A 40 Gallon Journey

[thereverendturtle]

Wow! I really like the revamp. Looks really good and I think your fish will be happier.

 

[minnnt]

They are going to love you for that.

The new scape also looks ten times better than the previous too.

 

[Crazybob]

Thanks for the compliment guys, I must say I really enjoy having the sand bed over the gravel. I may begin to use it in my other tanks as new setups occur. Everyone seems to be pretty happy, the Blue Acara is swimming around more, tho he still spends a good amount of time under/behind the trees. He is definitely more active with the new look.

Tying plants to the wood and rock with thread is a huge PITA! I got fairly frustrated trying to get everything tied down so I hope nothing comes loose. So far so good after the first 24 hours. The tank now consists of the following:

Hardware:
Heater: Marineland stealth 250 or 300 Watt (don't recall anymore)
Filter: Aquaclear 70 (filled with the default sponge, filter floss, and ceramic discs)
Lights: 48" florescent light (just a standard light, nothing fish related)

Fish:
1 Blue Acara
10 Bleeding Heart Tetras

Plants:
4 Amazon Swords
3 patches (about 3 or 4 plants in each) Java Fern
1 Anubias (I think barteri but I cannot recall which is why I meant to do this sooner )
1 Java Moss piece which piggy backed one of the ferns

The only thing that I have left is to get the Hoplo Catfish. I was thinking about getting 4 for the tank, should I get more/less than I plan to?

Also, so far I've been feeding them Omega One flake food (both tropical fish and the cichlid). What else should I add to their diet? bloodworms?

 

[minnnt]

4 sounds like a good starting point. You will soon get the hang of being able to tell if you can stock anymore.

Oh, and Tetra Prima is probably the best staple diet for fish. New Life Spectrum is also supposed to be excellent.

 

[thereverendturtle]

I've been feeding my community fish a variety of Aqueon products, Hikari pellets and Zoomeds flake foods. Also frozen mysis and blood worms, peas, and live blackworms.

 

[dougie]

I've been advised by far more experienced people than my self that bloodworm is best as a treat, once a week, twice at most. Something to do with the high protein which can have an adverse effect of the fish if overfed. I'm sure others here can confirm or put me right on this if I'm mistaken. I use tetra prime as a daily staple & frozen brine shrimp (with spirulina) every other day. Sunday is bloodworm day, and believe me, they go bonkers for it!
Hope this helps.
Great looking tank by the way

 

[Crazybob]

Thanks for the tip dougie I'll keep that in mind, I'll be sure to pick some up tomorrow or Wednesday after work

 

[Crazybob]

Just thought I would post a quick update to the tank. Everyone is doing well, the acara has become more active in the tank which is nice to see. Currently my feeding schedule is tues and thurs frozen brine shrimp, Sunday frozen bloodworms. And tropical flake food in between.

I think I might order the catfish sometime this week as my local store isn't getting them in stock and don't seem to be in the near future. They are sold in a 6 pack so I will have 2 more than planned. I'll keep everyone posted.

My amazon swords don't seem to be doing so great, their leaves are becoming see thru and yellowish. Some have a burnt edge to them where the leaf has deteriorated. I'm thinking about adding some dry ferts, but I'm bot sure how great an idea that is. I'm just nervous the roots aren't getting fed. The other plants are doing okay. Is is normal for java fern to gave a sort of black stripe in the leaves?

 

[thereverendturtle]

Yeah, java fern often has black spots or veins on them. As for your swords, most likely they were grown emersed and those leaves are dying back to spur the growth of aquatic leaves. The other thing to check, is to see if the crown is buried. Swords do best with the top of the roots just slightly exposed.

 

[Crazybob]

Oh really? Thanks reverend, I think I completely buried them on the swords I'll be doing a water change tonight so I will go in and adjust. Glad to hear the initial dying is typical at least

 

[thereverendturtle]

No worries. Just let the leaves completely yellow before removing them from the plant.

 

[Crazybob]

Hello again, I thought I would give another update and, as usual, ask another question.

Over the weekend I gave my tank it's first proper waterchange with the sand substrate. I haven't done this in the past but it seemed nearly impossible to vaccuum the poop/uneaten food without also sucking in the sand. Because of this I feel that I did a poor job getting all the unwanteds out of the tank. I cleaned up what I could but like I said, sand came with it so I was hessitant to give it the "deep" cleaning job, only got the larger pieces it seems. How does one vaaccuum the bed of the tank without sucking up some of the sand?

Also, I think I will be ordering the Hoplos sometime this week from the Wetspot via aquabid as my local store does not seem to be getting them in. I've read about quarantine tanks, altho I have never used one myself as I haven't introduced new fish to an existing tank before. I have a 20 gallon high that is not in use, but I do not have a spare filter/heater lying around. i guess my first question is, do I even need to quarantine them? If so, what do I need exactly for my quarantine, and how long should I keep the cats in there before moving them to the main tank?

I found this thread in the forums which seems to offer some decent advice. However, since I will be wanting to use the quarantine fairly soon, I don't know how useful it is exactly.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[snazy]

The tank looks a lot nicer after the last rescape, when your plants grow it will be even nicer.
Just an urelated to your last query advise, but noticed the roots on the anubias you planted are hanging around. If you want it to attach to the wood faster, cut the roots leaving just a bit(1cm-1.5cm max). Also, the anubias grows from one side of the rhizome, so make sure the growing part is pointing towards the direction you want it to grow. It's easy to see which part.

 

[minnnt]

Whirl your hose around about an inch above the sand. It will lift the detritus off of the sand but leave the sand in situe.

With bloodworm, I feed it twice a week usually. A high protein diet can often lead to bloat so ensure you vary their diet with spirulina and something with a decent fibre content.

I like to feed Tetra Prima as their staple and then catfish pellets too (Most of my fish will take these) and then bloodworm twice a week.

Look forward to seeing some new pics.

 

[Crazybob]

Cool thanks guys.

Minnnt, I only feed Bloodworms once a week (on Sunday). Tuesday and Thursday I give them Brine Shrimp. The rest of the week they get Omega One Freshwater Flake or Cichlid flake. Should I only give them Brine Shrimp once a week?

Also, For your request Minnnt I took some pictures when I got home from work. I must say I have no idea how everyone takes such nice pictures. I believe I took near 40 pictures, almost all of which were way to blurry to make anything out. How is it done? Does everyone have nice cameras? I have an old one, but I still think it should be able to focus on things, my phone took better images . Anyhow, without further delay:

Full Tank Shot

Left Side

Right Side

Curious Fish

A Single Bleeding Heart

Acara by the Wood

Blue Acara all Alone

A picture of the plants, showing off the decaying leaves

The School, as taken by my phone

And a Final Picture of the Acara on the phone