So after much help from Byron, Angel and WisFish....I've decided to enter the realm on live planted tanks....this weekend was the first steps towards achieving that goal...I plan on keeping this post running and keeping it updated as I continue my adventure....
I was advised to switch out my stark white gravel.....here is a before shot:
MY LIGHTING:
After much research, I wound up @ Lowes and picked up a shop light for $12.99, my main concern is that the bulbs will sit directly on the glass lids...
so I built a 'riser' for the light to sit on and keep it off the glass, and painted it black....
So after about 4 hours worth of work...here's the final product:
I'm obsessed with the new look!!!! :-D:-D I think it really adds a much much more natural look, espically once some live plants come into play
oh, and this is sparky the diamond tetra!!
I kept all the old fake plants until i can get back to the LFS to pick up my plants after I decide which ones I want. After sitting back and looking at it some more...i've decided i'm not crazy about the orange rock and that one red plant, but I got nothing else to do with them until I get new plants which is in there right now...I'm keeping my eye out for a piece of driftwood....thats about all for now.....Thanks for checking it out!
The tank looks great, Johnny! Your new cories are soooo darn cute. (I'm not even going to mention the QT word) I love how you are taking progress pics. It's such a transformation. Nice job.
QT= Quarantine Tank
After learning the hard way I QT most all new additions three to four weeks before they are allowed into the display.
To me they look like Corydora melanistius except they don't have the black marking on the dorsal fin. Peppered cories don't have the black band across the face like yours do. I'm no cory expert but whatever species they are very cute!
Those are Corydoras schwartzi. I have always liked them, a nice species among the lined corys. I had a shoal several years ago, but haven't seen them recently around here or I would get them again. Aside from the nice linear markings, the body colour is silver/gray rather than buff as on some of the others, which makes a nice contrast in a tank with several species of cory (always a plus;-)).
I've been working on the cory species in our profiles but haven't got around to adding these; now that someone has them, I'll probably add them next along with some closely-patterned species.
This species was named after Adolfo Schwartz, a collector (and the son of the famous Dr. Willi Schwartz) in Manaus, Brazil. The species C. adolfoi was also named in Adolfo's honour since he discovered that species; can't recall off the top of my head if he actually discovered this one (C. schwartzi) or not. I'll sort that out when I do the profile.
Byron, your knowledge is truely remarkable when it comes to this stuff!!! thats awesome!! i want to get another 6 of them or so....
i also want to add another shoal of diamond tetras as well as a dozen or so more neons....the sparkle of hte diamond tetras with the color contrast of my other neons is pretty cool to see!!
Do you have diamonds in there now? I can't see any in the photos. Yes, they are a lovely characin, and a group of 7 (4 male, 3 female) would be perfect. In a heavily planted tank they do sparkle as you say. They are in our profiles, Moenkhausia pittieri. [Click the shaded name to go to the profile.] A good addition. They are the SA equivalent of the African Congo Tetra in my mind. I've thought of diamonds for my 115g, now that the Emperors had to be pulled out to save the others.
More C. schwartzi are fine, or have you considered another species? With 4 C. schwartzi, you could have 4-5 of another contrasting species for some interesting variety. Different cory species do have slightly different behaviours, this is one of the fascinations I have with the species in this genus.
I've also decided to swap out some plants, but I"m stumped as to what to replace them with....
the plant directly behind my center driftwood, just isn't doing it for me (or the wifey)
my newest ideas/dilemas.....
MY THREE SWORDS...
two of them on the left aren't growing as I thought they would....they seem to have stopped, where as my one on the right of the driftwood (picture one and ten) is growing and expanding lovely.... I do not want to get rid of any of my sword plants, but I debating removing one of the two swords on the right and then moving the beautifully growing one on right to replace the "dead" looking plant directly behind the driftwood to give a nice center piece plant....
If I remove a sword, it would be the one of the far left (nearest the intake) and plant some more indicia rotala to mimick the back left corner which are growing great....
but, with a center piece plant and identical plants in the corners to off set it, i don't want it to look symmetric...
the plant behind the driftwood and the one straggler to the left of the same plant are definitely coming out...
I am in love with the pennyworts, rotalas and my big sword...as well as the narrow leafs!
I can't see any trouble plant behind the wood, not sure which one you think isn't doing well. This area actually looks quite good, as you can see through to the back which gives the suggestion of more space that a wall of plant would not convey. And you comment on symmetry is pertinent, I think you have good balance now, it looks quite natural. As soon as you put anything "centre" [that large piece of wood is something I would move just slightly to the right to avoid this as it is rather centered] or start balancing identical plants on the opposite ends, you lose the natural spaciousness and start closing in the box. I would just keep this in mind when considering any plant moves.
NICE I love how this tank started and where its at now, wonderful!
The Ludwigia I also trim down several inches every 2nd week here, luckly so far I met a member from here living close by me with a tank addition too and he can use all the plants
I figured it was time to throw up some updated pictures of my tank. Things have been growing like crazy!! I bought two new swords, they went in about a month ago, and are (in my opinion) stunning! :lol: I think they are growing quite nicely. I took kymmie and byron's advice and trimmed and re-rooted my stem plants. I've mainly been trimming back my pennyworts. They seem to hit the top of the water by the end of every week!
Thanks for your continued support in my build....all comments and concerned are welcomed as always!!
( I don't know why the first pic is so small compared to the rest...stupid photobucket!!)
what are your plans now jeeper??? I wanted to go all black gravel, but my wife didn't want it black gravel with black background....we compromised on the darker, natural look....
Thanks for the compliments!!! I'm thinking of adding some more plants around the swords, something to get it some contrast...I was thinking more of the rotala indigias or something in the 'red family'.....
Im not liking the play sand ive got, its to compact. Ive got sand from petsmart in my 5 gallon and its much nicer. But after seeing those pictures, that gravel just looks much more natural then my play sand does. Im starting to regret the sand
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