[jennesque]

Hey everyone... I finally got (one of) my dream aquariums, which is a 75 gallon tank, for my birthday. I had my dad build a stand for me, so I've been waiting on that before I could build the tank..it took him like a month.. ;_; The tank has been up since March 6th.

I'm waiting on the plants to grow in and will be adding more fish, but here's the plan:

Flora:

Echinodorus Bleheri - Amazon Sword
Echinodorus angustifolia Vesuvius - Vesuvius Sword
Echinodorus "Ozelot"- Ozelot Sword
Echinodorus Kleiner Prinz - Kleiner Prinz Sword
Echinoforus Parviflorus - Rosette Sword
Echinoforus martii - Ruffle Sword
Helanthium tenellum - Pygmy Chain Sword
Hydrocotyle leucocephala - Pennywort
And I'm working on floaters.. And there's annoying java moss on the driftwood.

Fauna:

Paracheirodon axelrodi - Cardinal Tetras
Hyphessobrycon amandae - Ember Tetras
Hyphessobrycon rosaceus - Rosy Tetras
Gasteropelecus Sternicla - Silver Hatchets
Nannostomus eques - Diptail Pencilfish
Ancistrus - Long fin Bristlenose Pleco
Corydoras (julii? Not sure yet..)
May also get some Nannoatomus Espei
**the baby angelfish in the breeder box is moving to it's own tank in a couple days

Equipment, etc:

Eheim 2215 filter
Sponge filter (will probably be removed once the tank is established)
Two heaters, one 125 watt and one 200 watt
Tahitian Moon Sand Substrate
Oscomote + Root tabs
Flourish Comp for a liquid fert
2x Current USA Freshwater + LED lights.
Driftwood are cypress knees

I've been seeing great growth in the plants so far, so I'm excited!

 

[jennesque]

Forgot the pics.. Oops

 

[jennesque]

Got a trio of Lyretail Checkerboard cichlids drip acclimating right now
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[jennesque]

Thank you! Yes, I love swords. They're beautiful and I think they're pretty easy...

My ruffle sword came in looking horrible and it hasn't really got much better, so I took it out and rescaped the tank.. Moved some things around. Added vals to the tank, which I'm not sure will do well in my water, but it is shooting off runners. Last time I tried them (like two years ago) they melted. Just waiting on the ozelot sword to really switch over to emersed growth. All the fish are doing fine... Just trying to get my cichlids to eat. They're looking for food, but the tetras seem to get everything before the checkerboards have a chance to check it out.

The angelfish is out, the checkerboards are in.. And this weekend I added 8 albino cories. Decided against getting N espei.

 

[jennesque]

rgot to mention that I'm *trying* to grow Amazon frogbit and red root floaters.. The red root floaters seem iffy, but I am seeing new growth on the frogbit so.. Here's hoping it survives.

Also have a friend sending me some of his floaters to try out..

If all else fails, I'll be adding duck weed.
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[jennesque]

I would only get duck weed if no other floaters work out. I don't *hate* giant duck weed.. The frogbit seems to be growing a good root system though, and has runners.
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[jennesque]

Update on the scape.. Removed the vesuvius and ozelot and put in a regular ole Amazon Sword on the left side. Didn't like the look of the vesuvius and my ozelot wasn't growing well - very low growth.

I also plant on rehoming the rosy tetras, they're just a bit too boisterous for my taste, in this tank at least. I've already added more cardinal tetras and I plan on adding even more.