Tales of the 50 hex

[ange]

12 minutes ago, akconklin said:

Well, pooh! I'm sorry the girls aren't playing well together! 🙄 Glad you caught it before there was great damage. Ohhhhh...those nitrates in soil and dirt. I think they are what has caused my tank to be soooo touchy. Especially since I was adding Easy Green too, not realizing that I didn't need that for a while. The soil was just put in last October and I had trouble with my parameters all the way through the spring of this year. Now things have leveled out, thankfully.

Hoping you see some balance restored soon. Thanks for the update!

This is exactly why I waited to add Easy Green! I'm expecting the soil to release ammonia/nitrate for quite awhile. Luckily for me I don't mind doing a LOT of liquid tests 😆

[Alesha]

😃👍🐠  (I've used up all my emojis today!😂)

[ange]

My Fluval 3.0 came in and I'm overjoyed with how it looks. Long term I may try to lighten the water but for now I'm just letting the chemistry do its own thing when I can. Some of the frogbit roots are well past a foot long and they look awesome!

[Bill Smith]

Really beautiful. 

I think it was particularly masterful to go with black angels; their silhouettes are so striking! 

Wonderful work!

[ange]

1 hour ago, Bill Smith said:

Really beautiful. 

I think it was particularly masterful to go with black angels; their silhouettes are so striking! 

Wonderful work!

It wasn't planned! I'm just very attracted to double black angelfish and was lucky enough to find someone an hour away who was selling my boy. The female was an bought from my LFS as a companion to him and the juvenile zebra is a PetSmart rehab (it was covered in ich but is now healthy and eating like a pig!)

[ange]

Today I did the first water change (mainly to reduce tannins as light was no longer reaching the bottom of the tank). In 2 days if my nitrates don't rise I will dose Easy Green for the first time. Only my moss feeds from the water column so there is a reasonable chance that I won't need to dose liquid ferts for awhile. For transparency, I did turn on the lamp after doing the water change! The water is still VERY dark, I don't want to give anyone unrealistic expectations haha.

My platinum angel is doing well in quarantine and has managed to put on some weight and the fin damage hasn't advanced so I'm calling it a win. It's currently on a diet of BBS and Vita Chem dosed to the water column. I'm considering picking up a second at the same store next Monday/Tuesday but I'm not certain. I'm waiting to dose meds after I make my decision on another angel or not. My main concern is having to relocate them to another tank (currently I have 3 tanks that are not set up but I'm unable to because furniture has been coming and going).

[ange]

Posting again because I realized my two pinoys spawned. I only noticed because Relomia was hanging out in the corner for awhile. These two spawn like crazy but I haven't had any success getting the babies to wiggles. Any advice on pulling the eggs (they're on the silicone seal) and what to hatch them in? I have deli containers and methylene blue that I've attempted to hatch in the last time they spawned however none of the eggs hatched. They're definitely fertilized as I've caught them in the act a few times.

[Alesha]

This tank is so fascinating to me. The tannins are amazing. I've been dealing with algae blooms again, after removing some dying hornwort, so I kinda-sorta understand turning on lamps to try to see in there! Ha! So glad it's doing well.

We have a dozen whiteclouds in the Q tank, and I'm considering adding something new to the Q tank in between doses of med trio. So I'm ALL FOR another angel!

[Jollypop4321]

I’ve very much enjoyed your build thread.  Your platinum angel is gorgeous.  
so are your black angels.   
Many years ago I had angels that spawned in the aquarium.  First few runs nothing happened.  Then as the parents became experienced they were able to raise them into fry.  If memory serves me correctly they fan the eggs multiple times a day to keep them from getting moldy?   
When the eggs became fry I separated them and grew them out in a ten gallon.  
Great job on everything!

[ange]

23 minutes ago, Jollypop4321 said:

I’ve very much enjoyed your build thread.  Your platinum angel is gorgeous.  
so are your black angels.   
Many years ago I had angels that spawned in the aquarium.  First few runs nothing happened.  Then as the parents became experienced they were able to raise them into fry.  If memory serves me correctly they fan the eggs multiple times a day to keep them from getting moldy?   
When the eggs became fry I separated them and grew them out in a ten gallon.  
Great job on everything!

Thanks! I've had this pair for 2 months in quarantine and almost a week in the hex. They've spawned together since week one so I'm pretty close to the conclusion that I'll have to pull the eggs if I want to see babies.

[ange]

Fed some nummy banana worms + trimmed the roots of the frogbit today! I'm hoping that the next time my angels spawn I'll be able to pull the eggs, though I've failed 2 hatches in DIY egg tumblers and I'm not quite sure where to go.

[ange]

They've spawned again! I wasn't expecting this at all because Relomia slimmed down two days ago, I'd assumed that she'd laid her eggs and eaten them already. I'm planning to pull this batch because they are egg eaters but I'm not sure how to go about it. My attempts with pulling have all failed to hatch any babies. I've tried a 32oz deli container with methylene blue and airline tubing as well as a 10g storage bin with methylene blue and a sponge filter. Any ideas?

[Daniel]

I have only had success with the parents raising the babies.

[ange]

45 minutes ago, Daniel said:

I have only had success with the parents raising the babies.

Oof. These two have eaten every spawn since their very first together a few months ago. I know that the male has raised spawns before he was rehomed to me, so I was hoping that the female would eventually "get it" especially now that they're in a much larger tank (they've spawned in an small as 10g).

I've moved some of the eggs out with a pipette. I tried scraping them with a razor and got bitten multiple times so decided against doing them all that way.

[Daniel]

You could try putting in a piece of glass or slate so that you can remove the eggs without disturbing them (that is if you can get them to lay the eggs on the piece of glass).

[ange]

They've laid on slate before, I've just never been able to hatch the babies. Now that they're in my hex they LOVE the glass. Maybe in the future I'll try spawning them in my 29G without any other fish. The male has raised babies to wigglers before, but my female is from the LFS and these are likely her only spawns.

[ange]

WE HAVE WIGGLERS! It took several tries leaving them in with the parents (about 2 months). Dad relocated them off of the glass they were originally laid on. Now I need to set up a breeder box for them, I'm very excited.

[Daniel]

So exciting!

[ange]

Welp it's been awhile. I've been spending more time enjoying the tank than updating and it's time to make a bit of a sad one. Got up this morning and found that my female angel had passed. She was from a janky bloodline (bent fins, wonky body shape) so I didn't expect her to have the same longevity as my male, but I went to bed with her behaving normally so it was a bit of a shock. The other fish are all behaving normally so we can probably chalk this up to one of those "we will probably never know" deaths as my parameters are still in-line with what's normal. I'm at a stage where I'm strongly considering retiring the tank and replacing it with a 29 gallon as I've always kept it low stock and had difficulty growing anything other than vallisneria in it. With the current stock I could easily downsize to 29g without having to relocate any of the inhabitants.

[ange]

Another quick update. Apparently we had a power outage overnight! I have multiple USB nano pumps and backup power with a space heater (safe for indoors of course) to heat the room that my tanks are in but those all have to be swapped over manually, which I obviously didn't do as I was asleep. I'm very fortunate to have only lost the one fish from the incident.

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/16/2020 at 1:04 PM, ange said:

I'm hoping that the next time my angels spawn I'll be able to pull the eggs, though I've failed 2 hatches in DIY egg tumblers and I'm not quite sure where to go.

Any advice or updates on this? Did you figure anything out with regards to flow or use of the tumblers?

I applaud the use of mopani here!  I love the use of a wood with this massive of a surface and I have basically only this variety to use locally from shops. (the only local shop I have is fully saltwater) 

I have one piece that was pretty big like the one you have and it had a nice moss carpet.  I have another piece with a little natural hole that I turned into a cave for a very special tank inhabitant. She would hide out and every so often you'd see here eye peering out wondering who was walking by.

Last time I found a good piece of mopani, it ended up having some weird sap on it. I mailed it back to zoo med and ended up with this massive piece made for a lizard cage or something (2' x 2' face, square piece).  I never ended up with as dark of a water as you've had and that was something I wanted to ask about.  What is your preference for tanins (even if the water isn't dark) compared to having very dark water and low lighting conditions?

[ange]

On 4/11/2022 at 5:50 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Any advice or updates on this? Did you figure anything out with regards to flow or use of the tumblers?

I applaud the use of mopani here!  I love the use of a wood with this massive of a surface and I have basically only this variety to use locally from shops. (the only local shop I have is fully saltwater) 

I have one piece that was pretty big like the one you have and it had a nice moss carpet.  I have another piece with a little natural hole that I turned into a cave for a very special tank inhabitant. She would hide out and every so often you'd see here eye peering out wondering who was walking by.

Last time I found a good piece of mopani, it ended up having some weird sap on it. I mailed it back to zoo med and ended up with this massive piece made for a lizard cage or something (2' x 2' face, square piece).  I never ended up with as dark of a water as you've had and that was something I wanted to ask about.  What is your preference for tanins (even if the water isn't dark) compared to having very dark water and low lighting conditions?

Mine were actually great parents and took a few tries, but could raise their fry to free swimmers without any intervention. I never figured out how to raise the babies independently because I never needed to. The only potential predators in the tank were the parents and my Bolivian rams so it was fairly easy to get them to darts before the parents would start to pick on them.

I enjoy my water fairly tannic so I had a media bag filled with topsoil to get the tannins started. For a tank this size it's impractical to use catappa or more conventional botanicals lol. The mopani is actually three different pieces held together by reef epoxy. It cost me about half as much as a piece that size would probably cost me where I bought it. Since the last time I posted a photo, it has significantly less tannin because I removed that media bag and replaced it with Purigen after a few water changes. This was because the soil was raising my nitrates and my attempts at growing plants have largely failed in the setup. I would consider re-adding it if I convert the tank into a paludarium, which is one of the options that I'm considering now that I'm down to one angel. The main thing that I've been enjoying in the hobby as of late would be plants (which extends to my other hobbies, this spring has been my most ambitious garden yet) so I've considered a setup with vallisneria or another line of sight breaking plant, epiphytes, and ideally splitting up one of my crypts and planting it in there. That said, getting into the tank is a huge pain in the butt so I may stick to epiphytes that I attach to the driftwood. I'm still in the fantasy stage of what to do and given the number of tanks that I have I'm also considering consolidating my threads into one post.

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/11/2022 at 4:46 AM, ange said:

I'm strongly considering retiring the tank and replacing it with a 29 gallon as I've always kept it low stock and had difficulty growing anything other than vallisneria in it.

Highly recommended. For angels specifically I'd say get a 40B or 75G but a 29 works for a nice plant tank.

 

On 4/11/2022 at 5:09 PM, ange said:

That said, getting into the tank is a huge pain in the butt so I may stick to epiphytes that I attach to the driftwood. I'm still in the fantasy stage of what to do and given the number of tanks that I have I'm also considering consolidating my threads into one post.

Hopefully the next transition you have for your tank and this setup is a beneficial one.  There's a lot of cool plants to play with and a ton of options depending on the fish you wish to keep in the tank itself.  I remember my old 5G hex and it didn't last long at all. I definitely didn't know what I was doing and didn't run it well. That was probably 20 years ago!? (Now I feel old)

I wish you the best, genuinely. If you need any advice on a 29G hit me up!

[ange]

On 4/11/2022 at 7:17 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Highly recommended. For angels specifically I'd say get a 40B or 75G but a 29 works for a nice plant tank.

 

Hopefully the next transition you have for your tank and this setup is a beneficial one.  There's a lot of cool plants to play with and a ton of options depending on the fish you wish to keep in the tank itself.  I remember my old 5G hex and it didn't last long at all. I definitely didn't know what I was doing and didn't run it well. That was probably 20 years ago!? (Now I feel old)

I wish you the best, genuinely. If you need any advice on a 29G hit me up!

Thanks! This hex was a learning curve for sure since the footprint is strange but I've definitely grown to like it. The main thing holding me back from transitioning them to my 29 immediately is space. My 15 cube is on the same stand and there wouldn't be much wiggle room in terms of space if I set up the 29 in the footprint of the hex.

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/11/2022 at 5:20 PM, ange said:

Thanks! This hex was a learning curve for sure since the footprint is strange but I've definitely grown to like it. The main thing holding me back from transitioning them to my 29 immediately is space. My 15 cube is on the same stand and there wouldn't be much wiggle room in terms of space if I set up the 29 in the footprint of the hex.

What are the dimensions of the stand (top surface) and the stocking in both tanks?  You might even get away with a larger tank (40B or 75) with a divider?

It's a nice stand I saw you built, might make things easier for you if you go that route.