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7b.Limnophila indica

Similar to ambulia on right corner but with faster growth: 2 inches per week under mid water level and around 4 inches after mid water mark. Reaching surface in a matter of 2 weeks.

Stems are also thicker on this side of the tank. Root systems are even stronger.

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Limnophila indica Right side

A view of the tops...

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Limnophila indica Close Up

8a.Alternathera reineckii

These plants shouldn't even be in this tank, with the current wpg rating. But they are some of my favorite plants and have their reason to be there. Plus they are not doing terribly bad for the set-up.

Very little apical growth on these beauties, mainly intercellular expansion, so it seems since it doesn't show many new sprouts but seems to get slowly taller with time.

Some of the lower leaves get a little weak and get quickly eaten by one of the many vegetarians in the bunch. The leaves closer to the top show some deformities and bumps growing on them. Probably due to low light conditions. A lot of side shoots in the form of roots come out of the lower region nodules.

Trimming is very rare and have only done so in order to reduce height in some of the specimens in order to fit in the lower foreground. Cut just above the 4th or 5th leaf nodule, preferably with roots forming atop, re-planting the shorter stubbs in the central region.




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Alternathera reineckii Left Side

8b. Alternathera reineckii

One of the latest clippings...

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Alternathera reineckii Central Foreground

And yet another close up from atop...

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Alternathera reineckii Close Up

9a. Vesicularia dubyana

This moss is attached to the V shaped log's left branch, and it grows around the back left side corner. It provides great shelter for the amanos.

Growth on it has been thickening and has extended itself somewhat towards the right hand branch of the log. No noticeable die-offs on deeper regions.

Trimming is done manually, removing threads or bunches of the moss, this should probably be done every other week, but as it is apparent I have not been keeping up with that regime. Excess moss is removed from tank.

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Vesicularia dubyana on V shaped Log

10a. Echinodorus sp.

Broad leaf Sword. This plant entered the aquarium as the largest individuals, they would easily reach 3/4 of the tanks height. The original leaves turned brownish and started dieing off. They rooted well though and are now showing some very slow growth of smaller leaves, until the last 2 weeks when larger, longer leaves are showing up.

Needless to say, no trimming has occurred and some repositioning for them to get better lighting has happened.

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Echinodorus sp. Left Side

10b. Echinodorus sp.

Same as previous post on amazon sword.

The one on this side has been gradually released from it's reddish imprisonment, since the alternatheras have been reduced in number, thus rendering better light to the plant and allowing it to show some nicer growth.

Placement for this plant seems to not be proper.

Would appreciatte a possitive ID on this plant. Also notice the other Echinodorus on the background, behind the spotlight-craving Red Phantom...errr, the fish, not me per say!



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Echinodorus sp. Right Side

11. Cabomba caroliniana

I had about given up with this plant. Had around ten of them that were planted were the ambulia is now. Between the stalks rotting and the plants going loose due to the rineloricarias picking at them, I pretty much had it. So I left them to their fate. As it would have it, two smaller tops have survived the free style, and are now showing some small growth on them in the past two weeks. The clippings are about 1-2 inches long and have sprouted about another inch.

Now they are positioned on the very left corner of the left hand side patch of ambulia. They are doing ok now, but break free ever so often since they have no roots developed.

No picture of it yet, will post one soon.

James,

What a nice job of breaking down the plants in the tank into individual shots and a beautiful drawing of them in the total shot as well

Here is my spin:

Valisneria gigantea - Both groups, if healthy, will eventually grow to big for your tank. Your desctiption of some problems indicate some nutrient imbalance to me, for example, holes are often the sign of a lack of Potassium.

Echinodorus bleheri - Most plants that we add to our tanks have been grown emersed and need to acclimate to the under-water conditions first. Swords often loose their leaves slowly in that process while new leaves (and runners maybe) come out in submersed form. Once that transition is accomplished and the water conditions (ferts and light) are proper, the plant will take off.

Ludwiga repens - Yup, looks like a repens to me as well, albeit I would have expected it to be a little more red, maybe you don't have enough light to achieve this color. It could be a Hygrophylla polysperma that has been grown emersed though as well, not an expert on this plant. It may grow sideways because of current?

Microsorium pteropus - yup, needs to settle first, then will start to grow.

Cryptocoryne sp. - That is a very nice group of Crypts, don't move it too often as it doesn't like that too much (melting).

Anubias barteri - I think you have the var. Coffeefolia in your tank, go google the images for that type.

Limnophila indica AND Cabomba caroliniana - Although both plants are hard to distinguish in photos and grow different depending on the light, I think you only have Cabomba caroliniana. Ambuila is usually a little more bushy on the top. Here is a link to a Cabomba]http://riebesell.net/aquaria/photos/213.jpg[/link], and here is an [link=Ambulia.

Alternathera reineckii - Sweeeeet

Vesicularia dubyana - Yup, that is moss, . How do you trim it again? In the tank?

Echinodorus sp. - Same as with the other sword explanation.

That will do for now,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hello again,

Ok, after some detail on the plants I'd like to give you a little background history of the tank and its components.
The tank is very low-tech and low maintenance. It had some serious set backs: sickness stricken for a couple of months and it had the wrong type of lights. Per Frank's recommendation the light was changed about 2-3 weeks ago.
These delicate periods were harsh on the plants, during medication of the fish population the plants were not receiving ferts or/and enough lights since the light was turned off for periods of time due to photo-sensitive meds. All of the plants for the exception of the Elodeas survived these dark phase.

The bulb issue was also a serious one in the long run: I was running 90 watts of Hagens Aqua-glo fluoros, supposed to be made specifically for freshwater plants and fish. These bulbs K rating was in the 18000's! Yes, thats eighteen thousand Kelvin. Therefore the plants were actually in shock, growth was stopped almost all together and the plants were turning a dull white, I believe from getting burnt by the intense heat of the lamps. Bulbs were changed to current one's and after 15 or so days of using them the change in growth and coloration has been very noticeable and it's starting to get back on track. Thanks Frank!

Ok, here's the bomb! Might wanna sit down for this...Under all that pretty gravel sits a UGF.
Take into consideration that the tank was built from what information and accessories were available in not so sunny Costa Rica some 6 months ago. So even though the conditions may not render the highest results on plants, it is what it is at the moment. Maybe it could be a good study case to compare planted tanks with utmost conditions to planted tanks with UGF's and normal gravel, or mediocre conditions.

In any case, these are some general points that had to be explained.

On to the replies:

Platy boy:

Its all friendly teasing over here, im sure non of us want to make enemies so dont worry about that, we all like to voice our opinions in different ways, some of us use sarcasm, irony or boldness, the main thing being that we are all here to help each other and even if the replies may sound strong it is just the basis of good means of debate. Thanks for your posts!

LITTLE_FISH:

Yes, it is pretty settled down on the tank movements, I get an itchy finger sometimes but after moving around some plants or logs I get it out of my system without much messing around.

A collection indeed, I tend to collect stuff. Tanks seem to be the trend nowadays. lol.

Basically the plant scheme was put together by getting as many plant species as I could get my hands on, since variety is somewhat limited on plants here. Shading is becoming a present issue and I would like to gradually start removing most of the vals, maybe replace them with corkscrew...I do like the flowing effect they provide. The Echinodorus species, specially the broad leaf sword has some issues in placement and will get very large indeed, leaves were around 5 inches when I got it. The barteri is of the larger kind, and its getting larger as we speak, but still consider on keeping it since its such a cool plant, I might be able to get nana or petite variety but not quite sure on availability and cost.

Fast growers maybe, but they dont act like it, apart from the limnophila, giant vals and moss, growth is very slow. The ambulia I try to keep it around mid water level. the vals and moss I should keep them more at bay to allow the little light to pass through uninterrupted.
The natural light source provides good radiation for sure, probably wouldnt pull it off with out it, and it also helps keep a healthy algae population in the tank.
Hagen Geosystems seems great for plants but rocks my tank's ph to 8, my tap water tends to 7.5, so its still high, but yes it would seem that this substrate contains coral and probably some calcarious chalky stone flakes. General hardness on tank is 6.5 and Carbonate hardness is 7. It may be good substrate but again not that fish friendly in my opinion.

On the ferts, yeah that's it, I've been keeping it low tech here and product availability is a limitant. I started using Aquarium Products PLANTABBS]http://www.aquariumguys.com/plantabbs.html[/link], but the N-P-K formula boosted my nitrates sky high when used as recommended, and I think its what triggered my columnaris outbreak, so I interrupted the use of tabs. The other product available is [link=Hagens Nutrafin Plant Gro , I have it but do not use it on the main tank, since it has traces of copper and there are shrimp in there. There is a slight possibility that an LFS may be bringing Seachem products into the country, if they do so I'd be intrested in trying out their products.
For now the plants get all the rest of the goodies from the water changes and Nitrates from fish, been doing so for the last 4 months.

The idea of the red color for the phantom is actually the oppossite of making it stand out, more so to provide it with a habitat that they can blend in and thus bring out the phantomish features of the fish, to help them dissappear and mimetize in the background. That probably goes against all statutes of show tank parameters. The idea of adding the red plants in the background (light-willing of course) could work since the area behind the logs is were they look for cover, we can definately elaborate on this subject and test out the possibilities.
I jumped to the last pages of your 125G log...This was somewhat of a downer for me since I am only on page 99 and was waiting to read the whole book before getting to the end! hahaha. It was worth it though, your tank looks amazing L_F!

I see what you mean about the second stick sticking out (That's a mouthful!) and how it applies to the Hang Out Spot log in my tank. There is room to push it back a little and maybe all the wood could use a little push back as well, to open up more foreground. Also think that with the limnophila growing tall right next to it at midground they could cover up the log and integrate it somewhat into the scape of ambulia forest, without it being invasive of the foreground. I'll move it around to see how it looks.

Thanks for the concerns,

James




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Jungle View from Aside

L_F,

(...)and a beautiful drawing of them in the total shot as well

Thanks for your comments! I guess that gold star back in kindergarden art class finally paid off!

Valisneria gigantea -(...) Your desctiption of some problems indicate some nutrient imbalance to me, for example, holes are often the sign of a lack of Potassium.

They did go for a couple of months without ferts during medication time, also I am constantly removing snails from the tank.

Echinodorus bleheri - Most plants that we add to our tanks have been grown emersed and need to acclimate to the under-water conditions first.

All of the plants I've gotten seem to have come from an inmersed origin. Makes me think that the lack of ferts and or low light conditions is what affected them.

Ludwiga repens - Yup, looks like a repens to me as well, albeit I would have expected it to be a little more red, maybe you don't have enough light to achieve this color. It could be a Hygrophylla polysperma that has been grown emersed though as well, not an expert on this plant. It may grow sideways because of current?

It was a lot redder and yellowish when I got it and has been turning towards the greener colored side. It may be growing sideways due to current since its right in the flow of the power head or it may be growing against the glass as well, good point. I'll have to illustrate deeper on this subject.

Cyptocoryne sp. - That is a very nice group of Crypts, don't move it too often as it doesn't like that too much (melting).

I did notice the melting of the leaves when I first planted them, haven't moved them since for the exception of replanting the odd loose one.

Anubias barteri - I think you have the var. Coffeefolia in your tank

Cool! I was actually wondering about that from the pics I had seen. The nervadures of the leaf do seem to be somewhat deeper than the regular barteri. Thanks for pointing that out!

Limnophila indica AND Cabomba caroliniana - Although both plants are hard to distinguish in photos and grow different depending on the light, I think you only have Cabomba caroliniana.

I have to aggree that it is not Limnophila indica, probably Limnophila sessiliflora]http://atlas.drpez.org/ambulia[/link], since it grows more than two leaves directly from the nodule, unlike [link=cabomba caroliniana that grows only 2 leaves from each nodule. It also shows some yellow to red taint on the tops closer to the surface. Sorry about the links leading to a Spanish site but the pictures in there are very good and self explanatory.
Ill get a pic of the cabomba as soon as it is large enough for the camera to pick it up.

Vesicularia dubyana - Yup, that is moss, . How do you trim it again? In the tank?

The moss is trimmed in the tank by removing, sort of threading out patches of it. I just remove it by hand, grasping some of the looser threads between the fingers and pulling gently until it comes loose. Sometimes its necessary to reposition the grip in order not to pull it off the log or substrate that its attached to. This way you can get very close to the base of the moss and it leaves it looking very natural and uncut.

Thanks again for your perspective, it is turning into a very enjoyful exchange.
James

it is turning into a very enjoyful exchange

I agree, you certainly display the knowledge about the planted tank basics that give you the potential of having a very successful planted tank

On to some details:

- Yup, that light was a little "out of range". I would assume though that the whitish color of the plants is more from the light specturm emitted by the 18,000K than a reaction of the plants themselves. Plants are not changing their color when you look at them with a 6,500K bulb vs a 10,0000K bulb, it is your eyes that interpret the color differently. In any case, the range around 10,000K to 5,000K is more plant friendly and photosynthesis can go into full swing, making the most out of the light provided.

- UGF - Well, not my think, but I think Frank and Keith here are having no problem with it.

- Most plants grow better in a lower ph, this may be part of your problem as well (although you don't really have a problem). If you ever plant on an "Little_Fish Style" makeover of your tank, keep that substrate in mind.

- I agree, in a low tech / low light tank the majority of macros can come from the fish (if there are enough and not too many), namely P and N. But, fish don't make K. You may want to think about supplementing some K, I think Frank knows commercial products not related to the hobby that may be available in your part of the world containing K. Your liquid fert would be micros, and I think your tank could benefit from them as well. I checked the Copper in your product (0.0005) vs the content in Flourish (0.0001), which appears to be a 5th of yours. Did anyone explicitly say you cannot use it because of the shrimp? I use mine rather heavily in my high tech tanks and sporadically in the 20G QT (which since three weeks has shrimp as well) - maybe once every other week, after the water change, a small dosage (a day after adding some macros, also only once every other week).

- Hey, where you put your red plants is of course your choice , so I would say moving them backwards is more a question of priorities, meaning plants or fish as the core function of the tank.

- Thanks for the compliment on the 125G

- Your Ludwiga repens does sound like a Ludwiga repens . There is one more reason why this plant grows sideways, which would be to spread out. I had stems lay down almost flat and then have shoots come out of the nodes to grow straight up. This would require enough light though, and in that light the plant is usually more reddish.

- I looked in my tank last night and got ready to revert my statement of you having var. Coffeefolia. I think, because the leaves are rather green, that you more likely have var. Nana. I saw quite a few in my 125 with the ruffled leaf structure. Nana Petite, btw, are really small and would need a spot way upfront or on hardware to be even visible in your tank.

- Limnophila sessiliflora, that could be, good research on your end

- Hm, pulling the moss off in the tank will leave you with a permanent impression . I still have one or the other strand of moss in my 125, albeit I removed all quite a while ago (maye a year or so). Actually, the mess a moss makes caused me to remove it from all 3 tanks in which I had any.

Enough for now,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks for your words of encouragement, L_F.

The light was definately way out there...normal pattern that seems to appear when going on the basis of more is better... Same applies for the UGF; why get one type of filtration when you can get two?

So on to turning a new leaf and learning from experience.

The bulbs I currently have are Sylvania Octrons in the 6500Ks, I did find some Sylvanias Daylights also 6500K. I wonder which would do better?

The white on the plants could have also been iron deficieny but it was also apparent under the 6500Ks. The look was a sort of faded white on what seemed the inner layer. Not sure what it could have been, but it has worn out over time and plants look better now.

My ph is quite high indeed, my water tends to 7.5 even in an unaltered set up, so I do all I can to keep it down with not much luck on that tank.

Ill keep the change of substrate in mind, Id certainly like it to be filled with goodies. If not ill surely apply it to another more hi-tech setup.

As far as ferts go, I could go more techie but Im just starting to focus back on the plants since priority were the fish during sickness. Not that either one is more valuable than the other since both tend to complement each other and function as a whole.

The flora pride is providing the K and Fe for the moment. The rest comes in the water or fish for now. I could supplement with the Nutrafin Plant Gro product, I´ve been holding back on using it due to having read that copper was not good for the shrimp. Dont know the precise dosage that it would come to harm them. Maybe I could start using the micros in it to complement the nutrients in the water if proven not to harm the invertebrates.

Product availability is also a limitant sometimes. The stores may not import a certain brand or product.

On plant placement Im open to all suggestions. Im basically looking to maximize space usage and to find the best location for the individual plant specimen. In order to improve their health and growth, any feedback is useful.

The Ludwiga repens, does show some strong growth of roots on the stalks that go sideways closer to the bottom. Well have to see how it develops as it grows.

10-4 on the nanas! It is really growing out nicely and its currently unrolling another new leaf.

Ive been careful of keeping the moss under control and the loose ends havent managed to reproduce for too long before going unnoticed. The 50 is a relatively small tank so its easy to maintain.

Thanks for the guidance and looking forward to reading more of your helpful advise. Ill be posting some pics of the tank after doing some maintenance to it. For now here is a pic to help ilustrate the growth rate of the Limnophila.

All the best,

James

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James,

That Sylvania thing seems to be a mess, I hate it when there are two bulbs that should be the same but are not and it is hard to figure out what is the difference. I quickly looked up their web site but didn't come up with much, seems like the Octron]http://www.sylvania.com/BusinessProducts/LightingForBusiness/Products/Lamps/Fluorescent/Octron/[/link] describes a type while the [link=Daylight describes a color spectrum. Arrrr!!!

I have an update on my copper entry further up, I came across the ingredients of TMG, Tropica Master Grow, which has the same amount of copper in it than your Hagens Nutrafin Plant Gro, so it seems to be fine.

Otherwise, I am happy to read that you are focussing on healthy growth at this juncture, always the top priority (I think I have to remember that for myself sometimes).

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hi all...

I've been quite busy the past few weeks so I have neglected the thread. Urg, I wished I could dedicate my life to fish and plants, but not yet!

I promise and update as soon as I am able to.

Thanks again

James

James

Beautiful plants & beautiful photography. I'm not knowledgeable enough to say much and I can see LF is already on the job - so you'll be learning all the right stuff now.

But I just had to say how much I enjoyed your plant pictures.

Cheers
TW

James . Great thread , love the pictures . I am learning from your sensational attention to detail . Well done and lets see more entries.
Garry

Thank you Robyn and Gary for your support,

I enjoy your threads a lot too and I find them very informative and beautiful to look at. Gary your tank is just humoungous and the amount of plants you are putting in there just has me in awe. Robyn I really like the details in your tank and the coloration on your fish I've seen is outstanding.

On a different note: My vals have overcrowded the top surface area and cut the valuable light from the alternatheras, they have been melting and losing their redness a bit. Lower leaves being eaten as their cell walls and chloroplasts decay. Some major maintenance has to be done and most likely the Vals will be reduced quite drastically if not altogether (But you knew they were not gonna last long in there didn't you Little_Fish?). I do like the shade they provide for the fish and the habitat for the marble hatchetfish they create. These plants are way too big for this tank and I'm not willing to jeopardize the rest of the plants.

The fish in the tank currently are undergoing a terrible infestation of sickness with well, just about everything you can think of bacterial, fungal and parasitic. So things are on stand by at the moment.

I'll try to salvage the alters by getting rid of some surface cover but nothing major is gonna happen that may stress the fish.

Thanks for all your support,

James

Tank is still undergoing treatment for various diseases, but in an intend to clean up the area Ive done some restructuring of the tank.

Giant Vals are out and I only kept two small plants of these in a far corner of the tank, they get some light but not that much so it may keep them at bay. The growth of this species was so exponential that in a matter of a week it blocked enough light as to affect the alternatheras and crypts, thus the removal was needed.

A lot of plants were removed or relocated, trying to preserve as much of the root system in order to avoid shock.

The crypts eventually melted away even though during the restructuring they were left untouched and only work was performed around them, perhaps from light blockage but Im more inclined to think they were not getting enough nutrients or were affected by medication. This from the fact that there was a spike in the growth of some other plants in the form of thicker leaves, taller stalks, more side sprouts and they were reaching the surface a lot quicker. Maybe it was the medications employed, Melafix, Pimafix and Metronidazole. The leaves are all gone and only the base of the plants along with some root system subside, Ive left them in place in order to see if they sprout back since they still seem to be living.

Heres a quick glimpse of how things are looking:

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Left side...

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Right side...

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Center...

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A close up of the garden in the middle...

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Some of the leftover alternatheras...

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This plant has gone from having very small greener leaves and laying a low profile to sprouting upwards larger more colorful leaves.

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The swords finally are showing larger nicer leaves...

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The ambulia being the dominating species in the tank...

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And they want to make sure it stays that way by spreading runners...

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And to prove that these plants were really in the tank heres a nice pic of them...I moved them forward so they nourish back to health

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Red , Great to see you back again .
Great shots of the tank and the plants .
Love what you've done to the scape .
Interesting to see your Ludwigia Ovalis is growing and colouring up , mine appears to be doing the same.
I have Ambulia in my 60 and it grows like yours , Its a great plant .
I want to learn how to use it better with other plants .
At the moment every time I put something near it it shades the other plant out .

My understanding is that Melafix & Primafix should not have any effect on your plants .
I've used both in my 60g several times .

Hope the fish are recovering well .

Garry

RP, i love this tank, gives me alot of ideas on what to do with my next tank im planning for. Also Garry, try moving your nanas next to the Ambulia, i have had my nanas in shade and they have grown just fine.

Just an idea. RP keep it goin man.

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

Thanks Garry and fishmonster, its great to be back...sorta, anyway. I've been on the verge of stripping the tank and starting from scratch in an attempt to rid of the diseases in it.

For now, treating the fish in situ and with some results, luckily, if they pull through ok on this last treatment, then I will hold off the dismanteling of it, if they dont show recovery and gain stability the tank will be stripped to the bone and plants will undergo a rigourous quarantine themselves, fish moved to hospital tanks and main tank disinfected.

Thus the reason for the restructuring I did on the 50 gallon, in an attempt to make it as sterile and clean as possible. Removed almost all the shadey giant vals and java moss, leaving only some moss on the left hand back corner growing very thinly on the V shaped vertical log. Also accomodatting some of the plants properly, like the alternatheras, so that they receive more light in order to avoid die offs that would add to the organic waste levels.

Hopefully this will help water circulation to be uniform around the tank, allowing meds to reach every spot and diminishing stagnant areas that may promote disease growth.

Concerning the plants, I've had a great growth sprout on just about everything but the alternatheras, which are now, slowly but surely picking up a bit and seem to like their new location as do the echinodorus that have doubled in size and girth in the last two weeks.

The anubia growing amidst the ambulia has also done nicely and I had to cut a secondary side growth wich I lodged in the vortex of the V shaped log on the left side of the tank. As fishmonster mentioned, this anubia grows well alongside the ambulia, it seems to thrive when competing for light. Other plants I've tried like cabomba never do seem to take off around ambulia, it gets overpowered.

I have swords right aside and below the ambulia which in turn are doing ok on the leaves but the stalk seems to remain short.

The ambulia on the other hand, I've ran out of places where to plant this and trimmings will soon have to go outside of the tank into quarantine to be used elsewhere.

The ludwiga is the one that has surprised me on the turn around, leaves larger, rounder, pinkish color underneath with a yellowish green atop, very waxy feel and look to them as well.

The java fern whereas has not picked up and even though it has rooted solidly to the log and has spread new leaves, these appear to be somewhat transluscent, not its fullest green. Larger leaves on the fern seem to be sprouting new leaves at the tip as means of spreading I suppose. It may be that it is using up too much energy on spreading itself since the main leaves start to turn black as seemingly dieing out.

Ferting schedule has been non-existant since I havent added any fertilizers in the past month or so.

I'm glad you guys liked the tank, I tried implementing suggestions posted on the thread as moving the wood further back and trying to blend it in with the scape. Reducing the amount of red plants somewhat, etc... All great advice that has made the tank what it is today. Still a lot of work to do but its always a work in progress with plants and fish.

Thanks again for your comments and positive vibrations,

James

Red , whats happening , I heard in Chat you were on Hols. Are you back yet ? Time for an update ......


Garry

Hi Garry,

Back from vacation as of yesterday. Spent some time tending to my tanks and doing this, that and the other thing around the house.

The fish are ok in the most part, I lost a rineloricaria from my clean up crew, but otherwise fish are standing and will be undergoing further treatment.

Plants are doing quite well, lots of growth and nice coloration, although I have kept the plants trimmed quite low in order to promote good circulation for meds and UV filter to reach most corners of them.

Ill try to get some pics.

Have a good one,

James

James , hope you had a great Holiday

Glad to here the tanks are ok . Hope your problems with disease abate soon .
Love to see some shots of the tank and residents .

Garry

Waiting for the new pics red.

I've been watching the progression of your tank. What an adventure you're having with it! But your plants sure are looking great. I'm anxious to see the end result of it all, plus the end of your disease. I wish you much luck with that!

As promised here are the most recent pics of the tank and some of its inhabitants.

First off it seems that the war against disease is being won over. It is not over but many battles have been won and some lost.

A moment of silence for one of my rineloricarias who died emaciated about two or three weeks ago. He was receiving some grief from the other riney and the harrassement had calmed down, or at least I thought it had.

Two possibilities explain his decease: Territorialism and food availability. The first would be explained as the surviving riney not allowing the other to feed, seems now that they were both males and the stronger one prevailed. This is supported by the fact that the standing riney had a growth and girth sprout once it was alone, developing a fuller and longer body and development of male type odontodes on its back.

The second possibility is supported by the opinion of Longhairedgit, who mentioned that the UV filter that I've been running for the last 2 months or so may have depleted the microfauna they feed on, driving the riney to starvation or malnourishment. Would seem logical since they had lived together for quite long and now that the UV is in place there were consequences.

It could also be a combination of the two, or perhaps more factors were involved since things are almost never that black and white.

On the other hand the rest of the fish seem to be doing much better, still have some infection on some of their eyes but even the cardinal tetra that was really looking bad is still around swimming lively.

On with the struggle to pull them through, slowly but surely.

Concerning the plants and the tank itself. I left the plants go wild a bit and the end result was an overgrown jungle, it was beautiful and the fish were loving all the vegetative cover. It triggered their courting behaviour and some were even spawning like the marble hatchets or carrying eggs, like the amano shrimp.

So I took out my prunning scissors and went at it, mostly trimmed of the ambulia that had taken over the tank for the most part and did off with some dead or decaying leaves on the anubias, java fern and/or swords.

I took out 125 clippings of ambulia, average one foot in length from the tank. 45 clippings from the left side and 80 from the right side of the tank. Yes you read that right! Thats 125 foot long stems of ambulia from a 50 gallon tank...

My Java Fern has not picked up since I planted it, its older leaves turned a dark brown and sprout what seems to be newer plants attached to the tip of the leaf. There is some growth on new leaves but they loose color and turn translucid. Iron defficiency perhaps?

The swords and echinodorus are still not thriving, they have been somewhat shadowed by the ambulia.

On with the pictures so you can all see what Im blabbering about:



Attached Image:

The BEFORE Picture

I trimmed most of the ambulia down and left the middle ludwiga sp. standing tall in order to leave some cover for the fish.

It sort of looks like a slash and burn technique was used on a patch of forest.

Attached Image:

The AFTER Picture

very nice Red, you certainly did give a haircut!

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I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
~ Mae West