MTS rescape for my 50gal

[Buff]

So, I've decided, and its final. One of you guys need to convey the message to my L204 that my house is a safe place for plecos and that he should abandon his hideouts and come get photographed. This guy is not yet comfortable with me and its sad...my corys will stay at the glass with my nieces and nephews in the house. Anybody know how long it takes panaques to stop hiding in a new habitat?

I found this in one L204 profile: The Plecostomus will usually only be active during feeding and at night. Another says they are shy except during feedings. Try some zucchini to draw him out...

I have a Spotted Raphael that I've only seen 5 or 6 times since last September...

 

[Fozzybear]

oh yeah i know, he's just particularly grumpy so far. I'm more just complaining. I know the species is shy but i also know that this particular fish, when kept in a dark, tannin rich tank (like mine) will come out and feed on wood during the light cycle, its just a matter of him getting comfortable with his new habitat and me hating to be patient.

 

[Fozzybear]

Cory Update: So, I believe I've diagnosed the laziness of the corys. I saw that one of them was buoyant when not moving, looked a little fat too. So, i set to work boiling peas and cutting them in half, fed them at dinner time instead of normal food regiment. This morning the only thing left of the peas are empty husks and all the corys are back up to normal speed, neutral in the water, and generally looking well. Yay for trolling the forums...you learn little tricks .

 

[Fozzybear]

My first hiccup with my MTS

So, first day in the tank my L204 was too unsure and nervous to do much of anything but hang out in his cave. Overnight he popped out of his cave to eat, chewed on some mopani and a bit of cucumber. Then, yesterday morning, apparently he decided he plans to stay in my tank permanently and needed to remodel. So, he went and dug around in his cave a bit and kicked up some substrate,



I patched it with a bit more Tahitian Moon and hopped in the shower. Apparently this wasn't up to his liking and...


(P.S. This is the point at which i made the post yesterday explaining that i'd tried to cap the floor of his cave with more sand...I'd not been thorough enough apparently or compacted it...pressing it in and creating a large crater for him seems to have helped significantly)




He went to town, Dug and dug for a couple hours, I ran off to the store and picked up 10 lbs more of Tahitian Moon. Then i took the roof off his cave, causing him to stop digging and go hide in the corner of the tank so the substrate could settle. (I know, it stressed him, but i didn't want to be blind and drop substrate or a rock or log on him.) Once the tank settled enough to see through i put the sand in a large holed spaghetti strainer (large enough for the sand to fall out the hole) This way when i dropped the wet sand in it, it didn't fall through the holes. But when i lowered the strainer into the water (full of sand) and lifted, the water flow pulled sand into the tank. Using this method i simply added sand all over the tank evenly, compressing it firmly under the pleco's cave to prevent him causing more trouble. Then, I went through and excavated my plants that had become buried, pulled them up about .25 of an inch as well to adjust to the higher substrate. Reconstructed the cave and vuala!



And a grainy crappy picture of my angry L204 while I was screwing with HIS tank. (not mine anymore)




Question for any ancistrus keepers, My juvenile L183 is hanging out near the heater allot (tank is kept at 80 degrees) totally healthy, eating voraciously, but could he be wanting the tank warmer? should i turn it up?

 

[Fozzybear]

System Update.

Things have been somewhat interesting in my tank recently. My Flash Panaque had the whole digging habit, origionaly he was able to get through the substrate to the MTS, causing the cloudiness in my previous posts. I answered this by going ahead and grabbing 10 more LBS of Tahitian moon and adding it to the tank, focusing on the corners of the tank and edges where the pleco likes to dig (he pushes himself up the glass slowly, but with very strong strokes, displacing huge amounts of substrate, or simply digs himself a ditch to sit in). I'd pull back all the substrate and lay down 3ish inches of straight sand, by doing this i was able to prevent the tank from clouding up every night, but he was still moving pounds of sand every time the lights went out without even really specifically trying to.

So, I went out and picked up black #3 gravel (much to my chagrin) which i mixed into the substrate (making sure to get it very thick in his favorite digging spots) to weight it down. Currently its mostly on top but should settle well hopefully and I'll get some of that beautiful velvety black substrate to look at.

Other than that, my corys are growing fast, And while I was at the LFS with my wife setting her up a 20gal (yeah she got the bug BAD) I saw a tank full of harlequin rasbora and phantom tetras. I've always had a thing for rasbora and am simply going to continue to tell myself that they were incredibly stressed with the larger tetras and needed a home. So I picked out the 12 that looked healthy and brought them home. I'm pleased to say, they seem to LOVE my tank, they're happy, zippy, and coloring in quite quickly. I'm incredibly happy, at this point, with the fun peaceful addition. Today while i was screwing with my substrate the whole school actually came over to my arm and started nibbling the air bubbles off my skin. I've never met such brave little guys.

Current stocking:
1x L204 Flash Panaque
1x L183 Ancistrus
5x Corydora habrosus (6 more on order from MG )
12x Harlequin Rasbora
? x Bladder/Ramshorn snails.

 

[spirofucci]

Wow! very cool! Those plecos are neat and look good in there!

 

[Fozzybear]

Care of bobstropicalplants.com

And finally the plants are here and my aquascaping is done...can't decide if i need another big piece of mopani in there.

 

[Fozzybear]

Stand upgrade

So, while my wife and I were sitting, enjoying the upgrades to the tank, we noticed that the table its been on for the last 2 years had started to collapse. So, this morning I did a quick stand build. Cinderblocks + latex paint + ply wood + 2x4s + hours of hand sanding = success. This bugger'll never die. Enjoyifyinate. Oh yeah, to move it i took out about 60% of the water and destroyed my back :headshake2:

 

[jetajockey]

lol that actually doesn't look bad, gives me an idea to get my tanks up off the floor in the garage.

 

[Fozzybear]

lolrams

Got a EBR and Gold ram from jeta today...My stocking is complete for the foreseeable future and i'm satisfied.