125 gallon South American fish community

LONG overdue in posting this but here we go.

Initially had a 55 gallon with a random mishmash of fish and have since upgraded. Kept only four and rehomed the rest. The 125 came with a bunch of huge aggressive cichlids (red devils, green terrors, ect.) that were also rehomed, though I kept the albino bristlenose pleco that was in with them.

Current stocking:

Fauna

1 Giant danio (Devario aequipinnatus)*
1 Eastern rainbowfish (Melanotaenia splendida splendida)*
2 Bristlenose plecos (Ancistrus sp.)* (there were 2 babies recently but I don't believe they've survived unfortunately)
4 Three-striped dwarf cichlids (Apistogramma trifasciata)
8 False blochi corydoras (Corydoras delphax)
5 Fairy corydoras (Corydoras atropersonatus)
21 Neon tetras (Paracheirodon innesi)
20 Black neon tetras (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi)
1 Glowlight tetra (Hemigrammus erythrozonus)
1 Male guppy (Poecilia reticulata)
5 Mystery snails (Pomacea bridgesii)

Flora

Vallisneria
Ludwigia
Bacopa
Cryptocoryne
Java fern
Anubias
Micro sword
Amazon sword

*Holdovers from previous setup (the top two are the last of their kind and are living out their remaining years with me despite "not fitting" with the theme)



https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...158f00ab91.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...f57aa9f584.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...cfba60d4f8.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...04936e516c.jpg

Some extra schooling shots.
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...0b0bdf65e6.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...4f75934419.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...52ff24709a.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...0142ef6f25.jpg

Two of the fairy corydoras.
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...7a7b482845.jpg

Some mystery snail pics (they go CRAZY for cucumber).
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...b30bd5c26e.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...eef2c7ae46.jpg

Closeups of the three-striped dwarf cichlids (and the miserable-looking micro swords behind them, I've had terrible luck keeping them going).
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...308ad7a41c.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...2338bfb639.jpg

Vagrant the stowaway guppy. He arrived on accident as a baby when I bought a couple of the mystery snails, hence his name. He's fully developed now and looks unbelievably stunning. This pic doesn't do him nearly enough justice (though the back of his tail sadly has a slight tear).
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...478d5d63c4.jpg

And finally the glowlight. This little one was an "orphan" pickup I brought along when I bought the black neons. It was all alone in an adjacent tank desperately trying to swim through the glass to reach the neons and have some security, so I decided to give it a home. It's been doing well. Notice the bunches of Javas in the background, those are all just a handful of the children my main plants have been producing at an insane rate. If you look closely you'll see them dotted throughout the aquascape.
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...08f12f55ae.jpg

As a bonus, 17 silver hatchets (Gasteropelecus sternicla) and my 2 prized farlowella catfish (Farlowella acus) in quarantine. The hatchets have been dealing with ich since the second day they've been here but are responding well to heat treatment.
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...adca03a592.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...91d2ba130b.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...0bebe8b51d.jpg

I know nothing about this stuff, but I love looking. And you obviously know quite a bit. :gj:

(Gee, maybe you should be working in the tropical fish business?)

Nice setup. I have a buddy that breeds fish and his house is the first time I'd ever seen apistogrammas, they are very nice looking. I love the look of hatchet fish too, so unique!

Fantastic tank! Here’s my 45 gallon, been running for years and doesn’t look as nice as yours.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6465fe0d05.jpg


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Nice setup!

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Originally Posted by Hugsplox

Fantastic tank! Here’s my 45 gallon, been running for years and doesn’t look as nice as yours.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6465fe0d05.jpg


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Looks beautiful ... have you considered black gravel/sand like the pros use in their display tanks ??


https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d33f2ca88e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...67acd58d63.jpg


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Looks beautiful ... have you considered black gravel/sand like the pros use in their display tanks ??


https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d33f2ca88e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...67acd58d63.jpg


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I have! I plan to the next time I do a substrate change. I still want to upgrade tank sizes once more before I’m happy with what I have, so I’ve been holding off until then.

This is a planted tank substrate that works amazingly well. When I initially set the tank up it was this dark red, almost clay color that looked amazing. Sadly overtime it’s faded to what you see now.


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I kind of miss keeping fish but after I married a guy with an itchy foot, it became too problematic to move even a 20-gal along with 3 kids, 2 cats, and various assorted birds, every couple of years, so I gave it up. I tried again after settling into my current digs, but could never get the tank balanced. So I will enjoy looking at your fish instead!

After a bit of research it seems I've made an error. My hatchets are not Gasteropelecus sternicla as I originally thought and are in actuality Thoracocharax Stellatus. Figured this out once I noticed today that they started developing black coloration on their dorsal fins, something I've not seen from other hatchets. They apparently share the common name of "silver" with several species, but another one they have is the more appropriate "spotfin."

Couldn't get good pics of my own because of lighting/movement/bad phone camera, but this is what they look like now.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach..._stellatus.jpg
Notably, some have started to show courtship behavior (swimming side by side in a kind of duet), and when they do almost their entire dorsal fin flushes black.

My poor hatchets are still dealing with ich... The heat treatment hasn't fully gotten rid of them and I've resorted to ordering some Seachem Paraguard (wanted to just buy it from a local store but no brick and mortars apparently carrying it). Unfortunately it won't arrive until sometime next week, plus the upcoming two weeks of medicated treatment to be absolutely certain the parasite is eradicated.

It's unfortunate because both species are getting fed up with their living situation. The hatchets are butting heads due to lack of space (the quarantine tank is only 10 gallons) and my precious farlowellas can only gnaw on cucumber slices as the algae they crave has been stripped clean long ago...

The medication came in yesterday, but when I was doing roll call I found one of the hatchets dead. Just my luck... I don't think it was anything the medication could've helped (I believe it was one that got injured during a water change some time prior) but still disheartening.

Hopefully the rest pull through during the next couple weeks of treatment.

Sorry for you loss... but hope the rest will be fine.

Been a while, and quite a bit has changed.

Biggest thing is that ick somehow got into the main tank a few months ago, and my immediate reaction was to raise the temperature, which turned out to be the worst thing I could've done. Several fish died and my Java ferns were all but destroyed. Thankfully I had medication that quickly eradicated it, but the damage from my poor judgement was already done...

The vallis are about the only plant actively thriving as you can see by it taking over everything. The rest are either gone or just barely existing.

Only new additions are bristlenose babies (evidently 3 have survived and are quite sizable now) and a random feeder guppy orphan I picked up from a store where they couldn't even tell what it was.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...0613e6b6bb.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...87cf076729.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ae1a0fc13e.jpg

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Oof. Sorry you lost some but I'm glad that you got rid of the ick. Hopefully no more fish die now and your plants spring back to life. I've had plants that looked basically dead come back with a vengeance given enough time and love.

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Originally Posted by nikkubus

Oof. Sorry you lost some but I'm glad that you got rid of the ick. Hopefully no more fish die now and your plants spring back to life. I've had plants that looked basically dead come back with a vengeance given enough time and love.

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Unfortunately the regular neon tetras have been in decline. Less than half of the original 21 remain, and what's left don't look so good (meanwhile the black neons are all chubby and healthy, the difference is almost comical). Also rather upsettingly, I'm 99% sure I've lost one of my prized farlowella catfish as I've only seen one for a long time now. This tank is so huge and cryptic with a lot of bottom feeders so bodies can easily disappear before I have the chance to find them.

As for the plants, the Javas aren't technically gone. The dying adults produced tons of babies on their leaves before their end that are all just floating around haphazardly. I could glue them to decor but it was such a massive hassle last time that I just don't feel up to the task.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Snagrio

Unfortunately the regular neon tetras have been in decline. Less than half of the original 21 remain, and what's left don't look so good (meanwhile the black neons are all chubby and healthy, the difference is almost comical). Also rather upsettingly, I'm 99% sure I've lost one of my prized farlowella catfish as I've only seen one for a long time now. This tank is so huge and cryptic with a lot of bottom feeders so bodies can easily disappear before I have the chance to find them.

As for the plants, the Javas aren't technically gone. The dying adults produced tons of babies on their leaves before their end that are all just floating around haphazardly. I could glue them to decor but it was such a massive hassle last time that I just don't feel up to the task.

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I've had a lot of issues with neon tetras over the years. To the point that I just don't even try to keep them anymore. If you want something that in my opinion is more hardy, cardinal tetras get a bit bigger but would look great in a tank your size. Ich is rough, but the API super ich cure has always worked great for me even without raising the temperature in the tank. Might be worth trying next time, although I hope that's the last time you see it for awhile.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hugsplox

I've had a lot of issues with neon tetras over the years. To the point that I just don't even try to keep them anymore. If you want something that in my opinion is more hardy, cardinal tetras get a bit bigger but would look great in a tank your size. Ich is rough, but the API super ich cure has always worked great for me even without raising the temperature in the tank. Might be worth trying next time, although I hope that's the last time you see it for awhile.

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I've heard as such in many places, but it has been a long time since I've had any so this is the first time I've really been able to personally observe just how genetically inferior they are, quite sad. Even the singular orphan glowlight tetra I picked up with the black neons is markedly bigger and healthier than all the regular neons combined. I almost went with cardinals too since they're prettier and about match the black neons in size for that perfect "synergy" so to speak, but unfortunately they're over twice as expensive per individual as regular neons and I was already spending hundreds on fish alone.

As for medication, I used Ich X. Really heavy-duty stuff that stains the water (and everything else it touches), but it got the job done extremely fast. Due to on oncoming illness that set me back the past couple months I only managed to do half a week's dosage routine but even that was enough to erase the parasites from the entire tank.

Woke up yesterday and found the mother bristlenose dead. That's upsetting... :(

My guess is something went wrong if she laid another batch of eggs, but it was impossible to tell.

That really stinks. I'm sorry to hear you're having problems.

For the first time in a long while, I went to the specialist fish store and returned with a haul. All but two of my regular neon tetras are gone so now that I have income I decided to try wild cardinals. Got 11 to start with and I'll add more over time in batches so I don't implode my wallet all at once lol. I also got 4 young angelfish for a larger centerpiece species and an unexpected addition, a marbled whiptail catfish. Saw some of them at the store, had no idea what they were but was immediately smitten. Decided to pick one up after a little research.

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675

Not taking any chances this time though and immediately got them started on an Ich X treatment regimen. Hopefully they'll all be fine.

I also got a plant-growing substrate that I'm going to gradually mix into the black sand, since even the vallis, despite having taken over the whole tank, are looking a little sad these days.

Ooooh, I was MIA when you were actively posting this thread!
Congrats on the new haul! Hope that quarantine goes well for them! I would maybe consider doing a run of melafix as a just in case as well if it was my tank. That way you cover parasite and a bit of antibiotic/antifungal

I had no problems with hatchets when I was younger, but as an adult, they are so prone to ick that it isn't even funny. They're always the first ones in a tank to sprout cysts.
Neon tetras are very hit or miss. And neon tetra disease is not something that's easy to spot. If it WAS neon tetra disease, that is caused by a parasite and angelfish are susceptible to the parasite as well. Weirdly it seems cardinal tetras are a bit hardier though? As far as I know, there's no real cure for it... ;n;

Photos of your tank really made me miss working with fish! One day I really want to start up another tank of my own, just not in the cards with rental agreements being the way they are sadly ;n;

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Armiyana

Ooooh, I was MIA when you were actively posting this thread!
Congrats on the new haul! Hope that quarantine goes well for them! I would maybe consider doing a run of melafix as a just in case as well if it was my tank. That way you cover parasite and a bit of antibiotic/antifungal

I had no problems with hatchets when I was younger, but as an adult, they are so prone to ick that it isn't even funny. They're always the first ones in a tank to sprout cysts.
Neon tetras are very hit or miss. And neon tetra disease is not something that's easy to spot. If it WAS neon tetra disease, that is caused by a parasite and angelfish are susceptible to the parasite as well. Weirdly it seems cardinal tetras are a bit hardier though? As far as I know, there's no real cure for it... ;n;

Photos of your tank really made me miss working with fish! One day I really want to start up another tank of my own, just not in the cards with rental agreements being the way they are sadly ;n;

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I have ParaGuard and MetroPlex (both from Seachem) that I used for the previous ich issue (both treatments did nothing which is why I went with Ich X), but I don't want to use multiple treatments at the same time and risk harming the fish.

Not sure if it was/is neon tetra disease. The neons kind of just wasted away one by one, though most of them quickly dropped after my misguided heat treatment when ich somehow infiltrated the main tank. Some discolored and/or developed wacky bodies/spines before they went which seems to be the common symptoms but again, hard to say for sure. None of the other multiple species in the tank seemed affected by it (which reminder includes other tetra species like black neon and glowlight) and often when a small fish dies I never find the body since multiple mystery snails, plecos and cories makes for an overly efficient "disposal crew" if you catch my drift.

That's fair! The reason I suggest melafix is because it's a tea tree oil based product not an actual medication based one so it's sometimes easy to add on to an anti-parasitic without too much stress as long as you follow the dosage correctly. It does make the tank really foamy though @_@;
Metroplex is a pretty good one from what I've heard. Just never got to use it myself.

And I totally get you on the clean up crew. I used to run the 1600 gallon tank at a big box pet store....
I had to explain to so many people how it doesn't matter that your pleco is a 'veggie' fish.... they WILL attack your tasty goldfish or angelfish's slime coat if they're hungry. Or the whole pacu being veggie versions of piranah. They'll eat anything they can fit in their mouth. Once I had someone explain how the person at a different big box store shorted them fish and showed me the receipt and the bag of fish. I had to point out that the angelfish had a nice snack because the tetra was hanging out of its mouth. =/

It's tough to say for the neons really...Neons are such finicky fish. It really is frustrating to diagnose anything but ick in them. They either live forever in your tank or just stress out and belly up after a few hours. I started swearing by white cloud mountain minnows as a good starter schooling community fish but they don't have the flash that a neon does.

Just to throw my 2 cents in. I’ve used API’s super ich cure for years and have lost almost no fish with it. Ich-X I tried a few times at the advice of the guys at Aquarium Co-op, but I just didn’t see the results I was looking for, and typically still had sick fish after the recommended dosage. One run of the API stuff and it was gone. Of course, as I got deeper into the hobby and finally set up a quarantine tank the need for a lot of this stuff went away, but not everyone has the room to do that and if you’re only keeping one tank and only buying fish every few months it’s a waste.

I also like Melafix a lot as well. A lot of people online will tell you that it doesn’t do anything, but I’ve used it almost like a Neosporin for fish with damaged fins and had great success.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Snagrio

LONG overdue in posting this but here we go.

Initially had a 55 gallon with a random mishmash of fish and have since upgraded. Kept only four and rehomed the rest. The 125 came with a bunch of huge aggressive cichlids (red devils, green terrors, ect.) that were also rehomed, though I kept the albino bristlenose pleco that was in with them.

Current stocking:

Fauna

1 Giant danio (Devario aequipinnatus)*
1 Eastern rainbowfish (Melanotaenia splendida splendida)*
2 Bristlenose plecos (Ancistrus sp.)* (there were 2 babies recently but I don't believe they've survived unfortunately)
4 Three-striped dwarf cichlids (Apistogramma trifasciata)
8 False blochi corydoras (Corydoras delphax)
5 Fairy corydoras (Corydoras atropersonatus)
21 Neon tetras (Paracheirodon innesi)
20 Black neon tetras (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi)
1 Glowlight tetra (Hemigrammus erythrozonus)
1 Male guppy (Poecilia reticulata)
5 Mystery snails (Pomacea bridgesii)

Flora

Vallisneria
Ludwigia
Bacopa
Cryptocoryne
Java fern
Anubias
Micro sword
Amazon sword

*Holdovers from previous setup (the top two are the last of their kind and are living out their remaining years with me despite "not fitting" with the theme)



https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...158f00ab91.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...f57aa9f584.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...cfba60d4f8.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...04936e516c.jpg

Some extra schooling shots.
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...0b0bdf65e6.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...4f75934419.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...52ff24709a.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...0142ef6f25.jpg

Two of the fairy corydoras.
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...7a7b482845.jpg

Some mystery snail pics (they go CRAZY for cucumber).
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...b30bd5c26e.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...eef2c7ae46.jpg

Closeups of the three-striped dwarf cichlids (and the miserable-looking micro swords behind them, I've had terrible luck keeping them going).
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...308ad7a41c.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...2338bfb639.jpg

Vagrant the stowaway guppy. He arrived on accident as a baby when I bought a couple of the mystery snails, hence his name. He's fully developed now and looks unbelievably stunning. This pic doesn't do him nearly enough justice (though the back of his tail sadly has a slight tear).
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...478d5d63c4.jpg

And finally the glowlight. This little one was an "orphan" pickup I brought along when I bought the black neons. It was all alone in an adjacent tank desperately trying to swim through the glass to reach the neons and have some security, so I decided to give it a home. It's been doing well. Notice the bunches of Javas in the background, those are all just a handful of the children my main plants have been producing at an insane rate. If you look closely you'll see them dotted throughout the aquascape.
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...08f12f55ae.jpg

As a bonus, 17 silver hatchets (Gasteropelecus sternicla) and my 2 prized farlowella catfish (Farlowella acus) in quarantine. The hatchets have been dealing with ich since the second day they've been here but are responding well to heat treatment.
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...adca03a592.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...91d2ba130b.jpg
https://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...0bebe8b51d.jpg

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Truly amazing !

I hope you bought a few more Glo-light tetras to keep him/her company :)

Could be a well fed male or a young slender female :)


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hugsplox

Just to throw my 2 cents in. I’ve used API’s super ich cure for years and have lost almost no fish with it. Ich-X I tried a few times at the advice of the guys at Aquarium Co-op, but I just didn’t see the results I was looking for, and typically still had sick fish after the recommended dosage. One run of the API stuff and it was gone. Of course, as I got deeper into the hobby and finally set up a quarantine tank the need for a lot of this stuff went away, but not everyone has the room to do that and if you’re only keeping one tank and only buying fish every few months it’s a waste.

I also like Melafix a lot as well. A lot of people online will tell you that it doesn’t do anything, but I’ve used it almost like a Neosporin for fish with damaged fins and had great success.

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Considering I went through around 3 other treatments with no luck and then witnessed the ich practically vanish the second I started using Ich-X, I can say it's worked well for me thus far. Probably different strains of ich that are more resistant to a given medication?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Truly amazing !

I hope you bought a few more Glo-light tetras to keep him/her company :)

Could be a well fed male or a young slender female :)


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I never did. Thought about it, but it's been doing just fine as an "honorary" black neon, as when I first picked it up it desperately tried to shoal with them from the other side of the display glass and has continued to do so ever since. Maybe when I pick up another batch of cardinals in the future I'll include a few more?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Snagrio

Considering I went through around 3 other treatments with no luck and then witnessed the ich practically vanish the second I started using Ich-X, I can say it's worked well for me thus far. Probably different strains of ich that are more resistant to a given medication?

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That’s definitely a possibility, even humans respond better to certain medications over others. Just offering an alternative should you need it, but If it ain’t broke ya know lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hugsplox

That’s definitely a possibility, even humans respond better to certain medications over others. Just offering an alternative should you need it, but If it ain’t broke ya know lol

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I appreciate it regardless. Should the worst happen and I get "Ich-X resistent ich" I'll know where to look next. :gj:

Been keeping up daily water changes with doses of Ich X after each and they've all been thriving.

Good lord I can't believe the look of these cardinals, the image doesn't do them nearly enough justice. It's going to be incredibly stunning once I have a full shoal (planning on a capping to around 30 strong) in the main tank.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675

This weirdo marbled whiptail's mouth. It's like I own a mini less predatory wobbegong. :P Glad I picked 'em up though. I have a growing fascination with the armored catfish groups (plecos, corydoras, ect.).
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675

Some pics of the angels. They're already doing the "feed me" dance which I wasn't even aware was something angels did. The center one in the second pic had some damaged fins but they're already healing and beginning to regenerate.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675

The first batch did exceptionally well, so today they have been transferred and I got what should be the final batch for now.

25 more cardinal tetras to complete the shoal.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675

A platinum and "blue leopard" angelfish. I wanted an all black and all white angelfish as an extended theme with my black neon tetras, but the second angel is weird. It was sold as a blue leopard, but it looks nothing like one (leopards have spotting and, especially when young like my angels are, are lighter in color while the one I have is solid black like a black veil).
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675

For the record, this is what a blue leopard looks like. And given how it cost more than even the platinum, chances are I was upcharged for a misidentified breed since from what I've researched black veils don't cost as much. I'll probably go back within the week to get that sorted out...
https://www.fishhausaquatics.com/upl..._i1_w1334.jpeg

And finally, I specifically sought out orphans since it's a nice feeling to give loners a new home, and fun since you can get a random ragtag group. As such, I got two different hatchets, a marbled and I think common (Carnegiella strigata and Gasteropelecus sternicla respectively) and a Miguelito cory (Corydoras virginiae). Technically, one of the cardinals was also an orphan as it was in a separate tank with no other cardinals.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675

I’ve only quickly skipped through this thread ... I’m sure you know you can’t keep Cardinal tetras and Angel fish in the same tank .. but just in case ...


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

I’ve only quickly skipped through this thread ... I’m sure you know you can’t keep Cardinal tetras and Angel fish in the same tank .. but just in case ...


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Regular neons can't. Cardinals get 2 inches long, and I specifically got baby angels so the cardinals would have time to grow up with them. That and the main tank has tons of hiding places and a trio of dwarf cichlids in case the angels get any funny ideas.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Snagrio

Regular neons can't. Cardinals get 2 inches long, and I specifically got baby angels so the cardinals would have time to grow up with them. That and the main tank has tons of hiding places and a trio of dwarf cichlids in case the angels get any funny ideas.

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Sounds a tad risky imho


Cardinals are fairly slow growers even in a big tank whilst Angels grow frighteningly fast .. have a huge mouth and an insatiable appetite... they’re likely to at least be nipping / biting any tetras in there if only to TRY to get a mouthful


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Sounds a tad risky imho


Cardinals are fairly slow growers even in a big tank whilst Angels grow frighteningly fast .. have a huge mouth and an insatiable appetite... they’re likely to at least be nipping / biting any tetras in there if only to TRY to get a mouthful


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I know it's a risk, but I've read all over of people having success more than failure with such arrangements, and I've calculated the odds in my favor by getting babies and making them among the last additions to the tank which itself is awash with tall greenery, hiding places and enough angels to have them be too busy with each other to bother others (and if not there's a bachelor trio of apistos; if there's one thing that a cichlid will respect, it's another cichlid).

Meanwhile, I went back to the store today to get store credit for a cardinal I didn't receive (paid for 25 and counted 24 as I was putting them in the quarantine tank plus several times over afterwards). With the discount I picked up this mystery cory that I felt bad about ever since the other day as I took away the only other cory companion it had when I got the bag of orphans, so they're back together now. I do mean mystery though, I have no idea what this species is. It was sold as C. rabauti but it doesn't look like one. Rabauti looks like this.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...49/unknown.png
The one I have doesn't have the single bold black stripe, instead having a series of zigzagging black stripes along the bulk of the body with a single orange spot right on top of the head.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675

Finally, the black angel saga has gotten even stranger. I couldn't get a discount for the breed discrepancy, but it turns out it only would've been a few bucks' difference so whatever. But I looked at it this morning, and apparently overnight it's started to develop shimmering bluish scales on the side of its body and under/around the gills. No it's not ich or some other parasite, especially as it's already started to regenerate damaged fins (the poor image quality doesn't show it properly but the lighter spots are individual scales that have changed color). So maybe it truly is a blue leopard? Quite bizarre...
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675

I've solved the cory mystery. It's a C. elegans "Peru."

Mine.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675

Stock photo.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...04/unknown.png

Bad news, my marbled whiptail catfish passed away this morning... :tears:

I noticed it starting to fade in color yesterday, but I wasn't sure if it was simply changing color or something (I had just learned of the species' existence not a couple weeks ago so I didn't know if that was a thing with them). Nope, it was dying...

No other fish new or old have died, it went through quarantine just fine, it was eating, it wasn't bothered by other tankmates, and I just tested the water and it's immaculate so I think I just got unlucky. Hopefully the store will accept a replacement/refund since it's a couple days past their 1 week guarantee.

The LFS thankfully gave me a replacement marble whiptail free of charge. Hopefully this one does better.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
Also picked up one last orphan (knock on wood). Saw it in an adjacent tank, it's a mouse catfish (how oxymoronic), Tenellus leporhinus. The employee told me it had been there for a long time, and the species prefers to live in groups so it's likely been pretty miserable. They're apparently quite similar to corydoras (in fact it looks like one that was stretched out) so maybe it'll become friends with my weird ragtag cory group. The guy was happy someone was finally giving it home too. :D
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675

It's been a while, so here's the setup proper with everyone moved in.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...900&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675

That looks very inviting- at least, if I were a fish. :cool:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

That looks very inviting- at least, if I were a fish. :cool:

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Yeah I agree .. I have zero success with real plants but thankfully the fake ones these days look real and move in the water https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9410a970ae.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Yeah I agree .. I have zero success with real plants but thankfully the fake ones these days look real and move in the water https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...9410a970ae.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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The fabric/silk ones do look very nice, though they sadly don't last as long as plastic ones. They inevitably start to fray out over time.

I can actually take pics of the fish now and not just have a bunch of featureless blurs show up on camera. :P


This is what the view is like whenever I get so much as 2 feet away from the aquarium. The angels are complete gluttons and do the "dance" every time. They're bad influences too because most of the other midwater fish have picked up on their behavior and do the same thing now. :rofl:
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675

The marbled whiptail has to be my favorite of my "unplanned oddballs." So striking. Notice how big the "baby" bristlenoses are too. They've also developed bright yellow speckling, wonder if that's from their father's albinism.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675

Some of the delphax cories. It's feeding time so they're actually out, they usually tend to hide otherwise. Not as bad as the mouse catfish though, I almost never see it and it hides in the fake rock hide in the back all the time.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675

While two are small (one was bought recently and another replaced one that passed away), the rest of my mystery snails are massive at this point.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675

My hand for comparison.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675

Pics aside everything's been going relatively well. There's been no behavioral issues from the angels (the apistos keep them in line), though at one point some of the wild-type ones had this weird gray crust on their bodies. Never did figure out exactly what it was but several successive water changes and a dual assault of Ich X and erythromycin fixed the issue. Unfortunately during the ordeal I lost my orphan common hatchet. Don't even know what happened, literally saw it fine one second then in death throws the next. Stress from the water changes maybe? No known casualties beyond that though thankfully. Only other thing is the black veil angel's constantly tattered fins but there's not really anything I can do about that (I hate unnaturally long-finned fish for that reason but it was the only type of pure black angel they had in the LFS).

I also added some fertilizer substrate (the brown balls throughout the bottom in the images). It's technically supposed to be buried, and I did get as much of it under the sand as I could, but clearly that's something meant to be done before everything is added to a tank. Oh well, the plants seem a bit perkier now at least.

Some bad news. The old decrepit giant danio finally passed on, leaving the Eastern rainbow as the last "off-theme" resident. One of the apistos also died, though in both cases I could tell they were on their way out.

In better news, I have new pics.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675

And a special bonus, a rare appearance of the mouse catfish. I almost never see it. They're supposed to be in groups which would probably help its shyness but given its orphan status I didn't really have a choice. And even if the LFS had more in I don't feel like going through the hassle of setting the QT tank up again.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...506&height=675

Fish are really beautiful & fascinating to watch- :love:

Sparkling water and amazing setup! Kudos to you for all the hard work, it’s very apparent. I always thought you need a filtration system that doubles the aquarium capacity. What do you think? Like if you have a 55 gallon tank your filter should be a 110 gallon capacity system? :gj:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

Sparkling water and amazing setup! Kudos to you for all the hard work, it’s very apparent. I always thought you need a filtration system that doubles the aquarium capacity. What do you think? Like if you have a 55 gallon tank your filter should be a 110 gallon capacity system? :gj:

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It doesn't hurt, especially if you've got a big bioload. Mine has two huge canister filters and a sponge filter for good measure. That and multiple filters means that if for whatever reason one fails, you still have others going so all the bacterial colonies aren't lost. Like having extra "organs" so to speak.

My gosh your tank looks so good and the water is crystal clear. I'm sorry for your losses. That's always hard. Thanks for sharing.

Over the course of the past month I've lost a couple of my mystery snails, and as of a couple days ago my prized marbled whiptail yet again... :(

Evidently I've learned that they tend to be sensitive, but both times they were eating and acting perfectly fine and then just keeled overnight despite no water parameter issues, feeding well and no tankmate disputes. It just wasn't meant to be I guess...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Snagrio

Over the course of the past month I've lost a couple of my mystery snails, and as of a couple days ago my prized marbled whiptail yet again... :(

Evidently I've learned that they tend to be sensitive, but both times they were eating and acting perfectly fine and then just keeled overnight despite no water parameter issues, feeding well and no tankmate disputes. It just wasn't meant to be I guess...

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Aw, that's not fair. :( So sorry for your losses, it looks like you're doing all the right things, but sometimes nature just likes to stick her foot out & trip us.

I'm sorry for your losses :(. Fish keeping can be tough sometimes.