Long-Term Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank (new video on page 6)

[fandango]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank

Looks really impressive. Really like the combination of the harlequins and the cardinals. The shape looks nicely balanced too.

Thank you Spider Pig,

The combination of cardinals and harlequins is certainly unusual. To be honest I am in a process of changing from cardinals to harlequins (the cardinals are all very old and I'm not getting any new ones...). It is interesting to note that the school of the cardinals inhabit the bottom part and harlequins- the middle part of the tank. Perhaps you are right and without the cardinals the tank would loose a certain colour accent it now has..

The plants are encouraged to grow creating an off-centre 'V' shape (golden ratio?). I like this shape because it hides the equipment on both sides of the tank so well - I'm all for the natural look and hate seeing any of the equipment in my tank.
The ferns are growing on two big peaces of bogwood- a diagonally positioned one rested on a vertical stump-like one on the far left- the two creating a cave, which corries and bristle nose love.

Best,
fandango

 

[LondonDragon]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank

Like those Rams too 😉 I have tried to keep them twice and twice they died after a couple of week, so no more rams for me!!

 

[fandango]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank

Like those Rams too 😉 I have tried to keep them twice and twice they died after a couple of week, so no more rams for me!!

Thanks London Dragon,

Yes they certainly do have a lot of personality for such a small fish but, unfortunately, they do have only a couple of years life span..

Best,
fandango

 

[jay]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank

Great tank there fella, love the carpet mix... structured mess 🙂 Don't get better than tenellus and moss in my opinion.
Your rams look mighty impressive (like mine 😉 ) Dutch?

To LondonDragon: Shame about the rams you've lost, probably nothing to do with you as a fish keeper though. Got to be very careful with a lot of rams nowadays, unless they are Dutch or Czech. Would steer well clear of Asian bred ones.
Would always recommend a pair of rams for a tank, brilliant fish.

 

[Spider Pig]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank

This reminds me of one of the prizewinning aquascapes where the guy made an expanding path of sand between the two mounds to create the illusion of depth.

 

[fandango]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank

Great tank there fella, love the carpet mix... structured mess 🙂 Don't get better than tenellus and moss in my opinion.
Your rams look mighty impressive (like mine 😉 ) Dutch?

Thank you jay,

I seem to remember they were Czeck-bred when I bought them in my LFS about a year ago- the Shepperton MA.

Best,
fandango

 

[fandango]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank

This reminds me of one of the prizewinning aquascapes where the guy made an expanding path of sand between the two mounds to create the illusion of depth.

Thank you Spider Pig,

Yes, it does create a feeling of depth. Also the two batches of crypts at the front on both sides of the tank enhance this effect too.

Best,
fandango

 

[fandango]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank



This is my male ram. He is almost read (I haven't photoshoped him). He is at least twice as big as the female for one simple reason (well- two reasons, first being- he is a male 🙂) - he eats Tetra Prima and the female doesn't. Nothing is going to convince her that Tetra Prima is a food... Often you read- 'starve the fish and it will start eating certain foods after a while'. Well, I can tell you, even if she didn't eat for weeks she still spits out the stuff like it was a peace of gravel with an accusing expression in her face to make me feel guilty...

 

[Joecoral]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank

that's a nice looking ram! odd that the female wont eat prima, all my fish used to eat it
typical fussy female eh

 

[fandango]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank

that's a nice looking ram! odd that the female wont eat prima, all my fish used to eat it
typical fussy female eh

Thanks Joecoral,

Well, I don't want to get in trouble of being accused 'sexist' here 😀 . Let's just say- she prefers the real thing to the cheep stuff 😉 . You could say that she's got more class!

Best,
fandango

 

[beeky]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank

Oh, forgot to ask - how big is the tank?

Read the title of the topic 🙄 🙄

Doh! I never did do well in the observation rounds......

 

[Ray]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank

Lovely looking tank, the well established ferns and anubia on impressively large wood reminds me of the earlier Amano work in Nature Aquarium 1... Tell me, do your Rasbora Hengli school well and if so is that just because of the Rams or part of thier nature? They are nice fish, on my shopping list at the moment...
Also do the cherries actually manage to breed and replenish thier numbers with all those Rasbora and Rams hunting them?

 

[fandango]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank

Thank you Ray,

Tell me, do your Rasbora Hengli school well and if so is that just because of the Rams or part of thier nature? They are nice fish, on my shopping list at the moment...

I really like Rasbora Hengeli. They do school well at all times even if they are not threatened by larger fish. There are two similar fish Trigonostigma hengeli and Trigonostigma espei. With age Trignostigma espei acquire a really deep copper-like glow. They look stunning. If I had a better camera I would post a picture of a single one to show this incredible deep colour- they are simply too fast-moving for the camera I have...

do the cherries actually manage to breed and replenish thier numbers with all those Rasbora and Rams hunting them?

The babies of cherries do manage to survive in the thick lawn of Tenellus and moss but the ones who have the best chance are the ones, which end up inside the Eheim filter under the bottom media basket. Every three months or so, when I clean the filter, I collect a large number of cherries of different generations and release them back in the tank. They do not survive inside the Fluval.

Best,
fandango

 

[sari]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank

I think this set up is bsolutely gorgeous! I have hengelis in my 60 litre tank and I highly recommend them too. The neon "sswish" looks beautiful amongst plants and they shoal better than many other small tetras or rasboras.

 

[joyous214]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank

thats a stunning ram.

 

[fandango]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank

I think this set up is bsolutely gorgeous! I have hengelis in my 60 litre tank and I highly recommend them too. The neon "sswish" looks beautiful amongst plants and they shoal better than many other small tetras or rasboras.

Thank you sari,
What I like about this tank it is its consistency. As I've stated here before- I can either trim and shape every week or leave it for up to three months untouched and the basic look and health of the set-up stays more less the same.
Hengelis, I think I have mixture of Trigonostigma hengeli and Trigonostigma espei, are stunning fish. The more mature espei become the more copper hue they acquire.
I'm going to get some more cardinals fairly soon as their numbers in the tank have dropped to about 20. I guess I've changed my mind of not getting any new ones for this tank.

thats a stunning ram.

He's now on his own. The female past away.. I don't know if it was because she refused to eat Tetra Prima and only survived on baby cherries or snails and my irregular feeds with artemia or the fact that she was a already about 2 years old. I miss her. She had more personality then all the other fish put together.

 

[Ray]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank

...but the ones who have the best chance are the ones, which end up inside the Eheim filter under the bottom media basket. Every three months or so, when I clean the filter, I collect a large number of cherries of different generations and release them back in the tank.

Ah yes, there is about an inch of headroom at the bottom of the Eheim, amazing they can live there in the dark on a diet of flotsum! Your face must have been a picture the first time you found them there!

 

[joyous214]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank

oh im so sorry to hear that, i love fish with personality. I have a plec like that he just wonderful, i recently lost his pal a silver shark who was a few screws loss, needless to say i almost gave up after lossing him. But he is under a plant in the back garden. (RIP)

 

[fandango]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank

(...) there is about an inch of headroom at the bottom of the Eheim, amazing they can live there in the dark on a diet of flotsum! Your face must have been a picture the first time you found them there!

Hi Ray,
Yes- my face must have looked something like this 🙄 🙄 🙄 . They really do very well in there. For the tanks with fish hunting the baby shrimps it's a good way of protecting them until they have grown to a safe size. The darkness doesn't seem to affect them in any way- even the colouring is strong.

oh im so sorry to hear that, i love fish with personality. I have a plec like that he just wonderful, i recently lost his pal a silver shark who was a few screws loss, needless to say i almost gave up after lossing him. But he is under a plant in the back garden. (RIP)

Hi joyous214,
Sorry to hear about your silver shark.

Best,
fandango

 

[keymaker]

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank

(...) there is about an inch of headroom at the bottom of the Eheim, amazing they can live there in the dark on a diet of flotsum! Your face must have been a picture the first time you found them there!

Hi Ray,
Yes- my face must have looked something like this 🙄 🙄 🙄 . They really do very well in there. For the tanks with fish hunting the baby shrimps it's a good way of protecting them until they have grown to a safe size. The darkness doesn't seem to affect them in any way- even the colouring is strong.

Well, my dwarf rasboras did the same and survived at the bottom of my Eheim filter... 🙂