New Tank

Thanks Mike and Corin,
It has a couple of flowers, the first one got bured by the light, so I had to put a bag over the bud to keep it moist, dont know if they self-fertilize or not. Here is a pic of the squashed lace, it looks a bit ridiculous boxed in this size of a tank but I liked it too much to remove it.

Wow, you can barely see into the tank now. But I don't blame you for keeping it in there, I think I would have to do the same. It's just too big and great to pull out.

That's a really nice macro shot of the flower.

Thanks Mike, yeah its a very big plant even in a four foot tank it would be very big. I have seen pics of it growing more compact, I guess its partly the low light. I am wondering what is left growing under and behind it, it should go dormant soon and then I will have a moss and fern tank again. I am glad to have grown it is oddly beautiful, but its not exactly a good scaping plant.
The only pruning I have done in the tank since January is removing some willow moss and some of the leaves of the lace, so it’s a very slow growing tank.

Thanks again

Lovely flower pics

Belated thanks for the compliment Sam.
Dont know if many remember the tank is running over a year now, this but this how it looks recently, no Co2 anymore and very slow growth I am no aquascaper, I like having a low maintenance easy set up. The lace has only two small leaves after I chopped it back to the floor a couple of times, its still alive but doing nothing which is just fine, its a fern and moss tank now. 20% water change a week and the odd bit of clipping and thinning out of the cherry shrimp population.

I have to say, it is one of my absolute favourites with or without the amazing lace plant. You must have got all the available mosses in there I just love the mossy jungle look

How are your bee shrimps doing btw?

Liam said:

Thanks Mike for the interest, there isn’t really much to update. The tank looks much the same except the oversized lace plant looks more squashed in the tank, its getting a flower now and I have been cutting some leaves off as there is no room for them, its about four feet from the substrate to the tip of the biggest leaf. The moss is a bit shaded but its still growing. After the flowering I will cut the leaves off the plant, don’t think I could get the bulb and roots out it must have a very big root system and some of the shrimp species wouldn’t appreciate the upheaval. Maybe I will be able to bonsai it . Its still got a little Co2 and no ferts, 15-20% water change pw, bumble bee and crystal reds are not reproducing very fast while the cherries are more prolific than guppies.
I will do a bit of arranging after the flowering when the lace gets chopped.

close up of leaf.

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Click to expand...

That doesn't even look like a plant when close up! When was this thread started as on my date it says jan 10th 2008 but as ive read through it it has been coming up with may and all sorts? but all say 2008 until the last couple of replys? Anyway great tank, i have never seen a lace plant that big before

Still looking great Liam, love the fern at the front. Also, looking at it, love how the moss at the very back looks like the side of a mountain with pine trees growing on it, very cool.

Sam

Thanks iSnail, there are a few more mosses I would like to try but I don’t think I can squeeze much more in there. The crs, are still there they are not thriving sometimes lots of babies survive sometimes one or two. I think there are about 40 in there and about 50 bumblebees with too many cherries. I guess part of it is the cherries are so prolific that they out compete the others. My water changes are a bit irregular also the old shrimp are dieing off so sometimes there may be ammonia when I don’t see the bodies.

Thanks Aaronnorth, I started the tank over a year ago Jan 07. The lace plant was much bigger than I expected but it was fun to grow and they can get bigger I think.

Thanks Sam, I like the fern too, I prefer the narrow leaf javas now for a tank this size. The plants have sort of grown into each other I haven’t moved them around, but it looks fine to me. I expect the mosses have left the wood and are just sitting in place now.

I am getting a bit bored of the shrimp so I may put some nano fish in there, there should be enough cover for the shrimplets.

Wow, what an impressive set up!!!

Love the shrimps pics they look fantastic.

Best tank i've seen for plants, by a long shot!

Still the best scape on TFF IMO (You are either natural or far too modest Liam)

I think planted tanks that are given the time rather than driven like Ferraris always seem to turn out looking the best (and most natural).

As for Nano fish what do you think of these:


LINK:
http/www.aquaticlifedirect.co.uk/Fish/Fr...andZebraRasbora

Well done again Liam and get your a**e onto UKaps and join.

Andy

That fish is one of the most colourful tropicals, more of a marine looking one.

Thanks Tacklebury it is an easy set up with little maintenance.

Thanks again Andy, this tank is no Ferrari more donkey and cart, there honestly was little or no effort in this it grew itself into what it is now so I am not being modest. I have changed my mind about the fish, I put a few endler fry in there and by three weeks old they attack the baby shrimp when they swim they cant kill them outright but they remove a few limbs which is enough to kill the shrimplets, for me its too gruesome even on that tiny scale. The little rasbora is a stunner, haven’t seen them locally they could go with the fish as I have some other rasboras that are as small. I do read at ukaps guess I should join, it’s turning into a very good site.

The tank is much the same the lace has started to grow again, I thinned out the cherry shrimp, took about 300 of the little guys and got some credit form the LFS. They are unbelievably prolific. I dump the old tank water in the pond outside and when I was collecting daphnia for the fish netted some cherries that must have got sucked up in the water change, they must have been tiny when they went in there, indestructible little guys, the crystal red babies are doing better with the decrease in cherry numbers.

A recent pic.

That looks awsome...

I think i need more moss for my shrimp tank now

This tank is absolutely amazing and has inspired me to decide to stock my invert tank with moss.

Do you dose anything now that you don't have any CO2?