Bye Bye 5 x 60, hello 200

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Been a bit of a while since posting on here...life gets in the way occasionally.

Anyway.....

Tried various floating plants and they got eaten.....but not before they kicked off a small pest snail invasion (which is why live plants always annoy me, I hate hitchikers)

So that idea went out the window (window was open this time ;) )

Bought an artificial 9" diameter water hyacinth which has gone down a storm with everyone....if they aren't pushing it all over the place, they are hiding underneath it and generally making mischief.

Couple days ago I got some moss covered hides...living moss.....and have dotted those around the place along with loose moss and moss poles. The resident vandals love messing about with games of hide and seek in the 6 new hides (parts of coconut shell covered in established moss). The loose moss is wandering about, I want it to settle on its own and so far that is going to plan nicely. There is also a smallish lump of stone with established moss on it too which the resident vandals are nibbling every time they pass by it. Most of the new hides are sat on top of the original ones in around the center area to build that section up a little and make it a bit more natural lake bed/river bed looking

So far, so good.

I swapped over the GKM 24w UV to a full blown second filter, a 9w Aquael UVifilter 750. Reason being that the GKM was getting clogged too quickly and is not the easiest beast to keep detritus free. So now I have the double can Turbo at one end and the UVifilter at the other end, with the air curtain across the back (when installing the air curtain I stuck it down onto the glass before putting the substrate in so that its well anchored down without losing the aeration ability.....as/when I replace it I can easily shimmy a new one down into and under the substrate)

The next job will be to get a few Assassin snails to clear the pest snail issue completely. I crush those that I see (much to the delight of the Cories and Apisto who adore fresh crushed snail) but getting a few Assassins will deal with any persistent critters. The snails will be sourced in a couple weeks time.

Below are a couple of photos of the aquarium. Not great photos admittedly but thats why I prefer using silicone plants, they move and sway just like the real thing....even to the extent that when my Ottos sit on the end of the "leaf" they bend down with the weight of the fish as if natural. They are also extremely soft and without any rigid stems like you get with silk or plastic plants.

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I know using artificial decor is not everyone's cup of tea but I truly have no luck with live greenery...they either die off or get eaten or cause other issues like pest snails...... I sit and stare at it for hours on end watching how the resident vandals interact with each other and their surroundings. I have been lucky in that a rarely have fish losses and I have never had any disease or illness with my little hoard of lunatics......they breed like crazy so I guess I must be doing something right :)

As this is my first ever proper "big aquarium", I love it, the fish are all very active and healthy...and tbh I am quite proud of it.

:)
 
Nothing more to be done to the aquarium, its where I had hoped that it would be and I am pleased with it. All the fish are doing extremely well, I have breeding going on all over the place from the Cories, BNs and Rams (I do keep asking them not to keep getting jiggy with it but they refuse to take any notice of me). The eggs/fry are not lasting very long due to some serious piggy munching happening, so "birth control" seems to be working...to a degree.

So here is the completed aquarium. Water changes weekly, filters serviced when required and generally tidied up when needed.

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Went mildly nuts and decided to do a rescape of the teenagers bedroom....from the above to this (not quite done yet, Mopani and refiltering still to do)

The "rocks" are infact one of the Hugo Kamishi rockscape packs, this being #6. Not all sections used even though designed for my size aquarium, I didn't want to over clutter it.

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I bet it feels strange, one big tank instead of lots of small ones :)
Don't tell my missus that. I have 5 in a small spare bedroom.
It's like a sauna at times.
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WOW @wasmewasntit! The fish must LOOOOVE all the extra space. It also looks really good. You can tell the plants are fake but it still looks nice!
 
WOW @wasmewasntit! The fish must LOOOOVE all the extra space. It also looks really good. You can tell the plants are fake but it still looks nice!
Well they do tend to breed a little too frequently (and without asking for permission), so I guess they are happy with things....the plants are silicone, the rocks and caves (caves to the far left) are resin (rocks) and ceramic (caves). A few rose coloured pebbles (real) along the front to add a bit of contrast to the black Limpopo sand that is mixed with natural beige sand......the moss balls are real too.
 
Went mildly nuts and decided to do a rescape of the teenagers bedroom....from the above to this (not quite done yet, Mopani and refiltering still to do)

The "rocks" are infact one of the Hugo Kamishi rockscape packs, this being #6. Not all sections used even though designed for my size aquarium, I didn't want to over clutter it.

View attachment 161196
Very nice indeed🙂
 
Spent time to complete the redo of the main aquarium. Swapped out the two ceramic "smooth pebble" hides for 5 various sized ceramic "rock" hides and increased the greenery on the left side. A floating mass of tangles has been replaced by a few strands of Elodea Densa that fly around the aquarium thanks to the matched pairing of Aquael Turbo 1000 double canned filters. Upgraded the heater to Aquael Platinum 300w from the not exactly capable Eheim preset 200w.

Not doing anything else to the aquarium now....apart from water changes and filter maintenance. No more changes to the scaping whatsoever...none...absolutely NONE!

Fish happy, healthy and reproducing wildly......the reproducing is starting to become a habit...a bad habit....like marking one's territory too often. I have too many baby BN's, too many baby Cories...and I am still refusing to move the freezer to allow for another aquarium :p

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OK so I have tweaked it a little bit by adding in a few live greenery here and there amongst the silicone greenery. The Apisto seems to approve...tank boss always has the last word afterall

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Looks great :) Really like the upright rocks among all the green reminds me of those tropical bays in south east asia. Would love to see this with a lighter substrate but thats a big ask haha :)
 
Looks great :) Really like the upright rocks among all the green reminds me of those tropical bays in south east asia. Would love to see this with a lighter substrate but thats a big ask haha :)
Under the 1" black limpopo sand is 2" natural riverbed sand and the Cories are slowly but surely mixing them up with the riverbed sand showing alot more than it used to

The "rocks" are the Hugo Kamishi rockscape #6. Very heavy ceramic. Comes in 6 parts, only 4 are in use...should fit a 1m long aquarium though I could not quite get them all in since on the left side are 5 various sized ceramic caves that the fish spend the night in and chase each other through during the day
 
Under the 1" black limpopo sand is 2" natural riverbed sand and the Cories are slowly but surely mixing them up with the riverbed sand showing alot more than it used to

The "rocks" are the Hugo Kamishi rockscape #6. Very heavy ceramic. Comes in 6 parts, only 4 are in use...should fit a 1m long aquarium though I could not quite get them all in since on the left side are 5 various sized ceramic caves that the fish spend the night in and chase each other through during the day
Thats interesting Hugo Kamishi do some interesting stuff some of their substrate is really good too.
 
@Wills

My fish mix should not be peaceful, it should be fins at dawn and wholy bad tempered...but they all get along like the proverbial house on fire.

Apisto is definitely boss (not sure about type...sold as Red Throat Viejita male). Shares the aquarium with an assortment of a Blue Ram, 3 Gold Ram, a Platy (that has a serious crush on one Gold Ram and Gold Ram protects it from everyone), Cardinals, Neons, Harlequins, Ottos, BNs, a Pencil Fish (last one left from an original aquarium), various Danios, a Honey Gourami, Pepper & Bronze Cories and a single White Cloud (last one left from an original aquarium).

Absolutely zero aggression from anyone, they are all reproducing...apart from the Apisto, Cardinals, Neons and Harlequins

The Kamishi rock pack 6 cost me £79.99 from Charterhouse


The substrate is Kamishi too.
 

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