75G Planted For Beginners. Haha.

[Biulu]

Sure, that would be fine. Corymbosa doesn't need much light and when it floats, it gets the best of the light anyway.

 

[FishFanatic04]

 

[FishFanatic04]

I haven't wanted to post pictures because I am no where close to where I plan to go with my plants. Right now, it's just one big hodge-podge. I didn't have experience with plants, so I planted a little of everything so I can see what they look like, how they grow, etc. I am slowly taking out some things and moving others around. I think I would like a different t-5 tube, the colors I am getting from this one are too lime. I am also still dreaming of pearling, and don't feel that it is close in my future.
I have a few crypts I would like to rearrange a little, but I'm giving them a month to really settle before moving them. I know moving them can cause them to melt, so I'm trying to allow them to strengthen, it hasn't been long since I planted them.
Most of the plants I received were babies, cuttings, or bulbs. I'm trying not to add anything and use all of my own propagation for awhile, I have no idea how much space some of these plants will need when fully grown. Like the dwarf lily bulb. It finally has leaves popping up from the sand!! But I have a crypt behind it which probably won't do well there.
The awesome thing is that my cambomba grew to the surface and I was able to plant four 6" {bottoms} and tops. I know the bottoms will branch now, but I will clip those and plant as well. My water sprite is getting huge as well, I am finding that I love water sprite and want to propagate that for my 46g.

Anyway that's my disclaimer. Sorry it was so wordy. It was nice talking about my tank with positive thoughts again to the future. I wanted to post pictures to capture my progress.

The anacharis was only a temporary plant here. Some died in my low light tank, and I wanted to see if it had to do with my water hardness{etc} or the light.

That coconut needs a new resting place I think.

So basically everything is going to change in the next few months. There are some definite keepers. The water sprite, and the 2 swords are easily my favorites right now. Cabomba is lovely and fast so I can fill alot of space in the back. A 75g is HUGE to scape, especially now that I'm on a {very, very tight} budget. I will be letting things grow out for awhile and then mess with it some more. This is the fun part.

 

[Biulu]

I don't understand what you were so worried about? Everything looks lush and healthy! You just need to have patience and add some more plants...

 

[FishFanatic04]

Thanks! I tend to be too high strung and worried over everything. I'm pretty sure I annoy everyone I know with it. I am hoping to mostly use my own cuttings to really fill in the background. no reason to buy more stem plants when they grow so fast. Crypts and swords and things will have to wait until I see how much space they fill. I used a sword in the center of the wood, If it grows tall and full, it could be nice there. I really want the hygrophilia there but its floating in my other tank, since it kept rotting. It's looking good over there and has a few platy fry hiding in it.

 

[gregswimm]

Maybe you can add a figure 8 puffer to the tank for all those snails. Also, you can copper your tank, it will kill whatever is left of the ich + the snails

 

[FishFanatic04]

Naw, I'm handling the snails...I am slowly moving the fry to the 10g that I intended for them before the ich, so I am no longer overfeeding the 46g tank. I have been luring in the snails with lettuce and zuccini which makes my apple snail and Clown plec happy too Plus I'm not squeamish about squishing them. My platies attack them like its M&M's.
Copper is terrible for plants and my 46g is planted as well. I am mostly sure that I cured the ich anyway though.

No worries on pest snails in this tank {75g} I've only seen 3 so far and have squished them for the offense.

 

[FishFanatic04]

The 3 remaining apistos are alive in their 10g hospital. I have no idea how they are doing, since the other three looked normal like this until they didn't. But they are eating and no gasping at the surface, so we will see. The only problem I have left are the kuhli's. They are still madly dashing around. They look as if their gills are a little red, but there's nothing I can think of to help them. And that could be irritation from the medications they were exposed to. My lfs suggested putting them in a tank with clean water and a temp of 87 degrees. That seems high. There is something going on with them, I'll have to keep working on it.

 

[FishFanatic04]

Water sprite is at the water surface already and a few cabomba stems as well. The cabomba is a little too "leggy" for my taste, but I keep pruning and planting the tops and bottoms, so eventually they will shade each other a little and hopefully it will be fuller. The purple cabomba in the corner is growing nice and bushy, except for the bottoms, the old leaves which yellowed and fell off. Could be a lack of light? They are shaded by the big ugly water pump. I'm working on fixes for the big blues, They can't run without a baffle, it creates a whirlwind and all of the stems uproot. I wish I had known how powerful they were, I could have bought 2 with a lower flow rate.

My angelfish are really traveling the tank well, I am so happy to finally get to enjoy them. I can't wait to add to the group. But no new fish for several weeks, while I make sure all of my fish are healthy everywhere.

 

[stu40]

For someone who claims they don't know what they're doing, it's looking pretty good to me

Looking forward to when it fills in, that'll be proper jungle

Congrats on the anniversary as well, my 10 years is up in a couple of weeks.

 

[FishFanatic04]

Thanks. Jungle is the goal! Hope you get to really enjoy your anniversary as well. 10 years is a big one!

 

[FishFanatic04]

DO apistos NEED caves? or is that more for spawning? I would love to take out some of them, but I want the apistos to be happy when I re-introduce them to the tank. I don't mind having a functional tank for my fish, OVER having it look exactly how I want. However, the caves take away from the natural look. I plan to move the apistos into a 10gallon if I see any signs of spawning in the future.

Thoughts?

 

[FishFanatic04]

May not be reintroducing apistos. I have the heat up in the 10g hospital and they are not looking well. Whatever these guys have is seriously lethal. The kuhlis, however don't seem to be swirling up the glass anymore, so I hope the heat is working for them...that or the bacterial med. I had treated everywhere with the parasite meds, with no effect on the kuhlis or apistos, so I put them in the 10g with a tiny dose of Melafix. What the heck? It may be bacterial. The kuhlis are now calm and hanging out together in a cave...

The 10g is in my bedroom though, so harder to observe all day...they may be swirling on the glass when I'm not back there. We will see. I really want these kuhlis to calm down and live happily in the 75g. The apistos are putting off a lost cause vibe, but I'll keep trying to help them.

 

[FishFanatic04]

This will sound funny, but 2 of my khulis just darted into a cave when I approached the tank and I got so EXCITED!!! lol That is the first normal thing that they have done since they started acting funny.

 

[FishFanatic04]

So, the kuhlis have been calm for 2 days which gives me hope. I am slightly concerned about an angelfish, but since I have never had them before, it's hard for me to know if I'm paranoid. I was worried that it's dorsel fin looked damaged. I am still running carbon to remove medication, and there shouldn't be any contaminates or water quality issues. Here's 2 pics. DO you think it's fine, or should I worry? Don't mind the slight bloat, they had bloodworm today.