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Fallen branch; regrowth.

Apologies for the lack of updates on this one.
This little scape has been a dream. I had very mild diatoms after a few weeks which went as quickly as they came. The tank received daily water changes for three weeks at which point I reduced them down as the system settled. I had a few in vitro bucephelandra needle melt, but very limited and I feel the prolonged daily water changes helped.
The lighting remains on very low intensity for this slow growing scape, but it has slowly filled in and is developing exactly how I envisaged. Not a great deal of change in the plants, however they do now look mature and natural and the scape holds a huge amount of interest for me and i get lost in it for long periods of time. For such a small scape it has a lot of engagement, attributed to the scape style, plant choice and the livestock choices I eventually made.
I wanted tucano tetra, but found with the hallway location beside the frequently opened front door the temperature was too cool. I opted to add an in-line heater to maintain temperature and allow me the fish I wanted.
A group of 12 tucano were added after a couple of weeks of adding various caridina shrimp, blue bolts, fancy red tigers and cbs.
I then added three parotocinclus haroldi to finish the fish stocking.
The combination is so interesting and the tank is buzzing with activity. The tucano are so beautiful and the shrimp are like little jelly sweets popping around the scape.

Here is a collection of images:


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Cheerio,
 
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Tank is looking great as always @Ady34!

I then added three parotocinclus haroldi to finish the fish stocking.

Thats a new one on me - I had to google them - really pretty little fish an Oto relative that looks like a Plec? Where did you source them from, and the Tucano's for that matter?
 
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Great choices, lovely tank, really amazing work! You say you are done stock wise, but wouldt a pair of dario dario totally finish it? They would fit well with the colours of the shrimp :p
 
Tank is looking great as always @Ady34!



Thats a new one on me - I had to google them - really pretty little fish an Oto relative that looks like a Plec? Where did you source them from, and the Tucano's for that matter?
Yeah they are not common.
Sourced both at my local @Horizon Aquatics.
The tucanos are so bold I love them. They are stunning to look at closely also, with blue eyes, blushing gill plates and a hue of yellow along the flanks.

Beautiful work @Ady34 😎
Thanks @Geoffrey Rea
I took advice read from one of your posts about prolonged large daily water changes in the early stages with this one and water changed daily for three weeks.


Love these! How are they getting on? Not many people keep these as far as I know.

Cheers
I love them too. They are doing good thanks, busy around the tank :)

Great choices, lovely tank, really amazing work! You say you are done stock wise, but wouldt a pair of dario dario totally finish it? They would fit well with the colours of the shrimp :p
Thanks so much.
They are lovely fish and quite tank appropriate for this set up so never say never. I may wait a while and see if my shrimp breed first as I’d like to increase their numbers and I feel they would be excellent shrimplet hunters.

Cheerio,
 
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A little update.
This little tank has slowly filled in, but was never intended to have a full look, especially in the higher regions of the tank. The wood branches were to add the interest there.
The crypt albida brown is slowly increasing in volume and the long narrow leaves are perfect for the vertical aesthetic, with the colour blending nicely.
I love watching the inhabitants and have even had some berried shrimp, although I’m yet to see any shrimplets.
Recently I have had a little bba and now a staghorn outbreak. I have cleaned the filter, began a regular dosing routine and will carry out additional water changes to hopefully rid the algae. I am also using the baster technique to disturb any detritus that I find builds up in the graded gravel foreground for siphon removal.

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Cheerio,
Ady.
 
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Looks great ady, the update george did showed this tank and how great it looks in its location, i love that narrow leaf crypt i am ater a few more crypts so think will pick a pot of them up on next visit 😀
 
It looks so nice.
I’m hoping my own tank inspired by the same theme and all your detail settles in just as well.
 
Thanks everyone.
Really enjoy this little scape but the staghorn is being persistent. After a two week period of every other day water changes I have given in and started dosing excel. The staghorn has subsided massively but still lingers annoyingly.
On the plus side the shrimp are breeding and I have fancy red tiger shrimplets currently :)

Few current images….
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And a little video from Instagram of a fancy red tiger shrimp, parotocinclus haroldi and a tucano tetra:


Cheerio,
Ady.
 
How do you feel about the light?
I’m really struggling to be decisive about picking a light for my 60x45x36 and like the small size and that it’s an unusual equipment choice.

How do you find the tucanos? My lfs has them in at the moment but I can’t justify quite such shameless copying.
 
Lovely tanks and lovely Schnauzer.
Thanks :)
Love the layout. Fantastic looking tank.
Thank you.
How do you feel about the light?
I’m really struggling to be decisive about picking a light for my 60x45x36 and like the small size and that it’s an unusual equipment choice.

How do you find the tucanos? My lfs has them in at the moment but I can’t justify quite such shameless copying.
Hi Garuf.
I really like the light. It has good colour control and is simple to use but I have to confess I haven’t even tried the more complex lighting schedule settings. I just utilise the easy option and it has worked well.
One thing to consider with this unit is the fan. I run the light on a very low power setting so the fan rarely kicks in…..the tank is also located out of the way in the hallway. If running higher intensity the fan will operate regularly and it is relitively noisy if for example it were located in a living room alongside a tv.
With regards the tucano, an absolute favourite of mine now. They are always hungry, never shy and really subtly beautiful. Don’t worry about copying, if you see something you like go for it :)
Has to be one of my favourite tanks on here, the fish and plant choice is spot on.
Thanks for that, really nice of you to say.

Cheerio
Ady.
 
Amazing journal mate.

Tempted to go with Tucanos with my new scape instead of Rummynoses lol. Do they shoal, if at all? Maybe I should just get both 😅 Always have soft spots for more uncommon nano fishes.
Hi, thank you.
The tucano don’t really shoal, they form a loose group, however this is a small tank so they can always see each other. Maybe in a larger system their behaviour would be different. I would say get both though as they tend to inhabit the mid to upper regions and rummy noses the opposite. They will make a nice contrast :cool:

The tank has been ticking along, staghorn remains persistent but not overbearing, and excel is dosed daily now. I have just began daily fertiliser dosing also with the Ada fertiliser range that I use with good success on my 30c tank.
I would say that the 45p is my most engaging scape. Situated in the hallway it has made me connect with it in a different and refreshing way. I stop regularly for moments rather than long periods seated in front of it. Every time I pass it I have a nosey in to see what I can find, shrimp, ottos and liquorice gourami can all be elusive so it’s fun searching them out or catching a glimpse.

Here’s a few images with the last a post I added on Instagram recently as a synopsis of planting within the scape. Below is the little write up :)

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TEXTURAL TOP DOWN TUESDAY - A PLANTING SYNOPSIS.

I love the uninterrupted open top aesthetic which allows for a great view of the different textures within the planting and hardscape materials.
From above, Marsilea hirsuta ‘clovers’ compliment the rounded shapes of the Phyllanthus fluitans floating plants in both form and colour. These blend with the Marsilea crenata and subtly soft Riccardia chamedryfolia cushions, and also with the pebbles used to transition into the open sand foreground.
Soft blankets of Java moss have been free to fill any open spaces along the horizontal ‘fallen branch’.
Variations of Bucephelandra kedegang, caterina and the smaller mini needle leaf, along with cryptocoryne parva add a contrast in size and colour but accent the leaf shape of the tiny Anubias pangolino.
Cryptocoryne albida brown has a narrow vertical aesthetic, represented again with the Eleocharis acicularis mini which blends with the midground upright ramous wood hardscape roots. The Bolbitis heteroclita difformis fern like appearance adds an aged forest feel and again helps transition the different leaf sizes and forms below with the detailed higher level and emergent wood structures.
There is a lot going on in this tiny space, but it all commingles to create an unpretentious nature inspired aquascape 💚

Cheerio,
Ady.
 
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