Emmanuel's 100g Tank

emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
Feb 22, 2008
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I finally made time for a picture update. Can't give much info on it now, since I'm updating through my phone because the internet is down at home... : /

Comments? Thoughts?

 

misterking

Superstar Fish
Aug 12, 2008
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Manchester, UK
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I disagree? People put fish in their tanks because it's what THEY want to see on a daily basis, not because of what others want to see. I personally like the mix of fish, and neons look awesome in a huge shoal like this.

Anyway yeah, the tanks looking great and filling in well, what's happening on the right side? Are you leaving it as it is or is something going there eventually?
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
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Northern NJ
The right looks like a great open plain for swimming :) whether or not he puts something there, the tank looks great already, and will take its greatest form when those plants grow in more. Ok ye, i do apologize for any misunderstandings. I meant to simply point out that those kinda of fish are commonly seen in such tanks. In no way am i critisizing Chavez for what fish he likes :)

In fact, i really like those too, as i never had them before.
 

emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
Feb 22, 2008
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It's going to stay open. It's supposed to continue to fill in with the E. Tennellus micro. The intent was to leave it open as swimming space for the neons. Thanks for the compliments. :) I'll come back and leave more info on it a bit later on in the day.

Here's a better sized photo of it, as well.

 

emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
Feb 22, 2008
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Alright, some details:

Flora:
  • Background
    • Pogostemon Stellatus 'Broadleaf'
    • Hygro Corymbosa 'Augustifolia' (there's one survivor from the last scape, it hasn't grown very much, which is suprising. It used to be a weed for me...)
  • Midground
    • Cryptocoryne Cordata 'Rosanervig'
    • Cryptocoryne Wendtii Green
    • Cryptocoryne Wendtii Bronze
    • Cryptocoryne ?? (Unidentified Crypt... I'll do a search later...)
    • Blyxa Japonica
  • Foreground:
    • Echinodorus Tennellus Micro
Fauna:
  • 2 German Blue Ram (M/F pair)
  • 6 Bolivian Ram
  • 5 Female Betta (these gals were moved from their sorority 29g tank)
  • 1 Bristlenose Pleco (female, I believe)
  • ? Neon Tetra
  • ? Green Neon Tetra
  • 4 Olive Nerite snails
I'm fighting BBA at the moment. I have the CO2 cranked up as high as it could be. I feel like I'm wasting a bunch of it as is, by having it higher than what it should be. It hasn't done too much to keep the BBA at bay. Luckily, the BBA has only made home of the driftwood and the E. Tennellus micro. I employed the use of Excel overdosing and H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) to help me get rid of it. I think the olive nerites are helping me get rid of it too. I need to cut back the photoperiod and hope it helps control the bba. I'm not sure whether it's at 8 or 10 hours, the aquarium turns on while I'm not at home; either ways, I'm cutting off 2 hours from the photoperiod.

I'm thinking of covering the piece of driftwood to the right, and the two to the far left with anubias, and the two center ones with moss. I've got moss and anubias growing in emersed form in my 20g at the moment (along with other plants).

The original plan was also to have only crypts surrounding the pogostemon. I really like how quickly the blyxa got bushy though. I had 5x's the amount seen in there now, but ended up trashing a bunch of it (since it was algae infested and ratty from my summer away from home). So I'll see how that goes. I was also considering replacing the pogostemon with some of the larger anubias species, or java ferns for easier maintenance. I"ll see how that goes later on. I like the color and texture of the pogostemon, but it's a very quick grower for me. I had half the amount of it there last month. It seems like it takes about a week to recover from being trimmed, and then it starts rocketing up.

The E. Tennellus has grown quickly too. I've been doing some heavy Fe dosing to get it red. The rams keep uprooting some of nodes though, while trying to eat some of the BBA, which is why I'm hoping to be rid of it soon.

I believe that's all the info I've got for the tank... :rolleyes:
 

emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
Feb 22, 2008
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I forgot to take pictures this weekend. : /

The p. stellatus reached the top of the water column.
I gave it a 'haircut' and the p. stellatus is now shorter than it was in the picture from two weeks ago. It'll need about 1 week to recover from the trimming... then it'll start growing quickly for me, once again! :)
The e. tennellus micro is also spreading much more quickly now that it's better established, and the fish have stopped picking at it.

I've lowered the amount of fert dosing I do on the tank as well. I've only been dosing during water change day. I dose a bit of potassium and iron, less than before. The plants haven't been suffering from it, and it's really helping get rid of the algae on the driftwood. The only problem is that the e. tennellus is losing a bit of it's red coloring... Once I get more time on my hands during the week days, once the semester is over, I can start dosing some more fe during the week.

I had two "mystery" deaths in the tank this past weekend. On saturday, I noticed the body of a female betta on the bottom. The other fish made a quick meal of her. On Sunday, a neon tetra had the same fate. I'm not entirely sure what caused the deaths. The other fish seem healthy and alright. My assumption is that it has something to do with the temperatures. It's been swinging a lot, due to the cold fronts we've been having down here in Houston. The water temps have been ranging from 68-78; the lower during the night, and the higher during the day. I've been trying to avoid turning on the heater in the tank, because, although it's rated for a 10g tank, it raises the water temperature in the 100g tank considerably, while on low. A few weeks ago, before the cold fronts, the fish seemed to enjoy a water temp of 82... so hopefully once our weather decides to become constant, I can turn the heater on.
 

emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
Feb 22, 2008
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... so my p. stellatus broadleaf has reached the top of the water... It's time for a trim, but finals have kept me so busy. aaghh!
The one stem of hygro has poked out of the water and is starting to grow emmersed.
I removed a few stems of blyxa and added a lotus.
E. tennellus micro filling in ever so nicely, the bba is starting to come back though, from neglect. At least it's primarily only on the driftwood and filter input/outputs.
Pictures this weekend if time allows.
 

emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
Feb 22, 2008
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Gracias, all.

Ugh, I can't wait to finish my calculus final exam tomorrow. I'll only have one more exam to cram for after that... and I'm done with school!!! For a while anyway... I've still got 3 more classes left, but I'm so burned out, I'm taking a break; hopefully only one semester, but definitely not longer than 1 year.
 

emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
Feb 22, 2008
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So the p. stellatus broadleaf has reached the top!
Let me know if the picture doesn't work. I linked it straight from facebook, since photobucket is giving me problems, and I've had problems with facebook linking before.

I'm about to go trim, so I'll take an after photo either later today or tomorrow. I'm considering pulling the entire p. stellatus and going with some large anubias plants.

 

Stillness

Medium Fish
Feb 21, 2009
87
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I love how it looks so natural. Sometimes when you go live plants it looks too planed and not natural. Looks like you have found the perfect balance. Very cool!
 

emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
Feb 22, 2008
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:) Thanks.

My trimming ended up being a switcharoo of plants. I had about 40+ stems of the p. stellatus that I trimmed, so I took it down to my favorite LFS to donate them to the owner, since he helped me by taking care of my fish when it cracked earlier this year.

While there, I saw some of the large anubias I was thinking of getting, I'm not sure what kind it is, so I'll have to research them in a bit. I got three of them. I'll take a picture once the tank clears up some.