129G Planted Oddball Tank

Ninjouzata

Ninjouzata

Medium Fish
#1
Mar 23, 2013
53
0
0
Georgia
#1
Making a sort of journal I suppose..I didn't see a section for journals so I hope it's okay to put this here.

This tank has made a bit of progress since I was getting help on the stocking.

The dimensions of this tank are 72"x18"x23", coming to 129g.

Stocking
1 Black Ghost Knife (Apteronotus Albifrons)
1 Leopard Bushfish (Ctenopoma Acutirostre)
1 Striped Peacock Eel (Macrognathus Siamensis)
4 Angelfish
3 Bichirs (Polypterus Delhezi, Palmas Palmas, Palmas Buettikoferi)

I'm skipping schooling fish as I can't find any that 1) Are big enough to not be eaten by the bichirs 2) Won't bother other fish 3) Won't eat plants 4) Won't cost a lot

I may add another bichir, a platinum senegal, if my friend's sexed pair ends up breeding (which I think they will under her wonderful care)

Plants
Big
Amazon Sword (Echinodorus Amazonicus)
Melon Sword (Echinodorus Osiris)
Aponogeton Ulvaceus (Aponogeton Ulvaceus)
Tiger Lotus (Nymphaea Lotus 'Zenkeri')
Cryptocoryne (Cryptocoryne Balansae)

Medium
Madagascar Lace (Aponogeton Madagascariensis) -- I realize this may be iffy, but I'd like to try it anyway.

Stems
Red Ludwigia (Ludwigia Repens)

Small
Banana plant (Nymphoides Aquatica)
Cryptocorynes (Cryptocoryne Wendtii Red & Green)

Carpet
Four Leaf Clover/Water Shamrock (Marsilea Quadrifolia) -- Same as above

Floating
Amazon Frogbit (Limnobium Laevigatum)
Red Root Floater (Phyllanthus Fluitans)

Attached
Anubias Nana (Anubias Barteri Nana)
Java Fern (Microsorum Pteropus)
Java Fern Windelov (Microsorum Pteropus 'Windelov')
African Water Fern (Bolbitis Heudelotii)

Lighting is 2 36" Current USA Satellite Freshwater LED+

Will be dosing Flourish Excel and EI based NPK + CSM+B
^ I'm not sure if that explains much. Using anything for plants is very new to me but trying to give as much info about this tank as I can, I'll also be using root tabs.

Using black petco sand for substrate, PVC pipes covered in quikrete and sealed with plastidip as caves, and manzanita driftwood.

The filters are two SunSun HW-304B canisters.

Here was the tank when we first got it


It had to be fixed up a little. Dad did most of the work but he did let me help. We sanded and repainted the sand, added handles, reinforced the bottom, painted the trim of the tank.


Dad pulled this out from somewhere for me. So much easier than unplugging everything!




Those were taken a while ago. We've had this tank since January and it's still not done <.<
We finally got some wood a bit ago and it has sunk and I'm cycling the tank now. Lots of tannins :p


I have some of the fish for this tank already, 3 angelfish and a leopard bushfish. Two of the smaller angels are in my 20g flatback hex til this tank is ready. The biggest one is in my 55g.
The bushfish is in a 10g by himself (he's very small, about the size from the tip of my fingernail to the middle knuckle on my thumb, and he's getting a 50% water change every other day)

The biggest angel, who is a ham and eats out of my hand and follows me whenever I'm nearby.


Two smaller angels




Leopard Bushfish


Here is a video of him, you can see him yawn at 2:00
[video=youtube;bkxWSUEVb5s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkxWSUEVb5s[/video]

Didn't really take to that earthworm pellet for some reason! I don't know if he wasn't as hungry as the day before or what.
He took an entire shrimp pellet the other day (his face looked so fat!) Thankfully he spat it out and I was able to break it in half.

I'm ordering the plants from bamaplants, I'm waiting on him to get more stuff in stock before I order. I may do two orders as I don't think everything I'm getting will be in stock in the quantities I want at the same time. I'll let the plants settle and root in before getting the eel, hopefully that helps. I don't mind replanting things though.

I'll also be waiting on adding the bichirs til the other fish are a decent size so the bichirs don't get any ideas.. :p

The tank is cycling like I said earlier, and it's going pretty quickly. On 4/15 I added ammonia up to 3ppm, and on 4/18 all of the ammonia was gone and it was at 5ppm+ nitrites. I tested again on 4/21 and the nitrites were all gone. So added up to 3ppm again and am testing daily. I'm using a cycling article off of another forum. Just letting that be known in case anyone is wondering why I'm doing it the way I am :p
 

big54bob

big54bob

Superstar Fish
#2
Dec 20, 2006
1,486
6
38
30
On my office chair playing Runescape
#2
Have you thought about Rainbows? Some Species get up to 4-6 Inches, are deep bodied, and should avoid being eaten by those bicher species as they have smaller mouths.

Giant Danio's should be fast enough to avoid becoming bicher chow. Bichers are slow as fu....

Other then that if you make a tight fitting screen, you should get some ropefish.
 

Ninjouzata

Ninjouzata

Medium Fish
#3
Mar 23, 2013
53
0
0
Georgia
#3
I have but asked someone who knows quite a lot about african oddballs like the leopard bushfish and they apparently are much too boisterous and will stress it out.
I think the giant danios fall into the same category because they're so zippy.

I thought I was pushing it on bottom dwellers with 3, possibly 4 bichirs and an eel. I'd definitely consider a ropefish (which I know is another bichir) sometime down the line.
It will be a while before I add bichirs since I want the others to get a bit bigger so they don't get eaten XD

Sorry for turning down your suggestions! I really do appreciate them.
 

O

OrangeCones

Elite Fish
#8
Feb 27, 2009
4,395
0
36
#8
Ninjouzata said:
Yes it is. I got it off of manzanita-driftwood.com :)
Click to expand...
Two of my tanks have Manzanita from them also. I love the 'branchy-ness' of the wood, especially since my fish are mostly small fish. And works well with plants as you can still plant under the 'shadow' of the branches without affecting the plant growth.
 

Ninjouzata

Ninjouzata

Medium Fish
#9
Mar 23, 2013
53
0
0
Georgia
#9
OrangeCones said:
Two of my tanks have Manzanita from them also. I love the 'branchy-ness' of the wood, especially since my fish are mostly small fish. And works well with plants as you can still plant under the 'shadow' of the branches without affecting the plant growth.
Click to expand...
Yes that is what I love is the 'branchy-ness'! I'm glad other fishkeepers get it, my fiance and father are like..wood is wood. XD I also like the shadow areas as I'm sure certain fish would like to hide or rest there.
 

Ninjouzata

Ninjouzata

Medium Fish
#10
Mar 23, 2013
53
0
0
Georgia
#10
Er, oops. I thought I had at least updated this with pics of it planted, guess not! :(











The bushfish previously pictured unfortunately passed away. I found he had half a gill plate missing and something was starting to grow on his face. I put him in QT and medicated him and he just kept getting worse :(

We now have an eel in that temporary 10g, named Nigel after nigel thornberry. He's a half-banded eel (macrognathus circumcinctus)..I went to petsmart, saw a pretty eel in with tiger barbs..not burying itself! I thought it was a peacock eel because that is what it was labeled as but I got home and after he settled in I realized his markings were not right for that at all..it's okay though because he's just too cute. Here are two vids of him.

As you can see in this one, he is trying to get in the filter. He did, at least 3-4 times. I just opened the top and he would swim back out XD He has not done it for a very long time now.
10 Gallon - Half-banded Spiny Eel - YouTube

This is really recent, unfortunately it's not the best quality (I know the other wasn't either) due to the lighting.
10 Gallon - Half-banded Spiny Eel 2 - YouTube

Now, the 129 is cycled and has some inhabitants. :) A black ghost knife, leopard bushfish, and blue phantom pleco. The reason the eel is not in there yet is because they can be territorial and I am waiting on a striped peacock eel to get in stock (I check my LFS's wholesaler website multiple times a day) and then I'll put them in at the same time. After they're comfortable and the bushfish has put on a bit more size I will introduce the 3 angels I have along with a 4th angel. That will be it until everyone is large enough for me to start adding the bichirs ^^. Okay pics!





Umm..I only have 7 pictures but it's saying I have 10 and that is the max. Hopefully I can add more in another post.
 

Last edited:
Ninjouzata

Ninjouzata

Medium Fish
#11
Mar 23, 2013
53
0
0
Georgia
#11
CAPSLOCK

CAPSLOCK

Elite Fish
#12
Jul 19, 2004
3,682
33
48
39
Cape Cod
#12
That is looking really good - thank you for sharing!

It seems to be a fantastic setup - that knife looks thrilled to have that kind of space and setup to hang out in. He hit the jackpot with your tank :)
 

Ninjouzata

Ninjouzata

Medium Fish
#13
Mar 23, 2013
53
0
0
Georgia
#13
Thank you so much for the compliment! I do hope he likes the tank, he's my absolute favorite.
I need to watch it 'cause I have been giving him just a bit too many bloodworms..his belly ends up looking quite fat afterwards. He eats out of my hand <3
 

Ninjouzata

Ninjouzata

Medium Fish
#18
Mar 23, 2013
53
0
0
Georgia
#18
Here are some updates :)

The leopard bushfish has finally let me take some more close up pics.








I added a mystery snail. Not sure if it will survive once everyone gets bigger but we'll see!


Full tank shot






Added some madagascar lace on wednesday (7/23) as well as some four leaf clover. I'm prepared for them to die but we'll see.


More pics in next post. Only being allowed 10 pics is very annoying. :/
 

Ninjouzata

Ninjouzata

Medium Fish
#19
Mar 23, 2013
53
0
0
Georgia
#19
Let's see if this works..

I also added some cardamine lyrata, not sure if you can see it well in this pic. I was mainly focusing on the ulvaceus.


We also got a new eel! Indian striped peacock eel (macrognathus aral).


Since we got him I was also able to add my half-banded eel but he would not come out for pics, so here is the most recent pic from when he was still in the 10g.


Unfortunately I don't have any updated pics of the BGK. I'll keep trying :p


Here are pics of the angelfish that will eventually be added. We need a 4th one still but for now I am letting the eels settle in.






Here's a video of the 129g. It's kinda boring but there ya go. It does show the new eel c:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8ZJ5bjAcRo
 

CAPSLOCK

CAPSLOCK

Elite Fish
#20
Jul 19, 2004
3,682
33
48
39
Cape Cod
#20
Cool updates. Love that bushfish.

I believe most of the four leaf clovers tend to switch form underwater and will only have one leaf - so if the current growth dies off don't take out the roots right away.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.