Northwest's UNS 60U Asian Blackwater Recreation

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Well well well, I'm back with another Blackwater Tank! 

I recently had the flooring in my house replaced so all of my tanks except my Non-Photosynthetic Reef Tank (since it's in a spot that didn't need to get replaced) had to be taken down. Now that it's all set, I can start rebuilding. Since I still have 1 year left before I go to Uni, I want to try and go all out with the displays I'll be creating. 

If you've seen the other two blackwater tank threads I've made on the forum, you might recognize this tank. This one used to be an Asian Blackwater Tank with Emerald Eye Rasboras and Green Line Licorice Gouramis. Instead this time, I want to do a more South American centric Blackwater Tank. It's not a true biotope since the Plants and Botanicals mostly aren't from the Amazon or South America in general, but the fish will be. Now let's talk about the specs: 

Equipment / Scape

Tank: UNS 60U (20 Gallons) [24 x 14 x 14]

Lighting: JCP (though I'll probably switch to Twinstar soon)

Substrate: Pool Filter Sand

Hardscape: Manzinita Wood & Melatsoma Root

Filter and Heating: Aquarium Co-op Sponge Filter + Aquarium Co-op 100W Heater

Plants / Botanicals

Cryptocoryne Wendetii 'Green'

Java Moss 

Bael Tree Pods

Jacaranda Pods

Palm Pots

Sappan Wood

Catappa Leaves

Jackfruit Leaves

Fish 

TBD but I do have a couple ideas in my mind. Pygmy Cories will definitely be in here though, I can confirm that😎 

 

I'm currently still setting the tank up since I ran out of sand and the rest will be coming this weekend. But the final hardscape is setup, all the botancials are already here, and once the sand comes, it'll all come together. 

I hope everyone enjoys this one. It's looking good so far. 

Some early progress pics 

Edited October 17, 2023 by Northwest_Scapes_

[Northwest_Scapes_]

I spent a while tinkering with the Scape and figuring out placement for the Bael Pods and how to get the depth right, etc etc. But I think I've settled on the finished product. I added more sand, oak leaves, and the Palm Pods to the back right corner. It'll take a few days for the tannins to settle but I'm excited for this tank. Some progress pics: 

The Initial Scape 

Somewhat filled, more sand added to the back right and more leaves added. Now we wait for the tannins to settle and for the water to clear a bit

[nabokovfan87]

  

On 6/2/2023 at 1:57 PM, Northwest_Scapes_ said:

 

Wonderful start! The branches are subtle, but very well places for that tank.  I can only imagine how the fish will interact with it.

 

Edited June 5, 2023 by nabokovfan87

[Northwest_Scapes_]

The tank is going through a big tannin bloom right now, I've never used this many at the start so it's a bit of a learning curve. It seems to be settling down, but I'll be doing a few water changes to get the tint level to where I want it. 

Also it turns out having the wood even just 1 day out of water managed to un-waterlog them they floated to the top when I filled the tank unfortunately. The good thing is it's just two branches so it'll be easy to put back together. I put a big rock over them to help waterlog them so hopefully it doesn't take too long. 

Good thing is biofilm is already appearing everywhere, and I got the cycle going. I'm most likely going down to Portland in 2 weeks so hopefully I'll be coming back up with some fish 

(It was darker than this just yesterday but it seems like things are settling down) 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

The branches water-logged pretty quickly, so I was able to put the Scape back together. I messed up the placement of the seed Pods but I left it since i felt like it looks more natural. 

I'm still playing with the Tint levels since I want to make it a bit lighter, but it's coming together! Should be getting the first fish for this tank next Sunday! Very excited for the Tetra species I've seen come in lately 

[anewbie]

I wouldn't worry too much about the tint at this point. When you do water changes it will thin out  a bit and you will want to add extract to restore some of it. The key thing will be to make sure the water you add to the aquarium is 'close' to the tank water; your tank isn't too large so it won't be nearly so bad - but some species are quite sensitive to even slight changes - and while it might not kill them they will certainly get upset if they sense too large a change in the water (very species dependent). I'm probably going to have to use acid to get the new water close to the tank water since I will be dealing with larger volume.

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Well, I guess we can scrap the "South American" part of the name haha

In the end, I didn't go with any Tetras since all the species I wanted are at least $30 per fish, and with the ideal group of 10-12, that adds up pretty fast. I would usually go for it, but since I'm really looking forward to upgrading my camera soon to the A7iv or A7rV, I'm going a little budget mode right now. So that led me to my next option: Introducing the group of 15 Blue Neon Rasboras! (Sundadanio axelrodi)

These fish have always been on my buckelist but I wasn't sure if they'd be a good fit in any of my past setups. I can say that so far, they've been really cool. They still have some coloring up to do since I just got them yesterday, but they're shoaling and feeding behavior is really cool. They're already eating flake which is shocking! These guys are known to only thrive in very soft, acidic water so I'm very fortunate to live in Western Washington where our tap is insanely soft so I'm just keeping these guys in Tap. I"m not sure what other inhabitants I'll add. I was set on a group of Pygmy Cories, but since these Sundadanio are from Asia, things like Indostomus paradoxus or I. crocodilus have sprung up in my mind. Or maybe even a small group of Samauri Gouramis (eventually ending with a pair or 2). Still undecided. 

These are probably the only 2 photos I'll ever get since they are FAST but the more they color up, the more they should shine. I'm very happy I settled on these guys. Especially since they were more budget friendly at $4 a fish surprisingly. 

Edited June 20, 2023 by Northwest_Scapes_

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Wow it's been a while, the tank is still up and running and actually better than ever. Some exciting new additions yesterday, I added a few Crypt. Wendetii 'Green' between the branches just to add some plant life but you can't really see them through the Tannins. 

But for the actual cool additions, introducing a group of 6 Samurai Gouramis! (Sphaerichthys vaillanti)

Was in Portland yesterday and picked some up. After adding the Sundadanio, I automatically knew that these would be the main fish in the tank. 5 of 6 the are still pretty small and all 6 are still showing juvenile coloration, though I do see a small amount of striping in some so maybe those are sings they could be females? 

To my surprise, they're super active. Most likely because they feel at home in the soft water and Tannins. The Sundadanio are still all here but interestingly enough, for a majority of the day they hang out in the back right corner and only come out towards when the light turns off. I'm not sure why, but the Gouramis seem to be bringing them out more which is ironic since you'd think it'd be the other way around lol

I'm super excited to finally have a group. I've been wanting them for a long time but couldn't build the right setup. The amount of branches in this tank and Tannins make this the perfect habitat. If these guys do well, I might add another 2 or 3 to the group. And of course, pictures! 

The tint level makes it pretty hard to shoot but I did my best at getting rid of the noise.

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/15/2023 at 11:55 PM, Northwest_Scapes_ said:

The tint level makes it pretty hard to shoot but I did my best at getting rid of the noise.

Whatever setup you're using is pretty well dialed in.  You have a skill for fish photography.

[Northwest_Scapes_]

On 7/16/2023 at 12:04 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Whatever setup you're using is pretty well dialed in.  You have a skill for fish photography.

Thank you! Funnily enough, the photography 'tank' is just a container from the Container Store and a piece of black window film. It's been great so far but I'm definitely looking at getting a UNS 5N as my official photography tank. That'll bump up the photos in terms of sharpness. 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

It's been a quite a while since I've last given an update. Unfortunately there's both good and bad news. 

The Bad | The group of Samurai Gouramis did well for about a month, but we got hit with a heatwave out of no where towards the end of August that was pretty devastating for me (I lost a lot of Non-Photosynthetic Corals from my Saltwater tank due to the temp spike) and unfortunately a majority of the group didn't survive. I still have 1 (Male I believe) that's doing okay but he definitely needs a group. Hopefully I'll be able to introduce some more to finish off the stocking of this tank sometime before the end of the year. Thankfully that's all I have for the bad news. 

Good News | Tank is still running well for the most part. The mulm bed and biofilm have skyrocketed which is nice to see. I ended up taking off the black background to see what it would look like, and I think it looks better this way, the lighting in the pictures looks a lot better. 

Somehow (I say that since I thought the heatwave would've effected them) I still have most, if not all the Sundadanio. I counted 13 but they're so fast its hard to count. The Tannins have actually settled down so instead of the dark murky brown, it's now a light gold tint which is what i was wanting and because of that, you can truly see the iridescence on these guys now. It's so cool to see them school when I'm at my desk doing school work. 

I've actually got some top dwellers coming this week that I'm very excited about. A species I've been wanting to keep for a while and they came back in stock this week so I had to grab them. As much as I was thinking about doing a species of Khuli Loach or Bumblebee Goby (like the new Brachygobius sp. 'Ocelot' that have been coming in recently that seem to be fully freshwater) for the bottom, I think these guys are so much better. 

P.S. I did upgrade to the Sony a7iv a little after my last post and this camera has been a beast. The AF is insanely fast and sharp and has allowed me to finally get some decent photos of the Sundadanio in the tank. Still a WIP cause of their speed but I'm getting there haha 

[Schuyler]

That's a cool setup you have! I like the light being slightly off center making some dramatic shadows

[anewbie]

You think global warming (sudden heat wave) is bad to your home aquarium; think about what it is doing in natural environment 😞

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Well earlier this week I managed to get a new group of Samurai Gouramis from a store in Seattle! I'm very excited since they've been doing really well so far (eating Pellets!!) and it's a good mix of Adults and Juveniles. There's at least 1 Adult Male and 1 young female. The others are too young to tell but hopefully I get another female or 2. 

The male I had before has perked up a lot since adding the new 5. I would whole heartedly say these are fish that need to be in a group which is why if you're going to keep them, invest in a group instead of just 1 or 2. 

Some other news is that the last species that was supposed to arrive last week ended up getting velvet the day before they were going to ship so the store reached out and refunded. Though I'm first in line for when they're healthy again / the others make it out of QT which is awesome. Once those come in, I think this tank will be done in terms of stocking. There's still maybe a few plants I'd like to add that aren't from Asia (I saw a really nice African Lace at the store I wanted to get but held off) but then I think it's time to sit back and let nature do its thing. 

I'm also getting better at my Sundadanio photography 🙂

[Northwest_Scapes_]

On 10/22/2023 at 3:18 PM, Northwest_Scapes_ said:

Well earlier this week I managed to get a new group of Samurai Gouramis from a store in Seattle! I'm very excited since they've been doing really well so far (eating Pellets!!) and it's a good mix of Adults and Juveniles. There's at least 1 Adult Male and 1 young female. The others are too young to tell but hopefully I get another female or 2. 

The male I had before has perked up a lot since adding the new 5. I would whole heartedly say these are fish that need to be in a group which is why if you're going to keep them, invest in a group instead of just 1 or 2. 

Some other news is that the last species that was supposed to arrive last week ended up getting velvet the day before they were going to ship so the store reached out and refunded. Though I'm first in line for when they're healthy again / the others make it out of QT which is awesome. Once those come in, I think this tank will be done in terms of stocking. There's still maybe a few plants I'd like to add that aren't from Asia (I saw a really nice African Lace at the store I wanted to get but held off) but then I think it's time to sit back and let nature do its thing. 

I'm also getting better at my Sundadanio photography 🙂

Unfortunately I have some sad news. Looks like the introduction of the Samurais caused an ich outbreak I wasn't expecting. I don't blame the store since they didn't show any signs of ich and are overall healthy. Perhaps changing water parameters / environments caused something to pop up. 

I haven't dealt with ich in forever since the store I normally buy fish from does a great job at QT so this caught me off guard. The losses so far are unfortunately 1 of the new Samurai (a big male who I'm assuming must've been patient zero for the outbreak) and 8 out of the 12 Sundadanio. It hurts losing them since they were the first additions and have done amazing so far. But they're one of those "Ich magnet" fish so it spread like crazy amongst them. The other 5 Samurai surprisingly are doing just fine despite having a slight case. 

I started the Ich X treatment today do hopefully over the next few days it clears up. I didn't have it on hand when I first noticed it 2 days ago but I know the tank will bounce back from this. 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Update on the Ich situation: I did beat it, but the last 4 of the Sundadanio did pass. When I heard they were an "Ich Magnet" fish, I wasn't expecting them to be this sensitive to it. I'd love to add another group of either the Sundadanio or maybe try out a Boraras species like the Chili. The good news is, none of the other Samurai passed and are all doing good. 

Now onto more positive news, this was an exciting week since those surface dwellers I was talking about arrived! Meet the Borneo Redline Halfbeak (Hemiraphodon tengah) ! (I just call them Tengah halfbeaks for short). This species has been on my bucketlist for a while ever since seeing them from Alex Bell (Alexb_aquatics on insta) and Ruben Rensink (also on insta), they're a gorgeous species and arguably the most stunning of the Hemiraphodon genus. Another cool fact about them is that they're the sole egg laying species of the genus, every other species is a livebearer. It'd be cool to see them breed and try to raise the fry since this is a pretty rare species. 

When the light hits them just right, they have a super bright iridescence, especially the males. These guys just got through velvet so they're a little skinny which is what I was expecting so I'll be fattening them up in a bit. The main concern is that they tend to do better in pairs since the dominant male gets territorial, though the damage isn't anything to worry about i heard and they tend to stick to their own areas anyways. I have 6, so I'll see if I need to remove everyone but the pair in the future. Enjoy these pics!

Edited November 1, 2023 by Northwest_Scapes_