Dither Fish Arrived

Black Neons and Flag Tailed Panda Corys

 



My new dither fish have arrived to help get my tank up to speed.  There have been several red cherry shrimp having a party all on their own in the tank for about a week or so now. The tank now consists of 6 black neon tetras (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi) as they like a healthy water current and swim in the mid to upper regions of the tank. They are larger and faster than the neon tetra, which is actually a different species of tetra, and cope with the higher water temp and enjoy currents.  Fingers crossed they cope as well as I think they will.

After much research I settled upon 2 Corydoras Oiapoquensis (flag tailed panda cory) named for the river they are native to; The Oyapock, in French Guiana. These corys are completely different, except in appearance, than the regular panda corys.  They are more suited to the higher temp of my tank and like the turbulence of high oxygenated waters. They are found in nature in the upstream of the rapids after the Oiapoque River (Oyapock in Brazil), the natural border between French Guiana and Brazil.  Pretty happy with the cute little fellows so far.

So far the black neons and flag tailed panda corys are very active and love playing in the water current. I have another 6 tetra and 2 more corys arriving next week. The tank has cycled very quickly due to the seeding of biomedia I took from my discus tank. However, I'm still being cautious and only adding a few fish at a time.

 

 

Tank Progress One Week Later...

New Gadgets!

 

Lots of new gadgets have arrived over the week and I've enjoyed setting them all up in the new tank.  I've bought 4 pieces of really interesting looking dark grey yingshi rock, I decided to move one I already had in my discus tank with all the lovely added bacteria to make 5 in total.  I now have 3 pieces of gold vine driftwood soaking and a variety of plants.  The majority of plants I have put in there were new: 1 x Echinodorus Latifolius, 2 x Corkscrew Vallisneria, 1 x Narrow Amazon Sword, 1 x Crypt Balansae.  I also bought two pieces of malaysian driftwood with plants already attached: 1 x Anubias Nana and 1 x Anubias Coffeefolia.  I transferred a couple of existing plants from the discus tank, 2 x Red Tiger Lotus and 1 x Crypt Balansae and even 1 x Hygrophila that will help establish the bacteria equilibrium in the tank.

 

I have 3 beautifully handmade brown triangle shaped ceramic caves, 2 x small slate triangle caves (which turned out to be a lot smaller than I would have liked) and 2 x rounded clay log caves which look very natural.  These I have arranged amongst the yinshi rock and driftwood to try for a more natural look.  I also have a hand made slate cave, sectioned into two, currently making its way here from England.

 

I decided on a Hailea 5504, 4.2L per minute, super quiet air pump with two outlets.  One for the small Aqua Nova sponge filter and one for the large 15cm dark grey dome shaped air stone.  Up and running now is my Jager Eheim 150 watt heater which is performing beyond expectation.  After much deliberation for filtration I decided on an Aqua One Nautilus 600 canister filter.  So far I am very impressed with its quiet and efficient performance, it has a flow rate of 600lph and is designed for a tank up to 150L.  I already have the larger Aqua One Nautilus 2700 for my discus tank and have been impressed with its performance.  I love the Aqua One quick release system which disconnects the taps for maintenance, plus the simple primer button which makes life so much easier.  I was very happy with the filter media that came with the filter, but also added plenty of bacteria soaked biological media from my discus tank to help with seeding.  In addition, I purchased the impressive Seachem Matrix porous rock filter media to add in, I love this stuff as it provides both external and internal macroporous surface areas for the bacteria to multiply on. 

I completed the look with a rocky background poster and a cute Heto, adjustable leg, 2 foot T8 reflector light with a 20 Watt daylight tube.  I also got a black 6 way individual switch powerboard with surge protector, I found a black extension cord to keep with the black theme.  I am still waiting on my new HPM 7 day 24 hour digital programmable timer to help with the light automaticity.  I have even managed to source some black suction cups for the black air hose tubing, thanks eBay!  I am going to trial some Fluval pre-filter foam sponges on the filter intake in this tank, I'm sick of finding shrimp in my filters in my other tanks.  If it works I will try to place them in the other tanks too.  Just awaiting on arrival by mail on these products.

I am also awaiting a Blue Planet UView 9 Watt Purifier, I have been very happy with my UV steriliser sponge filter combination in the discus tank, and thought this would be worthwhile in this tank.  Fingers crossed it was a good purchase.

Setting Up The Tank

Tank Set Up

 

Well the journey has officially started.  I have two 4-5cm zebra pleco juevenilles on hold until the tank is ready to go.  I have another four on hold from two different breeding colonies, currently only 2cm and growing out, which I will be keeping a close eye on over the next few months. 

 

I have always loved the process of setting up a brand new tank, deciding which tank to buy, the different filter and all the decisions to make regarding heating, choice of substrate and decorations etc.  It never quite turns out exactly as you envision, however, often it turns out better!

 

Right now I'm in the process of setting up the tank and waiting for all my online purchases to arrive.  I decided upon a 137 litre tank (36 gallon), 30 inches long, 14 inches deep and 20 inches high.  It is a glass aquarium with no frills.  It has a custom made pine stand that my husband is painting black right now.

 

So far I have ordered all the accessories, I already had some black aquarium soil substrate that I had left over so have filled it with that.  Once the painting is finished I can start soaking the one piece of gold vine driftwood that I have so far.  So much to do....