The Stove & Its Flowering Anubias.

[zozo]

Yes, that's the one. Thanks for finding it back.. So it was here, where else?? I've seen so much on the internet i lost track of some things. Awsome little tank isn't it??

 

[Tim Harrison]

Yep it is
I think it's sometimes easy to loose sight of the fact, or not to realise in the first palce, that you can have an amazing planted tank with very little financial outlay or energy input

I've seen so much on the internet i lost track of some things.

That's because you're a valued member of many forums to do with planted tanks or Wabi-kusa

 

[zozo]

I think it's sometimes easy to loose sight of the fact, or not to realise in the first palce, that you can have an amazing planted tank with very little financial outlay or energy input

I guess this is also something which comes allong with internet, people see things and think it has to be the way they see it.. Little or even large old fashion setups like this are becoming rare and an oddity. But 40 years ago, it was common to see those whatever you can find tanks, high tech tanks with high tech stuff was not something for the common and an oddity only for the jet set. When i started, rimless tanks where a rarety and very costly, my first tank was also made in the shed by our neighbour and when he no longer used it he give it to me.. It had a steel rim and was sealed with putty.. Kind of that old putty that id the tank stood empty for a few months it would certainly leak and neaded a reseal.

What i see today in the lfs after over 20 years out, is nothing much different than the old days, it's only over designed and over priced, it is fashionized. And it is all very beautiful indeed... But in the end it all comes down to the same as it ever was, its not the material making your tank.. And i guess nowadays a lot of beginners are taken for a ride in the lfs, to much choises and to much wisslels and bells, they just are made to forget what it actualy is about. And made to remember you have to buy silly things you don't need. But that's also evolution, of beautines and trend and probably never turn back in time, only keep going forward.

That's because you're a valued member of many forums to do with planted tanks or Wabi-kusa

Thanks for the compliment. . I never looked at it it like this.. Always kinda thought i'm an old fashion nagging old fart..

But never the less i'm also still learning new things too with the things that did change over the years, on all those valued forums, like UKAPS.

 

[Nelson]

Always kinda thought i'm an old fashion nagging old fart..

That's how I think of you .

 

[Tim Harrison]

Always kinda thought i'm an old fashion nagging old fart..

Haha...ignore Neil...I never thought of you like that

It had a steel rim and was sealed with putty..

My first tank was plastic with a bowed front and very scratched...and then I graduated to an angle iron framed glass tank, the frame became rusty and disintegrated

And i guess nowadays a lot of beginners are taken for a ride in the lfs

Definitely, it seems to be a common theme on many forums, that and bogus advice

But that's also evolution, of beautines and trend and probably never turn back in time, only keep going forward.

That's very philosophical, but in a positive way; sometimes regression is the only way forwards

 

[zozo]

That's very philosophical, but in a positive way; sometimes regression is the only way forwards

Well indeed for oldtimers like us it may feel like regresion.. But it could well be, we may never know, it is what it is.. But the hobby probably never had survived or never gained so much popularity like this and could have died a slow death..

It's like Windows, they also only became markted leader because of smart marketing.. Create a software product with 85 doors to the same room.. Does't matter how goofy you think you always end up where you need to be. I love apple and it beeing so straight foreward, but in that software it's my way or the highway, if you don't get it and not nerdy enough you're stuck. And that's why apple had to bite the dust and make way for windows becomming much bigger one day.. If apple didn't went for the high class top designing it never would have made it so far. If you have some to spend, like beuatifull stuff and somewhat nerdy you buy an apple.

85 doors to the same room is the way to make everybody feel good and sell.. You want something different because you think different but want same results here you have it. Marketing wise it was a smart move from the aquarium industry.

 

[zozo]

Today i witnessed my first kill.. The Oreichtys cosuatis ore not so peacefull as generaly described.. I saw the biggest male took on a rather large adult cherry shrimp.
Is the first time i see him do that, tho it was till now not on their main menu, since my cherries are breeding in abundancy, the shrimp population about tripled in the 10 months this tank is old.



It might be the numbers of shrimps triggering it, there are realy a lot.. But remarkable he desided to grab an addult, the tank is teeming with small shrimps in all sizes.. And the shrimp is eaten completely, nothing left of it.. Those fish are realy pack hunters, if one starts it triggers all others to join the party and all want a piece of it.

Well it is what it is, natures cruelty, what can i say, what can i do other than keep observing.. If this keeps all in ballance, it's an occasional free food supply.. But rather would see them devoure baby shrimps than tearing appart an adult.. Maybe it showed already signes off weakness in it's old days and this triggered the attack. If that's the case it was a pretty good cleanup.. Dunno.. See young shrimps cruising around which they do not care for..

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Marcel, Just catching up mate Wonderful journal full of hints and tips of how to make and maintain a wonderful scape and critters.

Sorry about the shrimp.Hope they do not get a taste for them. It is a stunning looking fish though. I just love the colour and scale pattern and a superb colour to the dorsal fin.

Ho nearly forgot-- The stand and cupboard.Fab look love it 10 /10 for build and style

 

[zozo]

Hey Roy, then you have some work ahead with catching up.. especialy in the journal section, goes like a steam train.. Have fun..
Thanks for liking it so much, the 10/10 means a lot to me, haha funny is it also took me about 10 months to find the ideas and stuff to finish the cabinet as is.

Regarding the shrimp it's the first time i see him attack and shred it, no idea if it happened before and not at the tank at that time.. If so, the shrimp need to be breeding faster than they can eat.. What i find odd is that there are nummerous baby shrimp crawling and cruising around they do not look at and then shred an adult shrimp to pieces?.. I suspected them from the beginning to hunt shrimplets but not adults and leave the shrimplets be. But they are indeed very gorgeous playful fish with a very interesting behaivor and pecking order. The big male shreding the shrimp is definitely the boss of the pack. The girl with him in the video is his girlfriend, they hangout constantly together.

I'll see if i find the time some evening this week for update pictures of the tank.. Made some alterations and finaly got my first very tiny lily (Burgundy prinsses) floater i'm very happy with..

 

[PARAGUAY]

That it,obviously showing off in front of his girlfriend.I like the way the other shrimp has a face off with the fish but wisely goes into reverse,just shows us though if you had not observed this not to have known?Fish l think are sometimes opportunist rather than deliberate,inbuilt survival strategy maybe

 

[zozo]

What i witnessed before was hunting small shrimp, not searching shrimps to hunt but indeed only a shrimp passing by, as you say opportunist. One of them spots it and inspects the shrimp out of curiousity if the shrimp flees then it triggers an attack then they form a pac and it's preyed up on by all of them. It triggers a food agression. If one of them gets the shrimp all join in and the schrimp gets shreded.

It that typical fleeing behaiver that seems to trigger it.. As said in so many wildlife situations with humans. If you get confronted with a predator don't start running. If you run you are a prey..

 

[zozo]

Days are getting darker (sooner), less natural light, so it's time for tank lights again and more opportunity to take some pics.. Actualy the long daylight hours in the summer do not contribute to learning aquarium photography, that obvious.. .. But here are some update pics of the slow burner.. Seeing it everyday makes it 10 x slower ofcourse, but seeing pics from almost a year ago (10 months now), it kinda grew in well dispite all the trimming i had to do during the algae issues..

That right side Crypt parva carpet, is doing realy slow i even do not see it grow it just lives that's about it. Well that's asking for it i guess, parva seems to be one off the slowest low tech crypts around, i knew it still did it....

Also that crypt spiralis var. caudigera (Shola) in the back left is a rather a very slow plant, but it finaly after months of waiting it seems to getting somewhere.

Totaly forgoten how slow low tech can be... My fingers are burning to put co2 in it.. But till now i could resist the urge... But it's a challange not to when you know what co2 can do.

 

[Manisha]

Yep it is
I think it's sometimes easy to loose sight of the fact, or not to realise in the first palce, that you can have an amazing planted tank with very little financial outlay or energy input

That's because you're a valued member of many forums to do with planted tanks or Wabi-kusa

Bargain fishtanking & zozo rocks... agree 100%

Your low tech is lovely - I see why you recommend shola

Co2 has its advantages... but showcasing a beautiful low tech like your attracts people to the hobby which is half the battle Thanks again for the inspiring update

 

[Nelson]

Nice and slow.No rush .

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Marcel, Looking great As Neil said no rush

 

[zozo]

`Thanks people.. Here some pics of the emersed part.. Which i find the most difficult to find the fertilization balance with above a low tech. Since it has no real substrate it needs to feed solely from the water column.. In low tech with a 50% fert regime from a high tech it doesn't grow that fast.

Have some H. Tripartita up there clearly strugling to stay alive..

This is also someting i just have to wait patiently for, till the submersed plantmass is enough to up the ferts.. Already slowly increasing it with home mixed NPK's and added some nitrate lovers to it which might ballance it out. Such as the small Carex panicea (flat leaf grass at the left, and the Eriophorum angustifolium (round leaf grass at the right. No idea if i can get them going like this, because they are real dirt substrate lovers to realy thrive.. But they are nitrate suckers, so who knows, i see if i get to grow. But have my doubts.

This is the Carex

What is interesting, is the branche just a few milimeters bellow the water surface, i drapped some Flame moss and some Fontinalis antipyretica over it, directed the filter outflow towards it, you can see the edy the branch creates in the flow.. Those mosses realy seem to love the high flow and grow like crazy.. Little bits of the flame moss and fontinalis are sticking out emersed

 

[zozo]

This slow burner is a year old now and man it was slow this tank realy challenged my patience.. But finaly it starts to get somewhere, still slow but regarding plant growth it's starting to excellerate a bit. Seems that inert lava and gravel substrate takes a long time to mature and probably was my plant choice a bit too bold and difficult for a slow burner like this. But the waiting and trying was worth while.

And now i also see, looking from a photographic view point, where i made a little scaping mistake regarding plant placement with the crypt indonessii next to the DW and the willisii in the far right corner. In it's shape the indonesii grows as expected and gives me the desired forrest like look i wanted with it's longer stems when placed in groups. But its color is actualy way to dark to put next to a large dark piece of DW. I should have planted something with a much lighter green color to get more contrast.

Up close it looks ok, but seeing the above picture it's just a dark blob in the centre. I should have switched it, and should have placed the C. Willisii next to the wood instead. But ok it is what it is.. Lesson learned..

Had some trouble to get the left side going in this tank here the substrate is banked up the highest. The blyxa, limnophila and pogestemon i tried here was a total failure. Still have some pogestemon erectus standing there but also this only is in pain. So i decided to stay with crypts. And after a long time suffering the C. Spiralis shola finaly addapted to this spot in the tank. And slowly is filling up the left back corner, but definitely not a typical low tech but rather difficult crypt sp... The hairgrass also finaly is going.. The Lomariopsis cf. L. liked it from the start and actualy is the fastest growing plant in this tank. I just glued two little pieces of it to the DW and it grew into an almost tennisball size and had to trim it twice already.

The lily is slowly maturing, i planted a tuber not bigger than a fingernail and it also needed that past year to slowly addapt, grow some body and take a hold. The crypt parva slowly is carpeting around it.

Did add a Hygrophila to the emersed part and also this is slowly getting more shape and body.

It all still needs some more time.. But seeing how it progressed the last few months it will be going a lot faster next year.. The difficult times are definitely over and defeated.

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Marcel. The plants maybe taking there time to fill out. But its worth the wait the scape is looking great Love the fish and shrimp photo Stunning looking fish

 

[zozo]

Hi Roy, thanks you.. Yes it's definitely worth the wait.. But having a high tech tank standing next to it, a slow tech is frustrating sometimes.. Co2 spoils someones patience.. But till now i could withstand the urge of making this tank high tech.

The Oreichtys cosuatis i completely fell in love with, they have a very playfull interesting heirarchy and are constantly chasing eachother and constantly spawning. But yet not seen any fry and also never realy see any eggs.. I realy would like them to breed, but have no idea if it is possible without separating them. And unfortunately they seem to have a rather short livespan (in captivity), still little information about it, they are rare fish to find. But i lost already 4 of them (and all where girls) without any sign of disease and what i can find about it what others experienced it seems between 1 and 2 years is the average. Seeing their distribution origine it might be temperatur related and age faster in warmer tropical temps as many fish do, so i went a bit down with this. Gona order me a few more next year to get the group numbers up again.

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Marcel, Sorry to hear some died Do Oreichtys eat the shrimp in the tank.