# Picta Paradise



## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

This is my new journal.
The goods
10 gallon custom made rimless
20" Current 40 watt PC with moon light Sunpack 10k/6500k bulb
ADA Malaya substrate with a lava gravel ,pfertz root tabs, and peatmoss as my cheap version o powersand. some ADA bacter and Tourmaline BC.
Eheim 2213 with ADA lily pipes.
Pressurized CO2.
Stealth heater

I plan to have crypt parva, downoi, and erio. In this tank And what else but my micropoecillia picta as the stars o the tank. maybe some stems and a little sand in the foreground
OK some Pics

This is the 10 gallon in comparison to the 120P and the 60P


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Sweet. You have great journals. Does the tank have standard ten gallon dimensions? (I see it's 20 inches long)
Any reason you decided to go with Malaya? (I'm guessing aesthetics?)
And slightly off topic, but when do we get an update for the 120P, or did I just miss it? :biggrin: 
I'm looking forward to the journal


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

CL the tank has the same dimensions o a regular ten gallon just thicker glass. well the Malaya is 4 many reasons. Malaya turns the water more acidic than other ADA substrate. I normally use RO water but Pictas require some hardness to the water so I will do water changes with 1/2 tap water. Also I have seen first hand how erio, parva, and downoi thrives in Malaya substrate.
Lastly my Pictas are the rare red/orange wild strain and I have had them in a quarantine tank with flourite substrate and they show their color really nice against the redish substrate. The Pictas came rom a tank with Malaya and I liked it so much I going with that theme. 120P will be updated soon although no major changes as well as my 75P. Oh and get going on your GLA tank it looks nice but I want to see it with some livestock lol.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

hehe, I'm working on it! I'm ordering the lights and substrate for sure tomorrow. 

And I had no idea that malaya made the water more acidic than the other ADA substrates. his should be an interesting journal. I've never heard of pictas before now


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Here is a blurry picture o one o males that I have.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Wow, that's a beautiful fish. It looks like an awesome endler mixed with a molly.
The tail kinda reminds me of Tony the tiger :hihi:
Did you have these imported or something?


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Super rare wild stock not a hybrid. A local store had them a couple years back. The original wholesaler lost all his wild stock. I manage to buy a couple and traded one. There is an online store that carries them but they are $$. I was never too interested in live bearers till I saw these. The 1st thing I thought when I saw them was that they look like little tigers. 
Even though they are live bearers they are not prolific only about 7 babies every couple months. This morning my second batch o babies were born I managed to get them all before the parents ate them. the are the size o endlers but do not cross breed.


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## thief (Jan 12, 2008)

Wow that looks awesome. The Fins look really cool and I like how the back fin is orange like a tiger and the top fin is yellow like a bumble bee or something. I would also like to request an update on both your tanks!

So do you plan to scape the tank or make it into a breeder tank to house the picta's?

I have the same light only thing is that is has the original actnic lighting bulb in it. Where do you get a bulb like yours for plants? 
Would this be the correct lighting bulb for that fixture: http://www.marineandreef.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=RCU02024&CartID=1


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## Outlawboss (Dec 30, 2008)

Cool custom tank, rare plants, rarer fish, fellow SCAPEr. Instant subscription! 

I'm excited to see how it goes. Lots of cool new tanks starting up.

And yea CL, you really need to fill that GLA tank!


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

thief said:


> Wow that looks awesome. The Fins look really cool and I like how the back fin is orange like a tiger and the top fin is yellow like a bumble bee or something. I would also like to request an update on both your tanks!
> 
> So do you plan to scape the tank or make it into a breeder tank to house the picta's?
> 
> ...


Yeah thats the bulb its square pin. I got it at marine depot cuz its like 20 minutes away.I heard that the ADA 8000k 36watt bulb also its but you lose 4 watts. 
The tank will be a scaped tank with hope that they breed there. I may keep the babies in the tank in a breeder box just to not have to set up another tank. I will also add some otos and some shrimp. I have yellow red and snowball shrimp so Ill have to choose one kind o shrimp. Too bad I dont have some orange bee shrimp. 
Outlaw I have some downoi and parva but it will be my 1st try at keeping erios I will start with the easiest to keep. Like I said I have seen great results with this substrate so Im eager to try it. Today I can home too late rom work so did not get anything done to the tank.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Here is a possible scape 




























I also have some ribbon wood that im gonna try.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

One more rock arragement next I will try some ribbon wood .


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## shrimpo (Aug 2, 2009)

The previous set-up looks better than the last one, by the way what kind of rocks you have in there?


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## Burks (May 21, 2006)

Those are beautiful fish and awesome that they only have a few fry every couple months! I love livebeareres, but hate how quickly they reproduce. I'm not one that can cull tons of fish every couple weeks just because...


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Shrimpo, the rocks were collected in Lake Tahoe but not by me. I wish I had more rocks to play with. They are not lava or lace rock. They are red with some white and green on them.
Burke I know what you mean. I love these little guys hope I can breed some more. Im gonna try to work on the tank some more tonight.I want to get this tank going already. I will use cycled water plus a fully cycled Eheim filter so the tank will be ready or pictas in a couple days. Actually I could add them right away but I want to wait a little in case I want to make some last minute changes.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Oh by the way I thought another advantage to the Malaya substrate is that there is *NO* ammonia spike like the Amazonia. So less cycle time and less inital or no water changes maybe.


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## shrimpo (Aug 2, 2009)

MARIMOBALL said:


> Shrimpo, the rocks were collected in Lake Tahoe but not by me. I wish I had more rocks to play with. They are not lava or lace rock. They are red with some white and green on them.


I thought they are lava rock. they look nice.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Ok im gonna get working on this tank tonight hope to have pics up by tomorrow. Ill update then


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Ok tank has water now Took me a while . Well i went ahead and split my downoi (crossing fingers) hope it will do ok. added some C. Parva i had growing in my shrimp tank the mother crypt will stay in the shrimp tank in case these decide to melt. aded lobelia cardinalis small form and a small brown unknown crypt. the back has myophelia m. or what ever its called iwill aslo add rotala green to the right and maybe some sort o grass to the back right. ok some pics

lava gravel with additives added























































parva next to a dime








Tanx 4 looking


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## isu712 (Jan 11, 2008)

The tanks looks great. I really like the hardscape.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

isu712 said:


> The tanks looks great. I really like the hardscape.


thanks im trying to do a little something different. the water really cleared up it is crystal clear i have new pics but looks the same just clearer. so i prob wont post them. soon i will add some cobra endlers just to test the water. Dont know what shrimp ill add but i have snowball RCS CRS and yellow


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

aquired an awesome erio will update with picks tomorrow. i was gonnna add some amano shrimp and ottos today but did not want to go out and drive in the rain. it will be raining 4 days in a ropw here in SoCal imagine that.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Ok i have acquired my 1st ever erios :tongue: they both look spectacular. I also added some rotala green. I plan to sticking to bright green plants b/c the substrate is brown/red and the pictas are orange just trying to balance things. This tank looks like a south west desert to me. not my initial intention. I could almost imagine tumble weeds rolling around in there lol. Can some one recommend a bright green plant with delicate leaves? I wish i could get a hold o E. Vivipara but no one seems to have this. Ok more pics

*BAM!* Eriocaulon Australia type II 

















Eriocaulon Kimberley


















One more Erio comming in the mail this week


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## billb (May 29, 2009)

The Erio looks nice and I like the green plants against the Malaya substrate. This will be a good looking tank!

One comment/observation on the Downoi. I have some in my 90 gallon with Aquasoil I, CO2 and San Diego tap water. It is growing well and looks pretty normal. I have another plant that I put into a tank with Malaya soil, no CO2 and RO water treated to be alkaline. This Downoi is has much longer leaves and appears to be 2x the diameter of the plants in the other tank. I guess what I am suggesting is that your downoi should do well in the conditions you have planned.

Bill


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

billb said:


> The Erio looks nice and I like the green plants against the Malaya substrate. This will be a good looking tank!
> 
> Bill


thank you buddy. Where have you been? did you make it to the SCAPE meet. BTW that is your lobelia you are looking at thanks again.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

This tank is now my shrimp tank. Ill be updating with some pics. Its now my shrimp paradise.


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## kharma (Sep 20, 2010)

Looking forward to seeing them  Now hurry up


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Oh wow I forgot to post some pics. These are from a moth ago. I have to trim the tank again. I stopped the CO2 because my PH is 6.2. I always use pure RO. but now im adding seachem equilibrium instead of tap water. 


















Some of my golden bees


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

kewl


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Newman said:


> kewl


thanks ill have more pics soon.


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