Now for plants. Blue stricta, sickly thing, purple dragon, mystery purple thing (with elodea behind the purple dragon).
And a close-up of the other mysterious purple plant (with rainbow photobombing). And the other purple dragon in the bacground.
Starting A 200L Tropical Tank
- Thread starter Gruntle
- Start date
Now for plants. Blue stricta, sickly thing, purple dragon, mystery purple thing (with elodea behind the purple dragon).
And a close-up of the other mysterious purple plant (with rainbow photobombing). And the other purple dragon in the bacground.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I would remove the waffle plant sooner than later, it is not a true aquatic and will end up rotting and fouling your water. The other plant with purple under its leaves I am not 100% sure is a true aquatic either, but I need a closer picture to be certain.
Pet shops are renound for selling nonaquatic plants for fish tanks I would strongly suggest that you try Aquagreen an Australian site which will not lead you a stray with aquatic plants. Even Livefish sells the odd dodgy nonaquatic plant as a tank plant.
Otherwise the tank is looking great and the fish lovely. I have a soft spot for our natives.
Pet shops are renound for selling nonaquatic plants for fish tanks I would strongly suggest that you try Aquagreen an Australian site which will not lead you a stray with aquatic plants. Even Livefish sells the odd dodgy nonaquatic plant as a tank plant.
Otherwise the tank is looking great and the fish lovely. I have a soft spot for our natives.
Blondielovesfish
Kia Ora
Looks great!!!
Point taken. Have you got any thoughts on what they sell locally as an "aluminium plant" that I have in my older tank?Baccus said:
Nice broad leaves, might provide some shelter for the Tetras.
In sadder news, lost another Rainbow over Christmas. Actually, make that two, one of the old ones and a new one. Slight panic stations, but everyone else appears well.
Afraid your aluminium plant looks like houseplant am sorry to say, not a aquatic plant. Will eventually rot and die in your tank, some people will keep the plant in the tank until the leaves starts to rot then take them out, others will take the plant out quickly.
Aluminium plant - Pilea cadierei is a fast growing perennial plant apparently.
http
/www.guide-to-houseplants.com/aluminum-plant.html
Aluminium plant - Pilea cadierei is a fast growing perennial plant apparently.
http
/www.guide-to-houseplants.com/aluminum-plant.htmlGood call on the waffle plants, Baccus. I just did a water change and decided to remove the waffles, nothing but sludge where I expected roots. I think I got them just before they spread themselves all over the tank.
Meanwhile, I think I was a bit impatient and am now in a fish-in cycle, nitrites are coming up to 0.25ppm about every 6 hours, so the lawn is getting a bit of water as I run through the water changes.
Meanwhile, I think I was a bit impatient and am now in a fish-in cycle, nitrites are coming up to 0.25ppm about every 6 hours, so the lawn is getting a bit of water as I run through the water changes.
Pretty sure thatis not an aquatic plantGruntle said:
Point taken. Have you got any thoughts on what they sell locally as an "aluminium plant" that I have in my older tank?
image.jpg
Nice broad leaves, might provide some shelter for the Tetras.
In sadder news, lost another Rainbow over Christmas. Actually, make that two, one of the old ones and a new one. Slight panic stations, but everyone else appears well.
Blondielovesfish
Kia Ora
Generally, plants with white or shiny leaves are not suitable.
The elodea will eventually grow like crazy which can be a good thing, I often remove the base of the clump and replant the new growth tips, that at least keeps it manageable in my tanks. The stricta and Hygrophila in the tank should also be fine, and will help a lot with nutrient mop up with arial roots.
As already said the Aluminium plant is not a true aquatic, it will grow for a short time submerged and if you wanted you can keep some in an on going rotation where they spend a couple of weeks in the tank and get swapped out with another bunch that has been out of water. Personally I find that gets tedious, and much easier to just stick with true aquatics.
If you want to add some low light plants that don't need to be planted I would look at Anubis, these get tied to structure such as wood, ornaments or rocks and are a nice hardy plant.
Java fern is another plant which gets tied to structure but it can over crowd a tank, and will need more pruning maintenance than Anubis.
Your increase in nitrites could have been caused from disturbing the rotting stems from the waffle plants that you removed.
As already said the Aluminium plant is not a true aquatic, it will grow for a short time submerged and if you wanted you can keep some in an on going rotation where they spend a couple of weeks in the tank and get swapped out with another bunch that has been out of water. Personally I find that gets tedious, and much easier to just stick with true aquatics.
If you want to add some low light plants that don't need to be planted I would look at Anubis, these get tied to structure such as wood, ornaments or rocks and are a nice hardy plant.
Java fern is another plant which gets tied to structure but it can over crowd a tank, and will need more pruning maintenance than Anubis.
Your increase in nitrites could have been caused from disturbing the rotting stems from the waffle plants that you removed.
I just wish to reiterate what a help everyone here has been, I'm learning heaps (and I thought I knew lots before).
I did a fair sized (around 40%) water change about 5 hours ago. Nitrites and ammonia now both 0, nitrates reading zero also (but that may have something to do with a bottle of Islay's finest, hand delivered by Santa, that I checked to make sure it's not poisonous).
Water is slightly cloudy, and the fish appear to want to swim nose-up on the surface. They're not really feeding either. I plan another water check at sun-up tomorrow and hope for the best.
So far I've lost all 3 male cherries (and while this is tragic I should have gotten 4 female and 2 male), both existing Rainbows (and again, they were huge compared to the new ones so they must have been quite old), and one new Rainbow. Sad, but the rest look quite happy for now, water test pending. I suspect the LFS may have a bit of dodgy stock now that the owner isn't around full-time any more, it's not uncommon to see a dead fish of two when I visit, and that was never the case previously. So I'm not completely disheartened.
How long before they feed happily, or have I done irreparable damage with being a few days too eager? Some of them had fairly red gills, but that seems to be lessening.
I did a fair sized (around 40%) water change about 5 hours ago. Nitrites and ammonia now both 0, nitrates reading zero also (but that may have something to do with a bottle of Islay's finest, hand delivered by Santa, that I checked to make sure it's not poisonous).
Water is slightly cloudy, and the fish appear to want to swim nose-up on the surface. They're not really feeding either. I plan another water check at sun-up tomorrow and hope for the best.
So far I've lost all 3 male cherries (and while this is tragic I should have gotten 4 female and 2 male), both existing Rainbows (and again, they were huge compared to the new ones so they must have been quite old), and one new Rainbow. Sad, but the rest look quite happy for now, water test pending. I suspect the LFS may have a bit of dodgy stock now that the owner isn't around full-time any more, it's not uncommon to see a dead fish of two when I visit, and that was never the case previously. So I'm not completely disheartened.
How long before they feed happily, or have I done irreparable damage with being a few days too eager? Some of them had fairly red gills, but that seems to be lessening.
Provided the water parameters start to settle down the fish should have a good chance of recovery, just watch out for the water temp because that could also be what is making them gasp at the surface.
I checked my tanks before and all where well over 35 degrees
, did some quick water changes with cooler water and tomorrow I will leave the lights off since it is going to be even hotter tomorrow.
What foods have you been trying to temp the fish with? The rainbows might td best with slow sinking foods such as tetramin micro pellets, or even native fish crumble. My Pacific blue eyes happily go for most foods provided they are at the surface or even better mid water, once it hits the floor the blue eyes lose interest.
I checked my tanks before and all where well over 35 degrees
What foods have you been trying to temp the fish with? The rainbows might td best with slow sinking foods such as tetramin micro pellets, or even native fish crumble. My Pacific blue eyes happily go for most foods provided they are at the surface or even better mid water, once it hits the floor the blue eyes lose interest.
I am a bit worried about temp, but the tank is sitting at just under 29, so I'm keeping a watching brief on that. What's the best solution if it keeps climbing?
I am using the tetramin micro pellets, as well as tropical flakes. They will have a nibble at the flakes but not much more than that. Luckily I've been able to suck up most of the uneaten food during water changes.
I am using the tetramin micro pellets, as well as tropical flakes. They will have a nibble at the flakes but not much more than that. Luckily I've been able to suck up most of the uneaten food during water changes.
The only ways to try and cool the water is to have a chiller, which is very expensive to buy and just adds to your overall power bill.
If your at home you could freeze some bottles of water or make large ice cubes and put these in the tank to try and pull the temp down. Personally I find this will only work depending on the size of the tank, and if your fish are demented food machines like my guppies they could end up getting stuck to the ice blocks.
You could use fans to blow across the surface of the water to increase evaporation since that is where heat exchange also happens.
Food wise if you have any tubs of water sitting about the yard, get the mozzie wrigglers out of it and give them to the fish. I haven't found a fish yet that can refuse mozzie wrigglers. Also I find that fry food such as first bites seems to have an appetite stimulant in it, my shrimp go crazy for it and all of my other fish also come out to snap it up.
If your at home you could freeze some bottles of water or make large ice cubes and put these in the tank to try and pull the temp down. Personally I find this will only work depending on the size of the tank, and if your fish are demented food machines like my guppies they could end up getting stuck to the ice blocks.
You could use fans to blow across the surface of the water to increase evaporation since that is where heat exchange also happens.
Food wise if you have any tubs of water sitting about the yard, get the mozzie wrigglers out of it and give them to the fish. I haven't found a fish yet that can refuse mozzie wrigglers. Also I find that fry food such as first bites seems to have an appetite stimulant in it, my shrimp go crazy for it and all of my other fish also come out to snap it up.
Most reactions
-
253 -
244 -
148 -
145 -
133 -
127 -
108 -
96 -
93 -
85 -
85 -
80 -
73 -
64 -
62
