Another of my Aquascapes

[Blairo1]

So this is very early on it's life cycle so to speak - the plants are only just establishing and I still have some area's to work on/fill in/thin. This is not a newly set-up tank, let's get that clear - it's as clean as it is because I'm a nutjob who does that sort of thing daily.

Basically the right hand side of the tank is the Rotkeil's, which is why I have left it nice and open - this took some working between me and him but eventually we got it figured out so that his favourite space is plant free. What this means is that I don't have any problems with him eating or uprooting my plants. If I put anything within that area where I have left it open, he WILL pull it up. A mutual understanding then.

It obviously mean s a big sacrifice as I can't have the exact scape I'd like, but you work with that and I love the Rotkeil so this is the scape I have come up with. Please remember it needs to grow in some more:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/Blairo/Tankupdate.jpg

55 gallon, 1WPG, diffused (undersized) Co2, currently only the 505 on it but I will be moving a spare xp3 onto it as well (I like turnover).

Once a week 50% WC to keep things nice and balanced/re-set for the plants.

pH 6
GH 6
KH 2
Nitrates 5ppm consistently.
27C

I thought I'd throw in a pic of my Bolivian Ram male looking chilled (for a change):
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/Blairo/BolivianRam.jpg

Here is a P. Taeniatus male at 7.5 months from one of my spawns:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/Blairo/taeniatusmalenospotvar_1.jpg

The picture does him no justice at all, the red is SO bright - I need to actually take a proper pic of him.

Here is the other male, very different - different breeding intentions with the two:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/Blairo/taeniatusmaleandfemalespotvar.jpg

That's all for now.

Thanks for looking.

Blair.

[Temo]

nice

[rich311k]

Very nice tank and fish!

[kr0nic]

WOW that is some grade A aquascaping :D And look at the extension on your bolivians tail fins thats amazing how long the top one is.

Ill assume that your Taeniatus is a type of cichlid ? Iv never seen that particular type before, its very beautiful and a unique shape, great fish.

[Blairo1]

Thanks everyone.

kr0nic, that Bolivian Ram is my breeder male, he's a special little fish (to me at least). It's his attitude that would amaze you, he's not like the usual Bolivian Ram which is why I can only have him with one other female in a 40 gallon as a minimum - he's feisty, very hyper.
http://s100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/Blairo/?action=view&current=Bolivianmale18-02-07HyperAggro.flv

The Taeniatus is of the Pelvicachromis family, just like the Pelvicachromis kribensis, P. subocellatus, and P. humilis. There has also recently been a new Pelvicachromis sp Blue Fin discovered. All very nice fish, you may know the more common Kribensis, or Krib.
Here they are as little fry:
http://s100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/Blairo/?action=view&current=HYPNOFRYD.flv

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/Blairo/GroupOfFRY.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/Blairo/Fry2.jpg

Blair.

[kr0nic]

Hhaha awesome videos :D

I can see why you need to keep that bolivian with only 1 mate, hes a fiesty little bugger. And thanks for the info on the Taeniatus, you learn somthing new everyday :)

[Reefscape]

Great looking fish and tank you have there....

Niko

[Blairo1]

Thanks!

kr0nic - that Bolivian is like that when I do that, kinda like for fun, but even if they have fry I can put my hand in the tank and put my finger right up to their fry pit and they will not bite me, they don't even worry about me.

I always joke with my friend on another forum that says I hypnotise my fish, especially the fry lol.

The two males I showed you earlier, of the P. Taeniatus Dehane (Dehane is the regional varient, for example there is also P. Taeniatus Moliwe, P. Taeniatus Kienke etc). They are both from the same parents, but such different fish.

Later I will post a picture of the two females who are the breeding partners of the two males in this thread.

Blair.

[Squawkbert]

Nice tank - do the fish know that they're only free to dig on the right side?

My only worry is that the swords may takeover, getting way too big to be practical in there... is variety dependent, of course.

[Blairo1]

Thanks,

Yeah, the fish know the deal, it's only the Severum I have to worry about anyhow, Bolivian Rams and Pelvicachromis are hardly plant destroyers, and although they like to dig there is enough driftwood for the Pelvicachromis to make caves (they are cave spawners). Bolivians being Bolivians occasionally expose some roots, but never any damage caused.

They are not regular swords, at the moment I can't remember what they are exactly, but they don't get too much bigger than the one on the front left - I research my stuff ;).

The one at the back IS a regular Echinodorus amazonicus however, but I have pygmy swords to replace it when they are better established.

Thanks again.
Blair.

[Grins]

Really like your aquascaping

[shaggbark]

WOW, beautiful aquascaping!

[mudskippers]

Beautiful!! everything looks amazing! Great pics! :)

[Rbishop]

Very sharp tank and fishies!

[jm1212]

nice sev!!!

[mickey]

Love the Rotkiel, one oif my fav cichlids,
the Ram is beautiful, and credit to you on
your tank setup, awesome job.

[plantling]

Beautifully landscaped tank and awesome clear pic's. And love those fish.

[Blairo1]

Thanks everyone for the really nice, positive comments!
That Bolivian is pretty special huh, good old Czech breeders.

Maybe a brief history of my break into the hobby. I started out with a ten gallon, which is technically an 8.8 gallon or something silly like that:

http://cichlid-forum.com/tanks/images/11493ahttp://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/Blairo/OLDTEN.jpg

That was my first ever tank, I thought it would also be my ONLY tank. How short sighted that was! I got that about 1 year and 1 month ago, or around that.

This was my next tank:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/Blairo/30gallonOLD.jpg

First attempt at Nano-Tanganyika tank:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/Blairo/OccellatusGold.jpg

First Malawian tank with First attempt DIY stand and hood:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/Blairo/DEMSSTANDDONESTILLNEEDSMATERIAL1.jpg

Better tank shot (sorry if you've seen it already):
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/Blairo/DEMTANK25thMAY.jpg

First attempt at a more serious planted tank - before first prune:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/Blairo/PLANTEDUPDATE1.jpg


After the first prune and some organising:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/Blairo/PlantedTank800width.jpg

So one quickly turned into two, two turned into 4, the 4 weren't big enough so they turned into 2 big ones, now I'm at a nice range from 10-20-40 and 55 gallon tanks, I may be moving to the States (I have my SS and Greencard) but if that's delayed I'm after an 8ft tank and that will be done as an Amazonian biotope. I can't wait. Even better if I do move - in the States your tanks cost about 1/4 of what they do here.

So then, I guess you could say I was hooked, definitely an acute sufferer of the MTS (multiple tank syndrome).

Here's an Odessa barb, crap picture I need to practice with this guy, manual focus, OH flash, onboard for fill, ISO 100 f22 1/200th etc.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/Blairo/OdessaBarbeditedcopy.jpg

I will get some pics of the Taeniatus females later, as promised.

Thanks again everyone for the nice comments. I've been looking at some of your tanks and they look great. I can tell we get some overspill here with the MFK's lol.

Blair.


http://cichlid-forum.com/tanks/images/11493ap

[jpappy789]

Wow...those are some amazing tanks...all of them!

[Mgamer20o0]

really nice job