# 20gal long *picture heavy*



## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

Well after the end of last semester my roommate graduated and didn't feel like moving his tank from Michigan to Louisiana so he left it with me since I was basically taking care of it anyways. After moving some fish around I was left with his old 20 long empty, and was just holding all my spare equipment. After looking at it for a few months it started driving me nuts. I found a container for all the equipment, cleaned the tank, and filled it with water and let the filters cycle till I figured out what to do with it. It was a heated debate between a shell dweller tank, a planted tank, or a breeding tank. Well the planted tank won and this brings us almost a month later "post-filling," and I think I know what I want to do with the tank finally. Off to procure equipment, hard-scape objects, and possibly plants tomorrow, rather today...

Need to get:
- substrate
- light (48watt Nova T5HO)
- wood and rocks
- plants (maybe later this weekend?)

What I'll try to grow:
- glosso
- rotala nanjenshan
- java fern
- something called "super red foxtail"
- anubias nana "petite" (eventually, if I can find it)
- crypts? maybe...
- anything else I think I might be able to grow that looks cool

This tank will have DIY CO2 though waht form of fert dosing is not known yet. Well enough talking here's some pictures. Don't mind the glass I was messing with the tank so it didn't get cleaned so it looks all foggy.










yes that metal frame is sturdy enough to hold the tank and no it's not sagging that's just lens distortion from a wide angle lens. Note the bareness of the tank, it's enough to drive someone crazy!:icon_eek:










This is why I need a new light...years of my roommate or parents bumping/dropping it. Oh duct tape you are amazing, and possibly a fire hazard...

More tomorrow, for now sleep.


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## angel919 (Apr 26, 2006)

I use the same rack! Maybe a diffrenet size but I have the exact same style. I'm planning to put 3 - 10g tanks for a breeder rack or 2- 10's and a 20 long.

GL with your journey on setting that tank up, it'll be a beautiful one I'm sure of it. Everyone that has a 20l so far has amazing tanks, hope I can join the ranks soon hehe.


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

Drained the tank, poured the black flourite and the sand in after making nice barriers (didn't help much, oh well), put my petrified wood and driftwood in and filled it up. Now I just have to wait for the dust cloud to settle and the water to warm up and I can play around with the hardscape some more.

And now for pictures.










black flourite










sugar sand, really fine particle sand.

Kaboom!










waiting to settle and the water to warm up so I can stick my hand in without it feeling like I'm gonna get frostbit. Can't wait to plant it, also T5s are sweet.


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

Well the dust hasn't quite settled completely but you can see to the back finally so I figured I'd take a few more pictures, cause... well you can never have enough pictures. The tank is viewable from the end and the front so I left the one end open for lower plants. Both filters will probably not be in the final setup but they create a nice flow through the tank I think I like. the light is awesome but the spread across the width of the tank is something left to be desired but that's fine I don't have the money to get another and I can make do. The wood layout I'm still not sure on but I like the space they create between themselves so I might work on that. I'll probably doodle on some pictures and see what I'd like to do/get. Anyways, picture time!

full tank shot:









Close up of sand area, I now know how much I'm gonna hate the sand area. Any tips on separating the sand and flourite? I tried to make a sifter but it didn't work too well. oh well I'll deal.










This is the end that is viewable and I'd like to try some lower plants through here maybe building up to taller plants by the sand. I'm thinking glosso but not sure what else, maybe some blyxa japonica along the sand area. I'm also thinking of java fern around/on the driftwood and maybe some anubias along the sand.










This end is almost viewable from the kitchen since it butts up to it but there's a cabinet mostly in the way. I'm thinking stem plants in back with some crypts and anubias in front of it.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Wow that scape looks pretty darn good


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

i agree, i like the scape. but im not sure if you can grow glosso or R. wallichi in that lighting. maybe with amazingly managed CO2?
im not an expert at plant lighting levels though.


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

I grew both though, "foxtail" isn't wallichi, under a crappier light with no CO2. But hey if it doesn't I can chalk it up as "lesson learned" and then I know my light isn't powerful enough and I can try something else. The whole lighting thing is weird, when I last tried a planted tank 3-4wpg was a lot and 2.5 was moderate. I come back and now 2.5 is low and 3-4 is moderate I don't really buy into it.


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

Not gonna talk just gonna show.














































That is all.


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## Chrisinator (Jun 5, 2008)

Looks good. I like how some of the rocks are stuck in the white sand.


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

*20 long update*

During winter break I was gone for 2 weeks and the tank got hit by blue-green hair algae and nuked the najenshan and green foxtail. got 3 stems left between the two but they're growing strong. The glosso also took a hit but there was no die-back just a pause in the growth, but it's growing in now and should fill in the right side in a month or so? Added anubias, red foxtail and some other plant I just thought looked cool but forgot the name of... also picked up fish and an algae crew. 

Fauna:
6 CPDs
3 banded kuhli loaches
2 bristlenose plecos (one is temporary from my roommate till it grows out)
6 Red Cherry Shrimp

I'm gonna start a breeding tank for the shrimp later this weekend and maybe another one for the CPDs if I can find some space. My roommate and I have basically filled up our living room/ dining room of the apartment with tanks.

Full tank after a trim and replacing a bare spot left by the najenshan. The thing at the front is holding a pregnant shrimp and some java moss for me until I get a few spare tanks from home.









CPDs


















Pregnant Shrimp










Some other fish in the room

My roommate's EBJD, he's just a little guy.









Jack Dempseys, yesterday before they bred today.



















Shaking and rubbing up against each other.










Eggs!










Just chugging along now, waiting for stuff to grow in might add a few more plants but not yet, kinda excited to start up a breeding tank for the shrimp so I'll see how that goes.


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## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

I really, _really_ like your hardscape. I'm seriously in love with it. Gorgeous fish too!


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## ohyeahcrx (Mar 21, 2008)

Ill take some jack dempseys! haha Looks really good, in one picture it looks much bigger then a 20 gal

Also what are those tall plants on the right side of the tank?


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

Thanks guys! I really don't know what the tall plant on the right side is. When I bought it there were a lot of names real close together on the tank and I never got a straight answer, and they don't have the plant there anymore. Also I don't think the Jacks bred right, they don't seem too interested in the eggs but they haven't turned white yet so I don't know.

But yeah the "ETS" continues as I'm getting tanks from home now to breed the shrimp and fish in. So we'll see how that goes...


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## Pinto (Jan 23, 2009)

Yes, that is one hell of a hardscape.
Lovin it!!! Awesome Jack Dempseys


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

*Two Months Later...*

So I've been doing a bunch of small changes in stem plants, I added another DIY CO2 to the tank, now have a crap ton of cherry shrimp and more are going to hatch soon, have 3 baby CPDs left, got ninja shimp from the store on accident and now one is holding eggs, have had a break out of black beard algae and some other one I haven't identified yet but have been pulling out from between my glosso that has finally starting to take off. I think that's about it.. oh also helped my roommate start up his on tank that's still in the early stages but is starting to come together, I might take a picture of it soon who knows. Anyways I've been ignoring the tank for a few weeks because of classes besides planting some new stems and a massive trimming of stargrass and replacing the DIY CO2. One of the T5 bulbs burnt out and I still need to replace it but haven't had the money, I prefer eating over a light bulb. I laugh that someone told me before that I couldn't grow glosso under these lights yet it's spreading quickly despite one of the bulbs is dead. And onto some pictures.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Your tank is growing in great!


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

*I guess I need to update my location...*

So with my graduation of college come and gone I've moved out to Iowa to live with my fiancee. The move was insane and I'm probably retarded trying to move all of my fish and tanks the 600+ miles from Michigan but I only incurred one causality in the form of a sword tail but seeing as they pop out more babies if you look at them wrong so I wasen't too heart broken. The planted tank took a hit as the glosso became covered with substrate with the shifting around but has bounced back recently with gusto sending out runners all over the place.

I found I had at least 45 cherry shrimp at the 1/4" size or bigger with that population increasing every day. There were 6 berried females before I left and they just started releasing babies. All the CPDs are live and well being conditioned for breeding while I cycle a 10 gallon, the khulis remain elusive after reintroducing them to the tank only seeing them slinking around the anubias occasionally and leaving empty snail shells everywhere.

So here's the tank post move:









I really can't wait to start actively breeding my CPDs but that darn 10 gallon refuses to finish cycling.
Currently sitting at:
Ammonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrites: 1.0ppm
Nitrates: 20ppm

So in the mean time of being unemployed I got bored and decided to fix a broken incandescent tank light that was laying around and throw a few 6500k screw-in florescent lights in. Not the prettiest thing but I wasen't going for looks just usability at the moment, as I've cleaned my 5.5 gal tank that used to be planted and filled it up. 








So it's going to be my little side experiment/project. I'd like to start breeding CRS but I haven't been able to find any around here, and I don't have the kind of money to buy them off the internet at the moment.

I don't think I've met my personal quota of pictures to words so I'll post more pictures tomorrow. Also can any of you Iowa residents let me know where a good fish store is? And possibly a good beer brewing supply store?


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## malaybiswas (Nov 2, 2008)

"foxtail" is Myriophyllum (milfoil). the "super red" variety is Myriophyllum tuberculatum. How is it doing?

Overall tank looks pretty. good job


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## Tex Gal (Mar 28, 2008)

Great job! Sounds like you earned your tank. I see your duck tape is still hanging in there! Isn't it all just so fun?!


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

*malaybiswas*- thanks! The Myriophyllum tuberculatum has seen better days but it's hanging in there. All that I have is really short at the moment, you can kind of see it, it's between the stargrass and the narrow-leaf ludwigia just behind the right rock.it had died back awhile ago because it got over shadowed by the massive stargrass growth explosion a few months back but it's making progress once again.

*Tex Gal*- yeah that little light fixture is somehow still kicking, I've been using it as a spot light for the glosso to help speed up it's growth and it seems to be working. It is fun, I actually have a chair position in front of the tank for my viewing pleasure.

Making food then off to shoot more pictures.


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

*more pictures*

The fish were uncooperative today and decided to play a game of peek-a-boo with me but I got a few decent pictures of them.
























Found a CPD fry chilling under a anubias leaf today but was gone before I could extract it, so I'm now on fry alert.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Those are outstanding pictures! How do you get them to stay still long enough? Mine are just a blur.  I love this tank. Do you have any issues with the red cherry shrimp and the fish?


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

I use manual settings on my camera I set the ISO as high as I can (iso: 1600) (this reduces quality though) then I set the shutter speed to around 1/60 of a second (I would rather have the shutter speed faster around 1/125 but with the amount of light in certain parts of the tank I just can't without under-exposing it) and the aperture to f5.6 (my lowest f-stop on macro for me) and shoot as many pictures as I can, about 90% of them are blurred but a few are fine. Have to use manual focus as well with the constant movement. Sometimes they stay still for about half a second and I get good ones but usually they like to taunt me. Then a little editing to correct the exposure and then cropping.

Thank you! I haven't noticed any problems with the fish and shrimp, I started with 6 shrimp and I have well over 60 now so I'd say if there is a issue it's not that big of one. There's a lot of hiding spaces though, especially around the anubias, so that probably is a factor.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Man, my ISO was set at 200! Maybe this is why they are blurry. Thank you so much for the tips. I am going to mess around with my camera and manual and see if I can figure out how to change the shutter speed and aperture (if it will even let me.)

How is the cycling coming along? Infuriating, isn't it? Keep up the good work!


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

@*sewingalot*: I hope what I told you is of at least some help. The cycling is actually only a few days from being complete at which time I'll be starting a CPD breeding journal.

Found and captured previous mentioned fry, don't have a proper tank for it since all "fry safe" tanks still have to complete cycling so it's in a cup for now (the fry is only a few millimeters long). I'll be performing daily water changes with tank water from the 20 till I have an appropriate container. The other fry from a few months ago made it through the move and I think I've positively sexed it as a female but time will tell. Also hatched a bunch of baby brine shrimp and so the tank is full of them and all the fish are nice and fat now. Anyways, time for bed.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Beautiful shots! I have wanted cpd's for a while now, but never got around to ordering any. They are great fish!


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

*Zombie thread! BRAAAAINNNNS!*

Well apparently I suck at updating threads I start as it's been over a year. Not much has changed besides the addition of 2 black kuhlis and hairgrass. I just did a trim yesterday so the water is still a little clouded, that and I inefficient filters but that's niether here nor there. The CPD count has risen and fallen due to a few carpet surfers which prompted me to buy a glass lid and re-restart breeding CPDs actively again (I never seem to get large numbers of fry...), but I'm on an uptrend (16+ not including fry) so that's fine by me. In fact I found a female I thought had died and been consumed by shrimp after I removed fry from the breeding tank so that made me happy today. I'm thinking of removing the bristlenose pleco, as he tends to burrow in the substrate disrupting carpet plants, and replace him with a pair of otos I have. Oh also new light on the tank is the new marineland LED fixture. I had a power compact "spot light" that was falling apart so I replaced it with that as I really didn't need the super powerful light it provided and the decrease in energy consumption was nice, also the price was right. After having it for awhile I can say that it's "eeehh, okay". Not a light for high light plants and the spotlight effect is definitely apparent, but as I really didn't need much more light in the tank it's working perfectly plus it shimmers. Been fighting green hair algae everywhere, mostly on the substrate. It's almost gone but it's taken most of my nice carpet of glosso with it and nearly killed my remaining Myriophyllum tuberculatum (which has taken off recently which is awesome because I love the plant). Just about to select and catch CPDs for breeding, going for the standby 1 male 2 female method removing the parents after a week and wait for fry to appear, only need one male and one female more since I found the one still in the breeding tank. I've seemed to taken a very laid back method in breeding and it's been producing few but hardy fish so I won't complain too much.

ENOUGH TALKING! COMMENCE PICTURES!

FTS








A little bit a glare but it'll have to do.

Food!

















The evil...









One of the elusive banded kuhlis graces me with it's presence but refused to show it's face...jerk.

















Breeding tank pre-harvest...duckweed nice and thick...crap...








The harvest...kinda sad numbers but hey any + numbers are good numbers in my book.








They when in this after I trimmed it back a lot. Previous residents removed and put in a community 29gal.

Update done, maintenance resumes...


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

Siphoned the substrate yesterday in an attempt to reduce decaying material and hooked up my fluval 205 to the tank temporarily to help clean up the water. Well with the large water change CPDs will be CPDs and are starting to do their pre-breeding "dancing". The fellas are sparing for prime real estate and the females are being pigs. Figured I'd try and snap some pics of the fellas...



























Cthulhu showed up looking for food as well









I need to get a macro lens


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## x_stephanie_x (Aug 5, 2010)

Looking great! I wish I had tanks that pretty


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## |GTO| (Oct 9, 2006)

what kind of fish is in the last picture?


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

*x stepahnie x*- Thanks! I wish the hair algae would leave my plants alone, though. I miss my carpet...

*jbd416*- That is a male bristlenose pleco. He's getting a little too big for the tank I think, about 4-5" I think. Might have to move him to the community tank since he's also taking a liking to digging. I have two otos I might move over.


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## sAroock (Oct 26, 2010)

nice interesting tank, what does CPD stand for? i never came across this fish.


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

Thanks! The fish is "Celestial Pearl Danio" or the scientific name is _Danio margaritatus_. Was labeled as Galaxy Rasbora till they reclassified it. Been working on breeding them but it's been going slow since I don't have a lot of space for tanks.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Well, since you brought up CPDs, I thought I would beg for an update on your tank and it's fauna.


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

Hahaha, alright. When the lights turn on in the morning. I have to hoof it around town applying for jobs...I guess it's today now...so the update might not be till later.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Good luck on the job search. I know what that is like. I have spent a lot of sleepless nights recently wondering what to do about that situation myself.  I'll hold you to the pictures!


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

Alright as promised here's an update, fish were being less than cooperative but I got a few that should do. Finally rid of the stringy algae I posted a picture of before, excel took care of that, now all I have is GSA which I am perfectly fine with as it's not that bad. the red foxtail has skyrocketed in growth recently which is good. The DHG and glosso are still taking their time spreading but with the algae problems and the digging bistlenose (been banned to the 29) they're doing pretty good. CPDs are doing well and acting like they might spawn in this 20 so maybe I'll have to start searching for eggs. There are 7+ fry in the breeding tank at the moment and there are GBRs in quarantine.

Anyways less talky talky more pictures.









FTS

Plants...


















Now Fauna....

















































And now I'm off to look for work.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Lovely pictures! I want some red foxtail again. I wish it didn't make me break out in hives and itch.  Great macros of the CPDs. I have yet to capture them on film to do them justice like you have. I like the latest look of the tank. And I am definitely with you on the GSA. If that is all I have to deal with, I'm pleased. Good luck on the job search.


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## Tsartetra (Oct 20, 2003)

That might be the first time I have seen true black khulis... I want some! Not these cinnamon eels they say are 'black khulis'! :icon_cry:


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

Really? They're the only ones I can find these days, I've been looking for more banded khulis and haven't been able to find them.


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## OoglyBoogly (Oct 19, 2010)

Hey Rion,

I acquired a dozen CPDs about a month ago. I've been lurking on this forum and some people have some fantastic methods of breeding CPDs. One person in Kentucky just throws them out into buckets/large containers in the spring with aquatic plants such as watersprite, duckweed, java moss and some other types and voila a few months later she has lots of fry and it's just a matter of collecting them before it gets too cold. I read that another person around our climate zone (I'm 6a iirc - NYC) found live fish/fry in his container in november/december right around freezing temps. They were fry that he missed on his initial collection during the end of the summer. Anyways there is this method that I am trying that someone posted from the Netherlands where she puts what she calls a reverse breeding pair, 3 males, 2 females into a heavily planted tank for about a week. She then removes the adults and puts them back into their usual tank. She keeps them well fed with bloodworms with regular feedings so that it curbs their habit of hunting out their own eggs/fry to munch on. She said that bloodworms work best for her because they stay on the bottom of the tank which is where the CPDs lurk during spawning. The white worms (I think she means microworms) and mosquito larvae stay at the top which doesn't work for her method. I tried using california blackworms for mine but they don't show any interest probably b/c the blackworms are way too big for them. Anyways cool tank! I just got into a planted tank bc I acquired a free tank and had some eheim canister filtrs laying around that my mother purchased during her fish craze around 1990! haha gotta love people who don't throw out working stuff right?

Anyways enough of me paraphrasing bits and pieces of what I have read from this forum:

http://www.celestialpearldanio.com/forum/

I've seen the owner of the forum ballpc selling CPDs / Galaxy Rasboras on Aquabid. I guess he still labels them as galaxy rasboras b/c there are some people who didn't get the memo about the reclassification/name change... heh 

Since I'm rambling I guess I should also post some other links that he hooked me up with for buying materials to build something he built which is basically a shallow pyrex glass looking container with a plastic top and a plastic canvas top with java moss in it. The CPDs spawn into the java moss and the eggs fall through the plastic canvas where they can't eat them. He then removes the container, picks out the unfertilized eggs and places the good ones in a breeder tank. 

Here is the method that I'm trying. The poster didn't make her own thread but rather buried it in someone else's so this might save you some time finding it even though I do recommend perusing the forum. It has lots of interesting info in it although most of the posts are very old.

http://www.celestialpearldanio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4011&highlight=#4011

Oh and here is the plastic canvas that was used for the top of the egg trap.



I tried using a new $1 store stretched out floofa (for scrubbing yourself in a shower) and that was a disaster. At first I thought it was interesting how the males figured out how to get in/out of the cage that I built (pics on my thread) but then I saw a female stuck in the mesh. I got her out but what a disaster.


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

Yep, I've gone through all of those posts there soon after I got my fish 2 years ago. My main problem I've been having isn't parents eating the eggs, it's making sure the adult aren't stressed out so much in the breeding tank so they'll breed. I actually have more number than I thought this time around as I've counted 11+ free swimmers so it's getting better. I don't have very many tanks or space for them so the breeding tank is also my rearing tank until the fish reach sub-adult colors. I've seen the reverse ratio at work and I'm not impressed. It just becomes a game of "chase the female" and puts an unduly amount of stress on the females. Most of the time what would be a successful spawn event gets disrupted and turns into a game of chase, or I've seen another male come along and try and eat the eggs as they are being spawned by the pair. I've also never witnessed CPDs regularly staying near the bottom when they breed so I'm not sure I agree with her logic, but yes keeping them well fed makes them *less* interested in their own eggs but not eliminate it. I've seen all the contraptions people use for collecting/separating eggs from parents but my fish never spawn in them. I have to cram my tank full of plants and cover so they don't stress out; otherwise they hide in the corner/behind sponge filter, spaz out all the time, and most importantly they don't breed. I'm not saying that none of these breeding tricks work, they just don't work for me.

Thank you for the information, I always like a good read. Also, the screen you might want is a plastic cross-stitching mesh. It's big enough for eggs to fall though but not fish and they shouldn't be able to wiggle their way in either. Good luck with breeding your CPDs it's a very rewarding experience!


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## OoglyBoogly (Oct 19, 2010)

Heh thanks for the good luck. I just removed the 5 CPDs that I put in a 30 gal tank that is below my main 55g tank and placed them back in the 55g. I just noticed that the CPDs in my main tank suddenly started staying near the bottom of the tank and I witnessed a pair chasing eachother through some thick java moss near the bottom while another female kept inspecting the gravel for "something"... They reminded me of how my goldfish spawn using plants to push up against to help push out eggs. I've had CPDs in my 55g for a few weeks now and they never hung out near the bottom. They mainly stayed near the top/middle of the water column along with my endlers and the moss that I have hanging off of my spray bar. I also decided to check my 55g's eheim 2217 canister filter for some shrimp that I know got into it due to my shoddy job at making a pre-filter and via inspection with a flash light. I found 3 live CPD fry in the filter which I'm acclimating to the 30g tank water before I move them into it as the temp is a little different bc I don't have a heater in it. Heh I also found a LOT of shrimp <1mm and a few guppy fry in there. Anyways, it would be fun to suddenly see 150+ fry in a planted tank that only has snails in it but 3 is fine for now.


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## spyke (Oct 14, 2010)

this really makes me want some cpd's....i'm going to an auction this weekend, so maybe i'll find some there.


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## sampster5000 (Oct 30, 2010)

Wow your CPD's look very healthy and colorful. What kind of loach is in that 5th picture and is there any problem with it tunneling in the substrate if it does? Does it not uproot plants?


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

Not much to say, plants are growing, fry are showing adult colors so I added them to the 20 and took another breeding trio to the 10 (1 male 2 females). Seemed to be able to grab the more dominate/older female from the 20 so I'm hoping she'll drop more eggs the previously. Oh yeah the fry count came out to be 15 in the 10 gallon so I actually had a better turn out than I had previously thought. Unfortunately both my GBRs died in QT I'm not entirely sure what from though. They didn't show any signs of distress or sickness but I may have missed something. Also unfortunately I can't find them here once again, though I won't fault the LFS here as he's been having problems getting fish in. 

Plant selection at stores around here is pretty slim, I might have more plants in my 20 than the combined stores I know of in the area... though I did see a small crypt (_parva_ possibly) plant I might pick up for the more shadowed area of my tank that looks a little bare.


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

*Time for the Biannual Update.*

It's that time again where I get off my lazy butt and actually update this thread. Not much has happened since last time grass has grow some more algae rears it ugly head and some rams were bought but were sent back to QT after they showed signs of cauliflower disease where they await recovery. Otherwise I trim the tank about once a week to every other week and the Anubias grows so fast I really need to trim is more than I do. Anyways it's nice having a large amount of CPDs in this tank since they taken to shoaling more now and are more out in the open all the time. Also the crypt is definately not a _parva_ sp. and I haven't taken the time to figure out what it is. Anyways, I'll shut up now and just post pictures.




































My favorite shot yet that I've taken of a CPD, I really need to get a remote flash unit.

Other things I've been working on have been breeding platys for colors and pattern for fun so here's a few pictures of them.




























I can't wait till my wife and I get a house so I can set up a fishroom she's agreed that I can have provided there's space, though I think I might need to get that in writing. So I've been sketching and diagramming fishroom layouts and aquariums and making lists for fish I'd like to keep in said fishroom. But alas this is all future thinking so it probably wont be for another year or so till this all comes into fruition.


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## manikmunky (Mar 24, 2011)

Rion said:


> I can't wait till my wife and I get a house so I can set up a fishroom she's agreed that I can have provided there's space, though I think I might need to get that in writing. So I've been sketching and diagramming fishroom layouts and aquariums and making lists for fish I'd like to keep in said fishroom. But alas this is all future thinking so it probably wont be for another year or so till this all comes into fruition.


I have the same promise, although I think the condition was a basement room... Grab Google SketchUp if you enjoy planning room and tank layouts, easy to use and lots of fun ^^


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## demonr6 (Mar 14, 2011)

Beautiful tank.. I have CPDs as well and love the little guys. We have three extra bedrooms, one being a guest room and the others one office for myself and the other my wife's. I keep getting this itch to convert mine into a fish room and merge offices but she would most likely take a bat to me.


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

If I have the space in said theoretical house I might make a art studio/fish room so I can justify having a decent sized room. I would actually prefer a basement room just for a heating and cooling standpoint, though if we have a unfinished basement she might make me finish the whole basement before letting me work on the fish room. I want a darkroom too but that might be a little more difficult to negotiate and with everything going to digital...


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Oooh, nice platy! You are making me miss both my CPDs and Platy fish now. The tank looks wonderful! I really like it.  What plants do you have in there?


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

Sara: You don't have CPDs anymore?! That's really sad, they are my most favorite fish I've kept yet.

Same plants as before just add an unidentified crypt to the list.

I'm too lazy for the scientific names right now so I'm gonna be a punk and give common names:
Anubias nana (ok this one's scientific I guess)
Crypt. sp.
Glosso
hair grass
narrow leaf ludwigia
red foxtail
green foxtail

I feel a little lazy not having changed my setup in the past 2-3 years but plant selection around here is really bad in fact I've stopped trying to look for new fish and plants it's been so bad. Right now I'm waiting for things to grow in again before I do anything drastic and with the prospect of moving in the next 6 months I've put a lot of projects on hold till after then. I really can't wait till I can get a larger/more tanks to plant. So many ideas I could post a dozen pencil/pen sketches of aquascapes I've thought of but I don't think people could make heads or tails for them from their scribble mess of lines. I also have a list of fish I want to try to keep/breed that's about as long as my leg that only keeps growing everyday.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Cool tank! I haven't caught up on the whole journal yet, but I thought I'd mention I love the jungle feel of this tank! And I love CPDs, I'm down to only a couple of old fogies that are still hanging out in my 30g but I would love to get some more in there once the zebra danios are out of QT! 

I'm totally interested to know how you breed them! I will have to read back through your thread :biggrin:


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## Whiskey (Feb 15, 2005)

This is awesome! You normally don't see build threads stick around for this long. Great tank! And thanks for keeping up on the thread! It's interesting to see how a person's interests and focus changes after a few years, and how the tank matures and changes.

Whiskey


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Rion said:


> Sara: You don't have CPDs anymore?! That's really sad, they are my most favorite fish I've kept yet.
> 
> Same plants as before just add an unidentified crypt to the list.
> 
> ...


Oh, you probably didn't read my heartbreak. I lost the majority of them to a mysterious illness that was most likely TB. The ones that survived and about 38 other fish I killed in a freak accident with using Pancur. I was heartbroken. I am tempted to get more in the future, but right now I've just decided to let them have a break from me. :icon_frow

I think you need to post the pictures of the sketches. I love seeing those mock ups. I really appreciate them, too especially since I can't draw for the life of me. 

What is your dream tank?


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

Heh, my dream tank is bigger than I think my wife would permit. Ideal dimensions I think are between 4-6' long (depends on scape), 20-24" tall and 18-24" wide. Any bigger than that and I think it becomes a little unmanageable, though I do like longer tanks.

Aright well I finally fixed the scanner so I can show off the sketches I've done.

























































































They really aren't scaled for a specific size tank I'm just like thinking of arrangement I'd like to try in the future. there are probably more sketches but I can't find them at the moment or they got tossed. I do have a few of ideal fish rooms I'd like to set up and sketches for racking designs and equipment layouts, but they're boring. Looks like might be moving near the end of the year and then will be looking for a house soon after so I'll be looking for a room to convert to my purposes when we go house shopping.

On another side note the rams are all better and sat their extra time in QT to make sure they were over it and not carrying cauliflower disease anymore. Also now that they have grown a bit I definitively know I have 1 male and 3 females, which after pairing will be removed to other tanks.


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## .Mko. (Sep 23, 2010)

haha love the sketches i do them all the time and friends are always wondering why im drawing soo many "picture frames" i like the second last one. many of my imagined layouts have the same sort of mountain with rounded rocks feel. happy scaping =P


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Awesome sketches!!! I love your ideas and the way you manage to get such depth in the pics with simple (but awesome) sketches!!! :biggrin: 

You've give me some ideas....:hihi: for one day maybe in the future when i have the time to do a "real scape"


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## Lil' Swimz$ (Jul 24, 2010)

Nice sketches!


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Fantastic sketches, Rion! That first one reminds me of my dream tank of altums. I really like the drawing above the one listed Top Down.


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## orchidman (Dec 15, 2010)

love the sketches! its hard for me to convey my ideas on paper sometimes, but sme of your sketches resemble almost exactly what i have in my mind! thanks for sharing! i really like the sketches!


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## MissCoryCat (Jul 5, 2011)

Love it! Very appealing and was fun watching the progression through your pictures =)


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Rion, any updates on the journal? I must admit, the drawings have intrigued so much that I keep wishing for you to post more pictures.


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

*Moving, AGAIN*

Well time to dust off this thread for an update! Sorry for the lack of updates sara there's just not a lot that goes on in my tanks except a few failed attempts of my GBRs trying to breed and me failing to raise them artificially due to an over sight. 

Pre-Trim










Post-Trim










The reason for not much going on is that I've basically had to put a hold on any fish activities, besides maintenance and trimming of course, until after my wife and I move back to Michigan pending my wife's completion of grad school in the next month. After which job searches continue, after that a house search, and after that I'm looking at building my fish room in said house (though this means I have to get a dog, a cat, and a pony for my wife; some how I'll manage :icon_lol: ) 

The move means I'll have to tear down tanks for the trek back home and give me the excuse to revamp a few of them when I get there, especially this one. The substrate has been evidently too low for years now and I haven't had the opportunity to rectify that till after this move. I also may remove the anubias driftwood to another tank and approach the layout of this tank from a different way. I might also relocate fish to maximize breeding capabilities because in other news I've found more banded khulis (sitting in QT) and I would really like to try and breed them. Here's a picture of one that stood still enough for me to snap a quick pic.










Seeing as I only have little over a month before this move I might get a few sketches drawn of ideas for this tank's post-move revival and I'll try and post them but I won't make any promises. I might also update when I can get pictures of the rams without spooking them, otherwise till next time!


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Those anubias are really filling in. That's a lot of growth in eight months. Have fun with the move! It's one thing I hope I don't have to do for years to come. It sucks. I still have boxes 10 years later in the attic I need to go through. I really like the kuhlis. Didn't think I would, but that's a cutey. Good luck on getting the GBR breeding. How is the CPD breeding doing for you?


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

Yeah I've actually hacked a lot off of that anubias over the years. I have to cut off a collective 10" every 2-3 weeks from it. I've stopped breeding CPDs for the moment until all the moving crazyness is over, also part of why all of my tanks are getting a revamp in the next year so I can make breeding CPDs easier in my currently limited space. Can't wait for my fishroom many designs drawn up but without a floor plan they're all pretty ambiguous.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Nice on the fishroom! You ever get those CPDs breeding well, I expect a ton of pictures. Speaking of pictures, I've been using your gimp tutorial and I still suck, but it's getting better. I don't know why I can appreciate anubias in my own tanks, I guess it's because they never did much for me. I suspect it was my lack of tying them down. You do a great job with that plant. Be sure to include some fish tank drawings. I look forward to seeing them after the move.


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## Aldon (Jun 16, 2011)

I went to a lfs and picked up 5 CPDs im pretty sure i have 4 males and 1 female is that ok?


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## Aldon (Jun 16, 2011)

And nice tank btw looks awosem


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

*GBRs and more pics*

@Aldon if your intent is breeding as long as you have both sexes you are fine there just will be a lot of males chasing the one female but you should still get eggs. Mine are just getting eaten by khulis that have learned that CPD eggs are fine caviar. The biggest thing in breeding CPDs is good high quality foods rich in protein (live foods being the most common) and cover where to do such business is done and provide them with a sense of security. Also thank you for the comment.

It's gonna be weird tearing this tank down and restarting it after having it this way for almost 3 years now.

In other news, PICTURES! The Mated pair of rams sat out in the open and posed while I had my camera out so I figured I'd share some shots that turned out well. At least as well as I can get without a remote flash. I'm having to turn the ISO up to 1600 just so I can shoot at 1/60 5.6. *sigh* I get a lot of noise at 1600 and it bothers me so I'll have to save my pennies for a remote flash and wireless remote and a new lens at that. On to pictures...









A very red cherry shrimp









Obligatory CPD shot.









The pimp.









Close up.









His girl.









His girl is on the right the other 2 females are on the left, she's telling them to say on thier side of the anubias. No fin nipping even when eggs are present just chasing that ends after about 4-6".

Not that I like to leave on a sad note but one of the banded khulis I picked up recently is having swim bladder problems and I've taken a measures to lead to a recovery I just have to wait and see if it does recover.


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## Aldon (Jun 16, 2011)

Dang Rams are soo coool i want a pair that mate i have 2 but both are male.
Thanks for the advice on my CPDs i think im going to get two more females, and srry to here about your fish.. would u mind checking out my thread and let me know if im on the right track?
Heres the link:http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/t...40875-my-first-planted-tank-upgraded-26s.html


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## fishboy199413 (Jan 20, 2010)

Your tank is awesome! Right now I am setting up a 10 gallon for celestial pearl danios and I got my inspiration from you.  Hope everything continues to be awesome.


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## orchidman (Dec 15, 2010)

those rams are so nice!


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## SkyGrl (Jan 7, 2010)

that pimp has got to be one of the nicest looking rams ive seen. it could also be your mad photog skillz.. LOL!

what direction are you gunna go with the tank next? in setting up my 12 gallon i thought about going only plants and i MAY actually do some CO2 for the first time ever! i have always kept my tanks at low mait. next tank perhaps ill be more ambitious.  

i always enjoy your thread, especially the pic heavy part! :hihi:

keep it coming.

Amy


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

@Fishboy199413 CPDs a such a nice little fish I hope they do well for you.

@Orchidman Yeah they were not very pretty when I bought them, and I had to cure them of culminarus (sp?) which took awhile. So I am very happy how goo they look.

@SkyGrl I actually think that ram looks better in person than my photo. I haven't decided which way I'm gonna go with the tank yet. I might depend on what I can get my hands on in terms of plants and hardscape. Fortunately I know a lot more stores in the Lansing/Detroit area than out here in Iowa were I can't seem to find anything. The only Co2 I've run has been DIY and it's worked well for me; though my wife did scare me a month or so ago when she redid a bottle and it dump a boat load of Co2 in the tank while I was at work and I had to calm her down so she could fix it over the phone. Taking pictures is one of my favorite parts about my planted tanks so my threads will always be loaded with pictures, bandwidth be damnned.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Gorgeous rams! I love how you are able to get such awesome pictures of your fish, even the CPDs look great. I see the noise you are talking about in the first picture, but it's nominal. The fauna steal the show to the point you don't notice after the intial overall glance.


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## cableguy69846 (Dec 13, 2010)

Love the tank man. You have made me want CPD's and I will start the hunt in a few weeks.:thumbsup:

Keep it up, and I hope to see more from you in the future.


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

@sewingalot Thanks!

@cableguy69846 Thanks! CPDs are a great little fish I hope you can find some. More to come post move otherwise it's gonna be small updates mostly dealing with where I might go with the tank after the move.

Speaking of updates the khuli is back to normal just a little pale.


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## cableguy69846 (Dec 13, 2010)

Rion said:


> @sewingalot Thanks!
> 
> @cableguy69846 Thanks! CPDs are a great little fish I hope you can find some. More to come post move otherwise it's gonna be small updates mostly dealing with where I might go with the tank after the move.
> 
> Speaking of updates the khuli is back to normal just a little pale.


I wish you well on the move. And I hope you get your fish room. I am in the planning stages, and by planning, I mean, there are a lot of ideas in my head, but nothing is getting done yet.:hihi:

So what ideas have you been kicking around for a fish room? Any plans yet?


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

So I finally have time for a short update. The move went fine, I only lost one fish which was a 2 year old female platy that's been a dead fish swimming for a month or two before the move. Then I was helping father-in-law move things, then it's been slowly unpacking things in our temporary living space and craziness of the holidays while my wife and I look for work. I have an interview this week so hopefully it goes well and my wife and I can start looking for a house in the near future otherwise my fish room plans shall remain as such, just plans. 

@cableguy: My plans for a fish room have mostly been auto water-change diagrams, racking blueprints, and possible room layouts. Though the room layouts won't matter until I have a house and know what dimensions I can play with. I'm hoping for an unfinished basement that I can section off for myself instead of a preexisting space. If I have the space the room would also double as art studio/hobby room for myself. I would scan some drawings but I can't seem to find the cables for the scanner/printer so that will have to wait for another time.

Till next time, Happy New Years Eve everyone!


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Hi Rion! Just stopping in to say hi and hope you are enjoying new home. Did you get a chance to start working on your fish room? I think it was a year after moving in before I had a chance to do anything fun related.


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## Amandas tank (Oct 2, 2012)

Very nice! Your pictures are terrific btw. I really like the sketches too. I have done the same thing  It's fun putting aquascapes on paper


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

@sewingalot: sorry I didn't see your post till now, I haven't been able to get work yet out here so we haven't been able to even look at houses yet. We're staying with family till we either save up enough money or I at least get a job (Seriously, I've applied everywhere. I've sent out over 400 resumes so far this year). So no fish room planning/building yet, still stuck in R&D.

@Amandas tank: Thanks, I have a bunch more sketches that I've drawn up but haven't scanned yet. I don't have the resources to aquascape all the ideas I have so I have to draw them.

In other news somehow I'm only down to 1 female CPD so I wne tout and got a few more and am revisiting my breeding system so I can bring my colony numbers back up. I also found some _Pseudomugil gertrudae sp._ I'm attempting to breed, the male is trying so hard but the girl is having nothing of it. Hopefully cramming more artemia into the tank will entice her to drop eggs. Otherwise the LFS is looking for some more females for me and I should be able to pick them up in the next 2 weeks. 

My wife has gotten very interested in fish as of late and as such my 29 gallon community tank now holds fish that she likes (a filter crash while on vacation killed everything previously in the tank). Guppies abound and my wife might end up having fun with color genetics, her having a PHD in animal science.

Otherwise ground cover plants are spreading in the 20 and the crypts are spreading and growing like wildfire. The stems have all but died due to negligence with all the projects I've been helping family with. I swear I'm more busy now being unemployed than I was when I had a full time job. I just moved some smaller cypt plants to the right side of the tank to fill in the empty spot. The 20 now has a Fluval 105 on it and is performing wonderfully, though if I want to add inline CO2 diffuser in the future I'll have to do some tinkering. The 5 gallon has been emptied, the move pretty much wreaked havoc on the plants, and I'm doing a DSM to farm a few ground cover plants I keep for the future. First time I've attempted DSM before so we'll see how I do. The tank is well out of the way so I don't think I'll be tortured by an empty tank.

Alright that was waaaay too big of text block to not leave at least a picture update.


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## Amandas tank (Oct 2, 2012)

Sorry about the job situation. I hope something good comes up for you soon. 

The crypts look amazing! It's too bad your stems all died, but I think your tank looks really great as it is right now  

Too bad about your CPD. Best of luck getting your numbers back up and breeding again.

That's exactly why I draw aquascapes too. I have so many ideas and am only allowed one tank in the house. So....all my ideas go to paper.

Anyway, take care and good luck with all that you are doing right now.


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

Yeah, while I could get my CPD population back up with 1 female and 15 males I prefer getting a better genetic diversity and number of fry being able to be produced with more females.


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## StraightAddicted (May 20, 2012)

Absolutely beautiful setup and pictures you have going on. Those sketches were epic too, great layouts and will help out many people. Hope everything get back to where you and your wife want it. Glad shes interested, hard to find. Good luck down the road, keep us posted!


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## orchidman (Dec 15, 2010)

are you running co2 on this tank? what kind of lighting levels are you getting?


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## sundragon (Jan 10, 2011)

*Amazing tank*

Hey I love your tank!


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## Rion (Dec 29, 2006)

@Orchidman: I am running DIY CO2 as I can't afford pressurized. I'm running a 24 watt (2) bulb T5 HO lamp and a Marineland Doublebright LED fixture and I rotate where they are on top. My lighting levels I don't know, I don't have a PAR meter or access to one. My glosso and pygmy chain sword are growing rampant, though that more likely due to my keeping on top of the CO2.

@Sundragon: Thanks!

Large clumps of hair algae are growing in my glosso and chain sword again. Time to break out the syringe of excel and see how much I can pull off without tearing my carpet plants up. I do know why my stem plants died, they were over crowded by the crypts but I've pretty much resigned from stem plants in this tank till I move again or I rip out the crypts for another tank. I don't have a good light spread on this tank, it's something that annoys me with my current fixtures. I could raise the lamps but I don't feel that they have power for this, but that's just my opinion (also I'd have to build something, which isn't a problem but I have a lot of projects on my plate). Water is cloudy because I've been feeding microworms and I must have gotten a bit of culture medium with the worms.


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## kwheeler91 (May 26, 2009)

I really like this tank and the fish. Good job man.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

That mound of crypts is beautiful.


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## fishboy199413 (Jan 20, 2010)

So how is everything working out for you? I hope to see an update soon!


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## marioman72 (Jan 22, 2010)

thos crypts are Huge! looks very nice. seems prety low tech and easy to maintain. nice job.


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