially obscuring them (not too much...just a bit), and ends close to the right front part of the tank.

4. Last, I would add several plants of Echinodorus tennelus in front of the large piece of driftwood partially obscuring the large swords. I would concentrate on planting most of the tennelus just right of center of the tank and following the large driftwood to the right. This will slowly spread and form a natural carpet. 

Make sure that you use some good root tabs, too.

I think that the addition of the driftwood would add to the mystery and stark, dramatic atmosphere that you have going on in there. It's dark with a slight eerie glow from the LED lighting. The leaves will tone the substrate down even more. You will have a lot of nice lines in there that all lead the eye toward the bright patch of green swords....a happy spot in an otherwise "bleak"looking design. It would be phenomenal! Especially seeing the fish swimming around the branches of the driftwood you have in there already.....it would look original and would be extremely eye catching.

Just my two cents!


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

crazydaz said:


> Hey Newman! I like the new set up, and the branch placement is brilliant! Nice work!
> 
> For me, if I were doing a tank of this type, I would probably suggest the addition of a few things:
> 
> ...


Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll see what I can do. I get my DW from my backyard, I can't really afford to buy it haha. Depending on what I find, it might work along with what you have suggested. I do not think there is enough light to support a growth of carpet, since the light is centered around just the sword (in a spotlight), but I'll see how it plays out. I happen to have pygmy chains growing in my shrimp bowl, so i already have a source for them.
It looks like i have one sword plant in here but there are actually two. So I would just have to raise another one once these start to reproduce for a total of 3 right? that's how many you recommend?
Could you maybe do schematic in microsoft paint to show what you mean with the DW placement and the plants you want to add? if it is not too much trouble, thanks!


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

Well i suppose its time to update the thread. recently added a large piece of DW, I think it looks nice. finally sold off all of my pleco fry.
just keeping a few albinos and the breeder pair for now. might sell in the future and try a rarer pleco.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

found some mystery eggs:








what could they be? pygmy cory eggs?


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## fishboy199413 (Jan 20, 2010)

Yep those are pygmy cory eggs


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

sweet! thanks for the id!


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

One of them hatched! here is a pic comparing the fry with the egg and some crushed flake which turns out to be too big for the fry even though it's crushed! also the fry has a yolk sac so it wont feed for a while.









close up of fry. definitely pygmy cory:


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

both of them hatched now!


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

The L260s are acclimating!


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

Acclimation photo:









Really difficult to get pics of these guys once they were in the tank, but here are two:


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

i lost one of the pygmy cory fry due to bloat. but the other is doing well and has grown:


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

pymgy cory fry still doing well!

Also update on the L260 plecos. Update pics! These guys grow much slower than my albino BN juvies. my BNs are about 2"+ a piece and these L260 are still around 1.5" each. i hope they are eating and growing! pics taken at night so that i could catch them out and about on the DW. the fishe's color can appear washed out at night as we all know.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

Update pics on the cory fry:


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

more of the cory! He is doing well.
September 8, 2013 (Eggs laid)









September 11, 2013 (Hatch day)









September 25, 2013 (Growing!)









October 12, 2013 (Looks like a cory now!)









October 23, 2012 (Definitely Pygmy cory. as if there was any doubt before lol)


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

I released the cory fry into the tank two days ago. i saw him last night zipping around on the substrate in the dark. i hope he manages fine.

also saw my L260 plecos eat zucchini for the first time with the albino BNs.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

he is as big as flourite


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

cory is still doing well  He is bigger now, and I am worried that my angel might eat him since he likes to hover in the water column since he grew bigger.









Also update photo of the L260s. I know i have at least 5 of them left, hopefully all 6 though.


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## demonbreedr16 (Jan 10, 2008)

Dang! haha You've got a nice snail colony going on in there. I love how natural the tank looks and those fish! They're so epic! xD


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

yeah $&%^&#$ those stupid F'ing snails. I hate them. every night i feed the catfish, they swarm the food so that the catfish barely get a bite out of the snail clump.

I have begun to siphon them out twice a week since i do water changes twice a week now. i use the food to lure them out then siphon out about 100 of them each time. helps control them a little.

Thanks! I hope the L260 get to breeding age some day. they grow very slow.


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## kwheeler91 (May 26, 2009)

Put a couple yoyo loaches in there and that snail population won't last long. If those pleco eat meat at all you can crush the snails and they will eat the meat. Used to do that for my scarlet badis.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

crushing snails doesnt work. they plecos will likely pass on the crushed snails, and believe it or not they will live on after being crushed - they are just that hardy. (especially the bladder snails). then they will continue breeding so crushing only kills a very small amount of them and doesn't really stop the problem. I have to manually remove them.

I wanted yoyo loaches for a long time but they are fast and aggressive feeders. they will undoubtedly out-compete my L260 for food which are very timid and slow eaters. That is the reason i am not keeping a group of cories in here too. I LOVE cories but can't keep them because they too will out-eat all my L260.


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## FIUPanther305 (Nov 9, 2013)

Assassin snails? Or start a nano puffer tank!


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## demonbreedr16 (Jan 10, 2008)

haha ... feel free to save and send me some of those blue ramhorns eventually! xD

Still, I know how that feels. My 40gB was INFESTED with Malaysian trumpet snails which are obviously insanely hard to kill ... they finally stopped being so numerous, tho. Hopefully they'll either die off or you'll find a way to get them under control. It's bound to happen eventually ... hopefully the L260s[ha! I got that right the first time without looking back!] will start really working for their food and not let those pesky snails get it.


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## oscarsx (Mar 15, 2011)

very nice, those vals are looking very good! 

ps. Nice drawing


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

update!
Here are all of my current fish.
The main fish and boss of the tank:









The random platy:









My plecos getting hounded by snails:









My fish that want proper schools (so they school with each-other):









I just recently lost the albino on the right due to bloat but these are plecos i raised from fry:









Random snail (looks to be assassin?) that i found one night in my tank:









I don't have any good tank photos but i'll post one when i get a decent one.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

update


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

Got 6 Lemon Tetras Today. 
I hope they do great in my tank


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

New tank FTS will be posted soon!


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

New FTS and some pics of the lemon tetras and my angel.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

update pics for the L260
This is them on 11/13/2013








And them on 6/22/2014









They are slowly growing and might hopefully breed within the next year.


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## TRENT (Nov 25, 2009)

Any updates on the L260?


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

TRENT said:


> Any updates on the L260?


Yep, I still have all 6 of them, they have grown a bit. the biggest is over 3" now and is probably a male. 
They have not bred yet but hopefully this year. I'll add a powerhead for some current near the pleco caves to see if that helps them.

I added a red BN pleco male in here to breed with the albino BN female. have been selling the babies for a while now.


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