The Impossible Dream

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Weren't you breeding Pseudomugil furcatus?

Something to wet your appetite. The following link has all the known rainbowfishes from Australia and New Guinea.

Melanotaeniidae and Pseudomugilidae

A website dedicated to Rainbowfishes of Australia and New Guinea

rainbowfish.angfaqld.org.au

Nope, not me! Never kept them
You might be thinking of @vanalisa ? She had some blue eyes I think? Definitely some pseudo of some kind.

Will check out the link, thank you, and add yet more fish I want to keep and want to set up a tank for to my already long list

 

[Rocky998]

Nope, not me! Never kept them
You might be thinking of @vanalisa ? She had some blue eyes I think? Definitely some pseudo of some kind.

Will check out the link, thank you, and add yet more fish I want to keep and want to set up a tank for to my already long list

I've actually been worried about her... She disappeared a while back... Haven't seen her active.

 

[Colin_T]

Nope, not me! Never kept them
You might be thinking of @vanalisa ? She had some blue eyes I think? Definitely some pseudo of some kind.

Yes, @vanalisa it is. Pseudomugil furcatus that were breeding. Hopefully she kept them going.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I've actually been worried about her... She disappeared a while back... Haven't seen her active.

Try not to worry, it's the nature of forums! I vanish for months at a time too, not always because something is wrong, just adult life getting in the way and taking up free time. Then people wander back when things calm down or something changes in their hobby. Like @seangee hadn't been active much, but popped in recently to say he's just enjoying being able to be outside again after covid restrictions! Lots of people rightfully living real life and being busy, and they don't have to let us know about all their movements, lol

 

[Rocky998]

Try not to worry, it's the nature of forums! I vanish for months at a time too, not always because something is wrong, just adult life getting in the way and taking up free time. Then people wander back when things calm down or something changes in their hobby. Like @seangee hadn't been active much, but popped in recently to say he's just enjoying being able to be outside again after covid restrictions! Lots of people rightfully living real life and being busy, and they don't have to let us know about all their movements, lol

I know... But it can be scary at times wondering what COULD have happened... especially in today's world

 

[Wills]

*blows off the dust* Having started this thread on the 9th of September last year. I actually have some physical plans for the tank. Which is pretty exciting I have to say!

Lets start with what I've bought so far, as I think its pretty interesting even though its quite minor in the grand scheme. I've got some wood! The biggest branch in the photo is about 5 foot long, its hard to get scale I suppose.

Got it from someone near me from Facebook Marketplace, it is scavenged but it is oak, you can tell its hardwood as you cant press your nail in and its well aged to put it mildly. Really great guy I got it from, found it in a wood when he was metal detecting and was able to bring it home, was in a 7 foot tank with a Mbu puffer for 4 years so feeling confident about it. Absolute bargain with all in the picture for £30... if I had to guess if that was from a store £300? £400?

Now onto the plan for the tank, its going to be an Evolution Aqua 1200 as they are the most commonly available and a few options in my budget second hand at the moment. I went to see one last night which is only in the next village, its a freshwater tank but the model was the marine EA with a sump which put me off a bit but the guy explained it well so I felt I could figure it out. But they come in metal framed and wood framed and only the metal frame has adjustable feet and with my wonky floor thats what I want and this one turned out to be wood. There is one other one that I potentially can go and get over the bank holiday (next weekend) but waiting to hear back on that, its the Aquascaper one so rimless, open top and this one comes with a Fluval FX4 which is not my preferred choice but a perfect fit for the tank IMO.

If neither of these come off I will go for a slightly smaller tank from the range @wasmewasntit has been recommending but I want to try the used route first as with the filter and a few other bits of kit there are some better priced used options overall.

Still tweaking my plans in my head for the fish, Nicaraguan Cichlids are definitely the focus of the tank. I'm fairly certain the Salvini is a bad idea so I don't want to risk that, jury is slightly out on the EBJD. They are still genetically weak so only typically live 3 years but is that ok? Just do my best to raise them to that target? Failing that I may get a group of female Nicaraguans, I've found some evidence females are somewhat gregarious, forming 'creches' in the wild and raising their fry in trios or more.

Again jury is out on Rainbowfish after our recent chats about them and TB... The Synodntis are high on the list still, hoping if I have a bit of a hunt I can find some Polli sp.White which are really nice but I've seen some Lucipinnis recently that were really nice too. Not sure on the Panchax as some of the tank will be open topped to allow for riparian plants but maybe down the line when everything has grown it it will be ok - I'll be getting a mesh lid initially for this but may change to glass in the future.

Wills

 

[Wills]

I'm arranged to go pick it up next Monday morning! It's an Evolution Aqua Aquascaper 1200 with a Fluval FX4 - giving about 8x turn over which is great. Its got an Aquael Leddy light which looks good, though I do have a 3 foot Fluval Aquasky from my old tank which might be a better option as its adjustable.

So whats on my shopping list now

- Substrate - I want WIO Heaven sand, its a really nice colour and fine but mixed grades so looks really natural. Its not too pale and its not too yellow, its kind of a light grey colour. It is a bit pricey at £20 per 5kg bag, I'm guessing I'll need 20-25kg so that will add up. But maybe thats ok as I don't want to have to upgrade it later on and I think it will bug me if I don't do that up front. Will probably do some bags of aqua soil underneath too as thats working well in my 8 gallon.

- Hardscape - I've got more wood than I'll need above but I do want to have some rocks in there. Not sure which way I want to go, still interested in Lava Rock to go with the volcanic crater lake like Lake Nicaragua. But also considering 'Wild Rhino Stone' as it has that sort of metamorphic rock look and is smoother than lava rock but you can't get it that big which is what I want - think they are about the same price though.

- Plants - needs to be strategically placed otherwise they will get dug out but it is possible. Anubias, Java Fern and Buce are high on the list and I'd like some moss in there too, Central American lakes have quite a thick coating of I imagine a hair algae so I think moss could be an option.

- Filter media - The fluval sponges are pretty course and I always used to get air bubbles in my old tank from FX6 and I've read finer sponges will help with that. I've seen some pond sponge sheets that will work nice so can use that and go for a media in the inner baskets. I used to use the plastic bio balls but I might change to a pumice style media like Matrix or Biohome. Depends on cost here.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Sounds great, Wills! Can't wait to watch this develop.

 

[Fishmanic]

A future tank of the month winner? Time will tell. You’re off to a good start.

 

[Wills]

Thanks guys I’m really hoping to make this a collection of all my aquatic knowledge doing everything I can to do my best.

Just starting to build myself a profile of Nicaraguan cichlids as they are pretty incredible animals and lots of info spread around.

The bit about creching in this article on fish base is really interesting and is leading me to think that a small group of females could be the way forward for this tank rather than mixing species? Would be interested in others take on this info and how to interpret it.

Hypsophrys nicaraguensis summary page

www.fishbase.in

 

[Wills]

It would be remiss to not mark the occasion of the tank arriving in here

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Wow, that's going to look amazing! Nothing quite like a new build to get the endorphins flowing!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

It would be remiss to not mark the occasion of the tank arriving in here

View attachment 165851

I LOVE the way the wood looks so perfect in there! The shapes so it looks like they've been swept together by the current - perfect! You got such a bargain getting those for £30!

I reckon you should go for the three Nicu girls. You clearly want to... and I trust your research skills! You want to see if it can work out with them like you've found it can in the wild, and if anyone has the experience to try it, monitor them, and step in if it doesn't work out, it's you! Especially since finding out the problems with rainbow fish (is it rainbow fish, or rainbowfish? I never know which to write), it just makes sense to go for it and try the trio. Imagine how gorgeous they'd look swimming around that wood piece!!

 

[Wills]

I LOVE the way the wood looks so perfect in there! The shapes so it looks like they've been swept together by the current - perfect! You got such a bargain getting those for £30!

I reckon you should go for the three Nicu girls. You clearly want to... and I trust your research skills! You want to see if it can work out with them like you've found it can in the wild, and if anyone has the experience to try it, monitor them, and step in if it doesn't work out, it's you! Especially since finding out the problems with rainbow fish (is it rainbow fish, or rainbowfish? I never know which to write), it just makes sense to go for it and try the trio. Imagine how gorgeous they'd look swimming around that wood piece!!

I'm not 100% on it just yet it is literally thrown in right now lol. But it could look something like this I think, I am wondering about flipping it though so the curve comes up? I'd quite like to try and get a bit of perspective with the wood somehow but I don't think thats what this tank is - its more a nature style than a diorama.

The scape idea with the big branches is inspired a bit by this article - https://www.tfhmagazine.com/article...lid-diversity-of-a-volcanic-nicaraguan-island

In particular this bit

The river’s substrate was now completely fine, and before the water depth grew no higher than my ankles I found a young female Hypsophrys nicaraguensis seeking camouflage amongst a congregation of fallen branches and coconut husks.

I do love that article its written so well, so visual, and paints such a good picture of the habitats. Would love it as a sleep story lol but that is probably just me. I do really want to add some biotope correct botanicals like the coconut husks mentioned and I'd love some palm fronds in here too. I'm trying to decide if I want a black or frosted background at the moment, I was assuming black but the way the branches cover it and with some planting and palm leaves could give a nice effect.

Definitely set on the three females, especially to start with. I'm even tempted to start with more and thin down as I need to? I've no real direction on other tank mates just yet. I showed my wife the Kohaku Swords the other day and she hated them - said they just looked like goldfish... still on the fence about Rainbows (not sure on the spelling so lets just say Rainbows haha) due to the TB issue. The Synos are still possible but they are usually about £25 each and I want a decent group so need to wait a while for them. Also considering some Spotted Doras as they have a huge hardness range and geographical span - though not into Central America. Wondering about possibly some Barbs? I've seen some line bred Rosy Barbs that are stunning and I also really like Albino Cherry Barbs but they might be too small with the Nics but they do get quite big. I kept my last Nic with Lemon Tetras and she was never predatory with anything else so maybe?

Interesting to see where we go but Nics are def the starting point.

Wills

 

[Wills]

So, tanks in a few days and the list of things to do in my head is getting large so want to write it down and this feels like the best place

- Take stand trim apart and cut side panels to fit around skirting board.

- Paint around the tank - negotiated with the management the room is staying essentially the same colour and all I need to do is touch up the woodwork. So I can do it around the tank for now and get it in place and do the rest of the room.

- Clean the tank down, the last owner did a great job getting everything ready but I do need to just give the glass a scrape and scrub the corners with a toothbrush as there is a build up there. Still a little bit of sand in the tank but it is dry so I might vacuum that out to avoid scratching the glass.

- The filter needs new media it needs the sponges and the bio media. I'm going to follow pond gurus guide, at least in part

The Fluval sponges are quite expensive so I like the idea of the pond sponges as I've found an £8 pack, it needs cutting up but will work well. The inner media I'm not sure on, I've got Seachem Matrix in my other filters not sure how much I'd need but in an FX4 its going to need a bit so might go for a cheaper media maybe Alfagrog or just Bioballs or Ceramic Rings? I've read it holds 3.9 litres so one of these https://www.pro-shrimp.co.uk/seache...KC3P8aOSffhvQYqI4V-PB5XfvjoDQ-HBoCWdQQAvD_BwE would do it, I don't think £42 is bad though.

- I might get new pipes for the filter too, don't know how clean the old ones are, I don't love the FX pipes either. Why are they ribbed? Feel it just gathers dirt in the ribs and always thought it must do something to the flow? The outlet and inlet have some pretty stubborn black brush algae on them I think I can scrub them off but if they don't come up well I'll replace them too, I've seen a new spray bar attachment for the FX range and that might be a good choice in here.

- I need to work out my light - its an Aquael Leddy Slim 100, it does fit the tank well but I don't think its adjustable I think its 36 watts so I need to think about it as thats a lot but it is a 18 inch deep tank so maybe? What do you guys think? I have an old 3 foot Fluval Aquasky that is adjustable and I slightly prefer the design of the unit so I could try that too? Long term I'd like a Twinstar B Series but thats a birthday or xmas present.

- Small job, I need to cut the perspex lid a bit as the holes are for the pipes to go in from the side but I want them from the back. Should be simple, but not cut acrylic before so risk it goes wrong...

I reckon then I'm onto the scape and stuff which is pretty easy. The Hugo Kamishi sand I want does not need washing I will also do some soil bags to get some plants going. All going to be easy but need to plan it, I definitely want some moss on the wood, probably Taiwan Moss.

Anyway I've rambled enough here - list isnt as bad as I thought. Should get the stand stuff done this weekend. Could get the filter stuff done too. Which would mean I could potentially do first fix on the scape next weekend? Seed the filter with some media and let the soil leach and start the bacteria developing. If that works maybe get the first fish in 3-4 weeks?

Not sure what the first fish in will be, dont think I want it to be the Nics but yeah exciting to find out

Wills