HN1 and severum mama's 5' 120 gallon journal.

[librarygirl]

Wow this is fantastic. Following.....

 

[HN1]

oh wow, those are gorgeous, how big are they? any hints on the other fish going in?

They're around 5-6" now and have a little more growing to do as they age. They reportedly get a bit larger than the m. festivus (Festivum cichlid).



Thanks for the kind words folks. Like everything else, it is a work in progress. lol


No bettas in this tank, I think we're going to go with a type of dwarf cichlid (I am not naming names, sev would hurt me ) and maybe a group of dithers.

 

[LyndaB]

Where did you get that amazing driftwood piece, the one in the very first photo where it's the lone wood..... as opposed to the lone ranger, I guess.

 

[HN1]

The driftwood is actually a few pieces of two types of wood arranged and interlaced together. Glad you couldn't tell!

 

[LyndaB]

Oh..... um...... yeah yeah well I DID notice but didn't want to call you on it.....

 

[severum mama]

Nice, I'm not familiar with that species. Give them some time to settle in and they'll cooperate for better pics.

Yes, they have been here for a while in their own 40BR and were starting to get a little more personable, and then we moved them. Hopefully we are not back to square one with the personable fish thing. Although they look quite similiar, these fish are much larger than the 5 festivus that we have in the other 120 so we think that the space will do them some good once they settle down.

Nice fish! Your tank looks awesome, as usual

I am looking through you previous thread to see if I can get any hints on to what exactly this stock may be...unless of course you and HN1 deleted all your posts on what it was so no one would know

Tell me! I promise you, I can keep a secret.

LOL. We changed our minds like 5 more times since we posted that thread. HN1 gave a hint...

 

[severum mama]

Just wanted to share another update!

Added more fish. Here is a bad quality phone video from tonight. LOL.

And a few more pics. The fish are starting to appear more comfortable in their new surroundings. We added 12 HY511 ("whitefin rosy") tetra and a trio of Laetacara dorsigera.

Also, our new T5 HO fixture from FishNeedIt showed up today, ahead of schedule! We opted for a 2x54W, 4' fixture. We aren't looking to keep anything more demanding than crypts really, so the 4' bulbs over a 5' tank shouldn't be a problem.

We'll be adding some rock this weekend, so stay tuned!

 

[bruinsbro1997]

WOW! Your tank looks very nice! I can't wait to see how it looks when done. It'll be awesome planted!

 

[severum mama]

Few pics from a little while ago... the Laetacara seem to be settling in very nicely. The others are doing great as well, just not feeling as photogenic tonight (other than the occasional HY511 photobomb).

 

[mfdrookie516]

Looks great. The water clarity is much better tonight. Were the pics last night just after a PWC?

 

[severum mama]

Looks great. The water clarity is much better tonight. Were the pics last night just after a PWC?

No, it's just that the sand has only been in the tank for a couple days and everything is settling down a lot more now. We did do a PWC before adding the acora though. Plus, all these pics are from my phone and the quality isn't the greatest. LOL.

 

[severum mama]

Plants showed up today. I think we are off to a pretty good start although I am admittedly not much of an aquascaper.

Pics are a little cloudy from me digging around in the sand all afternoon.

Festie anubias corner

Left side, hoping these vals fill in quick!

Middle of tank

I'll get another vid when the cloudiness settles down.

 

[Bschowa]

wow, thats alot of plants they all came in one shipment? looks great!

 

[KonvictKeeper]

Looks good. I like those HY511's. I have 5 in my 20g.

 

[skiweeangel]

You are better at it than I am. Tank looks great!

 

[KonvictKeeper]

Oh and whats that cichlid-looking thing in the last pic?

 

[fort384]

Wow, very cool.

I would suggest some low hardscape in the middle left, and some small foreground plants... maybe some anubias nana petite and some dwarf sags or something.

It is going to be a cool jungle when it fills in.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Thats looking pretty cool. I'm excited to see how it fills in. All you guys with your beautiful planted tanks are giving me the itch to try a real planted tank. I think you said something about no CO2 on this one, is that right?

 

[severum mama]

Thank you for the kind words everyone!

Looks good. I like those HY511's. I have 5 in my 20g.

Yes, they are very cool fish! Ours are such voracious eaters that they might have to leave... it's getting hard to get food to the cichlids! LOL

Oh and whats that cichlid-looking thing in the last pic?

It is indeed a cichlid, it is the smallest of our Laetacara dorsigera trio, it's gotta be a subdominant female I would think.

Wow, very cool.

I would suggest some low hardscape in the middle left, and some small foreground plants... maybe some anubias nana petite and some dwarf sags or something.

It is going to be a cool jungle when it fills in.

LOL. We actually meant to get to the landscaping place to pick out a few nice rocks, since everything we have read about breeding dorsigera suggests that they prefer to lay their eggs on the surface of a rock... but we kinda forgot.

Most of these plants will end up for sale. The remainder will stay so we can try to propagate them (and claim some HAP points with the local club), and what is sold will be replaced, and so on.

 

[KonvictKeeper]

Cool! I am definitely a fan of acara's.