Wy Renegade's German Blue Ram Planted Pseudo Paradise

[Wy Renegade]

Messing around with the camera a little bit more today. Some of these turned out a bit better.

Several shots of the black stuff that is growing on my leaves;

The Java ferns as they were (I have pulled them up and will be tying them to the driftwood soon);

The trailing roots of the Water Lettuce and Duck weed (as you can see they really took off), kind of a neat effect;

Little better picture of the Christmas moss, I really like the growth pattern on this one;

And what I believe is Flame moss on the Cottonwood DW;

 

[Rivercats]

If you gently rub a leave with the algae between your fingers does it rub off easily? With your tank being new I'm pretty sure it's diatoms yet when I size the pic's up some of it looks fuzzy. Diatoms will go away on their own eventually but look aweful. A couple nerite snails will eat the diatoms with relish. Plus they also eat bio-film, green dust algae, and even green spot algae. Let me know if some of that algae really is fuzzy I just can't tell for sure in the pic's.

 

[Wy Renegade]

If you gently rub a leave with the algae between your fingers does it rub off easily? With your tank being new I'm pretty sure it's diatoms yet when I size the pic's up some of it looks fuzzy. Diatoms will go away on their own eventually but look aweful. A couple nerite snails will eat the diatoms with relish. Plus they also eat bio-film, green dust algae, and even green spot algae. Let me know if some of that algae really is fuzzy I just can't tell for sure in the pic's.

The algae did rub off easily, but yes, some of it is stringy or fuzzy. Definitely different from the marine algae diatom blooms I am used to. On a side note, once I started rubbing it off the plant leaves, I realized is was all over the cottonwood driftwood as well.

Nerites are a good idea, I'll have to see if I can get a couple when I get the rams shipped. I do have ramshorns in there, but they seem to concentrate more on the fungi.

 

[Rivercats]

If you start getting alot of hair/thread algae or even BBA you can spot treat those areas with Excel or AquaChem can tell you how to spot treat with H2O2.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Ok, help me out, BBA?

 

[Rivercats]

Sorry forget your a saltie guy. BBA is Black beard algae, which can also be green in color.

 

[aqua_chem]

Or red. Or a shade of blue. It's really a rather diverse family of algae. Some keys for IDing it as opposed to similar looking species is that BBA is course and rather stubbornly attached to the plant.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Its been a while since I've had a chance to update this thread, but the tank is doing quite well at this point and I'm pretty pleased with its progress. My biggest issue at this point is with the young ladies who are in charge of maintaining the tank. They can't seem to figure out that just dumping water back in during the weekly PWCs and stirring up the substrate to the point of disrupting and floating the plants is a bad thing. This Friday we will be learning out to siphon water back into the tank as well as out of it LOL. There are a few other minor issues, I'm seeing some holes in leaves, which based on my reading is most likely a phosphate issue, and I've still got a few diatoms hanging on. The white fungus on the applewood has all vanished.

FTS;

Little closer;

A close up of the cottonwood log and it's plants;

I'm pretty pleased with the "root mass" area, although as you can see I've got a few plants I need to get tied down.

I added my first fish; half a dozen each of Black Phantom tetras and Red Phantom tetras. The Black Phantoms are fairly large, while the Red Phantom tetras are quite small.

Black Phantoms;

Red Phantoms amongst the "root mass";

Another shot with the Phantoms here and there;

 

[Rivercats]

It's definitely grown since the last pic's and looking alot better. Should look pretty awesome when all the plants fill out. I like the effect the floaters roots have giving the tank a real biotope look.

If the holes start out as little pin holes it's probably a potassium deficiency. Are you dosing any ferts?

 

[Wy Renegade]

It's definitely grown since the last pic's and looking alot better. Should look pretty awesome when all the plants fill out. I like the effect the floaters roots have giving the tank a real biotope look.

If the holes start out as little pin holes it's probably a potassium deficiency. Are you dosing any ferts?

Thanks, the floaters definitely add a different dimension the the tank. At this point, I'm only dosing the excel, nitrogen, and comprehensive and not often. I've been going to look at the system you are recommending a little closer, but just haven't had the time to do so.

 

[Autumnsky]

How are you finding the Black Phantoms to keep? I saw these six months ago and think I want a school of them, I have been telling everyone the google pics don't do them justice and that they are so much more stunning in person.

Your pics are nice and they have pretty good color visible in the picture. The ones at my lfs were very aqua/turquoise color on the fronts toward the face, kinda cheek area and behind the head. Really looked amazing in person.

 

[Wy Renegade]

How are you finding the Black Phantoms to keep? I saw these six months ago and think I want a school of them, I have been telling everyone the google pics don't do them justice and that they are so much more stunning in person.

Your pics are nice and they have pretty good color visible in the picture. The ones at my lfs were very aqua/turquoise color on the fronts toward the face, kinda cheek area and behind the head. Really looked amazing in person.

I'm actually enjoying them a lot - like you I was drawn to them when I first saw them in the pet store, and a quick google search showed them to be very compatible with the GBRs. They are stunning and I love watching the dorsal fin flares of the dominanat male. I tried to select one dominant male and subdominant males/females on the Blacks, but with the Reds, it was impossible to tell. I'm hoping when the Reds get bigger they will school together with the Blacks as the color constrast is pretty striking between the two. Right now my Blacks are more out in the open area over the cottonwood log and the Reds are hanging out amongst the root mass for the most part.

All of them carry the aqua/turquoise right behind the operculum flap with a vertical black streak in the center.

They seem to be pretty hardy overall, and I haven't lost any. For me that says quite a bit, as I have to put them through about a four hour car ride to get them here.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Havent updated for awhile, but its time. GBRs finally arrived last week. The floating plants have gone hog wild, so hopefully someone can tell me what they are for sure;



As you can see, they have a nasty black slime algae growing on them, so if anyone has any suggestions for removal I'm all ears.

The tank has grown in nicely with all the trailing roots, but the stem plants and the moss were pretty hard hit over the summer. With being gone most of the summer working on the Master's program, they didn't get their regular dose of chemicals, so gotta get them back on a regiment.



Hard to believe how much the phantoms have grown at this point, the blacks are as big as the male GBR and the reds are a big as the females.

Added a nice male and couple of females;








They were definitely worth the wait. Their coloration is awesome and they are happily swimming and eating. Now, I need to get the plants lined back out, add a few more and let nature take its course.

 

[Rivercats]

The rams look really good with excellent color! You have Water Lettuce which is a really good floating plant. Try Hydrogen Peroxide 3% for the black slime. Turn off your filters. Pull up about 3ml of Peroxide to every gallon of tank water and squirt on the black slime. Leave filters off 20 minutes. BUT if it's only on the Water Lettuce I'd remove them from the tank, rinse the heck out of them under tap water to remove as much of the slime as possible, then you can lay some paper towels in the sink, lay the WL on them and literally pour straight Peroxide over them. Next lay the paper towels over them, especially where the algae is, and let them sit for 20 minutes. Lightly rinse the top leaves that sit out of the water and pop back in the tank.

 

[Autumnsky]

I can't believe how big those Tetras are compared to the Rams!!!

The Rams are beautiful!

 

[Wy Renegade]

The rams look really good with excellent color! You have Water Lettuce which is a really good floating plant. Try Hydrogen Peroxide 3% for the black slime. Turn off your filters. Pull up about 3ml of Peroxide to every gallon of tank water and squirt on the black slime. Leave filters off 20 minutes. BUT if it's only on the Water Lettuce I'd remove them from the tank, rinse the heck out of them under tap water to remove as much of the slime as possible, then you can lay some paper towels in the sink, lay the WL on them and literally pour straight Peroxide over them. Next lay the paper towels over them, especially where the algae is, and let them sit for 20 minutes. Lightly rinse the top leaves that sit out of the water and pop back in the tank.

Awesome thanks - that is what I like, nice and easy!

I can't believe how big those Tetras are compared to the Rams!!!

The Rams are beautiful!

Crazy isn't it - did you end up with any of the Phantoms? I really am impressed with how hardy they have been. I lost one when I first introduced them, and haven't lost any since.

The Rams are indeed gorgeous - many thanks to Marcie and Len.

 

[Autumnsky]

Crazy isn't it - did you end up with any of the Phantoms? I really am impressed with how hardy they have been. I lost one when I first introduced them, and haven't lost any since.

The Rams are indeed gorgeous - many thanks to Marcie and Len.[/QUOTE]

No Phantoms. The lfs never had a big bunch of them again when I was there. I just saw some at Petco a couple days ago and got a dreamy eyeful, they only had a few also.

Soon combining two tanks into one, so won't have room for awhile, again. I still like them a lot.

 

[Wy Renegade]

No Phantoms. The lfs never had a big bunch of them again when I was there. I just saw some at Petco a couple days ago and got a dreamy eyeful, they only had a few also.

Soon combining two tanks into one, so won't have room for awhile, again. I still like them a lot.

Thats a bummer, but interesting. My not so local LFS hasn't had them in again either. I'm glad I picked them up when I did. I may have to have them special order me some more for another tank.