Jen's 90 Gallon Tank

[pseud]

I have been reading up on dwarfs, in the forum and on the net, and it seems they are more suseptable to illness. I think you are right about them. They were just too pretty to pass up.

Yeah, the neon blues are pretty. I'm currently keeping a female pearl gourami. She's beautiful, very shy though.. startles easily. I wanna try my hand at some sparkling gouramis, i've heard they're an interesting fish.

I did name my angles. 2 of the 3 names are for good, not 100% about the 3rd. I named them Skidmark, Jackknife, and Dually. I put the names on the pictures with them, and they explain why I went with each. I'm such a geek. You would think I would want to forget about what happened, and instead I name my fish so I think about it each time I see them.

Freak.

 

[Jen]

So heres a picture. Please excuse the tv glare on the left... I'll have to retake the picture with it off... but I don't know if I can re create it... the colours are bang on for once. I just wish I could post the full size image (3008 x 2000 pixles... just a tad too big.) I've got it perfectly in focus. Sorry. I'm just really happy with how it turned out. I had to lighten up the sides in photoshop because they are naturally dark, but that is how I see it in person.

My Lillies are going mad. They are huge, and sending of baby plants like mad. I'm mailing one off tomrrow, and if that goes well, I will have more soon after.

 

[lljdma06]

That tank is gorgeous Jen! I love it! You should be proud of yourself. I love your lilys.

Is there space for the lily's to flower if they reach the top?

 

[Jen]

Thanks LL. I am quite happy with the recent changes I've made... and my next little one will hopefully make it just how I envision it.

The tank is technically open top... There is no glass cover, and I leave the hood open. I often have leaves reach the surface, but they never flower. I would love to know a good way to get them too though.

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

Jen, your tank looks fabulous! The depth perception is amazing -- it's like it goes on forever!

 

[emj0341]

jen, you are my hero, I am still pretty new to fishkeeping...6 months, and very new to planted tanks, and your tank has quickly become my inspiration....

very nice, it took my breath away.....

keep up the good work!

 

[Jen]

So, I've been away a while. Not anywhere hot and sunny... just not on the net much. I have a new job, and I've been working like a madman. I haven't had time to do much to my tank.. no EI, but the plants seem to be doing great. I should be able to get back in the swing of things now, so I can only assume they will do even better.

My moss has taken over, and I need to figure out the best way to trim it back. My lillies are going mad as well. I am keeping the ones on the ends tall and skinny, while the one in the middle low with big leaves... I think it looks more random that way. The fish are all doing well, and thankfully my angels are still kicking. I haven't had much luck with them in the past, so I was kinda worried. Little Jackknife's tail was taking a beating at the beginning. Someone was picking on him, but it's slowly growing back, so hopefully the bullying has stopped.

On with the picture. Here is the full tank pic... I'm working on some closeups

Elifishlover - Thank you so much for the compliment. I love that you are thinking of getting into plants. It's wonderful, lots of time and money, but totally worth it for me. Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have. I'd love to help.

 

[lljdma06]

Your tank is looking great Jen! I love your lilys. I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but that's Creeping Jenny in your foreground, right? Just wondering.

 

[akudewan]

Wow...so dense...so beautiful...I wanted to make my setup something like yours, but I had a real hard time trying to find Vallisneria, so I got some Cabomba instead, and I'm having a hard time anchoring it down

The Java moss is looking great btw

 

[Themuleous]

Thats madness Jen, looking great! Full of growth, lush plants, healthy fish, doesn't get better than that

If you not doing EI what do you think the secret to this tank is? A plant substrate, good lighting, plant choice?

Hope the new job it enjoyable as well as hard work? No point working hard if you're hating every minute of it!

Sam

 

[RYO]

Looks good, funny isn't it the way we fiddle with tanks and run into problems , then when you forget about them for a while you come back to lush plants.
Best my tanks ever looked was after a 3 week holiday, other than water the colour of mega strong tea my plants where fine and the fish glowing (mmm wonder if that's to do with the nuclear power station up the road )

 

[Jen]

Well, I've been hinting at it, and I finally went for it. I was doing some minor pruning on Wednesday, and then, I just did it. I pulled out one of the bits of wood and attacked the plants. I have been talking about doing this since November. November! It's hard to pull something apart that I worked so hard to get so lush and dense. Regardless, I have some high hopes for this layout. So 3 hours and 1 sore back (from separating and replanting each plantlet of the hydro. Vertic.) later, I had a whole new tank.

A bit different than that last pic, eh? There are some plants to go still. Geezer is interested in some Val and some of my hydro. verticulata (in the front... well... I should say on the left now shouldn't I?). So the val will thin out considerably, and I hope to get some nice rotala or another fine leaved stem to stick in there. I will have to change my filter spray bar. I had to buy a new filter, and this one is much more powerful, and you can see it pushing that val almost to the horizontal. I don't know where I will place it yet.

I also got me some new fish. The gourami I got a while back never made it. I had 4 in total, and they all died. And unfortunately, angels don't seem to last in there either. With the lower pH, I thought it would be ideal for them. I have had 2 in there for about a month now, and hopefully they will be ok. So I did some research, and with all this newfound swimming space Rainbows it was! My fish store had 3 varieties... the Bosmani, Redtailed and these... they were called Turquoise Rainbows in the store, but I believe they are called Lake Kutubu Rainbow Fish. Anyone know for sure? They were blue and pretty... so they won. (What can I say... I'm a girl first and foremost)

Here are 2 of the three. Their colours have come out so much already in only 1 day.

So there we go. A whole new style for me. I hope you like it, and as always, comments and suggestions are always welcomed.

 

[Themuleous]

I like the re-scape Jen my only suggsetion would be to remove some of the vals (like you say you're going to do ) they look a bit dominating and wall like to me, a finer leaved thingy would give a bit more shape variety to the tank.

Sam

 

[Jen]

Thanks Sam. I'm anxious to get that Val out. I really want to get on to the next step in there.

I noticed a change in my 3 gold ancistrus' today. They are starting to get some red colouring on them. Still no bristles to speak of, but they are slowly getting bigger. I expected them to grow faster for some reason. The first picture I can find of them is from July 1st of last year, and I doubt if they are 1/2 inch longer. Here's a picture of their beautiful new colouring.

I also noticed some fungus on one of the rainbows mouths. White cottony stuff. I'll have to figure out what to use for that since my cousin has all my books. I'd love to hear what you guys have used.

I also got my glass coil diffusor a while back, and I love it. There are virtually no bubbles reaching the surface.

Hope you all are having a better week than I am.

 

[Themuleous]

Nice fish my work colleague has kept rainbows and has found all of them to be prone to disease. Would think a fungus treatment is what you need but ask in the tropical chit chat section they are likely to know more

Sam