400L catfishtank

franc · Post by **franc** » 05 Mar 2007, 12:10

This is my catfish tank.

Megalechis thoracata (Kwi kwi) 1 male.,2fem..
Panaque maccus (Clown pleco) 4.
Gold Nugget Pleco, L081 (1)
Pseudolithoxus anthrax (1) L235.
Corydoras arcuatus (10).
Corydoras sterbai (15).

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 05 Mar 2007, 13:15

Really nice tank Franc.

I like it.

I'm a big fan of Pistia too, but I found that the nice big plants die off and are replaced by smaller and smaller plants over time.

These don't look as good unfortunately as they lack the long trailing roots.

M@RS · Post by **M@RS** » 06 Mar 2007, 07:03

Very nice!

I love what your tank looks like.

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 11 Mar 2007, 21:32

Salvinia species are a good plant to use in lieu of Pistia. With good lightng like yours it will thrive and it is easily harvested to make sure it doesn't cause too much shade. It also has the nice feathery roots albeit smaller and shorter.
It is a heck of a lot better than that accursed duckweeed. I am currently at war with duckweed that has gotten a foothold in some of my tanks.
It just takes one and the next thing you know it covers the surface water in the aquarium.

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 11 Mar 2007, 22:15

apistomaster wrote: I am currently at war with duckweed that has gotten a foothold in some of my tanks.
It just takes one and the next thing you know it covers the surface water in the aquarium.

True, it can be very annoying. However, it's a brilliant nitrate digester and in my tanks they are a necessity. I prefer the duckweed to Cyanobacteria

Btw: nice tank Franc!

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 11 Mar 2007, 22:48

I agree with that Marc.
I have actually harvested as much as one pound of Savinia from just a ten gallon tank so they are both good exporters of nitrates. Salvinia is just easier for me to control is why I prefer it.
I grow it in my cherry shrimp tanks and they spend a lot of time picking throught the roots. I can remove it by hand but I have to use a net with duckweed and invariably I lose some shrimp in the duckweed harvest.

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 12 Mar 2007, 07:54

The whole story is that I have tried Salvinia and Pistia several times, but I'm not able to keep them.
Within a couple of weeks they'd become weak and start to develop a "loose-leaf" off-white coloured and rootless variety.
I was eventually told it had to do with the space between the watersurface and the glass tank covers, which is very little in my case, thus causing the leaves to be pushed against the covers.
There's no doubt however that I would prefer them to duckweed.