40 Gallon Community

[.Plecomania.]

Here is my 40 Gallon Flatback Hex tank. It's rather old, I think more than 20 years since we got it as a present. Recently the silicone has been degrading and we had two leaks but these were patched up with new silicone. unfortunately i wasn't smart enough at the time to use the appropriate color silicone so i got black






I had a pair of BN plecs in here that bred a few times. One time i raised around 70 fry - most brown some albino. sold almost all of them recently.
I have two filters running - an Aquaclear 70 and a Tetra Whisper 20i.
Not really a planted tank. only plants are some red rubin swords.
Current Fish stocking list:
1 Black Angelfish
3 Neon Tetras
1 Cardinal Tetra
2 Albino BN pleco juvies
1 culled BN pleco juvie (a little bent)
6 Queen Arabesque juvies L260
1 Platy

I'm making some room for some Hypancistrus plecos for this tank.
Selling the 6 pygmy cories on AB (they bred recently but i was able to salvage just two eggs which are now two fry in a brine shrimp net). Also recently sold 2 Albino BN juvies. I am keeping 2 albinos (male and female I hope) for myself. I should now just sell my BN breeder pair and then I should be good enough on room for Hypans. I'll post some fish pics later.

[.Plecomania.]

Anyone think that a pair of albino BNs (they are only 2" right now) will pose a problem for L260s if I were to get those?

[.Plecomania.]

The angel:

She's bigger now, that was an old photo from when this tank was planted.

The cories that will be getting a new home soon:


The pleco horde that once was in this tank:


The reddish platy is the one i have left now(I used to have 4 total). She's almost 2 years old and will probably pass on soon. She's gotten kinda big:


And the BN breeders that I am selling. I really loved these guys. Really fun plecs. the male was super aggressive. back when i started keeping BNs I bought a group of 4. turned out to be two males and two females - the seller picked really well. I selected the most impressive and aggressive male and the largest female, then i sold the remaining pair. These guys are really awesome. Unfortunately the male was so aggressive that he killed a female platy once when she entered one of his cave areas during the night by mistake.

[.Plecomania.]

shoot some of the pictures got cut off...

[.Plecomania.]

Unfortunately i just found the female BN out of the tank this morning. she must have jumped the tank overnight. I covered all gaps in the canopy today. there was some outrageously tiny gap and then another one that is 9"*1" long in the back of the canopy. I can't lose another fish like that. the last time was i think 2 years ago when some otos jumped out.
Updated my stocking list since i shipped out some fish today.
Some food arrived from Kens fish today - earthworm sticks, catfish sticks, and meat+spirulina wafers. I think my plecos are going to like them. I hope the L260s will too.
Here is the loner male who is currently being auctioned on AB to make more room for the L260s coming in on Thursday.

[.Plecomania.]

Here is one of the albino BNs in the tank. a male:

I also added 3 pleco caves for the plecos. the L260s are arriving this Friday. I hope they get here ok. They are from Sandstone. idk if she is a member on here. bought them from her on aquabid.
These two BN plecos were born in this tank - from the BN pair above.

[.Plecomania.]

The L260s are acclimating!

[.Plecomania.]

Acclimation photo:


Really difficult to get pics of these guys once they were in the tank, but here are two:

[.Plecomania.]

I am feeding my L260s with Kens earthworm sticks, catfish sticks and meat+spirulina wafers. I also throw in frozen brine and frozen bloodworm each once a week. i think they are eating because none that i have seen have sunken stomachs and a few are even very round looking after a night of brine shrimp or bloodworms.

Obviously my albino BNs like the food too.
My Angelfish and neons get spirulina flakes and tropical flakes, and the angel also gets dried krill a couple of times a week or whenever i remember to feed it.

[.Plecomania.]

Update pics! These guys grow much slower than my albino BN juvies. my BNs are about 2"+ a piece and these L260 are still around 1.5" each. i hope they are eating and growing! pics taken at night so that i could catch them out and about on the DW. the fishes' color can appear washed out at night as we all know.

[JamesFish]

Nice pictures this time they didn't get cut off. Is that a hollow brick or some sort of clay pipe in the pictures. I'm looking for something safely stackable in a tank. Currently considering engineering bricks. Only 1 or 2 to give my fry somewhere to play.

[.Plecomania.]

those things are pleco caves i ordered from a website (plecocaves). they are fairly cheap too but if you want to save money you could probably either mold and bake your own out of clay, or hollow out a brick or find hollow ceramic tubes or something similar.

[.Plecomania.]

The story of one pygmy corydoras (Corydoras pygmaeus):
September 8, 2013 (Eggs laid)


September 11, 2013 (Hatch day)


September 25, 2013 (Growing!)


October 12, 2013 (Looks like a cory now!)


I will continue updates on this guy as long as he survives Plans are to raise him to adulthood and then let him loose in the tank.

[.Plecomania.]

more of the cory! He is doing well.
September 8, 2013 (Eggs laid)


September 11, 2013 (Hatch day)


September 25, 2013 (Growing!)


October 12, 2013 (Looks like a cory now!)


October 23, 2012 (Definitely Pygmy cory. as if there was any doubt before lol)

[JamesFish]

Hello,

Your last 2 posts the pictures are not displaying is this same for anyone else?

[.Plecomania.]

they aren't? they are on my screen...
but thank you for notifying me. I'll try to fix it some how.

[.Plecomania.]

tried to fix the cory pictures...do they show now?

[.Plecomania.]

wow i can only post 3 pictures? how lame. anyway here is the continuation of the post above:

[JamesFish]

Hi yes they show now nice little guy.

[.Plecomania.]

I am thinking about releasing him soon at night, but am afraid he will not be big enough to avoid being eaten by the angelfish...
i dont think i can grow him out in the little net much longer. it might stunt him you know?

I think you are the only person who knows my thread exists lol!

[JamesFish]

If you have a small isolation / quarantine tank it can double as a fry holder if not in use. Its something every fish keeper should have as shop stock is not always up to the standard of trusting it (If you don't panic you can get one when convenient).

Cheaper / quicker solutions a floating fry trap with a little sand at the bottom may help him along or a tank divider is pretty cheap keep him separated till he's bigger. Both these options are fast and cheap to implement.

I'm sure other people are reading your thread if you want a little more light without bugging your more sensitive fish the cheap LEDS penetrate but not massively. Try the blue or look for the red ones if you think it would better for your fish and viewing.

Angel fish look great but temperament on them is something open to chance.

[.Plecomania.]

he's in the tank now

[.Plecomania.]

I got some new swords for my tank

I am looking to get some Diamond tetras instead of my neons because they have been slowly dropping off due to neon tetra disease and it seems unavoidable at this point. my one cardinal tetras has outlived all neon tetras in my tank. he is really colorful and strong. But i don't want to get more cardinals because they will all be wild caught. I am steering away from wild caught fish for this tank.

[JamesFish]

Hi Pleco,

Wild fish will generally be stressed by time they come in and enter different water. If you are very lucky you can prepare a tank for them and over the weeks migrate them to standard setup but it would take a long time and prove costly. If you are gong to get them a QT would prove a good idea as even after your fish die of disease it may stick around in your tank forcing you to risk more expense on live plants and unaffected fish being treated.

Attached is a picture of some little guys I picked up Rasbora's (Harlequin) common in the UK and should prove hardy and easy to keep. Sorry poor light on my QT tank and its a semi hexagon so a nightmare to get decent picture off at its size. They do shoal sometimes and seem comfy at all levels in this tank. Give it about 4 weeks and if all goes well will be adding to my main tank.

Link to the wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlequin_rasbora

If your interested in them and how they develop as I'm pretty sure the ones I have are very young at the moment and only arrived in my tank yesterday so doubt they are showing at the best I can drop a picture or 2 back in a few weeks time.

I bought them to add more movement to my main tank as I have things at all 3 levels but movement in middle open space is limited and am hoping they will be happy filling it.

They belong to a different family so if it is a species specific disease you picked up they should be fine in theory. I personally wish I had looked at these before as I think they are much more suited to a community than most the tetra's I tried.

On the bright side your glass is allot cleaner than on my main tank my otto's and Ancistrus are being lazy buggers and only eating wafers.

[.Plecomania.]

Thanks for the tips. I'll see about the harlequin rasbora. if my store has either the diamonds or the harlequins i'll try to get some. but first i'll need to get $$

[JamesFish]

Hi pleco,

I wish you luck on the $$ mark and the fish keeping.

[.Plecomania.]

just some update pictures. first one is an update on the L260. you can find 3 in that picture
second is the cory who is growing.

[.Plecomania.]

I lost my male albino BN pleco today to bloat. treated him in quarantine for a week with no avail. i must have been too late to treat.

cory is still alive and well and is constantly schooling with my neons and cardinal tetra. all other fish are well. i will need to get a male albino plec from somewhere now along with some diamond tetras.

also found a random assassin snail as a hitchhiker in my tank. i hope there are more to help with my snail problem lol.

[.Plecomania.]

pictures

[.Plecomania.]

more pictures