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The Wild

Paul27

Member
Joined
23 Sep 2019
Messages
254
Location
England
Thinking this is the time to start a journal for this as its been setup for about a month and a half. Just to note I did have cycled media from the start.

This was when all the hard scape went in:

PXL_20210113_173327507 (2).jpg




This is it today:


PXL_20210225_154819740.jpg


Tank: Fluval 90
Lights: Original light that came with the tank 12watt on 60% and a JBL Led Solar Natur 24watt on 40%
Filter: Oase FiltoSmart Thermo 100

Co2: Tropica Nano system connected to a solenoid (1 bubble every 2 and a half seconds)
Plants: Echinodorus Parviflorus, Anubias Bonsai, Java Fern Narrow, Bucephalandra Kedagang, Vallisneria Spiralis, Fissidens Fontanus

Please excuse the snails on the front glass as I've recently had a bit of a a outbreak with them and they need sorting, i do like snails but not to a extent of where there starting to take over.

I currently have a pair of Aphyosemion australe (Lyretail Lillifish) and 10 Blue Dream Shrimp which should hopefully be more soon, as i have one very heavily buried female and also another that is starting to show eggs, also two Nerite snails. It gets two pumps of Tropica Specialised Nutrition which ive been adding the past two weeks, also Co2 has only been setup two weeks also.

Stocking wise its going to be pretty low, I know it probably won't be to everybody's taste but im looking forward to this getting quite overgrown and taking on a wild look, first time i have ever used botanicals too.
 
Ooo I'm into this! Love the little coconut limb thing. That make a nice fish cave. That Anubias is looking mighty too.
Thankyou it's a Budda nut, was thinking the same thing about it making a nice cave for the fish or shrimp. Have to say where the Anubias is it's one of my favourite bits in the tank.
 
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Ooo I'm into this! Love the little coconut limb thing. That make a nice fish cave. That Anubias is looking mighty too.

Its funny personal taste isnt it!?
I love this scape ... apart from the pine cone things and the coconut shell/budda nut thing!
To me its less natural...but its not my tank - so as long as you like it, fantastic.
 
Its funny personal taste isnt it!?
I love this scape ... apart from the pine cone things and the coconut shell/budda nut thing!
To me its less natural...but its not my tank - so as long as you like it, fantastic.
Im new to the botanical side of things, so trying to experiment with things at the moment, I'll be trying some leaf litter at some point. Like the idea of having a planted tank put also some part of a blackwater Scape too. I do want to have a go at tinting(Not full on blackwater) the water at some stage but not at the expense of the plants suffering, it might not be possible but we shall see. Will be a chance to learn some more to. Think I'll be looking to change the sand to something that looks more natural at some point.
 

If you don’t want the snails I’d take the lot of you don’t mind posting, which I’d happily pay for. Puffers like ‘em.

I’m using some of the same botanicals as you in my current layout too.
 
If you don’t want the snails I’d take the lot of you don’t mind posting, which I’d happily pay for. Puffers like ‘em.

I’m using some of the same botanicals as you in my current layout too.

Perfectly happy to send them to you when I round them up, I'll be keeping the two big ramshorn snails that are in there but your welcome to the rest. They will be ramshorn and tadpole snails.

The snails seem to love the botanicals in there, I had been soaking them before they went in and they developed biofilm on them which I thought would be good for the shrimp, don't think they had a chance though as the snails just descended on them and it was all gone within in a couple of hours.
 
Cool! Great plants! What are the cones? Is that what an alder cone looks like? In fact what are all the pods n things (technical term)?😀
 
Cool! Great plants! What are the cones? Is that what an alder cone looks like? In fact what are all the pods n things (technical term)?😀
Thankyou

The botanicals that are in there are:

Buddha Nut
Casuarina cones
Trombeta pods
Chapeuzinhos pods
Alder cones

The Casuarina cones are the more spiky ones and the alder cones are smoother.
 
Bit of an update. I added leaf litter the week before last and have taken out the Buddha Nut and the Casuarina cones because as much as I liked the Buddha nut I felt it was abit out of place. Also removed a piece of lava rock on the right hand side at the back as the Amazon sword was pretty much wedged behind it and it kept coming out the substrate, also changed another two rocks around. I've added dwarf hairgrass on the right at the front and put some salvinia auriculata for floating plants. The sand at the front has also been changed from unipac Maui sand to unipac silica sand.



This is with the JBL light off after the 7 hour photoperiod and the fluval light which is left on for a extra 45mins.
PXL_20210316_161515990.jpg
 
UPDATE TIME:

I decided it was time for a rescape, whole tank got taken over by staghorn algae and not one plant could be saved as all of them were covered. My own fault though, felt like it was just never ending, got fed up with it in the end and decided it needed changing. Thought i would share a couple of pictures of a few more fish I had acquired beforehand.

Betta Hendra Male:
Screenshot_20210323-184102 (2).png

Betta Channoides Pair:
Screenshot_20210617-201022 (2).png



I do also have a Female Smaragdina Guitar Female and Male, The Male is in his own tank though.
The male hendra has become ill and also the male channoides had and unfortunately he died this morning, i have taken the hendra out and have quarantined him. Hopefully he will be able to recover.

Here is the rescape:
PXL_20210616_155300203.jpg

PXL_20210617_153435397.jpg


Not sure how i feel about the Alternanthera Cardinalis in the rear left corner, was an impulse buy so we will see how it goes but i have a feeling ill be swapping it for something else in the near future.
 
Hi all,

Sorry to hear that your male has died. They are "wish list" fish for me.

cheers Darrel
Gutted to be fair. They did breed and he was holding eggs, but at some point he became ill and must have dropped them due to it. They are really interesting fish to watch, colours on the male in person was stunning.
 
I know the rescape will not be to everybody's taste. But This time I wanted to try something abit different, with lots more leaf litter and botanicals. I will be over the next couple of weeks filling the back with more plants, so it becomes abit of a jungle and keep the front pretty open.
 
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