New Bolivian Ram Pair

[drobbyb]

Yesterday I met Gvilleguy at the local lfs. He contacted me a good while back about possibly taking them off his hands but my tank wasn't ready. I promised him that I would take some pictures once they were settled in:

Thanks again Gvilleguy!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Looks good.

Could we see a picture of the entire tank?

 

[drobbyb]

Here's the full tank. It's a work in progress

 

[Gvilleguy]

Nice! They did color back up pretty quickly. Wait until you see one of them color up for mating - they get really bright! It is odd to see a picture of fish that you used to own in someone else's tank!

Oh, and yes, I would like to see a full tank shot with the other fish, too, when you get a chance.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I REALLY like the rocks - as you can see in my sig I have a few large rocks in my tank as well. What are you planning to do plant wise in that tank?

 

[drobbyb]

I want to do a carpet, but I'm still not sure on the species yet. I also was planning on adding some java fern between the bigger rocks and some stems for the back. I was going to try and iwagumi this tank, but I think I should save that until I can get some better equipment. Also I think I am going to get a nice piece of wood and attach some moss to it to balance out the empty end of the setup.

 

[waterdrop]

Ahhh, look at them! Feels interesting to me too as I was one of the other possible homes for them! They look like they made a good transition to a good new home at Robby's place! Gosh, feel like I should visit them when I head for Charleston! I like how the vertical black stripe through the eye causes the eye to catch your attention even more.

WD

 

[Gvilleguy]

You should see those vertical stripes when they really darken up...

 

[Gvilleguy]

Robby - what size is that tank? Is that a 20 gallon wide?

 

[drobbyb]

30 gallon long (breeder)

36 long, 12 wide 16 deep

 

[Rynofasho]

They look great! Now fill that tank out I'm really jealous -- my LFS never gets Bolivians and theyre really the only cichlids suitable for my setup. Oh welllllll

 

[drobbyb]

With any luck, I might be able to get them to spawn. If I do, I might be able to ship out a few specimens, but that would be months down the road. I'm going to focus on the plants for now. In the past I've been focused on breeding fish, now it's time to try something new to me. I've been in the hobby for almost 19 years and never seriously ventured into planted tanks. It's about time I got around to it

 

[Rynofasho]

Have fun with the plants! I've only been keeping fish for about 8 months and already I've been swapping between rock and sand, redoing tanks, trying planted tanks, and now just had some fish spawn so learning about fry. It's all a blast! And PS, depending on what kind of plants you are going to keep, don't run out and buy a crazy CO2 setup just yet. I read for hours on this forum and others before making decisions, bought all lowish light plants which are still very attractive, got a 48w T5 and mixed my own ferts and I've already had to cut back my hygros by several inches and throw a ton of pennywort away after just a couple months. My point is that it can be done (fairly) cheaply and it isn't nearly as complicated as many people make it out to be so long as you purchase plants suitable to your setup.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, agree with Rynofasho. I have not had the freedom to explore high-tech tanks with CO2 (just not enough time) yet and so decided to spend some years seeing what I could learn about low-light techniques and various planted skills of that sort. I have learned a lot and feel I've advanced way beyond the lack of success I always felt in the distant past. I even have a flower coming out the top of my tank this spring and for me I'm taking that as a turning point. I'm no where near as good as the planted tank experts I like to try and learn from but I've been getting a lot of pleasure from the learning.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Gvilleguy]

My 26 gallon has a low watts per gallon (I think 0.60 or so), and the only plants I have kept alive and looking mostly good are java fern, water sprite, and moneywort - not much color other than green! What other types haves you guys found success with? (sorry to sidetrack the thread, Robby).