55 Gal. Sa Black(Ish) Water Tank (Pics)

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

So I'm starting this journal a little late, the tank has been running a little while now but it has been slow going so I figured I would share what I've done so far.
 
The original plan was to do a biotope centered around the Lake Valencia Basin in Venezuela, which is the only lake in which wild Diamond Tetra can still be found. When I was doing research though I quickly realised that most of the fish I liked from this area were either very expensive or not available where I am, so I decided to do a South American themed tank instead. I have looked at a lot of gotos of black water tanks online and I find them very apealing, though I love the look of planted tanks as well. So for this tank I decided to go with a black(ish) water theme, using driftwod and leaf litter o a sandy substrate but also adding some low-light pants sparingly.
 
The stocking will eventually look something like this:
2x Festivum (already have)
8-10x Diamond Tetra (have 5)
8-10x Corydoras Sterbai (have 5)
3x Apistos (not sure which specific species yet)
1x small species of pleco
 
Ok so to the pics

This is a pic the wife and I took of a local creek, I know it isn't actually a blackwater system but this is the kind of feel we eventualy want
http/i291.photobucket.com/albums/b556/justintime122388/20130721_151947_zps1f71472d.jpg
Here is a pic of the tank after first setting it up
http/i291.photobucket.com/albums/b556/justintime122388/20130703_191915_zpsa95d9827.jpg
Here is after adding a few bitsof wood and the first 2 fish, at this oint there were the 2 festivums and 3 diamind tetra
http/i291.photobucket.com/albums/b556/justintime122388/20130707_203555_zps455da071.jpg
Here is a pic I took yesterday after adding a few Amazon Swords. Current stock is 2x Festivums, 5x Diamond Tetra and 5x šterbai Cory
http/i291.photobucket.com/albums/b556/justintime122388/20130727_184956_zps91543890.jpg
 
Sorry al of the pics are placed as links, my comuter is down right now and I am doing this on my phone, I figured links to full res photos was better than thumbnails. Thanks for taking a lok and let me know what you think.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Looks very nice!
Love the driftwood!
 
I look forward to seeing the finished result

 

[FishMaster4]

Cool.

 

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

Here are a few pics of today's purchases
3 more Sterbai cories, my festivums decided to photo bomb
http/i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b556/justintime122388/20130729_194954_zpsbedbf2f3.jpg
http/i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b556/justintime122388/20130729_194959_zpsa8a76550.jpg
3 more diamond tetra
http/i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b556/justintime122388/20130729_194732_zps70836274.jpg
And a "clown pleco" if anyone knows the exact species that'd be great
http/i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b556/justintime122388/20130729_194821_zps05e3ee2b.jpg

 

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

So I found a couple bites taken out of my smaller festivum's tail
http/i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b556/justintime122388/20130730_003235_zpsff7ed986.jpg

I thought they were a mated pair, but I've noticed her fins have grown extensions sort of like a male, I'm not sure if she is a he that is just now maturing or I'd our male is just being more aggressive for some other reason. I added 2 more festivums that appear to be female so we will see what happens.

 

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

Well there has been some aggressive displays from the festivum but I think they've pretty much sorted out a pecking order. The first night there was some nipping and locking jaws but bow its just the occasional chase.

One of the smaller tetra jumped, my wife found it on the carpet when she went to feed the fish, so I've bought some glass versatops for the tank to.prevent any more jumpers escaping.

I've also changed what the stocking plan will.be a bit, here it is as of now
4x festivum
7x diamond tetra
8x sterbai cories
1x clown pleco

What I hope to end up with:

4x festivum
12-14x diamond tetra
8x sterbai Cory
1x clown pleco
3x Apistos (maybe hongsloi, trifasciata, or veijita, I'm open to other suggestions, there are so many)

 

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

So, I went on vacation for a week in MT to visit some family, my little sister was house-sitting and watching over the tanks for us, and I came home to a surprise. Our mated pair of festivums spawned! I will try to get a pic but right now there are a ton of little rigglers being ferociously guarded by mom, I would guess at least 100 probably more. I will update when they become free swimming,

 

[crazyaquariums]

Looking good!
 
I've never had a brackish setup before.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

This isn't 'bRackish'  it's 'bLackish', as in "BLACKwater".

 

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

Ty, eagles is correct, it is black water. I say black-ish because typically a true black water tank wouldn't include plants.
I had to rehome 2 of the festivum because once the fry began free swimming the parents became even more aggressive.
here are a few pics

 

[ncguppy830]

nice looking Festivum  you have there.

 

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

Thanks, they're both a lot more colorful now than when we first for them

 

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

Sorry, its been a little while since I've updated this thread. We lost the last batch of fry to our tetras, but today we came home to this!

Its not the best pic, you can only see about 25% of the eggs because of the shadow. Were going to try to save this batch.