Golden Wonder Set Up

[Biulu]

Since I have been told that a friend will come and pick up his 80 litre tank, I got ready to house my 4 panchax differently. I have now 1 male and 3 females, of which one is a bit smaller than the rest.

I know it is esthetically nice but not very functional for them, here is a picture of the tank:

As you can see, the tanks is completely covered with a glass lid, divided in 2 for feeding purposes.

I plan to add some floating cabomba and spawning mops. The spawning mops will then be moved to a bare tank (only a moss ball for infusoria) after a week.

Any comments and suggestions welcome.

 

[BigC]

Looks fine to me, although, by your own admission, a little sparse. Keep an eye on your water values as I don't know how the substrate will affect those but otherwise its fine. probably the only worry I would have is how powerful is the internal filter (you don't need a heavy flow-rate)
Regards
C

 

[Biulu]

The substrate is plain sand so it shouldn't affect the water values. I am also a bit worried about the spraybar... What I will do is to put the cabomba in front of it, so it blocks the flow somewhat. Otherwise I am pretty chuffed about this little filter. It is very powerful and has both sponge and biological filtration inside.

I will be setting up a similar tank but with a sponge filter and a mossball, further bare for the fry. Everybody is selling 'java moss' in Mexico these days, but it is not. It is plain 'forest' moss, so the moss ball is the best option I have for infusoria. I have also seen riccia and think I want to get some of those and put it on slate.

 

[BigC]

If you are growing aquarium plants you dont want the spray bar splashing across the water surface, likewise if your keeping surface loving fish species they dont want to be fighting a current all of the time. when I was growing plants the spray bar was submerged along the back of the tank.
Java moss is a fantastic medium for fish breeding in general not just killies and I would always advocate using this. As for Riccia I now have grown to hate the stuff in much the same way as duckweed. It makes catching fish a chore, with nets full of the stuff. LOL
I like to use Salvinia as a surface plant.
Best of luck with you new venture, you should have no problems with Aplo. linneatus, big eggs and big fry make feeding easy.
Regards
C

 

[Biulu]

The spray bar is submerged, but I am noticing that the golden wonders don't like the current. They stay in the middle section of the water. I have the option to remove the spraybar but wonder whether it will make any difference in current. My idea was that the cabomba could grow large and cover the surface as well as blocking the current somewhat. I will have to see though whether that works.

I wanted to introduce some spawning mops and move these then to an empty aquarium for grow out. I know what you mean about the riccia, but there isn't anything else around. I have seen somebody selling fissidens moss, but that is up in the north of the country. I will have to wait until it reaches Mexico city...

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

My trio are current junkies!

They "current surf" most of the day (I think) in the 540l, usually in front of the FX5's out-pipe, which is above the water line (as is the Eheim 2078).

Probably one of the fish I miss the most not having behind me when on the PC (in the Rio240), they were quite interactive and monitored my every move very closely (and trustingly) during tank maintenance...

 

[Biulu]

Well, mine didn't like it so much, but I found a solution. I turned the openings of the spraybar towards the back and that really helps a lot. They can now be found in the upper parts of the tank again.

In the evenings I am hunting for ants. There are some large red ants coming into my kitchen and they are easy to catch and kill. My killies love it! Unfortunately I have not been able to find out where their nest is. Otherwise it would be a lot easier...

 

[Biulu]

I wanted to show you the lid of this tank. As you all know, killies are jumpers and need tight fitting lids. So when I ordered these tanks, I asked for a glass lid to be made for it as well. In order to have space for the cables, I asked them to chop off a small triangle and split the lid in 2. In this picture you can see the triangle hole with the cables. The remaining will be filled with good old filterwool.

The second half of the lid can be opened for maintenance, food etc. I got the marble idea from a betta breeder (whose tanks were much smaller by the way) and I think it is a great solution to have some grip on the glass lid. They were easily stuck on with silicone.

And last, a full tank shot with the new cabomba and the cories. I know it still needs to grow out but I will be working on spawning mops this week. When the fish have spawned, the spawning mops will then be transferred to an identical tank but completely bare apart from a mossball.

As you can see, I have 3 fish which have the same size (1 male, 2 female) and a 4th which is somewhat smaller. I always thought it was a female, but have started doubting now. Maybe it is just a suppressed male...

 

[BigC]

Nice fish B and nice touch using Corydoras.
Best of luck
ATB
C

 

[Biulu]

Thanks Colin! I am interested in knowing what you think about the tanks. I have 6 tanks like this as I will be getting a trio of gardneris next week. Do you think it is a suitable set-up for breeding killies?

I won't be planting all of these as fancy as this one though. The other ones won't have any substrate, but will be fitted with filters, heating, cabomba and peat in stockings.

 

[BigC]

If I may say something about the substrate. You will find that using light coloured gravels and sand will wash out the colours of these vibrant fishes. You will notice this when you get the gardneri. I would suggest that you use a darker gravel/planting medium rather than sand.
dim the lighting and use surface plants. This would mean of-course that you would have to choose shade loving plants rather than Cabomba and the likes.
Otherwise everything looks fine to me.
Keep us posted how you get on.
Regards
C

 

[Biulu]

For the other killifish I will not be using substrate. It will be a bare tank, with just a mossball or riccia on slate for infusoria and a stocking with peat in it. Plus the obligatory sponge filter and heater.

One of the females is getting eggy, so I have to start working on spawning mops. It is time to open a bottle of wine to get corks...

 

[moochy13]

what is the plant behind the rock ? looks great.

 

[Biulu]

what is the plant behind the rock ? looks great.

Thank you! The plant behind the rock is hydrocotyle. It is very easy to get. Not too easy to grow though, as it needs light, but in a shallow tank like this one, I think I will be fine with it.

 

[spike123]

in my experiance if any of the fish do not like the spry bar.my golden panchax hate the current,just seem to spend all day trying to stay where they want to by fighting the current then you just have to aim the spray bar at the right angle i tent to aim it at the back of the tank but aiming up out of the water so it creates loads of bubbles.hope this helps slightly but big c is the best person for this sort of advice on this forum lol.
regards
spike