What did you do with your tank(s) today?

fishguy1978

Legendary Member
Stopped by Pet Works and got a new addition...
View attachment 11008
New hoplo is so tiny, here he is compared to my albino
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Was looking for two catfish but they only had the one hoplo. I am going to grow it out and hopefully get a trio that will eventually end up with my Bumblebee Oscar in a 90 gallon.
I'm not sure that will work. Hoplosternum punctatum max out around 4in. but Hoplosternum littorale gets 9in.
 

DMD123

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How big is the bumblebee now?
Im bad at guessing but about 5" or so....

I need to update pics on him. He is going dark. The stripes do not really stand out even after the substrate change out to the lighter. He just has that blah look about him most of the time. I know the claim is that all the bumblebee oscars are exactly the same as ones offered by Rapps years ago but I still wonder. This guy just seems different…
 
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DMD123

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I'm not sure that will work. Hoplosternum punctatum max out around 4in. but Hoplosternum littorale gets 9in.
My Oscar is not really a bloodthirsty eat tankmates type of fish, so I think it will work. These catfish are not Hoplosternum punctatum which if Im not mistaken have a forked tail. The ones you and I have should have the flat tail and are the Marbled hoplo or Megalechis thoracata, still a bit on the smaller side but I think can get to about 5".
 

fishguy1978

Legendary Member
I
My Oscar is not really a bloodthirsty eat tankmates type of fish, so I think it will work. These catfish are not Hoplosternum punctatum which if Im not mistaken have a forked tail. The ones you and I have should have the flat tail and are the Marbled hoplo or Megalechis thoracata, still a bit on the smaller side but I think can get to about 5".
I Stand corrected.
 

DMD123

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Got an email confirmation my Universal Rocks order shipped. Looking forward to finishing off the 300 with the fake rocks.
 

DMD123

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Been working in the garage fishroom… but not in a good way, lol. Doing sheet rock repairs from the water heater install a while back. The rock is installed, some light tape and mud work done. I need to finish up the mud, sanding and then paint. Thankfully this is on the other side of the garage but its still part of the fish room so I want it done soon.
 

sir_keith

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Wow, those are really a beautiful fish. I look forward to watching your colonies grow
It's really amazing how much happier brooding Cyprichromis females are when kept in a small group rather than alone in a brooding tank. A few days ago I moved 3 brooding females plus one non-brooding female (she got into the net accidentally) from a 125 into a 40L, and they are doing great, hanging out together constantly and behaving normally. When a single fish is isolated, you will almost never see her as she takes cover wherever shelter is available. This is fright behaviour for this species, and it can't be good for the fry.

So far, one female has released a few fry (3 or 4?); will be waiting for the others. When frightened, e. g. when you're trying to catch them, Cyprichromis females will take the eggs/embryos deep into their oral cavities, so much so that it is difficult to tell who is brooding and who is not. And they often spit when startled, so transferring them to a brooding tank can be challenging.
 

DMD123

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A little scubbing and cleaning the 300 this evening. Somehow my fish always manage to knock off the intake for the FX6 filters, so part of my cleaning involved cleaning the intake screen, glass behind and reinstalling. I was doing all this in preparation of the new Universal rocks coming in. Then the package never shows up! My last package from them was also late and also delivered from Fed Ex. Not impressed with their shipping at all. Hopefully the rocks will be worth it and give the tank the look and scale I am looking for. I still have about a quarter of the tank I want to clean so I might attempt that tomorrow.
 

sir_keith

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Last weekend I posted an update on my brooding Cyprichromis leptostoma 'Kerenge' females, along with a comment that a Cyp population I had been trying to obtain forever was Cyprichromis leptosoma 'Mpimbwe,' commonly called the Tri-color Cyp Black Bee. Well, tonight I finally found some of these fishes, and placed an order for 15 young individuals, which should arrive next week. I'm super excited to finally have a chance to add these lovely fishes to my collection!

CYPRICHROMIS-LEPTOSOMA-TRICOLOR-MPIMBWE.jpg


 

fishguy1978

Legendary Member
Last weekend I posted an update on my brooding Cyprichromis leptostoma 'Kerenge' females, along with a comment that a Cyp population I had been trying to obtain forever was Cyprichromis leptosoma 'Mpimbwe,' commonly called the Tri-color Cyp Black Bee. Well, tonight I finally found some of these fishes, and placed an order for 15 young individuals, which should arrive next week. I'm super excited to finally have a chance to add these lovely fishes to my collection!

o_Oo_Oo_O wow
 

sir_keith

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Yes, really nice Cyps. There is a 'Jumbo' Cyp that looks something like this, but the 'Black Bee' is a small fish, maxing out at about 3", which suits me just fine.

Today I will be moving my colony of young F1 Ophthalmotilapia nasuta Kipili Golds that I raised from fry from their 75g grow-out tank into a free 125; I've been meaning to do this for a while. That will leave that 75 with just 7 Xenotilapia flavipinnis Kekese 'Red Royals', which are mostly bottom dwellers, so this will be perfect for the new Cyps. Always fun to get new fishes, especially when they're something you've been trying to obtain for a while. :)
 

DMD123

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My Fed Ex package from Universal Rocks came in this morning. Im currently woring on some more tank cleaning and new scape, will post pics later… loving the scale of these “rocks”
 

DMD123

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Looks great! I’d move the plant from the right of the tank to the middle and the middle plant to the right so that way you have green bookends on the tank. But then again, maybe I just need balance in my life. Haha
I still am trying to figure it out. Its funny that we can take all the elements and put it together and it looks wrong yet it just all falls in place in nature and never looks wrong.
 

John58Ford

Well-Known Member
I still am trying to figure it out. Its funny that we can take all the elements and put it together and it looks wrong yet it just all falls in place in nature and never looks wrong.
Maybe try hucking it in there and blast it with the hose for a couple hours to see where it lands? Worked for nature :p.

It's always a challenge to me too trying to figure out how to mimick something that looks like a more plant dense nature. I understand all the crazy aquascape "rules" for Dutch, Taiwanese, Iwagumi, jungle and nature but I can't justify sticking to them. Just make it work. I don't know how to say let the plants grow where they find their place with plastic plants, but if I were to run a tank that required that, I would start with a zoned theme. Tall plants don't usually find root beds in rock gardens, but you might need more of those rocks, and maybe various heights of the plants you have. possibly sloping from side to center, or maybe started center of one side, with some browning towards the center as the "seeds" tried to spread to the rock zone only to find stunted roots. In sightly stagnating water though the nutrients would tunnel to the sides and edges of the rocks so it would be normal to see dense but stunted plants at the borders as the nutrient bed is dense, but slim.


Today, I've been destroying, and redesign on my false rock backgrounds. I'm struggling with the above mentioned thoughts. I have used planter bowls built into my previous designs, and in dry arrid nature; basalt columns will typically see naturally occurring shelves with sparse low moisture plants. Underwater and with full growth though, I think my design looks not so possible(naturally). I mean I could un-naturally force it to work, allot of people would probably like it but I don't really right now. Combine the unrealistic fauna density on a rock wall with the crazy lighting effect that I'm planning to use behind it and I just can't justify the time if I were to "cement it" permanently into those tanks. Bleh. I have all the filter supplies, heaters and pumps collecting dust while I fight myself on an asthetics, but I do expect to leave each show tank I set up for 5-7 years without significant redesigns, it seems like an attainable cycle and let's things fall into place at the speed they grow in my nutrient and carbon limited systems.

In other news, trimming plants, cleaning tanks and getting ready to bring a few long fin bnp into the collection has me pretty happy about the general direction. Now I just need to hunt down a location to offload a couple dozen endlers that have made full color this last month.
 
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