Blackin's New RCS/Swordtail tank!

[Blackin]

First, a question...
See the reddish plants there in the pic? What are those called? And is there anyone here on the boards that sells them? I'd like to pick up a few to add to this new tank and a couple other tanks to add some color. They seem to be growing really well in the Axolotl tank.

Anyways....
I just finished putting together a new tank (30 gallon long) to use as primarily a RCS tank. I also picked up locally a bunch of BEAUTIFUL little swordtails. Some super-bright orange, some jet-black, and some blue with orange trim. They're still fairly young, but I saw the parents and they're astonishing. Of course, I'll have 2-3 little Cory cats of some sort in there to assist with major cleanup.

I've got plenty of Java Fern in my other tanks to steal and tie to driftwood, and I have a batch of micro-swords that'll be coming from Lpglizard soon as I get back from Mexico. I'm wanting to line most of the back wall with Corkscrew Val and then use those red things to add some color.
Along with that, I've got a couple really healthy water sprite bunches and a cholla-log COVERED over with XMas moss.

I have a couple hundred pounds of slate/sandstone that I've dug through & strategically stacked pieces around making dozens of little hidy-holes big enough for a grown RCS, but too small for a mid-size swordtail. And I'll have a couple pieces of driftwood with a bunch of Javafern. Between a wall of CS Val, hidy-holes and all the other plants... the RCS should be safe enough to breed and flourish.

Lighting is a bit different. I have the NatGeo LED lights throughout all my other tanks and they do decent for plants. This tank has a twin-bulb 96w 10k CoraLife 33" fluorescent in a vented hood. My GAWD that thing puts out some light!!!

As with all my other tanks, I'm going with the Penn Plax Cascade canister filter. Will be a 700 for this tank with a sponge pre-filter around the intake. I've got these Cascades on all my other tanks and love them. And, there will be a double-sponge air filter in there just for more bio.

Right now, the water is still clearing from all the sand dust and me moving things around. Soon as it clears, I'll throw up the first pics.

Here's a shot of the red plants I was asking about. What are they called?:

[Atxpunx]

Is it Alternanthera reineckii?



Cha boi Jessie.

[skylane]

Originally Posted by Blackin

First, a question...
See the reddish plants there in the pic? What are those called? And is there anyone here on the boards that sells them? I'd like to pick up a few to add to this new tank and a couple other tanks to add some color. They seem to be growing really well in the Axolotl tank.

Anyways....
I just finished putting together a new tank (30 gallon long) to use as primarily a RCS tank. I also picked up locally a bunch of BEAUTIFUL little swordtails. Some super-bright orange, some jet-black, and some blue with orange trim. They're still fairly young, but I saw the parents and they're astonishing. Of course, I'll have 2-3 little Cory cats of some sort in there to assist with major cleanup.

I've got plenty of Java Fern in my other tanks to steal and tie to driftwood, and I have a batch of micro-swords that'll be coming from Lpglizard soon as I get back from Mexico. I'm wanting to line most of the back wall with Corkscrew Val and then use those red things to add some color.
Along with that, I've got a couple really healthy water sprite bunches and a cholla-log COVERED over with XMas moss.

I have a couple hundred pounds of slate/sandstone that I've dug through & strategically stacked pieces around making dozens of little hidy-holes big enough for a grown RCS, but too small for a mid-size swordtail. And I'll have a couple pieces of driftwood with a bunch of Javafern. Between a wall of CS Val, hidy-holes and all the other plants... the RCS should be safe enough to breed and flourish.

Lighting is a bit different. I have the NatGeo LED lights throughout all my other tanks and they do decent for plants. This tank has a twin-bulb 96w 10k CoraLife 33" fluorescent in a vented hood. My GAWD that thing puts out some light!!!

As with all my other tanks, I'm going with the Penn Plax Cascade canister filter. Will be a 700 for this tank with a sponge pre-filter around the intake. I've got these Cascades on all my other tanks and love them. And, there will be a double-sponge air filter in there just for more bio.

Right now, the water is still clearing from all the sand dust and me moving things around. Soon as it clears, I'll throw up the first pics.

Here's a shot of the red plants I was asking about. What are they called?:

Cool stuff!! You can try a glue attach the moss to, its made by seachem it works great, I used it on my build to attach the moss, check it out !!!

Clem

[Blackin]

Still a little cloudy, as I was doing a bit more scaping. Ended up shutting down my 20L and transplanted all the plants to this and other tanks.

Right now, this new "RCS/Swordtail Tank" has:

*Unknown number of tiny ramshorns that I might have missed during plant transplants.
*1x LARGE Assassin snail to combat above.
*Appx 25 baby Swordtail fry.
*Appx 30 RCS ranging from tiny(1/8 inch) to adult. 3 of them carrying eggs.
*2x adult albino Cory cats
*6x Neon Tetras
*Appx 13 different species of plants. All rooted and taken from established tanks.
*2x small slices of driftwood with Javafern all over them.
*1x 6" Cholla covered in moss.

Now.... I'm ready to leave for Mexico!



**EDIT**
Just as a footnote, while I typically paint the back wall of all my tanks flat-black, this one was done with a dark gray fleck-stone spray. Probably can't tell from the pics. Looks AWESOME in person though!

[Blackin]

Just documenting so I can come back in a few months and see how far it's come.

https://youtu.be/vlKvovRWLBk

[FWFishTanks]

Great looking tank! Just subbed ya on YouTube as well

[Blackin]

Thanks! I obviously need to get a bit more Staurogen and about twice that much Val to finish the back wall. And want a couple more of those red things. But I'm hoping maybe THIS one can be a TotM someday once everything has grown in for awhile and filled out.

I work from home every other week and have this tank sitting right here to my left about 2 feet away. Makes it really peaceful in my office. Except I keep catching myself sitting here just watching it and not doing any work.

Next video will be done with the GoPro and we'll take a "dive" and see everything up close underwater and visit with the fishes!

[Blackin]

Underwater tour of the tank. I'm no Jacque Cousteau, so I apologize for the shaky video...


https://youtu.be/WgT2AbNT7ds

[Atxpunx]

Man! Cool video!!! Great tank.


Cha boi Jessie.

[Blackin]

Didn't even think to take a picture before cleaning it up, but...
Got back from Mexico couple days ago to find that the pump/filter had stopped working on the new tank and apparently, one of my cats somehow hit the switch on the light timer to the manual ON position.
You couldn't even see anything inside the tank for all the algae on the glass.


Pump/Filter was my fault. I typically wrap regular window screen around the filter intakes, but was out and used a cut strip of floss media. That clogged up completely and would not suck water. That's since been replaced with my usual screen and all the algae scraped/scrubbed from glass.


On the PLUS side, everyone in the tank looks happy as hell. I imagine it's a full on buffet for the shrimp. All the plants have gone berserk!! Water sprite, moss, Java Fern etc look to be maybe 50% bigger just in the last week and a half since I left.


BAD part is, some Ramshorn snails made it in somehow. Prolly through plant transplants. There are hundreds of babies EVERYWHERE. **Sigh**


Suffice to say, I've got some major tank maintenance to do this afternoon when I get off work still.
Wife's sister, who stayed at our place while we were gone to feed/water all the dogs/cats/fish, knows nothing about aquariums and never bothered to even TXT me about this. Awesome huh? :p

[Blackin]

So all this time I've had my shrimps and a couple dozen baby swordtails sharing this tank. I kept waiting and waiting to start seeing baby shrimp, but never have. Assumed it was all the swordtails eating them, so I removed them all yesterday and transplanted to different tank.


Sitting here this morning.... there are shrimp EVERYWHERE!!


Guess the swordtails were simply keeping them spooked and lurking in the shadows?


Have 3 Oto's, a speckled cory and a Kuhli Loach in there keeping them company now and they don't seem bothered in the least.

[schpanky]

Changing the subject a bit. Love the tank and vids btw. But that little lizard-looking guy...I remember seeing a video on their home in Mexico but can't remeber what they are called. I also saw them at the reptile expo and they said they would eat small fish and climb out of the tank. Do you have that experience?

[Blackin]

You talking about the Axolotl's? We have two of those in a 75gal in the bedroom. They've never tried to crawl out of the tank to my knowledge. And that tank is chock-full of small tank-mates that they have yet to try to eat.
Let's see.... that tank currently houses:
4x Cory cats
2x Clown Loaches
6x Red-eye Tetras
4x Red Minor Teras
5x Sailfin Molly
8x young Sword-tails
3x Oto's


One big happy family in that tank. Of course, it's fairly heavily planted, has a 3 story cave system, about a square foot of dense corkscrew Val, tall driftwood covered in Java Fern, etc. Plenty of hiding places for everyone when/if they need it.


The Axolotl's don't tend to care about anything unless it comes within about 2 inches of their face. They don't really hunt anything down. Very passive critters, surprisingly.