New pictures of my tank!!

[177ichael]

I just uploaded some new pics of my fully stocked tank. I'm actually considering adding a school of Rummynose and that would be all.

Click the link below to check out my pics.

http://mjchen54.home.comcast.net/

 

[Fruitbat]

177ichael...

VERY nice tank!! Great job on the decorating. You should get yourself a few hatchetfish just to add some life to the upper level of that aquarium.

 

[madasafish]

If you do, make sure you've got a well-sealed lid! Those hatchets like to jump!

Very nice job, Michael(?). Those bowfront corner tanks are stunning. I've eyed many of them in my hundreds of fish store trips... There's a 54 gallon Bow in my second favorite fish store (New World Aquarium in Manhattan) that is stunningly planted with all sorts of beautiful plants, and there is another 54 for sale in my LFS. It requires such a muscular effort to keep me from throwing my Amex card down on the counter and saying "I'll take it!"

2 pointers about the tank:

1. Get more Otos (Otocinclus spp.) They really do a phenominal job in relatively low-light tanks at keeping rust and some green algae at bay. I'd advise 6 or 8 more. Because they require no official food that you provide (though an algae wafer is always appreciated), and because they help keep the tank clean, you can afford to bend the 1-inch-per-gallon rule a bit.

2. If you ever think seriously about starting a planted tank, this is the tank for it! (I'm assuming those are plastic plants ATM). Because of the depth of the tank (20, 24 inches?) you would be able layer your vegetation breathtakingly. A strong bunch of cabomba, a large Anubias gigantea or a nice bunch of long-stemmed tiger lotus in the back corner with foreground and midground plants infront would make the tank a real stunner.

3. Rummynoses, Endlers Livebearers, Glo-Lights (if they're your thing) would add more beautiful color to your tank. I'm sure they'll cap off the tank well.

 

[molotov256]

I'm impressed with the quality of the photographs by themselves - I've had no luck at all taking pictures of my tank. They always come out all blurry. Beautiful picture of a beautiful tank!

 

[An t-iasg]

Beautiful pics!

My favorite is the 2nd one -- with the 2 angelfish and the cardinal tetra. That would be a good photo contest entry!

 

[177ichael]

Thanks for the compliments.. It's my first aquarium and so I was skeptical about going planted. I want to have a better sense of what occurs in my tank with just fish before I try to maintain an environment with plants as well. Maybe for my next tank I'll go planted. I've considered putting more Otos in my tank, but it's only been cycling for about 2 weeks with BioSpira. I've just started to read Nitrates in my water tests with no Ammonia or Nitrites present. I'd like to build the bacteria to convert Nitrites to Nitrates and promote Algae growth before I add any more algae eaters. The wealth of knowledge on this board is tremendous and I know it wouldn't be possible to have the current success of my first tank without the info right here.

Thanks to everyone!

Michael

 

[trenac]

This is one of the most beautiful tanks I have seen with artificial plants. The layout & clarity of the pictures are wonderful. Once you get comfortable with keeping fish I know that you will love keeping live plants.

 

[STOINKER2]

Your pictures are beautiful, and the plants i thought for a second were real.

 

[jlindseyjr]

That is one beautiful tank. I'm finally going to get my 20 gal set up this weekend and I hope I do half as well.

 

[TankGirl]

If you have added Bio-Spira you have the nitrifying bacteria already present. It really does "instantly" cycle, so consider yourself cycled. You will just wait for some nitrate buildup and do water changes based on keeping that under 40ppm (if you get rummynose, plan on keeping the nitrates under 20ppm). Excellent job for a beginner! Kudos to you for sharing

 

[177ichael]

TankGirl, I had a chance to take a look at some of your pictures and you have some absolutely beautiful tanks. Maybe down the road I will try my hand at a planted tank.

Yesterday, my Nitrates were only at about 3.5 ppm. Should I actually wait for more Nitrates to build to say 15 ppm, in order to feed the algae for my Otos?

Your tanks are simply inspiring. Thanks for the advice.

Michael

 

[TankGirl]

I would wait on doing the water change, like you say. In general, when using Bio-Spira you will wait much longer for the first water change than you will for subsequent changes, so just keep testing the nitrate to get an idea. If you are not keeping plants, keep your lighting on the dim side and you will likely get a good crop of diatoms (brown or rust algae) for the otos. I have not had any success getting them to eat any kind of green algae, so in the absence of brown algae feed algae tabs, or you can sink a piece of zuchinni in the tank and they should really enjoy it.

Thank you for the compliments! As Corvuscorax would say, healthy plants = healthy fish!

 

[platylover]

One work explains that tank- WOW!!!!!!

I can't believe that tanks isn't planted!! They look so real!! ......Envy setting in....must fight the need to aquascape......

 

[177ichael]

I dropped in some Zucchini the other day for the Otos and all three of them have been chomping away. I also occasionally drop in the Hikari Algae Wafer for them. I've been feeding my other fish mainly tropical flakes supplemented with an occasional helping of frozen Hikari Bloodworms or Brine Shrimp.

Do you recommend any specific type of flake food or are all created equal so to speak?


Michael

 

[TankGirl]

I like the Omega One foods, since the primary ingredient is fish rather than fish meal. I use the veggie flakes for most of my fish. I also use Hikari foods, freeze dried, pellet and frozen, and occasional live food, as I think the best thing is variety. Most commonly available flake foods are fine.

 

[LAGlocker]

I use bio-blend mostly, along with hikari freeze dried brine, krill, bloodworms and tubiflex worms on most of mine, along with some flake food. I try to change the feeding up so they dont get to where they only eat one thing, flake and tropical bio-blend one day, tropical and herbivore one day so forth so on.

 

[TheMadNucleus]

Madasafish, If you're still checkin' this stream

I'm interested in a new shop in NYC, is New World Aquarium a good LFS, I've been frequenting 38th St. Aquarium. Where is New World?

Sorry - know this is not related to topic matter - but curious about that LFS

Tom

 

[myriam]

That is an awesome tank! Tank envy also setting in for me...

You should definitely enter one of your pix in next month's FW Photo Contest.

Thanks for sharing! If you get a chance you should upload some pix to your Gallery as well, in case others later on want to see your tanks/fish, but missed this thread.