180L Juwel Rio Planted Dwarf Cichlid Tank - Update 04/10/11

[woomdawg]

Love your tank man

[mbezik]

@woomdawg thanks! its come on a lot since this, if you check out my latest vid on my channel you can see how its looking now

[robdawg300]

What kind of sand??

[mbezik]

@robdawg300 its seachem flourite black sand

[onekaFTM]

How often do you have to do water changes when growing your plants?

[mbezik]

@onekaFTM as i use the Estimative index method of fertiliser dosing i need to do a 50% water change weekly, also regarding your previous question about co2, in the video which you commented, that was done with no co2 as it was a collection of easy to grow plants, in its current configuration the plants require high levels of co2 to maintain healthy growth as many are considered difficult or problematic plants.

[onekaFTM]

@mbezik I'm also wondering what type of light you are using? I've become really interested in aquascaping recently and it seems you have it down perfectly! Beautiful tank.

[fabihanski]

@mbezik may I ask what is your local garden centre called and were and is it a chain?

[fabihanski]

4 questions were did u get that epic pice of bog/driftwood

Is that dwarf baby tears in the foreground

Were did u get it

How on earth do u get it to live

[mbezik]

@fabihanski the bogwood is made up from about 7 pieces ive placed together, all grabbed from various shops on my travels, yeah thats dwarf baby tears, i got it from a local garden centre that has tropica pots, i always try to go with potted tropica plants as i find they suffer less from acclimation, i keep it alive and growing by giving it strong light, high constant co2 levels from a pressurised system, high levels of liquid nutrients, both macro and micro and a good clay based substrate

[mbezik]

@TheCichlidfan its the viejita sp.2 and pelvicachromis taeniatus you spotted, theres also a pair of borellii "opal" in there aswell, it works as i have so much bog wood (planting when it grows out again) in there for them to create their own territories, they have been living in relative harmony for over a year now.

in the wild as many as 800 apistos can be found living in 1 sq metre of water, only possible because there is so much leaf litter/wood creating individual territories for them.

[ThereThereTBKON]

What are the little bunchy plants growing in the foreground (bottom right)?

[mbezik]

@ThereThereTBKON Pogostemon helferi

[ThereThereTBKON]

@mbezik Are they a tough one to grow? i.e. high light and co2?

[mbezik]

@ThereThereTBKON it grows better and shorter under high light but other than that and needing an iron rich substrate (or iron dosed into water column) its not too demanding, spreads fast to form a carpet of crinkly leaves - i do use pressurised co2 but not essential for the pogo

[AquaJtang]

wow im loving this tank! do you mind telling me what the fauna is?

[mbezik]

@AquaJtang thanks, its still early days for the tank but it should start filling out more now ive got it dailed in. cardinal tetra (id have to count them - a few lol) 2 Bentosi/Rosey tetra 10 otto cats 2 SAE's 7 japonica (amano) shrimp 3 bamboo shrimp 1 cameroon blue armoured shrimp various other freshwater shrimp pair of Pelvicachromis taeniatus (striped kribensis) pair of Apistogramma Borellii "opal" pair of Apistogramma Viejita sp.2 i think thats it...

[martyb0y1981]

that's a nice kribensis what was the other cichlid on the right at 1:08 some kind of apisto ?

[mbezik]

@martyb0y1981 yeah hes a male viejita sp.2, hes looking stunning now hes fully mature, just a bit of a bad temper on him, he hates fish lol

[martyb0y1981]

@mbezik yeah must be an apisto thing my cacatuoides and nijsseni are quite aggressive when they are thinking about breeding , my rams and victoria mouthbrooders have no aggression atall lol

[mbezik]

@martyb0y1981 yeah the cacatoides pair i had before i donated them to my mother were kinda bad tempered, the borellii i have are the most peacful, the agassizi that i have in their own tank were crazy aggressive towards every other fish in the tank, would have raging battles with the striped kribs, looked bizarre as they were tiny but packed a punch, got to the point they had to be taken out and rehoused in a 33G of their own

[martyb0y1981]

@mbezik ha my agassizi are really peacefull , thats wierd

[Lamstraler]

@mbezik Yes, well, it's good you did move some apisto's, your tank was waaaay overcrowded on the 1st vid =/, even with all the wood. (You basicly had 3 potentially aggressive of 4 pairs of territorial bottomdwellers on a 0.41 m² surface!!) Anyway, with peace returned a bit, your remaining apisto's will have far less stress, and will show off their colours as you'd expect. (Or, how less is more) That said, I didn't see the Borelli.

[mbezik]

@Lamstraler to be honest other than a few disputes between the now mature male viejita sp.II and the female taeniatus ive had very little trouble in this tank, if you check a video called apisto corner in my collection you will see how unfazed they are by each other. im in no way a fan of any aggression in a tank and if i ever noticed incompatible fish id of moved them into one of my other 5 tanks. The borellii are in there somewhere...

[Lamstraler]

@mbezik Well, that's very good to hear, and you did fix the agrro issues, which is a good thing. Good luck with your 5 other tanks too =)

[brechstylez]

very peacefu. nice to see the viejita at the front, he is huge.