Playa Rocosa

[Hannibal the Bichir]

Hi everyone,
So I finally got around to making a thread for my 40g Apistogramma tank, which I can upload as many photos as I want. So be prepared for lots of photos, lots now that Im a member.

Equipment:

Filtration:
Pf-UV 40 HOB Filter and UV light
Marineland C-220 Canister Filter
E-Heim Skim 350
Glass Lily Pipes
Ball-Valve

Lighting:
2x Finnex 24/7 Planted Plus Leds

Heater:
Hydor Inline 200watt Heater

CO2:
Aquatek Premium Regulator
5lb Co2 tank
GLA atomic In-line 16/22mm Diffuser
GLA Co2 Tubing
GLA Pearl Co2 Drop Checker
Rhinox Brass Check Valve

Substrate:
ADA Power Sand - S
ADA Amazonia - 24L
ADA Colorado Sand- 8kg

Fertilizers:
Flourish excel
GLA PPS-Pro
Dynamite Root Tabs

Plants:
Anubias Nana
Rotala Rotundafolia
Bucephalandra Sp. Mini Blue Almond
Bucephlandra Sp. Mini Brownie Metallica
Java Moss
Anubias Nana Petite
Anubias Congensis
Ludwigia Repens
Limnophilia Aromatica mini
Staurogyne Purple
Limnophilia sulawesi
Blyxa Japonica
Rotala Araguina Mexicana
Microsorium trident
Rotala Ramsoir Florida
Ammannia Gracilis
Alternanthera reineckii
Ludwigia repens x arcuata
Random Plant-cant id

Live stock:
1 CPD
4 Otos
2 Siamese Algae Eaters
1 Red Cherry Shrimp

Stainless steel mesh was used to seperate types of soil. Seiryu rocks and gray stone was siliconed with GE 1 silicone to egg crate and spider wood was attached with Flourish glue.

I will explain every process if anyone is wondering . Please check out the classifieds section or pm me if your interested in 3 pieces of large spider wood and plants for sale. I need to get rid of the stuff, before the plants die after my massive trimming.

 

[Hannibal the Bichir]

More and More pictures

 

[Hannibal the Bichir]

And the pictures are being uploaded upside down.....

 

[KingKoopa512]

Looking good. Ill be following

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[Hannibal the Bichir]

Day 4 and no algae.. Hopefully it will stay that way. I'm going to be adding some Julie cories and CPDs next .


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[Short-N-Portly]

Looks real nice.

 

[Tropical Aquarist]

Looks really nice!! What kind of Apistogramma are ya getting?

 

[schpanky]

WOW! Beautiful!!! What type of wood is that? How do you keep your substrate from creeping through the rocks? I actually turned my laptop upside down to see those pics. It's just stunning.

 

[Nortzy21]

Looks great. Looking forward to see where this goes.


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[Thrills22]

You've created a real sense of depth with that hardscape. I really love apistos too it's as if they've kept their natural elegance somehow despite mass breeding for the trade.

 

[Fresh2o]

I remember when you started this build. You have certainly come a long way since then. Nice setup.


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[Hannibal the Bichir]

Thank you for all the kind words! Busy with school lately so not much has happened. To be honest a lot of the knowledge with how to setup this tank came from Fresh2o and Ziggy and the inspiration from Rastamann. Lots of work went into it as well with many, many mistakes (flooding, algae, painting, rocks....I hated the rocks). I believe its 25lbs of seiryu stone, 10 lbs of grey stone, and that is spider wood. The substate is keep in via the stones siliconed together, then on the backside there is stainless steel mesh to keep the soil from seeping though the cracks. I did have one spill the other day when planting my limnophilia sulawesi which was quite annoying when having to use tweezers to get the amazonia out.
Few problems so far and I was hoping anyone can chime in

Sulawesi is starting to curl over....has lots of roots popping out near the top

Anubias is flowering underwater ( I just have to clip the flower when it dies I believe)

The SAE's create so much waste its constantly being dropped on the sand, Im worried that it will go under the roots and I wont be able to get it via a gravel vaccum. Do you suggest any livestock that will eat it

Looking to buy some micro cories and pencil fish, not sure on the apistos I want. I want to add depth by keeping very small fish. If anyone can chime in that would be amazing on the livestock as well! (checkerboard cichlid, farowella, pencil fish, rummy nose tetras, CPDs,)?

 

[Hannibal the Bichir]

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[Hannibal the Bichir]

I can't wait for it to fill in


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[Mr tap water]

Loving the Layout of your tank very well thought out.[emoji106]


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[Tropical Aquarist]

Looking good! CPDs really prefer hard water, unlike the softwater biotype you are trying to create...

Pencilfish, cories, and rummynose tetras sound great!

Have you considered marbled hatchetfish, ember tetras, or emperor tetras?

 

[Hannibal the Bichir]

Thank you! The only reason I brought up the CPDs was because I bought the Otos and the guy accidentally gave me a $12 fish for free! He didn't care once it was in the bag, he was like "oh well" your lucky. It's odd having the random cpd in the tank lol when I wanted rummy nose. Today I got the following

1 agassizi Cory cat
2 badis badis-blue
2 freshwater puffers
1 catfish
1 loach
* I will upload proper names when I'm on my labtop

I was going to get a farlowella, but it actually died as he was trying to scoop it up :/. When he gets a shipment I will get 2 more agassizi cories, 2 farlowella, rummy nose, sadly he only has cockatoo apistos. My badis badis bred within 5 minutes in the tank.....I don't even know what to do with them. Picture time!


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[Delapool]

Is the third photo the freshwater puffers? Never see them here so was wondering.

 

[Hannibal the Bichir]

Yep! I hope I got a male and female. I'm thinking about getting a 5 gallon tank with a little fugeray on the side of the 40 to keep extra trimmings and the fry. Any thoughts?


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[Tropical Aquarist]

That's cool that the badis bred! Those guys can be tricky to feed, as they're very timid and most only eat live/frozen foods. So they do best in smaller tanks as they are a whole lot easier to feed. They also prefer harder waters, so would do great with CPDs.

Same with the puffers, they prefer live/frozen foods as well. They'll eat snails too. BTW puffers are highly recommended in a single species set up, as they have the tendency to "taste" their tank mates...

Your catfish looks like a species of synodontis, not too familiar with them.

It's best to research the fish a bit before buying, I like www.seriouslyfish.com

And of course the forum