Looking great. My CPDs regularly breed, yet the fry are tiny. As I take water from their tank to my fry tank, the other day I could have sworn I saw something move and disappear in the fry tank, housing Hasborus Cory fry and one CPD (the others now back with the parents). Indeed a few days later another free swimming CPD fry, so it must have by chance got sucked up with the water from the parents tank. With all your plants, hopefully some of your fry will survive, however, I find the biggest risk to the fry are the snails eating the eggs!
Daize's 120L Soil Tank
- Thread starter daizeUK
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Daize thank you very much for your response!
I really like that platy, I am seriously considering buying a small school, as my tank is currently understocked.
I'm a bit sceptical though: my PH is normally 6.5 ~ 6.8 which seems to be lower what platy normally like.
Regarding the shrimp, having lost around 20 of them in my previous tank, I can only advise on what I know to be lethal to them:
1) they require small water changes (20%~30% not more). If you're EI dosing, this will be a problem.
2) they don't like low KH/GH, they can't molt and seem to die slowly from not being able to do so. I added calcium blocks and they went nuts eating them.
3) they can't tolerate PH swings and Ammonia spikes, they seem to be very sensitive. Temperature swings on the other hand weren't a big issue.
Hope you enjoy your red cherry shrimp, they are the hardiest ones AFAIK.
I really like that platy, I am seriously considering buying a small school, as my tank is currently understocked.
I'm a bit sceptical though: my PH is normally 6.5 ~ 6.8 which seems to be lower what platy normally like.
Regarding the shrimp, having lost around 20 of them in my previous tank, I can only advise on what I know to be lethal to them:
1) they require small water changes (20%~30% not more). If you're EI dosing, this will be a problem.
2) they don't like low KH/GH, they can't molt and seem to die slowly from not being able to do so. I added calcium blocks and they went nuts eating them.
3) they can't tolerate PH swings and Ammonia spikes, they seem to be very sensitive. Temperature swings on the other hand weren't a big issue.
Hope you enjoy your red cherry shrimp, they are the hardiest ones AFAIK.
Ch4rlie said:Very nice, shame about the fire reds
Also, very unsual endlers, have not seen these in LFS before tbh.
Tank is still looking gorgeous and the threadfins are looking good
Thanks Charlie, I've been keeping an eye open for some unusual endlers for a while and grabbed these when I saw them for £5 each. They're especially impressive when they colour up for a dominance display, which they can do at different times of the day. So non-dominant males will normally be paler with two prominent black spots but when they are dominant the entire back half of the body colours up into solid black, as in the picture above.
RCA said:
Yes, I think my chances of eggs surviving are nil with a tank full of snails and shrimp! Also the hard water does not seem to be good for breeding. I've witnessed threadfins and CPD's mating and laying eggs in clumps of moss or monte carlo but there have never been any babies in this tank, even before I let the snails run riot.
alexge said:
I am fond of platies, they are lovely characters and a joy to watch. My other tank is a 64L with a shoal of 7 female platies (they don't school). They will explore the whole tank independently, interacting with decor and happily swimming through the foliage. They are also bold and friendly, swimming up to my arm during tank maintenance and trying to nibble my freckles
Thanks for the tips on shrimp. I don't EI dose since it's a soil tank but I still tend to do weekly 40% to 50% water changes which is probably overkill.
Six month update.
The new cherry shrimp are doing much better than the previous lot, all the adults have grown huge (or at least bigger than I expected cherry shrimp to be!) and there are at least three shrimplets courtesy of the female who was carrying eggs when she arrived. I've not seen any berried females in the tank since then so perhaps my conditions just aren't conducive to shrimp breeding.
I've got two pics, before and after maintenance. This first one was taken a day before maintenance when the tank hadn't been cleaned or touched for two weeks. It looks rather unruly but there's no algae and the water is still clear.
The next pic was a couple of days later, after a water change. I didn't really do much maintenance except throw out half of the salvinia and remove the big C. wendtii that was dominating the centre of the tank.
The new cherry shrimp are doing much better than the previous lot, all the adults have grown huge (or at least bigger than I expected cherry shrimp to be!) and there are at least three shrimplets courtesy of the female who was carrying eggs when she arrived. I've not seen any berried females in the tank since then so perhaps my conditions just aren't conducive to shrimp breeding.
I've got two pics, before and after maintenance. This first one was taken a day before maintenance when the tank hadn't been cleaned or touched for two weeks. It looks rather unruly but there's no algae and the water is still clear.
The next pic was a couple of days later, after a water change. I didn't really do much maintenance except throw out half of the salvinia and remove the big C. wendtii that was dominating the centre of the tank.
RCA said:
Thanks RCA! I've replanted the crypt at the back of the tank to replace the red lotus which I think is finished. The lotus was overshadowed by the salvinia which tends to collect in that corner of the tank and also I think the lotus is a bit more sensitive to lack of ferts than the other plants, perhaps because it never seemed to form a good root system to get its nutrients from the soil.
Actually that crypt might not survive anyway, I did a bad job of cutting through the roots and hardly managed to save any roots on the plant so it will inevitably meltdown and I'll be lucky if it recovers.
Well… this is what a six year old planted tank looks like!
Not quite what I started with but I guess six years is rather a long time, especially when this tank has had very little done to it since first setup.
The echinodorus rose rapidly took over the tank and I don’t even mind. It constantly produces fresh pink leaves that soak nutrients and add interest and colour to the tank.
The other plants all ran their course one by one, resulting in a survival of the fittest (or best suited to my water conditions) which the hygrophila corymbosa won, you can see it is still growing strongly at the back there. My cryptocorynes lasted for years but I seem to have lost them all now.
The anubias was transferred in from my 64L tank after it got shut down when the filter failed, and it has likewise taken over and honestly needs a good pruning. I’ve planted no other new plants since the tank was first set up in 2015.
Current stocking is cherry barbs, X-ray tetras and Amano shrimp. I recently restocked for the first time in years and the tank is a mix of lively fresh young fish and some old-timers, including the 5.5 year old alpha male from my original cherry barb shoal.
I also have a pack of six X-ray tetras, four years old now, such beautiful fish but terribly shy, having spent most of those years hiding in the plants at the back of the tank. They are hardy creatures and seem to work well with my hard water conditions and I desperately wanted to see more of them, so yesterday I added another six for a total of twelve X-rays. I think it’s worked; the whole group seems happy and more confident now. It’s a joy to see them out and taking excursions around the tank in small schooling groups.
Equipment is still much the same, Eheim filter with inline heater, both still going strong. Lighting is currently two T8 tubes (Grolux at the front, daylight at the back - Grolux is so good for helping red colours pop out) with a single front reflector, on for 11 hours a day but I’m experimenting to see if I can increase that to 12 hours, since there’s not enough algae in the tank to keep all the shrimp and snails happy.
Speaking of snails; yes there’s tons and I love them! They’re amazing at keeping the tank clean and make maintenance a doddle. Wouldn’t have a planted tank without them.
Anyway, that’s it for a long overdue update. See you again in another six years?!
daize xx
Not quite what I started with but I guess six years is rather a long time, especially when this tank has had very little done to it since first setup.
The echinodorus rose rapidly took over the tank and I don’t even mind. It constantly produces fresh pink leaves that soak nutrients and add interest and colour to the tank.
The other plants all ran their course one by one, resulting in a survival of the fittest (or best suited to my water conditions) which the hygrophila corymbosa won, you can see it is still growing strongly at the back there. My cryptocorynes lasted for years but I seem to have lost them all now.
The anubias was transferred in from my 64L tank after it got shut down when the filter failed, and it has likewise taken over and honestly needs a good pruning. I’ve planted no other new plants since the tank was first set up in 2015.
Current stocking is cherry barbs, X-ray tetras and Amano shrimp. I recently restocked for the first time in years and the tank is a mix of lively fresh young fish and some old-timers, including the 5.5 year old alpha male from my original cherry barb shoal.
I also have a pack of six X-ray tetras, four years old now, such beautiful fish but terribly shy, having spent most of those years hiding in the plants at the back of the tank. They are hardy creatures and seem to work well with my hard water conditions and I desperately wanted to see more of them, so yesterday I added another six for a total of twelve X-rays. I think it’s worked; the whole group seems happy and more confident now. It’s a joy to see them out and taking excursions around the tank in small schooling groups.
Equipment is still much the same, Eheim filter with inline heater, both still going strong. Lighting is currently two T8 tubes (Grolux at the front, daylight at the back - Grolux is so good for helping red colours pop out) with a single front reflector, on for 11 hours a day but I’m experimenting to see if I can increase that to 12 hours, since there’s not enough algae in the tank to keep all the shrimp and snails happy.
Speaking of snails; yes there’s tons and I love them! They’re amazing at keeping the tank clean and make maintenance a doddle. Wouldn’t have a planted tank without them.
Anyway, that’s it for a long overdue update. See you again in another six years?!
daize xx
Anonymous Fox
Fish Addict
thats so cool!
Wow this is great 
this is why I love journals because you can see what you did to get to where you are Hope we get some more regular updates now
Wills
this is why I love journals because you can see what you did to get to where you are Hope we get some more regular updates now Wills
Cherry shrimp would’ve looked so good in their! A giant colony of them is so cool!
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