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Remanso . . .

More exciting news on the fish front. I'd almost given up on finding some of the species I wanted to stock after trying numerous stores, and then Wildwoods Enfield came up mega-trumps!

Keith the fish room manager came back to me and confirmed that they had Borneo Kuhli loaches (Pangio alternans) in stock (rarer than hens teeth) - they only had 10x left, but he said they also had about 10x Pangio cuneovirgata in the same tank with them! So I've taken the lot!

He also has 30x of the Reed Tetra (Hyphessobrycon elachys) in stock too, so it made sense to have those as well, even though I was planning to wait until the first round of shrimp births. They're all arriving Friday along with 25x Chilli Rasbora (Boraras brigittae) from Abyss (using up my credit note with them)!

Over the weekend I'll also move over my existing stock from the year long holding tank and close it down - about 6 mature Chilli's, 8-10x Habrosus Cory's (with babies that have appeared in the last week), 6x Pygmy Cory's and a couple of remaining Ember Tetras (both species of which we've had for over three and a half years now), and one lone male Endler that's now getting on for 3 years with us too!

Keith also advised that his supplier in Germany has stock of the Six ray Cory's (Corydoras (Aspidoras) pauciradiatus), so those will be here in 4-5 weeks along with the Threadfin Rainbows (Iriatherina werneri) which they are receiving this week, and will QT for me until the Cory's are ready to ship!

81008780.jpg


Final ones to move over will be 8x of the Chocolate Gourami juveniles that bred in my tank 18months or so ago - they're proper baby shrimp hunters, so I'll move them only when I'm happy that the shrimp are breeding well to sustain the predation.

Once they've all settled, I'll see what the stocking levels look like, and if things aren't too busy, then I might consider adding a small shoal of one of the following:

Tucano Tetra (Tucanoichthys tucano)
Ruby Tetra (Axelrodia riesei)
Hummingbird Tetra (Trochilocharax ornatus)
Dwarf Pencilfish (Nannostomus Marginatus)

Haven't decided which, so any thoughts welcome!
 
Wookii said:
CO2 delivery:

I have to admit that when I bought this JD Aquatec reactor, I didn't really have very high hopes for it. It's impossibly small for its rated volume (not my pic):

1645087598140-png.png


However I've been pleasantly surprised - it's reaching my target of around 15ppm on this 550 litre volume easily with less that 1.5bpm which is no mean feat. I am getting some bubbles coming out of the CO2 loop into the sump, even with the bypass fully open, so I assume I've over specified the Eheim CompactOn 1000 (I had assumed too much in losses from the loop), and need to scale back to a smaller 600lph one for even more efficient CO2 use.
Click to expand...
Have you got more information about this? and where you got it?
 
LondonDragon said:
Have you got more information about this? and where you got it?
Click to expand...

Hey Paulo - they're made by a German company called JDAquatec - you can find their website here: JDAquatec - STARTSEITE - I think they're a 'cottage industry' one man band type affair.

I bought the reactor just by contacting the owner Jörg Düren through the website. I think he only speaks German, and I don't speak German, so I think our e-mail exchange was entirely with the aid of copy and pastes from Google Translate! But it worked out fine.

There is some more technical detail on the reactor where we were discussing it in your thread (Page 11):

CO2 Reactor UK sellers?

And another user here who didn't feel it measured up (though I think pairing with the right pump and balancing the bypass has a big influence on its efficiency):

CO2 Reactor for small tank..which ones?

I am thinking of switching to an external CO2 reactor, as my existing NEO intank diffuser has started sending out larger bubbles even after the bleach cleaning method. This is also causing my external canister filter to burp often as the diffuser is close to the intake of the filter. Also a lot...
www.ukaps.org

Feel free to fire any questions at me and I'll try and answer them 👍
 
Wookii said:
There is some more technical detail on the reactor where we were discussing it in your thread (Page 11):
Click to expand...
Many thanks and totally missed it! I will do some reading :)
 
Hi, Wooki,
Which model are you using the Midi or the Maxi (with bypass)?
I've been toying with purchasing one of these for a while now, my current tank is 230l but would prefer to future proof for a 700l approx.
I'm currently using a Compact+ 2000 with a Sera Flore 1000 on a closed loop and although it's been running for 2 1/2 years now problem free I never 100% trust it.
I was wondering if the Maxi would be overkill for this tank.
Cheers!
 
bazz said:
Hi, Wooki,
Which model are you using the Midi or the Maxi (with bypass)?
I've been toying with purchasing one of these for a while now, my current tank is 230l but would prefer to future proof for a 700l approx.
I'm currently using a Compact+ 2000 with a Sera Flore 1000 on a closed loop and although it's been running for 2 1/2 years now problem free I never 100% trust it.
I was wondering if the Maxi would be overkill for this tank.
Cheers!
Click to expand...

I got the 16mm Midi @bazz :

1645041042163-png.png


I've obviously not pushed this to see the maximum it can achieve, but its easily hitting 15ppm on my 550 litres (ish) setup on a surprisingly low bubble rate (far less than I used to use to hit 30ppm on an inline diffusor on my previous 100 litre tank), and I'm fairly confident it could be ramped up to hit 30ppm without too much issue. I'd like to think it could be used to hit 30ppm on a 1000 litre tank, even if the 2000 litre rating in the spec is perhaps a bit optimistic (though who knows, it might do it).

I don't think there would be any downsides to stepping up the the Maxi, as long as you hit the target flow rate through it, though whether its necessary, I'm not sure.
 
Wookii said:
More exciting news on the fish front. I'd almost given up on finding some of the species I wanted to stock after trying numerous stores, and then Wildwoods Enfield came up mega-trumps!

Keith the fish room manager came back to me and confirmed that they had Borneo Kuhli loaches (Pangio alternans) in stock (rarer than hens teeth) - they only had 10x left, but he said they also had about 10x Pangio cuneovirgata in the same tank with them! So I've taken the lot!

He also has 30x of the Reed Tetra (Hyphessobrycon elachys) in stock too, so it made sense to have those as well, even though I was planning to wait until the first round of shrimp births. They're all arriving Friday along with 25x Chilli Rasbora (Boraras brigittae) from Abyss (using up my credit note with them)!

Over the weekend I'll also move over my existing stock from the year long holding tank and close it down - about 6 mature Chilli's, 8-10x Habrosus Cory's (with babies that have appeared in the last week), 6x Pygmy Cory's and a couple of remaining Ember Tetras (both species of which we've had for over three and a half years now), and one lone male Endler that's now getting on for 3 years with us too!

Keith also advised that his supplier in Germany has stock of the Six ray Cory's (Corydoras (Aspidoras) pauciradiatus), so those will be here in 4-5 weeks along with the Threadfin Rainbows (Iriatherina werneri) which they are receiving this week, and will QT for me until the Cory's are ready to ship!

View attachment 208670

Final ones to move over will be 8x of the Chocolate Gourami juveniles that bred in my tank 18months or so ago - they're proper baby shrimp hunters, so I'll move them only when I'm happy that the shrimp are breeding well to sustain the predation.

Once they've all settled, I'll see what the stocking levels look like, and if things aren't too busy, then I might consider adding a small shoal of one of the following:

Tucano Tetra (Tucanoichthys tucano)
Ruby Tetra (Axelrodia riesei)
Hummingbird Tetra (Trochilocharax ornatus)
Dwarf Pencilfish (Nannostomus Marginatus)

Haven't decided which, so any thoughts welcome!
Click to expand...
Excited for you. Great selection of fish. Can we have lots of photo's when in and settled please?
 
ScareCrow said:
Excited for you. Great selection of fish. Can we have lots of photo's when in and settled please?
Click to expand...

Thanks mate, yeah I'm really excited to get tomorrows stock in - especially the Reed Tetra's - I been drooling over those for well over a year and a half:

www.ukaps.org

Purple/Blue/Royal Emperor Tetra (Inpaichthys Kerri) experiences . . .

Just checking with everyone on here to see if anyone has kept Inpaichthys Kerri - aka Purple Emperor / Blue Emperor / Royal Tetra before. I can find lots of 'fact file' information online, but little in the way of real owner experiences. This fish is largely suggested to remain at up to...
www.ukaps.org

Yes, definitely on the photos. I just need to master setting the white balance correctly - as you can probably see from a number of the images in this thread, the RGB led lights play havoc with white balance making it very difficult to get an image that looks anything like it does in real life.

I'm working on the photo situation - and dealing with the reflections for a FTS. As you can see from the reflection in this early photo - the holding tank is on a table directly opposite the tank, so space in front of it is a little limited to get a camera and tripod in. Once that goes following the existing stock transfer this weekend, I'll have a lot more room, and then I can look to possibly rig up a frame to hang a some black velvet sheets I have spare, to act as a screen to get some decent reflection free images.
 
I'm happy if I can get picture quality that looks like it's been taken using a camera from this century, never mind colour balance and dealing with glare. So thank you for going to all that extra effort.
I'm a big fan of Kuhli loaches so looking forward to seeing some different species.
 
ScareCrow said:
I'm happy if I can get picture quality that looks like it's been taken using a camera from this century, never mind colour balance and dealing with glare. So thank you for going to all that extra effort.
Click to expand...

It is a little frustrating I'll be honest - I'm fairly tech-savvy, but I see some great photos on this forum, and I can't seem to get close - I'm missing a trick somewhere and I will find it!

ScareCrow said:
I'm a big fan of Kuhli loaches so looking forward to seeing some different species.
Click to expand...

It's going to be the the first time I've kept them, so a bit of a voyage of discovery!

Keith from Wildwoods has told me that the Cuneovirgata are juveniles, so quite small and timid currently, so I'm expecting them to be tiny (as they are only 40mm at adult size!) and not to see them very often initially. He tells me that the Alternans on the other are a good size (again they only max out at 80mm according to SF) and are quite bold by comparison.
 
The purple emperor tetra is a great choice. I have some and they colour up really nicely. Kuhli loaches are great too. not big but lovely characters. I don't often see mine but they come out at feeding time, and sometime literally hang out together, a few of them at a time hanging over the branch of a plant, or on the wood.
 
hypnogogia said:
The purple emperor tetra is a great choice.
Click to expand...

Yeah I do love Purple Emperors, I've always admired them in shops - and was going to get them at one point, but was advised they might be a little too boisterous with the other stock choices which are all quite placid.
 
Wookii said:
Yeah I do love Purple Emperors, I've always admired them in shops - and was going to get them at one point, but was advised they might be a little too boisterous with the other stock choices which are all quite placid.
Click to expand...
They are quite feisty.. I had a group of the extra blue bred variety some years ago. They didnt do well and basically seemed to chase and harass each other to death in quite short order :oops:
I think they might need to be in a very large group to avoid interspecies bullying, and probably with tankmates that wont be too intimidated.
They're a beautiful looking fish but their behavior really put me off them :confused:
 
So everything went well with the introduction of the new fish, plus the old holding tank was broken down and the fish transferred over.

There ended up being a fair few more Habrosus Cories than I realised, and it appears my removal of a load of plant mass in the preceding weeks had trigged them to start breeding! So there were a number of little guys that had to be sucked up in a pipette which was fairly painstaking:

IMG_4252.jpeg


IMG_4253.jpeg


As I know Chilli’s can occasionally jump, I added some expanding foam strip to the rear of the tank, so if they try and make the 'jump of glory' they hopefully bounce back into the tank. I also added some down the side of the tank to remove the gap and neaten it up (#OCDrules 😂):

IMG_4265.jpeg


IMG_4266.jpeg


In the above image you can also see the Guppy Grass that now needs trimming. This was just a couple of small strands included in the shipping bag with the Black Rose shrimp for them to hold onto. I know it’s the lowest of low tech plants, but I really liked the look of its fine leaves and the contrast they gave to the other plants, so stuck it in between some other plants and as expected it’s really taken off. The shrimp love going on it, and the fish appear love swimming in amongst it.

IMG_4273.jpeg


The new fish are settling in well. The Sedge tetra have hung out at the rear of the tank in the gloom until yesterday evening when they started to explore. I will try and catch an image of them soon, but they currently swim off too fast.

They can look quite plain in online images but in reality they have a beautiful distinct blue metallic sheen to their flanks when the light catches them, and occasionally blue eyes if the light catches them right. Some of the males are already flaring their fins to one another and the females. Hopefully the diet of live food I have for them will only enhance both.

The Pangios are starting to show themselves during daylight now too - though the bigger Alternans are more confident and easier to photograph than the smaller Cuneovirgatas. A few images showing their beautiful markings:

IMG_4270.jpeg


IMG_4271.jpeg


IMG_4272.jpeg


I do love the way they suddenly appear from the undergrowth like little snakes. During the day, they are quite shy, and peaceful, but at night they are currently going mental up and down the corners of the tank making big divots in the sand. I don't know if this is normal Pangio behaviour or just settling into a new environment - I did check with Keith at Wildwoods, and he said it was normal, and "all Pangios are nutters" 😂

Finally an angled FTS - not a very good one, but it'll have to suffice for now 😅

FTS.jpg


I should add that, despite adding another 75 fish to the tank, for a running total of around 135 fish, I currently see less than about 10-15 fish at any one time, other than at feeding time when they all appear. It is what I wanted, fish to unseen and comfortable in their hiding places, as much as they are seen, but I had to laugh to myself when I added the 75 fish, and an hour later couldn't see a single one of them! 😂
 
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