I'm getting ambitious in my old age here. Last week, I made two 24 gallon (ish) tanks, using the IKEA shelf glass trick that @MattW introduced me to. I put them on a high rack at eye level, which means the tops are at six feet/almost 2 metres from the ground. I have a small sturdy step ladder for working in them from above. I put in a layer of pool filter sand, then placed large rocks at one end of each, following the aquascaping rule of thirds. In one tank, there is a gravel "pot" made of chemically inert shale, with a Bolbitis heudelotti aquatic fern in it, about 5 cm above the rest of the tank substrate. In the other, the wall of volcanic amalgam rock hides an air driven box filter.
A couple of years ago, I laughed at a TV ad while my daughters were there, so they bought me the product as a joke. It's a 'super' 2 sided tape about which outrageous claims are made on tv. It isn't very good. But I used it attached to the outside glass on the sides to run a 4cm wide piece of plastic screen across the length of the tanks on top. All along the backs I have placed roots in peace lilies I had grown for such a project, and bedraggled Boston ferns, which have done extraordinarily well in past tanks. The screen, with an intentionally rough edge, holds the plants so the foliage is dry but the roots are in the water.
The tanks aren't heated. The room is good for the fish I keep. I put flat glass panes as a top, and the lighting is from a plant grow light suspended above. There is also ambient light in the room from 2 windows, likely not enough for algae trouble. I scattered Anubias species around in both tanks. All plants used are unrooted epiphytes. I doubt the lighting would support stem species.
I have tried some aquascaping tricks, but these are first and foremost long term fish breeding set ups. I think they look good, but with function in mind, I've added 2 spawning mops to each, and they uglify a tank very effectively.
I'll take pictures once the new sand haze of the tanks clears. They are still a touch cloudy.
Tank one gets a mixed group group of wild caught and F-1 Epiplatys huberi. They are due to be bred again, for the second round since I caught them in 2023. They gave me the 'large number of roots in the tank' idea as that was what their habitat was like, with the stiff, woody roots of bushes descending into the water, and the fish hanging in the relative calm area in a highly oxygenated, quick moving stream.
Tank two has a group of Aphyosemion escherichi, also from the 2023 trip. They came from a puddle at the base of a waterfall, in flowing leaf litter conditions. I think they had survived the fall from an unseen stream above the waterfall, and looking up at the bushes along the edge, it appeared like the stream previously described. This is a slightly larger and more aggressive killie than I usually keep, but I hope the roots, rocks and wood give young males places to hide. I had despaired of being able to keep this irreplaceable fish as all the young were females, but just before my last wild male died I found 4 fry, 2 of which became males. The group has now begun breeding.
The mops will stay until (or if...) I have collected enough eggs to safely move forward, and will go in if anyone wants eggs mailed. They never look good, but they're temporary. The escherichi periodically fight as adults but seem to let fry grow up with them, while the huberi eat everything, including their own young. If I wanted to be authentic, I'd cultivate small spiders in the plants overhanging, as in the wild the bushes had enormous numbers. But noooo.
So, pictures will follow, but I'm amusing myself with these projects.
A couple of years ago, I laughed at a TV ad while my daughters were there, so they bought me the product as a joke. It's a 'super' 2 sided tape about which outrageous claims are made on tv. It isn't very good. But I used it attached to the outside glass on the sides to run a 4cm wide piece of plastic screen across the length of the tanks on top. All along the backs I have placed roots in peace lilies I had grown for such a project, and bedraggled Boston ferns, which have done extraordinarily well in past tanks. The screen, with an intentionally rough edge, holds the plants so the foliage is dry but the roots are in the water.
The tanks aren't heated. The room is good for the fish I keep. I put flat glass panes as a top, and the lighting is from a plant grow light suspended above. There is also ambient light in the room from 2 windows, likely not enough for algae trouble. I scattered Anubias species around in both tanks. All plants used are unrooted epiphytes. I doubt the lighting would support stem species.
I have tried some aquascaping tricks, but these are first and foremost long term fish breeding set ups. I think they look good, but with function in mind, I've added 2 spawning mops to each, and they uglify a tank very effectively.
I'll take pictures once the new sand haze of the tanks clears. They are still a touch cloudy.
Tank one gets a mixed group group of wild caught and F-1 Epiplatys huberi. They are due to be bred again, for the second round since I caught them in 2023. They gave me the 'large number of roots in the tank' idea as that was what their habitat was like, with the stiff, woody roots of bushes descending into the water, and the fish hanging in the relative calm area in a highly oxygenated, quick moving stream.
Tank two has a group of Aphyosemion escherichi, also from the 2023 trip. They came from a puddle at the base of a waterfall, in flowing leaf litter conditions. I think they had survived the fall from an unseen stream above the waterfall, and looking up at the bushes along the edge, it appeared like the stream previously described. This is a slightly larger and more aggressive killie than I usually keep, but I hope the roots, rocks and wood give young males places to hide. I had despaired of being able to keep this irreplaceable fish as all the young were females, but just before my last wild male died I found 4 fry, 2 of which became males. The group has now begun breeding.
The mops will stay until (or if...) I have collected enough eggs to safely move forward, and will go in if anyone wants eggs mailed. They never look good, but they're temporary. The escherichi periodically fight as adults but seem to let fry grow up with them, while the huberi eat everything, including their own young. If I wanted to be authentic, I'd cultivate small spiders in the plants overhanging, as in the wild the bushes had enormous numbers. But noooo.
So, pictures will follow, but I'm amusing myself with these projects.
. I find this very interesting indeed and will look forward to the pictures and the results . Certainly not your standard Killifish spawning set up and I am curious as to how it will work .
