It'll be a while, got lots going on right now... but I started cleaning out the 1st 30 gallon long

[Magnum Man]

I want to have this 1st of 2, 30 longs close to be ready to fill, once I've got the water systems bug free... it still has 30 year old hard scape... mostly limestone slabs, as-it formerly had rift lake cichlids...once I empty those out the gravel and dust will all be shop vac'd out ... originally slated as a breeding tank, I think, if the wild gold accara that didn't get along with my other cichlids, is still alive, it'll go in there ( it's eating well, but had to go in a 10 gallon ) I no longer have the 3 earth eaters, that were sent to me by accident, one eaten by the bichir, and 2 didn't last long in the 10 gallon tanks... those have all become shrimp tanks... last 10 has the gold in it... a small chunk of limestone went into each shrimp tank... I wasn't able to get a full sized "blue" shrimp starter culture ( just 3 ) and I hadn't seen any in the tank yet, but a large one, swam out of the pothos roots ( yes' they are rooted in all the 10's as well ), when o added the limestone chunk...

 

[MaloK]

Shrimps... Slowly taking on the universe.

 

[Back in the fold]

Shrimps... Slowly taking on the universe.

Does anybody keep fish anymore ?

 

[Magnum Man]

substrate is not here yet, but 60 gallon rated sponge filter, lights, and heater are in and running... my resin cave, that will hold a half dozen pothos stems to start, is floating, so I'll either have to weight it, or put enough substrate on top of it, to hold it down... this is a piece of spider wood, with 2 anubias nana attached with clear zip ties... substrate shows up next week ( Tuesday ) so a pretty good chance the yellow acara will be moved in next week... note the flower on one, the other looks to have a bud...

future tenant...

 

[Magnum Man]

I just chopped up a bunch of Pothos vines that were over growing another tank, so I ended up with many 2-3 foot sections of vines...

I'm trying something a little different in this tank... I normally root out of hang on pots... in this tank, I added a resin cave, along the back I drilled several 3/8 inch holes ( they are not even noticeable ) but I can insert son vine stems in the holes to root on the bottom... I stripped the leaves, that would have been below the water line... leaving about 2 feet of vine outside of the tank, growing into my service area...

my substrate is scheduled to deliver next Tuesday... at that point, I expect I can add the Cichlid pictured above... I'll be doing an "uncycled" start up... a previously used sponge filter, and 50% water changes twice a week, like the rest of the tanks get...

it doesn't look like much yet, but roots coming soon, around the cave...

 

[Magnum Man]

I transferred the yellow acara today, from the 10 gallon holding tank... he was sure pretty, in that highly planted 10 gallon, but he'll fit much better in this 30 long he's hiding right now, I'll try to get a picture of mine, pretty, but not centerfold pretty like the example picture above... currently just have a few pothos vines, and those flowering nanas... he's familiar with sponge filters , so he's hiding behind that, and hasn't explored the cave yet..

 

[Magnum Man]

as it sits right now... I guess since it has a fish in it now, I should clean the glass the water level is down, but I have some fine black river gravel to spoon in yet, amongst the larger rock...

 

[Magnum Man]

he did get a lot darker, at least temporarily, with less green plants, and the black rock on the bottom

 

[Magnum Man]

exploring the cave

 

[Magnum Man]

starting to get some of his yellow / gold color

ok, no more pictures till I clean the glass, and let him get more acclimated