Tarahhhhhhh!

[fenwoman]

Here is a full frontal

on the left

middle

right

gourami

yoyo loach

leopard angels

once they have settled down and got used to me I'll try to get some better photos.
I have in total:
10 leaopard danios, 2 pearl gourami, 6 yoyo loach (but 2 may be going to my son),6 algae shrimp, 3 leopard angels, and 3 hawaiian platys.
I'm very pleased with the finished effect.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ooooh that looks gorgeous

10/10 for you

 

[LisaLQ]

Loooooooovely - full marks from me too

Love the marble angels

 

[TheGodfather]

That has to be one of the most stunning tanks i have seen... Exactly the kind of effect i am going to try and create with my rio 180... nice fish too!!!

Ollie

 

[GerardK]

Are all the plants real or do you have some silk copies, if so what proportion are they

 

[shaz3271]

you have done a grat job well done

 

[fenwoman]

Are all the plants real or do you have some silk copies, if so what proportion are they

all real. I dislike fake anything. I looked online at plant pictures, descriptions, planned in my mind how I wanted it planted and went spending. I think there are approximately 50 plants or bunches. Some of the specimin plants like the hairgrass, or twisted vallis come as one plant but a lot of the places you see advertising 100 plants are really 20 bunches. One bunch counts as 5 plants.
Hopefully lots of plants will help condition the water, help nervous fish etc. As they settle in and gorw, I can split them for use in other tanks or to swap some. And thickly planted means the fish can nibble some without it looking motheaten.

That has to be one of the most stunning tanks i have seen... Exactly the kind of effect i am going to try and create with my rio 180... nice fish too!!!

Ollie

glad everyone liked it. It works out expensive initially to heavily plant like this but I think it looks well. The fish are almost secondary.
The effect I was after was dense and a good selection of different heights, leaf shapes etc, all swaying gently with the occasional glimpse of a fish as it went in and out of them. Good luck with yours.

 

[Sibelius]

Indeed! It's an amazing piece of art, that tank. I love your colourful planting, and sensible stocking too. Absolutely full marks, no doubt about it. If you want one comment/constructive criticism, whilst I was looking in detail at the photos, my eye was drawn a little too much towards the amazon sword. It is a fantastic specimin, but personally, I'd put it nearer the back, and create a greater sense of depth with a carpetting forground plant in that area.

 

[Themuleous]

Lovely looking tank I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but quite a few of those plants are non-aquatic and will die fairly rapidly (within a month or two). The long grass like one looks to be fountain grass and the front purple/red ones don't look like an aquatic plant Ive ever seen. Do I also see some lead weights still attached to the valls? They'll do much better if you remove this and plant them a few cm apart

As a good general 'rule' if a plant is able to stand upright out of the water, then its non-aquatic, as 90% of aquatic plants use the water for support. The common exception are some of the hydrophila species, but I cant see any in your tank.

On a plus note, the crypts at the fount look nice and should do well

Sam

 

[fenwoman]

Indeed! It's an amazing piece of art, that tank. I love your colourful planting, and sensible stocking too. Absolutely full marks, no doubt about it. If you want one comment/constructive criticism, whilst I was looking in detail at the photos, my eye was drawn a little too much towards the amazon sword. It is a fantastic specimin, but personally, I'd put it nearer the back, and create a greater sense of depth with a carpetting forground plant in that area.

I will still be playing with the planting as I look at it and things annoy me. I intend to get some moss balls and possibly java moss too over the next few weeks.

 

[Mikaila31]

Your tank looks amazing .

I really like the purpleish plant I can't remember what its called. I tried to find one of those once but never did.

 

[TerraDreamer]

Well done, mate! It's gorgeous! You spent a LOT of time on detail.

 

[fenwoman]

Lovely looking tank I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but quite a few of those plants are non-aquatic and will die fairly rapidly (within a month or two). The long grass like one looks to be fountain grass and the front purple/red ones don't look like an aquatic plant Ive ever seen. Do I also see some lead weights still attached to the valls? They'll do much better if you remove this and plant them a few cm apart

As a good general 'rule' if a plant is able to stand upright out of the water, then its non-aquatic, as 90% of aquatic plants use the water for support. The common exception are some of the hydrophila species, but I cant see any in your tank.

On a plus note, the crypts at the fount look nice and should do well

Sam

I do have fountain grass. Could youlet me know which you think are not aqyatic plants please so I can look them up on the net. They were sold to me by a LFS as tropical aquatic plants. I shall take back any which are not and if they refuse to refund me, complain to the trading standards office and sue through the small claims court if they are selling somehting which isn't what it's supposed to be. It really annoys me when rogue sellers do this. I note that most of the online plant selelrs are offering similar plants.
It is blatant mis-selling and dishonesty and unless one is a plant expert or goes along with a book on aquatic plants how is a person to know?
I have looked on greenline, plantsalive and java plants and they all sell hairgrass.So if the so called respectable experts are selling these, what chance does a novice have? I did my research using all 3 sellers.
I have now taken out the ones which are suspect and will pot them up in plant pots tomorrow, all bar the stardust ivy which is so toxic I daren't have it in my home for fear the cats or dogs may chew it. This is a disgrace!

 

[cardinal sinner]

FANTASTIC well done!!

 

[KimA]

Looks fantastic - lot of work obviously gone into it - great job