29 gallon dicrossus filamentosus tank ideas

[Lucasalc46]

Hey all,
Well I was going to set up my 20 gallon tank for some dicrossus but I cracked it while cleaning it. So, now I'm going to use a 29 gallon. 2 years ago I set up the same tank for the same fish but this time I want the aquascape and stocking to be more realistic of the Rio Negro.

Here's my idea so far
Stocking
School of 18 cardinal tetras
group of 6 dicrossus Filamentosus
what else would you guys recommend to go in the upper half of the tank, I'm willing to hear of an alternative for the cardinals?

Also any tips on creating this biotope in such a tall tank(30x12x18) are welcome! I've got the bottom down but not entirely sure on what to do with the upper 6 inches.

Thanks,
Lucas

 

[Lucasalc46]

I thinking about including palm fronds for the aquascape. I have a palm tree in my backyard, are there any steps I need to take to prepare this palm for the tank? Like should I let it sit once I've cut it for a week before I add it to the tank?

 

[MacZ]

Instead or with the cardinals you can keep pencilfish (Nannostomus sp.). If breeding the cichlids is your goal, scratch any normal tetra and ONLY go for pencilfish.

About the Dicrossus: If you want to breed, a group of six juveniles is ok to get maybe 1-2 pairs from it, then rehome the rest. Although Dicrossus are relatively peaceful (e.g. compared to Apistogramma), your tanksize will likely only suffice for 1 male and 1-2 females longterm.
If breeding is not your goal probably a single male Dicrossus is the better choice. Including fins they still grow up to impressive 11cm, which is big for dwarf cichlids.

What now? Aquascape or realism? If you want to recreate the biotope, the term for the arrangement of rocks, wood and branches is "scape". Aquascape is the high tech planted stuff and has pretty much nothing to do with biotope aquariums.

Anyhow, from bottom to top:
Fine sand, leaf litter / botanicals, driftwood, twigs and branches, floating plants / (semi-) emersed plants.

Here are two examples, the one on the left is my own, the other one is by a good friend.

 

[MacZ]

I thinking about including palm fronds for the aquascape. I have a palm tree in my backyard, are there any steps I need to take to prepare this palm for the tank? Like should I let it sit once I've cut it for a week before I add it to the tank?

Whatever botanicals and leaves you use, must be brown and dead when it comes off the original plant. When you cut a green frond off a palm all the nutrients are still in it and those are not what you want in blackwater. Bacteria blooms and nutrient imbalances can be the result. Wait until the palm sheds a frond by itself which should happen regularly. Those are what you want in your tank.

Also: Are you going just for the look or also for the correct water parameters?

 

[Lucasalc46]

Whatever botanicals and leaves you use, must be brown and dead when it comes off the original plant. When you cut a green frond off a palm all the nutrients are still in it and those are not what you want in blackwater. Bacteria blooms and nutrient imbalances can be the result. Wait until the palm sheds a frond by itself which should happen regularly. Those are what you want in your tank.

Also: Are you going just for the look or also for the correct water parameters?

Ok, so I'll just wait for a dry one. I'm also going for the correct water parameters. I achieved them with my last dicrossus tank and was working with very soft water with a ph of 6.3. I'll try to achieve this again.

How big of a group of cardinal tetras do you think I could get away with?
And also if I ended up going with 4 checkerboards on the bottom, could I add an apisto pair of a smaller variety? I imagine the answer will be no. In the same tank last time I had the 4 checkerboards and a pair of german rams that bred a couple of times but that probably wasn't the best idea. They never seemed to really bother each other though.

 

[MacZ]

I achieved them with my last dicrossus tank and was working with very soft water with a ph of 6.3. I'll try to achieve this again.

Ok. I'd go for straight RO and botanicals and a pH range between 5 and 6.

How big of a group of cardinal tetras do you think I could get away with?

What do you mean? When it comes to smaller tetras I go in tens. 10, 20, 30... and so on.

And also if I ended up going with 4 checkerboards on the bottom, could I add an apisto pair of a smaller variety?

Nope. Dicrossus can become aggressive among each other when breeding, but a brooding female Apisto chases all other fish in the tank to the opposite side of the tank. Should she decide to spawn dead center of the tank this is not going to end well.