Bowfront 180 Litres

[Biulu]

Today I transferred the remaining congo tetras to the tank. They are starting to colour up and grow fast. I have 8 in total and feel that is just about right for this size tank. Other inhabitants that are waiting to be transferred are: 2 bolivian rams, 4 small angels (in the end I want to have only 2), 2 yoyo loaches and 3 zebra loaches. I was going to get only zebra loaches, but the guy in the shop mixed them up... Now I know that yoyos are best on their own or in larger groups, so I guess I have to take them back and up the number of zebra loaches. As much as I love cories, I have a negative experience with these fish in my tank, they simply don't get enough to eat with all these other fish around, so I am trying it now with loaches.

The final stocking of this tank will be:
8 congo tetras
12 cherry barbs
2 angels
2 bolivian rams
5 zebra loaches

 

[Biulu]

An update on the plant front. As llj suggested I thinned out the cabomba a bit. Although it looks nice as a plant, it really is not my favourite as it makes such a mess! Particles clog up my filter intake and other ones are floating around in the tank. I also planted the alternanthera a bit wider to make sure enough light gets to the bottom.

One plant, sold to me as banana plant (I guess because of the shape of the roots) spurted to the surface and is blocking the light to my ozelot, so I took out one of them. It will go to the gourami breeding tank. I think the gouramis will love it to make their nest in between. Does anybody know the name of this plant? I am showing a picture of it before I took one out.

Thanks for reading and watching. Comments welcome.

 

[PDSimon]

I have no idea but the ozelot looks great and really big leaves! one of my favourite plants...

 

[Biulu]

I found out that it is called a bananaplant. I had quite some growth over the past 2 weeks, and even had to trim a cabomba as it had reached the water surface. I have now laid my hands on liquid CO2 from Azoo and will see how it works. I do not plan to use it forever, just to speed up the growth and get everything filled in.

 

[ian]

its looking really good, Lu!

 

[Biulu]

Thank you ianho, yes I am quite satisfied with it as well. I only want to replace slowly some stemplants, once the tank really gets going. Unfortunately, cryptocorynes, anubias and microsorum is terribly expensive here as they are being imported. All the other plants are native, so easy to get and for a low price.

 

[lljdma06]

Can you post a full tank shot? I think I make out hydrocotyle in the foreground of the last picture. Neat.

 

[Biulu]

Can you post a full tank shot? I think I make out hydrocotyle in the foreground of the last picture. Neat.

Yes, that indeed is hydrocotyle. I am sorry, I am in Canada right now and can't take new pictures. But just before I left, I was happy with the growth. Slow, but decent. I am wondering whether I should repair the ballasts for the T5. Maybe things will go out of hand with so much light? Until now my 2 T8 are doing a good job...

 

[Biulu]

A quick update which will be followed by new pictures tomorrow. After a month of absence I am always a bit nervous of how my fish have survived. And I must say I am not disappointed at all. I lost a dwarf gourami, 1 zebra loach and a congo tetra. All other fish are alive and kicking and even grown in my absence. I now have 8 congos left and it looks like all are females apart from one... From my 4 angels, none of paired up and I am slowly losing hope they will. It leaves me with the difficult task to decide which ones to get rid of, even though I have a friend that will take them and add them to her group of angels which she is trying to pair off as well.

With regards to my plants: the hydrocotyle has almost all disappeared, I have no clue why. The alternanthera has grown, but the leaves look a bit wrinkled, maybe a deficiency? plus they have some algae on them. I will post a picture of them tomorrow so you can see better what I mean. The polisperma leaves have almost all been eaten and I have no idea who the culprit is. I have congo tetras, angels, cherry barbs, dwarf gourami, loaches and a bolivian ram. Anybody has any idea? I am all the more surprised about it as I am feeding spirulina, which gives more than enough vegetable content I would say.

My tiger lotus is growing back nicely and so are the cryptocorynes. I am only a bit disappointed about my E. ozelot. Although it is growing new leaves, it seems to stay short. I had hoped that it would grow tall just like the other one was doing before. Maybe I have to add some nutrients.

With regard to fertilisation: this month they have survived on fish poop. From now on I will be dosing seachem excel 2x a week and 1x a week liquid carbon from Azoo. Will this be enough, or would I have to dose more often?

 

[Biulu]

So, here are the pictures as promised.

First a full tank shot. I urgently need to have the 2 T5s repaired to get more even light in this tank, I notice that plants are starting to grow towards the back...

As you can see, the hydrocotyle has almost disappeared, is there not enough light?

Here is a picture of the polisperma in which it is clear that the leaves are being eaten. Anybody has an idea of who the culprit might be?

And last, the alternanthera. The growth is weird, is this due to a lack of nutrients or light?

Thanks for looking and suggestions are welcome...

 

[Ryefish]

any chance you have some rogue snails that are hiding in your gravel and coming out at night to devour your plants? ive read places about setting up little bait traps to catch them but i cant remember exactly how it was done.

are you dosing any CO2 or liquid carbon? i havent scoured through the thread to find out, sorry

 

[Biulu]

I do have some snails, but thought the yoyos would take care of these... I have only now started to dose liquid carbon, but don't do it every day? Should I?

 

[PDSimon]

liquid carbon is meant to be dosed everyday, its half life is quite low, less than a day I think...so one dose doesn't last very long at all

 

[Biulu]

liquid carbon is meant to be dosed everyday, its half life is quite low, less than a day I think...so one dose doesn't last very long at all

Ok, I will start dosing every day then. Should I do it before or after the lights go on?

 

[PDSimon]

Not sure which is better, I dose before lights on but thats only because I imagined it would be more effective