My current favorite of my display tanks

All,

Thought I would post some pictures of my current favorite of my display tanks. It's a 29-gallon All-Glass (Aqueon). The substrate is my special mix for plants that I call, "BTDarters' Streambed Complete Plant Mix". That's a mouthful! The background is by OceanVisions. Filtration is a Whisper 60. The aeration unit is a Hydor Ario 2. I plan to replace this with a bubble disk that will be under the gravel, but haven't gotten around to that yet. Fertilization is done using Flourish Excel by Seachem, dosed daily. Water changes are performed every one to two weeks. Percent changed is always 50%. Lighting is a Coralife T5 Twin-tube, specifically for plant growth.

Livestock in the tank is a pretty light load. I have:
Fantail Darters (Etheostoma fabellarae) x 10
Red Shiner (Cyprinella lutrensis), Male x 1
Fathead Minnow (Pimephales promelas) x 1
Spotfin Shiner (Cyprinella spilopterus) x 1
Rosy Barb (non-U.S. native) x 1
Otocinclus affinis (non-native algae eater) x 4
Otocinclus sp. (non-native algae eater) x 1

Plants in the tank are really starting to come in to their own. I have:
Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes), small plants
Hyrophila corymbosa 'Siamensis'
Rotala rotundifolia?
Java Fern (Microsorum pteropus)
Vallisneria americana var. 'Jungle'?
Cryptocorene balanse
Cryptocorene wendtii

Without further ado, the pictures!

 P3210002_full_tank_800x600.jpg   72.55KB   6 downloads
The full tank. The pink area in the lower right is a reflection from one of my terrestrial plant lamps. Didn't notice it 'til I loaded the pics to my computer. Aaarrgghh!

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Closeup of the right side of the tank. The rock was actually more algae-covered than it is now. The algae eaters and snails are doing a good job. I know...snails. For whatever reason the Fantail Darters aren't eating them. Go figure!

 P3210007_left_side_tall_600x800.jpg   87.07KB   1 downloads
Closeup of the left side of the tank. The Hygro. corymbosa is really starting to take off!

 P3210015_two_fantails_800x600.jpg   63.17KB   1 downloads
Two Fantail Darters busily not eating snails! C'mon guys, get to work!

 P3210019_pond_snail_tall_600x800.jpg   67.98KB   2 downloads
A pond snail on the Hygro.. I don't know why, I thought this was kind-of a neat picture.

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A closeup of the Crypt. wendtii leaves.

 P3220039_oto_not_affinis_closer_800x600.jpg   88.35KB   2 downloads
This is the Otocinclus that I'm not sure of the species of. It came in with Oto. affinis, but it has a much thicker black stripe than the other Otos, a pointier nose, and doesn't have the same basicaudal pattern that the other affinis have. Any ideas?

Brian

NICE TANK!

How much is that type of gravel?
i will also take 2 pounds of the those fish.
thanks tony.
PS- Were you unable to sleep last night?

Edited by CATfishTONY, 22 March 2009 - 07:21 AM.

The Otocinclus looks like it could be either O. batmani or O. vestitus, or possibly Otocinclus sp. (3). That's my best guess.

Nice tank though! I wish my plants would hurry up and fill in in my 10 gallon tank. Right now it looks pretty sparse.

Nice tank Brian! I would agree with O. vestitus not O. batmani, O. batmani has many spots on their dorsal side. However, getting a positive ID of Otocinclus sp. is really difficult, there are so many species that look very similar.

Blake

nice tank. whenever i get snails, they mate like crazy, and i have hundreds of them within two months....then six months later they're all dead.

NICE TANK!

How much is that type of gravel?
i will also take 2 pounds of the those fish.
thanks tony.
PS- Were you unable to sleep last night?

Tony,

I charge $1.25 per pound plus shipping for that gravel. If you want me to put a quote together for you, PM me your zip code. Also, yes, I did have trouble sleeping last night. I'm having trouble sleeping tonight, too!

All,

Thanks for the kudos and the possible ID's on my Oto!

Brian

Brian J. Torreano - Owner
BTDarters
American Native Fish for
your aquarium...and more!
Web: http://www.btdarters.com
Email: bt@btdarters.com
Phone: (262) 268-7489

You can buy bags of gravel ment for planted aquariums at big als online. See here- http://www.bigalsonl...chemflourite7kg

Or you can buy a box or two of Laterite and place it on the very bottom of the tank. Give it a VERY VERY light dusting of peat and the put a layer of gravel, sand, or a mixture of both on top and you will have one of the best substrates for planted aquariums in my opinion. The laterite can be bought at any Petsmart.

Here Is a couple of pics of one of my tank so that you know that I know what I am talking about.







This tank has the peat moss and laterite mix I was telling you about.

In my tanks the plants come first and the fish come second. Which works out great because when the plants are happy the fish are happy.

I am not saying that you should not buy from him. I am just giving you another option.