Angelfish Biotope-ish Tank

[Odd Duck]

I’ve posted a bit here and there about my plans, so skim if you want.  I just decided I might as well start laying it all out since this is going to be a couple months process at least.

I’ve mentioned and posted a couple pics already about getting a free 100 gallon tank from friends that wanted out of the hobby.  This is going to be my angelfish tank instead of the 46 gallon bow front I was originally planning to use.  The 46 G tank/stand is sold since the 100 G will be in its place and I just don’t have another spot for a tank and honestly, never really liked the bow front anyway with its skinny front glass piece that made it hard to work inside it.  The 100 G will be much better for angels, easier to scape, and much easier to work in, too.

The stand needed a bit of touch up so I’ve been working on that, painted it yesterday, and it’s set up tonight with the tank in place.  HOB’s are on the tank (not running), I have sponge filters in buckets staying alive and have extra sponge filters I can squeeze into the tank when I’m finally ready to fill the tank.  One heater is ready to plug in once filled with water, another is ordered.  3 lights are ready, another is going to get ordered as soon as they’re back in stock.

First, I’m waiting for the silicone bumper gaskets on the magnets to cure - see this post for more detail about the small magnet adventure.

Once I know for sure the combo of inside and outside magnets are going to hold the wood up adequately (I’m pretty sure they will), I’ll paint a moss slurry on the wood with some Fissidens geppii, which should make a spectacular moss cover on my branches if I can get it to grow.  I picked this moss because some kind of Fissidens is found nearly everywhere and I did finally find some references to some species of Fissidens growing in South America.  The only other moss commonly found in the trade I could confirm for South America was Christmas moss and it grows way too fast and unruly for what I wanted.  So Fissidens it is, even though geppii isn’t from South America.  😝 

A dry start should hopefully take about 3-4 weeks.  I haven’t decided yet if I’ll add substrate and hard scape at the beginning of the dry start, or wait until the dry start is done.  I’m leaning toward substrate and hard scape in at the beginning.  Then I’ll gradually add water to see if my moss will stick and hopefully get it comfy with submerse growth.  Then I’ll be doing the rest of the planting with primarily swords (I have 5 varieties/species +/- a couple I haven’t decided on yet, plus a few other plants like Lilaeopsis brasiliensis that I’m going to tuck into gaps on the base/origin of the branches to help reinforce the “stream bed margin with washed out roots” effect I’m trying to achieve.  I’m planning to try some Alternanthera reineckii ‘Roseafolia’ which some say is easier to grow.

I will be adding scuds and blackworms to see if I can get colonies established before fish go in the tank.  Once plants are well established and I’m certain the tank is cycled and ready, I’ll be adding fish.  I’m hoping to find some giant hatchetfish.  If I can’t, I’ll go for silver hatchetfish.  I’m hoping to breed some orange laser cories but have had some losses after coming out of QT.  I think it might be the spawning mop I made.

When I got this 100 G, it came with a single sterbai cory and a single trilineatus cory (AKA false Julii).  These 2 species are too closely related to keep together without risking hybridization.  I’ll get groups to go along with my singletons, but I don’t want hybrids so the groups will be split between each of the 100 G tanks.  The trilineatus group will go in the nano fish 100 G with my bronze cories (shouldn’t interbreed).  The sterbais will go in this tank with the angels, hatchets, and hopefully orange laser cories (which should not hybridize with the sterbais).

The tank also came with a single, very beat up and scarred, silver angelfish.  I’m working at getting him/her healed up and back to better health, but I think it’s going to be a long road.  S/he is missing just over half the right pectoral fin down below the “nub” point and it doesn’t seem to be growing anything back.  All other fins are growing back, this one isn’t.  The other pectoral fin has way too much pink and a bit of swelling around the base and I think s/he may have Lymphocystis and may not ever be able to go in the main angel tank.

Overall, I’m very excited about a new tank and looking forward to seeing how it develops.  I’ve got a few things yet to line up and sort out, but I’ve got plenty of time to get it done.  This is going to be a slow, drawn out build thread so have patience and check back periodically.

Pics:
1. Magnets “social distancing” while silicone bumper gaskets cure.

2. The wood laying in the tank until I can epoxy the magnets into place.

3. Stand is painted.

4. Dry and ready to come inside.

5. Tank and stand in place.

6. Tank only, focused on the wood construction.  The slate on the left has magnets epoxied to it and will be held in place (hopefully) with magnets on the outside.

Edited January 19, 2022 by Odd Duck

[Native Keeper]

Oh yeah, I'm totally following this. Make sure to make more updates on this topic!

Also, some fish I would recommend for your Biotope are:

Aphyocharax anitsitsi

Thayeria boehlkei

Thayeria obliqua 

[Odd Duck]

On 1/19/2022 at 9:47 AM, HydraSlayer said:

Oh yeah, I'm totally following this. Make sure to make more updates on this topic!

Also, some fish I would recommend for your Biotope are:

Aphyocharax anitsitsi

Thayeria boehlkei

Thayeria obliqua 

Thank you for the suggestions, but I’m concerned about sizes of these guys except the obliquas.  I’m aiming to keep the tank very angelfish forward with the hatchetfish as dithers but also because I love hatchetfish, and cories as bottoms.  I’m also going to have plecos, likely some bristlenoses, maybe super reds?  If I thought I could catch my gold nugget pleco out of the nano fish 100 G I would, since s/he’s larger than I wanted in there, but s/he was available at the right price, needed rehoming from the previous owner, and it was the only appropriate sized tank I had at the time.

I’m hoping to get full cover koi angels.  If marble hatchets were bigger, I’d be getting them, but silvers are about as small as I want to go.  I’d like to find giant hatchets as much for their size as their look.  I’m kind of going for a red/orange/gold/silver color theme or as close as I can get.  I thought about rummynoses, but decided they’d be a bit too small/slender and potentially edible for adult angels.

I love the look of bloodfins or penguinfish (I have a soft spot for penguinfish), and obliqua might be safe enough, but I have concerns about when the angels become adults, they might go for anything less than about 2.5” if they’re slim bodied fish.  So boehlkei is out, as is A. anitsitsi.  It’s got to be bigger than an adult angel would even consider trying to eat.  I don’t want to remove dead fish from an angel’s mouth just to try to save the angel.  Or remove 2 interlocked dead fish from the tank because I didn’t see a stuck fish in time.  Or have the tank mates slowly disappear.  Angels can be stinkers and they’re certainly known to predate on smaller tank mates.  I need tank mates to be definitively too large to be interesting as prey.

I’m not going to have this tank as heavily planted as my typical tank since I’m trying to be at least sort of accurate to the look of an angel biotope even though I’m stretching on some species of both plants and fish and really stretching on my moss.  I might see how “roomy” it looks after I start to get some fish into place.  But I’ll be buying young angels to give me the best chance of them not being jerks to tank mates.

New pic of the wood up in place.  The magnets are holding fairly well even without water in the tank to support some of the weight of the piece.

 

Picture the wood covered in Fissidens geppii and with Liliopsis brasiliensis growing over the base of it like it’s the margin of a washed out, undercut, river bank with a clump of sod about to tip into the water.  Petrified wood chunks pretending to be broken branches and rotting bits of branch from the partially washed out tree above the water’s surface.  Assorted swords (cuz I need some color besides just green in my plants) that look like they could have been washed away from a mother plant up stream, snagged on a chunk of rotting wood, taken root, and started a family.

At the top, a group of giant, silvery hatchetfish flicking in place, waiting for insects to be shaken out of the overhanging tree by a gust of wind.  Cories doing their Cory things, sifting through the sand, huddling up, then random dashing.  Plecos peeking out of their favorite crevice (crud, I need to find them some caves!).  Then a group of angels shimmering by, flitting through the plant leaves and exposed roots (yeah, I know, the angels will never cooperate with this idea once they’ve been in the tank more than a week 😆).

That’s my vision, don’t burst my bubble!  We’ll see how close I can get it to a reality.  😉 😂 🤣 

 

Edited January 19, 2022 by Odd Duck
Typos

[Torrey]

On 1/19/2022 at 8:14 AM, Odd Duck said:

I’ve posted a bit here and there about my plans, so skim if you want.  I just decided I might as well start laying it all out since this is going to be a couple months process at least.

I’ve mentioned and posted a couple pics already about getting a free 100 gallon tank from friends that wanted out of the hobby.  This is going to be my angelfish tank instead of the 46 gallon bow front I was originally planning to use.  The 46 G tank/stand is sold since the 100 G will be in its place and I just don’t have another spot for a tank and honestly, never really liked the bow front anyway with its skinny front glass piece that made it hard to work inside it.  The 100 G will be much better for angels, easier to scape, and much easier to work in, too.

The stand needed a bit of touch up so I’ve been working on that, painted it yesterday, and it’s set up tonight with the tank in place.  HOB’s are on the tank (not running), I have sponge filters in buckets staying alive and have extra sponge filters I can squeeze into the tank when I’m finally ready to fill the tank.  One heater is ready to plug in once filled with water, another is ordered.  3 lights are ready, another is going to get ordered as soon as they’re back in stock.

First, I’m waiting for the silicone bumper gaskets on the magnets to cure - see this post for more detail about the small magnet adventure.

Once I know for sure the combo of inside and outside magnets are going to hold the wood up adequately (I’m pretty sure they will), I’ll paint a moss slurry on the wood with some Fissidens geppii, which should make a spectacular moss cover on my branches if I can get it to grow.  I picked this moss because some kind of Fissidens is found nearly everywhere and I did finally find some references to some species of Fissidens growing in South America.  The only other moss commonly found in the trade I could confirm for South America was Christmas moss and it grows way too fast and unruly for what I wanted.  So Fissidens it is, even though geppii isn’t from South America.  😝 

A dry start should hopefully take about 3-4 weeks.  I haven’t decided yet if I’ll add substrate and hard scape at the beginning of the dry start, or wait until the dry start is done.  I’m leaning toward substrate and hard scape in at the beginning.  Then I’ll gradually add water to see if my moss will stick and hopefully get it comfy with submerse growth.  Then I’ll be doing the rest of the planting with primarily swords (I have 5 varieties/species +/- a couple I haven’t decided on yet, plus a few other plants like Lilaeopsis brasiliensis that I’m going to tuck into gaps on the base/origin of the branches to help reinforce the “stream bed margin with washed out roots” effect I’m trying to achieve.  I’m planning to try some Alternanthera reineckii ‘Roseafolia’ which some say is easier to grow.

I will be adding scuds and blackworms to see if I can get colonies established before fish go in the tank.  Once plants are well established and I’m certain the tank is cycled and ready, I’ll be adding fish.  I’m hoping to find some giant hatchetfish.  If I can’t, I’ll go for silver hatchetfish.  I’m hoping to breed some orange laser cories but have had some losses after coming out of QT.  I think it might be the spawning mop I made.

When I got this 100 G, it came with a single sterbai cory and a single trilineatus cory (AKA false Julii).  These 2 species are too closely related to keep together without risking hybridization.  I’ll get groups to go along with my singletons, but I don’t want hybrids so the groups will be split between each of the 100 G tanks.  The trilineatus group will go in the nano fish 100 G with my bronze cories (shouldn’t interbreed).  The sterbais will go in this tank with the angels, hatchets, and hopefully orange laser cories (which should not hybridize with the sterbais).

The tank also came with a single, very beat up and scarred, silver angelfish.  I’m working at getting him/her healed up and back to better health, but I think it’s going to be a long road.  S/he is missing just over half the right pectoral fin down below the “nub” point and it doesn’t seem to be growing anything back.  All other fins are growing back, this one isn’t.  The other pectoral fin has way too much pink and a bit of swelling around the base and I think s/he may have Lymphocystis and may not ever be able to go in the main angel tank.

Overall, I’m very excited about a new tank and looking forward to seeing how it develops.  I’ve got a few things yet to line up and sort out, but I’ve got plenty of time to get it done.  This is going to be a slow, drawn out build thread so have patience and check back periodically.

Pics:
1. Magnets “social distancing” while silicone bumper gaskets cure.

2. The wood laying in the tank until I can epoxy the magnets into place.

3. Stand is painted.

4. Dry and ready to come inside.

5. Tank and stand in place.

6. Tank only, focused on the wood construction.  The slate on the left has magnets epoxied to it and will be held in place (hopefully) with magnets on the outside.

ORD🤩

Slow development, that is done in a responsible manner, is so much better than a quick job that needs to be taken apart and redone.

This looks awesome and has amazing potential. 

[Torrey]

I think the entire vision is awesome, and when I was south of the border I swam in water ways that match your description except for one thing:

Coconuts.

Anywhere that had sufficient rains to wash out the soil under a root ball had coconuts: some would be broken, and some were whole, and if we were anywhere near where people hung out regularly, they were cleaved in half by a machete and scooped clean on the inside. Upriver side would be almost buried in silt, downstream side would be mildly eroded just under the lip if unoccupied. Occupied would have a distinct "silt lip" about a handspan downstream from the lower edge of the occupied coconut shell. 

Can't wait to see the next update!

[Odd Duck]

I got my moss slurry made and painted onto my wood in the new 100 gallon, FINALLY!  Been trying to get to it for almost a month.  Between work, then COVID, it really messed up my time frame.  Brace yourself for bad pictures, I didn’t clean the glass at all and it’s been running with a fogger for a couple weeks to determine how well that would keep the wood moist.

I made too much volume and probably got a little heavy handed with the gelatin (using it as a binder).  I could have done half the volume of water with a little less than half the gelatin.  I should have added the gelatin after blending the moss since it wanted to foam up.  If I ever do this again, I’ll blend the moss in plain water, then add already rehydrated gelatin powder and just stir it in instead of blending with the gelatin added.  I covered everything about 3-4 times to use up all my volume and there was a fair amount of foam that didn’t have a lot of moss in it.  The moss was thicker at the bottom below the foam.

1. Pic of moss slurry - yummy shake!  😝 

2 and 3. Pics of slurry painted on the wood.  Not terribly exciting to look at really, but it’s my first time trying a moss slurry and a “dry” start.

4. Pic of one of the two moss squares after shearing.  If I was smarter I’d have also taken a pic before shearing, too, but I cut off almost an inch of moss with pretty dense growth from each square.

 

Edited February 22, 2022 by Odd Duck
Typo. I swear I proof read before I post, but I always miss something.

[Odd Duck]

The gelatin is much less “snotty” looking today.  😆 😂 🤣 

 

[eatyourpeas]

That moss is going to be very happy! Mine has grown to about one inch in height in the Vampire crab tank, and the mister has been a great way to keep it hydrated.

[Odd Duck]

On 2/22/2022 at 10:53 AM, eatyourpeas said:

That moss is going to be very happy! Mine has grown to about one inch in height in the Vampire crab tank, and the mister has been a great way to keep it hydrated.

I don’t remember, what kind of moss did you use?

[eatyourpeas]

On 2/22/2022 at 9:07 AM, Odd Duck said:

I don’t remember, what kind of moss did you use?

Mine is growing emersed, so I used moss that I found in my backyard.

[Odd Duck]

On 2/22/2022 at 11:09 AM, eatyourpeas said:

Mine is growing emersed, so I used moss that I found in my backyard.

I saw that moss and I’ve just been scrolling back through, looking, thinking, “Why can’t I find the other moss?”  😆 🤦🏻‍♀️ 🤷🏻‍♀️ 😂 

[Odd Duck]

I think I’m starting to see the tiniest little bit of growth from my moss.  And when I say tiny, I mean tiny!  Little, barely visible specks until I zoom in as close as possible.  I’m exactly 3 weeks to the day from when I did the dry start and got the moss slurry on the wood.

 

Hopefully that means water in the tank in another 1-2 weeks!

[Jawjagrrl]

Just found this journal when I came to update mine (will try again tomorrow). Definitely following your project and maybe I'll make fewer mistakes with my angels down the road. I tried the dry start on my first tank last summer but didn't fare too well - I don't think I had enough to start with. This is looking really promising!

[Brandon p]

On 2/21/2022 at 8:55 PM, Odd Duck said:

I got my moss slurry made and painted onto my wood in the new 100 gallon, FINALLY!  Been trying to get to it for almost a month.  Between work, then COVID, it really messed up my time frame.  Brace yourself for bad pictures, I didn’t clean the glass at all and it’s been running with a fogger for a couple weeks to determine how well that would keep the wood moist.

I made too much volume and probably got a little heavy handed with the gelatin (using it as a binder).  I could have done half the volume of water with a little less than half the gelatin.  I should have added the gelatin after blending the moss since it wanted to foam up.  If I ever do this again, I’ll blend the moss in plain water, then add already rehydrated gelatin powder and just stir it in instead of blending with the gelatin added.  I covered everything about 3-4 times to use up all my volume and there was a fair amount of foam that didn’t have a lot of moss in it.  The moss was thicker at the bottom below the foam.

1. Pic of moss slurry - yummy shake!  😝 

2 and 3. Pics of slurry painted on the wood.  Not terribly exciting to look at really, but it’s my first time trying a moss slurry and a “dry” start.

4. Pic of one of the two moss squares after shearing.  If I was smarter I’d have also taken a pic before shearing, too, but I cut off almost an inch of moss with pretty dense growth from each square.

 

I have never used the slurry I have one of my large cypress knees that I wanted moss on I was just going to glue some on and leg I slowly cover. It. Some of the small tree a made ) months ago now have moss growing down the branches, “growing@ for the wood. It looks like this may give tha effect faster.

Went I start mine I cover I put some water in the substrate and cover the top with plastic wrap it works well. Depending on the tank I will add the plants and let them get at the same time. Most plants don’t need to be totally submerged. 

[Odd Duck]

On 3/14/2022 at 10:14 PM, Brandon p said:

I have never used the slurry I have one of my large cypress knees that I wanted moss on I was just going to glue some on and leg I slowly cover. It. Some of the small tree a made ) months ago now have moss growing down the branches, “growing@ for the wood. It looks like this may give tha effect faster.

Went I start mine I cover I put some water in the substrate and cover the top with plastic wrap it works well. Depending on the tank I will add the plants and let them get at the same time. Most plants don’t need to be totally submerged. 

I’ve done the “glue it on” and the “tie it on” thing, but I wanted to try a dry start to hopefully get:

1. More coverage with less moss.  Each moss piece has potential to grow into several new moss strands from multiple cut surfaces.  A cut strip of moss will often only grow one new strand from each end, so way less total growing points than finely chopped moss.  I had a finite limit to the amount of Fissidens geppi moss I had available and a lot of territory to cover.  It’s a very slow growing moss so I needed the fastest coverage and widest coverage possible.  I deliberately picked a slow growing moss so I wouldn’t need to be constantly trimming and the look would be fairly consistent with hopefully minimal maintenance.

2. A more natural look with the moss growing best where IT likes, and theoretically, getting a more natural look.  It should grow best where the light and [eventual] current hits it right.

3. Faster coverage in the long run than attaching bigger pieces of moss to fewer areas and waiting for it to spread.  It would be a very long wait time with Fissidens.  Even if only a small percentage of my tiny moss pieces sprout, it’s still way more growing points than what I would have with small, hand cut pieces glued or tied in place.

4. Even tiny specks attach at the same pace as bigger pieces.  This way I don’t have any glue showing, no thread showing, and no worrying about fish ingesting threads later.

Once I can confirm more growth, I can remove all the water that’s in the tank from spraying the wood and running the fogger [probably at least 20 gallons by now].  Then I add my substrate, plant, and fill with water.  Then just cycle the tank for 2-4 weeks and it’s ready for fish.  It’s been a long project with a lot of planning, some side quests and projects, even a switch in tanks because of a lucky upgrade from friends.  It will be longer still before it’s done, but this is a dream project for me.

I’ve already got nearly everything else I need.  Just need to order a few more plants I want to try.

[Odd Duck]

My moss is finally looking good!  More growth, still tiny of course, but enough I feel more confident with planting and flooding on Monday or Tuesday.  Loads of tiny moss speckles and some are even starting to take some shape and look like actual Fissidens.  I got my plant order in so I’ll be ready to plant everything this next week.

Once the plants are rooted, I already have some cories in QT that will be ready to go in the tank in 4 weeks.  Once I have a QT tank empty, I’ll be getting my angelfish into QT.  I’m still on the hunt for giant hatchetfish.

Soooooo exciting watching moss grow (not).  But it is exciting to think I can plant and flood in just a couple more days.  I’m hoping it will be stunningly beautiful after a few more months of growth.  Until then, I like the wood enough it will be fine.

 

 

Edited March 20, 2022 by Odd Duck
Remove pic that was just too out of focus.

[Odd Duck]

Here’s where I’m at.  I didn’t have enough baked clay to finish everything tonight, but I’ll get it done tomorrow.  While I was baking batches of clay (how did I forget I needed more? 🤦🏻‍♀️), I did side quests on other tanks which I will post in those threads.

In the mean time, here’s the pics of angels, gold laser cories, and BNP, I got from the association auction on Sunday, and a pic of spotfin hatchetfish, and one of the scarlet badis.  “A” male, maybe the male, maybe a “female” showing his/her/their true colors.  No luck getting a pic of Betta persephones.  I caught a glimpse of one, but it disappeared into the plants and murk that is currently the 20 G long.  I can’t see any dead so I’m hoping for the best.  🤷🏻‍♀️ 

The angels maybe pairing already since one is staying separate at the other end of the tank and doesn’t appear to be having any health issues.  Way too soon and they’re only in a 10 G QT!

Not the greatest fish pics but all I could get today while doing other things - see next post.

 

 

Edited April 3, 2022 by Odd Duck

[Odd Duck]

I did get enough clay baked to finish my layers - clay, sprinkle of Osmocote granules, layer of sand on top, and most of my sand in place although I’ll build up a bit more tomorrow.  Ran out of energy and time for plants, so a good spray on my moss/wood tonight since I don’t have the fogger in there anymore, then spray through the morning as I do my planting.  I did drain the tank, then put in about 25 gallons and rinse things around, then drain again before adding substrate.

I still need to figure out how I’m going to “plant” the Lilaeopsis brasiliensis on the base of the wood and somewhat covering the slate.  I have a tissue culture and I’m tempted to glue it on like an epiphyte.  I feel like it has a better chance if I can give it some substrate.  I have plastic planting baskets and could probably arrange some mesh fabric to line it.  Then zip tie or superglue it to the base? That would look pretty ugly for a while and possibly forever if the plant doesn’t take.  There’s a hint of a nook right there, but I don’t think it’s enough.

The rest will be mainly assorted swords plus some Staurogyne repens.  We’ll see how the Staurogyne grows for me, but it will get some sun every morning so I’m hopeful it will at least look decent despite no CO2.  If not, I’ll figure out something else.  I still haven’t decided if I’m going to try some Alternanthera reineckii or not.  It hasn’t done well for me in the past so I’m skeptical.  I’m also reluctant to get Vallisneria gigantea even though it seems like an obvious choice.  I just know if it decides it likes the tank it can get out of control fast.

Pic 2 is the tank as I started this am. Pic 1 is a close up of my moss looking like real baby Fissidens moss.  Pic 3 is hardscape in except some sand touch up.  Hardscape is the moss/wood on the left that I’ve been fiddling around with forever.  There is a chunk of wood on the far left that is helping to support and stabilize the wood piece.  The rest is various pieces of petrified wood I’ve collected over the years including the 2 biggest pieces on the right that I won at the auction Sunday.  Oh, plus pleco caves.

The last pics are where I need the help.  I’d like to have some behind the knob of wood by the slate and also in the little nook where the loose wood bit nestles into the attached wood bits (just behind the lighter colored wood).  How do I get the Lilaeopsis to grab on here at the base of the wood?  Glue it into a black mesh bag and glue it in place, pack it into black mesh, then into a planting basket and glue the basket to the wood, glue it on like an epiphyte, or “other” as yet to be determined?  Any suggestions that don’t involve me making a cast of the wood and creating a custom ceramic form, buying a kiln to fire it, etc, etc. 😆 😂 🤣 

Edited to change the pic numbering since they got loaded out of order.

Edited March 31, 2022 by Odd Duck
Clarify

[Odd Duck]

I’m not completely happy with how the rocks/petrified wood looks on the left side.  It feels like it’s taking away from the actual wood with the moss.  Once the moss grows in it will look very different, but it isn’t looking quite right, yet.

I'm very happy with the wood itself and the lucky score on the 2 biggest pieces of petrified wood on the right side.

I need ideas for the lily grass though (Lilaeopsis brasiliensis) to hold it up around the base of the wood and somewhat cover the slate at upper left.  Anybody have ideas for me?  Can I treat it like an epiphyte and glue it in place?

[Odd Duck]

Plants and water in the tank!!!!!  💃🏻 🎉 💃🏻 🎉 💃🏻 

Spent this morning taking a surface skimmer out of one of my 10 G tanks that’s had Wolffia in it.  Borrowed guppies and endlers (all male) from a friend to see if they would eat the Wolffia and they’ve been doing a good job as well as cleaning up the excess scuds I had in that tank.  There was Wolffia getting caught behind the surface skimmer and it was doing a lousy job anyway, so I removed it and started cleaning.  I think this thing was serving as a reservoir for the Wolffia!  There was Wolffia inside the supposedly sealed motor housing!  I would have never gotten rid of it.

Then I spent the afternoon finishing sorting through and cleaning up plants intended to go into this tank.  Spent this evening planting, then adding water.  I still need to fiddle a bit, add a little sand in spots, and the plants need plenty of growing.  Some of the poor swords have been floating for months as I’ve been working on plans, then tank change, etc, and they suffered from it.  Some have done fine and those were the ones I planted or at least weighted so they stayed correctly oriented.  Bucket plants suffered the most, but considering I haven’t been fertilizing the buckets, they didn’t do too badly for the most part.

I’ve been thinking so hard about how to attach the lily grass but when I pulled it out of the TC, it was rather matted together like, well, grass.  So I rinsed as much of the gel out as I could, then broke the mat into a couple pieces and just glued those puppies right onto the wood where I wanted them - check out the top left corner.  It doesn’t look like much now, but I’m hoping it will turn into nice, long, flowing, grassy plants.

I’ll get better pics tomorrow once the water has settled a bit.  Not much dust from adding water but there’s always some, even after rinsing the sand well.  I’ll see if I can get some pics of the moss under water, too.  I’m probably going to order more Staurogyne repens since there were only 7 plants in the TC.  I expected more, but smaller plants.  They are small, but bigger and fewer than I expected.  Which is fine, bigger is better for this, but I need more for the look I want.

When I got the 2, big, new pieces of petrified wood, it changed up my ideas for the rest of the hardscape a little bit.  So the repens is around a clump of petrified wood pieces instead of where the branches touch down.  I ended up putting swords there instead that should stay fairly small.  I may change my mind in the morning but it didn’t feel right to have the swords as far back in the tank as I thought I would do and repens didn’t feel right at the tips of the branches where they meet the sand.

First pic is the surface skimmer pump with Wolffia inside the case.  I tried to pop it open to clean it, but no go.

Second pic is the whole tank planted up.  Like I said, they needs lots of growing, so I’ll likely give it about 3-4 weeks depending on cycle and how quickly things root.

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by Odd Duck

[Odd Duck]

Plant list:

Echinodorus barthii x E. schleuteri ‘Red Flame’ (Red Flame sword), E. cordifolius ‘Marble Queen’, E. grisbachii (Amazon sword), E. hadi ‘Red Pearl’, E. osiris ‘Gold Melon’, E. radicans.

Lilaeopsis brasiliensis (Brazilian microsword), Staurogyne repens, and of course my moss, Fissidens geppii.

So far, no plans for other plants.  These need time to root before I turn loose any plecos or cories.  I will hopefully have a good group of hatchetfish and at least a few plecos, along with a few angels ready to go in within a month.  I think the trio of angels will be OK when I add more angels considering the size of the tank.  Or I may trade the ones I just got for the full red koi angels I really want.  I just couldn’t turn them down for the price.  🤷🏻‍♀️ 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I really like the selection of swords! This will be amazing when they’re in their glory! 
 

The pics of your babies in QT are great! Can’t wait to see them in their new home. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with just get it all in there and then play with it as it cycles/matures. 

[Odd Duck]

On 4/1/2022 at 2:28 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

I really like the selection of swords! This will be amazing when they’re in their glory! 
 

The pics of your babies in QT are great! Can’t wait to see them in their new home. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with just get it all in there and then play with it as it cycles/matures. 

In retrospect, I should have at least weighted that Red Flame that’s just left of center.  That’s the one I pulled out of the 6 G Volcano cube in late February!  I thought I was going to be planting it at almost 2 weeks sooner, so I didn’t bother, but it sure twisted around way faster than I expected.  And those poor radicans on the right.  They’ve been bucket plants for months!  Some were down to just the rhizome and a hint of leaf.  But they’re planted and they’ll have their chance now.

I really hope to bring out the best in all these swords.  They’ll have more light than where they each were previously, so I’m hoping they give me some good colors.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Odd Duckthey grow so fast you’ll never know they twisted!

[Odd Duck]

On 4/1/2022 at 2:49 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

@Odd Duckthey grow so fast you’ll never know they twisted!

I know they’ll sort themselves out.  I’m just surprised at how fast that one in particular twisted up.  The plant has been floating in one of my 10 G and it’s big enough it was mostly oriented, but I would get in there for a water change and bump it and forget to “put it back”.  Next I look, the current would have it sideways and the results of all that swirlIng is twisted stems.  😆  Once it settles and roots, it will look great.  The new leaves are quite dark red on that one as are the Red Pearl on the far left.  With enough light, Red Pearl stays very dark red and grows quite flat, which I think will look good around the branches, especially if the moss cooperates and continues to spread and green up all over those twisty, sexy branches.  😃  I still can’t believe how lucky I was to find wood that so closely matched my vision.

I’ve got a full row of Amazon swords behind the back line of rocks, some still very small, previously taken from flower spikes from the swords in the 75 G.  There’s already new flower spikes on a couple swords in there that I need to pull and plant.  Those are going to be a housewarming gift for a technician friend that’s into Walstad inspired tanks.