Aquascaper 600

[Naughts]

Sorry to hear this. I don't think she would have recovered, it was her time to go.

 

[Wills]

Thanks guys. I just wish I'd intervened earlier.

 

[HoldenOn]

That's the worst feeling. You did what you could given your experience with the fish, don't give yourself a hard time. Sorry again Wills.

 

[Ridgerunner]

View attachment 110748

This is my first foray into properly planted tanks, in the past I've kept to many diggers, herbivores and just descructive fish to succeed. But now with a smaller tank and wanting to focus on something new here we are! I've been posting a few WIP posts about this tank so I wanted to consolidate them all into once place as it develops over time.

I'm facing a couple of challenges so far with the Co2, its not dipping down over night, I think this is because the plants are not using enough of it through the light period so hopefully this will get resolved. I will not be adding fish to the tank until this is stable and I feel more confident in using Co2 injection.

Planting has gone quite well, I got a set of cheap aquascaping tools from Amazon which have really helped. There are a couple of plants I just cant get to plant fully but hoping over time they will take root and burrow down into the substrate. I have seen some pearling though so thats quite cool!

Next step is waiting on a delivery of some Bucephalandra, Mini Bolbitis and one more type of crypt for the back right corner.

Beautiful tank.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Man, I'm sorry about your puffer, @Wills


Don't beat yourself up too much, they're tricky fish to keep and can imagine how nerve wracking the idea is of trimming their beak yourself would be! Really scary to have to do that. But sounds as though you have a well thought out plan for how to catch and prevent anything similar happening in the future.

Good to hear that the fish store/their supplier seems to have improved their fish health game! Especially since they've stocked the species you're after. Did you ask if they're planning to order more in the future? Worth checking I'd think, especially if you can find out what day they'd be available for sale (like my store wouldn't sell new fish for the first few days after arrival, to give them time to settle and calm), so you can nab down there and be the first to grab any females that look good

Did they have any nice Nicaraguans?

 

[Wills]

Man, I'm sorry about your puffer, @Wills

Don't beat yourself up too much, they're tricky fish to keep and can imagine how nerve wracking the idea is of trimming their beak yourself would be! Really scary to have to do that. But sounds as though you have a well thought out plan for how to catch and prevent anything similar happening in the future.

Good to hear that the fish store/their supplier seems to have improved their fish health game! Especially since they've stocked the species you're after. Did you ask if they're planning to order more in the future? Worth checking I'd think, especially if you can find out what day they'd be available for sale (like my store wouldn't sell new fish for the first few days after arrival, to give them time to settle and calm), so you can nab down there and be the first to grab any females that look good

Did they have any nice Nicaraguans?

Yeah tough one but things seem ok now, I'm prepared for it if I need to do it again.

Would definitely go back to the same shop now, they do a quarantine in a fish house at home for a few weeks before they go into the store. I don't like to order fish in as a bit of a rule, few reasons really, I like the thrill of the hunt and ordering is easy mode haha! Also don't like the obligation to buy them if you order - which often isn't an official rule but kind of polite isn't it haha. Also gives me an excuse for a day out haha! The did have some young Nic's in but I didn't dwell haha!

Need to start planning the move for this tank to my office soon too. Going to be a bit of a big job as I want to do a full rescape, take all the substrate out and put it in bags with a sand top. I want to go for a triangle scape but kind of an island style. One thing I've learned from this scape is that I need to go for brighter green plants rather than darker ones. I have some brown/purple crypts in here and with the dark rocks they just sort of blend in together so don't look that good. I've come across a plant called Hottonia Palustris which is an easy plant on the Tropica site

https://tropica.com/en/plants/plantdetails/Hottoniapalustris(027)/4443

It reminds me of a small Limnophilla Sessiflora which I seem to do well with so that feels like a good pairing. But I have been wondering about doing a different stem plant? But I want to keep the planting simple so might go this route.

Then on top of that there is the physical move of the fish and shrimp, I want to rehome some fish when I move which should be ok as I can take them to a store and back in not that long. I'm going to rehome the Green Neon Rasboras and the Stiphodon Gobies with a plan to get a new school and in bigger numbers. I think I'm going to go for around 20 Glolight Danios but not 100% yet.

Wills

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I've come across a plant called Hottonia Palustris which is an easy plant on the Tropica site

You have excellent taste in plants...

Guess what I got in my last plant order?

Extra proof that it's sitting in my pygmy/baby bronze cory tank!

I don't like to order fish in as a bit of a rule, few reasons really, I like the thrill of the hunt and ordering is easy mode haha! Also don't like the obligation to buy them if you order - which often isn't an official rule but kind of polite isn't it haha.

Haha, fair enough! I can see the appeal of "the thrill of the hunt", and definitely see the logic about not wanting to place an order since yeah, you're kinda committed then to taking those fish, even if they're not the best ones out there... too awkward not to, really!

I really really like the scape you have now, and like the way the plants look against the rocks, but completely understand the desire to rescape, since you have to take it down to move it anyway. No matter how lovely the scape, we always want to change and improve something, right? And since the dwarf sag got eaten... (man that sucks! It was looking great in the previous photo) So might as well since you have to move it anyway! Make sure to show us what you wind up doing!

 

[Wills]

You have excellent taste in plants...

View attachment 161976

Guess what I got in my last plant order?

Extra proof that it's sitting in my pygmy/baby bronze cory tank!

View attachment 161977


Haha, fair enough! I can see the appeal of "the thrill of the hunt", and definitely see the logic about not wanting to place an order since yeah, you're kinda committed then to taking those fish, even if they're not the best ones out there... too awkward not to, really!

I really really like the scape you have now, and like the way the plants look against the rocks, but completely understand the desire to rescape, since you have to take it down to move it anyway. No matter how lovely the scape, we always want to change and improve something, right? And since the dwarf sag got eaten... (man that sucks! It was looking great in the previous photo) So might as well since you have to move it anyway! Make sure to show us what you wind up doing!

Ah thats interesting! You'll have to let me know how you get on!

One of the reasons I need to change the scape is the tank is going into a corner where as at the moment its only viewed from the front so both sides have quite steep slopes of soil that I don't want in the new tank. It's going to go next to my desk and I'll basically be sat at the front right corner so going to be quite a new perspective running up. I have some good small triangular pieces so want to do a few rows radiating out from the back left corner to create rows for me to plant in but with load of sand space around the edges. I'm not going to rely on substrate for height this time though so going to be stacking rocks up quite a bit this time - need to be careful not to make a dry stone wall though...

 

[Essjay]

I bought Hottonia, twice. I have stiphodons and they loved nothing more than cleaning the stems which then parted in the middle so I was left with a stump rooted in the substrate and a stem with leaves floating on the surface with the floating plants. The ends were all ragged so I cut them cleanly and tried planting the top halves but they never rooted, just died. Maybe it wasn't the stiphodons damaging the stems, it may have been my lack of green fingers, but watch out for that.
It's such a lovely plant that I tried it twice hoping that the first one was just a bad batch but no, the second went the same way as the first

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I bought Hottonia, twice. I have stiphodons and they loved nothing more than cleaning the stems which then parted in the middle so I was left with a stump rooted in the substrate and a stem with leaves floating on the surface with the floating plants. The ends were all ragged so I cut them cleanly and tried planting the top halves but they never rooted, just died. Maybe it wasn't the stiphodons damaging the stems, it may have been my lack of green fingers, but watch out for that.
It's such a lovely plant that I tried it twice hoping that the first one was just a bad batch but no, the second went the same way as the first

Sorry about your plants
But I didn't know what stiphodons were and looked them up, wow! Some amazing colours there! Which species do you have? Do they need a more river like tank? Or just extra flow/oxygenation maybe?

 

[Essjay]

I shouldn't really have bought these fish, they do need faster flow than in my tank. But they don't seem to be distressed.
Stiphodons are quite often mislabelled in shops. I got mine from Maidenhead Aquatics, they were in a tank labelled 'cobalt blue goby', which is supposed to be Stiphodon semoni. Mine all look like females, though they could be stressed males despite me saying they don't look stressed.

 

[Wills]

I shouldn't really have bought these fish, they do need faster flow than in my tank. But they don't seem to be distressed.
Stiphodons are quite often mislabelled in shops. I got mine from Maidenhead Aquatics, they were in a tank labelled 'cobalt blue goby', which is supposed to be Stiphodon semoni. Mine all look like females, though they could be stressed males despite me saying they don't look stressed.

Thats interesting I think I have Atropurpeus (think thats it) but not 100% could be Semoni like you, out of breeding colours it comes down to the fins as to if they are shaded or not. Mine have never gone for plants so far as I know, though some of my Limnophilla does sometimes fade for no obvious reason then only to come back stronger? I have always really like them but mine just hide all the time and are the biggest fish in my tank.

I think as long as they have as close to 10x turn over they will be ok. The only other issue I have with them is that their eggs need saltwater to hatch and the young fish go on an absolutely incredible journey climbing waterfalls back into fresh water where the breed then the eggs get washed out to see through the flow of the water. So even though they are a small fish I'm not sure if they should be kept in tanks...

@AdoraBelle Dearheart there are some species from hardwater FYI and I have some assumptions that most will do ok in harder water due to their proximity to the ocean and their relationship with it.

Wills

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

though some of my Limnophilla does sometimes fade for no obvious reason then only to come back stronger?

My L.sessiliflora does this sometimes too, I did tend to put down to the fact I tend to forget about ferts for long stretches, or it getting uprooted now and then when I have to catch fish. But perhaps it's cyclical, like seasonal changes for non-aquatic plants? Byron suggested that my water lettuce going through phases of dying back, growing better again, buying back etc might be something like this once I think.
only a hypothesis, not sure how a fully aquatic plant would notice a change in seasons when kept in an aquarium at the same time/same lighting period, but maybe variations in the amount of daylight contributes, who knows?

Or mine might be because of inadequate ferts/unrooted too often, while yours gets nommed by gobies, lol

 

[Wills]

My L.sessiliflora does this sometimes too, I did tend to put down to the fact I tend to forget about ferts for long stretches, or it getting uprooted now and then when I have to catch fish. But perhaps it's cyclical, like seasonal changes for non-aquatic plants? Byron suggested that my water lettuce going through phases of dying back, growing better again, buying back etc might be something like this once I think.
only a hypothesis, not sure how a fully aquatic plant would notice a change in seasons when kept in an aquarium at the same time/same lighting period, but maybe variations in the amount of daylight contributes, who knows?

Or mine might be because of inadequate ferts/unrooted too often, while yours gets nommed by gobies, lol

I actually think that seasons are something we miss/ignore a bit too much in the hobby. It must play a part in everything in our tanks, just think about how different countries look through the cycle of the year, even in the warmest of countries there are peaks and lows that happen naturally. We know that some species like Gymnogeophagus just can't cope without seasonal variance in temperature and we know the effect of keeping fish too warm or too cold but it just can't be right that they are the only points - eg low light, shorter days or food availability/scarcity etc. I'm not saying I do any of this but it is interesting to think about.

Wills

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I actually think that seasons are something we miss/ignore a bit too much in the hobby. It must play a part in everything in our tanks, just think about how different countries look through the cycle of the year, even in the warmest of countries there are peaks and lows that happen naturally. We know that some species like Gymnogeophagus just can't cope without seasonal variance in temperature and we know the effect of keeping fish too warm or too cold but it just can't be right that they are the only points - eg low light, shorter days or food availability/scarcity etc. I'm not saying I do any of this but it is interesting to think about.

Wills

For sure. And many plant species in gardens anyway need those growth and dormant periods. Not many things can grow, grow grow without rest and reset periods. Definitely Something we tend to overlook, but I can imagine the hobby looking very different again in another 30-40 years. Interesting to ponder, for sure!