Finally got enough cleared through on my computer to get some new updated shots for you guys, so here she is. . .
So... I wasn't *supposed* to mess with or add any plants in the tank until 2013, but I'm a chump. . . and I had a 20 gallon tank filled to the brim with plants in QT waiting to go
somewhere, so the moment I was able to convince myself that it was in the best interest of the fish, I did :)
The 5th Bolivian, my new boy named Jab, finally came out of QT and into the 55g at the end of October (I think a week before Halloween?). The group went through the normal getting-to-know you challenges - lip locking and a bit of chasing, nothing mean or dramatic - no nipped fins. Little Jab is much younger than the others, and being the new kid he's been wise enough to back down as often as possible. C.Cat - the only other male wasn't very happy to have 'competition' in the tank, so most of the aggression was from him (very grumpy at my little sweetie-pie for behaving. . . like. . . a wild animal!
). After a week or two of this, with no signs of it letting up, I decided to do some tank re-arranging (which I had intended to do in the first place, but didn't because all of the fun with the kuhli in the filter, and the Tetra drama - which I'll get to in the next update - happened on the same evening as Jab's move).
The GOAL of re-arranging things was to mess with established territories and get everyone distracted and vying for dominance within the group, instead of just focusing on the newcomer. I re-arranged the plants just a bit in the tank, and while I was at it, I took out a ton of the rockwork. I loved how they all looked when they went in originally - the stone was balanced by those majestic Kleiner Bar swords. But when after they melted. . . the rocks just stuck out, there were too many of them and it was bugging me. On the swords, I kept the two that are growing the best and fastest in the 55, and moved the others to the 29g, where I hope the better lighting will encourage them to grow a bit more quickly.
After the changes, the 'Livies did just what you would expect them to do, and as everyone was establishing their new territories, they seemed to forget that Jab was new. He was still low-ranking, of course, but they weren't picking just on him any more than they were each-other. After a couple of weeks, things were going well with them, but he was obviously not a part of their group. They tolerated him well, weren't bullying or being mean to him, but he stayed off by himself most of the time, while the original four kept together, as usual. He didn't seem super-stressed by this, but I really wanted them to gel into a single group.
Soooo, I started slowly adding plants from the 20g into the main tank and getting things back to the sheltering green that I had originally in the tank. By Thanksgiving, it was starting to look nice again - and last weekend I cleared out the 20L and put the rest of the 'extra' plants that had no home into the 55.
Happily, it worked - my rams are really a group now. I guess with all of the meddling in their home, they felt like they had to stick together - all five of them! Yay! I have to get some shots of Jab on here, I'll try to do that later - and then the Tetra Drama!
Here's a weird top-down shot of the tank...
Happy Saturday!
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Updated tank shots. . . 
