Jay's Planted 180g Tank.

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fishorama

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Oh, I forgot you had 6 acaras. That seems a perfect mix of sexes & fry control. I do like to see the breeding behaviors but not raise or have accidental fry get beyond "bite size". You have so many hiding places, I'm surprised there haven't been any survivors...yet? lol. Ours did in a community tank, albeit different fish.

I hear you on tetras "spawn & dine" breeding but my friend gave me a biggish school of lemon tetras, some third generation, from his very planted tank. None for me yet...I keep them with angels that spawn regularly but (thank goodness), no fry have lived beyond free swimming for several days. I wouldn't mind a few more tetras but angels would be a PITA.
 

JAY973

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Oh, I forgot you had 6 acaras. That seems a perfect mix of sexes & fry control. I do like to see the breeding behaviors but not raise or have accidental fry get beyond "bite size". You have so many hiding places, I'm surprised there haven't been any survivors...yet? lol. Ours did in a community tank, albeit different fish.

I hear you on tetras "spawn & dine" breeding but my friend gave me a biggish school of lemon tetras, some third generation, from his very planted tank. None for me yet...I keep them with angels that spawn regularly but (thank goodness), no fry have lived beyond free swimming for several days. I wouldn't mind a few more tetras but angels would be a PITA.
I separated a few Acara fry into my sump for a friend who wants them and this has been the longest I've managed to keep them alive. I've tried keep them in a fry type net in the tank and that's never worked before so I'm surprised they are doing so well in the sump.

I've kept Angels on multiple occasions but I were to keep them again I'd do a group of the blue zebra or altums. My Angels were in a 120g and I moved them to 90g but they just got too aggressive around breeding with only 1 male so yeah they are definitely a PITA. =)
 

JAY973

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It's taken some effort to transition my 180g to a new aquascape so it's slowly coming together after water changes. EBA have become a PITA because they are large enough to tear plants apart now where as juveniles there was just tugging and pushing. They also do quite a bit of digging so for plants that don't like there roots disturb like crypt spiralis it's a death sentence. What was a nice think grouping of spiralis is now just a few stands barely keeping it together. I love the fish and interest they bring to the tank but not at the expense of the plants.

It's a work in progress as I nurse some of the plants back to health and shuffle some other things around but here's where it is now.

 

Zardra77

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Still looks good, you do a beautiful job of making it all flow together. I just can't seem to do that, although right now my tank is just a mess over run with bn pleco fry that people say they want but don't ever come and get lol.

Keep up the good work, love seeing the changes and updates, even when things don't go as planned.
 

ROYWS3

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Looks great Jay. The Columbian tetras look to still be going strong and the Acaras are beautiful. What is the large Crypt in the right center nears the roots?
 

Greggz

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Jay good to see you update the thread. Sounds the EBA and heavily planted tanks may not go together.

If it's any consolation, your tank on it's worst day looks better than most any other tank on it's best. I'm sure you'll get it worked out and figure out some new stocking that will be spectacular!
 
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JAY973

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Dec 24, 2005
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Still looks good, you do a beautiful job of making it all flow together. I just can't seem to do that, although right now my tank is just a mess over run with bn pleco fry that people say they want but don't ever come and get lol.

Keep up the good work, love seeing the changes and updates, even when things don't go as planned.
Thank you. I have a mix of BN I kept the long fins and put the short fins in another tank. I also gave away the male to a fellow member because the pair would plow through my foreground uprooting everything in their path. Luckily BN are slow growers so a few of the fry I've kept behind have remained small.

Looks great Jay. The Columbian tetras look to still be going strong and the Acaras are beautiful. What is the large Crypt in the right center nears the roots?
Thanks. The columbian tetra's have stopped breeding or so it seems cause I haven't seen any fry in a while. I'll look up that crypt I have it documented it somewhere it has some impressive colors.

Your tank always looks great! I'm sorry the acaras are brats, they're so pretty
LOL... Thanks.

Jay good to see you update the thread. Sounds the EBA and heavily planted tanks may not go together.

If it's any consolation, your tank on it's worst day looks better than most any other tank on it's best. I'm sure you'll get it worked out and figure out some new stocking that will be spectacular!
Thanks I keep trying we are our worst critics most of the time...LOL
 

JAY973

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What is the large Crypt in the right center nears the roots?
There's some confusion around the ID of this plant and when I purchased it it was labeled c. cordata 'blassii'. The latest TAG (The Aquatic Gardener) had a write up on the topic that goes into some detail but here are couple of pictures that really don't do the plant justice.

Doesn't look like much but it's a big leaf crypt which I like


A maroon color on the back


It has a beautiful pattern on one side for new leaves
 

fishorama

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Well my C. blassii (so called, lol) never looked like that!, leaf front or back!! But I didn't have co2 or much in the way of ferts... maybe a different variety?

Go Jay! We all love your tank & plants! & learn from you, keep it up!
 
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