The Nymph's Spring (EA900)

[shangman]

I love your use of twigs and such to add that natural vibe

Thanks so much! I love your tanks too, fellow twig-lover Honestly it's mad how much twigs make things look more natural

Organised chaos…? Harmonious style…?

Great skills @shangman beautiful work whatever the label!

Big thank you!! 😁 Talking about this made me realise that my aquarium "design" style is actually very similar to my fashion design ethos, even though they look very different with very different formats! Didn't start out thinking that aquariums are a disciplined art form and practice, but I definitely do now! And I love that I can define what that means to myself. I think I prefer the tanks to the fashion now though, whoops!

Still got a long way to go, a lot of growing to do, very exciting!

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For ages I've been trying to work out how to DIY raise my twinstar light, and a few weeks ago realised that Litiaquaria (whose tanks I LOVE they're so colourful yet natural) sold a hanging kit for a variety of lights including twinstar. It's basically 2 custom-made clips that slide over the light, with tension wire and 2 big hooks at the top. Simple and great. I used basic cheap copper pipes in a U shape to make a bar across my shelf (that's above the tank) for the hooks to attatch to. Slightly annoying, the shelf I installed years ago and has gold brackets, the aquarium gear is all chrome and now this copper bar! 3 metal seems a biiiiit dodgy, might have to gold leaf the bar to match! Anyway it was very low effort considering the effect!

IT'S GREAT! It just suddenly opens up the tank to the room, it feels much more part of the room and much more beautiful. Just seeing the whole top is great, I forget about how deep it is with the bar in the middle breaking it up.

The surface is a whole new area to get looking beautiful, now the top is fully open and has height. I have a schismatoglotis roseospatha along the top of my wood and some of it's leaves stick out the water, but all the emergent leaves end up burnt on one edge by hitting the light, so now they can grow a bit healthier and beautiful. What other emergent plants would you guys suggest? The ones I have atm are just as good in other tanks so I can try all sorts of different plants (ludwigias and rotalas grow amazingly for me as emergents/just below surface plants in my lowtech nano, no need for them in this tank!). I'm thinking hygrophila lancea/araguia emersed. Also kinda wanna try a nice grass? Maybe experimentally bloodgrass? IDK, but I think I can go for something a bit more fab. Another big OOH MAYBE is the Aeschynomene fluitans. I want to make the top a really special part of the tank, I have this theory that it will be better for the fish too, having the light broken up further, I have noticed they will sue the top of the tank more if it has better cover. Also just think it will look awesome.

The back of my tank is now way more illuminated now due to the wider spread. Tbh the back has always had dodgy growth - because of the wood disrupting the flow and also being so close to the light that it shadowed the back of the tank. Now the light is higher it's spread is wider. Really hoping that with this and the shedload of root tabs I've added in the back (which already seem to be taking effect), the nice big echinodorus can grow lovely and big (and also hopefully stick out the top). It's quite cool how my wall blue and the tank blue are two different colours, I think from all the leaves I added staining the water to be a bit more green.

FINALLY... maintenance is way easier now too, again because the light and the wood were so close I couldn't reach the back from the front and had to move the furniture to get to the back via the sides. Now I can reach and see and do maintenance waaayyyyy easier.

It's hard to show you the right angles of it that I see with this camera as my room isn't big enough to get more in frame, tho I might try and stand on a chair tomoz to get one of the whole top in a good way.

 

[shangman]

I've started organising and writing my botanicals article/thread. I'm hoping to post it during the holidays. At the moment it includes this:

• An introduction post on why botanicals are great/what the thread is about
• A post on What makes a "good" botanical for collecting, how/where to collect & prepare. Kinda an FAQ sort of bit. Also lots of links to further reading (have saved all the links you guys have sent me).
• A post with a massive table (not completely sure how I'm gonna do this but have asked @LondonDragon for advice) which lists all the botanicals we know work well, plus botanicals we think probably will, plus botanicals that shouldn't be used (ideally with some sort of green/yellow/red colours somewhere so it's clear). I've been collating from around UKAPS and the internet which plants people are using successfully to make the table, and will be including my own experiences & my dad's guesses lol.
• A post with a table on some specific plants good for food like dried green walnut leaves, nettles, etc. Since botanicals feed a lot of my fish (my otos don't eat any algae wafers or courgette now I have lots of botanicals), I thought this might be a nice little thing to go with everything else. TBH my tank looks better for not have courgette on sticks any more, and my otos are still fat!
• A post featuring users lovely aquariums full of interesting botanicals they've collected to inspire people
• ???? Any other ideas?

I want the thread to be collaborative, the table won't be complete and I am hoping it will inspire people to contribute so we can grow it. So hoping it can just be a big long great discussion for years, and I'm hpoing it will help prepare us for next Autumn so we can all go out and gather all sorts of good stuff!


Also, I'm quite excited that I found this great account on Instagram, they put bracken in their aquarium. Bracken is known to be poisonous, but also that boiling it seems to denature the poison. I asked and they said they boiled it and that everything in the tank was doing great. It looks fabulous and grows everywhere, so that's awesome.

In preparation of starting this thread and realising I should take some more nice botanical pictures for it, I chucked a big handful of leaves into the tank yesterday. I used magnolia grandiflora, chestnut and randomly a few dried leaves of a thaumatophyllum houseplant we have that dropped off. Honestly I just love how the tank looks when you chuck leaves in and they slowly sink over a few days, it looks so peaceful. The fish love investigating them.

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The palm flower stalk has lasted 2 months and it's really starting to suffer, the otos have eaten off almost all the outer layer and all the sinew is exposed. I won't get rid of it yet, so far it's my favourite botanical. Luckily there are a few more on the plant in my neighbors garden that they don't mind if I have. I love the notion of temporary hardscape, and using these bigger more dramatic botanicals to create temporary structure and transform the tank. I am not planning on being one of those people who redoes a tank completely every year, sounds exhausting and expensive, and tbh I like the structure of this tank a lot. But I really like the idea of sourcing interesting botanicals to temporarily transform it every few months to give a different vibe and interest for the fish. I think already you can see that in this thread and I hope I can keep doing it for quite a while. I am so into botanicals as another essential aspect of the aquarium alongside plants and hardscape.

 

[Wolf6]

I've started organising and writing my botanicals article/thread. I'm hoping to post it during the holidays. At the moment it includes this:

• An introduction post on why botanicals are great/what the thread is about
• A post on What makes a "good" botanical for collecting, how/where to collect & prepare. Kinda an FAQ sort of bit. Also lots of links to further reading (have saved all the links you guys have sent me).
• A post with a massive table (not completely sure how I'm gonna do this but have asked @LondonDragon for advice) which lists all the botanicals we know work well, plus botanicals we think probably will, plus botanicals that shouldn't be used (ideally with some sort of green/yellow/red colours somewhere so it's clear). I've been collating from around UKAPS and the internet which plants people are using successfully to make the table, and will be including my own experiences & my dad's guesses lol.
• A post with a table on some specific plants good for food like dried green walnut leaves, nettles, etc. Since botanicals feed a lot of my fish (my otos don't eat any algae wafers or courgette now I have lots of botanicals), I thought this might be a nice little thing to go with everything else. TBH my tank looks better for not have courgette on sticks any more, and my otos are still fat!
• A post featuring users lovely aquariums full of interesting botanicals they've collected to inspire people
• ???? Any other ideas?

I want the thread to be collaborative, the table won't be complete and I am hoping it will inspire people to contribute so we can grow it. So hoping it can just be a big long great discussion for years, and I'm hpoing it will help prepare us for next Autumn so we can all go out and gather all sorts of good stuff!


Also, I'm quite excited that I found this great account on Instagram, they put bracken in their aquarium. Bracken is known to be poisonous, but also that boiling it seems to denature the poison. I asked and they said they boiled it and that everything in the tank was doing great. It looks fabulous and grows everywhere, so that's awesome.

​

In preparation of starting this thread and realising I should take some more nice botanical pictures for it, I chucked a big handful of leaves into the tank yesterday. I used magnolia grandiflora, chestnut and randomly a few dried leaves of a thaumatophyllum houseplant we have that dropped off. Honestly I just love how the tank looks when you chuck leaves in and they slowly sink over a few days, it looks so peaceful. The fish love investigating them.

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The palm flower stalk has lasted 2 months and it's really starting to suffer, the otos have eaten off almost all the outer layer and all the sinew is exposed. I won't get rid of it yet, so far it's my favourite botanical. Luckily there are a few more on the plant. I love the notion of temporary hardscape, and using these bigger more dramatic botanicals to create temporary structure and transform the tank. I am not planning on being one of those people who redoes a tank completely every year, sounds exhausting and expensive, and tbh I like the structure of this tank a lot. But I really like the idea of sourcing interesting botanicals to temporarily transform it every few months to give a different vibe and interest for the fish. I think already you can see that in this thread and I hope I can keep doing it for quite a while. I am so into botanicals as another essential aspect of the aquarium alongside plants and hardscape.

Really looking forward to it and hope I'll be able to add to it.

 

[shangman]

Really looking forward to it and hope I'll be able to add to it.

That would be so great! I think it'll be beneficial and fun for us all

I'm more and more convinced that botanicals really improve our tank's habitat for our creatures. The tank is buzzing with activity, the fish really live in all areas of the tank top to bottom front to back, it feels serene and natural in a reassuring way.

 

[Paul27]

That would be so great! I think it'll be beneficial and fun for us all

I'm more and more convinced that botanicals really improve our tank's habitat for our creatures. The tank is buzzing with activity, the fish really live in all areas of the tank top to bottom front to back, it feels serene and natural in a reassuring way.

Definitely agree with this, I only started using botanicals this year and they have completely changed my outlook on how I set a tank up now. Leaf litter especially, watching the fish go in and out of it hunting is great to watch, feel like it influences there behaviour too.

 

[shangman]

Definitely agree with this, I only started using botanicals this year and they have completely changed my outlook on how I set a tank up now. Leaf litter especially, watching the fish go in and out of it hunting is great to watch, feel like it influences there behaviour too.

Totally, the proof is really in using them and seeing for yourself what an improvement it makes for the fish! And the shrimps too.

You're right that the leaves are especially the gamechanger, the way piles of leaves encourage the fish to forage and hunt for their own food was a totally new set of behaviours for me and so satisfying to watch. It's obviously great enrichment, and so much more habitat with that extra surface area, lots of good food for them to go for. I think I'll always keep dead leaves in my freshwater tanks, I'm writing up a botanicals thread to investigate what different botanicals can be used so our botanical-heavy aquariums can still look different and interesting from eachother, and give us all the benefits in behaviour.

 

[Paul27]

Totally, the proof is really in using them and seeing for yourself what an improvement it makes for the fish! And the shrimps too.

You're right that the leaves are especially the gamechanger, the way piles of leaves encourage the fish to forage and hunt for their own food was a totally new set of behaviours for me and so satisfying to watch. It's obviously great enrichment, and so much more habitat with that extra surface area, lots of good food for them to go for. I think I'll always keep dead leaves in my freshwater tanks, I'm writing up a botanicals thread to investigate what different botanicals can be used so our botanical-heavy aquariums can still look different and interesting from eachother, and give us all the benefits in behaviour.

Will be looking forward to when you get this thread started.
Everyone who uses botanicals could add to it with there experience with what they have used in regards to how they effect PH, colour of tint it causes in the water and also if they have gone from not using botanicals to using them and what effect is has had on the inhabitants. I do think there is alot more things we could use on our aquariums but possibly not widely known and hopefully this new thread could shine alight on them.

 

[Deano3]

That sounds like will be a great read and very helpful for the likes of me who hasnt ventured into botanicals

Thanks cant wait 😊

 

[shangman]

Turn your back for one week and...

It seems that the plants like the light raised! I pulled out loads of hydrocotyle last week and now there's so much more, and the floating plants have gone bananas!! The echinodoruses are also growing much faster, and this random philodendron cutting my dad got for free from a terrarium shop is loving it (that's the pink thing in the top left).

Interestingly but also probs unsurprisingly all the fish are using the top of the tank a lot more, even the apistos are up there all the time. I really love it!! The sparkling gourami pair have bred and are chasing Master Apisto around, he's getting a taste of his own medicine!

ATM I'm still cutting this growth back so that the back plants get lots of light and grow bigger, but once they're thicker I think I'll let it cover like this and try some pencilfish. I know they're known as jumpers but I think if I can provide them with a thicket like this it might go well. Looking forward to adding some other interesting emergent plants when I gave time to go to a shop soon too (really want that water mimosa and hygrophila araguia).

If anyone wants some basic hydrocotyle, (green) red root floater or a mix of floating plants I seem to be pulling out a bagful a week!

 

[shangman]

Will be looking forward to when you get this thread started.
Everyone who uses botanicals could add to it with there experience with what they have used in regards to how they effect PH, colour of tint it causes in the water and also if they have gone from not using botanicals to using them and what effect is has had on the inhabitants. I do think there is alot more things we could use on our aquariums but possibly not widely known and hopefully this new thread could shine alight on them.

I am too! It's that classic thing when I suggested starting it that nothing much was happening in my life and now suddenly in super busy 😂 but it is on the way just writing little bits here and there. I imagine just as you do, people sharing their experiences and helping others feel more confident to try, especially to try plants that can really enhance the beauty of our aquariums.

My last big botanical had finally been nibbled to nothing so I've got space to try a new one, good timing to start 👀

That sounds like will be a great read and very helpful for the likes of me who hasnt ventured into botanicals

Thanks cant wait 😊

Oooooh you've got so much cool stuff to try! Super exciting, your fish will love it. I'll have to hurry up 😂

 

[Paul27]

I am too! It's that classic thing when I suggested starting it that nothing much was happening in my life and now suddenly in super busy 😂 but it is on the way just writing little bits here and there. I imagine just as you do, people sharing their experiences and helping others feel more confident to try, especially to try plants that can really enhance the beauty of our aquariums.

My last big botanical had finally been nibbled to nothing so I've got space to try a new one, good timing to start 👀


Oooooh you've got so much cool stuff to try! Super exciting, your fish will love it. I'll have to hurry up 😂

Always the way, have a great idea but when getting round to do it, it's finding the time, but your approaching it the best way with putting it together bit by bit, will definitely be worth it and people will benefit from it.

 

[shangman]

So I found myself reading this article on apistogramma 2 days ago - My Perspective on Apistogramma Behaviour

It's a very good thorough article which I recommend you all read if you have or want to keep apistos. He writes with a clarity I haven't come across before that laid everything that I've seen out in very understandable terms.

But now I'm rather worried that I've been totally misinterpreting some apisto behaviour, and that my male apisto is being bullied quite badly by my female who I think has laid eggs 2 days ago. He has been chased by her the past few days, and he is often in a very defensive fins-out position, I think she comes out just to stare at him threateningly, and he's been spending more time all over the tank and at the top (which I thought was fine but apparently not). He is eating fine though and still comes to look at me and explore the tank, but there's def more defensive behaviour when he sees her. I'm worried because my last male died apparently of nothing - I chaulked it up to bad luck or overfeeding, but now I'm thinking... did the female bully him to death? According to this article it's not a crazy idea, though I don't remember her ever treating Mr Daffodil the way she's treating my current male now.

I've been thinking about the past day since I read the article, and remembered that the female's mother was also very aggressive, and my first original male died 2 days before babies appeared. I blamed overfeeding bloodworms on that death, but now I'm worrying that this is starting to become a pattern. She was also very very agressive when the babies got to about 1cm which I why I got this initial tank. When my current female is not breeding she's very chill and they swim around together, but in the past 2 days since she's gone yellow she's definitely acting nastier.

I'm worried that my current will die from this, but I don't have another tank to rehome him/my female to, and none of my local friends have an appropriate tank either. I've added more leaves and made sure they're all over the tank to break lines of sight better and provide more hiding. Any ideas???? It's not a small tank but she is relentless. I think when this lot pass I might just keep a nice gentle apisto like borellii, or a single male, or another gentler dwarf cichlid group if there is one, I really don't like this stress for the fish or me!!

 

[Conort2]

did the female bully him to death? According to this article it's not a crazy idea, though I don't remember her ever treating Mr Daffodil the way she's treating my current male now.

It’s quite possible, when the females have had enough they can be extremely tough on the males. I think if I left my male lineata in with my female for an hour longer she would have killed him. His dorsal still hasn’t fully recovered months later.

You’ve already added leaf litter which is what I would recommend, your tank is also heavily planted so plenty of cover and lines of site to be broken so hopefully you’ll be ok. It’s a fair sized tank, he has plenty of space to get out of the way hopefully.

Cheers

 

[ScareCrow]

So I found myself reading this article on apistogramma 2 days ago - My Perspective on Apistogramma Behaviour

It's a very good thorough article which I recommend you all read if you have or want to keep apistos. He writes with a clarity I haven't come across before that laid everything that I've seen out in very understandable terms.

But now I'm rather worried that I've been totally misinterpreting some apisto behaviour, and that my male apisto is being bullied quite badly by my female who I think has laid eggs 2 days ago. He has been chased by her the past few days, and he is often in a very defensive fins-out position, I think she comes out just to stare at him threateningly, and he's been spending more time all over the tank and at the top (which I thought was fine but apparently not). He is eating fine though and still comes to look at me and explore the tank, but there's def more defensive behaviour when he sees her. I'm worried because my last male died apparently of nothing - I chaulked it up to bad luck or overfeeding, but now I'm thinking... did the female bully him to death? According to this article it's not a crazy idea, though I don't remember her ever treating Mr Daffodil the way she's treating my current male now.

I've been thinking about the past day since I read the article, and remembered that the female's mother was also very aggressive, and my first original male died 2 days before babies appeared. I blamed overfeeding bloodworms on that death, but now I'm worrying that this is starting to become a pattern. She was also very very agressive when the babies got to about 1cm which I why I got this initial tank. When my current female is not breeding she's very chill and they swim around together, but in the past 2 days since she's gone yellow she's definitely acting nastier.

I'm worried that my current will die from this, but I don't have another tank to rehome him/my female to, and none of my local friends have an appropriate tank either. I've added more leaves and made sure they're all over the tank to break lines of sight better and provide more hiding. Any ideas???? It's not a small tank but she is relentless. I think when this lot pass I might just keep a nice gentle apisto like borellii, or a single male, or another gentler dwarf cichlid group if there is one, I really don't like this stress for the fish or me!!

It is a bit of a problem with cichlids unfortunately. Damn their beauty and interesting behaviour that draws us in just to frustrate us when all hell breaks loose when they breed.
I had the opposite issue, my male krib got really aggressive with the female almost straight after spawning he wanted to keep her away from the eggs but she was intent on guarding them. As there were no other fish to keep away from the eggs I think he thought he was doing his job of protecting them by keeping the female away.
Anyway the solution was one of those mesh hang on breeding boxes that sit inside the tank. They're not very big or nice to look at but it was better than the female getting beaten up and like you I didn't have a spare tank.
If you do go that route I'd put some floating plants in the breeder box, otherwise the fish in there will be stressed by any movement over the top of them as they can't dart down.

 

[shangman]

Things have chilled out a lot in the past few days. They started to do a bit of flirting the day after I posted (he often ended up swimming away), and today she's stopped bullying him completely. I think maybe he didn't fertilise the eggs as shes stopped defending a territory and is all over the tnak again, but still very yellow. This weekend I'm changing up the front of the tank a bit so maybe that will help disrupt things a bit too as it's often where she has hers nests, it's unrelated (I don't like the way I set up the front right), but I think it could help as she'll have to rethink her territory a bit. I'm gonna keep an eye on her when she next goes into breeding mode and definitely add more leaves (they get eaten and fall apart so fast from the otos!) so there's a lot of territory to hide in all over the tank and to reduce the sight lines. I can't really bring myself to rehome either, if a friend had a tank for it I might but they don't and neither is going back to the shop.

It’s quite possible, when the females have had enough they can be extremely tough on the males. I think if I left my male lineata in with my female for an hour longer she would have killed him. His dorsal still hasn’t fully recovered months later.

You’ve already added leaf litter which is what I would recommend, your tank is also heavily planted so plenty of cover and lines of site to be broken so hopefully you’ll be ok. It’s a fair sized tank, he has plenty of space to get out of the way hopefully.

Cheers

I never really thought it possible because the females are at least half, if not a third of the size of a male but clearly it's possible and does happen! I'm glad you managed to save your male, and tbh that I'm not alone in struggling with these beauties. Was that in your big tank? I wondered if they had less of a hard time with other big fish around for the female to focus her aggression on (I don't want any more big fish in the tank, just hypothetical/for when I one day have a larger tank). I think what is interesting/depressing is that it happens in my big tank! In a 60cm or something it's not so surprising, but in this tank with lots of other fish to focus on and lots of space it's still a stressful behaviour. I trimmed the jungley top just before I really started to notice the aggression, so I think will not do that and keep it overgrown for a while and see if that helps too.

It is a bit of a problem with cichlids unfortunately. Damn their beauty and interesting behaviour that draws us in just to frustrate us when all hell breaks loose when they breed.
I had the opposite issue, my male krib got really aggressive with the female almost straight after spawning he wanted to keep her away from the eggs but she was intent on guarding them. As there were no other fish to keep away from the eggs I think he thought he was doing his job of protecting them by keeping the female away.
Anyway the solution was one of those mesh hang on breeding boxes that sit inside the tank. They're not very big or nice to look at but it was better than the female getting beaten up and like you I didn't have a spare tank.
If you do go that route I'd put some floating plants in the breeder box, otherwise the fish in there will be stressed by any movement over the top of them as they can't dart down.

It's soooo true, they're so beautiful and intelligent and funny.... and murderous!! I'll get a breeder box for when things look bad again that's a great tip thanks, I think that's a good idea for a time out. Not sure if I'd put him in or her... Luckily have a billion floating plants on hand 😅 I do wonder if some classic apistogramma dither fish is an answer, like a group of pencilfish but am waiting for my tank to get really jungley everywhere before getting any more fish cos it's quite well stocked already. I do wonder though if I still have many kuhlis, I only see 1 small baby one and 1 fat adult one once a week if that. Probably one day I'll take this scape down and find hundreds of them living under the wood 😂

 

[AlecF]

Not Beckford's pencilfish, they can make a tank just as fraught!

 

[shangman]

Not Beckford's pencilfish, they can make a tank just as fraught!

Aha, maybe not them then! What do you suggest? I am always attracted to the hockeystick pencilfish which looks relatively gentle. Are there any others?

 

[AlecF]

I'm too much of a newbie to suggest, but maybe hockey sticks. Others will know better. The Beckford's can be very fierce and they have a very strong sense of territory. I had to give them away, though they kindly left behind some hidden fry so I now have 3 more to gift, when that's possible – they are rapidly growing up. The descriptions often make out the M only spar, but I found they dominated my community tank. Maybe another territorial fish like an aristo would frighten them, but why risk it.

 

[Conort2]

Was that in your big tank?

No it was in a much smaller 18inch tank so was always a gamble. Funny enough the female is looking after another spawn in the big tank currently. The males colouration isn’t as vibrant as it normally is and I was a little bit worried. Turns out I know what the issue is, the female! She’s decided she doesn’t want his help this time and is chasing him all around when she locks eyes on him. This is a 5ft tank so not sure what size tank is required for complete safety. Funny fish these cichlids, one day they’re best friends the next she’s ready to kill!

Not Beckford's pencilfish, they can make a tank just as fraught!

Or mortenthaleri! They need a lot of space if you don’t want any drama.

Cheers

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

The descriptions often make out the M only spar, but I found they dominated my community tank.

Or mortenthaleri! They need a lot of space if you don’t want any drama.

My experience of all the Pencilfish family is that <"they are quite feisty"> and that the males really don't like one another.

cheers Darrel