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Facebook Bargain Fluval Roma 200

So I have been wish listing a few more plants for this tank (who would have guessed it? 😀)

Found an Ebay seller that is offering some Different Lagenandra Species in In Vitro Portion Cups
Lagenandra Keralensis
lagenandra-keralensis.jpg
Lagenandra Thwaitesii
lagenandra-thwaitesii.jpg


I figured at the price offered it was worth a punt on a couple of each of these, once i see a bit more growth in the plants within this tank.

I have also moved over the Filter Media from the Fluval Evo last night (I loaded the back with as much additional sponge media as i could locate a few months ago in preparation for this tank) as well as connect my InkBird Temp Controller and completed a small cable tidy inside the cabinet
 
You might want to run some carbon and filter floss temporarily and it might be my imagination, I find some botanical additions, mainly alder cones, oak and beech leaves in my case, counter intuitive help clear a tank of the micro grey. The fish you are choosing might like a few leaves amongst the cobbles as well.
But honestly, it looks natural. My style of tank, though I just end up with a green jungle and largely hidden fish myself, no matter how hard I try. When I do a really big prune, what I call the hippopotamus munch (rear access thank, finesse is impossible), my wife always says, "I didn't realise you had so many fish".
 
Connswater said:
You might want to run some carbon and filter floss temporarily and it might be my imagination, I find some botanical additions, mainly alder cones, oak and beech leaves in my case, counter intuitive help clear a tank of the micro grey. The fish you are choosing might like a few leaves amongst the cobbles as well.
But honestly, it looks natural. My style of tank, though I just end up with a green jungle and largely hidden fish myself, no matter how hard I try. When I do a really big prune, what I call the hippopotamus munch (rear access thank, finesse is impossible), my wife always says, "I didn't realise you had so many fish".
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I will be adding some Filter Floss to the system at some point, the water will clear up eventually its just the unrinsed sand that's dusting up the place every time that I decide to plant or move something.

I hope to go on a gathering trip this weekend, as I want a few more Boulder Sized Stones for the tank as well as some Branches and Twigs as well as some leaf litter. I do need to be careful though as the agreement with the better half was not to let this tank "be like that twiggy mess" that my Fluval Evo was (which i loved) but I am on the look out for some Coconut leaves as well as maybe some husks to add to the tank as i've been reading a lot about the Western Ghats and have seen these mentioned more than a few times.
 
wearsbunnyslippers said:
you should consider adding some more gravel that is in between the sand and the smaller gravel in size, just to add one more level of detail. love the sloping layout 🙂
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Thats the plan for this weekend once i pick up some more plants for the tank
 
I absolutely adore these Kuhli Loaches
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They're very active in the evening and into the night which is when I typically enjoy the tank as the lights shift down.

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They're also keeping the rocks tidy with the constant snuffling for food. They are banking up the sandbed in places which is entertaining to see too.
 
Moved across the original Harlequin Rasboras from the EVO to this tank today. The size difference is quite obvious
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The school is looking much better now however
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I am slowly removing the Frog Bit from this tank and donating it to a goldfish keeper nearby who is very appreciative. This is allowing the Water Lettuce and Salvinia to take over the top which I do prefer in all honesty as the roots are more delicate and provide a better look.

Trying to decide whether I should look at Bio Film and algae eaters as the next addition or carry on with the plan of Glass Catfish and Gourami (Pearl)
 
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Growing in nicely, tried removing as much Salvinia as possible leaving only the water Lettuce and some tiny red root floaters.

Fish are settling in nicely and the stems may need a bit of a trim and replant. Going to look at the Gourami this weekend and reserve or order them for collection for after payday
 
Thank you @Cazza I am very much enjoying how the tank is starting to shape up, the Glass Catfish are awesome too (although no one else in the house agrees with me). Once the Gourami's are purchased and in the tank i will be working more on the little Goby Evo unless a plant species or three become available to me.

I would like a few more plants in here, the Stem plants are now starting to fully take hold and I have been trimming and replanting these as I go and as I shuffle the tank around so that I can get some nice bushy outcroppings.
I would also down the line like to try a Nymphea Lotus or two as well as a few more stem plants.

The Bucephalandra's that I purchases from Tissue Culture a few months ago are all going strong and I should shortly (hopefully) be in a position to be able to hopefully swap these for some plants that I want in the tank, this is referring to the Pygmea Bukit Kalem and the Kedagang. The Micranthra Needles Leaf however seems to have done nothing, no noticeable new growth but also no melt either so I am unsure what to do here other then attempt to position this in more or higher light so need to look into those little suction cup glass planters I think

I am also wishing that I had put some film or a background onto the tank when i set it up as the view of the wall and the cable or two is annoying me more and more the more i view it 😀
 
I picked up a small group (8) of Pearl Gourami Juvenile's on 28/03/2025 and this morning put them in the main tank after a few weeks in QT.
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I am happy with the stocking of this tank as far as fish goes. I am aware that I may/most likely have to keep an eye on the group and remove any additional males that I identify moving forwards

Now I will be concentrating on growing out the fish as well as working on the plants.

I swapped some Dwarf Water Lettuce for some trimmings of Rotala Rotundifolia when I picked up the Gourami after having a chat with someone else in the LFS, currently I have these in small pots as I am not overly confident that they will do well in this tank without CO2 injection but wanted to see what would happen. I have done this also as I want to play with the design/aquascape placement of the plants as well as only previously having experience with Epiphytes and Rosette plants.

Speaking of Stem Plants I recently trimmed the Hygrophila Triflora Difformis that I received a while back from @Cazza and planted the trimmings back into the substrate, I really like this plant, the growth rate as well as how it branches off when trimmed. I am assuming that this is what I shall be doing with the Rotala as well as any other stem plant?

The Lagenandra Meeboldii Red's are again getting massive, the one on the left I am relatively confident that I could split down from the Rhizome if I so wanted as this rhizome is roughly 10cm in length. The other does not appear to have much Rhizome growth but seems to rapidly pushing out multiple new leaves on a monthly basis.

I am also getting a lot of Growth from the Microsorum Pteropus with both growth from the Rhizome as well as a few plants producing new plantlets from the leaves themselves. I will be looking at slowly removing this from the tank over time, maybe keeping the largest bunches to provide some interest/contrast/cover.

The Bucephalandra's as normal seem to be plodding along merrily, I might see if I can locate a nice branch/stick to place within the tank and have a Buce branch if I can find something that I feel would work well with the Aquascape, would also be nice to have something that breaks the water's surface so that I dont have to reduce the Water Lettuce quite so much as well as provide some unshaded area's within the tank sot hat I can potentially improve my growing skills of other plants (namely the needle leaf Buce)

The Vallisneria still seems to elude me, I get some really good growth from them for a month or two, leaves getting relatively long (60-70cm) and sending out runners. Then they seem to just melt away. I will try and get some photographs of this. I am thinking that it maybe that I need to insert some more root tabs under these as this maybe a nutrient deficiency?

I would still like to attempt a Nymphea Lotus in this tank or even a Crinum Thaianum, as well as maybe a couple of different types of Lagenandra that I have seen various places online
 
Ratvan said:
aka the water noodles
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I'm never calling them kuhli loaches ever again! Lovely tank and stocking. I say go for it with the lotus, but that's just because I want one 😂
 
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