Jessica.

I have val americana floating in a tank in my greenhouse, and it's been there for 2+ months. I threw it in there and only meant to leave it for few days, then forgot about it until seeing this post. 😬 Check on it now- It looks good. The roots are growing at a perpendicular angle to the val, downward, and have grown about 4". A few new leaves have grown as well. So, I'd say val can survive at least 2 months floating, given there is enough light and ferts.

Welcome! Since you mentioned starting slow on plants, you might want to consider adding a high plant load from the get-go. It's a bit easier to balance a planted tank (and prevent algae) with a higher plant load. It's especially helpful to start with some fast growing or floating plants, like water sprite, hornwort or water lettuce. These will help suck up excess nutrients and keep algae at bay while your slower growing plants are getting established.

Beautiful shots, @Daniel. Thanks for giving this idea a try. Here's mine for today, a Stendker Discus. Two years ago, at about 2.5": And today, about 6+":

Week 2 Update- Everybody's still alive. Whew. We lost power for 3 days this week due to a windstorm, and just got it back on yesterday. Luckily we do have a generator, so once we noticed the power was out we were able to get things back up and running. The power went out at about 1am on Thursday morning, and I didn't notice it until I got up at 7ish. By that time the temp in the Altum tank dipped to 75f. I withheld feedings for 24 hours after the outage to give the filters a chance to catch up, and did a 30% water change that day with temp matched water (as I do every day). My regimen for week 2 is: Still doing a 30% water change every morning. I'll also use the python every evening to vac up any debris in the tank at night, usually about a 10% water change, so they go to bed with a super clean tank. Every 3 days I wipe down the glass during the water change. I removed the indian almond leaves that I was using in week one and haven't replaced them. I've also added a little HOB for mechanical filtration, and I rinse out the sponges on that every other day. I would use a sponge filter, but I like keeping the floor of the tank totally empty for easier cleaning. I'm still dosing: aquarium salt (1 tablespoon per 5 gals), replacing what is removed every water change. Sulfaplex, per package directions, replacing what is removed during WC Stressguard Added this week dewormer combo for metro and prazi, currently on day 5 of a planned 10 days of treatment Feeding I feed live baby brine almost daily. It's by far their favorite food. They also enjoy frozen blood worms and freeze dried Australian black worm cubes. Condition I'm starting to notice some weight gain and growth. Their heads don't look quite so boney. Most still have some split and damaged fins from shipping, which are slowly healing. I'm still concerned about bacterial & fungal infections taking hold, especially in the frayed fins, so plan to keep the salt, stressguard and sulfaplex going in the tank until the fins look back to normal. The daily water changes and wipe downs are also in response to my concerns about infections- working to keep as clean an environment as possible. One of the little guys lost most of his ventral fins in shipping (ammonia burn is my best guess?). I'm starting to see the regrowth on them. My hope is that in 4-6 weeks they'll be ready to move to a planted tank with weekly water changes. I'm also thinking of keeping powerfeeding them in a bare bottom tank for a few months to grow them out more. We'll see. It might come down to how much patience I have for the water changes every day. 🙂 Here's the little guys enjoying brine shrimp. There is a lot settled on the bottom, but within 15 minutes they'll have it all eaten.

Albino Cauliflower Swordtail Fry (about 4 days old) And a picture of the proud papa, who tried to eat as many as he could before I netted him out. I think he got about 5 down. Mmmhm, gotta love eating you own babies, yummy yummy!

Your fish look lovely and healthy! I would not worry about the store manager knowing they were ill. They look very well fed - keep an eye on how much you feed them. Most fish are total gluttons and will keep begging long after they've had enough. In a tank like yours that is newly cycled, it's important to keep a careful eye on not overfeeding (not that I'm saying you are! I don't know how much you're feeding). Overfeeding can lead to mini cycle crashes and more illnesses. I have to remind myself daily that my fish do not in fact need a second and third breakfast every time I walk by the tank and see them begging. In the future, if you're worried about fish being sick when you purchase them, here's a few signs I look for in the store- Overall, do they swim normally and are active? No hanging out in the corner or on the bottom (unless that is normal for that fish, like a pleco). Are any any other fish in the tank looking sick? Don't feel awkward about standing and watching the tank for a few minutes. If employees bug you, just tell them you're looking and can let them know when you need help. Fins- Do they look clear and not frayed? No white spots? Body- Again, any signs of white spots or fungus? Slime coat look good? Do they look bloated, or especially skinny/boney? You're looking for no signs of fungus, no cotton like growth, and no little white spots that look like sugar crystals all over the fish. Belly- You want a nice normal round belly. Sunken in is often a sign of wasting disease or internal parasites, and you'd want to pass on that fish (and probably the whole tank). In opposite, bloat is also a sign of illness. Eyes - Clear is good. Any haziness/cloudiness is not good. Any bulging is also not good. (pop-eye) You can also ask to watch the fish eat (non-negotiable for me if it's an expensive fish). Ask how long it's been in the store. A fish that was delivered with the last few days may be sick but not showing signs yet. I like to hear that a fish has been there at least a week, ideally two weeks, before buying. Although if I'm worried it's going to sell out it's not always possible to wait a week to buy it. This hobby inspires passion, and passionate opinions, in lots of people. You'll have to weed through it all and figure out what works for you, and what you want to get out of the hobby. There are lots of ways to do just about everything.

Hey Lee, nice to "meet" ya. I'm new here too. Just joined yesterday, and I'm already enjoying the community, too. I also have tanks spread throughout the house, and I'm lucky to also have a partner who doesn't seem to mind. This year especially, with all the troubles in the world, I've found my aquariums keep me sane. Some people have fish rooms, and some of us just put them in every room in the house! 😉 What sort of fish do you keep? Any favorites?

Thanks for the interest, all. I will keep updating. @Andy's Fish Den, How did your altums do for you years ago? Any surprise challenges, or were they fairly easy? Did you keep them with any tank mates?

That's my planted discus tank in the thumbnail for this post! 😄 You've gotten great advice above. Many people mix the two with good results. I'd also add that it would be good to get at least 3.5-4" discus, and make sure to buy from a quality supplier. Smaller discus need a lot of food and water changes to grow out, and probably won't thrive in a community tank. Stendker, a well know german discus breeder, have a very informative handbook available online that covers all aspects, including suitable tanks mates. https://diskuszucht-stendker.de/en/Diskus-Handbuch/

Thanks Wendy! The swords are the same plants (it's two rosettes) in every photo. They were in the tank for almost two years until I took them out in July 2020. I love the looks of a tall tank, but boy are they a pain to light and work on! A 30" tall 36 gal sounds very neat. Is it a hex tank?

One week ago, after over a year of waiting, I got the text from my LFS - the altums were landing at the airport that day. They'd told me a week ago they were ordered, so I already had my QT tank up and ready. It was the LFS' first time ordering Altums from Colombia, and he wasn't sure how they would come in. It would also be my first time seeing Altum angels in person. I'm no expert by any stretch. I enjoy my few tanks, and seem to do well with plants and discus. Most importantly, I really enjoy the hobby. The point is, this is just my journal about what I did, and is not meant to be a guide in any way. It was difficult for me to find any info on how to acclimate these delicate wild caught beauties. One site says keep them 78f to minimize bacterial infections, since bacteria multiply faster at higher temps. Another says 86f is best. Most just say only buy tank raised Altums, as wild caught are impossible for a non-professional. Some recommend a PH of 5.5 and half a dozen indian almond leaves. Others say a PH that low is dangerous, and 6.5-7 should be the goal. So, I'm gonna document here what I did, and what the results were- and continue to be. Here's what my altums look like today, a week after I got them: STATS- QT tank is a bare bottom 20 gal high, running between 80-81F with an inkbird temp controller, a pre-cycled ziss filter, & a UV sterilizer. PH is about 6.6, TDS is 30-40 (these are parameters from my tap, I have very soft water from a well), GH & KH are both 1ish. I decided not to try chasing any values and just acclimate them to my tap water, since it's already very soft. I do two daily water changes of 30%, and vac the bottom every day. My tap water has very little ph swing, so I don't age it. **I will be moving these fish to a 75 gal aquarium once they're done with QT, and have larger tanks available if needed down the road. I'm fully aware a 20 gal is not suitable long term for altums. But it is a good option for me for medicating and keeping water quality perfect over the next few months, and these fish are small right now.** I started with 7 wild caught Colombian Atabapo Altums, 6 small (quarter) size and one larger (3") size. Day 1- I asked the store owner to let me meet him as he arrived from the airport, and to not even open the bag of altums. I didn't want him to acclimate them to his water, then have me stress them again with another switch to my water. My LFS is also an importer, so these Altums came directly from an exporter in Colombia. When I got home I drip acclimated them. Before opening the bag, I made sure to have a few drops of prime ready detox the ammonia. For acclimation, I considered the "plop and drop" method that is has been recommended to me by discus sellers in the past, but decided to go with drip acclimating for 1 hour. Since I didn't know the chemistry of the water they were coming from, I didn't know how big of a shock a "plop and drop" would be. The downside to the drip acclimation is that the fish would be in the high ammonia shipping water for longer. I hoped the prime would detox the ammonia, so added that immediately after opening up the bag, and dripped acclimated them for an hour. I also had an airstone running in the bag during this time, with very low pressure. Would plop and drop have been better? Not sure. Meds- After drip acclimation, I did a 30 minute methylene blue dip in a separate container, both for it's benefits of helping with nitrite poisoning and to kill any external parasites & fungus, then added the fish to the tank. In the tank (20 gal) I had 2 large Indian Almond leaves, 4 tablespoons of API aquarium salt, Seachem Stressguard, and Seachem Sulfaplex. I chose sulfaplex because I've had success with it in discus, and I've read it's among the most gentle medications on fish. I do plan to de-worm, but I'll start that week 2. I didn't want to add too much stress with multiple medications, and my main concern in the first days are bacterial infections. Food- By 2pm on day 1 I had the altums acclimated and in the tank. Around 6pm that evening, I offered them a few live black worms from my own culture. Only 3 of the 7 ate a few blackworms. Condition- All had beat up fins and ammonia burns, but all were swimming well. They were terrified of their own shadow, and spent most of the first 24 hours hidden in the back of the tank. A few brave fish would dart out for a blackworm, then go back to hiding. I kept a towel over half the tank to keep it dark and help minimize stress. Altums on day 1: Day 2- I woke up to one altum oozing what looked like pus from it's gill plate, but otherwise swimming normally. I separated the sick fish into a specimen container and dosed the container with a few drops of methylene blue. Within 2 hours the fish was swimming erratically & headstanding. It passed a few hours later (RIP little altum), and I buried the little guy in my rose garden. Photo below is the sick altum. The white stuff seemed to ooze out, and squiggles of what looked like pus fell from the fish every few minutes. I suspect this was some kind of internal infection. Maybe I should have hit them with more antibiotics on day one? This fish died about 3 hours after the photo was taken. The other 6 altums were all doing okay. They still had fin damage, ammonia burns, and one fish (pictured below) had a red spot and issues with it's slime coat that were concerning to me. I continued my regimen of aquarium salt, sulfaplex and stressguard, redosing after every water change. I began feeding live baby brine shrimp on day 2, which they all devoured until their bellies bulged. I think the boost in nutrition was huge in healing up these little guys. Day 3-6 Feedings of live baby brine shrimp and live blackworms continued. They all became more active daily, and on day 3 removed the towel covering the tank. I did dip the fish with the red spot in a methylene blue bath for 30 minutes on day 3 and day 4, to help sterilize and clear up any infections in the wound. Day 7 All six altums are doing well. They've also started eating freeze dried Australian blackworms, which they are munching on in the video below. I can no long pick out which fish had the red spot – it has completed healed up. Their fins still look a little ragged, but are on the mend. If there's interest, I'll keep updating this over the coming weeks and months. Thanks for reading.

My experience with val is that once a val leaf is cut, that leaf's growth slows significantly and it often dies back. I usually cut the leaves that are getting too tall down near the base of the plant. A good trim seems to encourage runners and new leaves. It's also good to have a clean, sharp pair of scissors when trimming val. The leaves seem to die back less if a nice clean cut is made. You can also cut at the water line. There's no hard rule about where you have to cut the leaf. Many people also allow the leaves to trail across the surface of the water. You tank seems to have a bit of algae on the driftwood and other plants, which can be a sign of an imbalance between light/ferts/co2. You might think about cutting down the light, or looking into balancing the light and nutrients. Do you dose ferts? How many hours a day is your light on, and is it on a timer? Another good way to combat algae is more plant growth. It might help you to get some floating plants, like water lettuce, salvinia, or water sprite to help uptake extra nutrients and block some of the light.

A journal for the tank I re-do most often! I've re-scapped this 75 gal tall tank several times in the last 2 years. The height makes it difficult to work on, so my most recent scape was done with the goal not having to stick my arm in the tank so often. This tank is a unique size, 36" wide, 30" tall and 16" deep. It was a lucky craigslist find, with the wooden stand and cap. Most recent re-scape: Timeline October 2018 - Discus & Driftwood May 2019 - A sad amazon sword and some driftwood (we had just moved, so tank was emptied out. Discus moved to a 120 gal in the new house) August 2019 - Plant overload! Looked wild, but was way too much work to maintain. February 2020- planted jungle val in the background and tiger lotus in the foreground. The tiger lotus got HUGE, and I let it go for a bit. May 2020- Overgrown! July 2020- The val became too much to keep up with, so it all came out a few weeks after this photo August 2020- Totally cleaned out the tank, re-did the substrate (dirted with sand cap) Sept 2020- This has been set up for about 4 weeks, and needs a few months to grow in. For this, I purposely went with slow growing and easy to maintain plants. I want to add more buce around the rockwork. My eventual goal is to wean it off co2 and add altums (which are currently growing out in a bare bottom tank) Oct 2020 Thanks for looking!

Oh, I love these angels. Good luck, please keep us posted with photos!

Hello! I'm Jessica, from New England. I love planted tanks and all sorts of fish. I'm currently keeping 8 or so tanks, with discus, guppies, CPDs, lots of different shrimp, and more. My newest addition is a school of wild caught Altums, which I'm doing my best to acclimate to my water and eventually move into a planted tank. I'll be starting a journal thread about the Altums to track their (hopeful) growth into adults. Here are a few of my tanks & fish-