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40 gallon planted tank


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#1 Guest_smbass_*

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Posted 28 February 2008 - 12:46 AM

This is my tank for all of my small slack-water species. The tank contains...

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
Attached File  spotted_sucker.jpg   39.81KB   2 downloads

Male N. Starhead Topminnow
Attached File  male_N._Starhead.jpg   33.34KB   2 downloads

Banded Sunfish
Attached File  banded_sunfish.jpg   35.13KB   1 downloads

2 Banded Sunfish and a Bluespotted Sunfish
Attached File  2_bandeds_and_a_bluespotted.jpg   33.32KB   2 downloads

#2 Guest_Gambusia_*

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Posted 28 February 2008 - 08:36 AM

Great looking fish

#3 Guest_smbass_*

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Posted 28 February 2008 - 09:39 AM

And here is a video of this tank...



#4 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 28 February 2008 - 10:04 AM

Looks really nice, Brian!

You told us about the fish, now how about the plants? :wink:
(and the specs?)

#5 Guest_NateTessler13_*

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Posted 28 February 2008 - 10:31 AM

Have you added a powerhead at all for flow? I've got a similar set-up and my Creek Chubsucker doesn't seem to get fed anymore. I've tried feeding at a set location and hoping that the Chubsucker catches on, but it's a skiddish fish and retreats to the plants when I begin feeding. I was thinking that if I added a powerhead I could get the food to distribute better. I know the point (as with my tank) is a slack-water tank, but even slack water environments are subject to a little flow.

#6 Guest_smbass_*

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Posted 28 February 2008 - 12:00 PM

There is quite a bit of circulation on the tank because I have a rather large filter on it (emperor 400) along with a sponge filter and a seperate air stone but there is no powerhead. As far as how it is set up I took some pictures while setting it up wich I'll try to add in later but here are the basics...

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_*

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Posted 28 February 2008 - 12:43 PM

Not sure if what I saw in the video was the right side of the tank, and it's a little fuzzy, but it looks like Hygrophila polysperma. It is a federal noxious weed. The Plant Protection Act makes it a federal offense to import it or transport it across state lines. Unfortunately, it can still be sold IF it does not move across state lines (e.g. the grower and pet store are in the same state). Wish they could close that loophole.

#8 Guest_smbass_*

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Posted 28 February 2008 - 12:53 PM

ok thanks, I think your correct it sounds like the reasoning I was given as to why it was no longer at the pet store when I asked but then again it was 7 or 8 years ago when I bought it so my memory is fuzzy. Don't worry though I won't send it to anyone or let it out of my tanks. Could you elaborate on why it is such a bad invasive? what types of places does it take over?

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_*

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Posted 28 February 2008 - 01:28 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.

#10 Guest_dafrimpster_*

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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_*

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Posted 28 February 2008 - 05:47 PM

If the plants are grown in state and do not leave the state they do not fall into interstate commerce and hence not under the Fed jurisdiction.

#12 Guest_mikez_*

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Posted 28 February 2008 - 07:52 PM

Beautiful tank!
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_*

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Posted 29 February 2008 - 04:29 PM

The very first one with the bloodworm hanging out of it's mouth is the Pugnose Minnow, then the ones in the center of the tank are a mix of both the blacknose and blackchin shiners. The two species are very similar. The names are good though, blacknose only have pigment on the upper jaw and black thin have it on both upper and lower. In both cases i am refering to the tips of the jaws. They also both have the black lateral stripe and are found in northern lakes with a lot of vegetation.

#14 Guest_Nightwing_*

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Posted 29 February 2008 - 11:11 PM

Brian, are the blackchins the ones I know well? I swear I recognized em!
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_*

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Posted 01 March 2008 - 01:13 AM

Yep those would be the same ones, they made great examples for the display tank at the museums openhouse and then when it was over I brought them home. Thanks again for them, it went well and I got to talk to a lot of people about the destruction of the former habitat of them in the Lake.

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_*

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Posted 11 March 2009 - 11:01 PM

I had some new pictures of this tank and the fish in it and figured there was no sense in making a new thread even though this one is from over a year ago... The fish and the plants have grown considerably...

Attached File  creek_chubsucker.jpg   44.25KB   0 downloads
Male Creek Chubsucker

Attached File  spotted.jpg   53.74KB   0 downloads
Attached File  spotted2.jpg   40.47KB   0 downloads
Spotted Sucker

Attached File  banded_fe.jpg   28.79KB   0 downloads
Attached File  Female_banded.jpg   52.66KB   0 downloads
Female Bandeds

Attached File  male_bandeds_flaring_gills.jpg   69.78KB   0 downloads
Male Bandeds flaring gills at one another

Attached File  Male_Bluespotted.jpg   54.92KB   0 downloads
Male Bluespotted

Attached File  female_blackbanded.jpg   38.77KB   0 downloads
Female Blackbanded

Attached File  tank.jpg   75.81KB   0 downloads
Full tank sorry about the glair

#17 Guest_Fish4Fun_*

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Posted 12 March 2009 - 05:58 AM

That tank looks great, I wish i could be only half as successful with plants. In the pics i notice how the fish just seem to snuggle into them and look so secure, i think this is just as important to making a nice healthy colorful fish as the food they get. And that substrate you set up has to help also. All my attempts at keeping plants have ended up in disaster. If you dont mind im gonna steal some of your ideas, as i set up that 15 breeder for my obesus breeding trial. and some of the other suggestions as for plant varietys. One question... do the plants mentioned require special lighting ??

#18 Guest_pmk00001_*

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Posted 12 March 2009 - 07:39 AM

Looks great Brian! Good work :)

#19 Guest_scottefontay_*

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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_*

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Posted 12 March 2009 - 08:40 AM

Looks really nice, Brian!

You told us about the fish, now how about the plants? :wink:
(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. :tongue: 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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