Daize's 120L Soil Tank

[daizeUK]

It seems that the white dots on the anubias are nothing more than calcium carbonate deposits left by photosynthesizing bicarbonates in the water.  It's a naturally occurring process and the deposits are seemingly harmless, although it's unclear why so much of it is appearing on these particular plants at this time.  Possibly it's due to damage by a bleach dip before I added the anubias to the tank.  There doesn't seem to be any causal link between the white dots and Mickey's sickness.  Possibly the whole thing is just pure coincidence.  I threw out some of the anubias anyway and there have been no further problems, touch wood.
 
The male threadfins are now in the tank and there was a happy and somewhat lusty reunion with their females as soon as they recovered from the shock of transfer.  I'm happy to have both my tanks back to decent stocking levels again, the 64L is no longer overstocked and this tank is starting to come to life.

 

[TallTree01]

Yay! Now.... Pics.

 

[daizeUK]

Ah, an excuse to take more pics!

 
The tank nearly four weeks in:

 
A bevy of threadfins:

 

[Ch4rlie]

Beautiful, loving the plant set up, everywhere i look, theres something I like.
 
Think am biased but these threadfins.....

 

[TallTree01]

Planting is so dense and well shaped, really stunning daize. Definitely gonna take some inspiration from that. Threadfins looking snazzy, their weird fins always stand out to me.

 

[daizeUK]

Thanks for the comments guys!  The tank has exceeded my expectations so far and I'm very pleased with it, although I'm still pessimistically waiting for algae to set in or the plants to melt .  I didn't expect such a nice start with no added CO2 or liquid carbon or ferts.  I'm still thinking it can't be sustainable for much longer.
 
It's still early days yet.  I'm tempted to give my 64L a similar overhaul and convert it to soil too but it would be silly until I've had more experience with this tank first.
 
My next step will be to start shopping for some CPD's in a week or two, which I'm really looking forward to but I rarely see them in stock.  I'm also thinking of getting some Fire Red Sakura shrimp.   I always liked the looks of Velvet Blue shrimp but I'm thinking that red shrimp would look spectacular under this tropical lighting.  In the meantime I'm curious to see if any baby threadfins hatch and survive since for the moment there are no shrimp in the tank to eat the eggs!

 

[Ch4rlie]

That would be truly spectacular to see if you can get your threadfins to breed, I never succeeded but did see courtships and excellent flaring displays.
 
Would love to see this occurring in your tank
 
CPDs are another excellent choice, and yes, not that often in LFS and when they are stocked, they usually around £3.50 to £3.95 each, and they do best in shoals of at least 15 so works out not to be cheap

 
And they are easily spooked for first month or so then they come out more often.
Mine annoy me now when I do tank maintenance as they look for food all the time now

 
Keep up the excellent work in your tank (and don't be so pessimistic about algae )

 

[daizeUK]

 
Day 33.  The aponogeton has turned into a monster over the last week.  This has been an interesting plant to watch grow.  The bulb didn't do very much for the first few weeks except send out a few small 'feelers' to test its new surroundings.  Then it must have decided that conditions were good and sprouted several huge leaves at quite an alarming rate!
 
The tiger lotus at back right is also doing well and the leaves are starting to get large enough to be more visible now.
 
There's lots of scale deposits on leaves of nearly all the plants and on the glass which tells me that the plants have adapted to hard water and are processing the carbonates available in the water column.  It wipes off easily, except for the anubias leaves where it tends to stick and won't come off.  I'm a little concerned that the build-up of deposits might ultimately interfere with photosynthesis and be detrimental to the plants but they seem to be doing okay at the moment.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Wow, beautiful

 

[daizeUK]

Thanks Charlie!

 
I had some good luck at the LFS today!  I was hoping to buy some CPD's so I set out for a local fish store which I know is generally good at stocking smaller fish.  I arrived to a somewhat disheartening sight - all the tropical fish tanks were drained and empty and half the shop was closed off for building works.  I figured I'd made a wasted journey but I mentioned to one of the staff that I'd been hoping to find CPD's and to my surprise he said they had some in stock!  It turned out that they were still running a small bank of tropical tanks, hidden away in the closed-off section of the store.  As luck would have it CPD's were one of the few tropical species they had left in stock.
 
I came away with six of them for £20 and I'm kicking myself for not getting more.  I wanted to add fish slowly to avoid upsetting the balance of the tank but to be honest I don't think that a few more of these little guys would add much bioload!  Hopefully I'll be able to get more next week.
 
The little guys in the bag:

 
As expected, they've spent most of their time staying hidden in the undergrowth since release but they've also been exploring the whole tank and showing some signs of sparring and courtship.  I'm actually quite surprised and pleased to see them venturing out into the open so much, considering it's their first day and there are only six of them.  I think they must be somewhat emboldened by the presence of the threadfins in the tank and perhaps by the availability of cover.
 

 

 
This one we've nicknamed Spotty (the kid's name, not mine!) as he is the only one with these circular markings on his lower fins:

 
I'm not very good at telling the sexes apart yet but I'm pretty sure this one is a female.  She's spent most of her time investigating the foliage for microfauna snacks.  My old Pseudomugil gertrudae used to display this hunting behaviour too and I love watching them peer intently wherever they think there might be a meal.  I'm a bit concerned that she might be the only female in the tank and become stressed from too much male attention - I once had a bad experience with a sole female threadfin who only lasted a single day in a tank full of males.

 
I think this one is a male too, Charlie if you're there maybe you can help me sex them!

 
I don't think it comes across in the pictures but they look almost luminescent under the lighting.  They truly are spectacular little fish, absolutely stunning.  I LOVE them!  

I want a tank full of CPD's!  

 

[Ch4rlie]

As you may know, I am a fan of CPD's too
 
Sexing them apart is pretty simple really, I'd wait until they are fully coloured up and lively, will be easier to tell apart then. As from your pics, they seem to be fairly pale so its hard to tell at the moment, don't worry they'll be even more stunning soon
 
The males usually have stunning dark orange or red fins and darker body.
 
The females tend to have pale orange or red fins and paler body.
 
Easy to tell after you study them for a while, they really are beautiful
 
And seems my cpd's are very confident and lively, true gluttons too, forever searching for food.
Though one small thing i must mention, they seem to be susceptical to diseases as I have lost 4 of them for no particular reason and 2 have disapeared, though my amano shrimps may be a factor in this.
 
Keep an eye on these guys, and yes, I agree you should have got more than 6 to start, but not end of world at all since they seem to be comfortable in your lovely densley planted tank and threadfins. Perhaps your LFS will hold some more cpd's for you if you ask nicely, I'd recommend at least 15 but 20+ of these guys would be better

 

[daizeUK]

How many do you think I could fit in this tank?  Twenty of them sounds lovely but would I be pushing the limits for stocking, alongside the 9 threadfin rainbowfish and 3 male platies and future neocardinia shrimp?
 
I'm looking forward to seeing these guys colour up, they look stunning already so I can only imagine!
 
It's my birthday this week (the big 40

) so I'm claiming CPD's as my birthday present!

 

[Ch4rlie]

Happy Birthday in advance
 

 

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Hmm, if you think 20 CPD's is too much, 12 - 15 a posiibility?
 
 
 
Just realised you have just about my ideal tank...Threadfins, CPD's, Shrimps and lovely plants and tank set up........ not jealous at all

 

[daizeUK]

Thanks for the birthday wishes! 

I'm not sure whether 20 would be too many but I'm pretty sure that 12-15 would be fine.  They sell in bundles of 6 anyway so I'll aim to get another 6 asap and possibly increase to 18 from there if it feels right.
 
It's cool that we have the same taste in fish!  (Er, I mean the preference kind of taste, not the culinary kind! )

 

[TallTree01]

Amazing stuff Daize! It's a shame cpds are so rare here in Australia, they are truly stunning!