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well, i'm pretty happy to say that i finally have my 6 foot south american tank looking the way i want! i've been waiting for several things, like misplaced fish to kick the bucket, swapping out the breeding angels who constantly terrorised a half of the tank, and the purchase of a male sturisoma panamense to keep the girls company!

the plants are all looking great, the tiger lotus is shooting surface leaves and the amazon swords have pupped.

the stocking:

sturisoma panamense (royal whiptail) x 1m, 4f
apistogramma agassizi x 1m, 3f
german rams x 1m, 1f
beckford's pencils x 15
rummynose tetras x 20
cardinal tetras x 25
diamond tetras x 8
ember tetras x 12

here's the link to the new pictures.

http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/jase101/may%202008/

justin

I just took a look at those pics. Nice.

By the way, is that a cat sleeping on top of the tank in the whole tank shot?


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

indeed it is, cali, khensu my black oriental. will stalk a stick, ball of paper or piece of wool for hours, yet has never even looked into the fishtanks! he thinks he's a dog, anyway.

jase101.... Nice ... I like the use of the Swords and the background is a stunner . Just got a Tiger Lily myself so I'm a bit interested in how much work you had to do to keep the leaves off the surface?

Love to see some more detail photos of your plantings ...well done


Garry

That tank looks so nice. It looks like it would be a joy to maintain as well. I really like the swords - nice clean set up.

Is that a new tank?

Cheers
TW

countryfish, i actually want the lotus to send surface leaves - they are gorgeous, provide beautiful cover, and if you spend time sitting on the floor in front of the tank looking up, as i do, they are a lovely feature. tigers take a long time to settle, then send up their crown leaves, then surface leaves. as soon as you see one heading for the surface (they unfurl only as they hit the surface, as opposed to the crown leaves which unfurl underwater) just cut the first one at the base. the plant will probably only try one more if at all, and then resume making crown leaves. heavy root feeding is a must.

hi robyn, no, this is the same tank - but it's taken a long while to get it 'here'. it is a pleasure to maintain, yes - minimal effort, maximum impact!!

thanks for dropping in

wow this tank is absolutly beautiful! well done! what kind of lighting do you run and do you use fertilisers much? i have a similiar set up- only not as spectacular! i am planning a re shuffle as havent really changed much in a year and i have recently cleared (or trimmed) alot of plants due to an algae out break and am thinking now would be a great time to re scape a little. i love the big swords at either end. infact i love the whole thing./:'

And what type filter do you use?
The tank is so clear(I'm envious)....and how often do you...do what to maintain it, please?

hi fandan and daddyseal, thanks for dropping in - glad you like the tank, it brings me hours of joy!

you'll probably hate me for saying so, but i do very little to this tank. i work on principles from nature and a little common sense to keep it looking good:

plenty of plant life, which i fertilise once a week with liquid ferts (off-the-shelf variety, nothing special) and tablets for root-feeding - the lotus and swords really benefit from it.

lighting is two standard bulbs, on about 11 hours a day.

filtration is an eheim cannister filter which i clean every 6 - 8 months.

fish life is dense but little - i keep lots of small fish, in big schools. i like the aesthetics of it, and the schooling fish obviously benefit from it. the rulers are the sturisoma panamense, who are also responsible for keeping algae growth to a minimum - in fact, i feed them vegetables daily as the tank doesn't grow enough to sustain them.

water changes are 100 litres (30%) once a week. i extract the water via a python, and i do alternate halves of the gravel. i replace it with cold water from the tap, treated with prime, pumped in with a pond pump. i don't heat the replacement water because nature doesn't. it stimulates breeding behaviour in almost every species i own, and only drops the overall temp of the tank by about 2 - 3 degrees. if the fish don't like the cooler water at the lower levels, they can swim in the upper levels where the temp is maintained. my favourite viewing time is post-water change.

i feed frozen, flake or live food daily, with fasting days.

the only other thing i do to keep this tank in tip-top shape is be ruthless with disease and old age - as soon as i see a fish looking off-colour, i euthanase it. (but i have a rule that if i can't net the fish in two minutes or so, it's healthy enough to live another day - i'm a very slow and patient fisherman!)this is because in nature the sick one would be picked off by a predator immediately. i probably dispose of one fish every three months or so, but it keeps the 'survival of the fittest' standard pretty high!

but my biggest key, i suppose, is love - i shower it with my time and good energy. help it live. observe it daily, meditate in front of it. like all living things, it will respond in kind.

Hi Justin, what sort of swords do you have in there & how long have you had them?

Cheers
TW

hi robyn, i've had most of the swords for 5 years plus. i bought lots of small plants when i got the tank, some turned out to be medium sized, some stayed small, and i bought the big fellas (which i believe are echinodorus bleheri) at about half the size they are now, about 3 years ago.

Jase, are you sure you're not living in Hong Kong or Singapore? Ive always admired that styling of setup. Seems like a perfect stocklist, too.
Royal whiptails, nice apistos...when do the l046 plecs come into the picture?

hahaha - mez, here in oz the L species are outrageously expensive and rarely available. i love my royals too much, anyway, and the next step is breeding them, now that i finally have a male!

Watching pictures like this makes me feel ashamed. I try my best but i never get it to look that clean and good. I guess its a time issue also. I cant spend time with it every day. Maybe 1 hour a week at max. Well ill keep fighting to get it to look like yours