It’s been a tad longer than 5 weeks since I first setup my 75G. The moss on the wood is really bushing out right now, the Utricularia in the foreground is starting to establish itself, and nearly all of the other plants are coming into their own.

I the P. stellata ‘broad-leaf’ on the left side still is a few trimmings away from fully filling in, as is the P. yatabeanus, but everything is well on its way. The Blyxa japonica is looking fantastic, despite a lot of upheaval of the substrate surrounding it thanks to my Nannachromis nudiceps. They still haven’t spawned to the best of my knowledge, so perhaps they’re not going to, but that doesn’t stop them from digging. I still haven’t decided on any other tankmates, but I have some Amano shrimp coming in a GWAPA group order, and I’m eyeing the Nigerian Red Kribs.

I’d love to hear all comments and critique so far. Here’s a question: Do you think I ought to put moss on more of the wood, particularly the center-most piece, or do you like it bare?

I haven’t paid much attention to my 54G corner tank in awhile, so I decided that it was time to do a small photo shoot give these fish the appreciation they deserve. Unfortunately for most of the rest of them, the Red Irian Rainbow (Glossolepis incisis) decided to steal the show, posing and darting right in front of the camera. (And more importantly, directly under the flash sitting on top of the tank!)

This rainbowfish is definitely the centerpiece of the tank. He’s always out and about, and is hard to miss, both because of his size, and his swagger.

I really wish I had followed my own advice and cleaned the glass before this shoot, as there’s a lot of particular matter on the glass and in the water.

And then, one of the oldest fish in my aquariums, the Chinese Algae Eater. I bought this fish long before I read that they can be aggressive toward other fish by sucking holes in the sides of their tankmates. Fortunately, this guy hasn’t caused any problems during his long 5-6 year tenure. I love when he props himself up on his fins like this.

At both the Catfish Convention and the Aquafest auction, I picked up a bag of Ancistrus sp. L279 dwarf bushy-nosed plecos. After keeping them for other a year, I think this species is a fantastic match for a planted aquarium. They max out in length around 4 inches so they’re not going to inadvertently uproot plants from their size. Mine are not shy, so I see them on wood or lounging on open substrate, and they’re fairly active algae eaters. Plus, they’re very attractive fish with white markings on the tips of their tail, and many have very nice spots on their body. I’m guessing that the spots are a gender distinction because some of mine have very pronounced ones, and others not so much.

I don’t have any with huge sections of tentacles/growths on their snout, but they do have some small barbels. I’m hoping that as my latest batch grows up, they’ll develop these further. I’ve seen this species posted on Aquabid, sometimes called Ancistrus sp. ‘Huaca Mayo,’ so if you come across this listing, give them a try — they’re a great little ancistrus!

I generally haven’t done many aquascapes using moss as a key feature. There’s not any reason in particular, besides the fact that it’s sometimes more work to keep it looking nice and algae-free, but basically, I’ve just done differently styled scapes. (The same is true for the classic Amano riccia scape — note to self, do a riccia scape.) So, for this reason, I’m pretty happy to see the moss in my 75G tank starting to attach itself and cover the manzanita wood I tied it to.

You can see new growth by the brighter green fronds on the tips of the moss. Now, I’ve got to make the decision whether to go for a bushy effect, or to trim it tight and close to the wood to achieve more of an astroturf’d wood look. I think I’m leaning toward the bushy look for now, but I suspect that may change if piece start disattaching and infiltrating my anubias. In any case, trimming moss is a bit of a chore, as you don’t want the pieces you cut off going everywhere in your tank.

A common technique to avoid this is to trim while siphoning during a water change. Hold the siphon right above where you’re trimming, and those pieces should get sucked right out of the tank. I’m definitely not an expert at grooming these mosses, so if anyone has some other tips/suggestions, please comment.

I decided to take a few snapshots of the fauna in my 75G. As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, all of fish in this tanks were obtained in the auction from Aquafest. I haven’t had any losses, and all seem to be quite happy settling into their new surroundings.

There are 18 Corydoras paleatus in the tank that are constantly scurrying around the tan. They’re very social creatures zigging and zagging throughout the plants with at least one other companion in tow. Some lucky (or unlucky) plump females draw a crowd of male suitors up and down the glass. No eggs that I’ve seen yet.

The pair of Nannochromis nudiceps have taken up residence underneath two rocks on the right side of the tank. I’m a little bothered by their persistent efforts to dig up powersand from the bottle of the tank, and litter the large ugly white pumice stone across the top of the prettier aquasoil, but if they end up spawning I’ll forgive them.

Lately, they’ve decided to start covering the top of the rocks with aquasoil too. I hope their little “underground lair” doesn’t collapse on top of them!

And of course, there’s a huge population of cherry shrimp in the tank. I dumped in about 200 from the pond before the weather turned cold. I’m sure a few made a nice snack for the cichlids, but there’s still a ton. I did a quick trim of some plants, and I had to chuckle as 5-6 shrimp abandoned ship after I trimmed a single stem that they were occupying, and it began floating upward.

Hopefully, the shrimp will clear up the bit of algae that still remains on the rocks and wood. The only other inhabitants are some nerite snails, and 5-6 dwarf Ancistrus sp. L279 “Huaco Mayo.” I’ll try to profile those on their own at a later time.