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165l 'fissidens and ferns' scape

Rowly said:
Any updates, i'm looking forward to seeing i planted

No updates as yet only got half the plants due to the postal strike :twisted: , should have the rest this week so expect it planted by the weekend.
 
Well the tank has now been planted for nearly a week now after having a few issues with the CO2.

I only have a pic taken shortly after setup, I will get some better shots once my bro brings back my camera.

4133362396_f9325c506f.jpg


Excuse the floating blyxa and the plastic tub, the tub had some moss in which has been used on the central bare piece of wood.

Heres a plant list for those who are interested.

Vallisneria nana
Microsorum 'narrow'
Blyxa japonica
Isoetes japonica ? (not what i imagined looks more like a straight leaved blyxa)
Cryptocoryne albida
Echinodorus tenellus
Cryptocoryne affinis
Staurogyne sp.
Marsilea hirsuta
Fissidens fontanus (cheers oatfish)
Vesicularia montagnei
Vesicularia ferriei

There is also a little amount of Riccardia I may use on a rock or two.

The Staurogyne doesn't look that great (you can see it bottom left) should I give it a good hair cut to encourage new, more compact growth?
 
Looks awesome, well done.. regarding the staurgone, let it take a hold, and when you see some growth lower down the stems, give it a trim, that will make it more compact.
 
Cheers for your kind replys

AdAndrews said:
Looks awesome, well done.. regarding the staurgone, let it take a hold, and when you see some growth lower down the stems, give it a trim, that will make it more compact.

Cheers will do.

AdAndrews said:
meant to ask.. where did you get those lily pipes from mate?

BARGAIN!! off ebay, one of the far east sellers think I got them from here http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lily-Pipe-inflow- ... 3a4a905aea there a little rough around the edges but worth it compaired to the price you'd pay for ADA (IMO). There are quite a few on ebay if you search 'lily pipe'.
 
So thought I'd post a little progress report, no new pics because frustratingly for me the there doesn't seem to be that that much has happened, Other than there being a few fish in. I went to a lfs in the hope of picking up some amanos and ottos. They had no amanos and the ottos looked very skinny plus there was a dead one in the tank so thought it would be best not to buy any. Instead I brought 6 Red nose shrimp and a couple of parotocinclus. Hopefully this weekend I'll get some amanos and ottos.

There are also a few algae issues beginning to appear some diatoms and also some probably staghorn on the oldest of the vallis leaves. I think the possible reason for this may be nutrients, CO2 seems to be a decent levels all round the tank according the drop checker. I'm only dosing the standard TMG so may have to move onto the scary EI, due to cost etc. The bulk of the diatom has appeared in the corner of the aquarium where there is the least amount of flow. I'll be replacing the standard eheim pump with a flow pump soon it’s the only thing on my xmas list, that and socks.

As mentioned earlier the first fish have gone in the Parotocinclus and red nose shrimp and also 6 Dario dario I was a little unsure as to add all of them as it looks like I may have a 1 or 2 females which are rather rare and thought of trying to breed them but in the end decided to chuck them all in. This weekend hopefully the ottos and amanos will go in. I also have the Barbus fasciolatus to go in plus 2 adult male Dicrossus filamentosa and 1 male and 1 female juvenile that may go in this weekend or next.
 
Hello

Just a quick bit of info on the red nose shrimps

The Red Nose Shrimp is extremely sensitive to ammonia, nitrate and nitrite.

They should only be added to a cycled tank.

they also like a ph of 7.5 above.

They are excellent shrimps!
 
andyh said:
Hello

Just a quick bit of info on the red nose shrimps

The Red Nose Shrimp is extremely sensitive to ammonia, nitrate and nitrite.

They should only be added to a cycled tank.

they also like a ph of 7.5 above.

They are excellent shrimps!

In the new PFK in their questions and answers section they have a question on how to keep Rednose Shrimp which may be worth a read. It says that theres issues keeping them in freshwater and that they prefer brackish conditions. I bought three a few months back and within a month they had all decided to abandon ship and jumped out. The tank was fully cycled, PH 7.5, there were no traces of nitrite or ammonia, and nitrate was 10. GH was around 8 which is what I blamed it on at the time as they like GH 14-ish but after reading about their brackish preference this may be another explanation. Most are meant to be caught in the wilt too. I may have just been unlucky though!
 
I picked up the latest copy of pfk today saw the little article on red nose shrimp. Wouldn't have brought them if I'd brought it sooner. Any how I picked up 12 amanos and 8 otos today, hopefully they'll help clear up the minor algae problem I've got.

I'm also thinking of replacing the E. tenellus in the centre forground I've seen very little growth out of it if any, maybe down to being slightly shaded by the Microsorum and wood. Possibly replace it with Pogostemon helferi, nearly brought some HC instead today but thought it's a bit too similar to the Marsilea.
 
Well I think it is about time for an update, progress has been quite slow really had a couple of issues with the tank mainly co2 the canister was sold to me as full but ran out after 1-2months of use just before xmas I then went away for a couple of weeks over new year so the tank had been without care and co2 for nearly a month. I'm now facing a battle with some algae had loads of nasty black algae on the older vallis leaves and plenty of staghorn? amongst the fissidens. The algae is subsiding but any still left with some anomgst the fissidens. I also replaced the tenellus with Pogostmon helferi last week.

So heres a pic

4327386441_14ffb4442e_b.jpg


I not all to happy with the mid/forground will look better once the downoi has a chance to settle in also think I may remove most of the moss on the stones. I may also put some more crypts or Anubias to give the midground more substance. I'm pleased with the growth of the vallis but I still need it to be alot more thicker but that will come in time.

Few pics of the inhabitants.

Barbus fasciolatus

4327407673_fc7caf0fe9_o.jpg


Ladigesia roloffi

4328116982_7fec2c7e8d_b.jpg
 
Lovely ! Tell us more about the Barbus fasciolatus. They look stunning
 
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