HybridHerps 75 Gallon Tank (High Tech Planted Tank, with an assortment of fish)

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HybridHerp

AC Members
Jun 8, 2012
110
1
16
New York (Long Island)
Hey guys, I wanted to post this tank here for a few reasons. One, I like showing off my tank and getting ideas from other people, but also I don't feel like this belongs in the planted tank section. I feel that this tank is awesome (or soon to be awesome rather) because it has a little bit of everything that people in the hobby enjoy....Epic plants and amazing fish (from things you'd expect in a planted tank like rainbows and gourami's, to things you wouldn't expect like various cichlids, to things that are more monster like ropefish and bichirs).

This tank is still a work in progress, with more plants that I want to add as the days go by, and more fish that I want to add as well. But enough talk, lets get on with the specs of the tank and pictures.

· Gravel
o 3 Black Eco-Complete
o 3 Red Eco-Complete over that
o Large Red Gravel over the Eco-Complete

· Hardscape
o Rocks
§ Rainbow Rocks x4
o Driftwood
§ Malaysian Wood x6

· Heater
o Inline Heater
ú Set at 76

· Lighting
o Catalina Black Solar T5 HO 4x54W with 2 10K and 2 6.5K, with 8 dimmable moonlights
§ Playing with lighting period

· Filtration
o Eheim 2217 x2

· Water Pumps
o Koralia 750

· Fertilizers
o EI Method
§ Cycle starts on Saturdays
o Osmocote Capsules in substrate
§ Every other month
o Gro-Soil and Gro-Humate Tabs in substrate
§ Every few months

· Carbon Dioxide
o Dual Stage Regulator on 20lb tank
o GLA Atomic Check Valve x2
o Up Aqua Inline CO2 Diffuser
o Drop Checker Color: Green
o Bubble Counter: 4 per second
§ Filled with Mineral Oil

· Aeration
o 2 air stones on one aerator
§ On half an hour after lights go off
§ Off an hour before co2 comes on
 

HybridHerp

AC Members
Jun 8, 2012
110
1
16
New York (Long Island)
Now, that's all fine and dandy, but what am I keeping in this thing lol

Current Fish/Inverts
• Herotilapia multispinosa – “Rainbow Cichlid” x2
o Allow breeding to occur
• Acarichthys heckelii – “Threadfin Acara” x2
o Allow breeding to occur
• Rocio octofasciata – “Electric Blue Jack Dempsey”
o Remove if screwing up plants
• Trichopodus leerii – “Pearl Gourami” x3:3
o Allow breeding to occur and give away/sell broods
• Melanotaenia australis – “Australian Rainbow fish” x5
o Allow breeding to occur and give away/sell broods
o Add a few more when possible
• Polypterus senegalus – “Senegal Bichir”
o About 8” long now
• Polypterus retropinnis
o About 5” long now
• Erpetoichthys calabaricus – “Rope fish”
o About 14” long now
• Melanoides tuberculata - “Trumpet Snail”
o Allow breeding population to form

Plants
• Current
o Bottom
• Staurogyne repens
 Partial carpet
• Hygrophila sp. ‘Araguaia’
 Partial carpet to the right of S. repens
o Foreground
• Eichhornia diversifolia
 In front of Wood #1
• Hygrophila pinnatifida
 In front of Wood #1
• Blyxa japonica
 In front of Wood #1 and #2
• Nesaea pedicellata – “Yellow Nesaea”
 In front of N. aquatic
• Cryptocoryne parva
 Edge of crypt ring
• Cryptocoryne nurii
 Crypt ring
• Cryptocoryne sp. ‘Green Gecko’
 Crypt ring
o Mid-Ground
• Echinodorus sp. ‘Rose’
 Middle of crypt ring
• Limnophia aromatica
 Right next to crypt ring
• Nymphaea micrantha
 Near crypt ring
• Rotala sp. ‘Vietnam’
 In front of R. macrandra var. ‘Japan Red’
• Nymphoides aquatic – “Banana Plant”
 In front of right side of Wood #4
 Keep trimmed when leafs get too tall or too wide
• Nymphaea stellata – “Dwarf Lilly”
 On top of N. aquatic
• E. angustifolia ‘Vesuvius’
 In front of N. aquatic
• Hygrophila polysperma var. ‘Sunset’
 In front of H. sp. ‘Brown’
• Nymphaea zenkeri – “Red Tiger Lotus”
 In front of the gap of Wood #2
• Didiplis diandra
 In front of Ludwigia senegalensis
o Background
• Alternanthera reineckii var. ‘Rosaefolia’
 Back right corner
• Ammania gracilis
 Next to A. reineckii
• Lagenandra meeboldii ‘Pink’
 Back right corner
 Let it grow more compact
• Cryptocoryne crispatula var. flaccidifolia
 Allow to grow around back of crypt ring
• Cryptocoryne usteriana
 Keep in back of crypt circle
• Cryptocoryne sp. Wendtii Hybrid
 Said to grow tall
 If so, use to frame crypt sp. group
• Hygrophila corymbosa – “Giant Temple”
 Bordering back right of Wood #4
 Trim compact
• Cabomba furcata – “Red Cabomba”
 Behind Wood #4, in-between A. madagascariensis and R. sp. ‘Bangladesh’
• Aponogeton madagascariensis – “Lace Leaf”
 Behind N. aquatic
• Hygrophila sp. ‘Brown’
 Around A. madagascariensis
• Crinum calamistratum
 Behind Wood #1 and in front of Wood #3
• Proserpinaca palustris – “Mermaid Weed”
 In the gap of Wood #2
• Ludwigia sp. ‘Rubin’
 Keep right of L. glandulosa
• Ludwigia sp. ‘Atlantis’
 In front of L. sp. ‘Rubin’ and L. glandulosa
o Non-Substrate
• Surface
 None
• Hardscape
 Wood #1
• Anubias barteri var. ‘Petite’
o Allow to carpet wood
 Wood #2
• Microsorum pteropus var. ‘Windelov’
o Allow to carpet top of wood
• Fissidens fontanus – Mini Fissidens
o Allow to cover wood
 Wood #3
• Microsorum pteropus var. ‘Trident’
o Allow to carpet bottom of wood
• Fissidens fontanus – Mini Fissidens
o Allow to cover wood
 Wood #4
• Anubias barteri var. ‘Nana’
o On wood
• Anubias barteri var. ‘Broad-Leaf’
o On wood
• Anubias barteri var. ‘Coffeefolia’
o On wood
• Anubias sp.
 Wood #5
• Fissidens fontanus – Mini Fissidens
o Allow to cover wood
 Wood #6
• Taxiphyllum sp. ‘Taiwan’
o Might replace with something else
• Stones
 Lomariopsis sp. ‘Subwassertang’
• Allow to form a nice layer on stones and wood
• Spread throughout foreground as an accent

This is just what I have now...I am going to be adding more plant species and more fish species...and possibly even more invert species as time goes on. Also, of the plants I have now, those will grow more and become nice specimens in the near future. Some stuff I have you can't really see as it is still small, but once everything is in balance with size it should be very, very impressive.
 

HybridHerp

AC Members
Jun 8, 2012
110
1
16
New York (Long Island)
Okay, and now for the thing you are all waiting for....THE PICTURES, as without them, this thread is worthless :p

But first, a picture of NOT this tank, but a future inhabitant.

Thorichthys ellioti – “Ellioti Cichlid”
Got him growing out a bit in my 10 gallon...he probably is big enough as is but I'd rather be safer than sorry since I don't see these in NY. Shout out to Mike (f22 is his username on MFK) at Route 4 Aquarium in Jersey.




And now onto the main event, the tank itself. Its gone through a lot of changes over the years, as I started out fish keeping as a cichlid guy, then a monster fish guy, then a planted tank guy. So I consider this tank a culmination of all of my knowledge in all three of these areas of fish keeping, and getting them to all work in harmony together.



Full tank shot. Like the scape so far? It might not follow typical aquascaping rules, but this tank does really follow typical rules as it is. This is only a few days old at this point, in terms of this look and placement of things, so it has yet to really fill out and mature. But the seeds have been (mostly) planted, and now it is time to wait for them to grow and come to fruit.



Eichhornia diversifolia trimmed way down, on the far left. Subwerstang is on the stone, H. pinatifida and Blyxa also in front of the wood, with Petite anubias on the wood itself. I might move the pinatifida elsewhere if it grows large and tall, but I am hoping that in high tech it will grow more like a running plant and stay short.

I call this Wood #1 (creative right?)




More blyxa, subwerstang, and H. araguyai to the right. I want to get it to carpet a little bit...should look interesting next to the blyxa and the s. repens to its right. Also, you can see the Red Tiger Lotus in the background...that should be cool once it grows huge, as I know they do.



Wood #3 as I call it. Covered with more fissidens and some trident java fern. Should look nice and compliment Wood #2 (behind it) very well, as both are covered in the same moss but different variety of Java Fern.


S. repens, Gold nesea...it looks a little rough but it will be bouncing back soon, it didn't do to well with how the tank used to be...as you can see.




Crypts...a mix of some wendtii hybrid, a bit of green gecko, nurii, parva, usterania, crispatula var. flaccidifolia, a rose sword, l. aromatic, a. reineckii, a micaranthra lotus, and the laghenandra (they are super small though but growing...soon to be monsters). This is where my little circle of crypts is...you can see it but it doesn't look very impressive yet. I'm still adding a few more crypts, but the whole thing has to grow out too.



This feel over a bit, so it looks less awkward now. I call this wood #4. Its covered in assorted anubias species, and has Red cabomba and H. 'Brown' to its left, alongside two madagascar lace plants and some sunset hygro, and it has H. corymbosa to its right. I want to put bangladesh behind it as well, and have R. vietnam, R. japan red, and R. goias in front of this wood as well, alongside getting more anubias for it. Also, hi little crinum and M. micaranthra (the lotus).




The two lace plants where sitting in a 10 gallon for months...(the one that has the t. ellioti in it now) they are a lovely, lovely plant. I have them behind the banana plant (they get big...the tubers all rotted off and/or where buried, but this started out looking like any other banana plant). The banana plant is the oldest plant in here...Had it for almost two years now maybe...its a neat little thing.




Wood #2, I have some fissidens from a friend of mine, as well as windelov java fern that I've been holding on to. Wood #3 is the piece right in front of this one, and it has more fissidens on it, as well as a bit of trident fern that I want to grow out. Should be nice.



This I'm not sure how I feel about. The plant you see here is some L. Atlantis that I trimmed from my 10 that is in my sig. Behind it is Rubin, which I like, and a crinum calminstratum, which will grow huge in time. I want to get multiple ludwigia species growing in rows here...but I am unsure if I want to keep atlantis here specifically. I'm also debating if I should use glandulosa...or if I should keep only Rubin as a larger, background ludwigia species in this section. Debating debating. Although, I should trim down the Atlantis so that it matches the hight of the other stems in this area...anyone ever want any of this plant you let me know...it grows out of my ears lol



And now for the fish. I am SO FREAKING HAPPY that I was able to find this EBJD...he's a good 4" I'd say. I MISS HAVING ONE SO MUCH. I had one...over two years ago, that I had had for 3 years and grew out from a 2" baby...got it to just over 5" before it died when I went away on vacation. And he is behaved with the stems so far...only plant that's been uprooted is blyxa...which is a pain in the *** to keep planted anyways...and its only a small amount of blyxa (like one stem of it) that seems to be uprooted...I'll bury it better later. Mike thanks again, great fish.



Australian Rainbows....5 of them. Got these at the GCAS auction a week or so back. One of them is deformed a bit, and had some fin rot, but its bouncing back. The rest are starting to show their true colors. I'm debating getting 2 or three more...if I did I'd aim to just get more females most likely. I might also add a trio of a different species...but I kind of want to avoid doing that unless I see something REALLY REALY NICE.



This, is a nice fish. A pair, male and female actually. Threadfin Acara. From what I understand it doens't grow super huge either. I'm doing this pair in place of attempting to do a pair of some nice angels....I just like the regal appearance of these and am getting tired of not being able to find angels I want that are affordable. This one is the female, less colorful and showy, but still pretty. Also from Mike.






The male is prettier, but wasn't as easy to snap a pic of. That dorsal gets some long trailers, and the fish gets a lot of red highlights and blue speckling. I'm excited lol Again from Mike.



Yup, my rainbow cichlids are still doing fine. I think they might be a male and female pair...idk. They get along and are showy and active, so I'm happy. They aren't being dark and hiding anymore which is fantastic, as they are a fantastic cichlid, especially for a planted tank.



The 6 pearls are doing fine as well. Pictured are 4 because they like to break off and chill around the tank.



Not the best pic...but it shows that I have a rope fish now. Considering getting another one as well, but he should be fine with the sen bichir and retropinis bichir that I have now.



Another crummy shot, but this is the back end of my retropinis bichir. Just to prove that he is, indeed, in this tank.

Andddddd, photo dump time




























 

HybridHerp

AC Members
Jun 8, 2012
110
1
16
New York (Long Island)
Something I've noticed, my rainbow cichlids have been digging a hole consistently in the same spot...I put a rainbow rock in there now, perhaps they are trying to spawn there? I'm guessing the rock would be what they are looking for, no idea of the threads in acaras are trying to spawn as well, but I suspect the rainbows because I've noticed this spot has been dug out before.


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ktrom13

AC Members
Feb 4, 2013
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boston
Real Name
Kyle
Sweet tank! Looks good and great amount of diversity. I wouldve never have though some of these fish would get along but there is always someone out there that will prove you wrong. I was considering getting a EBJD because i have a 40B that will be empty soon and because my LFS is have a sale on them because the owner is having difficulty selling them off. His EBJD are usually sold at about $30-$50 depending on size but now all of them are $25! Btw, why size tank is this? I mean you have some fish in there that are monsterous. Im really looking foward to seeing this tank get to its full potential

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ktrom13

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Feb 4, 2013
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... Maybe i shouldve paid some attention to the title :/

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HybridHerp

AC Members
Jun 8, 2012
110
1
16
New York (Long Island)
Haha :p

Yah, it's a nice sized tank, although all the bichirs stay small , upper jaws for the win.

I used to keep an endli in the tank so I know my way around bichirs.

The cichlids will get some size but from what I understand nothing terrible.


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ktrom13

AC Members
Feb 4, 2013
1,238
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boston
Real Name
Kyle
My main concern would be the EBJD uprooting any plants. Have you thought of adding a rainbow cichlid? In the average aquarium they stay relatively small, about 4" or so, but can reach about 7". Plus they have really nice colors and are peaceful from what ive read about them. I actually was researching them today as i was looking into some possibilties for new fish :)

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