Round Two

[Wisey]

you might try some black phantom tetras (be sure to get mix of male & female)

Great news on the no longer MIA otos

I'm pretty sure I have seen Black Phantom Tetra in my LFS, but was hoping for something with a bit more colour. Cory Sterbai and Ottos are very dark, then my Embers just like to hide and their colour is not great, I assume because the tank is a bit too open for them at the moment and they seem like they prefer good cover.

Are Cardinals any bolder than Embers, or will I just get the same issue with them?

 

[alto]

I was thinking that the phantoms would bring out the embers & then you'd have nice contrast.
Red phantoms are quite dissimilar fish, common name notwithstanding, so you could try them for their red rather than black color, but then if the embers do come out, you'll have very similar colors (I much prefer the black phantoms for behaviour & style & the blue on the males when dancing is brilliant)

Cardinals won't move as nice in this tank dimension as they will in a 120cm & longer tank - likely in your tank size they will mostly just swim about individually ... domestic cardinals get quite large, & they are vociferous feeders.

Harlequins will likely be a nicer shoal in this tank size, purple/blue morph shows nice contrasts of dark body (the purple/blue can cover 70% or so when fish are displaying) & iridescent orange/gold head "spot", look to get more males as they are much brighter than females - in a school of 10-12 you can do 3-4 females (I had a school of 17 & only 2-3 females, the boys spend all their time displaying & wait for the girls' signals), natural morphs will again blend with the embers.

I have M kubotai & S axelrodi in one tank, they are always out in the open: note I fed them very frequently upon arrival as both were quite emaciated, especially the axelrodi - which I expected significant losses, to my surprise I ended up with a stable group of 12 ... 17/22 were alive upon arrival, 3 more died with 12 hours; in contrast, the kubotai #'s slowly diminish, after an initial 10 or so losses, 1-3 a month slip away, these are fish that have remained tiny so perhaps they are M nanus, group is now ~20.

These fish don't really school though they just drift about, with a shoal forming, then separating, then reforming etc but it's a subtle dance. After a recent water change, 5-6 kubotai were gently arguing over a "sweet spot", then an axelrodi came in & decided he'd like that territory & spent a couple hours gently driving off any competition ...

Line bred Endlers might be interesting, I've a group of "orange guppies" that are likely an Endler/Guppy cross, they are actually brilliant schoolers (I've 7 from an initial 9) - they were tiny orange fin, orange & blue body "guppy" juveniles when bought.

C choprae appear quite bold in the shop but I've not kept them.

Perhaps list the locally available fish

 

[Wisey]

Perhaps list the locally available fish

I popped in to MA\Fishkeeper Scotland last night on the way home from work. They had just had a delivery, so none of the fish are available to buy until Saturday. I'm going to be a bit busy on Saturday now, so not sure I will get out there, but might be able to in the afternoon.

They had a lot of new fish in, but there is very much in the way of colourful fish other than cichlids or the usual guppy/platy. I think they did have some harlequin rasbora in, so that could be an option. I didn't see the black phantom tetra, but they did have the reds. I also saw the Silver Tip Tetra which looked quite nice, although I hear they can be a bit nippy and feisty.

I agree with what you said about getting something that brings the Embers out, that's a good point, they are probably reluctant to venture out when there are no other fish out there as they think its dangerous. Thinking back to when I had the Odessa Barbs who were always out and about, they were much bolder back then.

I do quite like Rummynose Tetras and they have a nice flash of colour, but they didn't have any in last night. They usually get a regular delivery every other week, but the one last night was an extra one from the Czech Republic which they get every month or two, so they do have another delivery coming in on Tuesday or Wednesday next week, so there could be some new options then.

They do tell me that they can order most things, but I keep asking for Amanos and they say they keep ordering them, but they rarely get any. I have not tried ordering any fish yet. I'm still tempted to get some Hara Jerdoni as seen in Zozo's thread here:

http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/hara-jerdoni.39864/#post-433175

The shop have told me that they can order these, so might ask if I go back at the weekend. They don't solve my problem of something that swims at mid level and is active, but would be a nice addition alongside something else, they look really interesting.

 

[alto]

Amano's seem to have started shipping again, but they were listed as Caridina multidentata (algae shrimp) ... no "Amano's" or "Japonica" on the list
(there were other "algae shrimp" species listed as well)

 

[Wisey]

I could get Amano's online, Aqua Essentials always seem to have them, just always been a bit reluctant to have fish and shrimp sent to me through the post, although I guess that is how they get to the LFS in the first place!

 

[Wisey]

It's typical isn't it... Aqua Essentials do not have Amanos but they do have the Ludwigia Palustris red that I wanted in stock. Freshwater shrimp have Amanos, but do not have the Ludwigia. Don't want to have to pay two lots of shipping so will wait and see if one of the two gets the other item back in stock.

I did my water change last night and tidied things up a bit. I removed the Hydrocotyle from the back and just kept the bit further forwards which I gave a good trim. The other bit just grew straight up and looked a mess and was also swamping my Crypts which I would like to have more space and light.

I took some old leaves off the three larger Anubias on the wood at the back and the river cobbles at the front. The small Anubias at the front left on the bogwood has been removed as it just looked strange with the MC behind it, scale all wrong.

The roots of a lot of the Pogo were getting exposed, not sure if soil is still settling or plants are getting disturbed. The Corys are guilty of rooting around in there. I lifted up some of the clumps that were coming out and tried to separate out in to individual stems and replant deeper. The MC was looking a little brown on the edges in places, but seems to have improved since the flow changes. I didn't think the MC was doing anything, but just looked back at a picture of it when it was planted and actually I think there are new bits coming up in the gaps now.

Ech. Quadricostatus is putting out runners everywhere. I wish it would get taller rather than trying to spread everywhere, at least it is filling in well. Might have been the wrong choice for such a small space, but we will see how that goes.

I'll try and get a pic up tonight.

 

[Wisey]

Ok, here is the latest FTS. Please ignore the floating bits of Pogo, just got home from dinner out and CBA to sort those tonight!

 

[alto]

Looks good ... it's a shame about the phantom fish

- though I've one of those tanks as well, from a distance, lots of color & movement, walk in for a close up & No Fish or just a few ghosts

 

[Wisey]

Looks good ... it's a shame about the phantom fish

- though I've one of those tanks as well, from a distance, lots of color & movement, walk in for a close up & No Fish or just a few ghosts

Haha, yeah, it desperately needs more fish, see what they have available for sale at MA tomorrow if I have time to get there, I am sure they had harlequins on the order this week.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I agree with what you said about getting something that brings the Embers out, that's a good point, they are probably reluctant to venture out when there are no other fish out there as they think its dangerous

Have you got some floaters with long roots? Pistia is ideal. That should get the Tetras to come out.

cheers Darrel

 

[Wisey]

Hi all,Have you got some floaters with long roots? Pistia is ideal. That should get the Tetras to come out.

cheers Darrel

Hi Darrel, my concern with floating plants is that I already have signs of light deficiency in my Pogo and my Alternanthera Reinecki Mini is getting a little redder, but certainly not the red I would like to see. If I add shade in the way of floaters then I might cause myself more issues with those plants that I am already struggling with. It's a difficult balance between keeping the fish happy and confident and getting enough light for the plants.

 

[Wisey]

Took a trip out to Fishkeeper at Dobbies today. They had some harlequins, but decided something peaceful but a little larger than the Embers would be better. They didn't have Black Phantom Tetra, only yellow which I considered, but in the end decided on some Rosy Tetras. I have 12 of them acclimating right now. The guy in the shop said he didn't know how to tell between male and female, I had asked to make sure I had a good mx of male and female. Hopefully with buying 12 I get a reasonable mix.

 

[Wisey]

The Rosy Tetra's seem to have had the desired effect. They are out and about most of the time and they tend to draw the Embers out too. The Corys are also spending more time out the front, even when they are not being fed and the Otos do appear to be out more too.

Noticed some of the Corys giving one of the others some unusual attention, would appear that she has eggs. Saw some stuck to the bogwood and the back glass yesterday, but all disappeared a few hours later so suspect they have been eaten.

 

[Wisey]

It appears I have the first signs of the dreaded BBA on my slow growers.

Just this bit on the end of one of the larger Crypt leaves:

And a few bits forming on the edges of some of my Anubias leaves:

I thought BBA was related to poor CO2 levels and distribution? I just added loads more flow, these areas were low flow before and now have much better flow, but I did drop my CO2 injection rate a little when I thought the Oto was not happy. I have also added an hour of light recently, but only up to 7 hours.

I'll need to do some reading, but I assume best first steps is remove those leaves?

 

[DanM621]

Hi Wisey, just read through this entire thread. Awesome tank. Thought I'd best comment as I've just gone through a bit of BBA and hair algae myself. Physical removal of leaves helped but what i noticed really nipping it in the bud was target dosing liquid Carbo to the effected areas. Most of the liquid carbos have an algaecide in them as I'm sure you're aware.

Cleared my spots of BBA and hair algae up in a few days.

Cheers!

Sent from my SM-G928F using Tapatalk

 

[Wisey]

Hi Wisey, just read through this entire thread. Awesome tank. Thought I'd best comment as I've just gone through a bit of BBA and hair algae myself. Physical removal of leaves helped but what i noticed really nipping it in the bud was target dosing liquid Carbo to the effected areas. Most of the liquid carbos have an algaecide in them as I'm sure you're aware.

Cleared my spots of BBA and hair algae up in a few days.

Cheers!

Sent from my SM-G928F using Tapatalk

Thanks for the input, it's water change day tomorrow so I'll try spot dosing some Easycarbo and leave it a few mins with the filters off while I'm working on things.

 

[Wisey]

Loving our new Rosy Tetras, really active fish and boy are they HUNGRY

I'm going to need to make sure the Embers get fed, the new guys are food hoovers! What is good is they seem to like the frozen food that others were picky with in the past. I bought four different frozen foods, bloodworm, brine shrimp, mysis and cyclops, but the Embers and Odessas only seemed interested in the bloodworm, everything else got left. Tried the Rosys on brine shrimp tonight and it was eaten within no time at all. Will try them on all the others in the coming days.

 

[Wisey]

I spot dosed some Easycarbo on the BBA tonight so have to see if that helps.

Quick FTS, bit more fish activity now.

The MC has certainly grown and there is some fresh new growth, but also some browning of older leaves. Also noticed a little melt on a couple of leaves. Should I just leave as is and let it get on with it?

Pogo still looks a bit sad, green tops but browning lower down. I'm tempted to drop the tile even lower, I still think it's not getting the intensity of light it needs.

The Alternanthera seems to be getting bushier rather than taller. Not that red though which is a bit disappointing and leads me to believe light intensity is still too low. Really wish I had a PAR meter.

 

[Lindy]

You could try feeding frozen lobster eggs. All of my fish love them including the liquorice gourami and betta channoides and they can be very fussy.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Wisey, Looking fab Nice photos of the fish too