55 Gallon River Setup

[NoodleCats]

In light of having to tear down one of my setups, I've been working on the redo for the new setup.

Making a photo journal for this setup.

Planning to have it stronger flow and set up warmer than my other tanks.

Parameters:
Temperature 78F
pH 7
GH 5°
KH 3°








It's gonna sit for a little while before I move fish into it, but planning:

L240 pleco


Ancistrus bodenhameri plecos



Sterbai corydoras


Emperor tetras


I plan to spawn my older group of emperors and raise the fry in the 55 before moving everyone else over. Let the older tetras stay in my other setup and keep the young ones in this tank as the upper level fish


I shall have to see how that endeavor goes.



Equipment:
Fluval Fx4 Canister Filter
SunSun JVP-110 528GPH WaveMaker
HiTop 638 PTEF 300w heater


Lighting:
Nicrew SkyLED Plus x2


Plants:
Echinodorus "ozelot green"
Echinodorus bleheri
Heternanthera Zostifolia
Sagittaria subulata
Vallisneria sp

 

[fishorama]

A very nice start & plan for the future! I can't wait to see how it plays out. I never really thought of emperors or sterbai being high flow fish but many fish like it.
Another plant to consider is bolbitus. It's a fern that really needs flow to look its best. Very easy in any light.

 

[NoodleCats]

A very nice start & plan for the future! I can't wait to see how it plays out. I never really thought of emperors or sterbai being high flow fish but many fish like it.
Another plant to consider is bolbitus. It's a fern that really needs flow to look its best. Very easy in any light.

I have bolbitis in my betta tank, go figure haha but nah not for this tank because I'm sticking with plants found in South America since South American fish.

I use wavemakers with all of my larger tanks. Including where my original group of emperors is. So it's not anything new. Heck, my goldfish tank has the 1300gph model wavemaker.

I'd you watch a lot of wild underwater videos, there is a surprising amount of flow in these setups, more than the average aquarium has. What folks label as a "hillstream" in aquariums is a mere joke compared to what I've seen in several wild videos.

Like some of the Mato Grosso videos are deceptive... sooo many plants but the plants are flowing sideways from the current. And the fish take that current well.

 

[ShyWildPetExpert]

sounds like an awesome plan. keep us updated with how it goes

 

[fishorama]

That's why I call my tank "riverish", lol. I have a powerhead & 2 HOB filters but lots of plants & some rocks if the fish want a calm area.

 

[NoodleCats]

Water is a touch clearer.

Been running a small internal filter during the day to clear the water removed for photo). It's noisy as heck as sand damaged it long time ago, but works perfect for things like this.



I am considering options for stocking still, may not do the bodenhameri plecos, may just do the L240. But still exploring options for upper levels

 

[fishorama]

I like your idea of spawning the emperor tetras in there but it might be hard to grow them out in such a big tank. Same with your Ancistrus bodenhameri but I'd wait on adding the L 240 pleco, it's just so much bigger or will be. What size is it now?

I feel I should thank you again for the Nicrew Sky LEDplus lights suggestion. I have them on 2 tanks so far, maybe 2 in future for my "big girl" deep tank when I need them.

 

[NoodleCats]

I like your idea of spawning the emperor tetras in there but it might be hard to grow them out in such a big tank. Same with your Ancistrus bodenhameri but I'd wait on adding the L 240 pleco, it's just so much bigger or will be. What size is it now?

I feel I should thank you again for the Nicrew Sky LEDplus lights suggestion. I have them on 2 tanks so far, maybe 2 in future for my "big girl" deep tank when I need them.

Oh it would be the adult pair of bodenhameri, not their youngsters lol

My L240 is sitting at 6 inches now. Very slow grower.

Once I do start moving fish it will be a slow process. The tank is no longer "established" and the cycle will be "new" from being seeded from another tank, so I don't want to overwhelm it. So very slow.

 

[NoodleCats]

So, ended up having more cory fry from a previous tank than I expected, too many to move into a light planted tank with other cories. So, given it's 100% clear that they are paleatus corydoras, which are a colder water species, I'm changing stock plans for this setup.

I'm now moving it to be a colder setup at 72-74F

Stock plans:
13+ paleatus cories
2 chaetostoma formosae
10+ something upper level


My tank I had to cull, I collected eggs from it prior to culling and had no idea what species they'd end up being. Turns out they're paleatus.
As of this post, there are 13 of them, which if all make it are too large and many for a blackwater setup. It makes more sense to move them to this tank.


They'd also be extremely special because they're offspring from the original fish I had and from the fish I lost.

 

[fishorama]

It's great you have enough tanks to make the switch for all your special paleatus fry. Many upper level fish to choose from, lots of different barbs first come to mind, a bunch of smaller 1s (Odessa? Octozonas? I'm not sure of the temps)? Or go big with denisonii. Maybe a different danio species? Kyathit? I think even your rasbora sarawakensis might work in there too.

I'm sure you'll find a cool species to keep (pun intended, lol).