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Tank has just past it's 8th week since set up. Been a few issues, so unfortunately, much will change here as soon as I get the energy to implement. Here are the issues:-

* hair algae is improving - not completely defeated.

* One oto squeezed into the space between the front edge of divider & tank glass front. To get him out, had to slide divider upwards. Substrate caved in towards centre & divider no longer sits on tank's glass bottom - now sits on the substrate - so divider stuck up above tank's lids.

* 4 days after water change, noticed one female Agassizi not looking good. Closer inspection saw both the male Cacatuoides & male Agassizi dead Seems the heater had been off since water change All but 1 fry dead too. A week later, females are back to normal, but so upset for such a stupid mistake.

* the fine mesh in the divider is a trap for all the debris you find in a planted tank. Keeping it clean is hard work.

* Found the last surviving fry jambed into the same space as the oto - so the divider is now removed.

I think I have 2 choices, both involve emptying the tank to some degree:-
Option 1 Get a more tightly fitting divider, so no room for fish to squeeze through. Then almost empty the tank & using some sort of straight edge to separate the substrate into the 2 tank half's, slide the more tightly fitting divider back into place so it again rests on glass bottom.

Option 2, which I favour, will be to have a more permanent glass divider made to suit. Completely empty the tank, rehousing plants & remaining fish for a week or two. Slide the new glass divider into place, seal in place with aquarium safe silicon & after this has cured, set the tank back up.

I already have 2 filters running on the tank & the C02 is running on a split line, with C02 entering at both ends of the tank. The only other issue is a new heater will be needed, as water will no longer transfer between the two tanks.

Thinking back, I would now only use mesh divider in either a non planted tank, or one with plants like anubia, java fern etc.

Now I just have to find the energy to do it

Cheers
TW

What a mess, I am so sorry. your fish were so beautiful and such a nice set up.

What about leaving the holes open without mesh or are the big enough to allow the parents to swim through? A discus breeder I talked to uses such set ups quite successfully with the fry of both pairs swiming back and forth. On the other hand it is possible that the different species are compulsive about their fry and pick out slightly different looking ones? I don't know.

I sincerely hope that you recover soon from these losses and start setting up your new projects

Claudia

TW,

Sorry to hear about all of the issues and loses! It is never fun when that type of thing happens.

My vote is for option II. I think that making it into two different tanks would make your life much simpler. The only down fall is that it would be less stable than the large tank.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

sorry to hear your having a hard time of it robyn i thought it would be so cool. couldnt you run one filter with the in in one half and out in the other and vice versa with the other with a glass divider? or is that too complicated. i suppose it is unless they are the same filter brand. actually i dont know my brain is pickling just thinking about it. good luck with what you decide to do

Hello Robyn ,Sorry for your losses, don't be too hard on yourself . We all make mistakes
like that from time to time . We are all human .
Sorry your innovation didn't quite work out . Like you I thought it all sounded good in
theory.I would vote for option 1 , only because I'd like to see the tank work as you
designed it . But if its going to be too much trouble then option 2 will be the way to go .

Anyway , which ever way you go I'm sure you will do a great job and have the tank looking great.

Look forward to seeing the results when you decide what your going to do .

Chin Up

Garry

What about leaving the holes open without mesh or are the big enough to allow the parents to swim through?

Hi Claudia. Think my female apistos would get through for sure.

Sorry to hear about all of the issues and loses! It is never fun when that type of thing happens.

Thanks Wings - appreciated.

couldnt you run one filter with the in in one half and out in the other and vice versa with the other with a glass divider?

Well I guess I could, & it would solve the issue of one expensive UV system, but 2 tanks. Sterilised water pumps from one filter into one side, to be drawn out into the other filter & then into the other tank. Just need time & energy to change the hoses around & set up the UV.

Hello Robyn ,Sorry for your losses, don't be too hard on yourself . We all make mistakes

Thanks Garry. Bad luck fish wise continues for this tank. I preordered a pair of dwarf african riverine cichlids. They never even made it to the LFS tanks, they came straight from customs quarantine to me. Male had sunken belly & swollen anus. The female was gasping. Thought male would be first to die, but female died within 1-2 days & the male is hanging in there, but it is a matter of time. Won't eat & just lays close to bottom, not moving much He's in quarantine, but the pair were destined for the empty side of this tank). Tried metro, prazzi, Big L & something else & nothing works. I'm still looking for a male double red aggie for the 2 lonley ladies on the other side - seems there's none in Sydney at the moment.

Anyway, lunch break at work now, so no pics.

Found the reason the baby fish & oto could swim between the divider. When measuring from front to back, the grid was at least 1cm too short, as well as being a little too narrow. Went back to the tank maker, who suggested to fix the problem, I could jam a piece of aquarium hosing in the back grove, to fill in the 1cm gap where it is too short. If not for a planted tank, might have done that - but there's still the issue of all those tiny pieces of plant trimmings & riccia that get caught in the netting covering the grid. So high maitenance to keep clean. Non planted tank - great, planted tank, a nightmare. Anyway, he cut me a piece of 10ml thick glass, only just fractionally shorter than the tank from front to back. He did a direct swap (kept the mesh divider & gave me the glass) which was a nice surprise.

The glass is in place & I'm much happier with how the tank looks, except that I can't get the glass flush on the bottom of the tank, as the gravel all slides down. All my carefully created levels are mucked up & the glass divider sticks up above the tank lids by a couple of cm's. Doesn't really bother me so much. If ever I have the energy to pull the tank down, I'll do something about it. For now, it's fine.

I'll try to share some pics soon.



Cheers
TW

Hi Robyn,

I'm sorry to hear of your fish loss, but best of luck with your new riverines.

Very unique tank I love the left side with that driftwood I've been wanting that ADA Amazonia for awhile makes the red flourite look garish by comparison.


The Amazon Nut...

20.12.07: Week 15

Hi DaMossMan, thanks for kind words.

I'll let the pictures tell the story in this post.

Here's a shot showing how the new glass divider sticks up above the tank. (Refer my last post for reason.)


Front on, full shot. Small white riccia covered rocks are gone. Replaced by lava rock, covered with riccia


Side shot, through both tank halves. Glass almost unnoticeable, especially when comparied to the previous grid / mesh divider.


Left hand Tank Pictures


Left side new resident are a pair of Pelvicachromis taeniatus "Nigerian Red". The P.T.Dehanes never made it out of quarantine, so this pair are the replacements.




Right hand Tank Pictures


The lonely widows of the right side tank




Last shot, whole tank, both halves, angled view


Cheers
TW

I like the new glass divider Robyn. Looks great. The plants are really healthy looking as well. Nice work!

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

tanks are looking great!

the scape is wonderful and the plants are extremely healthy looking!

i hope you the best of luck with the occupants as i know that new fish are always a hassle!

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Hi Robyn:

So glad to see an update on your projects (hint: what about the discus set up? ) I really have to compliment you on this set up and love the plants (a plant list, even a brief one would be greatly appreciated). Particularly envy you the healthy growth of ferns .

Both sides are very tasteful and the red instead of the white stones are a big improvement IMHO. I hope your bad streak fishwise is over and you will sho us some fry soon!

Claudia

TW,

That looks pretty darn good! I hope the glass works better for you.

The plants are also looking really good too. All seems healthy.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Best of luck with your Pelvicachromis taeniatus
Your plants look SOOOOOOOO nice and green !

The Amazon Nut...

Robyn,

Remember me? LOL

Hey, as you are getting more and more into breeding and I am getting less and less into fish at all, our ways are not crossing that often anymore.

I like what you did with the scape, creating a continuous scape through the divided halfs. The best shot, IMHO, is the one labeled "Side shot, through both tank halves." followed by the last shot showing both halfs together. Once the foreground rocks grow over some more it will look like a very nice scape.

Too bad you have to use it for breeding fishies

Just kidding, of course,

Merry X-Mas,

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hi LF, thanks for dropping by.

Too bad you have to use it for breeding fishies

LOL Well, nothing much happens at the moment. It's more of a planted tank, with unco-operative fish in it. The male aggi I transferred from my old 90G, finally decided to get to work on the task with one of his 2 girls after I transferred them to this tank. Then I forgot to turn the heater back on after maintenance (naturally during winter) & the male & the babies died. I have a new male now, as of a couple of weeks - but no action yet. Nothing on the other side either, although plenty of flirting.

Wings & DaMossMan, thanks for popping by. Wings, the glass divider is sooo much better. DaMossMan, my Pelvicachromis taeniatus are so shy, I never saw them - or at least not more than a quick glance. If they happened to be out & about when I walk past, they dived into the greenery, never to be seen. LFS suggested adding another trio of the same fish. Was nervous of turf wars, but it all seems to be working out & at least I can actually see some fish on that side of the tank now.

I'll share some plant pictures soon, once I have a bit of time.

Cheers
TW

Robyn

Just trying to catch up on everyones logs, looks like you have been going through some woes. But im glad you seem to have it under control somewhat for now. As of mine well they are out of control and I think im in for a re-scape of the tanks.

Fish are doing well in the 35 gallon and I just added an algae team to try and clean it up.

Shane

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

Hi Shane, thanks for the visit

Just a few quick & blurry shots of the inhabitants of the left hand side of the divided tank

pt.nigerian red girls hanging out


1 of the males, with one of the females


Last one, one of the males with 2 of hte girls


Cheers
TW

It's been a while, so here'a a fresh picture.



The crypt field in the front is new & needs to fill out quite a bit more. It's a bit lost looking at the moment.

Cheers
TW

TW,

Your slow growers are very nice looking. Very thick! I can't wait for the crypts to grow in.

This tank(s)is very hard for me to look at as they are really two tanks next to each other.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

This tank(s)is very hard for me to look at as they are really two tanks next to each other.

If I could do it all over again, it would be two tanks. Still side by side on the stand - but completely separate. The only reason I did it like this, was so it would be one heater & one filter (less electricity). Now each half has it's own filter & heater anyway, so not much point anymore.

Oh well.

Sorry it's a bit distracting this way. At one stage I had more of a continual theme happening in there, but gradually things changed around.

When I fill up the 7ft tank, I will try to make the two halfs blend together more. At the moment, it has plants destined to removed to the 7ft - so things aren't really as they should be. But I think you are right, that it will always really be two tanks. When I look at, I do tend to look at each half as it's own complete little world.

Cheers
TW

Thought I show some shots that prove I have fish in there too.

Two males in this shot. The male aggie on the right hand side is a little harder to notice, but he's checking out the new crypt field.


Again, not that easy to spot, but the aggie girl is there on the right, & there are fish on the left side too, if you can spot them.


Cheers
TW

the scapes are looking wonderful!!!!

its only a matter of time until those crypts grow in and fill up that void.... i am waiting for some lutea crypts to grow in right now :/ its a slow grow!

how are the breeding attempts going?
how are the fish in the tanks?

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"