A Tale of Two Roma's

[John q]

Sounds just about the advice you would give to someone showing up on the forum with a similar situation! 👍

Almost. I'd probably tell them to dim the lights as well. 😉

The advice to myself, and anybody else fighting algae is quite simple, hit it quick, and hit it hard, algae will spare you no quarter.
BBA pulls a knife, you pull a gun. BBA sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of their's to the morgue.

Let the games begin...

 

[John q]

We have some new inhabitants...

Laetacara araguaia.

 

[mort]

I'm a huge fan of laetacara in general but those are stunning. You do have very good taste in dwarf cichlids

 

[John q]

Thanks @mort ..humbled 👍

Researched a few dwarf cichlids, inc laetacara sp before stumbling across these, several weeks humming and hawing, then bit the bullet yesterday to go have a looksie.

Almost didn't get them because the Mrs said they were rather drab, which to be fair wasn't far off the mark. I told her if we were lucky they'd colour up once settled in a more pleasant environment, which is usually the case. Well to say I was shocked at how quickly this pair changed colour is an understatement.

 

[John q]

Monday you can hold your head
Tuesday, Wednesday, stay in bed
Or Thursday watch the walls instead:
It's Thursday, watching walls is boring, update time..

Almost two weeks since I waged war on the dreaded bba and whilst its still present, it is receding.
The extra water changes seem to have born fruit and the removal of masses of plants has improved flow around the tank, although the faster I remove these plants, the faster they grow back, almost feels like groundhog day. Still a fair bit of work to do, but we'll get there.
Compulsory fts.

The new laetacara seem to have settled and have staked out a territory in the bottom back left corner of the tank in the 2nd picture (this is where they were when this picture was taken) thankfully they don't spend to much time down there and are quite happy to swim brazenly in open water, I can even approach the tank or open the lid and they seem unfazed... however if you go near the tank with a picture taking device... pufffff, they scatter.

With that in mind these are the best pics I've got.

Slightly less camera shy is a tangerine tiger shrimp, don't see much of these guys but reassuring to know they are still about.

All being well the laetacara won't spot them!!

Few more pics of the inhabitants of this tank (2nd fts) will try and concentrate on the critters in the other tank in next update.

Thanks for looking.

 

[MichaelJ]

Thanks for looking.

Hi John, What water hardness (GH) do you keep currently in both tanks? Just curious.

Great pics as always! 👍

Cheers,
Michael

 

[John q]

Both tanks are at 1kh and 3gh. Tds about 150 ppm. @MichaelJ

 

[Conort2]

Monday you can hold your head
Tuesday, Wednesday, stay in bed
Or Thursday watch the walls instead:
It's Thursday, watching walls is boring, update time..

Almost two weeks since I waged war on the dreaded bba and whilst its still present, it is receding.
The extra water changes seem to have born fruit and the removal of masses of plants has improved flow around the tank, although the faster I remove these plants, the faster they grow back, almost feels like groundhog day. Still a fair bit of work to do, but we'll get there.
Compulsory fts.
View attachment 200260

View attachment 200261

The new laetacara seem to have settled and have staked out a territory in the bottom back left corner of the tank in the 2nd picture (this is where they were when this picture was taken) thankfully they don't spend to much time down there and are quite happy to swim brazenly in open water, I can even approach the tank or open the lid and they seem unfazed... however if you go near the tank with a picture taking device... pufffff, they scatter.

With that in mind these are the best pics I've got.
View attachment 200262

View attachment 200263

Slightly less camera shy is a tangerine tiger shrimp, don't see much of these guys but reassuring to know they are still about.

View attachment 200264

View attachment 200265

All being well the laetacara won't spot them!!

Few more pics of the inhabitants of this tank (2nd fts) will try and concentrate on the critters in the other tank in next update.

View attachment 200268

View attachment 200267

View attachment 200269

View attachment 200270


Thanks for looking.

Those are some healthy looking fish, in perfect condition.

I don’t have much hope for your tangerine tigers unfortunately. Cichlid and shrimp are not a good mix, I’ve learned the hard way.

Cheers

 

[MichaelJ]

I don’t have much hope for your tangerine tigers unfortunately. Cichlid and shrimp are not a good mix, I’ve learned the hard way.

Generally, I would agree. Keep in mind that those are two different tanks ... It looks to me like the tangerines are in a separate tank (2nd picture) and not with the Angel(s) and the Dwarf Acaras (1st picture) ... also it depends on the size of those shrimps.. they can be pretty astute at dodging predators - they are incredibly fast when spooked.

Both tanks are at 1kh and 3gh. Tds about 150 ppm. @MichaelJ

Thats interesting. Definitely on the lower end GH-wise for Tangarine or shrimps in general, but can be made up for with a calcium rich diet. Perfect TDS I would say!

Cheers,
Michael

 

[mort]

I don't have shrimps but have witnessed my laetacara dorsigera sucking ramshorns out of their shells recently. I do still get pencilfish fry coming through and even when they are a real tiny size, it shows no predatory instinct towards them.

 

[John q]

Those are some healthy looking fish, in perfect condition.

Thanks Connor, appreciate the comment.

I don’t have much hope for your tangerine tigers unfortunately.

It looks to me like the tangerines are in a separate tank

Probably my bad for having two tanks in the same journal.
The tangerines share the same tank with the acaras, the tank also contains other potential shrimp killers namely a one eyed poorly german ram and several sparkling gourami. I suspect if they continue to graze out in the open their ending will be nigh.

Thats interesting. Definitely on the lower end GH-wise for Tangarine or shrimps in general

Yes by all accounts not ideal.

My working theory (hope) is that within reason tangerines can adapt to less than "perfect" Gh. They've been in the tank 4 months and from the picture yesterday seem healthy enough.
I've had the amano for 18 months and they are definitely enjoying life. **

** How do I know they are enjoying life... obviously I speak Japanese 🙄

 

[John q]

laetacara dorsigera

If I hadn't have gone with araguaiae I'd have probably gone with these,

 

[MichaelJ]

Thanks Connor, appreciate the comment.

I'd second that... your fish and shrimps looks very happy ***

Probably my bad for having two tanks in the same journal.

No, its A Tale of Two Roma's... you can't change the script now ... also your tanks are very similar so it makes a lot of sense to cover them together.

I've had the amano for 18 months and they are definitely enjoying life. **

** How do I know they are enjoying life... obviously I speak Japanese 🙄

Obviously!

*** and I can read fish and shrimps body language apparently.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[John q]

Ooh, look out, you rock 'n' rollers
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.

Decided at the back end of last year I'd change the layout in one of the tanks and so its begun. Going to be a slow going afair because I've a tank full of fish. Plan of attack is to slowly move from the left side of the tank and bit by bit change the layout. Won't be entering The International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest this year but hopefully it will look a tad more pleasing on the eye once finished. 😆

So to kick things off I've removed 2 pieces of dragon stone that were covered in moss and bba. For the conesuerss these were the Oyaishi and the Fukuishi stones that made up my Iwagumi attempt, or according to the wife "those rocks that look bloody awful", also removed a small sword plant.

Original picture of dragon stone from when the tank was set up over two years ago.

How it looks after removal.

Ludwigia ovalis sourced from Roland is putting out new growth which I'm happy about, however me thinks my lights a bit limited to bring out those lovely pinks that it had 2 weeks ago.
You'll also notice I've added in a bit more tetra active substrate, not really adding this in for its nutritional value "it doesn't contain very much" I'm adding it because the corydoras seem to prefer it to the gravel, who'd have thought 😉

Luckily I have plants that don't mind life under the fluvals.
Hydrocotyle leucocephala on water change day.

Fertiliser numbers for the bingo players in the house:
Ca 10 ppm, Mg 4 ppm. (Total including tap water)
No3 13.6 ppm
K 10.5 ppm
Po4 3.85 ppm
Urea 0.33 ppm
Fe 0.22 ppm Edta (from solufeed tec) 0.14 ppm Dtpa.
Mn 0.12 ppm

No3, Po4, Ca, Mg and K all front loaded. ppm are for 130L of water thats added.

And now for some fishy pics.

Lost one the angel fish when I was away at Christmas, think the one remaining is 💔

Bolivian rams.

Dwarf neon rainbows.

Gold laser cory.

And finally the camera loving otocinclus.

Thanks for reading.

 

[MichaelJ]

Fertiliser numbers for the bingo players in the house:

Ca 10 ppm, Mg 4 ppm. (Total including tap water)
No3 13.6 ppm
K 10.5 ppm
Po4 3.85 ppm
Urea 0.33 ppm
Fe 0.22 ppm Edta (from solufeed tec) 0.14 ppm Dtpa.
Mn 0.12 ppm

No3, Po4, Ca, Mg and K all front loaded. ppm are for 130L of water thats added.

... regardless of some slight disagreement on your numbers (I other words, I didn't get bingo... ), I do agree with your results! 👍

I like it much better without the rocks. More room for plants! ... and you kept the wood...thats good... woods good!

Cheers,
Michael

 

[hypnogogia]

Love the Laser Cory.

 

[MichaelJ]

btw, whats the red substrate in there? I am thinking about sprinkle a thin layer of some all red substrate over my Caribsea Eco complete (red)... which is not really not that "red" at all (I hate my substrate from a good heart, but I am not changing it out anytime soon).

Cheers,
Michael

 

[John q]

Love the Laser Cory.

Thanks, probably my favourite of the corys.

btw, whats the red substrate in there

Haha, unlucky with the bingo.

Its Tetra active substrate, contains a few minor trace elements, but not much. I usually soak and rinse it for a few days before adding it to the tank, tds in the soaking jug rises a little bit initially but seems to stop after about 3 days, that's when I add it to the tank.

Amazon product ASIN B00MBKBOGQ

 

[MichaelJ]

Its Tetra active substrate, contains a few minor trace elements, but not much. I usually soak and rinse it for a few days before adding it to the tank, tds in the soaking jug rises a little bit initially but seems to stop after about 3 days, that's when I add it to the tank.

Amazon product ASIN B00MBKBOGQ

Thanks. I will see if I can find it here - or something very similar.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[hypnogogia]

Thanks, probably my favourite of the corys.

I tried some in mine and of the 5 I bought 4 died within days of moving in. The retailer has refunded my money, but now I’ll only get some if they’re in stock at LFS and I can pick up myself to minimise transport and time in plastic bag. They’re rare, and difficult to find.