Another planted 20 gallon! (10 pics, 1.83MB)

[DragonForce]

I like this, I'm into saltwater but if I did freshwater I would do it like this Does something like this require co2?

 

[CaysE]

You could get away without the CO2 with the right plants. The lily and blyxa both need it though, and I plan on having some riccia in the tank that will need it, too.

Thanks again for the comments, everyone.

 

[Florida8]

That tank rocks!!! Awesome work!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Looks great....

 

[CaysE]

Thanks everyone... some new updates. I did a lot of trimming (which caused an algae outbreak that I've been slowly defeating), but it made the tank look bigger, I think. I got rid of the r.rotundifolia and the lily didn't make it. I uprooted all of the wisteria and replanted the trimmings so they're low to the ground, and grew a little forest of java moss on top of the driftwood... overall I'm enjoying it a lot better. It's a fun learning process.

 

[squawkbert]

I think we have the same kind of Crypt. Yours has grown a lot... I've read that they aren't too fast a grower, but mine took over my 5g adn got booted to the 46 where it's keeping pace w/ a sword.

 

[CaysE]

Mine wasn't growing very fast until I pulled the bulb halfway out of the substrate. Now I keep it small by trimming off any large leaves. It looks really full now; it's probably the healthiest plant in the tank.

 

[CaysE]

Wow it's been over a year now since my last update to this thread! The tank is still doing well, albeit pretty overgrown, so I jumped back into re-scaping mode and am planning out a few changes. Here are a few recent pics with my new camera:

Female longfin albino bristlenose pleco:

L.repens now growing emersed! LOL that's how overgrown it got:

One of three crystal red shrimp:

 

[CaysE]

A few more CRS (now 6) and some HC pearling atop some driftwood.

 

[CaysE]

Time for an update!

About 4 months ago I started finding Furcata Rainbow fry in my tank: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f82/holy-crap-furcata-rainbow-fry-help-101815.html

After finding an ever-increasing number of them, I put together a 10 gallon tank and moved the adults there, and let the fry swim freely in the 20 gallon tank. All 26 of them grew up healthy and were brought to my LFS last week.

I did a bunch of rescaping, since I had let the tank just overgrow with the fry in there (I didn't want to stress them). Some of the plants are looking a bit thin, but the grasses and java moss are doing well. I really like how the moss has taken over an entire corner of the tank... the rainbows prefer to spawn up top where it's shallow and the fry can hatch in safety. The adults are all back in, and my lone neon blue Endler is squatting in the 10 gallon.



The Java moss growing emersed around the filter:


The male Furcata... always impossible to photograph, but I got these two shots:




I'm also always trying to get a pic of him flaring his fins, but because he's the only male in the tank, he doesn't do it often. I did manage to get a video of him briefly flaring twice. You can see how fast of a swimmer he is too, making any pic a challenge:

YouTube - Furcata rainbowfish flairing

I took these screen captures and cleaned them up a bit.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Wow a stunning looking tank and fish!!

Hey if you ever have more fry I am very interested in buying some if your willing to ship to MI.

Keep the updates coming its an awesome tank.

 

[brutus]

great looking tank and pics

 

[CaysE]

Wow a stunning looking tank and fish!!

Hey if you ever have more fry I am very interested in buying some if your willing to ship to MI.

Keep the updates coming its an awesome tank.

Thanks man. It just wouldn't feel right sticking fry that I raised for three months in a box. LOL I'd feel terrible.

A 10 gallon tank is too small for any rainbowfish, anyway... they're pretty active and need room to swim.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Yeah its for my new 55G that I just setup. Just planted it and have 1 male endler in it for now

Anyway again very nice tank

 

[LandGhoti]

Holy crap! Wow. OMG. Sigh...Just lovely. And great fish pictures.
My 29 is still struggling to be "cool". I'll show it this thread and kick it in the butt. Or kick myself in the butt. You have done a great job...

(LOL "Butters" the male betta.)

 

[new2betas]

Pretty tank and pictures!!

 

[Atl300zx]

i wish my crypts looked that happy

 

[CaysE]

I took all the crypts out; they were just getting too unruly and I didn't like the look of them in this tank. They're in the 10 gallon now... almost as carpet cover. I used a bunch of the plantlets and planted them close to the substrate. It looks kinda cool.

 

[Atl300zx]

I took all the crypts out; they were just getting too unruly and I didn't like the look of them in this tank. They're in the 10 gallon now... almost as carpet cover. I used a bunch of the plantlets and planted them close to the substrate. It looks kinda cool.

post some pics, i wanna see that.

 

[AquaScaper]

Nice setup and good selection of fauna and shrimp! keep up the good work!