Tank Journal - Hillstream Temperate River

[minnnt]

Wowzers mate!!

£6.50 each or 2 for £12.00

Would love to setup a tank as you have done. I'm fancying a change as both of my main tanks are pretty similar.

May be pestering you for some advice soon if you don't mind.

 

[fishprotector]

Good lord that is cheap

As far as I can see, they have never been bred in captivity so that is very cheap for a fairly rare wild caught fish!! They are a pita to acclimatise though, especially when shops keep them in incorrect conditions to start with. Key tip to watch with them is if they are too 'pinched' in between their two sets of pectoral fins then they have been underfed and have used up their food reserves. Most will not recover.

I knew it would not be long before you came over to the hillstream side after you saw the Gobies

 

[minnnt]

Great info!

Yes, you're a terrible influence.

And, in all fairness, i was observing the tank for about 10 minutes and couldn't see any, so they had either all been sold or were very good at hiding.

My inclination is that they would have been kept at a more normal tropical temperature due to the other fish they were in the tank with. Ticket definately said Annamia Normani though.

If i was to use a 3ft, 180L tank, how would be best to stock it? PM me if you don't want to mess up your journal.

 

[fluttermoth]

Wowzers mate!!

£6.50 each or 2 for £12.00

Would love to setup a tank as you have done. I'm fancying a change as both of my main tanks are pretty similar.

May be pestering you for some advice soon if you don't mind.

haha, my reasons exactly for getting my hillstreams; all my other tanks are either tetras + cories or barbs + loaches!

The A. normani are lovely; I've never seen them in RL.

 

[minnnt]

Yes, it is indeed a very inspirational tank. I need to stop looking at all these tanks. WOuld like to your take on the hillstream theme Fluttermoth.

 

[fishprotector]

Been out in the shed for most of the evening making the stand and hood for my tank. It is coming together nicely. Not got any more free time until Friday now with my second job ( time stealers!!), but should have the hood finished by the bank holiday and then will get started on the stand next week. Think I have decided on an LED build for the lighting as been meaning to go that way with the current price of electric.

The two new A.Normani are doing great (touch wood) and seem to be joining in well with the other two. Not seen them eating yet apart from munching on the algae, but it did take one of the other two a couple of weeks to start eating prepared foods and the other one a couple of months so I am not worrying yet

 

[panda_cory]

I am now considering doing something like this, if my dad will let me get another tank.
How much is a powerhead?

 

[fishprotector]

it looks like the addiction is contagious.

I normally buy electrical items new, especially powerheads as people normally use them in marine tanks and they get crusted with algae. I paid £35 for my hydor koralia 2800 in January sales. Think the rrp is over £60 though. You can get cheaper, but these are a cracking unit and are almost silent. Depends on what you are happy with I suppose. Another option is a river manifold. Check google for the layout, but would only really work in a larger tank.

 

[panda_cory]

Might save up and set a tank up (if im allowed) so might be looking for advice

 

[panda_cory]

Should make a thread how to set up a tank like this the amount of people that are interested!

 

[fishprotector]

Went to Pier today and I am sure that they had some A.Normani in one of the tanks. They were a lot bigger than mine and had a slightly different pattern though, but the same distinctive body shape. They were either A.Normani or another sub species of the same family. They were not labelled though so can not be 100%. They also had at least three different species of Rhinogobius. Nice to see and soo hard not to buy anything!!

 

[fishprotector]

Not been on here for a while with the good weather I have been out cycling more than usual!! Anyway, I finally finished making my cabinet over the weekend and wired up the LED blocks. Here are some pictures:

The LEDs are pre fabricated units which I bought off a friend. I just wired them up in parrellel to a 500mah transformer unit. Three cool white, three warm white with 9 LED's in each and two red with 5 LED's in each. In total, they draw around 7 watts, but provide much more and a visibly better spectrum of light than I used to get off my T8. I am pretty happy with them, just not sure about the red at the moment, but I am sure that it will grow on me.

The cabinet was scratch built from pine and mdf, painted and then varnished with beech polyurethane varnish to water proof it. I have a condensation tray under the LED's to stop moisture infiltrating. They absorb a little light, but not too much and at least all is dry. I have also used some silver tape (designed for ducting pipes) inside the lid to help reflect light back into the tank.

I have also changed the position of the filter outlet now that I have a cabinet to hide the filter in. It is now pointing along the right hand side of the tank and this has really brought my A.Normani out into view more. They like sitting in the oxygen rich flow, and so now spend a lot of their time on the front pane. Bonus.

 

[thereverendturtle]

Excellent job on the tank stand and canopy. Did you take photos of the build, to start a new thread?

 

[fishprotector]

Excellent job on the tank stand and canopy. Did you take photos of the build, to start a new thread?

Thanks

No I did not take any pictures. Kind of got carried away making it and kept putting taking them off, then forgot lol. I made the basic frame out of 3" x 2" pine and then covered it in 18mm mdf. This was painted with standard beige wall paint, which was then painted with the water proof varnish. I dont have a lot of spare time, so it took me a fair while to do it. I really like the way it looks, but not sure that I would start it again as it took a lot of work.