I just wanted to share a couple photos of the new inhabitants in my 75G aquarium. After finding a good home for my Blue Spotted Sunfish, I decided that I would like to keep Angelfish again. This time, rather than just getting the various commercially bred color variations, I wanted to get ones with the wild coloration. I feel the natural coloration with the vertical black bars are the most elegant looking Angelfish of all. I was fortunate to have another GWAPA member turn me onto a breeder.

The breeder imports and breeds wild Peruvian angelfish to keep the gene pool healthy for their other various color variations. They also sell of some of the offspring from their live imports. Finding this out, I bought 7 first generation (F1) domestically bred wild angelfish. The breeder sent 8 fish, and they all looked fantastic, even in the bag.

At first in the tank, the fish hid every time I came into the room, but after a week of feeding them, they have really warmed up to me, and are starting to follow me up and down the tank when I’m working in my fish room. Right now, the Angelfish are the only mid-level swimming fish that I have in this aquarium. I still have my Nannacara, red-lizard catfish, and L279 bristlenosed plecos, so the bottom level is covered. I’m having a hard time settling on a small schooling fish to act as attractive dithers for the Angelfish. Suggestions welcome!

I wanted to post a small update on my 75G since my latest post. In that post I talked about how my original intent was to make three separate mounds with pathways between them. I still have that, but the more I looked at the tank, the more I felt that the right side wasn’t strong enough. So, I pulled out the remaining pieces of African bogwood that I had, and started toying around.

75G: Click for Larger Image

What I ended up with was an arch connecting the two mounds on the right. The mounds themselves haven’t changed, but the archway adds more height, making the right side the dominant side of the aquascape. The arch also mirrors a smaller arch on the left side. The only downside is that this essentially turned the scape into a two mound aquascape again, which is what I was originally trying to avoid. That said, I think it’s unique enough to let it grow in for awhile. Also, the  Glosso is starting to spread rapidly, and the Cryptocoryne and Trident Java Fern are slowly starting to recover from being moved around and hydrogen peroxide sprayed for algae. Comments welcome!

Happy New Year! –  I hope everyone had a nice holiday! I’ve been mostly offline for the last two weeks painting about 90% of my house. We’ve lived in our house for 8 years and had done a fair number of home improvement projects during that time, but somehow, painting wasn’t one of them. As you can imagine, aquariums can make home improvement projects such as these quite difficult, as a full aquarium is not very amenable to moving so that you can paint behind it. Therefore, a couple days before Christmas, I moved my 75G from our family room into my fish-room where all of my other tank are now congregated. This was the perfect time to do a quick new aquascape.

75G - Scaped 12/20/2009 - Click for Larger Image

I decided to try and make this aquascape fairly low maintenance, so besides the Staurogyne sp. ‘Porto Vehlo’ and Glossostigma elatinoides used in the foreground, I didn’t use any stem plants. The past couple of aquascapes I’ve done seem to consist of two mounds on either side of the aquarium, one larger than the other, with a pathway down the middle. I decided to try something a bit differently this time making three mounds, several pathways, and a fairly low profile so that the pathways could continue directly from the front to the back of the tank uninhibited. I reused most of the hardscape and plants that were previously in the 75G, and unfortunately, many of those had hair algae. Being distracted by my painting task, I pretty much neglected to dose for the last two weeks. Plus, I used some extra used Aquasoil I had in a bucket to make more of a slope in the mounds, which added a lot of silt to the substrate, creating cloudy water anytime one of the fish was spooked. So, I’m now faced with the difficult task of eliminating algae in a planted tank with slow growing and newly planted plants which likely won’t be able to outcompete it for the next little while. I’m hopeful that frequent water changes, Seachem Excel and H202 spot treatments, and cranked CO2 will hold the algae at bay and get the Glosso and S. ‘Porto Vehlo‘ going to outgrow the algae. Right now the Cryptocoryne and Trident Java Fern are looking a little sad from the transplanting, but hopefully they’ll fill in and create a nice lush aquascape. Comments/critiques welcome!

I went to feed the fish in my 75G this evening, and to my delight, one of my three Nannacara anomala females (I have a male and 3 females) were guarding a swarm of fry in the front right of the tank. Fortunately, this is the perfect place to take pictures, despite the dirty glass.

I’m wondering if the other females are also holding fry because the male was staying in another territory with another female, and wouldn’t come out in the open for a picture. Two of the three females are in breeding coloration, which is a predominantly black body with yellow highlights. Their normal coloration is mostly a drab yellow.

The fry were grazing on tiny micro-particles in the beard algae. (Yes I have a little bit of beard algae.) I dissolved a small amount of frozen brine shrimp, which floated down toward them. Being frozen, there were plenty of other smaller particles that the fry were able to fit in their tiny mouths. The female (and other fish) took care of the larger brine shrimp.

These Nannacara anomala are incredibly entertaining fish to watch. The females all have their territories, and the male glides back and forth between them without any commotion. If a female strays too far from her territory, a bordering female makes sure to chase her away, flaring fins and nipping. Fortunately, there’s plenty of room in the 75G for them to occupy without any major damage. Now, I need to focus on rising up these fry!

It’s been about a month and a half since I rescape my 75G aquarium. As you can see, the plants are all grown in pretty well across the board. The Glossostigma elatinoides in the foreground has reached critical mass, and has carpeted 95% of the area in front. It won’t be long before it has fully filled out. The background plants are all growing very nicely, as well, but I still need to yank some of the some between the two mounds to make them more distinct. (Sometimes, I have a problem holding onto plants I like, even though they’re cluttering an aquascape.)

75G - Click for larger image

I could probably stand to add a few more fish to this aquarium that would occupy the upper regions of the water. I have catfish and cichlids in there, which occupy the lower regions, but only a few remaining rainbowfish swim freely up above. The easy solution would be to add all of the zebra danios which have been breeding outside in my pond now that the weather is getting a bit cooler. We’ll see if that happens or not, as I don’t want them picking off any Nannacara anomala fry should the parents breed. Comments/critiques welcome!

Last week, I finally got around to clearing out the jungle that had formed in my 75G, and completely rescaped it. Previously, the aquascape was dominated by a ton of Narrow Leaf Java Fern, but this scape doesn’t contain any fern, except for some Trident Java Fern topping off the two mounds of driftwood.

75G: 2 Days After Setup

I had a couple of goals in mind for this new scape. For one, with my farm tank overflowing with plants, I wanted to use a few more stem plants in this scape than I did in the previous one. Hence, ferns are out, and stems are in. Additionally, since I’ve had some plecos breeding in the hollowed out driftwood, I wanted to continue to use the same African bogwood as I had in here previously, but I also wanted some more open space for a foreground. Those were the goals.

75G: Hardscape Finished

Toying around with a couple of different layouts, I ultimately settled on the two mound approach, with one larger mound on the left, complemented by a smaller mound on the right, with open space in between. Yes, I know it’s been done a million times. So, I stacked up a bunch of pieces of the bogwood, trying to making them look like they fell on top of, or in the nook and crannies between, a base of rock.

75G: Foundation Plants Planted

After finishing the hardscape, I planted what I feel are foundation plants. These are the plants that are actually kind of part of hardscape itself. Plants like Cryptocoryne, Anubias, Java Fern, etc. After getting those in place, you can really start to see what other areas need to be filled in. I added an inch or two of water, and finished planting the foreground and stem plants. The foreground is Glossostigma elatinoides, and in the back I have Hygrophila sp. ‘Guinea,’ Ludwigia repens x arcuata, Ludwigia arcuata, Elatine americana, Clinopodium brownei, Hottonia palustris, Limnophila aromatica, and Limnophila sp. ‘Wavy’. Of course, you can’t see most of them now.

75G: Other Plants Planted, Filling Up Tank

After filling up the tank, this is what I had. I removed a ton of Malaysian Trumpet Snails so they wouldn’t uproot the foreground, and hundreds of cherry shrimp came out of the substrate to begin exploring their new home. It’s very difficult to catch all of the shrimp when doing a rescape, but fortunately, most survived the ordeal.

75G: Right After Scaping

So now, it’s just a matter of letting it grow in a little bit. I already see a few things I’ll probably end up tweaking. I probably ought to pull out some of the background plants between the two mounds to keep them more seperate, and have the Glosso extend all the way to the back. Additionally, the Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia behind the right mound should probably be moved to the right a little bit. I may adjust some of the hardscape on the left side, but at this point, I kind of want to see how it evolves on its’ own, and go from there. Comments and critiques welcome!

I was sitting and enjoying my 75G aquarium this week, when I noticed a tiny little pleco sitting on one of my Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia leaves. Back when I converted my 54G aquarium to a native-themed aquarium, I moved all of the Ancistrus sp. ‘L279′ plecos from there into my 75G, where I already had a few. I had been hoping that they would breed for a couple years, but I guess the new mix of fish finally produced what I was after.

After spotting the one, I looked extra closely throughout the tank, and found at least 3 seperate individuals. They must have been in there for a little while because they’re all about the size of an Otocinclus right now, and actually look quite similar to one since their bristles haven’t yet started to grow on their faces. I hope all of these fry will grow up and start a little colony, as the L279 plecos are fairly hard to come by.

It’s really these little discoveries that make the aquarium hobby worthwhile for me. I spend so much time planted, trimming, feeding the fish, cleaning the tank, etc, that every once in awhile it is nice to find something come about that I wasn’t expecting.

My 75G aquascape is now roughly two and a half months old and is doing great! The Glossostigma elatinoides is starting to spread across the foreground, albeit, slower than usual since it’s fairly shaded there. The Staurogyne sp. (Hygrophila sp. ‘Low Grow’) needs a trim in the front left foreground, as does the Ludwigia repens x arculata in the left-middle background, but otherwise, this is quickly becoming one of my favorite tanks to just sit and look at.

I’ve trimmed back the Hygrophila sp. ‘Guinea’ (feathery green on left below), and am hoping that it reacts well to the trimming, as I love this plant. I think the red of the Ludwigia arculata is a great contrast to the H. sp. ‘Guinea’ as well.

I’ve added a few more Ancistrus sp. ‘L279′ to this tank that I previously had in my 54G aquarium before I changed that to a native aquarium. From that same tank, I also added the remaining Goo Obo Gudgeon that I have. I’d love to obtain more of that particular fish so that I could try to breed them.

Overall, I’m really pleased with this aquarium. Once the glosso finishes covering the substrate, and with a few trims, I’m looking forward to trying to get some better photographs of it. Comments/critiques welcome!

I last posted about the 75G aquarium about a month ago, when it was only setup for 2 weeks. I hadn’t yet decided which foreground plant I was going to go with. After a fair amount of indecisiveness, I was at my local fish store last week, and impulsively bought a pot of Glossostigma elatinoides.

This certainly is not a maverick pick, but it’s been awhile since I actually did a tank with good ‘ol glosso, so I thought it would do well. You may notice that in addition to the foreground, I’ve also begrudgingly removed all of the Blyxa japonica from this aquascape. Where I had it previously was just over-powering the foreground a little bit.

I also got some Cryptocoryne parva, which I have planted on the edges of hardscape underneath the archway. I’m sure that eventually I’ll have to rescue it from the glosso, but I also added some slightly taller Cryptocoryne willisii, which should stick out.

I have a few other plants in this tank that I’ll likely need to remove to the benefit of aquascape once I have places for them in one of my other aquariums. Mostly, those plants are Lamiaceae sp. and Proserpinaca palustris on the right side of the tank.

The other plants in this tank are all doing quite well. You can see Hottonia palustris pearling in the photo above. Overall, I’m looking forward to finally having the foreground filled in, so that I can just tweak the rest of the plants into a finished aquascape. Comments/critiques welcome as always!

I was sitting across the room, watching some television, which I noticed a huge mass of cherry shrimp, all congregated in the front of my 75G aquarium. The 75G has been close to algae-free lately, so I have been feeding extra algae wafers for the plecos, but hadn’t really paid much attention after doing so. Apparently, the population of cherry shrimp was quite interested in the algae wafers, and called of their friends to join them in the feast.

Of course, with that many shrimp in one place, all of the rainbowfish in the tank wanted to see what was so interesting. They dove in and out of the population of shrimp, but didn’t seem to bother the shrimp any by doing so.

Finally, the Ancistrus sp. ‘L279′ bristle-nosed plecos realized that I dropped in algae wafers, and stormed into the middle of the shrimp. In some instances, they swam in fast enough to a send the shrimp flying out of the way.

All in all, it’s pretty entertaining to watch these critters interact with the rest of the tankmates. As you can tell, the cherry shrimp have had no problem breeding in my 75G aquarium!