Office Space

seangee said:

No they don't shoal much. They will hang around in groups of 5-10 but only all come together if something frightens them - usually the cat landing on the tank hood

Coolest thing is when they sleep. I have tried to get a pic but its impossible without a flash. They like to sleep head down (often almost vertically) and amongst the vegetation. Some have started using the new crypts and it looks like a row of trees with coloured lights. But when 20+ are in the same section of hygrophila in the back left corner it looks like a massive decorated Christmas tree - absolutely stunning.

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Wow that sounds cool man

I put my small group of cardinals in the 22g and i really like how their colours pop in it. Ive wanted too up the group for a good while but didnt have the room in my 29g. Im thinking of getting another 15 over the weekend but wanted to know how they acted first.

It looks really good!
I love the ember tetras!
What size it is? (is skimmed)

DwarfCichlidLvr said:

It looks really good!
I love the ember tetras!
What size it is? (is skimmed)

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The tank or the fish?
Tank is 36x12x12 inches (90x30x30cm). That's theoretically 22 US gallons or 112 85 litres. Theoretical because with such a wide foorprint you lose a lot of space for the substrate and air at the top. In practice I put in 60 litres of water.
The fish are less than 1cm long.
Edit: Thanks @essjay for the correction

seangee said:

Tank is 36x12x12 inches (90x30x30cm). That's theoretically 22 US gallons or 112 litres

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According to the calculator on here, those measurements give an total volume of 22 gallons - and 85 litres not 112



(I checked because I knew my old 125 litre tank was 33 gallons so yours should be 2/3 of 125 litres )

essjay said:

According to the calculator on here, those measurements give an total volume of 22 gallons - and 85 litres not 112

(I checked because I knew my old 125 litre tank was 33 gallons so yours should be 2/3 of 125 litres )

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You're absolutely correct. My bad for believing the eBay description for the same tank (ended up buying elsewhere though). I only looked up gallons cos I have no idea of what a gallon is but they seem to be widely understood / used by our friends across the pond . And 25 litres of sand / air sounds a lot more plausible than 56 .

Actually my 60 liters is slightly off too. It is in fact 6x 10 litre plastic jerry cans. I always fill mine to the brim which is quite a bit over 10 litres. But the important thing I have established is 3 cans for a 50% w/c and 4 for 66.6%. As I like to keep things simple that means 4 cans per week - which I will continue to refer to as 40 litres

In my case I was far more interested in the dimensions than the capacity.

When I ordered my custom built tank, I decided on the size by dimensions rather than volume, so I agree with you there

You need a name for this tank Sean. Office space or #4 doesnt do it justice..

Hows things coming along? Have the Embers settled in?

Russjw said:

You need a name for this tank Sean. Office space or #4 doesnt do it justice..

Hows things coming along? Have the Embers settled in?

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So far so good. My fears about the level of cycling in the heavily planted acidic tanks turned out to be well founded. Those bags of media are doing nothing yet, which is why I have thrown in so much frog bit. The vals also won't stay but I was chucking them out anyway so figured every little helps . Currently ammonium is always down to zero when the lights go off but creep up to .5 ppm overnight. Should have taken a leaf out of your book and been a bit more patient

Doing a 2/3rds change every morning anyway because one of the girls got herself trapped behind the filter and destroyed her caudal and dorsal fins. You can see her in the pic, second up from the central piece of wood with the white stump. Thought she was a goner yesterday and she spent most of the day resting in the roots and only occasionally joined the others. She seems much better today and has rejoined the group so fingers crossed, they really do have a strong schooling instinct.

seangee said:

So far so good. My fears about the level of cycling in the heavily planted acidic tanks turned out to be well founded. Those bags of media are doing nothing yet, which is why I have thrown in so much frog bit. The vals also won't stay but I was chucking them out anyway so figured every little helps . Currently ammonium is always down to zero when the lights go off but creep up to .5 ppm overnight. Should have taken a leaf out of your book and been a bit more patient

Doing a 2/3rds change every morning anyway because one of the girls got herself trapped behind the filter and destroyed her caudal and dorsal fins. You can see her in the pic, second up from the central piece of wood with the white stump. Thought she was a goner yesterday and she spent most of the day resting in the roots and only occasionally joined the others. She seems much better today and has rejoined the group so fingers crossed, they really do have a strong schooling instinct.
View attachment 107592

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Looking good frogbit will soon get the water right. Are you planning on upping your Embers after a while or are you thinking nannostomus eques still.

Like how you have postioned you little plants. Are you adding anymore to replace the vals

Russjw said:

Looking good frogbit will soon get the water right. Are you planning on upping your Embers after a while or are you thinking nannostomus eques still.

Like how you have postioned you little plants. Are you adding anymore to replace the vals

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Nope. I have 5 echinodorus plants in that section so will probably have to lose a few once they grow in and want to leave that section as a sandy base. High level plan is the right section will be semi-jungle with the hygrophila hiding the filter and heater (may switch to sponge filter once established). Centre will be fairly close cropped ludwigia. I don't have, or want, enough light for a traditional carpet but think that could be a good ground cover (and egg sanctuary). The hygrophila in the back left is just cuttings, which are already twice the size of the original plants when I bought them . I'll decide later if they stay there or go back into the jungle. No doubt if/when I do get territorial fish they will ignore my carefully laid out territories .

For now I think its staying single species until late summer but reserve the right to change my mind . Even though they are so small a few of the tetras are carrying eggs - so I'll give them some time with no predators in the tank. Local MA had a tank full of pencilfish but it was a mish mash of different species and I could only see 5 or 6 eques in the mix. But I was also looking at Boraras brigittae this morning and they would complement the embers nicely.

Love watching you ember video, I did my weekly water change and added more RO water Wednesday. I noticed all the tetras were chasing females but the embers where doing it in a school back and forth from one end to the other end of the tank. Wish I could have taken a good picture of it. They were sticking together the rest of the day and all day Thursday. I also removed the anacharis and replaced it with salvinia. The anacharis can not handle the softer water.

Woohoo! Zero ammonia this morning so no more worries on that score. I'll remove the bags of matrix this evening and test again in the morning. Even more pleasing as they had their first feed last night. They have been grazing on leaves and roots but after 3 days without meat they were understandably enthusiastic about the bug bites. Stumpy led the charge for food. She is still in the group this morning. Haven't turned the lights on so I won't see until this evening if there is any sign of re-growth on her tail yet.

Another zero test morning after removing the matrix and another feed last night. Going to try crushed flakes tonight. They had Dennerle micro insect pellets last night. They seem to prefer the bug bites but the species profiles that suggest they will not eat off the substrate are correct. With no bottom feeders or snails around I am having to feed very sparingly as these do sink quite quickly - even with the filter turned off. Still did a 2/3rds water change with salt to try to encourage stumpy's tail to heal. The daily changes do mean that for the time being it is a clear water tank and will remain that way for at least another week or 2.

More divide and conquer tactics on the plants, including the water sprite which has started to take off. Cleared out all the yellow leaves from the frogbit, as I currently have the tank uncovered and they are visible. Started thinning the frogbit. Also started picking out duckweed <arghhh>, some sneaked in attached to the frogbit roots despite my thorough rinsing.

Little stumpy (circled) continues to swim about without a care in the world, seemingly oblivious to the fact she has no tail. No signs of regrowth yet but its definitely not getting worse, and may even be improving. Continuing with daily water changes and salt

Hope stumpy grows her tail back, I removed my anacharis forest from my sunken forest tetra tank and replaced it with salvinia. My embers like sitting in the forest so now they are all at the other end of the tank, They swim back and fourth as a group more since the forest is gone. I suppose they miss it and need time to adjust to it not being there. It was a major change to their surroundings