My real ADA 60pxd, Scapers tank 55 and UNS60f hobby return.

[Garuf]

Perhaps. But we can both agree that kallekaviar is a dish best served to the bin.

 

[Wolf6]

Hi all,

I haven't kept Nannacara and shrimp, but I can't see anything other than the cichlids eating them. Same probably applies to A. trifasciata, they aren't very large, but have a relatively big mouth.

I tried A. borellii and Cherry Shrimp, it wasn't absolute carnage (like it was with A. cacatuoides) but they still removed them over time. Dicrossus maculatus was another cichlid that didn't apparently chase the shrimps, but still managed to remove them over time.

cheers Darrel

My borelli do not care for shrimp at all. Two females one male and 0 cares given. Here he is dutyfully ignoring a shrimp about half max size. Perspective is a bit wonky, the shrimp is smaller then it looks.
I think the trick is to introduce the borelli a bit young so they cant eat the shrimp at that stage, and they will continue to consider it not-food for the rest of their life. Or at least a few months this far.

 

[Garuf]

Thanks Wolf. I don’t think I’ll be taking in an apisto - at the moment the only local shop that has them is also the worst local shop so I’d rather wait for the guys I trust to have something in.

Your post has had me thinking more about what I can or should stock, I hid 3 cichlid caves in the woodwork as I was building it so there’s some real covert hidey holes.

I really would love some corydoras but I fear that they won’t be so happy with only 10x60cm of sand to go through.

To keep things South American I was thinking green neons and ember tetras with maybe 10 pristella. In my minds eye I’m picturing nature aquarium world photos of old.

I toyed with the idea of seeking out some unusual tetras but I keep my tanks cool (circa 22c in winter) and the newer sp. Seem to prefer it a bit warmer.

I’ve at least a month to think about all that though so no rush.

 

[Hufsa]

I really would love some corydoras but I fear that they won’t be so happy with only 10x60cm of sand to go through.

It doesnt seem too bad to me, I think some corys would really love laying around all day giving you the stink-eye from under this shady spot in the scape!



As long as you get a species that is a suitable size for the tank I think it should be fine. Maybe Habrosus? Pygmaeus are also small but they shoal more above the bottom

 

[Garuf]

The shady spot is where there are the cichlid caves, they add about 8cm depth. Bonus is that the shade adds “drama”. ⚡️

Yeah, habrosus was my thought but I’m rather taken by c.panda as they’re very adaptable, like it cool, easy to get and charming.

 

[Garuf]

Nothing has obviously changed. Light is okay for this early doors transition. The pogostomon gayi is the only plant that seems to be having a bad time but it is also a plant that travels poorly so we just leave it be. I can see that I will need to thin the c helfri before too long.
Adding shrimps and snails this evening.

 

[Garuf]

We don’t talk about the farm.
I took my eye off the prize while I was messing about with the two show case tanks and missed the trimming window by about 2 weeks. This meant that the tank was on the verge of crashing so today was a gardening day, I ripped out all the ranalissima, gravel vacced and added some powder soil and replanted it all.
While I’d got my hands in the tank I discovered a litre of mystery bucephandra. I’ve sorted out what I recognise and what I don’t and replanted the midground rocks with them.
Did a few big water changes and the plan now will be to get everything back on its feet and then replant all the stems with new species I want to try in about a month.

There’s a moral message in there somewhere…

 

[Ady34]

First 24hour. No changes in the plants. Obviously.
I also have the luxury of time and a clean room now to go through my thoughts and explain what I was trying to do and highlight a few issues.

Firstly I’ll point to the major issues I encountered - pppppp.
Proper planning prevents piss poor performance. Don’t do what I did and buy your plants, equipment and tank expecting a just in time miracle. TNT will loose your aquarium, your light won’t arrive on time and your plants will be on your desk or thrown in other tanks and the condition won’t be 10/10.

Pppppp. When scaping to a plan. Go back to the plan and ask yourself “is this the plan or is this something new”.
With this scape I tried really really hard to picture branches that had been washed down stream and become trapped against a large rock. I was also trying to picture a flooded grassland.
Does what I made really reflect that? Right now, no.
Well, what happened?
Basically, I got home from work after eating a McDonald’s and decided to try and knock out the majority of the scape before going to bed knowing that Planting needed to happen on Saturday or Sunday otherwise it would be another week before I’d have time and I’d already pulled the 45p down so the clock was ticking.

My truing stand at work says “don’t drink and true” on it - I should have the same sticker that says don’t scape and drink.

Now, I haven’t drank more than 2 beers for over 2 years now, lock down and head health and so on, but customers insist on leaving beer as a tip so I put away 8 cans while working.
This was a mistake.
One because I had a stinking hangover in the morning and 2 because I defaulted to “near enough is good enough” and allowed to wood to “speak” to me and dictate the scape. The opposite of the scaping to a plan and finding the right wood for the plan ethos.

If I’d not felt the time pressure, this scape would be much different with a much simpler structure. “Ahhh, thar’ll do” is the enemy of good work.
Next time I scape and live with it for a minimum of 2 weeks before planting. I’d recommend this to everyone. Do as I say not as I do.

Hopefully the planting will push the tank back to the theme, I’ve tried to use only grass like or needle leaved stems.
I have also used rotala Ceylon and HM as a filler. Because hm I had and Ceylon is pink and I had it.
I’ll replace them when the tank is more mature but with what I aren’t sure. But what ever stem it will be it’s important that it forms loose bunches not dense hedges.

Things that also didn’t happen as I planned, because of the time pressure, half the tank being sand. How did that happen? Easy. Insufficient pppppp and allowing the wood to dictate the scape. I was trying to get the woodwork in the foreground to not touch the bottom on the tank with sand all the way back. However the large wood that splits the tank just didn’t work like that so I used it as a retaining wall. What I should have done is use different wood and stuck to the plan but I’m lucky in that that outcome is like a 6-7/10 regardless.

Other notes.
“thermal glue” is crap.

Epoxy putty is a life saver when you need wood to poke at an angle for “drama”.

Silicone is even better but you have to remember to buy it.

Squirting liquid superglue onto filterfloss will save you a lot of swearing.

Having too many plants is a nice luxury but the sadness of having 2 bucketfuls of plants and no way to save them is worse.

I have used tropica baselayer and new soil and then capped with old soil. Richest, rich, least rich. Also adds bacteria, micro life etc to speed up maturity.

I used filter media taken from all of my filters so that the ceramic media is all mature. I also added 1l of carbon and a bag of pyrogen to help soak up organics from the wood.

The water is still slightly milky but I think this will pass with a couple of water changes, I think it’s from the ceramic media. It could also be bacterial.

I added the first ferts and co2 and now it’s just water out, water in for a few weeks.

That’s it for now.

What a write up, loved that little read!! Had a few laugh out loud moments.
Really like the hardscape layout and the wood used. I think this will grow in lovely and sometimes veering from a plan isn’t a bad thing.
Great post and journal.

 

[Garuf]

What a write up, loved that little read!! Had a few laugh out loud moments.
Really like the hardscape layout and the wood used. I think this will grow in lovely and sometimes veering from a plan isn’t a bad thing.
Great post and journal.

Thanks Ady, it’s fun to play the pretty words game but sometimes it’s more fun to be honest and own it.

Thank you, the wood is just field oak, and what little rock work you can see is from road works, you don’t always have to drop coins to get something nice.

 

[Garuf]

Another week down, not much to say, 55 will get trimmed tomorrow. Farm is recovering, ranalissima doesn’t seem to like me. A little algae in the the big’un, but nothing too bad, I can add more amanos if need be.

 

[Garuf]

I’ve been holding onto a particularly charming stone for about 3 years now with the intention of using it for an iwagumi and it’s just never quite made it.

(Yes that is a sensible, normal sentence, shut up mum).

Here’s said brick.

Given that my 60pxd didn’t go to plan now is the time to have another punt.
I don’t know where I found this picture, I think I was looking for pictures of glacial erratics, but I’ve been thinking that an iwagumi with minimal plant choice would give something similar in feeling.

So with a 20% discount voucher in virtual sweaty grip I’ve ordered a uns60f, the biggest tank I could buy without needing to buy any equipment.
And the challenge to myself to keep it to absolutely no more than 3 species and give a similar feeling.

Wish me luck.
I’ll post my workings like the GCSE’s but more important.

 

[Garuf]

I did a little gardening.
My instinct was to hack all the stems back as hard as possible but instead elected to spend an hour with wet hands taking out all the tallest stems just below where I’d normally do a big trim.
Perhaps the best thing to be said is you can’t tell I’d done anything.

 

[Garuf]

 

[Garuf]

And the 60f plants are ordered:
Hairgrass mini
Mini Christmas moss
Hc (mainly to put up against the front glass to increase the sense of depth, we’re not talking a carpet here)
3 plants 🥳
I would have liked to also use h.tenellum red and blyxa to add warm tones like reflections off the flames but minimal planting!

That means the fish have to act as fireballs and what could be better than ember tetra?

I’ve a good feeling about this.

 

[Garuf]

Cup of tea one.
Critique away. I can see in the photo it is too monotonous on the right and the left small stone doesn’t balance it like I thought.

Let’s try again.

 

[Garuf]

 

[Djoko Sauza]

Can't help but feel like you need a bigger secondary stone. That or move the main stone so it's more central?

 

[seedoubleyou]

I think you could move those around all day, but ultimately probably need a wider selection of stone. Beside the large one, they’re all too similar in size.

The layout is almost there. There’s just no sense of scale or depth with stones all the same size.

You could just try banking the soil all up towards one corner and building the rockwork out from that.

 

[Garuf]

Perhaps I should leave my flavour text to show what I’m thinking for planting.

 

[Garuf]