Some pictures

I am pretty much all Rio Xingu Hypancistrus from the Big Bend. I am not sure what the 172a is. A search on planet catfish for "golden vampire: directs to Leporacanthicus heterodon. However their L number catalogue does not show 172a at all.
 
I am pretty much all Rio Xingu Hypancistrus from the Big Bend. I am not sure what the 172a is. A search on planet catfish for "golden vampire: directs to Leporacanthicus heterodon. However their L number catalogue does not show 172a at all.
I'm pretty sure it is Leporacanthicus heterodon ; the reason i prefer these over some species is they are more likely to be out and about (seen)....

This will be my a. bitaeniata or a. Abacaixis aquarium after i do about 40 more hours of work on it - it will start with around 8 bitaeniata 30 hatchet or marble hatchet and 30 n. mortenthaleri - but i need to adjust the driftwood and add a ton of leaves - no cats for this aquarium:

b1.jpg
 
Add some leaves; add 5x more driftwood; wave the magic wand:
b10.jpg

TDS is 25 which seems really high.
 
8ftx4ft (other side of room as the 10x4 posted above); hard to get the fishes i want for this one so put some rummy in to move the cycling along:
(gotta say the aquarium is too long for them - they swim about 4 ft and turn around over and over and over)

8x4_sept_1.jpg
 
At the far end is a cluster of vals on the side. I added a bunch more drift wood today; and more plants next week. The rummy are mostly to help cycling - the near sponge filter is very 'mature' and rather dirty. So far no ammonia - the tank ran for about 2 weeks with not much in it but it might have a slight cycle not sure - i'm measuring ammonia each day but to be honest it is so large i'm not gonna be able to detect bilogical activity without a much higher load - just too much water. I'll add my pia angel soon. Not sure abou tthe festum - they are suppose to go in this aquarium but worried they will gobble down the rummy. They will probably end up in there anyways and the rummy will just have to stay away from them i guess.

Oh it only took the rummy two days to associate me with food so now when i walk over they come over to eat.
 
Are the rummies adult size yet? Your huge tank makes them seem young. How big are the festivums? Adults could eat them especially if they hadn't been kept with much smaller fish before. But adult rummies should be ok with angel & festivums. Tetras might be safer & feel safer once you have more plants.

My few ancient "hand me down" rummies know my husband feeds them differently than I do. They beg him; I feel like I almost get an "is this the best we get today? Where's the old guy? We can wait..." dirty look, lol. "What? Repashy gel food & we have to share with the cories? (sigh, ok)". They were bolder & not so fussy when I had more of them & more plants.

I agree, your "mature" sponge filter is likely good enough for cycling a few tetras in a giant tank. I've done the "silent cycle" with many more plants, fewer fish in a smaller tanks. There's nothing to measure...Can you add a lot more plants, a few fish slowly or "used" filter media as you go along?

oh & I forgot what a pia angel means, please tell me again, PITA? Sometimes they are...
 
Are the rummies adult size yet? Your huge tank makes them seem young. How big are the festivums? Adults could eat them especially if they hadn't been kept with much smaller fish before. But adult rummies should be ok with angel & festivums. Tetras might be safer & feel safer once you have more plants.

My few ancient "hand me down" rummies know my husband feeds them differently than I do. They beg him; I feel like I almost get an "is this the best we get today? Where's the old guy? We can wait..." dirty look, lol. "What? Repashy gel food & we have to share with the cories? (sigh, ok)". They were bolder & not so fussy when I had more of them & more plants.

I agree, your "mature" sponge filter is likely good enough for cycling a few tetras in a giant tank. I've done the "silent cycle" with many more plants, fewer fish in a smaller tanks. There's nothing to measure...Can you add a lot more plants, a few fish slowly or "used" filter media as you go along?

oh & I forgot what a pia angel means, please tell me again, PITA? Sometimes they are...
Some answers:
No I don't think they are adults yet - but when i gotta move i gotta move. On the bright side they now school 8 feet instead of 4 feet ;)
PIA - PAIN IN THE ASS - one aggressive fish this one. The others are all lambs but he is anything but passive. On the bright side he is super friendly with me and greets me every morning after he gets done harassing everyone else.
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The festum are adults i've had them for a year and they like to bite the heads off my cherry barbs which are slowly being reduced in numbers.
It will take a while for plants to grow the aquarium is too large to give it a dense planting and it will take a year to fill in. I'll add more plants when i move my other aquariums but at the end of the day it won't help a lot given how large this monster is - meant to take another picture as i added some more drift wood - also there are 7 small sterbai with the rummy.
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Eek! If they bite off cherry barb heads your rummies are in trouble. Do you think the corys will be ok? I think we only had 1 festivum for a short time. No sign of biting smaller fish AFAIR.
 
Eek! If they bite off cherry barb heads your rummies are in trouble. Do you think the corys will be ok? I think we only had 1 festivum for a short time. No sign of biting smaller fish AFAIR.
I'll put the festum with the clown loaches (black 10x4) and put the krobia with the rummy. Eventually the geo will get large and in a few years they might go after the rummy but they will be the only thing capable of eating them. I kind of like the idea of a large school of rummy swimming back and forth et all...
 
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