40 gallon planted tank
#1 Guest_smbass_*
Posted 28 February 2008 - 12:46 AM
3 Banded Sunfish
3 Blackbanded Sunfish
8 Bluespotted Sunfish
5 Lake Chubsuckes
1 Creek Chubsucker
1 Spotted Sucker
4 Blackchin Shiners
6 Blacknose Shiners
1 Pugnose Minnow
3 N. Starhead Topminnows
5 Least Darters
Here are a couple pictures I'll add a video as well tomorrow
Spotted Sucker
spotted_sucker.jpg 39.81KB 2 downloads
Male N. Starhead Topminnow
male_N._Starhead.jpg 33.34KB 2 downloads
Banded Sunfish
banded_sunfish.jpg 35.13KB 1 downloads
2 Banded Sunfish and a Bluespotted Sunfish
2_bandeds_and_a_bluespotted.jpg 33.32KB 2 downloads
#2 Guest_Gambusia_*
Posted 28 February 2008 - 08:36 AM
#3 Guest_smbass_*
Posted 28 February 2008 - 09:39 AM
#4 Guest_nativeplanter_*
Posted 28 February 2008 - 10:04 AM
You told us about the fish, now how about the plants?
(and the specs?)
#5 Guest_NateTessler13_*
Posted 28 February 2008 - 10:31 AM
#6 Guest_smbass_*
Posted 28 February 2008 - 12:00 PM
I dug up a bucket of soil in my backyard (this is my first soil planted tank) and covered the bottom with about 1". Then I used 2 bags of sphagnom moss (in the past this has been my staple for these types of settups). The moss got me up to about 2" thick. I then got and rinced two 5 gallon buckets of mixxed course sand fine gravel from my local river used that as the top layer which is about 2-3" thick. Makes for a nice natural looking substrate.
As far as the plants go they are quite a mix of native and non-native and honestly I'm not real good at plant id so you guys can probably tell me what I have. There are some american vals in the back right corner and then several peices of driftwood with 3 types of java fern and also moss on them. There is some red ludwigia (sp), amazon swords, a couple of cryptocrene (sp) types, some green stuff in the front right that I have been keeping in tanks for years because it grows fast in new tanks and it was banned from pet shops (any idea what this stuff is and why it was banned?). There are also some small pet shop vals on the left front, something that grows up from a bulb in the rear left that I have had several years, and then in the right front corner there are two things I collected, one looks like very thin elodea and the other is very fine feathery looking stuff that has a central stock that is from N. IN a year or so ago. All the plants were in various smaller tanks, I keep a lot of heavily planted 10's around for dwarf crays and various small fish.
Nate as far as your chubsucker goes... Do you have many other fish in the tank, The more you have the less shy they are. Also if you are having trouble distributing food are you sure your giving them enough? I just stick my hand in there with the frozen chunk of blood worms and shake it around rather than melting it before hand (which often means it gets dumped all in one place), this seems to get it more distributed around the tank. I use a lot of flake food in this tank before I put in frozen blood worms and the chubsuckers seem to eat the flake almost better than the blood worms. Even my two big chubsuckers in the stream tank seem to eat the flake very well. I also put in shrimp pellets which go straight to the bottom and the chubsuckers pick at those too. The other thing I thought of is I have multiple suckers in here and they do follow each other around, this may be helping me out too even though there is only 1 creek chubsucker.
#7 Guest_nativeplanter_*
Posted 28 February 2008 - 12:43 PM
#8 Guest_smbass_*
Posted 28 February 2008 - 12:53 PM
On a side note, I would like to make this more of a native plant tank as well any sugestions as to good choices and what out of what I have is truely native (I know the american vals are but thats all I'm sure of). I also would like some kind of floating plant if anyone has some available. The lighting is 5 24" regular flourescents of varying spectrums. They are set to come on for 4 hours in the am and then 4 in the evening while I'm home.
#9 Guest_nativeplanter_*
Posted 28 February 2008 - 01:28 PM
For floating plants, I am particularly fond of frogbit (Limnobium spongia). (Be careful - there is a European frogbit too, Hydrocharis morsus-ranae. It grows quickly, removes a lot of nutrients, sends down a neat tumble of roots (reminds me of the octopus thingie at the car wash), and, best of all, is easily removed.
#10 Guest_dafrimpster_*
Posted 28 February 2008 - 02:34 PM
Hygrophila polysperma runs feral mainly in Texas and Florida, with reports in Virginia. But the plant is such a problem where it is currently, the feds don't want it to start spreading to other areas. It is thought to have a minimum temperature requirement of 39 F. It is a submerged aquatic that roots at the nodes and grows extremely fast. It is known to have choked waterways to where it needs to be removed for boat traffic, and of course outcompetes other natives at the same time.
For floating plants, I am particularly fond of frogbit (Limnobium spongia). (Be careful - there is a European frogbit too, Hydrocharis morsus-ranae. It grows quickly, removes a lot of nutrients, sends down a neat tumble of roots (reminds me of the octopus thingie at the car wash), and, best of all, is easily removed.
I have Amazon Frogbit(Limnobium laevigatum) as well . IF you want any of that I will send it for shipping. There is a guy on Aquabid selling Limnobium spongia.
#11 Guest_Gambusia_*
Posted 28 February 2008 - 05:47 PM
#12 Guest_mikez_*
Posted 28 February 2008 - 07:52 PM
Those bandeds look pretty comfortable in there. I swear their eyes get redder when they're happy.
The blackbanded really stand out. They are something special.
Which shiner is the one most prominent in the video? I like the look of those.
I've got golden shiners in my swamp tank and I don't care for them much. They grow too big too fast and they never seem to lose the habit of bouncing off the tank glass when startled.
#13 Guest_smbass_*
Posted 29 February 2008 - 04:29 PM
#14 Guest_Nightwing_*
Posted 29 February 2008 - 11:11 PM
And for what it's worth..that video convinced me that I will be adding at least banded, if not blackbanded to my tank, as well as bluespots. The blackbanded in particular were awesome looking!
Edited by Nightwing, 29 February 2008 - 11:17 PM.
#15 Guest_smbass_*
Posted 01 March 2008 - 01:13 AM
Well hopefully by mid June that big female blackbanded that the video ends on will have produced quite a few young. I currently just have the 2 adults but they are with out any doubt a pair and will get moved outdoors to a breeding pond in May.
I forgot to mention in the original list that I put 5 dwarf crayfish in the tank as well. I'm not too sure if they will successfully reproduce with all the other fish , but then again if the plants get grown in thinck enough they may.
#16 Guest_smbass_*
Posted 11 March 2009 - 11:01 PM
creek_chubsucker.jpg 44.25KB 0 downloads
Male Creek Chubsucker
spotted.jpg 53.74KB 0 downloads
spotted2.jpg 40.47KB 0 downloads
Spotted Sucker
banded_fe.jpg 28.79KB 0 downloads
Female_banded.jpg 52.66KB 0 downloads
Female Bandeds
male_bandeds_flaring_gills.jpg 69.78KB 0 downloads
Male Bandeds flaring gills at one another
Male_Bluespotted.jpg 54.92KB 0 downloads
Male Bluespotted
female_blackbanded.jpg 38.77KB 0 downloads
Female Blackbanded
tank.jpg 75.81KB 0 downloads
Full tank sorry about the glair
#17 Guest_Fish4Fun_*
Posted 12 March 2009 - 05:58 AM
#18 Guest_pmk00001_*
Posted 12 March 2009 - 07:39 AM
#19 Guest_scottefontay_*
Posted 12 March 2009 - 07:55 AM
Looks great Brian! Good work
Nice tank and fish! Where did you collect your bluespotted sunfish from?
#20 Guest_Fish4Fun_*
Posted 12 March 2009 - 08:40 AM
Looks really nice, Brian!
You told us about the fish, now how about the plants?
(and the specs?)
Nativeplanter
It seems to me that even though to some this hobby might come easy, i never can absorb enough at one time to get everything i want done accomplished in a short period. But at some point i would like to speak with you about the proper way to set up a tank for plants, hopefully low tech, and not too expensive that will survive for more than a few weeks. In reading some of your posts, I know you are the one to talk to. I have no doubt that a nice planted tank would make my fish much happier and healthier, Ive just been to dumb to do it right, and hope to drain you of your obvious wealth of knowledge on that subject. well probably not drain you, but maybe enough to just get by.
Edited by Fish4Fun, 12 March 2009 - 08:45 AM.
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