Tank pictures: temporary set up

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 13 Sep 2006, 21:12

As I have at last found out how to add pictures to my posts (thanks Deb

), I am now able to share some tank pictures.
These two were made of my temporary set up. It's a tank of 120 litres, 100x40x30 cms, which is filtered by the Eheim Ecco (see thread in Speak easy).
The tank has been running since September 5; the fishes were added last Saturday. They came from an 80x40x40 cms tank (128 litres), which had to be emptied because we are redecorating our first floor. There are lots of wood, because the tank is mainly inhabited by small Auchenipteridae. Non-Auchenipterids are 4 Dianema urostriatum and 9 Devario shanensis + juveniles.

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 13 Sep 2006, 21:35

Didn't quite finish my course; I've added the thumbnails in the above post. This should be better. The lower picture was made in the dark without flash, hence the elongated Tatias

Kostas · Post by **Kostas** » 14 Sep 2006, 09:07

I really like your tank,its very beautifull

Are your Auchenipterids active during the day in this setup?

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 14 Sep 2006, 15:31

Kostas wrote:Are your Auchenipterids active during the day in this setup?

Hi Kostas, thanks for the compliment. Normally the inlet of the filter is far less visible, but as it is a temporary set up I didn't mind.
With regard to your quote: No, they're still pretty nocturnal, except when being fed.

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 16 Sep 2006, 18:49

Beautiful set-ups, Marc!

Amanda

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 16 Sep 2006, 22:20

Thanks Amanda.
There's one more story to it. As the original tank is wider than this one (see initial post) I couldn't use the wood right in the middle of the picture - at first.
One by one all the Auchenipterids dropped out of it, except for two: my .
Even after 15 minutes they were not willing to leave their wooden cave and I couldn't possibly get them out. So I could do just one thing: make the wood to fit the tank. The sown-off part can't be seen in the picture. The part I was able to break off is; hence the lighter coloured spot right in the middle.
Btw: the fish were never in danger during the whole process!

grokefish · Post by **grokefish** » 17 Sep 2006, 08:32

Those tanks look really nice. I have set up temporary tanks before with the intention of just chucking stuff in there and they end up looking so fab that they have become permanent! Maybe thats why I have so many...

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 17 Sep 2006, 09:21

grokefish wrote:I have set up temporary tanks before with the intention of just chucking stuff in there and they end up looking so fab that they have become permanent!

That's the whole idea. Especially when the water is still a bit cloudy you hardly know what you're doing and then suddenly it appears to be rather nice. My problem is, however, that it is very hard to reconstruct a set up once it is broken down.
I mean, you also have Auchenipterids. In case some fishes have to be caught, you know how it ends up, don't you

ZebraFanatic · Post by **ZebraFanatic** » 17 Sep 2006, 09:29

Great looking set up Marc van Arc, well done!

Nick

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 28 Oct 2006, 13:15

I'm in the middle of tearing down this tank and of course all Tatias are squeezed into pieces of wood that shouldn't go to their old home... But due to their unwillingness to let go that tank will have an abundance of wood

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 06 Nov 2006, 21:22

This is what it looks like now (permanent set up):

Still lots of wood, but covered with plants.
Here live the C. sterbai, A. coracoideus, T. exilis, K. minor and ditherfish Danio rerio.
This could also become the home of Amblyceps mangois; they have been ordered, but have yet to arrive.

The other tank looks like this:

Crammed with wood, some plants. This tank is home to T. perugiae, T. intermedia, T. sp guyana, D. urostriatum and dithers Devario shanensis.
This tank is btw the larger of the two; it contains 8 litres more

Kostas · Post by **Kostas** » 07 Nov 2006, 08:14

Very beautifull tanks.I love them

I wish i could have an Echinodorus as big as yours...I like them very much...but the problem is my plecos love them too

What do you have as a background in the second tank?It looks nice.

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 07 Nov 2006, 18:10

Hi Kostas,
I couldn't find my Greek dictionary, so you should read the following aloud and thus be able to figure out what I mean: efcharisto poli

.
My Echinodorus were also eaten by L18's, so I replaced them by Farlowellas (large tank) and Otocinclus (not mentioned, but 2 small groups of 5 in both tanks pictured above).
Now that the plants are unbothered they grow like lettuce.
The background of the tank in the lower picture is made of polystyrene, like all the others, but is more arched and nicely coloured (and therefore more expensive...).
The simple background overhere start with 20 euros for 2 plates that cover 100x50 cms (upper picture). Top of the bill are the Back to Nature backgrounds that start from 49,95 and onwards.

Kostas · Post by **Kostas** » 08 Nov 2006, 09:44

Hi Marc,
I figured out what you mean

and i would to say you the same for the info you gave me on the backgrounds.
The problem with plastic backgrounds is that wood-eating plecos chew on them and scrape off the colour and then all their beauty is lost...But i guess there is no such problem with auchenipterids,right?

My Echinodorus were also eaten by L18's

So,i think you know exactly how annoying it is to have your Echinodorus damaged.What can be more annoying is to have an Echinodorus in a tank with plecos for months without any of them damaging it and then after many months or even a year that the Echinodorus has grown huge and beatifull and you think is ready to flower the plecos start eating it.This has been my experience with an Echinodorus bleheri that my L190 decided to ruin after almost a year(10 and a half months,yes i was counting them as i was impressed by the fact it wasnt eaten)by eating its roots(not exactly the roots but the place from were roots were coming from).My experience with other Echinodorus has been about the same although they were eaten after only some weeks of introduction and so i was less annoyed.
The only good experience i have with Echinodorus is with 4 Echinodorus osiris growing floating in one of my tanks.They are growing like that for 1,5year now and although they never throw huge leaves,they have quite a few 10-15cm leaves on them.When i first got them i planted one of them and left the others floating until i find somewhere to plant them.After some days the planted one had holes on its leaves from the plecos while the ones that were floating were intact.So i let it float too.
Anyway,i hope yours flower soon

P.s.Have you ever been in Greece?

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 08 Nov 2006, 13:26

Kostas wrote: The problem with plastic backgrounds is that wood-eating pl*cos chew on them and scrape off the colour and then all their beauty is lost...

The background you asked about doesn't have that problem as it's coloured throughout; nevertheless I don't add L-numbers for I personally don't fancy them very much.
I'm not much of a plant lover either(*), but they look well, help to clean the water and provide extra shelter for my fishes. The one on the picture came from my large tank and was swapped with an even larger specimen that came from my 70x30x30 (!) tank (which is now no longer running btw).

Caused by the fact that the typical Dutch aquarium is known for its abundance of plants and very few fishes. I didn't want that; I wanted many catfishes and lots of wood

Kostas wrote: P.s.Have you ever been in Greece?

Yes, 4 times so far. It's my favourite holiday destination together with France.
I'm particularly fond of the islands, especially Corfu and Cephalonia.

Kostas · Post by **Kostas** » 09 Nov 2006, 08:49

Yep,many catfishes and lots of wood is always a good combination and makes for a beautifull and interesting tank

I too dont like planted tanks in the amount Amano or Dutch style tanks are planted as they offer little room for catfishes bigger than 5-7cm except if they are very slender like farlowella.But i like to have plants in my tanks,especially broad leaved ones as they offer shade to the catfish and beauty and ,as you said,keep nitrates low if you have enough.The last is the reason i keep floating plants in my tanks that have mostly wood and very few underwater plants.

Marc van Arc wrote:Yes, 4 times so far. It's my favourite holiday destination together with France.
I'm particularly fond of the islands, especially Corfu and Cephalonia.

I'm happy to hear that

I too go to Cephalonia for holidays sometimes so if you come again we may meet

Unfortunately i have never been to Netherlands although i would like to.