Diary of the 75G planted tank.... New pics 6/26/06

[Lonewolfblue]

I can't get over how colorful your GBR look. I have only seen a few in person, and yours seem to glow. I just thought i would say that. Congrats on the baby fish!

It's not a GBR, it's a Bolivian Ram....

I do have GBR's in the tank. They just hang out in another part of the tank, by the Amazon Swords.

Edit:

Here's a pic of one of my GBR's....

 

[Japola44]

oops my bad lol, well they are still really great looking.

I always thought GBR were more colorful. A teacher at my school has a pair of bolivians and they are raher dull.

well in any case they are beautiful!

 

[Purrbox]

Awesome pics. I can actually make out the babies in the first two pics. I find it amusing that the pic of your cat snuck its way in with the fish pics. Was it getting jealous?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

oops my bad lol, well they are still really great looking.

I always thought GBR were more colorful. A teacher at my school has a pair of bolivians and they are raher dull.

well in any case they are beautiful!

Just think of it this way, and I'm sure Jchillin and a few others will agree, it's all in the water quality. Also, food has some to do with it too, but it's mostly water quality. If the Bolivians are dull looking, then you know they aren't as happy with their environment, which is water quality. I do 50%+ PWC's weekly, and with the live plants, the quality of my water is excellent. Both the Bolivians and my GBR's are very colorful.

Awesome pics. I can actually make out the babies in the first two pics. I find it amusing that the pic of your cat snuck its way in with the fish pics. Was it getting jealous?

Hmmmmm, can anyone tell me how that one got in there? Or is is a cat fish? hehehe....... That's my Dashboard. She's the best cat around.

Also, look at the 3rd pic, at the red rock. I bet you can find some babies on the red rock.

 

[Glenc]

Very cool! Congrats! Great shot of parents with babies, very pretty kitty too! I had three cats, all strays I took in. Got a soft spot. Two girls died of old age, 18 and 20 years. Had them longer than I've been with my wife. Got one left, a male named George. Sorry to get off topic! Congrats again on the babies.

 

[martins]

great job!

 

[sherry]

That shot of the ram with the babies directly after the kitty shot is remarkable. Enter it in a contest. !!

 

[sherry]

That shot of the ram with the babies directly after the kitty shot is remarkable. Enter it in a contest. !!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

That shot of the ram with the babies directly after the kitty shot is remarkable. Enter it in a contest. !!

I'm planning on it. Already have a submission for next month, so can't do it then.

I also like the 3rd one down under the kitty, where there's a parent on each side guarding the group.

 

[kaz]

pardon my french great F@%$#in tank, fish and babies congrats man.

 

[Jchillin]

Just think of it this way, and I'm sure Jchillin and a few others will agree, it's all in the water quality...

Indeed, Lonewolfblue is absolutely correct. SA dwarf cichlids are notorius for providing deep rich coloration if their environment is absolutely perfect. Feeding is also a plus. Feeding a variety of healthy foods, including fresh and live foods will only help. Hara recently purchased a couple of rams and the deep red coloration in hers is absolutely outstanding.

 

[czcz]

Congrats!

 

[Japola44]

Just think of it this way, and I'm sure Jchillin and a few others will agree, it's all in the water quality...


Indeed, Lonewolfblue is absolutely correct. SA dwarf cichlids are notorius for providing deep rich coloration if their environment is absolutely perfect. Feeding is also a plus. Feeding a variety of healthy foods, including fresh and live foods will only help. Hara recently purchased a couple of rams and the deep red coloration in hers is absolutely outstanding.

I'd love too keep a pair in my 50gal that I am setting up right now, but I don't think i could add them until after i planted it and added co2. The water here in colorado is really hard. My tap's pH is 8.4-8.6. I can't wait until i can set everything up...I'm so excited to finally have a nice highlight planted tank. Plus when its done I'm going to convert my 20 gal to a terrarium .

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Just think of it this way, and I'm sure Jchillin and a few others will agree, it's all in the water quality...


Indeed, Lonewolfblue is absolutely correct. SA dwarf cichlids are notorius for providing deep rich coloration if their environment is absolutely perfect. Feeding is also a plus. Feeding a variety of healthy foods, including fresh and live foods will only help. Hara recently purchased a couple of rams and the deep red coloration in hers is absolutely outstanding.

I'd love too keep a pair in my 50gal that I am setting up right now, but I don't think i could add them until after i planted it and added co2. The water here in colorado is really hard. My tap's pH is 8.4-8.6. I can't wait until i can set everything up...I'm so excited to finally have a nice highlight planted tank. Plus when its done I'm going to convert my 20 gal to a terrarium .

The key I believe to having Rams is not to get them for a new tank. It's best they go in a mature tank, and one that is well planted. My rams did color up pretty good in the 55G with everything artificial, but when introduced to the planted tank, it's just totally awsome. It is the best environment for rams. So if you are thinking rams, at least heavily plant part of the tank would be a good thig. Doesn't need to be all heavily planted like mine, but even a small part of the tank that is heavily planted helps alot.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Well, I was hoping to have some babies, but this morning, they were all gone, ad the parents are swimming with the other fish. So maybe some of the fish got to the babies and ate them.....

 

[Japola44]

well i hope it works out better the next time. You should set up a 10gal grow out tank for them, if you want to keep them. I bet you could get store credit at your LFS if you gave them to the store to sell when they got bigger.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I just added 2 more BN Plecos. They are doing a superb job with the algae situation. As for the algae, it's disappearing. I haven't dosed in 4 days, and the algae is going away finally. I just think I'm not reading the tests correctly, and my levels are just way too high. Any good ideas on a dosing schedule? I was thinking of maybe dosing 10ppm nitrogen after PWC's (50%), and 1ppm Phosphate. Then maybe 5ppm and .5ppm midweek? Then 15ppm Potassium after PWC, and another 5 or 10ppm midweek? And micros every other day?

Edit:

After changing the bulb in my 26G to a 50/50 bulb, the L.repens is finally starting to look a little better. The leaves were just getting ugly looking. But are now getting their nice shape back. And the red is starting to come out too. That might be the key, lower lighting. The high lights just turned them green and the leaves started getting bad looking, kind of wrinkly and smaller. I also upped the Excel dosing a little. That might have a little effect as well.

Edit again:

Looks like I should pay more attention to my ph controller. My ph was 6.6, and I cleaned the electrode tonight. Then I put it in the calibration solution, and it was at 7.3. So I calibrated it back to 7.0. Then I checked it in distilled white vinegar, 2.8, perfect. Then I shook it off, rinsed in water, and placed in the tank. Ph is 5.8. Ouch. That puts my CO2 at 214ppm. Is this for real? My ph is now slowly rising back to the 6.5-6.7 range now. I didn't expect it to be off that much.

 

[Glenc]

Not sure what test kits your using, but I think the lower priced test kits alot of us use are junk. I've been testing with the hagen kit for nitrates. Been using it for months. Got a Seachem Nitrate kit for 20 bucks the other day, just to compare. The hagen kit says I'm at 8 to 10 ppm NO3. Seachem kit reads 0 ppm. Both kits are good and not expired. Great! I had to dose up to 20 ppm NO3 using the hagen kit to even get the seachem kit to read. It then read 8 ppm. With all the time and money we invest in our tanks we at least need the kits we depend on to be acurate. I am going to spend the money and get decent kits. It's worth it.

 

[Mikebaker]

Gorgeous tank. Kudos

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Not sure what test kits your using, but I think the lower priced test kits alot of us use are junk. I've been testing with the hagen kit for nitrates. Been using it for months. Got a Seachem Nitrate kit for 20 bucks the other day, just to compare. The hagen kit says I'm at 8 to 10 ppm NO3. Seachem kit reads 0 ppm. Both kits are good and not expired. Great! I had to dose up to 20 ppm NO3 using the hagen kit to even get the seachem kit to read. It then read 8 ppm. With all the time and money we invest in our tanks we at least need the kits we depend on to be acurate. I am going to spend the money and get decent kits. It's worth it.

I currently have the Hagen Master Kit, which I use to test my Nitrates, Phosphates, kh, and gh. I found the ph to be off and my AP ph test kit to be dead on. How do I know? I have a calibrated ph controller. It's dead on with the AP kit. The Hagen test tests considerably higher. All my kits are fairly new also, bought within the last 6 months, and the Hagen kit is newer.