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Unnamed Ditch

Macman6

Member
Joined
14 Dec 2017
Messages
55
Location
Manchester
Hi, so where should I start? Roughly this time last year I got the ok off the boss to set up a 4ft X 18inch shallow, I’d found one locally for £70 (it’s not the nearest job but a glass box all the same) and promptly stored it away knowing I had to clear out the spare room to be able to set it up.

Finally, the Christmas break came around and I managed to get my act together and build a stand (2 builders pallets cut in half, interlocked and stacked with an off cut from the kitchen worktop to flatten it all out and a block of polystyrene) get my substrate and get going.

But that really isn’t the start, the start came one day bored at work looking for an interesting catfish to keep, I settled on Farlowella and promptly searched articles for their care. What I stumbled across was UKAPS, and @BigTom ‘s poco pozo in particular. I was awestruck, and it changed the way I keep fish completely.

With this in mind my goal for this new tank is a slice of natural, not a perfectly manicured lawn of whichever carpeting plant you choose, or a Forrest of beautifully curated stems pearling away in a soup of fertiliser, but a dark, dirty hopefully appealing piece of rainforest ditch.

So that’s my intro, sorry it’s long but I’ve been a bit excited about this project for a while and presumably like many in the hobby don’t really have anyone in my day to day life that will show an interest.

So how did I set up?

I have a tight budget so this was the tricky part.
ericaceous soil was bought from B&Q to provide a substrate, this was then capped off with play sand.

There is a large brook near my house, so I collected some river stones.
And there was a great tree stump in the LFS that I knew would make an excellent addition as I knew I would be able to plant emerald growth in the centre (this was soaked for nearly a year too)

The filter I am using is a Ziss bio, can’t say much, it’s JUST short enough for the tank and as you’ll see at the moment everyone seems happy.

I set up, dumped a load of water from the tap / rainwater from my daphnia tub / a bit of RO and let it all sit then I added the plants

A couple of crypts, hydrocytle tripartita some java fern narrow leaf, weeping moss and pogostemon stellata.

The crypts promptly melted.

Everything else since has slowly started growing.

After a couple of weeks the daphnia has exploded and I decided to throw a few neons in.

Success, no one died.

Next the long term dither for what will be the star of the show I moved across 10 beckfordi pencilfish.

And at the end of January I added 6 spotted headstanders.

So far I have had nothing but success, there are loads of pencil fry of all sizes. There’s been zero losses and today I spotted a tiny neon Tetra.

So that’s where I’m at, and I’ve just found out I can’t add pictures using Tapatalk so tomorrow I’ll have to add a load as a time line for you at work.

I hope you like this journal and if it can have anywhere near the influence on someone that Poco Pozo has on me, well then I’ll be absolutely delighted




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Sounds like a good one, spotted head standers are a great choice! Really unique fish.

cheers

Conor
 
What a great start to a journal love the fact you stumbled across ukaps and it changed the way you think good luck
 
Thanks for the messages everyone, although I feel like I’m under a bit of pressure now. Excuse picture quality, I’m by no means a skilled photographer or picture editor so it’s all just IPhone.

also, I know the back wall is a state, I have a very grand plan for it of covering it in a vine fed by the aquarium but likely this will never happen.

here are a couple of pictures of day one,
Like I said I’m on a tight budget so it’s all very sparse...

mill post more pictures in a second
 

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Here are some more up to date pictures as the tank has progressed with a couple of fry pictures.

mad you can see the tree stump is coming along. I’m hoping one day there’ll be plenty of the hydrocoytle flowing from it into the water.
And I’m planning on buying another fry box to attach to the back and plant up.
 

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Things can move pretty slowly when you’re a forgotten ditch in a rainforest backwater, and this ditch is the same. Even though not much has happened I thought I’d give a bit of an update.

I’m starting to see more activity from some of the larger pencil fry (roughly 1cm long) who are starting to get their pigment.

the same from the single neon fry I have spotted, who last night was debating joining the original four.

I could sit and watch for hours, the headstanders patrol around picking at the sand, pencil fish constantly sparring for top spot in the shoal, and Otos starring out at me from a leaf perch.

the plants too are showing, albeit slow, progress. In 6 months or so I might have a decent looking tank on my hands.
 

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Wow, apologies for no updates. Been a little busy.

so I’ve finally managed to get a permanent light and everything is looking rosier in my ditch. Unfortunately I lost one of the head standers and I’ve had a crispy pencilfish on the floor which is frustrating.

good news though, my neon fry is now the same size as the others, I have well over 20 pencilfish roughly half adult size and probably plenty more and all the plants are growing in nicely. I also finally cracked and got a pair of apistogramma trifasciata. I may get another pair at some point, but obviously I’m avoiding trips out.
I’ve noticed some interesting behaviour with the head standers. The 2 biggest ones sometimes circle round each other flashing at each other I’m guessing this is sparring for dominance although I couldn’t find anything on a quick google. Excuse the particles in the picture, just done a water change and chucked in some food
 

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Thanks Darrel,

the new light seems to have made a big difference to growth and the moss on the stump is starting to grow in nicely.

cheers for the tip re Trifasciata. There was a reason I’d been put off them as apposed to some other Apistos and I think this is it, ah well, might have to swap my agassizi trio in and see if I can source another pair of them for this tank then.
 
Like I said, life can go slowly... added some red lizard cats the other day and another female trifasciata... speaking of which the original has fry, I knew she’d laid eggs but with it being the first spawn expected her to eat them before they were free swimming. Oh, the plants have grown in a bit too;)
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