# Old tank: Jobber's 33g Long - South American Biotope



## jobber

*THE NEW PLAYGROUND - South American Biotope*

*SETUP:*
Tank: 33 gallon long (48x12x12)
Substrate: Estes Ultra Reef Black Sand
Filtration: Rena Filstar xP4
Filter Media: Seachem Matrix, Filtration pads
Lighting: Marineland Double Bright LED 
Heater: Hydor ETH In-Line Heater 200w
pH Monitor: American Marine Pinpoint
Powerhead: Hydro Koralia 525

*PARAMETERS:
*pH = 6.5
Temp.: 26°C

*FAUNA: * 
Corydora Panda
Corydora Pygmaeus
Lemon Tetra
L134 Peckoltia Compta "Leopard Frog"
L200 Hemiancistrus subviridis
Crenicara punctulata
Bristlenose Ancistrus
Otocinclus

Former residents:
_L129 Hypancistrus Colombian Zebra
L201 Hypancistrus Inspector
L333 Hypancistrus sp. "Yellow King Tiger"
Apistogramma agassizii
Gold Balloon Ram
Black neon tetra
Cardinal tetra
Rummynose tetra
Skunk Corydoras
Corydoras Habrosus
_

*FLORA: 
* Echinodorus Amazonicus 
Hydrocotyle leucocephala "Brazilian Pennywort"
Vallisnera americana
Needleleaf Java Fern
Marimo Moss
Sagittaria subulata

*FURNISHINGS:*
Manzanita driftwood
Natural River Rocks

*Additional CO2 Source:*
Metricide

*Dosing:*
NPK Macro-nutrient mix
CSM+B Miconutrient mix
Jobe's Spikes 
DIY Root Capsules

Seachem Prime
Seachem Equilibrium
Epsom Salt

Kent's Botonica Humic and Tanic Acid
Amy's Ketapang Almond Leaves
Almond Catappa Bark

*Preview picture:*


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## Diztrbd1

Been waiting for this lol nice start Ming, looking forward to seeing it develop


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## 2wheelsx2

Waiting patiently for the pics...tap tap tap...


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## fraggalrock

Sweet set up!!!!


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## Kanesska

Nice!!! Can't wait to see it setup


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## bowman00

Yeah Im excited to see the photos. Im rescaping my 33 tank as we speak.


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## Diztrbd1

2wheelsx2 said:


> Waiting patiently for the pics...tap tap tap...


lol kinda like Ming was doing when you announced your big school & we had to wait all day to see the video


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## jobber

That's why I used Paint to draft the layout of the preview picture. Like watching movie trailers....can't you just feel the excitement building.


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## Diztrbd1

lol Ming I can say I'm pretty excited about seeing it, especially since I have to get rid of my 90 gal. project for now. Yours & Gary's tank projects are a couple good fixes to get me thru the winter till I can afford to do another 90 lol


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## jobber

Any new tank setup is expensive. Especially just before the holidays and going abroad next week. Luckily I don't buy presents...except for myself.


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## BubBleBee

Wow ming...you have put a lot of thought and effort behind your set up....so far it sounds amazing....can't wait to see it come along....


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## jobber

Thanks everybody for your compliments. If it wasn't for this forum and helpful and sincere members, I would just be having floating fishies and dying plants. 
That's why I am paying it forward to other members.
Hard part right now is resisting to stock the tank with the schools of fish I have in mind.
Afraid to leave the tank without my attention for three weeks.


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## jobber

Wow. Not even two days into the new tank and we have panda eggs found where I left a modest size of java moss in one side of the tank. I've left my old light fixture on for the past 2 days to force plant photosynthesis to better adapt to the new tank and new sand substrate. I've also added some root tabs for the swords, apo. nanta, and crypts. The 10 or so pygmies are shoaling very nicely. Resisting the urge momentarily to stockpile the tank with more schools. Still a work-in-progress.

Pictures will be up...after I finish my assignment


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## 2wheelsx2

Nice. Guess they're liking their new home.


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## jobber

*From the tank's old home...*

Here we go with the pics.

We'll start of with showcasing the tank at it's previous primary residence









Housing an Eheim and Rena canister filters, with a bottle of metricide:


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## Jonnymoss

looking forward to seeing this progress!


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## jobber

*....to the tank's new home.*

I should have taken some pictures of the tank getting moved and fitting it into my good ol'Honda.

The tank in it's new home in Vancouver:


















Let's open up the hood to see what's being housed inside:









if you're wondering what's in the bucket. it's the plants and fish from the old 10 gallon tank. Kind of sad to see the lotus' and galaxy rasboras gone, but I know they've gone to a good home:


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## tang daddy

Hey Ming looks like a nice tank to start off with, although you aren't planning on putting stem plants in are you? Bucket looks like there is some!


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## jobber

No stemmed plants for me except swords, anubias petites, sags, nantas, stargrass, crypts, and the "other special one" that I hope to get my hands on. The plants you see in the big bucket have all gone to a good home.


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## BubBleBee

Luv the pics....Now I want a long.....hmmmmm can never be content with what I have...it's gotta be bigger....love the stand...where did u get that???? How much....if u don't mind my asking.


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## CRS Fan

Looking forward to seeing the new incarnate, Ming. I like the 33 long, but it does severely limit the types of plants one can house in it (due to its height restriction).

Best Regards,

Stuart


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## jobber

Don't tempt me into getting a bigger tank. Haha. BTS (big tank syndrome), the behaviour in which an individual has the consistent urges to upgrade to a bigger tank, primarily found in the aquarist hobby). Got the tank and stand from a member for a reasonable price. I know Rogers carries them.


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## TCR

Bigger is better.. Think how many corys one can fit in a 150 gal tank


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## jobber

CRS Fan said:


> Looking forward to seeing the new incarnate, Ming. I like the 33 long, but it does severely limit the types of plants one can house in it (due to its height restriction).
> 
> Best Regards,
> 
> Stuart


You don't know how difficult it was for me to let go some of the plants in that bucket. But still got the salvinia I got from you. My plan is to stick with swords and low lying plants. Just trying my best to keep to the amazon theme.


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## jobber

TCR said:


> Bigger is better.. Think how many corys one can fit in a 150 gal tank


Oh I can well imagine. You'll be surprise how many corys I'm planning to house in this tank. The limitations are endless 

Just playing the waiting game until I come back from my vacation.


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## Luke78

Pretty neat project you have going on.Should be interesting to see all those cories spread out and use the entire length of the aquarium.You mentioned an amazon theme , i went with this as well and can tell you that plenty of hiding places,driftwood,rocks,almond leaves will bring out the true behaviour exhibited by these fish.Less light the better (but in your case you have a bunch of plants).Ive noticed my cories to be much more active and about when there's some light shining through(window near my aquarium)compared to when my aquarium lights are on.Best wishes and keep updating !


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## jkam

Where's the pics of the tank after being filled... I thought my tank went to a good home... LOL


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## jobber

jkam said:


> Where's the pics of the tank after being filled... I thought my tank went to a good home... LOL


oh the pics will soon be up. I gave it so much TLC and almost negated doing my assignment.


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## jobber

here it is being used as a storage area while i was playing tetris in my room movie furniture around:









the 6 bags of Estes black sand from JL:









Soaking and rinsing the sand (as pointed out by Gary, lots of sand cover bubbles):


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## jobber

Luke78 said:


> Pretty neat project you have going on.Should be interesting to see all those cories spread out and use the entire length of the aquarium.You mentioned an amazon theme , i went with this as well and can tell you that plenty of hiding places,driftwood,rocks,almond leaves will bring out the true behaviour exhibited by these fish.Less light the better (but in your case you have a bunch of plants).Ive noticed my cories to be much more active and about when there's some light shining through(window near my aquarium)compared to when my aquarium lights are on.Best wishes and keep updating !


I'm going to have a lot of almond leaves littering the floor of the tank just so long as some of the flooring plants don't grow too out of control. It will undoubtedly be interesting how things turn out. But I need to wait until the 13th of January when I'm back in town to stock the tank. I don't want to stock my tank with schools of fish while i'm away. I'm going to try to put as much pictures up for this journal as possible. I just wish I had a very nice camera and one that is able to take HD videos.


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## jobber

Water filled tank:









cycling the tank and with the new Marineland Double Bright LED lights (the spotlighting column of light is exaggerated by the camera):









Notice all the bubbles and sand bubbles throughout the surface of the sand (taken without camera flash):

















Nighlighting:









lots more pics to come.


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## jkam

when you start planting the tank, let me know how the LED lights grow the plants. Not enough reviews on the fixture


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## jobber

I know. but i saw some videos on youtube in which the guy was using the LED and he was able to grow some pretty high tech plants. i'll PM you.


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## BubBleBee

Wow love the lighting effect....Keep us all posted....I was going to buy this fixture.....Lookin Good


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## gklaw

Nice LED light Ming  Thought you wer going to use it for your bedroom


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## jobber

BubBleBee said:


> Wow love the lighting effect....Keep us all posted....I was going to buy this fixture.....Lookin Good


The fixture would definately look better and evenly spread out on a taller tank...say a 55 gallon 



gklaw said:


> Nice LED light Ming  Thought you wer going to use it for your bedroom


Har har har. it's actually in my bedroom 
it actually does look pretty serene.


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## thefishwife

Wow very nice, love the look of those LED lights, but also wondered how well they worked for plants.


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## jobber

thefishwife said:


> Wow very nice, love the look of those LED lights, but also wondered how well they worked for plants.


Good question about how the plants will do with LED. I'm going to keep my tank relatively low to medium tech. However, since I will be away for a few weeks, I am taking no chance in case plants don't do well and decay in my tank, so at the moment, I am still running my old 10 gallon lightstrip with two coralife compact fluorescent bulbs. The plants so far seem to be surviving, but I can tell they're adapting to the new substrate as growth hasn't been that noticeable compared to when I had florabase as a substrate.

I will keep posting and updating more frequently once I'm back and using the LED on a full time basis.


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## 2wheelsx2

I'm also interested in the LED lights as I want to use them in my 125 gallon tank. I guess we'll know in the New Year. I plan to get one to try during the Boxing week sales.


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## Jonnymoss

very nice, thinkin of making my own led set up......what color temp are yours?


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## tang daddy

Very nice seeing the lights on the tank Ming!!!

Does the Estes sand buffer the ph higher?


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## 2wheelsx2

The Estes Marine sand is quartz based, so does nothing to the water.


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## jobber

Jonnymoss said:


> very nice, thinkin of making my own led set up......what color temp are yours?


for some odd reason, there isn't too much information on this lighting system. generally speaking, i was more interested in the aesthetics of this setup. Since there are a few blue LED's, I can only speculate that there is about 5000k. there has been some mixed reviews. however, i did see this one guy on youtube who's able to grow some pretty high tech plants in his 10 gallon tank using this LED setup (and that guy loves his Beatles....."i like to be..under the sea...in an octopus' garden shade...."











I think the most important thing to remember is that his 10 gallon tank and as well as my 33 gallon long tank are only 12" in height, so there is high enough PAR for the plants. my set up is only 16W.

i'm sure they'll be a lot of discussion on this topic; hence that's why i picked up this LED to see if i'd be able to grow plants with it.


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## Diztrbd1

Looking Great Ming!!


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## jobber

Diztrbd1 said:


> Looking Great Ming!!


Thanks. I seriously am considering picking up a new camera that can capture HD videos. I'm going to pull the early trigger on fishing stocking tonight. Keep an eye out for a late night upload of pics and videos.


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## neven

i blame wow for missing this thread! great start to a new tank  and i know how hard it is letting go of plant species, you just want to keep them all


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## 2wheelsx2

jobber604 said:


> Thanks. I seriously am considering picking up a new camera that can capture HD videos. I'm going to pull the early trigger on fishing stocking tonight. Keep an eye out for a late night upload of pics and videos.


Hahaha....resistance IS futile apparently! ;p


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## jobber

*Cycled and planted...*

The day after the tank being cycled, i decided to start planting the swords, stargrass, crypts, sagittaria subulata....

















































































the water still cloudy...


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## jobber

neven said:


> i blame wow for missing this thread! great start to a new tank  and i know how hard it is letting go of plant species, you just want to keep them all


haha. yeah. the hard part was deciding what to keep and not to keep. at least the stargrass is growing well in the tank now.


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## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Hahaha....resistance IS futile apparently! ;p


it is quite too futile. i'll go add more pics up for the next 20 minutes and then i'll be heading into richmond by blundell after "he" finishes eating dinner....hmmmm....wonder where i'll be going.


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## jobber

*With the LED lighting....*

Here's some pics of the plants with the LED...this was from Sunday (today is thursday), yes, there's been a bit of lag in uploading pics.


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## jobber

*Using the old 10 gallon canopy w/ 2x coralife compact fluourescent bulb lighting*

Here i'm using the 10 gallon tank's canopy with two coralife compact fluourescent light bulbs. What i'm trying to do here is force and expediate the plant's recovery and adaption to a new environment by forcing more photosynthesis. I didn't know how the plants would adapt to the new LED lighting, so I don't want to take any additional chances.


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## jobber

*The first video*

I was getting ready to sleep when I noticed the pygmies swimming. Pretty neat. I hope to add in numbers to the school. Here's the video:


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## jkam

lol what happened to not putting in any fish until you get back??? looks great by the way.


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## jobber

the fish in the tank were from my 10 gallon, but then again c'mon. i'm a BCA addict. how can i not stock it up with fish further. started stocking more this evening after coming back from Pat's pad.


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## jobber

*and so it begins....*

I had to pull the stocking trigger today since i was trigger happy. Picked up some livestock from the good quality stuff Canadian Aquatics provides.














































so that's all the livestock....for 2010


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## jkam

Nice, You took my advice and went for the rummynose. you won't regret it!!


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## jobber

haha. you can tell they're rummynose eh. they'll be more coming. they were so scared during the transport, but now the colour have come out in the tank within 3 hours of acclimation. need a bigger school than 12, that's for sure. this is just a starter school


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## 2wheelsx2

Very cool, Ming. You won't regret those. I think they'll form very nice shoals. And yes, I agree you need more rummies, like probably double that amount.


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## jobber

Double? I'm thinking of doubling to tripling. I'm not going to have any room for plecos!!! L129, L99


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## 2wheelsx2

You mean L129, L333, L066. I might a few to spare.


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## jobber

So many to chose so little room. The entire floor of the tank has activities going on. I must say that the habrosus cories are very active and are not spooked easily.


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## 2wheelsx2

I'll definitely have to come and check out your setup when you get back. Tanks which are planned from the get-go always turn out the nicest.


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## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> I'll definitely have to come and check out your setup when you get back. Tanks which are planned from the get-go always turn out the nicest.


well i hope mine turn out decent or to what i'm anticipating. a pleco may make it that much more exciting in the tank


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## jobber

*Xmas eve pictures...before i go abroad*

Thought I'd take some pictures during the tank's first 40% water change (WC).










New tank residences



























The right side of the tank. pretty bare at the moment...and dark.









Top view of the corydora habrosus









Well it's about an hour before Xmas. I wish everyone a Happy Christmas!


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## jobber

*Video time*

I love watching videos..so I'd figured I'd make one to share with you.


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## 2wheelsx2

Boy, are those habrosus ever cool!


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## Crazy_NDN

wow cool vid!, the corydora's are awesome.


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## EDGE

looking good. Love the marching band of the cories


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## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Boy, are those habrosus ever cool!


thanks. they are truly nano fish. looks good when they swim in packs. glad i went with the 24. if there was more room on the bottom, say with a 40 breeder, then i could easily have more. these lil guys are spread out in smaller packs.


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## jobber

Crazy_NDN said:


> wow cool vid!, the corydora's are awesome.


haha. yeah. they're my favourite fish. this is the first time i've had a big group in which allowed them to bring the true personality out of them.


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## jobber

EDGE said:


> looking good. Love the marching band of the cories


they're be a bigger marching band of rummies in the near future and pygmaeus.

happy boxing shopping everyone! saw some great sales already ：（


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## 2wheelsx2

Hmmmm....wonder if I can some habrosus in the cube?


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## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Hmmmm....wonder if I can some habrosus in the cube?


that's hilarious. i'm sure you can. a huge school of them that's for sure. the cory habs are the most adaptive and less "freaked" out of all the fish i have ever had. they are not easily spooked but just started doing their thing...digging in the sand for food. whereas the rummies were so scared and hid in the corner and on the bottom of the tank until i did a water change.

i'm still in the process of pleco hunting.


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## jobber

*Trip to Shanghai*

Back from a great trip abroad to relax the mind. Still a big jetlagged after quite the turbulent flight. Missed my tank a bit. Came home and noticed the rummynoses showing deep colouration. Did a fishcount of the tank and found only 1 rummynose MIA. So 1 fish over a course of 3 weeks is good in my eye. Found lots of empty ramshorn shells (thank you assassin snails). Found the red cherry shrimps showing an intense red and all berried. I had the tank fed 4 times during the 3 week period; however, there was a bit of a seriously grown algae/diatom outbreak as I'm most certain it was from the sunlight. Will find a bristlenose somewhere to remedy this small outbreak.

It was amazing the first time I dropped a Hikari Sinking wafer into the tank to feed the fish. Imagine a hord of about 50 fish surrounding one wafer. I should have taken some videos but still had my camera packed away. Did a good 75% water change, re-ferted and dosed the tank.

Then, as futile as I am, I couldn't resist to make arrangements to visit Patrick at CanadianAquatics to pick up some fish. Have to admit that the fish from Pat are extremely healthy and strong. Don't know what Pat feeds his fish , but I give him thumbs up for keeping quality fish.

While I'm uploading more videos and pictures for my journal, figure i'll share some photos of some LFS while I was in Shanghai. Amazing cheap prices for supplies, plants, and fish. Pictures were taken with my blackberry thus accounting for the poor picture quality in some pics. I'll definitely take some more pictures in the future to share with the forum. I can't wait to head back overseas again just to walk throught the many aquatic fish/plant markets. The prices of the fish and plants for sale are not posted in the stores as the prices can be negotiated.

This is one of the many stores:








































































Found a pleco tank and found this beauty. Can you ID it?









The temperature outdoor was hovering around 5 degrees celcius.The exchange rate is C$1 = 6.65yuan. The goldfish in the bucket tray are 3yuan for 1.


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## jobber

*Shanghai 2011*

Just going through some pictures in my camera while I'm still waiting for uploadings. Here's some pictures to share with you of Shanghai and the things I ate.


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## 2wheelsx2

Very nice pics. I still want to get to Shanghai some day....


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## BubBleBee

Thanks for sharing....soooo pretty at nite, kinda looks like dt van....Welcome back....


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## Luke78

Those are some great photos of the city , as well as the food.I liked the photos of the store(s) where all the fish were.They seem to have everything you could imagine.


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## jobber

the best part of the trip was the noodles! For $0.90, I was full. Picked up some nice cheap tank accessories as well.

Finally finishing cleaning up the tank and running some BCA errands. Took some pictures of the tank when I came back as well as some pics of the new additions to the tank. As I'm typing this out, there's so much activity going on in the tank since I dropped another Hikari Sinking Wafer into the tank. Noticed 3 of the pygmaeus acting quite frisky towards one another in the tank.

I rescaped three times since I came back.

This is a picture of the tank issue I encountered when I got home. Brown Algae/diatom outbreak.









Notice the brown algae on the glass. The stargrass grew almost 4 inches. It has since been pruned and ready to go to a good home in a cube.









This type of Staurogyne Porto Velho didn't do too well in my tank. It started to melt. I only left 4 sturdy stems in the tank. Hopefully they have more success in two other member's tanks.

















A deep coloured red cherry shrimp


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## jobber

*Shopping at Pat's*

Here are the goodies I brought home from Pat's:

Acclimatizing rummynose and cardinals


















The small surprises and the baby crown jewel of my tank (L066 King tiger juveniles)




































And finally, a corydora habrosus guilping down a live blackworm


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## jiang604

Very nice ming!


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## CRS Fan

Your tank is coming along very nicely. Those habrosus schooling are awesome ! Hopefully your new aquisitions take off for you.

Best regards,

Stuart


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## jkam

lol what happened to not getting any fancy plecos?


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## jobber

jiang604 said:


> Very nice ming!





CRS Fan said:


> Your tank is coming along very nicely. Those habrosus schooling are awesome ! Hopefully your new aquisitions take off for you.


Oh you guys will love the videos. too bad youtube is so slow right now. 
I really hope the capstone plants i acquired today will work out fine. Love the "bamboo bush" on the left side of your 27 gallon tank stuart!



jkam said:


> lol what happened to not getting any fancy plecos?


bristlenoses are arn't fancy 
i got gary and pat to thank for the little ones. 
wonder how an arowana would do in this tank...haha


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## jobber

Pygmaeus spawning again in the stargrass. Can you spot the eggs?


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## spit.fire

i see 2 i thinks


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## Adz1

what a great set up....
MTS to follow shortly...lol


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## fxbillie

Ming, nice tank going there. Can't imagine you turn that new tank into something so nice in such a short time since I last visited you. Well, you are a pro in your craft. Looking forward to see your tank transformed into your Amazon themed set up.

Nice trip & nice pic from Shanghai. Remind me of my trips there 2 years ago. So many nice buildings and lights. Even those boats are full of lights. I wish I could find great eating places like you did. I followed a tour group and only had pre-arranged meals, no noodles much. Welcome back.

William


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## jobber

*Videos - January 15, 2011*

Enjoy the videos.


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## Peterchow

Very nice set up with good landscaping, Ming.

Thanks for sharing !!!!!


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## jobber

spit.fire said:


> i see 2 i thinks


you got a good eye. there's two in the photo. After looking into the tank and within the stargrass, I count about 10 eggs. Was contemplating on setting the breeder box but i'll wait a few more days.



Adz1 said:


> what a great set up....
> MTS to follow shortly...lol


thanks adz1, but there won't be MTS coming anything time soon. Although it's in my mind, I'd figure I'd get a big nice tank in the future that will house schools of fish and lots of plecos (thanks a lot gary).



fxbillie said:


> Ming, nice tank going there. Can't imagine you turn that new tank into something so nice in such a short time since I last visited you. Well, you are a pro in your craft. Looking forward to see your tank transformed into your Amazon themed set up.
> 
> Nice trip & nice pic from Shanghai. Remind me of my trips there 2 years ago. So many nice buildings and lights. Even those boats are full of lights. I wish I could find great eating places like you did. I followed a tour group and only had pre-arranged meals, no noodles much. Welcome back.
> 
> William


Thank you for the kind words William. Shanghai is a very clean city rich with lots of history both of old and modern. Amazing how one side of the river looks like i'm in Europe and on the other, a modern city. the food was great and cheap; that's the best part .

Not a pro as I still have lots of things to learn in this hobby but I am quite please and content with this setup. With the last few acquisitions from CRS FAN and Patrick, the type of flora and fauna is complete to what I envisioned. Although I'd like to add some more plecos. *sigh*. What great influences eh, I wonder where I get my planted tank and pleco infatuation.

I'm going to post as much pictures and videos as I can. Wish I had an HD camera.



Peterchow said:


> Very nice set up with good landscaping, Ming.
> Thanks for sharing !!!!!


Thanks Peter. It's very tough to resist overcrowding the tank with plants or fish. Natural impulse to want it all


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## rickwaines

can you tell me about the choice of substrate?


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## clintgv

Thanks for sharing the videos and the pictures. I enjoyed watching and looking at them 

Clint.


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## jobber

rickwaines said:


> can you tell me about the choice of substrate?


I've replied to your PM. My primary decision to use sand was for the benefit to housing corydoras and to emulate a amazon river bottom (since i can't use mud). Choice of colour of black was to bring the colour of the fish out. I'm using sand and a LED lighting system as a trial and error to see if i can have a good lush planted tank also 



clintgv said:


> Thanks for sharing the videos and the pictures. I enjoyed watching and looking at them
> 
> Clint.


Thanks for taking the time to check out my journal. Keep an eye out for more new photos and videos.


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## Diztrbd1

Tank looks great Ming!! Great pix and vid's as well. I absolutely love those King tiger juvies. Great job!


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## 2wheelsx2

jobber604 said:


> bristlenoses are arn't fancy
> i got gary and pat to thank for the little ones.
> wonder how an arowana would do in this tank...haha


I think there's space for an L46 in there!


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## rickwaines

tang daddy said:


> Hey Ming looks like a nice tank to start off with, although you aren't planning on putting stem plants in are you? Bucket looks like there is some!


what is this in reference to. Why no "stem" plants?


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## crazy72

What a gorgeous tank. I love the scape as well as the choice of fish. Great job.

My own 33 Long looks kind of bland now.


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## jobber

crazy72 said:


> What a gorgeous tank. I love the scape as well as the choice of fish. Great job.
> 
> My own 33 Long looks kind of bland now.


now i'm wishing i had a 125 gallon long so i can house more fish. i'm in the works to adding another school or adding to an existing school.

i'd recommend adding corydora habrosus to your tank. like a huge school of them. you'll be amazed


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## 2wheelsx2

120 - 4x2x2 is a better footprint, and lighting and everything is cheaper too.


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## jobber

a 120g would also do 
waiting for the day...lottomax be good to me please.


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## jkam

4x2x2 is too small.. You need to get 8x4x3.. LOL


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## BubBleBee

Wow...ur tank is comin along soooooo nicely.....good job bud..I saw two eggs....did I get it right....if soooo what do I win.....lol...(jk) Welcome back and thank you for sharing.


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## jobber

jkam said:


> 4x2x2 is too small.. You need to get 8x4x3.. LOL


how many gallons would 8x5x3 be?



BubBleBee said:


> Wow...ur tank is comin along soooooo nicely.....good job bud..I saw two eggs....did I get it right....if soooo what do I win.....lol...(jk) Welcome back and thank you for sharing.


thanks bubblebee. i'm still waiting a week or two and monitoring the tank still quite a lot just so i can catch any changes in water parameters or any issues that may arise since I introduced quite a number of fish in the tank. Found a single isolated passing of a few fish already. The smaller L066's didn't fair too well. Lesson learned, it's hard to raise fry in a bit unestablished tank with sand substrate


----------



## jkam

8x4x24" is 500ish gallons.


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## 2wheelsx2

jkam said:


> 8x4x24" is 500ish gallons.


And next to impossible to plant. You'd have to get inside to reach the back. I've seen pics of Tom Barr hanging upside down like a bat doing tanks like this.

Better to get 2 180 gallon tanks. Easy to light and plant and would be lighter than a 500 gallon too.


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## jobber

Wow. Doing a 500 gallon tank water change, I don't even want to fathom that. I'm going to start using my tank water for the vegetable garden in the summer. How would you even fit a 500gallon monstrosity into a living. Can you imagine the humidity in the house.


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## 2wheelsx2

No one in their right minds would use buckets or even a python. You'd have the water drainage hard plumbed on a tank that big and just turn a valve and let it go. Filling would be a pain. Personally, for anything bigger than a 180, I'd rig up an auto water changer or a continuous drip. If it's difficult to do, or takes too much time, people tend to skip it. I can't imagine changing water without my Super Safety siphon now. 50 gallons in 3.5 minutes.


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## jkcichlid

8 x 5 x 3 = 96" x 60" x 36" = 207360 / 231 = 898 gallons


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## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> No one in their right minds would use buckets or even a python. You'd have the water drainage hard plumbed on a tank that big and just turn a valve and let it go. Filling would be a pain. Personally, for anything bigger than a 180, I'd rig up an auto water changer or a continuous drip. If it's difficult to do, or takes too much time, people tend to skip it. I can't imagine changing water without my Super Safety siphon now. 50 gallons in 3.5 minutes.


here i am complaining about doing a simple water change from the 5 gallon, to 10 gallon, and now a 33 gallon. I'm still going two big buckets on each water change now. that's about 12 gallon of water. so i'm doing about a 30% water change. just gotta get into the routine.



jkcichlid said:


> 8 x 5 x 3 = 96" x 60" x 36" = 207360 / 231 = 898 gallons


that's for the calculation proof. 900gallon tank eh. hmmmmm....


----------



## tang daddy

hey Ming, here's an easy way to do water change... get a 10g tank premix water and run an airstone for circulation. get yourself a cheap pump to pump water into your 33!!

a 10g takes up less space then 2 5g buckets, before I had a 25g tank to do waterchanges on all 3 tanks...I figured 1 25g takes less space then a garbage can.


----------



## jobber

tang daddy said:


> hey Ming, here's an easy way to do water change... get a 10g tank premix water and run an airstone for circulation. get yourself a cheap pump to pump water into your 33!!
> 
> a 10g takes up less space then 2 5g buckets, before I had a 25g tank to do waterchanges on all 3 tanks...I figured 1 25g takes less space then a garbage can.


pretty ingenious idea. it'll manage with the 33's water changes. I place two 5 gallon buckets side by side to empty the water. i'm currently using almond leaves to produce tannin and humic water, but it's making a mess. I'm going to be trying something new by putting in almond catappa bark.


----------



## tang daddy

as I said less space you can even stack tanks... also makes it hassle free since there is a pump for waterchanges and top up...I do use 5g for my small shrimp tanks tho...


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## 2wheelsx2

Yeah, for a 33 gallon you can just age water. Better for the fish then using conditioners and straight tap. When I had the 20 and 15 in the house, I just kept (still have it) a 30 gallon rubbermaid tub with water in it and aged it at least 24 hours before using. Saves on hot water, conditioner, and also don't have to worry about CO2 degassing.


----------



## jobber

One thing I've learned from my father is always use aged water. So I've only used aged water with dosing prime also to eliminate high metal contents. What I've kind of concluded, as I live vancouver and have my water supplied which goes through longer and older piping), is that there are a lot of contaminants. So I'd rather be safe than sorry. The funny thing is the containers that I use to age water is a 1.5 gallon, get this, PINESOL container. Since I have a lot of puny small fish, I'm using a smaller sized siphon, drained into two 5 gallon buckets. Then I use two containers of aged water and the rest is all straight from the tap. I found that the fish, especially the cories, relish a bit of the cooler water. I have recently increase my tank temperature to about 25.5 degrees celsius from 23.


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## neven

i wish i could used aged water, moment i leave a bucket of water out i got toys floating in them. So when i do my water changes i just treat the water, put a power head in it for 15 minutes to let things dissolve into the water a bit before its in the tank


----------



## 2wheelsx2

neven said:


> i wish i could used aged water, moment i leave a bucket of water out i got toys floating in them. So when i do my water changes i just treat the water, put a power head in it for 15 minutes to let things dissolve into the water a bit before its in the tank


Lid with holes drilled in it solves that. I have 2 kids and cats and never get anything in my water.


----------



## jobber

in respect to water changes, i was very skeptical for dumping water straight from the tap even with prime added to it, but after a while, i noticed it didn't make much of a difference to the fish. got comfortable with just doing that eversince.

Tank Update: 
Wow. I'm noticing quite the growth in my plants after this past water change and dosing. Hope the growth continues. I'm really hoping for just steady slow growth. i want this tank to be as simple as it can be. My goal is to have long-term sustainable growth rather that expedited growth.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

The plants will be easier once some of those secret ingredients arrive in my mail.


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## jobber

Yes. I agree that the special ingredients I will be experimenting will be slow lush growth. Unfortunately, I have caught the pleco syndrome now. That last remaining L066 has been the funniest thing to watch as it competes for food with all the other lil cories. Its not afraid of all the bigger around him/her, but is afraid of the live blackworms.


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## 2wheelsx2

That's not so odd. I caught my discus eating and spitting out the blackworms last night. They were scared of the live blackworm also.


----------



## jobber

Well, after last night's livefood buffet, tons of pygmaeus eggs on the glass, in the java moss, and stargrass. Need to find a few panda cories to up the numbers in the school.

Do plecos do well in numbers? (Lazy to do my own research)


----------



## 2wheelsx2

jobber604 said:


> Do plecos do well in numbers? (Lazy to do my own research)


Depends on the type. The bigger ones tend to have problems, but that's just because they need large territories. The smaller ones can find niches quite easily so (at least for me) there is very little squabbling. I have found that most of my smaller ones (by smaller, I mean <6") display better in groups of 3+. The exceptions are the large Panaque and any Pseudacanthicus.


----------



## jobber

Yeah, I'm thinking of a group of hyps.now but I'll just sit on that idea until the remainder of the acquisitions are in the tank.

I'm currently still monitoring the water parameters just to make sure there's not imbalances.


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## 2wheelsx2

Are you testing for nitrates/nitrites/ammonia?


----------



## jobber

Yeah. Just making sure there's no sudden spikes the day after feedings. However, I do have enough nitrate soaking plants in my tank. Thinking that a plant trimming may be required by next week.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Nitrates are fine, since you do water changes. Ammonia and nitrite are you concerns in the new tank. Sounds like they're doing group. A nice group of L201, L129, L340, L066, L260, or L333 would look great in that tank. And may also breed for you. I'd try not to mix them up, since you seem to have the breeding technique down.


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## jobber

Yuck. Ammonia and nitrite are my new worst enemy now 
As long as there's no buildup of nitrate, then the ammonia and nitrite can be combatted by the bacteria and the good ole xP4 workhorse. 

Its great to have done some planning on a tank and see it grow. Funny how I did not like tetras before but now am in love with them as a school or should I say...the schools. Looking forward to completing the inputting of livestock by the end of next week.


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## jobber

*January 20, 2011 - What do we have here?*

Today is the tank's 1 month anniversary (ie. one month ago, I began setting it up) so I decided to do a 60% water change due to the fact that I have been feeding live worms and feeding a lot these past few days. The fish are settling in, although the rummynoses are still a big jumpy. Plant growth is steady, where I needed to do some trimmings of the stargrass. The sole surviving L066 fry is not shy to compete for food (shrimp pellet, sinking pellet, sinking wafers, algae wafer). As I was lifting a piece of driftwood to suck up all the debris around it, I noticed a bunch of tiny red cherry shrimps. While cleaning around the filter intake, I noticed a bunch of small pygmaeus eggs as well as some larger eggs which I am definitely sure are from the panda corydoras. As I looked thoroughly, there was enough of the panda eggs in the java moss and fissidens to setup the breeder box. And now here we go again...my attempt to rear corydora eggs. I meticulously took out all the eggs which include pygmaeus and panda corydoras...and heck, there maybe some habrosus eggs in there as well. Nonetheless, there's a total of 25 eggs I was able to place into the breeder box along with some java moss. Unfortunately, i clumsily squished 4 eggs. I will see how it goes with the 25 eggs that are in the breeder box. Here are some pictures to share.

Picture A - How many eggs do you see?









Picture B - How many eggs can you spy with your eyes?









Picture C - In the breeder box. Eggs clinging to java moss









Picture D - Eggs on the bottom









Picture E - Plant growth












































Picture F - Tank Setup


----------



## tang daddy

Looking good so far Ming although maybe a suggestion....why not have the breeder box on the side of the tank, it kinda takes away from the whole tank....


----------



## jobber

tang daddy said:


> Looking good so far Ming although maybe a suggestion....why not have the breeder box on the side of the tank, it kinda takes away from the whole tank....


Thanks chris. Yeah, I was going to find a way to place the breeder box on the side so it won't obstruct the view of the tank, but the glass top (All Glass tops) doesn't allow any room. The breeder box is one of those external satelite ones which circulates water using an air pump. Its pretty neat having so many panda eggs again. I just hope I have the patience to raise them this time around. I found that the pygmaeus fries are harder to raise since they are so puny. Nonetheless, its pretty neat looking into the breeder box. Think the eggs were laid a few days ago so they'll soon hatch.

My biggest challenge right now is to monitor ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite levels as I am carry such a big bio-load. I still plan to add more over this weekend. Its still amazing to see the plants grow steadily in this tank. I am dosing regularly. I'm trying to keep this setup as basic and simple as possible. Realizing it gets pretty hard resisting and stalling on purchases in this hobby.


----------



## Diztrbd1

Tank looks nothing less than great Ming!! Happy anniversary on it lol Hope those eggs hatch for ya


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## rickwaines

so exciting about the cory eggs. fun!


----------



## jobber

Diztrbd1 said:


> Tank looks nothing less than great Ming!! Happy anniversary on it lol Hope those eggs hatch for ya


thanks Diztrbd1. i was so surprised to find them. Can't be lazy and waste the spawning efforts. Going to try my best to raise them.



rickwaines said:


> so exciting about the cory eggs. fun!


if I'm able to raise them, then i won't have to go buy them


----------



## jobber

I've just done a quick rescape where I trimmed some repens and stargrass and took out a echino. bleheri. I relocated the sagittaria playphillia to the right side and when I plucked the plant out of the substrate, it was amazing to see the amount of root growth in just a week's time. here's a picture:









here's the lil guy feeding on micro-pellets.









Unfortunately, i've noticed some of the panda eggs catching some fungal issues. There are some other eggs that are looking healthy and ready.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Love that L066!


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## fxbillie

Wow, you turn that bare tank into an oasis within one month. Great job Ming. I have to learn more from a plant & tank master. The star grass you gave me didn't do anywhere the kind of growth you are showing here. Amazing in such a short time. Bring me any clipping you don't want when you visit, heehee.


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## rickwaines

I have a few tiny pleco's ming, what kind of micro pellets do you feed them, and where did you get them?


----------



## spit.fire

i wish my army of cories would lay eggs


----------



## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Love that L066!


Lil' L066 is eating so much and growing up so fast. It won't be the same once it gets too big . I like raising these little fries. Hope they'll be more on the way.



fxbillie said:


> Wow, you turn that bare tank into an oasis within one month. Great job Ming. I have to learn more from a plant & tank master. The star grass you gave me didn't do anywhere the kind of growth you are showing here. Amazing in such a short time. Bring me any clipping you don't want when you visit, heehee.


My oasis is made possible by information collected from this site and from people's suggestions. I have this site to thank for. That's why i post up the pictures up as my tank's progress (plant growth, fish health, fish spawns) is just as much mine as it is this community and forums. Master Planter and fishkeeper I am not. I'm still a Padawan student learning from Jedi master's on this site. If you give me a week or so, I'll have a big baggy worth of stargrass for you on my next mow.



rickwaines said:


> I have a few tiny pleco's ming, what kind of micro pellets do you feed them, and where did you get them?


hi Rick, the micro pellets i'm using were meant for the tetras. however, they do sink and the cories and pleco's seem to have a liking to them. I guess it's all the msg in the hikari food that makes the fish seem to attack it so much. The brand that i am using are made from Hikari Micro Pellets. Can get them at any LFS or through Big Al's Online. your small plecos should be eating anything you throw at them.



spit.fire said:


> i wish my army of cories would lay eggs


I think I just got lucky. I did not originally and purposely go out of my way to breed or spawn the 3 remaining ones. But like this hobby, once you see a few eggs, you begin doing research and get all excited in hopes of raising any potential fries.


----------



## jobber

*January 25, 2011*

Had a bit of time and took some pictures this evening to introduce some of the fauna (I couldn't get any good pictures of the rummynoses or cardinal tetras so didn't bother posting the pictures up).

Here are the 2 day old eggs.









One of the newly hatched fry:









A young Red Cherry Shrimp:









One of the two plump female Pygmaeus Corydoras:









Male Otocinclus Vittatus:









Gravid Female Otocinclus Vittatus:









An assassin snail:









Young BNP with the Oto:









Male Panda Corydora (the gravid female is very shy right now):









A Corydora Hasbrosus resting after a meal of live blackworms:









L066 juvenile:


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Very nice. I can't believe you have gravid otos already.


----------



## Luke78

Seems like everything is coming along nicely , even some breeding going on! You aint "adding" something special to the water now are you ?  Just messing with you.Good stuff , keep updating ! 

Luke


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## rickwaines

superpics Ming!


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## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Very nice. I can't believe you have gravid otos already.


well she was inherited 



Luke78 said:


> Seems like everything is coming along nicely , even some breeding going on! You aint "adding" something special to the water now are you ?  Just messing with you.Good stuff , keep updating !
> 
> Luke


i'm adding nothing special. just feeding the fish a very diverse array of food, plus introduced live blackworms last week. Maybe the almond leaves. Hope i'm able to raise the fries.



rickwaines said:


> superpics Ming!


thanks rick. pictures detail a thousand words. lazy. rather upload a pic than type out a bunch of jibberish which never gets read


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## jobber

*January 27, 2011 - Fries*

As a hobbyist, I'm finding it hard to resist purchases when at a LFS. Just couldn't resist so I picked up another school of something something for the tank.


----------



## crazy72

Ok ok, let me guess.... Lemon tetras?


----------



## jobber

*Corydora egg development*

Here's a picture of some panda corydora eggs from two days ago:









And now, the same two eggs as of today, with more development inside and colour change in one egg while the other looking like fungal issues due to unfertilzation or whatever:


----------



## jobber

crazy72 said:


> Ok ok, let me guess.... Lemon tetras?


not lemon tetras...keep on guessing???
more pics coming also. working on the journal as we speak.


----------



## crazy72

jobber604 said:


> more pics coming also. working on the journal as we speak.


I'll just wait for the pics then


----------



## jobber

*Fries*

Here are some of the hatched fries. They're currently eating infusoria that's provided by the java moss and decaying almond leave. i've been also feeding Hikari First Bites and some fine baby food provided by a buddy. wanting to look for some microworms if anyone can spare a bit of a culture as I had previously and generously gave it to another member. After yesterday's live blackworm feeding, the pygmies laid a ton of eggs throughout the tank and java moss. I was able to retrieve about 10 eggs and gave it a paraguard bath to prevent potential fungal growth. I'm sure there's a lot more in the tank, especially in the stargrass but i won't be going in and picking them out.

Due to previous experience, I can identify this one as being pygmaeus corydora. Tiny but this one has grown pretty fast. 3 days old now. Can you spot him/her?


















Here is the panda corydora fry. the first one that hatched about 3 days ago.

















Here's an upclose pic.


----------



## gklaw

Very cool !

Come over and visit if you want to catch MTS


----------



## O.C.D Fishies

They are soo cute Ming. Are they Oscars lol. Now all you need is 999,998 more and you are set.


----------



## crazy72

Soooo cute! Great job, Ming.

How about the pics of the something something?


----------



## jobber

gklaw said:


> Very cool !
> Come over and visit if you want to catch MTS


I'm afraid I would catch MTS. After seeing some of those tanks.
I want bigger species tanks of plecos, geos, cories, and angelfish now....
Your discus setup is pretty nice. Now I need to find that natural balance for my tank with such a big bio-load 



O.C.D Fishies said:


> They are soo cute Ming. Are they Oscars lol. Now all you need is 999,998 more and you are set.


Thanks candice! i just hope these little guys make it through the first month. it's not as cool as your buddy's danio fries.



crazy72 said:


> ...How about the pics of the something something?


Haha, nothing too special. Just needed a filler school for the empty water column so I decided to add a school of something something.


----------



## bamboo

WOW the setup looks great!!!
are those black neons?


----------



## AWW

Can't believe i missed this thread, the tank is looking fantastic!

It makes me want to get a shallow tank, all mine have been 18" - 30"


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Nice black neons. I love those guys. Man, all these updates while I'm asleep. Great pics of the fry.


----------



## jobber

bambam said:


> WOW the setup looks great!!!
> are those black neons?


good guess. yup. black neon tetras. Quite the activity happening in the tank now.



AWW said:


> Can't believe i missed this thread, the tank is looking fantastic!
> It makes me want to get a shallow tank, all mine have been 18" - 30"


tanking is still growing. i'm glad my plants are growing at the current pace. I have already trimmed the stargrass 3 times. Glad I have them and the brazilian pennywort to help soak up and control the nitrate a bit. I just had a bit of a nitrate spike today, but that was due to my overfeeding the night before.

you want a shallow tank? haha. i want a taller tank. a taller and long tank 



2wheelsx2 said:


> Nice black neons. I love those guys. Man, all these updates while I'm asleep. Great pics of the fry.


The black neons were a good addition to the tank. Each group of fish nicely shoal in their respective groups very well. quite the busy tank now with so much activity going on. I still have to admit that it was pretty neat seeing those salmon fries cluster together and shoal tightly at the first sight of the discus.


----------



## fxbillie

Ming, your new additon of black neon really looks nice and the tank setting really make the shoaling fish look cute. Hey, when you have some of those corydora eggs and don't want to hatch them, I won't mind trying them, now that I have a 20g full of baby swordtails, may as well take on other babies too.

Congrats. Your tank is looking so good in such a short time, just marvellous.

William


----------



## jobber

fxbillie said:


> Ming, your new additon of black neon really looks nice and the tank setting really make the shoaling fish look cute. Hey, when you have some of those corydora eggs and don't want to hatch them, I won't mind trying them, now that I have a 20g full of baby swordtails, may as well take on other babies too.
> 
> Congrats. Your tank is looking so good in such a short time, just marvellous.
> 
> William


thanks billie. It's still all a continous learning process for me as I'm still trying to figure the best way to keep these fries alive and have more eggs hatch. I just did a huge stargrass trim and a bit of rescaping. I hope you enjoy the goodies .


----------



## jobber

*finally*

After numerous opportunities to get the nice plump gravid female pygmaeus, finally!


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Boy that's one fat fish!


----------



## jobber

wow. wasup with the quick response. haha
now i need to catch up on tank journals.

came home today and found my new toy had arrived in the mail.









"...And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air....Gave proof through the night that my fish were still there"


----------



## jobber

*February 7, 2011*

Treated myself to a great bday present. Just playing the waiting game for the time being. Came home as usual to inspect my tank...yes I am still monitoring to see if there are belly ups or unusual behaviours. Found the lil' fella come out for once and decided to take a quick picture before he/she scurries off.

Since I got the python, i've been doing 60% water changes a week, but I will try to split the water changes to twice a week. I've also picked up some specialty food online and once that stuff arrives, I will post more updates and review of the food.

The lil' fella.









Major trim of some plants. I will take a picture after a week to compare the plant growth.









Random pictures of the tank:


----------



## Diztrbd1

tanks looks great Ming. The lil fella is awesome! need a couple of those myself lol


----------



## jobber

Diztrbd1 said:


> tanks looks great Ming. The lil fella is awesome! need a couple of those myself lol


Yeah. The lil fella has grown up pretty fast. he seems to like to hide more now. when he was a few weeks younger, he was roaming around. Well, a few more of these lil fellas would be nice in any tank, including myself.


----------



## crazy72

This is an L066, right?


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Yep, that's an L066, just like the little guys you have Franck.


----------



## Pamelajo

Very nice tank and fish Ming!!


----------



## jobber

Pamelajo said:


> Very nice tank and fish Ming!!


thanks pam. soon i'll be feeding my fish some quality food


----------



## Pamelajo

Hope they like it!!


----------



## jobber

*Fairdeal group buy pickup*

So I picked up my well anticipated additions to my tank. I made room for these guys by finding a good home for the oto in PoCo. Since this was the first time I was part of a group buy for fish and the first time buying fish from outside the Lower Mainland, I figure it would be a good idea to journalize my trip to the airport to meet up with Tony1928 and the rest of the cichlid crew to pickup the parcels. Yes, I was the only person of the group buy that is not part of the African cichlid crew--great group of guys though. Thanks again for Tony1928 for putting this one together. Went very smoothly and great communication.

here are some pictures and a video to share with you all.

The boxes on the pallet waiting for the forklift.









Video of reason why the two boxes were on pallets.





The two boxes containing the goodies waiting to be unwrapped.









The fish being inspected in the dark parking lot...with the aid of skrick's flashlight.









Unboxing the goodies. Well packaged. Heat bagged, foam insulation, newspaper, triple bagged, and fish in paraguard water.









Finally got my bag of fish in hand. Waiting a good patient two weeks.









The content.









A closer inspection.









The bag of goodies riding in the 'shotgun' seat on the way back to their new home.









I'm still in the process of uploading more pictures and videos. Keep your eye out for my updates.


----------



## jkam

what are they? mouth shape doesnt look like albino bristlenose.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Sweet. Can't wait to see tank shots. Agreed. Not BNP's. And definitely not albino, as you can see colouration in the first shot.


----------



## rickwaines

whoo hooooo
a passel of pleco's!


----------



## bunnyrabbit

Looks like a peckoltia.


----------



## Pamelajo

Congrats on the new additons, also looking forward to tank pics.


----------



## jobber

jkam said:


> what are they? mouth shape doesnt look like albino bristlenose.


I was going to post all the pics in one sitting but it took too long to upload. It's not an albino bnp for sure.



2wheelsx2 said:


> Sweet. Can't wait to see tank shots. Agreed. Not BNP's. And definitely not albino, as you can see colouration in the first shot.


the colouration isn't good because it's been in transport. they're shy and timid.



rickwaines said:


> whoo hooooo
> a passel of pleco's!


haha. a passel. if i had a big monster tank like yours, there won't be any money left to contribute to my RRSP before deadline date. Wish I could have a few more of another kind I have my eyes set on.



bunnyrabbit said:


> Looks like a peckoltia.


it's not a peckolita, but wouldn't mind trying out some peckoltia in the near future. perhaps some to growout 



Pamelajo said:


> Congrats on the new additons, also looking forward to tank pics.


voila. more pics soon to come


----------



## jobber

*Introducing the new additions to the tank*

Ok. In continuation to the previous update, I finally finished uploading. In the bag was 5x L129's and 1x L201. I'm wanting to keep the same group/type of fish, so thankfully, have found a home for the L201 in the coming week for it to play with its other L201 mates. As usual, I'll post up the pictures, then post up the videos. Please disregard how I netted them out to place into my tank. I didn't know that it's better to use your hands . Note that the colouration of the fish is due to being stressed via transport in the pictures and videos. Enjoy!

Sitting on my desk waiting to be opened.









Picture from below the bag.









Picture from above with the bag opened. The water is blue because of Seachem Paraguard.









Another picture while acclimatizing to my tank's water parameters (i always do a water test and compare the water in the bag and in my tank so that I know what i'm dealing with).









Improperly netting the fish out, two in one catch.









All 2.75" of L129. The first one into the tank.









L201, with pale colours due to transportation stress.

















A 2" L129, colouration starting to come back after 15 minutes.









Hiding near the intake









Colouration coming back.

















and now....the videos below.


----------



## jobber

*Videos of the introduction of my new acquisitions*

Here are the videos of introducing the new fish into the tank.


----------



## ngo911

Great looking tank Ming! Those new plecos will thrive in your setup!

You should leave the net in the tank, they seem to be very fond of it


----------



## Pamelajo

Beautiful tank Ming. Nice plecos, thanks for sharing the videos.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

The fish are colouring up really well. Looks great.


----------



## jobber

ngo911 said:


> Great looking tank Ming! Those new plecos will thrive in your setup!
> You should leave the net in the tank, they seem to be very fond of it


You can't believe how addictive these guys are. already thinking of what other ones i can have. hope i don't need to net them out much.



Pamelajo said:


> Beautiful tank Ming. Nice plecos, thanks for sharing the videos.


this is a good tank. but i'm already having thoughts of bigger and bigger tanks. need to spoil the fish with some good food soon.



2wheelsx2 said:


> The fish are colouring up really well. Looks great.


I noticed that the base colour of the L129s are yellow. they're all settled in now and i can see the true deep colouration. also noticed some foxholes underneath a piece of driftwood.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

The colouration seems somewhat related to the environment. In my shadowed 125 gallon, they are browner than yours. It may also be a maturity thing too.


----------



## jobber

*New day, new colours, new toys*

Woke up and found a L129 clinging to the glass. Lucky I didnt' spook it when taking the picture.










Basking on the sand.









Due to a panic attack, better be safe than sorry, I went and exchange my Marineland heater for a Hydor Inline heater.


----------



## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> The colouration seems somewhat related to the environment. In my shadowed 125 gallon, they are browner than yours. It may also be a maturity thing too.


I figure it is the tank environment and the stress off traveling from Calgary to Vancouver. it's only the second day. no qualms from me. lots of time for them to adapt to the new planted tank. wait until they get some goodies to munch on. just waiting for those to arrive in the mail from two different sources.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Or you can raid the fridge for some Bok Choy!


----------



## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Or you can raid the fridge for some Bok Choy!


I should cook some bok choy (bai cai) to eat for myself. I'm as carnivorous as the hypans.

Finally. Got it installed and freed up a ton of space/clutter in the tank.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Very nice Ming. Might be an idea to take up the weight of the heater by suspending it with some straps, but they don't weighat much.


----------



## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Very nice Ming. Might be an idea to take up the weight of the heater by suspending it with some straps, but they don't weighat much.


yeah, i'm thinking of using a wired coat hanger. i'll fix up something. in the meantime, i feel a pleco itch coming....horrible.


----------



## Luke78

Nice pickup , how many in total did you get ? sorry if i missed the original post!


----------



## Diztrbd1

the "basking in the sand" pic.... is that the same L129 thats on the glass in the pic above it?


----------



## jobber

Luke78 said:


> Nice pickup , how many in total did you get ? sorry if i missed the original post!


I picked up 6, but one of them turned out to be a L201. gonna find a good home for the lone L201. not fair for him to be alone without it's brethrens. already having ideas in the head to pick up a few more. just waiting for the pleco caves to arrive will help the foxholes and tube fighting i already see.



Diztrbd1 said:


> the "basking in the sand" pic.... is that the same L129 thats on the glass in the pic above it?


it's that same one that comes out now. I'm noticing them at night, when i have the moonlights on, that they venture out. pretty neat. hope they'll get use to the tank and won't be too shy in the future. i'm thinking of another clan already.haha


----------



## Diztrbd1

Amazing how much it looks like my Clown Pleco (Panaque maccus) . So many plecos look so much like others. Really must take some kind of expert to tell them all apart from one another lol


----------



## jobber

Diztrbd1 said:


> Amazing how much it looks like my Clown Pleco (Panaque maccus) . So many plecos look so much like others. Really must take some kind of expert to tell them all apart from one another lol


the expert is sure as heck not me. i jsut went a did a water test for the heck of it and found pH jumped to 7.4. weird. did a water change redump some fertz and reset the parameters again.


----------



## crazy72

Beautiful plecos, Ming. And you seem to be turning into a plecoholic pretty fast. You and Gary can start PA now. 

I know exactly how you feel. You can't resist the urge to get more plecos, but your 33 is only so big, and you don't want to give in to MTS. Tough. Very tough. I feel for you. But wait, don't despair. You can always count on me to help! If you want to find a home for your corydora Habrosus, just let me know. I know, I know, I'm so good hearted. I just can't help it.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

How many fish can you fit in the 60 and 48 gallons, Franck? I think with this pleco craze going, many people may want to use your good heart!  And I laughed out loud on the PA when I figured out what it stood for.


----------



## crazy72

60+48+33 actually. But yes, most of this is full already so there are limits to my good heart. This one here is a very selective good-heart move.


----------



## jobber

PA? plecoholic anonymous, pleco addicts, pure awesome, pleco aquaria, ....
btw. there's a FX5 for sale for $230. wouldn't that be something...fx5 on a 10gallon 

hasbrosus ain't going no where. oh yeah, there are hasbrosus for sale at rogers....lots of them.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Plecoholics anonymous...hello my names is.....and I've been pleco free for 8 days so far.


----------



## crazy72

Plecoholics Anonymous, yes. The fishy pendant to AA (Alcoholics Anonymous).

As to the Habrosus, I'll be here to help if you change your mind.


----------



## jobber

crazy72 said:


> Beautiful plecos, Ming. And you seem to be turning into a plecoholic pretty fast. You and Gary can start PA now.
> 
> I know exactly how you feel. You can't resist the urge to get more plecos, but your 33 is only so big, and you don't want to give in to MTS. Tough. Very tough. I feel for you. But wait, don't despair. You can always count on me to help! If you want to find a home for your corydora Habrosus, just let me know. I know, I know, I'm so good hearted. I just can't help it.


i've stalled for the longest time for plecos. had bnps for almost half a year. i was looking back at gary's pleco thread, think it was about june or august, when i got the crazy idea to have some hypans. always seem to like the L129. don't know why. i'm a big crazed over this other one right now also. see if i can get my pleco hands on some.


----------



## crazy72

2wheelsx2 said:


> Plecoholics anonymous...hello my names is.....and I've been pleco free for 8 days so far.


Exactly. I can absolutely see this as a Monty Python sketch.


----------



## crazy72

jobber604 said:


> i've stalled for the longest time for plecos. had bnps for almost half a year. i was looking back at gary's pleco thread, think it was about june or august, when i got the crazy idea to have some hypans. always seem to like the L129. don't know why. i'm a big crazed over this other one right now also. see if i can get my pleco hands on some.


Yes, that is it. Look at Gary's thread some more. You have my PM.


----------



## jobber

the question is, how many more fish can i acquire. haha. 
but thanks franck for the offer. if habrosus stock comes up again at C/A, do pick them up! it's the best corydora out there. get like 24+. hmmmm....i wonder now maybe i should have just taken C/A out of all their habrosus stock and make my tank hasbrosus only...haha. a colony of hasbrosus. then flip them for a quick profit *ahem fx5"


----------



## 2wheelsx2

jobber604 said:


> i've stalled for the longest time for plecos. had bnps for almost half a year. i was looking back at gary's pleco thread, think it was about june or august, when i got the crazy idea to have some hypans. always seem to like the L129. don't know why. i'm a big crazed over this other one right now also. see if i can get my pleco hands on some.


Can't wait to see some L46 in there!


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Diztrbd1 said:


> Amazing how much it looks like my Clown Pleco (Panaque maccus) . So many plecos look so much like others. Really must take some kind of expert to tell them all apart from one another lol


The mouth, head and tail shapes between L129 and Panaque maccus are very different.


----------



## davej

Sign me up for PA as well.


----------



## beN

ming! 

i hadn't looked @ this thread until today.

haha i was going to buy that tank & make it for my Congo Puffer!

Great Pickup, I must say you have made it look great!


----------



## jobber

davej said:


> Sign me up for PA as well.


sign up for PA? I thought that you were already one 



beN said:


> ming!
> i hadn't looked @ this thread until today.
> haha i was going to buy that tank & make it for my Congo Puffer!
> Great Pickup, I must say you have made it look great!


Thanks beN. Like many others, it would have been great to pick up a nice big 100gallon+. When this bad boy tank came up, i had to grab it before someone else did. How can you pass it up. It's allowed me to do a setup 'nano' style. but hey, if you want it for your congo puffer still, i'll trade you for one of your 100gallon+ tanks. haha. my tank's still a working progress. it's starting to mature in as I am battling a bit of imbalances with some small green dotted algae due to lack of nutrients.


----------



## tang daddy

Hey Ming just looked a couple pages back through your journal as there was a bunch to read, saw that you got some l129 nice score!

What is your fish load at now, maybe post a full count list for all the fish and how frequent are you changing the water?


----------



## jobber

tang daddy said:


> Hey Ming just looked a couple pages back through your journal as there was a bunch to read, saw that you got some l129 nice score!
> 
> What is your fish load at now, maybe post a full count list for all the fish and how frequent are you changing the water?


yeah the L129's are colouring up very well now. waiting for my pleco caves to come soon. lessen the squabbling for tube space and no more foxholes underneath driftwood.

my fishload? a lot and i'm planning on a few more additions which are in the works. my water changes are about twice a week. But i've noticed some issues with my plants as there doesn't seem like enough phosphate and potassium (some green spot algae). My water column is quite tannic now. there's a yellow hue to it as I have a lot of almond leaves and using up a bottle of humic/tannic acid. i'll PM you my fish load. haha

when i have the time, i'm going to revamp my tank journal to have all the pictures all in the first post. it's annoying even for me to look at some of the pictures and have to go through all the pages of posts.


----------



## jobber

So some of my goodies have arrived. Thanks to ebay's Amy's Ketapang Inc., I received a huge bag of almond leaves and some small gifts. I use the almond leaves to help produce the desire blackwater (tannic and humic acid) water to emulate the fish's natural water and environment. If you're interested in some, you can get them from this link:
Amy's Ketapang Indian Almond Leaves Catappa items - Get great deals on blackwater breeding teabags items on eBay Stores!









My free little gifts:









I also received my order from Critter Crumbs made by Pamelajo. I'm just trying out what my fish likes to chow on. I'm starting treat them better than myself! Here's the link to my source for the critter crumbs:
Home - Critter Crumbs








**I know what you're thinking....they look kind of like "those" types of nickel or dime baggies. They're not. they're actually fish food


----------



## Pamelajo

Ming,
I see they arrived in good shape! No definitely not dime bags. lol My husband was saying not too long ago, that if the PO opened one they might wonder. Looking forward to hearing which they like best. 
Thanks again for your order and adding my link to your thread. If you take some pics of them eating I can add them to the site if you like.


----------



## rave93

Hey! read the whole thread bout the tank, just wanted to say it looks wonderful!
also one question, potentially nooby, but ill ask anyways

when u do water changes, do u stick it in the gravel as well? wont it uproot the plants and stuff? or do u just avoid the plants and do the substrate that doesnt have anything planted into it

thanks!


----------



## jobber

Pamelajo said:


> Ming,
> I see they arrived in good shape! No definitely not dime bags. lol My husband was saying not too long ago, that if the PO opened one they might wonder. Looking forward to hearing which they like best.
> Thanks again for your order and adding my link to your thread. If you take some pics of them eating I can add them to the site if you like.


it's great to receive goodies in the mail. i'm going to be spoiling the critters too much! but it's also good to try new things and feed treats now and then. thanks again for the great packaging.



rave93 said:


> Hey! read the whole thread bout the tank, just wanted to say it looks wonderful!
> also one question, potentially nooby, but ill ask anyways
> 
> when u do water changes, do u stick it in the gravel as well? wont it uproot the plants and stuff? or do u just avoid the plants and do the substrate that doesnt have anything planted into it
> 
> thanks!


Thanks rave93. because I have sand as my substrate, when i do my water changes i just clean the poop and detritus on the surface of the sand. i have water circulation that funnels all the poop and all detritus into this one spot on the sand near the intake. what i also do is swirl the water and sand a bit to get the poop off the bottom making it easier to clean. But no, i don't stick it in the gravel and so i don't uproot the plants. i just clean the areas around the plants.


----------



## jobber

*February 24, 2011*

Saw a hypan come out. After about two weeks, they're slowly becoming less timid. Got a quick chance to take a quick picture before he/she scutter off.



















then the panda comes scurrying near so i got an upclose pic. Female Panda.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Nice pics, #8!


----------



## thefishwife

wonderful shots Ming!


----------



## Diztrbd1

nice shots Ming


----------



## jobber

thanks. I'm trying my best with a point and shoot. An DSLR would be nice, but then again, i'd rather spend the money for a DSLR on a new tank setup .

i'm wondering now on the true ID of the pleco I have. the patterns seem so similiar to other types. Even the pictures online don't seem to be 100% correct on the ID.


----------



## crazy72

Very nice, Ming. Your panda certainly doesn't look he's starving or anything.


----------



## jobber

crazy72 said:


> Very nice, Ming. Your panda certainly doesn't look he's starving or anything.


not at all. if anything, i must stop overfeeding the tank. it's actually a she and she's still laying the eggs after each water change. since i've added the hypans to the tank, i'm noticing an big big increase in long solid pieces


----------



## 2wheelsx2

jobber604 said:


> since i've added the hypans to the tank, i'm noticing an big big increase in long solid pieces


Ah...the life of a plecoholic.


----------



## Pamelajo

Great pics Ming.


----------



## jobber

jobber604 said:


> Saw a hypan come out. After about two weeks, they're slowly becoming less timid. Got a quick chance to take a quick picture before he/she scutter off.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> then the panda comes scurrying near so i got an upclose pic.


Feeding some bloodworms to the crew. After 3 weeks, the L129's have settled in and are more active in the open. Here's a video of the tank from today:


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Wow! Look at them fat tetras!


----------



## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Wow! Look at them fat tetras!


dont' need fat tetras. just means they'll eat more!

the new toys have arrived in the mail.









well wrapped and packaged...what could they be....









new hiding spots


----------



## Pamelajo

You got all kind of goodies in the mail lately..


----------



## jobber

Yeah. treating myself and the fishies well. i gotta stop the hoarding behaviour though.


----------



## rickwaines

plecostapartmentcomplex


----------



## jobber

rickwaines said:


> plecostapartmentcomplex


This is as close to the pleco subdivision units as i can get. Each stand alone unit. haha.


----------



## jay_leask

jobber604 said:


> This is as close to the pleco subdivision units as i can get. Each stand alone unit. haha.


thats going to look cool in the tank


----------



## jobber

jay_leask said:


> thats going to look cool in the tank


That would look good in a tank with a bunch of pricey plecos. But that won't be in my current tank...yet.



Pamelajo said:


> You got all kind of goodies in the mail lately..


yeah, i still have some more coming too


----------



## jobber

test test. guess all my previous videos links don't work.


----------



## Diztrbd1

Great video Ming! Tank looks great dude


----------



## jobber

thanks john. i'm so lazy to fix up all the youtube links.
going to add some pandas. need to build up the school.


----------



## jobber

thanks john. i'm so lazy to fix up all the youtube links.
going to add some pandas. need to build up the school.


----------



## jobber

L066 coming out and slurping on some live blackworms.


----------



## crazy72

Very nice, Ming. He seems to love it! 

Where do you get your live blackworms?


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Wow, that's so cool. Your L066 is the same size as your habrosus. 

Panda> Rummy > habrosus > L066. It's like Lilliput in your tank.

Franck, you can get them from either Charles or Pat. I believe got his from Pat.


----------



## jobber

crazy72 said:


> Very nice, Ming. He seems to love it!
> 
> Where do you get your live blackworms?


thanks gary. yes, at pat's as i was picking up more pandas 



2wheelsx2 said:


> Wow, that's so cool. Your L066 is the same size as your habrosus.
> 
> Panda> Rummy > habrosus > L066. It's like Lilliput in your tank.
> 
> Franck, you can get them from either Charles or Pat. I believe got his from Pat.


wish all the fish stayed that size in my "nano tank".


----------



## jobber

*been awhile since my last post/purchases*

here are some pics. i think these are shrimp eggs. turns out these eggs ended up hatching. saw so many puny RCS.

















And picked up some goodies a two weeks ago from pat.

















today, went by charles and left with a few bags ofcardinals, pygmies and...









cardinals and pygmies









apistogramma macmastery


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Nice score!


----------



## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Nice score!


still think i scored way too many times....
and now the frequency of water changes will rise


----------



## 2wheelsx2

jobber604 said:


> still think i scored way too many times....
> and now the frequency of water changes will rise


Just gives you more reason to stare at the tank!


----------



## crazy72

My Goodness Ming this is getting pretty serious! Just out of curiosity, how may inches of fish do you have in your tank now?


----------



## bunnyrabbit

Thanks for sharing the pictures Ming. You might have to get another tank then you'll be able to get more fish. Maybe some 201 or 134.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

bunnyrabbit said:


> Thanks for sharing the pictures Ming. You might have to get another tank then you'll be able to get more fish. Maybe some 201 or 134.


I agree on the Peckoltia compta....


----------



## Luke78

Nice pickup on the apisto's , wait until they settle in you will see some nice colours on them.Ive kept them before and are not fussy at all.Only thing i would do is keep an eye out for your bottom dwelling guys , apistos remain mid water and below(mostly lower levels) and could chase away your cories/plecos from time to time.


----------



## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Just gives you more reason to stare at the tank!


I already do. I already sleep with it.haha



crazy72 said:


> My Goodness Ming this is getting pretty serious! Just out of curiosity, how may inches of fish do you have in your tank now?


I can't publicly detail this sort of information i can only say only about 8 feet worth 



bunnyrabbit said:


> Thanks for sharing the pictures Ming. You might have to get another tank then you'll be able to get more fish. Maybe some 201 or 134.


Oh it's donned across my mind already...many times. At the moment, I need to resist hoarding tanks and abstain from spending money on equipment (need to save up for plane ticket). I already been in discussions and planning for bigger plans for the future. Getting more fish isn't a problem, it's just keeping them healthy and happy which is most important. Once some of these fish get too big, i will need to contemplate what I should do..whether through exchanges, barters, ....i do like puny frogs 



2wheelsx2 said:


> I agree on the Peckoltia compta....


I second on that. But i like them too 
my abstinence on pleco didn't last too long this year.



Luke78 said:


> Nice pickup on the apisto's , wait until they settle in you will see some nice colours on them.Ive kept them before and are not fussy at all.Only thing i would do is keep an eye out for your bottom dwelling guys , apistos remain mid water and below(mostly lower levels) and could chase away your cories/plecos from time to time.


Funny you say they'll chase cories away. I just saw a small male apisto do just that. but the cories have already adapted. they haven't gone near the driftwood cave. I think i have a good ratio 2:2, thanking charles for that.
The apisto tried to chase away a L129, but the L129 thrashed back. Finally see some action in the tank rather than the usually tetra shoals.


----------



## rickwaines

yahoooo, the macmastery found a home. and a good one at that. I have found a second panduro for the lonely female that charles threw in with the wild br's I got there the other day


----------



## jobber

rickwaines said:


> yahoooo, the macmastery found a home. and a good one at that. I have found a second panduro for the lonely female that charles threw in with the wild br's I got there the other day


Thanks rick. i was contemplating for a while whether to pick them up or not. ended up not able to resist. ended up picking up another dozen cardinals. that extra dozen makes a big difference in the look now. I've already seen some squabbling for territory by the apistos.


----------



## jobber

Just did a 75% water change and found my water to be extremely tanic. After the water change, wow. what a big difference between tanic water and clear water. the shade of colour of the fish differ too. The colours of the apisto's are coming out. Can't seem to find the females ones which I assume are hiding in the plants. males are squabbling and territorial. thank goodness the panda's are armour plated. Found the L129's more active after a water change. It seems the single one i picked up last is less shy than the others. 









Then as I was doing an inspection, found these:


















What a surprise to be able to catch this:


----------



## 2wheelsx2

That's awesome! You seem to be a spawning master.


----------



## bunnyrabbit

wowweethanks for sharing


----------



## crazy72

Wow this is extremely cool, Ming. Congrats. Whatever you do in this tank, they sure seem to like it!


----------



## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> That's awesome! You seem to be a spawning master.


spawning master i am. just got lucky this happened 
prefer more high valued first spawning so i can flip them for a profit.



bunnyrabbit said:


> wowweethanks for sharing


thank you. it's so neat to see it happen. it really caught me off guard when i saw the eggs scatter all about. of course some of it were eaten up, but the next few scatters, i spooked the tetras away towards the other side of the tank. a lot of the eggs are now in the java moss and on the bottom. suppose to hatch with 26 hours and free swimming with 3 days.



crazy72 said:


> Wow this is extremely cool, Ming. Congrats. Whatever you do in this tank, they sure seem to like it!


caught me really offguard but was very surprised. if i can catch the apistos or hypans or rummies or cardinals(as i picked up another 12) that would be neat also. i learnt that it's water changes. almond leaves, and feeding a regiment of live blackworms, bloodworms, and earthworm pellets. I think i may try discus pellets or carnivorous' delight in the future for other conditioning purposes. hope i can make frogs like my tank in the future future


----------



## crazy72

Any news about the eggs? Have they hatched?

I fully expect to see a video of the eggs hatching now. You've raised the bar! Don't disappoint me.


----------



## jobber

crazy72 said:


> Any news about the eggs? Have they hatched?
> 
> I fully expect to see a video of the eggs hatching now. You've raised the bar! Don't disappoint me.


There's too many hungry mouths in the tank for any fry to survive  I'm most certain they've hatched. they hatch withing 36 hours and will be free swimming by now.

on a fish friday note, check these out:









already inhabited.


















I did noticed one to be very very round. we'll see how things will go in the next while.


----------



## Diztrbd1

Ming you have done an amazing job with this tank buddy! Can't even begin to tell you how jealous I am lol almost makes me hate my 33g cause it's a 36" tank, now I want a 48" one lol. I remember talking to you in front of my building about this project and a week later you were going to town on it lol 3 months later & it's just an amazing tank! 2 thumbs up buddy!!


----------



## crazy72

Yeah I saw this tank in person last week-end and I have to say it's really impressive. Like all tanks on this forum, pics don't do it justice. Even these nice pics and videos  ! The tank is just bursting with life and activity. Pretty high maintenance though now that's it's fully stocked. Or at least I hope it's fully stocked.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

crazy72 said:


> Or at least I hope it's fully stocked.


It's not fully stocked in the 3rd dimension as Charles would say. Just put more wood and have the plecos living upstairs.


----------



## jobber

Diztrbd1 said:


> Ming you have done an amazing job with this tank buddy! Can't even begin to tell you how jealous I am lol almost makes me hate my 33g cause it's a 36" tank, now I want a 48" one lol. I remember talking to you in front of my building about this project and a week later you were going to town on it lol 3 months later & it's just an amazing tank! 2 thumbs up buddy!!


thanks john. went to town on the tank i did. if you didn't remind me, i wouldn't even realize it. it's the nature of a hoarder. I'm thinking I'm going to leave the tank a lone for a bit and enjoy the fish. There are quite vibrant activities in the tank. more so when the live blackworms are being fed. can't believe it's already been 3 months and april is around the corner. spring time, we should all start doing more frequent water changes to mimic the spring rainfall 

i did have some smaller sized habrosus pass on me. i think I'm down to about 17 or 16 from a total of 24. Undoubtedly from the decrease in water quality from the addition of the L129's about a few months ago. Some plants have been chewed on, and I highly suspect it to be the L066. I see it just munching away at the zucchini right now. almost a 1/4 of the zucchini is eaten by it.



crazy72 said:


> Yeah I saw this tank in person last week-end and I have to say it's really impressive. Like all tanks on this forum, pics don't do it justice. Even these nice pics and videos  ! The tank is just bursting with life and activity. Pretty high maintenance though now that's it's fully stocked. Or at least I hope it's fully stocked.


I totally agree with you franck. many of other people's tanks i've seen have been more stunning in person than by picture. not to say that the pictures are not good, but the live activities. It is more maintenance, but then again, with the help of the python, it's not bad at all. quick 10-15minute 60% water changes biweekly. i found that my 10gallon was more high maintenance than the current tank. just need to sit back and enjoy it more and stop prodding. I can't even believe myself the inches and numbers in here . fully stocked, yes. stocked completed, definately yes...for now.



2wheelsx2 said:


> It's not fully stocked in the 3rd dimension as Charles would say. Just put more wood and have the plecos living upstairs.


living upstairs? with (X_X) eyes and a pale looking colour floating motionless?


----------



## 2wheelsx2

jobber604 said:


> living upstairs? with (X_X) eyes and a pale looking colour floating motionless?


No, I meant the tree top penthouse. You should see now that I've added the branchy manzy to the 125. The panaque climb almost to the top of the 22" tall tank. Pretty neat.


----------



## effox

lol.......


----------



## crazy72

jobber604 said:


> ...just need to sit back and enjoy it more and stop prodding.


Yes Ming, I couldn't agree more. Many of us (myself included) tend to always look for the next scape, the next fish, the next change, and often forget to just stop for a while and enjoy what we've created. So... sit back and enjoy!


----------



## Diztrbd1

Bout time for an update eh? SO any of those eggs hatch and survive?


----------



## jobber

Diztrbd1 said:


> Bout time for an update eh? SO any of those eggs hatch and survive?


haha. I would update but there hasn't been much happening in my tank except for a rescape i did today to clean out some plants, rearranging some plants and caves. Did major water changes the past few days. making my water very tannic.

In regards to the black neon tetra eggs, my apistogrammas took care of them as well as a lot of RCS. I'm currently in the works for something something. But in the meantime, i'm just enjoying my setup. Just recently trying hikari canivore sinking pellets, the fish love their high proteins 

But do keep an eye out for a big update in the coming weeks.


----------



## CRS Fan

Ming...... It's time to see the rescape already! I'm ALWAYS rescaping my tanks !

Best Regards,

Stuart


----------



## Diztrbd1

yeah....what Stuart said lol

Wow somehow I missed seeing you had gotten the Apistos. Only pic I see of them is in a bucket lol Definitely need to get some pix or a vid up here for us. 
No worries.... always watching your and Gary's threads. Never know what you guys are gonna do next and it's always interesting


----------



## crazy72

jobber604 said:


> But do keep an eye out for a big update in the coming weeks.


What? More fish in there?!?


----------



## jobber

Diztrbd1 said:


> yeah....what Stuart said lol
> 
> Wow somehow I missed seeing you had gotten the Apistos. Only pic I see of them is in a bucket lol Definitely need to get some pix or a vid up here for us.
> No worries.... always watching your and Gary's threads. Never know what you guys are gonna do next and it's always interesting


well john, stuart, and franck....it's been a while but here are some pictures taken from my blackberry and camera. They'll be some swap outs and swap in's in the near future 
here are the apistogramma's. Pictures are not as clear as Gary's as he's using a SLR 

Since I have black substrate, the colour of the fish darker and deeper. Quite the contrast from Gary's apisto's.








Taken with a Blackberry - male on the left, female on the right. 








Female one looks like this.









4 of the L129's and a L066

















Left side of the tank where the pleco caves are located. I moved one of the amazon swords to the right side of the tank.









Full tank shot.


----------



## jay_leask

ill say it again i really like the looks of these 33 longs. very nice set-up. they look like they are way bigger then a 33G.


----------



## crazy72

I like your new scape, Ming. Nice and simple, and more open space in the middle. You're doing an excellent job on this 33 Long.

And good for you for not worrying too much about the picture quality. If there were only Gary-quality pics on this forum, I wouldn't dare posting any pics myself.


----------



## Diztrbd1

Wow ....the scape looks Great Ming! I love that piece of wood you have in there! Whats up with the frog itch? or what kind has you itching I should ask?


----------



## jobber

thanks guys. that piece of wood does make a bit of an impact. like the focal point. i need to lessen my bioload though for the 'itch'. soon you will find out.


----------



## jobber

*Conversion from cory tank to plecos*

Here are some pics. I'm going to try growing S.repens again since I've taken out the BNP out of the tank. If it works out and grow out, good, but if they don't grow, it's all good. I've moved all the black neon tetras and bnp to my father's tank. I'm slowly reorganizing my livestock in anticipation for newbies.

Planted the s.repens on the mound.


















Before new caves.









Female A.Macmasteri









L066

















New scape with more pleco caves.


----------



## CRS Fan

Looking good, Ming. Why not get some L10a's or Big Eye Ottos? Big Eye's are on my list of things I have to have !

Stuart


----------



## 2wheelsx2

CRS Fan said:


> Why not get some L10a's or Big Eye Ottos? Big Eye's are on my list of things I have to have !


Because he already has his list of something different that has a higher bioload already....oops, giving too much away!


----------



## CRS Fan

2wheelsx2 said:


> Because he already has his list of something different that has a higher bioload already....oops, giving too much away!


I'm assuming you are referring to Leopard Frogs from DaveJ? Just an educated guess.

Stuart


----------



## 2wheelsx2

CRS Fan said:


> I'm assuming you are referring to Leopard Frogs from DaveJ? Just an educated guess.
> 
> Stuart


Nope. Good guess though.


----------



## Ra's al Ghul

*NEW TANK:33 Gallon Long - Amazon Biotope - TETRA SPAWN VIDEO*

Nice setup Ming


----------



## jay_leask

ok i think i will have to get a 33 long now just because of your tank


----------



## jay_leask

i like how you dug the caves in the sand.


----------



## Luke78

Nice looking setup , the caves are a great idea.Must say the female MacMa apisto looks amazing.Good size,nice body shape and fins, and she is ready to breed my friend


----------



## jobber

CRS Fan said:


> Looking good, Ming. Why not get some L10a's or Big Eye Ottos? Big Eye's are on my list of things I have to have !
> Stuart


Thanks Stuart, as you can tell, it's kind of tough still to let go of plants. I remember saying how I would keep the plants to a minimal, yet, i've still kept or still attempting to grow more. When C/A first brought in those L10a, I was really wanting to pick them up, as much as when i saw the updated stock from C/A which included the Big eyes. But i've waited since December for my goodies.



2wheelsx2 said:


> Because he already has his list of something different that has a higher bioload already....oops, giving too much away!


Higher bioload yes. giving away too much, also yes!



CRS Fan said:


> I'm assuming you are referring to Leopard Frogs from DaveJ? Just an educated guess.
> Stuart


I can neither confirm or deny. But very very very...very close. Well educated guess. DaveJ's lil froglets will not be ready....yet..



2wheelsx2 said:


> Nope. Good guess though.


Very good guess 



jay_leask said:


> ok i think i will have to get a 33 long now just because of your tank
> i like how you dug the caves in the sand.


haha. and i wish i had your sized tank. If i could do it all over again. 75g or 125g. From the motto I've learnt from others, in this hobby, go big or go home.

The style how I placed the caves was influenced by Hobbiton (the homes where hobbits live - in the books Hobbits by JRR Tolkien). Since I put the caves flush to the bottom of the tank, I had to move the sand elsewhere. I'm trying to grow some plants with good root systems to prevent sand eroding downwards. It would be so much nicer if I had an 18"+ depth footprint so can have more space in the front of the caves. It is what it is for the time being and making the most with what I have.



Luke78 said:


> Nice looking setup , the caves are a great idea.Must say the female MacMa apisto looks amazing.Good size,nice body shape and fins, and she is ready to breed my friend


I was wanting to get some squared openings, but wanted to keep things uniform instead of a collage of caves. You can't imagine how fiesty that female MacMasteri is. from shrimps, to tetras, cories, and even L129's....she wards them all off. I see a lot of the female and the alpha male. the other two males seems to hide a lot now. It would be nice to see some wigglers around. When that happens, they'll be videos to show for it.


----------



## jobber

As part of the transitional move, found a great home for the corydora habrosus. From one 33 gallon long tank to another more spacious 33 gallon long. They are so ready for spawning, plump and round females. now they have all the room and gorgeous playground to play in. Good luck crazy72.


Now in the process of finding a new home for the apistogrammas. Lowered the bioload by 50%


----------



## crazy72

Thanks Ming. I'll post pics/vids when they've settled down. They still look a little stunned at the moment. At least they're familiar with the footprint!


----------



## crazy72

... So?.... Still nothing to report?


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Yeah, how come there's nothing to report?


----------



## jobber

crazy72 said:


> ... So?.... Still nothing to report?





2wheelsx2 said:


> Yeah, how come there's nothing to report?


nope. nothing to report for the time. i've just been downsizing the bioload. found some great homes for some of the fish 
Although, I picked up some s.repens...again to try to grow. It was so true that they melt away and regrow due to environmental shock. 
once i regrow some more stems out, i'd like to try to grow some emersed in a plant pot (especially once the weather outside warms up)

just sitting back and waiting. being patient. can't believe fedex and usps messed up their ground shipping. i want my book! "back to nature: L-catfishes"


----------



## Luke78

Ming,

Quite a few changes , was everyone a bit unsettled? Time for a larger setup my friend


----------



## jobber

Luke78 said:


> Ming,
> Quite a few changes , was everyone a bit unsettled? Time for a larger setup my friend


Yeah, now looking back. quite a lot of changes as a matter of fact. my plan is to lower the bioload by 50% to make room for plecos. the apistogrammas were great, turned out that there a ratio of 3F/1M, but they were nipping at my panda cories fins as well as fighting with the L129's. i'm glad i found great homes for all the fish that were in my tank. Gone are the corydoras habrosus, apistogrammas macmasteri, L066, black neon tetras, bnp.


----------



## jobber

*time for a quick update*

After a few changes by swapping out a few types of fish. Finally received the goods. Waited patiently for the past 5 months.

the goods in their own breathable bags. my makeshift transporting box.


----------



## josephl

They look awesome, congrats


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Very nice. I'm glad you finally got some.


----------



## davej

Looking good!


----------



## jobber

josephl said:


> They look awesome, congrats





davej said:


> Looking good!





2wheelsx2 said:


> Very nice. I'm glad you finally got some.


Thanks guys. I woke up this morning still not believing I have frogs! they look so awesome. very bold. After seeing them squabble a bit last night, they've settled in very well. even the L333 is looking good. the colours all look the same. cream on dark brown/black.

Funny thing. Yesterday, i was rearranging two caves. so I was emptying some of the sand that may have gotten into the cave. so pointing the cave downwards so the sand can fall out, blip blip....two corydora fries scoots to the bottom. i quickly scooted it back into an existing cave before the tetras get their mouths open for them. guess the fries have found shelter in the pleco caves as well.

well, here are some more photos. no DSLR pictures with a macro lens 

L134

























L333


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Forgot an image tag










They look great. Well, there's your excuse to get a DSLR with macro lens.


----------



## jobber

fixed. was checking out your photos at the same time


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Dang you're too fast. Wanna buy a D5000?


----------



## Diztrbd1

That is great Ming!! Congrats, They look great in there! Can't wait to get some frogs myself in the future. Picked up a couple juv. plecos the other day (impulse buy) for my 50 as it needed some. Thought they were gold spotted, but doesn't appear that they are lol Anyway, your tank is looking great as always !


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Diztrbd1 said:


> Picked up a couple juv. plecos the other day (impulse buy) for my 50 as it needed some. Thought they were gold spotted, but doesn't appear that they are lol Anyway, your tank is looking great as always !


Pick up a few BNP's from Anessa if you want good algae eaters, although Charles has 2 L200a which are small and are good algae eaters. Froggies unfortunately won't eat anything except you out of house and home (for their size). Mine are sucking up blackworm like you wouldn't believe.


----------



## Diztrbd1

yeah I was thinking about & most likely getting some from her soon, the guys I got were an impulse thing lol just wanted some cheapo's for now. I keep eyeing those L200a's but holding off until I get the tank where I want it and some better filtration. As for the frogs, I would just get them cause they are cool lol I know they aren't much on the algae, but definitely cool looking


----------



## crazy72

Very nice, Ming. And congrats on your patience. They are well worth the wait.


----------



## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Dang you're too fast. Wanna buy a D5000?


no DSLR for me. I have my eyes set on the Canon S95. i'm always on the go when i travel, so i don't lugging a big camera.



Diztrbd1 said:


> That is great Ming!! Congrats, They look great in there! Can't wait to get some frogs myself in the future. Picked up a couple juv. plecos the other day (impulse buy) for my 50 as it needed some. Thought they were gold spotted, but doesn't appear that they are lol Anyway, your tank is looking great as always !


thanks. but these fish look good in any tank. the black sand brings out the cream colour of the fish. resist buying on impulse...signs of a hoarder here on BCA ...shoot. i think i am too. i'm sure you're going to find some locally and in abundance in a couple of months or so.



Diztrbd1 said:


> yeah I was thinking about & most likely getting some from her soon, the guys I got were an impulse thing lol just wanted some cheapo's for now. I keep eyeing those L200a's but holding off until I get the tank where I want it and some better filtration. As for the frogs, I would just get them cause they are cool lol I know they aren't much on the algae, but definitely cool looking


same. i miss the bnp i swapped out and put into my dad's tank. my tank's starting to accumulate some algae; however, the bnp was doing a good number on my sword plants. get frogs!



crazy72 said:


> Very nice, Ming. And congrats on your patience. They are well worth the wait.


well worth the wait. they are so bold but are afraid of the L129's.

beautiful fish. just had to stare and post another picture up.


----------



## jobber

*corydora fries*

So i was rearranging a piece of driftwood and noticed a few of these little guys darted around. they're about 2cm long, looking like 30 day olds. . at first I thought they were corydora panda and checking with planetcatfish confirms my intuition. http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/image.php?species=corydoras+panda&image_id=2462
Here are some pictures, what do you think?

















Here's are some L129's and L134's occupying caves.


----------



## bunnyrabbit

Nice pickup. And looks like you've got some spawning activity too.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Very nice. Little baby cories and probably soon L129's, from what I can see of that really fat one. Think you might need some smaller caves for the male to trap the females though.


----------



## jobber

bunnyrabbit said:


> Nice pickup. And looks like you've got some spawning activity too.


great pickups indeed. couldn't resist and patiently waited upon. still admiring the colours and patterns. the pattern and colour seem more interesting to stare at than L046 (through pictures and other people's tanks).



2wheelsx2 said:


> Very nice. Little baby cories and probably soon L129's, from what I can see of that really fat one. Think you might need some smaller caves for the male to trap the females though.


there's three pudgy female hanging out in the condo cave. i know i have one male who has less colouration and patterns (notice the one inside one of the euro caves). best part of all the plecos i'm finding is how they scoot around during twilight and when i turn on the blue LED moonlights.

Here's something i was fortunate to catch on video this morning. 









A video of the tank:


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Nice vids. I love the shimmer from the LEDs. However, I thought I was looking at a vid of a snake in the first 2 vids because of that giant blackworm, then I saw the little Panda.


----------



## Luke78

Quite an impressive group, where abouts you get them from mind me asking?This is one pleco i wouldnt mind having in my collection.Nice find on the babies there, while doing a water change and maintenance on my setup the other day, i lifted a few old almond leaves out and there under them were a few baby sterbai cories! i saw the egg laying going on, but didnt expect to see any survive bonus i guess! Anways, looking good keep us updated!


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Luke78 said:


> Quite an impressive group, where abouts you get them from mind me asking?This is one pleco i wouldnt mind having in my collection.!


We got them from Apistomaster (Larry) from Simply and other forums. He's still got a bunch left the last time I looked. They're F1's.


----------



## jobber

Luke78 said:


> Quite an impressive group, where abouts you get them from mind me asking?This is one pleco i wouldnt mind having in my collection.Nice find on the babies there, while doing a water change and maintenance on my setup the other day, i lifted a few old almond leaves out and there under them were a few baby sterbai cories! i saw the egg laying going on, but didnt expect to see any survive bonus i guess! Anways, looking good keep us updated!


Yep. As gary stated, got 'em from apistomaster. Waited months for them 
You should get a few for yourself. They are seriously a beautiful fish and eating lbw, colour bits, earthworm pellets, and anything I'm throwing at them including whole frozen shrimps.

Well, in regards to the panda fries, I saw 2 at first come out of a euro cave as I was cleaning it out and relocating it. Today, as I was lifting up a few pieces of almond leaves, a few more darted around. There's a wide range in sizes I see. From 1 month olds, to a few day olds! I found two that has the band on the eyes and are 2.5cm. Pretty neat. I'm guessing my overfeeding of colour bits and earthworm pellets; and detritus from almond leaves have provided a lot of available food and hiding spots.

Good luck with the sterbai fries. That would be so neat to be able to build on the colony. Pretty glad I resisted picking up another 6 from patrick the other day .


----------



## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Nice vids. I love the shimmer from the LEDs. However, I thought I was looking at a vid of a snake in the first 2 vids because of that giant blackworm, then I saw the little Panda.


Haha. No giant blackworm. Just a puny panda.
When I leave only the LEDs on, all the frogs and zebras come out looking for food. The shimmering is quite tranquil, love it.


----------



## jobber

jobber604 said:


> Here's something i was fortunate to catch on video this morning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A video of the tank:


here's another video, this time i found a fry hatching from an egg. Didn't realized that the pandas have been laying their eggs underneath the brazilian moneyworts. After feeding lbw these past two days, the pygmaeus corydoras are at it again. counted at least 20 eggs on the glass and leaves. I'm going to litter the floor with almond bark to provide more hiding spots.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Very cool vid. And look at those monster man eating cherry shrimp!


----------



## Luke78

Gary/Ming,

Thanks for the heads up on the L134's, i will pm either one of you in the near future for more info(starting a new project) and these are a likely addition.They are nice to look at thats for sure.Lots of breeding going on, you must have ideal water perimeters,diet,and space to give for everyone to have a crack at it good stuff!


----------



## crazy72

Very nice, Ming. The panda fry is super cute!


----------



## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Very cool vid. And look at those monster man eating cherry shrimp!


More videos to come. the shrimps are now getting more read. finally after 2 months and after the apisto's are gone, they're starting to berry up again.



Luke78 said:


> Gary/Ming,
> Thanks for the heads up on the L134's, i will pm either one of you in the near future for more info(starting a new project) and these are a likely addition.They are nice to look at thats for sure.Lots of breeding going on, you must have ideal water perimeters,diet,and space to give for everyone to have a crack at it good stuff!


No problem. get them while they last 
the L333 are super nice too. i'm thinking of getting room for some more, but not at the moment 
I think i've found a good balance for my tank. the water parameters are consistent, diet varies in high protein...but space....space is so so.



crazy72 said:


> Very nice, Ming. The panda fry is super cute!


the fries that have the black eye bands are super cute. they're mini versions of the adult ones. I'll post another video up once it finishes uploading to youtube.


----------



## jobber

Here's another video of one of the little one going after some pieces of earthworm pellets.


----------



## jobber

Found the opportunity to wait patiently for the fish to come out to eat. I'm not even going to say how long I waited and stared at the tank until these little guys came out. Fed some colour bits and they started to come out. In the video there are about 3 fries at about 3cm. I see these 3 swim and eat together. Amazing how fast they grow up. Pretty cute. The adult pandas are still continually showing frisky behaviour since I've been feeding lbw. There is just a lot of poop in the tank now.....they were right..plecos are messy


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Haha....I would guess more than 5 minutes. I know all about the waiting to get a shot. My wife thinks I'm nuts sitting there for 20 minutes waiting for a pleco to come out to get a shot.


----------



## Ursus sapien

well done! thanks for posting the vids.


----------



## eternity302

Oh wow! =) nice job~ Left for awhile and came back to this, nice surprise buddy! Look awesome~


----------



## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Haha....I would guess more than 5 minutes. I know all about the waiting to get a shot. My wife thinks I'm nuts sitting there for 20 minutes waiting for a pleco to come out to get a shot.


more than 5 minutes definitely. I find that pictures take more time than videos. hmmm...a point and shoot with a 1080dpi is also something i have my eyes set on.



Ursus sapien said:


> well done! thanks for posting the vids.


thanks storm. i'm very pleased and happy with the little fellas. Wasn't able to find any videos of panda fries on youtube.



eternity302 said:


> Oh wow! =) nice job~ Left for awhile and came back to this, nice surprise buddy! Look awesome~


haha. welcome back jackson. waiting patiently for your new project to start....

waiting for a new video to finish uploading on youtube. New video to be posted soon.


----------



## eternity302

When my project is complete, I am dumping some in your tank! Dun ask what it is, all i can say are scavengers =)


----------



## jobber

eternity302 said:


> When my project is complete, I am dumping some in your tank! Dun ask what it is, all i can say are scavengers =)


hey how can i refuse CRS and all those fancy expensive shrimps


----------



## jobber

Patiently waited for the opportunity for the fries to come out to eat. For size comparisons, here's a long video of the fries eating alongside a full grown adult male panda. you'll see the fries much bolder and eating like monsters. (listen to the radio caller commenting on the most ridiculous thing about luongo's salary...the people that are out there...hilarious stuff)


----------



## jobber

Another video to share for all.


----------



## Luke78

Ming,

Looking good thanks for sharing! What are they eating if i may ask? looks like a stick of goodness:bigsmile:



jobber604 said:


> Another video to share for all.


----------



## eternity302

Ahhh, very very nice!!!!


----------



## jobber

Luke78 said:


> Ming,
> Looking good thanks for sharing! What are they eating if i may ask? looks like a stick of goodness:bigsmile:


they're munching on earthworm sticks. you can get them from charles.



eternity302 said:


> Ahhh, very very nice!!!!


the most impressive behaviour is how they school in a group of fries.


----------



## funkycat

Wow awesome!! =D man baby cories are some of the cutest fish around. 
^ ugh...ppl making more work for the mods


----------



## jobber

lexingtonsteel said:


> Wow awesome!! =D man baby cories are some of the cutest fish around.
> ^ ugh...ppl making more work for the mods


I think any baby fish are cute. wish i had some baby frogs!


----------



## jobber

Here's another video. Now the fries are about 75 days old.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

> I think any baby fish are cute. wish i had some baby frogs!


You won't have long to wait as your froggies mature.


----------



## eternity302

[email protected]!!!!! You are taking real good care of em!


----------



## davej

Those little guys look great!


----------



## jobber

Time for an update. Sadly, a few of my beloved L134's and L129's went belly up due to an undisclosed reason. Counted over 25 panda corydoras now. Helped my uncle set up a new 33 gallon tank stocked with RCS and of course, panda corydoras. Want to thank big brother Gary for his help. After seeing 2wheelsx2's new 46 gallon bowfront and Luke78's new huge tank, I'm inspired to do a bit of rescape. Going to play around with some riverbed rocks and some new lumber. I'll post pictures and provide further details as I work on this small project.


----------



## Luke78

Looking forward to the new rescape! Its exciting when you get in there,and start fresh with a few new ideas/layout.Its unfortunate you lost a few plecos,hope you get the chance to replenish the stock.25 pandas ? how this must look neat when they are all huddled together.



jobber604 said:


> Time for an update. Sadly, a few of my beloved L134's and L129's went belly up due to an undisclosed reason. Counted over 25 panda corydoras now. Helped my uncle set up a new 33 gallon tank stocked with RCS and of course, panda corydoras. Want to thank big brother Gary for his help. After seeing 2wheelsx2's new 46 gallon bowfront and Luke78's new huge tank, I'm inspired to do a bit of rescape. Going to play around with some riverbed rocks and some new lumber. I'll post pictures and provide further details as I work on this small project.


----------



## jobber

*Supplement Tank Journal:*
Ok. Been working on a side project. Helped my uncle find a tank a few months ago. A 33 gallon with power compact lighting. After showing some tank pictures of BCA members, my uncle was quite impressed and decided to do some planning and brainstorm some 'scaping layout. He was very inspired by 2wheelsx2, Luke78, and all those high tech planted tanks. He wanted simple and natural looking fish - very small fish - and lots of plants. Naturally and coinciding with my rescape of my 33 long tank, His tank has amazon swords, stargrass, hornworts, moneywort, and soon sunset hygro and some floating plants. Types of fish include panda corydoras, pepper corydora, albino corydora, red cherry shrimps, blue pearl shrimps, and Heterandria formosa,

Thanks to the following people for helping me get this tank together:
2wheelsx2, triballurker, ursus_sapien, charles, captured_moments, fxbillie.

The tank at the beginning









Putting the tank together and with cloudy water:

















The final product:

















Panda corydora eating:


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Nice and simple. I like it. But you should try to hide that heater so it's not so prominent.


----------



## Luke78

Nicely done,thats quite the change from before to after.Once everything starts to settle in, iam sure the plants will take off and the fish will use every inch of that aquarium.Liking the sand, which brand did you go with? makes the colours of your cories really stand out.


----------



## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Nice and simple. I like it. But you should try to hide that heater so it's not so prominent.


Yeah, i'm really liking the uncle's tank. it's inspired by your cube. I went back to NW landscaping to try to find some pieces of basalt and swap all my rounded ones, but i'd figure i'll go with a river biotope....just like that youtube video of those guys collecting plecos . it's really hard to let go of plants. i think one way i'm going to try to hide that heater is having hygro or jungle vals grow there...or just putting the heater upright.



Luke78 said:


> Nicely done,thats quite the change from before to after.Once everything starts to settle in, iam sure the plants will take off and the fish will use every inch of that aquarium.Liking the sand, which brand did you go with? makes the colours of your cories really stand out.


It was a huge change. we set the tank with the original "beginner's blue substrate"....but we sat that and said...this is not right. So we decide to do a natural scape of some sort. Thankfully you were doing yours and Gary setting up his bowfront which gave some idea. We drew out the layout and went rock hunting the next day in the sweltering heat...another 1.50hrs. Fortunately, the tank has 33 gallons and the fish load is small. I just threw the fish in to cycle the tank plus i had some of items from my long tank transfered to the uncle's tank to expedite the cycling process. Also used Stability. The filter media is just pot scrubbers - 6 of them for $1 plus a white filter pad. I look forward to seeing that tank evolve.

Funny...I got my uncle hooked on this hobby now. He's spending time looking at pictures...and now ventures to BCA....it's just a matter of time another member is here. haha.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

jobber604 said:


> i think one way i'm going to try to hide that heater is having hygro or jungle vals grow there...or just putting the heater upright.


Hydor ETH would fix that right up! 

Edit: On second thought, maybe not, as it looks like an AC on there.


----------



## Luke78

Its quite entertaining what all of us will do for this hobbyPerfection and enjoyment are a must here thats for sure.I remember heading out there,not too hot of a day as yours,but lifting,moving,trashing about looking for the perfect rockwork.I loved every minute of it.Once that image is in your head of what you want it to look like, thats it its set! Hope your uncle is enjoying his new layout,and incourage him to stop by and post! Keep the updates coming!

It was a huge change. we set the tank with the original "beginner's blue substrate"....but we sat that and said...this is not right. So we decide to do a natural scape of some sort. Thankfully you were doing yours and Gary setting up his bowfront which gave some idea. We drew out the layout and went rock hunting the next day in the sweltering heat...another 1.50hrs. Fortunately, the tank has 33 gallons and the fish load is small. I just threw the fish in to cycle the tank plus i had some of items from my long tank transfered to the uncle's tank to expedite the cycling process. Also used Stability. The filter media is just pot scrubbers - 6 of them for $1 plus a white filter pad. I look forward to seeing that tank evolve.

Funny...I got my uncle hooked on this hobby now. He's spending time looking at pictures...and now ventures to BCA....it's just a matter of time another member is here. haha.[/QUOTE]


----------



## jobber

*Update August 14, 2011*

Been a week since I said I'd update with pictures. Finally after a busy week, I get a chance to sit down and enjoy the final product without prodding around with the scape anymore. Here are some pictures I took in a hurry with a P&S.


































Uncle's tank update: Turns out ursus_sapien's fish are good stuff. Reports has it the peppered cories have begun spawning and laid about 100 eggs in the new tank.


----------



## crazy72

Very nice, Ming. Looks very natural.


----------



## Luke78

Wow, thats quite the drastic change! Iam liking the driftwood tangled up with all those rocks! Very natural indeed and i bet your guys were all hiding in there in no time! Beautiful stones, nice job on picking out the right ones!


----------



## davej

Looks awesome!
Really like it.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Love the rescape. I'm going to be copying some of it in my bow!


----------



## fenster58

nicely done...what happened to the s. repens?
need more? hahahaha


----------



## jobber

Thanks Dave and Franck. I remember Franck had that long piece of wood with moss....luckily i found one that was long also. Compliments the long tank.



Luke78 said:


> Wow, thats quite the drastic change! Iam liking the driftwood tangled up with all those rocks! Very natural indeed and i bet your guys were all hiding in there in no time! Beautiful stones, nice job on picking out the right ones!


Thanks. the wood are actually still floating. it's been a week now. I'm actually liking the way the wood is placed suspended in mid-water.



2wheelsx2 said:


> Love the rescape. I'm going to be copying some of it in my bow!


I'm so glad some of the pieces of rocks I wanted to buy at first were still there on my second visit. I was on the Fraser River upstream and saw how a lot of the rocks were placed. Need a larger footprint like Luke's 100 gallon.



fenster58 said:


> nicely done...what happened to the s. repens?
> need more? hahahaha


Thanks Jason. The repens are there  I may take up on your offer in a month's time.


----------



## jobber

Well, been an extremely long time since I made an update. Back after a 5 week hiatus. Left the tank alone without a water change for 5 weeks. No significant damages...only the panda fries disappeared. Fish were hungry. Attacked an earthworm pellet the moment it hit the bottom. Water change tonight is a certainty.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Nice. Always good to come home to a tank in good health.


----------



## Diztrbd1

definitely been a awhile since an update Ming. Glad to hear everything is well for the most part, sorry to hear of the loss of the fry. Looking forward to some new pix


----------



## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Nice. Always good to come home to a tank in good health.


Not one day that I did not think about the health and well being of my tank 
All L's accounted for....phew. Shrimps looking bright red. Water looking very humic. Driftwood finally water soaked.



Diztrbd1 said:


> definitely been a awhile since an update Ming. Glad to hear everything is well for the most part, sorry to hear of the loss of the fry. Looking forward to some new pix


Thanx John. it definitely has been awhile. pics will come.



Ursus sapien said:


> beautiful 'scape, Ming. I could watch that aquarium for hours


Thanks Storm. That's what i just did for the past two hours 
Thanks again for the shrimps. I split the shrimps with my uncle and I kept the smaller ones. they've grown big and hungry fellows.


----------



## Ursus sapien

beautiful 'scape, Ming. I could watch that aquarium for hours


----------



## jobber

Well time for another quick update. Just some quick pics of the tank with the tannic water and water logged pieces of wood. Had a few puny additions to the tank but overal, no drastic changes


----------



## davej

Ming, tank still looking great!


----------



## fenster58

and the reason for the fishing rod on top of the tank?


----------



## Ebonbolt

That rockwork... That's a dwarf cichlid tank if I ever saw one


----------



## 2wheelsx2

I'm really loving it. Maybe time to try a Colormax bulb in that fixture if you don't have one. Less yellow and more reds.


----------



## Luke78

Ming,

Nicely layed out,and suits the rockwork! See a few tails poking out from the flat stones Iam sure theres alot of happy plecos and other cats enjoying the hiding spots! I dont know if its you or your bottom dwellers,but alot of the substrate looks moved around? They doing renos for you? woke up to my setup this morning,and it looked like a bomb dropped from the sky with all the sand moved outwards and covering all the rocks and stones!


----------



## jobber

davej said:


> Ming, tank still looking great!


Thanks. Inspired by your simple setups and lots of wood...those LED's are a great compliment to the tanks.



fenster58 said:


> and the reason for the fishing rod on top of the tank?


haha. Because it's were I store it at the moment and waiting to have it spooled to use for slaying some coho. It's a new toy and weapon of choice for the rivers.



BelieveInBlue said:


> That rockwork... That's a dwarf cichlid tank if I ever saw one


 the rockwork is inspired by the riverbed biotope. Scape inspired by the creek mouth meeting the big riverbed. The rockwork's main purpose....to provide crevices and hiding spots for the plecos. No dwarf cichlids in this tank now, but there were some when my tank was a lot more planted.



2wheelsx2 said:


> I'm really loving it. Maybe time to try a Colormax bulb in that fixture if you don't have one. Less yellow and more reds.


I'm glad you started up that 46 bowfront and Luke78 setting up his 100 gallon. Plus seeing dave's tank a while back truly gave some inspirations. Still the constant thought of a bigger tank always exists. I've thought about getting a colormax before i left for my trip but decided i'll either wait for boxing day or until another bulb burns. Bought enough goodies and toys to keep me entertained for awhile. Just thinking whether to drop by charles' to pick up more livestock.....



Luke78 said:


> Ming,
> Nicely layed out,and suits the rockwork! See a few tails poking out from the flat stones Iam sure theres alot of happy plecos and other cats enjoying the hiding spots! I dont know if its you or your bottom dwellers,but alot of the substrate looks moved around? They doing renos for you? woke up to my setup this morning,and it looked like a bomb dropped from the sky with all the sand moved outwards and covering all the rocks and stones!


The plecos and pygmies are loving the new rocks and wood. Provides so much hiding spots for them. Surprised you see the tails sticking out from the stones. The substrate moved around is usually caused primarily by the good water flow and probably some by the catfishes. I think your's maybe from the plecos digging in the sand. Just means they're active.


----------



## jobber

A few tiny additions to the tank today after a visit to Charles'. A bit bad quality as I was using a blackberry.


----------



## Luke78

Ming,

Nice 'little' additions you picked up, you sure like those pygmie corydoras huh? They are neat though,would like to add some myself but a bit concerned with size. Those L333's look striking my friend! Liking that pattern on them alot,and it seems they are eating well,very active,and not shy whats so ever.Yeah came online a while agao,and noticed my good friend brought in some more goodies to be had Another field trip is about to take place! Thanks for sharing,keep the updates coming


----------



## 2wheelsx2

That L333 came with the froggies from Larry? Very nice indeed.


----------



## jobber

Luke78 said:


> Ming,
> 
> Nice 'little' additions you picked up, you sure like those pygmie corydoras huh? They are neat though,would like to add some myself but a bit concerned with size. Those L333's look striking my friend! Liking that pattern on them alot,and it seems they are eating well,very active,and not shy whats so ever.Yeah came online a while agao,and noticed my good friend brought in some more goodies to be had Another field trip is about to take place! Thanks for sharing,keep the updates coming


Yes and absolutely. I once had a huge colony of them..but the tank was too small. Hard to come by, these little guys they are. I'm tempted to get another few $20 worth and expand the current colony; however, the tank's environment seems to have stabilized after one of my brain farting moments a couple months back. The amount of plants, number of fishies, and water changes is just perfect. Fish are looking and behaving very healthy. Temperature is now back to 27.5°C from 25°C. Lighting and feedings increased a bit, so I'm noticing some green algae growing on the surface of the big rock in the middle of the tank. After placing the rocks into the tank, and adding another one i picked up on the Capilano River, the collection of detritus and poop from the plecos are right in front of the focal cave in the middle of the tank. So much easier to siphon now. I'm enjoying the pleco's now than before as they're becoming more bold and coming out to eat since there's more areas for them to hide. I think I have the right numbers.



2wheelsx2 said:


> That L333 came with the froggies from Larry? Very nice indeed.


Wishing I had a few more of these L333. Same one from the same batch we got. Bold and hungry.


----------



## jobber

A better quality video.


----------



## Diztrbd1

The tank look so great Ming! Really makes me want to find a 33 long!!


----------



## jobber

Caught the panda's doing the deed this morning. The famous T-position. It's a long video since the female panda didn't know where to place the eggs. 5 minutes!!!


----------



## Luke78

Great videos Ming,enjoyed watching them.Yeah the classic 'T' dance,see my sterbai doing this all the time 3 pairs actually but all the eggs layed get eaten by the discus and tetras.How are the plecos doing in their new layout? see a few of them hiding in the videos.


----------



## jobber

Luke78 said:


> Great videos Ming,enjoyed watching them.Yeah the classic 'T' dance,see my sterbai doing this all the time 3 pairs actually but all the eggs layed get eaten by the discus and tetras.How are the plecos doing in their new layout? see a few of them hiding in the videos.


I wasn't going to grab my camera but the panda's just kept on going and so at last mind as well contribute and share on youtube the fascinating T-position. I've just noticed some older eggs on some Brazilian moneywort. Seems the B.moneywort isn't doing too well. Shriveling up pretty fast. Maybe too much light and not enough nutrients in the water column. I'm thinking of dumping a spawning mop in there made out of nylon yarn to see if i can force and facilitate the spawning process. Play around and see how many fries I can get. The plecos are bolder now, L134 and L333. The sole surviving L129 hides out a lot. Loving the juvenile L134. I'm very impressed with the skunk corydoras and how active they are. Constantly digging around searching for food.


----------



## jobber

Can't believe I left this journal idling for 4 weeks. Thanks to 2wheelsx2 updating his posts, reminded me about my own. Haha. Ok, so I've been doing my diligence by doing tri-weekly 50% water changes, my pandas have started spawning quite frequently. Seeing a lot of fries popping in and out. Trying to get back to building the colony up a bit prior to the massive fry die-off. I made a spawning mop to provide more area for the pandas to lay their eggs - and it's working very well. The shrimps have been hanging out eating. What have I've been feeding them, you ask? I've been feeding a variety of NLS community blend, earthworm pellets, colour bit pellets, Hikari carnivore pellets, and lbw. Veggies include almond leaves.

Here are some pics from the blackberry:

















Also added some tiger shrimps to the tank a few weeks ago:









For people who wonder what type of mess plecos can leave after a feeding. Here's a small example after a feeding 12 hours prior. I feed prior to shutting off the lights for some of the shy'er catfishes. These are the two areas of the tank where I call the "collection points". I'm sure others have a bigger mess since they have more plecos, bigger plecos, or hungry hungry plecos. This may be a first.....to post pics of poop.


----------



## roadrunner

hahaha, nice. Thanx for sharing your plecos poop


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Nice poop shots! Hey is that allowed on a public forum like this?!!???


----------



## Diztrbd1

lol @ nice poop shots! that is alot of poo.... almost as bad as goldfish...in one end and right out the other lol


----------



## crazy72

Very nice, Ming. But I do claim ownership on the idea of putting poop shots on the forum. See my Vicenza journal. I'll send you an invoice with the copyright fee. You'll see, it's all very convenient, with online payment methods and everything. I'm sure you'll like it.


----------



## jobber

crazy72 said:


> Very nice, Ming. But I do claim ownership on the idea of putting poop shots on the forum. See my Vicenza journal. I'll send you an invoice with the copyright fee. You'll see, it's all very convenient, with online payment methods and everything. I'm sure you'll like it.


Alrite, alrite. I did some back tracking..indeed I am not the first. But I was influenced by your thread then


----------



## jobber

Just did a cleanup of the front 9 of the tank journal to fix up all the pictures and youtube video links. All pictures and videos should all be shown now.


----------



## Diztrbd1

Bout time  job well done buddy! time for some new pix now!


----------



## jobber

Time for a quick update. Was trying out a Samsung Galaxy S2 phone this evening. Quality is so-so. The tank is close to being 1 years old and I can't believe the changes it's gone through within this year. Here are some videos.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

This is from the Samsung? Seems every bit as good as the iphone vids.


----------



## Luke78

Neat videos Ming, i see you did some re scaping of your layout! Those pandas sure look great, and very active i see! Enjoying the current moving through out the tank.


----------



## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> This is from the Samsung? Seems every bit as good as the iphone vids.


I'm still a bit disappointed by the quality of the video. I think it's either my video card or my eyes. It doesn't look as crisp and focus. The iPhone is by far superior in quality. The Samsung S2 (from T-mobile) camera is 8MP with video recording [email protected], yet, it really doesn't look HD. That 20 second video clip was 50MB. But at the end of the day, it's still a phone camera so I can't have such an exceptionally high expectations. Beats the video recording from the my 9700. Those newer blackberry pack some pretty good internal punch now. Now just waiting for the G-Nexus to arrive.



Luke78 said:


> Neat videos Ming, i see you did some re scaping of your layout! Those pandas sure look great, and very active i see! Enjoying the current moving through out the tank.


Haha. Yeah, I can't seem to leave the tank alone. The pandas are going back and forth as they've been spawning every two days. I lifted some of the almond leaves that are placed underneath the log and found a bunch of those few day old fries...the ones that look like a tadpole. Hope they can survive. I need to feed and leave food to ensure they get enough to eat in the tank. At the same time, I've been doing more frequent water changes to ensure the water quality is good. That's probably why the pandas have been going at it for almost a month non-stop. Just one female out of the 6+ 2 small ones. I still can't believe I lose close to 20 good sized fries. Should have sold them before I went away.


----------



## madcow

Ming!! omg your tetras are HUGE!! do you put steroids in there or what? love the tank. love the videos! i wanna see some close up shots of the frys!!


----------



## jobber

The new eggs from overnight.


----------



## jobber

madcow said:


> Ming!! omg your tetras are HUGE!! do you put steroids in there or what? love the tank. love the videos! i wanna see some close up shots of the frys!!


The pictures and videos of the panda fries are in post#130 and Post#311 onwards. I had to fix up some of the links but they're all good now.


----------



## crazy72

Well done, Ming. You're obviously keeping these panda cories very happy. They're super cute.


----------



## jobber

Christmas is soon coming and I had to just get myself a small little gift. Thanks Pat for bringing in these guys in for us. Originating from the same Rio Tapajos river system as the L134's, these lemon tetras are a fine a addition to my tank. They're still juveniles so the bright yellow body is not showing...yet. Boy were they hungry when I gave the tank it's morning feeding. Here are some pics and vids.


----------



## tony1928

Thanks for hooking me up with some of those lemons. They were eating immediately and hanging out with the cardinals. They were a great size too. I think these are supposed to be a lot bigger than cardinals when adult.


----------



## mdwflyer

That is so peaceful, very nice.


----------



## Luke78

Ming,

Great shots of all the fish! Still amazed by that fry pic you took, we were talking about it last night! Yeah those lemons are something else,hungry little guys and also schooling with my bloodfins.Thanks again for setting that buy up and for Pat bringing them in.Always great stock as usual!


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Haha...nice. As I was telling you, mine were just being blown around in the 125 until they figured out where the quiet spots were. The Geos chased them around a bit until they figured out the tetras weren't fry.


----------



## crazy72

Great additions, Ming. I find lemon tetras are really nice. I love mine.


----------



## jobber

A video of a pair of shrimp copulating.


----------



## Chappy

I really like what you've done with this tank, Ming. It's amazing what you can do with 33 gallons of water isn't it  Love the footprint of these tanks - very versatile as you've proven. Great job.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Yikes, is that even allowed on BCA? It's supposed to be a family site, Ming!


----------



## jobber

crazy72 said:


> Great additions, Ming. I find lemon tetras are really nice. I love mine.


Love yours enough that I had to get some for myself...and a few other members also had the lemon itch.



-N/A- said:


> I really like what you've done with this tank, Ming. It's amazing what you can do with 33 gallons of water isn't it  Love the footprint of these tanks - very versatile as you've proven. Great job.


Thanks Shelley. Hate to say it, but I'm pushing the threshold of fish keeping the huge bioload. But making it work. There's been a few members sitting on my shoulders whispering "get a bigger tank...get a bigger tank" . Btw, nice xmas avatar.



tony1928 said:


> Thanks for hooking me up with some of those lemons. They were eating immediately and hanging out with the cardinals. They were a great size too. I think these are supposed to be a lot bigger than cardinals when adult.





Luke78 said:


> Ming,
> 
> Great shots of all the fish! Still amazed by that fry pic you took, we were talking about it last night! Yeah those lemons are something else,hungry little guys and also schooling with my bloodfins.Thanks again for setting that buy up and for Pat bringing them in.Always great stock as usual!


Anytime. The things we do to get fish . I heard that there's more interest for some more lemon tetras. Let me know if you're interested in some more.



2wheelsx2 said:


> Yikes, is that even allowed on BCA? It's supposed to be a family site, Ming!


Haha. Hence the word, copulating. I don't think the 's' word would be appropriate. The mods seem to be ok with it....


----------



## Diztrbd1

The new additions look great Ming!


----------



## jobber

Been awhile since the last update. Tank is doing good. Aside from the odd days I let poop accumulate to do a water change. I've swapped to a Sunblaster T5HO for lighting to optimize bulb power and energy consumption. Noticed the plants growing much healthier. I noticed my plants growth was stunting and needed some more lighting juice.

Lemon Tetras I got a few weeks ago have grown twice the size and starting to show a bit of yellow hue.

Jungle vals I got from Scherb via canadapost are finally beginning to regrow. I'm dosing metricide and only the old leaves were melting.

Pleco...the two remaining L134 I got shipped from the states are plump and girthed. Think one of them is a female and hope I can get a spawn or two from them.

Shrimps have all died off due to my frequent water changes.

Panda cories and pygmies are healthy and plump. Was wanting to get more pygmies but I'm planning to see how big of a Panda colony I can get through the frequent spawns.

Here's some pics of the Panda eggs that were laid today after a 50% water change. I think there is about 10 eggs.


























Sent from Samsung Mobile using Tapatalk


----------



## jobber

*New CO2 injection setup*

Been enjoying my tank but started noticing pinholes and a lack of healthy lush plant growth. A middle of the night deal was offered on the BCA classified and it just so happened that I was trolling the forum and came across it. Thank you eternity302 for the setup and a deal. Better me to sweep this deal before someone else did.

I had been wanting a CO2 injection system for a long time now, probably for about 1.5 years, but like many of us, money comes into the question. After doing DIY CO2 in my 10 gallon, I thought I'd want to keep this 33 gallon tank as simple as it can be. The slow growth of the plants coinciding with low lighting and CO2 brought upon BBA. With the inclusion of a CO2, my motivating objective is to grow the Jungle Vals long enough to flow with the current towards the top left portion of the tank. In addition, I had some unsuccessful attempts of growing a plant I adore to have, Staurogyne repens. I know that the Brazilian Pennywort will be growing out of control once I start injecting CO2, as I have offered some to a few members, keep your eyes out in the classified section.

As from my previous update about 2 weeks ago, fish have been healthy, spawning has slowed down this past week; picked up 5 otocinclus and they're cleaning up my tank very well; and sold 10 juicy big cardinals to Adobeotocat to lessen my bioload a bit.

Now for the new toys. I picked up a 36" Sunblaster T5HO fixture from Canadian Aquatics and the plants have certainly shown that they love it. The CO2 injection setup was picked up from eternity302, who is moving on from fish keeping and I wish him well as he's been a great friend in this hobby. Thanks to Stuart (CRS_fan) and through contributed posts by gklaw and 2wheelsx2 on old threads; I patiently waited out 3 days to get the 5lb tank filled at DBC marine located in Richmond, BC. I know, I know...I said I wasn't going to go CO2 injection, but I succumbed to my own resistance.

5lb. CO2 tank
Milwaukee MA957 (regulator, solenoid, bubble counter)
**originally bought from Canadian Aquatics



















What's underneath the tank hood









Followed the directions to install the regulator to the tank. Did all the protocols, lucky 2wheelsx2 caught this for me. Left gauge 800psi, right gauge 80psi.









Dialed down the inline pressure. Left gauge 800psi, right gauge 25psi. (Quite impressed with the quality of this picture taken from a phone)









Pictures of the plants as of January 31, 2012. I did a bit of rescaping by placing the big piece of driftwood stump to the left side of the tank to give the plecos more cover. All the plants are situated on the right side of the tank. I'll do some more rescaping by planting some plants in the middle so they'll be a transitioning effect. I'll post up updates a week and two weeks later to compare plant growth.



























I've been wanting to see these two echinodorus red horemanii grow to it's full potential.










Jungle vals towards the back.









Cryptocoryne parva and Egeria najas. (once the egeria najas grow a bit more, they'll be given out as freebies as I have other plans for this area of the tank)









CO2 Diffuser. I've ordered some black polyurethane tubing through ebay, so the current ones will be replaced. I was thinking of using a inline atomizer, but since I already have an inline heater, I didn't want to add another equipment on the line.


----------



## jobber

L134 basking on the rock, stalking a piece of earthworm pellet I had just fed.



























Panda eggs.


















And one more pic for the road...


----------



## zhasan

Awesome pics Ming!! Looking forward to see how things work out for you with the CO2 injection!! and ofcourse it'll have an effect on my tank as well  

BTW, the best pic of all is the last one!! My taste buds are cringing for food now!!


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Nice pics, especially of the food. 

Why not a 4' Sunblaster? You wanted a dark spot for the plecs?


----------



## Diztrbd1

Great pix Ming! Looking forward to seeing how the CO2 works out for ya. Now I'm hungry!


----------



## Luke78

So when are you stopping by for more lamb? Liking the re scape a lot, seems like you opened up quite some space.Before you know it you'll be swimming in trimmings especially from the species you have.Those L134's sure look nice,do they explore the whole setup? or just stay among the rock work you have on the far left? Did you plant more tabs or took a pass?


----------



## jobber

zhasan said:


> Awesome pics Ming!! Looking forward to see how things work out for you with the CO2 injection!! and ofcourse it'll have an effect on my tank as well
> 
> BTW, the best pic of all is the last one!! My taste buds are cringing for food now!!


I'm certain the plants will look more lush and healthier with the added CO2. I've just did a bit of trimming and growing out about 15 stems for your discus tank. I know PeterChow had been using the pennywort for his discus tank.











2wheelsx2 said:


> Nice pics, especially of the food.
> 
> Why not a 4' Sunblaster? You wanted a dark spot for the plecs?


I had a few extra 3' T5HO bulbs, plus the brand new colormax bulb I bought not long ago, Didn't want to waste the bulb. Also, I wanted the one side of the tank to be a bit more darker so the frogs and cories can find cover.



Diztrbd1 said:


> Great pix Ming! Looking forward to seeing how the CO2 works out for ya. Now I'm hungry!


I'm going back for some seconds. Roast lamp..delicious. I'm very excited to get this CO2. Held off for the longest time due to the high cost of getting the entire setup. My tank isn't going to look at nice as fenster58, stuarts, or Bien's masterpiece, but I just want to have healthy growing plants. Perhaps be able to get the swords flowering


----------



## crazy72

Wow that CO2 setup looks pretty fancy. Nice pick-up. I'm sure you're going to love it. One more planted tank guru in the making. 

The lamb, is that what you feed your fish these days?


----------



## jobber

Never will be a guru of any sort, just an apprentice 
Had some discussions with a few members talking about GH, KH, pH...decided to do some water tests this morning since I had not done one for almost 6 months. I'll probably do another two tests in the evening before a water change and one after a water change.

pH
From the tap: 6.6
From the tank: 7.0

Test tubes: Tank test tubes on the left, tap water test tubes on the right









GH
From the tap: less than 1ºdKH
From the tank: 8ºdKH

Some information obtained from API Mars website:

_GH & KH Range Aquarium Life
0º - 3º Discus, Arowana, Elephantnose, Neons, Cardinals, Live Plants 
(0-50 ppm)

3º - 6º Most tropical fish including Angelfish, Cichlids, Tetras, Botia, Live Plants
(50-100 ppm)

6º - 11º Most tropical fish including Swordtails, Guppies, Mollies, Goldfish
(100-200 ppm) _

Source: http://cms.marsfishcare.com/uploads/gh and kh test kit and kh test kit 58-59 insert.pdf


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Nice. Any nitrate tests? I'm going to bring my TDS meter over and check your tank next time.


----------



## zhasan

jobber604 said:


> I'm certain the plants will look more lush and healthier with the added CO2. I've just did a bit of trimming and growing out about 15 stems for your discus tank. I know PeterChow had been using the pennywort for his discus tank.


Thanks again Ming!! Appreciate your help


----------



## jobber

An update since introducing CO2 injection. Fish have been adapting to the introduction well. I've slowly increased the bubble rates to about 2-3 bps. Added a CO2 checker into the tank. Had a bit of BBA issues that I have under control now, Thanks 2wheelsx2 for the tips. You can compare the out flow pipe treating with metricide before and after.

Using a camera phone, here's a picture from a week ago:









Here's a picture from yesterday. The Brazilian Pennywort has been noticeably picked up in growth.









With the added growth of the pennywort, the corydoras are at it again being frisky and all


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Very neat. Those otos always hang out on the substrate like that?


----------



## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Very neat. Those otos always hang out on the substrate like that?


Just these past two days. They're usually up and under the leaves, cleaning the rocks, helping me clean the glass. I can tell one of the otos is a female, there is already a bulge growing . They've grown so much since I got them a couple weeks back. I may have lost 1 as I have only seen 4 actively munching. Haven't had much luck with otos, but things may have changed this time around. Lots of cory eggs within the hanging roots of the pennywort, hope some survive. Need to build on the colony without having to spend money.


----------



## JohnnyAppleSnail

Very Nice Set-up,and I like your choice of music for the Vid's.


----------



## Luke78

Great videos, thanks for sharing! That female pygmy cory is huge! What are you feeding them? Notice the growth in your plants,very green,lush,and larger in size(leaf size).


----------



## jobber

Been awhile. Stopped by Fantasy Aquatics to check out the store and came out with some new pets. Added to the panda gene pool and trying some nice gold rams.

Why rams? After certain someone's recent discus additions to his big 400 gallon tank and another someone's new discus wigglers, I had to find a less maintenance but a fish similar to discus....so I chose the balloon gold ram ;D


----------



## Diztrbd1

Nice additions Ming! Nice to see an update as well buddy!


----------



## jobber

It has been awhile. Been neglecting the tank and BCA for the past two months or so. Been busy with things away from the computer and fish tank. I finally subsided and had to get some rams and try them out.


----------



## Diztrbd1

I wondered how long it would be before you tried the rams. I'm sure you will enjoy them alot, I'm also sure we'll be hearing of breeding real soon


----------



## jobber

I had been talking about them before, just finally pulled the trigger on them. Thanks to Gary and Tony talking discus and new spawning....I couldn't get discus, so mind as well get the next best similar thing, 1/4 of the price, 1/4 of the maintenance, and 1/10 the size ;D

Breeding them would be nice, I tried my best to sex them, but it's pretty hard. Guess feeding them my high protein diet may speed the growth in them. But the lemon tetras will take of the fries ;D


----------



## tony1928

Nice additions Ming. I've only seen the german blue rams and these gold rams really look like mini discus!


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Nice. Surprised you didn't go for the Electric blue ones.


----------



## jobber

I spent almost 2 hours at the store deciding what to go for. Blue or Gold. I found the gold ones resemble more of a discus, so in keeping with fueling some of my discus needs....I chose gold. Found the gold harder to come by. Loving these guys already. Quite the character as John has previous mentioned in his own journal and ram gallery. I think these guys' personalities differ from the regular ones a big. I got tons of rounded rocks in my tank, so hoping to see some aggression and some eggs in the future ;D


----------



## crazy72

Great to see this, Ming. Good for you. Nice additions.


----------



## jobber

Thanks Franck and everybody else. Cute fish. John was right....it was just a matter of time before I would get Rams.

Here's another long video of these guys. Bolder by the hour pecking at the live blackworms. My apologies for the videos' commercialization, trying to offset my hobby expenses with advertisements on my youtube videos. So if you like the videos, watch them more, subscribe, like the videos. Like them all . Money most likely will go back towards donation on BCA.


----------



## jobber

Wow, time flies. Been awhile since my last update 5 months ago. Been trying to enjoy the nice summer we had. Hope everyone has been doing good. A bit of an update of the tank....my neglect to do water changes killed off the lovely gold balloon rams I bought during the spring; though everyone else in the tank has been doing good. The frogs have gotten plumper...and the pandas have just been doing their frisky business. My T5HO sunblaster burnt a few weeks back and I resorted to going back to using my Marineland LED, seems there's no more algae issues and the swords have been growing well under this lighting regime. Just a short video update of the tank.


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## Diztrbd1

Hey buddy , long time no see! Hope things have been well with you. Nice to see an overdue update lol Looks great still....I really need to get a school of cories.


----------



## tony1928

Nice to see you back Ming! Hope you enjoyed summer now that we are back into the "fishy" weather again.


----------



## jobber

tony1928 said:


> Nice to see you back Ming! Hope you enjoyed summer now that we are back into the "fishy" weather again.


It is truly "fishy" season again. What a downpour out there this past day and a half. Still, what a summer it was. Glad I made good use of the bike.

Moved a batch of bnp fries from my dad's tank to mine to raise..and help clean up hard to reach areas of the tank ;D. Quite the number in this clutch batch...non-stop breeding saturating the market with bnps. Now also seeing some assassin snail eggs.


----------



## Luke78

Nice updates Ming, looks like everything and everybody are settling in nicely! Glad to hear the biking is going well, since we last spoke i ve been hooked as well and clock in 35 kms a cycle , 5 days a week followed by 10 km runs right after.Seriously considering a marathon or triathlon in the near future, and the job i spoke to you about a while back.Nice to see you around again, plenty to catch up on here for sure!


----------



## jobber

Luke78 said:


> Nice updates Ming, looks like everything and everybody are settling in nicely! Glad to hear the biking is going well, since we last spoke i ve been hooked as well and clock in 35 kms a cycle , 5 days a week followed by 10 km runs right after.Seriously considering a marathon or triathlon in the near future, and the job i spoke to you about a while back.Nice to see you around again, plenty to catch up on here for sure!


Thanks for the support. All in due time my friend. Still need to get some things organized. Boy what a summer we truly had, constant sunshine. Glad my talking and pimping my bike on my drop-by's left a positive and healthy impression for you. I hadn't been clocking 35kms a day but only about 30km. 175km and 10km runs.....training like Rocky Balboa 

I actually appreciated some of this rain we had. Like Tony said, this is really "fishie" season now....I naturally did more water changes and actually went to clean my canister filter yesterday...which I hadn't done since January/February earlier this year. What a story that was.

I'll send you an email before I end up writing my personal life blog here for the public to read. Now back to "fishie" season on BCA. Took me a while to catch up after a 5 Sabbatical from here. Can't believe how fast time passes.


----------



## jobber

--Thanks Diztrb1, multi-posting of youtube still works


----------



## er201

Very nice ming. But I think you're missing some Biotodoma cupidos


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## bonsai dave

Looking good Ming . Keep up the good work..


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## jobber

er201 said:


> Very nice ming. But I think you're missing some Biotodoma cupidos


I would love some eartheaters but the tank is way too small with a high bioload, I'd probably will ante up with some more cories. 

Bonsai dave: thanks. I still get a good laugh when i see mr.miyagi as your avatar. Haha.

Sent from my Samsung using Tapatalk


----------



## aznfire888

One of my favourite tanks, what plants/lighting do you have in this tank now? and also are you running CO2?


----------



## jobber

aznfire888 said:


> One of my favourite tanks, what plants/lighting do you have in this tank now? and also are you running CO2?


Thanks. If i can only stop messing around with the tank. At the moment, the lighting I have is a Marineland Double Bright LED (freshwater) 36". I've simplified the plants I have by only keeping java moss, echinodorus amazonicus, valisnera, and brazilian pennywort. I no longer inject CO2 into the tank as it wasn't for me or my tank. It was good to try it out for a few months, but the plants just grew out of control. I only dose metricide.


----------



## jobber

How can I resist some nice healthy fish from Baobeizhu.




























Now I finally have the school of panda corydoras that I've wanted!

And of course...videos.


----------



## JoeMc

Awesome tank. Just spent the last 50 minutes going through some of the old videos and comments.


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## 2wheelsx2

Dang that's a nice school of Pandas. Great score!


----------



## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Dang that's a nice school of Pandas. Great score!


it is a nice pack of pandas...especially during feeding time.



JoeMc said:


> Awesome tank. Just spent the last 50 minutes going through some of the old videos and comments.


Can't believe this tank was first filled 2 years ago. Still feels like yesterday I was picking it from the previous owner. Been a great tank and learned a lot about the hobby with this tank.


----------



## jobber

Well, I saw a clutch of bnp eggs floating freely in the open in my other tank with rainbowfish and angels. Thought that the eggs would make a good caviar snack for my corydoras so I grabbed the clutch of eggs from the 30 gallon and dumped them into my 33 gallon. About after an hour or so, I saw empty egg sacs from the cluster assuming that the corydoras are munching on them. Low and behold I see a wriggler, and another, and another. They actually hatched! So I guess I'll be raising more bnp fries. Here's two very up close videos of the fries.


----------



## crimper

Congrats and good luck on the fries. Awesome tank by the way.


----------



## Luke78

Nice find with baby BNP, hopefully they all pull through for ya! Hows the big school of panda's doing? Everyone settling in? Hopefully that bigger setup comes to play in the near future, i could only imagine the activity in it! Nice update, thanks for sharing!


----------



## jobber

crimper said:


> Congrats and good luck on the fries. Awesome tank by the way.


Thanks crimper. I constantly have fries but haven't really given up on exhausting efforts into raising them. Keep it simple and let nature works it's course. Good luck with your discus contest, I see a very good startup already.



Luke78 said:


> Nice find with baby BNP, hopefully they all pull through for ya! Hows the big school of panda's doing? Everyone settling in? Hopefully that bigger setup comes to play in the near future, i could only imagine the activity in it! Nice update, thanks for sharing!


The big school of pandas are the biggest picky eaters. Thanks to feeding them earthworm pellets, they'll negate other less palatable shrimp pellets. Glad all 16 I got from baobeizhu survived and they're all starting to blacken their bands and getting some nice shine due to a high protein diet.


----------



## jobber

Good morning and here's an update on the other tank. Yeah, I'm just posting videos from both tanks....they're just an extensions of each other. 
Hope you have a good laugh and enjoy the music


----------



## mollyb

nice pearlscale silvers, they look show quality, especially the girl! The boy is very attentive to his job on the spawn! Nice pair.


----------



## jobber

How can you tell which sex is which? To this date, lazy to read up on angels, I still cannot tell. 
The pearlscale is so nice. I have another one that looks like a male which has a nice forehead/hump. It's huge. Probably 6" or so tall.

I still can't believe how these guys grew to the way they are today; especially buying them for at dime size.


----------



## mollyb

the girl is the bigger one, making the first pass on the video. You can tell by the size of the ovipositor (breeding tube) coming from her vent. it looks like a garden hose next to the males much smaller, more pointy one. Great job on growing them. 
There are other more subtle gender indicators for angels, but I find a pretty good one is the angle the anal fin makes with the ventral edge of the body, in males it is quite sharp, almost 90 degrees, in the females it is much less sharp, more of a gentle transition. this is best seen when the fish have erect finnage, not swimming too fast. Brent


----------



## jobber

Thanks Brent for the info; love learning new things each day, and all this time i was thinking the bigger one of the pair was the male. I was totally duped. Now looking back at the video, glad it captured the female laying down the eggs. Getting them to spawn is the simple part, with so many hungry mouths, tetras and rainbowfish. See if any wigglers turn out. This pair managed to look after the brood for a few weeks but the wigglers didn't get enough live food to eat to survive.


----------



## mollyb

amazing they had them for a few weeks! there are a lot of mouths in that vid. You can always try removing the fry, or eggs, but that is another whole adventure...


----------



## jobber




----------



## monkE

tank looks great ming! the angels are beautiful  and those corries are pretty slick i don't know why I never got corries


----------



## Diztrbd1

Nice vid Ming....was contemplating getting some of those myself. I love the D/W on the left side of the tank...very cool piece.


----------



## jobber

monkE said:


> tank looks great ming! the angels are beautiful  and those corries are pretty slick i don't know why I never got corries


Those angels are beautiful. Can't believe how different they look from the time I got them dime size to now, after 2 years. Amazing fish from fishdragon. Wish I didn't have so many rainbowfish in the tank since the pair have spawned countless times but never want to exert the energy to separate and raise fries. Cories is a must have in the future, a nice group of 20.



Diztrbd1 said:


> Nice vid Ming....was contemplating getting some of those myself. I love the D/W on the left side of the tank...very cool piece.


Thanks buddy, do support the youtube channel by subscribing, trying to get to 1000 subscribers . I had to get rid of a lot of rocks that was cluttering the left side. Found that stump d/w at Roger's Aquatic, but those long pieces were a a great find from Aprils.


----------



## jobber

It has been awhile since I last made changes to the tank....getting a nice group of panda corydoras. Letting go of some bnps, but adding a new colourful fish. One of the fish, along with leopard frogs---thanks to seeing someone thread pictures.

Time for "can you guess the name of the fish".... (purposely took blurry pictures)


----------



## tony1928

jobber said:


> It has been awhile since I last made changes to the tank....getting a nice group of panda corydoras. Letting go of some bnps, but adding a new colourful fish. One of the fish, along with leopard frogs---thanks to seeing someone thread pictures.
> 
> Time for "can you guess the name of the fish".... (purposely took blurry pictures)


Nice Ming! I know but that would be cheating.


----------



## jobber

Haha. Yeah, i think you may have gotten a bit of insider information. Wouldn't be too fair for any noobs 
Very nice gesture of you to allow some potential plecoholics to take a guess. I guess Gary can't guess neither.


----------



## mdwflyer

Tank looks great! Lemon Tetras look pretty happy. I'm not going to guess either, but that pleco looks Great! Are you going to get some of those warthog cories? Those things are soooo neat!


----------



## 77_Bus_Girl

ok, I'll take a guess... is it a L200-Hemiancistrus Subviridis?


----------



## jobber

mdwflyer said:


> Tank looks great! Lemon Tetras look pretty happy. I'm not going to guess either, but that pleco looks Great! Are you going to get some of those warthog cories? Those things are soooo neat!


Thanks for the comp. I'm very happy with the lemon tetras, by far the best schooling group of tetras I've had. No warthog cories for the time being, my tank is already overloaded in bioload at the moment; however, warthog cories is on my list of MUST HAVES in my future big tank. I just had a conversation today at my fish supplier about "warthog cories", he had a tank full of them by the window 



77_Bus_Girl said:


> ok, I'll take a guess... is it a L200-Hemiancistrus Subviridis?


CORRECT! Great guess. A prize of clearer pictures and a video 



















Picked up the smallest one in the group; looking forward to growing this bad boy out.


----------



## jobber




----------



## monkE

beautiful new addition Ming!!!!!!


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## 2wheelsx2

Very nice. And feeding him earthworm stick already. Looking forward to him getting to big for your tank and going into mine!


----------



## 77_Bus_Girl

Want to know my secret to my superior pleco knowledge? 


I googled images of "green spotted pleco".  Though I will now know the L200. My first piece of pleco knowledge...


----------



## charles

That is a common pleco with green ink


----------



## crazy72

Very nice, Ming. Good for you.


----------



## jobber

Thanks guys. This fish is amazing to stare at and enjoy it's activeness. Very active and bold; hopefully that stays that way as it grows out.


----------



## tony1928

Nice job on the new pleco. Great colour in your tank. I really like mine. A nice punchy lime green with yellow dots.


----------



## jobber

tony1928 said:


> Nice job on the new pleco. Great colour in your tank. I really like mine. A nice punchy lime green with yellow dots.


This guy is going to grow fast with the amount of food it's helping clean up. It's out-competing the frogs for sure.


----------



## mdwflyer

He's a pig, I would sure like to have a big herd of cories they are so cute.


----------



## crazy72

Very nice to see him out in the open like this. I wish that were the case more often with plecos. He's beautiful.

It was good to bump into you this afternoon, Ming.


----------



## jobber

mdwflyer said:


> He's a pig, I would sure like to have a big herd of cories they are so cute.


Haha. Well thanks to you're recent pictures and ones from Gary's old thread, I finally got one for myself. I would love to have a group to try breeding; but I'll enjoy the group of panda cories in my tank for the time being.



crazy72 said:


> Very nice to see him out in the open like this. I wish that were the case more often with plecos. He's beautiful.
> 
> It was good to bump into you this afternoon, Ming.


Yeah, been awhile, but getting my dose of therapy at the LFS 
Nice to see a familiar face at the LFS.
Staring at a specific tank and thinking to myself, should I?

Hope you picked up some goodies to enjoy from the store.


----------



## crazy72

jobber said:


> Hope you picked up some goodies to enjoy from the store.


Yeah I ended up shying away from the oh-so-tempting panduros, but brought back a school of back-winged hatchets. They look great.


----------



## jobber

crazy72 said:


> Yeah I ended up shying away from the oh-so-tempting panduros, but brought back a school of back-winged hatchets. They look great.


I know you love those apistogrammas. Should have. Just let them do their business in the fish tank. Easy to sex the ones in their tanks, I'm certain a bunch of them are actively breeding with the nice tank conditions Kerry and Mike has them in.

Spoiling yourself with hatchets in the vicenza . nice pickups, I may be back there to pick some things up soon again.


----------



## crazy72

jobber said:


> I know you love those apistogrammas. Should have. Just let them do their business in the fish tank.


I just ran this by my corys. They strongly disagree.


----------



## jobber

crazy72 said:


> I just ran this by my corys. They strongly disagree.


Ooops - you even told me at the store with their ferociousness. I dont' think those sterbais would want to wander into panduro territory 
I chose the same path with my apistos upon realizing their in spawning mode. Thank you Joseph for giving them a great home


----------



## jobber

New additions today. The rare of the rares. Needed to reshuffle the tank a bit and helped L333 find a good home. Just trying something different and hopefully this cichlidae works out well.


----------



## crazy72

What are they? What are they?


----------



## jobber

Here it is being netted into the tank and munching on food a few minutes later.






and just for kicks, more L200.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Love that L200. You should have gotten an L200a too!


----------



## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Love that L200. You should have gotten an L200a too!


This guy is very active. L200a would be nice too. Would love to have a group of these from Charles....in the future that is.



crazy72 said:


> What are they? What are they?


Crenicara Punctulatum (Checkerboard Cichlid). A type within the group of cichlids with the common name "checkerboard" cichlid. Did some reading and found that these guys are sequential hermaphrodites meaning they are all born as females; the one fish that becomes dominant morphs into a male and from that there's a hierarchy within a group (all within captivity). There's a research paper done on a group of these guys. Was a very interesting read while observing the fish's behaviour with one another, typical cichlidae squabbling. So far so good with their fellow tank mates. L200 still boss of the tank.


----------



## crazy72

jobber said:


> Crenicara Punctulatum (Checkerboard Cichlid). A type within the group of cichlids with the common name "checkerboard" cichlid. Did some reading and found that these guys are sequential hermaphrodites meaning they are all born as females; the one fish that becomes dominant morphs into a male and from that there's a hierarchy within a group (all within captivity). There's a research paper done on a group of these guys. Was a very interesting read while observing the fish's behaviour with one another, typical cichlidae squabbling. So far so good with their fellow tank mates. L200 still boss of the tank.


Very cool! Are these old enough for one of them to morph into a male, then?


----------



## jobber

crazy72 said:


> Very cool! Are these old enough for one of them to morph into a male, then?


Supposedly after 7 months, should be close to morphing. Just going to see if one of these gals wants to be the alpha female --> male.


----------



## jobber

If ever curious what my tank's temperature and pH. Yes, I got a new toy to measure pH. Fancy smancy.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Very nice. Is the digital thermometer new also?


----------



## jobber

2wheelsx2 said:


> Very nice. Is the digital thermometer new also?


This pinpoint is great. Thanks to seeing Davej's and the one at Fantasy.

The digital thermometer I purchased when I was in Shanghai or HK. It was dirty cheap 
check ebay.


----------



## tony1928

jobber said:


> It was dirty cheap
> check ebay.


Is that like fish p0rn?


----------



## 2wheelsx2

jobber said:


> This pinpoint is great. Thanks to seeing Davej's and the one at Fantasy.
> 
> The digital thermometer I purchased when I was in Shanghai or HK. It was dirty cheap
> check ebay.


I bet mine was cheaper. I can't reveal my source but let's just say it's close to $0.


----------



## jobber

tony1928 said:


> Is that like fish p0rn?


Only fish porn i know of....Gary's fish tanks 
From discus, to bnp, to hypancistrus, to peckoltia, ....corydoras, and black neons, emperor neons.



2wheelsx2 said:


> I bet mine was cheaper. I can't reveal my source but let's just say it's close to $0.


Can't beat a zero dollar amount 
These thermometer is great. Just check the button battery now and then, as it tends to leak acid/corrode inside due to the close proximity to the tank.
If you need some LR44 batteries, let me know.


----------



## tony1928

jobber said:


> Only fish porn i know of....Gary's fish tanks
> From discus, to bnp, to hypancistrus, to peckoltia, ....corydoras, and black neons, emperor neons.


Yeah, his wild discus make their own fish porn all the time.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

Now, now, guys, it's a family site. But just for the record, I got L333, BNP's L10a, the discus and L134's all "getting it on"....


----------



## jobber

Here's a video of pygmaeus corydoras the day before spawning. i did a massive 90% water twice in one day to clear up a a diatom outbreak. Did a clean out of the canister as well; all while dreaming of a bigger tank. Dreaming how nice it would be to have more water volume and stock a bit more fish. Anyways, back to the pygmies.....I've been successfully had them spawn way back when I had the 5 gallon tank, then the 10 gallon tank, and in this 33 gallon. I've had half of this group for close to 3 years now and replenished the school when Charles brought some in 1.5 years ago. Raising the fries have been tough so I just allow nature to run it's course.

After a big water change and a drop of GH, typical signifies the rainy season in it's natural habitat; which signifies spawning time. Prior to spawning, the fish will group together in a biomass and hover around for a few hours at a time. Then the day after, they will spawn (eggs through the plants and glass...but a lot of hungry mouths took care of that an hour after lights went on this late afternoon)

Pretty neat behaviour and another video to share.


----------



## jobber

All good and bad things must come to an end. I'm onto another project; but before I can partake in the new venture, I must close a chapter on a well served tank. One I might add that is currently being looking for a new home http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/fres...nk-stand-glass-top-sand-vancouver-east-36430/.

So if you or someone you know wants a nice well taken care of take which is great for shrimps, cories, planted, and nano style, take this complete setup with matching stand and top versa top glass. Certainly can make a picturesque masterpiece with this tank.

Well before I wrap things up, I documented me closing procedures. The past week I've found great homes for my breeding colony of pygmaeus corydoras, 2 bnp juvies, and a huge colony of panda corydoras. First to go were the corydoras, Took awhile to net them all out and pygmies gave me quite the challenge but thanks to oppai who helped me out, took half the time. There were a few panda cories that have been for me for probably more than a good 5 or 6 years. 4 of them in the colony were raised from egg to adult. It was kind of hard to let go of fish you've raised from young to old. As some of you guys know, I'm a panda corydora's biggest fan. Alas, they went to good homes with ample water volume and bring many spawning activities to their respective owners.

Here is a picture of the tank before I started taking it down piece by piece.










Here are some pics of the fish in the tank.




































After the cories were taken out, had to begin the painstaking task of taking out the rocks and pebbles. Here's all the lovely looking rocks...perhaps using some for my next project.










Want to thank oppai for lending me a spare 15g tank, heater, and air pump to store the fish in while in transit.









The daunting taste to net out all the sand out of the tank. Took a bit of time, actually took a while but netted most of them out and then used the python to suck up the remaining grains. Went to wash the sand, took another few chunks of my time, but someone will be making full use of it in their huge tank somewhere out there. 30lbs of sand in a bucket.










After all the sand was taken out of the tank, the L134's were scurrying around. They were much bolder after the cories and rocks were out of the tank. To fully enjoy L134 or any plecos, barebottom tanks is probably the best method for keeping them. This way, you can at least observe them better. Here are the plecos out and about in the barebottom tank.









continue below....


----------



## jobber

...continuation.

The frogs out and about. If you're interested in these, contact davej.




































Underside









and finally, my barebottom tank. Never hand one and had to try it out. Water is pretty cloudy at the moment. Did 2x 50% water changes after taking out the sand. Dose some Seachem stability just in case some were killed off. 









Now the next plan for tomorrow is to:
-net all the remaining fish out of the tank
-unplug the many accessories and equipment
-remove all equipment off of the tank
-empty the water in the tank
-get an extra hand to help me move the tank to another place of the house
-break down the stingray stang, move that aside
-and most exciting part thereafter, bring in the new setup 

Going to be an excited next two days. going to try to share more pictures of the tank break down and finish it up with the final few posts before retiring the tank setup and this journal.

For now, thank you to all the people that have supported my hobby efforts up until now as well as checking out my tank journal over the course of a little bit more than 2 years.

Remember to check out my youtube channel with tons of video of this tank...click and close those ads on those YouTube videos to help me minutely offset my hobby expenses. You know me, i've always giveth more than i've taketh here on the forum. Haha.


----------



## AdobeOtoCat

aww. 

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 2


----------



## monkE

sad to see this gorgeous tank shut down.... can't wait to see what the next project is!


----------



## Sidius

The end of an era... I'm definitely curious to see what you set up next!!


----------



## Pamela

Yours was the nicest 33 long tank that I've seen anywhere! 

I'm also really looking forward to seeing what your next fishy endeavor is ...are you gonna give us a hint?


----------



## crazy72

Hey Ming, I'm just seeing this today. Sad in a way, but nice to see that you've finally embarked on a new (bigger, I'm guessing  ) project. You must be having a really nice week-end right now! Good for you.

These long shallow tanks are really a nice footprint. I have to say I considered buying it from you to set up a shrimp tank when I saw the update this morning. For about 5mns, that is. After that reason prevailed. 

Looking forward to seeing your new setup.


----------



## 2wheelsx2

What? A whole hour and no pics yet?


----------



## jobber

AdobeOtoCat said:


> aww.
> Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 2


Yes. it is indeed a bit tough to shut this one down. i love this tank. Would be perfect for a shrimp tank, nano planted.



monkE said:


> sad to see this gorgeous tank shut down.... can't wait to see what the next project is!


Thanks buddy. All in due time.



Sidius said:


> The end of an era... I'm definitely curious to see what you set up next!!


Actually there's already a sneak peak tank journal that I think you've already caught 
Plants coming your way very soon.



Pamela said:


> Yours was the nicest 33 long tank that I've seen anywhere!
> I'm also really looking forward to seeing what your next fishy endeavor is ...are you gonna give us a hint?


Thanks Pam. If I had the room in the house, I would love to have your 110g 
Hint? There's a journal quietly and secretly started 



crazy72 said:


> Hey Ming, I'm just seeing this today. Sad in a way, but nice to see that you've finally embarked on a new (bigger, I'm guessing  ) project. You must be having a really nice week-end right now! Good for you.
> These long shallow tanks are really a nice footprint. I have to say I considered buying it from you to set up a shrimp tank when I saw the update this morning. For about 5mns, that is. After that reason prevailed.
> Looking forward to seeing your new setup.


Haha. I wouldn't sell you this tank b/c you don't need MTS 
This tank is indeed a nice footprint. You said it best....a good shrimp tank to grow out a large colony.

I'm tired already. Been a long week and now a long day. Even Gary noticed I was looking a big sluggish earlier.



2wheelsx2 said:


> What? A whole hour and no pics yet?


No pics. Just doing some "cleaning" and getting sand bagged....and also eat dinner 
Food before fishies...


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## jobber

OK. Continuation from yesterday. It's been quite a busy day. Slowly and steady. It's not an easy task shutting down a tank. So here we go.....

Draining the tank from....









Filling the temporary housing for the livestock. Thank you oppai for the rental tank, heater, and air pump.









Getting some pictures of the Lemon tetras. They're very yellow now. Very mature. Schooling nice and tight.


















Drained as low as i can to make netting fish easier. And here we go, only fish left to net out are the L134 Leopard Frogs.









Lemons and crenicara into their temp. housing.









Felt bad, as I was getting this out with my hands, it slipped out and landed on the ground. Prickly odontaides.









Some top down view of the group I have, if anyone is interested, send me a PM. Love to get some juveniles to raise if I can find a good home for these guys.



























L200 Top down view.



















To be continued....


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## jobber

Continued from previous post...



















I like this picture. The flash on the camera drowns out the white plastic bin.









 fish are out, tank is drained, filter and heater unplugged, lights are out.









Well done. now only the stand to disassemble. 









While taking the stand apart, noticed this behind the stand.


















I was doing a count of the lemons last week and I swear I had 20 but I kept on counting 19, counted three times. So all this time, it must of jumped out some while ago through the back slits.

and now....in place of the old....in with the new....


















Preparing the tanic water.









...a new start to a new journey.....

*http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/tank...ess-wip-another-south-american-biotope-36481/*


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## nikee

Any new tank setup with some new beautiful logo will might be expensive.Nice and interesting stuff.
Thanks.


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